Capital Punishment. And other lesser stuff.

I saw "Monster's Ball" sometime this week. Interesting movie, if nothing else. It's the movie that won Halle Berry an Oscar. I am a big Halle Berry fan (not of her award-winning speech at the Oscar ceremony though!). And there's no denying the fact that she is great in this movie. It is not an entertainer type movie. More the heavy serious-undertone type. To me, it brought up a lot of questions about capital punishment. There has been a lot ot talk about this, Dhananjoy Chatterjee and blah. I agree that his crime was hideous. And I agree that the victim's family want to avenge the crime. Avenge - a harsh but true word. I cannot even begin to think of how we can prevent such things from happening. So there are two aspects to this:

1. Avenging the crime: I have 2 points against capital punishments as a means of avenging a crime. One: What right have we to take a life away? Abolsutely none. Two: Is death a "bad enough" punishment? Isn't it just an easy release of all the torture and guilt (if any)?

2. Future prevention: One way of looking at it is that the fear of death is so overwhelming that it will frighten people into being good. Maybe. Maybe not. In keeping with point Two made above, we can probably come up with a lot worse than just ending a life.

I have been delinquent in keeping my blog updated. But then, I haven't been upto anything too exciting. Got quite some good news this past week, one friend is off to India for her engagement, another one landed herself her job in (guess where?) California!! And a couple of my Michigan friends plan to come out here in October. My sister and bro-in-law come out here for Thanksgiving! Come to think of it, that is exciting! Actually more exciting stuff happened too...

Of Birthdays, Peaks and Long Coastal Drives

Two birthdays in two days = lots of cake + 1 yummy treat! We had fun celebrating Ashish's and Renuka's birthday on Friday and Saturday respectively, hope they did too! Here's to a great year ahead for both of you...

Saturday morning, I was up at 6AM and by 7:15AM was at the staging area at the foot of Mission Peak. It is supposedly the highest peak in the Bay Area. Since I was doing it alone, I had precautiously taken lots of water and a few cereal bars. Result: heavy backpack. No, it actually wasn't too bad. But I noticed that most people heading up did not even carry water or food, at the most just one bottle of water in hand. It is a nice climb, an obviously heavily frequented trail winding up to the peak. Thankfully, the sun didn't make an appearance until I was about two-thirds up the 2.8 mile climb. The last half mile or so is a little rocky. I made it to the top at around 8:45AM. Being a cloudy day, I didn't get great views, but I get to see a fair bit of bay area civilization to the south. And I could make out Mt. Hamilton above the clouds. Nice. Climb down was of course a lot faster, made it by 10AM, not too bad considering I had spent about half an hour at the peak. Mission Mission Peak accomplished.

Sunday I drove the 17-mile drive with my undergrad friend Mythili and her friend. It is more than an hour's drive out to the 17-mile drive entrance. $8.25 entrance fee and you are off on the winding road along the Pacific coast. To cut a long story short, what struck me most on the drive was The Lone Cypress. Maybe because I had heard so much about it. Or maybe because I had enough coast in the New England trip that I was not too awed by the ocean. But anyway, the Cypress is a very artistically structured tree....somehow it is a very serene feeling...to stand and stare at the tree and hear the waves crashing nearby. Got some nice pictures in their cam. Overall, the drive is well worth it; the water, the birds, the mansions and The Lone Cypress - a scenic drive indeed!

Power Puff Girls

Condoleezza Rice, Security Advisor to the Bush administration is the most powerful woman in the world, according to Forbes. Well, you can say what you will about her credibility. Second is the Chinese Vice premier, Wu Yi from the Communist Party of China. And.....our "very own" Sonia Gandhi is third. Here's how they came up with the ranking: "For each candidate, we came up with a numerical weight defined by her title and resume, the size of the economic sphere in which she wields power... and the number of global media mentions." I see Sonia as a reluctant party leader who does not bring any image of power to my mind. The Bush and Clinton ladies follow at ranks 4 and 5. Besides Wu Yi whom I don't know much about, none of the others really stir any inspiration.

One woman who does symbolize power is Kiran Bedi. Smart, gutsy and effective, I think she made everyone look up and take notice. She is up there in my "people-to-admire" list! There are other women who wield power too in their own ways...like my mother, wonder if my dad would find anything in the house if not for her! ;-)

Onto feminism. I am no feminist, but I believe that it is fair for women to desire equality. Note, we say equality, not reservations or favouritism. If women have to be given "special" allowances/quotas, then it is not equality any more right? Many feminists demand reservations for women in the government, in employment etc., but that is not equality, it just emphasizes our inequality; it means that what we cannot achieve by ourselves, we use allowances/reservations to achieve. If we are equals, why do we need special attention to accomplish anything?

I have no idea why I am into writing about all this serious stuff now...maybe it is time for another trip?! Maybe not.

Have a fantastic weekend!

Child's Play

For the second time in the last few weeks, I had someone say to me that the best we can do to help India on her way up is to focus on children. I agree, children are the key, the beacon that will light India's future. There are 44 million destitute children in India, 12.4 million are orphans. It is estimated that India has the largest number of children orphaned by AIDS in the world. Wouldn't it be great if every family that could afford it decided to adopt a child? I understand that there may be several issues that come up, and I'm chicken enough to tell you not to come back to me in a few years time and ask me if I did adopt a child. But it's a thought, a thought I believe is well-worth pursuing. Doesn't every child deserve the happy childhood we were fortunate to have?

One more weekend

You can almost see it coming, can't you?! Another one of those trip reports. You guessed right. We set our sights on Lake Tahoe this weekend. Lake Tahoe is a lake (duh!) about 4 hours north east of here. It is famous for skiing during the winter months. But believe me, it is really pretty in the summer.

We started driving about 9am Saturday and reached the campground, Goose Meadow close to 1:30pm. Ashish had very efficiently booked 3 sites next to each other. Kritika, Ashish and I started putting up Tent #1 when the other car with Jaggi, Ashwin, Renuka and Suhanya showed up. With 7 pairs of hands working on it, we soon had both our tents up. After a quick lunch, we took off for the Heavenly Gondola ride (Thanks Jyo for getting us dicount tickets!). We did not wait for the people in the third car because they were still setting up and said they would join us at the Gondola place. Heavenly Gondola ride is a cable car journey that takes you up the one of the rocky mountains surrounding the lake for astounding views. The lake is blue, true blue. Feast for the eyes. Some photography, some chit-chatting and one strawberry-banana smoothie ensued. The ride back down was eventless, other than a little acrophobia for some folks.

We sat around at the lakeside for a bit, watching the sun go down with a spectacular show of colour. Splashes of pink and orange mixed with the blue of the sky, all reflected in the gentle ripples of the lake. With our senses filled in that twilight zone, we indulged in some Cold Stone icecream and drove back. Goose Meadow campsites have a really good barbecue grill and a campfire pit. We soon had both going and finished up dinner under a sky crowded with a million twinkling dots. Sat around the tent, talking and narrating ghost stories for a while, under a flashlight. Soon, we cuddled up in our respective sleeping bags and settled down for a quiet night, there was no sign of the thunderstorm that had been predicted.

We were up Sunday morning and ready to head out for the watersport place by around 9am. Kritika and I decided to do some kayaking, something we have never done before. It was a lot of fun, especially once we got the hang of it and were comfortable enough to stop concentrating on the way our hands were moving! The water didn't get any deeper than 5 feet at any point, so it was not exactly like us charting the stormy waters or anything. We did get ourselves considerably wet though. Renuka and I then took the waters on for a bit too. I think we all agreed that this was the nicest part of the trip, when we felt like we had experienced the lake. After that, Ashish, Kritika and I started driving back home while those guys stayed on for some jetskiing and stuff.

Overall, I really enjoyed the camping experience (notably the water hand pump). It was perfect weather for camping, unlike some of my previous rainy, stormy and extremely cold experiences. Although I am not sure if everyone will agree with me, some of us did not enjoy the unusual restrooms, the lack of morning coffee and the absence of warm showers. Nevertheless, all's well that ends well.

And almost unnoticed, seemingly irrelevant to some, Independent India turned 57. What should we gift our country on her birthday?

On Secularism

I have had it with folks trying to convince me about the superiority of a religion. Any religion. I know Hinduism is great. But to a Muslim or a Sikh, his faith is great too. Trying to convince them otherwise, because you "know" better, in my opinion is not the best thing to do. What if they try to convince me about their greatness, you ask. Don't listen. You can hear what they say, but you don't have to listen. Make a choice to be level-headed. Extremist thought is the bane of a religion. Some religions are embracing enough to give you freedom, the freedom to practice it in any way or form, the freedom not to convert others. But some religions are not. Can't we live with that? Do we have to make others see things our way? A little wisdom will go a long way in abstracting ourselves from the situation and looking at it in a detached way. Religion is supposed to bring happiness and peace of mind into our lives. To many, it seems to be doing everything but that! Everyone is the same eventually, we are born the same way and will all die after our stint in this world. What's stopping us from being happy while we are here? Ego, fanaticism, desire....Why can't we learn to let go? After all, what do we take with us when we leave......

Who moved my Cheese?

Change is a hard thing. Or is it? We follow a paradigm, get into a comfort zone all too easily. Put in a new environment, things are unusual for a certain amount of time. But all too soon, before you can realize it, you get used to that new environment and going away from that becomes the unfathomable change. The mind looks for patterns, for regularity. We say that we thrive excitement, unpredictability and variety. But do we really? Why is it then that we adapt so soon to a new environment, trying to create regularity out of it? Is that in itself because we thrive in change? Or do we take that change and convert it to periodicity, that is we embrace our longing for excitement with our affinity for predictability? Whatever. This is turning into a complicated labyrinth of wordplay.

The sun is shining over California, it's good to be back! Come to think of it, I did miss the friendly chatter of the junta here. Boston was a great experience though, in more ways than one, and I am glad I decided to go.

I will stop with a few lines that mean a lot.

Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow.
Don't walk behind me, I may not lead.
Just walk beside me and be my friend.
- Albert Camus

Thoughtless ThinkPad

My laptop is down. Gone. Crashed. A virus, I suppose. It is depressing. My last day at Rotation here and this had to happen...tcha! So those of you sitting before your monitor and cursing, don't! Oh well, I guess it's not that bad, life before the computer invasion happened was fun, now that I have the time to remember some of it...Hmm..this may turn to be a fun day after all :-)

All in the Game

Service. Nice and low. They pick up at back row, bad set, helped on by the third. Free ball to us. Clean pick up right to the setter's arms. Great set, straight and high at optimal distance from the net. I leap in the air, hand raised to smack the ball as it whizzes over the net, misses all outstretched arms that converge toward it and crashes into the grass. Point. To us.

That was my one and only moment of glory on Tuesday at the volleyball courts. I went to play volleyball at the Boston Ski and Sports club. We had some good games. Although I sucked most of the time (those guys played like pros!), I did get in some good serves to save face. But by and large, I left with the feeling that I had lowered the level of their game. Not that they said anything to that effect, they are too polite...I just have to learn and practise more!

Yesterday I drove down to Harvard/Cambridge area. The Harvard Yard appeared incredibly like the Central Campus Diag at U of Michigan. Creepy yet beautiful buildings surrounding a lawn, students in bikes, walking across or just lounging about enjoying the summer. Harvard Square seems like a hang-out place. There is a Harvard co-op bookstore across the street. I made the mistake of entering it, and found it hard to drag myself out without taking a peek at every book that piqued some interest! There was this guy playing the guitar at the Square. Just like that, seated on something and playing with so much zest, he was amazing! Everyone passing by had no choice but to enjoy the music and some even stood around him and did not mind acknowledging that they were listening...

This blog is turning out to be a travelogue. Oh well, that's most of what I have to write about now.

Later!

RI and CT

Rhode Island is called the Ocean State and also happens to be the smallest state of the Union. Frankly, I didn't expect it to be any great shakes when I set off, but it was fascinating. Reached my aunt's place late morning Saturday. After noting that I gestured like my dad, looked like my grandma and walked like my uncle, they made the most important remark: that I had lost weight :-) Not that I care too much about it, but anyway I am digressing. We set off to look around. We first drove around Jamestown. They are many coastal towns (see where the Ocean State title come from?) dotting the state. They all have an old time feel, fishing boats bobbing in the water and myriad curio shops in a row. The towns have their own pace, nothing can rush them into the crazy modern world. We also ventured into one of the State Parks in the area, called Beavertail where there were kites, in all colours and shapes! Very uplifting. We then crossed the spectacular Pell bridge to Newport, which is a famous sea town. The water's edge is very scenic and holds your gaze. Also hovered around the famous Newport Mansions. But it was a sunny day and there was too much of a crowd in Newport.

Saturday evening, we set off to Providence downtown to witness the Waterfire. Sound intriguing? It was. At dusk on selected Saturdays, bonfires are lit on the canal that flows through Providence's WaterPlace park. The firetenders in dark costumes come by in their gondolas and light the wood, in sync with the stirring music that plays throughout. As the flames catch on and burn bright, you can feel the vibrance of the city. It was a perfect day for the Waterfire and sparks were flying! Oh and that day was also Blue Moon, but the clouds were too reluctant to let us get a glimpse.

Today we drove down to Mystic, Connecticut. Another fishing town, but a magnetic name, don't you think? One attraction in Mystic is the drawbridge. It was built in 1922. Every one hour, the bridge is drawn up to give way for boats and ships. It is very exciting to watch. And an example of good engineering :-) This town also offers some picturesque views and quaint shops. Remember the movie, Mystic River? It was shot here in Mystic, CT. Now I am determined to go watch the movie, nothing to do with the fact that it has Sean Penn and Tim Robbins in it! ;-)