At Random

At the gym this guy was changing his clothes next to my locker after his workout and shower. "You had a good work out?" - I asked. The man said, "I worked out two hours and sat in the sauna for half hour. I feel great. I will probably die if I did not do it." He appeared a little older than I, but I had no clue. "It's hard work to stay fit. How old are you?" - I asked. "I am seventy eight. My son tells me, Dad, I hope at your age I am in as good a shape as you are." - he said. I had nothing more to say. I whine about being in mid life.

On NPR I listened to a commentary on Cat Power's "The Greatest". It was very positive. It was about how she mixed her sound with soul and Ray Charles type music. I came to know about Chan Marshall's Cat Power songs from my daughter's blog site. I clicked and listened to some of it. Not bad even for me.

At work someone (who is on maternity leave) had a baby girl. This was her first. Everyone was talking about it. The baby weighed 7 lbs and some ounces. The new mother is very petite. She used to pass by my office all the time. I suppose I never noticed it.

For me ESR stands for Engineering Service Request. I thought in medical world it might mean Emergency Service Room. When my wife said that my brother-in-law (husband of my sister-in-law) was having a low-grade fever and that his blood test showed high ESR, I had no clue. I don't deal with medical abbreviations. So, I searched in WebMD. ESR stands for Erythrocyte (red blood cells) Sedimentation Rate. When more blood cells stick together, the sedimentation rate increases. It can happen because of many reasons. Live and learn!

An email came a few days ago from Tammy (our daughter's friend, she calls me uncle) from somewhere in Africa. On her way to Tanzania she stopped in Arusha for a few days. She and her friend sat in on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. They witnessed a court trial of four ministers that helped initiate the genocide in 1994. She stated that it was surreal to be watching men that could have done such a thing. I need to respond to her email.

Events in life are like random numbers or restless electrons. It happens everyday.

Not much is happening

Except that I have this annoying cough at night that won't let me sleep well. I don't know what caused it. Is it the weather, is it stress or is it that my age is finally catching up? Perhaps it is the prevailing politics that is making me sick!

I am definitely sick of one sidedness of current US politics by the administration and the extreme conservatives. But they manage to bulldoze their way. They don't realize that half of the people (may be more, as some are afraid to express their opinion) don't share their views and meanness. If someone speaks out, he or she is considered unpatriotic.

They have almost managed to justify domestic spying, torture of prisoners, dispatching prisoners to countries where torture is allowed, intruding another country's airspace (Pakistan) without permission to drop bombs, attacking and destroying a country (Iraq) by misleading the people, and so on. The executive branch gives the impression that they are above the law. This administration conveniently ignores the UN or the world opinion. The administration wants democracy and peace in the world in their own terms. In schools we were taught that anything in life is negotiable. This administration believes in an eye for an eye. "An eye for an eye makes the whole world go blind." - Mahatma Gandhi.

Yet, poverty & homelessness in the US continue to grow. School drop out rate is high. We have almost forgotten Katrina and New Orleans. No one talks about 2200+ dead in Iraq war. Deficit continues to grow (which would have bankrupted if it was a private company). No one is seriously talking about social security.

The administration cannot take care of our back yard, but we are at someone's country for the wrong reason and spending billions, killing hundreds (ours and theirs). The public is mislead by emotional issues rather than real issues. They manage to divide people for pure politics.

Issues of abortion, definition of marriage, assisted suicide, etc. will not reduce poverty, homelessness, unemployment, deficit, etc. Yet, we the people succumb to such politics. Perhaps there is some truth in the saying that a people get a government it deserves.

Homecoming

Our cat, Tigger and I managed almost two and a half weeks by ourselves. During the weekdays I went to work in the wee hours of the morning and returned home when it was dark in the evening. When I got home, I usually found Tigger sleeping on the couch. "Tigger I am home" - I would announce my arrival. Tigger would raise his head looking very sad and lonely. Tigger and I had been in similar situation several times in the past when my wife would visit her mother. But did not think about it much. By the same token, she was home alone with Tigger when I used to go overseas on business trips in the past.

The last time my wife was gone, I had managed to watch a movie at the mall. This time all I did was go to work, eat, sleep, and "work out" occasionally. Only exciting (if one calls it exciting) thing I did was my half marathon run last Sunday morning. I did not call anyone, nor did I receive any call in the last two weeks except those annoying sales call at dinnertime. Oh yes, on our daughter's birthday I called her and left a message on her cell phone. She in turn called and left me a message. Even with all the modern gadgets we played phone tags.

Tomorrow, my wife is arriving back from her trip. She arrives around 11:00 AM. So, after work today, I went grocery shopping (fruits, veggies, eggs...). When I got home I cooked a few things. She is not fond of my cooking, but I hope she will understand my effort. I checked her plants in the patio. They appeared to be fine. I had watered the plants before. Soon after she had left, I organized some "stuff" in the garage as she had instructed. I also had her car inspected and gassed up. So, I am sort of ready for her homecoming. Tomorrow morning after breakfast I will go to the airport to bring her home. I am sure she will have a lot to tell about her trip.

Running through the city streets

It was the annual Houston marathon/half marathon. Unlike in the past I chose to participate this year in the half marathon only. I suppose once a runner you are always a runner. Some 15000 runners ran through the city streets. It was a cool morning. As the sun peeked through the opening between high rises with brilliant color, as the starting gun went off, the sea of humanity took off, at first slowly as a herd, and then slowly they separated. It was not about your time, it was not about the prize money, and it was for that unexplainable experience that one gets after the sweat and grueling exhaustion at the finish line. It was about not giving up whether you came first or last.

It seems crazy for this whole bunch and perhaps I am one of them. I have done several marathons in the past. I am not a spring chicken any more. I broke my left wrist playing soccer. I messed up my right shoulder playing tennis. I am slowing down a few minutes every year. But around this time of the year, the thrill of running through the city streets passing by cheering crowd on either side (even these folks come out on a cold Sunday morning instead of sleeping in, that's their annual ritual and they keep the runners going) is so inviting that the runners heed the silent calling.

I got up at 4:30 AM. Left home at 5:30. At 7:00 AM we took off. I finished in 1 hour 55 minutes and 15 seconds. Not a record by any means. But on a personal basis I did reasonably well. I got my medal, picked up my finisher shirt, chowed down some food (egg, sausage, biscuit, hash brown, banana, bagel, yogurt,... thanks to many organizations and thousands of volunteers who gave up their morning as well for the runners) before heading home. As I opened the door, Tigger was waiting for me (I wondered if he was trying to congratulate me or was worried not knowing where I had gone so early, I know no cat language).

I want to thank many people. To mention a few, two daughters and my wife who are away, worried about me and wished me well, Jonathon, Dan, and Michael.

As a matter of fact Dan (Lee) and Michael (Kroh), who are our older daughter's friends from high school days stopped by yesterday (to pick up Christmas gifts for them from our older daughter). These are two wonderful young men. As I made some special tea, we chatted all afternoon about many things like their studies, politics, the right turn the country is taking to our dismay, indifference in voting by younger generation, poverty, AIDS, environment, human nature, etc. Our discussion obviously was not going to change the world, but it gave me a perspective of younger generation.

I am very optimistic about the future as these young people (with much better understanding of the diverse global village) start taking reigns of the country away from many older, highly conservative, inflexible (my way or high way) people. Like the Sun rise this morning with beautiful color, I have no doubt that the future has to be better than what we have done to the present world.

War and Peace

On Monday we will be observing MLK day. Before him there was MKG (Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi) known as Mahatma, the Great Soul. They showed the power of truth and non-violence. It may be a slow process, but it wins at the end against the worst and the most violent enemies. But the world fails to learn.

War is uncivilized. War is not a long-term solution. War may bring false glory to one side, but brings disaster to the other side creating generations of cynics. But they continue to raise barbaric war killing people, maiming many for life, creating more orphans in a harsh world, making poor even poorer, robbing individual freedom, planting seeds for unofficial slavery.

The world makes mockery of MLKs and MKGs of the world. They have parades and speeches and holidays in their name. They fly fighter planes above the parade route to show (dis)honor. They shade crocodile tears in their name for fairness, justice, love, brotherhood, etc. etc. If they only understood these few martyrs, they would quietly raise a different kind of peaceful war against poverty, hunger, disease, homelessness, inequality, etc. making barbaric war irrelevant. They would try to save the living dead first before worrying about the lives of the unborn. They would respect differences than demanding strict conformity. They would respect the concept of "live and let live". They would love people and use "things" and not the other way around.

Unfortunately, today there are no MLKs, no MKGs who defeated the enemies without raising a sword, but armed with only love and truth. They gave their lives so that others could live in a little better world.

This weekend

I should say it started last Thursday evening. I had a haircut (it was way over due) after work. I was about 15-20 minutes late for my 6:30 PM appointment. The traffic on Atascocita Road was bad. I called from the road. Thui (who has been cutting hair for our family for years) understood and was waiting. After the haircut, I dropped the old newspapers at the recycle bin.

On Friday afternoon (Friday is generally a half work day at our company as we put in lot more hours in the first four days) I got a few more things done. I mailed two boxes (box of books and the Christmas gift that were left behind) to the older daughter in San Francisco and a box of cookies/candies to our younger daughter in Tokyo (she wasn't home for Christmas). Then I got my wife's car inspected (annual state safety inspection). I also went to the gym for about an hour (trying to stay in shape is hard work, "there is truly no free lunch"). When I got home, I cooked something quickly for dinner (my wife had already cooked some dishes before she left for India), as our guests Sarmas from Austin were to arrive soon. It was pretty late for bedtime as we kept chatting after dinner.

Saturday morning was busy too. We picked Amit (son of Sarmas) and his fiancé, Jillian from the airport. They arrived from Washington D.C. We had breakfast (more like brunch) before leaving for Galveston at noon. Amit and Jillian were going on a Caribbean cruise. Amit's birthday was a couple days ago. His mom specially made his favorite sweets ("Gulab Jamun") and brought it with her from Austin. Amit received a few music CDs and Jillian received a book by her favorite author from the Sarmas. All in all, it was a good morning.

After the guests left, I called my wife in India. She had just gone to bed (it was 11:30 PM there). Anyway, she arrived safely (arrival at Delhi was about an hour late and the flight to Guwahati was late because of fog in the morning). She had to pay for excess baggage for the domestic flight. Her cold and cough appeared to have gone. She had plans to go to a wedding reception Sunday evening.

[Commentary: According to my wife, the whole Sunday (until 5:00 PM) the city would be shut down because of a protest call ("Bandh"). No one (including the public servants, elected officials, ministers, etc.) cares about public inconvenience. The election rallies by political parties take over the roads with boisterous noise. Those who are supposed to enforce and uphold the law, break the law as if they are entitled to such right. The "Bandh" culture continues to thrive in India.]

Today (Sunday) I did some household chores. When we moved this house a year ago, I had saved our daughters' childhood dolls and other memorabilia in cardboard boxes in the garage. My wife had purchased some large plastic containers to preserve those. So, I dug through the boxes and organized those in these plastic containers. I also slightly organized my wife's study room (she did not have time to put away some stuff on the floor before she left). Then I did the laundry. I also went for a short run in the neighborhood.

The day is almost over. I plan to watch some episodes of "Firefly" (complete set of DVDs that was a Christmas gift to me from the daughter in Tokyo, she wants to know if I like). So, I think I will stop here and go watch "Firefly".

Home Alone

I am home alone (not quite, as I write this, our senior most family member, Tigger the cat, is quietly sitting close by and watching me). Except that I wasn't left behind by mistake.

The holidays are over. The artificial Christmas tree has been disassembled and put away for another year. The strings of lights have been removed. The stockings hanging from the fireplace are down (by the way, Mr. Claus forgot to put something in the stocking with my name). The house full of noise, music, and daily talk through the computer (“skype”) with the other daughter (who has been away in Japan) is awfully quiet. All who came for the holidays are gone.

Now that the hustle and bustle of the holidays are over (and my wife doesn't have to spend all day in the kitchen for holiday cooking), my wife decided to take a little break and go visit her mother on the other side of the globe. She too left this morning.

So, temporarily I am home alone(for the dark hours of the nights and the weekends). Then again, when I am not alone, I am probably not too exciting to entertain the rest. So, my presence or absence may be irrelevant to others. But, I hate being alone, eating alone, talking to myself (and at times to Tigger, I am not sure Tigger understands me. He simply stares at me with a blank look. Perhaps my gibberish talk is too annoying or too dumb for him.), and wondering about the "good old days".

I like a little noise in the house. I like loud laughter and giggling. I like eating good food in the company of people. I like jokes. My wife has other ideas about these. All these are becoming rare (except during holidays) as my children think of me as "my old man". I suppose I am expected to act my age.

So, I am home alone posting these random ramblings. The house is awfully quiet. Tigger is bundled up like a ball with his head tucked inside. The outside is pitch black. There was one left over chocolate chip cookie from the holidays. I just finished that. Now I will soon get on the bed (which gives me back ache in the morning, Is it old age or a mattress that hates me?) and start counting sheep until I fall asleep.

New Year

Today is the beginning of a New Year. The celebration of the new year is the oldest of all holidays. It was first observed in ancient Babylon about 4000 years ago. In the years around 2000 BC, the Babylonian New Year began with the first New Moon (actually the first visible crescent) after the Vernal Equinox (first day of spring).

The beginning of spring is a logical time to start a new year. After all, it is the season of rebirth, of planting new crops, and of blossoming. January 1, on the other hand, has no astronomical or agricultural significance. It is purely arbitrary. The Romans continued to observe the New Year in late March, but various emperors continually tampered with their calendar so that the calendar soon became out of synchronization with the sun.

In order to set the calendar right, the Roman senate, in 153 BC, declared January 1 to be the beginning of the New Year. But tampering continued until Julius Caesar, in 46 BC, established what has come to be known as the Julian Calendar. It again established January 1 as the new year. But in order to synchronize the calendar with the sun, Caesar had to let the previous year drag on for 445 days.

January 1 happens to be widely celebrated as the New Year in the world today. However, many nationalities and sub-nationalities have their own calendars and celebrate their own New Year on dates other than January 1.

Someday, if earth people inhabit Mars, Martian New Year would be celebrated every 687 earth days. So, the concept of New Year is relative. If there are other living creatures in far, far away places in this universe, they could be celebrating their New Year in a totally different way and not necessarily by dropping a ball from some tall tower.

In reality, New Year (i.e. January 1) is just another day. Up until 1970, I do not recall making a big deal out of January 1. That was a different time in a different country. Only thing that sticks in my mind is that my father had passed away on the night of December 31, 1961 (Actually around 1:00 AM of January 1, 1962). Back then our (Assamese) New Year celebration was around the middle of April. The celebration lasted for several days with food, fun, and cultural programs. Modern day New Year pales compared to the merriment we had from that celebration.

Starting in the fall of 1970, I had started my career with an Oil Company. It was originally a British Company and as such had a Western legacy. So, in the Company Club I had experienced first hand the celebration of Christmas and New Year. Now I watch the New Year celebration (Fire Works in Sydney, Ball Dropping in New York Time Square...) on TV sitting in my living room couch.

All I have to say is that another year is gone by. I hope that all the bad stuff (like Tsunami, Hurricane, Earthquake, Flood...) is over. We start on a new dawn hoping for an end to war, hunger, famine, AIDS; hoping for peace, fairness, and justice; hoping for compassion, wisdom, love and happiness. I think the world still has enough good people to change it for better.