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Tornado Alert!!

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During the stay in Ann Arbor, although uneventful otherwise, I got to experience the tornado firsthand.  On one of the fine days, the weather had predicted rain in the late afternoon. Meghana and I were prepared with umbrellas. We visited some of the touristy places on the college campus, like UMMA (University of Michigan Museum of Art), Kelsey Museum of Archaeology , etc. (Details about these - some other time!!) After the visit, we decided to wait in the lounge area in the Michigan Union, where Mrunmay was to come and meet us after his classes. Mrunmay came in after his classes. And then came the demand for coffee.  Michigan Union hosts a cafe called SweetWaters Cafe . Spread across 37 locations across the states, I found this one to have one of the best frappes . I placed the order on their self-order kiosk and was sitting patiently for the barista to prepare the order. It appeared that the barista was a trainee and took longer than anticipated, resulting in exchanging cal...
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He is still a kid...

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During my stay in Ann Arbor, we met a family from India. The son had secured admission to Ross School of Business for his MBA degree. His mother and elder brother/cousin were accompanying him on his maiden study trip.  While generally chatting with the family, aunty was enquiring about quite a few things, cousin was also asking a few things. But the son was only a listener. This was the scene in every other conversation we had with that family. While I understand aunty's curiosity or anxiousness about the new country, the lack of knowledge on the son's part was surprising. The fellow had not even thought about which bank to use, which mobile carrier to use and things alike. Even when exchanging contacts, aunty was proactive, but not the son. While we were sitting at the airport on way back, we met aunty again. She was also leaving the same day. While mentioning this to Mrunmay, I couldn't stop noticing the difference. When it was confirmed that Mrunmay would be studying at ...
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Location: Pune, Maharashtra, India
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Back to school?

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Last few days I have been in Ann Arbor, a college town in Michigan State. Mrunmay is now studying his Comp Sci undergraduate course in the prestigious University of Michigan, College of Engineering.  After he moved in to his dorm, Meghana and I have been roaming around the town and campus, either to help him complete his shopping or to seek few moments with him before we go back to India. We attended the parent Orientation in the big and beautiful auditorium - "Hill Auditorium", walked across "The Diag", visited some cafes and watched the students from across the globe walking the lawns and roads of this beautiful town. While sipping the frappe from Sweetwaters (BTW - this beats any cold coffee I have had so far!!) in the building of Michigan Union, I was wondering about college life now and automatically went back in the past.  The UMich campus is about 3200 acres. The students now have access to college WiFi, huge libraries, countless study spaces, big stadiums, a...
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Location: Ann Arbor, MI, USA
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Story of lost battles (potentially?)

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Two personalities have been making rounds in Pune for the last few days. Vidyanand Bapat and Santosh Pandit . Both appear to stand against the establishments, yet now appear to have lost the narrative. Mr. Bapat does have a very valid point that DJ and loudspeakers should be banned. They do not serve any kind of purpose in "celebtating" Ganapati Utsav in a traditional way. The utsav was started when there was a need to bring various social strata together under one umbrella. After independence, that need was gone, but the tradition continued. However, over the last couple of decades, this has become more of a nuisance than a way of being together. Almost every corner of the city has a separate pandal, with its own speakers spitting out anything but the "bhakti geete". I must admit there are certain "मंडळे" who do good work, have some social initiatives all round the year. But these are far and few. I want to focus on the noise others generate, as that is ...
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Beyond the Ribbon: Decoding the Surge of Foreign Honors for India’s Leadership

In recent news, the Indian PM was conferred with the highest state honor by Uzbekistan -  the Order of "Oliy Darajali Dustlik" (Order of Friendship of the Highest Degree). There are close to 30 such state honors received by the current Indian PM. I had been wondering about why any nation would confer such honors to foreign individuals. I had to do some digging (very easy these days, isn't it?) So, these state honors, when conferred on foreign heads of state, can serve multiple purposes: Announcing, confirming, or institutionalizing bilateral ties Geopolitical Economic or cultural leverage And last, but not least, Soft Power Projection. Some key advantages for India-Uzbekistan are around nuclear energy, Trade, defense, and also cultural and geopolitical. To see how this pans out, we will have to wait for a while, though. If you have noticed (and I am sure most of us have), there's a significant uptick in the Indian PM receiving such state honors since Mr. Modi has c...
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Location: Ann Arbor, MI, USA
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New beginnings

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 So, you left us a new freshman.. As soon as Meghana and I entered the cab, the driver uttered. It took us a while to understand what was he saying, but then we realized. He was picking us up from the dorm address, carrying two empty suitcases. For the 75 yo, who had spent his entire life in the college town, it was an easy guess. He must have done it several times by now. All he needs to do is to follow the good things that he has learnt from you.. William said to Meghana. Years of experience talking. Assuring the parents that they have done a good job until now and giving hope that the kids will do good based on their teachings. And ending the topic with a note... "We'll take good care of him". Town's representative citizen assuring the guests that the town will not let them down. Meghana and I are visiting Ann Arbor, where Mrunmay is about to start his undergraduate studies in Comp Sci at the College of Engineering, University of Michigan. Mrunmay's journey tow...
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Location: Ann Arbor, MI, USA
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Matka King: A Disappointing Tale

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Returning from a long hiatus... will that still be called a hiatus or was that a break or a sabbatical?.. Let's not worry about it. Happened to watch " Matka King " on Amazon Prime over the last few days. The story is based on a known-but-not-so-known person in 60's/70's Mumbai. I have no idea whether the story truly represents the original personality or not, and that is not the point of this blog. The series started with some catchy sequences and held the audience halfway through, about 4 to 5 episodes. Each one is almost an hour long, and it did hold a good story in those episodes. Brij Bhatti, the lead of the series, portrayed by Vijay Varma, working for Lalji Bhai (Gulshan Grover), decides to separate out and starts his own "honest" business of gambling via Matka. The USP was to be honest all the time. Open the cards in front of the people; in fact, have your players open the cards. This built the trust with the gamblers very quickly. The story goes...
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