The Sunday

It wasn't a walk in the park. However, it was a great day. I did everything I had planned.
1. Run in the morning - about 8 miles (not bad)
2. Do laundry (and fold)
3. Movie at Deer brook Mall - "Inside Man" (A bank Robbery w/ war crime connection, Danzel Washington acting)
4. A greasy hamburger w/ French-fries for lunch (I think my internal organs were craving for a little grease)
5. Shopping for my wife's birthday present (She will be back on Wednesday)
6. Dinner: Dosa at Anand Bhavan (S. Indian Dosa made by a fish loving Bengali owner)
7. Back home in time to clean Tigger's poop
8. Talk to the older daughter in Frisco (who just got back from a 5 hour hiking)
9. Early to bed (Well, weekend is over)
10. Today (Monday) I bought some Texas Lottery tickets. I feel lucky. If I win that Mega million, I may not have to think too much about the week days. I should know by Tomorrow night.

Tigger & I

It's only Tigger and me again at the house. Actually Tigger has been home alone during the day when I was off to work. My wife left for Frisco on business last Tuesday. Thereafter, she took a few days off starting Friday to be with our older daughter and to see a couple of brand-new babies (My niece i.e. my brother's daughter had a baby boy and my wife's cousin’s daughter had a baby girl, both live in the bay area). Do more babies come in springtime? It seems like a good time with sunny days and blue skies when flowers bloom, little baby birds come out of their nests.

Anyway, it's just Tigger and me. The refrigerator is full of left over food. Therefore, I don't have to cook. There is plenty of same old dry cat food. Therefore, Tigger will not starve. The younger daughter is in Tokyo, but I can't "skype". She is not good at emailing either. Therefore, I visit her "blog" quite often for updates. Well, it's springtime in Japan too. It's Cherry Blossom time. Therefore, she is out, like many others, taking pictures. The older daughter was busy taking her quarter "finals" (she is done now). Therefore, I did not want to bother her. I talked to my wife couple of times (I forget she is two hours behind).

I made some cheese omelet for breakfast this morning. I love egg, but at my age I should not over indulge. I hate oatmeal cereal, but that's what I usually have on weekdays. My wife thinks it's good for me. Anyway, after breakfast and after a quick review of the newspaper (There is hardly any good news, people are dying every day in Iraq, thanks to our Mr. President) I went for a run this morning. It was hard to stay inside on a perfect sunny spring day with a perfect blue sky. After lunch, I even tried to take a nap (a rare luxury). However, Tigger kept scratching outside my bedroom. I wondered if he wanted company or if he thought that something was wrong with me. Therefore, I came out. A little later he jumped up on his usual spot on the couch and went to sleep. Now, that was cruel on his part. He can sleep all the time, but I can't even take nap on a Saturday afternoon. Oh, well!

One more day left before Monday gets here. Things to do: fix breakfast, clean Tigger's litter box (Tigger is spoilt, he won't go unless his litter box is absolutely clean), do laundry ... What the heck, I think I will ride the bike tomorrow. I may even go to a movie (Crash, Broke Back Mountain, She is the man - who cares?). I think I will go to that Indian restaurant (that my wife and I go occasionally) to eat "Dosa" tomorrow. I may even buy something for my wife while I am out. My wife's birthday is coming up soon. I better not forget. I have been in the doghouse a time or two. I don't want to make it a habit.

Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping into the future!

Entropy or Reaction?

Eons ago (so it seems), in Thermodynamics class I did not quite understand Entropy, except that it was always "increasing". I don't think I fully understand now. Nevertheless, it appears to me that everything else is increasing too. They say that the universe is expanding and we are constantly moving away, where we do not know. I don't know if there is Entropy for the Universe as a whole. Is there social Entropy? Is peace a stable social state? I would think so. Then we must not be in a stable state.

Under dynamic stable atomic state electrons continue to revolve without collapsing. So do the planets, stars, and galaxies; else there will be total annihilation. Birth and death (of a star, living beings) are part of that over all normal state too I suppose. Once in a while there can be a black hole sucking everything. In the social setting, it doesn't appear to be simply an aberration. Are we, as a society, in an excited state? If so, who is providing that excitation energy?

It appears that regardless of self proclaimed advancement by mankind, violence is increasing, anger is out of control, economic gap is widening, children are not around the nucleus (they say you don't even need a father; all you need to do is shop for a Mr. Sperm and we call that progress), modern day diseases are spreading like wild fire. There are more child labors, more refugees, more homeless, more pollution, and so on.

Are these the results of increasing social Entropy? Alternatively, are these negative reactions to irresponsible actions by some? In Physics we had studied that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Is this true of human society? Is it a balancing act by nature or a destructive reaction to our stupid, arrogant action? Has any one applied laws of natural or physical science to social actions and reactions?

Why not blame it on Entropy for all the social ills?

Three years later

I am terribly upset. You should be too. After "Shock & Awe", after declaring "Mission Accomplished", after three years we are stuck in an awful war. This administration falsely dragged this country to a stupid war and destroyed another country. If a single person (Saddam) was the goal, why punish a whole nation, why drag us, why taint a great country like USA in the eyes of the world?

Our brave soldiers are still dying. There is no count of Iraqi dead. Thousands and thousands are injured. Indirectly, this administration is responsible for all of this. Now Iraqis are killing each other. Afghanistan is boiling again. No solution in sight for Iran, North Korea. The Middle Eastern people are tired of western hypocrisy. Therefore, they have elected Hamas. The extreme right (who also preaches morality to us) has taken over this country. We have our own axis of evil i.e. Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz and we are not doing anything about it.

It's time to admit mistake by this administration and step down gracefully. There has to be a better leader with courage who can talk with the worst enemies and get us out of this mess. For the love of this country, for the love of all the lives, there has to be someone with more wisdom. Here at home, the ruins of Big Easy are almost forgotten. There is no serious discussion on serious issues like deficit, energy, education, health care, social security, etc. They polarize the nation by diverting your attention to emotional issues like abortion, gay rights, etc. that will not pay for your medical bills, or your education or how you die when you are too old.

Certainly America can do a lot better than this. It's time for a new beginning.

Sayonara

She left for Tokyo this morning. I saw her off at the terminal E. A big good-bye hug, a fatherly kiss on her cheek (which perhaps she is not very fond of in public), thorough checking of her body and her bags by a TSA lady (thanks to 9/11) and then she disappeared on the other side. I took the underground mini shuttle train from E to C, walked to my car, and headed for the gym. Things do have a beginning and an end (at least in a physical sense). Therefore, I jogged around the track in the gym till I sweated, rested my wandering mind, took a shower, and headed home.

Yesterday we had dinner at Black Eyed Pea. She had her favorite Chicken Fried Steak (you don't get that kind of Texas stuff in Tokyo). Later we watched the last two episodes of Firefly together. Then she packed her bags. This morning I made some French Toasts for breakfast. She had cereal instead. Then we left for the airport. Now she must be somewhere at 30000 feet altitude cruising at 500 MPH towards the land of the rising Sun again.

During her stay here her friend, Brett came down from New York and spent a few days with us. He is one of the coolest young men I have met. She gave him a taste of Texas by taking him to the Houston Rodeo and treated him to her mom's delicious cooking. He too left a few days ago. The house is relatively quiet again. Tigger has no clue where she comes from for a few days and where she goes making him feel bad after a few days of warm attention that no one else gives. Well, that's life.

Sayonara!

It's chow down time

Junk or healthy, food is a part of any culture. When you mix culture, you get fusion. No, I am not talking about music.

Our younger daughter arrived last Monday. A few days later, Brett, a friend of hers arrived from New York. My wife has been cooking continuously for the last few days. Normally, it's just two of us and she is not much of an eater. Besides it's hard to cook for two. Now that there are special requests from our daughter, the kitchen has been humming. I am a beneficiary of all this food. However, during the weekdays we were at work all day. Therefore, this weekend has been special, especially when they are here only for a few days.

Last Friday, I came home at noon, picked up some spicy fried chicken, and drove to the park on the lake with Indu and Brett. On the park bench we chowed down that chicken. Back at home we had my wife's delicious cooking for dinner. Saturday morning, we had special late breakfast with Assamese style "Luci" (it's like Tortilla, but deep fried and it fluff's up) and "Aloo Bhaazi" (fried potato Assamese style). Later in the afternoon we went to the Houston Rodeo (A first for the New Yorker in the house) and watched those cowboys ride bulls or rope calves or ride bareback broncos. Along the way I chowed down some "Nachos' with Jalapenos. Later we walked around checking out the pigs in the pens or taking picture with some adorable Llamas. This morning, we had breakfast of eggs and biscuits. At lunch, we had some homemade (my wife's first experiment was highly successful) delicious South Indian dishes. I am not sure what's for supper, but my wife is still cooking. We had also promised Brett a real taste of Cajun or Mexican food, but with my wife's kitchen going it may have to wait for another time.

Well, the weekend is almost over. Tomorrow is Monday. I think I will go on diet tomorrow and return to my bagel and banana. My wife could give a little rest to the kitchen as well.

Life goes on

It's Monday. Life goes on. I was at work at 7:00 AM as usual.

Texas is gearing up for primary elections. The Hammer (although he may have lost some punch) plans to get reelected. All he needs to do is fool some people all the time. GITMO news resurfaces, as AP was able to get documents released. Dubya nails a nuclear deal with India. India is not a party to nuclear non-proliferation, but gets a deal. Iran is a party to non-proliferation treaty, but about to face the tune from the Security Council for trying to start a nuclear power program. Democratically elected HAMAS plans to form a government in Palestine, but the west that wants democracy is not ready to recognize HAMAS. A UAE company may be running our ports soon. Rummy's shock & awe may be resulting in a civil war in Iraq. Who cares about under valued lives in non-western countries? Some states in these United Sates pass abortion ban. Get ready for a court battle. We have new faces at the Supreme Court. Ang Lee is judged the best director at Oscar night for Broke Back Mountain. The Enron trial continues. Somewhere in Africa Tammy continues to work for AIDS victims. Obesity, not AIDS, may kill us in the US. Some people die from starvation, some die from over eating. The end result is the same.

Life goes on. The good news is that our daughter is home for a few days. Tomorrow is a whole new day.

Death takes them apart

There was a phone call from India last night giving us the sad news. Only about a decade or two ago such news used to come as a telegram. Our folks did not have phones. We dreaded telegrams then. Now it's almost instantaneous.

20 some years ago they were in love and going through an agony only people in love back then knew. Love itself is wonderful. However, the families used make it miserable for the boys and the girls in love if they were from different castes or religions. I had seen cases of suicide, elope, or plain and simple being disowned by the families. It's hard to believe, but I am not making it up.

My oldest brother was pretty conservative (he has been gone for a while now and I have no ill feelings, he was a product of the contemporary environment). His daughter, Mun was in love with this boy from a different caste. They wanted to get married, but my oldest brother would not approve of it. Just about that time we were visiting India. I met the young man. I had seen him only as a little boy. He had a twin brother as well. Anyway, that little boy had become a handsome young man.

We had a nice chat one evening after I found out about the problem facing these two people. Falling in love happens by accident some times. Getting married is easy. However, staying married, keeping that love alive, and being able to raise a family are not easy. Love alone does not feed. One must be able to stand on his or her two feet. He understood and appeared to be responsible.

Next I raised a battle with my oldest brother about his unreasonableness. His ego was bigger than the future of two lives. He literally insulted the boy's father. I was adamant too. Finally, reluctantly he gave his daughter, Mun away to this young man in a hurriedly organized simple wedding during our visit.

The new young couple lived in the neighborhood, not very far from my oldest brother's house. At the time of need of my oldest brother at his old age they were always there for him. I hope my brother realized his mistake in time, although he never publicly admitted. My oldest brother died (I suppose with him went his ego and unfair traditions) a few years ago.

The young couple lived happily since then. They even raised two children. Alas, that young man died yesterday of a heart attack leaving behind his love of almost twenty years.

What my oldest brother or the society could not do, death did that in an instant. His face keeps coming back to me. I am sure the smile Mun used to wear all the time has turned into a river of tears.

Death, you win every time.