Sudhar's Diary

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  • American splendour

    I was watching ‘American Splendor’, a documentary about the true story of Harvey Pekar. How the pathetic wierd-named Pekar inspite of his dishevelled life, became a monumental icon for ‘American’s Common Man”, at least for a short period of time. Out of shear coincidence, I watched the movie ‘Crumb’ which documents the life of Robert Crumb, once famous and notoriously perverse underworld comic cartoonist. Apparently, Robert Crumb played an important role in Harvey becoming a star (Harvey wrote the stories and lent his character for comic books while Robert illustrated them), at least star enough to show up every year in Dave Letterman’s Late Night Show. Robert Pulcini, who plays Harvey was flamboyant. Man! those scenes where his voice gets completely screwed up, he was stupendous. I liked American Splendor more than Crumb, but if you like documentaries and appreciate biographies, you might like both.

    I really liked this Elinor Wylie poem that Harvey mentions in one of the scenes :

    Avoid the reeking herd,
    Shun the polluted flock,
    Live like that stoic bird,
    The eagle of the rock…

    Have you read ‘Jonathan Livingston Seagull’ by Richard Bach? Oh! you should.

  • who sold it?

    I was at the local strip mall in our neighborhood yesterday to refill my fridge. There usually are a couple of stores locked up with a sign ‘for rent/lease’. Interestingly, I saw a new flashy store this time. I had the familiar logos of eBay all around. “Whats eBay doing here?”.

    i-Sold it
    [from iSold It.com]

    A quick closer look revealed that that the store is apparently i-Sold It and invites anyone to drop off anything to be sold on eBay. I have read earlier that small retail stores are popping up in the American cities that ‘broker’ auctions in eBay. I didn’t realize its a fledgling chain business until I checked their website today. Apprently, i-Sold It has 500 stores (open or on contract) across America. Another sign infront of the store asks me ‘Want to be part of $3Billion business?”. I don’t know that but the chain already has small pie in the $3B by taking $38 out of your item that would sell in eBay for $100. Win-Win business I guess.

    This kind of busines also makes a lot of sense in India, where millions may have items for sale in online auctions, but not a computer or the expertise to auction it themselves. If thats true, it just a matter of time…

  • Intelligent design

    Anyday I would recommend Economist for a serious magazine reader. Today, I was catching up with the back issues left unread because of our India trip. Usually, I skim through most articles and read in detail those the interests me. But almost without fail I read the letters to the editor, more so for the literary style than the actual message.

    In July 30th edition, there was an interesting article (someone has posted a copy) on “Intelligent Design“, the opposing theory to Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. Whoever might have first proposed Intelligent design, but their argument is that everything in the universe and beyond, including we humans, are/were concieved, designed and created by an intelligent designer ‘up there’. A lot of us refer to that designer alternatively as ‘God’. I am no expert in Darwin’s claim or the concept of intelligent design, but I do believe in God and faithfully surrender to the ultimatum.

    A lot of Darwin’s (his’ is supposed to be scientific theory while intelligent design is kind of philosophical) supporters dismiss intelligent design by questioning how one could design a system with so many flaws, pointing to thousands of known stupid “flaws” in the system. Sometimes these arguments are indeed unquestionable. One such argument showed up in the letters to the editor of the August 27th Economist and it was witty and funny. I thought I should share it and let yourself answer it based on your beliefs.

    Note the author is arguing against intelligent design and presumably supports theory of evolution. “SIR – Why would an intelligent designer place fast-growing hair on adult males? is there some intelligent reason for designing men, but not women and children, to have beards? And if there is such a reason, then why do many adult males go through the trouble and expense of shaving on a daily basis? – Steven Beadle, Arroya Grande, California”

  • right infront of our eyes

    Watching the terrible scenes from New Orleans and other cities hit by Katrina would make anyone painfully sad. Since the Tsunami that hit south asia, the media has gone overboard in showcasing the aftermath of such calamities to the minutest details. I have only read in fiction but to see a city submerged in water right infront of my eyes is horrific. Poor citizens of New Orleans unable to escape and who lie beneath the waters, may God give them the power to hang in there somewhere until rescuers find them soon. Lets pray for the hundreds who have already lost their lives; may their souls rest in enternal peace.

    Put under similar life threatening and hostile situation, we see that humans will behave the same way (looting, shooting, stampede), let be Americans or Iraqis. That said, I still wonder they shoot back at rescuers and loot TVs and clothing! (Food is understandable). I guess, put in such state, one cannot rationalize such human behaviour.

    The suicide bombings in Iraq, voilences in Palestine, blasts in India, Typhoon in China, Hurricanes in US…perhaps, man is becoming to much for the world to bear with.

  • Back in town

    It was so easy to change the clock from 6.30 pm to 9 am today, but my body clock is still swaying at its own will. I guess it will be a couple of days to get back to the two cycles in sync.

    The flight(s) back to US was ok. On the chennai-frankfurt leg, next to me on the middle seat was a middle-aged tamil lady who comfortably used my shoulders as pillows for her 6 hour nap! She persisted inspite of my repeated attempts to remind her of my neighbourhood existence! The one good thing was she was candid enough to apologize right before we landed. On the frankfurt-newark leg I was next to a young exchange student from Stutgart, Germany on her way to LongIsland, NY looking forward to a year of US life with a host family here. It was so sweet when she referred to her local gaurdian as ‘host mom’ besides being naive enough to list every item (and its monetary value!) she had brought in the US Customs form.

    Walking into the house gave a strange sense of ‘coming back to the nest’. After three weeks of stillness, walking in felt as if i was spy in an alien land. First thing was to water the plants and thankfully, except for one out of the six, all were still live and welcoming. Unpacking the chennai-style-wrapped suitcases followed. Running to the local grocery to refill the fridge with milk, bread and fruits followed next. Leveraging the Indian culture, stopping by at the kind Indian neighbour’s place for hot dinner followed next. A 10 minute browsing of CNN & NBC to ensure the America is still as it was three weeks ago, I hit the bed only to be awake at around 3 AM. While I knew I can’t force the body cyle, I continue to roll around the bed till 5.30 AM and back to work. What sort of man would have time to write a blog on the first day after 3 weeks of vacation when 300 emails is waiting? When you want to brief whats fresh in mind everything else must indeed wait.

  • Wraping up India

    I wish I could wrap India for all myself. 3 weeks of vacation has come to an end today and all set to leave to NJ tonight. Eventful trip with a bit of rest here and there through all the rain and sun. Amidst all, I am surely charged up for another year of American life.

    I could either write a really really detailed account of the trip or simply say it was worth all of it to come here and carelessly wander around with my fellow Indians. India will never fail to amaze me, the more I see other countries, the more treasures seem to show up here for me.

  • Another week to go

    A week has gone since my last post and another week to go before I head back to NJ. In the past week, two more cities added to my checked list of places to visit. A day in Bangalore and a day in Kumbakonam and hence four nights on the road on buses and trains. The weather in Bangalore was pleasant while in Kumbakonam it felt really hot and humid, no different from chennai.

    Two family events packed in a single day forced to spend the entire day at my uncle’s home in Bangalore. The little I saw was a glimpse of horrendous bangalore traffic and the series of high-tech ( a lot of high raised residential i suppose) stacked buildings on either side of the hosur-bangalore highway. With so many people travelling these days, getting a train tickets to chennai or bangalore from coimbatore is perhaps as difficult as finding a timely air ticket from newark to chennai. An 8 hour bus ride from coimbatore to blore costs twice as much (Rs.350 for non A/C!) in the last 3 years. Every travels boasts of ‘Volvo’ pushback coach bus and I wonder if people care for specifically for ‘volvo’, but it must have become either a symbol of pride or a question of business for every travels, literally every, around the gandhipuram circle in coimbatore has neon lights flashnig the words ‘Volvo’ coach.

    Most of our time is spent in chatter. I hardly watched TV. Even if I did, there is so many channels these days that I don’t know where to start. In the past I have read some good reviews about some talk shows and other shows on cable, but I hardly remember whats is what. Both at our house and at Harini’s place, they have a beautiful traditional indoor swings right infront of the TV. So in the few minutes I find once in a while to stay infront of the TV and browse, I tend to quickly lay on the swing and sleep peacefully with the breeze.

    All across the cities, all sorts of cars have swarmed the roads. With even more motorbikes being sold, no wonder the traffic and pollution has become unruly. Just today I was reading in Hindu about how civic infrastructure development has royally failed to catch up with Auto and real estate boom. There is cell phones every where you see. And so all sorts of local business is flourishing with cell phones providing the quickest channel for information exchange. Every type of service is just a cell phone call away. The best example is the ‘call taxi’ service which I guess has made ‘Auto rickshaws’ run for their money. In the last few times I have used the ‘call taxi’, it has always been cheaper than if I had taken an ‘Auto rickshaw’. But I am puzzled how Call taxi’s use the meters while Autos has traditionally failed to use the meters. Plus, taxi customer service seems lot better: the car shows up at your door step right on dot. If I would do one thing then I would request the call taxi owners to clean up their cars and keep it clean! or may be I am mistaken, the city itself is so dusty that its what is taken for granted.

    One day at Kumbakonam is well spent with visits to two temples of Oppiliappan and Swamy Malai. Back in chennai, we are catching up with some shopping and visiting the rest of family and friends.

  • From India

    This is probably the first time I am writing my post from India. It is exactly one week since we landed at chennai and we have already visited three major metros! (Chennai, Calcutta and Coimbatore). Time flies by and with body cycles not yet completely set for the Indian standard time, unusual things such as the inevitable afternoon naps takes up more than we would want.

    Weather in Chennai was hot and humid and in the 2 days I was there, we took a late evening train ride in the broadgauge electric trains, which are way better than their predecessors. After visiting Calcutta for a day and half on Aug 7 & 8, I have started to believe that I know less about India than I had thought. “Unruly traffic” is what we experienced for the most part of Monday we spent there. That said, the metro underground train system is world-class and saves thousands of kolkatta souls everyday.

    Back here in Coimbatore, Weather is lot better. Warm day and reasonably cool night. Less humid overall. My parents house here in suburbs is still way off the broadband world and so I am managing with some Dial up.

    It was a blunder that we forgot to bring our digital camera. Even worse, I forgot to bring my Indian driving license. Folks here tell me that the police have geared up in their public services here and I stand a lot more chances of getting caught than it used to be. So I am staying put for the last two days, simply eating sumptuous meals and sleeping like a drunkard and waiting for the driver to come in before we can go out!

    My dad warns me that I should type everything I want upfront before logging into the internet(aka. save on phone bill). I think I should agree and so until next…

  • Hot air balloon festival

    It has been weeks since we had been to any serious outdoor event or activity. We had taken it easy especially with only 4 days left to leave for our vacation (with all the travel and visiting to do, its hardly a ‘vacation’) to India. This past weekend, we hit out groves again and went to the hot air balloon festival at Readington. It was less than 5 miles from where we live and would have been a terrible thing to have missed it being so close. We joined with two other colleagues families to enjoy the evening and it was a gorgeous view to see all the giant balloons inflate and float up in the air. Some of the balloons were based on themes such as one that was shaped as pepsi can, another as an eagle, another as honey bee and one balloon as a cute baby monkey.

    With propane flames filling them, the balloons started prominently glowing up as the sun started hitting the horizon. The event was at the local airport and yet, jam packed. There would have been easily 20,000 to 30,000 people on site. Infact, it was a three day festival and fair with foods, snacks, rides and art and game shows. To add to it, they had a classic rock band, a former STYX lead singer Dennis Deyoung performing live on saturday evening. After the 7 pm ascensions, We stayed back to listen to dennis sing few of his classics and they sounded pretty good, though we haven’t heard him before. Apparently, he was a 1970s star who is now in his late 50s. but still sounded fantastic, just as Phil Collins still amazes me.

    More pictures of the festival here.

    I caught up with digital camera and my Gallery installation to uploaded a lot of pictures that I should have long ago.

    Sruthi’s visit to NJ [Ganesh – Sruthi’s Daddy’s blog]

    A visit to Macy’s Flower Show

    oh and this cute little “buddy” picture I took with two sweetest toys we have. Sadly, his hair style is blacked out with the background, but trust me, he has one of the hippiest hair styles you will ever see, just like this.
    asd

  • Blogs for opinions

    I am reading a lot these days about how blogs have become mainstream media. But I believe blogs, due to their very nature of ad-hoc, decentralized, individual publishing will never become “mainstream”. Just becoz a mainstream folks such as CNN, WashingtonPost and Forbes have blogs on their website does not make general medium of blogs as mainstream. Besides, the vast majority of bloggers in the world are not anywhere close to be mainstream publishers. By staying away from mainstream, blogs gain their uniqueness and in some cases, authenticity and truthfulness.

    It is interesting to note how I have come to use blogs to form my own opinions. I do read mainstream media magazines (mainly, Google news, followed by BBC, NYTimes, NDTV and ChennaiOnline) and newspapers, most of them online. At the same time, I subscribe to a lot of RSS feeds (using Firefox’s Sage) from a whole lot of blogs. Outside of these feeds, I scavenge the web randomly to read. All this consolidated, I form my own opinions about things happening around me. I believe this process is helping me get to close to the true value of any information.

    As a simple example, I was reading this Anil Dash’s post about Barack Obama. Barack is a upcoming african american senator from Illinois and he came to limelight ( at least to me ) when he spoke at the Democratic National Convention during the last election supporting democratic presidential candidate. His speech was appealing and he seemed to be genuine politician with his personality and profile. The media was all praise for him and showered all the attention he ever wanted, even as far as claiming that he might be the president of US soon! He even released a book, his autobiagraphy, that I saw on the front shelves of bookstores, at least for few days – ‘Make hay/money while Sun Shines!’

    Anil, in his blog, pointed to this article by Barack in CNN’s Time magaine. Since I am already impressed with Barack in general, I read it and thought it was a good article. I read thru the part where he was comparing himself with Abraham Lincoln, but didn’t give enough importance to it. For all I knew, Barack could have had an equally tough life growing up before making it as a popular politician. He perhaps aspires for being a President someday, so who else than Lincoln to take for inspiration.

    But…I didn’t stop there, I seriously wanted to know what the blogosphere ( the internet world of blogs) had to say about this article by Barack. I searched Technorati, a popular search engine that searches only blogs [just paste the URL/Link to the article in the search text box and search and it will list all blogs referring to it]. I have this strange habit always checking the first and last items in any list! When I moved to the last blog in the search results that was referring to Barack’s article, I had found something different. I found this blog whose author found the Barack’s own self-comparison with Lincoln, undeserving

    This author preferred to link to another op-ed article by peggy noonan (my earlier post on peggy’s writing) who clearly brought forth some facts about Barrack :

    Transcript from Peggy’s article : (emphasis mine) Lincoln came from a lean-to in the backwoods. His mother died when he was 9. The Lincolns had no money, no standing. Lincoln educated himself, reading law on his own, working as a field hand, a store clerk and a raft hand on the Mississippi. He also split some rails. He entered politics, knew more defeat than victory, and went on to lead the nation through its greatest trauma, the Civil War, and past its greatest sin, slavery.

    Barack Obama, the son of two University of Hawaii students, went to Columbia and Harvard Law after attending a private academy that taught the children of the Hawaiian royal family. He made his name in politics as an aggressive Chicago vote hustler in Bill Clinton’s first campaign for the presidency.

    You see the similarities!

    Hmm…at first thought, it seems to be not a big deal But isn’t that a good information for me to better evaluate Barrack’s own views of the world. I still like him for what he is and what he has accompolished, but he could have been better and I am sure he knows better than this, as I would have to agree with Ms. Peggy. He is perhaps using this strategy of not sharing key facts and hence associating himself more with a common ‘minority’ man, than otherwise.

    Just a few years ago I would have simply read just the Time article and it would have reinforced by strong opinions on Barrack. Today, with blogs, and internet and open modern media, my opinions are not simply shaped by mainstream media alone!

  • BMW ends up in Chennai

    A while ago I had whined about how Chennai is not cajoling BMW enough to make them set up a plant in Chennai, of course for the jobs and related prospects, but also for the sheer prestige of it. I stand corrected now, BMW’s India plant finally (almost) ends in Chennai.

    BMW likely to set up shop near Chennai

    Can we expect something like this picture below, in Chennai?

    BMW Headquarters
    [Src: http://www.boldts.net]A splendor of modern architecture: BMW headquarters in Munich, Germany. Lets not be deluded by the ‘coffee cup’ infront of the building, its the BMW Museum ]

  • An early monday morning

    I was supposed to do my regular blood test on friday and I missed it. I called up to find out what time they open on Monday so I could drop in before I come in to work. “Walk in anytime after 7.30 AM”, the guy on the phone assured. That sounds good to me since I can drop off harini at the station around 7.15 and get this thing done and still reach work around 8 or 8.15.

    It is a foggy and dry Monday morning today. The visibility at the Somerville Station was close to zero. And it was already 75 degrees, sultry and humid. As planned, I was driving into the strip mall in Bridgewater where Quest Diagnostics is located. I could smell the aroma of fresh coffee. ‘Bagel Smith’, the shop next to Quest read ‘Brewing fresh for you”…I wonder if it was indeed the flavor of coffee from the brewing pot or if they have a coffee-scented air freshner sprayed around from behind the store. Anyhow, they got what they wanted, there were atleast 25-30 people in line infront of Bagel Smith. That was impressive for a 7.20 AM Monday morning, no matter what their tactics was.

    Parking at the closest spot to Quest, I started walking over thinking if I should grab a small coffee myself from smith. I decided not to, considering not even an hour has passed since my last 16 Oz Indian-style Nescafe Taster’s Choice.

    Approaching close to the corridors, I noticed something that didn’t make any sense. The damn line was indeed infront of BagelSmith but lead into Quest doors! 30 people lined up for blood test? on an early misty morning, when half of America is still fast asleep dreaming for a better President? There must be something wrong; This must be a special discount day or something …

    “Free Blood Test”1                                                                                          1 With fully paid blood-test for two adults. Nothing is free is America baby!

    So I gave up; instead of breaking my heads figuring out a reason for the long line. After a moments contemplation, I decided to stay in line and take the test anyway. Surprisingly, it didn’t take much longer for my turn. In exactly 18 mts of wait, I got called in by a lady, who I suspected to be of Indian origin. I usually don’t care and never ask-None of my business.

    We exchaned greetings and as soon as I gave in my prescription, she read it in a jiff and exclaimed “Are you from South India?”.

    With my groomed and parted hair style, a deceptively studious look and my brown skin, her question seemed like a slam dunk. With a tiny little smile on my lips, I said “Yes :)”.

    I didn’t ask but she responded “I am from Gujarat”. She went right to work and was pretty quick in taking the blood samples. Done, in less than 5 mts.

    Now that we have established a mother-land bond, I figured I will ask her. “So whats the big deal with so many people showing up so early on this monday morning?”.

    Looking baffled, she said “excuse me, what?”.

    I figured I overdid my language skills so I corrected myself and asked “Why long queue on monday morning?”.

    She smiled “Oh! its not monday, its everyday. Fasting, you know?”

    “Fasting?” I didnt quite understand that.

    “Did you eat?”

    “Oh yeah! I just had my breakfast, is that ok?”

    “Yes, for your test, you are ok, don’t worry. For them, you know, they got special tests so they have to be empty stomach”

    Oh! that fasting. Got it. Great, that makes sense.

    “You know, lot of people go to work and must eat, so they come early. Its like this every day”

    I suppose I was uninformed. Thanks to that lady, I now know whats not a good time for me to visit Quest the next time.

  • 10 minute American history

    A quick and simple history of America using animation. If you are like me, you would certainly learn a thing or two.

    Animated american history in 10 mts or less!

    Remember to turn the sounds ON for narration. There is more to it than narration though. Click around for details.

  • Being Happy

    We search for happiness in eager anticipation and joyful memories, but it may be life’s simple and everyday gifts that sustain our contentment.

    This Psychology Today article, though a bit lenghthy read, has some insightful arguments, specifically from a nobel prize winning professor of psychology at Princeton, on how we can be more happier than we think we actually are.

    Very early in my boyhood, i had chosen a principle to live my life by. I didnt consciously chose it to be so, but an often seen advertisement on television and newspapers for the “Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC)” had a simple tag line that sunk very deep in my heart and soul. At some point during my early adulthood, I was lucky enough to understand what that meant and I chose to call that as one of the key principles to live my life by. Ever since, I keep saying that as often as I could to remind and reinforce it. And that principle is : “Life is too wonderful to be spent worrying”

  • Don’t…

    Don’t…Don’t click this

  • Russian astrologist rocks

    “A Russian astrologist who says NASA has altered her horoscope by crashing a spacecraft into a comet is suing the U.S. space agency for damages of $300 million, local media has reported.” – CNN News.
    reminds me of this :

    “Only the guy who isn’t rowing has time to rock the boat.” – Jean-Paul Sartre

  • Insights on Pitching an Idea

    Scott Berkun has a nice essay on “How to pitch an idea”. While the whole essay is pretty good, I like these insights which I sure will find extremely useful “…until the concepts and hard parts are fleshed out enough to demonstrate that the spirit of an idea is matched with specifics, the idea doesn’t have much of a foundation. People can dismiss it quickly just by asking 2 or 3 basic questions. Always remember that moving from an interesting but vague idea, to specific and actionable is the difficult part of creation and invention.”

    On one of his other good essay he writes “Maturity, in part, means accepting things that truly can not be changed for what they are. Wasting time being angry at the ground for being dirty, or the ocean for being wet is absurd, right? “

    His observations on work and life and the balance is very true based on my own experience “work does not have to define life. Work can be at the center of everything if you choose, but there are many other ways to live happy, fulfilling, meaningful lives. ….I had never thought about it, but for much of my adult life most of my pride came through the workplace. But then in this one particular experience, the workplace became so uncomfortable, so depressing, so frustrating, that I found I couldn’t be happy until I found ways to invest *less* of myself at work. It took me a long time, and lots of suffering, to figure this out (I’m quite stubborn), but when I did I discovered a new kind of solution. I needed to depend more on my life outside of work, with friends, family, community and interests, to make myself feel complete and happy. Then no matter how bad things got at work I had a place to go where I was safe. My self-esteem began to come from places other than the workplace and I became a better person for it.”

  • July 4th

    I can hear the fireworks feebly past the windows. They remind me of the incident the other day when I was in my weekly Toastmaster’s meeting where I was given a table topic : ‘What does July 4th mean to you?’…I thought for a few seconds and said ‘fireworks!’ and then went on to speak for less than 2 minutes on why July 4th meant colorful firework shows, driving to visit friends and having fun shopping and so on. Towards the end of my short oration, I did remember to mention that since I ain’t an American citizen, July 4th has been more of a happy long weekend holiday to me than a reminder of American Independence! I walked back hoping I hadn’t offended anyone. Thankfully, at least 2 others (Americans) seconded me by saying July 4th meant exactly the same things I had mentioned and more. I felt lot happier.

  • to think

    “A paradox: You need a great team of people with diverse skills to perform a symphony well, but no team has ever written a great symphony! … While cross-functional teams are key players in defining and implementing incremental innovation projects, cross-functional disruptive individuals tend to be key players in defining radical innovation projects.” – from Radical Innovation: How Mature Companies Can Outsmart Upstarts.

    Read it a few times and lets put it at the back of our minds and churn it…something should emerge…

  • 9 hours in train???

    Everyone at lunch the other day were asking me about our planned trip to India in August and naturally it started off which airline, how long is the flight, where do you fly into etc type questions.

    I explained them that I am flying into chennai from Frankfurt and flying back to Calcutta for something and flying back to Chennai and then taking a train ride to coimbatore, my home town.

    “Oh! Train ride? 9 hours? must be exotic?”

    “hmm…not really!” …”we will just get on and sleep our way to coimbatore”

    “Sleep? in the train? Why would you go by a train then?”

    “Well…to get to city B from city A”

    “Oh ok, you mean you can’t take a flight from city A to B?”

    “you…could…!!!”

    I sensed that this was going somewhere.

    “Then…Why don’t you take it? Don’t you want to spend time with your family man?”

    “!@*&^@(*&@)*(&!)(&*~&$@*&^!…I don’t know, I didn’t seriously think about it I guess”…my heritage comes to rescue…”Its less expensive if you go by train!”

    “Oh ok. That makes sense. How cheap is that really? I am just curious how much a flight ticket cost when compared to train?”

    …curious? details…details…

    “hmm…let me think…perhaps, flight costs 2500 bucks and train around 500, may be, I am not sure”

    “You are not talking dollars, are you?”

    “oh no, I would say the air ticket comes to about $60 and train around $15…”

    Yikes..@%^$@&^%@()*!^*%#…why am I going this far into the details????

    “Just $60? for a flight that would save you 9 hours? I think you should fly man”

    “hey, you know what, I have a meeting at 1, I have to go, I will see you upstairs!”

    Upstaris, I kept pondering about all the questions I was asked…..Don’t know….Guess, I want to be an Indian when in India!