Vegetarian's Pains

So, we had this lunch at work to celebrate a good, solid quarter of performance. The quarter's plan was a stretch and we delivered the quarter. The business had organised a lunch to thank all the employees.

In any such lunch, Paavana and I plan on staying hungry. Lack of palatable vegetarian food is the main complaint. Today promised to be different. " Hey, we have veggie burgers", they said. The line was long, and it had been a tiring morning and I badly needed some glucose. The burger pattie had a label - for vegetarians only. Hmm... Two thoughts crossed my mind 1) Wow, that is really nice. There were 300 odd people waiting to be fed and I construed the label as means to ensure that vegetarians are fed and 2) Or maybe the label was to ensure that meat-eaters did not accidentally eat the veggie pattie. That would be hard on any self-respecting meat eater, you see.

But, it was all moot. The patties were bland and tasted like soft, cooked sand. Innumerable attempts at finishing the burgers were pointless. My stomach growled and refused to take any more of that noxious pattie and we (my stomach and I) agreed to go hungry.

I used to get upset whenever this happened at work but slowly I have realised that vegetarianism is completely unknown in the midwest. People think that vegetarianism is all about eating salads or eating raw tofu - both very untempting propositions. Now I think it is admirable that people even think about ordering something vegetarian.

The CrackBerry backlash

Blackberries are the ultimate tool for a quintessential geek. I dont have one - something to do with the rational part of my brian refusing to see the value in buying one. The geek in me might still win.

So, the article above casts the blackberry as a wicked fiend wrecking marriages, spoiling meetings at work (how can you wreck an office meeting? those are unproductive to begin with) and implies that the Crackberry, er, the blackberry is as addictive as crack cocaine.

Ruminations needs to be renamed

I was feeling pretty smug about having named this blog "Ruminations". I deluded myself with thinking that it was sounding suave, erudite and original. Little did I realise that there are many other bloggers who like to ruminate. I also remembered that rumination is one attribute of bovine beings.

Now I want a new name ......... I am in the process of raking my brains, turning the pages and clicking the mice to come up with a cool and seldom used name.

Suggest me a good one and I might even blogroll you :)

Lucy Kellaway behind Martin Luke

No, this is not the about the adage of a woman behind every successful man but has to do with who created and maintains Martin Lukes as the love-to-hate corporate climber. I always thought that it could be either Sathnam Sanghera or Lucy Kellaway that created this character.

But the suspense was broken in the past weekend's edition of FT. Who knew that a journalist's train journey can contribute to an engaging and humorous column on management faux pas? The column is the result of a fellow passenger uttering many management cliches in a 10 minute phone call.

Its not unlike Dilbert - it is witty, pokes fun at management fads, but through the eyes of one individual: Martin Lukes. It surely is a creovative enterprise as Martin Lukes is wont to quip. The column appears on Thursdays in the print edition of FT.

As is fitting of any insecure corporate honcho, Martin Lukes' book titled "Who Moved My Blackberry?" is about to be released soon.

Books

Bought a few books recently:

1. Being and Nothingness by Jean Paul Sartre: It has been a while since I read any work on existentialism.
2. Freakanomics by Levitt and Dubner: I bought this book for 2 reasons. 1) I was intrigued by a PBS program on Levitt and 2) the book seems to take a humane (psychological?) approach to economics.

Unfortunately, this purchase increases my yet-to-be-read-book count. But, the joy of holding a new book, smelling the fresh print and just thumbing through it can't be beat.

Time Pass is Time Wasted

Take a social issue, distort and exaggerate it significantly; cast upstart actors who cannot even spell the word ACTING much less perform it; ensure there is absolutely no story, even accidentally; choreograph vulgar dance numbers with tawdry lyrics and you have the formula for many of the Indian movies. But, Time Pass has one-upped all the other movies in using this formula.

The movie's title made me very suspicious and but I still rented the emetic. We had a potluck at home and renting a Hindi movie seemed like an acceptable common denominator. Also, we did not want to be branded as "that weird couple who watch dense movies".

The hero looks more feminine than the heroine. The heroine is an imporobably innocent Bombayite with an irritating and unpredictable giggle. The only vocal function the hero's mother seems to be capable of is blood-curdling shrieks. But thankfully, we never got to watch the movie with the guests. Paavana and I ended up watching it alone.

Quarter-end pains - Updated

Ah... Its the end of the second fiscal quarter and things have gone haywire. Its Friday evening and I am fretting about all the possible weekend mfg. calls: desperate calls asking for help in meeting the stretch plans for system output, hitting inventory & scraps numbers, under-running base-cost and the whole gamut of coporate metrics.

I am sure no one reading this post cares about these but I had to get this out of my sysetm.

As I was afraid, there were many calls over the weekend but none required either Paavana or me to drive to work. Overall, it was a jolly good weekend.

Toyota's progress and fear of American backlash

New York Times had an article about Asian car manufacturers and how they are remaking the Southern US as the new Detroit. The article contrasted the waning influence of the Big Detroit three with that of Honda, Toyota and Hyundai who are progressively becoming nimble, astute and more importantly, profitable players in the global automotive market.

Toyota's upper management fears a backlash due to the steady decline in GM's and Ford's performance . I am not surprised that Toyota feels this way.

The US government resorts to protectionism when it suits itself. The rescue of many airlines in 2001 and 2002, the tariff on Chinese textiles (after the quota regime was scrapped in Dec 2004) are all cases in point. In the case of the Airlines, the govt. used the 9/11 tragedy as an excuse. There is no doubt that the unfortunate events of 9/11 pushed many airlines over the brink. But what led them ther was their poor execution, lack of operational and fiscal discipline. In the case of Chinese textiles, the argument was that the American producers did not have enough warning about the coming deluge of cheaper Chinese textiles. Nothing can be farther than the truth. For the past few years, the entire world was waiting for this day.

I do not fully believe in the efficient market theory nor do I think that laissez faire is the panacea for world poverty. But since these two principles are thrust by every American government on every country in the world, it is entirely justified to expect the American government to practise what it preaches. If companies like GM cannot compete fairly in the market, then they should be reduced to obscurity. Propping these poor performers by penalizing successful Asian car companies is not the answer. Protectionism will not make them better, it will only worsen their already dire condition.

Royal Wastrels

This story got me in a froth. What an anachronism! How can a mature (so-called) democracy tolerate royals? Even more flabbergasting was the comment of Alan Reid, keeper of the privy purse - He said said the Royals gave "value for money" Sic! What value? By the way, What does a Keeper of the Privy Purse do?

Most of the Royal lineages have their origins in marauading plunderers and the British Royals are no exception. They trace their origins to the Normans, who invaded Britain (Thanks a lot to Thomas Paine's "The Rights of Man", to which I owe my education in this matter) . The absurd logic for supporting these profligate monarchies are not valid anymore. There is no natural law that validated the monarchies in the past or the present and nor will these be valid in the future. Why should the public finance the royals' extravagant way of life? Why do they need speically chartered flights or royal trains? How does the nation stand to gain?

I am aware that the right to maintain or scrap the monarchies rests with the citizens of the monarchies. Still, 37 million Pound-Sterlings is a lot of money to subsidise the extravagant, scandal-ridden, unproductive lifestyles of these people. I can list scores of deserving causes that his sum of money will serve better.

Back to Non-Fiction

After reading Sideways, I have reverted back to non-fiction. There were a slew of books to choose from:

1. Science and Relegion - Bertrand Russell
2. Why I am not a Christian - Bertrand Russell
3. Complete Plato
4. Development as Freedom - Amartya Sen; Left in half a long time ago.
   
5. The Emperor's New Mind - Roger Penrose
6. Vernon God Little
7. And then some.

I was confused for a while but book number 1 in the above list won. It has been a while since I read any of Russell's works. Number 3 was an intimidating tome; Number 4 was a tad too involved; Number 5 was heavy on Math; Number 6 - well, I was not in a mood for another fiction.

Between the two books by Russell, I choose Science and Relegion because the theme seemed to follow that of Consilience. Maybe not. I am just past the introduction (written by Mike Ruse, a Zoology and Philosophy Professor in Canada) and have finished a few pages in the first chapter.

More to come.

Ruminations: New Wines

Ruminations: New Wines

I finished the Sonoma county Pinot Noir. I started with much trepidation but the wine quickly put me at ease. I have drunk many acidic brews.... It was mellow and smooth with slightly spicy undertones. The acidity was balanced and the tanins were low.

I can now understand, why Miles (from Sideways) likes the Pinot. I am getting slighltly ahead of myself here. I guess I should sample a few more Pinots before deciding for myself.

Longing for Imampasands, Naduchalais and Alphonsas

If you are not from Madras (I Insisit on Madras, Chennai has no pizzazz), then you are forgiven for not knowing that Imampasands, Naduchalais and Alphonsas are types of Mangoes sold in Madras.

Those were the days. Beginning April and till the end of June, the city wore a festive look, thanks to the Mango stalls. Mangoes were manna from heaven for entire South India: a veritable treat for kids enjoying their summer vacation, a quick snack for all ages, a simple no-nonsense but rich dessert for all guests. I knew of many kids in school who will open their lunch boxes to find mango slices as side dishes. They performed many roles in the culinary spectrum. To be able to bite into a juicy, chilled, whole mango and be able to enjoy the yellow, supple delicacy........ ah, heaven!

Paavana and I always feel cheated when we buy mangoes here (Wisconsin). They look rich, smell divine and implore us to buy them. The last time this happened was yesterday. Since Paavana is out of town, I just bought one of these impish culinary teasers. Alas, what a letdown. Inspite of the rich color, texture and the odour, the taste was a big letdown. Even the lowliest Rumani of Madras would have tasted infinitely more supreme.

Sideways

Just finished readind sideways. Except for 8 hours of sleep and some quick blogging, I have been reading it non stop from Friday night.

The must-have bachelor parties, which in this story turned out to be a bachelor's week, the silly shenanigans of American males before their wedding,the drinking binges, all made me yawn. Although, the references to the wines were interesting, Wines should not be partaken with intoxication in mind. It can be an offshoot of enjoying good wines but it can't be the leitmotif.

Jules Bastien Lepage

The picture below was painted by Jules Sebastien Lepage a French realist painter. I am not a big fan of relegious themes in paintings. I prefer landscapes and other natural depictions. However, I transfixed by this picture owing to its depth and the realism it depicted.

Here is a better link for this painting.


Jules Bastien Lepage's Joan of Arc

Listening to Maharajapuram

Saturday mornings are blissful. With the FT weekend spread over the dining table and with a hot cup of gevalia coffee, it is pleasure supreme to drown in some classical Indian music.

Maharajapuram's magnetic voice is soulfully rendering "pandureeti kolu". I also have Ustad Rashid Khan's Siva Stuti and Kumar Gandarva
loaded in the CD player. It is going to be one soothing morning :)

New Wines

It has been hard for me to collect wines. Whatever, I buy I drink promptly within a week or two. Granted, I can buy more but I dont have a cellar to store them. However, I have been on an accumulation mode and right now I have 4 bottles:

1. My favorite Christian Moueix Merlot - 2000 Vintage
   
2. A Sonoma county Pinot Noir - 2001 Vintage
   
3. 2003 Garneros Pinot Noir - thanks to Sideways' influence on Paavana and a
4. 2001 Maison Nicolas Cab. Sauv.

I am still not sure if I enjoy new world wines especially Californian Pinot Noirs. I will know more in a few weeks. Stay tuned.

Rant against TV meterologists

Continuing with the theme of my previous post about weather nazis, I have a question to ask? Why, on earth, are TV meterologists so famous? What did Al Roker do? He was corpulent, predicted weather mostly wrong, got famous and then got his stomach stapled. Granted that he is suave and articulate but I can countt other Joe Somebodys who are equally suave and articulate. For a profession whose predictions are worse than the abysmal predictions of the economists, it is mindboggling to see the false fame of these TV meterologists. We don't see a show Jazzing-up Gary Becker or Joseph Stiglitz.

That said, I completely understand the fan following of Kristina Abernathy of the weather channel. :)

Weather Nazis

I dont watch the news-cast of the local affiliates of NBC, CBS and ABC but I see a fervent competition among the local weather folk. There are aggressive ads about which affiliates forecast the weather first in their newscast. The typical ad features a woman who talks to an apparently male silhouette and says, " Paul, I have tried to be loyal but I am leaving you for John (or some other garden variety name) because John gives me all the weather in the first 10 minutes". My local CBS affiliate goes, "All the weather in the First 10 minutes". Get a Life. Unless, its an emergency, 10 minutes of delay in learning about the weather doesnt make a fig of difference and there are other moew effective emergency warning mechanisms anyways.

Sideways

I finally finished reading consilience. I started reading Sideways just because it is about an oenophile.
Slightly disappointed that the book makes fun of Merlot which is one of my favorite wines.

I dont know why, but the last 3-4 times when I tried ordering Pinot-Noirs, I ended up asking for Pinot-Grigios. I am not a big fan of white wines. I long for rich, full bodied reds. I like the tanin to be low.

More to come on sideways as I read more.

Talking about wines, its hard to find good affordable wines in Madras. The state government's decision to centralize all alcohol sales under its marketing department sucks. I understand that this is a big revenue stream for the goverment but why not levy a special tax on alcohol but let retailers sell them.

Terri Schiavo - let it be.

I hope that the autopsy report from Pinella's county coroner will put an end to this sad drama around Terri Schiavo's life. In case you haven't heard the autopsy states that her brain had atrophied considerably and weighed around 615g which is about half the weight of an adult human's brain. The coroner and other independent experts state in no uncertain terms that brain could have never recovered after degenerating by 50 percent.

Amidst all these sobering scientific reports, Terri's parents' attorney maintained that he still thought that she would have recovered had her feeding tube not been removed. Someone please educate me: Is neuro-pathology and cognitive science part of the legal curriculum in the US? The last time I checked, I didn't think it was.

Root of Ethics - Transcendental or Empirical?

I am still reading consilience. I am reading the last few pages of the last section. One of the arguments of Wilson is that the most important consilient integration of the twenty first century would be the unification of natural and social sciences. For example, being able to explain ethics and relegion using the natural sciences will be one aspect of this unification. Herein lies a controversial idea.

Does ethics have a transcendental or empirical origin. In other words is ethics bestowed upon the human beings by a superior power? - which is transcendental or is ethics an uniquely human concept necessiated by genetics and culture?

I am not sure what the correct answer and for many the correct answer will be subjective depending on what camp you belong to.

FT.com / World / US

FT.com / World / US

Today's copy of the The Financial Times made me think. Why do magazines like the UK's Financial Times and India's Economic Times come in salmon colored pages?

Is this because the editors of such magazines want to jazz-up the dismal science they write about?

Wikipedia shed more light on this. According to Wikipedia, the FT started to print in salmon-pink in 1883 to differentiate itself from The Financial News, which was later absorbed into the FT in 1943.

I surmise that the Economic Times of India prints in the same color because it wants to be preceived as India's FT or maybe because the editors thought that if salmon-pink was cool for the colonial masters it should be cool for India too.

Freako Jacko is Innocent

CNN.com - Jackson not guilty - Jun 13, 2005

Hmm, hopefully the drama is over. Although I don't watch CNN or the local news channels, I still had more than my palatable share of Jacko's trial. I am not sure if it was the fake white skin or irritatingly puerile voice of his I just can't stand this guy.

I am not going to attempt punditry here as to his jury-concluded innocence or possible guilt. Why? I don't care. I am tired of the stage managed celebrity trials where the case is won or lost in the airwaves as opposed to in a court-room. I am tired of sleazy trial lawyers holding press-conferences waxing lyrical about their clients.

Wisconsin Weather

Wisconsin's weather pattern is funny. For 7 months, from November to May, it's cold. Between November and February, Wisconsin translates to bone chilling cold. It's either slushy snow or slippery ice that one wades through. I feel that the movie, From here to eternity had Wisconsin's winters in mind.

April - May is when the ground thaws and the lawn which had donned various hues of brown turns verdant with tender new grass.

However, in June & July scorching sun is the rule and the grass turns brown again and tornadoes cruise through the state. Tornadoes here are not as bad as those in Oklahoma or Kansas but nevertheless they bring down a power-pole, fell a tree or blow a house's roof or do it all.

But it's not all bad. August and September are great fall months, if you don't have a hunking huge tree dropping its leaves all over the lawn. Also, Wisconsin is where I was convinced that there are indeed 4 seasons. I have objective proof now. Growing up in Madras, I thought that the concept of 4 seasons was a sham as Madras had only 2 seasons- 1) hot and 2) hot and humid.

Google - Getting Commercialized

Google

I personalized my google page today. I love the clean, simple, no-nonsense homepage of google. Leonardo Da Vinci was right when he remarked, "Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophistication".

However, I don't mind the new extras in the google page. Google has stopped being a geek's den and the fact that it is a public company behooves it to enhance its earnings. You can customise the features you need and choose not to have any at all. As long as the features are not an eye-sore, I am cool.

When you go to google there is a link to log-in at the top right.

Yudhoyono's mobile went BANG

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Yudhoyono's phone offer crashes

If you are not interested in politics, then you may be forgiven for not knowing the funny name of Indonesia's President. His name is Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Being from India, I thought that this was a woman when I first read this name. Also his middle name made me think that he might be a mobster or some underworld don.

Anyways, I am digressing. Mr. Yudhoyono gave out his mobile number out to the public. I did not know that Presidents get lonely. Maybe there is credence to the phrase, "It's lonely at the top". But by Monday the line went dead after receiving 3000 odd calls.

A concerned South Jakarta resident opined that maybe he should give his email-id to ensure effective communication.

All the world's spammers, chiefly the quacks selling viagra, cialis and the stock-market crooks are salivating at the prospect of being able to spam a President ruling a country of 240 Million people.

Spam mails are so cool

Ok, I apologise. Spamming sucks. The title was a cheap trick to make people read this post.

At work we can't access hotmail or yahoo and the only email service that sneaks through those silly filters is a goofy one called magicaldesk, which explains why we have an email account in magicaldesk. Before you become gung-ho and click this link, check your masochistic quotient. If it is raging high, go ahead and by all means open an account. These freaks don't have a spam filter. How 1990s is that? Second to google, magicaldesk is probably the most accessed URL in the world, albeit to inconvenience people rather than to help a-la google. I get more than 50 junk mails everyday and I swas so busy deleting them that we didnt notice how worse it had become.

Anyways, this realization occurred yesterday and we finally ended up moving all our email notifications to an alternate address.

Confession: I have already checked magicaldesk twice today to see what new spams I have. Sigh! Some habits are hard to change.

Hamilton Naki - A life worth emulating

I am an avid reader of the obituary column in The Economist. It recounts the life and times of many interesting people. It covers the entire spectrum of the human race. The deaths of the noble and the ghastly; the rich and the poor; the super-successful and the the super-duds are featured in this column.

This week it was about Hamilton Naki, an unsung African pioneer who should have rightly been given half the credit for the First ever heart transplant done in 1967. Unfortunately, neither the racist South African government nor Dr. Christian Barnard (the suregeon who became famous overnight for his apparently pioneering achievement) thought fit to do so. In all fairness, Dr. Barnard did hire Dr. Maki (an honorary medical doctrate was awarded by the University of Capetown) and apparently admitted before his death that Dr. Maki might have been more skillful than he was. Dr. Naki had possession of a dextrous and steady pair of hands that harvested the heart from a white corpse, which finally landed in the body of Louis Washkansky. Mr. Washkansky is the first ever heart-transplant patient. For all Dr. Naki's achievements, the hospital that he worked in listed him as a gardener or cleaner and made sure that his touching the white patients was not known to the outside world.

Wonder how many such noble humans are out there..... !

Martin Lukes - a short Primer

Martin Lukes is fictitious. He is an apparition, an imaginary corporate character living in the pages of The Financial Times. A neutral observer will describe him as being male chauvinistic, parasitic, incompetent, filled with delusions of grandeur. He offers, through his column, unsolicited suggestions to the likes of Carly Fiorina, John Browne, Jeff Immelt and Jack Welch. He comes up with silly portmanteaus like creovation (creativity + innovation). Ironically GE's new slogan Ecomagination has a Martinesque feel to it. Maybe, Jeff Immelt did take Martin Luke's suggestion after all.

Anyways, every Thursday in the mornings, this column provides me with comic relief and also reminds me of the corporate pitfalls to avoid.

More to come...

Mayo - An Indian Anamoly

I just read an article about Mayo College in The Financial Times . Mayo college is a boarding school located inIndia in the town of Ajmer, in the middle of Rajasthan's Thar desert.

The article was about the revival of Mayo and had some comparisons to Doon School, another school established by the British. The strategy of such schools is nicely summed in a comment made by Lord Macaulay, a bigot and racist who considered anything Indian to be inferior. He said that idea was to create a loyal "class of people who were Indian in blood and colour but English in opinions, moral and intellect". The amount of drivel and hatred these colonial thugs got away with is mindboggling.

Anyways, for many Indians Mayo College will be an anamoly. It is one of those schools that focus on general education and not intent on preparing students for the Engineering/IT/Medical/Legal professions. Even though the professional landscape has changed in India (one can not belong to these professions but still lead a relatively affluent life), most students still aspire to be in one of these professions. However, most of the students that enroll in Mayo are from affluent, upper middle class families. I dont think their goal in life would to earn 2 square meals but to augment their affluence.

I think the preponderance of students in the so called professional fields is itself an anamoly. Although these fields have traditionally assured a good quality of life, it is sad to see hordes of students blindly entering these professions because of this assured affluence or because to humor their old man or old woman. Yes matriarchal famililes do exist in India. I believe that this imbalance will correct itself slowly as the number of non-engineering companies grow - companies that deal in the more lucrative banking, investment/portfolio management, insurance etc.

Leaner, Thinner NYC?

During my NYC trip, I felt that the people there are thinner than the average Midwesterner. That shouldn't really surprise me because Wisconsin, where I live, has the highest number of obese people, per capita. Well, being the residents of America's Dairyland (but going purely by statistics, these days California produces more Cheese than WI) the onus is on Wisconsinites to consume the state's dairy products or so they seem to think. A cheesehead shall not resemble a puny-wimp they say. Rolly-Polly wimp? Sure. But puny one? No, can't have it.

Well, flippancy apart, I am not sure if the food habits are any different in NYC. Case in point - the cream-cheese smothered bagels that two restaurants sold me. Yes, I did remove 99% of the cream-cheese before eating the bagels. I think it has to do with a more active lifestyle. Hard to find parking spaces and long commutes via clogged highways translate to New Yorkers taking the subway or the metro. To catch these trains & buses, one ends up walking a lot everyday. So, all the uber-calorie food they consume are mostly spent and not stored in the adipose tissue. Wonder if the same can be said of Chicagoans and San-Franciscans!

Vernon God Little

I am certain that there are a septillion posts about this book. Paavana bought this book (along with Sideways) in NYC as we were waiting to catch the train to the airport.

Since I am heavily backed-up with my assorted non-fiction works, I have been reluctant to start reading any new books, especially fiction. But, on the flight back home I had nothing much to do. I had already read the in-flight magazine cover-to-cover during the flight to NYC and I decided to thumb through the book.

I havent read many pages - maybe 30 or so. It already feels like an astute commentary on small town America and the life of a helpless kid devoid of opportunities, growing up in a Gun ridden community. One cannot but sympathize with the life of Vernon and the hopeless direction it is headed in. I plan to pick it up to read sometime later. In the meantime, I am worried about what would happen to Vernon in the pages yet to be read.

Main Aisa Hi Hoon - aka Badly copied I AM SAM

The jury is out. Bollywood directors suck (pathetically so) in copying Hollywood movies. If there any holdouts to this notion, I invite them to watch Main Aisa Hi Hoon.

This bolly flick easily makes it to the list of movies worth missing. Right from the opening credits, it is obvious that the movie is a shameless lift off of I AM SAM. I was hoping that there would be an Indian angle to the movie which might atleast make it beareable. There was an Indian angle alright - replete with soppy, sentimental bollywood numbers.

Right from the improbable role of Ritu-di to the ever kind Cafe Coffee Day all the characters in the movie were pure baloney. Why does the plaintiff's lawyer have to be creepy? Why should Ajay Devgan be directed to overact? Why cant a distinction be made between mental retardation and Autism? Wonder what prompted Sush to take such a role? Any secret ambitions of aping Michelle Pfeiffer?

Hmmm, Who is Brihaspati?

Brihaspati is a Sanskrit word from Hindu Mythology. He is revered as the lord of knowledge and also the dispenser of justice. Paradoxically, in some South Indian households, the word Brihaspati is also used to playfully chide people for their faux pas.

In my mind the word conjures images of someone who is smart but goofy in a disarming fashion.

While I still aspire smartness, I do posess a slight prediliction towards being a goofball. Hence the name Brihaspati for this blog.

Republished on Jun 17th after edits...

Golcanda to Bordeaux

No this is not a post about Golconda and Bordeaux - the places. I was just thinking about wines today and I recalled the Golconda Ruby Red (lets call it GRR) wine my friends and me used to drink in India. Back then, in the mid 1990s wine drinking was not common in India. I don't think it is still very common - Indians take to Beer and hard liquor more fashionably than wine. Maybe it is the lack of availability of good affordable wines or maybe because Indians like to get drunk rather than enjoy a good drink.

Anyways, GRR was available only in seedy wine shops (which is a mild oxymoron, as these shops rarely sold any wine) and I was too scared and reluctant to be spotted in one of them. Venkat and a few other brave souls usually got the wine. Accompanied by some spicy Indian snack, we drank it bottoms up (which is one reason why I conclude that Indians prefer intoxication rather then the drink itself).

It has been quite a journey from GRR to the Reds I consume these days. Wine is more about wine itself and the accompanying conversation and camaraderie. I love all the reds Bordeaux, Burgundy, Merlot, Chianti, Shiraz and ofcourse the Cabarnet Sauvignon. I prefer the old world wines with the exception of the Australian Shiraz.

Saffron Indian Bistro in Brookfield serves a very nice Christian Moueix Merlot. It is not a fruity, light merlot but is well balanced, dry and full bodied. I am not sure Indians feel the taste of wines in the same way as the Westerners do. I say this because I suspect that years of consuming spicy foods might have altered the taste buds. Because of this, I don't pay much attention to wine pairing. Culinary preferences are personal as captured by the saying "De gustibus non est disputandum".

I was in NYC last weekend (memorial day weekend, 2005) and I was thrilled to see that even the Indian vegetarian restaurants were serving wines. Now, that is classy :).

Page-3

Page3, a bollywood movie, aspires to be very different but doesn't quite live up to its aspirations. Overall its a good flick to watch once.

The movie portrays the lives of an upstart journalist, an aspiring actor and an ageing air-hostess waiting to reel in a big rich fish so that she can settle down to a comfortable life. The story's backdrop is Bombay's socialite scene littered with vainglorious celebrities and celebrity wannabes. The movie is also ambitious to deal with the lives of two gays - a make-up artist and a fashion designer and the Bombay drug scene.

The movie deals with the gritty hard realities of life in a big metropolis and is shorn of any weepy sentimentalities that Indian movies are so prone to. The scenes shift seamlessly between shallow bollywood parties and street life. Howevers as is the wont for any Indian movies a lot of the aspects of Bollywood life and the party scenes are exaggerated.

However, the end was not bad. As opposed to a fairy tale ending, this one showed were people are hurt and that their lives are changed at the end of it all.

Repeating Verses is not music

Channelsurfing made me tune to International Music Feed. They had an one hr music segment called "Passage to India". The India this path lead me to was completely alien to me. I shouldnt complain as I have lived outside of India for the past 8 years.

Whatever passes as popular music in India these days doesnt appeal to me. I heard 3 wannabe singers - Shweta Shetty (Shilpa Shetty's sister?), Sheizwood Ashish and a third artist with an equally inconsequential name. I dont recall who but atleast two of them had hip-hopish ambitions. I have listened to some good hip-hop in the US but this was pure noise. Please, spare us - repeating the same verse fast does not make it music.

I know I am digressing here but are there any fans of John B Higgins out there?

Bad Press

I read in the FT that India is lifting the 74% cap for FDI in non news media. This is expected to make a lot of the companies publishing in the scientific, technical, periodical and journal categories ripe for a takeover.

If the advent of STAR-TV and other foreign penetration of other TV networks and their programs is any indication, unbridled FDI and takeover is a good thing. The publications may become more popular and break-even but I am not sure if the quality will improve.

Scientific and technical publications may actually win with increased access to IP thereby benefitting the ever budding Indian technical sector. I wonder what will happen to Prentice Hall's Eastern Economy Edition and the like!

False Pride

Ever wonder why Online Indian tabloids like Rediff and Indiatimes go nuts if some Indian American achieves anything remotely worthy? I don't get it. Take the instances of Kamala Harris, Bobby Jindal, the many spelling bee winners or the appointees in Bush's government, these magazines go nuts singing hosannas.

I initially attributed this to a new found confidence of being Indian and an attempt to lose the fatalistic attitude that is an Indian hallmark. But closer examination of such articles reveal a blatant insinuation that these achievements were due to these people's Indian origin. These magazines seem to conclude that being an Indian is a sine-qua-non to striking it rich or making it big in the USA. I disagree.

The successes of these people have less to do with being Indians and more with their individual traits, the opportunities they had and the Parent's socio economic status. The fact that Indian parents are more demanding than the average American parent might be a factor but not the only one.

It is cheesy to read such articles and conversely such articles do more to undermine the achievements than to augment them. It also makes for bad journalism.

Wrong Way for GM & Ford.

FT reported today that both GM & Ford are set to significantly increase their incentives and reduce their output between July and September. It is a wrong direction for both Ford & GM and is yet another sign of the weakening influence of these yester-year giants. This should be more devastating for GM whose credit rating was downgraded few weeks ago.

The problems with GM & Ford is not that they are costly but that they make cars of inferior quality and poor reliability that no one wants to buy. Years of pummeling by Toyota and Honda and the newly resurgent Nissan is taking its toll on these American Carmakers slowly but surely. Add to this the increasingly stronger performance of Hyundai one wonders if the end of the days of dominance for Ford & GM is near.

Unappealing body design, staid interiors with inferior materials, knobby & cheap dashboards are the rootcauses of the worsening performance of GM & Ford. I cannot fathom how a car like Ford Taurus can possibly hold its ground against Toyota's and Honda's fine cars, much less compete against them and win market-share. GM has atleast improved the exteriors of its cars - as seen in the new Malibus, Cobalts and Cavaliers. But cosmetic changes alone cant persuade people to buy these cars again. These two majors are paying a heavy price for chronically poor quality of their cars made in the late 80s and early 90s.

I don't see their position improving till they adress their fundamental problems without resorting to cosmetic changes.

Consilience

That is the title of the book I am currently reading. Its writted by E. O. Wilson a noted Harvard entomolgist and Pulitzer Prize winning Author. Consilience, according to Dr. Wilson, signifies the unity of knowledge from all walks of life. Dr. Wilson's basic premise in this book is that all knowledge (may it be from natural sciences, social sciences or the arts) can be explained within a single framework. In otherwords (to state one fall out of this premise), social sciences can be explained using the physical sciences and vice-versa.

Dr. Wilson argues that the unification of the knowledge between the Physical and Social sciences is the the most important breakthrough waiting to happen. He starts with how consilience had its roots in the French Renaissance (advanced by such people as Marquis De Condorcet) and how far it has come at the end of the 20th century.

While Dr. Wilson makes cogent arguments to support his theory with examples from evolution, genetic and culture, I feel that sometimes the book loses track of how these concepts tie back to consilience. Granted, that a subject matter as heavy as this warrants repeated readings to make sense. This is especially true for a lay-person like me who is uninitiated in the subjects that Dr. Wilson talks so eruditely about.

French & Dutch NO - What does it mean to the EU?

The EU constitution was and is an ambitious undertaking. The complexity of integrating disparate countries with varied economic strengths, different modes of government (not all of them are truly democratic - infact some of them have not really shed their communist moorings), differences in languages and culture is truly mindboggling.

I support the tighter EU integration for 2 reasons: Firstly, the world truly needs a counterbalance to American geopolitical and military policies. Secondly, Europe's tighter integration can be a promising start for other continents to attempt tighter integration. I believe that nations whose fates and destinies are intertwined with each other are less prone to war, political abuses, xenophobia and the world will be a better place if these ills are minimised if not eradicated.

Tighter integration is possible and there is already a working example in India. If India with its many different relegions, languages and ethnicities can be a nation then so can Europe. However, there are two qualifiers about India: 1) It is still a work in progress, albeit of a progressively stronger and successful sort and 2) India becoming a nation was forced thanks to the British colonisation of the subcontinent as opposed to individual nation states voluntarily forming a union. If one keeps in mind the second qualifier then it is obvious that the EU is a bold experiement.

I believe, as stated in the Financial Times, that there is a deep chasm between the EU leadership and the denizens of Europe. There seems to be a certain sense of undesired grandeur in the affairs of the EU leadership. it will take a long time before this chasm is addressed. There are also other issues that the EU leadership needs to address:

1. What is the goal or Statement of Purpose of the EU?
2. What is the criteria (relegious, geographic, monetary, governmental) to become an EU member?
3. How will the EU engage the US and the emerging powers of India, China and Brazil?
4. What do the member states want - a looser federation of nations promoting laissez faire and democracy in the region or a tighter republic a la India and the US?
5. Last but not the least, what is the ultimate role of Germany, France and Italy in the EU?

These are nettlesome questions with no obviously easy answers. However, the EU leadership needs to answer these if it wants to avoid the type of fiascos the French and the Dutch citizens delivered it.

Manhattan Desi Restaurants

Well, there are a plethora of them. Unfortunately, in the three days that we were in Manhattan, we could barely sample a handful of them.

Among all the places we ate 2 places stood out. Shaan of India and Chinese Mirch. Shaan is located on W 48th street between 5th and 6th Avenues. The ambience is refreshingly different - no gaudy Indian paintings and no silly bollywood numbers. The food was equally good too. We tried the buffet in the afternoon and it was great. I still blame the Vegetable Makhanvala for the couple of pounds I gained that day :) .

Chinese Mirch was another Indian place that we thoroughly enjoyed. Paavana was delighted to visit this restaurant caterting to the Indian-Chinese palate exclusively. The gobi manchurian was wicked and the Veg schizuan fried rice did its part to make it a fulfilling culinary experience.

Avoid at Any Cost:

Saravana Bhavan Dosa Hut: They are on 102 Lexington Ave. between 28th and 27th street. I got lured in by the words Saravana Bhavan and Dosa. The waiters were downright rude and the food was only so-so. The waiter claimed to one of the diners that they are part of the Saravana Bhavan network of Madras, India which is opening a branch in NYC . However, it is expected to come up at 81 Lexington Ave.

New York Beckons

New York city is fantastic - well that is stating the obvious, isn't it? But then when one lives in a staid midwestern town (called Oconomowoc), One is allowed a truism here and a truism there.

Paavana and I visited NYC fulfilling a 2 year wish. I did not realize how much I missed being a city slicker till I visited New York. Living in the quiet and expansive midwest had cast a strange charm on me. I love the broad open spaces, uncongested downtowns (relatively speaking) and the ease of getting between places. But visiting New York changed it all atleast during the period when were there. It made me realise what I was missing - cosmopolitan populace, public transport, culture and more important of all restaurants that really know what being a vegetarian is all about. No, I am not taking about salads, which seems to be the de-facto vegetarian food in many parts of middle America. Remove the Pepperoni from the pizza and there you have a vegetarian pizza, they Say!

We landed in Laguardia on May27th. I was concerned about not having rented a CAR and more importantly worried about having to deal with cabbies. It was also intestestng to see cabbies from the subcontinent - having been used to only SW professionals, engineers and other professionals. Whatever doubts (rather negative stereotypes) I had about cabbies were removed by Victor. When we ended up 50 cents short of the cab fare, Victor was magnanimous and just said, " There is always a next time". Victor is a naturalized American born in Punjab (in the Indian side).

I am not going to bore you with the many places we visited, the things we did or the food we ate. However, here are some nuggets of, shall we say practical tips for the first time NYC tourist?

• If you want to visit & spend time in Manhattan, then stay in Manhattan. Midtown, upper East side and upper West side have nice and affordable hotels
• Do not rent a Car; Don't even think about it.
• Master the subway; Ok, OK, learn the subway basics. More than anything, this will stand you in good stead. Get the metrocard.
  
• Develop a poker face while travelling in the subway. Most Manhattanites do. :-)
• Invest in a nice pair of walking shoes. This along with the metrocard will ensure a great trip.