Brown Motion

 I am not one to say.  Or do.  I wish I could do social work.  I guess growing up in India I did some.  I volunteered at schools on day camps.  I also did some stateside.  With the Red Cross and with some non profits.  But not enough. What would our world be if many able bodied people actually did more of it?  Instead of the other almost eponymous activity - Social Network? I find that in the decades of my being on our planet, we discovered personal computing, then mobile technology and access to global information and then the culmination of it to be able to lookup anyone or anything 24x7 anywhere. The looking up anyone took off, first for its novelty and then for what it truly was designed for - more efficient mass consumerism.  But as always happens the gullible were led down the road oft traveled.  They fell for it. People began to compete.  The haves showed off while the have nots pretended to be the former.  Whether ...

 I have been posting many a rant, an opinion, a post on this blog for few years on.  As posts go I guess I have also dabbled in positing my views on death and all that is not life.  Cannot remember the specifics. But the recent few months has seen a number of living beings in my circle stop.  Living that is. And thusly it gave me a moment to reflect on them or their absence posthumously. Hence this post about the posthumous. Derived from Latin for 'after the death of the father' it is also conflated as 'after the dirt hits the coffin'. I guess if you are Hindu belief it should then be 'postignis'.  As in after the fire. But I also reflect on how it is that we as sentient beings want to remember the once living.  Example, in the posthumous events that are now enabled via technology. Zoom calling a bunch that knew the dead and commiserating is but one of the many ways people are handling the emotional dimension. Celebrations of life or vigils or wakes or othe...

 There is something mesmerizing about water cascading downhill.  Countless adventures later I am still struck by this phenomenon.  Nature showing its myriad ways to impress. Recent excursion took the family in the western Carolina region where the chemical giant Dupont used to run a silicon plant in the late 20th century. Now it is a regional park.  Full of forests and waterfalls that result from a lake draining out.  Below are some pictures ... Hooker Falls named for some administrator I think Triple falls for the 3 step affair they produce as they fall down the limestone cliff High falls - not visible from this vantage is a covered bridge on the top of the falls   A side trip to the steepest grade for a main gage railway in the entire United States - small village called Saluda NC.  The railway was owned by Norfolk Southern, a coal hauling rail carrier but the tracks are no longer in use.  Shame.

 Tom Cruise's got nothing.  Have you seen the images out of Kabul airport recently? Courtesy Getty Images - take a look below... Priority boarding is now passé  - look at this new version of pre-board.. Hang on I am coming!!! Boarding an aircraft took on new meaning Tom Cruise tried valiantly to sell us on a fictional idea that to do good stunts you had to do the below.. courtesy - Wagner Cruise productions But guess what - Tom can take solace in the fact that he did not spend $80 billion of US Taxpayer dollars to bring peace in a made up bad actor movie. US government did and likely got no peace.  So a worse movie for more money? Whoa!

 American politics or just American culture or perhaps not even that - just human beings are erratic and arrogant.  That is the conclusive message after Cuomo resigned as NY Governor. Men mostly perhaps some women as well tend not to follow the maxim - keep your hands to yourself.  Do not go around touching, feeling, caressing, groping or fondling anyone or anything that does not belong to you. Just like museum art pieces oft preach to visitors - keep your hands off the exhibit. But alas.  Hubris and absolute power are two interlocked phenomena that go hand in hand in almost any form of industry or government.  From the arts to media to political landscapes and sports arenas galore have we not yet got tired of the continuous harassments of another of our species (men and women)? What drives this behavior? Is it simply lack of moral compass? Is it biology?  Is it lack of education? Clearly there are lot of vectors one can expose and suggest that a trigger or...

 America is full of them.  Indeed a recent trip or trips to different parts of the south confirms it.  The wood is hard and versatile and has been used in manufacture of furniture for 100s of years. There are genetic variations of course but the branding is omnipresent with each farm or region trying to showcase its unique character. Below some pics to prove it. This 400 year old natural superstructure (Angel Oak) has its branches swing out like some mythical creature reaching to grab the earth - this one on an island close to Charleston SC   A furniture mart in North Carolina home to variety of woodworking companies had an entire showroom full of Amish Oak furniture

 Having visited South Carolina's largest city some 20 odd years back it was time for a repeat. This time we drove out for a weekend getaway. Highway system in the Carolina's is fairly well maintained and funded.  As such the drive time was not too shabby.  Arriving mid day we sought some nourishment and found it a place eponymously called North of Broad. Sandwich and soups were good filling. Then it was on to strolling along the promenade at the peninsula and some of the streets with the old architecture kept up through their designation as Historic Places or through some TLC from their loving owners. The styles of buildings are many and I am no architect but the primary versions include Antebellum (from mid 19th century) with the large two story columns on the façade, and the Georgian or Victorian styles from the 17th century. We also managed to drive on the recently completed cable stay bridge - one of the longest in the western hemisphere.  Amazing architecture of...

 While I do enjoy a good tipple this is not about my drinking habits.  More about those umpteen times I have watched a train turn on a bend. Most times I would be on said train.  Sometimes just watching as an onlooker.  I know not what is so fascinating about watching tons of heavy steel travel at speed and hug a set of steel rails but the result is magical.  To me. Coming or going and bending or straightening out the sheer mass movement is instantly captivating.  Below are some samples from five continents that I visited... Broad gage rail in South India heading uphill from port city of Vishakhapatnam Local commuter in London's dockyard area The French Underground In the Swiss Alps using a cog Kuranda Rail in Eastern Australia New Zealand's coastal pacific Peru Rail alongside the river Urubamba Shinkansen gliding into Kobe station (I think) Toy train on a hill in Vishakhapatnam

 I visited India in the halcyon days of pandemic free travel.  That was almost six plus years back.  Summer on the sub continent.  A constant 40 degree Celsius.  Humid most times.  Heat index was unbearable at times.  Yet the solitude of travel does wonders.  Below are some memories of the time I spent on the road - in the southern state of Tamilnadu and its surrounds.  Most temple structures made of local clay or brick are 1000 years old. Fun signage along the way added to the otherwise scorching episode. Realizing the temple etiquette for India (of forbidden items) I had donned excessively long jeans which in hindsight served to protect my heels as I draped them under, during my walks over hot bricks in the temple complex  This type of nourishment certainly helped maintain my sanity along with cold treats Guess you do not need much to share with another human 11 feet tall Nandi or Bull guards the door to the Gangaikonda Cholapuram comp...