Brown Motion

This title refers to the business of University students hosting potential applicants to their campus.  We did the rite of passage in visiting some Southern California campuses as our kid prepares to apply for ongoing learning at one of the (esteemed) houses of education. Some observations of this endeavor we endured.  Endure perhaps is too strong a word but it does get exhausting.  Show up at appointment time and get your car parked.  Spend around $12 for that privilege.  Then get yourselves checked in to an auditorium or lecture facility on campus. Cue the arrival of docent / paid interns who have a prepared speech to provide highlights of the school.  This is the Rah-Rah moment.   All great things with amazing people - faculty, students and the like.  Bunch of metrics that start looking the same with a few schools crammed into the trip as we did. I get to ask 'what is one thing you would change', knowing it will be treated like a rh...

Our flight back from Indonesia landed in Taipei, Taiwan (aka Republic of China) where we had a day long layover.  We decided we were going to spend it on the island rather than the airport on the island. So armed with our travel documents we ventured out at night (it was around 11 pm) and caught up with the young lady at the immigration desk.   No lines since they have like 10 counters open. She was perky and totally focused on making sure we had the right documents to enter and exit (when the time came).  "Show me ticket"  she sharply cried when we merely gave our passports to her to stamp.  Since our airline took away ongoing boarding passes claiming security issue (was not entirely sure what that was about) I had to resort to pulling out my smart phone and logging into the airport 'free wi fi' and showing her an e-version of the actual ticket the airline had mailed me. That was perfectly acceptable to her.  She peered over her desk and without act...

Ambient was warming as the fog was burning and we timed it well in terms of getting on public transportation to find seats for an hour long ride into San Francisco. It turned out to be a gorgeous day and we with our visitors from out of town revisited parts of the city we did not have an appetite for by ourselves. We started at the Ferry Building and pier 1 on the northeastern corner of the city and went west all the way to see the historic piers that provided home for trade ships over 100 years ago along with some restored hardware. Quite a Parabolic sight - old cargo ship Balacutha in foreground to the Golden Gate Bridge Alcatraz - the rock that is a Tall Sail - or is it? Along the way we also saw the newest addition to the sea faring culture parked at pier 27 that now welcomes large cruisers - over 2,500 of them to go gawk while consuming all day buffets.  The one in the dock belonged to Princess Cruise Lines. We also wandered the birthplace of...

In elementary school algebra we are taught about the X and Y axes and that their intersect is called 'The Origin'.  It is where two zeroes meet.  0,0.  Everything else is in relation to these two heroes.  You always want to be in the top right quadrant and not the bottom left.  Most management types you learn later in life build their whole careers on painting pictures based on this elementary concept when selling something. So it is with life.  You experience life as it happens on this planet and chart those experiences as being in one of the four quadrants.  I do.  Gives me something to do. So this trip to India was a good use case to chart I thought. For someone whose origins have shifted (me) in terms of life spent living equal parts in India (the first half) and post interval the second half in the self-proclaimed most powerful nation on earth (USA) which I dearly love, it was a difficult exercise to put each memo...

Cuzco was once the seat of the Inca Empire.  Spain sent explorers in the early 16th century and one Mr. Pizzaro was the first to arrive and be smitten.  By the geography, by the gold (that the Inca paraded much like a desi bahu on wedding day) and decided to beat the crap out of the Incas and take it all. That was the basic plot.  What is left today is colonial architecture in the form of large cathedrals, fountains, cobbled streets, plazas, along with a bunch of Inca themed statues, some native Inca descendant population that is relegated to hawking goods and souvenirs, and a host of tourists invading this quiet mountain top village of around 250,000 people. Here then are some of these sights ... Ban Darwaja Khol De (Open the closed door) - Doorway to a local church, Cuzco, Peru, April 2015 Pride in ownership - local dwelling with blue balconies, Cuzco, Lima Inside Courtyard - common to many dwellings in Cuzco Gali ke kutte (Street mutts...