Spring Allergy season in Georgia

Peak Pollen Allergy season here. Come Spring, many places in America, forefront is my state of Georgia, which has a reputation of heavily impacted by this irritability.

It's particularly bad in my city, which is located on low lying Chattahoochee river valley. On a clear, sunny day sans wind, one can easily locate low hanging green cloud of pollens, settling down and engulfing the town in a blanket sea of green on rooftops and cars alike, floating like a poltergeist eager to haunt you.

And it has already started haunting me. Though advised not to stay outdoor for a long time, its impossible to stick to the advice, without letting the inquisitive, nosey pollens stick to your nose. Even if you are out for a few minutes, you simply can't stay away from breathing.

Spring is the harbinger of pollens and the agricultural season. The charming fun of farming isn't free from its challenges and side effects. While doing my yard work, planting seeds of Pumpkins and Ridged Gourds (JANHI) for summer harvesting, I involuntarily sucked plenty of these Green Pollen shoots ejected by blooming Oak, Maples and Sweet Gum tree.

It sucks now, taking its toll as I woke up this morning, chocked up with itchy watery eyes, stuffy nose and sore throat. Gargling with moderately hot water with a pinch of salt works great. I usually avoid going to the doctor and getting myself medicated - unless it's absolutely compelling.

Imbibing luids, Rest and of course watching Cricket helps - as today's close T20 encounter kept me on my toes, helping  to shrugg off my jaded nervous nerves, temporarily liberating my body from the strains of Allergy.

Hot food, both temperature and taste wise, titillates the taste buds at this juncture. Especially the Thai chicken soup, which washes down the soreness as it makes its way downstream, its fiery, flames of hotness engulfing my tonsils as a panacea.

As always - time is the best healer. It is the best, proven nature's natural remedy for common ailments. Bearing it is better than a doctor's visit and coming back armed with a prescription of antibiotics to annihilate the good bacteria in billion.

Pakistan a blue eyed boy when Obama plans to leave Afghanistan

Some of my observations and feel free to connect the dots.

Obama promised when he came to power in 2008, to get the US troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan. He did so in Iraq prior to end of his first term. Now at the fag end his Presidential legacy he is wrapping of the process to get the most US troops out of the mountainous, land locked nation. In the process of doing so, Obama administration wants to keep our western neighbor and their crucial ally for fight against terrorism - Pakistan, very much in the loop. A few of its latest overtures to its vital non- NATO ally are :

1. Sell of F-16s to them. Win-win for both. Pakis are happy, so also the Armament industry in USA. Pay them $2 billion dollars, make them buy $1 billion dollar worth of arms from you. Uncle sam knows how to do business.

2. A visible drop in drone attacks on Pakistan - Afghanistan border badlands, a strategic dollop to Pakistan and an extended life for a few months  for a few. But if they need to take out a high value target to enhance the winning chance of his party's nominee Hillary, come September and October, Obama and Kerry, old Democrat hand can order a few drone strikes to take out some bad guys and take out the trump card out of trump's campaign - strong against terrorism. Pakis would love to see Hillary as President rather than trump.

3. So far, State Department is conspicuous not overtly criticized the latest Lahore bombing targeting Christians on Easter. Had this happened in India, it could be planning to send a religious team to investigate, accusing India of prosecuting and persecuting the religious minority. (India did the right thing by recently) denying Visa to such a religious representation)

4. At this moment, Uncle Sam wants all quite on the eastern front of its lap dog Pakistan. I can see an American hand behind all these recent peace overtures from India to Pakistan, from Modi's impromptu visit to Lahore to inviting Pakistani investigator to Pathankot.

After USA leaves Afghanistan (with the usual disclaimer of leaving a few thousand troops for training and security purpose), things will be back to business as usual. Drone strikes will resume on the west frontier badlands and Terror strikes on the East.

Welcome to the world of realpolitik folks.

It ain't over until it's over - T20 World Cup 2016

My heartiest Congratulations to Team India on making into the semis of T20 World Cup. Now we exit the Round Robin and enter the knock out phase. Next stop - Wankhede with the Windies in Mumbai, arguably the cricket capital of a nation where Cricket is a religion, a la Soccer in Brazil. We do have an advantage over them, who are too much dependent on their master blaster Chris Gayle.

An avid cricket fan of Team India, I am glad with their performance in T20 so far and wish them to win the coveted Cup. Though resurgent and we got the momentum behind us, I would rather hold my Champagne until the team actually lifts the Cup. As the Baseball legend Yogi Berra said - it ain't over, until it's over. If we get pass the Windies hurdle, our next likely opponent would be New Zealand, who have comprehensibly beaten us earlier in the tournament.

 

With hope comes tremendous expectation. As sports fans we are known to be highly emotional, our emotions swinging faster than a Pendulum. Often our reactions in defeats and victories veers in the borderline of immaturity. It's not unusual for the Houses of our Heroes to be stoned and effigies burnt - some like Yuvraj Singh and Ravi Shastri, very much part and parcel of the current team, have been there, seen that. There is no guarantee of history not repeating itself.  For the same fans it won't take long to switch from Bouquets to Brickbats.

 

As a cautionary note we should not forget in the Euphoria of recent success, our dependency on Virat Kohli, the glue of the team, who reminds me of the heydays of Sachin Tendulkar. He is treated as a God, could give run for money to both Narendra Modi  and Amitabh Bacchan at their peak of popularity. But even Gods are known to fail. Our fighting spirit, never say say die attitude not withstanding, there are still chinks in armor in our batting. Our bowling department woes aren't over. A couple of overs can change the direction of the game - such are the vagaries of T20 cricket.

 

There are plenty of mockery of the losing Australian team going on media, social or otherwise. Just a reminder - this is not our last and final ever encounter with the Aussies. What goes around comes around. Also, as of 8 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 27th of March, 2016, Australia have a far better cricketing history in the history of cricket than us. 

 

Australia, a nation 1/60th the population of India has represented in World cups of Soccer, Hockey, Rugby, produced World Class Athletes, Swimmers and Tennis player, hosted Olympics more than once and not to mention, wins tons of medals in Olympics. They also play Cricket.  A great sporting team deserves a sporting sent off, due credit should be given where credit is due. By mocking them, we are making a mockery of ourselves.

Using too much of water during Holi

So much water has flown down the drain since Holi. But the hue and cry involving the self proclaimed environmentalists and protagonists of restricted use of water for celebrating Holi, hasn't gone down. I agree - water conservation is a must, because the supply of potable fresh water is not unlimited and doesn't come cheap either. But does a reduced Holi with a reduced shower make any tangible difference in water conservation. I don't think so.

Holi is once in a year event, doesn't come every week or month. During my growing up days, I would wait for days for this day, to shower in color and fun, though often stuff happened which may not be so funny. (Once due to a death in family, all I could do was helplessly took a vicarious pleasure of watching others having fun through window railings). Those days many used unsafe sticky colors made from Varnish (Silvery glazing white color) and reportedly from ALKATARA (pitch black color made from tar).

Like a Pariah dog who steps into a different territory is harassed by their local stray brethren, once on a fine Holi morning couple of us strayed into our rival's territory and overpowered by them, who feasted on us by embalming our face with a liberal dosage of Varnish. We managed to come out from their clutch, not before we were looking like a Haired Mandrill, a Silvery-White version of Donald Trump.

Humiliated we came back and prepared for our revenge, stalking them when they came closer to our locality. With a few burly friends backing up, our retaliation came swift. One of our friends supplied us with BATTERY KALA (a black paste supposedly made from battery). No sooner than they arrived, we surrounded them. Revenge is best served in cold - coolly we reciprocated their hostility by smearing them with that cold, pitch black stuff. In a graceful appreciation of them making us Trump lookalike, we made them look like Obama, with their shiny white teeth protruding out of their jet black face.

And there was this MUNDA PHATA RANGA (head cracking color) - as the name symbolizes, when applied, endless stream of color comes out of your head. Before you can clean that stuff, ending up consuming tons of water.

But I doubt such kind of Holi is played these days. I believe on water conservation. For Shit, Shower and Shave, I have installed reduced water friendly gadgets at home, avoiding continuous water running from faucet during shaving. I live happily with the motto - that grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. So never mind keeping my lawn a lesser lush green by not using the sprinklers, unless we have a real dry spell, letting mother nature do the rest. The inflated pool on my backyards which holds a lot of rain water accumulated through winter. Now I have planted some seeds and sapling, but water them by using the stored water from the inflated pool.

Though frugal on using water, when occasion comes I don't mind, at least couple of times a year, switch on the sprinkler or fill the inflated pool for my son and his friends to play. We don't use the Varnish and Tar Black paste these days, so it won't hurt me to use an extra 10 to 15 gallon of fun, as long as I pay my water bills. Can't we have occasional fun and enjoy Holi, a once a year phenomenon with 10-15 extra liters of water ? Come one, when can we ever get rid of such socialist mindset.

In this circumstances, the fashionable preaching of water conservation by playing a scaled down version of Holi doesn't hold any water. Rather than preaching about reduced water consumption during Holi, they should focus on arid areas south of Vindyas where water retention and myriad places all over, where the Water Table is dangerously depleted. But what a B-Grade Bollywood actress with a faltering career, the chief protagonist of this Holier Than Thou theory is doing, is to stay in the news. If tomorrow she is offered an item number to dance hours under potable water sprinkled all over her, she won't mind, Water Conservation be damned.

At Universal Florida - Day III

Americans, after driving the Brtitish away from their soil, built their country from scratch. In many ways they relinquished the memories of their occupiers by doing everything opposite of Britain - from travelling on the right hand side of road, reverse electrical switches, to play their own version of Cricket called Baseball. But separated from the English by a common  language called English, they retained a fascination for few things British - primarily The Beatles and Harry Potter, the later beating the rest of the American fictional characters by yards at the Universal Studios.

The queue for "Harry Potter's Forbidden Journey" had the longest wait time of 50 minutes. Conspicuous at the better known vacation spots in America - the  noticeable sight of Desis waiting in the line. You can't miss their prying eyes, checking out another Desi, inspecting you with inquisitive, a bit suspicious look from top to bottom, from left to right. If your eyes met by chance, they turn their heads away, feigning aloofness. I am positive, I am not the only one to observe this.

The cleaning lady at my hotel was about to step inside our room when we were stepping out. She uttered something to me in Spanish. I responded "Hola, Senora - No Spanish". Then she switched to broken English, asking if she can come in to clean. Hispanics are very much part and parcel of Hospitality and Agricultural business in America. Whatever Trump says, without them these two economies will suffer big time.

Been to a local Indian and Chinese restaurant near our hotel. Both provided equally impeccable food, service and ambience. But the Chinese food was almost half the price - on top of that they were offering 20% off on next visit.

There's a term in Odia SASTA, SUNDAR, MAZBOOT, meaning cheaper, prettier and quality product. A consumer can't ask anything better. No wonder the Chinese restaurant was filled and the Indian was half empty. Indians, by and large are poor spenders, usual exceptions apply. On the other hand the Chinese have mastered the art of attracting the Mainstream American customers, a key to their success in business.

While driving through Florida a catching billboard caught my eyes - Don't Hurry, Be Happy. Driving through I-4, I am reminded of this politically important corrider of Florida and the vital role it plays in deciding the ourcome in US Presidential elections.

North Florida is mostly Republican and South Florida, Democratic. It's said 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 Hispanics have changed Florida's political landscape. In nutshell, this I-4 corrider, connecting the populous Tampa and Orlando could very well decide the next US President.

It's time to bid adieu to the lovely Sunshine State which attracts tourists from across the globe. Its Theme Parks blend characters ranging from British Harry Potter to Egyptian Mummy to  finesse, resulting in an highly effective business model - ever since Walt Disney came up with the concept of mixing profit with pleasure.

At Universal Florida - Day II

On reaching the gate of the Universal Studio Florida, felt like "Enemy at the Gate", due to the heavy security Bandobast (arrangement) at entrance - obviously the aftermath of the recent Brussels attack.

Long lines at security and at popular attraction spots like Jurassic World, Spiderman, Transformers etc, gave me some time to inspect the milieu around us. I saw tourists as varied as Australians chattering in "Gidday Maite" accent, to Japanese in immaculate suits , too formal for warm Orlando weather. Lots of kids could be seen around bubbling with tons of energy, teenagers smooching and fondling each other with youthful enthusiasm. Spring break, it explains.

I spotted several Sardarjees in the crowd. Not only Sardars and Potatoes can be found anywhere and everywhere on earth, Neal Armstrong reportedly saw a Sardar after landing on moon. I saw a few of them today,  their conspicuously bright, shining turbans gave them away.

I deliberately avoided the ride "Dr. Doom's Fear Fall", which comes with a fall from 150 feet. Never a big fan of all these roller coaster rides and don't find them enjoyable. Once in Blackpool, England, as I came with a free fall from a steep roller coaster ride, scared to death, I suddenly remembered the Goddess below the large Banyan tree in our village back home, whom I conveniently ignored before. Glad I came out unscathed. No sooner the Roller Coaster screeched to halt and I verified that I am still in one piece, than the selfish me forgot the benevolent Goddess.

Trips to these Theme Parks are best avoidable during Spring breaks and long weekends, unless you have patience towards long waits for the rides. But for the lovers for comic characters it's a damn exciting and fun filled place, b'cos they take their fans on a ride with them. The trip on "Hogwarts Express" from Hogsmead Station, taking you from Islands of Adventures to Universal Studio was unique of its kind and highly recommended.

Long story short, it was a long day for us. As I struggled to peep through the swish-swashing wipers in the pouring rains on our way back, the broad rainbow on the other side of the horizon smiled back at us.

RIP Johan Cruyff

This Dutch Soccer (Football) prodigy and a gifted strikermay not be as famous as the famed Pele. But he was an awesome player who coined the term "Total Football" which forever revolutionized the  game of soccer.

Prior to Johan Cruyff popularized this concept, soccer was compartmentalized - with backs for defence, center forwards only engaged in atrack. He broke this conservative attitude by liberalizing the game, making it more fluid, where all the players can switch, toing and froing between attack and defense.

His fancied side in 1974 was the much favored to win the Soccer World Cup hekd in Germany that year, same was the Windies in the Cricket version in 1983. The Dutch started spectacularly, scoring the first goal in minutes against their rival finalist West Germany. But they could not sustain the blitzkrieg from the gritty and cohesive Germans. What could be a fitting finale to a befitting career, ended up in Dutch tears.

The inertia of Dutch juggernaut continued till 1978 World Cup, when the Dutch lost again in the final, this time again to the host team, this time Argentina at Buenos Aires. However Cryuf wasn't part of this team. He had already retired from Soccer, but not his concept of total Football which thrives today. RIP, Johan Cruyff, the legendary "Flying Dutchman" - for the way his dribbling resembles a floating butterfly through Green Meadows.

At Universal Florida on Spring break - Day I

Florida is arguably the favorite vacation spot for most Americans, especially those living East of Mississippi River. Orlando, which houses various theme parks, the prominent one being Disney, is their most cherished destination, flocked by folks from all over the world, around the year.

Be it a global conferences, seminar or a family vacation - nothing beats Orlando and Miami in sunny Florida as the favored holiday destination (Las Vegas comes a close second). The conferences are namesakes to mix business with pleasure - which is mostly pleasure, less business. Those been there done that, can connect and vouch for it.

Same as a Mystery Picture was always the preferred option to a boring lecture in our college days, it's not uncommon for eminent persons and intellectuals who attend such jamborees in guise of conferences, bunk those drab seminars, skipping them in the middle to surreptitiously slipaway to feel and fill the fun filled attraction spots, the spotless beaches and theme parks loitering in the Sunshine State.

For the Desis (a slang reserved for the  Indians in US) like me who live in South East, Florida is the Mecca and Medina of vacation spots. It is a place, must visit for our parents, in-laws when they visit Coke Land, and a vacation trip with family and/or friends in groups. I have done all of the above.

If you live in South Eastern USA and don't take your visiting relatives on a trip to Disney, it's considered a sacrilege  (same for Disney Land for those on the West Coast, Niagara Falls being the counterpart for those on North East). If your son or son-in-law fails to show them at least one of the above multiple choices, they are poked fun back home being cheated by their children.

It's not uncommon for this common taunt in Odia being heard back home,  "KANA TAMA PUA/JWAIN DISNEE DEKHEILANI, NAYEGRAA NELANI ? - "Didn't your son/son-in-law take you guys to Disney, didn't show you Niagara". For some, it becomes a matter of prestige, so they lie and shy away from showing pictures of their trip to America, as they can't show pictures vindicating their visits to these coveted locations.

Now I am taking my kid to Orlando, driving 400 miles  driven by his desire to meet the new kid in the attraction block, the Harry Potter Adventures. He is excited to make a trip down the lane with the magical character in his Magic Kingdom. It's his last Spring break before he goes to middle school this summer. The special occasion came with a demand he made and and promise from the parents to be kept.

Though I have been here countless times, it won't hurt me to take a peek at some of the latest attractions. As they say in America - the man gotta do, what he gotta do. So here I am in sunny Florida, gearing up to soak up some warm sun and fun.

Post Brussels attack - American is better prepared against terrorism

Brussels attack is a wake up call for Europe and the rest of the world. When the enemy is not at the gate, rather in your living room, you better be worried. Unless Eurobia cleanses itself from the  nefarious Arab immigrants and resets itself back to the past to Europe.

An ethnic cleaning is needed in Europe - of their brand of Liberals. After destroying their finance by practicing long stints of socialism and successfully converting themselves from 1st world to 2nd world nations, their extreme Left are now hell bent on destroying their national security fabric as well.

It's never too late to wake up and smell the coffee. If this trend continues, Europe which is not new to turmoils in history, can very well take a Right turn.  Can't blame them for that - drastic measures are often needed when in dire straights, especially when you leave the Leftist lunatics to run an asylum.

The problem with terrorism is - no one acts until it becomes a political issue, not until it's big enough for the politicians to win or lose elections. In India terrorism is mostly an urban phenomena, hardly impacting the small towns and rural voters who mostly matter there in elections. Until it is big enough an issue to impact the bread and butter of Netas back home, forget about waking up and smelling the coffee - they will prefer to move the issue to backburner and maintain the status quo of their KUMBHAKARNA slumber (the demon in Hindu Mythology known to sleep for months).

Terrorism is already a major Electoral issue in USA in this Presidential election cycle. It has been since the 2001, 9/11 attack, but this time Donald Trump has trumped it equally, if not above other issues. Trumpeting it after the Brussels attack should give him enough political boost, catapulting him towards his nomination. In America, terrorism yields political capital for the Republicans, as economy does to the Democrats.

Tough tomorrow is another day, touch wood - America is geographically secluded, a center-right nation and tough on terrorism. For almost 15 years since 9/11, the Department of Homeland Security in sync with CIA and FBI, have managed to keep their nation safe from any major terror attack. Politically also, they have taken some pragmatic and sensible decisions, like Democrats defying Obama by voting to override a presidential veto to block his motion to bring Syrian refusees to American soil. May this trend continues.

The serial Canine Killer in Delhi

Today on the "Times Now" Channel the news was about a Serial Dog Killer in Delhi, who is stabbing the pariah street dogs to death. Seen on CCT camera, this bearded burly beast lures the his hapless dogs with food and brutally stabs them.

Per the reporter on the news channel, the fine levied against such cruelty towards animal is a princely sum of Rs.50 (less than a dollar). Some NGOs and Animal Rights groups have declared a reward of Rs.1 lakh (10th of a million) for any informations on this guy. Hope this sick Canine Killer is soon apprehended and put to justice.

The last Winter Olympics held in Sochi, Russia was mired with many controversies, one of them is the decision by the local authorities to kill the stray dogs which for them have become a nuisance and eyesore to many foreign visitors. Their uninterrupted  howling during night and protests by animal activists during the day gave sleepless nights to the organizers.

Reminded me of this incident from my college days. One late winter evening in Bhubaneswar I was bicycling back to my house after finishing my tutorials. After crossing the railway tracks near SISHU BHAVAN - MAUSIMA CHOWK (those days there was no flyover), the chain of my bike came out. I managed to put it back on the axle.

No sooner than I resumed my journey back home, a cracking noise started coming out from the chain rubbing itself with the protective metal cover. There was hardly any traffic (not unusual those days on a wintry night when the city of  temples was still a sleepy city). Thinking of procrastinating the fix to next morning, I cranked on, sure of not getting  noticed. Or so I thought.

There were plenty of pariah dogs snoozing nearby who were soon alerted out of their slumber by the noise. Half a dozen of them gathered. Baring their fangs and barking they approached me. I chugged on, switching between fast pedaling and keeping my legs parallel to the ground to avoid getting bitten. But more than their bites what bothered me was the harrowing specter of getting 14 injections (shots) in my navel ( it was how the anti-rabies vaccine were  administered those days).

Luckily for me from a dimly lit corner  came my savior, my Hero, the Knight in Shining Armor - in form of an egg vendor who was about to call it a day. Lifting his LUNGI and swinging his stick he chased those canines away. I breathed relief. After profusely thanking him, I resumed my journey, thankfully reaching home without any further problem.

That was the closest call I ever had with a canine in my life. A few years back my father was bitten by a stray dog during his morning walk. Since then he, along with his walking companions carry a stick for self diffence. Years ago, I read the news about a 10 year old kid mauled to death by a pack of dogs in Bangalore.

Though I am all for animal rights and completely against the cruelty towards animals, I believe something must be done to alleviate the stray dog menace, whose population in India run into several millions. At least 80,000 are bitten by them in a year in Mumbai, India's foremost city and commercial center.

So how to reduce the population of the  human's oldest friend and domestic animal, in a humane way, when culling them in millions isn't a viable option - outruled by the Animal Rights groups. In USA which has its share of pet overpopulation and overflowing animal shelters,  they encourage to neuter the pets to keep them from breeding further.

But in a country like India where millions of stray dogs flood in droves every nook and street corner, catching and neutering them is a herculean task. When a menace grows into an epic proportion, drastic measures are indeed needed.  Though great animal lovers, in certain states in America they periodically make Wolf and Deer hunting legal to curb their population.

But stabbing hapless dogs by wearing a Cloak and doing a vanishing act thereafter, is the sign of a sick mind. Hope they find this lunatic Canine Killer and punish him more than levying a hefty fine of 50 rupees.

My culinary skills post retirement

This fine morning I discovered myself added to a Group names "Hotel and Restaurant jobs in Odisha". Picture speaks a thousand words - pictures posted on Facebook can do wonders.

Someone seems, got impressed with my periodic posts of the pictures of goat meat and coconut shrimp curries - thought my skills could come handy. Not a bad plan to invest my culinary skills post retirement, to supplement my meager 401K and Social Security savings.

 

Back home in Odisha, I imagine myself on the job switching to a NALI GAMUCHA (Red, loin cloth tied to the waist, barely covering below the knees, often transparent exposing your outlines and occasionally translucent due to dirt soaked over time) from Khurda, a small town on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar famous for its manufacturing. It is the perfect and the most appropriate attire in the muggy coastal climate Odisha weather, especially when you are in front of a burning CHULAH (Burner).

 

I can imagine myself, on one hand churning a long spatula inside HANDA (Huge brass made pots used for mass cooking back home). On the other hand I would indulge in one of the small funs of life - the pleasurable act of scratching the Private parts in Public, as the heat and humidity back home can lead to a lot sweating, causing havoc down there.

 

Intermittently I would switch to sweeping thick layers of sweat beads from my forehead, some of which would fall inside the cooking pot - adding some additional salt to taste. This way I would prove the worth of my salt to my employer. No job on earth can be more satisfying where one can mix small pleasure of life like scratching, blending your profession with passion. Looking forward to such kind of job in future with some post retirement fun.

Donald Trump speaking at AIPAC and his divisive campaign

It's a ritual in United States for the prospective Presidential nominees to address the AIPAC (American Israeli Political Action Committe), the all powerful Jewish lobby in America. This year's AIPAC meeting is in news, for a group of Rabbis are ready to boycott the speech of a rabble rousing rambler who not long ago was dismissed as a lunatic - Donald Trump.

Jews in USA number only 6 million, but are smart, entrepreunal and have worked their way to climb the ladder of success. Many Who's and Who of America are Jews, which includes but not limited to top Businessmen, Wall Street honchos, Bankers, lawyers, media persons and of course politicians. In fact there are more jews in US than in Israel.

It's rumored that Sheldon Adelson, an American Billionaire Jewish Casino Mogul and a staunch Republican party supporter, has promised to contribute up to $1 billion to propell a Republican to the White House. He bankrolled 2012 election campaign for the Republicans by organizing a $50,000-a-plate breakfast of American Jewish donors, with Romney sitting by his elbow.

Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime minister  made no secret of supporting Romney to the hilt. US Jews were told that voting for the Republican candidate was voting for Israel. But nothing close to that happened. Obama got an overwhelming 71% of the Jewish vote, which plays a vital role in the crucial swing state of Florida where they are in sizable number. Most moneyed jews are smart enough not to put all eggs in one basket, they make sizable contributions to the Democrat's coffer too.

Trump has not only divided Americans, he has also divided his own party. Now many Conservatives are talking about an open Convention. As they say in Odia

"ENU MARILE GO HATYA,
SENU MARILE BRAHMA HATYA,"

transliterated it means

"On one hand you commit cow killing,
On other hand you butcher a Brahmin."
Either way you commit a crime.

It denotes the classic Catch 22 situation, chosing between Devil and the Deep Sea, or Scylla and Charybdis. Now the Republicans have a classic Hobson's choice. Go ahead with Trump as their nominee. Or manipulate the Convention at Cleveland this summer by creating a dream ticket of Cruz (President) and Kasich (VP ), combining their delegates together and edging out Donald Trump.

In that case, Trump will proclaim this as suppression of his popular mandate, prompting him an independent run. Either way the GOP (Grand Old Party, another name for Republican party) is doomed. Sorry to see the party of Abraham Lincoln to Ronald Reagan in such a dire straight due to a tyro outsider  - Donald Trump.

St. Patrick's Day 2016

Today St. Patrick's Day is celebrated all over across America. My son is excited about going to his school wearing a green outfit, the characteristic color of the Irish. Quite a sizable number of Americans wear green this day. At our Cafeteria Irish specials - Corn Beef, Parsnip potatoes and Braised Cabbage are served to celebrate the occasion.

St. Patrick is the name of a Patron Saint of Ireland, a small Island off the north west coast of England. The Irish Americans migrated in droves to the "New land", as America was called then, to escape the religious prosecution in their Island nation. Many fled the famous Potato famine in the eighteenth century, shipping themselves in their "Westward ho" towards America for food and future.

They came in sizable numbers and  carved their niche in their adopted land. Now they are pretty much spread over USA. though majority of them live in the New England area.

On backs of cars I have seen stickers proclaiming "FBI - Full Blooded Irish". Hats off to them and their contributions to US of A. Prominent amongst them I believe, is Hillary Clinton who is of Irish origin. Happy St. Patrick's Day.

The Trump juggernaut chugging ahead

I love following politics, especially the American politics which has all the exuberance and excitement associated with it - the arguments over policies, the clash of ideas, the gruelling screening of the candidates through endless debates and countless town hall meetings. But I had never seen anything close to the current campaign.

The election year of 2008 was special in its own way. In the fag end of a faltering and frustrating Bush era, amist a collapsing economy, the charismatic Barack Obama was solicitating the electorates with his sales pitch of "Hope  and Change we can believe in".

Desperate to regain his fast sinking poll numbers, his opponent the maverick John McCain took a calculated risk by nominating a lesser known Governor from Alaska as his running mate - Sarah Palin. The lady's sudden arrival at the national political scene had an electrifying effect, soon catching the imagination of American public. It helped McCain to surge temporarily, pulling from behind to take a slight lead over Obama.

To a friend of mine, a highly paid brilliant techie who drove a swanky SUV but a typical MUNDA (an Odia term depicting a stubborn guy) - she was an Angel from heaven, a Star born with a magic wand to tackle the issues of contemporary America. He felt Sarah Palin had all it takes to take the country out of doldrums at a time Dow Jones numbers was collapsing like a pack of cards. The reason he gave - look at her speech, her energy. Her body language tells me she can fix our problem just like that.

It's another matter that Sarah Palin not only didn't know the answers to the issues - often she didn't understand the questions. It was dangerous for such a person to be a breath away from the most powerful position on surface of earth (if the President stops breathing for some reason, the VP takes over). But emotions override logic, my good friend's MUNDAGIRI (stubborness) barely waned.

Eventuality it was the turn of another  fresh face, Barrack Obama to win that election. But it vindicated one thing - America's fascination towards a new face. Trump is a product of that, though this time it's different. The phenomena called Donald Trump has trumped all logic and everybody. Love him or hate him, can't ignore him - for he has changed the entire dynamics of the Presidential politics this year.

Unlike Sarah Palin who fizzled out too soon, Trump phoenix keeps on rising from ash when every pundit thinks he is done, dusted. Like a Helium filled balloon he keeps on climbing. The Trump juggernaut is chugging ahead, with no sign to stop.

Politics is a game of mind. It is an art to plant the seeds of doubt in the minds of electorates regarding your opponents, by defining him before he defines himself to the voters. Trump has successfully done this to his opponents. He defined Jeb Bush as "someone low on energy". Politics is a matter of perception, with this definition he made look Jeb Bush who spoke with long monologues on debates, look drab and boring, with his $150 million chest not withstanding.

Trump's branding of Rubio as diminutive from top to bottom worked against Rubio both literally and figuratively. Verbal punches flew between them, but Trump was the one who came out as winner, as he was able to connect to audience to perceive Rubio the way he wanted them to.

Trump has won the battle not the war.  Fighting republican opponents and the presumed Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton will not be the same thing. It's high time for him to tone down his rhetorics, if he really has a shot at winning his cherished dream. Otherwise, barring some major terror strike on American soil, a catastrophic economic slump and Hillary Clinton caught in the web of a major scandal - America will see its first Woman President.

In the meantime I have seen a few posts on social media, proclaiming Trump as the harbinger of death to American democracy. With due respect to their knowledge about American politics - little knowledge drawn from couple of websites to substantiate such views can be a dangerous.

Such remarks are widely off the mark. One swallow doesn't make a summer, a judgement based upon a few websites  is not the gospel - can be extremely  flawed. Reports of scuffles at Trump rallies doesn't suggest an imminent collapse of American political system. Such premonitions are highly premature and preposterous.

US is a matured democracy. This is not 1968 campaign season when Martin Luther King and the Democratic front runner Robert Kennedy, the charismatic brother of JFK were assassinated during the peak primary season. It was also marres by violent anti-Vietnam war and Civil right protests. Nor American democracy collapsed in 1972 when there was virtually a riot at the Democratic convention.

America has traveled through those tumultuous times and will survive for times to come. I am not saying this as a clairvoyant or astrologer, but because its fundamentals are pretty strong. Only a house with a strong foundation is expected to withstanding rough weather, and I am sure America will.

The sad saga of the fountain pen

A part and parcel of our childhood memories, and an ubiquitous paraphernalia of our early student life - the Fountain Pen. The first modern fountain pen was invented by an American, Lewis Waterman from New York, which revolutionized writing by making it less arduous.

 

Before that there was no plausible way for a continuous, capillary flow of ink. Many great writers had to contend with the pain of penning down their thought in staggered manner, going through the tedious loop, the monotony of dipping the pen tip time and again inside the ink bowl to write.

Our teachers carried multiple fountain pens inside their bulging shirt pockets. It was not unusual to see leaking pens spilling and blotting their shirts, causing embarrassments and occasionally spilling some beans. The SULEKHA was the most popular brand of ink and Royal Blue being the more often used color. The red ink was sparingly used, only for markings and notations by the examiners.

 

One had to be very careful while pouring ink after unscrewing the fountain pen, taking care not to spill it, lest it spoils your shirt and surrounding. During the hot weather or due to fewer usage, the nib of the pen would dry out. Shaking it off and letting the Newton's law of gravitation do the rest, would make it workable. Sometimes widening the nib with an used Topaz razor blade also did the trick.

The ink of fountain pen had many  multipurpose usages - especially in our school aptly named as Demonstration Multipurpose (DM), a school with a high visibility in Bhubaneswar. One fine morning we boys decided to demonstrate the multipurpose utility of fountain pen, as someone came up with this creative idea of using the pen to bring out more playful joy and do justice to its potential, other than using it for writing only.

 

He wetted and painted his front bencher's back by surreptitiously throwing some visibly apparent blue ink from behind. The front bencher did the same, by replicating it and passing the buck to the guy ahead of him. By afternoon, most of the guys looked colorful, their starched white shirts now converted to blue and black, polka dotted Hawaiians. Our martinet teacher, Hannan Sir spotted the spotted leopards and tried his best to get to the bottom and dig out the culprit who started it.

Like "NIRMULI LATA" or rootless creeper, which curls it's way from plant to plant, making it is very difficult to trace its roots, his curiosity to trace the source was futile. In spite of his best efforts, he could not get to the root of the matter. Frustrated, he punished us by forcing on us a tiring run around a field, along the edges of Eucalyptus trees. The ink Holi had an unholy ending, no one ever dared to play this game again.

 

Towards the end of the 1980s the  Fountain Pen started dying a slow, natural death, unable to compete with ball point pens which slowly took over. The Reynolds brand, unique of its kind and only available in Bhubaneswar those days were so popular that I used to get big orders and acted as a mule, carrying bagfuls of them to my eagerly waiting Engineering College friends in Rourkela.

Have you observed that no matter what, when you use some one's pen it has certain inertia associated with it. For a few more minutes it is not unusual for one to get this ghostly feeling of possessed by the last owner, as your handwriting tends to take the shape of the previous user of the pen. It had made me wonder how come my handwriting suddenly got better.

 

Now writing with a fountain pen is going to be of mountainous proportion, a real pain. Only left are nostalgic memories to cherish, which is going to die with our generation, as photo films, telegram and handwritten letters did.

Vijay Malya fled to England

Vijay Malya, an Indian businessman with a colorful persona as colorful as his Kingfisher Calendars, is accused of fleeing India as a loan defaulter. As the weather is heating up in the dusty plains of India with his moneylenders giving him a hot chase, he is now cooling his heels in the salubrious, cooler climes of England.

The Kingfisher bird, a la his famously failed airlines, flew across the seven seas to his safety net, from the net and the clutch of his clients and money owners. It rings a bell about the not so long ago sentencing of several Business Czars in China. China's President Xi Xinping is cracking whip on their corrupt underbelly, which includes but not limited to Businessmen. He is now using his influence, persuading foreign countries to send back those who fled with their ill gotten wealth.

Most of the perpetrators flew abroad, the list of countries include the closer Singapore to farther United States. Some of these fugitives have surrendered. A few still remain at large, being harder nut to crack - for they have fled to US, Canada and Australia with whom China has no extradition treaty.

Yet China has been able to press America to get some concession in the form of them agreeing to cooperate by deciding to repatriate some, with the condition that the cases being handled as per American law and value (it's just a standard rider from the Americans. No sooner than those Chinese guys are sent back to China, as some already are, Gulag rather than American value will be awaiting them).

If fraudulent practises are epidemic in India, it's rampant in China which is known to hang folks convicted of such charges. I don't think they fled overnight without the knowledge and connivance of the Chinese authority, especially in a nation where one may not able to fart privately without the government sniffing at you.

Yet, setting up an example by bringing a few fugitives back to homeland has it's effect, acting as a great deterrent, accusations of political vendetta or  agenda not withstanding. When the bull is in China shop, they take it by horn. There will be damages, but minimized and exemplary to the rest. Hope the neighbors of the Middle Kingdom, sharing their border and a history of 3000 years follow the suit.

Women's Franchise in America

Since mid 1800s, women in America had been fighting for their right to vote. One of the primary proponents and fighters of their cherished dream was Susan B. Anthony. Many in contemporary America of early 20th century argued against giving women any political rights. The common reason given - Male are made to bring home bacon and women belonged to home.

Reasons given against Women's Suffrage could be as silly as - Women if allowed to vote would argue with their husbands (It's another matter, arguably in 21st century the voting wives have still not relinquished their hobby of arguing with their hubbies).

Like many turning points in history, sheer fate rather than anything revolutionary, in the form cataclysmic World War I accelerated the path towards women's voting rights. At the height of the War the Europeans were busy in destroying their  industries and infrastructure. America a late entrant into the war, did what they do best, doing big business by using the hungry Europe as a market for their products. Job demand in US sore up, bringing women out of home, to the job market.

In 1918, President Woodrow Wilson said "We have made women partners in this war. Shall we admit them only to a partnership of suffering, sacrifice and toil and not to a partnership of right ?"

In 1919, Congress passed the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, giving women right to vote. But 1920, enough states in United States ratified it into law. After ages of suffering, began the Age of Woman Suffrage in America. Nearly a century later, Hillary Clinton could be the first Woman President of the United States.

Making of the likes of Kanhaiya Kumar

The sudden rise and rise of the likes of AK (Arvind Kejriwal) to KK (Kanhaiya Kumar) in our polity is not a new phenomena. We the people of India, by our opinionated discussion and debate on the media, social or otherwise, knowingly or inadvertently, are champions in catapulting such folks into the limelight, handing them a political career on a silver platter.

 

No wonder I can smell a Congress rat behind all this. If one connects the dots, s(h)ame can be ascribed to the caste based agitations recently held in Gujarat, Andhra and Haryana, where the party and casteism is still a formidable force. Used to long years in power and sucking the blood of the nation like leeches, providing an ecosystem created for with their Cronies, which has a long list of beneficiaries that includes but certainly not limited to pliant bureaucrats, crony capitalists and petty DALAALs (middle layer beneficiaries), who benefited immensely from the vulture culture cemented by Congress. These parasites now restless, are back in business with a bang.

 

Something conspicuous hasn't escaped my notice - the overwhelming majority of the intelligentsia, the supporters of BJP and its right wing policies are upper caste Hindus. The backwards, lower castes and the minorities at large are suspicious at them. They still look for Congies, Commies and their Cronies for succor and as their savior. Congress is very apt at playing these political games - no wonder they along with Commies (in Bengal, though the Communist top brass are mostly upper caste Hindus) enjoyed long stints of power.

 

Coming back to Kanhaiya Kumar, a note of caution to him. A balloon which rises too fast, can fizzle out too soon. Public memory can be too short, they along with the media will move something fresh and saleworthy rather than newsworthy.

 

Kanhaiya Jee, this is not 1966 when selling poverty was fashionable in the era of bank nationalization. Now poverty is far from the epidemic proportion it was once half a century ago when India had to sustain of PL-180 grain sacs as manna dew from West and Communism, a concept now way past its expiry date, was sold as the panacea for poverty.

 

Disagreeing with Capitalism which is not free from lacunae and has its own shortcomings is perfectly fine, so also espousing freedom of speech and fighting for the downtrodden. But banking on a proven failed ideology to fight poverty is not fresh, rather sounds as stale an idea, as a stale Roti (bread) is rejected even by the stray dogs these days.

 

So rather than raising empty Communist slogans in swanky JNU or Jadavpur, relinquish your Jhola (shoulder strapped bags mostly made from cotton) and please work among the poorest of the poor in Bastar or Bankura. Service to the poor is service to God. Media can make you the star for a day or month, but to sustain such stardom you need to go way above and beyond petty rhetoric and histrionics.

RIP Martin Crowe

A gifted batsman and a natural player, he earned accolades from no other than the legendary Imran Khan, a fastidious cricketer whose rare appreciation includes Vivian Richards and Inzamam Ul Haq.

Martin Crowe arrived on the cricket scene in mid 1980s, as a shadow of his better known elder brother Jeff. Soon the younger Crowe proved to be a prolific and dependable player, a utility bowler and excellent fielder, who could single handedly turn the table on his opponents,  turning out to be a world class player, earning accolades from seasoned cricketers of the time.

The 1992 World Cup could have been a befitting tribute to this great player. The favorite Kiwis were knocked out of the World Cup in the Semi final at their home ground Auckland, by a resurgent Pakistan. Martin Crowe who missed that match due to injury, could only helplessly watch in agony as Inzamam, another player who shared with him similar  eloquence from Imran. The Pakistani batsman ended the Kiwi's dream run, played a swashbuckling knock of 32 ball 60, to knock the Kiwis out of the World Cup.

Martin Crowe's career was constantly plagued by injury. The gifted batsman who was a dangerous proposition to the Kiwis opponents, was frequently sidelined for failed fitness, until he finally retired in mid 90s. His international  cricket career lasted little more than a decade.

Post retirement, he was active as a player and coach until cancer got the better of him. RIP, braveheart.

India's prospect at Rio Olympics

Winter has given way to Spring. Before we bat our eyelids, summer will be knocking our doors. This year is unique, a leap year and the year of the Olympics. Sports lovers all across the globe will be looking forward to what is arguably the greatest Sporting event on earth in Rio, Brazil.

The country known famously for Samba and Soccer and the city known for jamboree, are getting ready to host this Mega event, as thousands of athletes from all over the world, including India will congregate for "Citius, Altius, Fortius" at the Olympics village.

As expected, the prospects India doesn't look very bright. An odd gold medal and at best 10 medals in total for a nation of 1.25 billions and amongst top 10 nations in GDP is far from a matter of pride.
It seems we have taken the motto set by Baron De Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympics - "Participation is more important than winning medals", a little too seriously. So don't chase a mirage and expect any Bollywood style magic, with some undue expectation of last minute miracles, when a medal in this age of competitive sports, needs months and years of preparation, at world class level.

If history is an indication, our past performance augurs anything but hope. The first medal we won outside Hockey was a bronze by Wrestler K.D. Yadav in 1952, followed by the next in Tennis after 44 years in 1996, again a bronze medal.

In Hockey the last time we won a medal was in the depleted 1980 Moscow Olympics, thanks to the overwhelming favorites Australia, West Germany, Pakistan and Netherland being part of the US led boycott. Milkha Singh in 1960 and P T Usha in 1984 missed the bronze by a whisker, though I give more credit to Milkha as the 1984 Olympics was boycotted by the Soviet Block.

Post Y2K (year 2000), we had our odd successes, winning our first ever Gold and Silver medals beyond hockey in shooting. Came trickling in a few bronzes in the form of Wrestling and Boxing, thanks to our state of Haryana. But that's it, hardly any  justice to a nation of our size and stature.

Indian Sports management should take notice about the minnows North Korea  who manage to win more gold medals than us - a nation where the overwhelming majority of the population  live in abject poverty and suffer from chronic malnutrition. An average Indian  eats better and lives better than an average North Korean. Yet they train better and with hungry stomach have  have much more appetite for winning medals. (Their performance on sporting arena is no fluke, shouldn't be pooh-poohed as the effect of performance enhancing drugs and threats of being sent to Gulag).

On the other hand there is simply no excuse to our performance, or rather lack of it, vindicating us as hardly a sporting nation in spite of our 1.25 teeming billion. Our sports system needs a complete revamp, before it can yield some concrete results. Here are a few simple suggestions.

First of all, kick the Netas and their crooked, crony officials out from our sports governing bodies. They already have done irreparable damage, as if 70 years of wastage is not long enough. Sportsmanship is simply not their forte, not in this age of competitive sports,  especially to be left alone in the hands of  those not known for professionalism.

Secondly, create world class sports infrastructure and develop sports at the grass root level. China sowed such seeds in 70s and now reaping the benefits. If we sow it today, down the road we could see some tangible outcome.

Third, look beyond cricket. Popularize soccer, hockey, swimming, track and field and so on. Like crop rotation does wonders to fertility and different mental activities for mind, multiple sports helps us to be more sportive. All these are no rocket science. Australia, England, South Africa and New Zealand do well in Olympics, apart from playing cricket.

With that said, if and when this happens, my generation may not be there to see that day. With unaccomlished dream, I am destined to be a haunted BRAHMA RAKHYASA, hunting for its victims ( Per legend in Odisa, if a Brahmin dies with
unfulfilled desires, he is cursed to roam as a burly, demonic champion of Ghosts and Ghouls, feared as BRAHMA RAKHYASA among others. He  supposedly lives on a huge Banyan tree on the outskirts, bossing over the neighborhood. Such a fate awaits me).