Brown Motion

It was just beyond the wee hours of the morning.  More about what Wee is in another chapter.  The moon was in orbit around the earth.  This time passing really close to our earth.  It looked almost twice its original size. It also happened to be that the earth on which I stood cast its shadow on it.  Such was the planetary alignment.  With the refraction phenomenon at work it gave the moon a reddish tint like a boiling chai being stirred as you add milk to it. Thus the super moon and the eclipse. What resulted was a sight to see.  Multiple locations in the CA bay area had viewing parties.  In a matter of 12 months we got a chance to see a total solar eclipse and now a full lunar eclipse with a super moon to boot. In pictures the moon looked like this .... Eclipse at its peak Just as the sliver of silver broke through Quite the show for all of two hours.

A glimpse into the Siliconvolution - Desis in Computers (Right.  Right inside - some realized they were in IT rather than in the computer which would be a physical challenge) Desis hosting Poojas galore Desi mom staying home to watch the offsprings Desis driving Japanese made sedans Desis walking Desis in cloud (some desis realized they are still in IT but it is sexy to say cloud) Desis driving German made sedans Desis on all manners of social media expressing love for their own spouse Desi acquaintances of said posters commenting on the sexiness of poster desis Desis hiring other desis to watch their brood Desi women in Las Vegas en masse, consuming all manners of videshi beverages Desis posting pictures of them attempting to lose weight (guys and gals included) after their respective trips to Vegas and destinations beyond Desis running Desis running without shoes Desis driving Teslas Desis walking their dogs (and not picking up what the dog left behind) while ot...

As humans we have taste.  Or so we would like to think.  Taste for both the edible and not so edible.  We also view ourselves on a sliding scale of expertise or interest among our peers to be either an amateur or an expert at something when it comes to admiration for or competency in discussing something tasteful. To that end this weekend, I watched a couple of documentaries.  One showcasing the human fascination for speed and the other for food. I am gullible in both cases.   The fastest land travel in my case has been on board a train in Spain which clocked at 218 mph.  This documentary I watched however showed some of fastest production cars including a Dodge and a Bugatti.  They were driven by showman Jay Leno. He also introduced the viewers to the fastest woman on land called Jesse Combs who drove top speed of 440 mph in Oregon a few years ago.  She has the taste for really fast things.  So does Jay in that he has collected s...

From the royal bowel movement to the verbal abuse of several religions and dynasties this story and film has enough to rile up the Brits, the Hindus and the Muslims.  In attempting to portray that in a couple of hours it is hilarious. As to what is fact v fiction I think it is up to the viewer to behold and determine.  The film starring Dame Judi Dench as Queen Victoria (the Empress of India) and Ali Fazal (as Kareem the Munshi) is a watchable tale of the Queen's penchant to have trusted aides by her side when she does not trust her inner circle.  Apparently she has had a couple of these advisor/confidants from India during her tenure as Queen and in this installment we see a Muslim clerk from Agra get selected to present a token of gratitude in what is a stroke of luck for him when he is sent from India by boat to England.  The royal staff keeps referring to him as a Hindu in several ironic comical moments. Munshi as he describes himself (as in a se...

Spent a long weekend courtesy of Doc Martin Luther King watching some old and not so old movies produced by American and British studios. Among the memorable ones was a BBC production of a British author's book by the same name called Brick Lane.  This film is around 10 years old and describes the tale of a child marriage, a girl from Bangladesh who moves to London to live with a man twice her age. It is filmed over a 10 plus year period including the 9/11 incidents in NY and showcases a  myriad emotions from a girl torn away from the only home she knew growing up with her sister to now live i n a cold isolated place like London in a housing project in Brick Lane with a man she knows nothing of, to the racial tensions spurred post 9/11 in the poor east end neighborhood of London. The lead role is a Bengali actress who gives a stellar performance of being a bride, mother and lover caught in a breath choking environment.  Her husband is a comical and temperame...

Spent the last week on our favorite American island called Oahu.  It is part of the Hawaiian archipelago in the middle of the Pacific some 2,500 miles west of San Francisco.  Honolulu is the largest city and the state capital. Is where we landed and chilled.  It is a great blend of the natural and artificial along with history and architecture.  As in lots of hiking and grand vistas from mountain to sea if you so desire but also offers a vast variety of eat options (for someone like me) and shopping that requires a pretty coin.  The latter is mostly relegated to the Japanese crowds that arrive in droves with a yen to spend. Here are some of the highlights of what our week was like - 1.  A hike to the eastern corner of the island where the Diamond sits.  As in Diamond head crater, so named for the  founding father of this island as in a dormant volcano (that glistened with calcite giving it an appearance of diamonds) a mere 800 feet elevatio...