Reminder: Let's be human

I was recently forwarded this story. It is a great one, no doubt. Makes you cry - out of joy or out of despair.
The reason I am putting this here is to remind myself. For years, every day I have said the same thing to myself - I have it all, good genes, good health, intelligence, talents, good education, good family, love, peace, security, food, work........I was born with above average endowments (I am not being proud, simply stating a fact). If after all this, I live only an ordinary life and do not challenge myself with an impossible dream, then it is a disservice to nature. This story reminds me of that commitment I have made to myself.


It also reminds me of something else. I have always felt that as kids we accept everything; our innocence makes us more human than we can ever be as adults. This innocence is the one thing I fight for and try and hold onto against all odds. Somewhere down the line, constant evil thoughts from adults all around has a lethal effect on our humanity. You are taught to lie to a friend's mom because your mom doesn't like her and doesn't want to meet her; doubts are sown inside your head about anyone who asks for your help; you are taught to not share your notes with friends because then they might top the class instead. I have done my best to fight this murder of my innocence and humanity, but sometimes do fail. This story is an effective reminder.


So I'll let you read on......
At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves children with learning disabilities, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question: 'When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does, is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do.Where is the natural order of things in my son?'

The audience was stilled by the query.

The father continued. 'I believe that when a child like Shay, who was mentally and physically disabled comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child.'

Then he told the following story:

Shay and I had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, 'Do you think they'll let me play?' I knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but as a father I also understood that if my son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.

I approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, 'We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning.'

Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt. I watched with a small tear in my eye and warmth in my heart. The boys saw my joy at my son being accepted.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three.

In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as I waved to him from the stands.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again.

Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat.

At this juncture, do the others let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game?

Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.

However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact.

The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed.

The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay.

As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.

The game would now be over.

The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman.

Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.

Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's head, out of reach of all team mates.

Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, 'Shay, run to first!

Run to first!'

Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base.

He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled.

Everyone yelled, 'Run to second, run to second!'

Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base.

By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball. The smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team.

He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head.

Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.

All were screaming, 'Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay'

Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, 'Run to third!

Shay, run to third!'

As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, 'Shay, run home! Run home!'

Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team

'That day', said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, 'the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world'.

Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making me so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day !We all have thousands of opportunities every single day to help realize the 'natural order of things.' Do we pass along a little spark of love and humanity or do we pass up those opportunities and leave the world a little bit colder in the process?

A wise man once said every society is judged by how it treats it's least fortunate amongst them.

May your day, be a Shay Day.

I am tired of this government Part 4

When I started this series, there were hardly any people who shared this opinion. By now, I guess the whole country is saying this. But I shall continue anyway.
So what's new. Nothing really......it is the same old story. The UPA government fails to own up...as usual!
I'm sure no one missed the 2G verdict by the Supreme Court. Did you happen to catch the press meet hosted by Mr Kapil Sibbal that followed? Here is what he has to say

1. The Supreme Court has finally made it clear that the telecom policy is flawed and needs to be redone.
2. The telecom policy was in fact brought in by the NDA in 2002 and they must take up responsibility for the turmoil that has followed and apologise to the country
3. The Supreme Court has only raised its finger against Mr A Raja; the Prime Minister and Former Finance Minister Mr P Chidambaram have not been charged and are not be blamed at all
4. The Supreme court is blaming Mr A Raja, not the Congress. The DMK still remains a strong ally

Here is what this should translate to if common sense prevails:

1. The UPA is a brainless community and organisation.It basically relies on court orders to take actions and determine directions. 
2. When they decided to form the government, UPA basically had no vision or clarity and followed whatever the NDA had laid on a plate for them.
3.  The present cabinet is not a cohesive workforce. Rather each minister functions independently, free to do whatever he/she chooses to do. The Prime Minister has no control, in fact he has no knowledge of independent ministers actions at all.
4. The Congress party will continue forming alliances with corrupt allies because all hey want is to continue to stay in power which requires the coalition to continue.

And here is what this should translate to for those who have been reading between the lines and looking behind the eyewash

1. The UPA is defending what is indefensible and making a fool of itself. They can only point to the SC judgement and speak in those terms because they are clearly left with nothing to day and do not have the spine to own up and take responsibility.
2. The UPA has successfully managed to ruin a great telecom policy (a policy that succeeded in bringing a telecom revolution in India that has had far reaching impacts even in rural India that could leapfrog technology to advance itself) by using favouritism, nepotism and informational assymetries. This would have far reaching impacts again.....on the entire economy and investment climate!
3. The PM, Former FM and every other minister in the cabinet is corrupt and hand-in-glove with Mr A Raja. Playing dumb is the only thing they can do now.
4. The UPA is formed out of allies that depend on each other to achieve only one common objective - to stay in power.......there is no common ideology or vision that binds the UPA together.

If Mr Kapil Sibbal's eyewash succeeds on even one person this time, I would have to seriously reconsider average Indian intelligence.

Image is everything

Forgive me for borrowing this quote from Rockstar! I am actually one of those few people who have gone crazy about the film's dialogues. But this post is not about Rockstar (although I do intend to do a review of the spectacular movie on my other blog). This is about something much more serious, but  I'll keep it brief.

There is something terribly wrong with us, men in particular. I didn't believe it was possible, but I have seen too many instances now to continue to be so naive. Here's what happened. On on of the rare occasions when I was watching a movie (Force) with friends (I prefer watching with family or alone), one of my male friends told me with a lot of conviction that Genelia D'Souza was actually fat! While I digested this, he clarified that she had a belly, which she effectively hid under her skirts...."ever noticed she never shows her belly button?" , he asked me. I had to use all my strength to reply with a serious face. "No!!!"

It was a funny conversation then, but as usual, I see a huge social problem in everything. I mean, this guy isn't slim either. Most men who criticize cinema heroines for being an inch too fat are never pictures of perfect health. What gives them the confidence to dismiss women for not being the perfect image so easily. He could have said she is a terrible actress and that would have made sense to me. But this did not, because I can't find flaws in people's looks. Which is why I never invest hours and money in cosmetic products that are the rage today, not just for women, but also for men (ever tried Fair and Lovely men's cream?)

Till a week ago, I would laugh at my female friends who would go crazy about the way they looked. But now I see that image really is everything; an image fed by the media of what a perfect body must look like. And we happily waste time, money and emotion in upholding this image, come what may.

I can only do one thing. Continue to tear up advertisements for beauty products and slimming machines and burn them chanting "Everything is image, image is everything swaha"!!

PS: Kudos to all my male friends (there are some) who have removed themselves from this craziness

Solar is cooler!

I have been in Portland without seeing the sun for almost four days, and I realised something. We in India are just so dumb! We are willing to waste a nearly free and readily available source of power that each individual household has access to. We pray to the sun everyday (at least a lot of us do) but refuse to accept a gift nature so kindly bestows upon us. Why?

Solar powered equipment would be so much more convenient to use. And if we all started demanding it now, a good enough market with competitive prices would probably develop in India. Besides, why not rely on solar thermal power to heat water and cook food? It doesn't seem practical as yet and might be highly inconvenient with the currently available equipment. But can we at least demand anyone who cares to listen to help us access this incredible source of power (are the highly reputed IIT and DCE engineers listening)?

And finally, all the power deficit and the power theft (possibly on account of illegal residential areas stealing it) could at least be partially resolved if we started harnessing an energy source that practically greets and heats us everyday.....

Summer is coming. We allowed the rain to go waste without harvesting it. Let's at least try to use the sun while it lasts. There are other parts of the world that don't really even have the option of using this gift!

I am tired of this government (Part 3)....

I wrote this piece a year ago, in a very emotional state of mind, when one of the slums was being destroyed without any notice to the residents, leading to the death of two infants. It is not entirely practical, but I thought I should post it here nonetheless.

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My take on slums

 

First, you (the present ruling government) create skewed economic incentives so that a large number of people have to migrate from their rural homes to cities. You take away their farms, their land and leave no means of livelihood for them to survive on. On a parallel track, prices rise sky high, especially for basic necessities, so that any means of livelihood in rural areas become meagre and people must migrate. Then, you go ahead and let slums originate, without any civic amneities, no water or sanitation, no health facilities, and you appease the very slum population by distributing Rs 2000 in cash asking them to vote for you.

 

And then when you come into power, you are mandated to "clean" the city, and the first thing you can do is pick up a bulldozer and "sweep" off those very slum dwellers that brought you to power. So basically, those people have no value for you now...they are disposable.

 

If you want to prove otherwise, then take up better policies.

1. Make sure there are adequate means of livelihood in rural areas. There is a lot of opportunity. Agro-business; solar power; telecom; etc.
2. Identify some land areas and build low cost vertical four-storey LIG housing on an economic model. Make sure there is community participation while creating sanitation facilities in these buildings. One such building complex would be able to accommodate five small slums and if it is located in a central area, people don't have to travel too much saving on transport demand and costs.
3. Create multi-utility lanes on roads to accommodate hawkers. Whether you believe it or not, city dwellers (not the multi-millionaires, but the aam aadmi) depend on them much more than they depend on your fancy malls built by the industrialist in whose pockets you reside.
4. When you ask someone to move, make sure he has an alternative; make sure you give them adequate notice; and make sure you absolutely need to do this.

2 US

I'll try and describe here the 2 days it took me to reach from my home in India to my new temporary home in the US (2 days refers to parts of Wednesday and Thursday, not to the whole 48 hours). For those of you who don't know, I am now in Portland, Oregon US till September, to complete a research fellowship with the Metro Regional Government and the Portland State University as a result of winning a competition. :)

The packing disaster
So, here I was..one of the most organised packers I have ever come across. I helped my sister pack for UK. I do most of the packing at home. I had made so many lists for packing to the US (inventory, to-do, reminders). I had all my luggage divided into specific sections - stationery, recreation, bags, coats, skirts, Indian wear, electronics, and so on and so forth. The only thing I didn't manage to do was to put everything into the bag till the very last hours. Well, there's a lot of factors responsible. I was tired and a bit unwell. I wasn't sure of the baggage regulations right up till Wednesday. And then, at around 5 pm (when I was supposed to leave for the airport by 9.15 pm), I discovered, with the help of my dad, and a day-long weighing exercise for individual sections, that I would be way overweight if I packed all my stuff up.

Of course, thanks, to my organisation into sections and weighing of individual sections, it was easy to come up with a list (with dad's help and some arguing) and decide how much to remove from each section to meet the target. On the flip side, this exercise cost me two hours and it was only by 8.30 pm that I actually got to packing. In such a stressful state, mom had to do most of the actual packing as I sat directing and allocating stuff to one bag or another. As was expected, the packing of the backpack was awful and I had to leave a few important things behind as well. Meanwhile, I had no time to organise my documents or take stuff from the computer. I had  to get dad to do these things for me, which he managed beautifully (but those of you who know me well, would understand how tough it must have been to alocate such important work to someone else and what crisis would have forced me that way!). Thank heavens mom and dad were there and could help me a lot. But by the time we were out of the house, it was already 9.40! I needed to reach the airport by 9.50 (thanks to Dad's driving skills we reached in time).

Crisis on-the-go
But the crisis wouldn't end there. Halfway through to the airport, I realised a very important piece of equipment was missing - my cell phone! I didn't know how to tell this to dad, but I did. What else could I do? He was calm about it and offered me his phone. At the airport, mom got off, and dad went back home to get my phone or his charger (whichever he could find). While mom continued to stand outside the airport building, I went in to start with the check in.

And calamity struck again! After completing the check in process helped by an extremely courteous and helpful staff, it was discovered that my backpack was falling apart. Thankfully, there was a solution again! The guy at the counter told me I could get the entire thing wrapped up in plastic. I went to the wrapping place with some directions and could get everything wrapped up for Rs200. I got the bag checked in. On the bright side, all my baggage was absolutely within the weight limits. :) It was somewhere around this time that India beat Paksitan in the Criket World Cup semi-final and at the precise moment the entire airport ground staff and passengers cheered, and I knew (and couldn't help but smile!).

After the check in and confirming that I have some extra time, I went to the airport facade and saw mom through the glass. She was standing while I could sit :(. I called dad and he told me he couldn't find my phone (it was discovered later on the floor) and he was on his way back, so I waited with mom on the other side of the window! When dad finally arrived, I took the charger and a pen (thank god I took the pen, I needed it all along the journey). As I was moving to the immigration counter after saying a final goodbye to both, I was desperate enough to ask a KLM official the way and luckily she told me i needed to fill out a departure form as well and that I should rush. When I reached there I was directed to the shortest line, and then I crossed to the other side after the immigration officer was satisified.

By the way, I was wearing a sweatpant and shirt, over which I wore a skirt, and two jackets (items that i needed but didn't fit my luggage) and must have looked pretty amusing. Obviously I didn't care and made a style statement out of that too. ;)
So in the checking area, I had to take off both my coats and it was quite a task putting everything back on :)

Terminal 3
Once through, I called dad and asked them (they were still waiting outside) to go home and eat. Then I went on to get some food myself. It was over 11 and I hadn't had anything since 3. I placed my order at Dominos and it took some time to come. As I sat to eat, a KLM official came up to me and said I should rush to boarding and that I could eat on the plane. On hindsight, I am thankful he asked me to leave at once, because my boarding was at gate 12 which is really far off. I had to walk almost a km and the carpet made the luggage move very slowly. I didn't even dare to go to the restroom after I fathomed the length I would need to walk, knowing well that having a window seat, it would be difficult to take a bathroom break without disturbing other passengers. Needless to say I reached in time and joined the queue. Again, I was asked to move to the shorter line :)

Terminal 3 view from food court

Terminal 3 food court

Terminal 3

Terminal 3

Terminal 3

Flight - Delhi to Amsterdam
Fast forwarding to the flight. My co-passengers were Indian parents off to meet their son in Seattle for six months. They were from Yamuna Nagar in Haryana and it seemed like their first international flight. I got straight to my window seat after saying hello (and hurting a few people with my luggage before a tall man offered to put it up), and started eating my Pasta (I was really hungry).

The in-flight entertainment system was cool (I wish I'd taken a photo) and you could check out the latest movies, TV shows, the food menu, in-flight exercises etc. The control panel could actually be detached and used like a remote. On the back side, was a panel for making telephone calls or sending emails after swiping your credit card (I realised quite late that I wanted to send an email and by the time I was ready to hit send on my draft email, the flight started descending and the panel was disabled!). Being a technology person, I found all this really cool. I also helped the man sitting next to me operate his in-flight entertainment system (his wife didn't seem interested in talking or watching anything, probably because she felt a bit intimidated with the new environment).

inside the flight

So, as I said, I was on the window seat. That would have been great, except I boarded the flight at night. The interesting thing about this flight and the next one was that since we were constantly crossing time zones, the first flight (8 hours long) flew entirely during the night, from one country's night to another; and the second flight (10.5 hours long) flew entirely in the morning, from one country's morning sun to another one's :). It was quite interesting though, to see how various cities could be distinguished at night by the increased density of lihgting.

Another disadvantage of being at the window seat was access to the restroom! I hadn't used the restroom since I left house, and I didn't want to wake my fellow passengers. So after hours of waiting and trying to sleep (with my awesome travel pillow and airline provided pillow and quilt), I finally saw both the man and woman awake and asked them to excuse me. Luckily, they decided to use the disturbance to take a quick break themselves. And after minutes of struggling with the restroom door, I finally made it (phew!!).

The rest of the flight was pretty unventful. Oh, but I have to say that for the first time in my life, I felt happy to see air hostesses. All flights had a very pleasant crew, and I think there is something about the Europeans that allows them to smile with their hearts instead of pasting plastic smiles without meaning it. Another interesting thing was the meals. I hadn't expected dinner, and so after the seatbelt sign was switched off after take off, I quickly gobbled up my pasta, only to realise an hour later that dinner was actually being served. It was an interestingly packaged "samosa chaat" along with  dhokla and some sweet (which I didn't eat). If that wasn't sumptuous enough, breakfast arrived in a few hours, containing croissant, fruits and something else I can't remember. In short, I was really full by the end of the flight.

The Amsterdam airport
As we landed into Amsterdam during the wee morning hours, I could see that it had rained. I entered the airport and saw this huge information screen displaying all the flights that were scheduled to take off and desperately trying to find mine. It didn't help. I didn't know who to ask and so spent around 10 minutes worrying where to head (this is a huge airport, if you head in the wrong direction, you'll get lost). Finally, it struck me to look at my boarding bass, which informed me that my flight left from gate E22. It also said that the boarding gate was subject to change (Thank God I read that part). The tension was a bit high because I hadn't set my watch to Amsterdam time and wasn't sure what time it was. The tension was further heightened by a  constant female voice at the airport every five seconds going "Manju stat" or something like that (I don't know what she said because it was in Dutch). So I rushed to the direction of terminal E and kept walking and walking, crossing walkalator after walkalator (a much longer trip than the one I described at the Delhi airport) to finally reach E22.

Although the information display screen did not show my Portland flight, I decided to wait there for a bit. I then went to the restroom and when I returned I saw that the screen still did not display anything. Concerned that the gate might have changed I started walking back to the main area, and just by sheer luck checked the screen at the next gate (E19) to discover that my flight was to take off from there. Thanking God for yet another miracle, I went on to the restroom to clean up and finish my Sprite. When I returned (a full 20 minutes later; I had found the local time and adjusted my watch to that time), I saw that the departure gate had been shifted (again!!!) to E5. So I swiftly moved my luggage onto a trolley and made my way to E5.

After making sure this was it, I moved on to buy a calling card so I could call mom (i had no euros). The calling card was sold for EUR10 only at one book shop at the other end of the airport, and on my way back I made a wrong turn. As a result of these adventures, I actually managed to explore the entire airport (it has terminals A-H) and see many interesting shops and instresting statue-cum-seating area of two men. I then made my way to a phone and called mom. I figured out the machine fairly easily. After I was done, another lady asked me to help her (she was dialling a Canada number). Her currency didn't work (although it was euros), so I asked her to buy a calling card as well. Sadly, it didn't help (I think there must have been a problem with the number). I felt quite bad for her.

On reaching back E5, I waited a bit and then joined the immigration checking line for Portland. When it was my turn, the immigration officer (who was really courteous and smiled a lot) asked me a few questions about my programme, my luggage (who packed it) and the electronics I was carrying. Then I proceeded to body check. After a full body x-ray scan I waited in the waiting area till boarding was announced. I then boarded the flight fairly safely and got to my seat. It was larger than the seats in the previous flight, but I guess.......

Flight - Amsterdam to Portland
.....it was not large enough. Well at least not for the big Ukrainian gentleman (I mean literally gentle) who came up the aisle and took the seat next to mine. He was huge, and had the hugest smile on his face as he took out his passport and pointed out to me that he was from Ukraine and did not speak English. I was instantly suspicious!! And then, the magical bonding moment happened as the air hostess brought along the customs and immigration forms for all of us to fill. I realised he didn't speak English and told the air hostess. She said she didn't speak Russian and said he should wait. So I decided to take out my pen and started filling out his form with assistance of his passport and a lot of sign language to communicate with him :). He was so happy and thankful that I started feeling guilty for being suspicious.

And then, as I spent my time writing that mail (the in-flight entertainment system had similar technology) and watching Avatar (finally!!)  and The Social Network (fiinnalllyyyy!!!!), his elbow kept entering my space and he apologised for being so huge (by the way he was 40 years old, so don't get any ideas). And then, I helped him with his in-flight system as well.

I also discovered a great option (between watching the two movies) where the instructions for filling out the forms were available in all languages including Russian and Ukrainian. He was surprised when I showed the instructions video to him and happy too. He got up and took out a new packet of peanuts and gave it to me! And I refused first, but he insisted (by the way, before this he also offered me some Ukrainian money to thank me for my services but I sternly refused; no wonder I was suspicious). So I told him he should open the packet and I'll take some. So he opened the packet, took some himself and then gave me the entire packet (which like him, was huge!).

I didn't know what to do. I was afarid the peanuts might be drugged or unsafe (that's me being a typical Delhi person, always suspicious! - "don't take food from strangers") but since he ate them, I ate some too. Actually, they were quite good, so I ate some more. But there was no way I could finish the packet and I did not want to carry the packet through immigration. So I stuffed the bag into my front compartment, hoping he wouldn't notice when I just leave it there as we alight the aircraft. By the way, I got a Hindu vegetarian meal on this flight, which meant an extremely interesting burger with a slice of aubergine inside instead of the regular patty for breakfast, and for lunch, some yellow rice and dal. I unfortunately didn't get the chocolate ice cream that everyone else did. He offered me his ice cream, but I declined.

After the meal service was over, one of the air hostesses who spoke Russian came up to my co-passenger and told him he could fill out the form printed in Russian language and gave that to him. He copied the English alphabet from the form I had filled into his Russian form, but at least now he knew what was being asked. After completing the form, he said through gestures that the one I had filled was pretty while his own looked bad. Actually, I think he did a good job at copying! (I had filled my own forms also by then, so don't get worried).

As the captain began the descent with the plane drawing near the Portland area, I was taken aback to see so many trees. It really is a green region. And the trees are planted in rows, making it look very planned and beautiful. You could also see large parking spaces, organised rows of houses, and minimal traffic. The city had been washed by rain last night and stood there gleaming and looking clean! When the plane landed, Mr Ukrainian was kind enough to get my bag down for me. He moved with me to the immigration hold area and stood behind me in queue.

At the Portland airport
As I was called to the immigration desk, I thought I wouldn't see Mr Ukrainian again, so I said bye and moved to the immigration officer. He was a man, and he seemed quite passionate about his job. In the form, I had left the checkbox on whether I was carrying any food or not empty; I really didn't know what constituted food. So I told this to him, and he was like "in America, if you can eat it, it's food!" So I showed him the polo in my pocket and he said it was food. Wow! So I told him I was carrying some packaged food, and he ticked yes on the form. And then came his words of wisdom, " if you're uncertain about a question, answer yes......if you don't have food and say yes, you'll still be safe; but if you have food and say no, you might face fines upto $300"....Sensible advice I'd say.

After he stamped my I-94 and attached it to his passport, I remebered that Dad had asked me to reconfirm that I can stay up to September 31. And he said that he had written Duration of Status (D/S), which meant I could stay till the programme said I could (including the 30-day grace period). I kept re-checking and he got irritated and said, "I don't know how things are done in India, but I know my job and I'm doing it". But he didn't lose his cool and I kept smiling, and so all's well that end's well. I was clear to go.

Nancy, my gracious host who has provided me with super comfortable lodging at her house, had already arrived at the airport to pick me. So I called her to tell her the progress of my exit and she said she didn't mind waiting (how sweet). I rushed to the luggage hold, never mind that restroom trip I needed! Lucky me, as I reached the conveyor belt, my suitcase approached me and within a minute my cumbersome rucksack arrived too. So I loaded everything on to a trolley and was directed to the agricultural products area, where I was asked if I was acrrying any pickles, meats, plants or vegetables.The I was asked what food I have and then my bags were scanned and I was free to go :) All this while, every staff member and immigration officer was super helpful and smiling!

A good deed doesn't go unnoticed

Portland airport

Once clear, I made my way to the bus that would take me to Nancy. I boarded the bus with all my luggage, and the lady there voluntarily helped me by bringing one of my luggage items onto the bus. And then the Ukrainian guy came onto the bus, and lo and behold, he knew everyone there...the bus driver, the door security, the lady who helped me with the bag...they all knew and loved my co-passenger. And for reasons beyond my comprehension, my co-passenger was all praise for me, telling them how I helped him and all. That was enough for them to thank me over and over. I decided to take a picture of this man, so I could put it up on the blog when I write all of this. (I will do that once I have the equipment to transfer photos). When the bus pulled over at its destination, the friendly driver actually took some of my heavy luggage down and placed it on the trolley for me. I said thank you and goodbye and moved to find Nancy. I crossed past her, unaware, and so I called her. We noticed each other with the phones in our hands and made the connection. She had even made a name placard for me :)

Portland airport

Mr Ukrrainian

She seemed like a very warm and helpful person. She guided me to the parking and on the way I saw Mr Ukrainain again. He was just ahead of us and was greeteed by a cheerful family (I guess his brother and sister-in-law and their two kids, who really love uncle!). I felt so happy to have helped such a guy. We moved on as they continued with their reunion, and then I realise this guy is again describing my acts to his family and his brother and sister-in-law came up to me and said thank you. I shook their hands, while Nancy was wondering what was happening. The brother asked me which country I was from (everyone spoke English except my co-passenger). I said India, and it seemed that India went into their good books after that! So I am glad I could make that difference :)

Portland awaits
As we moved on, I explained to Nancy what all that was about. She asked me which country he was from and I told her. We reached the parking area by then and she seemed to have forgotten where she parked. As she pressed her car alarm to locate the car, I could see where it was and pointed it out. She was quite happy that we had found the car. We loaded everything into the back, she helped me with the bags. Then she went to keep my trolley in the right place ad told me I could sit in the passenger seat. I felt odd that I should sit in comfort while she does a task ideally I should be doing. So I continued to stand outside the car (when she returned, I told her it was so she could spot the car easily).

And we sat in the car, buckled up and moved out to a city I was to explore for the next six months! 

Triumph.com

I was really pertrubed after watching the "Triumph" advertisement on television. And they keep repeating it, on all possible channels and at various times. I was beginning to worry that they were advertising for a pornographic channel on prime-time televsion. I felt I just had to do something about it, but I didn't want to check out the site. So I decided to google search, and the google drop down list prompted "Triumph bra".

At first, I felt quite embarassed. All this for a harmless lingerie advertisement about a website dedicated to showcasing Triumph products; and the extent to which I let my imagination run!

After a few minutes of ridiculing myself , I felt differently. How stupid of the ad-makers, making such an ad. I bet it is mostly men who would go check out the website. Don't think it would spread by word of mouth either. So is the ad really reaching its target audience?

I'm quite liberal, and have nothing against the ad now that I know that it is not publicly violating the law of the country. But I am really concerned now about my perceptions - is there something wrong with the way I processed the ad in my mind? Or was my response normal? In which case, why did they make such an ad?

(For those of you who haven't seen the ad, don't bother)