28 years in the United States

 This month I completed 28 years in the United States. When I first came to US in June, 1996 my interview with the American Client was a whole lot easier. The person interviewing me was from REC (Now NIT) who was living in USA since early 1980s. Without asking me any question he said - "You are from REC. You can do it". That was it. Within a week I was on a flight to US.

Following is a typical telephonic interview (imaginary of course - but most interviews those days were like this).

American Client (AC): Hello.

Indian Programmer (IP): Hello Saar.

AC: What is your name ?

IP: My name is Gummudipoondi Krishnaswami Kathirvelu Rao.

AC: What is your qualification ?

IP: Saar. I have done BE in Electronics Saar and Compooter course from NIIT Saar.

AC: What is full form of COBOL

IP: Common Business Oriented Language Saar.

AC: What is C++

IP: C++ is an Object oriented Programming Language Saar.

AC: Do you have a passport?

IP: Yes Saar.

AC: You are appointed.

IP: Thank you Saar. Thank you Saar. Thank you very much Saar.

AC: Okay okay. Best of luck, reach soon.

Indian programmer in US shore within 72 hours or maximum within a week. Seriously, all that clients wanted to know was :

- If the Indian Programmer has done some Computer course and know something about programming.

- Can the person understand what I speak.

- Can I understand whatever he/she says.

- And does the person has a passport valid atleast for one year?

BTW : Quite a few of my "Nalaayak" (nincompoop) friends flew to US without knowing anything, learnt everything from Onsite projects and have done quite well.

Yellowstone trip 2024 - Day IV

Our fascination towards visiting National Parks continued as we continued our journey to the nearby Mount Teton National Park in the neighborhood snaking through the topsy turby mountain roads. On the way we stopped by the sparkling blue and beautiful Lake Lewis. The Chinese leader Mao famously said "Let thousand flowers bloom". If he saw this lake in Yellowstone looking at its surface he would have said - "Let  thousand stars glow". 

The song "America, the Beautiful" echoes a lot after visiting Yellowstone. I would count it as one of the prettiest on earth. On our way to Mammoth Springs inside the Park we stopped by at Gibbon waterfall. It is a relatively small Waterfall with waves of water gurgling down the hill forming a stream into the Yellowstone river traveling to an unknown destination. I couldn't stop remembering the following Mukesh number from Sanjeev Kumar's movie "ANOKHI RASTA".. 

"TAAL MILE NADI KE JAL MEIN,

NADI MILE SAGAR SE .

SAGAR MILE KAUNSI JALME,

KOI JAANENA". 

Transliterated, 

"Spring falls into river,

River goes into the sea.

To which water the sea merges into,

No one ever knows, ever sees". 

We came across a lot of flora and fauna. The entire Yellowstone is filled with Pine trees, but they are smaller in size compared to those we see in Georgia which are taller, larger and bushier. We saw a big family of Bisons nonchalantly munching grass. The head of the family, a big burly bull Bison with balls size of coconut swinging like a pendulum behind him was blocking the road with the stranded motorists taking pictures of him. The Bull Bison who must have fathered several bastards all his life stood like a champion, remaining unmoved, then melted away after having the fill of his photos taken. We saw couple of Elks munching foliage and a Coyote pooping close to a pool formed by a hot spring. I am so jealous of the animals in the wild. They lead a wild life without stress. They just eat shit and fornicate without bothering about life's blues. 

At Mammoth Spring we saw sputtering water heated by underground Geothermal power of volcanic lava perennially constipated. The water of the hot spring seemed to be boiling enormous amount of bluish white sapphires eager to blurt out to open in quest of freedom. The water rolled down the walls of huge reddish-yellow walls of stones creating a spectacular view to capture in mind and camera. 

The highlight of our trip was the helicopter ride which enabled us to have an Eagle's eye view of the Yellowstone river snaking through and the enormous number of dwarfish pine trees pointing their arrow like green needles to us above 800 feet up in the air. The snow clad mountains were basking under summer sky with white, fleecy clouds trying to kiss them. The clouds of smoke emanating from the numerous geysers and hot springs gave a mystic hue to the horizon. 

Heard a new word "Tourons", which means tourists who are morons. No long ago a drunk touron picked up a fight with a Bison and was saved from being gored by an alert Park Rangers. Another came accompanied by a chicken and tried to cook it inside one of the steaming hot pools, only to be fined $200 by the Park authorities. He could have given it to me and I could have gladly cooked him a nice chicken dinner for half the price of the finest. A lady once came with detergents and tried to give her cloths a hot wash before the bystanders reported her to the authorities. Moral of the story - "Don't wash your dirty laundry in public". 

It was our last day well spent at Yellowstone Park. We added 4 new states to our kitty. Now we have covered 47 states in the USA. Only states left to visit in America are North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska. Now happy to get back to my the lap of my home state of Georgia, to its sweltering heat and humidity.

Yellowstone trip 2024 - Day III

 Good Morning Yellowstone as we woke up to a brightly sunny but chilly 26 degrees (-3° Centigrade) morning. I left Georgia with the Air Conditioning in full blast, but slept last night with the heating in our hotel room whirring all night, comfortable enough to feel warm and fuzzy inside the comforter for a good night sleep. We were told by the hotel receptionist that it snowed here last Monday. Saw proof of that as we saw some snow on the ground in the month of June for first time in life, though we saw them aplenty on top of the snow clad mountains.

Not sure where from the name Yellowstone came, though I saw no yellow colored stone here, same as there is a place named Bandra in Mumbai which has no "Bandar" (monkey) living there. Places owe their names to strange things. But later we saw golden yellow stones near the hot springs and geysers sputtering all over the park, that's perhaps where the term "Yellowstone" emanated.

As the day proceeded, it turned out to be bit warmer, the temperature climbing up to a not too bad 65 degrees. The lined up trees ladened on both sides of the road in gorgeous morning sun reflected on the blue lake water kissing their feet, creating another set of colorful, symmetrical and mysterious parallel universe underwater. The far hills covered in pine trees foliage seemed like a bunch of tall beauties in bluish white caps wearing light green lipsticks. A string of long trees looked like tall, pretty girls wearing embroidery of various greenish hue weaved together on a Sambalpuri saree. What a enthralling sight it was !!!

Standing on the various lookout points inside the Yellowstone Park enroute to "Old Faithful Geyser" we listened to the soothing music of a silvery, gurgling mountain spring spiraling downhill. It seemed as if the stars took a day off from their night duty to dance on the surface of the bubbling blue spring water. A canopy of trees were shedding the spring from both sides, as a lover wraps his strong, protective arms across his beloved. Pretty leaves were falling into the arms of the gurgling mountain spring, somersaulting, dancing and drifting away to someone's arms of in some distant, unknown fairyland, same as a moth falls for the flame, draws into it to knowingly to get burnt. Unwillingly, I was murmuring a stanza from the epic Odia song from the movie "MANA AKASHA" (1974) -

"RE BANA JHARANA,
NAACHI NAACHI JAANA.
E MORA MAINA,
DHARAA DIANA."

Transliterated

O Forest Spring,
Don't go dancing.
O my dear Myena
Always keep escaping.

As we drove further, I kept the windows of our car open to listen to the sound of music from the nature, the chirping of birds and gurgling of the pristine mountain streams. Suddenly we saw white smokes on the horizon, looking like dozens of funeral pyres as can be seen from a distance at the cremation grounds of Puri's Swargadwar (Gateway to Heaven) or Varanasi's Manikarnika Ghat. They were nothing but the Sulphur laden fumes skyrocketing from the myriads of big and small hot springs and geysers sprinkled all around the Yellowstone Park. It was so tempting to stop by to take a peek at them, but we procrastinated our plan to see them later as we stayed faithful towards our drive to the Old Faithful.

It turned into a gorgeous sunny day with light wind making the weather enjoyably salubrious when we reached the Old Faithful Geyser. Even if it was middle of the week, the parking lots were jam packed like sardines with tourist vehicles. We could see cars from all over the United States, from as far as Massachusetts and Florida. Luckily we found a spot at the right time to view the Geyser erupt. And erupt it did with smoke filled hot water shooting upto 30-40 feet up in the air with hundreds tourists surrounding it taking snaps and videos. Many put their kids on their shoulders so that they could take a peek at the awesome spectacular view. No trip to Yellowstone is complete without a visit to Old Faithful Geyser. More later....

Yellowstone trip 2024 - Day II

 There is always an adventure in misadventure, thanks to the modern technology which could on occasions lead to confusion but turn out to be a blessing in disguise. We were on I-15 freeway traveling North, cruising at 80 miles per hour (the speed limit in Utah) to our destination of Pocatello, Idaho when the GPS went off air for a few minutes. When it came back on, it redirected us to take a rural route to our destination, arguably the most remote locations we ever drove through the inside of one of the innermost country area of the US.

It was 9.30 PM, getting nearer to sunset. In the twilight hours I saw cows 🐄 for first time on road in my 28 years in America. Puzzled, the black cows looking grayish from a distance were gaping us as we approached them. No sooner the bovines saw our car closing on them than they dispersed off to surrounding fields, the little calves following their mamas. The sun rays through the gigantic sprinklers spraying water on the massive potato plantations spreading their mammoth white wings were spraying golden hues of water on the petrichor scented air, creating gigantic sparklers in the air. Windmills at a distance seemed to be waving good evening to us, their huge hands reminded me of Sancho Panza of Don Quixote by the famous novelist Miguel De Cervantes. We saw a long tailed mountain Fox on road as it was getting dark closer to 10 PM. Caught on our headlights it looked flustered, got startled for a moment before jumping away from our path to its safety.

Next morning post our night halt in tiny township of Pocatello in Idaho, we continued our drive to Yellowstone through the semi arid area of sparcely populated vegetation amongst black rocks on gray, granular volcanic soil. The hills which looked beautiful from a distance looked drab and dry from close by, reminding me of the Odia "DHAGA" (proverb) "DURA PAHADA SUNDARA" - "the far hill looks beautiful". 

On our way we stopped by at the Idaho Potato Museum in a small town named "Blackfoot". The museum was small but impressive, filled with tons of information on Potato, the most popular vegetable in the world. Spanish explorers brought the tuber from Peru and introduced it to Europeans in 1527. Then in 17th century, the early settlers from Europe brought Potato to North America where the root vegetable found its way to the fertile Snake River Valley where it grew as a bumper crop, so much so that today Idaho is the major supplier of Potato to the rest of the United States and beyond.

Potato continued to spread its tentacles far and wide. It is said that Potato and Sardarjee (Sikh) can be found all over the world. Many in Odisha still refer to it as "BILATI ALOO" (The English Potato) although it was Portuguese who introduced it to India and China in 1600s. Now a days rarely a meal goes without Potato which is a good source of carbohydrate and potassium. Potato soon became a staple diet all over the world, so much so that a devastating Potato famine in Ireland caused a lot of their population perish and many migrating to America which has a large number of immigrants from Irish origin.

I have an emotional connection with Potato. Both my mom and I love the vegetable. My father always complained of putting too much of it in hour Puri style home cooked dishes of Dalma, Machha Haldi Pani (fish curry cooked with turmeric) and Machha Besara (scramled fish curry). In the year 2008 when my mother visited us in the United States, I bought her some mashed potato from outside. After taking a bite she found it too bland for her comfort and spiced it up in our typical Odia fashion by adding some chopped onions and green chillies, followed by a few drops of mustard oil added to it to make her own "Paaga" (concoction). Then she sprinkled it with some "Dhania Patra" (cilantro/ coriander leaves). She is in heaven now, but I still remember it tasted heavenly. Wherever I go, whichever place I visit, my mother's memories will get tagged to me forever. Unknown to me, as I write this, my reflex action took my glasses off as I was wiping my couple of drops of tear, tersly reminded of this Hindi song, an ode to the nicest of human being whose repertoire of love and affection to me would waver -

"ZINDAGI SAU BARAS KI SAHI,
ZINDAGI KA BHAROSA NAHI;
CHAAND CHHOOP JAE KAB KYA PATA,
CHANDNI KA BHAROSA NAHI".

Transliterated..

Life is for living hundred years,
But destiny is unreliable forever;
Never know when moon can go into hiding,
For Moonlight is not worth relying for.

More later....

Yellowstone trip 2024 - Day I

 We have a penchant for visiting National Parks in America. So far we have traveled to many, from the Mammoth Cave National Park in the North to the Smokey Mountain National Park in South. As we have already covered the Acadia National Park in East, it was high time to do some balancing act by visiting its counterpart in the West. So we chose to make a trip to the Yellowstone National Park in the Mountain West.

Not a bad time to get away from the prickly Georgia heat now searing at 95 degrees and 100 plus heat index if you add to it the humidity factor. As the 4 hour long Delta flight from Atlanta descended on the Salt Lake City Airport, we descended from a temperature of 95 to 65 with this feeling of crispy, mountain was up in the air, for we could see and feel the high mountains and valleys all over place glittering under the golden late afternoon sun. The undulating Rocky Mountains were still snowclad in June, though bit sparcely, looking like the brownish-gray forehead of a person smeared in white sandalwood paste. The tip of the mountains looked icing on gigantic trianglular cup cakes with golden sprinkles spread by sun. The glittering valleys chose to take a crimson shower.

The gargantuan sized Salt Lake acted like a gigantic mirror reflecting the crystal clear azure sky. It seemed thousands of sparklers chose to fall on its blue waters and stars couldn't wait until nightfall to take a dive into the lake. The mesmerized Lake reminded me from the stanza of a song from movie "AAP KI KASAM" voiced by the legendary singer Kishore Kumar espousing a lover's call to his beloved smitten by her beautiful eyes :

JHIL SI ANKHON MEIN ASHIQ
DOOB KE SO JAEGA,
ZULF KI SAAYA MEIN
DIL ARMA BHARA HO JAEGA.
TUM CHALE AO NAHI TO
KUCH NA KUCH HO JAEGA.

Roughly transliterated...

Inside your Lake like blue eyes,
the lover wants to drown, see himself lost,
In the shadows of her long hair,
Gets fullfilled the desires of his heart.
You come over, otherwise
Something or other shall happen to me.

Before driving North towards our destination of Yellowstone Park, we wanted to grab something to eat as we were starving. So we Googled a local Indian restaurant not far from the Salt Lake City Airport. We were greeted by a tall, pretty Punjabi girl with an aqualine nose. I reciprocated - "Sat Sri Atal. Wahe Guru Ka Khalsa, Wahe Guru Ka Fateh", meaning...

In devotion to Guru lies purity,
It will be rewarded with Victory. 

She looked impressed and smiled back at us. Leading us to our table she asked us which part of India we are from. I answered - "We are from Bhubaneswar, Odisha". "Where is it" - promptly came her inquisition ? I replied - "Do you know Puri" ? "Oh, Jagannath Dham", it rang a bell to her. She wasn't interested any further conversation about Bhubaneswar or Odisha but complimented - "It has been a long time a non Punjabi wished me "Sat Sri Akal". She served us a wonderful dinner and obliged us by taking our picture.

There was a Punjabi encounter of different kind and flavor when we checked in to a motel in Pocatello, Idaho for a night halt, couple of hours drive from Salt Lake City enroute to the Yellowstone. These days when a guest arrives at your home, instead of a glass of water the first thing you offer is your WiFi password. Similarly, the receptionist offered me the electronic key to the room, followed by the WiFi password "benchroad". It sounded more like the popular Punjabi greeting "Beh***od". I had to the make the receptionist repeat again to ensure that the password isn't what I heard. Glad this time the lady wasn't from Punjab. More later...

Father's day 2024

 This Father's Day reminded me of the India vs England match in the Barabati Stadium during the last week of January,1982. It was an event one of it's kind at that time. Earlier the venue had hosted a few matches between international sides and East Zone. But for the first time an One day international match involving India was being played.

Public enthusiasm was building up. I was very keen on watching the One Day international in an era when there was no Television in Bhubaneswar. There was a serious shortage of tickets and I couldn't get any. The day before the match my remorseful mood couldn't escape my father's eyes. My father who taught kids of few influencal folks in Bhubaneswar managed to buy couple of tickets to the jealously of my friends on the evening of the day of before the match in spite of the huge demand for the tickets. Today I use the occasion of FATHER'S DAY to thank my father for giving an ardent cricket fan in me the most cherished opportunity of that time. 

All the tickets were sold out. Government officials were openly selling their passes in the black market. I was in Class VIII living close to the Hotel Kalinga Ashok owned by ITDC near Kalpana Chhaka where the English team was staying. On that morning I heard "TRING TRING", a friend of mine ringing his bicycle bell in front of our flat (apartment). It was his usual signal that something important was going on. 

I immediately rushed downstairs. He told me to ride with him as he got the news that English players were out in the lawn of the hotel. I did not think twice as my heart was pounding hard with excitement. Now I am going to actually see those players I see on Sportstar, Sportsweek and Sportsworld magazines. We pedaled fast and within 5 minutes reached the spot. I could see Bob Taylor and Ian Botham from close sipping their morning Tea and chatting on the lawn. Only a barbed wire separated us by a few feet. 

My friend got over excited and started shouting in Oriya at top of his voice - "HEY HEY..ARRE DEKH RE TALOR AU BOTHAM BASICHANTI (Hey Hey take a look. Taylor and Botham are sitting)". Passerbys took notice and a crowd was starting to build up. Now both these English players could sense the commotion. They got up and hurried inside to the comforts of their room. Before leaving Botham made a monkey like gesture and rolled a half eaten apple towards us. We felt so privileged of getting his attention and felt as if we got salvation. Little I realized that it was not a complimentary gesture. 

Finally the D-Day arrived. Due to excitement I could barely sleep the night before the match. My dad and I got up at 4 AM and proceed towards Cuttack. We started early as we were told in advance that there were many fake ticket holders, so we better get inside the stadium before it gets full. The match started on time. I had my pocket transistor with me. England batted first with the Odia commentators (one of them was our neighbor) blaring "GOOCHA AAU COOKA (Gooch and Cook in Oriya accent) THIA HOICHANTI AAU MAHANADI PATU KAPIL DEV ASILE( are standing and from Mahanadi rive side Kapil Dev is walking in). 

It was a long day. At lunch time we consumed some cold Puri and Potato curry brought from home. After the match ended we came out of Barabati stadium with one hand closing our nostril trying to avoid the yellow rivulets of urine almost flooding the exit gates. Finally got back home tired around 9 PM with tons of memories to cherish down the road. Later I learnt that at least 5000 spectators with valid tickets were denied entry into the stadium.

A father is invariably benevolent to his child. Even during the cruel times in history there is hardly any instances of a father taking the life his children, though there are several instances other way round. In history we have instances of a son killing or jailing his father to ascend the throne, but rarely fathers are known to kill their children. Even Jahangir who like his successors had no qualms about killing their brothers for the Mughal Takht (throne) and jailing father like Aurangzeb did, he only blinded his son Khusru and put him in jail after quashing his son's revolt. Happy Father's Day to all.

Welcome Mohan Majhi - the new CM of Odisha

 A young, new Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi takes office in Odisha, my home state back home. After 24 long years it feels like a breath of fresh air, a la the captivating petrichor scent post fresh monsoon showers on parched earth. Though his predecessor's performance was a mixed bag, Naveen Patnaik, a suave gentleman who has done some good things for the state had carved his niche. Yet it was high time for a change, a change one can believe in after a long hiatus. 

Along with the new Chief Minister, a team of mostly new and unfamiliar faces took oath as Ministers. Barring a couple may be, all of them have little or no experience in  administration. One of them is Suresh Pujari from Western Odisha, a grassroot leader of BJP and a man of impeccable credentials. He was a popular student leader in the early 1980s and is a first time MLA from Brajarajnagar. The rest are new to me. 

The first 100 days of any marriage is called as Honeymoon period. The couples don't judge each other as they explore themselves. Eventually familiarity starts breeding contempt. Same goes with public life and politics. A new face carries the burden of hopes and aspirations along with unbridled expectations. As the CM and the team don't carry any prior baggage and come fresh from the oven after 24 years of same old, same old people gone stale over the time, I would give them an extended honeymoon period of 6 months until end of this year. 

The challenges will start from the new year as the young faces will start showing signs of aging due to stress and fatigue of their tremendous responsibility loaded with expectations as loaded cheese on Nachos or loaded ingredients on Dahi Bara and Aludum, the quantities of which is never enough. Similarly they will be assessed by the ever dissatisfied commoners, facing new challenges with opposition waiting on them to make mistakes. Something can always go wrong in a state of 45 million people. There are 65 MLAs in the opposition (51 from BJP and 14 from Congress), the biggest ever in recent history of Odisha. They will demand every pound of accountability and try to make political capital out of it, leaving no stone unturned to embarrass the government whenever they get the opportunity. It will be interesting to see how Mr. Majhi and his team are going to handle the challenges they are going to face sooner or later. 

Well begun is half done. To give credit to the new BJP government in Odisha, as the first major decision they opened all the four doors of the Puri temple. Sri Jagannath not just lives the temple, he lives in the heart of all Odias. Jaga Kalia is not simply just one among the 330 million Hindu Gods. He is the way of life of Odias. You visit the drawing room (as living room is called in Odisha) of any Odia family, you will see at least a picture or statue of Sri Jagannath along with His siblings. No marriage or any auspicious occasion begins without inviting Chakadola, called "Jagannatha Nimantrana" in local parlance. Mahabahu (another name of the Lord) no doubt represents our wonderful culture and tradition. Devotees throng the temple in thousands every day. 

In this context I don't know whose brilliant idea was to close 3 out of 4 doors of the temple and keep only one open, forcing the devotees to stand for hours in scorching heat to get a "Darshan" (view) of the Lord. Now the decision to open all the temple doors is the step in the right direction. BJP is only keeping its poll promise of Odia "Ashmita" (it should be Swabhiman, meaning self respect). Ironically we Odias who are most immigrant friendly folks on earth who eagerly welcome are known to accept and imitate others language and culture. But taking the entire race for granted by trying to inculcate the Tirupati temple culture by non-Odia officers, the BJD folks at the helm of affairs of the state completely misjudged the mood of the elecriand made some grave mistake. The consequence of this miscalculation was the ruling Party BJD losing the elections after long 24 years. 

Remember the movie from the 90s "There is something about Mary" ? There is something about the air and water of Bhubaneswar". As akin to America whoever comes rarely leaves this country, one who comes to Bhubaneswar never goes back from where he or she came from. The person gets assimilated to the polluted, corrupt political atmosphere of the state capital which can be the perfect recipe for to play the spoilsport for the newcomer. It is a city of Dalaals and sundry parasites. 

A good number of MLAs from BJP aren't grassroot politicians, rather the discarded elements from BJD and Congress. Hope the new team keeps aloof from them and do their job to earn their voter's trust. Otherwise they could collapse under their own weight of ever scrutinizing public, enabling BJD to make a spectacular comeback, with BJP reduced to 20s like before. Good luck to Mohan Majhi and his team !