Valley Chai

if this picture wasn’t so beautifully shot, it would’ve told a different story.

the parallels are eerie. a friend/family calls to wake us from early morning slumber only to let alert us on the unfolding of a national tragedy on live television. iconic indian landmarks (taj mahal hotel, nariman point) being attacked while the sorry-looking-out-of-shape cops carry out the crowd control tasks.

this is similar to the attacks on 9/11 and the islamabad marriott in september. purely designed to stunt the financial machine. the england cricket tour is already called off.

it’s a shame we let it come to this. amid all this one brave son of he soil laid down his life in the name of doing what’s right. officer hemant karkare was leading the fight back on the front lines, and fell to bullet wounds. as they say in ‘legends of the fall’, it was a good death. here in india, our warriors are our gentlemen.

oh the only pitchers we know of india come filled with beer. but in what looks like a publicity stunt, major league baseball drafted two desis to pitch for pittsburgh pirates baseball team.

the selection was done by an open competition called “million dollar arm” (check out their page on how to throw a pitch here). whether this will bring back “playing base” to india, who cares. but it will surely bring some $$ into the country, and zee tv will have another game to broadcast than the sorry-looking ICL.

apologies for the long gap in posting. was in powerpoint-land for a few weeks. that’s over now, it’s back to execution.

returned from the US last night. a year or so after relocating to the US, i got a new perspective on the country i lived in for the last 14 years. here’s what i wish i had in bangalore - in a true product-manager fashion, organized into a bulleted list.

• lungful of fresh air
• quiet when you need it
• warm bagel with butter spread, starbucks to go with it
• shopping without the attendant stalking you
• gliding through the road in my ford expedition
• latest gadgets and tech - hot off the press, as it happens. why don’t damn netflix allow me to access their download service from india?

most of all, i miss the horizontal visibility - in bay area, you get to see a good 50-60 yards distance from anywhere. office, road, home, you name it. you actually get to see the sunset over the horizon on your drive home. you see a good mile down the road. you see the other end of the park. here in bangalore, you see gazillion people, buildings, an impending accident, an ugly pile of junk, a big hoarding.

quick - think of a time when you actually noticed something beyond about 50 ft?

it’s almost 11 on diwali night (deepavali for us telugu people). we had finished two nights of bursting crackers in row, what a blast it was.. literally.

a few days ago, some newly acquired habit of buying gold was also dutifully discharged by the three ladies of the house. must’ve been heaven, shopping for gold with a free hand to splurge. whatever my exercise/diet regimen was, it was out the window. ’tis the time to indulge, and indulge i did.

our apartment block manager organized a nice cocktail/dinner/fireworks event in the courtyard, which was a cool way to mingle with neighbors while setting those crackers off. brother, sis-in-law, mom, dad, grandmom, and of course our family of 4. after the a small ‘lakshmi pooja’ in brand-spanking new clothes, we were off to the party.

that was yesterday. tonight we went to my brother’s place, and blew up some more rockets, crackers and such for another hour. boyz were delirious at setting off the flower pots and ‘blastoff’ rockets., each time pointing to everyone at whatever they lit up. quite an accomplishment for them, this time, as opposed to closing their ears at every blast last year. i had a minor nick on my left eyebrow from some random cracker, but other than that’s it’s all safe.

the constant chatter of remnant crackers still continuous outside through the dark ‘amavasya’ night. reflecting quietly, me thinks this festival in all it’s commercial-ness, is about mass-celebration at it’s core. comparing to the fourth-of-july, i see how the sheer joy of enjoying some crackers first-hand can make such a huge difference to the festive spirit. or may be.. it’s an annual purgatory for the common man to take out all the destructive instincts.