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The 10th anniversary of 9/11
The attack on 9/11 is one of those events similar to the assassination of JFK, the Challenger explosion and other significant events ………. it is one of those occasions that one remembers exactly where one was when the event occurred. I was at home when my step-daughter, Anu, who was then staying with us called out to me that a plane had struck the World Trade Center. At the time the reports indicated that it was an accident involving a small plane. It was when the second plane struck the twin tower of the WTC that it was clear that this was a terrorist attack. I sat glued to the…
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No audio on Youtube and other flash video
Given the positive reaction that my posting regarding a temporary fix to a laptop’s battery not charging, I thought I would share my resolution of another problem I confronted with my laptop. I lost audio when trying to play anything on Youtube or any other site that used flash video – most people use Adobe – but had normal audio in all other respects. I googled this endlessly and tried various fixes without success. In the process I also discovered that this was a problem that many other computer users reported and most expressed frustration about the lack of a satisfactory solution either on Microsoft’s website or that of Adobe.…
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July 4, 2011: Reflections about my adopted country
We got back earlier tonight from a celebration of Independence Day with the usual fireworks display. The longer I have lived in the US, the more I have come to appreciate the greatness of the country and its people. Sure, we make our share of mistakes but there is no other country in the world that so many people aspire to live in, if they just had the opportunity. There is no question in my mind, that my decision to come to the US in 1971 was one of the best decisions I ever made for myself and my family. I was able to sponsor my brother and his family…
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Pan Am Flight 217, ‘Clipper Malay’ – Franciska Buyers remembered
On December 12, 1968, Pan Am Flight 217, a Boeing 707, crashed near Caracas, Venezuela and all 51 passengers on board were killed. One of the crew members – an air stewardess as they were then called – was Franciska Buyers who must have been 23 years old at the time. All this came to mind yesterday when I happened to google, as I some times do, trying to locate people I used to know when I lived in London as a student in the sixties. I was searching for Anton Buyers, Franciska’s younger brother who was a student at Cambridge University when she was killed. I did not locate…
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“You can fool some of the people all of the time”
Senator Everett Dirksen, the highly regarded former Republican senator from Illinois, is supposed to have said during a speech arguing for restraints in spending: “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money”. If Dirksen were alive today he would say the same thing but it would no longer be talk of billions as much as trillions. We have a budget that is out of control – just about everyone agrees on this – but that is where the agreement ceases. How to fix the problem is one that neither party can find common ground. Yesterday, I heard former Senator Alan Simpson – a Republican…
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Concierge Medicine – a passing fad or a growing trend?
There is a fascinating trend developing in the US – still in its infancy – but one that could see rapid growth. It has been labeled “concierge medicine” and is the result of a variety of factors: consumer demand, consumer frustration, financial incentives for physicians, the impact of managed care, reduced reimbursement and the shortage of good primary care physicians. Basically, the way it works is for patients interested in such an arrangement to pay their physician a retainer of say $1500 annually – in return for which, they get priority in being able to see their doctor usually the same day, ready phone access to the doctor directly and…
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“To err is human, to forgive, canine”
I have already posted about my affinity for dogs and how among my siblings, I am the one who is the most attached to them – a couple of my siblings react to dogs with emotions ranging from distaste to disapproval. My children have mixed feelings about them – one is quite fond of them and the other two are fond of them as long as they don’t have to take care of them! The role of working dogs is well known: they have from time immemorial been used by humans in various capacities whether as seeing eye dogs, detecting explosives or drugs, pulling sleds, police work, search and rescue,…
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A follow-up to my last post…………
Just a quick follow-up to my last post “Dell laptop problem: “Plugged in battery not charging”: The fix I posted ceased to work on my laptop. I contacted Dell since the laptop is still under warranty and a technician was sent on a service call to replace the motherboard and the A/C adapter. The technician started the laptop using the new adapter and the problem disappeard. When he attempted to use the old adapter, the problem returned which seemed to confirm that the issue was with the A/C adapter. So it turned out to be a relatively simple fix and it was not necessary to replace the motherboard though he…
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Dell laptop problem: “Plugged in battery not charging”
My posting today is a total departure from the usual subjects and issues on which I comment. I have been beset with a problem on my laptop – a Dell Inspiron 1764 – which Google searches have shown to be a relatively common problem affecting laptops irrespective of the manufacturer – and therefore not confined to Dell. I use Windows 7 but the problem also affects other operating systems such as Vista and XP. What happens is that when one tries to charge the battery a message appears that an incompatible adapter is being used and therefore the battery is not charging. However, power is being transmitted to the laptop…
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“Goa Machi Kathore”
Growing up in Mombasa, Kenya as a young boy I was occasionally teased by North Indian kids with the expression “Goa machi kathore” – these were kids usually with origins from Punjab and Gujarat. The term was meant to be derogatory and was a reference to the fact that Goans liked to eat a lot of fish! Now why Goans would be singled out and be subject to disparaging comments because of their affinity for eating fish is a mystery to me today especially since the Bengalis are also avid fish eaters! But at the time, one did not go into such subtleties – one merely responded with some sort…
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My Colonoscopy: Dave Barry Redux
It has been a while since I updated this blog – attributable to laziness more than anything else after we returned from Cochin back to the US. There have been events which I wanted to write about but for some reason never got around to doing so. So it may seem a little odd that my first entry after a four month hiatus should be about a colonoscopy I had last week. But as you read on, you will see why I felt that a light-hearted account with the help of Dave Barry is a good way to restart the blog. For those who live outside the US who are…
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The Queen’s English? Bah Humbug!
Living in India for any length of time has its challenges. I came to the realization several years ago that if one does not go with the flow, it can be frustrating to a point that one becomes exasperated. At a basic level one must accept that one is not living in the West where certain conveniences and protocols are the norm – to expect to find a life-style akin to the US in India is a recipe for disillusionment. There are also some cultural differences and customs/etiquette which can be amusing and at other times disconcerting to someone who visits from the West. For example, it took me a…
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Health care reform is in the eye of the beholder
They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder – perhaps, the same can be said for health care reform. Barack Obama’s health care reform which goes under the title – H.R. 4872, The Health Care & Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010 - is now law. To describe it as “reform” is a misnomer. The positives accomplished are to provide health coverage to 32 million Americans who are either uninsured or under-insured. It has also made illegal the use of pre-existing condtions as grounds for denying coverage. But the other side of the coin is that Obama essentially gave away the store to the insurance industry. Despite…
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Reflections on my mother’s death anniversary
My mother in the early 1930s’ . Today is my mother’s death anniversary. Sarah Joseph died in 1965 at Trivandrum Medical College Hospital. She had turned 52 years of age two days prior to her death on March 18. Her death was an event that had lasting repercussions on the family in many ways. She was larger than life and had a certain commanding presence about her. When she walked into a room she was a person one noticed. One cannot help wonder how various events which profoundly affected the family subsequent to her death would have evolved had she been alive. For, at least, the first fifteen years after…
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Bureaucracy and a birth certificate
Someone once said: “Bureaucracy is the art of making the possible impossible” Dealing with the bureaucracy in most countries is frustrating but the bureaucracy in India is ubiquitous and time consuming with no assurance of a positive outcome. Since purchasing our flat in Cochin, we have had to deal with varying levels of bureaucracy on a host of issues. Transferring the electricity at the flat into our name should be a fairly routine task but in Kerala, it requires the use of what is euphemistically called a “wire-man” to intercede with the Electricity Board to effect the transfer. The charge for the services of the wire-man ranges from R2,000 to…
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Unforgettable Munnar – in more ways than one!
Munnar is a beautiful place well worth visiting! Our visit started with something of a fiasco which brought to mind the axiom: “if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is”. We were offered an unbelievable deal in Munnar at what was described as a “resort”. As it turned out it was no resort – and, in fact, to describe it as a dump would not be an exaggeration. Frankly, if Ted Kaczynski – the “Unabomber” – who was a recluse during the latter years of his life prior to his arrest, living in isolation away from society in a rudimentary abode, ever gets out of prison in…
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Ayurvedic massages and my George Costanza moment
I love a good massage. It is in some ways the ultimate pampering experience. The first time I had one was in California in the early nineties. I was so hooked on it that I would have one with some regularity even though it was expensive. Spending $80 for a forty minute massage every couple of months was a bit of self-indulgence but it was at a time when I was making more money than I knew what to do with. After I retired, in 1994, massages were a less frequent occurrence. By the time we moved to Virginia, I’d tell my kids and others to give me a gift…
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“Lies, damned lies and statistics”!
The heading for this post is a well-known saying about how numbers can bolster a weak argument depending on how they are interpreted. Add to the mix the use of anecdotal information that can be cited to bolster a point of view and we get to a couple of issues that I have been involved in several cyber-exchanges. Someone sent an email providing the chart below showing the income distribution in the US by religion. It shows that Hindus and Jews earn substantially more than do people of other faiths. The survey was conducted by Pew Research – a reputable polling organization – and I have no doubt that it…
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Reminiscences about Allidina Visram High School
A couple of people have asked me how I select the subjects for my blog. I told them the catalyst is usually something I read or information sent to me. I was recently sent pictures of my high school, Allidina Visram HS, in Mombasa, Kenya (thanks Prem Saint) and it brought back a flood of memories as well as a chance to reflect and ruminate on four critical years I spent there before I left for England to pursue Chartered Accountancy. AVHS looking at the pictures appears to be in remarkably good condition and exactly like I remember it from almost 50 years ago! AVHS, was probably the premier high…
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A Eureka or “That’s funny…” moment
My cousin, Bobby Abraham, recently sent me a very interesting article called “Coming of Age in the Milky Way”. It made for fascinating reading because it was both educational and also offered some context as to where the earth and life on earth fits into the scheme of things. In 1967, two scientists Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, were working on satellite communications for Bell Laboratories. They encountered what was described as a persistent unfocused, unrelenting hissing noise that made their experimental work impossible. No matter what they did, they could not get rid of the noise. It took a while but they finally realized that they had stumbled on…
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Christianity and caste
Christianity is believed to have come to Kerala in the first century AD when the Apostle Thomas, like other disciples, ventured near and far to spread the gospel in accordance with Christ’s command. There has been some speculation that the reason why St Thomas came to Kerala had less to do with converting the “locals” and was more to do with trying to convert the sizable Jewish population who lived in Kerala especially in Cochin. These Jews assimilated into the community though they continued to maintain their own faith and customs. They were welcomed and, unlike in many other countries, have never been the victims of persecution while living in…
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“Music can change the world”
We are back in Cochin and pretty much settled in our condo/flat here. It is nice to be experiencing the warm – and, as yet, not too hot – weather of Kerala and away from the colder than normal winter we left in Virginia. More about Cochin, Kerala and India in future posts because a couple of days ago I came across something on the web about music which I knew would have to be my next blog post. “Music can change the world” – so said Beethoven. Dr. Karl Paulnack would certainly agree – but more about this later. First, by way of background, my interest in music is…
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Conspicuous consumption or distorted values?
I have been recovering from the flu and while I lay on the sofa sneezing and moaning and groaning, I was flipping channels and ended up on some wedding channel which highlighted what were deemed “platinum weddings” – and lo and behold, the wedding being featured was that of an Indian guy – Deepak Nath to Sara Hlavka. As befits the designation of “platinum wedding” you can imagine that it was an extravagant event – and it brought to mind a peeve of mine about Indian weddings. Indians are by and large a very frugal people. As Russell Peters, the Canadian Indian comedian, said in one of his skits, when…
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Looking back at 2009
My final entry for this year as 2009 draws to an end – and what a year it has been. These are some random thoughts – mostly personal – about the year that will pass into history in just over a couple of hours. We saw the inauguration of the first African American president of the US and that was something that I did not expect to see in my lifetime. It was a presidency that most of us who voted for him had the highest of hopes and expectations which at this point remains unrealized for the most part. We came to the brink of a financial cataclysm where…
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Christmas – Past & Present
I recently posted that Thanksgiving was my favorite holiday of the year. We are now into the Christmas holiday season and I would have to say it ranks low on my list of favored holidays. This is all the more surprising because when I was growing up in Kenya, Christmas was a holiday that I looked forward to and of which I have joyous memories. Of course, Christmas in Kenya was very different from that in the West and especially in the US. The holiday in Kenya was a family occasion and it was a time for going to church, carol singing, perhaps a nativity play, lots of great food…
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Buyer’s remorse or unrealistic expectations?
I voted for Barack Obama in the presidential election – a vote that was predicated on the policy positions he enunciated as well as his charisma and his life history. The criticisms leveled at him by Republicans that he lacked the experience with a resume that was just too thin to be president had merit but after the disastrous presidency of George W Bush and a Republican controlled Congress that went along with all of W’s hare-brained ideas, I felt that anything would be better than what we had gone through for the prior eight years. It was a point of view that gathered additional reinforcement after John McCain selected…
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Random musings on our cruise
Well, we are back from our 12 night cruise during which we visited St Thomas, St Croix, St Kitts, Antigua and San Maarten. It was wonderful, relaxing and met all of our expectations, for the most part. A few months ago, I wrote about having experienced a mzee moment in Singapore. Once again, the term “mzee” is a Swahili term that literally means “old man” but is used as much as a term of respect as a reference to chronological age. Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya, was universally referred to as “mzee” – a term of affection and respect associated with his age and wisdom, since the acquisition…
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All aboard!
We are off on a 12 night Caribbean cruise starting tomorrow so this will likely be the last entry on this blog until our return. We both love cruises and now that we are retired we have the flexibility, within reason, to go for one as and when we please. This flexibility gives us the opportunity to take advantage of pricing which is usually a lot less during certain times of the year. People either love cruises or they just don’t like them. We obviously fall in the first group and find cruises to be relaxing, love the ocean around us, enjoy the usually excellent food, the entertainment that is…
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Thanksgiving – a great American tradition
Thanksgiving is, without a doubt, my favorite holiday of the year. It has all of the elements that I find most desirable – a time to gather with family and extended family, lots of good food and fun. Most importantly from my standpoint, it has not been commercialized the way Christmas has in much of the West with the focus being on gift-giving and shopping. In the case of Thanksgiving the only shopping that one does is buying groceries for the dinner. Wikipedia says: “Thanksgiving Day is a harvest festival celebrated primarily in Canada and the United States. Traditionally, it is a time to give thanks for the harvest and…
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Sarah Palin revisited
When Sarah Palin was selected by John McCain as his running mate, I was intrigued by the choice. On a personal level, I felt that her decision to give birth to a baby with full knowledge that he had Down’s Syndrome, was an act of grace and courage – and I admired her for it. I still do so. But I became quickly disillusioned as to her preparedness to be president if the circumstances ever warranted it. As I watched the Sarah Palin appearance on Oprah and other shows it felt, as Yogi Berra would say, “like deja vu all over again”! On the one hand, I am able to…