 | | |
| | |
|
Spaces home  KOPhotosProfileFriends |  Tools   |
|
May 05 The 10 Count for Eight BellesAh, the Kentucky Derby, such a tradition! The Mint Juleps, the Wagers, the Sun, the Hats, the incredible atmosphere in watching such a classic 2 minute race! The annual race for the roses is held at Churchill Downs in Louisville, and is complete with Kentucky's best (and others) 3 year old thoroughbreds, competing on one of the few remaining dirt tracks in the Professional Circuit. This year the brilliant race of the derby winner, Big Brown had a sad, sad cloud surrounding it as Eight Belles, the over jubilant 3 year old filly ran through the finish line in second place - the only chick in a roomful of dudes - and while slowing down on the next turn, crumpled to the ground, with her jockey flying over top of her, both, lying in a heap on the grand-daddy of all racetracks. One of them would get up a little shaken, dust himself off, and assess his fallen partner. She would not be as lucky, lying helpless, and looking skyward, unable to raiser herself with her two broken ankles as props. Such an unfitting end to the 134th Derby. The traditions and excitement of the day, pent up for those same 3 years as funding, love, and care was injected into Eight Belles, came to a screeching halt as the Veterinary team at Churchill Downs made its way on to the track to attend the fallen girl. The decision to end her life seemed too fast for those that believe that nature brings us the best they have, and we have a duty to protect and care for them, at all costs. Eight Belles had been born a champion, from champion lines, and raised to be a champion, yet she was dispensed with, as her usefullness wore out at 3 years of age. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HClCiD5UDM http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/05/sports/othersports/05racing.html?ref=othersports http://www.usnews.com/blogs/erbe/2008/05/05/the-kentucky-derby-tragedy.html April 22 Racing through the Glass CeilingIt wasn't all that long ago when I dreamt of racing Indy Cars in the bigs, or at the very least, being a big shot pit mechanic to my very own Paul Newman Racing Team. I loved Robert Redford more, but Paul Newman was okay by me, and was just coming onto the racing circuit. Yes, it was grade 10. It was a year of transition, a year of hope, and the year that we would finally get our driver's license!! We had the chance to launch our new found adolescent selves out into the community, and to be all that we could be while doing it.
I had always had this strange fascination with mechanics, both the verb and the noun (especially with 'Cute', as a prefix) and thought what better 'work experience' could there be, than that of learning to work on, and around, car engines. Off I went to the friendliest service station of which I knew, only to be accepted as a Gas Jockey - the first female one that I had ever seen in our neighbourhood (circa 1980).
For six months I peered over the chief mechanics shoulder and listened to all of their non-stop cat calls as a hot driver drove up to the pumps in a hot car. Soon, I was doing flat repairs, and oil changes, and tire rotations, and while those things were interesting, I wanted to take apart an engine from top to bottom, just to understand how the whole damn thing worked. I had this inate need to know how it all worked together! Enter my brother's 20 year-old girlfriend, who happened to have a 1968 Toyota Corona that she would sell to me for 200 dollars. Even if it didn't run, this was a steal, as it would soon provide an extra room in the driveway where I would install the best sound system known to a 15 year-old (probably from London Drugs), followed by stapling black diamond-tec fabric to all of the door panels and interior roof. The bonus in the whole deal, was that I could easily take apart the engine and be no worse for wear. Hell, I wasn't even legal to drive yet! I had had the car about a week, when the sound system was completed, and the whole neighbourhood grew to embrace my favourite rock - Journey's Don't stop Believing rocked on for hours on end, as I carefully removed each delicate part from under the hood. The car was the perfect size for me and the little four cylinder engine housed all the pieces that I could easily reach, unscrew, and dismantle. I was just a small town girl, living in a lonely world, and this car was quickly becoming my obsession. That was until my Dad arrived into my 'shop' (allocated mine by the lack of any other car currently in it), and began chanting, "What in the hell are you doing? How are you going to get all those parts back together? What is the matter with you?" It seemed to go on for hours, this incessant berating, maybe because I was only 15, maybe because I was a girl, or maybe just because he didn't have an inkling toward any of it, therefore no one else could. Maybe he was right. Maybe I couldn't do it. It wasn't long after that when I traded my little project in, all broken yet sort of still running. I gave up. I stopped believing. This past weekend, Danica Patrick won the Japanese Indy 300- the first woman ever to win a professional race. After the race, she spoke of what she had to endure as a female, mentored by her racing father, where the whole family believed in her and supported her, and where she was constantly taunted by the men in the racing circles. She was only 16 years old, when she began her racing career in England; another lonely adolescent, listening to all of the boorish cat calls, and hoping that she would one day prove her critics wrong, 'living just to find emotion'. Finally she would arrive on the Indy stage as a 23 year old, and have to wait 49 Professional Indy starts before she could finally say that she had made it. "I wanted to be a race car driver so badly that everything I had to go through was just part of the process," she told the Chicago Tribune. Some will win, some will lose. Some are born to sing the blues....but you ain't one of them. Don't stop believing, and I will keep you on my 'shop' wall for inspiration!!  April 01 TechnopopI seem to always remember the infamous philosophy of Martin Heiddeger as our generation bumps in to every nook and cranny of the techno revolution. Heiddeger is one of the only philosophers that I studied that made good sense to me by saying that technology actually hinders man's progression. Now, I have paraphrased that, but in a nutshell, it is the basis of most of his teachings.
At the height of his career, just after the second world war, I don't think that he could have seen the techno revolution that was coming. Technology to him, may have been transportation and television, which I would have to agree with him, are not that spiritually enlightening, however, when it comes to the information age, there are many vices, and de-vices, that are!
RIM has just announced the pending release of the Blackberry 9000 - an IPhone rip off to many, but nonetheless, a communication device, that when used in moderation can light a path to enlightenment. Unlike the annoying texting and other crackberry pieces of the Blackberry pie, the 9000 will have a bunch of extra memory for storing data - blogs, stories, pods and poems written on the fly - and accessible by disk, as well as Wi Fi capabilities allowing information to stream to anyones fingertips.
Published authors have a one-up on those that are not, and that is that they have actually written down something. The new all-in-ones afford that luxury to many; squeezing in an hour or two of writing when others would simply be away from their desks.
As the North American sleeping hours decrease en masse, these new tools may help to squeeze a little more out of the day, without having to stay up later. That's the theory anyhow...whether or not you find that path to enlightenment depends all on your Techno-balance....don't trade in face-to-face time for it, but if it helps you get some thoughts out, an invention in, or something published or produced, GO FOR IT!! March 14 Behind the BenchIt is a strange dichotomy of personna. An all star, outstanding athlete, now past his or her prime, taking up residence on the bench. The metaphoric coaching bench. When that athlete is of the calibre of greatness, such as Wayne Gretsky, the world hones in on their new position and analyzes it in a similar way as they did when that ex-player played. I have watched hockey for a long time - close to 35 years I reckon, and I have never seen the F-bomb dropped more frequently than I have lately, from the 'new age' coaches. The camera pans to the bench ONLY for a nano second and the lip reading is frantic - it appears to be close to the ONLY word in the vocabulary; to the refs, to the players, to the other team. Shocking that such greatness has to be followed up with such unintelligent banter. Sad, really. March 12 Let it BeThe Beatles had something going back in the 60's when they coined such prophetic and inspirational songs as Let it Be, Across the Universe, With a Little Help from my friends, All you need is Love, Here comes the Sun, I Wanna hold your hand - the list is endless! Story after short story of hope and love. McCartney the optimistic ray of sunshine, Lennon the worldly realist so wanting to Imagine the possibilities, but so disturbed that the world would not buy into them.
Forty years later since Lennon and McCartney first hooked up in a pub in Liverpool, their songs and their dreams of peace and vision live on. Lennon's vision ended prematurely and if he were still rocking it out today, I can't help but think that he would think that the world has not moved more toward peace and harmony. More toward friendship and humanism, devoid of religiose ideas for the afterlife, instead, living each day for today.
Their music inspires millions still; every language, every culture, every race, we all believe in the world that could be. The world that should be.
Life is very short, and there's no time
For fussing and fighting, my friend. I have always thought that it's a crime, So I will ask you once again. Try to see it my way, Only time will tell if I am right or I am wrong. While you see it your way There's a chance that we may fall apart before too long Let's work it out together. February 05 We are the change that we have been waiting for....Barack Obama shouted those words in his speech from Illionois, after he had taken a number of states as his own. What a great saying. Wow, we, the people, can change things. We the people can say no. We, the people can choose change over status quo. I hope his message turns into action!! February 01 A Dream TicketWhat if Obama and Clinton teamed up for a dream ticket? Would the black and the women's vote be at an all time high - united for a common dream?
The Democratic debate just finished, heating up the race for Super Tuesday, where the majority of the states will choose their Democratic and Republican candidates. As I listened to the debate, I could not help but see the similarity between these two well spoken lawyers. Obama was most engaged, as Hillary answered questions, and his nodding head bobbed in agreement with most of her words. Clinton was a little more 'poker faced' as Barack answered the questions, but an observer could easily tell that they were aligned....even if their words spoke the contrary.
How great would it be, to see them BOTH win? Their visions of change, and their ability to implement such change should be all the more reason to team up and clean up the mess that the last 2 terms has left.
Tuesday should tell the story on which one will lead and which one will support!! January 26 The Race is on...the turtle, the hare, the donkeySuper Tuesday is coming up - February 5th - the day where 20 States will vote for their chosen delegates. To this point, the Race has been scattered. If one has been trying to follow the action, it requires a close eye and many open browsers to find out what is really happening out there! While Hillary and Obama are making great strides to secure the White House, the more troubling aspect is the flip side of the coin that is making careful and consistent gains, while marching forward....in some ways, and way backward in others.
There was Wyoming - Republican Primary only - Romney by 67% of the R vote. Nevada? Romney took as well (51), Michigan - Romney (39). This means that to date, Mitt Romney, has won the Republican Primaries in 3 out of 5 states that have been called to the polls thus far. While the freedom of religion is one of the greatest freedoms that the developed world offers, I cannot help but be cynical of a MULTI billion dollar religion that earns monthly stipends from worshippers (10 - 15% of their salary), ultimately believing that some dude name Joseph Smith found gold plates (tablets), preaching the word of god, in upstate New York in 1820 - he was 14. Of course, young Joe had to get them translated in order to begin his crusade in 1830.
Romney's record on issues sends very mixed messages to the masses - or maybe just Republican rhetoric, where the sanctity of life at birth MUST be preserverd - yes, he opposes the Roe versus Wade decision - yet believes in and supports the death penalty. What's more is that he has gone on to say things like: "Ignoring religion in policy is at odds with our founders." (Dec 2007 - http://www.ontheissues.org/Mitt_Romney.htm) ; or "Illegal immigrants should go home eventually." (Dec 2007 -http://www.ontheissues.org/Mitt_Romney.htm ). It seems all fine and dandy to use religion as a tool, when it works 'with' the issues, but when it works against them, where does it go?
I watched some of the Republican debates recently and could not believe that the majority of the delegates did not have the fortitude to support the theory of Evolution, instead, supporting a totally unsupported biblical base. One ounce of science supporting Evolution - which there is - is still one more ounce than the 'creationists' have.
You would think that society would have evolved themselves and taken rhetoric, fantasy and urban myths out of the equation and dealt only with what we have in the here and now. Lennon said it best, 'imagine there is no heaven, no hell below us'....that would mean that all of the politicians would have to operate on a moral obligation not supported by organized religion, not supported by a cash machine that desires LARGE familites in order to keep the future stipend market growing strong, not supported by fairy tales that preach care and tolerance while killing people deemed not worthy, all the while saying, 'my faith is what got me here.'
There is only one thing to fear more than another Republican winning the U.S. Presidential Office, and that is a Republican winning while carrying the book of mormon, and the bible and further ignoring science.
January 21 "I" Say...To think that Steve Jobs was almost run out of town 10 years ago is almost unfathomable at this point in our 'new millenium' technology revolution! His fresh thinking and internet wizardry may prove to the be the actual heart and soul behind the Oz-like curtain.
The iBook, the iPhone, the iPod (http://www.apple.com/) are alll examples of his vision that in order to use something to it's full capability, let's keep it as simple as possible while delivering the BEST possible components. The iPod Touch is a case in point (http://www.apple.com/ipodtouch/). With all of the most advanced features of a 2000 dollar computer system, the little iTouch delivers shockingly resolute picture quality while providing instant access (via WiFi) to email, maps, weather, or any other web site that may be of interest. The processing speed is quick. The storage is LARGE. The sound quality is exceptional and the price is affordable ($300 for 8 GB; $400 for 16 GB).
Recently Apple added more applications to download, so that the iTouch actually can replace any PDA. Since the iPhones are not yet supported in Canada, the iTouch is a great accessory to your unworthy older model phone, because the ONLY thing that the iTouch doesn't do is make phone calls.
Everything else is looked after..... January 02 20082008 has finally arrived and with it a year full of possibilities; Will the Oprah connection propel Obama in to the lead over Hillary? Will developed countries start abiding by better carbon emission standards in an effort to curb Global Warming? Will the warring factions of the human race ever find any peace? Will religion become the golum - the ideology that humans created that eventually will destroy the very civilization that it tried so desperately to enhance?
It is difficult to continue on with one's small beacons of resolution when there are so many other big questions in the world. However, my theory is that if everyone put their OWN head down and did their OWN part, perhaps the strong collective would replace the committee!
I want to:
1. Listen better
2. Write more
3. Walk, run, and jog more
4. Laugh, joke, and CREATE more happiness
5. Share, cook, and eat more meaningful conversations
6. Take the time to realize that I have done 1 through 5
Happy New Year to all. Remember to do what you can and love what you do!!
December 11 Gorillas in the VicksMichael Vick, the all-star quarterback (http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/saraceno/2007-12-10-saraceno-vick_N.htm ) phenom for the Atlanta Falcons says he made a mistake. A mistake that will cost him 23 months of his freedom. A mistake that has taken him from one of the greatest heights known to an athlete - or a person in general - to one of the lowest of the lows. Sure, we all make mistakes, yet this mistake was so grave, and so nefarious, that it actually brings into question how we as a society can idolize this type of defective unit. This is a man who took innocent little puppies and turned them into fighting machines, where if they didn't kill another dog during a fight, or didn't otherwise, perform well, he killed them. He killed them by hanging or drowning them, and discarded the carcasses, as though they were week old newspapers. Man's best friend brutalized by man.
Michael Vick is not alone. There are others interspersed throughout ALL societies that come off as noble and good, and are only the antithesis of those two traits.
We watch the booming Ivory trade - a black market in most countries for decades now - continue to grow, as poachers slaughter entire herds of elephants simply for their tusks. Darfur has been in the news lately for their blatant disregard for human life - the genocide which has shocked the world, yet few have reacted, or acted. Now, it is the great African Elephants that are under attack and it is not only from those in Africa - someone is buying the Ivory and keeping the illegal industry flourishing. ( http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=3452936n?source=search_video)
Around the corner from Darfur, in the Congo, Diane Fossey's Mountain Gorillas are under attack. In her day, they were under attack from poachers, who would sell the gentle giant's hands and feet on the black market. Now, they are being targeted by hitmen and shot in the head, and left to die, entire families gone. The reason? Charcoal. The Congolese people need charcoal to cook with and it is derived from burning mud and ancient logs together, so little by little, they are effectively burning down the Gorilla's habitat. If any of the park rangers (supported by donated monies from the WildlifeDirect society) try to thwart the production of the charcoal, the Gorillas, whom the park rangers are paid to protect, are systematically executed. There are only an estimated 700 Gorillas left, and we, are failing them.
None of us have to look very far to see the atrocities that man has done unto man, but the animals are different. They need us to protect them. In the majority of cases, I would rather protect them than my co-species. November 19 Happy Tiny PeopleAs a somewhat vertically challenged person myself, I was glad to find a special place amongst the predominantly Mayan people of the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. The warmth, attentiveness and humour that exudes from their tiny frames could give many a North American a reason to pause and take note.
As we embarked on our two hour journey south of Cancun, toward the Mayan Riviera, we did not expect to see such a vast difference in the land, the sea, and the people. The people were by far the highlight, as one after another after another offered friendliness, happiness, and helpfulness to our travelled battered bodies. Their petite, short frames left us wondering what the reason was for this - perhaps such an evolution came from the jungle and the sea, with the heat, a smaller bodied person was more likely to survive the climate and the perils that the jungle offered. That will be some research for another day. All we know for sure is that the lack of physical size was more than compensated for by a heart that was mucho grande.
Until next time, hasta luego!! October 20 Breeders and Bourbon...."Ma..ma...ca-an..youuu b-uy me...thees baaa-ll?" echoed the drawled little voice of the four year old behind me in line. It was the interesting dichotomy of Kentucky; absolutely beautiful rolling hills with perfectly manicured white horse- fencing encircling turn-of-the century buildings like a bracelet of diamonds encircling a wrist, mixed in with a whole lot of funny talking and backwards thinking. It causes one to take notice.
I drove for a few hours between Lexington and Frankford, somehow ending up on a Bourbon circuit, as I passed (and visited) Buffalo Trace (http://www.buffalotrace.com/home2.html ), Jim Beam & Woodford Reserve, viewing the rolling hills, as farm, after glorious farm, was placed before me. Painted white fencing for the most part, chanelled through, and around hectares and hectares of rolling green pasture. No jalopies rusting in the fields, no broken fences, and no sign of backwoods thinking. Just nature, at one with the trusted stead, within the white outline. It was hard to imagine how Kentucky had received the reputation that it had - backwoods, uneducated, and slow. Could it have been simply from the way in which the rural folk spoke? Or had the rich, well-educated person discovered a world in which their pedigree was matched - at least in the beauty of the land? Either way, Kentucky had come a long way, along with the aging of their bourbon barrels. It suited my tastes just fine.
 October 08 The Forest, The Trees, The TsunamiEvery day, near and far, people DIVE into details and miss the project. Conversely, every day, near and far, other people only see the high level and miss the details and the project fails, anyhow. I think that at the heart of the matter is timing....knowing when to stay high level, when to back up, and when to get into the minutiae that forms the base of the problem.
The Macon people of Thailand - some of them - stopped working on their boats, stopped fishing, stopped preparing meals... just long enough, to back up from the shores, and look around. They saw wildlife out of sync, they saw an ebbing tide like no other in recent memory, and they felt a change in the air. They knew that the big Tsunami was coming. They knew that there was a time, a place, and a season to accomplish all those little tasks, but that that time was not today, and they fled to higher ground. Most of them lived to tell about it.
I know what it is like to get caught in the details and lose focus of the bigger picture. As a personality trait, it usually happens in reverse for myself, but there are sooo many people that find comfort in details. I see it every day. People are so busy following a plan, or as I like to say, 'following the deer', that they forget to see the forest that is the trees, see the mountains, see the sunshine, all from a distance. For me, there is comfort in that distance. It is freeing. It allows one to dream, to wander, to explore without the impingement of details. Is it the right way always? No. With each wander, we need some grounding and vica versa.
Suffice it to say, that balance of the here and the now, and knowing when to cook and when to run is Darwin's first law - those that live by it will multiply and those that choose not to, will expire in due course. While the details are important....please dear dog don't EVER let me get stuck in them!!  September 25 Katrina's Common ThemeThere was a common theme when we visited New Orleans last spring. It was one of hope, love and renewal. Everywhere we went, everything we saw had a spell cast upon it - hope, love and renewal will come.
Well now, it is TWO years since Katrina and the love, the hope, and the renewal has been side tracked by agencies more intent on building paper stacks than on building up the broken bones of an ageless beauty.
We found it difficult to believe while in the city of New Orleans, how 2 billion dollars worth of funding had been turned down simply because government officials didn't want to have document what was done with the monies. It is not so hard to believe now that an additional 469 Million is being tied up in red tape and schools and hospitals are still sitting empty (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20976953/ ). The people have never returned.
Maybe that is the greater plan, afterall. September 20 Indian TrekAnother GUEST blog from the Mountains of India:
It started out like any other mountain day hike. After driving beyond the edge of town and then another hours or so, the city landscape turned rural, with farms and wayside stands, and the occasional elephant. The land was notably flat, stretching for miles. Then suddenly a mountain appeared, one lone mountain, a mini-Himalaya plopped on the plains.
As we stood at the trailhead, the mountain still looked a long way off -- it looked like wee would have to walk an hour or more just to reach the base. Which is exactly how it turned out, but the path was wooded and enjoyable. (Later we discovered that most people drive or take autorickshaw to the base). We had some fun and challenging rock scrambling as we started up the base, and the mountain began to seem even higher. Then we began to see little huts on the edge of the trail, with their occupants cooking or sewing or otherwise going about their daily lives. The little huts coalesced into a village which, as we climbed further, about halfway up the mountain became a town with concrete buildings, a school, shrines, trailside shops and lots of huts. There is no road to get there! All of this was built from materials carried up the mountain, in big loads balanced on the tops of people's heads or the backs of donkeys.
And the whole place was a festival, which it must be everyday. Because this day wasn't any different than any other day for a pilgrimage to Kali Maa, the resident god enshrined at the very top of the mountain. There was music and excitement, people and animals everywhere. People were leading goats up the mountain to sacrifice them to Kali Maa (which mostly means turning them loose on the top of the mountain, although I understand a few people adhere to the old practices). One very devout person was prostrating himself all the way up the mountain.
The snacks along the way were wonderful -- baked lentil chips in newspaper cones with fresh tomatoes, onions, salt, chilis, and spices, fresh squeezed lime water with salt, chilis, and spices, fried chili peppers with salt and spices, dried tamarinds with salt, chilis, and spices -- see the common thread? It was all delicious! Especially delicious because of our exertions and the heat.
Once we neared the top, the crowds were getting thick. But there was a path less taken, so we took it and found ourselves alone amont some wonderful 9th and 10th century buildings covered with sculptural detail. After a meditative stay there, we rejoined the main trail and pushed on to join the throngs lining up to enter the temple at the top of the mountain. We had to stand in line for more than an hour, and the last half hour we were squished together, sweaty body to sweaty body, in a crowd of thousands of barefoot pilgrims. We each carried a coconut, a modern day substitute for our head, which especially devout people used to sacrifice, a practice now illegal. After filing singly past the god and leaving the temple, each person smashed his/her coconut on a stone ledge. We had earned the savoury coconut meat as we descended the mountain. About a quarter of the way down, we passed the prostrating pilgrim, still heading up the mountain and throwing himself to the ground with every step.
So now I'm back to my 14 hour days at the office and coming to the end of my stay in this most interesting of places. I've really gotten fond of our co-workers here and am looking forward to a continuing relationship with them through our shared work and shared experiences. September 19 Maiden VoyageWe made our first voyage across Georgia Straight this past weekend. We bought a '99 Campion 622 Explorer Walkaround with a 200 Merc Optimax on the back. We then purchased a 9.9 kicker with controls that was a nightmare to install (and expensive!!) and of course a decent GPS - 5" screen. We had leaned toward the Lowrance GPS all along because of their great resolution, but when we were told they were made in the same factory as the Eagle - and the Eagle was 150 bucks less, we went with the Eagle. We bombed out of Crescent Beach at around noon on Friday, dropped our brand new crab pot at the end of the markers, set a waypoint, and away we went. The seas were calm, with LV winds. We arrived in Montague Harbour at about 1 PM - a few zig zags before we got the hang of the GPS and I was driving - averaging about 25 mph!! ;) We filled up there - that was probably our first mistake, as that cost 200 bucks and didn't even completely fill it. We should have filled it at a Mohawk while on the trailer, right? Anyhow, we lunched in Montague, and headed North toward Porlier, not really realizing how long a voyage that was!! We made it through the whirly pools at the pass, and thought we should try out the new Scottie electric downrigger. We tried that for an hour or so. It was hot and gorgeous on the East side of the Island - far different from the West where it had been blowing! (but sunny) At 4 pm we loaded up, battoned down and headed back to our crab pot, setting the direction on the GPS to that first waypoint. It was a VERY choppy crossing - it didn't say small craft warning, but I think it was. High tide was due at 5, if I remember right. We hit our crab pot head on at about 5:30, and pulled it up, only to find that I had not 'un-bungied' the doors to the trap!! Doh!! Anyhow, easy to launch, easy to load, able to handle fairly rough seas and go pretty fast....we are happy with our new boat!! We figure it probably cost 30-40 bucks for the day, which seems reasonable in that we were motoring for about 4 hours. Any other good experiences with the Merc Optimax 200?? Happy fishing....hoping that our next outing has a few less 'learning points'. September 11 India and the world TodayIt is 6 years since I claimed my freedom from any god or religion. 6 years since I saw the worst part of religious intolerance that I have ever witnessed. 6 years since 3000 innocent people were killed. Since then, and before then, 100s of thousands, if not millions, have been killed simply for having different beliefs, or praying to different deities. I decided that I cannot be a part of that, on any level, and simply don't play (or pray) anymore. Have we moved any closer to tolerance since September 11, 2001? I doubt it. We, as a society, have more than likely created more 'intolerance' instead. It is so sad to me. I wish everynight that Lennon's words could ring true and we could live in peace and harmony, without the fear of heaven, hell, and each other.
Fittingly, I received an update from my buddy in India today. She too is marveling at our differences:
" I didn't get trampled by a cow or run over by motorbike carrying a family of 5, I've just been working really hard, long hours at work. I didn't work on the weekend though, and without access to phones or internet I was able to get out and see Vadodara.
We were escorted around Vadodara this weekend by Swarj, who is from Gujarat (the state we are in), and Rajeev, who came for the companionship and because he too was interested in seeing the city since he, like so many of our Indian colleagues, comes from another part of India and is just as new to this city as us. We went to the Electrical Mechanical Engineers Temple of Religious Tolerance, to the Vadodara Museum and Hall of Paintings, and to the zoo. Maybe I wrote about the temple before -- four huge spreading banyan trees (Vadodara = "banyan tree land") provide the setting for statues of many gods and their various incarnations dating from the 7th and 8th centuries. The temple itself is set among the trees too and was designed by a Jain architect (one of the 5 religions it honors) and is built from a crashed airplane, It is quite lovely and there's always people flowing through it, honoring Shiva or Ganesh or a few other gods that live there.
The god stories are great! People whose families come from the caste of Brahmins (teachers, spritual guides, etc.) particularly have a lot of knowledge of all of the ancient and not-so-ancient Hindi myths. Even if they are not particularly religious (and many aren't), most people are spiritual. There are temples all over the place -- In the middle of the main roads or tucked between buildings, or on a random ledge, all recently decorated with fresh flowers, and all usually greeted by whoever is passing by with at least a reverent bow if not the more formal kneeling or prostration. This morning on the way to work, I saw a dog go into a temple that was in a big cavern in the sidewalk.
Each temple or shrine inhabited by one or more gods.Rajeev and Swarj told us some of them as we walked among the statues at the EME Temple and later in the museum. I'm now able to recognize Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu, and Ganesh, Parvati, and Krishna when they are in their more popular incarnations, and I was so excited when I recognized Ganesh as a human looking baby, which would have been before his father Shiva cut off his head and his mother replaced it with the head of an elephant, by far his more common representation. Start this weekend is a 3 week festival called Ganesh Immersion. All over India, special craftsmen are building Ganesh idols, some as big as 20 feet high, maybe bigger. They first make frames of wood and then they cover them with plaster of paris. At the end of the festival, all the Ganesh idols will be immersed in lakes or ponds and allowed to dissolve. The newspaper is starting to be filled with info about this as the festival approaches. An environmental group has set the more environmentally friendly example of building Ganeshes with recycled paper instead of plaster of paris. It's a really big deal. I'm becoming accustomed to being here now, although I still marvel over seeing a camel walking down the street hauling a cart of grass and continue to be impressed by all the women with their colorful saris and salwar kameezes and flowing dupattas and palloos. Cows sitting among dozens of motorbikes or smack in the middle of the road are no longer surprising and I'll probably stop snapping pictures of them soon. (But see the attached cow pictures!)" Imagine.
Peace Out! September 05 Working in IndiaWhen one gets sent to India to train colleagues, the whole experience can be met with consternation and surprise. Surprise at our own reaction to a new world, and surprise at our own acknowledgement that people are not all the different....as much as we will admit anyhow.
My colleague from Florida, made this voyage recently, and took the time to jot a few things down:
"Life is sooo different here! Although I obviously can't generalize about India from my short experience so far in Vadodara, this is providing plenty of adventure.
I've heard that India is a land of contrasts, but Vadodara is not. Although as high-tech businesses move in and educated Indians from all over India come to take these jobs, all of this is side by side with all of the rest of teeming life here. It is a hard scrabble life for most here, I believe, and there are so many people that having a job like being a driver or a caretaker is a coveted and easy job. Within a 100 yards of our bungalow, people live in lean-tos on the side of the road and cows and mangy dogs loiter on all the roads. Air conditioning is a rarity, ice is non-existent, and we see very few Westerners. Nothing here exudes wealth -- there aren't fancy buildings next to hovels. Our office building seems to be about as fancy as they come!
I came expecting that we would be staying in a hotel (there are a couple in Vadodara). Others stayed in a hotel, but a couple of us are the guinea pigs for the "bungalow" that the company has leased. I was so glad that I stole the shampoo, rinse and a lufa sponge from the luxury hotel where I got to stay for 8 hours in Mumbai; they are coming in handy in the bungalow. The bungalow is an old house that has been fixed up. It makes me think of Saddam Hussein's palace, or pictures I've seen -- very large rooms, 12 foot ceilings, marble floors of 4 sq. foot slabs of marble, sparse furniture. Our bedrooms are also huge with only a bed with a 2" hard mattress on an elevated board. And two nightstands.
The bedrooms are air conditioned (well, not mine, because it's broken), but the rest is not and at breakfast our sweat and our water become one. The morning bath, squatting under the faucet in the tub and washing with cold water feels good. A caretaker lives in a room behind the house and is available at all times for anything we might need. He makes us breakfast and dinner. Our driver waits in the car between 7 am and 11 or 12 pm ready to take us whereever we ask. He sits in the parked car outside the gate to the house when we're here, and outside the office when we're there. It is unfathomable the number of people here like him, like the housekeeper, like the sweepers at the office -- their only job is a single dedicated task and in between doing it, they wait, and they typically work for up to 16 hours a day.
Bicycles, mopeds, and tiny taxis are the main ways to get around, the roads are filled, and there are no traffic rules. We've been working long hours, but on the weekend I'm planning to tour the city and also get up early and walk as far as I can, taking pictures along the way.
The food is all great! It is vegetarian food, and so spicy and savory. At restaurants, you can get food with chicken or mutton. We have a cafeteria on the top floor of our office -- a room with low ceilings, no airc onditioning and 3 guys cooking on camp stoves. They feed everyone in the office for 75 cents a plate. Two types of dal, roti, a curried vegetable and masala. Even the cafeteria food is better than any Indian food I've ever eaten in the US.
<edit: ....they are wishing that they could be toasting with something other than water, but alcohol is forbidden in India. (You can drink in secret from a bottle purchased at some hotels, but Indians aren't allowed to drink, and no restaurants serve alchohol, nor are there any bars).
As for work, things are going well. We were loaded us up with lots of work and it's not easy work either. The team is eager to learn and they aren't afraid to dig in and try. They are probably better at some things than I am, but they're at the level of not knowing where to begin with other things.
Well, Happy Janmashtmi! (Lord Krishna's birthday). It is a national holiday, so the office is nearly empty. But I have plenty to do today. We are going to try to knock off early, by 6 or 6:30 tonight -- we've been working until 9 and we're getting pretty tired.
"
Welcome to the new world!!
August 28 The fine art of negotiationEinstein had something going for him when he coined the saying:
If A equals success, then the formula is: A = X + Y + Z. X is work. Y is play. Z is keep your mouth shut.
The keeping the mouth shut part has always been a 'work in progress' for most. By some strange act of nature, people inherently want to blurt out things. It is in this vane that we were taken by a senior citizen educated in the art of negotiation, and his delicately honed skill of zipping it.
We had advertised our small fishing boat for a couple of weeks and finally some interest had been generated, and I was receiving several emails per day regarding it. On one of these days, an elderly (~70) called me up and said that he was going to make the 3 hour trip to our house to see our boat and motor. He was prepared to buy it. The same evening, I received an email from a fellow in the opposite direction, who wanted to drive the three hours tomorrow and would have 2500 cash ready for the whole parcel. Since the elderly gentleman had contacted me first, I felt a bit obligated to him, plus he was an elder. I gave him first crack at it, and he said he would take the early ferry and be here at 9 a.m.
At 8 a.m., there was a knock on the door. He had caught the earlier ferry and therefore was an hour early. Great!  He loo |
Print
