Fighting with Cancer...Even a dollar is a great help !

Driving down on Monterey, finally Friday is over. Long weekend ahead, and mind automatically tends to go in relaxation mode on the advent of these. Though there is just one extra day of vacation, you feel this is the time to take a break and relax a little.

Nearing home, I tend to stop in a complex housing Walmart, Blockbuster among others to do some essential purchasing. Probably I need some good movies, and hmmm...lets take few cans of Heineken too. Phew, my Marlboro pack is ending also. Starbucks in way, so lets get some Cappuccino.

Its a hot day today, and it has been like this for the last couple of weeks. Temperature in late 80`s maybe.....and we need some rain. As I stop at the left turn signal to go into the complex, I see an old lady sitting on the road divider, with a sign which says 'Fighting With Cancer...Even a dollar is a great help' .

I have seen people utilizing this signal often, and most of them giving varied reasons why they need money. Some of them are bankrupt, some are homeless...all kind of ploys people use. I am not getting fooled by them, I always tell myself. I have been seeing this lady for the last couple of weeks...but there is something about this lady, something so full of pathos......

Thinning Grey hair, wrinkled face, tattered clothes, body so fragile, and eyes so full of sadness. Its hot, and blazing sun rays are directly falling on her. And she is sitting, looking at us within the cars with expectation....probably someone will roll down the window and offer her a dollar or so. But no one is interested. Maybe we all are now accustomed to people like this on this particular signal. Its my brothers birthday today, so let me give her something, I thought. My hands began reaching for my wallet, and suddenly the signal turned Green. Leave it.....and I drove ahead. Anyways these people are mostly fakes, so be it. Why should I waste my dollar?

Back home after my purchase, I was sipping my Cappuccino, sitting in my air conditioned apartment. A friend called, and reception was weak inside, so I went outside the apartment to talk to him. Lit up my cigarette, and suddenly I realized that its really hot. Phew, threw down the whole cigarette, came inside, and trashed the coffee down the drain. Its hot,and I cant have either.

Call over, suddenly the image of the old woman flashed in my mind. There was something different about her today. Her hands were shaking, and shaking vigorously. Why I didn't realize it ? I haven't noticed that before. Its really hot, and if she is sitting there under the penetrating sun rays, asking for help, she would have a genuine reason. Probably she is really sick. Probably she really needs help for her cancer. And I just threw my cigarette and Cappuccino worth $4 down the drain. And she just wanted a dollar.... And the way she looked at me, there was so much expectation, and so much ...... Filled with guilt,I hopped back in the car, and started driving towards that signal. I will give her 10 bucks , ask her to get dinner, and request her to leave for the day. She looked typically like anyone`s grand mom, and probably life hasn't been fair to her.

Reached the signal, but she was nowhere to be found. Rolled down the window, and asked another person sitting there, who is asking help for his bankruptcy. 'Where is the old lady who was here an hour ago ?' I asked. 'Bro, she suffered a Heat Stroke probably half an hour ago, and then the cops came and took her somewhere, probably to some hospital'.

I was zapped.....such a coincidence....I have been an agnostic, but is this Gods way of telling me that I am there, and you need to believe in me?......How can such a coincidence happen....probably her hands were shaking vigorously because of that only, and if I had stopped and helped, may be she would have left the place, and been fine...

Suddenly the signal turned Green again.....and I drove ahead...

Marriage Proposal , IT professional`s way !

Yes, I am doing all this to shorten my life, and even on weekends. Have been busy on work front, and it seems the status quo is going to be maintained for while. Add to it there are some things cropping up in life which need remedy. So lesser time to give to blog. Hope to be back as soon as things return to normalcy.

Meanwhile take a look at this. You would have heard and seen all kinds of ways to propose for marriage, but this one takes the cake.

Marry Me Leslie !
Best viewed in Firefox

Holding the banner is a Google techie who knew the schedule when Google Street View was going to pass through that particular street near Google premises in Mountain View, CA . And he decided to encash the oppurtinity in his own way.

Leslie, are you listening....... ?

PS: There is a new ISKCON temple being built in San Jose, CA and I have been requested from several mails to help. Here is the link, if you are interested in philanthropic causes.

So I look like Richard Gere or Jesse Bradford ?

Today I spent my time playing with some cool gadgets, on iPhone and some from Google. Results of some of them you can see around this site, though there are two which I found really interesting. So thought of sharing them with you.

MyHeritage.com is a site where you can create your family tree. You can build your whole family lineage there, so I would request all my family members to go and register there. More interesting and fun part though is their Face Recognition software, which actually finds celebrity look alikes for you!

I tried with mine, and to further inflate my already floating ego, it came up with Richard Gere!!!! Realizing in horror that the girls around the globe will be after my phone number once the news leaks, I tried with another pic and this time it decalred that I resemble Amisha Patel ???? Can you believe this...I dont want Vikram Bhatt chasing me after reading this. So I tried with a high resolution pic this time, and I think results were more in range. So with much humility I say Jesse Bradford resembles me :-)



Try it. Its real fun . Another good gadget was for iPhone, downloadable via Apple app store, GPS Tracker. You install the client on phone, and it will post your location on a server and will draw your trail on a Google map. Exciting! Information about is on the side bar of blog. Click on the link there and enter the userid and password given. You can see my location on map. So all you guys can actually track where I am at a particular time ,and why I am not picking your calls :-)

But before you all get too excited with wild ideas, let me add that it will update the server with locations only when I activate the client(thanks to Apple`s policy). So you will see me when I want you to see. But suppose I activate it, and I am speeding from SFO to LA, you can actually see my car accelerating on highway ! See a demo of this on their site:

Car on Highway Demo

Track me if you can :-)

Yeh Jo Desh Hai Tera !

Reached office pretty late, and once there, went for my regular morning Mocha to cafeteria. Saw a familiar smiling Indian face outside the cafe, on his phone. Smiled , waved, and walked towards the coffee stall. Lady there, knowing my regular routine, didn't even bother to ask and proceeded to make my extra hot Mocha with whipped cream. Coffee ready, I walked outside towards the back of cafeteria, overlooking lush green mountains, and I can see some cows grazing there. My favorite place in the campus. Took my seat, flipped Marlboro open and lit it up. Pretty much everyday routine. Calming and peaceful. Nature has its own way of soothing mind. Sets the tone for the whole day.

Just when I was observing some IBMers playing Volleyball and enjoying my morning coffee, that Indian colleague ( he is here for a week from Bangalore ) walked and wished Independence Day, and I wished him back. After some regular office gossips, he asked me how long I have been here, I told him pretty close to five years.
'Then this Independece day shay wont matter to you guys right ? I mean anyways you all leave India for more money and more materialistic comforts, leaving your family their on your own, leaving your country......patriotism wism sab broing bate lagti hongi ?'. I smiled and nodded, and excused myself on the pretext of meeting.

Day passed with regular office chores, but his words remained in my subconscious mind , and kept haunting me throughout. In the evening we had a 'Beer and Banter' party in IBM, and there that gentleman was. He came, and we started chatting.

'So basically from Bangalore?

No no, we are from small town in Uttranachal

Oh ok. So parents and all there?

Yes, whole family is there

Must be visting often?

Nahi yaar kisko time milta hain.....Saal me ek ya do bar...Bangalore me wife hai, kids hai....so no leaves...

So dad is working there in Uttranchal ?

Retired...on pension, I try to help, par apne kharche itne ho jaate hai...

So can you explain whats the difference between my and your situation ? For the last five years I have been visiting India almost every year, spending around a month with my parents, and though I may sound immodest saying this, have probably helped my family more than you even have the intent to.....do you end up doing some social service for India to claim you are more patriotic than me ?...cause thats the only one thing I haven't done, and have really a good heartfelt intent of doing...how do you intend to contribute to India.....?'

Are yaar tu to bura maan gaya....I was just joking in the morning...Lets go and get one more Beer....'

Back home, and listening to this soulful tune from Rahman, and these lyrics....Isnt it art in its highest glory ?...Just gives me goosebumps whenever I listen to it.

'Mitti ki jo khushboo, tu kaise bhoolaayega
Tu chaahe kahin jaaye, tu laut ke aayega
Nayi nayi raahon mein, dabi dabi aahon mein
Khoye khoye dilse tere, koyi ye kahega
Ye jo des hai tera, swades hai tera, tujhe hai pukaara
Ye woh bandhan hai jo kabhi toot nahin sakta'


Yes we do feel guilty, of leaving our motherland, our family back there in order to make a better future for ourselves. And we do have a conscience, and we know our responsibilities, and where our roots are. We do miss those loved ones, those familiar lanes, that warmth. And we will figure out a way to fulfill these responsibilities towards our country, our parents. Nobody needs to remind us.

Happy Independence Day.

Singh is King - Even at Olympics !

What a shot ! First individual Gold in more than 100 years, and first Gold at Olympics after 25 years! And this historic feat was achieved by Abhinav Singh Bindra. What a coincidence that while 'Singh is King' is rewriting Bollywood records across continents, another Singh was breaking records in his own way at Beijing.

Click here to access Abhinav Bindra`s Personal Blog

The news met with unprecedented euphoria among Indians world over. So will this lead to India diverting its obsessive fascination from Cricket to other sports ? Will this really inspire Indians to live and dream those other spectacular forms of Sport, which 'Chak De India' last year came very close to sprouting, albeit just for hockey ?

Talking about Indian Hockey history at Olympics, picture this stat:

'Between 1928 to 1956, India won the gold medal in hockey consecutively six times. They played 24 Olympic matches, won all 24, scored 178 goals (at an average of 7.43 goals per match) and conceded only 7'

How could things go so drastically wrong that we didnt even qualify to participate this year ?

Maybe we need to pull Shahrukh 'Kabir' Khan back from mega crores generating IPL meetings to find the answer......or do we ?

PS : USA won Bronze in Gymnastics today . Kevin Tan is a part of the team which got the bronze. His father, Peter Tan is a veteran IBMer stationed in office next to mine. Hearty congratulations to you buddy !!

Picture abhi baki hai ?

08-08-08 ---- A Snapshot

Not a good week so far, what with Perm going in audit, and workload increasing beyond capability. I have also been down with cough and cold for the last 2-3 days, and today had fever,so decided to skip office to take some rest, or 'work from home' so to say , a practice quite widespread in IT world.

Though couldn't continue after 5pm, and felt asleep only to be waken up by a call from a friend , and realizing in horror that I have skipped dinner time, and its 10 pm ! So what to do now ? Cook something, which current health condition doesn't encourage, or drive through to Taco which appears an equally ordeal task? The friend was gracious enough to offer to bring something , which I declined. Rummaged through the refrigerator, found the leftover fried rice from yesterday...saved for the day. Thank god for all these inventions, or should I thank Germans/Americans credited with invention of refrigerator?

Dinner over..what to do next ? Body has its own way of reacting, and more you rest, the more rest it demands. Lethargy breeds more lethargy...don't feel like doing anything. But the date today, 08/08/08, seems so inviting that it goads mind to do something .....probably take a snapshot of life for 08/08/08?

Often when you are alone talking to yourself, often when you are sick, lying on bed doing nothing, you think about a lot of things which you normally wont in your day to day existence, or maybe you don't have time to. How has life been so far, and how is it going to be? Whats the state of mind today ? I don't know...but for this moment the predominant mind state is that of 'contentment'. I feel satisfied. The course life has taken so far, I get the feeling that it has been years well spent. Its very surprising, considering that I am a very edgy person, almost always restless.

Lots of things flash up in mind.....growing up in the by lanes of Varanasi, ghats on Ganga, mom, dad, brothers, baba, aaji, bua, cousins, amitabh..... regular visits to Sankat Mochan temple, school life, fooling friends, bikes, fruit beer, first love, long phone calls, the 'S' factor..... preparing for competitive entrance exams , meeting that special someone , mom and dad coming to drop me to a college on a hill near Nainital , first time away from home,seeing tears in dad`s eye for first time,......pulsating hostel life, rum and chicken parties, acting in plays, girlfriends, cruel ragging, street fights, topping the batch, cheating in exams, expulsions, moist eyed farewell from college ..... Delhi, Call Center life, preparing to fly to States, the realization of losing someone very close to you, heartbreak.......flying to the States, faces of some very special friends coming to drop off at station, mom breaking up at airport.......Texas, working round the clock in a restaurant, first Car, clubbing/parties to the extremes, sitting through the nights in labs doing projects, proudly wearing Graduation robe......moving to the most vibrant place in states, California, working in one of the biggest companies in world, awards, promotion, fulfilling few responsibilities towards parents ....been there, done that. Have probably experienced life in all its forms....What next?

Is the most important phase of life yet to start ? Is a good marriage, a caring life partner, or that million dollar house, or adorable kids, or hefty bank balance....are they the factors from now on which take your life to blissful conclusion , towards that perfect ending ? Don`t know, really clueless. Right now it certainly feels like intermission point, though the story after intermission looks linear, with no surprises ? Or as the popular movie dialogue goes, 'picture abhi baki hai' ?

Maybe another snapshot on 12-12-12 will give an idea.

And now...how Americans see rest of the world !

Continuing from my previous post, one of my friends liked it very much, and it reminded her of something she has come across regarding America and the rest of world. She sent me the link, and I am posting it here for you. Enjoy... As with the previous post, click on the image above to zoom it.

On hindsight, I would love to see something which depicts how Islamic countries see the world , specially America :)

Californians - How they see rest of America

Came across this interesting graphics. Click on the image above to zoom it. Although funny, it does seem to reflect sweeping generalizations among native Californians.

We pay ridiculously high taxes, spend our lifetime paying house mortgages for record high real estate, and unfortunately pay the highest gas prices in the country.

Click here to see the map of Gas prices across USA.

And so we tend to justify. To ourselves, to others, that we are doing a rational thing by choosing to stay here. Often we tend to talk about nicest weather in US, vibrant economy, IT capital of world, natural beauty, good social life ,larger number of activities in entertainment sector, etc to justify the higher prices.

But are these high prices really deserving ? Global warming is already threatening our nice weather and natural beauty, and IT has spread its legs across the USA. So is it a time bound bubble, which wont sustain over years to come ? Or the age old adage 'You get what you pay for' holds true in terms of California?