Smartphones have changed the world of communication

Smartphones have changed the world of communication. Right now I am at a place to get my haircut waiting for my turn. I never miss an opportunity to chit chat with my Co-customers. My attempt to initiate a conversation didn't arouse much interest in them. They have all buried their head inside their devices like Ostriches do in sand. Welcome to the world of smartphones.

Power as an aphrodisiac

There is no powerful aphrodisiac in the world than the power itself. This has been true throughout the centuries. Around the time of Gautama Buddha, Ajatsatru the King of Magadha imprisoned and killed his father Bimbisara to ascend the throne. His son exactly followed his father's footstep. Aurangzeb, the Mughal emperor famously said " Kingship is more powerful than Kinship". He killed his brothers including his elder brother Dara who was the favorite son of his father Sah Jahan. Over centuries nothing has changed. Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto, the ex-PM of Pakistan trusted Zia-Ul-Haq. He promoted him over others and made him the Army chief. He thought Zia as a pliable one and often used to poke fun at him in public referring to him as his Monkey general for the later's looks. Zia had the last laugh. He arrested Bhutto in a coup and hung him soon after. Power and betrayal has been synonymous through human history. No wonder the saying goes " Absolute power corrupts absolutely".

Fate and faith in lottery.

With the  backdrop of last week's $400 million lottery winner it revived the memory of our growing up days. If you remember early 80s there was a popular lottery in Odisha known as Rajarani lottery. Apparently it could not sustain long and soon folded up. If you ask someone those days what you would do if you win a big prize money in lottery the common answer was I will put it in a Fixed Deposit in State Bank of India and live off on the interest for rest of my life. Rarely anybody said about investing it to make further money. State Bank deposits were safer and the most preferred mode of investment those days. Mindset of public over the year has gone through a drastic change. People intend to make more money out of money. It has made life a rat race. That's exactly why the business of gambling (lottery is one form of gambling) thrives. Purchasing power of every currency has depreciated over the years. Now-a-days even one million dollar prize money is not big enough an amount to retire. After they deduct the taxes (money earned from lottery is heavily taxed) it leaves you an amount of something over 600K. It certainly is quite a good amount. But not quite good enough to follow my childhood fantasy of putting it in a savings account and retire for life.

Solution for Insomnia

Today at one of our work meetings someone confided to us about having hard time falling asleep, soliciting solutions other than medicines. I said "Just take home some of our manuals and read them at bedtime. You will soon sleeping like a baby. This is the best cure for your insomnia without any side effects." Laughter followed.

When American president Visits India

 Last week this news got my attention,  that our BRIC mate the Brazil's President cancelled her trip to USA. The reason being Uncle Sam spoofing over her private e-mails. By doing so she sent a strong message. Hat's off to the lady. Being a superpower does not give someone rights to snoop over others e-mail. Two other BRIC mates, China and Russia have proved that they don't bend easily before America. But it is a different story for the  other BRIC nation India. When American wants India to bend it crawls. I find it very strange that our media hardly covers the visit of Russian Presidents these days. Russia is a time tested all weather friend of India. America has no permanent friends or enemies, only permanent interest (they are quite open about it).  But when any American President visits India our media goes ga ga months before the trip. They swoon over them. Our MPs rush to touch them. We forget that Clinton and Bush visited in their second term in which an American president is considered as lame duck. yet they were treated like Rock Stars. Obama's  hip twitching Diwali dance swayed many who wasted no time comparing his dance to Bollywood biggies. Alas, the same never happens when it is the other way round. Forget coverage, the American press hardly even takes notice of the visit. Russian president Putin gets far better coverage in US (more than he gets in India). Now the American press is suddenly excited in anticipation of Obama talking to the Iranian President next week (both don't have diplomatic ties since 1979). Why ? Because Putin or Iranian President though both of them no big fans of America, both matter to Uncle Sam. India though officially a close ally hardly matters. America just takes India for granted. In Odia there is a saying MAAI NUHE KI GAAI NUHE ( transliterated neither a female nor a cow). It means someone of least importance or may I say impotent ! No proverb is more accurate in this context.

My Inocluation Experience

Recently read a news about health workers giving vaccines to children in Afghanistan are targeted by Talibans. A medieval midset considering the fact that vaccinations save life. I have a very faint memory of small pox vaccine which was tattooed on my hand during my childhood. Its scar is still visible. But my first vivid memory is getting a shot (injection) of cholera  vaccination when I was in primary school. I was afraid to death of being pierced by an thick needle. I mistakenly assumed that the ordeal would be over once I got the shot. But it started soon after. By evening I had fever and I could hardly lift my arm. The pain subsided after couple of days. All I got in lieu of all the pain I incurred was a piece of paper called the Inoculation Certificate. Little I knew that this Certificate will come handy a few months later when I was on a bus to Puri days before RATH YATRA ( Chariot festival). On the outskirts of the city near Chandanpur the bus was stopped by a battalion of health officials with syringe on hand. It was time to give cholera shots. I proudly brandished my inoculation certificate. Those who didn't  meekly disembarked and lined up for the shots. A few who tried to flee were immediately chased by the officials who apparently anticipated this. Some escaped by wading over the paddy fields, melting away behind the coconut groves. Those not so lucky were grabbed by their collars and a DAMPHANA ( an Odia term for thick needles used to sew jute sacks) sized needle was stabbed on their bottom with great force. They grimaced in pain and limped back to bus in full view of passengers peeping through the window. I was watching wild wild west enacted on the east coast of India. Vaccinations no doubt wiped out many communicable diseases like small pox and cholera. Half of my father's siblings died of preventable diseases before they reached 5 due to lack of vaccination. My grandfather used to tell me scary stories about how entire families in our village were wiped out by bouts of cholera and small pox. Life then was a matter of surviving next spring (pox season) or late summer (cholera season). During the epidemics the entire village use to shut down after dark. As soon as twilight sets in the villagers liberally filled huge earthen pots outside with PITHA(cakes made from rice and grams), PANA (a sweetened puree made from yogurt and fruits like Banana and Stone Apples or BEL) for the consumption of BADI THAKURANI(the Goddess of Cholera) or MA SITHALA (The Goddess of Pox). Job done, they rushed back home never daring to venture outside till dawn lest they earn the wrath of the Goddesses. Not sure how far the Goddesses were appeased but the stray dogs of the village had a field day. They put on a lot of weight and seemed healthier and happier than their human counterparts.

The word Peon

This morning I met a co-worker and a good friend who earlier moved to a different group. After the customary "How ya do'in" exchanged between us I asked him how he feels in his new group. He said "Are you aware of the French word Peon, which means the employee at the bottom strata in an organization ? I feel the same these days." For the first time I heard an American using the word peon. (He was poking fun at himself by equating himself with peon which he meant as someone at lower echelons in an organization, not that someone told him to bring a glass of water). It was not surprising for him to ask me about my familiarity with the term peon as it is not so commonly used here. But to me who grew up in Bhubaneswar at a time it was mostly a city of salaried people Peon was not a strange but quite a familiar word. I bet more Indians know the word 'peon' than the Americans do. The government quarters we lived in where I grew up had the Peon quarters adjacent to us. I do remember some of my friends from our block were barred by their parents to mix with those kids on the other side of the block lest they will be corrupted with bad influence. The narrow road was like the great barrier reef, which separated a common people speaking a common language by nothing but an artificial class barrier based on false vanity. For them it was a no go area. We had no such parochial parental guidance. My sisters and I had no compulsion in making friends with kids our own age living in those quarters. When TV came in 1982 they used to come to our house to watch cricket and Sunday movies. My mother used to bring PAKODAS (a common afternoon snack in India) for all to share. When I visit Bhubaneswar I prefer to and feel safer to drive a Moped (LUNA) which makes it easier to navigate the unruly traffic. Few have told me " APANA AMERIKA RU ASI KANA LUNA CHADHUCHANTI, AJIKALI PEON BI LUNA CHALAU NAHANTI". It means "How come you coming from America ride a Luna(a popular moped) whereas even peons these days don't ride them ". I refrain from answering their stupid question because it's silliness speaks volumes about them. But I always wished I told them it is non of their freaking business whether I ride a moped or ride as a Mahout on an elephant.  And what peons ride today has got nothing to do with what I should or shouldn't ride tomorrow. In this context it reminds me of an adage about Abraham Lincoln. Once someone saw Lincoln tying his shoelaces and asked him " Mr. President, you tie your own shoelaces ?" Yes, I do responded Lincoln. Then he went on " Whose shoelaces you tie".