Acronyms and more..

YIMBY !

(Yes, In My Back Yard. I thought I was being creative and had coined YIMBY based on NIMBY. Went to WIKI and YIMBY is not just there, but there are YIMBY movements across the USA to bring affordable housing to certain areas !!)

The mouth watering goes on..

SSDP : (This one didnt turn up any WIKI hits. SSDD stands for "Same Shit Different Day". SSDP is Same Shit Different Place! (I will take all credit for coining this one). Why SSDP ?

Two different events in two different places.

Chennai:

We are flying from Chennai to Singapore on our way back, and they give us some Malay Straits newspaper in Tamizh. The newspaper was obviously pro Jayalalitha(opposition party) and was pretty much a government bashing propaganda machine. The headlines was about how the Airport Authority of India had spotted a location for a new Chennai airport but they couldnt go through with the plans because
a. some people had illegally erected huts in that location and
b. a political party called PMK had threatened to protest, move against the local government, etc. etc. they tried to evict those people or even try to relocate them and pay them monetary compensation.

I was planning to write about this, especially after my experience at the Chennai Airport where the place is operating at pretty much maximum efficiency just to keep the existing number of flights moving. If they add more flights in and out of the place, they will have to expand.

San Francisco :

Was listening to KQED (local public radio station) last week and the headlines ? A whole bunch of people protesting outside the Immigration office in San Franciso (Dept. of Homeland Security which encompasses the former INS or Immigration and Naturalization service). They were protesting the raids that have been taking place over the last 9 months where 13000 illegal immigrants have been caught and deported. The DHS says they are specifically targeting repeat offenders who are illegal and are involved in shady activities. The people outside are saying (and I kid you not):

"people are scared to send their kids to school or go to the local doctor because they are worried that they might be picked up by the DHS". If you are living illegally in a country, shouldn't you be worried anyways ? They were claiming the raids are a slap in the face of the immigrant community, especially after all the immigration reforms promised by the newly empowered democrats. But the bottomline is, legal vs. illegal!

Before the illegal immigrant community decides to flame this post, I would like to mention why I even put this in the blog. A couple of years ago, San and me were going towards downtown San Jose. The car in front of me was swearving, speeding and we could make out that it was either a bad driver or someone who was not aware of rules. Just while we were talking about it, the driver sped up to cross a light which had already turned yellow. Problem was that this was a light where the perpendicular road was a highway exit, that too at an angle and the people standing at the exit had already started turning. This driver went and hit the first car that came out, smack in the middle. The car spun a few times and came to a stop. The middle aged lady who was hit had to break open the window and get out. She was bleeding from all the cuts and bruises. San and me went to help her. The cops came and we were held as witnesses.

The car that ran the light was actually being driven by a lady. The minute she realized that she had hit the car, she ran out and the guy who was with her in the passenger seat went and sat in the driver seat. Later while we were helping the lady go to the ambulance, this guy walks up to me and says "please say you saw me driving the car!" and walked away.

There were other witnesses as well. All of us told the cops the same story! That the driver was actually the lady and had given a description of the lady. 10 minutes later the cop told us that she had been picked up and was an illegal immigrant and that is why the guy was trying to cover for her!! My take on it was that if you are illegal, by the very definition of the word, you have no respect for the law and you are going to be a menace to others intentionally or otherwise.

But Chennai or SFO, people who do things that are illegal, still think they have a right to do what they want and actually protest, strike, etc. and get to bully the guys who are actually trying to do their job. SSDP !!

Back to the routine..

Back in the US and back to the daily routine. Almost forgot that we were in India for a month!

Some travel tips for other folks who might be traveling with kids to the US.

1. Carry on Baggage : Throughout the journey from here to India, we had one carry on bag per person (even the baby who has a 75% ticket gets a carry on bag) and a laptop bag (San, me, her brother all had laptop bags!) and baby had her diaper bag. This is allowed per Cathay Pacific and almost all the other airlines. When we checked our suitcases in Chennai and got our boarding pass, the person at the counter gave us two tags each and said the laptop bags and diaper/ milk bag were allowed. After going through customs and immigration, there is a security check point just in front of the gate manned by some police like uniformed guys. Do not know if they are government or private security. They said "one bag only!! either your carry bag or laptop bag.. choose !!". There were a lot of guys ahead of me who were shouting and yelling in protest, but the security guys said "idhar lika hai" (it is written here) and pointed to some fine print on a board which was put only at this security gate! They asked all the people to wait for the various airline representatives to show up. I was wondering what to do, when the guy in front of me (Tamizh guy flying in Air France flight) walked out of the line, opened his little suitcase removed all the neatly ironed pants and shirts. He proceeded to put them over his left arm, then covered them with his Leather Jacket. He had put his laptop bag inside the bigger carry on in the space he had created. He gave me a wink and went through the security check. Insipired by this, I saw that I could actually expand my carry on bag by opening a zipper that goes all around the bag. It made the bag look really heavy, but these guards were just obsessed with the one bag only policy. I quickly shoved my laptop bag inside (Couldnt even pull the zipper over completely, so I put on a thick shirt and Jacket which I was going to take out once we reached SFO!). I got through thanks to some expert cooperation from baby, who silently watched the proceedings. After I went to the gate, we sat next to the Air France dude and he said "Govt. rules! You just have to find a workaround. Arguing is not going to solve anything. That guy who is yelling over there is sooo screwed!". I thanked him with all my heart for getting me through that checkpoint..

2. Security : We came to Hongkong at 3:20. Our next flight out to San Francisco was 4:30 and boarding was to start at 4:10. That gave us 50 minutes to leave one gate and go to another gate in the same terminal. They made all the passengers go through an X-ray checkpoint and by the time we made it near the other gate it was 4:15 !! That is when we got the big shock. We were diverted to another security check. Apparently the policy is that people boarding flights to the US have to go through an additional manual security check. There were 40 dudes in four rows holding up green signs to say they are ready to check. A security guy diverts everyone coming in the line to one of the 40 chekers. So San ends up in one corner, me in another corner and we all carry the extra kids bags. The guys go through everything.. EVERYTHING ! I was asked about the "rasam saadam" (rice with gravy) that was packed for Jr.'s in-flight food..Was even asked to taste it. I just smiled and did it. One chinese guy remarked "they really take it out on the US bound passengers here!" He was right. I was questioned about the milk flask, the bottled Gerber baby foods, etc. etc.

3. Got Milk ? After we boarded the flight (we were one of the last ones to board), San asks the hostess to get some warm milk for the baby and she replies "we don't have milk on the flight maam. only dairy creamer!" We paid 900 odd dollars for that 75% ticket for baby and we don't get milk ?! Then another hostess came and said "you guys should get your own milk for the baby". I explained to her that someohow the milk in our flask got spoilt (and showed her the flask), and also told her that this was a long 14 hour flight and we definitely were given milk in the many times we travelled with a baby on this leg. Finally a senior air hostess said "let me check if we have any in Business class" and got us some milk!!! It was pretty obvious that they had the milk but for some reason, wanted to hold on to it. Later a different air hostess said "if we give you milk, then everyone just asks for milk to drink!".. I was thinking "if you serve food that is not easy on the stomach, then obviously the older people and kids are going to ask for a banana and milk".. Incidentally, there were no bananas either on the flight!

So folks coming on the pacific route via Hongkong, please:

1. make sure your carry on bag is expandable or put your laptop inside one bag
2. run to the next gate in Hongkong. That X-ray check does not get you in the next flight!
3. Take a huge flask of milk! and be ready to taste it in HongKong in front of the security guy.. Incidentally, you might find out that the milk is spoilt!! and if you are worried about the food, BYOB (bring your own banana - that is!).

It was a refreshing trip on a lot of fronts. Will post soon with pictures..