Adieu 2012

We have reached the end of 2012. And the beginning of a brand New Year. And an opportunity to come up with a new set of resolutions for the New Year.

And this year I've decided that for a change I won't have resolutions.

Just a thought.
"Do more and become better"

May 2013 be the year that's better than any previous year ever.

Happy New Year.

The 10 Greatest Inventions of all time

Recently my daughter was writing an essay where she had to write about which was in her opinion the greatest invention of all time. I was clueless. And that's when I decided to think about it and come up with an answer. I wasn't able to come up with 1. Instead I came up with the 10 that I consider to be the greatest inventions of all times.

1. Religion
223000 BC
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_religion

2. Schools
425 AD
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School

3. Printing Press
1440
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printing_press

4. Money
600 BC
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money

5. Electricity
1800
http://www.thehistoricalarchive.com/happenings/57/the-history-of-electricity-a-timeline/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Edison

6. Telephone
1876
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invention_of_the_telephone

7. Automobiles
1886
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile

8. Airplanes
1903
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_brothers

9. Personal Computer
1970
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_computer

10. Internet
1995
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Internet

Newtown Shooting

Friday morning, America was stunned as news of a school shooting in the small and picturesque town, Newtown in Connecticut emerged. It was not clear initially how many shooters, how many casualties and whether any kids had been injured.

As the day passed and details emerged, the enormity of the incident became clearer. 20 children between 6 and 7, and 6 adults, staff at the school had been killed. It later turned out that the shooter first shot his mother before heading to the school to carry out the carnage. And finally shot himself when early responders began to close in on him. Making it a total of 28 deaths.

The world has been shocked beyond belief. What made this a universal outrage was the age of the victims. Most of these were young, innocent children. What was equally shocking was the age of the shooter. He himself was a kid and just 20 years. And from the little that is known was a very intelligent person. It seems like he did have some social issues in adjusting and never interacted with classmates. For the last few years he had been taken out of a regular school and was being home schooled.

The immediate reaction of the US nation was one of outrage and anger. And an urgency that something needed to be done, since incidents of random killing in public places was becoming a regular affair. This was the 3rd major incident in 2012. President Obama who visited Newtown responded swiftly and created a group headed by Vice President Joe Biden to come up with recommendations for legislation that would look at the issue of gun licensing before the end of January.

Expectedly the NRA (National Rifle Association) has reacted negatively and has promised to do all it can to not allow any such legislation. Their solution, more guns. Have armed guards at schools as also arm principals and teachers.

At the end of the debate, I remain confused. Whilst there's absolutely no reason that automatic guns should not be banned for civilians, I'm not sure that this in itself as the proponents of the move propose reduce, let alone eliminate random acts of violence.

I'm also of the opinion that having arms in schools will act as a deterrent. Historically, as well as logically these random acts of violence happen in non secure easy targets, such as schools. Once they are stop being easy targets, the probability of violence is likely to significantly reduce.

The only conclusion I come to is that there are no easy answers. And we can but pray and hope that incidents of this nature don't happen. Ever again.

Religion - Peace or War ?

“God has no religion.”
― Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

It seems like Religion is the cause of most conflicts. And this is true not only today but since history has been recorded. And this begs the questions, "Is Religion the cause of wars".

Interestingly, I feel based on my limited understanding of history that religion is indeed responsible for most conflicts. However, I also believe that religion is the primary reason for peace.

The above seems to be contradictory in nature. How can something that is responsible for an event also be responsible for the opposite of that event ? Whilst this seems to be counter intuitive, it can be true. Whether it is or not, is something that you can decide for yourself.

First lets see whether the assumption that the same thing that is responsible for something can also be responsible for the exact opposite. Take an example of medicine and operations. A large number of people die when undergoing an operation. Thereby implying that operations kill people. However an even larger number of people have their life span extended because of those very same operations. Hence an operation ore advancement in medicine whilst responsible for more deaths than normal, is responsible for saving a far larger number of lives.

And this is true of religion. Religion is what keeps 99.9% of people honest. The fear of the future punishment for deeds done as well as the promise of rewards in the after life are sufficient incentive for most individuals to follow the generally acceptable moral ethics and codes. This lets society to function in a manner that is generally fair and peaceful.

And whilst there have been several conflicts and wars, the fact of the matter is that overall the periods of peace and harmony far outnumber them. And if we believe that religion was responsible for these, we will have to credit religion for our generally peaceful lives.

So whether or not you are a religious person, you have religion to thank for the wonderful and generally peaceful life we live.

UGG

Reia had been mentioning Ugg boots for several weeks now. Last week she woke me up at 4 in the morning and asked me if I would buy her Ugg boots. Not knowing what was going on, I sleepily agreed. And put it off as a dream. Until the next morning Reia confronted me saying I'd agreed to buy her Ugg boots. On inquiring why anyone would ask for something in the middle of the night, her response was simple, "I was sure you'd not agree, if you were awake." Since the accent and methods used were questionable we agreed to put off the discussion to another day. But not before realizing that these boots that I'd never heard of were apparently owned by everybody and were expensive.

http://www.uggaustralia.com/

As luck would have it, that very day, Thanksgiving we went over to her favorite aunts house. And in a believe it or not situation, she was presented with, you guessed it, a pair of Ugg boots. I was happier than her. Didn't have to worry about my sleepy promise. Had no idea that this was just the beginning of my Ugg Saga.

On getting home the first thing she did was try the boots. Oops, they were too loose. And were purchased from the Outlet Mall in New York, Woodbury Common. A place that was 110 kms from where we were. Reia managed to convince me to take her there and we finally set off to exchange her boots yesterday.

http://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlets/outlet.asp?id=7

When we got to the outlet mall, the nearby parking lots were full. We finally got parking in a remote lot, but by then were just happy to have found some parking. We set off in search of the Ugg outlet with the temperature at sub zero. Not exactly a fun walk in the park. Most of the outlets had people but were not crowded. Seemed like we chose a good day to come. Not much crowd. The food courts were very crowded, and seemed like this is where the crowds were.

As luck would have it, the Ugg showroom was at the other extreme end of the mall from where we had parked. From afar we saw a long line of people and wondered which silly people were standing in line to get into a shop. On coming closer we saw to our horror that it was the Ugg outlet. Over 100 outlets and only 1 outlet had a line. And it was the 1 outlet we had to go to. Not wanted to, but had to.

Reluctantly I got in line. Reia was laughing away as she found the whole thing hilarious. Seeing her broad smile, several people approached her to check what the line was for. Each walked away shaking their head on learning that it was to get into the Ugg store. After what seemed like a lifetime, we were finally ushered in to the store.

Reia was in her element. She went through the store. Several items were on sale. A few weren't. She seemed to have zoomed on to the 1 item that was not on sale in the store. It was called "Classic". She tried them on. They fitted and she was all set. They seemed to be be nice, simple looking boots.

We were set to do the switch. No surprises. Like everything else, there was a long line to the checkout counter. When we finally got there, the shoe exchange needed a Manager who wasn't around. They requested us to wait and summoned the Manager. It was a while and when he finally arrived, he was pretty efficient. He checked in the returns on the gift card receipt and checked out the new shoes.

And presented me a bill to pay. It seemed like the simple shoes Reia chose was twice the price of the designer shoes she was exchanging. Reluctantly I got out my credit card and paid. The smile on Reia's face made it worthwhile.

And said a silent prayer. Hope no one else gives Reia expensive presents. I can't afford it.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is celebrated in the US on the 4th Thursday of November. Its one of the largest celebrated festivals when traditionally people from all parts of the US and possibly the world descend to their homes to partake of the Thanksgiving Meal at an annual family get together.

The fact that its the most popular US holiday is borne out by the days before and after Thanksgiving being the busiest days for air travel across the US. Interestingly most Americans believe that Thanksgiving goes back to the Pilgrims and was a celebration along with the Native Americans of a successful harvest.

This event took place in 1621. Not many are aware that Thanksgiving as is currently celebrated has been a tradition only since 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of "Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens".

Since 1947, the National Turkey Federation has presented the President of the United States with one live turkey and two dressed turkeys. JFK was the first president reported to spare the turkey given to him and Ronald Reagan was the first to grant the turkey a presidential pardon, which he jokingly presented to his 1987 turkey. Gorge Bush in 1989 continued the tradition annually when he was President. It has become a permanent annual tradition carried on by every president each year since. President Obama has a lot to be thankful for just having won his 2nd term and did his bit for the lucky bird.

You can read all about the history of Thanksgiving at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving_%28United_States%29

For Reia and me it was out first Thanksgiving. For Reia it meant several holidays and a long weekend. So it quickly became here favorite holiday. It started with a half day on Wednesday and stretched all the way to Sunday. And Reia's favorite aunt had invited all of us to her place.

The main event at Thanksgiving is the Thanksgiving dinner. And for our Thanksgiving, the Chef for the main event was Frank. The preparations had started more than a week before the event where a list of ingredients to be purchased was created. The Chef traveled with his own kit that consisted of knives, spatulas and amongst several things I don't know names for, to a designer apron.

The main dish as is traditional was Turkey. And the Turkey that was to adorn our table was a huge 20 lbs bird. The process of preparing the meal was an elaborate one. And started at 11. The turkey had to be prepared, stuffing made, the turkey stuffed, stitched and then roasted with several bastings. Along side the rest of the side dishes that consisted of mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, sprouts and a fresh salad.

Frank was continuously at work with Ed and Vanitha assisting when required. Reia and I helped by staying out of the way and by playing a role I described as "diarist". This article is the result of that role.

Dinner was finally ready at around 8 p.m. A full 9 hours after the preparations began. Each person at the celebration had to say what they were thankful for. Everyone was thankful to their family, their hosts, the Chef. By then I was starved. And thankful that dinner was served.

The meal was amazing. Each dish a foodies delight. All of us stuffed ourselves. And were then told that there was dessert. Pumpkin pie, Apple pie, Chocolate Brownie. And fresh fruits for the calorie conscious. Since I had already consumed far more than my share of calories, I decided to skip the fruits. And not wanting the hosts to feel bad, gorged on each of the desserts. And they were so tasty.

All of us had a great time and an eventful Thanksgiving. Thanks to Frank for a wonderful dinner and to Vanitha for inviting us. And now I too know the secret of Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is the time when you give Thanks for having Thanksgiving. Holidays. Food. Fun. Doesn't get any better.

10 things I miss most about Mumbai

Its now been 3 months since I've moved to the US. And I miss India. And this begs the question ? What exactly do I miss. So like all good things I decided to list the 10 things I miss most.

10. Taxis & Rickshaws
In Mumbai whenever I felt like not driving, which was pretty much most of the time, I just took a taxi or a rickshaw. Here the cost and availability does not leave that as an option.

9. Crowds
Mumbai is very crowded. And you are always amongst lots of people no matter where you are. Not only are there almost no people on the roads, even in public paces like malls, the crowds are relatively limited.

8. Movies
Bollywood entertains. And I was thoroughly entertained. I enjoyed movies. And seeing them in theaters. Here if I want to enjoy Bollywood, I need to buy DVD's, and that's just not as much fun.

7. Noise
Mumbai is noisy. And when you've lived in Mumbai it becomes part of you. Quiet and silence is not something you're comfortable with. And in my case, I'm actually missing the noise.

6. Night life
You could walk around at midnight and the people around would make it seem like its evening. An early dinner would mean dinner after 9. Here an early dinner is dinner at 4, and normal is 7. Most places close by 7 or 8. Even New York pales in comparison to Amchi Mumbai.

5. Weather
Mumbai is warm, sometimes even hot. And whilst you sweat a little, I felt comfortable. The cold here is something I'm not used to and definitely not comfortable. And coming from Mumbai, it makes me miss Mumbai even more.

4. Food
Indian cuisine is so good. Especially for us. And whilst Indian food is freely available, miss it on a regular basis. My mouths watering just writing and thinking about it, so lets move on.

3. My friends
Friends make life wonderful. Speaking with them. Meeting them. Going out with them. And I miss all of it. And I miss each of them.We speak often and they've threatened to visit soon. Hopefully they'll carry out their threats.

2. The Office
What I enjoyed most was going to office. And interacting with my colleagues. They made me smile. And laugh. Whilst I still work with them, the personal interaction is missing. I guess getting the smiles and laughs is that much more difficult. And makes work a little less enjoyable.

1. My wife and daughter
The only thing I enjoyed more than work was the time I spent with Ivy and Freia. And being far away I miss them. Yes, even the disagreements, since that's what made life even more exciting and interesting.

None of the above means I regret the decision to be here. It has several positives and even the above are not negatives. Its the things I miss, and in life every time you make a change there are bound to be things that you miss and new things that you start liking and finally loving. And there are several things about here that I like and a few that I've already started loving.

The US Elections - Lessons Learnt

Every 4 years on the first Tuesday of November, Americans go out to vote for a new President. This year was no different and Tuesday saw the end of more than a year of campaigning that saw each party spend far in excess of a billion dollars. The polls predicted one of the closest races in US history. By midnight it was clear that the polls were wrong. And early on Wednesday morning, Mitt Romney conceded the election and President Obama was re-elected for a second term.

The election process was very interesting and there were a few lessons that India could learn and evaluate adopting. Interestingly there are an equal number of lessons for the US to learn to improve their election process. In my opinion, the top 3 lessons to be learnt from each other.


Lessons from the US

1. Early Voting
Several states in the US allow early voting. This basically means that in several states voting for the presidential election starts several weeks before election day. This helps people who are either travelling or working on election day to go vote and have their vote counted.

2. Transparent Funding
Individuals and companies are allowed to contribute to campaign funds. All of the information is publicly available. This enables legitimate collection of funds, recognizing the fact that campaigning needs significant funding and providing legitimate and transparent means to organize the same.

3. Public Debates
Currently there are 3 presidential debates and 1 vice-presidential debate held between the 2 main candidates. The debates allow both the candidates to publicly state their policy, opinions, and how they intend to takes the country forward if elected. The debate format allow their opponent as well as the moderator to challenge as well as seek clarifications on ambiguous statements.


Lessons from India

1. Counting Process
The counting process begins only after the last ballot has been cast. This ensures 2 things. The first is that every person with an intention to vote goes out and votes and that early trends do not influence voters where voting is still in progress. The second is that the final tally is an indicator of the actual will of the complete population and not skewed because of the early trends.

2. Organizing voting on Election day
In several places people had to wait for several hours to exercise their franchise. And this has been a perpetual problem in early voting as well as in previous elections. Indian election authorities have fine tuned the art of organizing elections and in spite of having a much larger electorate with a poorer infrastructure manage to conduct it in a manner where the voter normally does not wait for more than 15 - 30 minutes.

3. Electronic Voting Machines
Across the country India mainly uses EVM's or Electronic Voting Machines. These reduce the number of controversies. And make the process of counting not only faster but far more reliable. As an example in this years elections it took several days before Florida was able to announce its results of the Presidential Elections. The fact that Obama had won without Floria made this insignificant, else it could be a repeat of 1997 election fiasco, captured brilliantly in the film, "Recount".

In conclusion the systems used by the worlds greatest democracy and the worlds largest democracy are brilliant and admirable. And if each could pick up a few lessons from each other, both would be even more amazing.

Sandy - Naturally Devastating

Sandy hit the US East Coast Monday evening. Its effect started Monday morning. We live in Connecticut and lost power Monday morning. The Tri States which consists of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The devastation was huge. More than 100 lives lost. An estimated damage of over 50 billion, a number that seems to keep rising. As of today, 6 days after the storm hit, there's no power in over 1.5 million homes, trains and the New York subway are still not fully functional and schools which were closed this week are also closed tomorrow and Tuesday.

We got power on Thursday and even today more than 25% of the people in our area don't have power. But this article is not about the devastation. A million articles have already been written. This is about Attitudes. Attitude towards Calamities. And I've now been through a major calamity in India and the US. The Mumbai Flooding in August 2005 and Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

In both of these events, I'd like to compare the 4 major groups who are part of the event. The Common People, the Service Providers, the Media and the Politicians.

The common people in Mumbai came out with flying colors. They went out of their way and even took significant risks to rescue fellow citizens. They took a lot of personal hardship to reduce the hardship to people they did not know. The American people were almost as good. They behaved in a kind and understanding manner and did everything expected of a common man. While they get 10 on 10, the Mumbai common man gets a 11.

The service providers have several challenges they have to go through to make sure that everything works the way its expected to. In both cases the challenges and the expectations are relatively similar. In both cases they did a reasonable job. Could have been a lot better, but definitely competent. I would rate both as a 7 on 10.

The media in the Mumbai flooding, played an extremely negative role. They highlighted the negatives and gave little coverage to several positives. The US media seemed to focus on the positives. Even the negatives had the positive side projected. At the end of the day, the media is able to create perceptions and influence thinking. In Mumbai, all I heard was how corrupt and incompetent everyone was. Here the media as well as individuals keep talking about what a wonderful job everyone is doing. Surprising when factually, the service providers in Mumbai did as good if not a far better job than here. Indian Media - 2, US Media - 9.

And finally the politicians. The biggest difference is that in India, they visit but don't speak to the common man, either directly or through the media. Here they don't stop speaking. And communication is good. Everyone from the President to the Mayors of the affected towns were on TV. Giving updates, offering support and solutions. Indian Politician - 1, US Politician - 7.

And this seems to be true not only in unexpected events, but in day to day life. We in India want to talk about the problem and how everyone else is not doing their job. Its high time we stop criticizing and reflect on what Mahatma Gandhi wisely said,
"You must be the change you wish to see."

No Worries

We go through life worrying about all kinds of things. The trivial, such as what will I wear or what will I eat. To what we consider serious, such as, "BUt how could she have said that. I thought she was a friend." The only constant in most of our lives is worries, so much so, that the first English word known by many non English speaking Indians is "Tension". A commonly hear senstence in fast paced Mumbai, "Mala khoob Tension Aahe".

Strangely enough, this Marathi sentence, loosely meaning, "I have too many worries" can be heard from the maids, to the risckshaw drivers, to the college going syduents, the working woman, the housewife, the executive and even the presidents of companies.

I came across one and then looked for and found two more videos that should make us think. After seeing them, you will never have any worries. Not that anything will change. But realization may dwan on us. What we have is a life filled with Roses and we need to learn to appreciate it. Especially when people who have "Worries" have figured out ways in which to have "No Worries".

The 5 people you'll see are as varied as they come. An American young man, a British middle aged lady, an Australian teenager of Iraqi descent, a young boy from Korea and finally a young student at graduation.

If I can, YOU can

Susan Boyle

Emmanuel

Boy Steals The Talent Show

Graduation Speech

The magic of IKEA

 

Yesterday I visited an IKEA store. And whilst I've always felt that it was a good idea, it dawned upon me how awesome the idea was. The magic of IKEA was amazing. It had a story. And they told it well. Very well.
http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/about_ikea/the_ikea_way/history/index.html

And like all great stories, this one to was a simple one. The clarity of the brand is visible in the IKEA business idea. Simple and self explanatory
"At IKEA our vision is to create a better everyday life for the many people. Our business idea supports this vision by offering a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them."
http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/about_ikea/the_ikea_way/our_business_idea/index.html

And what they have done is remarkable. I'm not an expert in either furniture or retail. But it seems to me that the biggest cost in furniture is the cost of making it, and the cost of displaying and stocking it. IKEA did a very simple thing. It removed the cost of making, by putting the onus of making on the furniture buyer. Removed the problem of stocking by creating packaging for the now bits and pieces of furniture. And reduced costs by creating furniture as a standardized mass product.

And by using a small number of standard set of joiners, the re-usability of most of the products became phenomenal not only across similar furniture types but even across furniture types.

What is remarkable about the brand is that unlike most multinational brands, profit does not seem to be the only driver. They seem to care about the environment, the needy in society, children who need help and have again used their brand and money to support these.
http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/about_ikea/facts_and_figures/yearly_summary.html

The concept of IKEA Sustainable living is yet another of their good ideas.
http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/about_ikea/people_and_planet/index.html

Who says all corporations are selfish and greedy ?