A new normal

July 2014 is going to torment me and posssibly the family for a long time. If there was one period in our life that deserved a "love hate" relationship, this would be it.

Early on in the month, we were wishing July had 60 days and by the time 15th rolled in, we were hoping to move over to August!

Our emotions were competing with the monsoon rains while we were in the middle of the monsoon rains in Kerala and TamilNadu

Since then we have seen a lot of turbulence literally and figuratively. Now that everyone is sleeping in their own bed and the work, home, yoga routine is coming back for me, there is hope that we will settle down in time for the school year that starts next week. 

I have taken a break from almost all social media in the last month for multiple reasons. Someone on my Facebook list is not who they claim to be. Either that or there is some hacking going on when I try to log on to Facebook from Airport wifi's in Asia. If you read this and have had friend requests from me in July, promptly take that down. 

The other reason for not getting to blog was simple. Wait till the negative tide turns and then start blogging. 

This is not the first time we went on a trip or a trip within a trip. There is no single picture that stands out as a trip highlight, but this one comes close.. 

Have always found that writing about a travel experience in bits and pieces, long after the travel actually happened is a cathartic experience in itself. Don't know why, though!

We will pick up the narrative, from the TamilNadu Kerala border...

Been away too long...

It has been almost a month and a half since the site saw a blog post. There is so much to write about.  Spent two and  a half weeks in India over four states, TamilNadu, Kerala, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. Went straight for a business trip from the vacation that turned out to be quite interesting. Flying back to the US and back within 48 hours... memories of people, places, the sights, sounds and smells that may or may not resonate because of all the hectic travel.. 

July came and went and a lot happened without me even getting to the blog. For the most part I chose not to check emails or Facebook during this time. Just let everything soak in.

For the first time exhausted the entire 32GB card taking pictures and started over! 

This trip also saw me go through 7 major airports in a span of 5 days, lugging suitcases on a business trip, navigating baggage rule incompatibilities on international flights on different routes, trying to figure out what day and time it was at any given moment.

Will start posting pictures and share some stories of experiences that truly touched me.. but first, more work!

Media blitz..

NaMo has won by a landslide!

What the western media is doing, even after more than 1/2 a billion people have clearly said, "They want Development. They want good governance. They have moved on from 2002. They believe jobs and economy will take a focus and the people as a nation can pull out of the current stagnation.", is ridiculous!

Every news report and article today mentions "polarized", "divisive" etc. etc.

The US media needs to grow up!

An absolute majority! where is the polarization? where is the divisiveness? folks from every segment put economy over 2002.. 

Funny thing is that US media does the same thing with China. "No freedom, no rights etc. etc." is all we hear about China, all the time in US media. When I go to China, I see those people are actually happy that the country is growing. They don't see it as a big deal that the govt. is checking their mails. they don't care who their Premier is, as long as things improve day to day. There is a pragmatism there when it comes to accepting that a large population needs a lot of things to support it. The email snooping was happening in the US also, except we didn't know it! So all we pride ourselves on is not security but a false sense of security. 

When you have a billion plus mouths to feed, and a population distribution that is getting younger, you need different solutions. A larger population has larger inertia. It is not easy to move everyone in the same direction. Yet, that has to happen to a certain extent if development has to thrive at that scale. 

It is high time we sent a whole bunch of US media guys on some kind of exchange program to India and China!

There are a bunch of people in India who are still speculating that Modi's government will turn India into the dark ages and communal violence will be everywhere like 2002. Well, it has not happened in Gujarat for 12 years. Why will it happen all over now? 

The polarization seems to be in the minds of folks who do not back Modi, with respect to the sanity of Gujarathis. The argument seems to be "NaMo did not develop Gujarat. Gujarat and Gujarathis were developed long before Modi even came into the picture." If they accept that Gujarathis are smart folks, then they voted Modi and kept him their leader for 12 years! So they must see something in him, no? The response to that question has always been met with silence. 

It is time the media moved on from making Modi into some kind of monster, and see him as the builder that he is!