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Don’t mess with Texas….. and maybe Britain!
I first heard of “The Big Texan” when I first arrived in the US and was working for Blue Cross/ Blue Shield in Chicago. I was 25 years old and one of the “old-timers” told me of a restaurant in Texas which served a humongous steak – and the best part of it was that it was FREE if one could eat it in an hour with the usual trimmings! At the time I had an appetite which was impressive by almost any standard and I was confident I could accomplish it – but Texas seemed a long way to go for a free steak no matter what the size!…
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A military coup in the US?
It was Euripedes who said: “Those whom the Gods seek to destroy they first make mad.” It is a quotation that seems appropo as one sees the far right-wing in the US getting increasingly unhinged. Having lived in the US for almost 38 years, I have never come across a time when things were as polarized as they are today. Even during the sixties and early seventies when the country was undergoing massive social and political upheavals as a result of the civil rights movement and the war in Vietnam culminating in the assassinations of John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, there seemed to be a greater semblance…
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A dog is a man’s best friend but……..
Max is our 2 1/2 year old German Shepherd dog – we have had him since he was a puppy. We also have Kaya – another GSD. Kaya belongs to Richard & Saira but we have been taking care of her since May when we returned from our sojourn in India & Asia. We have, what Saira describes as, a “joint custody arrangement” since for about four months of the year Max & Kaya reside with them while we are out of the country and when we return to the US, we assume “custody” unless we are out of town town. We try and keep them together because we feel…
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Was “Jana Gana Mana” written for King or Country?
I belong to a Yahoo Group for East African Indians and recently there was a fascinating communication alleging that the Indian national anthem – “Jana Gana Mana…” (JGM) was written by Rabindranath Tagore in honor of George V and Queen Mary during their visit to India in 1919. I was surprised by this suggestion since I had never heard it before. So I decided to resort to Google but it did not help matters since the very communication that was passed through the Yahoo Group was quoted verbatim on several websites and this sort of consistency usually suggests some sort of chain letter/email that gets circulated. Essentially the allegation goes…
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Christianity in America
One of the striking aspects about religion in the US is the number of churches, denominations and the high level of church attendance among the American populace. At a time when church attendance in the UK and parts of Europe is declining, it continues to remain relatively high in the US. About 40% of Americans attend church regularly and only 15% say that they never attend church at all – the remainder are less frequent attendees. There was a Gallup poll conducted that identified the reason/reasons why Americans attend church and makes for interesting reading: For spiritual growth and guidance 23% Keeps me grounded/inspired 20% It’s my faith 15% To…
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“Birthers”, racism and the “dumbing down” of America
There is a controversy in the US about where Barack Obama was born ie was he born in the US or in Kenya. If it were the latter, under the constitution, Obama would be precluded from the presidency. Obama has provided a birth certificate establishing his birth place as being Hawaii but it has not satisfied his detractors. The term used to denote the people who are challenging Obama’s legitimacy as president, because he was allegedly born outside the US, is “birthers”. There is also a group among the “birthers” who claim that even if Obama was born in the US he is not eligible to be president under the…
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Calling a spade a spade
I received several emails about my last post on China so I thought I’d post again about our trip on a more light-hearted note. The two most challenging aspects of our stay in China were language issues and food. Communication in English is severely limited though we did find that the younger generation were a little more proficient than others. People were invariably very friendly and anxious to help but limited in their ability to do so because even rudimentary English is not spoken. The other, occasionally frustrating aspect, was our lack of familiarity with the food. Chinese food in China does not bear the faintest resemblance to Chinese food…
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“I want my country back”
“I want my country back” is the sometimes plaintive, occasionally frustrated and frequently angry cry of a fringe section of the Republican party. I never fully understood what these people meant until I read a couple of Patrick Buchanan’s columns Pat Buchanan has decidedly right wing views but he is one a handful of conservative columnists I enjoying reading. Although Buchanan is very conservative on many issues he sometimes blazes his own path eg he was outspoken in his opposition to the war in Iraq which he felt was a war being waged by the neo-cons for their own reasons. He is also critical of Israel’s expansionist policies in Palestine…
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“Let China sleep for when she wakes the world will shake”
So said Napoleon Bonaparte presciently two hundred years ago. I am not sure if Napoleon was focused purely on the military aspects or whether he saw China’s potential in broader terms. Napoleon’s admonition came to mind during a recent visit we made to China. We spent close to four weeks there and were truly STUNNED by the progress the country has made. The world saw what China achieved in terms of the Olympics in 2008 and in a sense that event is a microcosm of what they have achieved in other respects. Despite all the new construction, the Chinese have made a concerted attempt to enhance and preserve their numerous…
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All in the family
My younger daughter, Neeta, moved from California to Northern Virginia a few days ago. So I now have my three children and two grand-children within a few miles of where I live. I also have my brother, Peter, and his family in close vicinity. So I have an abundance of family physically close to me! It is the dream of most parents – and especially Indian parents – to have their children living close to them though it is an aspiration that is rarely realized given the demands and exigencies of life today. I recall reading an internet posting of a former colleague of mine who hailed from England and…
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“Singer’s Nodules”, Deafness, Silence & Bliss
It has been a while since I updated this blog – attributable to laziness and procrastination. The catalyst for starting again was a thought-provoking email I received from my older brother, George, who is 70 years and was recently diagnosed with “vocal nodules” – also called “singer’s nodules” or “screamer’s nodules”. George is not much of a “screamer” and his singing is, for the most part, limited to a bawdy song about Cleopatra. It is more likely the result of excessive talking having taken its toll as he makes presentations to audiences around the world on the subject of multi-cultural mathematics. Apparently the remedy for this particular ailment is to…
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Just call me “Mzee”
So something happened last night in Singapore that was for me a “first”. We had gone on an organized city tour which lasted several hours and took in the main highlights of Singapore. Following the tour, we decided to have dinner on Orchard Street which is one of the main shopping areas in the city. We then took the MRT – which is Singapore’s subway system – to return to the hotel. The train was crowded and it was standing room only. As I grabbed one of the overhead “pulls” in front of a row of seated passengers, a Chinese lady who looked like she was in her late 30s’…
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China, here I come!
We will be spending the next four weeks, commencing the 22nd, visiting Singapore/Hong Kong/Macau/China and I have been working on an itinerary for mainland China by researching travel sites. I came across an informative – albeit, lengthy – trip report by an Australian woman who visited China with her husband relatively recently. The excerpt below is quoted verbatim. It should be noted that her overall report about China was quite balanced even if the excerpt is somewhat critical. Those who know me can relate to the minor trepidation I felt after reading her report given that I, too, am likely to have the same problem as this lady’s husband! It…
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“Greed is good…………………………………”
To quote the inimitable Yogi Berra: “It feels like deja-vu all over again”! When Gordon Gekko, played by Michael Douglas, uttered the infamous phrase – “greed is good” – during the 1987 movie, “Wall Street”, shown in the above video clip, he went on to say: “Greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but also that malfunctioning corporation called the USA” The “malfunctioning corporation”, as Gekko referred to the US, has had its economy and that of many other countries just about brought to its knees because of greed and imprudent risk taking by real-life Gekkos’. The Gekko character was based on a composite of real…
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What’s in a name?
In trying to find a suitable title for this blog, I checked out a lot of sites – including a blog that was started by someone wanting suggestions from readers as to what he/she should name the blog! I settled on “Reflections, Ruminations & Recollections” because it captured what this blog is about. It is not a snazzy title – I am leaving it to my kids, and especially Neeta who is probably the most creative one, to come up with something that has more pizzaz! One does have to be careful when coming up with a name or it could lead to unintended consequences as is only too apparent…