Guns and American Culture - Something MUST Change

Guns and American Culture -  Something MUST Change

Americans are talking about Guns in again in the wake of Newton Elementary School massacre.  President Obama has tasked Joe Biden to recommend 'way forward' in a months time.  National Rifle Association (NRA) is lying low for now but will come back to divert and derail any meaningful conversation.

By some accounts there about 300 million guns in USA, supposedly for recreational & safety purpose.  At this count, American homes perhaps have more guns than mobile phones or TVs.  Here is another statistics.. Though Americans consume the most petrol per capita than anyone else in the world, they have more Gun stores than Gas stations.

I find the conversations happening in CNN rather strange and alarming.  Christina Amanpour and Piers Morgan are NOT advocating total ban on guns, they are simply campaigning to limit certain 'types' of guns and ammunitions.  They are treading 'safely' so as to not invite the wrath of 'Gun lobby' and its long arms.  This is alarming for guy like me because I for one have never understood or appreciated the need for guns at home.

NRA and the people who advocate guns take refuge in the second amendment which supposedly gives Americans the right to bear arms.  Their rabid argument is that Guns don't kill people but people do.  My submission to them would be, second amendment was done in 1791 and we are now in 21st century.  Times have changed..Technologies have made Guns more lethal and easily available. I say, its time to amend the constitution again.

Americans had the will to change their so called 'drinking and driving' culture thanks to MADD... Americans had the will to raise collectively and stop terrorism in their backyard after 9/11.  I sincerely hope, Americans can collectively curtail the rabid fringe groups like NRA and take a hardlook at their so called 'Gun Culture' as I for one feel..Something MUST change now and I know America can do it.

Wasghington DC Marathon - My 14th

Getting back to blogging with an easy one..


Posting this as I get ready for my 15th marathon in Vancouver this weekend.  Karthik Padmanabhan and I ran the DC marathon (bib # 2888) on March 20, 2010 and was a personal best for both of us.  I did 4:19:47.  The weather was great and the support from the crowd and the organizers was superb.

I had a shot at even coming under 4:00 hours but the bad cramps around 24miles made me crawl and that took me well over 4 hours. Oh well.. sometime.. I shall overcome the 4:00:00 barrier...

VISWANATHAN, RAM

Bib #2888

M

M4549

CHENNAI , IND

Overall Rank

Class Rank

Start

10K

Half

20Mile

37K

Gross

Pace

Class Total

Sex Place

Sex Total

Final

1430 of 2418

138 of 192

05:39:00

54:36:00

01:57:41

03:05:57

03:36:23

04:25:27

09:55:00

191

1052

1540

04:19:47

More photos in flickr

Obama Makes History

Barack Hussein Obama has been elected the 44th President of USA. He will be the first African - American to occupy the White house when he does next year. This is truly a remarkable achievement for the first time Senator from Illinois who almost went bankrupt during the early stages of the campaign. He persevered and toughed it out. He hunkered down through a long and arduous fight with Hillary Clinton for Democratic nomination till early June. Ater winning the primary, he took fight to key Republican states like Ohio, Virgina and Indiana and won them. Through all this one thing is very clear about Mr. Obama, he is no quitter.

His ability to fight and persevere will be sorely tested on many fronts as he takes over reins from Mr. Bush. Mr. Bush will be leaving a plate full of problems and issues for Mr. Obama to sort out. When the campaign started two years back, it was about Iraq and how to get out of that country and now it is about US economy and how to get out of the financial mess. Both and many more such problems will test Mr. Obama's ability to persist and perserve.

Personally, I rooted from Hillary Clinton but today I am glad a Democrat made to the White house.

Congratulations Mr. Obama, the entire world is watching you, hoping that you would bring in the much needed healing touch to many vexing issues.

Pitching for 2016

Saw this in Chicago Airport (ORD).. while in transit.

No.. this is not about IBM.. look closer

This is about Chicago pitching to host 2016 Olympics.. Atlanta was the last US city to host summer Olympics and that was in 1996. NYC lost to London for 2012.. but I feel Chicago stands a good chance for 2016.. as it would have been 20 years (since Atlanta) by then.. will know in fall of 2009. Interesting to see the campaign start so early. I wonder if it is only around the airports or even within the city..

Vacation - Plan B

As I mentioned earlier, my family got stuck in Chennai as we failed to note a minor but important detail with passport expiry dates.

We went back to the drawing board, did some last minute scrambling requiring documents to fly across the globe and managed to get a temporary passport for my daughter. American Consulate in Chennai was helpful and issued the necessary documentation enabling my family to travel and are currently en route to LAX. I will be waiting for them when they land here..

The net of this fire drill is that we lost two vacation days and hopefully learned an important lesson around checking expiry dates of important documents.

I say hopeful because, not sure how to keep track of the multitude of documents that expire on a regular basis (passports, PIO cards, drivers license India, US, financal documents, credit cards etc.,) . I thought of putting a reminder in my calendar but couldn't figure out a way to get regular and periodic reminders till I action it.

Is there an opportunity to innovate here?

Who is this?

Who is this? Can you guess?

I saw this statue in Houston Airport. This Houstonian occupied White house for one term..

No trophy for guessing George Bush Sr.

Big Brother is Listening as well..

A display board in Denver aiport.. Can you read the warning in red below? Look closer


It is public knowledge there are cameras everywhere, particularly in public places these days and a place like Airport would have lots of them. But, the subtle warning about audio listening was new to me.

It is one thing to use these recordings for crime investigation, but using them for crime prevention can be monumental task. Imagine the kind of technologies required to sift through mountains of video and audio collected every hour of the day to make sense pure data and use that intelligence for prevention in a timely manner. The technologies that make it possible must be truly awesome. (assuming they are indeed effective).

Travelog # 44 - Rocky Mountain National Park

Just came back Rocky Mountain National Park. It took me more than the 5 hours I had allocated for it.. and I am now toast.. and I still have to pack and get ready to leave tomorrow..

So here is a sneak peak.. more to come soon..

Travelog # 43 - Boulder Memories

I am in Boulder, CO now after a long and usual flight from Chennai. Immigration was a breeze but the baggage collection wasn't. Even after the long wait to collect my bag, I wasn't done. Customs Officer asked to get my baggage screened as I had checked as having bringing 'food' in the customs form. This happens every time and consumes 15 - 30 minute every time. I keep asking myself why bring junk food from India and get stuck at the customs screening. I think its the urge for 'masala' that keeps me do it every time overriding the logical thing of avoiding the snacks.

The drive from Denver to Boulder was beautiful and enjoyable. The vast expanse of mid western USA unfolds in front of you as you speed through the immaculately maintained freeway. The only irking factor was the need to pay toll repeatedly. I had to stop three times to pay USD 2 at each toll stop.


This hotel is kind of deja vu for me. I am coming back to this city on business exactly after 10 years and in a strange coincidence staying at the same Hotel I stayed the first time. But this is where the similarity ends. Last time, I drove from Columbus, OH with my entire family and my visiting parents in a full van stuffed to the hilt. This time, I am alone and from Chennai.

The intervening 10 years, had brought lot of changes in my life that I never even imagined, but then that's the beauty of life. At that time, we were soaking up on American dream and never for once thought of R2I or the possibility of being responsible for 'old age kids'. Ten years later, we are in Chennai now and feel responsible for my paralyzed father and my sick mother. Wonder , what's in store the next decade. God willing, I hope to be still running & writing blogs in 2017.

Travelog # 42 - Manhattan & Times Square

As you know, there are lot of things to do and see in NYC and one must see place is Manhattan. It is the happening place in the city. The energy levels on the streets of Manhattan is quite high and reminded me of Mumbai in more ways than one. But, I found NYC far better organized than Mumbai. Manhattan is basically divided in to near grids of avenues and streets. While the Avenues run north souths, streets run east west with Sixth Avenue forming the dividing line between east west streets. While it looked daunting initially, once I got the hang of the grid, navigating NYC became very easy.


Cycle Rickshaws for hire in Manhattan. They are regulated and park only at designated spots.


Long line only for this street vendor selling middle eastern food. There are several street vendors selling food in Manhattan but I found only this vendor attracting large crowds all the time.



Times Square.. one of the must see places in Manhattan.. always busy..


Two dollars snap a picture with is 'statue of liberty' at Times Square.


Defense forces recruitment @ Times Square.


Broadway.. near Times Square


Interesting art work in Sixth Avenue near Central park

More pictures in flickr

Travelog # 40 - Curry Hill

Curry Hill
After a hectic day at work, my colleagues suggested we go to Curry Hill for dinner. If you are wondering about the Indian sounding name.. you are not alone. Indian restaurants dominate a two block area near Lexington and 28th. Every other shop is an Indian restaurant of all kind, from Saravanas to Copper Chimney. As I learnt later, that's the reason Murray Hill became Curry Hill in the local vernacular.

We went to a vegetarian restaurant called Tiffin Wallah. The place was small like most other restaurants in this part of town and was bare. But the food was decent and reasonably priced. I ordered South Indian plate (USD 14) which got me Idli, Vada, Masala Dosa, Uttappam and a sweet. The food portion itself was filling but the side dishes weren't enough and had to order extra (USD 2).

Though the restaurant didn't serve liqour, my colleagues bought King Fisher Beer from elsewhere and openly consumed it at the restaurant. That was not only permitted, but seems to be the norm in most of the food only Indian restaurants in Manhattan.

Our order was served in reasonably quick, but there was minor goof up. My colleague ordered Mysore Masala Dosa, instead he got the regular one. To make the matters interesting, our Mexican server didn't understand a word of Hindi or English. After few tries, we finally managed to grab the attention of an Indian waiter who casually told us about the language issue with the cook. Our eyes popped when we learnt that even the cooks in the kitchen are from Mexico and they don't understand English as well. But, these Mexicans from South of the border learn to adapt and pick up Indian culinary skills. Most of these folks are undocumented and work stealth on cash only basis.

We finished our dinner with a hot madras coffee (USD 2) which was served unique coffee mug, which I understand is from crate and barrel.

Overall Tiffin Wallah served us decent food and value for money. Check it out if you visit this part of the world.

Travelog # 39 - A stroll in the park

A Stroll in the park.. Central Park, NYC that is..

Having missed our wedding anniversary and my son Raghav's birth day on June 30th, I did the next best thing.. walk around the central park. The weather was just perfect, it was sunny and wasn't too hot.

Central Park is a great place to hang out for people of all ages. I spent a few hours just walking around soaking in the Sun and the surroundings. Here are a few pictures from that..


Folks enjoying a sunny weekend..


Ladies are sun bathing alright.. what is the gentleman doing? sketching them out?


Family & Kids Time..


Kids amusement park right in Central Park



Running.. boy can you run.. there miles and miles of undulating trails. We can run a full marathon without having to use the same track twice..


Inline skating.. that used to be my passion before I returned to running. And that was because, I broke my leg in Bay Area and couldn't continue that in Chennai.


Buggy ride. they charge a bundle but the ride is kind of fun. We did that few years back as a family and enjoyed it.


Can't find them in Chennai but Cycle Rickshaws available for rent in Central Park.


Muslims quietly saying their prayer...


More pictures in flickr

YouTube Election

What's making news in US.. Some random observations..
If 2004 Presidential election was about online fund raising and blogging, 2008 Presidential elections seems to be dominated by YouTube. Consider this:

1. Every Presidential nominee worth their salt releases their campaign video on YouTube.
2. In fact, Hillary Clinton announced her intent to run through a online video which made its way to YouTube immediately.
3. CNN is inviting questions for Presidential debate via YouTube
   

Monday Marathon

I thought all marathons are held only on Sundays.. boy, I was wrong. Boston Marathon, one the most popular marathons is on a Monday (tomorrow). When my Boston friend Lakshmi told me about it being on Monday, I was skeptical, but a little bit of checking confirmed that it is on Monday.

It is going to be a interesting Marathon tomorrow as the weather conditions are going to be grueling. It is extremely windy and pouring in Boston now and weather pundits predicting more rain and possibility of couple of inches of snow. The good news is Boston Marathon has never been canceled due to weather conditions in its 110 year history and the bad news (for folks like me) is it will not be canceled due rain or snow.. so dress appropriately and run the marathon of your life..

My dream is to qualify for Boston Marathon which for my age group is 3:20. And this exactly why some dreams will remain a dream for me.. !!!

Good Luck Boston Marathon Runners..

Travelog # 30 - LAX

In a LA now.. after a long flight Frankfurt. Though, I had two long flight segments, flying via west (FRA) is actually faster than flying via east (SIN). Actually, I like the service & food of Singapore Airlines better than Lufthansa, but it offers shorter lay overs and more direct connection to many US cities which I like.

Navigating through the LAX customs and immigration was a breeze. Took super shuttle to my hotel in Disney theme park area. This shuttle service by itself was convenient and nominal (USD 15), however if you are using it, you must have lot of time and patience on your hand, as the driver goes from gate to gate collecting passengers. We spent over 30 minutes within LAX complex and another 30 minutes to getting to the hotel.



This flying saucer like building the most visible landmark of LAX airport. Built in 1961, this theme building has been designated as a cultural and historical monument by LA city council in 1992 and has a suspended restaurant.

Marathon in Space

Sunita Williams will run Boston Marathon in space tethered to bungee harness. To run the earth equivalent of 26.2 miles, she will run 210 miles in space void of gravity.

I don't know the funda of how the 26.2 miles became 210 miles, nor do I know how she will complete it in 43.28 seconds. But I do know that she completed Houston Marathon under 3:30 is qualified to run the Boston Marathon if she is on earth and I can only dream of it.
Good Luck Suni & Go Girl

(via kk)

Why I was fired?

An interesting op-ed in NYTimes from attorney by name David C. Iglesias who was fired under mysterious circumstances at that time. Now with the release of several thousand emails by the justice department, it has become clear that David Iglesias and 7 other attorneys were fired for doing there job (that is being apolitical).

United States attorneys have a long history of being insulated from politics. Although we receive our appointments through the political process (I am a Republican who was recommended by Senator Pete Domenici), we are expected to be apolitical once we are in office. I will never forget John Ashcroft, then the attorney general, telling me during the summer of 2001 that politics should play no role during my tenure. I took that message to heart. Little did I know that I could be fired for not being political.

What interested in me in this story not the actual firings but the transparency and independence of the justice department even though it is under political control. There is possibly a lesson or two we can pick up from this.

One Bullet Away.. Really?

Is General Musharaf really one bullet away? What would happen to Pakistan, nuclear warheads and the war on terror? A NYTimes article tries address some of these questions and what is evident is there is shift in US position. It has significantly hardened from General Musharaf being irreplaceable to limited damage.

For years, the notion that Mr. Musharraf is all that stands between Washington and a group of nuclear-armed mullahs has dictated just how far the White House feels it can push him to root out Al Qaeda and Taliban operatives who enjoy a relatively safe existence in Pakistan.

“I am not particularly worried about an extremist government coming to power and getting hold of nuclear weapons,” said Robert Richer, who was associate director of operations in 2004 and 2005 for the Central Intelligence Agency. “If something happened to Musharraf tomorrow, another general would step in.”

So, the larger questions are 'Is there a coup underway' 'Would US cut aid to Pakistan'.. My take is neither would happen. US would continue to apply various types of pressure on General Musharaf, but would stop short of cutting aid or engineering a coup.

Travelog # 26 - What's News in North America?

I am in Toronto now where it is equally cold like it was in Boston and Columbus. Moving beyond the weather, here is what I have been hearing and seeing a lot in US & Canadian media in the last few days.

Debt Consolidation:
On my way from the Airport, I was flipping through the stations and parked myself for over an hour (got stuck in the 401 / 404 rush hour traffic) in an ethnic radio station (101.3 ?). It was playing lot of Hindi songs but was catering mainly to people of Pakistani origin. Every other commercial was about bankruptcy and debt consolidation service. This was followed by equally frequent commercials for Indian / Pakistani Restaurants and driving institutes.

How much does Tyra Banks weigh? Really?:
This is a big news and has totally consumed mainstream media. How much Tyra Banks really weighs is now a national obsession (if you believe the media).? Is she 160 or 140 pounds. Fro Larry King to Diane Sawyer everybody is talking about it. Paparazzi took some pictures of Tyra Banks in some beach and made bouquet money by selling it to Tabloids, which started this media blitz about how Tyra Banks is taking on the Tabloids and stuff..

Green House:
This has been making news for a while, but this subject is all over the media with President Bush wanting to cut down dependency on foreign oil by 20%

Let us build on the work we've done and reduce gasoline usage in the United States by 20 percent in the next 10 years. When we do that we will have cut our total imports by the equivalent of three-quarters of all the oil we now import from the Middle East.

Now, everybody is talking about 'alternate fuel', but American love for cars, personal space is as strong as ever. All one has to do is to, just take one look at the cars on the road and the occupancy. Newer and bigger gas gazzlers are dominating the roads and 90+% of them have single occupancy (driver only). Without a hard look at the driving habits, it is difficult to reduce energy consumption (though automobiles are not the only ones consuming oil, they are definitely a major consumer..)

Will US invade Iran?
Talk shows are having a field day on this subject. From a definitive yes to no to everything in between is discussed, analyzed and debated. Given America's bitter experience with Iraq, I earnestly hope, President Bush doesn't open another front. This will be a serious mistake and only make the alienation of Middle East complete. But then, President Bush might as well..

The drumbeat began during Mr. Bush’s recent speech on Iraq, when he vowed to “seek out and destroy” Iranian and Syrian networks he said were arming and training anti-American forces. Mr. Bush also announced that he was sending a second aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf. Hours earlier, American troops raided an Iranian diplomatic office in Iraq. If anyone missed the point, aides let it be known that the president had authorized the military to kill or capture Iranian operatives in Iraq

Travelog # 25 - Back Home

I am still on the road, but felt like coming back home. I got to spend couple of days in Columbus, Ohio and got to meet up with several of our family friends which was really great. We lived in this city for better part of our stay in US and is always close to our heart.


Saw this display of Honda motorcycles in Columbus airport. Marysville, Ohio is home to Honda of America, where they manufacture from Lawn mowers to Motor Cycles to Accord. (Marysviille is about 50 miles northwest (thanks Kartic) of Columbus)


I understand Columbus has been having mild winter, but not when I got there. We had couple of inches of snow making roads slippery. I haven't driven in snow for a while and that made driving lot more interesting and challenging. (so far so good).


Parking the car out in open during the cold days is not advisable, but then if you do (like me) then let the car run and heat up for a while before using it.

I am came back to the Columbus after couple of years and few things stood out:

New Comers: I saw lot more Indians in the malls & freeways than earlier. I got to attend a Sai Bhajan where there were lot more new faces than the familiar ones. This brought home the point as how Time / Life moves on. Richard Carlson talks about this in his 'Don't Sweat the small stuff' series at length. "".. Imagine, in 100 years, it's all NEW people inhabiting in this world

Converged Services: Most of our friends had their cable, phone & broadband all coming through one service provider for about USD 100 per month. For this amount, they get about 50+ channels, VoIP phone service & a solid broad band connection. The growth of VoIP technology has and telephone number mobility has brought in new players in to the market and has made swithing easier.

Moving North: Columbus is perhaps the one the poster child for Urban Sprawl with the phenomenal growth moving the nucleus of the city to north of the 270 belt. Vast expanse of available land and construction of new malls like Tuttle, Polaris & Easton has really made this migration possible.

When we first moved to the North side, there was no Polaris exit (on 71) and the Sancus Blvd was a small patch. We saw the slow but sure growth with the arrival of Polaris exit and huge Bank One (Chase) office complex. But now, I couldn't even recognize that place with huge Polaris Mall bringing in all kinds of shops and traffic.

While the development is welcome, I find this growth lopsided, leaving significant section of the Columbus population to live in rundown neighborhoods and depleting services.

More pictures in flickr

Next Stop: Toronto, Canada