Less Time at School

When I read the news on how many schools across the nation are curtailing the school week from five to four days a week, giving Friday off, I could not help but smile. The one person who will be happy with such a change would be my son. For that matter, all kids would be happy to get a four-day week in school rather than five days. But many parents and many people around the nation feel that children are left behind and are getting less education and are considered to be of lesser priority when it comes to budget cuts and job losses. The idea behind this four-day week is to cut down on budget gaps, cut down on job losses in the Schooling industry. By having a day off during the week, schools will save on power, heating/cooling, bus services, providing meals for the children, maintenance/cleaning for that one day.


Presently, schools in Fairfax County have half-day on Mondays. Instead of the current timings, if school days from Monday to Thursday are made longer, Fridays can be off. Technically, students will be missing half day of school which can be compensated by having an hour extra on the working days. With the latest technologies we have like Internet and Blackboard, which is used in schools, students can be given homework and materials that they can read and work on, on Fridays. I have seen this at work during the snow storm we had a month ago and when schools were closed for more than a week. My son did not miss any school work during those days when schools were closed. Taking this step and making it bigger to implement on Fridays would not be a bad idea.


Before you start pointing your fingers at me to say that schools and children’s education are considered a lesser priority in these difficult economic times, think about the situation and solution for a minute. Students are not losing anything in terms of the education that they receive and it is accounted for. What they will be missing is a meal and play time on Fridays. When we have a bigger situation of closing budget gaps and staving off layoffs in schooling system, I think we can all pull this individual load of dealing with Fridays off. Many might think that they would have to deal with day cares on the day off. Nowadays many employers allow the option of working from home or working extra hours on other weekdays and taking Fridays off. If the government is making it a rule to have Fridays off for schools, then they can certainly do something about working parents working their situation out with their employers. Most European countries have four day work week and have Fridays off (making it a 3-day weekend), so it is about time that we in the USA start looking at that option.

Are Values bemused with Rights?

Last month, a 13-year old, Middle School student in Germantown, Maryland, was sent to counselor’s office for refusing to stand during the pledge of Allegiance. Her parents asked the teacher to apologize for doing so. Later on, because of lawyer’s involvement on the students’ side, ACLU stepped into the matter and asked the teacher to apologize to the student. Out of political pressure, the teacher might apologize but is it not something wrong in this whole picture? While I do agree that the teacher should not have taken such extreme actions on the student and that no one can be forced to participate in a pledge of Allegiance against one’s will and in something that one does not believe in, is there not something called ‘Respect’?


Inculcating good manners should be a part of our schooling systems in addition to teaching the curriculum. Part of it is showing respect to others. While the whole class was standing and saying the pledge out of respect, the girl could have simply stood up rather than sitting. Coming from the land of values – India, I stand quietly whenever any National Anthem is played in a function or gathering. It is out of respect that one shows to their country or belief. The girl could have shown her respect for the country if she is an American and that she would have her say in the near future in a few years down the road. If not, she could have shown respect because America is giving her the opportunity to be in this country and for parting education to her to be a better person. In either case, she has the reason to show her respect for her country.


Honestly I did not comprehend the reasons behind why that student would not stand up or show respect during the pledge. Not wanting to do is one thing but when the entire class is standing up out of respect or out of fear, the one who is not is forced to stand up anyways. Out of political pressure, the teacher might be made to apologize in public but is it not life lessons for the student to show respect – no matter what? Was she trying to stand out, to say that she is cool with not doing what everybody does? Whatever the reason, it still does not warrant an excuse. It might be old fashion to show respect in public but coming from a family where respect is the prime objective, this whole scenario seems to be odd.

Snowy Frenzy

Many are chanting the mantra “How long this snow is going to linger on?” We have had a week of no snow storms in the D.C. metro area but we are facing massive obstruction of mammoth snow piles everywhere on any direction that you can lay your eyes on. The two storms that hit us a week and a half ago dumped about two and a half feet of snow on an average and people are stilling plowing their way through the snow. Schools and government offices had been closed for more than a week because snow clearing had become close to impossible. Traffic has become a nightmare (or should I say daymare? Come on, I had to make that up) with the number of lanes reduced to half of what was available to commuters on a normal day. Parking lots for vehicles have become the home for snow piles where all you can see are mounds of snow taking up more than half of the parking spaces.


While the pristine snow covered grounds, trees and houses were soothing to my mind a week back when the snow was still falling and fresh, it has built in anger and frustration into many who have to deal with the aftermath of snow by hauling the snow out of their driveways and parking lots and off of streets and roads. One problem is where do we put the snow that is plowed? Result being, building heaps of snow piles along the roads and along driveways. Drivers at the intersection can hardly see the on coming traffic before making those turns leading to accidents. Now that schools are open, many students are forced to walk on snow covered pathways to get to their schools. Refreezing of melted snow is turning to ice leading to many falls for those who walk on it. Cars are getting stuck on side streets that are barely passable.


Just like the question as to ‘here to dump all this snow’ many are trying to answer the question, ‘how do I show my anger and frustration of this snow’? Case in point is the incident in Loudoun County where one neighbors’ anger pouted on to his street. In Longhouse place in Leesburg (residential street), a Good Samaritan was helping a woman to get her car into her garage while the other cars was stopping behind. A car from the back just went past all the cars that were standing, barely missing the guy who was helping the woman. The driver, Craig Vandusseldorp, would have hit the man but missed him by inches. He was charged with felony assault and reckless driving. He just could not wait a few minutes for the car that was stuck to get off the street. By acting in a haphazard manner, what did he gain? a few tickets and points on his license, marring his driving record, insurance and employment opportunities? Was that worth it?


There were also cases where people are fighting over parking spots. Some people place a chair on the spot to reserve their parking spot and some wanted others to move out of their spot and hence are slicing the tires of the cars so they would move. Why all this rage? The snow will eventually melt and everything will be back to normal in a few days. Until such time, can we not live amicably? Maybe we have to leave a few minutes early to work to beat the traffic and come home a few minutes late after finding a parking spot to park your car. Like some one says, we are one day closer to where we want to be.

When dreams fail to launch

So the shuttles will stop flying from the USA into space starting this September after it makes its four launches that were scheduled. While I agree that going into outer space and learning about the solar systems and other systems out there will teach a lot and one can relate all of that to mankind itself, it is not about time to give a little focus on earth before you can start to look up? What do I mean by it? As a result of budget policies for the coming year, Obama had cut funds for space programs for NASA and had told NASA to work with private sectors to do any research or launching into space. There are many research divisions, for example, medical science, who do their research not waiting for government to sponsor but depend on private sectors to do the funding so that they can carry out their research, which all told is for the betterment of human kind and to learn more about human existence.


Many who are supporters of space program will argue that what Obama did by halting the funding to NASA, to stop launches will stop them from learning about space and hence the human race. I do support exploration, whether it is space program or ocean research, but when the situation here in the US has come to a point where one has to wonder where the next paycheck is going to come from to pay for the expenses to run a household and when the country is at the brink of depression, when the job losses is at the highest ever – 10%, I would want Obama to funnel all funding to improve the economy here, rather than worry about sending people to moon or further away to Mars.


Sure, the government or the private sectors will speed up the launching if they know of oil deposits or Uranium deposits in Mars, but we don’t know anything of that sort. So until such time we are better off, if everyone starts to look down instead of looking up into space. There is nothing wrong with NASA working with private sectors to help build a taxi service to ferry astronauts into outer space or depend on Russian shuttle to hitch a ride into space. There are shuttles that were built for private parties for a considerable amount just so they can travel into space. There are people out there who have the money to name a star that is being discovered in their name or their bestest. They have the money to fund such programs and NASA can sure use their help to get into outer space for the time-being until we are able to stabilize ourselves in terms of economy here.


I have read about Mars colony project and many fictional stories/books about Mars colony. Even if the U.S. astronauts succeed in going to Mars and in setting up a colony there, they will be working next on stopping other countries from getting there as if Mars is owned by the U.S. If I try to look ahead into the future of this project, all I can see are missiles showering from the heavens above (Mars) when we are fighting down below in Afghanistan or Iraq or any place for that matter. Instead of having to plan for wars from land, sea or air, we would be planning war strategies from outer space as well. In addition to this, are we forgetting that most of U.S is owned by China now? Instead of worrying that if we work with others outside of our country, we will lose the brain power of space programs, let us also work on removing ‘Owned by China’ from the U.S. soil and accept the temporary situation of depending on private sectors and collaborating with other countries for space research.

The Seesaw Effect

With the massive storm that passed us last weekend and another tailing it right now as I speak (um.. write), many people are out of power, snowed in and immobilized. The snow from last week being wet and heavy had brought down many power lines cutting power from many households. Many trees have fallen down or on houses nearby or on power lines due to the weight of the snow. The new snow that is coming down today is adding to the effect. I saw in the news that thousands of people are out of power and power companies like Pepco, Dominion and NOVEC are working round the clock to restore power.

But what is frustrating people the most is the ‘not knowing’ when their power will be restored. When will people realize that the problem can be dealt with but ‘not knowing’ is the killer. They need to know when their power will be restored. They need answers, they need assurance. I saw on T.V. that the electric company trucks would go by on the streets and people would stop them and ask when their turn to be worked on is. There are families who had lost power on Saturday, this past weekend, and are still without power and heating. Some people have opened their hearts and doors of their home, literally, to friends and are allowing them to stay until their power is back.

Many are just snowed in, unable to take their cars out as the snow plows, in some cases, have piled snow on their driveways and around cars that are parked. In some cases, people have not seen plows come on to their streets for plowing. The streets are covered with snow or barely passable for driving. In some cases, neighbors are forming teams and helping each other to clear the snow and the streets so they can get out of the complex. Some are taking up this opportunity to show their good samaritan-ship by lending a helping hand to clear the snow. When I went for a walk this past Saturday, I had helped a few dig out their driveways but when I had written my blog, I didn’t mention it because I thought that that was the right thing to do to start with.

Last Friday, when the snow was starting to fall, I went to the nearby Shoppers, after work, to see how people were reacting to the snow. Many had shopped earlier on during the week or day and the store was empty of milk and bread. Of course, the salt was all gone which is understandable but to see a store like Shoppers Foodware mostly empty of groceries was quiet a view. How much were those people going to consume during the snow storm? To panic that they would be stranded for days together and hoarding on to the groceries is a bit too much. After all, with what is left in a house, can one not survive for a couple of days? Imagine what would happen – one does all that shopping to survive during the storm and the power and heating goes off, the fridge is not working anymore and all that you shopped for is a waste, only to be packed up to be thrown into the trash. Forget imagining, this is really happening to many families who have lost power now because of the storm. Does one have to shop before a storm to survive? Did we not learn anything from Bear Grylls that we cannot even endure a snow storm being in ones own home and comfort?

Want some Crib Notes with your Tea?

Was it just me who got caught during school exams with my cribnotes? Guess not. We have a bigger winner here. Ms. Palin. I am sure everyone who gives a public speech that is televised or in a meeting would use teleprompters or notes that one refers to during the speech. No one would be able to memorize the speech that lasts for an hour or more. So there is nothing wrong in using notes to refer to or teleprompters to get your speech across and to be effective. But Palin had a problem with that. She was accusing Mr. Obama using a teleprompter during his speeches. She accused him as 'a charismatic guy with a Teleprompter' in her speech in the tea party convention held last week.


But take a look at the picture that is posted along with this blog. Oh ya, its Palin's hand alright! I see words "Energy", "Tax," and "Lift Americans Spirits" scribbled in ink on the palm of her hand. Gotcha! Of course, she knew the speech for the tea party convention like the back of her hand. It is during the Q&A session that she needed the answer from the front of her hand. When she was asked the question as to what should be the top three things that a Republican majority in Congree would focus on and she forgets the answer and refers to her cribnotes on her palm during the meeting. How does one forget the main belief of what she is representing? To top it off, she accuses Obama for using a teleprompter in his speeches. He uses it for speeches and she uses it even for answering a core question? There is a saying that people living in glass houses should not throw stones at others. Does this not apply to her - You betcha!


I was a little relieved when McCain-Palin team did not win the elections in 2008. But my pulse is going a little higher when I heard that she would stand in elections in 2012 and that that is the right thing to do for the nation and the Palin family. Right for the nation - No. Right for the Palins - Maybe. She can start filling up her wardrobe again. The race in 2012 is not for the fashion industry nor for who can fill in their wardrobe. So Palin, you stay out of it. You can fill up the spot for soap in Fox, right a few books, give a few speeches with your talent of seeing your notes from the palm of your hand or attend a few tea party but running a nation is not your cup of tea. (pardon my pun)

It is B-E-A-utiful

No wonder the color white stands for peace in humanity. The pristine white blanket of snow everywhere calmed my mind when I went for a walk this afternoon. I woke up this morning and all I saw out my window was snow everywhere – on trees, on bushes and shrubs, on the street that I am on and on every thing that my eyes could lay it focus on. I went at 12 noon to shovel the driveway clean (hm.. these details should be on facebook? … nay… I will stick to this) and it took me two hours to clean the driveway on my van side and also to clean the snow that blocked my driveway as a result of snow plows blocking me in. At 2pm., I decided to go on a walk around the neighborhood since I was already geared up for the weather. I kept walking, one small step at a time on the icy, snowy roads, enjoying the serene beauty of the snow covered surroundings.


While walking I could not help but smile at those who were questioning about whether a snow storm this big would hit our region and questioning the reports that the weathermen gave. Wait… I am hearing something…. Maybe it is the standing ovation that those people are giving to the weather crew for being correct. Why could it not be possible? When people can expect an apology from the weathermen when a snow prediction or rather forecast does not happen the way the report said, why not the same people appreciate them when their forecast comes true? Based on the data that is gathered from the satellites, only so much can be inferred and forecast can be made. It is up to us to be prepared for a situation that the weather crew forecasts. If the weather does not turn out the way they predict, it is not their fault. Anything can happen up to the last minute. The storms can weaken in strength, the winds can shift direction, and the temperatures might not be low enough for the snow to accumulate or stick to the ground. Why is that, that we cannot take a forecast and act upon it to prevent any disasters and protect ourselves? We should be glad that we are getting any predictions at all to start with.


Based on the forecasts, airports had cancelled flights on Friday itself. Schools from all over the region had closed on Friday morning. Are all these agencies foolish to make such decisions based on simple forecasts? They all are preparing themselves in case something as big as this snow storm happens. Exactly! It is a forecast and it is a hit or miss situation. What about all those economists who worked on creating budgets for transportation department for snow preparation? Every single transportation department has already run over-budget because of all the storms that had pummeled us with snow this current fiscal year. Are they apologizing for their bad estimates? Or are they defending themselves saying that they had prepared the budget based on the data that they had and the models that they prepared. So why are they any different that the meteorologists who forecast based on whatever data that they have?


Anyways, with these thoughts cycling in my mind, I kept my pace in walking, enjoying the snow that is falling on my face. I slipped and fell down a couple of times (okay… more than five times) but even after the fall, it brought out laughs and the child within. Greeting a few that were to be seen on the roads, waving to the snow plows that passed by, watching the birds fly by in this cold weather, throwing a few snowballs at the trees, sitting for a few minutes on the snow embankment and enjoy the after noon of snow, I could not help but say to myself - ‘It is a beautiful day no matter what’.

On the Revolutionary Road

I do understand that it takes a lot of courage and will power to stand up for what you believe in. I have seen people who would talk to hearts content about doing something that they strongly believe in or want it dearly to happen but when it comes to reality they drop off the matter like hot potatoes. This being my experience I was pleasantly surprised when I read the news in Washington Post about Mike Mullen’s Stand in Capitol Hill. Mullen is the chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff and has been with the military for 42 years earning ribbons and medals for his achievements. In a meeting with Senate Armed Services committee, Mullen had spoken up for what he believed. He said that gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve openly in the army. What does ones personal practices have to do with being in the military?


‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy among military personnels have let many gays to serve in the army but in a way they are not freely accepted. While the meeting among the Senate was also to repeal this law, Mullen came forward saying that whether this law is there or not, it should not make any difference for those people to serve for the nation. It is the ability of ones self in terms of performing their duties that should matter instead of trying to find out whether one is straight or not. The ability to shoot a gun does not depend on whether a person is gay or not. “You don’t have to be straight to shoot straight”


While there are many laws in different states in the United States being passed about gay marriages and gay rights, I am not saying favorably or otherwise about it in one way or another. It is ones personal preference. But when it comes to performing a job, or any job for that matter, one should be judged based on whether one is capable of performing their duties, instead of seeing what their personal preferences are. If I am interviewed for a job, I want the interviewer to find out about me in terms of my abilities to do the job and not about whether I want to stay married or stay single or stay with a partner. That has nothing to do with me writing a code for the IT Company or preparing an estimate on a project.


There is no such problem (or at least that I am aware of) in the corporate sector in employing people from such groups. Why is this an issue when it comes to military? Even when you fill out any application form for a job, I don’t remember any question that says “sexual preference”. The most I have seen is “married or single”. Why is there so much importance about something that happens behind closed doors? I really applaud Mullens’ stand on this subject. It takes a lot of determination to stand up in public for what one believes in. It gives me hope that those people who backed out from doing that something that they believed in, will some day have the courage to really stand up to face the world.

Stuck between the rock and a hard place

Time and again one has to be reminded that politics exists in any nation because two or more groups have difference of opinions. Our President’s first State of the Union address last night proved just that. His portion of the speech where he mentioned about cutting taxes for 95% of working families did not enthrall the Republicans seated there. Many of the points he covered were the same as what he had said while addressing the Congress a year ago when he became the President. Many of the items that he mentioned during the first year were still not complete after his first year in office. To name a few: overhauling the health care system, enacted a market-based cap on carbon emissions blamed for climate change, imposed a new regulatory system on financial institutions, closed the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and signed a new arms control treaty with Russia. None of these were completed and still the topic of discussion for last night was health care reforms, energy and education.


To improve the economy of the country was the reason he came out with the stimulus plan. He sanctioned bailout dollars to keep the companies that were economically suffering from bankruptcy and keep the jobs open for the Americans. What were the results? The stimulus money that we got (even though a little to be even noticed in our paychecks) was used towards keeping our homes or paying the bills. Some were hoarding on to that money to be used later on in case people lost their jobs. That money was never spent to go back into the pool of growing economy of the country and keeping the businesses going. So the stimulus plan backfired.


Bailout money for banks is another story. 65% of the Americans believe that when banks got their share from the government, banks started to hold on to that money and stopped giving out loans to customers or small businesses because they knew that they will never see that money come back to them again. The idea was that the banks would give out loans to small businesses which in turn would create jobs and to keep the cycle of life flowing. To solve this problem, Obama is putting fees on banks now. He also talked about helping college students with their tuitions. Many students are waiting it out to finish their degree programs because what are they going to do after finishing their studies? Where are the jobs? Obama did not mention about how the job market is going to improve with the unemployment rate being at the highest ever – at 10% but he did mention about Recovery act to improve businesses.


Obama’s plan seemed to be fluid and we have to wait it out to see what will materialize successfully despite the fact that he mentioned about how long we have to wait to think about our future. There was also an issue about his numbers for lending to small businesses being different from when the aides previewed his speech to when the speech was actually delivered. With so many uncertainties and resistance he faces to complete anything that he had promised us to make our future better, to how we have to adjust our perception on the person we elected an year ago, one has to wonder who is stuck between the rock and a hard place – President or us?

Playing Dodge Ball

How many times does it happen that when you are watching the news on the television or reading up a newspaper to catch up on that day’s news that you come across something that jolts you? I was watching today’s news about a driver (a women) who was driving in Georgia Avenue in Montgomery County, Maryland, when suddenly out of nowhere a manhole cover shot into the air, striking the driver (obviously after breaking the windshield of her SUV), hurting her critically. She was rushed to the Baltimore emergency center for treatment and face job. It was told that the manhole explosion was due to a gas leak in that area.


Firefighter and Washington Gas officials and crew members arrived at the scene to investigate the incident. The fire fighters told the reporters that they had evacuated the residents until the problem of gas leak could be fixed but some residents said that nobody came to evacuate nor did they know about any evacuation procedures. Why is this confusion that the residents and firefighters have different versions? Possibly, the firefighters came knocking and nobody was there in the house at that time but later the residents drove back or walked home. But the authorities had blocked the road of any traffic, so the residents could not drive home on that road. When they were blocked, that would rise questions among the residents to find out more about the incident and hence the evacuation. Instead of the reporters giving haphazard news to the public, it would be better if they give a complete analysis of the situation. Sometimes I feel that the reporters are just playing the role of ‘Narad muni’ to get a story.


So, coming back to our lady who was driving the SUV... Poor lady… she must be driving back from work and this had to happen on Monday evening. She would have been a little happier that the manic Monday was over when the flying manhole smacked her on the face. Driving has become so difficult these days, that one should expect the unexpected while driving. With the way we see pot holes all over the roads that we drive on, one must be good at playing Dodge Ball in driving to avoid them. Just like ‘Monk’, we should be able to zig-zag when we see flies (those who have watched ‘Monk’ will know what I am talking about) That reminds me, we being in the snow season still, I have seen cars driving with an inch or two of snow slabs on top of their cars after snow days. When I drive, I try to avoid those cars. If not, a slab of snow is bound to hit your windshield any time. Those drivers don’t have the time to brush of that snow off of their cars’ top.


To add a little pun to lighten up the situation – I heard an ad over the radio that Taco Bell is selling bean burritos for $0.38 today. Is that the reason for this manhole explosion? Maybe!

Fighting for the Basics

Now close to two weeks after the catastrophic incident in Haiti, people there are struggling to get their basic need of food and water fulfilled in any way they can think of. While reporters are doing a good job of interviewing people and video covering the incident and the aftermath, it gets a little creepy when they are showing people being shot by police men for stealing bags of rice that fell from a truck of a shopkeeper. I am referring to an incident that happened on Thursday in Haiti that was covered by CNN. Three men were shot by policemen in Haiti, when they were in the act of stealing or rather picking up a bag of rice (whichever is true) that fell from a truck. One was killed and the other two were badly injured and lying on the side road bleeding to death. A couple of CNN reporters stopped their car and were video taping the incident and then were interviewing people to get a story.


Now, I am not discussing the fact that policemen shot the men for stealing a bag of rice. I do not know exactly what had happened, as to whether there was a riot going on or people were looting all over in that area and that the police had shot to maintain peace. It certainly did not give any right to shoot people over a bag of rice but I presume they did it in the spur of the moment to maintain peace. I am also not debating against the men who were stealing. When people are dying of hunger and thirst, the last thing they would be thinking of is to debate the fact over stealing that bag of rice to feed them selves or to take the honest road. I am awestruck at the fact that the reporters stopped to tape the incident rather than doing anything to help the wounded men.


I am not there in person to help the people in need and I am really impressed by all the people who are donating for a good cause and going there to Haiti to volunteer their time and efforts to help them out. Thanks to all the people who are donating money and things they need. Even a small donation goes a long way in helping them out. Friday night’s show – ‘Hope for Haiti Now’ by George Clooney brought many stars and strangers together in collecting close to $57 million dollars for the cause. Even a seven-year old boy in UK was able to collect $100,000 for Haiti relief by doing a charity bike ride.


Many bloggers would just say ‘do the right thing’, ‘help people in need’ but other than that how many have truly did anything more for the cause? Saying ‘do the right thing’ on the blog to attract hits is one thing and doing it actually is another. There is a big difference. People who say much, seldom do anything has been my experience. They just get carried away and say things that they can barely have the nerve to do or stand up for, just to win the moment and people’s trust. Don’t be one of them, do the best you can, donate even the smallest amount you can. It will touch people’s lives in Haiti. Donate now!

Double Trouble

The news that rocks the headlines right now or for that matter for over a week now is the earthquake that hit Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince with a magnitude of 7.0 on Tuesday, January 12th. The quake brought down buildings, power lines, and everything that could possibly be standing on the land leading to a major catastrophe for the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation. It has been announced that 200,000 people are dead, 250,000 injured and made 1.5 million homeless and many more still remain unaccounted for. Haiti being a third-world country and people struggling for their day-to-day existence are further pushed back to face the hardship that the tremor crafted.


People who witnessed the incident had reported that a huge plume of dust and smoke rose up over the city within minutes of the quake. They saw a blanket of smoke and dust that completely covered the city and obscured it for about 20 minutes. They are many damaged buildings throughout the capital, including the president's residence and many structures that were leveled to the ground trapping thousands of lives, some still alive to be rescued and many dead. The tremor that lasted only a few minutes had created so much havoc and damages that people and volunteers from all over the world are still working through to sort it all out. Organizations like Red Cross and many are collecting donations in terms of much needed supplies like food, water and basic clothing and shelter to money to help the poor nation that just got poorer.


“jab bhagwan detha hai, chappar phad ke deta hai” is an old Hindi saying which roughly translates to “When God gives, He blows the roof off”, meaning He gives with an open heart. I am sure He gave trouble with an open heart to Haiti. The saying should be “jab bhagwan detha hai, sab phad deta hai” in this situation meaning “When He gives, He tares everything”. All that the people in Haiti are left with is the big hollow word ‘Hope’ that they would be rescued, that they would get food and water just to survive after losing everything that they owned or even people that they loved for that matter. “Time will heal” mentality is what will fill in the void. I will talk about this phrase in detail in the upcoming blog.


As people in Haiti were trying to figure out their present and future this past week, another aftershock of magnitude 6.1 shook the place this morning. When will these aftershocks stop? Will the people in Haiti get the time to at least grieve over their lost ones or will they be scurrying to save their own lives? People have to figure out where they would live, what they would eat or drink to survive in this mired situation. Oh sure; time does heal by giving more pain or bigger worries to deal with, that the present problem will look miniscule and not worth the pain.

Pants on, pants off

Make up your mind for once. This week seems to be pants off week. I am talking about two different things but will get to the other in a bit. January 10th is the no pants! ride subway day. This was started by Improv Everywhere in New York City in January 2002 and has been going on every year since then and has caught on in many major cities. In 2002, Improv Everywhere started this event with seven people to create "scenes of chaos and joy in public places." So this January 10th was its ninth anniversary and if you were riding the metro in NYC or Washington DC or any other major city, you would be enthralled with the sight of people riding the metro with their pants off.


Men and women who participated in this event walked in the metro as normal people – I mean with their pants on and after they boarded the train, they took their pants off, folded it and set it aside and continued to act normal by reading their newspapers or chitchat with fellow riders. It sure did get some smiles and some smirks among their riders. I hope no one was wearing boxers that read ‘wifeys pick’ or any other crazy wordings. With the weather being frigid on that day, many people were bundled up with thick jackets, hats and scarves. In the midst of this, to see people stripped down to boxers and panties called for stares and wonder.


Along the same line, on Jan 13th, General Larry Platt, a contestant in American Idol performed the catchy rap during auditions in Atlanta (oh no!). His song (which he wrote himself) was called ‘Pants on the ground’. The basic theme was to wear your belt or else your pants would drop off when you are talking to folks in a stylish manner with your hat turned sideways. Larry was not selected even though his song got laughs and applause from the judges and audience since he was above the age limit for the show. He is 62 years old but his song sure brought out laughs to many of us. I am sure it is going to be a hit song or some song writers would use it in their albums. Whatever happens, this is our 2010 'Macarena' - "Pants on the ground, pants on the ground..."


Here is the link Pants on the ground. Enjoy it and have a few laughs….

A dose of reality

Carrying gun(s) in a public place without license has been a no-no in the USA for years now. But why does anyone have a need to carry a gun – with or without license, when there is all the possibility of something bad happening when the temper button is pushed? When such is the case, what was going on in Washington Wizards Guard, Gilbert Arenas’s head? For those of you who don’t know the story behind this incident, Arenas was charged of felony for carrying a gun (unloaded) into Verizon Center and pointing it at his teammate, Javaris Crittenton, another Wizards guard, in an attempt to play a joke over gambling debts.

Arenas is a three-time NBA All-star, who makes $111 million a year and is in his second year of six years contract with NBA. Most of us here make about 70K a year on an average and with the bad economy that we are facing, anyone is just happy to have any job at all to keep their lives moving forward. Students keep struggling to get a degree because there is no job waiting for them when they are done with college. So many are purposefully delaying their graduation, so they can still be students and not having to hunt for jobs in this economy. With that being said, do you know how much is $111 million a year for a pay? Compound that with all the perks he would get and all the exposure he gets being with NBA. With so much money on hands, he is attempting to play a joke with his teammate by pointing guns over a gambling debt? It does not fit well with people in this stature.

Moreover, a few days later police searched Javaris’s house in Arlington, VA, for guns and came up empty-handed. Sure they would. A few days not enough for Javaris to hide the guns if he had them? Why would he mess up his career when he saw what was happening to Arenas? Also, police found out (so did we) that Arenas possessed hundreds of gun. What does he do with all those guns? A collection perhaps to make some additional millions?

With this incident, Arenas has lost all credibility, his contract with NBA is terminated and he has to say bye-bye to his $111 million a year job. I am pretty sure he would be filing for bankruptcy in jail for felony. It is like a trailer trash winning a national lottery, blowing it all away and ending poorer than where they were before. Read ‘The winner’ by Baldacci, you will know what I am talking about.

Which way is it?

I am not going to toot my horn and say like a few men out there, that given a few hours, I will figure out any piece of mechanism or get myself out of any place without asking direction even though I am lost. I would call them folks, knuckleheads. If you are lost anywhere, you stop and ask for directions. I for one, have a bad sense of direction and keep asking for directions even to a place that I have been a zillion times. So I got myself a GPS unit which I use now to get myself ported anywhere I want to go.


GPS unit is easy to figure out even for a kid. If my 10-year old can figure out, anyone who is driving a vehicle can figure out how to use it. You can get the GPS for about $150 (Megallan is good, if you are looking for one to buy this year) and use it externally or have it installed in the vehicle or get a vehicle with one installed already. The navigation system basically has the option of entering an address that you want to get to and different choices of getting directions and some being ‘Fastest time’, ‘Shortest distance’, ‘avoid highways’. But what you get in terms of directions is not entirely reliable or safe as witnessed by a couple during the weekend of this past Christmas. The couples were using their SUV’s navigation system through the desert of Eastern Oregon but were misled into a remote forest road. With the snow storm occurring during that time, they were stranded for two and a half days before they could get a faint signal in their cell phone to make the emergency call for help.


It has been my experience as well that when I use the GPS directions while I am in DC (obviously I was taking my guests to DC for site-seeing and posing for pictures), it would give me a round-about way to get to my home. The easier route might have been to get on I-66 from Constitution Avenue but instead it would direct me to get on I-395 and go around Virginia before I can get home. The reason might be that it was avoiding I-66 for HOV restrictions. But similar episodes when driving out of state has occurred and me being disoriented generally, make it a point to ask for directions in the gas stations (while getting ‘fuel’) to make sure that I am heading the right way. It is very important to have a general feel for directions and instead of blindly following the directions by GPS, use local maps and stop to ask for directions. But men being what they are don’t ask for directions even after they are lost for a good amount of time. Maybe it is about time for us (females) to figure out the mechanics of thinking on those dogged out men.

Aftermath ripples

I am sure everyone on the east coast had a good taste of winter starting the week of this past Christmas. Those of you who have no clue as to what I am talking about – we on the east coast had a snow storm or rather a blizzard on the Dec 18th (unfortunate date) which led to many accidents for drivers. The snow storm resulted in two feet of snow on an average along the coast. At least as far as I know, VDOT did an excellent job of prepping the roads with salt and the snowplows on the prowl to clean the roads of snow to make driving easier on such conditions. The problem with snow plows plowing the snow off the streets is that if cars are parked along the streets, it becomes difficult for the plow to do its job. The snow was accumulated around the cars blocking it from being able to pull out of the lot. The plows cannot come too close to the cars to remove the snow because there is always the possibility of coming too close to the cars, scraping it which leads to the owners of the cars coming after the plow company. To avoid these headaches, snow plows keep their distance from the parked cars resulting in the embankment of snow along the cars and driveways.

Many have complained about how the snowplows have done a lousy job of dumping snow around their cars in their parking lots and that they had to shovel the snow to be able to pull out their cars to get out of their parking lots. To them I say - do you expect the snowplows to clean every nook and corner around the cars when they are maneuvering the big plows to clean the roads and to make sure not to hit the cars but come as close as they can come to take away the snow? I have had experiences like this when the plows go by past my house and during the process block my driveway. Then I spend a few minutes cleaning the dump off my driveway so my cars can enter. I guess it is part of the whole shebang.

The after effects of this snow storm are still witnessed in parking lots of the gym and office spaces where a number of parking spaces are filled with huge deposits of snow. As a result of this, parking has become a problem. When I go to the gym, I spend a considerable amount of time looking for a parking spot because of snow deposits and also given the fact that it is the New Year and people are sincere in keeping to their promises for the year. I just have to wait for a few weeks to get my parking spot, for the snow to melt away and also for people to cave in to break their resolutions of going to the gym because of laziness and also because promises are only meant to be broken.

Nothing that a cold beer can’t solve

By now you must have heard about the incident where Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. (an African American) was arrested by a white police officer, Sgt. James Crowley. Gates is a professor at Cambridge University, Mass. and stays in a house that belongs to the University. He went on a trip to China for making his documentary for PBS – “Faces of America” and returned home from his trip with his luggage, only to find out that his lock is jammed. So he asked the help of his driver of the cab, who is also a black man to push it open. Gates called the University at the same time to get his lock fixed and while he was in the process of making that call, a police officer was outside his door asking him to step outside of the house. The police had arrived there as a result of a 911 call from Gates neighbor, Whalen, who had mentioned that two black men were breaking in into the Professor’s house. With enough misunderstandings, the police officer arrested Gates and Gates passed on a remark about how a black man is treated in America. That is the gist of what had happened but you can Google it for more detailed information.


When this racially charged controversy was developing further, Our President had passed on a remark in a conference as to how Cambridge Police acted stupidly and if they acted smartly, this whole incident could have been avoided. Now the black racism event is compounded with President being anti-police. I don’t see what is wrong in what Obama said. Whether he is black or white, the incident calls for a statement from anyone who hears it and that statement would be ‘How stupid can a police act in that situation?’. When a police officer reaches a scene, does he not make enquiries to find out what is going on? In this case, Crowley did ask Gates of his identification which proved that he is a Professor in Cambridge University and his drivers license showed that the address is same as the address that he is in. If Crowley needed more information, he could have called Gates’ neighbors and have them testify that that man was Gates and he does reside in that house.


Crowley did not do any of that and he just arrested the man and put him in jail for four hours? Based on what? The 911 call? Whalen, who made the call, did what she did with good intentions, but did she not know that Gates was a black man and that he might have come back from the trip? All this happened in the middle of the day and not at night, where she would have poor lighting and a bad call. This reminds me of the old lady who said that she witnessed the robbery and attack in the movie, ‘My cousin Vinny’. Does Whalen in this event, need a visit to the eye Doctor?


Anyhow, Obama’s statement of ‘stupidity’ had caused some furor in the police community and in order to quell the situation and to address the racial differences, Obama had invited Gates and Crowley to discuss the matter over a beer. Now there is nothing that a drink can’t do. These guys will have beer and all of a sudden racism would disappear from the face of this earth. This beer drinking is more for photo ops and for Obama to cool the situation in the police community as a result of his remark. If things were to be solved by a beer, I would have cases of it stacked up in my garage. Oh, by the way, I do have it stacked up not for this reason though.

How much for a dollar?

With the sliding value for a dollar, instability in the job market and economic crisis, no one knows what one might get for a dollar. Gas prices seem to be rising every week as a result of summer and people travelling to their destinations for vacation. I wonder how one could afford a travel when they complain about job loses and recessions but there are a few who do travel for getaways whether they or someone books it. What is driving the price of fuel these days with a barrel of crude oil being $68?

OPEC had mentioned last year that they were going to cut back on oil production because they were not making enough money per barrel. How could that possibly be when the price of a barrel of oil is swinging between $65 and $70? OPEC wants their barrel price to be $74 as an ideal condition. Sure, they can stop production, which will increase demand as a result of less oil in the market and hence more cost per barrel. When OPEC will reach its goal where does that lead us to? Shelling out more dollars to get our tanks filled up every week.

The speculators, energy policy, global economy, foreign demand (especially from China and India) and the brokers working with clients who give big bucks to buy oil tend to raise the price. If we cut down on fuel consumption, maybe the oil prices will go down. Whatever happened to not driving the big fuel guzzlers to work or vacation trips, riding a bicycle to work day per week, carpooling, metro usage to get to work? Spending about $50 a week per car is scary in this recession. In January of 2009, the average fuel price was $1.77 and now it is about $2.56, driven in part by a falling dollar. I guess if we do a little bit on our side, we can bring down the price of fuel. I remember when the fuel price was $0.99 way back in the 90’s. If not that low, some drop in fuel price would not be a bad thing.

Once in a lifetime

Today was when the longest solar eclipse occurred in Asia and many viewers awed with excitement. The eclipse lasted for about six minutes and 39 seconds, which is near the theoretical maximum duration for a solar eclipse of seven minutes and 31 seconds. A solar eclipse is formed on a new moon day, when Sun, Moon and Earth come in a straight line. The eclipse occurs on the earth where shadow of moon falls on the earth. The next solar eclipse this long will occur only in the year 2132.


After an hour after sunrise, the sun was covered by the moon and it became dark. Many people in India and China were crowding to see the event with special sunglasses while many believe that watching solar or lunar eclipse is inauspicious and hence stayed inside to avoid seeing the occurrence. When I was a kid, I have seen a solar eclipse from my house and would watch it by taking a piece of bottle/glass and blackening with soot of smoke instead of this day’s fancy glasses. I did not think of it as inauspicious or scary but rather got more interested in the phenomena. I started reading more about space. No, I was not born with an interest in space science nor did I move my leg in circles looking at a ceiling fan, when being held by my grand parents or anybody for that matter. I was a normal kid, just like any one else.


This event is eerie in a way because of how it affected a lot of the animals in the areas where the eclipse was total. In China's Hangzhou City zoo, animals that were out feeding at 9.30am, started going inside their dorms without hesitation after dropping whatever they were eating. In a similar manner, animals that are used to being fed after sundown came out as soon as it became dark. This is a sign of more like a Pavlovian response (as in Pavlov's dog) rather than being time or hunger based. Thanks to my friend who pointed this out. What would have been the effect on humans because of sudden darkness for less than seven minutes? I think it is nothing. What would seven minutes of darkness in the morning do to humans? Of course, roads and work space have had to be lit to work and move around as usual for that day. In terms of time sense, nothing should be affected for humans. At least that is my opinion. You would never know if some humans would just drop dead sleep or start getting hungry when it became dark. I think we are a little better than the four legged ones in this regard.

Competitive eating

What is it with men and being the best even at mundane of things? From resisting to asking for directions when lost, to showing how fast they can drive on a windy road, to showing how many hot dogs they can eat in the least amount of time. Men never fail me in proving how daft they can be. Every year they have hot dog and hamburger eating contest. This past weekend, Joey Chestnut proved that he could eat 68 hotdogs in ten minutes in Nathan’s International Hot Dog Contest held in New York. He won the championship this year by dethroning Takeru Kobayashi from last year who could eat 64 ½ hotdogs in the same time.


For the ten minutes that Joey put in to eat those hotdogs, he walked home with $20,000 to eat hotdogs for the rest of the year. Competition that is upcoming this September will pay out as much as $100,000. Hamburger chains like Krystal and White Castle (remember this one from the movie ‘Harold and Kumar’?) put in a lot of money towards such contests. While their idea is to promote their food, it looks dumb, to have eating contests, where food is wasted a lot, while there are many who are hungry waiting to be fed.


There are many restaurants around the D.C. metro area and around the U.S. where if you finish a one-pound burger or more, they would take your picture and put it on their walls of fame. How sweet? One can go around and say that they are a champ at eating of all other things possible like what we witnessed this weekend in the tennis world. Is it then surprising to see a report on how US is leading in obesity? Only men can make a sport out of frivolous activities and then they nitpick as to why women carry big handbags only to search for their lipsticks in the ocean of materials inside their bags.