Brown Motion

A children's marching band song that is somehow stuck in my head. I have no idea what the words mean but the tune is catchy.  Recently when I read Rihanna was peddling knickers, I somehow thought that she must have a knack for knickers and the tune kept playing in my head.  If that is not whacky what is? What it also tells me is that America is truly land of opportunity for anyone willing to hustle.  A girl from Barbados who allegedly suffered abuse can go from being no one to a pop star and then turn her charisma to selling unrelated goods. There are many such successful business people in America but when I compare to my land of birth aka India, I cannot think of comparable marketers.  I mean if Asha Bhosale or equivalent singer in India started selling their own brand of underwear it would cause a national uproar or even riots. Can you imagine Aishwarya trying to twerk or a Priyanka selling her own brand of Chopra cosmetics?  But it is possible for K...

"Terimakasi".  In Hindi, the Indian national language this Indonesian phrase phonetically sounds similar to 'Teri Maa Kaise Hai?" which literally means - how is your mom doing? But this is not really a polite inquiry about your parent.  Rather a soft spoken heartfelt 'thank you' in Bahasa - the native tongue of the Indonesians.  The airline's recorded announcement told us that we had arrived in Bali and thanked us for coming. So began our introduction to the sounds, culture, foods and weather of the island nation of Indonesia.  We flew in with a Taiwanese air carrier from San Francisco, via Taipei into the isle of Bali, one of hundreds that make up the archipelago of this Republic. Bali happens to be occupied by people of the Hindu faith while the rest of the islands are largely Muslim faith.  It is overall a fascinating place with its own set of idiosyncrasies, lifestyle and pace of life. We were smitten and amused by a variety of phrases and wo...