Obuls Daddy Blog

Between jobs or Beyond jobs?

2011-07-01T11:57:00.000-07:00

Today I am between jobs. I know for sure because I accepted another offer and will be joining them next week. When people say they are between jobs, my crazy brain wants to ask "How would you know you are *between* jobs unless you have found one?" However, my mouth has been smarter to shut up, and help me stay polite! Especially, it would be rude in this tough economy. Once, I met an ex-GM from my company at a restaurant. Hoping to strike a career opportunity, I asked him where he was these days. His answer, "I am between jobs". Again, my crazy brain goes, "Maybe. You are actually *beyond* jobs", since I know he made a killing from his previous gig, and drives a porsche! Fortunately, again, my mouth was smarter to keep shut, so I didn't say anything career limiting! My apologies, if you are between or beyond jobs reading this - nothing personal!

East St John St - why double "street" in the name?

2011-06-01T22:34:00.000-07:00

I found this street name in San Jose, California very strange... "East St John St"... I can understand "East John Street", but why would they call it "East Street John Street"? Turns out, the right way to read it - "East Saint John Street"... The first St goes with "St John", and there is east and west for St John Street!

Finding life in outer space

2011-04-18T22:12:00.000-07:00

I was listening to the radio, and this astronomist was explaining how NASA's space probes are trying to find water in Mars, which is the essential for life to exist. By finding water, she explained we can then hope to find life in Mars. These guys are wasting time and money. They should try and find oil in Mars - then, I guarantee they will find life (and drilling machines) in Mars!

Book Review - The Ancestor's Tale

2011-04-16T20:44:00.000-07:00

The Ancestor's Tale by Richard Dawkins: This book is a classic on biological evolution from a biologist professor famous among those who don't care about religion, and infamously known to those who do. Since it is reviewed extensively on the web, there is little I can add, so I will keep it short just to entice more readers. The book is about how we all came from, and traces our origins as a pilgrimage to the past, all the way to life's origin on earth - all the way to algae or amoeba, and all the way to when continents were together. Since it is based on the author's almost entire research career, it is filled with scientific discoveries, words of wisdom and convincing arguments. I learned that Australopithecus (our ancestor that gave rise to all the Homos... Homo-erectus, Homo-sapiens etc) had nothing to do with Australia, but Australo just means south, and implied an origin in South Africa. Likewise, erectus means standing up straight, and nothing to do with an erection! Somehow, a scientist chose to call this branch of Apes as Homo, borrowing from Homo-therm (meaning same temperature, implying warm blooded animals). I have read somewhere sapiens means wise, so we humans are supposed to be wiser than other species, though it may not show in many cases! Great to read, and must read!

Taxing Time

2011-04-16T00:24:00.000-07:00

Just finished doing taxes and wanted to take a break. So, I pick up this book called "The Ancestor's Tale", and it gives me a boat load on Taxonomy! It's true you can't escape death and taxes...:)

Book Review - Our Cosmic Origins

2011-04-06T21:58:00.000-07:00

Our Cosmic Origins by Armand Delsemme: I had been wondering if there was a book that tied together all the scientific discoveries related to the origin of our universe and human evolution. This book does exactly that, and I am very happy to have read it. Written by a very distinguished professor, it starts from the big bang, how our galaxy formed, what conditions are necessary for life and how life came about on earth, how dinosaurs came and went, and how plants, animals and human beings came into existence, and how the how we are evolving with the recent population explosion. That is billions of years worth of scientific history! It is easy to read, meant to reach common people, though there is a pinch of academic style from the professor. The best part I liked was the professor's advice to teach values to children at the young age (2-5 years), which is what he believes will help human evolution the right way. I completely agree.

National Museum in Delhi

2010-12-22T11:29:00.000-08:00

I visited the National Museum in Delhi last week. Once I made my way past the scaffolding put up for construction without any sense for safety, and learned to ignore the din from the hundreds of school students, it was a couple of hours well spent. A few exhibits to mention below:

-Indus valley civilization: There were quite a few related to Indus valley civilization dated 2500 BCE or so. They were more advanced than I thought, and surprised things hadn't changed for so long! Kitchen knives, pots in different shapes and decorations, similar to what I have seen in homes when I was young. Beaded jewelry that may pass fashionable even today. Even a buried woman skeleton from Indus valley!

-Several transparancies on Language Evolution. For example, how a symbol for Ka morphed from early civilizations or found in tamil caves into different scripts of today (devanagari, tamil, telugu, even tibetan, burmese).

-Armory over the years, including bows & arrows, swords, spears, armors (including for elephants!), shields.

-Plenty of statues, idols, stupas, paintings. Many are familiar from temple and monument visits, history texts etc. The idols are from various ages, but many paintings are relatively newer from 17th century onward (not from Indus valley!). There are also more paintings in the nearby National Gallery of Modern Art, again mostly covering just last 300 years.

Also, stopped by the cafeteria and gave up looking at the menu price!

Where the mind is without fear - In the context of India today

2010-12-08T02:09:00.000-08:00

If Rabindranath Tagore was alive today, I think he would have written his poem as below! My little imagination based on India today!

Where the mind is without fear of blasts, kidnapping, rape or murder
Where the head doesn't refuse to think
Where knowledge is not sold for money
Where the world has not been broken up
Into fragments by WikiLeaks, regional parties, splittists or Maoists
Where words come out not just to discuss divorce and depth of scams
Where tireless striving is not a stretch, let alone striving for perfection
Where the clear stream of traffic has even a remote chance of finding its way
through the deadly city roads and dead signals
Where the mind is not led backward by anybody
Into ever narrowing thought and morals
Into at least that level of freedom, let my country awake

Condom Conundrum

2010-11-28T03:51:00.000-08:00

There was news that the Pope has approved use of condoms in exceptional cases. I guess that means, if push comes to shove, it is OK to use! But then, every case here is an exception, since it's all about push coming to shove...:)

Book Review - We Are Like That Only

2010-11-27T10:50:00.000-08:00

We are Like that Only by Rama Bijapurkar: This book is a winning guide to India's consumer market. It brings out the peculiarities in the Indian market with examples, quantitative data, segment analysis and from the author's own experience from Mckinsey and other. It was interesting to read about how "bride viewing" is now being video taped by marriage brokers, how Kellogg cereal should have been marketed as a afternoon snack instead of breakfast, and how India always seems half full and half empty! It also projects views like there are 3 Nigerias within India, while everyone talks about the one silicon valley in Bangalore! Folks in B-school who have studied case studies in Japan or China would be aware of the pains and pitfalls mentioned in dealing with a newly emerging country like India, but I felt the consumer data and segmentation of Indian market was something new, and can be useful to product companies. There were also comments relating to Indian history and epics such as Ram abandoning his wife and asking her to prove chastity, Krishna as a manipulating cowboy, which I think is unwarranted and shows the book in poor light. There is an interesting table showing a mapping from Indian to western values, showing things like Patriarchy vs. Egalitarian or Individualism - sometimes, I feel these are comparing outcomes as a result of transition rather than intrinsically present behaviors that can be called "Indian". I could finish reading rather quickly, which I think is because I didn't find anything jaw-dropping.

Book Review - The World Is Flat

2010-11-27T10:21:00.001-08:00

The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman: This is a popular best seller that comprehensively discusses globalization, how it affects different countries, companies and people, and what they can do about it. Friedman brings great perspectives from decades of journalist experience having visited the different countries, interviewed leaders worldwide on this topic and plenty of useful insights. The beginning itself catches attention comparing his expedition to Bangalore (India) with Columbus' expedition to look for India, and how he discovered the world was flat, while Columbus discovered the world was indeed round! Then he discusses the various factors like browsers, open source software, Google search that made the world flat by making it easier to share information and collaborate easily across the world. Having established the world is now flat, he provides insights on why Americans should be concerned, and what they can do about it. We may not agree with all his views and solutions proposed, but that shouldn't stop the reader from appreciating the insights gleaned from direct experience. It was interesting to note his new definition for Untouchables, how 11/9 (Berlin wall) was constructive and 9/11 (WTC) was destructive with respect to a flat world, how Dell PC has components coming from different parts of the world. To put it flat, it was well worth the several days it took to finish the 450 pages.

LDL formula

2010-11-15T03:09:00.000-08:00

I found something surprising after breaking my head over a blood test result. It seems labs don't always measure and report LDL numbers. They sometimes use a formula to compute LDL!!

If TC is Total Cholesterol and Tri is the triglyceride measurement, TC = LDL + HDL + VLDL and, as an approximation VLDL = Tri/5. That means, LDL = TC - HDL - Tri/5.
E.g., if TC is 230, HDL is 36 and Tri is 190, the LDL = 230 -36 -190/5 = 156.

Apparently, this is a close approximation in most cases where Tri is less than 400 mg/DL. In some cases, real LDL measurement could be lower. Also, higher LDL could just mean the fluffy LDL particles became larger, and not necessarily more LDL particles. Check out this link for more details - scroll down a bit to see this LDL formula stuff.

I wish labs disclose that they took a short cut to save money rather than let folks figure out or freak out! But my doctor said I need to reduce cholesterol anyways, so all this research didn't matter in the end!

Gayatri Mantra - Mindboggling interpretation!

2010-11-15T03:03:00.000-08:00

I recently read an article recently from a reputed Guru who said something like -"Gayatri mantra has maximum effect if it is chanted in the mornings". It turns out, there are many such Gayatri (or sing-able) mantras in the Vedas dedicated to different deities, and the one popularly referred to here is towards Savitr (Sunrise or the sun light at dawn). The meaning of the hymn is essentially "...We meditate on that which gave us this morning light, may that illuminate our intellect..."

So, its like saying Good Morning has maximum effect if it is said in the morning! It's amazing how Gurus can attract crowds with such simple interpretations!

Book Review - A Better India A Better World

2010-10-24T06:22:00.001-07:00

A Better India A Better World - N. R. Narayana Murthy: This is a collection of lectures or speeches from the founder and former CEO of Infosys, given at university convocations, leadership seminars, or published in business magazines. It is interesting to learn Infosys' early challenges to even import a computer or make a week long foreign trips, when licensing and stifling for-ex and import customs control were in place, as well as how the founders formulated the vision to be the most respected software services company. The book cites the typical challenges in India - corruption, poverty, over-population, inordinate delays, inefficiencies, lack of political leadership, good education, intellectual honesty, responsibility, accountability and so on. The solutions proposed are a bit more insightful than in "Imagining India", written by his fellow Infosys founder Mr. Nandan Nilekani, but again lacks the punch as to why they would lead to a better India. For example, it suggests creating a judiciary with a jury system, and use eminent citizens to head corruption courts - but it is not clear why this would this work when intellectual dishonesty prevails, and when private individuals are also corrupt? He himself admits private scandals such as Harshad Mehta's stock scam and cricket match fixing scams were bigger than public corruption! He'd like English and more Religion taught in schools - it is possible to appreciate his views, since he claims being articulate in English is important, and teaching religion inculcates values and appreciation for other beliefs. However, one may argue it can cause more drop-outs since much of the population can't even read/write in their own language and may quickly give up on English, and it is not necessary to teach religion to inculcate values - fact is many schools are already religion based (Christian missions, Hindu, Sikh or Muslim trusts), and indulge in a boat load of religious indoctrination starting with prayers, so the country might be better off not teaching more religion! The book quotes from so many leaders such as Gandhi, Churchill, Kennedy, Greenspan, Aristotle, Mark Twain, Samuel Johnson, Bernard Shaw, C. K. Prahlad, Einstein and others, as well as many Sanskrit hymns - of course, it is useful for speeches, but it also makes it seem one can easily fill a book with others' quotes! Also, some of them repeat since they were reused in different speeches. Criticism aside, it was interesting to read about his request for 240 page passport, since Indian IT professionals travel so much and require visas, seminars for 25 years in Bangalore for a power plant that still hasn't happened, and the leadership of JRD Tata who paid attention to detail by even inspecting plane toilets. The book also talks about Compassionate Capitalism, Travails of Philanthrophy and Entrepreneurship and has some good advise and insights on these topics. Overall, good as a library pick, but not sure if the collection of lectures warrants a 500 rupee price tag!

Book Review - The First 90 Days

2010-10-21T02:12:00.000-07:00

The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels - Michael Watkins: An easy to read and recommended book with good suggestions for someone taking on a new manager or leadership role. Clearly, the first few days count to establish credibility, authority and the book suggests how to take stock of the situation (turnaround, vs. realignment vs. sustaining etc), how success in prior job may not imply same thing will work in the new role, how to chart out a strategy by negotiating with new boss, setting expectations, building a team, handling politics, past peers etc. Handy as a checklist if there is a job change situation

Palimony vs Alimony - Indian court definitions

2010-10-10T12:18:00.000-07:00

India's supreme court was deliberating on the possibility of awarding some type of alimony for live-in relationships, citing palimony in California as example. I was a bit surprised, since California did not recognize common law marriage, so awarding any form of alimony for such live-in relationships would recognize them as marriage and would be contradictory. Turns out, palimony in California is not based on rights as a married couple - the claiming spouse must prove some other underlying implied contract, written or oral, that forms the basis of the getting some compensation. I was wondering how the Indian courts would apply this logic in the Indian context.

Finally, the Indian court ruled no palimony unless a few things are satisfied such as live-in relationships for significant period and they conduct themselves as husband and wife to society. Just weekend stays, one-night stands, only for sex relationships don't qualify. Bottom line, they have mixed up marital rights with live-in relationships if the husband-wife thing can be shown. No time line is specified, so even a six month live-in with some basis of husband-wife (maybe they lied so to rent a place!) could end up in a life-long alimony (or palimony) award!

Nobody wants to look at other California guidelines on alimony that makes it crisp, predictable and fair - like, roughly 40% of income awarded to non-earning spouse. regardless of gender, for roughly half the time the marriage. For whatever reasons, Indian regulators love fuzzy logic!

Book Review - Imagining India

2010-10-07T10:38:00.000-07:00

Imagining India by Nandan Nilekani: This book is a little over 500 pages, written by Infosys co-founder and former CEO. My six year olds were asking me how long I could read so many pages, and how long I'd take to finish - turned out it only took me a couple of days to finish cover to cover! That was because, much of the book was history of India, more of visualizing the past as opposed to imagining the future. Roughly 75% of the book presents policies, politics, population and problems from Nehru's time - corruption, inefficiency, bureaucracy, caste, religious and regional politics - stuff that people have experienced first hand, or have read in other books, so it was easy to breeze through. A few insights were useful, but most seemed shallow. The author says India's demography is young and Infosys average age is 27 years old - but I am not sure we can connect the two. In fact, I have seen Infosys job advertisements clearly asking for Date of Birth along with resume, so it may just be due to plain age discrimination! Another place the book echoes the conventional notions that caste purity and pollution as silly and child marriages as evil - definitely true in today's context, but mention of why they came about would help set right context why we can imagine doing without it (like, fear of disease, control of natural resources for caste discrimination, low average life expectancy (35 years in 1947) forcing early marriages). The remaining 25% talks about the need to change many things - primary and higher education, health care, social security etc. I felt legal reforms, basic ethics, habits, traffic sense were left out. Some solutions are presented from experts, experiments and experiences in India and abroad, like how Information Technology (IT) will increase transparency, reduce corruption, why US type social security won't work, as well as his pet idea of Universal ID for every Indian. However, I felt it lacked the punch that an economist or politician from years of experience would have delivered!

Ayodhya Verdict - Ask What Wins instead of Who Wins!

2010-10-01T07:22:00.000-07:00

Few things I learned, found surprising and intriguing about the Ayodhya verdict.

Ayodhya means "No war" or "Unconquerable"! Neither seems to apply with the legal battle over 60 years old, and the political and religious war started since the 1500s. In those times, it was symbolic for Muslim invaders like Babar to assert political power by replacing a prominent religious structure or renaming cities - Istanbul is an example for both.
First, the judges decided the title was not clear based on facts, hence it became a partition decision. Otherwise, the homes you and I own could also end up in dispute with some idols installed overnight! Then, the judges started applying a mix of facts and faith to provide a judgment that they felt could work for everyone.
Ram Lalla (Baby) as an infant deity had legal rights and won 1/3rd of it's birth place! A friend or guardian of the deity will act on its behalf! Apparently, this has precedence in Indian courts with several temple deities involved in legal disputes. This is similar to a company as entity, with the board or management acting on its behalf.
Justice Khan wrote in his judgment that Ram epitomized tyag (sacrifice). In fact, Ram gave up entire Ayodhya, including the birth place, the palace, the throne and the people, and left to the forests for 12 long years in order to fulfill his father's promise. If the promise was life-long, he would have accepted that and given up Ayodhya life-long as well. However, his followers after several thousand years don't even want to give up a 60x40 feet piece of land in Ayodhya!
Nirmohi Akhara won 1/3rd of land. Nirmohi means non-passionate or detached materially from earthly pleasures, and Akhara is an order of saints called sadhus. A non-passionate order of saints have passionately fought for this piece of earth for over a century (they first filed a suit in 1885) - that kind of detachment is mind boggling!
Justice Sharma gave a dissenting verdict totally favoring Hindus, but it was based on carefully studying Muslim law! He reasoned it can't have the character of a mosque, since the Quran doesn't allow building over other religious structures, and it doesn't have minarets typical of other mosques. The judge has an impeccable 40 year service record, title expert, and is a reclusive bachelor - makes it difficult for critics to find fault!
The judges agreed there was a temple, and the mosque was built over it, based on archeologist findings. But, Justice Khan wrote that there was no demolition, just built on temple ruins! The belief that Ram was born exactly in that site or spot came about only in the 1800s. It was called Masjid-i-Janmasthan (Mosque in Birthplace) back then, so the faith or belief seems several centuries old.
A grand temple is not possible in 60x40 site or even in 2.7 acres, though Hindu groups project that as the big idea! The Meenakshi temple in Madurai, or Akshardham in Delhi are more than 10 acres!

All the legal, political and religious opinions notwithstanding, the best solution that would make economic or business sense for both communities is building a Ram temple! It will maximize the religious tourist potential, just as Amarnath, Haridwar or Tirupathi, pull hundreds of thousands of pilgrims. Surprisingly, Andhra is #1 state in domestic tourism partly due to Tirupathi temple - not even Kerala, Goa or Himachal!). In Kashmir, it is said a Muslim actually discovered the Amarnath Ice-Siva-Linga around 1850, and until recently, the cave temple management board included Muslims! A lot of muslims provide services along the yatra (trek), that even separatist groups agreed to leave it alone! Like Haridwar, Ayodhya is listed as one of the seven holiest Hindu cities in ancient texts, and the Muslim population in and around the city with clear title or just residency will benefit from increased tourism. A mosque is unlikely to pull such crowds - in fact, there are very few Muslims and few other mosques in Ayodhya itself, but quite a few Muslims reside 7kms away in Faizabad. So, I think a Ram temple would be a win-win for both communities!

The real losers are Atheists, Rationalists or Evolutionists or such types, as they'll have to do more to influence and pull people out of beliefs and faith. It's a double whammy if both temple and mosque are built! For them the winning solution is like in Istanbul - where the religious structure was converted to a museum, with any worship banned! I think the judges sensed that wasn't quite possible in the Indian secular context!

Stephen Hawking's new book - Grand Design

2010-09-13T01:26:00.000-07:00

Haven't read it yet - some tidbits from the web on Stephen Hawking's latest - "Grand Design".

He tells CNN that Theology is unnecessary (news)!
On God, Science and Origin of Universe in WSJ (Link)

Coming to India - Part III - Arrival and Settling

2010-09-01T10:56:00.000-07:00

We reached Delhi early February, in nice winter weather, and with plenty of luggage. The relocation plan was to stay at a hotel for a month, look for school and rental, get to know the city and settle down with the help of a relocation specialist. It turned out a rediscovery of India after nearly 20 long years!

Intercontinental Hotel: This is a good hotel in many ways, but I am not able to justify 5-star status or the room rent. The staff is very polite, the food is great and it has an excellent gym. The rooms are good, but my first disappointment was there were no rooms with double beds (except for two twin size beds) - that seems to be the case with most India hotels. I couldn't believe the receptionist was expecting the four of us to sleep in one king size bed! We paid for an extra bed for the 3-4 weeks we stayed. The elevators were too slow, or in perpetual repair, and worked in seemingly strange logic. They had good Wi-Fi, but would allow only one laptop at a time! The worst of all was they allowed a smoker in non-smoking room, and the entire aisle was filled with smoke. When I complained to the hotel this was unacceptable, especially when staying with small children for several days, they first responded "What to do sir - the customer is not listening". I blasted the manager asking him to fumigate and charge his client. In the end, they gave me a suite in another floor without additional charge! Finally, the security at the hotel and adjoining building is a joke - they'd pat down men, but no body checks for women and children, or check one pouch of the laptop bag and not others. Overall, the hotel offered a first glimpse of the mixed bag of good and bad!

Cabs: The relocation was supposed to include a car rental for a month to help us get around, but it turned out every time I needed, I had to make an online booking, which would mostly be too late - they need at least half a day notice. The easy way was to hire yellow taxis at the hotel, which were decent for local rides. Private cabs are good, except that some drivers are just unsafe, and have a propensity for their favorite loud music that we may not like! Looking at the traffic and chaos, I chose to live close to work, so we won't need to buy a car and hire a driver (no way I'll drive, and school bus served children).

School: There are many popular good schools in Delhi. However, school admission is probably most nightmarish experience for any parent, due to the excess demand. Most of the schools will not even let you inside the gate, don't have documented procedures or someone who will reasonably explain - which really makes you wonder how it can be a good school. Yet, parents manage to find out, and file applications on time. Our relocation specialist had success in getting information from only a couple of them with the "international" tag, which is different from "global" or "world" schools, though none of the terms have any standard definition. Schools in Noida, however, are a bit far out and expensive - hence demand is relatively lower - so they are happy to talk to parents and have the time to explain. We had a good experience with Lotus Valley International school in Noida had a fairly straightforward process. Within a couple of hours, they completed the evaluation and interview with the principal and accepted our kids for admission. We were also successful at a couple others in Delhi, but one was too expensive (like embassy schools), and the other was much cheaper, but they ticked off our kids with a 4-hour entrance exam!

One principal lectured us on the virtues of Indian education system, and how they emphasize (hand) writing skills early on, citing that even adults in America don't have a good hand writing. What she did not know, however, was that the teachers in my kids' class were stunned watching them read an entire book aloud on their own - none of the other kids could do it, as there is no emphasis on reading, story-telling sessions like in American schools! Further, our kids whine that the teacher always want them to write something, doesn't allow them to play outside (games sessions are used to teach some stretching exercises), and a boat load of things related to hygiene, manners and so on - all of which they learned and loved in American schools. The good stuff, however, is that they have picked up Hindi language, reading and writing words and will possibly learn to speak Hindi down the line. Another friend of mine in Bangalore had warned me few years back that regardless of new concepts in Indian schools, it is still spoon feeding and about academics!

Rental: The real-estate market in India is large, but ad-hoc and undeveloped and operates with a premise of distrust. The brokers or real estate agents are dreaded or despised, and landlords try to shortchange or avoid them as much as possible. Our relocation specialist showed us a good bit of properties with her broker partners, but it was so difficult to converge on anything. Either it was too large for us (they think ex-pats will always want big homes over 2000 sq.ft), too far with nightmarish commute, too expensive (even $2000+ rents), weird floor plans or unacceptable lease terms. We were advised by another colleague who had been through similar experience to check out another real-estate agent. It turned out, we found a rental to our liking within a day with this new agent! The trouble is finding these good agents that landlords exclusively work with, without an orderly market.

Once we found the rental, we moved in quickly and bid goodbye to the hotel. Though the food was good and 5-star service, we were getting tired, and my kids got sick a couple of times which warranted home cooking. The fact they got sick forced us to find pediatricians and medical shops - a referral from a colleague quickly helped us find a good doctor and hospital, that were good. In general, medical services are good in India, except that procedures may not be as well defined, capacity, quality and liability could be an issue for complex situations. We also rented furniture on a monthly basis (referred by our broker), as our household goods was still going to take a month and a half. We could rent almost anything - sofa, bed, TV, refrigerator, washer, cooking gas etc, and the quality, rent, delivery and pickup process was very reasonable.

Bank: My company deposits salary only with specific banks with which I must open an account. It looked seemingly easy to open an account, when someone sent me an email with the application form and instructions. When filling out, I figured it was asking for information that isn't needed for business purpose. This was surprising, since I expected the multi-national would have brought in privacy concepts from abroad. A friend of mine told me the way it works - "You can fight it based on principle, or comply in order to get the work done". I filled it out with half a dozen signatures, and then had to ping them a few days to pick it up - I couldn't go to the downstairs branch to get it done! The pick-up guy found some signature mismatch, and advised me to sign one more time beside the mismatch to fix it! He also asked for a copy of the back of my employee-id as well, which didn't have any useful information, and asked me to sign that copy. After a couple of weeks, they opened the account, but sent me a letter stating an ID copy such as tax-id, passport or driver license was missing. I told them I already included them with the application, and they came back saying the missing document was employee-id! So much for the front and back copy and signatures! Some wise guy had decided internally that is not required to open an account and took it out, but their central office figured it was necessary for salary account. I made them search for it in vain and ended up giving another copy!

In the meanwhile, the company sent me a draft (cashier's check) the first month pay, since I couldn't open the account by then. The bank wouldn't deposit it for several days! When I called, they explained there was a name mismatch - it did not have my middle name! They cited RBI regulations, which is a generic excuse for all the illogical things that banks do. It is true that RBI has strict guidelines, but I am perplexed how the bank could accept the check once I gave another copy of my id with the full name - that still doesn't establish the two names are the same person! The branch also offered experience with clerks who process more than one customer at a time (forget queues), are easily distracted and I am still learning the different ways to shake my head (almost lost my first job in US shaking my head the "wrong" way!).

I thought it was only Citibank, but my colleague said he had similar experience with ICICI bank as well. The bank manager sat down with him, offered coffee and all that, but in the end lost his passport copy that required him to re-do and revisit the bank. Though they talk politely, the red-tape and illogical service is only a shade better than the government run banks. Critical thinking is low due to lack or training and exposure, and they come up with rules to protect their ignorance.

Phone/Internet/Cable: We called up Airtel, and the phone and DSL connection was installed the next day. The installer did a pretty good job, though I'd have liked his company to provide him proper shoes (he had to walk on roof top and walls to fix outside wiring) and better tools. I don't speak Hindi well, and that was disappointing the guys and me - luckily my wife speaks well, which was the saving grace at home. The modem engineer also did a good job, except that I couldn't access my work site or Citibank website from home! I had to teach him different settings so all website will work safely, but I think I'd have been toast if I was not tech-savvy! They tried installing IPTV, but the set-top would not output HDMI and my TV wouldn't accept PAL format (only NTSC) - they just took it back, instead of suggesting a way to fix! The local cable company had a similar box, but found me a PAL to HDMI converter. We got our iPhones unlocked (found a good place in Chennai for this) and could use with local SIM cards from Airtel or other.

Cooking Gas: Since there are power cuts, the preferred mode of cooking is using gas cylinders/stoves. They told us they'll mail us a card to our address in about 20 days that we need to bring back to them as proof of address. We waited, but what they didn't tell us is that during March, it takes 30 days for them as they get busy with tax stuff. It cost us an extra trip to inquire what was going on, but worked out soon after.

Customs Clearance: The movers had a local agent company (Writer Corp) that was tracking our goods with the shipping and customs. They periodically notified us of status, and finally gave us an appointment for customs clearance - almost 4 months after it was packed backed in US! It was a fairly straightforward process at the customs depot, with just a couple of hours waiting time. They checked if the goods had any alcohol or some controlled items, and I had to fill out forms for key items of value (such as TV, fridge etc). They made an entry in my passport and gave back. The next day, the movers delivered the goods at my home and installed them. I had to provide them with even basic tools like hammer, screw driver, stool, extension cord, and re-assembly instructions - otherwise they'd just slam things together the way their carpenter deems fit! Despite the long wait for 4 months, the movers part was by far the smoothest experience and professionally done.

Groceries, Water & Misc: My wife gets groceries and drinking water delivered at the door, though the store springs a surprise occasionally that there is no one to deliver - in those times, she feels having control and driving to Safeway herself was better! One fine day, water supply was cut-off thanks to some caste dispute upstream (one of the castes control the dam that supplies Delhi!). We have to be prepared for such surprises, but largely it works out. Our kids enjoy the local parks, but badly miss the parks and library in US. The parks have swings and slides, but not safe, undeveloped play grounds, and mixed crowd of school-going kids and untaught parents/kids. Shopping areas where you can get everything cheaper exists, but parking woes, sidewalks obstructed in some way that forces you to walk on the road, which again is unmarked for any meaningful pedestrian crossing, or even vehicle traffic, making it a frustrating experience. Mall stores are a saving grace, and we have used them to buy groceries all the way to air conditioners (Delhi is very hot, then very humid and we couldn't do without AC). Luckily, we only have occasional power-cuts - some places around Delhi have 15-hour power cuts in 45C summer! Delhi and surrounding area has high population and a lot of them are very poor. Most are honest and eke out a frugal living, but a small portion of them take up to crime - leading to kidnapping, extortion, murder for gain and rape type of serious crimes. Safety and security is a concern in any city, and more so in Delhi.

All this got us "settled", but you can see it is a mixed bag. In my opinion, it is worth it only if you have a significant reason to go through it - else, don't rock the boat! It is part of the country's growing pains and being in the middle of transition is painful. It is possible to create a system that works for you, and many people from abroad live here, but requires having the right mindset and expectations.

Coming to India - Part I & Part II

Coming to India - Part II - Preparing for departure

2010-09-01T10:45:00.000-07:00

Preparing for relocation in the US was involved, but fairly straightforward to plan and execute. The main things were the following: Household goods, Home sale/rent, Car sale, notifying school, utilities and other places.

Household goods: We started selling on Craigslist some of the household items like patio furniture, yard swing set, strollers, baby beds, futon, cabinets etc, things that we felt wouldn't be needed in an apartment setting in India. However, a relocation specialist advised us to keep many items for shipping saying we won't get such good models in India. He said it is better to wait until movers make an assessment. So we kept many items such as sofa set, Ikea beds, dining table, TV, washer/dryer, refrigerator. I also bought 220V to 110V voltage converters/stabilizers for these based on his advice to get good quality ones from the US (1000W for fridge $150, 500W for TV $100 - both with stabilizers, and couple of 500W/300W converters $40-50 each). The assessment was however at a high level, to determine that I need a 20-feet container to fit everything, and that shipping by air will be way too expensive than by sea. I think the company paid about $6000 for the container and shipping door-to-door. Since the movers didn't make recommendations on specific items (unless they were hazardous, liquids, food, or not allowed), everything went into the 20-feet container. Ideally, I would have liked to dispose a lot of junk. The movers took 2 days to pack and load everything, and noted all the package contents and condition. It is necessary to pay reasonable attention to the condition of the items, since we will need that to claim any damages up arrival.

Also, it is necessary to ensure items like jewelry, important documents like passport, certificates, credit cards, photos, sentimental items don't end up in the container! It will take 4 months to arrive, and if you need them in between or it gets lost or damaged, you are toast!

They arrived in good shape, though it took 4 months (3 months on the ship to Mumbai, and another 3 weeks to get on the train to Delhi and a week for customs clearance/delivery).

Looking back, I think it is better to sell Ikea furniture, and as many older appliances as possible. Better to bring only if they were relatively new and/or expensive, that selling won't make sense. Here's why:

The movers have a hard time reassembling, and don't guarantee Ikea - they told us just a day before packing, so I didn't have time to sell them! We got lucky they could reassemble, with my guidance, my toolkit and with only few screws missing!
Toasters are over 1000W output, and cannot be used with voltage converters - we donated them.
Our 42" plasma TV works fine, but required a PAL to NTSC/HDMI video converter ($200) and 110v to 220v voltage converter/stabilizer ($100 for a good 500W type). The alternative is to settle for a lower model LCD available in India - it may not be a bad choice, since brands like Sony, Samsung, Panasonic are available in India as well.
The DVD player is specific to regions, so not all DVDs play. It is possible to reset the code settings by calling a local engineer that knows such things, but still a tricky thing as our own DVDs may stop playing!
Though packed well, there is a risk that some internal damage happens and it doesn't work. This actually happened to our Whirpool Washer and Dryer - some seal broke inside during the move across the seas, and motor oil leaked causing a overheat burning smell. The Whirlpool service center was quick to send a technician who identified the issue and suggested we replace the motor and gear box for $250. However, since it was an imported model, he couldn't guarantee it will work after repairs. We just bought a new one that cost around $400 - though the local model is front loading, not heavy duty capacity like the one we had. It serves our needs though. We had to give away the dryer for $15 scrap value.
One of the voltage converters was dead on arrival, and I can't go back to US to return it to the store! Luckily, it is not the expensive one I bought for the TV and fridge.
Mover insurance pays only if there is external damage - not for internal damage. For this reason, they refused my claims on washer/dryer. The risk of these things not working doesn't seem worth it.

Home Sale/Rent: We tried to sell our home hoping to leverage on the little upside in the housing market, and use the closing cost benefit from the company relocation package. I spent some money on staging and it showed very nicely. The offers were good, but not compelling enough to sell, due to the depressed valuations (blame the foreclosures), and we ended up renting it out. Renting was relatively easier. For now, it turns out we are actually happy it is renting, as the math works out and allows us to come back in future.

Car Sale: I had to time this for final week, but luckily I had a decent offer close to the blue book value. I closed the loan since it was a small amount, and the pink slip (title) was in the mail - takes up to 3 weeks. That wasn't a good idea, since it gets a little tricky to do the DMV paperwork without title. If the loan is active, the bank will take care of a few things. If you have a title at hand, it is easy - just fill the buyer/seller entries and mail the relevant portions. But, I had to go to DMV for this, they suggested filling out a transfer and duplicate title. A couple of days before departure the actual title arrived by mail and made it much easier. I rented a car for a few days that final week.

Air Tickets: This was fairly straightforward as well. I used Expedia and found a good deal. It is important to get the travel documents in order, such as passport, OCI/PIO or visa related. This may also be a good time to book tickets such that you break the journey and take a few days vacation enroute.

Next... the long story of arrival and settling in India

Coming to India - Part I & Part III

Coming to India - Part I - Reasons for moving

2010-09-01T10:00:00.000-07:00

It has been more than 6 months since we relocated to India from the US. Now that we are a bit settled, I thought I'd share some of the experience. There are 3 parts of this mega blog, since it is too long for one post.

Why we chose to move back to India?
There wasn't any compelling reason to rock the boat, though we could attribute the following reasons that influenced our decision to move.

Parents/In-laws getting older, with moderate health risk, staying alone etc. They could no longer travel to the US nor permanently settle down in the US due to other obligations. The extended family support exists, but it was not fair to take their time and energy for several years. Senior homes are only now becoming an acceptable norm, and not so yet in our family.
Kids were just 5-year old and we felt they can quickly adapt now than later, to learn a new language, culture and bond with the extended family of cousins, uncles/aunts and others.
Personally, it was an opportunity for potentially exciting change, possibility to break from mortgage and health insurance that take over our lives in US. After more than 15 years, it was getting monotonous at work, and my wife could use maid help with household chores, stop driving, find baby-sitters among relatives, and we felt a better work-life balance may be possible. As well, there was a feeling of being able to contribute to our country of origin.

Contrary to popular belief or reasons typically given by others who have returned, we did not feel compelled to return to bring up our girl children in the traditional Indian culture, nor felt school education in India is better since it is focused on academics, nor that we did not fit well with the American culture. We think, and many are now realizing, that India is undergoing a cultural transition with the economic growth, and the new found freedom and change is leaving the young and old confused at this stage - part of growing pains. We were happy with the local schools and our kids performance was very fulfilling. We were not very excited to adopt the spoon feeding and book worm academic approach typical in Indian schools, however "international" they project themselves to be. As well, we felt our mindset fit very well with the American culture, and we have had a lot of friends across ethnic groups in our neighborhood and beyond.

I jumped on an opportunity that came by within the company to relocate to New Delhi, India. It would have been ideal if the position was in my hometown Chennai, but Delhi seemed a good compromise being only 3 hours away by air.

Next... Preparing for departure and settling in Delhi.

Coming to India - Part II & part III

About my daddy Dr. K. V. Swamy

2010-08-03T04:22:00.000-07:00

My dad, Dr. K. V. Swamy passed away on July 19, 2010. He was 80 years old, and lived a fulfilled life leaving behind even great grandchildren. I felt like sharing a brief history of his life and some memoirs.

He was born in 1929, at a village called Thyagarajapuram, located in Thanjavur district in the state of Tamil Nadu in South India. His ancestors lived in that area adjoining the Cauvery river for many generations, though at some point in history one of them must have migrated from North India, since he belonged to the Vadamal Iyer (translates to North Aryan) community. He was the 7th child, and all his prior siblings had died due to some reason such as disease, accident or other. He also lost his father when he was about 8 years old, and his mother brought him up with stretched finances. This experience taught him the value of money, that in later life made him prudent managing his finances and quiet philanthropic pursuits.

He went to school in nearby towns that required miles of walk and train commute, and passed SSLC (Xth grade). He was mentored by his maternal uncle Dr. V. R. Murthy, a pioneer of homoeopathy in South India, who had started the Indian Institute for Homoeopathy and BAHOLA (BArat HOmoeo LAboratories). He joined his uncle's institute as an assistant in the early 1950s, and through hard work, sincerity and perseverence, rose quickly to a leadership position managing several aspects of his uncle's business.

After a decade, he moved on to venture on his own in 1962 and started the Madras Homoeo Pharmacy and clinic in T-Nagar area in Chennai (Madras). He also wrote an examination and registered as a medical practitioner with the Andhra board of Homoeopathic Council. His initial patrons were the street vendors in the area, who would forgo treatment for even basic illness like fever or cough, since they couldn't afford even cough drops or fever pills. They had heard homoeopathic medicines were cheaper, and would give it a chance. He would sometimes give the medicines for free, which was the only source of his revenue, as he never charged a consulting fee. Word spread, and the middle class communities in the area became his patrons. Later, the rich and famous from India and abroad also became his patrons, resulting in around 100 patients a day, and long waits for appointments, even over a week. Even when demand picked up, he maintained the same revenue model of charging only for the medicines. He was popular not only because of his skills, but also because he was jovial, multi-lingual and approachable to his patients.

When he visited the USA, he learned a lot about computers, printers, Internet, and even enrolled in an adult education class in his late sixties! He was a regular shopper at Fry's and stores like OfficeMax during his visits to buy a range of electronic and office supplies. He setup a system back home, and used it actively to keep in touch with patients over email, and print office documents. In this sense, he was even a good engineer! Even on his last day, couple of hours before his death, he sent some emails to his friends - they were shocked to see a follow-up email from the family announcing his demise.

He had traveled India widely in his younger days, and the US in later years. He liked the discipline, clean and systematic life in America. Other than the typical first sight and experience of freeways, signals and sidewalks, code enforcement, parks and libraries, he found a few things jaw dropping. Once, he found that the auto insurance paid for rental car after an accident, while my car was being repaired. Further, the repair shop picked up the rental tab, when it was taking longer than a week. Finally, when the car was repaired like new, he was stunned by the workmanship and service. He had only difficult experiences with Indian insurance companies and cheating auto repair shops, so he was very pleased to see things could indeed work so well. He was also impressed with the relatively easy return policies and customer friendliness at the stores. Once, he forgot to take $10 change from the cashier at Target, and realized only when he got home. We called the store and explained, and they refunded him later that evening, probably trusting his age and looks.

As he got older, he cut down his work hours, but still managed to spend a few hours at the clinic. He also contributed to development of homoeopathy by leading activities in the Tamil Nadu Homoeopathic Council, and mentoring new homoeopathic doctors in opening their own clinics. He had completed 48 years of service at his clinic until his last day. on July 19, 2010. He leaves behind a large family that includes his wife, four sons and a daughter, nine grandchildren and two great grand children. As a husband and father, he was proud that he had done his duty to provide a comfortable life for family and settle his children in good lives. We are proud too, that he lived an accomplished life in many ways!

Life can begin after 60 - Article in The Hindu

2010-08-03T04:10:00.000-07:00

Read this article in The Hindu newspaper. It talks nicely about different types of ages, and tips on how to live positively after 60 years of age. A must read for those close to being a senior citizen, and the rest of us can keep the advice in mind when the time comes!

Book Review - Theory of Everything

2010-07-18T03:06:00.001-07:00

Theory of Everything - text by Stephen Hawking: This is an unofficial book from Jaico/Phoenix Publishers, without Stephen Hawking's endorsement o his copyright, but it is indeed his text from seven lectures. Many online reviews indicate that A Brief History of Time is a better in terms of explanations, illustrations and more coverage. I came to know after I bought the book, so couldn't have helped patronizing. Any case, it is a quick and easy to read book that provides a good understanding of complex physics around the origin of the universe - things like big bang, black holes, space-time and other complex theories are presented in a simplified way that appeals to the lay person. I finally understood what Chandrasekar Limit means, and why Subrahmanyan Chandrasekar was awarded Nobel prize for it! Also includes some of Hawking's wit, especially around mentions of God and the Church. Finally, Hawking concludes that science may be fairly close to explaining everything around the origin and behavior of the universe, and once that happens, philosophers will be able to catchup with the discoveries and help the common people catch up as well. I wish in my school days could simplify quantum physics this way, so we could have had a better appreciation and understanding!

Book Review - Tipping Point

2010-07-16T07:30:00.000-07:00

Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell: This is a popular book by a popular author. It deals with how certain things take off big time in a seemingly short time - what causes that "tipping point". There are plenty of examples - Hush puppies suddenly snowballing into a big shoe brand, crime in New York taking a dip, snowballing support for American Independence, syphilis drop in Baltimore and so on. What is interesting is the variety of examples across many walks of life, ranging from social behaviors, history, products etc. It also explains factors that result in these tipping points - people like salesmen, "mavens" and "connectors" who spread the knowledge, stickiness, and pure circumstances. I felt this was a milder version of another book - Freakonomics. I bought this at a in squeezed bookstore in Delhi, that housed thousands of used and new books, and the saleswoman who spoke only Hindi was quick to point out the same author also wrote the other book "Outliers"!

IBM - Age discrimination in India?

2010-07-12T10:00:00.000-07:00

Something doesn't seem right with this job advertisement from IBM in Times of India newspaper (mid-June 2010). It is openly seeking candidates below 35 years of age! Why would they think those older than 35 can't do Voice Tech Support? What's more surprising is that the same advertisement also says IBM is an equal opportunity employer! I guess age is an exception? Perhaps, an attempt to blend American and Indian laws? It also says IBM helps forward thinking companies make a difference - not quite convincing, if this is age discrimination.

Book Review - My Country My Life

2010-06-25T02:22:00.000-07:00

My Country My Life by L. K. Advani: This book is about the long 60-year political journey of Mr. L. K. Advani packed into a whopping 1000 pages - reading it is a long journey as well. He makes his views known, both good and bad, about a host of political personalities in India starting with Nehru-Gandhi-Patel years, Indira Gandhi-Rajiv Gandhi years, until his recent rendezvous with Rahul Gandhi, that makes it pretty comprehensive. It was also enlightening to learn about less popular personalities like Dr. Shyam Prasad Mukherjee, Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya and Jayaprakash Narayan, who are portrayed as better visionaries but could only lay the ground work, given the Indian political situation. His tireless efforts are inspiring to read - in building BJP as an alternative to congress, dealing with the draconian emergency era and its legacy, dealing with the alliance politics that has produced little output in nation building - the last one still remains an issue. On the one hand, it gives hope that sharp minds starting from Swami Vivekananda, Dr. Mukherjee, Pandit Deena Dayal Upadhyaya and Mr. Advani himself have continued to build so much momentum over 100 years, on their vision for the nation. On the other hand, it also feels hopeless as we read through the challenges faced from compromising politics, sycophancy, lust for power and bad ethics resulting in bad leadership and leaving the nation in shambles time and again. There is a strong defense of RSS as an organization committed to churning more ethical and disciplined people each generation, as well a strong tinge of Hindutva, though he tries to provide a secular view and explain the Ram temple or Ayodhya issue in a cultural context as a means of building a strong future with roots in glorious past traditions. I get the feeling that if the same efforts were put in a different more progressive strategy without past hangups, it may have resulted in wider acceptance and better results. Some interesting tid-bits from the book:

India got its name from the Sindhu river; Sindhustan became Hindustan in Persian, and Indu in the regional language. Now, the Sindh province or Sindhu river doesn't run in India at all!
Mr. Advani did not know Hindi until he was 20 years old! He learned it later after migrating to India from Sindh.
The Vivekananda memorial in Kanyakumari was a result of tireless efforts and leadership of a person by name Mr. Eknath Ranade.

I have also read another book, Gandhi and Churchill, which provides a good narration from 1850 to 1947, prior period to much of what is in this book. As well, books like the Argumentative Indian, by Amartya Sen that provides glimpses of Indian history way back to Akbar and Ashoka (BCE) days. Going by these, it seems Indian politics was always a mixed bag of good and evil alliances with pockets of illustrious rule, and will continue that way at least to the foreseeable future.

The best tribute to this book is what I heard the renowned journalist Cho Ramaswamy say; Not verbatim, but it goes something like this: "As far as Mr. Advani is concerned, My Country and My Life are the same thing - his life has always been about this country"!

Book Review - Chanakya Neeti

2010-06-23T04:45:00.000-07:00

Complete Chanakya Neeti - Manoj Publications: This is a book with words of wisdom from Chanakya, a political genius and minister that lived around 300 BC.It provides the original verses in Sanskrit and a reasonably close English translation. Some words are translated differently in different verses (e,g, dharma as religion, or law), so we have to watch out if it is really authentic translation as it claims. It also has a detailed explanation, which in many places is unnecessary and poorly written, mixed with author's own opinions and contradictions.
Neeti means Law or Rule, but the book is only words of wisdom or fact book centered around value of education, money, values for women, kings & brahmins during Chanakya's times - not categorized as criminal, family, contract law that we'd expect out of a law book.

Here are some interesting views of Chanakya that you may agree or disagree with, and might question if some of these are really words of wisdom:

Hates fools (evident from recurring mention in many verses). Feels teachers shouldn't waste time teaching them.
The verses say things about women that make it difficult to cut him slack. Like, women eat twice as much, have 8x sexual drive than men! A pretty wife is an enemy! Prostitutes envy housewives!
It appears the food pyramid is upside down, in his mind! The verses say leafy veggies bring diseases. Milk has ten times more calories than flour, and Ghee (melted butter) is ten times more energy than meat and provides more vigor (book interprets the word virya as semen, but I am being kind ).
Plenty of good advice and leadership emphasis for kings. Yatha Raja Thatha Praja - Like King, like subjects. He advices to get out of a country that doesn't respect you or doesn't provide a reasonable means of living among a few other criteria.
Idol worshipers are fools. Wise folks realize God is everywhere and look for God in their own hearts.

There is also mention of gold, brass and other interesting historical tidbits, greed for money, women or wives of loose character, that students shouldn't be distracted by love, entertainment shows etc. implying similar problems existed in those times as well!

Overall, I am glad I read the book. It gives us a good insight into Chanakya's times, the metaphors used are great, and much of the book is actually good advice we could use even today.

Book Review - The Vedas

2010-06-13T11:55:00.000-07:00

The Vedas by His Holiness The Paramacharya of Kanchi: This book is a well written translation from the discourses of the Parmacharya of Kanchi back in the 1980s. The Acharya's wisdom is splendidly obvious and fulfilling to the mind as we read through. It doesn't provide the vedic hymns and translation, that the title of the book might suggest. Rather, it provides an excellent ground work as a first reading - an excellent overview of the Vedas, classifying the various texts, that constitute the Vedas, outlining the basic content and history behind of each of them. It offers sensible and well thought out explanations and arguments on the scriptures that can appeal to the scientific mind, even if we may not agree with the ideas presented or debate if the arguments. The Acharya suggests that research and debate on exact timing of when vedas were written is not so important to get hung up on, as it is a documentation of various pieces of knowledge that existed even before it was written - much like trying to date a physics book that documents Newton's laws, Galileo's discoveries etc all of which happened at different times. He explains, the science behind Vedas as descriptive of nature, the universe, astronomy origins and calculations, and the cosmic vibrations at various levels, and how the close association of our ancestors with nature helped them develop the vedic mantras and rituals, and how chanting these mantras and performing rituals can influence the cosmic vibrations, thereby controlling the elements of nature, and the effects even at an individual level. It is a well built case and strong defense of the Vedas, but we may argue some of it requires substantiation that modern researchers could attempt. Why would science be written in hymns? - the Acharya offers the explanation that prose became popular only after print media came about, hand hymns were the easy way to memorize and pass on to generations prior to print!

The Acharya also dispels many myths and offers plenty of lessons from Indo-European linguistic origins that leave us astounded. Some examples:

Dental is an offshoot from the Sanskrit word Dhantha, a word that requires teeth to pronounce properly! But, pronouncing Dental doesn't need the teeth at all!
Hour is a result of transformations from Hora, which has origins to mean time in Latin and Sanskrit. Heart is a transformation from Hrudhaya.
The sun-god in Hinduism is depicted as riding a chariot driven by seven horses - the Acharya cites the hymn on which this belief is based, which uses the word Saptha-Ashwa meaning seven-rays (as in VIBGYOR or seven colours in each light ray), It turns out Ashwa also means horse, probably because horses metaphorically travel as fast as light rays! Mindboggling oversight in interpretation that lost the science behind!

The book also highlights the contributions of scholars and philosophers over time such as Lord Krishna, (in Bhagavad Gita) Adi Shankara, who have interpreted the Vedas the right way and written commentaries, stories, hymns to simplify or embellish the understanding. Finally, there is a boat load of Vedic philosophy (Upanishads) in many chapters that went over my head, but may delight the philosophically oriented.

I am glad I picked this book at the airport for in-flight reading - the gain was worth way over the $3 cost!

An honor kiling a day - any fix seems still a long way

2010-05-08T22:40:00.000-07:00

Just this morning's newspaper reported killings related to inter caste love marriage (news1, news2, news3, opinion1, opinion2).

It comes in all types - brother kills sister's MBA lover, or mother kills journalist daughter, uncles kill both girl and boy that elope - all this even if they are educated, police protects them and charges even police chiefs that abet these murders, courts even convict past khap panchayat (caste court) killers to death. When I was in the US, I never imagined that honor killing was such as an epidemic as portrayed by the media. I thought some of this was property related, with family members indulging in such extremes. There are other explanations.

The states where these killings are happening have also been indulging in female foeticide, infanticide for decades. Now there is an adverse male to female ratio, and they are having to marry women from out of state. This adverse supply demand situation is manifesting in a subconscious need to keep women from going out of their caste boundaries - and, these day-to-day killings serve are expected to serve as a deterrent to millions of other youth in the community. The khaps are even demanding a law to ban marrying across "gotras", and even have ex-police chiefs in their ranks for support.

That may work, but the big strides in economic growth, modern education, empowerment from employment are all subconsiously pulling the youth towards freedom to choose their partner. That will result in more loving couples, and attempts to escape the prevailing customs of thousands of years. This is a larger generation gap compared to what may have existed between previous hundred generations, and the tensions between traditional and modern perspectives are way too high.

The folks with modern outlook are demanding a separate law to check these honor killings. Given past Indian laws to curb dowry, terror or other menace, my suspicion is such a law will be poorly written, improperly enforced and used for a variety of false cases, extortion and bring a host of other evil. The change has to be comprehensive at all levels - planning, implementation, training, enforcement, responsibility and accountability. Perhaps, some lessons can be learned from how Lord Bentinck put an end to Sati system back in 1800s (or at least kept a tight lid on killing widows) in these same communities. I was surprised to learn even at that time, there were supporting perspectives in favor of killing widows, from reputed leaders in society. As well, the British had a difficult time selling and enforcing progressive ideas in a society rooted in tradition, and finding responsible officers at all levels to enforce and implement in the true spirit of law.

What is unfortunate and intriguing is that with women bearing the brunt of these crimes, the leaders at a national and state level are also women (the President of India, a proxy Prime Minister in Sonia Gandhi, Chief Minister of Delhi & UP are all very powerful leaders).

Part of India's growing pains, or just lack of proper planning & implementation, or just being slow, insincere and insensitive? Time will tell if and how the problem will go away!

Akshardham

2010-05-08T11:14:00.000-07:00

We visited the Akshardham temple in Delhi today. Pretty impressive, and nice way to spend the evening. They have organized things very well, but I had a couple of gripes:

They take every electronic item for safekeeping - cameras, mobile phones and such. So, I couldn't take ANY pictures. From where we parked, there was no good shot, and they should at least have a photo spot. That was a bummer. I have no clue what temples are worried about with visitors taking photos - I think crooks can get hold of the images they need these days, if that's what the management is trying to avoid. And nobody is going to take pictures to build another look-alike temple to steal tourists!

The inner temple was closed for construction. I wish they had indicated this on the website. It was still nice to walk around the inner temple, pond, gardens and admire the overall architecture. This also explained why we were allowed to wear shoes inside - temples in and around Delhi require you walk barefoot in 45C degree heat on a coir carpet (sometimes they water it as well).

There was a board which said modest and respectable clothes are mandatory and outlined a few acceptable things. It also said below Burqa and Lungi are not acceptable. I understand the aversion to lungi, but burqa must be modest and respectable!

I shouldn't complain, and my gripes shouldn't matter because I only go to temples to admire the architecture!

Lifting the veil off the veil

2010-04-24T05:31:00.001-07:00

The French police ticketed a woman for driving with her veil on (news). France is also on a mission to ban the burqa, citing it is not in touch with changed circumstances and sees it as a subjugation of women. Those who oppose such ban believe it is just jingoistic behavior aimed at limiting Muslims and immigrants practicing their religion.

The Islamic veil or burqa is not a religious practice endorsed by the Prophet, nor explicitly mentioned in the Quran - only says that men and women shall dress modestly in public. It is a cultural practice that existed even before Islam, and was used by women from all religions in the Arab, Persian and India regions. In fact, the President of India, Pratibha Patil drew a lot of flak when she mentioned the burqa was to protect women from Mughal invaders.

The veil protected women from exposure to outside men, so they would quickly lose interest, and not draw unwanted attention. It was necessary in the absence of a proper police force, legal system and unscruplous kings and chieftains who would make any attractive woman a concubine in their harem.

Even today, it protects girls and women from such evil. The Delhi police has started a Anti-stalking cell so they can respond quickly to women who call on being stalked, following it's success with a similar Anti-SMS cell. The Supreme Court , Government of India, Law Commission and Human Rights organizations are trying to determine if existing laws are sufficient to deal with acid attacks on girls, or if a separate law is needed. There is also debate on whether rape should entice the death penalty or life sentence is sufficient. All of these are reactive, AFTER the crime has happened, and the tough laws and exemplary punishments are based on a hope that future crimes will not happen. That depends however, on how boys and men will react to stimulus such as attractive women, at the same time stay educated on how the law allows them to react! Just as increasing use of death penalty has not reduced homicides, implementing tough laws may not reduce crimes against women. The veil however, is proactive and prevents a crime BEFORE it ever gets this far. As long as it is not forced, it is an acceptable practice, safe and effective preventive system to help girls from all kinds of unwanted attention. Seriously, there is really no ostensible reason to force a woman must show her face to anyone except her husband.

That said, it is also important to use the veil in the preventive context above, and not take rigid positions as a religious practice. The veil came about when there was no need for identification such as driver's license, passport, as most women were in a limited geography and mobility. That is no longer true today, so those who wear the veil should cooperate with identifying themselves as the need arises, so long as the crime prevention objectives of the veil are reasonably met.

The French police and legal system may be smart in responding quickly to preventing a crime, but nevertheless cannot claim to be fool proof. The French and the world are better off letting the women decide what they want to do. If they want to implement a law that addresses forcing a woman to wear a veil, that can be supported as being in touch with ensuring freedom.

Shoaib Drama, Kushbu Drama

2010-04-10T12:59:00.000-07:00

Finally Shoaib and Sania are getting married, thanks to a negotiated divorce settlement of Rs 15000, that also made his first wife's family very happy. Yeah, right! So, they take the trouble to produce a signed nikah nama copy, file a police complaint for cheating, dowry harrassment and deal with a hounding media, lawyers and mediating congressmen for a measly settlement? I wasn't convinced anybody was happy, until I saw that there are reports suggesting the settlement was a whopping 15 Crore! Obviously the guy had to give in or his new marriage languishes for years until the courts decide his fate. If the news is true, India's obnoxius laws has come in handy for yet another extortion.

There was also another Supreme Court hearing on another rich actress Kushboo's case related to her comments on couples living together before marriage and engaging in pre-marital sex. I saw a lot of newspaper and web comments on moral values, the court's citing of Rama and Krishna and strong feelings on the issue. Underlying, that case should have had a money motive as well - the petitioners must have strong feelings over Kushboo's money rather than couples living-in, but weren't so successful in getting a settlement, thanks to her persistence! She could afford all the drag in court.

1412 Tigers left

2010-03-04T09:50:00.000-08:00

I see a lot of bill board advertisements in India - it says "Only 1411 tigers left", calling for awareness and action to do something about it. It should be a pretty expensive campaign, with so many prime advertisement locations! It makes me wonder if the money could have been spent in other ways to protect the tiger than to raise more money!

Any case, I think there are 1412 tigers left - the last one knows to play golf, and is much in the news on an apology spree - probably more in danger of going into oblivion than the rest of the tigers!

Sorry, couldn't help making the joke.

Nam ke vaste ruling - Using ex-husband's last name illegal

2010-02-20T10:24:00.001-08:00

An court in India ruled divorced woman not to use her husband's name any more (link). Indian men claim a little victory, given most Indian laws today only deliver bad news for them. I think it is unfortunate, since such broad brush ruling limits freedoms for both sexes, and winning in gender battles isn't something to feel proud about.

In this particular case, the woman's ex-husband was a cop, and there were two problems: 1) she allegedly used his name to get some favors, and 2) she filled his name in applications (such as opening Bank account) where it asked for husband's name. As far as 2) goes, Bank application and other forms insisting on husband or father's name have no real business need for that information - since a PAN card provides enough identity for the individual these days, and is mandatory anyways. Courts and people should question their collecting and insisting on such data, rather than believing they can be "misled" due to supplying a name. In the case of 1), it should have been treated as a specific cheating case like many other inappropriate name use situations - I am not convinced a blanket ban was required to cover every divorced woman. That would have left a lot of women peacefully using their ex-husband's name alone for social status, among other things.

In the US, you can use any name you want, as long as it is not a number (you can't call yourself as 123), and as long as it does not intentionally malign a celebrity name (like calling yourself Obama to intentionally do bad things). The rules really need to be as simple as that to cover a billion people, and to protect their freedom.

Now, this divorce case has been going on since 1996. but that's for another day!

Tamil Movie Songs - Lyrics vs Video

2009-11-27T19:08:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I have been amused, and sometimes amazed how tamil cine songs synchronize lyrics with the corresponding video or the scene. Examples below:

In the song, "Idhazhil kathai ezhuthum neram idhu" (Unnal mudiyum thambi - Kamal, Seetha), there is a line that goes like "...kaalam varum varai poruthirunthaal, kanni ival malar karam thazhuvidumey..." meaning, if he waits until the time comes, she will hug with her flower-like arms. Nice poetic effect, but if you watch the video, Seetha sings this line when he is already carrying her on his back, with her arms around his neck!

In the song "Akarai cheemai azhaginiley" (Priya), there is a line that goes like "...verum pechu, vetti kootam, edhum illai intha ooril...", meaning this town has no time for empty talk, no idle crowds, referring to active, busy and hard working Singaporeans. The video however shows a beach crowd, where people are just lying idle enjoying the beach! Not quite what the poet in mind!

In the song "Janani Janani" (Thai Mookambikai), the movie makers seem to have made a conscious attempt to synchronize the lyrics word for word with the video. For example, "simha vahini nee" shows the goddess sitting on a lion, "jagan mohini nee"shows the goddess with a globe going around, and "linga roopiniye..." shows the shankaracharya worshipping a lingam.

Glad to see paying attention to detail is still a virtue even if it is just entertainment.

Diet that reduced my Triglycerides

2009-11-21T20:17:00.000-08:00

Late August this year, my doctor said my triglycerides were acceptable and no more follow-up is required. I was very happy, since I had been battling with elevated triglycerides for over a decade, and bringing that down had a life time positive health impact.

Caution: This is my personal experience, and not intended as medical advice. You should check with your doctor for specific advice to your situation.

Here is a brief history that also explains the chart below:

1997-2003: My first ever blood test showed slightly elevated triglycerides, and doctor suggested I get more exercise, and take more fruit to boost HDL. I didn't pay much attention. Also, I had moved to another city (lazy to find a new doctor) and a boat load of personal issues. Looking back, I think the laziness and the personal issues was due to high triglycerides, making me less energetic.

2004-2007: The triglycerides had shot up past 400 mg/dl. The doctor suggested to get on the treadmill and cut down "transfats", and this brought it down close to 250 mg/dl just in a month - provided evidence that diet and exercise worked. But I didn't continue the regimen giving standard busy work related excuses. It shot back close to 400 mg/dl, and the HDL had dramatically gone down. First, the doctor suggested supplements like Niacin and Omega3 Fish Oil capsules to boost HDL, and finally suggested medication like Tricor or Lopid stating my condition might be due to genetic factors. The medicines helped reduce triglycerides, but made me feel very weak - apparently they work by pulling muscle fat out, so the body builds it back using the excess fat. I stopped the medicines, and I wasn't convinced it was genetic, since my grand parents lived healthy long lives.

After running out of ideas, and running around at work, I decided on something new. This time things worked out very well.

2008: In October, I made use of a company benefit to meet with a health coach. I had blown past all prior readings, now at 573 mg/dl. The health coach, Maia, probed my diet very carefully and made dramatic suggestions that made me sit up and listen:
Maia: "What do you have for breakfast?"
Me: "Oatmeal - that reduces triglycerides".
Maia: "That's not good for you - Oatmeal is carbohydrates, and you need to cut carbs".
Me: "Really - sometimes I take Honey Oat Cereal with low-fat milk - I'll just switch to that",
Maia: "No, cereal is sugar - that's not good for you either. The only thing you can eat is veggies. No fruit, bread, rice, nothing else is good for you!".

I argued that was too harsh, and finally got some concessions - Egg Whites were ok, a little scoop of brown rice, along with a predominantly vegetables diet. We also talked about getting some exercise - and things like meditation that she was excited about.

My wife took her advice seriously, and my diet changed as below:

Breakfast: Egg-white Veggie Omlette with no cheese. Veggies like mushrooms, tomatoes, beans and peas. We bought the egg-white paper packs from Safeway or Costco. Egg-beaters may also work. If I had to have breakfast in the company cafeteria, the chef started the egg-white veggie omlette without cheese, as soon as he saw me in the line!
Lunch: Since the omlette breakfast was filling, I would go for half-order on any of the pasta/noodles/rice with veggie entrees in the company caferteria. Other options were veggie tacos or burritos, personal pan veggie pizza without cheese (also, not eating the outer crust helps cut carbs) or just soup and salad.
Dinner: A lot of salad filled my plate, with a scoop of brown rice and other gravy and vegetables. My wife bought lettuce, green onions, black olives, brocolli, spinach, carrots, beets to make the salad different and interesting each week. She also used Olive Oil, Walnuts to make the salad recipe taste good (check out iyercooks.blogspot.com for her recipes). Instead of yoghurt with rice (thayir sadham), I just took the fat-free plain yoghurt (can't live without "the "thayir"!)
Travel: I stuck to a healthy breakfast routine - many hotels have a full breakfast buffet with eggs, veggies, fruits etc. This allowed me to limit unhealthy lunches out during the hunt. Rarely, I would have pizza, burger, or fries, and a little booze.
Exercise: A moderate 20 minute stair master session to burn around 130 calories, couple of times a week. This, in addition to a 10 minute walk each way to the bus stop and back for commute.

The penance started paying off in just a couple of months. There was a dramatic drop from 573 to 313 mg/dl, a whopping 260 points without any medicines or supplements! The HDL also dropped, but I read an article that explained this can happen initially when someone is losing weight, and then it will move up. After another eight months in Aug, 2009, the results came out close to normal - triglycerides at 179 mg/dl and HDL had indeed moved up to 35 mg/dl. What is also important is that the other numbers turned out to be normal as well - I was concerned something else would go wrong trying to fix triglycerides!

The real cause was the excess rice in the diet. Just a couple of generations back, those who had a staple rice diet, had unrefined rice with the partial husk. The husk was fiber and would fill them up quickly, so they never had excess rice and got into these problems. In our times and our parents' times, we buy refined white rice which has all the husk removed and given a nice glucose coating to look good! We end up eating more rice and less fiber, and excess carbohydrates get converted to fat. The excess fat slowly impacts other organs such as arteries, liver, pancreas and causes things like heart disease, diabetes etc in the long run. So, my case is probably not genetic even if one parent had a medical condition that could have been caused by excess triglycerides. A recent Time magazine article shows that exercise won't make you thin.

It was a lot of learning along the way, and I feel blessed I could fix it with my wife's help, and Maia's advice, before it was too late. Again, all of the above is not specific advice for your situation - consult a doctor before you try anything.

Indian court sends back custody dispute to US

2009-11-18T22:20:00.001-08:00

For a change, I liked this judgment from India's supreme court (news). It was about child custody dispute between an estranged couple, both US citizens, and their US citizen child was taken to India by the mom. Not unusual, but this time the court directed the mom to go back to US, and settle the dispute with the help of US court, which is already dealing with the divorce case. It also directed the dad (petitioner) to take care of expenses until the US court provides further direction - that should set aside mom's financial distress in fighting against dollars. It sets a nice precedent, so these types of abduction cases can be meaningfully addressed. India hasn't signed the Hague Convention on Child abduction, and dealing with these in lower Indian courts can be a nightmare, full of contradictions. I think this is a positive and progressive judgment.

Book Review - The 4-hour work week

2009-11-15T19:51:00.000-08:00

The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss: This is a popular best seller, and was recommended to me by a colleague, who successfully has spun a couple of Internet businesses. I was surprised even the library had 4 copies. It is amazing the author has accomplished so much for himself even before thirty years of age, and he offers lot of motivational advice for others form his experience. What came across as key learning - get over the concept of working for a deferred retirement and rather take many mini-retirements throughout life by working wisely, and go on your own if you don't enjoy your work. There is also a good bit of Internet Marketing advice and tips ranging from outsourcing to India, website referrals, cheap travel and vacation ideas, and even little tid-bits like using post office street address instead of PO Box to make it look like a professional office address. The book really can influence and get someone thinking to stick their neck out. However, if you are passionate about what you are doing at work, then there is no reason to get excited over all this advice and rock the boat. That's my 2c.

Saving women victims of human trafficking - Just Trust

2009-11-14T23:09:00.000-08:00

This news article and interview with Just Trust founder Mr. Jebaraj caught my eye. The Indian pledge states, "all Indians are my brothers and sisters", but it seems thousands of sisters are exceptions, and forced into flesh trade in well organized human trafficking. It is noteworthy that Mr. Jebaraj has truly been a great brother to hundreds of sisters that he has helped rescue from human trafficking. Especially, his commitment to this cause has been since 1980.

On a parallel note, a school teacher friend of mine in San Jose, who had seen Slumdog Millionaire, was asking me about how I felt about the movie showing how children and women in India are victimized. I just replied it was reality and the challenge is enormous with the large poor population and the difficulty in getting the system to work well. She went on to add that right here in silicon valley, there is exploitation of women - some of her academically challenged students' moms are single and claim they also have to work at nights. Probing a bit further, she explained they happen to be prostitutes trying to make ends meet. Many are from a particular ethnic group, and there are likely immigrant women exploited due to their visa situation. If this is happening in stock options rich silicon valley, it should not be surprising that developing countries are struggling with the trafficking problem.

Just writing to spread awareness - the least I can do.

Mortgage Loan Referral - Nimalya Modak

2009-11-07T13:09:00.000-08:00

I recently refinanced my home through Nirmalya Modak in Bank Of America. He provided me with outstanding service - thorough in explaining the options, getting the best possible rate, prompt and very friendly and professional responses, and working quickly and hard to get through a problem at the corporate/escrow office. I was completely satisfied with his service. I am very pleased to refer him to anyone on the lookout for a mortgage loan. He can be reached through this link.

Book Review - Cut to the chase and 99 other rules

2009-10-31T15:55:00.000-07:00

Cut to the chase and 99 other rules - Stuart R. Levine. A quick and easy to read guide book on managing corporate career. It has 100 rules, each with 1-2 page description with examples from his consulting experience. The rules span about how to manage time, how to deal with difficult boss, stuck careers, be highly productive, strike a balance and so on. I liked rule 59 the most -"Look at the big picture" - which talks about doing a personal SWOT analysis to examine our Strengths, Weakness, which are internal factors, and Opportunities and Threats which are external factors in managing our career, and taking action to move ahead. Another one that I liked suggested we focus on leveraging our strengths, rather than fixing weaknesses, which is right opposite to the typical feedback managers use during performance reviews.

Husband is an ATM machine - by law in India

2009-10-29T22:18:00.000-07:00

I wrote about loose-ended divorce laws in India (Divorce laws poles apart), causing only more distress to both men and women, in the name of solving societal problems. Just read some news that husbands took to the streets about paying 50% of their pay as alimony - felt sad that the saga continues even as years roll by. It is not so much about 50%, but the fact that it is open-ended (no time line) and discriminatory (husband pays 50% even if the wife is working). The news article also indicates suicides among distressed husbands is more than distressed wives. Unfortunately, the law makers are not there yet to make sensible changes, or demonstrate fairness as opposed to revenge, or pay attention to detail when writing laws or providing guidelines. It also doesn't appear that the society gives a damn, since the affected are still a minority (even if few hundred thousands among a billion people). They say, nature doesn't ensure evolution doesn't go the wrong way - it is up to the species to make choices about it's own future. It will be a long while before something sensible happens with Indian divorce, dowry or domestic violence laws - until then, best for a man or woman is to stay of trouble, and second best is to pray for those in trouble!

Shock Treatment Varieties for Mental Issues

2009-09-29T21:31:00.000-07:00

I was reading this news article in The Hindu, describing a ritual where 2000 women were given whip lashes to remove "evil spirits" that possessed them. It sounds very cruel and unscientific, and speaks ill of the society. There are actually many such methods, including a place in Kerala called Chotanikkarai, where they nail the hair of insane people. Other less cruel methods include putting them under the Kutralam waterfall in Tamil nadu for a cold and swift shower.

They are not able to explain, but I think the underlying principle is to provide shock treatment, with the hope that the brain works differently (or normally!) after the shock. The nerves obviously will get triggered, and some inert ones may start functioning as well with these nasty surprises. Even psychiatrists may resort to shock treatment with electricity, so the principle and practice is not without substance. The psychiatrist will be able to explain better that it is a "mental disorder", instead of "evil spirit". Even today, it is said the brain is the least understood part of the human body, and it is not clear yet which nerves to trigger, what they control or how they work. Until we can fully explain the brain, the psychiatrist is taking a chance with electric shock, and these ritualistic "doctors" are taking a chance with their version of shock treatment - both hope that something good will happen!

Sometimes "evil spirits" denote infections like bacteria or virus. I had a relative who had high fever, and her mom took her to a country doctor who tried to ward off the fever with neem leaves, holy ash and such - again, I think the principle is to provide a setting that triggers the immune system to kill the bacteria or virus.

I don't support these approaches, but if they are largely harmless in providing hope, I think they are OK - especially when the science is not fully understood. What is clearly wrong however, is blind faith putting people in more danger. Like this homoepathy lecturer in Australia who killed his baby suffering from eczema (news) - he refused other medicines insisting only on homoepathy, and I don't think he understood how or why they work or don't work. Or worse yet, the Wisconsin parents that just prayed to God instead of calling a doctor, and let their diabetic child die (news).

Navrathri kolu and Betel leaves

2009-09-23T22:39:00.000-07:00

It is Navrathri Kolu week, and my wife is calling her friends home for "vethalai paakku" (vethalai = Betel leaves), as well she is visiting her friends' homes to receive the same. It's all fine and good fun, except that the betel leaves are expensive and difficult to find in the Indian grocery stores. A similar hunt for coconut happens during "Varalakshmi Pooja" - I think even Lucky or Safeway stores now track those dates when coconut demand goes through the roof!

A couple of months back, I was talking to my aunt in India who is now in her late seventies. She was describing her life as a child, living in the villages, families clustered among a group of homes with plenty of back yard trees and other fauna. During festivals, they would pick these betel leaves from their backyard, or coconut from the trees, and give them away as gifts. Likewise, much of the food habits involving rice, vegetables, spices also were due to what grew in the backyard - including banana leaves used as plates. There wasn't much need for money, and people didn't have much of it anyway, so buying things for gifts was out of question.

So, the right equivalent to do now is to go to the backyard and pick some edible leaves and fruit and give to people! Instead, we religiously want to absolutely buy betel leaves, even if they are ridiculously priced!

Book Review - The Millionaire in the Mirror

2009-09-10T21:13:00.001-07:00

The Millionaire in the Mirror by Gene Bedell: This book is meant for those who seek Outstanding Success (Gene emphasizes the capital O and capital S) in career - going beyond happiness at work, to really make it to the top 1%. I am really happy I read this book, and unhappy that I never knew about it earlier in my career. Gene has been there and done that, and it is also amazing he is willing to mentor so well from all the wisdom gained from his distinguished career. He is very methodical, thorough in defining what he means by Outstanding Success, how some one can become a "Heat seeking missile" and shoot for such a lofty goal, what pitfalls to watch out for, and how to coach oneself to get ahead, get unstuck and navigate the corporate world. He also provides a different perspective on entrepreneurship - why it is not as glamorous as it is projected to be, and why working for large corporations is not as bad as it is touted to be either. If there is one book I'd recommend for career oriented individuals in 30s and 40s, or those just starting out in early 20s, this is it.

Dikshitar krithis and Learning History

2009-08-09T07:57:00.001-07:00

Sri Muthuswamy Dikshitar's compositions include many historical or mythological anecdotes that make an excellent poetic or literary effect, and a good learning for the rest of us. The song "Pannaka Sayanaa Padmanabha..." in raga Madhyamavathi is a classic example. I had a feeling it was dedicated to Sri Padmanabha Swamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, and Dikshitar confirms it in "...Pandya Kerala Nivasa...", an historic reference to the part of Kerala ruled by Pandya kings. On closer observation, Dikshitar also mentions "...Parashurama Kshethra Prabhakara..." in the lyrics. Legend has it that Sage Parashurama and his followers settled in parts of Kerala, and Dikshitar has wonderfully used this history to his advantage, and subtly indicate Kerala.

In the same composition, there is another historical or mythological reference in "...Parama Bhaktha Prahladhaadhi Vinutha...", which alludes to the story of Prince Prahladha, the child worshiper of Lord Vishnu (or Padhmanabha) that brought the impending doom of his evil father and king.

It's a great way to learn history taking a closer look at Dikishitar's compositions, and doing a little bit of research. Dikshitar's krithis are a feast to the intellect.

Dikshitar Krithis and learning Sanskrit

2009-08-09T00:43:00.000-07:00

Sri Muthuswamy Dikshitar's krithis are a good way to pick up new Sanskrit words. I was listening to the following composition:

Pura Hara Nandana Ripu kula Panchana
Sikindra Vahana Mahendra Paalana

This song is set in Mohan Kalyani raga, and I used to wonder to which deity Dikshitar has devoted this song. I felt "vahana" meaning vehicle should provide a clue, since each Hindu god is associated with a particular animal as vehicle. But, "Sikindra" was not an obvious animal name. Looking up, I found "Siki" is another word for Peacock (the more common word we know is "Mayur"), and that essesntially meant the deity that Dikshitar is referring to is Lord Muruga. Every time I listen to a Dikshitar krithi, I am amazed by his knowledge and rigor in applying them to his compositions.

Indian Law - Bigamy immoral, Gay sex moral

2009-08-08T11:45:00.000-07:00

India's Law Commission wants to make bigamy a cognizable offence (news). It considers it "unhealthy and immoral practice to convert to Islam in order to contract a second marriage". It also says bigamy among Muslim men is "not common and few and far between", even though Muslim law allows it. I find this mind boggling for many reasons:

If only a few men are indulging in bigamy, even when the law allows it, why bother to criminalize? If it ain't broken, why fix it?
It goes against the laws of nature to ban such behavior - nature allows men and women to mate and reproduce in many ways, and does not mandate one man one woman rule - it is just human belief that it is good for our well being. Some monkeys are known to have multiple mates, and it appears their human cousins haven't diverged as much in this aspect.
Traditional Hindu law (Vedic Smriti) accepts polygyny and polyandry. There are numerous examples of Gods (Lord Muruga has two wives), Kings (Dasaratha has four wives) and queens (Draupadi had five husbands), so changing the Hindu law will make it inconsistent with what the religion allows. Vedic Smriti allows change to suit the times, but the moral case being made is very weak - a scientific basis such as population mix of men & women might make more sense.
In recent times Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Mr. Karunanidhi is known to have three wives. This law will only relegate other Wives into a Mistress status, which actually hurts the women. Many mistresses or second wives are typically cheated into the situation since the man would have made it appear he was single. Similar to curtailing prostitution, we can go on naively writing and enforcing laws, but the problem of a few men seeking more than one woman is simply not going to go away. As well, would the Law Commission declare Mr. Karunanidhi's behavior immoral?
The country has just decriminalized gay sex. The Delhi High court ruled so, and the cabinet determined it will not appeal against the sound judgment. So, it finds it morally OK for man to have sex with another man, but it is not morally OK for a man to have sex with multiple women? Or, is bigamy more unhealthy than gay sex?
The commission cites various countries where bigamy is controlled or outlawed. It cannot take a piecemeal view of the bigamy law. For example, the US or western countries are also serially monogamous, meaning they allow only one wife at a time, but then many of them have no-fault divorce laws which makes it quick and easy to change wives. Indian divorce laws are not so liberal, and courts years to dissolve contested divorce. So, it will either breed "mistresses" or clog courts with more divorce cases or even crime, since some desperate men may try to do away with the contesting wife.

The Law Commission will do well to separate the problems, and be innovative to discourage the bigamous behavior. For example, it can mandate civil damages through payments in higher proportion to the first wife, allow courts to issue wage assignments, which ensure little money is left for the man to fool around, and discovers it was a financial blunder.

The news article doesn't state whether the Law commission thinks the immoral activity harms men, women or both, but I remember the book "The Economic Naturalist" described that men are the most impacted by polygamous behavior! If a few men take on multiple wives, it shortchanges other men who need to work harder to find a mate, assuming a roughly equal men-women population. With female infanticide also in vogue, this will be a bigger issue for Indian men!

Dikishitar and English tunes

2009-08-08T00:23:00.000-07:00

Many of us are aware that Sri Muthuswamy Dikshitar was a distinguished composer in Carnatic Music. I had read before that he was also trained in Hindustani Music, and he brought many Hindustani ragas and style to Carnatic Music through his compositions. I was surprised to read in this news article in The Hindu, that his compositions were also influenced by English tunes, thanks to Mr. Kanniks Kannikeswaran who has done a splendid job providing such insight.

Book Review - How to Win Friends and Influence People

2009-08-02T08:37:00.000-07:00

How to Win Friends & Influence People - Dale Carnegie: I got this book as a gift way back when I was in school in seventh grade or so. At the time, I was too young for it, and gave up reading after a few pages. Now, after several years, I picked it up again - it was easier to read, and made so much sense. The book can help influence our personality in many positive ways. It starts with how notorious criminals like Al Capone never agreed they are wrong, and wouldn't have done differently, making a point how environment causes people to behave the way they do, and punishments don't necessarily change perspective. It explains with innumerable examples how criticizing doesn't help and instead makes people defensive. It talks about how to make people feel important, how to admit mistakes and start with praise before pointing out others' mistakes, all of which influence positively. Examples include anecdotes or quotes from Presidents, CEOs, IRS agents, famous and infamous personalities. It also has good advice for marriages to work - some obvious such as to stop nagging (uses Napoleon's love marriage turned sour as an example), saying goodbye to husband leaving for work everyday, flowers for wife etc. It cites expert opinions from counselors and judges on top reasons why marriages fail; from number one being sex maladjustment, agreeing on how to spend leisure, financial difficulties, and lastly mental/physical or emotional abnormalities. I liked the quote from Leland Foster Wood's "Growing Together in the Family" - Success in marriage is much more than a matter of finding the right person; it is also a matter of being the right person. In order to get the maximum out of the book, I think the reader should first prepare a flexible attitude and mindset to listen and act upon advice. If that happens, this book is indeed capable of completely changing one's personality for the better.

Two Dikshitar Stalwarts Pass Away

2009-07-20T23:41:00.001-07:00

I was saddened to note Sangitha Kalanidhi D. K. Pattammal passed away. As well, I came to know almost a month late that Sangitha Kalanidhi B. Rajam Iyer also passed away. Both were very distingushed in rendering the krithis of Sri Muthuswamy Dikshitar with the authentic grandeur, and a great loss for the Carnatic music community.

When I was in undergraduate college in Chennai, I had the opportunity to attend a live concert of Sri Rajam Iyer. He was rendering the concert in front of the Kanchi Swamigal Jayendra Sarawati, who had come to the college for the campus inauguration function. He rendered many krithis, including Dikshitar's Siddhi Vinayakam in Shanmugapriya, as well his own Sanskrit composition in raga Bhairavi. Obviously he knew Sanskrit very well, and had fully understood the Dishitar krithis he sang so well. I have noticed him mention Bhairavi raga's uniqueness and speciality in Carnatic music in other interviews in the news - it should have been his most favorite. The concert was a royal treat to my ears, and the depth in grammar, style and voice - the mastery and years of education and experience was evident all over. Though I had not heard much of him before, I then held him in high esteem, along with the types of Semmangudi or Maharajapuram. Also evident was his classical and majestic appearance with a broad forehead striped with vibuthi, large kadukkans in the ears, and panchakacham, that makes you quickly respect and wonder who this person might be. In front of the swamigal, he was so respectfully pre-announcing each krithi to him with folded hands, and sang through the concert without his shirt in the presence of the swamigal. Such humility with so much talent completely puzzled and amazed me - I learnt something important observing him. I still listen to his Jambupathe, Dikshitar's panchalinga krithi, and Navagraha krithis. I also had the opportunity to hear him sing Chinthayamam, during his concert on TV once.

I have also heard Chinthayamam sung by Smt. D.K. Pattammal, when my room mate was playing the Panchalinga Krithis cassette. I had not known much about D. K. Pattammal at that time, but listening to her the first time sing this Bhairavi song completely captivated me. There is simply no parallel. Again, the grammar, the style, the low voice, and managing the tempo and gamakas of Dikshitar's composition in an authentic way was bliss. I still listen to her Chinthayamam today - the format has changed from cassette to CD to MP3, but the voice and melody lives on. We are blessed that someone in her family spotted her talent and forced her dad to bring her to limelight - that wasn't as easy in those days for women, especially from brahmin orthodox families. We must appreciate and thank her husband Sri Easwaran's generous heart and broad mind in sharing with us her divine voice.

These two distinguished musicians have contributed immensely and for long time, to keep and pass on the everglowing divine compositions of Sri Muthuswamy Dikshitar. My respectful homage to these great souls.

Book review - Evolution related

2009-07-19T00:29:00.000-07:00

Mapping Human History by Steve Olson: This book is an interesting read on evolution, with a boat load of facts, and tries to establish that race is a superficial difference and we are all not too different as a species. I knew about the Mitochondrial Eve, the woman in Africa from whom all of us come from, but I learned there is also an Adam, the dad from whom all of us imen inherit the Y-chromosome. However, the book says Adam & Eve lived at different times, and some 80,000 people are the ancestors for all the human population today. It also talks about Neandertals (old men who lived in the Neuman or New man valley!) who eventually became extinct. As well it covers widely across the world, talking about even a small Israeli community that has married within for centuries, where Aunt & Niece look identical! The author keeps our attention with catchy write-up (he says both media and evolution scientists are interested in finding about sex, violence that happened!), but perhaps, there is a way to cover the facts in a more concise way.

Complete World of Human Evolution by Chris Stringer & Peter Andrews. The authors are distinguished in the field of evolution, and bring to bear their over 30 years of experience to teach all the new learnings that have happened in the recent times. It has an academic rigor, but is full of good pictures, so it is easy to visualize and understand the science. Something that interested me was that it was 70,000 years ago that humans first entered north-west part of India, and maybe 35,000 years ago started pushing into other parts of India. I think some bit of evolution must be taught in schools, given we have come far along. It will go a long way to deal with conflicts among human beings - there has to be some goodness when we learn we are descendants of one ancestor.

Book Review - The Adsense Code - A Strategy

2009-07-19T00:06:00.000-07:00

The Adsense Code - A Strategy by Joel Comm: This book caught my eye in the library and I thought I should read it to get some ideas on improving my own blog. It does have a lot of meaningful tips for someone who is very active on blogging, that are worth trying out. It talks at length about the different choices in terms of blog layout, ad types, size, and seemless positioning or integration with content etc. Statistical data based on the author's own exerience, and case studies provided to backup the arguments, so it isn't just throwing some ideas. As well, it talks about what is allowed under Google terms and conditions and what is not allowed. Another tip was a mention about John Reese, an Internet guru, whose seminars go up to $5000, which is apparently a bargain. Check out http://www.adsense-secrets.com to learn more. I personally may not have time to give these a shot, but if you are an active blogger wanting to inprove your adsense score, it could be worth a try.

Book Review - The Art of War

2009-07-13T05:56:00.001-07:00

The Art of War - Sun Tzu: This is an ancient Chinese book, translated into English and with foreword by James Clavell in 1981. It is interesting to note Sun Tzu has thought out many strategic and tactical elements of war 2500 years back, such as knowing one's own and the enemy's strengths beforehand, knowing when and how to attack, the costs and financing of wars, and to think about preparing for peace during war and vice versa. In the foreword, James Clavell indicates he would like to make this obligatory reading for all serving military officers, Presidents etc, and if he had the authority, he would mandate all generals to read it and take oral and written examinations on the chapters. That kind of comment set high expectations in my mind, but after reading through, I beleive military officers and generals would have come a long way without this book as well. It is a good book indeed, but I didn't get the feeling that eulogizing it to that degree was warranted. I was hoping to pick some quick tidbits on strategic thinking ideas for business, but I have to relate and apply the learning myself to draw parallels of war and business. Maybe some day I will get to it.

Kalathat case - India Currents' expert article

2009-07-06T00:34:00.000-07:00

I wrote a couple of months back about the murder-suicide of Kalathat in Santa Clara. The hope was to make aware of the need to watch out for good mental health. Here is a good article from Kaplana Asok, a practicing psychotherapist in bay area, on the same topic. It was a published in India Currents June 2009 edition. An expert opinion should be more valuable and better help.

Book Review - The Ascent of Money

2009-05-29T22:50:00.001-07:00

The Ascent of Money, A Financial History of the World by Niall Ferguson: An interesting historical perspective of money, its origin to present, how it shaped civilizations, how it financed wars and all its ups and downs. It is amazing how the author has mixed world history with finance and presented the dynamics of moneyless societies and money oriented societies with cash, banks, bonds, stocks and how we continue to evolve.The mix gives us plenty of interesting anecdotes and tidbits of history. I was surprised to note that Fibonacci, famous for the series named after him didn't quite discover the series first - there was a previous mention of the series by Pingala in an older Sanskrit book. As well, Fibonacci made other important contributions that we hardly recognize him for. Then, there is mention of a Persian tablet, societies like Inca that had no concept of money or value for gold, and the South American tribe that lived on monkeys (truly monkey food!) and came into contact with civilization just 5 years back, Italian loan sharks that inspired Shylock character in "The Merchant of Venice", East India company and Dutch finance controller, US civil war and New Orleans immigration & Katrina insurance woes in North America and so on! There is lot of bad news from history, but the author also explains the importance of money and loan/debt markets as necessary instruments without which lot many things may not have been possible for our evolution into a civilized society - the moneyless societies only cared about food and fertile women!

Doctor Joke

2009-05-19T22:52:00.000-07:00

I went to the doctor last week and had a rendezvous I thought was funny. My ears were bothering me after hearing my children screaming on top of their voices.

Doctor: (Taking a peek in my ear) Your ear drum and outer canal look OK. But it is possible there is pressure imbalance in your Eustachian tube. E-U-S-T-A... I forget if it is C or T...
Me: Never mind doctor. I only know about You Tube!
Doctor: Yeah. E-Tube! (I figured he wasn't on the Internet often!) Usually it is self correcting and the problem will go away in a few days. Have you had a cold?
Me: No. But, I have some allergy, but I don't think that caused any problems.
Doctor: OK, the allergy can cause the ear problem. Let me give you this nasal spray prescription. That should help.

I thought that was weird - I come for an ear problem and get prescribed a nose medicine! Turned out, the nasal spray did help the ear!

Book Review - Tough Choices - Carly Fiorna

2009-05-10T13:51:00.000-07:00

Tough Choices By Carly Fiorna: Great autobiography of Carly Fiorna, the former CEO of HP. This is a must-read for B-school students. While aspiring B-school women could get more reading this book, I think aspiring men are plenty well served too. Carly explains how her parents ambitions primarily drove her excellence and decisions in early lfie, and how she transitioned to making her own decisions when she dropped out of law school. She explains her career progression at AT&T, which shows all the typical large company dynamics how leadership, influencing, strategy and execution works in such places, despite being slow, political and filled with frustrations. B-school students who might start dealing with senior management are well served by reading through her vivid experience and candor dealing with the multitude of what I'd call testosterone packs. She is candid about when she cried, when she was nervous and afraid, when she put her foot down, how she judged people and positioned herself over many different situations, all of which will be immensely useful for the folks who will go through the same in their career, to compare and learn from someone who has been before in such shoes. Of course, she also explains her perspective of what happened at HP - what again stands out is her candor in allowing the board to state she was fired, as well that she hasn't played her gender card through her career to her advantage or disadvantage. Rather than her media stereotype of a glamorous, stubborn, woman CEO, she comes out as a very capable, intelligent, balanced leader and role model.

Book Review - Stop Walking on Eggshells

2009-05-05T22:24:00.000-07:00

Stop Walking on Eggshells by Paul Mason & Randi Kreger: If you were ever wondering, "what is the matter with him/her" - be it an overbearing mom, childish wife, irrational husband, or ever depressed child, this is THE BOOK to read. In my view, this is the ultimate book that can help anyone going through emotional turbulence in relationships understand what is really going on, and what can be done about it - whether it is husband-wife, parent-child or other loved ones. It explains potential Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) behaviors with plenty of examples that anyone going through similar experience can quickly identify and relate. Once that is understood, further reading helps how to deal or cope with it, how one can react differently, how to get treatment or support, all of which will be extremely useful to someone in such relationships, or to advise someone who might be in such a relationship. This book needs to be translated in all languages, the concept should be taught at some level in school or college so more people in all walks of life become aware and can act or react sensibly, de-criminalize what could be attributed to such behavior, and create win-win resolutions for civil disputes. For example, judges in many countries still favor the mother for child custody, without an awareness to examine potential BPD behavior - such decisions routinely affects children, who might grow up into a stressed out adult, and the saga continues.

Book Review - Socrates

2009-05-01T19:46:00.000-07:00

Socrates Ancient Greek in search of Truth - Pamela Dell: I picked this book in the library, since it looked like an quick and easy read of what could otherwise be intense philosophical stuff. And, I was very pleased. Pamela has done a great job relating 400BC system of government and practices to current terminology of democracy, courts, jury etc, so it becomes easy to appreciate history. I learned something interesting - when Socrates' father died, by law he became his mom's guardian, and she could marry only if he permitted. As well, she must marry if he demanded so! I wrote in my other blogs comparing laws on how societies or governments don't want to pick up the tab for a non-earning spouse or aged parents and instead pass laws to pass the buck - this was yet another example how society dealt with a hot potato no income individual. Any case, Socrates was a wise man, who debated well by asking good questions and positioning truth at all times, but even back in 400BC just as we see today in many parts of the world, the larger society is not always willing to go by what would be rational. For example, public officials in Athens were appointed by a draw of lots, without regard to their qualifications; Socrates questions this practice citing just as we wouldn't hire a carpenter that isn't qualified, we shouldn't appoint someone to public office without relevant qualification. Ultimately, he is convicted on charges of spoiling young minds and is sentenced to drink poison - interestingly by a jury vote 361-140. Socrates was given the option to go in exile - instead of taking it, he misjudged wisdom would prevail! Key learning, we should realize the system around us was, is, and will be driven by emotions, politics, human nature, and plenty other factors, more than just wisdom - back then and now, being wise doesn't imply being smart or savvy.

Book Review - The Age of Turbulence

2009-04-25T21:14:00.000-07:00

The Age of Turbulence - Alan Greenspan: A pretty thick biography of the former Fed Chairman to be read over a long time, but the time is well worth it. There is a lot of learning beyond just economics , from someone who has dealt with so many presidents, with both republican and democratic governments, and other leaders of the world. His assessment of various presidents' personalities from Nixon all the way to Bush (both father and son), how he has managed to negotiate, influence in a structured way, and navigate the political maze so successfully in Washington for decades, is all very impressive, inspiring, and educational. Obviously, he talks about the Fed and the Chairman's responsibilities, and offers insights into the economic issues he has faced and overcome through the years , but not in Fed Speak, so it is easy to understand and appreciate. While there will always be critics and debates over his tenure and decisions he made, many of us will accept him as brilliant and blessed to have such an outstanding career, and I am glad America has valued and benefitted most from his intelligence - should we call that rational exuberance?

Book Review - Evolution for Dummies

2009-04-06T01:47:00.000-07:00

Evolution for Dummies: A good reading on Evolution science, Natural selection, DNA mutations, Genetics and all that good stuff. I learned a lot of new things, despite being familiar with the basic evolution theory. For example, it dispels the common myth, "Humans came from monkeys" - rather, it clarifies how humans and monkeys just have a common ancestor. Likewise, I learned that Mitochondria hasn't changed through all these generations, which led scientists to believe that all of us evolved from one African woman - who would be our great, great..., great grandmother. Unlike many other books on creation and evolution, this one does not directly attack religions sentence for sentence, but relegates the disputes and addresses them in one chapter at the end - that allows us to read it in peace!

Murder-suicide of Kalathat in Rivermark, Santa Clara

2009-04-04T13:07:00.001-07:00

This week, Devan Kalathat was a news maker across the world, killing his two kids, his brother-in-law Ashok, as well as Ashok's wife and kid, and finally turning the gun on himself (News). His wife was also shot and is in critical condition in hospital. People all over are shocked, and reactions range from angry, sad, puzzled and surprised that Kalathat could exhibit such madness, and the nerve to kill children. One comment from a family friend that dined often and played rummy with them said Kalthat was a quiet, peaceful guy, and they were a very nice couple. Others describe Kalathat as a sharp and educated engineer, evident from his numerous certifications listed on his LinkedIn profile and engineering jobs at Microsoft and Yahoo, and financially doing just as fine. From the outside, everything looked normal.

For psychiartists, psychologists and other relationship experts, however, this may not be surprising, and they can draw a parallel with many other routine mental disorder related shooting incidents, such as Karthik Rajaram, the MBA that killed his family in LA, the recent Binghamton, NY immigrant shootings, the Canada bus killings or the Virginia university shootings..

Unfortunately, the resulting madness is not something that happens overnight, but due to mental disorder that is groomed and developed over several years - sub-consciously by those around. The victims themselves don't even realize that they have a disorder, but assume they are smart and wise since they have impressive academic record, or professionally accomplished in their chosen field. Events causing stress or trauma in younger age may have triggered an egoistic reticent behavior (usually misconstrued as just quiet and shy) - examples include overbearing parents, loss of a loved one, major life event such as rape or an accident, or recent stress from unemployment, financial devastation, dealing with a difficult relationship etc. Over time, it develops into mental health issues such as:

Depression, with unpredictable mood swings, sadness, loss of interest in any activity etc
Bipolar disorder, extremes such as talking too much or too quiet, inappropriate anger etc
Borderline personality disorder, with low self-esteem, suicidal thoughts, incoherent thinking resulting in senseless arguments etc.

The above are just examples, and I am not sure I got the definitions right - the main idea is such mental illnesses are prevalent but unnoticed or unexplained, and not treated or handled in the right way. In a few cases, it goes further into more traumatic disorders such as,

Split personality disorder, where the person relapses at times to assume he is someone else like God or the devil, or a long gone relative etc.
Schizophrenia, which is apparently the new scientific term for lunacy.

Family members, or those around in school or office fall into either of the two types below:

They have no clue that the person they are talking to has any disorder, and react in ways that will most likely aggravate the behavior. Still worse, they may seek help from an untrained brother-in-law to deal with the problem or to negotiate a settlement.
They may just have similar disorders, so it becomes a case of two people with mental disorders trying to sort things out! Most contemporary mothers-in-law in India fall into this control freak category, since they have suffered a suppressed low-esteem life in earlier years and guess what happens when they are under the same roof with an immature daughter-in-law that is suffering from mood swings!

Though the science around these behaviors has shaped up, given the current level of awareness, there are sparingly few family members that can identify the person has such mental disorder and influence them to get professional help.

Kalathat's case was an ideal example. Going by his brother's characterization as an intelligent, quiet guy in his younger ages who apparently did not react well to stress and kept away from aggressive people, as well as his wife's call to police 6 months back that he was holding her passport, showed Kalathat exhibited controlling behavior and there was smoke without fire. Though he appeared an ideal husband and father (there was no physical violence, as well the children went to best private schools), he has been suffering from such mental disorder.

What can we do to prevent such things from happening? Most people will move on after placing flowers and teddy bears, venting their feelings on forums, blogs. Some will take an identity approach, like blaming guns, silicon valley lifestyle, claim domestic violence is rampant in malayali families, or that Indians are losing touch with their culture, or it is a south asian women vs men thing - I have seen these mentioned so far on the web. But this problem is beyond any identity such as malayali, Indian or American, silicon valley lifestyle or even guns. In India, plenty of this type of murder-suicide of families happen by consuming poison or by falling into a well for similar reasons, but don't get the same coverage, since it is not a Yahoo engineer or Rivermark community family - but a poor, illiterate family in a remote village among a billion population.The real solution lies in the following:

Awareness among the husband, wife or others, so they can identify, handle and react with the individual the right way. A brother-in-law is simply not trained to deal with such problems! We must provide brochures and DVDs that explain these behaviors at the time of wedding, or when issuing spousal visas.
The individual should recognize there is a problem and get professional help. This is difficult to pull off, but sometimes an ultimatum such as divorce might do the trick. Some companies instead send employees to a "Dealing with diffcult personalities" class, when they raise an issue with a co-worker that has such ego problems!
Having right laws to deal with the domestic issues. In this example, Kalathat's wife could have used the "No Fault" divorce laws of California to quickly get out of a non-working marriage, and saved the children and herself. As well, there are wage assignments and restraining orders that would helped get by, and keep him at a distance. Many developing countries lack sensible conflict resolution laws, and instead complicate the situation by dragging them into criminal cases even when the situation is civil in nature.
Going beyond just issuing a marriage license, and monitoring mental health of parents until the children reach 18 years of age. Right now, there is no system in place to detect and prevent such silent abuse or mental disorder build-up cases, and social workers would get involved only when they come to know of a tangible immediate threat of danger. We need a law that forces married couples (or separated parents) to submit to an basic annual assessment to show they are physically, financially and mentally fit to take care of children each year.

It will take more years for the solutions to fly. In the near-term, people will be unaware and inexperienced and will contribute to more such instances. Out of love, spouses will not easily file a divorce and continue to put themselves and their children in danger. Changes in the law are slow and will not likely be accepted, since people will care more about privacy, and the logic that these are likely to be rare cases - until then, these are only worth the flowers or teddy bears, and a few minutes of venting anger and opinions on blog comments.

I hope people become more aware of the magnitude of the problem and get the right perspective on such family situations, and influence troubled couples to seek professional help, rather than throw out an opinion based on culture, religion, the value of marriage, making adjustments and so on!

My heartfelt condolences to the extended Kalathat family.

Book Review - It's a Jungle out there, Jane

2009-04-04T12:30:00.000-07:00

It's a Jungle out there, Jane by Dr. Joy Browne: A pretty useful, entertaining and educational reading that brings out why men (or the male animals?) behave the way they do. Dr. Browne compares a lot of men and women behavior with the animal world citing examples from lions, dogs, gorillas and evolution science, to explain how behavioral evolution is slower than we'd like, to achieve the ideal behaviors we expect in today's world. Just after it appears an overdose of evolution and bias towards justifying men's behavior, she amazingly includes several paragraphs of advice for both Tarzan & Jane, that should make the relationship better, removing doubts that this is a one-sided book. A lot of new learning for me - that Bible defines adultery differently (as an affair between a man and a married woman, not a single woman), that availability of easier and better contraception methods is what triggered women's freedom and the drive for equality today (so they get grounded with babies only when they feel like), that male bears roam over a much larger territory than female bears. This is a good book to read for any man or woman about to get married, or in troubled relationships. And, those who have already screwed it all up, can also read so they can better explain why they screwed up! As well, to do better next time around!

Chennai High Court reopens and back to "normal"

2009-03-22T00:26:00.000-07:00

After the lawyer-police clash last month, followed by lawyer strike, the paralyzed Madras High Court has opened again. Now lawyers are back to work, apparently bringing relief to litigants (News). It looks as if the paralyzed courts were a big problem, and things are back to "normal". But, in my opinion, there are bigger problems that make it not so normal nor provides relief to litigants:

There is a statistic that says if a new case is filed today, it will take 300 years for it to get through the Indian judicial process! So much is the backlog and wait for justice (Link)
The laws are outdated for the most part, whether it is contract law, family law, criminal law or other, with no predictable outcomes or clear guidelines. The judges are trying to find ways to use them to come up with something close and fair. Check out my comparison of divorce laws for an example.
The judgments are not consistent. Two similar cases can result in very different judgments. Arun Shourie's book, "Courts and their Judgments: Promises, Requisites and Consequences" highlights this inconsistency and other problems.
Around 20% of judges are corrupt, according to the Chief Justice of Supreme Court (link), and one high court judge is still in office even after being recommended for impeachment by the Chief Justice.

Given all this, it is a fallacy to think courts are back to "normal" because the lawyer strike is over. A lot many legal reforms need to happen to provide litigants any relief. This will take several years or even decades!

Book Review - Gandhi & Churchill

2009-03-15T23:46:00.000-07:00

Gandhi & Churchill by Arthur Herman: Excellent eye-opening reading of Gandhi & Churchill's completely orthogonal views on India's freedom, their leadership and struggle in pursuing their cause. The author provides a very balanced view of every one's perspective, including the British, Hindus, Muslims, Untouchables, Gandhi, the Indian congress and others in the politics of that time, so one can appreciate and understand what happened in history and why it happened. A treat and thriller for someone that loves reading incisive analysis with straight facts - this is far from a boring history book. A lot of interesting tid-bits and epithets show out - like Gandhi came to be known as "Mahatma", because Rabindranath Tagore called him so; "It costs a great deal of money to keep this man in poverty" - quoting Sarojini Naidu, on the amount of money sponsors donate to run Gandhi's ashram to keep his image going; "...freedom inside the empire, if possible, and outside of it, if necessary" - referring to Gandhi's earlier attempts to gain equality status for Indians within the British empire, and later shift to complete independence.

To me, Gandhi came out as an outstanding, fearless, headstrong and politically shrewd leader, who could pull all of India together, despite the fact that almost every section, the British, Hindu, Muslim or Untouchable hated him as a leader. He was also opinionated, intransigent and unpredictable, as well not as progressive. For example, the book cites he was opposed to the British building out railways that he used a lot, and rejected English medicine (penicillin) that could have saved his wife, and insisted on swadeshi agrarian methods that Churchill pointed out was out of touch with the reality of feeding a swelling population. Overall, one of the best books I have read, and I am glad to have read it.

Book Review - Reality Check

2009-03-11T23:01:00.000-07:00

Reality Check by Guy Kawasaki: Similar to Art of the Start, but on a broader range of life topics like marriage, career etc. This book is full of wisdom and advice from the author, distinguished in many ways as Apple executive, entrepreneur and venture capitalist, among other things. I liked his comment "I have never known anyone that was too old to marry, but know a lot of people that were too young" and "you need to be ready accept the person for what he or she is" - truly good advice that marriage requires one to be ready for it, rather than a age range. Another one I liked his advice on career to college students - to use the time to discover the passion while parents are still paying, do job hopping until 30 if needed to discover one's interests etc. Really good to check it out.

Dowry Law - Chief Justice admits misuse

2009-02-13T00:38:00.001-08:00

I blogged at length on dowry law fallacies in India. Now, the Chief Justice of India admits the law is misused (newslink). This is all good, but change is too slow.

Girija Vyas, the chairperson for National Commission for Women thinks it's not misuse, but "...lack of awareness amongst people that is exploited by lawyers and police...". It is unfortunate that such an influential person in authority doesn't realize that laws, no matter what, will be exploited by lawyers and police when possible, interpreted in different ways at different times, and such things are sometimes costly in terms of precious resource use such as police and courts, derail careers that impact the economy, can produce unjust outcomes and some laws may not accomplish the intended purpose.

This is why Marriage & Divorce laws must be carefully thought out, offer clear and predictable guidelines, and allow for win-win situations. Ms. Vyas should realize that she holds a very responsible position that controls the destiny of so many men and women, and not get caught up in the identity of "women". Her charter is empowerment and development of women as a section of society that currently needs attention, not so much as an association with identity of "women" (similar to "human rights" or "minority" commission), and if policies are devastating in certain ways, she would come out stronger by advocating changes, rather than being defensive. Else, people will lose faith in her and the commission, branding it with the identity of "women" or worse as "feminist". I think she would like to be remembered in history like Lord William Bentinck or Raja Rammohan Roy, who also fought for women's rights and made a difference, and not as a feminist - I hope she can help it. As well, she should note they didn't react to every problem by creating a law!

Where the mind is without fear - Poem by Rabindranath Tagore

2009-02-12T23:47:00.000-08:00

The poem below is a masterpiece - it beautifully captures foundational principles that any nation should adopt - or a concise description of what the constitution of any country should look like. It was written by Nobel prize winner Rabindranath Tagore, before India's independence. A must-read for any senator, politician, public servant, or any dutiful citizen.

Where the mind is without fear
And the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up
Into fragments by narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake

Summary: The poem describes Tagore's vision of how his country could offer a heavenly experience to it's citizens, or what a free country should look like. In his view, it would be a country where,

people can express their views freely without fear of repercussions,
people share and spread knowledge freely,
people are open minded and willing to listen to each other's perspectives,
people are true to each other, value their integrity, and honest in their dealings,
people work hard and strive for perfection in quality,
people are driven by reasoning and scientific temper, instead of fallacies, hypocricies, or ideologies.
people are open to change and don't succumb to inertia or continue age-old orthodox customs and practices that do not meaningfully apply anymore,
people are progressive, think of bigger goals and accomplish them, constantly raising the bar.

When such a vision is accomplished, such a country would be free, and a heaven to live in.

Easily said, than done? Not quite, there are countries that have woken up to much of Tagore's vision. Ironically, India hasn't woken up yet, but not in deep slumber either - let's hope the dawn is soon.

Dowry & Divorce - Interesting Judgement

2009-02-10T21:44:00.000-08:00

If you patch up with your ex-wife, Indian law takes you off the hook on dowry cases, even if convicted. This link shows the interesting judgment that caught my eye. I agree with the view that courts should get off the back of couples who want to patch up. However, I respectfully disagree that dowry cases can be used as legal substitutes to bargain in divorce proceedings. What if the guy and the girl didn't patch up? The guy may have had to go to jail for 3 years, but the dowry case is suspect in the first place, given this patch up drama. The court is innovative - it kept the conviction to make legal sense, but offset the sentence to the few days the guy spent in jail. But, rather than having obnoxious laws and being innovative in interpretation, it is better to have simpler laws that allow such win-win situations, in a more predictable manner. Let's hope some day Indian laws catch up.

Child Marriages in India are legal

2009-01-17T21:37:00.000-08:00

UNICEF opines that 40% of child marriages in the world happen in India (link). At the outset, child marriage is supposedly illegal in India, but the marriages are legally valid - go figure that one! Well, what it is effectively saying is that parents or adults can be jailed for conducting a child marriage, but once the children are married, it cannot be annulled or dissolved just because they were children when married - they have to go through what's allowed or not allowed by the Indian divorce law (there is a small 2-year window of opportunity soon after becoming a major thanks to an act of 2006 - I wonder how they expected 18-year olds to file a void petition!). The underlying reason for the paradox was to protect the woman (girl), make sure she gets alimony and property rights, but this UNICEF news link goes on to explain why child marriage eventually harms women in so many ways. Another example of laws based on fallacy and shallow thinking, and societal unwillingness to take on liability for bad marriages.

Ban on child marriages is difficult to enforce - at least, according to one chief minister of an Indian state. There is a case of one woman officer from the Indian Administrative Service (that is a lot of authority) who bravely tried to stop a child marriage and almost lost her hand to the wedding mob. The elected chief minister tried to explain it is difficult to enforce due to the centuries old culture in many communities, rather than react by taking aggressive stance. Can't blame him entirely, but baby steps and different policies to prevent, enforce, change the culture should have been initiated. In fact, this confirms such reactive laws banning something or making it a crime are a fallacy, under false hopes of fixes, without deep thought to identifying the real underlying problem. The law commission lists a boat load of reasons why child marriages happen, and recommends some steps in this 2007 report, such as making any marriage under 16 legally void, but I don't believe these are laws yet (See link for a good blog on this report).

The Supreme Court has recently directed all marriages be registered. This is a good first step in prevention. Obviously, it has to be followed up by proper age checks during the time of registration. There will of course be false representations, so the system of registering births need to be in place. Enforcement should include stiff penalties and imprisonment for parents,relatives, corrupt officers that indulge in this process. Finally, education, employment of girls should be encouraged, so the culture eventually changes. Empowerment by virtue of sensible and flexible laws to get out of marriage, crisp guidelines get some form of win-win settlement and move on, quickly implementable without court drag should happen.

Interestingly, the law commission report mentions "...Texts like Manu Smirti which state that the father or the brother, who has not married his daughter or the sister who has attained puberty will go to hell are sometimes quoted to justify child marriage...". Unfortunately, it has misinterpreted. The key point Manu Smriti is trying to emphasize is that the father or brother should actively pursue a marriage for the girl - not so much about the age limit of puberty. See my blog on "Mr. Gurumuthy's views on Social Security", that mentions some parents deliberately delaying their daugher's marriage and trying to live through retirement with her income. That is the type Manu Smriti is trying to address. Moreover, Manu Smriti was written based on the prevailing situation at that time, when life expectancy was so low that early sex, marriage and reproduction was desired, so many years of education was not required for survival etc. Also, Smritis were meant to change, as opposed to Shrutis that were anchored philosophies. Swami Vivekananda said (link),"...the Vedas being eternal will be one and the same throughout all ages, but the Smritis will have an end. As time rolls on, more and more of the Smritis will go, sages will come, and they will change and direct society into better channels, into duties and into paths which accord with the necessity of the age, and without which it is impossible that society can live". So no point faulting Manu Smriti for not making the changes needed for today! Too bad UNICEF needs to wait for those sages who can deliver.

India Anti-Dowry Law - Fallacy and Shallow Thinking

2009-01-12T00:27:00.000-08:00

Anti-dowry law must have sting - according to Ms. Brinda Karat, a leading legislator in India. She isn't alone in asking, and she has many women and men politician friends who will go on writing such laws in the name of protecting married or marriageable women. Unfortunately, these haven't worked the way they imagined, and they don't think through the damage they do to society, nor the havoc wreaked on individual families. Here is why these laws are fallacies, and represent shallow thinking of the underlying problem.

The law creates new and more victims: The law recognizes gifts are possible, so it only states "demand" for dowry is illegal. But, when someone complains, how can a court really distinguish if there was demand or if it was willingly given? How can police sensibly investigate from "He said this" and "She said that" remarks from hostile parties? They cannot, and they don't kill themselves doing so - instead just make arrests and charge them. Such ambiguity provides ample opportunity for corruption, and it is effectively used to make money by police, lawyers and even judges. Check out the 498a website for "victims" of this law, and read the Canada and US department of state travel advisory. Educated women in urban areas readily use this law to negotiate a good deal on divorce as well. Indian Supreme court has admitted the law is misused and there are victims of such laws, but yet held it constitutional as it also believes this will solve real problems as well.

The law does little or nothing to real dowry victims: Most people don't use police and courts, or use them as the last resort, especially when it comes to family and marital issues. There is fear, shame and stigma to this approach. This is similar to employees' law suits that become a public record, which can seriously limit career prospects. It is only a law that helps in taking revenge, which goes against the goal of resolving conflicts and creating a healthy family relationship. Uneducated women are the most likely victims, and the law is rigid keeping exactly them in mind, but it doesn't realize most of them are unlikely to come to police and courts to solve their issues. What courts are mostly doing is an academic exercise, and the painstakingly long process is unlikely to make the intended changes to society. It is also expensive in terms of time and money spent on courts, police, disrupting families productivity, on something that isn't going to work or have any effect, and the resources could otherwise be well spent on addressing other critical issues.

The law will manifest dowry in other ways: Marriage in any society will involve such financial exchanges, gifts, and considerations. Even Mumbai was offered as dowry in history. Just today - an undocumented California man wanted to marry off his minor daughter in exchange for $16000 dowry. By nature, women look for financially successful men (either with good income or good assets), and likewise there seems to be a natural untold reverse need for the woman to bring something to the table. If not dowry , this may manifest in the form of "working woman". Many educated communities actually pride themselves of not seeking dowry, but the cash flows are addressed by imposing a condition that the bride needs to be working, and salary expectations are checked out in advance. Many men will happily marry a doctor woman without expectations. The point is the draconian laws will not solve the problem, but will only steer the society in another direction - which is ok, but that can be accomplished in other sensible ways.

The law will create new problems if implemented effectively: The risk premium will only go up for uneducated or unsuccessful women, and other innovations will manifest so they can be married off. Or, those like Indians abroad will look for brides in other countries, since it isn't worth the risk of marrying an Indian woman. Or, families will become more cautious, live under different roofs to avoid legal problems, conduct in a more contractual manner, which goes against the intent of preserving relationship based society (see my other blog on Mr. Gurumurthy's views on India being a strong relationship based society).

This "problem" of financial expectations before and during marriage cannot be solved, but can only be managed so it doesn't get out of hand. In fact, Ms. Brinda Karat admits the laws are stringent, but says there is a "conspiracy of silence that prevents action to stop it", and this is why she is opining that it isn't working in changing a patriarchical society and notions around women. The remedy is not more draconian laws or enforcing such laws, but to enact sensible laws and policies that can drive change. It might help to think along the following lines:

Educate women aggressively since the "working woman" alternative is a better option, as individual freedoms are established.
Register all marriages, and enforce registration of gifts exchanged at time of marriage, allowing pre-nuptial agreements, thus closing loose ends that allow ambiguity.
For those already married and finding a way out from the perpetual demands, provide laws that allow quick and easy divorce options, while enforcing spousal support and property distribution.
Don't criminalize the issue and drive people to a corner. Allow room for negotiation by making it a civil case involving financial transactions.

Providing flexible and fair options for conflict resolution is the right solution. It may be too much to ask for from current generation of legislators, but as the generations change and Indians embrace western style of living, the laws will eventually change. Changes like liberalizing the economy, current security revamp were reactive rather than proactive, and similarly some day the laws will change dramatically. Until then, some families will continue to find out the hard way that in marrying an Indian woman, the risk versus reward was not worth it.

Guitar Ummachi

2009-01-03T00:03:00.000-08:00

Kids say the darnedest things. This one will strike a chord if you know Tamil.

My kid saw a little idol of Goddess Saraswati holding a veena, and called it Guitar Ummachi. They were watching Thiruvilayadal movie, and saw Nandi playing the Mridangam. One of them goes, "How can a cow play the drums?" and the other responds "That's not real, he is wearing a mask, pretending to be a cow".

I am still thinking how to explain.

Gurumurthy's views on Social Security - A rebuttal

2008-12-29T23:13:00.000-08:00

I have a lot of respect for Mr. S. Gurumuthy, a columnist, chartered accountant, with several other distinguished laurels in India. I recently came across some YouTube videos on the Global Financial Crisis Impact to India, in which he aired his strong views on the Social Security system in the US. He said it is good India doesn't have it. If India had social security, he contends families will be destroyed - the US had literally nationalized families, and since the government cannot bear all the burden, and instead privatized government functions such as building roads, airports etc.

I don't agree with his assessment. The underlying problem is how much liability can you impose on a young Indian man or woman? How much will their income permit relative to their expense? Today, in India, most families feel two incomes are needed for a decent living (sending kids to good school, buying a nice flat) - typical desires of an average family are not met by one income. Just look at the matrimonials, and you'll see that most grooms are seeking working brides. This means the young man is not able to (or willing to) even support his wife and children with just his income. Why would he also be able to support parents, which can get pretty expensive in terms of medical bills, not to mention the emotional baggage of everyone living under the same roof? What sense does it make to require him to do so, instead of coming up with an alternative?

The case of young women is still worse. A friend of mine followed up on a matrimonial educated working girl as a prospective bride, and the response from the girls parents: "We are not really looking for a groom now, since her income is helping us get by - her dad is retired, and we have some hospital expenses..." The matrimonial was just to keep her happy that some search was going on. Such is the plight of imposing such direct liability on young men and women.

Mr. Gurumurthy acknowledges that the US came up with the social security system because sons were not able to (or not willing to) take care of ageing parents. The point of flare-up had happened way back in the 1940s, when the US "nationalized" the process of taking care of aged parents. The concept in simple terms - current young workers pay 6% of their income as social security tax, and the employer matches with another 6% - all this money is pooled and used to pay out current retirees a monthly minimum pension (social security benefit), and their medical expenses (medicare benefit). So, the US government is only acting like a broker or escrow, and this by itself is not a big burden. This works well if current generation population is higher than the past generation, as there will be more workers to pay fewer retirees.

I am sure Mr. Gurumurthy understands that other government functions such as building roads and airports are privatized for many other reasons - in fact, India is also privatizing roads and airports, even without this social security burden. Social security takes the emotional sting out of the system. The fact that I will not be on the street in my retirement, come what may, makes me more entrepreneurial, confident and relaxed in relationships.

The same elder abuse flare-up has happened in India too, prompting the government to act. They have recently passed the "The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents Act", to keep tabs on sons who inherited property from parents, which in my view is really a reactive, superficial, patch work and piece meal approach, typical of what contemporary India comes up with, as opposed to a well thought out, comprehensive approach such as the Social security system in the US. Instead of solving the problem, the law is aimed at sending an earning, economically productive young man or woman to jail - which means other productive young men and women will pay for his or her stay in jail, and there is an expense in maintaining courts and judges for this purpose. What about those who do not have enough property to pass on? What about those who do not have sons or daughters to take care of them? If sons and daughters can address elder needs, why should some Indians have guaranteed pension and Provident Fund benefits? How do you take the emotional sting out of the system? Imposing an emotional baggage only causes unethical, unlawful (domestic violence) behavior.

Mr. Gurumurthy also talks about how the west believes in contract based approach to managing relationships, and how this has caused the collapse of family as a cultural, economic and socially functional unit, citing 51% families in the US are single-parent. I respectfully disagree that there is collapse - none of the single parent families are interested in the relationship based approach, to get back into broken families that they were originally part of. They are instead exploring ways to successfully be a single parent functional unit.

Bottomline, I think with ongoing growth in India, the lifestyles permitted by the current and future wages, requirements to be in fast paced environment that has little time for taking care of people around, it is time for India to embrace the west in the "nationalized" approach for elder care, and adopt contract based approach to manage relationships like the west. I think it will happen over time, whether Mr. Gurumurthy likes it or not.

Book Review - Creating a World Without Poverty

2008-12-29T22:59:00.000-08:00

Creating a World Without Poverty - Muhammad Yunus: Many of us are aware of Muhammad Yunus' work in micro-finance bank in Bangladesh, that fetched him the Nobel prize. This book provides insights into his herculean efforts in making that Grameen Bank happen, the challenges he faced from financial businesses, goverments, world bodies, and how was able to overcome those and come out ahead. What was more interesting is his perspective on social businesses (that is, run as a business for the benefit of the society as a whole as opposed to money profits), and how they compare and contrast with profit-maximizing businesses, capitalism, non-profits or NGOs, social entrepreneurship and government. Great learning from a distinguished economist, sharing and spreading his knowledge.

Book Review - The Logic of Life

2008-12-29T15:49:00.000-08:00

The Logic of Life - Tim Harford: A very well written book providing an economic perspective on peoples' rational behavior - that incentives are not just about money, but love, managing risk and other factors also contribute to what people may consider a logical choice. Compared to somewhat similar books like Freakonomics or The Economic Naturalist, it is somewhat more intense to read, but was worth my time. The chapter on divorce confirmed my suspicions that "No Fault" divorce reduces domestic violence, and only resulted in a instantaneous peak in divorce, while other factors are responsible for the increase in divorce rate. Another perspective I liked was his dig on Jeff Sach's "The End of Poverty" - Tim explains that Malaria and insulation of countries are not necessarily reasons for countries not growing; Malaria affects children the most vs. productive adults, and countries like US and Australia have been insulated, but has shown growth and prosperity.

Problem with Everything being Natural

2008-12-23T22:04:00.001-08:00

When my wife was carrying twins, I had a little rendezvous with her gynecologist that gave me a new perspective on Nature. She was suggesting a planned cesarean was the way to go, since that is the best way to ensure the safety of mom and the two babies. I argued with her that we should try to make it as natural birth as possible, and not plan to use artificial methods like C-section when it is not needed. She explained that she was cool with my approach, except that I need to realize by leaving it to nature, some babies or moms will die during pregnancy. Especially with twins, the second baby undergoes a lot of stress and increased heartbeat before coming out, which can pose an increased risk of survival. If I am cool with taking that risk, then she was perfectly willing to follow the natural process. What she was suggesting was a process by which she could better guarantee the safety of both the babies and the mother. It made me rethink about leaving everything to natural way! These days I tend to think inventions and discoveries are driven by and are part of nature, that almost nothing can be called artificial.

Book Review - Doing Business in 21st century India

2008-12-23T21:42:00.001-08:00

Doing Business in 21st century India - Gunjan Bagla: I was surprised to find this fairly new book in the library. I quickly grabbed it, and was definitely worth the few hours it took to go through it in entirety. Gunjan Bagla has done an awesome job covering a broad range of business, cultural, political, financial and legal issues that one needs to be aware of before venturing into Indian territory. The book fills some of the gap of lacking case studies about India in B-school. I shook my head in disbelief that Gunjan was able to document so many Indian gestures ("making an 8 with the nose" and "tilting sideways to carry on") and their meaning! As well, the Indian use of words like Dicky or Stepney for the car trunk, Scheme for Plan, and Intimate for Inform - there are dozens of them in the book that brings a smile, while educating the clueless. He offers new perspectives for certain typically Indian behaviors that we may not agree as acceptable behaviors - such as the sevice person multitasking and maximizing thruput with multiple customers (I think everyone would want her full attention and privacy), people not waiting for their turn in lines, or arriving 30 minutes late to appointments. It is difficult to write a typical or comprehensive book about India, and the author has accomplished this feat, and made it easy for us to read.

Half Knowledge is Dangerous

2008-12-23T18:46:00.000-08:00

These days, it is easy to quickly search on google and educate oneself on almost any topic. Many of us use it to look up medical conditions and ask intelligent questions to our doctor. This is all good, but we must realize that half knowledge is dangerous, and the web information does not substitute expertise from years of learning and working. Here is my rather amusing personal experience.

After reading up on liver problems caused by acidity and all that, I went for my physical checkup.

Me: "Doctor, I have pain in my liver" (touching below my left chest with my hand)
Doctor: "Do you have pain on the left side or right side?"
Me: (Touching again below my left chest) "The pain is here. I think it is acidity."
Doctor: "The liver is on the other side."
Me: (Now looking stupid) "Oh! Could it be pain in my heart?"
Doctor: "No, I think it is just gas."

Obviously, I went a bit far on the web search before checking whether the liver is on the right or left. Next time, I just listened to what the doctor said.

Bogasora (Bakasura?) sentenced to life

2008-12-18T20:37:00.000-08:00

Rwanda's former military colonel Bagosora was sentenced to life for the Rwandan genocide - news.
I was surprised to see the name aptly rhymes with Bakasura, a demon in the Mahabharata epic, who supposedly ate one villager each day and was eventually killed by Bhima, the prince. Perhaps, Bagosora is Bakasura's rebirth, but this time around there was no death penalty, so he got away with life sentence held responsible for the deaths of a whopping 500,000 Rwandans.

Japan experience

2008-12-17T23:15:00.000-08:00

Some tid-bits from my Japan business and tourist experience below.

Getting around - Airport to Hotel: Tokyo or Osaka are the main cities that one might fly in, and in both cases, the airport is quite far from the city - takes about 1.5 hours. I have used two options, the limo bus and express train. There is a counter at the airport to get the tickets for limo bus. They may accept credit card, but it is a good idea to get some Yen cash at the airport currency exchange counter as cash is the norm in many places. One can quickly notice extra hands (double checking cashiers, queue usherers, elevator operators) doing little help that may not be absolutely needed, but that's Japan's way of employing everybody. .

Train Rides: Trains are a popular and efficient mode of transport in Japan, very clean and punctual. After a couple of trips, I could find my way to the train (much of the directions are in Japanese, though airport and railway stations have some English). From Osaka, I took Kansai express (called Haruka express from Kansai International Airport to Shin-Osaka)that goes to Shin-Osaka (New-Osaka). First, I asked tickets for Osaka, and they assumed the old town, and confused me with hopping two trains - I knew that wasn't needed, and corrected myself. There is also bullet train from Osaka to Tokyo called the Shin-kan-sen (New truck line). The ride goes through historic towns of Nagoya, Kyoto, Tennoji and gives an impressive rustic view of Japan. From Tokyo, it is Narita express, and that takes us to the Tokyo Central Station.

Taxi Rides: Once I reached the city railway stations, I took a cab to the hotel (I think I paid around 1000 yen or about USD 10) . I stayed at the Imperial Hotel in both Osaka and Tokyo, and it was important to say "Teikoku Hotel", since the cab drivers don't understand the english name. Cab drivers are honest and impeccably dressed, mostly in suit and gloves, though it can be difficult to communicate since most can only speak and understand Japanese. Some Japanese taxis have a mobile broadcast TV, so it is possible to watch local channels during the ride.

Imperial Hotel: True to its name, staying at the Imperial has always been a royal, safe and pleasant experience. The hotel has an impressive ambience, and 5-star service, and is located ideally. In Tokyo, it is across the Imperial palace and right next to Ginza (the equivalent of New York Times Square). In Osaka, it is right next to a river offering nice views from the room, and next to the Osaka Amenity or Business Park (OAP) that provides a nice ambience and places to shop and eat. I usually have a good breakfast (buffet) at the Imperial, so I wont have to worry about what I get for lunch while I am out hunting.

Business Etiquette: I am sure there are many books on doing business in Japan, but here are some snapshots that quickly come to my mind - just as a flavor:

It is good to pick up some Japanese vocabulary that may help break the ice. At a minimum, Konichiwa (Hello), Ohio Gozaimus (Good Morning). Ari-gatho (Thank you). And, Ici, Ni, San is 1, 2, 3. (the last one is from "Big Bird in Japan"!). When I saw "Sanwa bank", it occurred to me that it is "Third Bank". I heard someone say "Neon", and that actually meant 24 (Ni On).
When introducing yourself, it is important to hand over the business card with both hands. Likewise, receive the other person's business card with both hands. Make sure you take a good look at their business card, and not just put it in your pocket. You can say "Hajme Mashte", or just "Pleased to meet you", and speak your name and your title or responsibility slowly and clearly. Bow! Bow! Bow! The more you bend, the more you respect, but don't overdo it or make it too obvious. Even in stores or other places, it is good practice to use both hands for giving out or receiving credit cards or even cash.
Once discussions start, you may notice there may be a dozen people in the room, but only one person speaks. Others will only chime in if this person makes a request. They may be silent and speak only in Japanese, but many of them understand English, so if we speak slowly and clearly, they will understand. Usually, there is an interpreter and things get lost in translation, so it is important to pay extra attention to make sure the right, unambiguous messages are conveyed.
Generally, it is also easy to tell the hierarchy from the attire. The director or senior manager wearing a suit, followed by the manager wearing a tie, and the engineer with no tie or suit. It is better to dress in suit when soliciting business. When I take my engineers along, I remind them before their flight to bring their suit as well (or just tie and blazer - doesn't have to be a formal suit).
Japanese tend to work longer hours, way into the evenings and night. Thus, it is OK for employees to sleep in meetings! They understand the guy or girl is just tired! This may come as surprise for some of us int he US, where sleeping at work can get you out the door for good.
In Japan, people smoke quite a bit, and there is also a lot of booze (from Asahi beer to shochu or sake shots). I was also surprised to note it was an open society - a friend of mine said infidenlity runs as high as 70% in Japan. I have answered a lot of inquisitive questions on my age, marital status even on a first meeting, but my friend tells me that could just be curiosity with no further intent.
Japanese people gesture with kind of prodding with the palm facing upward, which I have found unique and enjoyable.

Going around: Again, I can only provide a pinch of flavor here - it is possible to write a book on Japan tourism and culture. The Imperial hotel has bus tours with english speaking drivers/guides, to take you around Tokyo, Mt. Fuji, or in the case of Osaka, to the historic town of Kyoto. I have taken the Tokyo bus tour and my friends took a private car ride to Kyoto from Osaka, and it was a safe and fulfilling experience.

In Tokyo, I have hanged out in Ginza area right behind the Imperial hotel. There are innumerable shops, places to eat, some of them interestingly built under the overhead freeways, railway tracks, providing employment to so many common people. My friend tells me Ginza is like Las Vegas on steroids! One thing to watch out, the restaurants vary dramatically in prices - I have spent less than $10 all the way to $80 on sushi per person. Some places are so good, that people wait 2 hours in line just to get in! Other than sushi, there are also good places for Okonomiyaki, Tapan Yaki and of course, Thai, Italian and Indian restaurants in the Ginza area. I can't reproduce the Japanese names of the restaurants, and addresses are somewhat complex in Japan as well - goes by block and building names, as opposed to streets and numbers.
For shopping, BiCamera is a good store to visit in Tokyo, near Ginza - it has several floors of electronic and household goods, somewhat like Frys in the US.
It is also easy to walk to the Imperial Palace sprawling lawns diagonally across the Imperial hotel. We can't go in, but can take good pictures of the palace from outside.
The Tokyo bus tour takes us to the Tokyo TV tower, where we can get half way to the top, and see pretty much all of Tokyo - a concrete jungle, and a glimpse of Mount Fuji.
It also takes us to Asakusa, which has a Buddhist temple, and adjoining shops where one can get nice little gifts and mementos. You can also get a similar or better experience in Kyoto.

Joke - US Bank

2008-12-16T22:42:00.000-08:00

You'll understand this joke if you have been to a bank in the US.

What can you tell about the titles of the employees when you visit a bank? It's easy - anyone who's standing is a Teller, and anyone who is sitting is a Vice President.

Hindi as National Language

2008-12-15T00:39:00.000-08:00

India's law panel does not want to adopt Hindi as official court language - news. Apparently, judges cannot learn the language at their age, which is one of the reasons they feel this wouldn't fly. Some years after India's independence from the British, it was decided that Hindi will replace English as the "Official language" with time frames like 15 years, though it has not taken off in decades.

When I was in grad school, I used to get into arguments with some Hindi speaking friends, who'd express surprise that someone from India doesn't speak it's "national language", and ask if I was really from India. Much of the argument would be defensive,with some absurd points that wouldn't go anywhere. Over time, I think I have become more persuasive.

First, why is such a "national language" is needed. Usually the answer is for "national integration". Then drawing a parallel - why not enforce a "national religion". If everyone is Hindu, then that will also contribute to national integration. If you can have national integration with no national religion, then it should be possible to have national integration with no national language. This is fairly convincing, and the proponents of national language will likely give up, except that it can be argued religion is personal, but language affects two or more people communicating. That begs the next question.

Which two (or more) people are going to communicate? Largely, it is going to be within a state, where most people speak the same language. Mostly, people talk to family, neighbors, school, work, stores, most of this is in the local lingo. This is true by definition, since India chose to create linguistic states. So, the vast majority of the communications don't need a national language, but only certain situations like people traveling to another state or dealing with national or inter-state level communications will have need for common language. That begs the next question.

Why not just let these people who travel learn the other language? People learn based on the incentive caused by the need to make money or such interest, which is easier, than being forced as a rule. Indians who go to US take the trouble to pick up English, and students write TOEFL exam. The Marwaris or Sindhis who come to Tamilnadu to open clothing retail learn Tamil - fact is they have a Tamil accent and dialect of their own in Chennai. Likewise, if anyone goes to neighboring China,which might be nearer than a far-away state like Kerala, they will feel compelled to pick up Mandarin or Cantonese. National and state boundaries are just conceptual lines. It is unlikely a the local milkman needs to travel to another state often, so he wouldn't need to pick up any other language. It is going to be people who do business or seeking work elsewhere, and their families. They can learn the local lingo, since they are the smaller population relative to the larger static population that remains local. But, that begs the next question.

What if we forced all the milkmen to learn hindi, from when they were kids? Wouldn't that be a convenience, since no one needs to learn the local lingo? Easily said than done. At the time the national or official language policy was discussed, more than 70%of population was illiterate. meaning most hindi speaking folks themselves can't read/write hindi. Given this, how can we expect the similar 70% illiterate population in another non-hindi speaking state to pick up hindi? They cannot even read or write in their own mother tongue. Adding to this, the grammar is different. the script is different. Hindi is relatively easy to learn to speak, but it is not reasonable to assume so for hundreds of millions of people.

If learned judges can't easily pick up the language, it is difficult to expect others to learn. Hopefully hindi speaking folks who think all of India can and should speak in hindi, realize some or all of this above. Promoting Hindi as a national language is about solving the wrong problem. Better approach would be to encourage a multi-lingual approach, where regional languages are also used when necessary, provide learning incentives such as free hindi classes to quietly promote, as opposed to enforcing rules or adopting unrealistic policies to promote hindi to fill a seeming gap.

Mumbai terror - Leadership failure

2008-12-14T23:13:00.000-08:00

Mumbai was in the limelight last few weeks on the audacious terror attacks at multiple sites, that left close to 200 people dead. Ironically, Mumbai was also in the news in 1993, for terror attacks at multiple sites, and around 250 people died. At that time, I remember my roommate who was from Mumbai feeling sad that these are happening in cosmopolitan Mumbai. Fifteen years later, nothing has visibly changed, and people have been sitting ducks all along.

First, I am not sure why some call this 9-11 of India. The 9-11 death toll was around 3000, which is more than a 10x impact. I am not convinced Taj hotel is equivalent to the World Trade Center, nor are the damages in dollars or rupees comparable. I also saw some call it 26-11, using the Indian way of writing the date - but I think this got so much attention due to Americans and Jewish casualties, and the slow response really hurt the Indian pride . But, anything helps to prod sitting ducks to call for action.

We see a lot of public outrage blaming politicians. The home minister Shivraj Patil resigned, followed by the Deputy Chief Minister and the Chief Minister of Maharashtra state. However, in a democracy, the people are to blame for their choice. One can argue Mr.Patil was actually defeated in elections, but Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh found him a Upper-house seat which was a way to make him the home minister. Thus, both of them are accountable and should feel remorse for putting the wrong person in charge of something of national importance. Why was he a wrong choice? Mr. Patil is said to be an honest politician, patriot, and has been elected before by the Indian people several times. Unfortunately, none of these qualify to bypass the process of appointing from currently elected leaders, unless he was a distinguished national security expert, which wasn't the case. Drawing a parallel, Manmohan Singh himself was appointed Finance Minister in 1990s without being elected, using this upper-house method, but then he was a distinguished economics expert worth bypassing the process during a moment of crisis. This was purely a political appointment that proved costly, for no fault of the people (other than the fact they trusted Ms. Gandhi and Mr. Singh to put right people on the job). Though task of keeping the nation secure was complex, and we really can't blame one person for failure, the last straw was having to send commandos from Delhi to Mumbai to fight the terrorists. With prior attacks all over, and prior intelligence sites where there are lot of foreigners will be attacked (which would trigger 5-star hotels in any sensible mind), there isn't an excuse for not being prepared with standby commandos in major cities.

People can be directly blamed for electing the Chief Minister, Vilas Rao Deshmukh, and the Deputy Chief Minister R.R. Patil. Mr. Patil apparently commented small incidents like this happens in a big city like Mumbai, and that the terrorists had planned to kill nearly 5000 people, which would have made it major incident. He needs to be told terrorists do not give thanksgiving deep discounts. Instead of focusing on spending his time on improving security, he has been spending his time and energy on improving so-called morals in a cosmopolitan city, by banning bar girls from dancing, depriving them of the little livelihood, and wasting police time, money and energy that could have been used to put in a decent response system. The CM of Maharashtra has held up well with the situation, and apparently said he came from a humble background, and was proud to have served the state. While someone from a humble background accomplishing this far is nice to hear, it hasn't translated into strong leadership. We hope people make a choice next time based on those who can deliver and perform, rather than humble, honest, moral and so forth.

The railway minister Laloo Prasad Yadav also should take some blame. The attack was Chhatrapathi Shivaji Terminus - Maharashtrians pride themselves with the legendary hero that fought Muslim rule bravely. People were essentially sitting ducks in a station named after such a hero. On top of this, Mr. Yadav is credited for making the railways profitable - which means he could have made the investment to put in a decent security system in place.

The top brass in the police force should also feel remorse. Some of them may be working hard. given the resources and talent at their disposal, and given the politics they have to deal with, and some of their peers have actually laid down their lives. But these folks are paid the best by the government, and given the authority to make things happen, and they must think through all possibilities and influence those in charge to do the right thing. They are very reactive with the investigation and prosecution after events like this, but haven't done well on the prevention in the first place. Perhaps, prevention is not as rewarding as later investigation and prosecution. I noticed one police officer that had resigned in disgust over corruption back in year 2000, mentioned the bullet-proof vests worn by the senior officers killed may have been low-quality and not fit for this job. That's a shame.

Hotels such as the Taj or Oberoi charge anywhere from $200-$600 a night, and there shouldn't have been a dearth for money to put in a decent security. Executives like Ratan Tata should have had more foresight and paranoia to invest in the safety of their guests, as well as their employees, rather than trusting a government that is not known to have the best resources or system. Hopefully they will do more introspection. Now. it's not just the hotels, other establishments such as hospitals, marriage halls, malls where lot of people assemble should be wary as well.

My heart goes out to those impacted, but things will change only over time, and some events such as these only contribute to waking up to the problem, and feeling the need for change.

Book Review

2008-11-26T19:28:00.000-08:00

This week was a reading week - mix of good and bad.

The Conscience of a Liberal - Paul Krugman: A book on inequality in America, with plenty of historical references over the past 100 or more years, plenty of supporting economic data from the outstanding economist, and his views on issues and fixes for range of topics such as CEO pay, healthcare, immigration etc. Good reading, except Paul is a hardline liberal, so you also need to read other books to get a balanced opinion.

The Science of Evolution & The Myth of Creationism - Ardea Skybreak: What shall I say? Must-read for The Pope! For the scientifically oriented, this book is a treat. For the religiously oriented, it depends if you are fundamentalist or moderate. The book does an amazing job of exposing biblical myths with scientific proofs, bashing fundamentalist beliefs, while respecting religious moderate faith. For example, myths such as God created the earth 6000 years ago, with all beings in 6 days, all at once is all proven false, with evidence that rocks on earth are 4.5 billion years old, and fossil and DNA evidence showing that evolution of life happened over billions of years starting from chemical soup that earth was, and lab experiments how species evolve and become extinct at different times. Outstanding and worth the time. You don't have to read the Bible to get a balanced opinion!

Myths, Lies and Downright Stupidity - John Stossel: This was quick and easy to browse through, explaining why conventional wisdom is not necessarily the truth. The one that stood out in my mind: "Women earn less for same work" - if this is true, why would any employer hire men, when they can make more profit by hiring women? The truth is women care more about flexibility and make compromises in salary, while men care more for salary, and dont make those compromises. However, I am not sure I agree with all of the truths.

If Democrats Had any Brains, They'd be Republicans - Ann Coulter: It was quick as well, as I gave up after a few pages. Lot of political, conservative, republican brazen remarks that reassures we still enjoy freedom of speech and expression, but I couldn't get on the same wavelength.

Gay Marriage - should it be legal?

2008-11-18T22:39:00.000-08:00

Recent news is Gay marriage is illegal in California due to Proposition 8, and legal in Connecticut due to court ruling. Obviously, we wonder, should gay marriages be legal?

But, here is my rhetorical question - why should "marriage" be legal? Why should the law take positions on concept called marriage? Why should governments spend public funds issuing licenses, tracking who is "married" and so on? The answer is easy - taxes, benefits like medical insurance or social security, inheritance, immigration, liability such as spousal and child support and host other things are tied to "marriage". The religious believe marriage strengthens families and hence good for overall society, but that's not quite why governments are tracking marriages.

If that is the case, we should address the problem of social benefits, and not get caught up on the more religious notion of marriage. Why not let individuals form communities regardless of gender, regardless of gay or straight, and regardless of how many want to be together? For example, why can't two straight men who are just roommates, declare they are forming a community or household and get a license, so they can get tax benefits, be able to add an unemployed roommate to medical plan, allowed to make decisions during emergency etc. This will obviously strengthen the their well being. What if someone is living with a cousin and a grandmother? After all, if the idea is to strengthen society with people helping out one another, it should not matter if dependents are from a particular sex, have specific sexual orientation etc, or what relationships exactly can form a community. In fact, we don't restrict who can be together in a household, but just don't want to extend the typical benefits, possibly due to fear that it will be misused. In fact, we also enforce certain responsibilities such as child support, regardless of someone is married or not.

One thought I read somewhere is to issue marriage licenses for 7 years, and have people renew, if they are still together and value the relationship. Likewise, community or household licenses could be issued to any set of people, so they can avail themselves of benefits and share responsibility. Another example, in India, there is a legal concept of "Hindu United Family" to determine taxes, inheritance and benefits pertaining the patriarchal families which comprise of so many married couples in a large household as well as children, parents, grandparents, and potentially some older single uncles, aunts living in the same large household as well. A "Ration Card" that lists the names of people in the household is really the license to many other benefits - most people in India don't even apply or have a marriage license from the government! Truth is most of us are going to remain wedded, and live with our spouses, regardless of whether the government issues us a license or not.

I think there is a way to redefine the way we form these associations, and how we let the government and law deal with them, and not get caught up whether the check box should read bride & groom or bride & bride or whatever. Maybe we should just call everything a civil union and the problem will go away. I just don't think a proposition that we can't call marriage as a as civil union will gather support.

Vegetarian in Japanese

2008-11-18T21:56:00.000-08:00

In 2001, I went to Japan on my first business trip. I wanted to be sure I knew how to ask for vegetarian food, so I asked my Japanese-American colleague. He taught me a complicated phrase in Japanese, and explained it meant "Vegetable Eating Principle". He said this was the closest, since there is no equivalent word for vegetarian in Japanese. My trip was successful, thanks to local sales folks that helped translate and me keep alive, but on a couple of occasions I was on my own. I tried using the phrase he taught me, but it drew a blank - not sure if it was my accent or if it was that phrase. They would respond "Fish ok?" or "Chicken Ok?" and I finally settled for Ice-cream as a safe option!

After several years gap, I made a few trips down this year. Now, I have picked up the taste for Okonomiyaki, Soba, Udon soup, Teriyaki, Cucumber sushi rolls in respective vegetarian versions, so it isn't that difficult anymore. But, in my recent trip, I finally found an english speaking waitress at a Thai restaurant in Tokyo, and asked the question - "How do you say vegetarian in Japanese?". Her response, "Actually, it's the same word as english - vegetarian"! That was very filling indeed!

Book review - The Art of the Start

2008-10-18T15:42:00.000-07:00

My recent pick from the local library turned out to be an interesting read. "The Art of the Start" by Guy Kawasaki. I'd recommend this for anyone who is planning to start his/her own business, or seek venture capital. Guy is a distinguished entrepreneur and venture capitalist, and offers a lot of insights in jumpstarting and running a business, and has structured the book in such a way that parts of it can be used as a check list for those putting together a business plan or presentation to seek venture funds. It is detail oriented (to the extent of recommending dark backround for power point, or company name starting with capital letter!), and filled with notable quotes that makes one think. Guy also reflects the "Think Different" mantra as an Apple alumni, with ample non-conventional wisdom flowing through out the book. Happy Reading.

Geeky Repair - Windows to Linux Printing

2008-09-13T15:52:00.001-07:00

I finally found time to dig in and setup my Epson R260 printer for remote wireless printing from my Windows laptop. The printer is attached to a Linux machine, and setup was pretty straightforward (I think it was automaticlly detected) with the CUPS (Common Unix Printing System) to handle the print jobs. Everytime I wanted to print someting from my laptop, I had to unplug the USB cable and plug it into the laptop USB port. Just yesterday, I managed to set it up so that I could access the CUPS server from my laptop, so I could send the print job over Wi-Fi. It was easy, once I found this article on the web: http://searchenterpriselinux.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid39_gci1250451,00.html

Below are the high level steps

Make sure the printer is setup on the linux machine, and is able to print using CUPS.
Open the CUPS service to be accessible from other computers. Here is how to do this: Invoke the browser, and type http://localhost:631. You should see the CUPS service page. Note the printer name, and change settings for that printer to share on other computers, and enable remote configuration (you should see check boxes for this).
Once you share, you should be able to type http://hostname:631 (hostname can be found by typing hostname command in a xterm window) and access the same CUPS service page. Or, in case DNS is not setup, you should be able to type an IP address in lieu of host name (e.g. http://192.1628.1.5:631) and get the CUPS page. (Type hostname -i to get this IP address). Be sure you use the WiFi interface IP address (or the Ethernet interface IP address, as appropriate).
CUPS listens on port 631, so the goal here is to open 631 across all firewalls. Invoke the Firewall on both Linux and Windows computers, and open up port 631. You may also have to do this step on your wireless router. Be sure to open up only to internal network, and not externally to the world.
Now, go to your Windows computer, and try accessing the CUPS printer. You can first try using the browser as in step 3, and then add it as a network printer using the Control Panel, Add Network Printer option. In my case, the network printer URL is something like http://192.168.1.5:631/printers/stylusphotor260. It is hard coded to the IP address, but it will work as long as the wireless router keeps the linux machine assigned to that IP.

You should now be able to print from your windows computer to this networked printer.

House Painting - Exterior

2008-09-12T20:30:00.000-07:00

We got our home exteriors painted this month - something to blog home about! It had been more then 5 years since the house exteriors were painted, and there was quite some flaking in the front, which is what prompted us to look into this. We decided to use the tax stimulus payment for this purpose - spend on an American business and thus helps the economy! Some tips based on our experience below.

Getting Quotes: Though I have painted the inside of my house, I did not want to risk painting the outside. It is a lot of work, and a bad job isn't worth the risk. So, I called and obtained quotes from 3 places for our single story 1300 sq ft home. They did a quick 5 minute visit and give us the estimate and some color brochures and company material. One was a referral from a close friend, and the other two were from the Money Mailer coupons that came in "junk" mail.

One of the quotes had a basic rate of $2000, and extras that made it $3000. The extras included a lot of good stuff, and they clearly mentioned they were not the cheapest, but do high quality work.
The lowest was close to $1800, and included all the typical stuff like scraping, power wash, priming, and of course painting the body, trim in different color (all part of a 21-point process, as they call it). I picked the lowest quote, since the guy followed up and checked - he just made it easier for me. I talked to him about painting on the brick in front and chimney which added another $120.
The referral guy came close at $2100, but forgot to bring color brochures, and asked me to go to the store and check out samples. I figured that isn't going to work.

Picking Colors: All three surprisingly said Kelly Moore paint will be used. I don't know why, but I had no preference anyway, as long as the color and quality was good. However, I did want to pick the right color. I had Malibu Beige in mind, with a dark gray Metro for trim, after breaking my head and discussing with my wife over the color brochures, and checking out some online tools on Kelly Moore website. I also had a chat with the owner, who said that is a popular color, and he would show me samples before they start painting. We agreed he would come in Tuesday 8AM to start work.

Big Mistake not checking out sample color: Well, Tuesday came, and some guys show up at 8AM, but not the owner. One of them introduced himself as the foreman in charge, and he said he had instructions to use Malibu Beige and Swiss White for trim, metro for accent. He explained it was all a great choice, but did not have the samples to show. I wasn't so sure, but he insisted the color choices were good, so I let him go with it. I left for work, and the guys finished the job at the end of the day by the time I came back from work. Guess what? The Malibu Beige wasn't showing as good as I had thought it would be! especially against the Swiss snow-white trim. It was a bummer, and I realized what a big mistake it was to let these guys go with the color without checking out samples on the wall. They got their check, but I called the owner and blasted him for not showing up with color samples as he promised, and going for a different trim color than I had suggested. He offered to change the trim for free, but said he couldn't do anything about the beige body color, but felt the job had come out well, and insisted it was still a popular color.

Volte face changing the trim: A couple of days later, the guys showed up and repainted the trim with Metro (dark grayish purple), and it was a total volte face! Now, it was really showing very well, and reflected what exactly I had in mind when I picked the colors. I now thanked the guys and the owner for a wonderful job!

Bottomline, it matters most to really check out the color samples, how they look on your outside wall, before you start the job. Don't let them do a rush job without insisting on this important step, or you could end up feeling cheated, even if the painter did an excellent job.

Kuselan Movie Review

2008-08-03T23:46:00.000-07:00

We felt bored on a sunday afternoon, so we decided to go to the 4:30 PM show of the new Superstar release Kuselan, at the local talkies. Bottomline, we replaced boredom with another bore!

What's good: The scenes are shot in very beautiful natural landscape, that takes some stress out. Meena looks pretty, but makes me wonder how a poor wife is able to get her eyebrows done!

What's boring: Basically, the film is meant for Rajinikanth's hardline fans. I am a fan, but I am not on the same wavelength as the hardliners, and therefore couldn't connect to the innumerable scenes and dialogues that simply focuses on him as centerpiece. Rajinikanth's name in the movie is Ashok Kumar, and he says something like "Padam nalla illai-na, ashok kumar-aa irundhaalum varamaatanga" - I disagree, we all make mistakes and endup in the theater!

The titles in the beginning said Prabhu was a guest artiste - I think in this movie, everyone else is a guest artiste!

Last, the climax speech about friendship was too intense - I am the type that pays to laugh for entertainment, not get intense. Finally, he gives us a new philosophy as "Matha, Pitha, Guru, Nanban, Dheivam" - introducing "nanban" or friend as a component in the traditional saying, and wonders why they left that out. Perhaps, there could have been a debate over girl-friend or boy-friend. Who cares! Then, he says he is going to go back to Madras, arrange a home for his friend and then the family should come over - why the hell can't he do that over a phone call - everything else happens over the phone!

These kind of movies makes us wonder about rebirth - I must have owed the film crew money in past life!

Geeky repair - Fax fix on WindowsXP

2008-07-26T12:24:00.000-07:00

We had to send an international fax of a Microsoft Word document. I tried to use the File-Print and File-Send-Fax menu options and neither was kicking off connecting to the fax modem on the computer. I had a feeling that I was missing a faxing software, so I looked on the web for some freeware. When doing so, I figured, the fax services are not automatically enabled in Windows XP, and we had to first enable it for any fax software to work. The way to do this is as follows:

Invoke Control Panel from Start menu, then go to Add/Remove Programs
Click on Add WIndows Components on the left. That gives you a dialog with Fax Services check box.
Tick the box by clicking it, and press Next. This should install the files necessary for fax services, and may ask for the Windows XP CD.

However, in my case it gave an error message that it is not able to find fxsapi file on ther CD (in the D:/i386 directory), though I could see it there. First, I tried downloading the fxsapi.dll file from the web and tried again. However, that only gives you another file missing - this time fxsclnt. That was not the fix, as you could take forever doing this for all fxs files it complains as missing. Browsing a bit more, I found the real fix was to clean up the system security log in %SYSTEMROOT% directory (which is usually (C:\Windows\System32\Security). The following link from Microsoft explains the procedure: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/884018/en-us. Notice that it leads to this link for the actual fix: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/278316/

The link I need to thank for identifying this fix: http://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/thread-554812.php

Once I applied this fix, the fax services was installed. It also asked for the Microsoft Office software CD, but that went smooth, so finally the fax services started working (we never sent the fax after all this, but that was for another reason).

I was amazed and frustrated that something like this would require a complex unrelated security fix such as above. Let's just be happy other devices like TV, phones, DVD players are not as complex as a PC or Windows XP.

Geeky Repair - PC

2008-07-25T22:05:00.000-07:00

In a prior blog, I wrote about my experience on assembling my own PC. Well, affter 5 years, it suddenly went down. No warnings, nothing unusual, and my wife had just browsed a few minutes back. The family badly wanted me to bring it back to life - guess it had become part of the family!

Since nothing was working, not even the fans, no beeps from boot, the easy suspect was the power supply. I was still taking a chance, but I wrote down the specs of the old power supply to find a new one at Fry's. It turned out the power supply boxes were at a minimum $25. I was a bit surprised, because I didn't remember spending so much the previous time around. Looking around in the same aisle, I noticed a lot of chassis, and some of them had power supply included. The minimum was $34, including the power supply. I felt it was better to get a new chassis, paying just $10 extra. Two motivations that led to my thinking:

it covers me, in case the problem was a loose connection on the old chassis, and
the black color matched my monitor, and it would be a nice upgrade.

It took me a couple of hours to unscrew the motherboard, hard disk and fans from the old chassis and screw them back on the new chassis. In the process I discovered how much I had forgotten - I almost scratched the motherboard to death. Gladly, the new setup worked, and our PC was back running. Decent $34 upgrade over the weekend,and we are all one happy family again!

Visit to Deutschland

2008-07-21T23:51:00.000-07:00

Last week I made my first business visit to Germany, or Deutschland in german, or Allemagne in french. Much of the three days was travel, and I got spend just one day in the town of Kronach, near Nuremberg (or Nurnburg). Still, there is shocking stuff to write home about.

First, Frankfurt airport was shockingly convoluted, and I wouldn't advise even a transit for the uninitiated and non-adventurous. We got off the plane somewhere out near the runway, and boarded a crowded bus, which took us to a terminal (I think terminal D). One would think it leads us to baggage claim and immigration, but that wasn't quite the case. What seemed to matter was the gate numbers. Some gate numbers lead you to immigration counters and others don't. My follow-on flight to Nuremberg was in terminal A, gate 4, and following the directions was quite a challenge. I had to go up an escalator, then through immigration counters, then take elevators down some 3 floors, cross a long underground walkway to get to terminal A, then take elevators up some 3 floors, pass security checks and then to the gate. The security check was too complex and weird - one friend told me he almost got a massage! The guy felt all over, and asked to see my passport that was in my pant pockets. Then he asked me to take off my belt, and put it back through the X-ray machine. And, my shoes on a different X-ray machine. Enough to confuse me, that I forgot to take my belt, and came back after almost reaching my gate. Interestingly, there was no immigration or customs form to fill out on the plane - they just stamped my passport on arrival and departure.

Then came the Euro shock - a small bottle of spring water was 2 Euros. I handed over a $20 bill and the cashier said it was 11 Euros (almost half in value!), and gave me back 9 Euros change.

Then came the language shock! The bottle read "Naturaliche Springwasser", which I thought would mean Natural Springwater, and there was no indication it was carbonated. Turned out it was carbonated sparkling water. Even at other times in restaurant and business office, I was served sparkling carbonated water. Later I learnt that we have to ask for "still" water to get normal spring water.

The drive from Nuremberg to the town of Kronach was pretty scenic. The weather was cloudy with light shower, so it was perfect for a pleasant drive. It kind of felt like typical Oregon weather and landscape. I don't know if it was an "auto bahn" highway, but cars were zooming at high speeds like 150km/hr. This is really the place to drive those german cars like BMW. The lanes are a bit narrow and trucks came a bit close to our side, and yet traffic was so fast.

Kronach was a small town, and looked pretty historic. Surprisingly, there was a Chinese restaurant in this town, and I had a good dinner with rice & vegetables. It was interesting to note the enterprising Chinese restaurant manager and his 6-year old kid spoke german very well, but not much english. We stayed at Hotel Sonne, which seemed to exist since 1800s. The rooms had pretty old furniture from the olden days, though it was pretty clean and cheap at 46 Euros (USD 75) per night. The restroom was extra small, though neatly designed - it was the size of a closet or bath tub area that had a shower stall, wash basin and a toilet seat fit in. There were other rooms smaller or bigger, so it really depends on what you get. There was phone connection but no Internet or WiFi, and the hotel manager didn't speak much English, which made it difficult to ask anything. But I had to ask for an adapter for my laptop, and he made a great effort to find me one, which spoke volumes of hospitality. There was a nice complimentary breakfast included as well.

The next day we finished our business in Kronach. The folks we visited spoke fluent English, and that made it a lot easier to get things done. In the evening, we headed to Nuremberg, where we stayed at the Sheraton. Great hotel, big change from previous night at Kronach, and not so expensive at 95 Euros (or USD 155), but there was a charge for Internet service like 12 Euros minimum, which I thought was too much. They also wouldn't lend me an adapter, but would only sell me one for 8 Euros, which was in stark contrast with the previous night country side hospitality.

We headed back to Nuremberg airport the next day, back to Frankfurt and back to the US. Food on Lufthansa was just enough and barely met vegetarian expectations in quantity and quality - but, better than what United offered on my other trips. I slept all along, catching glimpses of Oregon Klamath area and Northern California towards the end of the trip.

Shasta Lake Trip

2008-07-09T19:29:00.000-07:00

We covered the Shasta Lake area on the day following our crater lake trip (see previous blog)

Waking up at Redding: Since the family was tired from previous day roundtrip to Crater Lake, everyone woke up late around 8:30 in the morning. By the time we got ready, it was 10:10, and we missed the complimentary sumptuous Best Western breakfast buffet that closes at 10:00. But, we couldn't miss breakfast altogether, so we first headed to Denny's and paid $30 - so much for a 10 minute slip! We got on 5N, and after a 10 mile drive we got to to the visitor center. While I knew I could cover the Shasta Dam and Shasta Caverns the same day, I was just curious if I could also go to the McArthur-Burney Falls. The ranger told me it was about 70 miles east on highway 299 east, and that basically meant it would have to be another day, another time.

Shasta Caverns: So, I got back on 5N, and got out the on exit 695, which was the Shasta Caverns exit. The road winds a bit and ends up at the ticketing center where the tour starts. The ticket was $20 per adult and $12 for children. The first part was a ferry boat ride to get across the lak e to another point. A series of winding steps down, and a short muddy trail leads to the boat. We carefully made it down, and waited for the next boat to take us in. The boats leave every half hour. Once we crossed over the lake to the other point, there was a bus waiting to take us to the caverns. It's a short 10 minute ride uphill, but the road is narrow and steep on the side, which makes it a bit scary. The bus driver said, "This is my first day on the job", adding to the anxiety and humor! When he asked where we were from, there was a large group that answered "Iran", and his response was "Welcome to America"! It was very funny - if you are wondering why, read up on current political situation between the US and Iran. The bus got us to a cabin, which is at the entrance to the cavern. Because of the elevation, you get some pretty good views of Lake Shasta from the bus and this cabin. A small door opens up a dim lit tunnel, and this leads up to the cavern.This tunnel was apparently dug much later than when the caverns were discovered in 1850s - the original discoverers had to crawl through openings to get inside. There is a huge stair case with close to 100 steps, and we had to climb at least 20 of them to get to the various chambers within the cavern. Inside, you get to see the exotic natural limestone formations (stalactites and stalagmites). We saw a couple of chambers and then came back to the cabin, as we were slow with 4-year olds and no way they or my dad could have managed 80 more steps. Once the group completed the tour, we headed back by bus and the boat ride. Climbing back to the ticketing center would have been a challenge, but we didn't have to do it since they had a bus that could take some of us up. That concluded our Shasta caverns part of our trip, which took a total of 2 hours from the time we left Denny's.

Shasta Dam: Tracing our way back from Shasta caverns road, we got on to highway 5, heading south toward Redding. The Shasta Dam road or highway 151 is on exit 685. After about 7 miles west, we could see the dam and the parking lot. We parked, took a peek inside the visitor center that had all the history, statistics and such good stuff. What caught my eye was the comparison with Taj Mahal and Statue of Liberty - the dam was 3 times taller at about 640 feet. Since we were a little late to the official tours that walk us inside, and explains how all of this works (the last one leaves at 3:30 pm), we had to settle for outside views. From the site, we could see several forest fires (actually the smoke from the fires). We took some pictures and headed back to the car around 4pm.

Drive back home: We grabbed a bite at a Taco Bell in Redding, and continued on 5S all the way to bypass 505 with one stop at a starbucks in Corning (I think). On highway 505, we noticed a guy scrambling to pick up stuff that had fallen from his car and scattered on the highway and putting them back into his trunk. It would have been sure death on most highways, but since this was a bit isolated, people could notice and slow down and he could manage the scramble. We continued to 80W, and then to 680S, and survived the strong winds on the stretch until Benicia bridge. Once we reached Walnut Creek, it was around 8:15 PM, and we decided to have dinner, or risk the children dozing off hungry. We spent some 20 minutes searching for an Indian restaurant, and finally found an one on Main street called Breads of India. Short menu that met our needs, but the food didn't excite the family. It was another forty minutes drive back home, and there was a nasty surprise waiting for us! The sprinklers were running in the backyard for we don't know how long! The auto shut-off had failed, though the darn thing turned on sometime one of the evenings! I think it only failed that evening, since it was only flooded so much, but we'll know when this month's water bill comes in!

Crater Lake Trip

2008-07-06T00:07:00.000-07:00

We went up to Crater Lake National Park and the Shasta Lake National Recreation area over the July 4th holidays. Some key highlights & lowlights of the trip below.

From San Jose to Redding: We left San Jose around 3pm, took the 680 freeway heading to 80E. The route was 680N-80E-505-5N. As I drove through the Benicia bridge toll plaza on 680, it got a bit confusing with lanes splitting into three - Fast Trak pass, Carpool and Cash. I took the carpool lane, since we had enough people in the car and it was carpool hours, but wasn't sure if it meant Fast Trak carpool or any carpool. There were cameras, so I guess I will know if I was wrong in a few weeks! The stretch between Benicia and freeway 80 has always had strong winds every time I have driven through, enough to feel the car sway. Not sure why, but I guess everyone survives, so it doesn't matter. After reaching Vacaville on 80, we took the bypass freeway 505 to get on 5N. This was the first time I have taken 505 - it is pretty quiet and fairly dry landscape. We reached the junction of 5 and 505 around 5:30pm, and stopped at the Pilot travel center to grab a bite. Another couple of hours drive, we were in Redding, which is the closest city just before Shasta Trinity National Recreation area.

In Redding: I had booked a room at the Best Western Inn on Hiltop Drive. Wasn't too impressed - they gave me a non-smoking room, but it was clear someone had been smoking inside before. It was obvious now why they took a signature during check-in, that if they smell smoke in a non-smoking room after check-out, there would be a special air clean-up charge - clearly, they have had this problem for a while. The hotel manager sent someone to throw some perfume, but it only helped little. It wasn't easy to move with the family, so I just settled in, giving them the benefit of doubt that it could be the smoke from the forest fires going around (I later heard there were 1000 of them, and fire-fighters managed to bring it down to 800 thus far!). The saving grace was the good breakfast, with the wide choice of oatmeal, breads, fruit, and full service grill. Any case, the smoke wasn't worth $130 a night, so I simply decided never to book a Best western again. We had dinner at Priya's Indian cuisine on Churn Creek Ave, and that turned out not as exciting as well.

Redding to Crater Lake: Thursday morning around 9:30, we left Redding. The drive up 5N goes through Shasta, and is pretty scenic. After about an hour, we saw Mt Shasta towering over 14,000 feet. It was pretty dry now, with some precipitation just at the top. I have been there in May once before, when it is mostly wrapped in snow. The Google map asked me to take US-97 highway to Klamath Falls, and then take OR-62 that leads to Crater Lake. So, we forked off to US-97 at this small town called Weed. The drive on US-97 was extemely quiet, patches of water and green, with almost no traffic, and the only civilization was some remote motels appearing once in a while. I learned some thing new - this was one of the "All American Road", which is a federal designation for certain roads less traveled but have tourist potential due to scenic, cultural or historical interest. The motels look dilapidated and makes you wonder if it was a thing of the past or if it is still functioning. After a hour and and half drive on US-97, I saw a visitor center and stopped by to ask if I was indeed on the right track. The ranger gave me the good news that I am indeed on track, as well the bad news that I am still another hour and half away from Crater Lake! We crossed the small town of Klamath Falls, and headed towards Modoc point. The road got pretty interesting and a bit scary here with the huge Upper Klamath Lake to the left, seemingly threatening to spill over and flood the road, and a mountain a few miles out in fr ont, that made me wonder if there is even a road once I reach the intersection of the mountain and the lake. Finally, we saw signs indicating Crater Lake and leading us to OR-62 highway. We took a left on OR-62, and the route was a bit more scenic with the typical tall conifers of Oregon. Parts of OR-62 and US-97 comprise the "Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway". Another 40 miles on OR-62, and we reached Crater Lake National Park.

Inside Crater Lake National Park: There is a restaurant just before the park entrance. It is better to get lunch here. There is a cafe inside the park with limited options (the ranger at the visitor center told me there is a restaurant in the lodge, I couldn't find it, but I could be mistaken). We paid the fee ($10 per car), and drove another 7 miles to get to the lake. We saw some precipitation as it was now about 7000 feet elevation, and stopped to take some pictures on the snow. As I was about to park, there was this idiot driver in front, who just passed the spot, but hurriedly backed up to regain his spot! I honked, but I think it didn't ring in his ears, and before I could react backing up, he was almost there. I gave him a stare and passed on to find ample parking space just a few feet down. By this time, we were very hungry, so the first thing on our mind was lunch, though we caught a glimpse of the lake as we drove into the parking lot. We settled for pita sandwiches at the Rim Cafe, and then walked up to the rim of the lake. The view was well worth every mile we drove the last 3.5 hours. We took some pictures, and drove around the rim to another viewpoint (called Discovery point) at a slightly higher elevation, and took more pictures. It is possible to drive around the entire 35 miles around the rim, but we had to trade-off with little ones in the car that might get impatient.

Heading back to Redding: As we headed out of Crater Lake, I made up my mind not to drive through Klamath Falls again, but take OR-62 towards Medford, where it meets Hwy 5. This was a pretty good decision, as it is pretty scenic as the road goes along parts of the Rogue River white waters, and there is more civilzation or greenery than the US-97 route. Once we got to Medford, we took 5S, heading back to California. It was pretty scenic going through the mountains, but there was also smoke from the forest fires. I was juggling between driving uphill and keeping the air conditioner switched on to filter out the smoke. We passed Yreka, another historic town, and got back to Weed, where we had originally forked off on US-97. We continued on 5S, catching another glimpse of Mt Shasta, and headed back to our lodge in Redding.

Though it was a lot of driving, it was a fulfilling and memorable experience. We had a good sleep, that refreshed us for the Shasta trip the following day.

Installing a Shower Door

2008-06-29T15:14:00.000-07:00

I recently installed a shower door myself. Bottomline, would have preferred to pay a handyman, but the experience is worth sharing.

Choice of door: There are several options around framed vs frameless glass, silver vs brass finish, clear vs frosted or designer glass, door size (28-30", 30-32" etc). Frameless glass looks more sleek, but is more trickly to handle during installation and use. Clear glass shows your tiled shower stall or tub better, but will require you to keep it spotless. The door size is important so it fits precisely once installed. The specs are very important, so you should measure your shower stall and match it right. Otherwise, the door may not fit in your shower stall and will be useless (water will splash outside).

Ordering & Delivery: The stores usually carry only framed doors or frosted glass, so you may have to order clear glass or frameless doors online. I explored in Home Depot, Lowes, OSH, and ordered online from Home Depot. It was a Kohler Fluence(R) frameless, clear glass that is meant for a shower stall. The cost was around $250. Either store or online, it is better to get it delivered, as this stuff is glass and can be unweildy.

Installation: Ironically, the local Home Depot store told me they don't know installers they could refer me to, since the store sells another brand. I couldn't find a handyman easily, so I was on my own. I went through the first few steps of installation, and those are pretty straightforward, shoving one piece into another, screwdriver job, and marking for holes.

Caution: You should make sure you get the pivot side and the hinge side correct, or your door will hit your shower handle (you may not be able to get inside).

There is a hacksaw and filing job to get the base piece fit precisely - not difficult, if you have some experience with a hacksaw before. If you haven't used one, this could be the opportunity to learn. The most difficult part was drilling 8 holes on the wall tile of my bath. This almost took me a month, finding the right drill bit for porecelain tile, and carefully drilling each hole through the wall, without breaking the tile. The masonry bits are pretty useless to get a grip on the tile to start with, as well as to drill through, and what worked finally was DeWalt drill bits (OSH, ACE Hardware carries them for around $5). To gain confidence, test by drilling on a similar spare tile lying in your garage or somehere, so you get a feel for how much pressure you can comfortably apply. A corded drill with an extension cord is a much better choice than a cordless drill, as it is going to take a long time to get through the tile (Each hole was more than 40 minutes off and on drilling, in my case). As you drill, have someone spray water where the tile and the drill bit meet, so it keeps them both cool. The wall anchors do not fit into the hole size they recommend, so I had to try a few other types that matches the wall, weight and hole specifications. I finally used a wall plug and different screw than what was given.

Caution: This is not the same as putting a picture frame on the wall, so you have to be careful what you pick matches the wall type (dry wall, tile, wood etc), the depth and width of the hole, and what type of anchor can withstand the weight (like 200 lbs).

Once you get past the drilling, you need to carefully move the glass from your garage or outside to the bath. Use 2 people for moving, and use the carboard and foam so you dont ding or scratch it. The way the glass sits on the hinge wall frame is on 4 screws that should be done carefully so it is right the first time, so the door fits snugly with the opposite frame. Caution: Adjusting it by unscrewing and screwing back and forth loosens the screw (they don't tell you this in the manual), and holding up the heavy glass to make this right is unweildy.

The rest is like applyling caulk around and stuff that is pretty easy.

I think they can make it more installer friendly, with a few changes to the design. The manual could be more proactive with warnings and better pictures - at least they can have a video or better stuff online, and refer to it from the manual

I have a close to perfect installation, and it looks sleek, but it was a tough job for someone like me, between novice to amateur.