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Matter of Origin

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 memory in the right quadrant.

Partly because being unbiased is unnatural.  It is so because you have a variety of baselines to compare A to B with.  Food, Lodging, Travel, Infrastructure, People, Service, Weather and so on.

The USA and India in some respects similar (large democratic and young demographic) couldn't be more worlds apart.  That they are 12 hours apart in time zones from their respective geographic centers is no coincidence. 

If history was a guide, my first hand exposure to the architecture and engineering that prevailed 1,000 years ago in India would put the US panting in the dirt (bottom left quad) trying to catch up to this past civilization's glory.  Without seemingly having access to any microprocessors and heavy earth moving equipment or lasers and other hardware the precision and scale of some of the temples in the deep south is jaw dropping.

Fast forward to today and the tale takes a nasty twist.  We got the US in the top right and India is IMHO not on the chart.  In all matters except the variety of food and inspite of the so called tech boom India has lost its way.  Big time.  I will elaborate on these things when I am able to articulate thoughts a bit more coherently.  Right now I have still got 500 emails to catch up on - ensure we stay in the top right quad you know...
 
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