Seattle : wake up!

Its supposed to be spring time in Seattle but its still looks like the cold season will not go down without a fight, while spring and summer do not seem any interested in any fight.. so us all Seattle citizenry would have to forgo the pleasures of spring this year.

The chance of walking out without dragging along that cumbersome heavy peice of clothing called a jacket / overcoat with you is a boon. For how hard we might try, we in seattle cannot get to that goal. Forever we are under the watchful gloomy eyes of the dark heavenly clouds. Ya bark at them and the shower some more rain on ya just when ya thought it was over.

Gloom is not hard to find in this city. The whole city seems sort-of dead-on-arrival. Maybe coming from Chicago it has become second nature to be around in a city teeming with people and things to do. Coming back to Seattle though,of course one might argue that there's so much of nature to explore around Seattle but, the fact is, I don't live in the mountains everyday. I live in an apartment on the 7th floor of an old building in the middle of downtown. I need some activity around me that says - Come join me and lets be alive. That aint Seattle.

Its been 8 months for me here and I still look for bits and pieces of Chicago in everything Seattle. Till that ends, I would not be able to savor this city. But I dread the day I would not look for Chicago in Seattle or for that matter in any place I go next.

so it begins..

And so it officially begins with me saying yes to it. The first few cobble stones were a few days back laid for the path to betrothal.. the one long meandering way paved with phone minutes and time that I imagine would be spent pondering, wondering and sometimes dreaming about everything that encompasses life before and after the event.. This was the Event Horizon that would eventually lead to a singularity that one is all too familiar with.

Dreams of finding a fellow traveler along my long route so far haven't met with the success I had hoped for a few years back. And so it is one other route that I have decided to try my luck.. :) I hope I have better run on this path than the earlier :)

party time

Its been a really busy time at work lately.. I have been working from home or goin back to the workplace even on weekends.. I dont want to make this a habit, but I find that I am more productive on the weekends sittin on my workdesk than the usual week-day.. no meetings or no one to disturb just me alone thinkin over stuff and tryin to get stuff completed... I dont at all consider myself a good coder .. I sincerely belive i have a lot to learn from lotta people around me and I try best to grab whatever titbit of knowledge I can..

But today was different inspite of all the work. I did manage to squeeze in a desi party into my schedule and boy was it FUN!! Only one more desi party comes to mind that can be compared to this and, that was in Chicago ( of course it had to be :) ) ... that was the party after me and my friends took the graduation walk and if was an awesome desi party wid friends and hukka.. gals are not the reason I go to party.. I just wanna enjoy the desi music.. shake some legs, have a great time and come back.. these parties are the last place I wanna chat up a gal.
Coming back to point.. this was an awesome party.. I did miss my friends from chicago again but nonetheless, I can still say, the DJ was true to his word and did play lot more desi numbers than any other desi party I have been to in Seattle. It was a nice club too with a decent dance floor. I just wish there were more of these :)

its back to work again on a Sunday and hope the next weekend is just as great :) .. its getting sunnier in Seattle and is a great time to get back to Tennis and get better at it.

Birthdays and the past, present and the future

I turned another year older a few days back.. my first birthday in Seattle. It is always a good celebration when one has friends to celebrate it with.But birthdays inevitably get me on a trip down the old dusty lanes I once walked.. but it also brings me to question myself - another year gone and what have I achieved this year that I hadn't earlier ? Did I make a difference in something or someone's life? Is this what I wanted to do? Am I happy? Are there answers to these questions? Does it make sense to visit these questions ??

Nostalgia is something that doesn't come to me often.. I tend to live in the moment and not worry too much about the past or contemplate about the future. I think that keeps it simple for me..I do not want to think too much and miss out on the things happening around me. But, sometimes I guess one needs to slow down and question what one is doing, with what ones' arrived here with and, what one has accrued over time.

But I still don't know if is there an answer to those questions. How do I decide what is the right decision? Whatever I reason, it is bound to be in the end - selfish. That would never get me the right conclusion, just me thinking in loops..

I feel theres no way to be impartial about these questions.. I think the best way is to give it your best shot and carry on from there.. where ever that takes me :)

Diversity : India vs. USA

The whole premise of this argument is based on this article -

US can learn diversity from India (Times of India)

it presents a very predictable view of the world from India. The first thing I checked midway through the article was the author. The author being an Indian and being published in an Indian news paper it makes sense for it to be very pro-indian. But what got me thinking was more the comments on the article than the article itself. The article presented a view from India, while the comments presented a view from USA from Indians.

To sum it up.. the article was very pro-indians while majority of comments being anti-indian.

I feel the truth is somewhere between the two. The comments paint a picture of India riddled with communal tensions / violence and a system based on caste system and hence not diverse. While, the article paints a rosy picture of India in which there's a chance for everyone irrespective of race/ religion / sex to be elected to the highest position of Indian legislature.

Well frankly, the truth as I said earlier is somewhere in the between. Indians are used to seeing and living among people with very different religious beliefs/ practices, languages, customs. Americas too have plenty of diversity in this country. They share the professional life with many people coming from many different countries each in itself having an unique and rich history, heritage and customs. The difference is in the way the diversity expresses itself in the two countries.

But US inspite of the all the various languages and diverse people still has by default english as the language for all purpopses.. theres spanish in the border states but do you really see a different language for each state like we in India ? Do we see different religions in different states in US? This uniformity has what stood good for US so far, but its the increasing diversity thats causing problems for US that it hasnt been used to so far.. the bearded indians / pakistanis/ bangladeshis singled out in airport security in so-called random screenings, the violence against sikhs in US and Europe, these are facets of a country coming to terms with diversity..

The problem in India is that, Indians since childhood have seen adversity around them and have learnt to fight for everything.. even if its not necessary everything is very self centered and egoistic. This is what I feel hampers India in her progress. There is discord between the deeply ingrained sense of unity as a country but at the same time the sense of loyalty or sense of belonging to certain way of life that is different that the other. India's problems have not to do with the way we handle diversity but with the way we as Indians live. We can achieve great things when we work alone, but when we work with other indians, its always the worst that comes out, whether in India or US. So much insecurity when we have to work with our own people.. why ?? Do you think, all the diversity in US has something do with the progress of the country or is it that people came together to achieve something ?

We as Indians are incapable to think for the betterment of the group.

One could always point to the religious riots, the caste system, the prejudices in India and paint a picture thats all black and sad. When is this talk a talk of taking sides of convenience ? I would like to ask these Indians, how often have they sided with diversity when faced with new circumstances ?? Why do we still have friends circles that are marathi-speaking/ telugu-speaking / tamil-speaking ?? How many times has one as a Indian seen marraiges happen between people from different states belonging to differnet customs e.g. punajabis and tamilians, bengalis and gujarathis?? no one still sticks to what one is comfortable with and what is known.. unknowns are always scary.

Whether one comes from US of A or India that is basic human nature... We as Indians need to talk less and show more actions.. The world is watching and hoping we stumble along the way somewhere, but we need to pull up together for all we think (and I believe) India is and can be.

Being a clown..

This was an interesting article my sister happened upon and sent it my way.. what is said in the article is quiet true..

http://www.somethinkodd.com/oddthinking/2006/05/12/let-the-red-nose-reign-dear/ (link)

The article talks about duplicity in action and thought and puts it across real nice. I wish I had written that article. How often than not does one run into such duplicate people who say one thing and mean another.. I have done it a few times and I think everyone does it sometime or the other.

It's the habitual two-faces who are hard to decipher and understand.. they don't make good friends, they don't make meaningful conversation. They speak in half-truths and make you speak the same tongue.

Wishes for my next time I see an asteroid...

• we didn't have such people and
  
• The world had more single females than guys ;)
  

are indians racist ?

This is the question that the Harbhajan incident brings to the front. Is India with all its variety, pomp and splendor disrespectful of other races, people, beliefs ?

Well I certainly don't think we are racist like it was in US or South Africa long time back. We are insensitive, discriminatory and we don't have a society based entirely on meritocracy, but it does not border on racist. But what is racism ?

According to dictionary.com -
rac·ism –noun
1. a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others.
2. a policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination.
3. hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.

So do we as Indians fit this definition ?? We aren't racist on the lines of the definition but we certainly need to take a deep look at ourselves in the mirror.. the cherished lines of unity of diversity soon fall flat and sound hollow. We don't have to look too far to see all the discrimination based on caste,sex, religion. the old baggage of the past holds us down. Until we push ourselves up and make an effort to end our own biases we would still be held back from the true potential that we as a country can achieve. Till that time its just hot air and empty talk of India becoming something of a superpower on the world stage.

To believe is a thing, to achieve is another.

And WE YET HAVE TO ACHIEVE - We have to achieve the levels of prosperity that modern countries have, we need to achieve the standards of health care for our peoples that few of the western countries have, we need to achieve the levels of education, literacy and employment that ensure we are behind no one. And to achieve we need to learn to work together as one with our countrymen. We need a uniform identity as an Indian - no south indian, north indian, east indian, or even as a tamilian, telugu, hindi, bihari, marwaari, gujju and any other discriminator.

The key I feel is inculcating a sense of uniform identity in all of us, give us all a selfish reason to do it. We are all selfish in the end, we are not saints, we wont do something unless it is going to improve my current situation.. and we need to realize that working together we have more chances to move everyone ahead than poking holes in our neighbors dreams.. The identity crisis is not even a issue to consider countries like US, UK or Australia with just one language and one religion. But indian-ness is in the variety, the tolerance towards contradicting issues. We have lived with all this in India and it has shaped what we are .. we just need to make the experience a lot better for the next generation.

The world is looking at us to see where we can take ourselves. Its surprised a country with so many languages, so many religions, so many cultural differences can walk together and come so far. But we have to accelerate now. We have reached the point in the race where we have to push past the competition. I certainly believe our country if we take care of it, would once again shine.