On Hunting

When it comes to keeping animals as pets, I have a very strict opinion - Dogs should live with Dogs, and Humans with Humans. I wouldnt want to live amidst a pack of dogs however cozy an environment they may provide. Why would a cat or dog think otherwise? - Kindly note, even Henry Bergh, the founder of ASPCA, dint keep any pets. But then I am not against pet-owners, as at least they love their pets and provide for everything they think is best. No ill-treatment at least.

Having said that, last morning heard a broadcast on NPR about hunting which disturbed me a lot. They were highlighting how the number of women hunters has been increasing over the years. But, in course of the narration, I heard a family woman mentioning about how their family went on Elk hunting for a get-together and how they each shot their own Elk and how that turned out to be one of the memorable family memories for them. I was shocked.

Forget about the species endangerment, extinction or ecological imbalance etc etc that arises because of hunting, the mere act of killing an innocent animal for pleasure is outright disgusting. Just because you are on top of the intellectual chain and an elk or a deer does not know how to use a rifle does not give us humans any moral grounds to go about killing them for pleasure. Most hunters wont even stand a chance against these animals if they were unarmed. In fact, humans seem to be the only living thing that goes about killing members of other species for no good reason. A lion does not hunt a deer unless its hungry - thats nature. A bear wont try to attack you unless you threaten its life. Why would we do that just for the heck of it. What does a person get by hanging a deer's head in his living room? Though unsustainable and debatable, the act of killing animals (chicken etc) for food is atleast understandable - You consume it to live. But killing an innocent creature for no good - thats when you feel ashamed to be a part of the same humanity that these hunters come from too.

The post for today's pic is from San Diego Zoo. The innocent expression in that small monkey's face goes well with the essence of the post while the blurred cage wires adds to the message giving a cornered feeling for these animals.

Whose Line Is It Anyway ? - #6

• While driving one day, me and my wife were rambling about this year's Academy Awards (Oscars) in general, and in particular about how A. R. Rehman was given two Oscars for a score which we felt is definitely not his best and there are a lot more of his scores that were more deserving. Our young man in the back seat was listening intently and the words "two Oscars" caught his attention. He also felt like contributing to the discussion - "Daddy, there is one Oscar in my school as well".

[The following one was told to me by my kid's preschool principal]

• My kid moved from lower Preschool (2yr olds) to Upper Preschool (3yr olds) recently. Most of his classmates are those who moved with from the lower to the upper one. Apparently a new 3yr old had joined his class recently and being to a new school/class, the new kid used to cry a lot almost daily it seems. Our youngman noticed that it was only this new kid thats crying and decided to do the needful. He told his principal, when they crossed paths, that the new kid is crying a lot. The principal, true to her tutelage instincts, decided to make our son see the point. Rhetorically she answered, "Do you remember what you did initially when you joined lower preschool last year ?". Prompt answer came- "I cried a lot". Principal, almost smelling success, "see, you cried a lot like him too..". Before she could finish, came the googly -"But I only cried in a Lower Preschool class". Well what can you say, its going to take bit more explaining. When the principal relayed this story to me, she ended with a note -"Thats a statement to keep and relish". Amen.

The pic for today's post shows a sunflower that we grew at our home - from seed level - gave a great level of satisfaction on seeing this at full bloom.

Whose Line is it anyway ? - #5

• Ever since our baby grew up from being a baby to a toddler, he has his own shopping list when we go to a store. Usually we let him have in his hand, some item he fancies while we shop and when it comes to checking out, we tell the billing clerk that we dont want that item. We dint realise the young one was observing this until recently when we were standing in the line for checkout, he looked at us and showed his item aloft and told "Amma, when you are billing, you should not say "We dont want this item"? okay" - We complied with his request amidst our laughs and me wondering what would be our next strategy in this battle of wits now that our trick has been exposed.

[Typically I have used these "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" posts for my kid's comments. But then you never know where cute/interesting comments can come from. Do you ? Well, here's an example]

• Since I am this major Harry Potter fan, my wife gifted me a 5DVD collection of the first 5 HP movies for my birthday. I leisurely revisit the movies in parts. One night I was watching HP #3 (my favorite of the lot). My wife strutted in to the room while ,on TV, one of the HP character's (Remus Lupin if you care) was turning into a were-wolf. My wife is not a big fan of HP stuffs and thinks its too unreal and of course, at that stroke of night, dint relish the idea of seeing a man turn into an ugly werewolf with an ominous roar. Later on when I very eagerly explained her what interesting event was happening there from a story's point of view, with a relish of disgust, she blurted out - "Why should he turn into a were-wolf ? such a scary animal with that voice. Why not turn into a were-rabbit or, say, a were-puppy ?". What to say - Speechless, I only managed a laugh.

Today's pic is an apt one for the post. Taken at the San Diego Zoo, it shows one of the zoo's pride possession - the Koalas - my wife's favorites. This pics shows an young one comfortable in the presence of its mother and to our luck, both were awake and moving when we went there.

Unsung Heroes

Yesterday was the so-called anniversary of "Lehman Brother's bankruptcy" - yup, it has already become a watershed event. In fact, I myself vividly remember that day when the news broke out and the stock market to a dive of ~7% or so in a day.

Anyways, there was an article about that yesterday. Lets keep aside the far reaching effects of that event in the financial system and the ripple effects of that etc etc. What troubles me most is because of the greed and thoughtless risk-taking of a few in the top of the ladder at LB, their entire work force ended up paying heavily. Think about the low level employees who had no idea/control of what was going on at top, suddenly find themselves in the street, struggling to make ends meet, seeing their hard earned nest egg of 401k (most of which was in LB stock) reduced to little to nothing. In that news article, there was a mention about a coffee cart vendor outside LB's NY head quarters who has been selling coffee to LB employees for 10 yrs now. He was troubled by the state of the employees - his customers - who are just thrown into the streets. More so, the flock of media reporters, insensitive to the entire happening, irritated him a lot when they asked questions like "how it feels to be suddenly out of job etc" to the already-dazzled employees coming out of the door. The infuriated coffee vendor literally put up a sign in his cart saying "no coffee to press/reporters". Sure some reporters were dazzled to see such a courage from a low earning coffee cart vendor. This man could have easily rigged up some cash by making the most of that day as his future was uncertain as well like any LB employee. But it takes courage to stand up to your principles/feelings and put it on top of your livelihood instincts. To me he is an unsung hero.

PS. The article also mentioned how one reporter gifted him $100 on seeing his reaction and how he used it inturn to give some free coffees to his ex-regular customers for one last time.

Why on Earth ....

My ramblings about some unrelated stuffs - each of which I am not able to reason out rationally.

My swimming trunk has 5 pockets just like a Jeans pant. What on earth could a person possibly be carrying in his pockets while swimming that warrants 5 pockets. After a couple of laps do they expect a swimmer to stop and check one of the pockets if his SSN or DL card is still there or if they have drowned to the bottom of the pool, or worst, a cop swimming right behind pulls over a swimmer to the lane side and ask for an ID of some before checking him for SUI (swimming under influence)!!!

If you have been following the various Finance related websites - Google Finance, Yahoo Finance - you would have realised this. These sites typically boast "the most sensational yet utterly useless headline" of all media sites. If the market is open they will say something like "Dow down 100 points" while the graph next to it would convey more news than that. To top it all, they would try to come up with an explanation as if they know what they are talking. Once in a blue moon, an event like Lehman Brother's collapse helps them save their skin when explaining. With the real time updates on the indicies reflected on the websites in no time, the headlines now-a-days look more foolish than ever before trying to keep up. Today Google Finance said "Dow up on consumer confidence" while the realtime quote showed the index down by 30 points. They could use a software script to auto-generate the headline at the same speed the index is being updated so that, however hilarious, atleast it looks in sync with the number.

After 8 long years in America, I am tired of (or rather used to) organizations/businesses using superlative terms to describe themselves - the best, greatest, cheapest, most-this, most-that etc etc. Here are some funny superlative statements I came across -

• SDCCU (San Diego Country Credit Union) claiming that it has been voted as the "BEST credit union in the County by the readers of the San Diego Union Tribune(UT)" - How many credit unions can there be in SD county (not even double digits) and even among them, how much of a circulation does UT have and of that much circulation how much would have taken the pains to participate in such a poll. Is that even a category to claim anything meaningful ?
• Kia, the automaker, in an add recently boasted of an award from JD Power and Associates. Kia.com Ranks HIGHEST Among ManufacturerWeb Sites in Satisfying New-Vehicle Shoppers - When was the last time you or someone you know visited an automaker's website for buying a car as lame as KIA.
• Monterey Bay's - The world's MOST beautiful 17 miles - Drive. This was a total let down. We agree that drive was roughly 17 miles. Other than that, it was anything but beautiful. Our relative warned us but still we wasted 10$ on the entry fee. It was just another innovative way the filthy rich have designed to further rip off the less opulent. The drive had 21 so called "vista" points of which the most hilarious one was Ghost Tree.

J D Power and Associates is a friendly agency to any business. Give them their fee, they will surely find a category so obscure that your business will be the best of that category. Remember the Kia example. It would only be fitting for them if they come up with a "Most Over-rated Tourist Attraction" category and award that to the Monterey Bay 17-mile Drive. See today's pic of the Ghost Tree - one of the so called vista points- in the 17-mile drive.

Freaky Freeways

Living an hour from Los Angeles, the "city of angeles" (aka LA), I dont think I have ever seen any angels flying over there but most drivers on its freeways seem to be flying high for sure. With its myriad number freeways being barely able to cope up with its enourmous traffic appetite, an outsider ,or worst, a first-timer, driving into LA at pretty much at any point of the day is sure to get hit with a shocking number of winding freeways, exiting on either sides at short notice, bumpy with sometimes narrow lanes, bumper-to-bumper traffic going mad at 80 mph, drivers who dont seem to use anything other than steering wheel and gas pedal, reckless truck drivers who join the meelee and to top it all off, the city's penchant for bright hoardings dangerously close to the freeway straining at the already stressed-out drivers' eyes throwing all sense of caution to the air. Throw in the night atmosphere in this mix, well, you will have one memorable experience. Trust me, I have had two in the last as many months.

Incidentally, a considerable chunk of LA traffic doesnt seem to go anywhere within LA. They are just cutting across the city to get to the other side and proceed their own ways. This is particularly true during holiday seasons. This bunch can be easily diverted outside of the city's freeways by having what we call in India as "by-pass" roads. Essentially a national highway enters a major crowded city and the traffic that does not have anything to do with the city just takes a bypass road and circumvents the city to catch the highway on the other end of the city. I dont know why such an idea dint get folded into the well-thought-out-and-executed American Freeway system. Definitely cities like LA stand to benefit from that. I wouldnt mind travelling an extra 30 miles or spending a buck more on the roadside coffee/snack if I can avoid cutting across LA, that too with my family now blissfully asleep in the rear seats.

To prove my point, attached pic shows a speeding pick-up truck (an F150) in front of me at close distance with the blue light from the freeway hoardings reflected off of the road. Picture taken with camera suspended at road level.

Whose Line Is It Anyway ? - #4

• I was attending a call from the auto dealer fixing my car (for damage from an accident I mentioned earlier). I was on the phone and was asking them about my remote keyless entry system which I wanted them to fix as it was not functional. The youngman besides me was grasping every word I am speaking and when he heard the terms "remote - key - car", sprung on his feet and came to me telling "Appa, ask them to repair my remote control car as well. Grandpa broke it earlier". I remembered his remote control car gone bad after a while and we had orchestrated that grandpa actually broke it and our guy is still waiting for insurance to come and repair. I had to promise him a new one to continue attending my phone call.
• On the day of Vinayaka Chathurthi my wife decided to wear a traditional Saree to the temple. I was waiting there for her to appear in the Saree, nervously rehearsing in my mind the appreciative words I would soon tell to save my life. She appeared and before even I could comment, my young son, who woke up dreamy eyed from him midday nap, took one look at his mom in Saree, and his eyes brightened up with a quick comment - "Amma, you look like A grandma". Apparently he remembers only his grandma in a saree attire and thought only she wears that. But for me, he is the only person in the world who can get away unscathed with such a comment about my wife.
• Aug 31st was "back-to-school" day and our young man was moving to a new class - Its a first for all of us. First time he is moving to a new class (upper preschool). Figuring out he may not be needing any major stationaries, my wife, prudently, talked me into getting him bunch of new dresses instead. The one he wore on the first day was a neat sports jersey like Tshirt with the number "22" on it and it said he is the "Team Capt". I wondered out loud if my wife found any number other than "22" at the shop while in my mind trying to relate that number to a sports celebrity in any game. My son, agile as ever, took one look down at his new T-shirt, came out with a cute "Amma, my T-shirt has "55" written on it". He was right though, from where he looked at it, the inverted "22" sure spelled "55". In our hurry, we couldnt get time to explain why its actually 22 and not the 55 he sees.
• I and my wife are in (one of) the difficult stage(s) of parenting - making the kid eat his food by himself. One afternoon, I was spoon-feeding our young man as he refused to do it by himself and got cranky. When he asked for water (which I know he can drink by himself and likes doing so as well), I refused to give him that pleasure saying "if you dont eat your food by yourself, you cant drink your water by yourself either. I will give you some myself". A day later, somehow, I and my wife's stars aligned and our combined patience prevailed our young man's revolts. He was eating his dinner by himself with a spoon while I just stood by his side. When he asked for water, I offered to give him the same myself (thinking that I can give him less so that he doesnt stuff his tummy with water). But I was caught off-guard when he retorted back saying "now I am eating my food myself, so I will drink my water myself too". I had to yield. As I said in my earlier posts, this little one remembers !!!