Conflict

Many times, the mind knows something that the heart does not want to acknowledge or believe. May even seem like a premonition sometimes. But the heart firmly rejects any thought of it. A sort of denial. "No, it just can't happen that way", believes the heart while the mind smiles smugly. The body that connects these two is in a state of limbo not sure who to go with; the all-knowing mind or the ever-believing heart. Its a tough time waiting for the result and when it comes, there are unshed tears. I'd like to believe that those same feelings were shared by both.

M&A

The current trend of mergers and acquisitions (m&a's) has spread into all industries. So much so that I have been impacted by one too. No, I'm not an i-banker that closed any deals nor am I an employee that's been canned. It's just that my daughter's school has been acquired by another group, a bigger and supposedly a more profitable group that can run things better at her school. So we've gone from being a 'mom and pop' school to a franchise-run academy! Maybe the future holds better food, open on weekends, better staff, a uniform and definitely a higher fee! There's no place for mediocrity anymore, only the bottomline counts. Especially for the schools.

Music to move

Sare Jahan Se Acha, The Lambada, Jingle all the way, Suprabhatam and a whole host of other random songs from Bollywood, Tollyhood, Kollywood and even the Billboard Top 10! What do they have in common? Absolutely nothing (thank god) other than ending up as monophonic tunes that play when cars back up.

What is the purpose of this tune playing? To warn the buffaloes, sorry people (maybe buffaloes and cows occasionally) that are behind the vehicle to move out of the way. You might think that that is something that would logically happen when one sees a car or truck coming at them. But no, not in India. Be it a person or animal, they continue with whatever they were doing ignoring the vehicle until it almost bumps into them and then (this is even better) glare at the driver as though the fault were his/hers. For a passing observer though, this tune playing is so annoying because it does not cease until the reverse gear is disengaged and that usually happens only after the confrontation with the party blocking the reverse has ended; a quite laborious process.

If you're ever in a state of amnesia and have forgotten which city or state in India you are in, you can find out based on the accent of the person that says the most famous of these reverse tunes "Attention please! This car is backing up"! "Attention please! This car is backing up"! "Attention please! This car is backing up"!

It makes me want to screeeeeeeeeeeeeeam!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are the champions...almost

"If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same" go the immortal words of Rudyard Kipling.

The French Open ended today and with it Federer's quest to become the best ever. Yes, he has many more years of tennis left in him but the chances of a French Open victory seem to have faded. There is only so much kindness that fate will show before the draw gets tougher and the game becomes more difficult. How must he feel?

A football match coming down to a penalty shootout is most exciting for viewers (however nail-biting it might be) but the worst ever for players. It all comes down to the goalie and which side he decides to dive to. The recent Champions League final was all that and more. The Chelsea captain could have won it for them with a simple kick but slipped and missed and went on to lose. How must he feel?

The Chennai Super Kings made it to the final against all odds. As lackadaisical as their fielding and batting was, the chances of a victory were not too remote. To take the match to the last over with 8 runs for the asking captain Dhoni decided to go with Balaji who was just back from a long break due to surgery than with Gony who had already taken 3 wickets. Reason? Take a risk, maybe the batsmen will be fooled by the pace of the ball (or lack of it). 1 ball left, 1 run needed, batsman hits a 4. How does the team feel?

As a avid follower of many sports, I find it so difficult to forget the game and go to bed in peace when the person/team I've been supporting has lost. I wonder how the athletes can digest their loss, make their peace and move onto the next event.

Tonight will be a sleepless night but not because of my little one.

Advice, anyone???

What better way to start off the randomness again than by posting bits of advice/comments that's being doled out to me by domestic help, family, friends and anyone else on ways to make the kiddo bigger, taller, stronger, sharper (nose especially!) and the rest? Oh, how can i forget fairer?? Try at your own risk!

• Apply ghee to baby's body, especially nose and massage to make it sharp and long. (I would rather eat the ghee)
• Massage with oil/ghee twice a day. This will help bones stretch out thereby making baby tall. (Playing basketball might be a better option)
• Drink milk with saffron, this will make baby fairer. (Saffron, yuck. Also too expensive. Why don't you buy him Fair and Handsome?)
• Bathe baby in milk, also will make him fairer. (I would drink the milk before I did that but not with saffron)
• Give baby strange herbs, they have VARIOUS benefits and will prevent illness. (I'd like to take some green herbs, forget about the baby for a minute!)
• Don't drink anything cold if you're nursing, the baby will catch a cold. (WOW!)
• If you're nursing, eating bread dipped in milk with help with producing more milk (Clearly, these people don't want me to fit into my jeans EVER.)

Based on the above suggestions, all Indian babies should be very tall, super strong, very very fair and have no illness at all. What a deadly combo arbid advice and blind faith is.

Sabbatical

I didn't want this to be a personal blog documenting things about my life. But I decided that I should acknowledge the latest, biggest event thats happened...the birth of my 2nd child. April 26, 2008 at 0202 India time. Due to this, I will be taking a short break from here. Back with some extreme randomness very shortly (I hope).

Leagues and sports

An Indian cricket league is something I've always dreamt off. Imagine having your own home team to root for, wear their jerseys, cheer for the franchise player, buy season tickets, the whole nine yards! As much as I loved living in Hartford Connecticut, I couldn't help but feel a bit sad that we never had any city teams in any of the leagues (basketball, baseball, football...). No, I've never been a fan of the New England Patriots, so that doesn't count.

Anyway, we now have two cricket leagues in India; ICL (the rebel league) and IPL (the BCCI's answer to the rebel league). Neither of these are along the lines of what I imagined. I always assumed that a state's Ranji Trophy team would be marketed in a different way, people would get to know up and coming players from their state or city, maybe the matches themselves would be televised, stadiums packed and so on due to the marketing effort. Unfortunately, that's where the business aspect of sports comes in to play. Owners of these league teams are successful businessmen, actors and the like. The bottomline for them is ROI (return on investment) not talent encouragement. Hence all the league teams have international cricketers that have been bought for huge amounts of money (well, not all expensive....sorry, Ricky Ponting) and a couple of Indian youngsters, who might make it into the Indian team if they perform well at this level.

As much fun as it is to watch these games, I can't help but wonder what the difference between this and regular first-class cricket is (ok, format is T20 not 50-50). But shouldn't the INDIAN Premier league have only Indians playing in it? Shouldn't the league be a stepping stone for local talent to perform well and thereby act as a screening for the national team? One can argue that the Ranji Trophy teams are there for that reason alone but I think everyone knows that the truth is far from it. Players do not get in purely on merit. Favouritism is the name of the game. A star player has his 'chumchas' and refuses to play unless they are in the team...and so on. With the BCCI sitting on so much cash, its tough to say how this will pan out in the long run and how much good it is going to do for Indian (and World) cricket.

It feels a bit strange to see Glenn Mc Grath in a Delhi Daredevils tee or Shane Warne as captain of the Rajasthan Royals. I wonder how it feels for the players to be donning jerseys of cities or states that they have nothing in common with. Does money make that awkwardness go away? Does money replace pride and love of the game? Is this the future of all sports?

Apartment Rules - Part Deux

The doorbell rings, a random person walks inside the already opened door and says she's here to have a look around my apartment because she is renting the one 2 floors down below. No introductions, nothing. She just waltzes around while I stand there speechless (stupid of me for sure). She then goes on to complain about the silly size of the bedrooms (her exact words), praises the fact that there is a room and bathroom for live-in help and then walks out the door. Comes back a second later and says, "I didn't get your name"!

WOW! Dare I say only in Hyderabad?

Well dressed thief?

2 days, 2 different stores. Both times I was asked to make my way to the cash counter to pay for something that my little daughter had in her hand. And in one instance, when I didn't comply immediately, there were at least 4 people watching me to ensure I don't leave the store. Do I look like someone that would steal something worth Rs. 200 and Rs. 40 respectively?

It's funny but the coincidence is hard to ignore; I usually dress ONLY in tracks and tees...some people like to call that kind of look snobbish grunge. To me its just comfortable. Anyway, when I'm dressed like this, people automatically assume that I'm from 'abroad' whatever that means these days. And I've noticed that the kind of treatment at stores is definitely different. People seem more obliging and once before, they even opened up a new counter for me! (Once at the airport too when the check-in lines were so long, the counter that handled excess baggage called me when I was almost the last in line!) On the 2 days of my attempted robbery, I wore a neat salwar. And what I got was being looked at like I was going to pinch something from the store.

How strange?! Does this mean that people from abroad can get away with whatever? Or that well dressed people are capable of stealing too?

It's late and I'm sleepy, so I'll stop the rambling. I still can't make any sense of it though. But given that I'm not a fan of salwars and the like I'll just stick to my grungy clothes so that the stores will think I'm cool.

The Graduate

I first wore a cap and gown and participated in a graduation ceremony when I completed my Masters degree. My daughter on the other hand, took part in a ceremony at her playschool today...and she's just over 2 years old!

Many times before, I've mocked at such ceremonies saying that they make a joke of a 'real' graduation ceremony, something that only happens after one completes an undergraduate degree at the very least. But I have to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed the school day/graduation ceremony at the school today. Although the cap and tassel may not have been as meaningful to my little one as to an adult finishing up college, she looked really cute as did all the other kids. I guess this is another trend that's caught up here in India...along with Halloween and a few others. I just have to get used to it and not be cynical. Tough...