Quotes from the recent Democratic and Republican Conventions..
Democrats : Bill Clinton “People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power.”
Republicans : Sarah Palin “‘In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers, and then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change.
It will be a great day when our schools get all the money they need and the Air Force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber
Sir Edmund Hillary, one of the greatest adventurers of our time, passed away today. Sir Edmund, was the first man to climb Mt. Everest along with the Nepalese sherpa Tenzing Norgay. I personally believe, his humanitarian deeds eclipse his physical achievements. Think the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Ms. Helen Clark, said it best “He was an heroic figure who not only ‘knocked off’ Everest but lived a life of determination, humility and generosity”
I came across a new project by one of my old colleagues, Tim O’Brien, called PresidentFeed.com when I saw another colleague mention it in his blog. Tim is one of the smartest people I have come across in my career. Not only is he a great technologist but he also takes an interest in politics (which more and more people seem to do less and less of 🙂 ). He built this new website, that aggregates information on all the 2008 presidential candidates and also lets you cast your vote for them. Obama has the largest number of votes and highest approval ratings.. Go Obama!!! . Get your mouse over to this site and take part in shaping the free world :).
I went in India for a (very) short trip this week. I was literally there for only 4 days to attend a wedding. For anyone who travels between US and India, you will realize that this is a SHORT trip :). I ended up spending more time in the airports than with my family. In fact, I am writing this post from the business lounge in the Frankfurt airport. How I got into it is another story :).
I spent a lot of my time during this trip on the road travelling between cities for the various wedding ceremonies. It was a lot of fun, but pretty tiring. During my last trip to India in February, I came back with a vision of a country on the verge of moving on to the next level. It looked like there was unlimited potential everywhere you look. This euphoria certainly came down during this trip. The rural countryside has been mostly left behind from the benefits of the “Internet” explosion. This might pose a big problem to the country if there is no immediate focus on developing the infrastructure. For comparisions..travel time in the US between two cities ~200 miles apart would be ~4 hours. The same distance took me ~9 hours in India. And not to mention the numerous times you get a heartattack from vehicles parked in the center of the road without any visual signs or the cows that wander onto the road without a bother :). And every truck/bus has a “Please ~Sound Horn~ Please” printed on the back of them. Just imagine the sound pollution when everyone in the world seems to be honking at the same time. It is so bad that people seem to have stopped responding to the horns. I know that a lot of people have nostalgic feelings about this situation, but unfortunately, if we want to move from a “developing” nation to a “devloped” nation, we have to get better infrastructure.
I wanted this post to be a reflection of my nostalgic feelings of the “do as you wish” country that India was (is) and how we need to get more organized, even if it means giving up this luxury of being a laid back country. But as usual, I seem to have made a mess of expressing my thoughts :). More posts on this topic soon….
Tim O’Brien, a colleague from one of my previous jobs maintains a blog on his website. I like his ideology and style of writing. Be sure to check out his latest blog about how outsourcing effected him and his thoughts on it.
If anyone watched the Cubs vs. Marlins game today, you will understand what I mean :). I was on a company wide conference call and watching the game at the same time. I couldn’t control my emotions when Sammy hit a homer, and made the score even in the 8th inning, I jumped up with joy. The CEO and VP were like “Huh.. and we hired this guy!!” :). But all that effort didn’t help us. In the end, it was a Marlins victory. And across the country, an actor becomes the new Governor of California. Where is this country going to? Hope Clark will make it out in the 2004 presidential election. Looks like the one with the biggest war chest wins elections nowadays rather than people with genuine public interest. But I am an optimist :). As they say, it ain’t over till the fat lady sings [or something to that effect].
