An audacity of Hope on our part ?

I was asked by friends if I am celebrating Obamania. The answer is No, but to be clear, there is certainly cause for celebration as the G W Bush era draws to a close. You could have put Dennis Kucinich and Joe the plumber as Prez and VP and that still would be a reason for a party. There are also other reasons to celebrate - it is a historic occasion. A somewhat-black American from Illinois will be sworn in as President right around the time of MLK's birthday. He will use the same Bible used by Lincoln. All this is bound to turn DC into some sort of a giant Woodstock for the politically liberal masses - a dead concert minus the weed. Aretha will be on stage. 

The question is - what will Barak do. What can he do, the challenge before him is stupendous and a Democratic majority in House and Senate is not likely to support his mandate blindly, if at all. They are, after all, politicians and in it for the power and the glory (not to mention tons of pork). We may be charmed by Obama but to look to him as the new Messiah is like hoping that Jerry (when alive) could have convinced record labels and Ticketmaster to make music free for the masses. That is, in my mind, an audacity of hope. 

The truth is that we all need to examine our lives and decide what we want for ourselves and our fellow-men. If we truly want the right thing, then let us all continue the grass root effort that Barak used to win the election and channel it towards movements that show public endorsement of actual projects which will strengthen education, energy conservation, efficiency, etc. Let the polls pressurize the pols to support Obama and here's hoping that his team comes through with their message of change. 

If we don't care (I am describing myself here), let's just stick with the tax breaks, get some extra cash and watch the AIG execs tan themselves at Club Med. 

Facebook Test

Thought I would try this to see how this synchs with Facebook. 

Closing

The last time we moved, we settled on the house in summer 2001 and closed in October 2001. Imagine my consternation after 9/11. This time, we are not just buying, but selling as well in two weeks. I have so far turned a blind eye and deaf ear to all my portfolios, just hope that both our lender and that of my prospective buyer stay stable for another month. That being said, I am done with any more closings, its just a harbinger of upheavals in geopolitics and economics :-(

I had a dream

51 days separate me from my very first opportunity to exercise my franchise.

Late one night several months ago, I was struck by a disquieting vision. The nation had woken up one morning to find that due to a medical misfortune, we were proclaiming constitutional allegiance to the new commander in chief – President Huckabee. In his acceptance speech, he was in full pastor mode throwing out Biblical references. Line such as .. (we have gone) “from art being Norman Rockwell to Robert Maplethorpe. From a time when no one thought that much about kids praying in school before they ate their lunch to now having policemen patrolling the schools in uniform. I can remember as a kid-- --that Gideon's would come to the 5th grade and give out Bibles”.

Disquieting though it was, in retrospective it was not that scary – Huckabee is a self-made man (marked contrast with W.) who can be funny and has a record of not mixing religion with politics during his tenure as governor and demonstrated an effort of trying to work with people to get things done. Admittedly, the pressures are different when you live at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue but at least there is no scary past.

Let’s talk scary now. Huckabee dissolves, leaving in place a lady who does not blink, who is NOT going to say “Thanks, but no thanks” to the same situation as above. Dare I even speculate on the nature of her acceptance speech? Satirical descriptions of her are taken care of by regular over-the-top catty barbs from Maureen Dowd. Silence is best at this end. News articles even in today's Times scream of secretive, unilateral governance, as well as abuse of power (Shades of Bush adminsitration)

51 days separate me from my very first opportunity to exercise my franchise.

The fact that this is happening in my 41^st year is a tale of circumstance. I resided in India for about a year while eligible to vote (18 years, effective from 1989) during which time there was no general election. After seventeen years in the US, my right to vote came in an election year. I am definitely not letting my chance slip away this time.

51 days separates my son from his second birthday.

At two years and one day, Oyon will found out if America votes for it’s first ever African- American President or first female Veep. History is about to be made, that much we all know. The question is about the future – how will that history look in four or eight years?

Yet another call Center Idea

There are very few in my family that are truly entrepreneurial - my cousin Priya and her husband Eric fall into this minority. Other than being engaged successfully in business for a long term, they are also quick to provide those "million dollar" ideas. Here is one from Eric:

Set up a call center with my son Oyon (along with some of his friends, as volume grows). People who get un-wanted calls from telemarketers or market researchers press a code number on their phone to have these calls transfered to the Phone-Oyon. The unfortunate caller then goes round and round in a dialogue with this call center operators till he gives up and quits. The call center client can also ensure that future calls to his phone from the same caller ID goes straight to Phone-Oyon without even ringing at home.

To find out how it works - click here (need to have speakers on for this)

Objection, your honor

I had intended to blog about an incident that occured last December when I was presenting a project update to a community group at the Cape. I did not get around to it but I saw recently that the minutes from the meeting are available on-line. In lieu of my usual rambling blog, here's the script and stage directions, straight from the minutes. I just added an Intro and a couple of thoughts :-)

The IART is the Impact Area Review Team, a group consisting of army, agency and community representatives who review the environmental program at the Mass. Military Reservation. The cast of characters is as follows:
Walsh-Rogalski - USEPA lawyer on the Review Team
Mr. McDonaugh - Army Lawyer not on the Review Team
Mr. Cambareri, Mr. Mullenix and Mr. Lanteri - Concerned Citizen on the Review Team
Mr. Gangopadhyay - Your Humble Narrator
Act I, Scene I

Mr. Walsh-Rogalski stated that one of the conclusions being drawn seems to be that the disposal pits, rather than other areas, tend to be the source of contamination. Mr. Gangopadhyay replied that that’s correct. He also noted, however, that not all of the scattered items found throughout the area were inert – some were MEC items, but didn’t show any signs of leakage and therefore don’t seem to be causing contamination that could affect groundwater.

Mr. Walsh-Rogalski asked again if it’s correct that most of the munitions found in the disposal pit were inert. Mr. Gangopadhyay replied, "A lot of them, yes." Mr. Walsh-Rogalski then asked, "Nonetheless, you found these disposal pits to be a major source of contamination?" Mr. Gangopadhyay started to respond but was twice interrupted by Mr. Walsh-Rogalski asking him to answer the question. Mr. McDonagh, who was in the audience, asked Mr. Walsh-Rogalski to allow Mr. Gangopadhyay to answer.

(All I remember is Walsh-Rogalski screaming "ANSWER THE QUESTION!" over and over, while McDonagh kept shouting "LET HIM ANSWER !!".)

Act I, Scene II
Mr. Walsh-Rogalski noted that his point is that if the majority of the munitions found were in burial pits, and most of them were inert, it seems to make sense that very few of the found munitions would be cracked/leaking. Mr. Gangopadhyay said that that’s true. Mr. Walsh-Rogalski then said that if another thousand munitions that were fired on the range were found, "the proportion of munitions that were cracked or leaking would be much higher than what you’re presenting here, in all likelihood." Mr. Gangopadhyay replied, "Could be, yes."

Mr. Mullennix commented that it seems to him that Mr. Walsh-Rogalski was "leading the witness, and this isn’t a court of law," and he would prefer to see the presentation move along without that happening. Mr. Walsh-Rogalski said that he apologizes if his line of questioning was too aggressive, and added that it’s difficult to make points without asking questions.
(McDonagh kept shouting from the audience "HE's LEADING THE WITNESS". )

Mr. Gangopadhyay then continued with his presentation....

Act 2
... Mr. Cambareri (said he..) thinks that a law-like atmosphere is okay, but finds that "locker room catcalls from the audience" denigrate the formality of the IART...
Mr. McDonagh then closed by saying that as long as those speaking on behalf of the IAGWSP continue to be cross-examined, he will continue to speak up from the audience unless he’s told by "somebody higher up than anybody" at the meeting to stop doing so.
Mr. Cambareri said that he has "some trouble" with Mr. McDonagh’s response to his comments.
Mr. Lantery noted that many individuals at the meeting are paid to be there, but he is a volunteer, who participates in order to be informed. He said that he senses "hostility and aggression underlying the presentations, doesn’t appreciate it, and will stop coming to IART meetings if it continues. Mr. Lantery added that he doesn’t come to IART meeting to "get upset" and he recommended that everyone at the table leave their "animosity and hostilities at the door" if they want volunteer participation to continue.

The last bit struck a sober note in the midst of the chaos that goes by the label of community participation in environmental projcts. Thus, the fun ended for the night.

Samaritans

Let no act of kindness go unsung !

Driving this morning at 80 mph down the highway like I normally do, chatting on the cell phone, I suddenly noticed a car square up with me and maintain it's speed to stay parallel. Looking left, I was treated to the sight of the driver gesticulating and mouthing unintelligible words. "Road Rage" I think - the man looked like the comic-book store owner from the Simpsons, complete with ponytail. I decided that I would take a chance with this maniac since my life has been lately short on adventures, and rolled down the window. He did the same and I heard him shout at me "Pull over, or you will lose the rear tire".

It was true. I pulled in to a nearby rest area. The driver side rear tire was really low, though I did not feel it while driving. A few more miles of 80 mph and ka-boom was likely. I am not sure if there are any safety lights that come on for this stuff. Luckily, despite not having changed a tire in years, it took all of 15 minutes to locate the neatly-tucked away tools and get the mini-spare in place. Thanks to the gentleman's effort to inform me about my impending predicament, I was not stranded by the side of a road with a burst tire, trying to repalce a tire while dodging speeding cars.

इंडिया's Kerry Packer

Everybody is analyzing the world cup loss these days (stop and smell the fumes from Pakora Korner) -- too much cricket, too little exposure, players are soft and complacent, coach must go, captain must go, selectors must go, but expert commentators must stay on (how else would we know who should go?).

In the midst of all this comes the news of a parallel league in India. A $23M venture, involving two Indian internationals, four overseas players and eight juniors in each side, along with cricket academies equipped with state-of-the-art facilities across the country. Nothing like competition to liven things up, and nothing like investment in infrastructure to elicit and groom the talent that has to be out there. However, I think there remains a concern for burn-out. Part of the failure was that we simply did not have the intense urge to win. How else can one explain our losses, Team India is simply not able to keep up the pressure when it matters. We had Sri Lanka on the defensive at one point when we suddenly became the mouse in the game. Who from the Indian team gave a demonstrion of going all-out, like the catch Muralitharan took to dismiss dada.

It has been said that Indian cricket is going the way of hockey, where we are unable to keep pace as the game revolves more around fitness than skill. I think we should keep in mind that physical fitness helps to keep us on our toes but for truly inspirational play, mental fitness is also vital. Burn-out is detrimental to this cause. Perhaps the BCCI should look for some balance between cricket and R&R when it sorts things out with the proposed Indian Cricket League.