Apples vs Oranges !!

 There is a tendency amongst people of comparing two extremes and this happens very
naturally. When I say people it includes “me” since I make this mistake often too. The idiom
“Apple vs Orange” rightly captures the essence. Two siblings would have straight opposite
characteristics though they inherit same genes, two students learning the art from the same
teacher may prove to be completely different from one another. End of the day each individual
is different or unique and each situation/context is different from one another, people seldom
understand this or I should rather say they don’t make an attempt to understand.

Covid crisis in India during Second wave:
India was literally devastated during end of April and May in the form of second wave and
personally it was very chaotic environment; I received calls from all round the globe asking for
Remdesivir and Tocilizumab; Opening Whatsapp was getting scary because there were steady
flow of condolence messages. Worst thing was India was running short of Vaccine; Bed and
oxygen availability were the talking points and hospitals were overloaded with Covid patients
and watching Ambulance was becoming more and more common sight. No vaccine, No O2
beds, limited supply of oxygen and no availability of life saving drugs made the equation as
challenging as possible. World media literally torn India’s image to low levels and COVID
situation in India was highlighted is many dailies of some of the world famous print media. One
thing which many forgot was India’s fight against COVID-19 was bigger than many nations put
together. Population of Madhya Pradesh is equal to Germany, population of Rajasthan is equal
to UK, Maharashtra’s population is equal to Japan, Telangana’s population is equal to Saudi
Arabia. USA’s population is 33 crores and Tamilnadu’s population is 8 crores (roughly 1/4 th ) so it
all boils down to Population. Social distancing is said to be a vital criteria to stop spread of virus
but population density plays a vital role in following this restriction. India stands at 403 people
per square kilometer whereas if you take developed nations like US it is 34, Russia is 8, Canada
is 4, and Australia is 4; In lay man terms I have seen many homes around 800-1000 square feet
in India where four people live and that is roughly the amount of space used for car garages in
US. When it comes to Literacy rate, Germany stands at Rank 8 in the world, US at 7, Australia at
16, Japan at 32 and India at 128 th rank with roughly 75% of the population being literates. When
people don’t have the fundamental basics in the form of education how will we communicate
importance of washing hands, social distancing and wearing masks especially when it is turning
out to be a herculean task to communicate the same to so called "educated people". Considering
India’s population, population density and Literacy rate I would say India did exceedingly well in
crisis – it exposed the healthcare system and made Governments work like hell, made people
realize the proverb ‘Health is wealth’ is no longer a whatsapp forward, made India major
powerhouse in Pharma Industry and finally small businesses no longer treat expenses 
related to hygiene as an overhead expense. So bottom-line when people or media compares India's covid situation with other nations they should understand the basics. 

Price of a Juice:
For anything and everything there are always different sets of audience and Business try to lure
audience from all walks of life. I love having fresh juices but many a times I find myself
disappointed with the way juices are prepared. Now let me go over with an example –
Assuming one kg of Chiku (Sapota) is 80 rupees and let us assume you get 10 pieces for one kg
which makes it literally 8rs/piece; In order to prepare a fresh juice for 200ml you need to
squeeze at least 5-6 pieces, along with sugar and other overhead expenses fixed costs easily
comes out to 60-65 rupees and with profit margin included is sold for 80 rupees; Problem with
people (7 out of 10 atleast ) is they feel 80 rupees is on the higher end for a 200ml juice and this
is why most of the juice shops add milk to bring down the costs to 40; I hate adding milk to juice
especially when I know that I am having a fresh juice and not a shake. Problem is we are mixing
up with apples and oranges – "definition of juice" if different for different sets of people. 

Language vs Knowledge:

Main aim of an Indian parent who lives abroad is to see their kids talk/sing/read in their respective mother tongue and if their kids does so especially in their relative circle during their India trips then the glow you see from mom's face is enough to lit up MA Chidambaram cricket stadium; If you take Indian parents then their number one aim is to make their kids cousins of William Shakesphere; They want their kids to talk like Macbeth characters whereas they watch vadivelu memes. In summary parents give paramount importance to language which is fine but they interchange between language and knowledge. An teacher can teach well but her linguistic skills may be poor and parents make the mistake of judging the teachers through language. Comparing language and knowledge is definitely like comparing apples and oranges. 

 As human tendency we tend to compare two different contexts but if we dig deeper both may be two extremes. As long as people acknowledge the fact that we are comparing apples and oranges it should be fine. 

Next Blog: Does Luck matter ?

Opposition is critical !!

 Opposing one another is nothing new in today’s world and opposing happens in every single field:

(a)   Husband opposes wife and vice versa

(b)   Coach opposes players

(c)    Manager opposes workers

(d)   People oppose government

(e)   Home maker opposes maid 

(f)     Traffic inspector opposes Violators

People have a wrong impression about ‘Opposing’, so before I get into actual examples I would like to come up with a silly example of a conversation between husband and wife in today’s world. 

 Mitta Mirasu[Husband]: What are you going to make for breakfast?

Neelambari[Wife]: Cereal is in the shelf and milk is in the fridge ..so help yourself

 

Mitta Mirasu: It’s Sunday ..why can’t you make Poori and potato curry?

Neelambari: Its Sunday for you ..not for me ..every day I have been toiling in the kitchen and no holiday for us

 

Mitta Mirasu: Stop your cliché dialogues ..you have been spoilt by mega serials ..see our neighbor Swapna ..she makes yummy dishes and there is always nice smell emanating from their chimney …my colleague’s wife Anitha prepares awesome dishes and my colleague always open his tiffin box with pride ……

Neelambari:  How dare you compare me with our neighbor Swapna ? Her husband is like a swiggy employee who often buys food from outside ….I heard through our maid that her husband bought her a chain with peacock pendant for their anniversary and this is on top of the lotus pendant she had before ….Don’t even talk to me about Anitha ..She couldn’t even smile at me at the birthday party last week and she is full of attitude because she owns a Business and the food coming from her house is always cooked by her Maid Amutha who happens to be our maid’s first cousin

 Mitta Mirasu: Amma swamy ..I don’t want your Poori …..even upma will do ..sorry I will have bread and Jam …..

Neelambari: We can have Poori but need help from you. Boil the potatoes, peel the skin and smash it; Take two cups of wheat flour, some salt and add water and prepare the dough. Finally add some oil and knead lightly to smoothen the ball.

Mitta Mirasu: Follows all the instructions and finally family is able to enjoy awesome pooris by collective effort.

 Bottom line opposing or healthy arguments between two parties brings the best of results as the conversations give room for more productive results. Now that I have gone through the silly example let’s get into business by real world examples.

 

  Issue No.1: Central Government of India refuses to procure Covid Vaccines on

  Behalf of the states and tells state governments to procure Vaccine themselves

 

       What happened next: State governments started to raise global tenders to procure  

       vaccines and realized there were no takers; Kerala Chief Minister Pinrayi wrote a  

       letter to all Non BJP states chief ministers that they should get their act together

       and pressurize central government to procure vaccines. Supreme Court got involved

       and questioned Central government on rationale behind spending 35000 crore

       rupees allocated for vaccines and asked explanation by a certain date. This is when

       Central government intervened and suddenly announced vaccine rollout plan

       Thereby taking responsibility of vaccine distribution to states. So opposition from 

       the states was the key on determining the final outcome which turned out to be the

       best solution.

 

Issue No.2:  India Backs out of RCEP agreement after opposition from Congress

 What happened next: Let me go over RCEP (Regional Economic Comprehensive Partnership)  .      RCEP is one of those Free Trade agreements covering almost one third of global population and  includes members like China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Newzealand and 10 members of the  South east Asian nations (ASEAN). India was about to sign RCEP but Congress  opposed it          citing that Indian farmers and MSME sector had genuine unaddressed concerns on Circumvention on rules of origin to dump chinese goods due to reduced customs  duty thereby increase the massive trade deficit. Finally India backed out and BJP said decision was taken considering national interests. 

Issue No.3: Jallikattu protest that shook the entire Nation

What happened next: No one in the wildest of dreams would have expected such a protest in Marina Beach ..what started as a small protest gained momentum and slowly but surely became mother of all protests. The chief  motivation of the protest was against the Supreme court's order to ban Jallikattu which is traditionally a bull taming sport held during Pongal season. One of the demands was to declare  an ordinance to remove Bulls from list of performing animals as per the PCA (Prevention of cruelty to Animals) act. Protests were so huge and literally attracted entire nation and finally Tamil nadu government passed a bill that overturned the supreme court ban on bull taming sport Jallikattu. 

    

      Above examples show when you oppose with substance you yield results. I am sure many may think the word 'Oppose' may not be morally correct instead terms like healthy conversations can be used to bring out the desired results. See I am a person who call a spade a spade and sometimes reality takes precedence over diplomacy. It would be absolutely foolish to Oppose for every damn thing but when you see something wrong and have gathered enough proof to defend your stance then I would definitely oppose no matter who the other person is. Eight out of ten times when someone is opposed the party who is being opposed look into 'Who' is opposing rather than 'What' he is being opposed for. If you look into any leader (can be Career or Non profit organization) one who handles opposition in a matured manner is the one who will be able to survive and sustain his role. Opposition plays a vital role in a democracy and for a Ruling party to offer best governance and not take things for granted we need a good opposition party. 

Next Blog: Apples vs Oranges 

Bay Area

 Bay area is a part of California State in US and rightly called as Silicon Valley. Pretty
much all the tech giants like Google, Apple, Face book has their HQ in Bay area. If you
have happened to live in Bay area for a while trust me it is extremely difficult to move
somewhere. So what is special about the area? I am going to walk you through some of
the highlights about Bay area from my personal experience. God has been kind with me
by giving few contract assignments in Bay area but at the same time rude by not having them
convert to full time assignments. I have worked for Tesla Motors in 2008 (Unfortunate
that my stint was before Obama took office and Tesla became altogether a different
company once Obama became president) and Applied Materials in 2014 -15. To give you
an anomaly of how does it feel when you leave Bay Area after living for quite some time
– An independent girl enjoying all the freedom with her parents is suddenly married and
asked to settle down with her Mother in law and co sister(s) all in one roof. That being
said let me go over Bay area from my experience where first three are common features and last
three areas are from personal perspective.

Techy Freaks !!
If tamil folks meet for lunch there are sure shot four topics – Thala vs Thalapathy rivalry,
Whistle podu CSK’s form and Dhoni factor, Vadivelu’s latest memes and Television’s
happening show like Big boss/ Cook with Komali / Airtel Super singer; Bay Area is one
place on earth where suddenly the same old guy who had Oothappam in his childwood
suddenly talk high funda stuff and use terms like ‘Startups’, ‘Bootstrapping’, ‘Venture
Capitalists’, ‘Prototype’, ‘Dry run’, ‘Penny stock’, ‘IPO’ etc., Jokes apart the work culture
is amazing in Tech companies; I took a tour of Google through my friend and it was
amazing to see facilities to take power nap, pool , board games next to your cubicles
etc., On top of providing healthy meals, laundry and fitness facilities company also has
generous paid parental leave and on-site childcare. Best thing I liked was 80% of the
work you do what company requires you to do and remaining 20% you choose what you
do for the company. This is how the creativity is tapped in each individual and would
you believe the median age of Google employee is around 30-32 years!! Most of my
friends who work in Bay Area wake up late and go to office only around 10 or 11am and
they take Brunch straightaway and it is great sight to see folks take their Bicycles for
work and Google infact encourages bike riders by that way it reduces the crazy traffic
and also promotes green revolution. There are big time startups companies in Bay Area
where guys put very long hours sometimes even to the extent of sleeping at office. The
success percentage of startups is around 2% but if you are part of a STARTUP team, that
experience during infant stage can take you places because your whole learning has
been expedited. Innovation, out of the box thinking, likeminded people, venture
capitalists all make Bay Area a paradise for people in IT industry. If a building has 5 floors pretty much any floor you get down from an elevator you will see an IT company with Indian folks. 

Nature & Tourist attractions !!

Bay Area is one place on Earth where you open your bedroom curtains you may get to view the beautiful Mountains. Some of my friends have alarm pretty early in the morning just to shoot the sunrise. People who love trekking, hiking and Biking I don't think you will find a better place than Bay area. Seeing the interest amongst public some Indian restaurants even open for Breakfast on weekends - trekking for 10 miles and having sambar idly is an awesome feel. Golden gate is a must see attraction especially for Indian couples who try to find exact location where Suriya romanced Sameera in Varanam Aayiram through Google coordinates. Fisherman's wharf in San Francisco is a great place to hang out since place is always happening. Napa valley is another attraction that will please tourists and be close to nature. If you can watch couple of Balu mahendra movies then you do have patience and that makes you eligible to visit Yosemite national park and enjoy Nature; Half moon Bay, Santa Cruz Boardwalk, Gorgeous 17 mile drive are all so beautiful and you realize only when your memory card runs out of space. Apart from this taking a tour of Googleplex, visit to Lombard street, visit to Standford university, Intel museum, Facebook HQ and visit to Tesla Motors can just create great memories. 

Travel & Bay Area:

When you live in Bay Area it makes travel look very easy (road trips in particular); Southwest has a flight between Bay Area and Los Angeles on Friday evening and trust me CEO of Southwest airlines may seriously consider changing its name to Desi airlines ....you will find all the spouses working in Bay area travel to LA for weekend and vice versa. Not just that Bay Area is located in such a way where it is mandate to take parents from India to Las Vegas and Arizona which makes it a triangular trip. The long road trips would mean that you catch up on the old stories with your parents on what happened to coconut tree of your Indian neighbor. Also to make things politically correct the same trip has to be repeated for your wife's side too thereby making you a seasoned tourist guide in Las vegas and Arizona. Lake Tahoe can be a day trip too from Bay area and a lovely place for tons of activities. You can even drive to places like Los angeles from Bay area through Highway 1 and am sure that drive will top all of your drives in your entire life. Crater lake is another tourist attraction you can drive from Bay Area and if you have enough Raja sir songs then I don't think you will mind the drive. 

Above three can be applicable to anyone and following three are my personal preferences

Temples & Bay Area:

Obviously I visit temples wherever I go and Bay Area is no exception. Right from early days I used to visit Vidhya Ganapati temple in San Jose. In the year 2009 I called my friend whether we can visit this temple, he said yes but then he got some work and we couldn't go on that day and both of us went next day. It so happened the day we went was Thai poosam and both of us were asked to carry Kavadi inside the temple ...its just a coincidence that our names happen to be Saravana and Karthik and guess what both of us got married within the next few months. I just love this temple and there is great positive vibration and it is always nice when you can do abhishekham to lingam through your own hands. Concord Murugan Temple is very famous for its padhayatra during Thai pusam and once such year I happened to be local and decided to participate in the yatra temple organized. It was so very well organized and such a great experience that my spirits were high all throughout the day. After coming home I couldn't sleep because of the excess caffeine I took on that day and decided to write a blog on my Padhayatra experience and named it "Thai Poosam - Amazing experience" and blog became viral and I started to take blogging seriously. Shirdi Sai Darbar in Sunyvale is another temple that I used to go every Thursday when I was in Bay Area and the disciplined crowd and bhajans were something I enjoyed. 

Food & Bay Area:

I haven't been to Malaysia but for me best malaysian food is served in Banana leaf,Milpitas. I have tried lot of items offered in their Menu and thoroughly enjoyed their food. When Anjappar opened its first branch in 2008 a bunch of us were invited to test the food and provide feedback. This was like giving money to eat sugarcane case !! I provided mine and guess what owner called us second time to again test the dishes after taking the suggestions into account. Since then this Anjappar next to one of Cisco's building has been a constant one in my list of places to eat. Now coming to a road called 'El Camino Real' ..Omg ...if you visit this road you wouldn't know whether you are in Biz bazaar street or California ....Madisar mamis, Panchakacham mamas talking about their lazy Daughter in laws, Balram Naidu and Reddy garu talking about their hardworking Son in law so on and so forth. I got to a point where I knew what menu items were available in Madras Cafe; Komala vilas a typical brahmin type of lunch served as per schedule (each day they have a fixed menu like Monday - Potato poriyal, Tuesday - XXX) is another restaurant I enjoy. Aapa Kadai is one restaurant served in two places on the same road - one in Sunyvale and another in Santa Clara - since I visit both the places often I knew how sweet is the milk served for Aapam in both the places. Since I take United nonstop flight from DC to SFO I don't get to enjoy my breakfast so my Lunch on Monday's is usually at Ananda Bhavan and I take the 10.5$ lunch which is ideal to eat at the same time work post lunch versus the grand lunch served where we can build paathis and carry irrigation in the plantain leaves. Likewise there is Indian pastry shop, places where you have have Indian sweets, sugarcane juices, Indian chat shop etc., If you visit Nameste Plazas in Bay area you will realize how men take care of kids at the same time how good in buying groceries. Swathi Tiffin is one place where I used to hangout often since it was very close to the Applied. The 1$ masala tea is a great one to quickly refresh yourselves and food is good over there and televisions screening Telugu programs in non stop manner just shows USA stands for United states of Andhra pradesh. There is Saravana Bhavan, Sangeethas, Pesarattu (andhra meals) and Madurai idli kadai all of which I visit often especially Madurai Idli Kadai since it was geographically closer to where I worked. I promise idlies are softer than cotton buds and literally melt in your mouth. Actually some of these restaurants I developed a rapport with the management/staff in such a way that I was wondering whether I should send them friend requests. 

Movies, Entertainment and Bay Area

Since Bay area has got a sizeable Indian population we have celebrities who come directly to Bay Area for the weekend, do a show and leave back to India right away. Pretty much every weekend you will have some concerts, music shows, stage drahmas, stand up comedies happening and will never make you miss Home. There is one theatre called Towne 3 cinemas closer to the SAP convention center which is truly a fan's corner. All the videos which people see before Thalaivar movie - fun and euphoria which fans rejoice are from this theatre. Theatre gives full freedom to fans to celebrate the occasion before movie release of superstars like Thalaivar, Mahesh Babu, Chiranjeevi, Pawan Kalyan, Allu Arjun etc., Cutting cakes, throwing paper, music, cutouts, posters, train rally all can be witnessed in this theatre. Though Theatre may look ancient and outdated for current times it is camaraderie between fans and theatre management makes this a great choice for movie buffs to come. Probably this is one theatre where I must have watched maximum number of movies in USA. I still remember seeing movies like Vellai illa Patathari  with a crazy crowd .....On one instance when I went for watching Kaaki sattai a friend of mine came with his expecting wife and asked him when is the baby due? He said it is pretty much time and she may go to labor anytime ..I wondered they may even go from Cinema theatre to Operation theatre. 

  On the east coast of US I have tons of friends and great memories and on west side basically the Bay Area I just love the place by itself. By writing this blog I was able to reminiscence some of my experience with Bay Area. 

Next Blog: Opposition is critical