Brown Motion

 This dump is about language.  How is it that it is?  By region and continent.  By history and circumstance. Take the deal with Title.  Not those that are bestowed but the ubiquitous first field on a lengthy form you might fill out.  More so in British influenced lands.  Territories and Colonies. Title.  Mr. Mrs. Ms et al. But I am referring to the spoken kind.  As referenced in the title of this blog.  Sir. And its gender equivalent.  Ma'am short for Madam. I remember penning letters to potential employers and addressing them to their respective HR departments with the words - Dear Sir /Madam. As I moved to America many moons ago I realized that here they have dispensed with this nonsense.  Part cultural where all men are created equal (so what is with this titling?) and part the (il)logic of wearing your shoes in bed.  We do not wait for minor details. Mind you this is my interpretation.  We think addressing a rando...

 Yes there are a lot of those floating around.  In America. No money, no assets - many so called rich and famous ones too - underneath their Gucci's are. But I am talking about moral or social bankruptcy. Covid exposed this a lot.  Look at dog ownership rates.  They spiked last year. Typically normal behaving Desis also adopted this habit.  In droves. Unless you are blind and need an animal to avoid you from stumbling why are humans hanging on to canines? Are we really so socially bankrupt that we have to resort to a tail wagging mental organisms for company? And not to mention the paraphernalia that goes in keeping this addendum in tip top shape. Then there is the defecation management which gets to me.  Ownership of said animal seems to not convey taking charge of bladder movement and rectal functions on the owner.  That is left to the animal's whims and public surfaces. Leave a mark where you go Roofus they say. And speaking of control why are these...

 Lot of stupid is all around us. Same old wine in newer bottles? Of course there is that too. Some dramatic ideas?  Nada. I do have some real ground breaking stuff of my own that I will put out here in a bit.  Not bitcoin .. that is too hard for my simple brain to fathom.  Some basic stuff.. Just look at all the BS that is spewing around us. If you were awake you might have heard it - Organic produce - Stop labeling anything organic.  It is coming from this earth.  Therefore it is all organic.  Morons.  Cows treated or untreated with this and that.  Hey if you do not want to drink milk your choice. Go find your organic bourbon but stop putting more literature on a milk carton than there are words in the constitution. Buy now pay later.  What?  Since someone figured they could make some money lending to other people willing to take risk have used this to build and grow economies.  Moving the penalty box around is not a new idea....

The setting  - Madras Cafe, Sunnyvale California, just past noon on a Saturday.  A usual assortment of locals and their respective visiting appas and ammas awaiting their turn to sit at a table and enjoy. The tummy  - growling in anticipation of an Udipi affair. I was craving this thick but fluffy, savory rice and lentil pancake from the deep south of India for a while.  Batter is prepared with udad daal and rice mix and liberally mixed with chopped onions and a bit of spice.  Then spooned out on a very hot griddle and flattened like a crepe but thicker. This amazing flat circle of goodness with a dollop of ghee on top sitting in the largest hollow of a stencil like stainless steel plate with other pockets for the side cast, is accompanied with a bowl of sambar (a lentil soup with chunks of carrot and opo aka dudhii and onions and a masala) and coconut as well as mint and tomato chutneys. This was enjoyed on a sidewalk courtesy the covid.  But no matter, si...

 Covid brought lot of grief. But it also put a spotlight on excess.  Waste in all manners of consumption. One of them is diplomatic travels. Each month there was at least some story in major media that talked about one head of state visiting another.  Usually among friends sometimes to attend global conferences where they managed to get in front of foes alike.  Usually with a whole contingent of yes men and women. Not so much during Covid. And with good reason.  No one has dropped a bomb on another nation whilst we were battling the virus. Sure there have been some miserable explosions but that was largely human error or plain stupid behavior. Some incidents were local terror groups bored silly with this virus mumbo jumbo. But the point of these missions usually to sign trade agreements or negotiate some delicate prisoner transfers et al could well happen over video calls. After all most governments including the likes of Burma aka Myanmar at this point have thi...

 The world is awash with the novel virus that upended lifestyles in 2020. No particular human was spared.  If you had lungs you were vulnerable.  Even the likes of royalty both monarchs and film stars and heads of various governments were apparently not spared. But with money and space many can recover.  Eventually the world discovered a way to fight back.  With a gun at our head Sapiens developed a vaccine or two in record time and it was approved for human injection. And so it began.  The rays of hope began to emerge then hit a wall.  Who gets the vaccine?  Who makes it and who will be first in line?  Really? The year that humans continue to pile hardware on Mars (even Dubai landed a craft  - like they needed new sands to play on) and dream beyond we are still debating this elementary question?  Seriously?  It is fantastical to see that no one has decided to send rather bombard regions with the most need first.  Think po...

 Growing up in India many things in daily life were different than America. Still are. I remember hearing Indian radio ads about suiting, shirting and banians. In America nada. Instead I hear about shootings. I hear about shitting. I hear about bunions. Think about it. Indian advertising was about ayurvedic potions and pastes and goop to swallow - all ages mind you  - dadaji badminton was a Dabur Chavanprash ad I still remember.  To explain Chavanprash to a white person in America is a worse undertaking than say developing a Tesla with a 1000 mile range. American's on the other hand cannot get enough of consonant heavy medication to apparently cure everything from fungal outbreaks to mental instability.  For all ages mind you. In India you had all manners of useless dudes standing around at railway stations, paan stalls, sidewalks or outside schools scratching their privates or loitering with no goal in mind. I called them Scratchers. In America we do have them ...

 Normal.  Sounds innocuous enough.  What is it? I know it is a name of a town in rural Illinois state.  In the midwest.  In America. Not that state. A sense of being.  Many pundits have been pontificating on this so called state and America's return to it. First it was the Y2K frenzy. Then a decade later it was the financial tsunami of 2008-09.  And the world was upside down. A decade later it is the pandemic. Who defines normal defies logic. Life is a continuum with good days and not so good days and trying to pigeon hole a point in time is meaningless. I read this morning's paper and saw a couple of headlines about shootings in malls in America.  Two different coasts but same MO.  Some nut going ballistic. I thought to myself.  Could this be what these fools are rambling about a return to normal?  After all American news was always littered with someone unloading ammo on strangers at least once a week and that type of coverage too...

 Goofy terminology is everywhere to be found.  In all cultures and all places.  If you are American or someone that follows the modified gladiator version sporting event called the NFL games then you know what I mean. A person or highly paid athlete who runs with a football on a 100 yard field is said to Rush.   Yardage covered is rushing yards.  There is a touchdown involved.  Another goofy term. Any way the usual annual pageantry called Super Bowl just wrapped up where they crowned a QB as a GOAT.  More terminology that actually does not mean anything in terms of progressing the human race - it is just another capitalistic venture is all. But the point of this blog is to highlight that before Brady (said QB) did his rushing or his opponent the young Mahomes tried to display his agility there was a more sinister game of ball that happened in this country. Turns out that the outgoing President of these United States was not going to vacate the Whi...

 You are lucky to be alive.  Even more lucky if you are healthy. Esp in these trying times. True dat. But one cannot help make observations of our ilk when either forced into close quarters with them or introduced to them in course of doing business. From food pickup at restaurants to flying on a commercial jet to destinations that help break the monotony of current status I encountered many examples of a generic excuse.  Oh because of Covid. Did not get my usual accompaniment of sauces with my burger or my Pad Thai?  Sorry due to covid we are limiting the selections. Flight was oversold and you got bumped? Covid has caused many disruptions to our staffing and we are unable to process remediation in a manner you have come to expect.  What? No soda on a trans-continental flight.  Covid is limiting what we serve on board.  You got water and so please go back to sleep,  which by the way you can since that seat next to you is empty.  So Ha! Coffe...