Items I may end up buying.
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1) Accutire MS-4021B Standard Digital Tire Gauge

2) Coleman Colossal 20-Degree Rectangular Sleeping Bag (Oversize)

3) Planet Earth

Had to go this wedding on Friday and was not sure about the dress protocol. Late in the evening went to the local department store to get myself a sports jacket. In the process of trying out a few and settling down on a reasonably priced one, left my nice leather jacket behind.

Only the next day did I realize that it is missing. Called up the store to find that, they could not locate it anywhere. So, decided to go to the store. A friendly sales associated approached. I told him the story. He recalled seeing the jacket on a couch the previous day and said he will check the backrooms for it.

I anxiously waited. Soon he came back with "could not find it" look on his face and told me to leave my telephone numbers and said they would get in touch if required after checking the video archives.

I dont know what prompted him but he proceeded to ask what kind of jacket was I wearing and then told me to follow him again to the backrooms. He emerged holding my jacket with him, quizzed me on the brand name and then handed over it to me. Within a few seconds, a tailor came out and said, this belongs to Hector(the janitor) who had given him this jacket half an hour back to fix a broken button(mine had a broken button too).

The perplexed sales guy went in search of Hector. I was convinced it was mine, as it fitted as it should, it was the same make, had the same defects and the broken button.

In the meanwhile everyone was convinced that it was mine and Hector had timed it a bit late.

Had I been a bit late, Hector would be showing off his prized possession to his friends.

Today is a day of significance for me. I became an American Citizen. Saying the oath of allegiance, especially "I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign ... state or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen.." bought up some mixed feelings/emotions. I felt I was abandoning India.

With this oath and the pledge, I became an American.

As I was walking out of the building, I watched many Vietnamese and Latino rejoice their newly earned status. For me it was the final step in the H1-Green Card-Citizen chase.

For people fleeing persecution or migrating to make a better life, the citizenship is a reward, a statement of achievement. For me, I was not fleeing anything, nor was I chasing money. I just came to this country like many others known to me, for the glamour potrayed by Hollywood, the lure of Hi-Tech etc... and stayed on, not for the glamour but for the orderliness, the clean air, the spaciousness, the ease of living, being able to take so many things for granted, the multiculture and then for the kids.

Just got back from attending a show put together by Honda on their humanoid robot, Asimo. As Asimo walked on to the stage, it was a magical moment. Never before have I seen a human like robot so close.
As Asimo greeted us and waved to us, my daughter and my niece both six year olds, had a very bewildered look on their faces. Not sure, what to expect from a robot, they had all sorts of questions.
The robot is truly amazing. It can walk both forward and backward. It can move sideways, ascend and descend steps, dance, kick a ball, wave, using facial recognition software can remember and identify faces etc..
As the presenter was talking about the capabilities and the robot demonstrating it, I almost forgot that this is actually a machine. I actually felt sympathetic knowing that this machine is as innocent as a child. In spite of being technically so advanced, it does not possess the feelings of man, nor is it treacherous or cunning.
Without realizing, I kind of became attached to this machine and was sad to see it go back from the stage waving us goodbye.

For some,working for large company is like a working on a contract basis. Come in , do your job and go home. There seems to be no bonding among employees as is in a startup.
When I started working at my current job at a large company, I was coming after about 4 years of working for startups. As days passed, I noticed that, a large company is just a cluster of smaller groups. You are working for your team and within the team, there is good amount of bonding. We go out to lunches together, have mini celebrations etc..
Today, on the occassion of Deepavali, the Indians in our team had put together a small celebration, with Indian food, Dancing, indian games etc. It was good to see all the Indians, irrespective of their religions and languages, dressed up in Indian attire, come together and have fun.(Even the non-Indian, dressed up in Indian attire, participated well).
I think, if we can keep our religions, languages and castes at home and party as Indians, India can be a better place.

The rupee continues to appreciate against the dollar everyday. A rising rupee means Indian goods will be more expensive in the international markets. To offset this, productivity has to rise. Is it rising?
The quota on textile and garment exports would be lifted on Jan 1, opening up the entire market to the most competitive player. While this gives an advantage to the strong larger players, the weak ones will perish.
India today exports about $11 billion worth of garments a year. Will this increase or we would leave everything to the chinese to gobble up.
The good news is, large companies started the consolidation process quite sometime back and are ready to take on the world.
With India's congested ports, bad roads, poor infrastructure and reliance on old technology, it would be a tough challenge.

Now that George W is back for four more years, what does it hold for countries like India. If the pundits are to be believed, it is good.
Bush is not against outsourcing, he is for tax cuts thereby raising the spending level of an average american, which means good for cheaper imports, he is not for cutting medicinal costs in the US, so the big pharmas dont have to reduce prices, which opens up opportunity for cheaper manufacturers from developing nations.

Susir Kumar, Chief Executive of Intelenet Global Services, a back-office outsourcing company in Bombay, says it almost always happens. Whenever a new client from the U.S. or Europe arrives to visit Intelenet's sparkling, modern offices, they are appalled at what they have to go through to get there. Bombay's narrow, potholed roads are jammed to a standstill with choking traffic, and lined on both sides with squalid slums. Kumar spends a lot of time explaining to customers that bad roads don't mean telephone lines don't work, and that open sewers in the slums don't mean call center staff are at risk of disease. Still, he sees the impact of the noise and crowding, and worries. "I wish government officials would travel with us and experience the reaction of foreigners to Bombay's infrastructure," he says.

According to a September, 2003, report by McKinsey & Co. and Bombay First, a citizen's initiative, Bombay residents and businesses generate an estimated $10 billion in taxes, or 20% of India's overall tax revenue. But the government annually reinvests just $220 million of that money in improvements in city infrastructure, according to the study. After years of neglect, combined with helter-skelter growth, Bombay is falling apart.

Why are we allowing our cities to decay. Today it is Mumbai, tomorrow it would be Bangalore.