Ashok Vemuri’s Blog

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!

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.

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!

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!

I had to pinch myself before I could believe it - that a large, US-based employer is actually increasing health care benefits to their employees! Bank of America did the unthinkable, according to this post.

That seems like such an out-of-ordinary thing these days. The cost of health care has been steadily increasing over the years, and most employers have been either cutting down on benefits, or shifting more of the cost to employees, or both! But Bank of America did the exact opposite now, apparently by consolidating most of their health plans with one insurance provider (Aetna), there by passing the cost savings to their employees as additional benefits.

Here’re some of the goodies available to Bank of America’s employees from next year:

- $600 to $1200 in additional health care account contributions by the bank for employees making less than $100,000 a year
- Increased duration of maternity/paternity leave
- Additional money for childcare
- Additional tuition reimbursements

Could other employers, especially the larger ones, do the same?? Is it as simple as consolidating under a single provider or is there more to it? And what happens if that one provider wants to raise the costs, perhaps unreasonably, later on?

The bank customers in India are in for some good times starting next year!

Beginning April 2009, people in India can use any bank’s ATMs for cash withdrawals and balance enquiries for free, instead of having to go to their own bank. This is going to be a great convenience for everyone, and kudos to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for arm-twisting the banks into making this a reality!

I had been to India recently. New ATM machines have popped up almost everywhere, but it always seemed like there’s scope for a few more. It’s crazy, even more so during rush hours. You’d have to wait in line for 20-25 minutes at some of the ICICI bank ATMs in Hyderabad, and I’m sure it’s the same in most major cities. People still tend to use cash even for large transactions - and hence the rush at the ATMs, especially to withdraw money.

Now, will the same thing happen here in US anytime soon? The banks here reportedly make billions of dollars in ATM charges every year. Given the pressure on them to maintain their profits, in the backdrop of current mortgage mess, it seems unlikely to me. Oh well!

I recently had the chance (more of a misfortune, rather) to experience the state of healthcare in both US and India. The contrast in the whole process between the two countries is fascinating. If I ever find myself in a situation where I need to choose between one of the countries for medical treatment, it would be a very tough choice to make. “Which system is less negative?” would be the question I’d have to ask myself.

One of my family members was diagnosed with some serious health problems recently. He received his initial treatment here in US, and then flew to India for further treatment. When the patient was hospitalized in US, he was taken good care of for most part, although there were a few minor incidents that we wished didn’t happen.

But my biggest gripe about healthcare in US is the cost, especially if the patient is on one of those travelers insurance plans that don’t really cover much for pre-existing conditions. The hospital billed us (and the insurance company) at least 5 times their actual cost — and 10 times over for certain procedures like dialysis. Later on, we came to know that the hospitals routinely do that, because the travelers insurance companies typically pay only 10-15% of the billed amount. They also try to recover at least a portion of their losses from other unpaid bills too. So the hospitals look to cover their bases by billing inflated amounts. People like us get caught in that muddle, and trust me, it’s a very frustrating situation to be in.

Moving onto the scene in India, we took the patient to a reputed hospital in Hyderabad. The doctor made us wait for almost two hours, in spite of the patient’s condition. And when he finally arrived, he spent only five minutes with the patient. Within those five minutes, he answered three personal phone calls on his flashy cellphone, and asked us twice whether we already paid his consultation fees. The whole thing smacked of money-mindedness and I wondered if he was even paying any attention to the patient’s situation.

And the hospitals in India were not as clean, the support staff don’t always have time to tell you much information when you need it, and they expect to be bribed even for things they are supposed to do as part of their jobs. Not much accountability either, for it is next to impossible to do anything if things go wrong due to negligence on the part of hospital or doctors. But the best part is, the treatment costs only a fraction of what it does in US — as little as 5% in our case. So it’s a lot more affordable in India.

One might think it’s not fair to stereotype the healthcare systems in either country. Perhaps there are much better hospitals and doctors in both countries. But for most part, we tend to form our opinions based on our individual experiences. And my experience was anything but pleasant.

All these gripes and whining apart, the patient is doing well and recovering now. I guess that’s the ultimate bottomline!

I hope I am not the only one thinking like this!

I spend money on a lot of things between my paychecks, like we all do. Some of those purchases are necessary and some are not. But there is this small category of things, that are absolutely necessary, but I find very difficult to spend money on.

Getting a hair cut is one such thing. Not everyone looks like Dhoni in long hair, so I have to get a hair cut every few weeks. But the Super Cuts salon in my neighborhood charges 18 dollars for that. Spending so much for something as trivial as a hair cut….ah, I need some serious motivation to do that! Paying for luggage carts in airports, or for a car wash are a few other things in this category for me.

What’s on your list of such pet peeves??

I have an interesting story for you today!

The girl is 19 years old. Let’s call her ‘Heroine’. She is from a very famous family. She falls in love with a guy from a not-so-famous family. Let’s call the guy ‘Hero’. They both want to get married. Heroine apparently tells her parents about it, but as you can guess after watching so many Indian movies in your life, they say no.

A year passes by, and the Heroine decides to take matters into her own hands. She runs away from home with the Hero, and they both get married secretly. Their friends plan it to perfection, right from making all wedding arrangements to breaking the news to press in a dramatic fashion. The Hero and Heroine then disappear, nowhere to be seen. Not even the Hero’s parents.

The crowd goes wild. They love such stories, more so because the Heroine happens to be the daughter of their favorite movie star. The dad himself had starred in such roles in so many movies. Almost always, the Hero wins out at the end. So the crowd wants to know if the same thing happens in this case too.

A few days later, our Hero and Heroine show up in a far-away city, with attorneys by their side. The Heroine alleges that her husband now faces threats from her family and that they need security. Specifically, she points her fingers at her babai (dad’s younger brother) as the one threatening her husband.

Now a little bit about this babai. He is known to be cocky. So let’s call him that - Mr. Cocky. Rumor has it that goons belonging to a now-dead faction leader once shaved Mr. Cocky’s head and mustache as punishment for being, well, cocky in a real estate tiff. Anyway, coming back to our story, Cocky is now upset that the Heroine accused him of threatening her husband. He wants to prove his innocence. He goes to the nearest police station to hand over his licensed revolver, obviously to make a point that he no longer poses a threat to the newly weds, because he ain’t got no gun on him! But the press people wouldn’t leave him in peace. They want to know everything from him. So Mr. Cocky talks to the press outside the police station, with the revolver in his hand - a pose that would have made even James Bond proud!

You would have figured by now who this story is all about…err, it’s not really a story, but a “real life movie” currently playing out in Andhra Pradesh, my home state in India. Nobody knows how long this movie will play, or for that matter, what the ending would be. But I do hope that common sense will prevail eventually, and that there would indeed be a happy ending for the “movie”.

As for our Hero, he needs to find a job for himself quickly. Because running away with the girl is the easiest part. He now needs to support her through thick and thin, and hopefully make peace with the Heroine’s very famous family too!

I was listening to a talk show on NPR the other day. It was a fascinating discussion on how Internet is changing the way people, especially youngsters, seek and manage their relationships with others. One of the callers, who was a teacher, was wondering how kids are losing the sense for real life these days while chasing friendships and relationships online. In today’s world of MySpace and Facebook, she says, youngsters end up with a fake sense of importance and achievement - which is of very little consequence in real world.

As much as technology makes one’s life easier, I think she has a valid argument. A case in point - I keep getting these LinkedIn invitations from a lot of friends, the same people who don’t bother to call me to say hello even once a month. People want to have all those “network contacts” so they might be useful for a future job search. I mean, if someone is so serious about having me as a friend, why can’t they just pick up a phone and call me? Or even better, why can’t we meet up in person?

Another case in point - Google’s recent acquisition of Jaiku, a Finland-based Microblogging company. Microblogging is a fancy name for very frequent wireless updates to online friends about what someone is doing. The idea is you stay in touch with your online friends pretty much every minute you are awake. Honestly, who cares to know so much about others’ lives ?? What value does it add in real life !?

No matter how much technology comes into our lives, there is still no substitute for the good old personal ‘hello’ when it comes to friendships!

The ongoing one-day cricket series between India and Australia is showing all signs of getting very interesting in coming days - not entirely for cricketing reasons. There has been lot of ‘friendly talk’ between players from both sides and it’s beginning to get ridiculous.

Symonds started it all with his stupid comments about how Indians celebrated their Twenty20 success. Others soon joined the party - Hayden, Harbhajan, Sreesanth. Australians have always made such grand talk part of their strategy, and often followed it up with matching on-field performance. That is the problem with Indian team. They have only learned to match their opponents in talking trash, but they aren’t always consistent in how they play the game. They blow hot one day, and cold the following.

I hate the way Australians start this trash-talking in the first place, and then paint it as if they are the only angels in the garden. And they still get away with it because of their cricketing genius. If not for that, they would just be a bunch of bad losers!

United States is not the only country these days to have made a big mess and then desperately trying to find a face-saving way out of it. Here comes Pakistan!

I have been following the recent events in Pakistan - the Lal Masjid shootout in Islamabad and subsequent suicide attacks by religious fundamentalists on Pakistani army. While I am certainly not rejoicing the loss of innocent lives anywhere, I can’t help but hope it opens the eyes of Pakistani establishment in a way.

For years, Pakistan has funded and armed these religious fundamentalists in Kashmir, under the pretext of providing only moral support. We called them “terrorists” in India, but Pakistan chose to call them “Freedom Fighters” instead. According to media reports, lot of those so called freedom fighters were holed up in Lal Masjid and fighting their own army last week. Now if you look at the attacks on Pakistani army after the Lal Masjid incident, it’s easy to realize what a folly it was of Pakistani establishment to create this mess in the first place.

Call me a daydreamer, but I hope that Indian and Pakistani governments will one day fight this common enemy together!

I recently read a news article about a very interesting way to rob a bank. Some guy in Manchester, New Hampshire, robbed a bank in the funniest way you could ever imagine. He covered himself in tree branches (yes, that’s right, in tree branches), duct-taped to his body and head. The poor soul behind the cash counter was scared to death seeing this “moving tree” in the bank and gave away all the money to the robber.

But the bank’s security cameras did catch a glimpse of this guy’s face, which was then made public. A “friendly” neighbor of this robber tipped off the police who promptly arrested him!! The police must have had a good laugh about this whole incident, but they better treat this guy well — because trees are, after all, good for earth.

This link has a photo of the robber in the bank. Check it out!

Did you ever wish for the electricity to go out when you’re in an elevator? Or ever felt like running away from your car when filling up gas?

It seems to me that advertisement-supported/enhanced business models are pushing the line a bit too far. Almost to the point of no concern for consumer’s privacy and choice. I had a couple of experiences recently that bugged me to no end.

One of them happened today at the Shell gas station in Mountain View, near El Camino Real and 85 North intersection. They recently installed video screens on gas pumps that are showing ads (with very loud volume) the moment I started filling the gas. As if I am not already paying a fortune for the gas, I didn’t have a choice to _not_hear_ those annoying ads. They promptly stopped as soon as I was done filling up the gas.

The other incident was when I visited a friend at his office in San Jose downtown the other day. He works on the 7th floor of his office building, so I took the elevator to get there. And there was a monitor in the elevator that started showing me ads about some hotel/resort chain. You can’t do anything but watch those ads in the elevator.

As brilliant as these “business ideas” might be, I didn’t like the fact that there was no choice for me to avoid those ads. I felt trapped between my necessity and someone else’s greed. So for the gas station, I decided to do the ultimate thing I could as a consumer - I will not go to them again until they stop forcing ads on me. Now, that’s easier than convincing my friend to quit his job and join some company on his office building’s first floor!!

If you ever used a Mac, you’d know what a nice tool Stickies is. I find it very useful to quickly jot down any notes, to-do lists etc. that get autosaved. I recently came across something similar for Windows too — Stickies For Windows.

It comes with keyboard shortcuts for creating/deleting stickies. Would have been much nicer if they had a shortcut for viewing *ALL* stickies too, but check it out nevertheless. It’s a handy little app!