An Authentic Halloween Story - the Confederate Cellophane lover

This is not one of those traditional ghost stories. I would never have shared this incident, unless it was recorded and reported by the researchers of US Paranormal activities. This one took place in Olustee State Park in Florida.

An Annual Civil War Ball was held in the state park, where a major Civil War battle was fought in the early 1860s, between the Northern Union Army and the Southern Confederates. It attracts Paranormal activity folks who have captured Orbs and Ribbons of light on digital cameras. Unusual Floating orbs have appeared on video recordings in that park.

While enacting mock battle, one enactor recalled getting an eerie feeling, hearing a voice repeating "Have you seen the elephant" - a Civil War euphemism for experiencing combat.

Another enactor strayed deep into the park and saw this guy decked in old "Confederate" garb. This skinny, ragged, tired looking guy was barefoot, sitting next to a tree in a sparsely vegetated area.

This unusual looking man walked to this enactor, addressing him "Howdy" in a strange, croaky voice - Do you have a "chaw", a slang for chewing tobacco. The reenactor pulled a strip of chewing tobacco out of his pocket and handed over to this strange looking person, whom he thought as another fellow enactor.

The guy unwrapped it and popped the tobacco into his mouth, as he held the cellophane up in the air and looked through it. He studied it a bit and asked, "What's this made of ?"

The reenactor replied, "It's cellophane", thinking this stranger is poking fun at him. He again asked, if he can keep the cellophane. The reenactor nodded and continued his trail.

Moments later, when he turned back to wave goodbye to the stranger, the later simply vanished. That area was flat land with sparse shrubs, typical of marshy Florida. The lone tree standing was too short and too thin to block the view. No human could have vanished too fast, too soon.

The reenactor now walked faster, panting and puffing, never bothering to look back. He soon narrated his experience to others. Neither he, nor any one from rest of the enactors saw anyone matching such description.

After reaching home, the reenactor looked up information on cellophane and learned that it wasn't invented until year 1908. The American Civil War took place a good 50 years back. It explained the stranger giving a strange look at the cellophane wrap and kept it as a time warped souvenir.

Ab ke baar Trump Sarkar

Donald Trump spoke a few words in Hindi AB KI BAR, TRUMP SARKAR - meaning, "It's now turn for Trump government". He perhaps speaks better Hindi than our Chief Minister's Odisha speaks Odia.

Indian Americans, the Americans of Indian origin (not to be confused with American Indians or Native - Red Indians who are the original inhabitants of the land) constitute little more than 3 million - nearly 1% of the total population of USA. Though small, they can make a dent in the electorally crucial swing states of Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Demographically they are 51% Hindu, 18% Christian (many born Hindus are converted influenced by Evangelicals), 14% non-believers (I am veering towards that), 10% Muslims, 5% Sikhs and rest immaterial. So unlike India, where Hindus make 82% of the population, they are just above the halfway mark in US.

Hence, knowing well that 2/3rd of Indians are Democrats or Democratic leaning, and the antagonism of Muslims towards him, Trump is betting on the Hindu audience amongst the Indian Americans. That's the reason he used the occasion of Hindu festival Diwali to target his base amongst Indian Americans.

With time running out and the election tightening over the FBI doing further investigation into Hillary's email, Trump is leaving no stones unturned, as every vote counts - from Indian Americans or otherwise.

Won't be surprised if Hillary Clinton also comes out speaking a word or two in Hindi, though a 2/3rd support is assuring, nothing can ever taken for granted in politics.

Importance of Florida in Election 2016

Exactly one Tuesday from now, just 2 weeks ahead, America is going to decide arguably the most powerful person on earth. DonaldTrump and Hillary Clinton are Campaigning hard in the crucial swing state of Florida, which opened its polling booths for early voting from yesterday.

As voters line up to vote in this warm, Sunshine state - better known for no State Income tax and Tourism, the candidates had several campaign events lined up past few days, including today. Learning from last election of 2012, when Hispanics stood on line for hours mostly voting for Obama, the candidates are leaving no stones unturned to making their supporters turning out to vote.

Why Florida is so crucial ? Because it carries 29 crucial Electoral college votes - next only to California (54), Texas (38), New York (34). With California and New York solidly voting for Hillary and Texas for Trump (though by a lesser margin), Florida is too important a swing state to be ignored.

So stakes are higher for Trump to win Florida - as it is a must win state for him. Without winning Florida, his path to White House is virtually sealed.

North Florida is mostly Republican and South Florida, Democratic as the state's demography is changing fast. It's said the more South you go in Florida, more North it gets, alluding to the baby boomers from North of United States who settle in South Florida post retirement, lured by its warm, salubrious weather. They tend to be mostly Democratic who, along with a sizable number of Hispanics, have changed Florida's political landscape.

The important I-4 corrider, connecting the populous cities of Tampa and Orlando could very well decide the next US President - as this sector is evenly populated with Republicans and Democrats, though of late, it is showing a tilt towards Democrats.

In nutshell - indications are there of this race keeps tightening, the Corrider of I-4 Highway in Florida could very well determine the outcome of this election. Buckle up for a rough ride on the election night.

Birthday of United Nations

Today is the Birthday of United Nations, world's biggest, bloated bureaucracy,  housing a bunch of entitlement seekers, famous for their efficiency and lack of accountability. A spineless organization, it is known more for failures than success on its Balance Sheet ever since its inception in 1945.

A sizable amount of its maintenance is born by the Americans Taxpayers. Now high time it is dissolved, or US kicks them out of its own soil. What a blatant waste of prime real estate properties in New York and Washington DC, which can be used for far better purpose.

The nations in United Nations, in contrary to the name suggests, are hardly United. In spite of tons of money poured into many poor nations (mostly American money), those nations still languish in poverty. Those who have succeeded in moving 10s of millions out of poverty (notably China and India), have done so by helping themselves and with some help from Private charitable agenies, rather than anything remotely from UN.

At least a year ago Saudi Arabia headed the UN council of Human Rights. Amongst its other members is China, another Champion of human rights violation, completing the league of distinguished gentlemen of the so called protectors of Human rights.

The Security Council is used as the personal fiefdom of its veto wielding members, to further their own selfish agenda. It has hardly achieved any world peace and stability, which was supposed to be the primary goal when the organization was formed 70 years ago.

In June, 1981 following the Israeli strike on the Iraqi Nuclear Reactor on the outskirtsof Baghdad, US promptly vetoed any UN resolution against Israel.

I still vividly remember this cartoon by R K Laxman on the front page of Times Of India, where the UN Secretary General says to the recalcitrant, mockingly grimacing Israeli PM - "The more you launch such an attack, you will be condemned more severely".

35 years down the road, not much has changed. Now Philippines threatens to come out if UN, a trend would be set for more nations to come out of this behemoth global Babudom. Hopefully it is the harbinger of the demise of this monolithic structure, the sooner the better.

So, Why stick to an institute which after scores of years of existence, has far more failures than achievements to its credit. In my opinion completely getting rid of it, won't hurt anything. A world without UN will be more or less the same - sans billions of wasted dollars.

How Macaca moment changed the political landscape of Virginia

The state of Virginia, which once was a reliably Republican citadel, has now turned Blue. For those uninitiated about American politics - Red is the color of Republicans and Blue the color of Democrats.

Arguably the first breach in this Republican fort, just south of US Capital Washington DC came in the Senate election of 2008 - the credit for which goes to a young Indian American named S R Sidharth.

20 year old Sidharth was filming a campaign by the 2 time sitting Republican Senator George Allen, who was running for his 3rd term. When he saw Sidharth, the senator exclaimed - "Let's give a welcome to the Macaca here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia".

It was clearly a racist comment and was exploited to the hilt by his Democrat opponent. In spite of the prompt apology from George Allen, the poll numbers of the otherwise comfortably leading Republican candidate started to sink, enough for give his Democrat opponent a narrow victory on the election day.

No question Allen's " Macaca moment" led to his downfall, from which he could never recover. Once considered a prospective Presidential candidate, he could never get elected, his racist remark being the last nail on his political Coffin.

No doubt Sidharth was the harbinger of the beginning of the end of Republican dominance of the state of Virginia. Two years later, Barack Obama carried the state - by a Democratic Presidential candidate after 44 years, first time since 1964.

Obama again carried Virginia again in 2012. Now both the Senators, the Governor being Democrats and Hillary leading Trump by double digits, the transformation of the state from a solid Red to a Blue state is complete.

The main reason behind this change - the demography of Virginia is getting more and more the reliably Democrats, as the College educated, immigrants are flooding the northern part of the state of  DC suburbs (same case in Research Triangle area of Raleigh, North Carolina has made it a swing state).

Yet, S R Sidharth will go down in history as the pioneer who opened up the floodgates of Republican levee, letting the Democrats to barge in, by handing George Allen his "Macaca moment" and changing the electoral map of Virginia and America.

Trump's low support amongst women - Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned

Trump is either leading or is pretty competitive with Hillary among most segments of the electorates, except WOMEN where he is now trailing his opponent by 20 points. If only Trump can reduce this gap by half, he will give Hillary fun for money. But it's not likely, as time is the luxury he doesn't have.

It's not unusual in America for husband to vote Republican, while wife votes Democrat. Fair and balanced. Not so in our house. I voted twice for Obama (he didn't win Georgia), whereas Tanujaa being apathetic to politics didn't even bother to vote.

My mother, least inclined towards politics, religiously accompanied my father to the nearest voting booth of BJB College, Bhubaneswar. She would cast her vote in favor of the person my father nods at, except one occasion when she violated the norm.

In the Parliament election held in the year 1984 on the aftermath of Indira Gandhi's assassination, she voted for the Congress Party nominee against my father's instruction to vote for the eventually losing candidate from CPM, Shivaji Patnaik.

My dad voted with his head, while mom voted with her heart - her change of heart was due to the sympathy generated from watching the funeral of a slain woman PM and undisputed leader of India at that time, vividly telecast TV.

I am sure women played a signified role in giving a massive, historic mandate to Congress in that election. Even the Left bastion of Bengal suffered a jolt, as Jyoti Basu opined - Indira dead is powerful than Indira alive.

They then voted Indira Gandhi out of sympathy, they will vote against Trump out of scorn. Either way - the decisive factor are the women, who form the single largest minority. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

Sum hospital tragedy in Bhubaneswar

More than a score died and still more were maimed in an avoidable tragedy in my hometown Bhubaneswar back home. If reports of safety mesures and drill, or rather lack of it, are to be believed, the tragedy of SUM Hospital can be summed up as follows.

Shit happens. Do we take appropriate safety, preventive measures ever, learn from it and plug our lacunae with concrete actions ?

In my workplace, the employees need to go through mandatory Safety drills - with mock fire and tornado evacuations. Every section (there are 4 of them in each floor of our building) has a designated Safety Monitor with backup.

He or she, wearing a identifiable jacket leads the team members to the designated security areas. Elevators are strict no no in case of evacuation, mock or real. Every one MUST take stairs. For fire, one must step out outside the building and for Tornado, the basement area or desigmated Tornado shelters inside the workplace.

Once a burnt popcorn in a microwave triggered the high sensitive, higher pitched, highest shrill Fire Alarm. We got immediate out of the building in a few minutes. Mind it, this is a workplace of healthy individuals. In Hospitals, where we have incapacitated patients, the procedures should be more stringent and properly in place.

But will we ever learn from this ? Public memory is very short, so your guess is as good as mine.

Trump as president is not going to dump Pakistan

It seems many folks back in India are upset with the likely defeat of Trump in the upcoming Presidential election. The reason - in their prism of view, they have construed Trump's anti Muslim rants as his his intention to punish Pakistan, a perennial thorn in the flesh of India.

I am no fan of Hillary. I didn't vote for her twice, both in 2008 and 2016 primaries. But I am sorry, even if Trump makes an unlikely comeback and wins the elections, he will hardly do anything close to satisfy the wish of many back home. Chances are that he could further molly coddle Pakistan at a time US is getting out of Afghanistan.

To all the knowledgeable and not so knowledgeable ones about America - Uncle Sam diligently follows a purely self interest driven foreign policy, principles be damned, whether we like it not. Historically they preach democracy but have no qualms about dealing with sundry dictators from Shah, Marcos, Zia, Musharaf et all.

Post Nuclear deal with Iran, US has signed a $25 Billion Boeing deal with its perennial bette noire. It's the best recent example hoe Uncle Sam is ready to break bread with someone its declared terrorist state for preservation of its self interest.

The other erroneous perception is Republican Presidents are more friendly towards India and less towards Pakistan here is some statistics to chew on :

1. Dwight Eisenhower totally embraced Pakistan at the cost of India.
2. Richard Nixon sent 7th fleet to India during 1971 war and referred to Indira Gandhi as that bi**ch.
3. Ronald Reagan armed Zia's Pakistan to teeth caring a damn about India.
4. George Bush Sr hardly cared about India. His son preferred Musharaf after 9/11, though India offered blank check of help to US.
All the above are Republicans.

So, I have no reason to believe that Trump will be anything different from his predecessors. Business wise India is not China, Japan or EU. Neither strategically it is Syria, Middle East, North Korea or Afghanistan, especially the later where US acknowledges Pakistan being a central factor. Hence don't presume an cataclysmic shift in American position as far as Indo-Pak relationship goes.

Trump is toast with this October surprise

"When you are a Star you can grope women. You can do anything, Grab them by the pu**y. You can do anything" - says Trump in a tape just released by Washington Post (the same newspaper which exposed Watergate Scandal). It comes as a classic October surprise, at the peak of US Presidential campaign, exactly a month before the election.

Trump now dismisses it as locker room banter. But skeletons from locker room cupboards has come back to haunt him, more devastating than the Hurricane Matthew currently pounding south east coast of America.

Most men are known to do some trash talking about women, often exaggerating and boasting about their machismo. But this is not just an isolated braggadocio by Trump in the company his College mates.
It is one his several comments disparaging women as 'fat pigs,' 'dogs,' 'slobs,' and 'disgusting animals'. He once told a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice - it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees.

Does that sound like the temperament of a man to be the president of United States of America, arguably the most powerful position on surface of earth ? Politics is a matter of perception and this image of Trump being obnoxiously disrespectful towards women is going to cost him the Presidency.

Sorry Republicans - your candidate is now toast and it will need a miracle to recover from this point. The party which nominated the likes of Abe Lincoln to Ronald Reagan deserved much better. Hillary can now chose the drapery of White House curtains and her cabinet.

Lincoln - Douglas debate of 1860

The American Presidential debates can be traced back to more than 150 years ago, to 1860 where Abraham Lincoln of Republican party had his debate with his Democrat opponent Douglas.

The famous verbal duel, also known as Lincoln - Douglas debate was mostly about slavery. Douglas unequivocally supported slavery and famously proclaimed during the debate - I don't consider a negro as my equal.

The audience came to the conclusion that Douglas won the debate. Those days there sans Radio or Television. But by the help of Telegraph and Train, the best available modes of communication in air and ground, the news spread fast. Soon Newspapers declared Douglas as the victor in the debate.

But the strapping 6 feeter and still clean shaven Abraham Lincoln had the last laugh as he went on winning the Presidential election of 1960, witb 59% if the votes.

No sooner than he took as the President of United States, 7 States in the South announced to secede from the Union, laying foundation for the Civil War (1861-65).

Rest we know is history. Ironically the Republican Party, the party of Abe Lincoln who fought against Slavery is represented now by a political buffoon and bigot named Donald Trump. The Democratic party, who supported slavery then is backed now by 90% of Blacks and most of the rest of the minorities.

Kejriwal - A hope belied

This man Arvind Kejriwal - love him or hate him, can't ignore him for his penchant for staying in the limelight. Like a moth to fire, come a crisis, he jumps right into it, attracting enough attention to be newsworty in this era of 24x7 New cycle.

He is a smart politicians who understands the nation's pulse, and understands that to be lucky, one needs to be at the right place at the right time. So he manufacturers or manipulates news for himself. On the other hand, we the people, knowingly or inadvertently contribute to his ambition by readily falling for his antics.

An IITian who qualified for Civil Services (I am sure he joined with a vested interest, certainly not a burning patriotic desire to serve the nation, the usual tall lines from Civil Service aspirants).

AK, popular acronym for Arvind Kejriwal, was smart enough to understand politics where perception matters. Soon he figured out, the best way to commence his political career was sitting next to Anna Hazare, which would enhance his image as a fighter against corruption and catapult him into national limelight.

He also understood that histrionics matter in a cynical nation, explained by the popularity of Bollywood movies (In some South Indian states the thin line between Cinema and Politics has long evaporated). So from the day one he started his NAUTANKI (tantrums), media readily fell for it. It gave him the much sought after attention which he quickly grabbed and media their TRP. Public hankering for a messiah who can bring cataclysmic changes, readily bought it.

He travelled on Delhi Metro to his office during WOH 49 DIN (the number of days of his first short term tenure as CM). He sold himself to the electorates by coughing a bit more than necessary on camera wrapped in his trademark muffler, slept on roadside in January cold and following summer had photo shoots while jumping into Ganga. Though fully assured of his defeat, the diminutive, shewd AK figured out that standing against a resurgent Modi in Varanasi is the best way to capture nation's attention and imagination. He got both in spite of his defeat.

This is Kejriwal's way of story telling, but it tells a lot of story. All he has offered to the Delhites nothing but freebies which may not be sustainable on the long run. Being autocratic, he is now no 1 to no 10 in his party, not allowing any inside debate or disagreement.

His party's manifesto offers nothing new, looks like a carbon copy of old Congress socialist party.  He hobnobs with likes of Laloo and Mulayam, political thief of thieves. And his latest antics, questioning the much discussed "surgical strike". By going against the zingoistic tide, Kejriwal yet vindicates his forte, his innate ability to stay in the news cycle.

By doing so he has taken a calculated risk - as in any profession, there is no gain without risk. But the image of AAP has already taken a hit. The party is no more seen as the alternative one wished for - that's the whole point. It's trump card, his party's projection as a cleaner party with a difference and a long term alternative to mainstream parties has suffered a dent.

To end on a lighter note - as the approaching winter reminds me of his grey sweater and muffer clad attire, my ode to him :

KEJRI RE        KEJRI RE
TERE PYARE PYARE MUFFLER.

Lotus shaped fans

One of the first things I noticed when I entered into my first year in BJB College, Bhubaneswar was the fans on the roof. They were invariably lotus shaped, most probaly untouched by electricity.

The students were creative enough to bend the rules and bend those hapless fans into lotus shaped junks. Not sure what motivated them to channel their creativity to metallic weaving, for the fans were great assets in hot and humid weathers.

If this happened in BJB College, then one of the premium education institute in Odisha during our time, then forget about the rest. Thankfully the weather of Bhubaneswar was salubrious those days. The absence of windows in the classrooms was a blessing in disguise as it provided cross ventilation for the cool breeze then to barge in providing much needed relief.

The wafts of the nature's conditioned air of those days can beat the best of the best Air Conditioning any day, any time. But it was not always the case. I still remember wiping off beads of perspiration from my forehead while writing exams on hot and humid days. In spite of my best effort a drop or two of those always fell on the answer paper no matter what.

When it happened I squeezed my mouth into a pig's snort desperately blowing away my exhaled air to dry off the paper and move on. If drops from the forehead and damage to the answer sheets were minimal, cut those lines and fetch an extra paper of answer sheet to rewrite the lines.

Not sure, if things are better or worst these days. I studied only for couple of years in that college before moving on to REC (now NIT) Rourkeka, where we had electricity, fans had access to them and students were no fans of BJP's election symbol (Lotus). Yet those were the days. ZINDAGI NAA MILEGA DOBAARA (Life will never come again).

Sermoning religious edicts inside a Mall

The fallacy of pacifism is aptly described by this episode from our Ancient short story anthology named PANCHATANTRA (The Five Treatise) credited to Vishnu Sharma.

A bird tries to teach compassion and nonviolence to a recalcitrant monkey. It had no effect on the simian. No sooner than the bird reached its vicinity, the defiant monkey grabbed the bird and killed it.

The moral of the story - teach morality to someone who can take it. Endeavoring to do the same to rascals is not only futile, can backfire big time.

Glad India realized late that sermons, friendly visits by leaders to Pakistan was not only meaningless, it also backfired, making our western neighbor more belligerent towards us. Soon it returned in kind by launching some spectacular attacks on our soil. One learns from mistakes. For us, it's always better to be late than never.

History stands testimony to myriads such events. Mahatma Gandhi, whose birthday is incidentally today, wrote a letter to Adolf Hitler of Nazi Germany on the eve of World War II. He tried to dissuade the pugnacious Fuhrer from attacking. Hitler hardly heeded to the  protagonist of non violence and went on blitzkrieg through the continent of Europe.

Can't finish my blog without mentioning a related, classic Odia proverb HATA MAJHIRE BRAHMA GYANA - "Sermoning religious edicts inside the Mall". Another example of teaching right things at wrong place can boomerang.

A few of my idealist friends in my Engineering College formed a group called BAPUJI PATHA CHAKRA (Gandhian Study Circle), espousing vegetarianism, zero alcoholic drinks and no "LINE MAARING" (Girl chasing) in Sectors of Rourkela. Don't know how many joined, as those principles were complete anathema to the mainstream Engineering College students.

The idea was either stillborn or ludicrous enough to attract more than half a dozen followers. Never heard about this Gandhian endeavor ever getting a foothold on this arguably one of the top notch Engineering Colleges in Eastern India.

On the other hand, it prevented those internally seeking good things in life from experimenting them. They didn't want to be ridiculed as "Smoking Gandhis" or "Khadi clad Girl chasing Gandhis".

No sooner than they came out of institute, many started their own Gandhian "Experiments with Truths". Not sure if the Bapuji Study Circle survived the Sands of time in the tumultuous milieu of technical life.