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)