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.

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!

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!

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.

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!