Home is good

Having spent around three and a half weeks here in India back with the folks, I have gotten completely acclamatized to life here and it's really good to be home! It's a real pity that we have to pick up and leave soon. :(

On another note, I watched bits and pieces of John Kerry's speech last night. I thought he did quite well. Before this, I didn't have an opinion on the guy, but I kind of like him now. I wonder if I'm a democrat or a republican by idealogy? Hmmmm, how do I find out? . The polls indicate that Kerry has the slight edge over Bush. I wonder if he'll be able to widen the gap and actually win the race. A former colleague of mine insists that George W. Bush has already captured (figuratively of course, I'm not sure if he could personally catch a mosquito) Osama and will produce him shortly before the election (and win it thereby). We'll see...

On the move again...

I'm travelling again. I, the Boss and the folks have all come to Kerala for the weekend. The flight here was an extremely turbulent one. The Cynic and I sat next to each other on the flight and were wondering which bump would be our last. To make matters worse, we both started to get motion sick, him more than me. Thankfully, we were able to keep it bottled up till we reached Kochi. On the plane, we were served Sambar Sadam (Lentil rice) by a snarling air hostess. Well, I guess that's too harsh. But she certainly looked rather miffed with life. When a passenger sitting in front of us asked for something, this air hostess gave her quite a dirty look before obliging. The Cynic and I, in spite of our motion sickness, couldn't help but laugh.

Lousy college girls

The other day when the Boss asked me to accompany her to her alma mater, Stella Maris College, I was thrilled.  It was a chance to storm one of the bastions of college women.  In my unbridled enthusiasm, I forgot one important thing.  This was an all girls college.  The Boss was a woman.  Just when we were reaching the college I realized in panic that I would be the only guy on campus.   Yikes!  That's like going into battle against an army of tanks armed with nothing more than a toothpick.  I began to pray that classes would be going on during our visit.  On entering the campus, things were very quiet and I was thanking my lucky stars.  Then I heard what I thought was my death knell.  Halfway to our destination, the Dean's office, the bell rang for the morning break.  And girls started pouring out of everywhere.  Ordinarily, I would be quite enchanted, but I found myself quite petrified.  I've never seen so many women together in one place ever before.  And guess what, they all seemed to be peering at this strange funny intruder : me.  I was temped to bolt into one of the buildings close by but the Boss warned me that if I ran into the girl's hostel, there would be hell to pay.  So I did the next best thing.  I puffed up my rather tiny chest, sucked in my growing belly, put on my snootiest look and walked around with my nose in the air.  .  I like to think that I made a smart impression on the young women.  I like to think that they were saying "Who is that hunk walking around our campus with such style".   Somehow I feel that the Boss will disagree with my assessment.

Lousy Math

Today I spent the whole day brushing up my calculus concepts.  I remember precious little from school and it was painful to go through the motions of figuring out maxima, minima, definite integrals and what not.  I also had to learn some new terminology that is necessary for B-school.  Marginal costs, revenue and profits along with demand functions and other wonderfully boring stuff.  Well, if I don't have some idea about these things before school starts, I will be totally overwhelmed.  I am already feeling quite intimidated having contacted some of my future classmates.  Oh well...

 

The Vacation Begins...

After a couple of days of unwinding at Chennai, I was off to Kerala.  My destination was Ernakulam, where I would join my Boss at her parent's house.  After a couple is married, the tradition is that they visit the houses of all close relatives to pay their respects and receive the blessings of all and sundry.  After our marriage, there was simply no time to meet anyone except my granddad, so this time around, we had to make amends.  And so the visiting began.  When you visit relatives, one has to be prepared to eat enormous amounts of food.  Inordinately large amounts...  You see, every household expects the new bride and groom to have either lunch or dinner with them.  Since this is usually impossible, they prepare a feast and feed it to you regardless of what time of day you show up at their house.  So in the span of 5 days, I must have had a couple of weeks worth of food and several fornight's worth of tea and coffee.  Apart from this, we needed to consume large amounts of jackfruit halwa and banana chips.  .  The Boss has decided that she no longer likes halwa.  In fact, it's hard for her to look at a piece of halwa without gagging.  LOL! 

Some of the meals we had were veritable feasts.  Take for example the meal we had at a relative's in Kottayam.  I no longer remember how many courses the lunch consisted of.  Let me recount - We started off with Sweet Corn Chicken soup that was really well made.  Next was a Kerala speciality, Karimeen Pollichathu (which translates to Karimeen burnt.  Karimeen is a type of fish caught in the backwaters of Kerala.  It's a delicacy).  While I'm not a Karimeen fan, this particular preparation rocked.  Next was the course of cutlets, beef or pork, I'm not sure.  But what I do know was that it was delicious served along with Sarlas (a Salad of Red Onions and Vinegar).  At this point, I was full enough.  But then came the fried rice (Indian Chinese style) along with Chicken curry.  After the fried rice, we tried Parboiled rice with a myriad of Kerala curries of Pork and Beef, Prawns and Fried fish.  There was one vegetarian dish of Cabbage Thoren (Cabbage stir fried with coconut).  After this enormous meal, we had to make space for dessert, Halwa, Fruit salad and custard. 

Can you imagine eating this kind of a meal on a daily basis?  How about more than a daily basis...twice daily or more!  I can attest that while it is awesome in a way, it is also very tiring.  At the end of my week in Kerala, I felt like on of those geese that have been force fed to the gills in order to prepare Foie Gras. 

Kerala never ceases to amaze me in terms of its natural beauty.  The best way to describe it is this:  Imagine a lush green landscape of paddy fields and coconut trees.  Imagine lovely beaches and serene backwaters.  Now throw in traditionally architected houses, modern skyscrapers, beautiful mansions, thatched huts, and lots (LOTS) of people.   This is my native place, a land of real beauty.  For some pictures, click HERE.

Sadly, this is yet another place where civilization threatens to overrun nature.  Kerala used to be a place where every house was more or less self sufficient.  Vegetables were grown in the compound, livestock was bred.  Water was drawn from an old-style well.  This is being rapidly replaced by modernity: supermarkets, fast food joints, ready made food, characterless concrete buildings, and the list goes on.  In an age where the developed west is trying to shun processed food for organically grown food, we in India are doing just the opposite.  

One of the beautiful spots we visited near Ernakulam was Cherai Beach.  This beach has a resort that has recreated an ancient Kerala village.  The resort, which has the Arabian sea on one side and a backwater along the other has cottages that overlook the water.  The cottages have been recreated as authentically to have open-air bathrooms as well (of course, these are modern bathrooms, but you sit on the throne al fresco).  Fancy that! 

Well, after spending a week in Kerala, it was back to Chennai - with the Boss of course.  For what I'd been upto after that, stay tune...

Back home...

So I was back in Chennai.  The humidity hit me as soon as I left the airport terminal.  It wrapped me like a thick blanket and goaded my atrophied sweat glands into overdrive.  I think I may have shed half my water weight just waiting for my folks.  The temperature here in Chennai rarely goes above 37 centigrade, but at above 60% humidity, you definitely feel every centigrade of that heat in Chennai.  Strangely I wasn't jet lagged at all this time around, and was up and running the very next day after arriving in Chennai.  It was great to be home again.

I hate traveling

The trip to India was an extremely long and tiring one.  First of all, I had to endure a 13 hour flight from San Francisco to Hong Kong.  In addition to this, I made the humungous mistake of asking for an aisle seat.  This brainwave of mine cost me much valuable sleep because I had to keep getting up to make room for my fellow passengers who had to take bathroom breaks.  It was exceedingly frustrating and it was all I could do to keep smiling and oblige.  :-). 

In any case, the one hour halt at Hong Kong was nice.  The various airport shops like the Giordano outlet for clothing, the Watson's pharmacy and the Maxim's fast food outlet that brought back many memories of my two year stay in Hong Kong when I was younger. 

When we got back onto the plane, my row-mates on the plane took pity on me and asked me if I wanted the window seat.  I gladly accepted and spent the next three hours blissfully sleeping.  The next stop was Singapore and I had to wait 8 hours before I could catch my connection to Chennai.  I think I did just about everything in Changi airport that day except sleep.  Since I wasn't feeling upto taking a day tour of the city and getting motion sick, I explored the airport.  And how??  I spent time meditating in the Orchid garden and the Sunflower Patio.  I had some Makkan (Malay for food) consisting of ladysfinger (okra) curry and rice.  Yummy!  I took the train between terminal 1 and terminal 2 thrice for the heck of it.  I walked from McDonalds to McDonalds and agonized over whether I should have Chicken McNuggets or French Fries.  I watched a movie in the airport theatre (This was pretty sad.  They constantly show Star Movies in a small theatre of sorts and call it 24 movies.  Well it is...but Star Movies doesn't really count - it's cable!!).  I drooled over the latest electronic gadgetry in the numerous electronics shops in the two terminals.  I was tempted to buy three very cool cellular phones in the process.  I watched a soccer match from the Europeans championship and of course walked...a LOT! 

Boy was I glad to get onto that final flight to Chennai.  The flight to Chennai was half empty.  Not surprising I found out later. Since so many airlines now fly that sector,  there are always seats available.  I had a great conversation with an Entrepreneur that made the trip and the scary turbulence less of a bother.  Usually, turbulence on a plane starts me thinking of why I haven't gotten my will in order.  I can't get over the fact that there is nothing but air 30000 feet between my feet and terra firma.  Thanks to Mr. Entrepreneur, I was in Chennai before long.  After waiting the customary eternity for my bags to roll out on the conveyer belt, I was out at the terminal curbside - but unable to find a single soul to greet me.  LOL.  But in ten minutes, my parents and brother showed up citing heavy traffic as the reason for the delayed arrival.   Hmmmm...:-)

Transitions

I'd promised a travelogue about this trip of mine to India, but I haven't been able to make good on that till now. But better late than never, right?

Leaving a place of familiarity is always hard because it's so easy to get into a comfort zone.  California and Cadence were no different.  When I left Boston, I felt a deep sense of loss because I was leaving my first place of employment and a number of very close friends.  I guess I even sort of resented California in the beginning.  The close-to-perfect weather used to sometimes get to me.  The frantic pace of the workplace left me me longing for the seemingly idyllic time I had in Boston.  The only plus point in the beginning at California was that I was once again close to several of my dearest friends again. 

But with time, California and Cadence grew on me.  At the workplace, hard work began to pay off and I found myself actually relishing the competitive atmosphere.  Heck, I started to bond with the very colleagues that I had found rather cold and unfriendly when I'd first started.  The weather in California is definitely close to perfect.  There is definitely a sense of character to have four seasons like we experienced in Massachusetts.  The change in color and surroundings are lovely to behold and I missed it sorely, but in California the sun always shone.  It was always a good day to go for a hike or a picnic (not that I had the time to indulge in such activities).  :-).  Within a few months, it had become home. 

So it was hard to make the decision to move on - professionally and personally.  But hard as though it is, change is inevitable, right?

More cricket

I didn't finish what I wanted to say in my earlier post about cricket.

My impression of the Indian side is undoubtedly positive.  They are a great bunch of cricketers.  The young blood has definitely made for an enthsiastic side that is willing to push the envelope in order to win.  The fielding of some of the newer players, namely Yuvraj, Kaif, Harbhajan, Pathan, and Zaheer Khan is a revelation.  I mean, I used to see some pretty pathetic fielding efforts a few years ago.  But this bunch is good.  The few exceptions are Kumble, Ganguly and Tendulkar to some extent.  The old guns still retain a reluctance to develop the techniques required to be highly competitive fielders.  All in all, it is a much better fielding side - finally we have people who can win matches through their fielding.  Phew...

The running between the wickets of the Indian side is also very much improved.  The marked exception to this is Ganguly.  But again, generally, it has been great to watch the batsman take the battle to the fielders and challenge them regularly.

Finally, let me say that the cricket played by Sri Lanka and Pakistan against India was top notch.  India was hugely lucky to win the last match against Sri Lanka.  The Lankans did not hit any big shots.  On a wicket that was getting harder and harder to play on, Jayasuriya and his teammates simply kept rotating the strike and the scoreboard ticking.  They got 5-6 runs an over every over.  The asking rate never went above 6 until the penultimate over.  And they achieved this through singles, doubles and the occasional boundary - not by one man, but the entire team.   India got really lucky with that win - it should have rightly been Sri Lanka's.   We have much to learn from them. 

 

Catching up on cricket

Living in the United States means that cricket action is hard to come by.  During this trip to India, I was lucky enough to watch the 2004 Asia cup matches.  I have my fair share of comments on the performance of the current Indian side and its opponents.  I will qualify all my remarks by saying that they refer to the One Day International performance of the side.

Sachin Tendulkar
There have been plenty already said about Tendulkar and how good he is.  I've also read much about how he isn't a match winner when compared to the likes of Steven Waugh, Sanath Jayasuriya and others.  Even though I'm not an expert on cricket technique, some things were quite apparent to me.

While Tendulkar has not changed much in that he remains a shrewed competitive cricketer, his approach to batting has most certainly changed.  He publicly acknowledges the change in attitude and adamantly insists that it is the right approach for the success of the team.  However, it is clear to me having watched him play three long innings in three matches that this approach will not only serve him badly but will also hurt the team.  So what is this change in attitude?

Well, simply said, Tendulkar believes that he needs to play an anchorman role in the Indian innings.  This results in him playing with quite a circumspective approach to his batting.  There are several problems to this approach.  First of all, this circumspection disallows him to take full advantage of the field placements during the first 15 overs.  Second, his emphasis on survival at the crease (with sound defensive technique) results in very poor strike rotation.  The worst thing about these changes is that he is hampering his natural batting flair.  He has developed the habit of playing across the line of the delivery exposing him often to lbw decisions.  Furthermore, his footwork has begun to suffer leading to poor offside strokes.  What I remember most vividly about Tendulkar from a few years ago was his glorious cover drives and straight drives.  They have been replaced by tentative onside strokes (even to deliveries pitched outside off stump) played with awkward shuffling of the feet.  Once in a blue moon, vintage Tendulkar is on display, but these moments are few and far between. 

This is a huge problem for the Indian side.  We already have an anchorman in Rahul Dravid.  We have great one day cricketers in Yuvraj Singh and Mohammed Kaif.  We have greater strikers of the ball in Ganguly and Sehwag.  We need Tendulkar to be, well, Tendulkar.  So someone needs to disillusion him, either the coach or the captain.  Someone needs to tell him that he needs to bat the way that he used to: with uninhibition and authority.  Only then will our side attain the balance it needs in its batting lineup.



 

Beginnings

I only tried my hand at blogging briefly earlier this year and enjoyed it.  One of the things that I miss about being near all of my friends all of the time is the ability to share my thoughts with them.  I'm hoping that this blog will at least in part, make up for the geographical distances that life puts between us.