Ashok Vemuri’s Blog

March 6, 2009

Perspective and Peace of Mind Go Together!

Filed under: Online Rants — Ashok @ 9:46 am

I was at my daughter’s school yesterday to pick her up in the evening. There were these two women walking behind me. They were picking up their own kids, and they also had a toddler with them in a stroller. As I got out the gate, I held it open for these two women to come out, as a courtesy. If someone does the same favor for me, I would politely thank them, but these women didn’t. Instead, they brushed past me, pushing their stroller in a rush. I was mighty pissed off, for I thought it was very rude behavior on their part.

I then got into my car and started for home. There I saw these two women and their kids, hurriedly walking towards the bus stop close by, and the bus was just about to leave. Then it occurred to me why they were in such a rush at school. They didn’t want to miss the bus and so didn’t have time for pleasantries when I held the gate open for them.

Let me add a little more context here. It was a rainy evening, and these women didn’t have umbrellas with them for some reason. And the bus stop didn’t have a roof to keep them from getting wet. If they missed that bus, they would have to wait for the next one in rain, along with the kids.

That brings me to the lesson I have often heard over the years. Before you get upset with someone for their actions, maybe, just maybe, you should think about it from their perspective. You might be able to find at least some semi-convincing reason why they behaved the way they did. Probably not in all cases, but a few for sure. So what’s in it for you? Less blood pressure and a little more peace of mind – something we all could use!

March 5, 2009

Forgotten Election Promise?

Filed under: Online Rants — Ashok @ 5:01 pm

United States Congress is busy finalizing a huge spending bill, totaling nearly 410 billion dollars, to fund the federal government budget through rest of the fiscal year. It supposedly includes thousands of pet projects of law makers, costing more than 5 billion dollars. President Obama is expected to sign it into law.

In all fairness, not all of those pet projects might be called wasteful spending, but I am certain a lot of it is. As much an admirer of Obama that I am, I find it disappointing that he is willing to sign the bill. That, despite his election promises that he would no longer allow these pet projects, and that he would go line by line in the budget to eliminate them. The official response from his White House team is that this spending bill is an “unfinished business” from previous administration, and that he has no intention of vetoing it.

I don’t know if he is being “politically accommodative” by selectively picking his fights with law makers. May be he is, because he needs their support big time to push his agenda through in the coming days. But on the face of it, his willingness to sign the bill, with all the pet projects intact, seems like a forgotten election promise to me. There better be a good reason for it – because simply saying it is the previous administration’s unfinished business sounds like a lame excuse!

January 6, 2009

Spend More Money – It’s For Your Kid’s Benefit, After All!

Filed under: Online Rants — Ashok @ 11:39 am

There are lot of reasons why US economy went bust late last year, but one thing everyone seems to agree on is that we are too dependent on consumer spending. While that worked great for so long, easy money/credit is no longer available. That dries up consumer spending and everything comes down to earth with a thud.

I don’t know if US economy will ever move away from that focus on consumer spending, but I find it interesting how much the consumer is tempted to spend more and more. Here is an example.

My daughter goes to kindergarten. As with most 5 year olds, she loves reading books (or being read to). Yesterday, she came home with a sheet of paper from her school – it’s basically an “offer” to encourage kids to read, in partnership with Six Flags theme park. It goes like this: she has to read books for at least 500 minutes over the next 5 weeks or so. In return she would get a free entrance ticket to Six Flags theme park next summer.

Sounds like a good deal, right? She reads more and she gets a nice present. Well, the catch is, being a 5 year old, she can’t go to the theme park alone. An adult needs to accompany her. Given how we like to do things together as a family, that’s 3 extra tickets to buy! Since they don’t allow outside food to be brought into theme parks, we will end up spending exorbitant money for some lousy sandwiches and french fries there. Besides, the nearest Six Flags theme park for me is about 70 miles from my home; so think of all that extra driving and carbon emissions!

What’s really happening here is that Six Flags theme park is trying to make people spend money that they otherwise wouldn’t have. Everybody gets a cut in that extra spending – the theme park guys, the restaurant guys, the oil company guys, and so on. The schools play a willing partner in this because kids may read more (and who knows, they might be getting a cut too). A nice business strategy that supposedly has a positive effect on school kids.

So what am I complaining about here? After all, I would be helping my kid read more. Besides, I would be doing my bit to lift US economy out of the hole by spending money. Ironic indeed – we got into that hole because we spend way more than we can afford in the first place!

This is just an example of how much people are “encouraged” to spend here, even on borrowed money. I am not saying you should save it all and never spend a penny, but the balance is so heavily tilted towards spending here – you can’t help but wonder what’s happening with US economy right now is probably inevitable.

December 24, 2008

Going “Home”

Filed under: India — Tags: , , , , — Ashok @ 2:39 pm

Read an interesting article about expat Indians returning to India from United States – and then realize that India now is not the same as the India they left years ago. It’s interesting how people deal with that difference between expectations and reality. One thing that really stood out for me in that article is the following quote from one of the expats who has gone “home”:

In America, you can be comfortably unhappy. In India, you can be uncomfortably happy!

How true! That pretty much sums up my experience of living in these two countries!

December 12, 2008

Less Traffic On Bay Area Roads…

Filed under: Online Rants — Tags: , — Ashok @ 3:46 pm

The traffic on San Francisco bay area roads seems to have gone down quite a bit these days, especially in the last 3,4 weeks. I first thought it might be the Thanksgiving holidays, but there is probably more to it – the job layoffs! We seem to be bleeding hundreds of jobs everyday here.

I think this one is going to be lot more brutal compared to the tech bust in 2001/2002. Having gone through the pain ourselves back then, I can very well relate to the anxiety and uncertainty of those affected by these layoffs. It’s no fun.

Anyway, those people lucky enough to hold on to their dear jobs through these tough days will at least have less chaotic commute I guess!

December 5, 2008

Another War With Pakistan? Oh, Please, No!

Filed under: India — Tags: , , , , — Ashok @ 5:46 pm

Yet another terrorist attack in India, killing close to 180 people including Americans, Britons, and Israelis. My heart-felt condolences go out to the families of those killed or injured, and I hope passage of time will bring some comfort to them.

Lot of Indians are obviously upset with Pakistan, for what they think is the direct support provided by certain sections of their military and spy agency (ISI). But as of now, there doesn’t seem to be any direct role played by their civilian government in these attacks.

Going to war would be disastrous for both countries. India is in the middle of a great economic growth phase now and Pakistan on the brink of bankruptcy. The last thing both countries need is another war. I am fairly certain that most people in both countries would rather prefer peace.

For decades, the biggest problem for Pakistan has been the lack of a credible civilian government and democratic institutions like judiciary. Their military and ISI have exploited that situation, often using India as an excuse. Going to war now will only provide yet another opportunity for them to undercut the current civilian government in Pakistan.

Instead of starting a new war, I hope the Indian government uses diplomatic and economic pressure on Pakistan to get something good out of this attack. United States has a much bigger role to play this time (and a lot more to lose) in case of  war between the two rivals. Pakistan will almost certainly move its forces from Afghanistan border if a war breaks out with India, and that will only give breathing room to Taliban there. US would definitely want to avoid that. So I hope India would use that leverage to put pressure on Pakistan to deal with the terrorist organizations on their soil.

As for the masses back home in India, it’s easy to vent out on Pakistan, but what about the Indian government that utterly failed in preventing such attacks? Every time there is a terrorist attack in India, all hell breaks loose for a few days, and then everyone goes back to their lives – until the next attack strikes. We, as a collective nation, do not make sure the government does enough to prevent future attacks. Some say that daily life is such a struggle for most people in India that they don’t really care after a few days and just move on with their lives. I agree with that point, but when are we going to see an end to these terrorist attacks until we make sure we hold our own government responsible for earlier failures?

December 4, 2008

An Elephant That Can Paint!

Filed under: Uncategorized — Ashok @ 12:25 pm

Some of you might have seen this already – I just did, and was truly blown away by it! Check it out yourself.

November 5, 2008

Life For US-born Kids When Parents Choose To Work In India

Filed under: India — Tags: , , , , , , — Ashok @ 12:56 pm

I came across the following article in San Jose Mercury News today about how some US-born kids are coping with the change when their parents choose to work in India. This includes the expat Indians going back and the increasing numbers of non-Indians moving to India for work.

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_10898080

As a parent myself with a possibility of going back to India some day, it was very interesting for me to hear the perspective from the kids themselves. What’s more striking is the willingness of some of these kids to just accept that India and US have two very different cultures, and try not judge India based on those differences. Take it all in and focus on the positives – seems to be the best way to deal with it, and I hope these kids will be better off for this tremendous experience.

November 3, 2008

Tomorrow Is The Big Day In US!

Filed under: Politics — Tags: , , , , , , — Ashok @ 10:55 am

So the end is near for what has been a really long Presidential campaign in US. Tomorrow is the Election Day and we will hopefully know by tomorrow night who the next President is going to be. As a foreign national living in this country for 9+ years, with so much at stake in this election that will have an impact on my life – and yet with no vote to participate in the election process (heck, I am not even a permanent resident here; being able to vote is still a very long way out) — I stand on the sidelines and watch what is guaranteed to be a cracker of an election.

I live in California and it is a foregone conclusion that Democratic Party is going to win this state. So much so that neither of the candidates are making much effort to talk about Californians and local issues, except for blanket statements about country’s problems in general. Barack Obama sees no need to spend time/money in these final days of campaigning here because his party has a lock on this state. John McCain doesn’t bother because his Republican Party has simply given up on California. Instead, they focus almost entirely on a few swing states like Ohio, Virginia, and Florida where winners in past elections were decided by couple percentage points.

I am just curious if voters in non-swing states would feel disappointed about lack of “importance” in the election. How would it feel to be a Republican in California or a Democrat in Texas, knowing you hardly count in their calculations? Why should Ohio’s Joe the Plumber get so much more attention compared to a school teacher in California about to lose his job because the State can’t afford to keep those schools open? Nothing against the Joes and plumbers of this country, but why this disproportionately huge focus on just a few states and almost nothing on California?

The whole issue is rooted in the fact that the candidates get ALL electoral votes from a state if they are backed by majority of voters of that state. They are not allocated in the same proportion as the percentage of votes each candidate got. For example, even if Republican party manages 49.9% of polled votes in California against 50.1% votes for Democrats, they get NONE of the electoral votes from California. All electoral votes go to Democrats. That seems like a fundamental flaw in the way US practices democracy, even more so because California is the most populous state in the country. For all the preaching they do to rest of the world about democracy’s importance and virtues, I don’t understand why the US doesn’t fix that flaw at home. Democracy is supposed to be a reflection of majority’s opinions, but the large,  non-swing states like California don’t count for much in this election.

So what are Californians doing in this election? Judging by the campaign noise I see on the roads here, the biggest issue seems to be whether or not to vote for Prop 8 – a measure that would ban gay marriages in the state!

October 23, 2008

ISRO’s Chandrayaan-1 Success : Why Are Some People Unhappy?

Filed under: India, Technology — Tags: , , , , , — Ashok @ 10:19 am

Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has successfully launched Chandrayaan-1 yesterday, their first mission to Moon. This is the first step in a series of goals that will eventually lead to India sending manned spacecrafts to moon by 2015 or so. According to ISRO, the primary objectives of Chandrayaan-1 mission are:

- To place an unmanned spacecraft in an orbit around the moon

- To conduct mineralogical chemical mapping of the lunar surface

- To upgrade the technological base in the country

As an Indian, it makes me extremely proud that India has pulled this off – something only a very few countries managed to do so far. And to do this at an extremely low cost (relatively speaking, of course) – for appr. 80 million USD – is phenomenal.

This is a great technological achievement all right, but not everybody is happy, it seems. There are people who are arguing that India is wasting money on such things when a majority of its population lives in poverty. I personally find that argument funny. India’s problems are far more deep-rooted and far more systematic to be solved by a mere 80 million dollars. To use that as an excuse to prevent scientific research is a disservice to the country – especially when that research has great potential (economic or otherwise) to bring in future benefits.

ISRO has a long and successful history of turning their scientific research into greater benefit for the country. Think of their satellites that provide weather forecasts, think of their satellites that provide television programming to homes, think of the exciting prospect of some of today’s kids ending up as future scientists.  If we had stopped ISRO from spending money on all this research in the past 2,3 decades, Indian population wouldn’t have had all these goodies. And let’s not forget the increased respect India now commands on the international stage because of Chandrayaan-1 success.

I am sure people are more concerned about making it through their day-to-day lives. Someone selling vegetables on the streets obviously won’t be interested in sending a rocket to moon and its benefits. But that should not mean we should stop supporting our science and research.

Scientific research is not something that always produces immediate and tangible benefits. We need to have a long term perspective – with an eye on the track record of the organization in charge of that research. And as far track record is concerned, ISRO had delivered most of the times!

July 22, 2008

Manmohan Singh Wins Trust Vote…

Filed under: India, Politics — Tags: , , — Ashok @ 11:38 am

I don’t write about politics usually – especially the kind of ones played out in India, but couldn’t resist today! Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government survives no-confidence vote with a comfortable margin! The motion was sponsored by the Communist parties, in association with BJP and a ton of other regional parties. The reason they gave was their opposition to the proposed nuclear deal between India and US.

Not that I am a great fan of the ruling Congress Party, but this has come as a great relief to me, for two reasons:

  1. The Comminist parties’ bluff has finally been called! These “Chindians” are the most opportunistic political parties in India, whose single-point agenda is to oppose anything to do with US. They don’t mind sleeping with anyone if it serves their selfish purposes, country’s  welfare be damned. And oh yes, did I mention that the word “Chindians” is a cute short version of “Chinese Indians”!?
  2. It removes the political uncertainty for rest of the term for the government – should enable them to push the reforms agenda more aggressively.

Of course, the Congress Party will now have to deal with a new set of blackmailers (their new “friends” in the ever-changing political spectrum in India), but I hope the benefits of this trust vote victory will out-weigh all the negatives, for country’s sake.

July 11, 2008

Punctuality, What Punctuality?

Filed under: India, Online Rants — Tags: , , — Ashok @ 11:03 pm

One of the nice things about living in San Francisco bay area is the “Indianness” of the place. There are so many Indians here you don’t feel like you are too far away from your home town in India.

With lot of Indians come lot of Indian parties to attend. Parties where most of the folks tend to come late. Almost as a rule, especially if it involves other Indians. For example, if I throw a party and invite 50 Indians to it, I can guarantee that at least 40 of them will come late. Some of them will be way late. Now imagine an American friend as the host, and the same 50 folks as guests – most of the guests will make it on time!

The point here is, we Indians tend to feel much less obligation for punctuality towards other Indians. At least, most of us don’t. We take it for granted. No matter where we live, no matter what we do for a living, it just doesn’t seem to be a trait that comes from within. In fact, we had been to a few parties here where the hosts themselves showed up an hour late. Because they “assumed” everyone would be late anyway!

Lately, this bad habit seems to have caught up even with the Indian celebrities visiting US. We attended a music concert by Devi Sri Prasad today here in Milpitas. He is a famous music director of Telugu movies back in India – made a lot of name for himself with catchy compositions over past couple of years. The show was supposed to start at 7:30pm, but the man himself was nowhere to be seen until 8:45pm. The organizers of the show wouldn’t even bother to tell the audience when it was going to start. They were showing a video clip of Devi Sri Prasad with the punch line, “He is the Man!!”. And we were sitting there, wondering, “Where is the Man!!?”.

When the show finally started, it was a big relief. The songs, the music, and the singers were great and it was nice entertainment. I only wish the “Man” had a little more respect for other people’s time!

July 1, 2008

Effective “Timeout” For Kids

Filed under: Uncategorized — Ashok @ 1:27 pm

This one is for all you parents out there who break heads on how to enforce a “timeout” for a misbehaving kid at home – this is a must-read for you:

http://www.slate.com/id/2194331/

I find myself in this exact situation once a while with my kid, and I could definitely use the tips mentioned in this article. Check it out.

May 6, 2008

Afghanistan Bans Indian Soap Operas!

Filed under: Online Rants — Tags: , , , — Ashok @ 4:46 pm

I recently came across the news that Afghanistan has banned a few Indian soap operas from airing on their local television channels. Apparently because these soaps (or TV serials, as they are more commonly referred to in these parts of the world) are not in keeping with Afghani culture and religion. They are too “immoral” for their country, their government says.

You can argue how much you may about the logic in that decision, but I think it might eventually turn out to be a great decision after all. Most of these TV serials are pretty lousy anyway – unrealistically melodramatic and dragging on seemingly forever. Two or more women often fight for the glory of being “the most victimized woman in the whole known universe”. Add a couple of incompetent or over-jealous men, and a background score that over-dramatizes even silliest of the dialogues — you have a perfect formula for keeping people captivated to their couches for months together!

I think it’s amazing, in some ways. How these serials can catch the imagination of people with such plots. They are so popular that all television channels compete to cram more and more of the same into their programming. Try talking to people when these serials are on air — your words don’t even reach their ears. Try calling them on phone — not many would even bother to answer. People watch them with the concentration of a student giving his IIT JEE exam after years of preparation — as if their entire life depended on knowing what happens in that half hour episode. It is slow addiction at its wicked best.

Even more worrying is the long term impact these serials can have with all their negative portrayal of characters. There is this whole generation of kids growing up in India watching these every day. I have seen young kids in India use dialogues from these serials — totally out of context and way beyond their age. God only knows how skewed their brains will become if they continue to watch these serials for another ten years.

Coming back to the original topic of Afghani ban, I think their government is saving their people all this trouble, albeit unintentionally. It’s a different matter that they are having trouble enforcing the ban. But if they ever manage to do that, it would be one decision they can proudly look back on 20 years from now!

May 5, 2008

Visit to Natural Bridges State Beach, Santa Cruz

Filed under: Travel — Tags: , , , — Ashok @ 3:51 pm

We went to the Natural Bridges State Beach near Santa Cruz a few weeks ago. It was one of the first “really sunny” days of this summer. A few of our friends joined us with their kids and we all had a great time there.

One of the things I liked about this beach is that there is a pool of backwater right next to it. The water in that pool was nice and lukewarm, compared to the ice-cold ocean water just a few feet away. It was just about perfect for the kids and they had a blast playing in it.

Here are a couple of pictures from the visit.

This place also has a Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary, and the best time to see the migrating butterflies is from late October through February. We should probably check them out this winter!

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