A Better Tomorrow !(?)

I happened to put my head into one online discussion. The topic was ‘ A better tomorrow’.

People expressed their views/concerns about war, poverty, women being ill-treated and traded like a commodity, society lacking moral values etc.  Some even tried to sell their religion taking advantage of the opportunity…

How can we change this world into a better tomorrow? Is that possible?

How can we prevent war? Here in the US too the gas (gasoline/petrol) price goes up year after year, just like any other country. If I convert the price of stuffs from dollar to Indian currency, for almost everything we need to pay more than double, compared to the price for that item in India in Indian money (I know this conversion is not logical but still this has a point here). One Kg of Lay’s potato chips would cost around INR 200 in India. And it would cost around INR 600 in the US.  But look at the cost of petrol, even if we convert it into Indian money, it’s cheaper here. So, the gulf war paid off, right?

Most of the wars we see/seen have/had some political agenda behind it starting from World War I. To what extend can we prevent it (or influence the political system), that too when there always is a section to support the wars/political decisions? 

Can we ban the following three things which strongly influence crime and morality?

1.Alcohol

2.Drugs

3.Porn (including so-called adult media in any form)

If we cannot, our tomorrow won’t be much different from today.

We cannot ban religions, can we? The other day I read a Christian saying this:

“We will not forgive the Jews because they killed Jesus”

I see, so, that is how it is…This is a very ‘strong’ view. 

I am not talking about a particular religion, but in general. Islamic rulers did damage to Hinduism and India in the past by destroying temples, looting wealth, killing innocent people, forcefully converting people into Islam etc. But this is not the time for Hindus to take revenge in the same coin.

 Those who sell religion should understand one fact – Lord Ram, Lord Krishna, Lord Buddha, Lord Jesus, Prophet Mohammed, all these guys became ‘popular’ ONLY after their death. This means even if God is living among us today, in human form, we will come to know about Him only after his death (or probably after somebody kill him).

With the money spent on Gulf war, they could have fed every single hungry human in the world for months (one Tomahawk missile-used in the Gulf war- costs about $600,000. US spent 61 billion USD for this war alone) or even years. And the worst, war creates poverty ! But that is how system works, around the world. 

Changing the world should start from us, by we changing ourselves. Better ourselves for a better tomorrow..

Life In A Day - July 24 2010

YouTube says:

“Life In A Day is a historic global experiment to create the world's largest user-generated feature film: a documentary, shot in a single day, by you. On July 24, you have 24 hours to capture a glimpse of your life on camera. The most compelling and distinctive footage will be edited into an experimental documentary film, executive produced by Ridley Scott and directed by Kevin Macdonald.”

“The film will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2011 and will be available right here on YouTube. If your footage makes it into the finished film, you ‘ll be credited as a co-director and you could be one of the 20 contributors brought to Sundance to celebrate with Kevin Macdonald.”

 

For more details:

http://sites.google.com/site/lifeinadayfaqs/

Lake Tahoe and a Jet Ski

I do not remember when this desire to do a Jet Ski sprouted in my mind. May be it started when I saw a picture or more possibly when I saw it in a movie…still can’t recollect it. But I am sure about one thing – this desire was there in me since many years. What should we do when we get a chance to fulfill one of our long cherished dreams? May be we will try to make it as memorable as possible..

Lake Tahoe is one of the most popular tourist attractions in this part of the world. A lake shared by California and Nevada. This is the largest high altitude lake in the U.S. which is located at 6225 feet. This is the second (16^th in the world) deepest lake in America with a depth of 1645 ft.  This fresh water lake is particularly known for being clear and has got 2 million years of story to tell. She is a blue beauty. The surrounding area is known for skiing and snow related activities and tourism is the main income in this area, but this lake never freeze.

When a suggestion came to visit Lake Tahoe, I had nothing to rethink about it because Jet Ski is one of the main water sport activity here during summer. And it is near Reno, the mini- Las Vegas and the ‘biggest little city in the world’ a place with Casinos Casinos and Casinos.

When I sat on the Jet Ski for the first time, I was thrilled. I took my son with me and we both were very much excited to do our first water sport.  

Since I had 30 minutes left,  I decided to go far from the shore. I was very excited and drove madly. Out of excitement I had no idea where I am going, I even forgot in which direction I am going. Yes, this might sound stupid but I should admit that this is what really happened. When decided to go back and turned and travelled towards the shore, I realized that I am approaching a different shore. I got lost….what a place to get lost….I did not carry my mobile, I cannot see any other Ski people near me . there were some speed boats moving here and there and they did not notice me and it wasn’t easy to attract their attention. Then I saw a ship near the shore and decided to move towards it and I felt it bit difficult to control the Ski. What the hell is this? I looked around and I saw the board ‘Danger Zone’. WOW, I have crossed the boundary and standing in a wonderful wavy place…

For a moment the fun started moving away and made way to fear. From the danger zone I read this on a boat ‘POLICE’. Are they coming towards me? Am I in trouble? I shot towards them and waved my hand for help. They came to me and one of the officers asked me to turn off the Ski. He looked 'cool' and I told him :

“Sir, I lost my way”  

“From which shore are you coming from?”

I forgot the name of the shore and I told them the name of the organizer and they could not make out where it is. Even at that stage, the officer was very cool and this made me bit relaxed. Then there came a good Samaritan in a small boat and he looked at my Ski and told them the name of the shore. The officer pointed his finger to some direction and said:

“OK, you go that way”

“Should I cross that?” I pointed to some rocks I saw and then the officer who was driving the boat smiled at me and said:

“Follow us”

They started moving and I followed them. Now that the U.S. marine police is piloting me and what is there to fear about? This made me happy and the fear slowly faded away and I started enjoying the ride. One minute, two minute…we are not reaching anywhere and then I thought we are going in the wrong direction.  We were moving slowly and then all of a sudden the boat picked up speed and went very fast. And I too shot after them  though it wasn’t easy to control it and at some point of time I thought  the Ski will topple…Then I saw the officer to whom I was talking to showing me a ‘Thumbs up’ and  now the distance between me and the boat was more. I thought they were asking me to go further all by myself and then my son said

“They are not asking us to follow them any further” 

So I stopped and looked around..

But where is my shore? I could not see it from where I was. So I stopped there and looked at the police boat and using some hand signals tried to tell them that this is not my shore. Then I saw the officer asking me to follow them again and this time they reduced the speed.  And finally, using hand signal he asked me to go right and there I saw my shore!   We both still had some distance and I thought if they get a chance to come near me, they might scold me. But I really wanted to thank them and test the luck. So I ‘ran’ after them and said thanks. To my surprise, he just smiled at me and nodded his head.

It was a ride filled with fun, thrill, action, suspense, horror and what not?  I wanted it to be a memorable one and God said

“So be it”

How can I forget my first Jet Ski?

Thank you God !

The feast

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

-Revelation 3:20 

Beautiful Hair...

He first saw her in that corner café. The first thing that attracted him was her long hair.

‘WOW, it’s beautiful’ he told himself.

He could not take his eyes from her, because of that hair.

She saw him sitting jaw dropped and gave him a glance…

Days passed and they started sharing the same table, enjoying coffee and chit chatting. Every time they met, he did not forget to praise her hair and she giggled.

Months passed and they started sharing the same house, as wedded husband and wife. He was so happy that day, so was she.

One day, when opened his lunch box in front of his colleagues, he found a hair in it and he got embarrassed.  He scolded his wife that day.

Days passed and the beautiful hair appeared here and there..in the kitchen, in the wardrobe, in the living room, in the bath room…

“Did you see that hair?” he asked

“Yes, I will pick it up later”

He did not feel comfortable with that and hence he picked it up. Not once but..

He felt some distance…he felt like something is wrong. May be she too felt the same. It looked like all the problems started with a strand of hair but it got branched into many areas and they found this or that reason to blame each other. He realized that life is not just about beautiful hair, or may be eyes, or smile…

Days passed and so did months..

One day, they met in the same café and said:

‘Hi…how are you?’

Driving in California and International Driving License/Permit

I think I better make this correction regarding driving in California. In one of my earlier blogs which I wrote during the initial days of my CA life, I had mentioned something which could mean that if we have international drivers permit (IDP) we can drive in California. That is wrong and I am sorry if it sounded that way.

The reality is the State of California does not accept IDP as a valid driver license irrespective of our nationality. This does not mean that driving in CA is complicated; the driving rule/law is simple and people friendly. 

If you are a visitor on Business Visa (less than or equal to 90 days), just carry the valid driver’s license you have from your country. CA accepts it and no further license is required. If it is in any language other than English, you need to have IDP with you. You can drive a car straight away ( at your own risk ..if you forgot to stop at a red signal, you could  get a $500 ticket. If you do not stop (some conditions apply) when a School Bus's red lights are flashing, its a $1000 ticket).

Those who are on long term visa are considered as resident aliens and in that case, things are different. In this case, we have only 10 days to apply for a California driver license (this means our license from home country is valid only for 10 days). But if we have a valid license from home country, upon passing a written test, the motor vehicles department will issue a temporary permit which is valid for 2 months (apart from the student permit which is valid for a year). With this permit, we can drive alone ; means there is no need for a licensed adult sitting next to us. But if we do not take a license within 2 months,  we can not renew this temporary permit and hence an adult with valid CA license should sit next to us, when we drive.

Paul the Octopus, Germany and a Soccer Cup

Paul the octopus was born (some two and a half years ago) in Weymouth (England) and now by profession he is kind of an oracle specialized in soccer match prediction, exclusively for Germany. Currently he lives in a German aquarium. He started predicting Germany’s matches since 2008 and so far, he has 100% accuracy. 

In the 2010 world cup, when he predicted Germany’s win over Argentina, many people laughed. How can Germany beat Argentina? Well, Argentina lost the match very badly and from that day onwards Paul is getting many death threats. Now, many people want to kill him (and some even want to eat him).

Some people had predicted that Germany would win this year’s cup based on some ‘magic number’. That number is as follows:

Brazil won the World Cup in 1994;   before that they also won in 1970.  1970 + 1994= 3964

Argentina won World Cup in 1986; before that they also won in 1978. 1978 + 1986= 3964  

Brazil won the World Cup in 2002; before that they won in 1962. 1962+ 2002= 3964 

Germany won the cup in 1990; before that they also won in 1974.  1974 + 1990= 3964  

Germany won the cup in 1954 also. So, 3964 minus 1954 = 2010 and hence Germany will win the cup since none of the other team’s data match with 2010.

So I was curious about this year’s FIFA world cup since Paul predicted that Germany would lose the match to Spain in the semi-finals. Many people, including his care taker thought this time he will go wrong. It was said that Germany has good players and Spain had no star players (personally I don’t know. My knowledge about international soccer players and teams are poor) usually I do not watch soccer matches but today I decided to watch the match live, out of curiosity.

Once again, Paul’s prediction became perfectly right and now he has become a big celebrity, who might even need some extra security.  The way he predict the winner is like this – his care taker provides same food in two square boxes marked with two flags, one being Germany's and the second being the opposite team's. The octopus predicts the winner by opening and the winner’s box and eating that food first.

For me, octopus was kind of ‘sea-spider’ since it has 8 legs and I never was comfortable with octopus. But just like spiders, they always fascinated me (But whenever I read about spiders, I read it with a little fear). Somewhat same with octopuses too. I did not really like them (so far no octopus came to my dreams as nightmare….touch wood). But just because we do not like octopuses we cannot deny that they are smart, right?

Just like a cuttlefish, an octopus too has 3 hearts. Two pumping blood to gills and one to the rest of the body. These creatures have very complex nervous system and brain functions. It is said that each arm/leg can work with its own intelligence and hence some people say an octopus has 9 brains (I am not sure about this). They have great vision and they observe very keenly and analyses well. This is one reason why many octopuses managed to escape from places where they have kept as ‘captives’. They have some 'extra sense' like cats and dogs, it seems.  I saw how Paul open that box and eat his food. 

Whatever….. Great work Mr. Paul. Keep predicting.

But won’t his predictions before a match affect the team psychologically?