Last Wednesday I had to drop my Mother-In-Law off at the airport. I should tell you upfront that I am not a big fan of airports. I am nervous as hell going to the airport. And that's wether it's me or my family or friends. I am not afraid of flying. I have other reasons for disliking it.
The process begins 2-3 days before the day of journey, in packing the bags. I pride myself in packing bags, not just mine but others too. I found myself volunteering to bag my friend’s suitcase while in school and spending (read wasting) nights at it. I hate overweight baggage. The airline services used to be more tolerant on weight, but the times have changed a lot in the last five years. Not only did they reduce the weight of bags from 70 lbs to 50 lbs each, they are also strictly imposing fees for overweight bags even if the bag was a pound in excess of the specified limit. The last time my wife had to go to India, I had to dole out $50 for the 2lbs excess weight that one bag had at the Air India terminal.
The anxiety kicks into full gear with the packing and weighing at home during this period. Adding and removing the stuff on speculation that the weighing machine is faulty, or in the hope that the airlines will be tolerant this time makes it worse. And this goes on till the day of the journey. This is more or less like the mood swings of a manic-depressive person. One day you add and other minute you remove.
While going to airports, the public is in a mad rush there trying to outwit the authority and one another. The reasons can be several and each person's story is different. Some are in a rush to reach the airport before everyone else on time to pick their loved one at the airport. Some park their car illegally on the ramp/shoulder a mile or two on the highway from the airport if the flight is delayed or waiting for the call from the one they are picking. They do this to save a few bucks on parking and in turn get busted by the police sometimes. While there are few who are there to drop off someone and park the car at the terminal gate for long hours before being asked to move by the police or the parking authority.
In saying all the above I am not trying to portray myself as a saint. In fact I succumb to the same vices I listed above. All of the above wrong doings have affected as to be pressured sufficiently to commit one or all of them myself over a period of time. I guess this is what they call peer pressure. But these wrong doings by others and myself adds a lot of pressure. This is more compounded when the passenger is International bound(read to India).
Then there is the day of the journey. One has to be there at the airport hours in advance. If the airport is two hours away and the weather like Northeast Pennsylavnia had last Wednesday, the whole day is gone. To make matters worse, if the day is a weekday that means a day off at work and loss of pay. In my recent case the Air India flight was at 7:00 PM and the ticket said the check-in must be four hours before the flight time. If I had to be at the airport by 3:00 PM, I must start driving at Noon as the airport was about 120 miles from my home and the weather was bad. If you add the same amount of time for the return journey, it makes it almost ten hours for the whole process. That is twenty hours of productive time wasted if you count my wife's time as well, as she accompanied me in dropping her Mother at the airport.
The story is continued at Airports 2
Friday, January 9, 2009
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Au Chem 94-98 Get Together 2008.
While I was watching the LifeTime made for TV movie 'A Kiss at Midnight' with Seshu (my wife), I decided to post something on my blog. Yes, it is a great chick flick and I was giving her company doing my own thing. While the movie was going and Seshu was deeply engrossed in the trivial travails of romantic misgivings of a mother and daughter, I began to think about the get together with my friends from college the day before(12/26/2008).
I was hoping to mark the title of this blog '10 get together in 10 years', but the numbers did not add up. There were about 10 in 86 from our class who I thought (read hoped/wanted) would meet for the NE USA gathering. But only 5 made it to the eventual meeting. Rajashekhar agreed to be the gracious host in his new bought spacious home in Easton, PA. Aravind took care of the food. Sarat Chand drove in from Plainsboro, NJ alone as Sireesha could not make it due to her current situation. Raghu Ram drove in from NJ also where he is currently vacationing at this Brother-in-Laws place. I joined them from Scranton. Krishna Mohan got sick and Sai mailed that he couldn't come this time. Sai you took a rain check (You said in the mail'...Now I know that you are in PA and not very far away...will catch up with you later...').
Of the four classmates, I had met few previously and some I had spoken to over the phone. But it was the first time in 10 years meeting them for much of the evening. I was supposed to be the last one reaching Konda's home, but if not for 5 minutes I would have been the first. Time is a precious commodity once lost can never be recovered and I wanted to use this oppurtunity to catch up on lost time. As a side note on time, here is good speech on Time Management by Randy Pausch. It is long, but humorous and touching at the same time.
It was 6:30 when Aravind, the last among us came in. We all introduced each other to our families. Yes, I am getting old - I am talking about family in my discourse. When the families got settled down and got familiar with each other, we had our own chit chat session at the dining table.
The discussions ran helter-skelter on a gamut of topics from Roll 1(Chemical 1-Wahid) to 512(Petro Chem 12-Saran), Faculty(KVR, ARP etc.,), Hostel life, Seniors (Laxman Nyaya, Kameswari, SSS, Mouli, ChandraShekhar, Revanur etc), Juniors(Sampath, Madhavi etc.,), Other Branches at AU, Politics, Professional life as well as Personal. Politics ranged from Somalia to Belarus, Economics from Inflation in Zimbabwe where currency had expiration date to Outsourcing to Belarus where retention is higher than in India.
The discussion also ran into prosperity - the bigger the belt line the greater the prosperity. Sarat was to dishonor me with the distinction of being the least prosperous. Leaving aside the award for the prosperous person, my vote for consistency will go hands down to Aravind. I found him to be much like what I had pictured him 10 years ago. The rest four of us had some nature(read genetic) induced reductions and self induced additions to our morphological forms.
We discussed about what each of us was doing now and what/where we doing/were since 1998. We talked about careers, wealth made by some and lost by some. We also discussed about how some went places and some went nowhere in the conventional sense of material well being. We also talked about the bachelors in town and the first family(Sireesha Nallaapaneni among girls and Wahid among guys).
I surely had a great time and I hope others did too. The spouses looked like they had a fun time discussing what appeared to me was mostly about kids - kids are one common thread to a discreet set of people who were there because we were there.
Please find the link to the pictures from the get together here. If the link doesn't work try this in your browser http://tinyurl.com/7cm5c6.
I was hoping to mark the title of this blog '10 get together in 10 years', but the numbers did not add up. There were about 10 in 86 from our class who I thought (read hoped/wanted) would meet for the NE USA gathering. But only 5 made it to the eventual meeting. Rajashekhar agreed to be the gracious host in his new bought spacious home in Easton, PA. Aravind took care of the food. Sarat Chand drove in from Plainsboro, NJ alone as Sireesha could not make it due to her current situation. Raghu Ram drove in from NJ also where he is currently vacationing at this Brother-in-Laws place. I joined them from Scranton. Krishna Mohan got sick and Sai mailed that he couldn't come this time. Sai you took a rain check (You said in the mail'...Now I know that you are in PA and not very far away...will catch up with you later...').
Of the four classmates, I had met few previously and some I had spoken to over the phone. But it was the first time in 10 years meeting them for much of the evening. I was supposed to be the last one reaching Konda's home, but if not for 5 minutes I would have been the first. Time is a precious commodity once lost can never be recovered and I wanted to use this oppurtunity to catch up on lost time. As a side note on time, here is good speech on Time Management by Randy Pausch. It is long, but humorous and touching at the same time.
It was 6:30 when Aravind, the last among us came in. We all introduced each other to our families. Yes, I am getting old - I am talking about family in my discourse. When the families got settled down and got familiar with each other, we had our own chit chat session at the dining table.
The discussions ran helter-skelter on a gamut of topics from Roll 1(Chemical 1-Wahid) to 512(Petro Chem 12-Saran), Faculty(KVR, ARP etc.,), Hostel life, Seniors (Laxman Nyaya, Kameswari, SSS, Mouli, ChandraShekhar, Revanur etc), Juniors(Sampath, Madhavi etc.,), Other Branches at AU, Politics, Professional life as well as Personal. Politics ranged from Somalia to Belarus, Economics from Inflation in Zimbabwe where currency had expiration date to Outsourcing to Belarus where retention is higher than in India.
The discussion also ran into prosperity - the bigger the belt line the greater the prosperity. Sarat was to dishonor me with the distinction of being the least prosperous. Leaving aside the award for the prosperous person, my vote for consistency will go hands down to Aravind. I found him to be much like what I had pictured him 10 years ago. The rest four of us had some nature(read genetic) induced reductions and self induced additions to our morphological forms.
We discussed about what each of us was doing now and what/where we doing/were since 1998. We talked about careers, wealth made by some and lost by some. We also discussed about how some went places and some went nowhere in the conventional sense of material well being. We also talked about the bachelors in town and the first family(Sireesha Nallaapaneni among girls and Wahid among guys).
I surely had a great time and I hope others did too. The spouses looked like they had a fun time discussing what appeared to me was mostly about kids - kids are one common thread to a discreet set of people who were there because we were there.
Please find the link to the pictures from the get together here. If the link doesn't work try this in your browser http://tinyurl.com/7cm5c6.
Labels:
Class Reunion
Friday, December 19, 2008
Have you seen my Brain Cells?
One day at work, a bunch of our colleagues were going to a restaurant for lunch. I was waiting at the elevator lobby for a long time with them. Right when it came, I remembered that I had forgotten something. So I got excused and went to my desk, picked my wallet from the drawer. One my way back to the elevator lobby, another good colleague friend asked me, what is happening. I said I am losing my brain cells. 'Let me know if you find them', I said half jokingly. Having a good sense of humor, she replied 'I will keep them if I find any'.
A few weeks later, there was an event at work called 'Casual for a Cause'. Basically the idea is to solicit donations for a cause and the donor can wear casual for that day. I was informed about it a week or so before the event and I agreed to donate. The day happened to be a Tuesday. This was the day when this bird does its weekly migration down south to Philadelphia.
I forgot about the event and got dressed in formals. When I came down to put on my shoes, the ‘casual cause’ struck my memory. Now I had to change pants. I went up and changed my pants to jeans. In my normal senses, I would remember to transfer the contents from my formals to my jeans. Not this time. I went down, had my breakfast, took the car keys and went straight to the car. As soon as I headed to the car and put my laptop bag in the car, I thought about the tea that I had left on the kitchen table. I went back, picked up the flask and began my ride. After a few yards, I saw the gas sign and looked for my wallet. I had to go back again. This time I thought I had everything that I needed. So I took off for the highway.
After about 30 miles down the road I remembered that I don’t have my cell phone on me. It is my habit to call India on my drive to Philadelphia. I could not imagine myself without a cell phone for three days. So again I drove back home. I went up to my bed room to find the cell phone. But as the Murphy's law states, I could not find the cell phone there. Actually the cell phone was in my formal pants that I had switched for jeans earlier in the morning. Now where is that pant. It is neatly folded and kept in my travel bag. This I recollected. So where is the bag I thought?
Well, the bag was in the trunk of my car. I had the cell phone in my car all this while. I ended up going 2 hours late to work and smilingly gave my $5 contribution towards my 'Casual for a Cause'. So much for the cause. As someone rightly said 'No good dead goes unpunished'.
Long before this happened I would think, what is wrong with my parents? They keep saying that are losing memory. I would, with air of arrogance, say ‘How can that happen?’. I explained to them that it is all in the mind. If you put your mind to it, you would not have this problem. So instead of letting your mind wander, think about the current work you are doing. If that does not work, may be you should write down a checklist of things to do etc. All of that was BS.
The memory loss virus has hit me quite early. As life becomes more and more complex, I am carrying more and more items. They have become a way of life though they are not necessities. The following is the list of items I need to carry - Wallet, cell phone, keys, IPod, office id and of course chap stick. I have created a mnemonic for my end of drive - LWICK that stands for Lights, Wallet, IPod, Cell phone, Keys. First I thought of LKWIC and WLICK but no combination of them sounded any better than LWICK. If only I can remember the mnemonic every time I need it.
A few weeks later, I was having a severe headache at work and was visibly different than my normal self. The same lady who wanted to keep my brain cells enquired if I was doing fine. She joked that I was working hard and that I should be taking it easy. I replied that cause of my headache is my brain cells that are actively multiplying to make up for the lost cells. I hope that there are truly multiplying. If not, I would have to see my mother-in-law's sad demeanor many more times on watching me go in and out several times that day of my adventure. She was probably feeling sad for her daughter for having to put up with an absent minded man like me.
A few weeks later, there was an event at work called 'Casual for a Cause'. Basically the idea is to solicit donations for a cause and the donor can wear casual for that day. I was informed about it a week or so before the event and I agreed to donate. The day happened to be a Tuesday. This was the day when this bird does its weekly migration down south to Philadelphia.
I forgot about the event and got dressed in formals. When I came down to put on my shoes, the ‘casual cause’ struck my memory. Now I had to change pants. I went up and changed my pants to jeans. In my normal senses, I would remember to transfer the contents from my formals to my jeans. Not this time. I went down, had my breakfast, took the car keys and went straight to the car. As soon as I headed to the car and put my laptop bag in the car, I thought about the tea that I had left on the kitchen table. I went back, picked up the flask and began my ride. After a few yards, I saw the gas sign and looked for my wallet. I had to go back again. This time I thought I had everything that I needed. So I took off for the highway.
After about 30 miles down the road I remembered that I don’t have my cell phone on me. It is my habit to call India on my drive to Philadelphia. I could not imagine myself without a cell phone for three days. So again I drove back home. I went up to my bed room to find the cell phone. But as the Murphy's law states, I could not find the cell phone there. Actually the cell phone was in my formal pants that I had switched for jeans earlier in the morning. Now where is that pant. It is neatly folded and kept in my travel bag. This I recollected. So where is the bag I thought?
Well, the bag was in the trunk of my car. I had the cell phone in my car all this while. I ended up going 2 hours late to work and smilingly gave my $5 contribution towards my 'Casual for a Cause'. So much for the cause. As someone rightly said 'No good dead goes unpunished'.
Long before this happened I would think, what is wrong with my parents? They keep saying that are losing memory. I would, with air of arrogance, say ‘How can that happen?’. I explained to them that it is all in the mind. If you put your mind to it, you would not have this problem. So instead of letting your mind wander, think about the current work you are doing. If that does not work, may be you should write down a checklist of things to do etc. All of that was BS.
The memory loss virus has hit me quite early. As life becomes more and more complex, I am carrying more and more items. They have become a way of life though they are not necessities. The following is the list of items I need to carry - Wallet, cell phone, keys, IPod, office id and of course chap stick. I have created a mnemonic for my end of drive - LWICK that stands for Lights, Wallet, IPod, Cell phone, Keys. First I thought of LKWIC and WLICK but no combination of them sounded any better than LWICK. If only I can remember the mnemonic every time I need it.
A few weeks later, I was having a severe headache at work and was visibly different than my normal self. The same lady who wanted to keep my brain cells enquired if I was doing fine. She joked that I was working hard and that I should be taking it easy. I replied that cause of my headache is my brain cells that are actively multiplying to make up for the lost cells. I hope that there are truly multiplying. If not, I would have to see my mother-in-law's sad demeanor many more times on watching me go in and out several times that day of my adventure. She was probably feeling sad for her daughter for having to put up with an absent minded man like me.
Labels:
Getting Old,
Modern Life
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Who is Bummerman?
Coincidence or not, I meet Bummerman every time I post a blog about him. My first post on him can be found here and the subsequent one here. I met him this time under the same bridge he used to live few months ago. I was on my way home to my car on a chilly Thursday evening.
I said 'Hello'. He remembered me quite well and said 'Hello, I haven't seen you after we met at the park'. I was pleasantly surprised to hear him remember me and our conversation. I asked him what he was up to these days. He replied that he is reading Sociology and Political Science. I said to myself 'Sociology. Interesting coincidence.' I on the other hand, have seen him couple times, but I was either in a rush to go to work or he was sleeping until now where we were both in between our next scheduled rush hour.
He said that he is trying to catch up on his reading. I asked him if he attended college. He said he did for a short time at Temple. I asked if he thought about going back and completing college. He said, he had thought about it, but it gets difficult to go back to college after a big break like the one he has taken as 'they make it difficult to take back students like him'. I took his 'they' as University admissions.
I asked him where he has been living these days, he replied 'Here and there, I try to sleep in the day and walk around with my bike in the night'. I saw his bike loaded with his belongings leaning on the fence under the bridge and a backpack next to him on the ground. I remember that the other side of the fence used to be his home for a long time and how he would keep the block clean for pedestrians like me.
He asked how my work was. I said it was fine and that I was heading to my car. I saw the traffic on the interstate behind the Schuylkill River in front of the brightly lit Philadelphia Boat House Row. If you have not been to Philly, Boat House Row offers a spectacular view of a row of Regatta clubs brightly lit whose shadow fall in the Schuylkill River.
I saw the traffic and said that is where I am headed and I am not much interested going there, though I have to. He then said 'Are you still analyzing'. I was shocked a bit to hear that question. For a moment I thought, did he suspect me of analyzing him. It took me only a second or two to understand what he meant by that. I recollected my previous conversation with him where I stated that I was a System Analyst. I described my job and what I do at my client’s location. He remembered all that clearly and was only inquiring about my job casually.
He had no hidden agenda behind that question. I on the other hand, had an agenda. I am only talking to him because I want to know about, his past, his present and most importantly the circumstances that lead to his current state. I felt largely guilty for trying to find about him and write about him without his consent. Am I subconsciously seeking guilt pleasure of peeking at a different world and a different life that he is part of and one I want to study? Having recovered from the shock on being asked the question, I replied that work is still the same old and nothing was new there. It was getting late and the traffic was only getting worse.
I said my goodbye and before I walked past him, I remembered that I need to know his name. I asked 'What's your name? I forgot'. He replied Roy. I asked ‘What is your last name?’ to which he answered Gibson. So there it is Roy Gibson. I shall address him as Roy from here on. He patted me on the shoulder and said 'Take care and drive safe'. I said 'Take care' and walked off from there towards my car thinking about the three hour drive that I was about to take. The impending road rage consumed my mind and all the guilt I felt a few moments ago was long forgotten.
I said 'Hello'. He remembered me quite well and said 'Hello, I haven't seen you after we met at the park'. I was pleasantly surprised to hear him remember me and our conversation. I asked him what he was up to these days. He replied that he is reading Sociology and Political Science. I said to myself 'Sociology. Interesting coincidence.' I on the other hand, have seen him couple times, but I was either in a rush to go to work or he was sleeping until now where we were both in between our next scheduled rush hour.
He said that he is trying to catch up on his reading. I asked him if he attended college. He said he did for a short time at Temple. I asked if he thought about going back and completing college. He said, he had thought about it, but it gets difficult to go back to college after a big break like the one he has taken as 'they make it difficult to take back students like him'. I took his 'they' as University admissions.
I asked him where he has been living these days, he replied 'Here and there, I try to sleep in the day and walk around with my bike in the night'. I saw his bike loaded with his belongings leaning on the fence under the bridge and a backpack next to him on the ground. I remember that the other side of the fence used to be his home for a long time and how he would keep the block clean for pedestrians like me.
He asked how my work was. I said it was fine and that I was heading to my car. I saw the traffic on the interstate behind the Schuylkill River in front of the brightly lit Philadelphia Boat House Row. If you have not been to Philly, Boat House Row offers a spectacular view of a row of Regatta clubs brightly lit whose shadow fall in the Schuylkill River.
I saw the traffic and said that is where I am headed and I am not much interested going there, though I have to. He then said 'Are you still analyzing'. I was shocked a bit to hear that question. For a moment I thought, did he suspect me of analyzing him. It took me only a second or two to understand what he meant by that. I recollected my previous conversation with him where I stated that I was a System Analyst. I described my job and what I do at my client’s location. He remembered all that clearly and was only inquiring about my job casually.
He had no hidden agenda behind that question. I on the other hand, had an agenda. I am only talking to him because I want to know about, his past, his present and most importantly the circumstances that lead to his current state. I felt largely guilty for trying to find about him and write about him without his consent. Am I subconsciously seeking guilt pleasure of peeking at a different world and a different life that he is part of and one I want to study? Having recovered from the shock on being asked the question, I replied that work is still the same old and nothing was new there. It was getting late and the traffic was only getting worse.
I said my goodbye and before I walked past him, I remembered that I need to know his name. I asked 'What's your name? I forgot'. He replied Roy. I asked ‘What is your last name?’ to which he answered Gibson. So there it is Roy Gibson. I shall address him as Roy from here on. He patted me on the shoulder and said 'Take care and drive safe'. I said 'Take care' and walked off from there towards my car thinking about the three hour drive that I was about to take. The impending road rage consumed my mind and all the guilt I felt a few moments ago was long forgotten.
Labels:
Homeless in Philadelphia
Friday, December 12, 2008
What happened to prudent living?
Being prudent with your life and your lifestyle is the single most thing I learned from my parents. There are times I felt if I am like a dinosaur among the easy credit user folks around me. As they say, for every question, time provides an answer. Sooner than I expected, I found the answer in the current financial crisis. As most of us know, the credit based lifestyle is what caused this mess and the virtues of prudence are being sung along with the Christmas Carols.
I have always been afraid of debt. I have not used my first credit for almost year and half as I was afraid of the word credit. I could not fathom the fact that I had to pay somebody 12.99% interest for what I used for convenience. I did know that if I paid the monthly statement in full, I did not have to pay the interest. I still was afraid of the late fee in case I forgot to pay it off and I was also worried that I have to spend the 33cents on the stamp. To me that was an extra expense when I was only earning $400 a month. My monthly rent then was $220 and international calling card bill from AT&T was almost $50 leaving me with only $130 for the other expenses.
The vices of current society have devised their tangles in a way to lure everyone into its arms. I my case, the draw to credit card use was credit history building. I have been bombarded by well wishers and media stating that I need to have a good credit history. The lure is the fact that a good credit history is imperative to get loan for a home or a car in the future. The real estate boom was only beginning then, and I did not want to miss out on that boom by not having a good credit history. All I have to do was swipe my card and it builds history. It is that easy I was told.
I had my share of missed payments where I was penalized. I would pick up a phone, I would apologize to the CR rep and get the fee waived off. I have also three laptops in the last three years. In hindsight one of them was probably not warranted.I also bought a car that died on me in 3 months and had a laptop stolen all in the gap of a month. Barring those two, I think I have been prudent and been careful of my possessions. I never paid interest on any statement, excepting the month where I missed my payments when I got my late fee waived. I have always bought the big items with cash or have used the 0% APR convenience checks that the credit card companies mail ever so often. If I don't, I delayed the purchases until it was absolutely necessary. Clothing and kitchen items are an exception. I have to blame the Gabriel brothers from Morgantown, WV where I could get clothing for T-shirts for a buck or two. Kitchen items are not my blame.
Reading news is like one horror story after other. People were offered mortgage loans with nothing to show as seed and income. Financial firms were allowed to borrow 30-40 bucks on a single dollar of assets. Since they had no skin in the game they risked all of it, packaged and repackaged them to numerous clients.
Long before these news stories broke, I have seen some amazing characters who had absolutely no concept of prudence. Our next door neighbor in Vizag was one. The family was a bunch of misfits lead by the mother. She would manage a rotating loans from multiple people. Spend it off and when it is time to repay, take a loan from someone else. If no body is willing to loan, there were the chit funds. After she exhausted the friendly neighborhood chit funds, she turned to finance firms. That was where the buck stopped. Finance firms unlike ordinary people do not use the conventional methods of repetitive pleading. They use the method of what can be called an Italian job.
She had to sell her inheritance and moved out of the city to rented home in the suburbs. She had fun while it lasted and fun continued for the neighbors watching the drama unfold. I know someone in my family who bought a flat panel TV in India for Rs. 200,000 or $4,000. Crazy isn't it. I hope someday sense returns to people as to how they spend their money and lead their lives.
I have always been afraid of debt. I have not used my first credit for almost year and half as I was afraid of the word credit. I could not fathom the fact that I had to pay somebody 12.99% interest for what I used for convenience. I did know that if I paid the monthly statement in full, I did not have to pay the interest. I still was afraid of the late fee in case I forgot to pay it off and I was also worried that I have to spend the 33cents on the stamp. To me that was an extra expense when I was only earning $400 a month. My monthly rent then was $220 and international calling card bill from AT&T was almost $50 leaving me with only $130 for the other expenses.
The vices of current society have devised their tangles in a way to lure everyone into its arms. I my case, the draw to credit card use was credit history building. I have been bombarded by well wishers and media stating that I need to have a good credit history. The lure is the fact that a good credit history is imperative to get loan for a home or a car in the future. The real estate boom was only beginning then, and I did not want to miss out on that boom by not having a good credit history. All I have to do was swipe my card and it builds history. It is that easy I was told.
I had my share of missed payments where I was penalized. I would pick up a phone, I would apologize to the CR rep and get the fee waived off. I have also three laptops in the last three years. In hindsight one of them was probably not warranted.I also bought a car that died on me in 3 months and had a laptop stolen all in the gap of a month. Barring those two, I think I have been prudent and been careful of my possessions. I never paid interest on any statement, excepting the month where I missed my payments when I got my late fee waived. I have always bought the big items with cash or have used the 0% APR convenience checks that the credit card companies mail ever so often. If I don't, I delayed the purchases until it was absolutely necessary. Clothing and kitchen items are an exception. I have to blame the Gabriel brothers from Morgantown, WV where I could get clothing for T-shirts for a buck or two. Kitchen items are not my blame.
Reading news is like one horror story after other. People were offered mortgage loans with nothing to show as seed and income. Financial firms were allowed to borrow 30-40 bucks on a single dollar of assets. Since they had no skin in the game they risked all of it, packaged and repackaged them to numerous clients.
Long before these news stories broke, I have seen some amazing characters who had absolutely no concept of prudence. Our next door neighbor in Vizag was one. The family was a bunch of misfits lead by the mother. She would manage a rotating loans from multiple people. Spend it off and when it is time to repay, take a loan from someone else. If no body is willing to loan, there were the chit funds. After she exhausted the friendly neighborhood chit funds, she turned to finance firms. That was where the buck stopped. Finance firms unlike ordinary people do not use the conventional methods of repetitive pleading. They use the method of what can be called an Italian job.
She had to sell her inheritance and moved out of the city to rented home in the suburbs. She had fun while it lasted and fun continued for the neighbors watching the drama unfold. I know someone in my family who bought a flat panel TV in India for Rs. 200,000 or $4,000. Crazy isn't it. I hope someday sense returns to people as to how they spend their money and lead their lives.
Labels:
Credit,
Debt,
Prudent Living
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Did I reap something?
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Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Obama is the man
We are in historic times in all aspects. The last decades have been stagnant across the world with conservatism growing by leaps and bound. Tolerance to incompetence and acceptance of mediocrity went hand in hand. It was high time that a change was in place. Infusion of yound blood into the age old era of politics has always energized a sleeping nation. I believe Obama is that change and USA was that sleeping nation that will be changed forever under his leadership.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
An Indian Needs his Fire.
If you are an Indian, you need your food to be hot. Hot not in the sense of being 100F or 120F, but in the sense of being spicy. We need it as hot as it can be. If you are new to US of A the closest fast food that would satisfy an Indian’s appetite for spicy food is Taco Bell. I have no doubt when I say, that the best way to curtail Indian Immigration is shut down all Taco Bells in USA.
An Indian can survive any inclement weather, any harsh working conditions as long as can get his spicy food. You take it away, his world crumbles. The other thing that Indians are fond of is Traveling. Have you seen any tourist destination? It is filled with Indians. No matter how remote the destination, you will always find Indians sightseeing the place, and there will always be an Indian restaurant there.
Indians crave spicy food and always are on the look out for Indian restaurant wherever they go. They must have Indian food. Have you been to an Indian Temple or any function, there is always a huge line at the food and crazy confusion to be the first one to get the food. They don’t want to miss out on the food. They have come this long and will not go without the food. They would rather miss the event they came for, but not the spicy Indian food at the event.
Having said that, Taco Bell is our savior. Since Indian restaurant’s are not everywhere and they are highly expensive, we go to Taco Bell as our cheap fast food option. But what makes a Taco Bell so attractive to Indians. First the food is spicy and has rice on their menu. We hate the concept of salads and meat loaf stuffed between a bun(burger). Salad is what we call gaddi in telugu(grass) or gaas poos in Hindi(grass with rhyming word appended to it to make it a good phrase). Meaning they are meant to be eaten by animals and not by humans. Burger are sometimes okay as long as they are spicy burgers. They are also highly dry. Burger King, McDonald's and Wendy's have all played with Spicy Burgers on their menu and discontinued them.
If you had looked at these fast food chains Ethnic statistics(if there was any), there would have been a huge spike in Indian customers at these places when these spicy burgers were on their burger menu and a even higher phenomenal drop when they were dropped from their menu. While I was in school at Morgantown, my friends and myself would visit Burger King quite often as long as they had Jalapeno Poppers. We would get Baja Chalupa and Spicy Burrito from Taco Bell and go to Burger King right across the street for the poppers and have our food there for about an hour. We were students, we were in no hurry to finish the food fast. We went to fast food not because we were short on time, but because we were short on dime (meaning cash).
I will get back to my story of why we like Taco Bell. The food being offered is spicy and has rice on half of their menu. But that is not good enough. It is only quarter of the whole pie. The remaining part of the pie is in the magical quotient that God has sent us to all Indians in North America called ‘Taco Bell Fire Sauce’. This Taco Bell Fire Sauce is next to Ambrosia. Taco Bell Fire Sauce is to humans as Ambrosia was for Angels. We do not need a mild sauce or a hot sauce. We need only the Fire Sauce and lots of it.
I also have designated numbers for each item on the Menu just like there are octane grades in Gasoline. Like a Chalupa is 4, Chicken Wrap supreme is 6, soft taco 3 etc. These numbers vary very slightly among Indians. The numbering is based on a highly complex algorithm. The number is defined as the number of Taco Bell Fire Sauce we need for these items on the menu. The other factor determining the number is the hotness factor of the food. If the food is hot it’s number is less and vice versa which is quite obvious. Also the dryness quotient is an important factor. A chalupa and a crunch wrap requires more. But a burrito would need less.
But every story has a villain. Authority, as in every place, has it’s way of poking it’s ugly hand in the people’s business. They like to dictate what we like and what we do not like. In this case the authority is the delivery person at a Taco Bell drive through. Whenever an Indian goes through a Taco Bell drive through, he does not fail to let the person know how many fire sauce he needs. Well he can only request, but he will not get what he asked. Like a pay check is deducted almost 30% of your hard earned income, the taco bell authority will cut the number of taco bell fire sauce you requested. The number you get depends on how cranky the authority is that day, or what he believes is required by you, or what he believes your tolerance quotient is based on his own intuition which will be biased, based on his own tolerance for this precious commodity. If the authority is Indian, the number might be close to what you asked. If the number is white or black or yellow then the number is definitely going to be low. You might only get 50% what you asked for. If the authority is brown(Hispanic or South American) then your number might be close to 80%.
But an Indian does not deter from fighting the authority back on his right to get the required number of fire sauce. The Indian will count the number given to him at the delivery window. If the number is less, he will ask for more though he is well aware of the impending condescending, frustrated expression on the authority’s face. He will count his number one more time. The number is still going to be less. Some will get satisfied with this. But there are some mavericks like me, who would park the car in the parking lot, go in and get some more until he is satisfied that the fire sauce would be sufficient. Some more hot headed guys would start a fight. This fight between the Indian and Authority, that I have noticed and participated since 9 years, still goes on. As a continuation of this fight for fire sauce I started a slogan which one day, I hope will spread like Fire. The slogan is
“An Indian needs his Fire”
An Indian needs his fire sauce. There is no second option. It is his birth right.
An Indian can survive any inclement weather, any harsh working conditions as long as can get his spicy food. You take it away, his world crumbles. The other thing that Indians are fond of is Traveling. Have you seen any tourist destination? It is filled with Indians. No matter how remote the destination, you will always find Indians sightseeing the place, and there will always be an Indian restaurant there.
Indians crave spicy food and always are on the look out for Indian restaurant wherever they go. They must have Indian food. Have you been to an Indian Temple or any function, there is always a huge line at the food and crazy confusion to be the first one to get the food. They don’t want to miss out on the food. They have come this long and will not go without the food. They would rather miss the event they came for, but not the spicy Indian food at the event.
Having said that, Taco Bell is our savior. Since Indian restaurant’s are not everywhere and they are highly expensive, we go to Taco Bell as our cheap fast food option. But what makes a Taco Bell so attractive to Indians. First the food is spicy and has rice on their menu. We hate the concept of salads and meat loaf stuffed between a bun(burger). Salad is what we call gaddi in telugu(grass) or gaas poos in Hindi(grass with rhyming word appended to it to make it a good phrase). Meaning they are meant to be eaten by animals and not by humans. Burger are sometimes okay as long as they are spicy burgers. They are also highly dry. Burger King, McDonald's and Wendy's have all played with Spicy Burgers on their menu and discontinued them.
If you had looked at these fast food chains Ethnic statistics(if there was any), there would have been a huge spike in Indian customers at these places when these spicy burgers were on their burger menu and a even higher phenomenal drop when they were dropped from their menu. While I was in school at Morgantown, my friends and myself would visit Burger King quite often as long as they had Jalapeno Poppers. We would get Baja Chalupa and Spicy Burrito from Taco Bell and go to Burger King right across the street for the poppers and have our food there for about an hour. We were students, we were in no hurry to finish the food fast. We went to fast food not because we were short on time, but because we were short on dime (meaning cash).
I will get back to my story of why we like Taco Bell. The food being offered is spicy and has rice on half of their menu. But that is not good enough. It is only quarter of the whole pie. The remaining part of the pie is in the magical quotient that God has sent us to all Indians in North America called ‘Taco Bell Fire Sauce’. This Taco Bell Fire Sauce is next to Ambrosia. Taco Bell Fire Sauce is to humans as Ambrosia was for Angels. We do not need a mild sauce or a hot sauce. We need only the Fire Sauce and lots of it.
I also have designated numbers for each item on the Menu just like there are octane grades in Gasoline. Like a Chalupa is 4, Chicken Wrap supreme is 6, soft taco 3 etc. These numbers vary very slightly among Indians. The numbering is based on a highly complex algorithm. The number is defined as the number of Taco Bell Fire Sauce we need for these items on the menu. The other factor determining the number is the hotness factor of the food. If the food is hot it’s number is less and vice versa which is quite obvious. Also the dryness quotient is an important factor. A chalupa and a crunch wrap requires more. But a burrito would need less.
But every story has a villain. Authority, as in every place, has it’s way of poking it’s ugly hand in the people’s business. They like to dictate what we like and what we do not like. In this case the authority is the delivery person at a Taco Bell drive through. Whenever an Indian goes through a Taco Bell drive through, he does not fail to let the person know how many fire sauce he needs. Well he can only request, but he will not get what he asked. Like a pay check is deducted almost 30% of your hard earned income, the taco bell authority will cut the number of taco bell fire sauce you requested. The number you get depends on how cranky the authority is that day, or what he believes is required by you, or what he believes your tolerance quotient is based on his own intuition which will be biased, based on his own tolerance for this precious commodity. If the authority is Indian, the number might be close to what you asked. If the number is white or black or yellow then the number is definitely going to be low. You might only get 50% what you asked for. If the authority is brown(Hispanic or South American) then your number might be close to 80%.
But an Indian does not deter from fighting the authority back on his right to get the required number of fire sauce. The Indian will count the number given to him at the delivery window. If the number is less, he will ask for more though he is well aware of the impending condescending, frustrated expression on the authority’s face. He will count his number one more time. The number is still going to be less. Some will get satisfied with this. But there are some mavericks like me, who would park the car in the parking lot, go in and get some more until he is satisfied that the fire sauce would be sufficient. Some more hot headed guys would start a fight. This fight between the Indian and Authority, that I have noticed and participated since 9 years, still goes on. As a continuation of this fight for fire sauce I started a slogan which one day, I hope will spread like Fire. The slogan is
“An Indian needs his Fire”
An Indian needs his fire sauce. There is no second option. It is his birth right.
Labels:
Indian in US.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Mountaineers and Football
Mountaineers and Football are inseparable. Any guy with who calls himself a Mountaineer would follow Football ardently. I am big fan of Mountaineer Football. I try to watch every game that the Mountaineers play with a religious fervor. I hate seeing them lose, and am overboard when they win. You can say when it comes to Mountaineers Football, I can't hide my emotions much.
Mountaineer football can be a roller coaster ride with a lot of soap operaish off the field drama going on. Like last season, they would have been in once a lifetime Championship game, had they not lost to the lowly miserable bunch called Pittsburgh. They lost their championship hope by the loss to them where they could not make a single touchdown. All they could muster were some field goals.
Then comes the Fiesta Bowl game where they blow the Sooners 48-28 with such ease that made us all so proud. In all this is the Head Coach Rich Rodriguez drama who chickened and bailed out at the end of the regular season to Michigan. He lost his first game this year with Michigan which I think he well deserved - that selfish brat of a kid called Head Coach Rich Rodriguez.
This year they started with a high note winning easily against Villanova. Then came the true test with ECU which they lost with no signs of a team that won against the mighty Sooners in the Fiesta Bowl. I know ECU was tough team but not having to muster a touch down is hard to fathom. All they could get was a single field goal. So much for talk of a potential Championship contender and a possible Heisman for Pat White. Any hope of either of them are gone when they lose the next game to Colorado 17-14 in a closely contested game. A closely contested game is not good enough.
A good team comes out of closely contested games. It shows some character for a team to come out of holes. This team had the Heisman Candidate Pat White returning with Noel Divine as his running mate. He also has the senior line backers returning this year. The only change is the coaching staff. But this was the same coaching staff that won the Fiesta Bowl.
Anyways that my Mountaineers for you. One week they are up and the very next week they are down. This is what makes them lose the credibility points like that in the Teams in SEC. The important thing though for the Mountaineers is to have schedules with tough teams including those in the SEC. This year they have some good games lined up and the most important is against the Auburn of the SEC. They should consistently have games against the tough teams and eventually the Team will get better. They should stop having their schedule filled with teams like Marshall just for the sake of winning. Sure you can a 11-1 or 10-2 at the end of your normal schedule but if 6-7 of those wins come against teams like Marshall what good is that.
I am glad that this years schedule is tougher than last years. And as always lets cheer our team - Lets Go 'Eers.
Mountaineer football can be a roller coaster ride with a lot of soap operaish off the field drama going on. Like last season, they would have been in once a lifetime Championship game, had they not lost to the lowly miserable bunch called Pittsburgh. They lost their championship hope by the loss to them where they could not make a single touchdown. All they could muster were some field goals.
Then comes the Fiesta Bowl game where they blow the Sooners 48-28 with such ease that made us all so proud. In all this is the Head Coach Rich Rodriguez drama who chickened and bailed out at the end of the regular season to Michigan. He lost his first game this year with Michigan which I think he well deserved - that selfish brat of a kid called Head Coach Rich Rodriguez.
This year they started with a high note winning easily against Villanova. Then came the true test with ECU which they lost with no signs of a team that won against the mighty Sooners in the Fiesta Bowl. I know ECU was tough team but not having to muster a touch down is hard to fathom. All they could get was a single field goal. So much for talk of a potential Championship contender and a possible Heisman for Pat White. Any hope of either of them are gone when they lose the next game to Colorado 17-14 in a closely contested game. A closely contested game is not good enough.
A good team comes out of closely contested games. It shows some character for a team to come out of holes. This team had the Heisman Candidate Pat White returning with Noel Divine as his running mate. He also has the senior line backers returning this year. The only change is the coaching staff. But this was the same coaching staff that won the Fiesta Bowl.
Anyways that my Mountaineers for you. One week they are up and the very next week they are down. This is what makes them lose the credibility points like that in the Teams in SEC. The important thing though for the Mountaineers is to have schedules with tough teams including those in the SEC. This year they have some good games lined up and the most important is against the Auburn of the SEC. They should consistently have games against the tough teams and eventually the Team will get better. They should stop having their schedule filled with teams like Marshall just for the sake of winning. Sure you can a 11-1 or 10-2 at the end of your normal schedule but if 6-7 of those wins come against teams like Marshall what good is that.
I am glad that this years schedule is tougher than last years. And as always lets cheer our team - Lets Go 'Eers.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Why Bother To Forward?
I hate forwards. Forwards are emails sent to you by your friends or colleagues about something supposedly for interest to you. 99% percent of these forwards are junks/myths/urban legends twisted. These forwards talk about the character of the person forwarding them. This ofcourse is my classifaction and none of this is personal. It is just a character assessment based on the forwards and many fall under more than one category.
Religious coward: These forward email about some divine myth/ story about something good or bad had happened and they prayed to this/that god and things have changed permanently for them. So they start this chain and curse upon on those who dont spread the chain. They believe in the curse (God being the supreme being does not curse you on such silly matters as not forwarding a story about him to someone else) and will forward to one who believes that stuff and those that dont believe in that stuff.
E-Capitalists: Remember that email chain about microsoft doing a secret survey and if you forward the email that he sent you, you will be millionaire in no time. These guys believe in instant gratification by doing a simple task of causing inconvenience by forwarding the junk to others and hoping to get rich by their benign deed.
Scare Crows: Recently I had a email forwarded from a colleague anout being careful when picking vegetables from an indian grocery store. Apparently there was a woman who died from a unseen snake hiding in the vegetables and was found dead on returning to the car with froth coming out of her mouth. Pretty graphic and bollywood like. These are fear mongerers.
Political Pundits: These guys send articles or email chains about politicians that are on the other side of their political fence. Anything negative that they can find, even if that is a myth, is an opportunity not to be lost.
Well Wishers: I had a friend who was fine until one day he began to send emails that contained images with content of philosophy, living life to the fullest and things like that. Guess why that happened. He got married and he began to see roses in everything. His wife subscribes to some website that sends her this kind of email. She forwards it to him. And he in turn sends those greetings to everyone he knows. I know you care for us, but dude keep your wife's greetings with you.
Nature Admirers: These are those that send anything wonderful they see about nature. Like the amazing pictures of the Seven Wonders of the World or the recent Olympics opening ceremony in China. These are kind of email forwards that you would have seen a long time ago, and this guy stumbled upon them only recently and cannot wait until he shares his discovery to the world.
Technology Warlords: These guys are those that are on one side of the technology rivalry like that between Apple and Microsoft. They send anything negative about the technology they hate and anything remotely positive about the technology they like. They also send emails about some cool work places, like Google office having a nice Play Pen and bed to sleep if you want. They send this only if the firm deals with technology they like or is also to rival to the technology they hate.
Well Wishers: I had a friend who was fine until one day he began to send emails that contained images with content of philosophy, living life to the fullest and things like that. Guess why that happened. He got married and he began to see roses in everything. His wife subscribes to some website that sends her this kind of email. She forwards it to him. And he in turn sends those greetings to everyone he knows. I know you care for us, but dude keep your wife's greetings with you.
Nature Admirers: These are those that send anything wonderful they see about nature. Like the amazing pictures of the Seven Wonders of the World or the recent Olympics opening ceremony in China. These are kind of email forwards that you would have seen a long time ago, and this guy stumbled upon them only recently and cannot wait until he shares his discovery to the world.
Technology Warlords: These guys are those that are on one side of the technology rivalry like that between Apple and Microsoft. They send anything negative about the technology they hate and anything remotely positive about the technology they like. They also send emails about some cool work places, like Google office having a nice Play Pen and bed to sleep if you want. They send this only if the firm deals with technology they like or is also to rival to the technology they hate.
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