This took way longer than expected, we kept driving and driving... and it felt like St Louis was trying hard to keep us away. I guess last days, w get a little ansy about getting there.

 

We got to St louis after 8 hours of driving at 6 pm, it felt like coming home because I was meeting my friend Paarth and Gina who made up feel very comfortable...

 

Dinner at The Hill, cute italian neighborhood at a place called Lorenzo, real authentic food.

 

Wiki:

After dinner we drove around the hills, checked up some St Landmarks like the Arc (from a distance)... talked about college a lot... and then called it a night.

After New Mexico and a lil bit of Texas, our next stop was Oklahoma City and I never thought it would take us all day there..

 

Route 66 Casino: Wow they market this place big time on the billboards and I dondt even think its directly on route 66, but it is the finest rest stop you can find on this highway.

 

Toby Kieth's restaurant: Center of Bricktown in Oklahoma city, we had our lunch here listening to country and having some Down Home Cookin! Very big restaurant, they have these cool seats near the bar that look like the back of a pick up truck, they have a stage for performances, gift shop... and great food. Obviously, not much variety for Vegetarians but the grilled cheese was sufficient for me.

 

Bricktown: Very cute area to walk around, some interesting boutiques that we checked out, tourist center is nice and the tram is really cheap (25c), they have the big ball park there and a big movie theater, I am sure this place is packed in the weekends and nights.

 

Oklahoma Memorial - Probably the best memorial I have seen in a long time, for some background:

 

"The Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum was created to honor those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever by the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. The Memorial and Museum are dedicated to educating visitors about the impact of violence, informing about events surrounding the bombing, and inspiring hope and healing through lessons learned by those affected."

 

 

The museum has a lot of interesting details about the victims, the survivors, the heroes and the criminal proceedings. That I believe took an entire day to see.

 

Next we drove to Tulsa and decided to stay at the crowne plaza in downtown and they gave me a ton of upgrades because of my gold status, that was fun!

 

We walked around downtown tulsa and found this awesome place called Joe Mama's and right as we were entering we started chatting with this guy about the area and Tulsa, Hawaii, Seattle... we ended up chatting with him for a good half hour and he turned out to be the owner of the place, gave us free beer and dessert as he was leaving which was really sweet. Overall I think the people in Oklahoma were way nicer than any of the places we've been on the trip.

 

Wanted to go to the indoor-outdoor pool but was too tired to do anything... a very productive day!

Next morning, after a few tries with different gas stations for air pump we decided to just keep driving on route 66/ I-40 and then the temperature went up, tires inflated back and then it was back to normal... tire sensor warning disappeared, I checked with the guage and it was back to 30 psi..

 

We decided to stop in Old Town, Alburqurque and walk around this beautiful area even though it was freezing but it was very sunny.

 

Wiki:"Albuquerque (pronounced /ˈælbəkɝki/, Spanish IPA: [alβuˈkeɾke]; known as Bee'eldííldahsinil in Navajo) is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 518,271 as of July 1, 2007 U.S. census estimates ^[1] and ranks as the 34th-largest city in the U.S. As of June 2007, the city was the 6th fastest growing in America.^[4] With a metropolitan population of 835,120 as of July 1, 2007,^[2] Albuquerque is the 60th-largest United States metropolitan area."

 

Old Town: "Take a walk through history around Albuquerque's Old Town, the serene village that has been the focal point of community life since 1706. Quiet hidden patios, winding brick paths, gardens and balconies are waiting to be discovered. Wrought iron and adobe benches beckon you to rest in the shade and watch people stroll by. Visit historic San Felipe de Neri Church and relax in the Rose Garden."

 

Couple of noteworthy places:

1. Alburquque Museum - The Gary Erbe exhibit is awesome, museum is good place to learn about history of the city

 

Erbe: A showcase of more than sixty trompe l'oeil paintings by this self-taught artist. Erbe is internationally recognized for his realistic style of painting and has exhibited throughout the United States. Trompe l'oeil (to fool the eye) is illusionist painting that goes back to Ancient Rome, 17-century Dutch painting, and 19th-century American painting by the likes of William Harnett and John Frederick Peto. This forty-year retrospective of Erbe's best work depicting pop culture of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s was organized by the Butler Institute of American Art.

2. Church Street Cafe - Alburquque's oldest house and an amazing restaurant, definitely worth going to if you visit old town.

 

Rest of the day was just driving 500 miles and finally staying over in this brand new Holiday Inn express in Shamrock, Texas... nice people but everything closes at 9!

 

McDees for dinner.. and watched Kingdom on HBO, very violent movie and quite filmy!

Leaving Las Vegas and my jacuzzi suite was hard.. there were so many more restaurants, shops, casinos that I wanted to check out... ah next time, it was time to move on with the road trip.

 

First Stop: Lake Mead and Hoover Dam

 

"US 93 passes over the Colorado via the top of Hoover Dam, which provides the only crossing point of the river for hundreds of miles, between Lees Ferry near the Utah border and Davis Dam at the south end of Lake Mohave. The road on both sides of the river is very steep, narrow and winding, and the approach from either direction is equally dramatic, as the highway descends several hundred feet through jagged, dark-colored rocks - the edge of the Black Mountains on the east side of the river and the Eldorado range on the west. The rocks are twisted, weathered and completely devoid of vegetation, but they provide an impressive backdrop to the dam."

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just spent 10 hours driving so this is going to be a rather quick entry.. I just had to jot down all that I did in Las Vegas over the last three days... sooo many things to do, places to go, shows to see, buffets to eat... money to lose (not fond of this one).

 

Here's a list of Casinos/Hotels I went to do what I did there:

 

1. Stratosphere

 

- Stayed via Tahiti Village: Room was allright, 12 bucks for internet is ridiculous!

- Parking is free but you have to walk a while through the casino to get to your tower which is a pain

- C-Bar is nice, if you play 10 bucks on the poker machine at the bar - your drink is free.. I did and I made the money back too, including the tip!

- American Superstars Show - Its a good show, Elvis is fat but good, Tim McGraw is awesome, Christina Aguilera is good but not amazing, Michael Jackson dances well but cant sing and Rod Steward it just bad.

- Buffet - Lunch closes at 1 and its a level above cafeteria food, free champagne is a nice touch

- Observation Deck gives the best view of Vegas and probably the best thing in this place

- Big Shot- Free Fall at the top of the tower, it was freezing and the ride wasnt all that but its a thril, albeit a quick one!

 

 

2. Flamingo

- Oldest Hotel on the strip, kinda run down but still pretty

- Went to Nathan Burton Comedy and Magic Show - Very entertaining, some of the stuff he does is awesome, a little skimpy on the dresses but then thats sin city for you.

 

 

- Brunch Buffet - Also has Champagne, food is pretty good but very american, no ethnic food, very good view of waterfalls and flamingos from the brunch dining room

- Also a stop for Monorail so you have to walk through this whole casino to get to the station, we did that multiple times

- Sometimes the music is too loud.

 

3. Ballys

- Also a Monorail stop so walked through it multiple times, nice casino but no real theme

 

4. MGM Grand

- Monorail stop, longest walk through the whole casino

- Buffet was awesome, lots of veggie choices!

- Real lions in the glass area, scary!

 

5. Venetian

- Love walking around this one, some interesting boutiques

- Had midnight dinner at Grand Lux Cafe, pretty decent (I think cheesecake facotry is better tho)

 

6. Paris

- Very affordable and good places to eatin the food court

- Very well lit, walking around le boulevard is a lot of fun

- Long lines for Buffet: We stood for 1.5 hours but it was totally worth it.. buy a nice bottle of wine and enjoy the Le Village setting with all different regions of France!

 

 

7. Bellagio

- Easily the best casino, clean and big and classy

- Best Christmas decorations, raindeers made from pecans, huge tin soldiers and candys hung all over, very big christmas tree

- Musical Fountain as always was amazing free entertainment

- Buffet line for christmas was 3 hours so we did not wait here

- American Modernism Fine Art museum is a must, loved it

- Walked through the shops many times, its a really nice walk

 

 

8. New York, New York

- Enjoy new york without the cold weather, not much gaming but real nice boroughs all mapped out

- Great Food court, we had dinner at Gonzalez y Gonzalez

 

9. Montecarlo

- Really small but quite nice to walk around

 

10. Encore and Wynn

- Probably the newest and most stylish of the casinos, amazing indoor garden and very interesting decor

 

 

Thats my vegas trip in real brief... I ate a lot and burnt it up in walking up and down the strip... !  

Dec 23rd - Timeshare Experience

 

Timeshare presentation #2 - first one was Wyndham in Waikiki and I bought like the one year trial period after the 3rd lady was brought on once we had denied everything.

 

This time I was determined to say no to all of them.. First up survey in the coach that takes us to the resort. Second, survey with out first rep, then a presentation by this boxing afficianado who has his own tv show.. next we are taken through the whole spiel.. then Mr numbers comes on, gives us one option.... then another one.. and then one more.. from 50k to 29k to 12k... say no, say no say no...

 

I see the last guy has an attitude and has a rolex.. hmm.. its a scam...this time it was easy to say no!

 

I did get the 3 nights at Stratosphere, 2 tickets to American superstars, 200 dollars in promotional slot play, 2 free buffets and tickets to the top of stratosphere.

 

Decided to go to the inauguration of Encore after that.. beautiful beautiul beautiful.. never seen a place as pretty and as RED as this..

 

 

Wynn is always fun to walk around at, La Reve looks like a really good show but i dont feel like spending 100 bucks right now :-)

 

Walked around to some other casinos, played the promotional slots at Casino Royal - Thats another scam, they give you 200 bucks that can be only used at these rigged up slot machines, you cannot cash out unless you hit a jackpot so its a complete waste!

 

Checked up Hooters Casino - Boring...and small!

Tropicana - Old but decent... they even have some non-smoking tables which is nice... it was too cold but the swimming pool area was quite nice.

 

MGM: Lions were out.. kinda sad to see them sitting there.

 

Dinner at MGM Buffet.. absolutely stuffed :-)

Dec 22: Carlsbad to Las Vegas

 

This was a long 7 hour drive but the terrain was very interesting... mostly dry and arid but some beautiful vast lands and mountains that we crossed across. It was fairly packed, I wonder how crazy it would be on a weekend..

We stopped at Barstow in the middle where we found this amazing authentic but yuppie mexican place called Lola's Kitchen, that a awesome!

 

One the first exit entering Nevada there is this huge outlet mall, Primm and its beautiful! We stopped there to do some shopping before we headed to Las Vegas.. Traffic on 15 as usual was terrible but we were so beady eyed of all the shiny casinos it didnt really matter.

Later in the evening we decided to walk around.. took the monorail which was kind of a scam but still was fun walking to the monorail through all of Sahara and then through all of MGM and Ballys just to get to the station.

 

 

Dinner at Miracle Mile - which is my favorite place to hang out.. !

 

Oh and the simulated Rain Storm is sooo cool!

 

Dec 21 - Sunday in Carlsbad

 

Met up with some friends from  Seattle... they have 2 kids, one is 4 other is 2 and spent the whole day with them in legoland.. and oh what fun!

Started with building some legos in the play area while catching up with these guys... russian and chinese combination.. the kids look almost mongolian.. so cute, i'll post some pictures later. went in some crazy rides...roller coasters, one was a play area where the kids get to hit each other with rubber balls.. almost got bruised in that one, some kids are mean!

 

One of the most exciting parts was when Alison (who is 4) got her drivers license by skillfully maneuvering around some really driving impaired kids in her little car.. she was soo happy! (later I found out she has done this about 5 times before haha)

 

 

 

Towards the evening went on this boat ride to see some really good lego work - Taj Mahal, Eiffel tower... and witnessed the fireworks from the boat which was all thanks to Ella's great timing. Walked around the Mini USA, really good work - New York, San Fran, Las Vegas, New Orleans... I wish that was my work, just building legos all day :0

 

 

Dinner at Ole Spagetti factory which was pretty much spent running around to get the kids fed :-)

 

Stayed over at Carlsbad.. overall the good day and break from driving.

Dec 20th

 

Started early from Bakersfield to drive through the fields and across the breath of S.Cal to go to Santa Barbara. The plans spraying pesticidies were really cool to see, they fly so low! Otherwise the landscape was pretty dry, similar to driving in Wisconsin... who knew that California would be so boring... One place to stop is the fruit stands on the way, get OJ directly from the source and some awesome valencia oranges - 12 for a buck!

 

Once we got closer to Sant Barbara, the drive on the coast was beautiful.

 

 

First Stop: Wine Tasting - Ever since Sideways I have wanted to go to these wineries. Unfortunately we didnt have time for the real vineyards but we did manage to go to two wine tasting in SB: Giessinger and Kalyras,

 

Had some really nice wines... one place had 18 tastings for 8 bucks!

 

Giessinger: Sourcing grapes from throughout California—as far away as Lodi, Monterrey and even Amador County,--Giessinger has a variety of red, white and rose wines, and also includes a selection of sweet dessert wines. Had some really nice wines... this place had 18 tastings for 8 bucks!

 

 

 

Walked around the shopping area, it was a very nice day in the 60's and sunny. Santa Barbara is beautiful... quite the balance of yuppie but not intimidating...

 

 

Got on to the gruelling drive through LA to get to Irvine where I saw my aunt and had some yummy Pav Bhaji and Fruit Salad.. nothing like a good indian meal after a long day. Also stopped by Long Beach to give my friends their key and map that they had lended us.

 

Spent the night in San Celemente, another cute litte town right on the water on the way to San Diego.

 

Spent the day in San Diego getting my paperwork ready for the new apartment and new job. Got through the drug testing, signed the contract and sent in the security deposit. I officially have the apartment in Lincoln Park now, yey!

 

Finally closed my Bank of Hawaii account and deposited all the money in Wachovia, such a different experience going to Wachovia, I had almost forgot how good the experience at Wachovia used to be! BOH charged for everything - cashiers check, closing account, cancelling the card... wachovia.. nothing. They even gave me an address for citibank when I asked them... but the place was soo small, like 2 tellers.. BOH always had like 10-15 tellers in a huge place, specially the one in Ala Moana.

 

Spent the evening walking up and down the beach walk on Pacific Beach which is where my friend stays. It was chilly but pleasant, the sunset was beautiful. Dinner at Taco Surf with Connie and Giselle, we brought this amazing potato taco and orange drink from this hole in the wall place right in front of her house and then combined with my Maui Pineapple Wine, made for a great dinner... ofcourse conversation was very appetizing with G around!

 

 

Next day we headed to Bakersfield.. long drive on I-5, stopped by In n Out for some Animal Style Cheese Fries... oooohhhh those are good! Hit some ugly traffic in LA but it was fine once we got out.. stopped by this cute little town called San Fernando for a starbucks... I finally succumed and got the gold card, its going to help a lot on this trip, I am sure.  The drive through the mountains was beautiful because of the snow capped mountains in a desert like terrain.

 

Bakersfield, armpit of california is famous for its oil refineries and carrots.. here's a good image:

 

 

 

Got into Bakersfield - Anita & Rob's place at 6ish, beautiful big spanish style house.. went to BJs for some pan pizza and then party at home with all of their friends, its really nice. I was playing with their dog Violet the whole time, my hand hurts from playing tug of war with the tennis ball!

Very good article on Tintin..

 

A very European hero

Dec 18th 2008 | BRUSSELS
From The Economist print edition

A Tintin blockbuster is on the way. Baffled Americans hoping to understand him should look at him through the prism of post-war Europe

IT IS one of Europe’s more startling laws. In 1949 France banned children’s books and comic strips from presenting cowardice in a “favourable” light, on pain of up to a year in prison for errant publishers. It was equally forbidden to make laziness or lying seem attractive. The law created an oversight committee to watch for positive depictions of these ills, along with crime, theft, hatred, debauchery and acts “liable to undermine morality” among the young.

Taken literally, the law suggests that an ideal comic-book hero would resemble an overgrown boy scout, whose adventures involve pluck, fair play, restrained violence and no sex. That is a pretty accurate description of Tintin, the Belgian boy reporter who enjoyed spectacular success in post-war Europe.

Tintin’s slightly priggish character fitted the times. His simple ethical code—seek the truth, protect the weak and stand up to bullies—appealed to a continent waking up from the shame of war. His wholesome qualities help explain the great secret of his commercial success—that he was, and remains, one of the rare comic books that adults are happy to buy for children.

But probity cannot explain why Tintin became a cultural landmark in Europe, as important on his side of the Atlantic as Superman on the other. There were plenty of wholesome comics in post-war Europe, most of them justly forgotten. Something else in Tintin spoke to children and adults in continental Europe. Even in the straitened years of post-war reconstruction, he was soon selling millions of books a year.

Admirers point to the quality of the drawing in Tintin, and the tense pacing of the plots, and they are right. Any child reared on “King Ottokar’s Sceptre”, a Balkan thriller; or “The Calculus Affair”, about a scientist’s kidnap, will later feel a shock of familiarity when watching Hitchcock films or reading Graham Greene. It is all there: the dangerous glamour of cities at night; the terror of a forced drive into the forest; a world of tapped hotel telephones and chain-smoking killers in the lobby downstairs.

More...

From Saja this morning, I didnt know what toponyms meant either:

 

This week's theme: toponyms (I had to look it up - the word means a word derived from a place or region) from India.

 

Today's word: jodhpurs.
PRONUNCIATION:
(JOD-puhrz)

MEANING:
noun: Riding breeches loose above the knees but close-fitting from the knees to the ankles.

 

ETYMOLOGY:
After Jodhpur, a city in northwestern India, earlier a princely state.

 

USAGE:
"One thing is certain. Once he packs up his souperman cape and jockey jodhpurs, stories about [Campbell Soup CEO] David Johnson will be traded for years to come."
Linda Grant; Stirring it up at Campbell; Fortune (New York); May 13, 1996.

Drive again at 4 am to the airport for my 6 am flight to HNL connecting to LAX. Flight was good, rented the DigePlayer and saw Happening and What Happens in Vegas. Nothing exciting about those movies but did help in passing time. Got the LAX, shuttle to Enterprise.. almost got tempted to rent the Cadillac SRX for 30 dollars more.. but ended up settling for this boat called Dodge Magnum. Loaded all the 8 suitcases in it.. off to Long Beach. Went to friends place, Pharmacists both of them and loaded, beautiful house in Racho Palo Verdes (I kept calling it Rancheros like the sauce :-) right on the port where I was going to pick my car up from the next day.

 

View From friends place

 

As usual got stuck in 405 traffic, thats the worst thing about LA.. 405, otherwise I think I would like to visit the city. After a quick shower, headed to belmont shore...where I met up with one of my old school friends and also with a ex-Philips buddy of mine. Dinner at Natraj proved to be very good.. then got lost drivng back because 47 was closed, had to randomly enter the port and ask for direction at 11 pm in the night, glad I didnt get shot doing this.. place was pretty scary

 

Belmont Shore

 

Next day, woke up late and it was raining like crazy... our plan was to get some Dim Sum,  pick up the car and drive to Bakersfield.... well because to Snow the mountain pass was closed and we had to drive to San Diego instead..

 

One highlight of the miserable drive on 405 in pouring rain to SD was our Starbucks stop in San Juan Capistrano, what a beautiful little down and ofcourse Starbucks was a dollar cheaper for every drink than Hawaii..!

 

 

Finally got to my friends place in San Deigo.. and its right on Mission Bay Beach...!

 

Here it is, the day has arrived... PMP exam is done, I passed it... celebration has started and so has my trek from Honolulu to Chicago!

 

My last day in Honolulu was Saturday, Dec 13th and it was a very very rainy day. A storm was cooking up and we had flash flood warnings announced on the TV and we were asked not to go near the beach... I was flying out on Dec 14th, the day of the Honolulu Marathon and my apartment is right on the course of the marathon so it was completely blocked and the taxi guy refused to come to the door of Waikiki Grand. So We had to drag all our bags from the Grand to Kuhio in pouring rain, almost killed my back doing it... and then the Taxi guy charged us 30 bucks instead of the agreed upon rate.. we didnt have a choice but to pay him to get us to the airport at 4 am on Sunday morning.

 

 Arrived in Maui and it was still raining. Picked up a Jeep Commander and first stop Krispy Kreme! I had been craving it ever since we passed someone on the airport having some donuts. We were staying at the Kaanapali Beach Hotel - The most Hawaiian Hotel in Maui. Turned out this place had really good rates for Kamaainas so I get the best deal out there. Finally got to the hotel, completely exhausted and went to sleep till 4 pm.

 

Kaanapali beach is connected with a beach walk from Sheraton to Hyatt so we had a real nice time walking around. Went to Hula's Grill at Whalers for some happy hour Longboards and then to sit around at the Hyatt which in my opinion was the best hotel on the strip!

 

 

Day 2: Finally the rain stopped, we abandoned the idea of going at 2.30 am for the sunrise and instead headed to the Haleakala National Park at 10 am. The drive was tiring because of the dense fog but it was well worth it.. seeing the martian like surface of the crater was definitely a treat. We drove all the way up the observatories which totally looked like something from outer space.

 

Some incredible pictures from the viewing window of the visitor center:

 

Next stop: Tedeschi Wineries

 

From the website: "This is upcountry Maui at its best. 2,000 feet above sea level with sweeping views of the Central Valley and West Maui Mountains, you can find Maui's only commercial winery amid the vast Ulupalakua Ranch. Taste award-winning wines, take a free tour, or bring a lunch to picnic under century old trees. The tasting room is located in a cottage originally built for Hawaii's King Kalakaua in 1874. Maui Blanc, a pineapple wine, is a sought-after vintage. Also enjoy samples of Maui Brut Champagne. "

 

We took the wine tour, tasted some pineapple wines.. totally loved the Splash.. bought it for some friends in San Diego. This place had some of the best views of the island... very beautiful estate.

 

 

 

Next up, internet at Donkey Balls, I wanted to check this place out ever since I heard the name.. its a small cafe with internet but it has the funniest name!

Dinner at my favorite Matteo's Pizzeria and some last minute shopping at Hilo Hattie's... before we called it a day.. tiring but productive day!

 

An elephant, not a tiger

Dec 11th 2008
From The Economist print edition

For all its chaos, bureaucracy and occasional violence, India has had a remarkably successful past few years. James Astill (interviewed here) asks how it will cope with an economic downturn

EARLY next year, perhaps in April, India’s coalition government will face the judgment of 700m voters. Being mostly poor, they will not be happy. Recent months, moreover, have brought particular hardships: high inflation, a patchy monsoon, a slowing economy and vanishing jobs. In a worrying time, the terrorist attacks in Mumbai on November 26th-29th came as a particularly harsh blow. They gave the world images of India that jarred with the shining message of its recent progress. For three days India’s most cosmopolitan city and aspirant international financial centre echoed with gunfire. Amid the slaughter wrought by just ten well-organised assassins many individual Indians acted heroically. Yet the institutional response, as so often, was poor. Properly trained troops took over nine hours to arrive at the scene. Most of the 170-plus victims died during that time.

The Congress party, which leads India’s ruling coalition and runs Maharashtra, the state of which Mumbai is the capital, is likely to suffer for this. To make amends, Congress sacked the interior minister, and Maharashtra’s chief minister. The government, led by Manmohan Singh (pictured above), has also raised a cry—though not, thankfully, its fists—against Pakistan, whence the terrorists probably came.

Yet for most poor Indians terrorism remains a small part of their troubles. To deal with those, Sonia Gandhi, Congress’s leader, will reissue a lot of unkept promises when the election campaign begins: to bring everyone electricity, piped water, schools and jobs. She will say little about what this government has actually done: there hasn’t been much.

At the same time Mrs Gandhi and her prime minister, Mr Singh, have presided over the biggest investment-led boom in India’s history. In the past five years the economy has grown at an average annual rate of 8.8% (see chart 1). Services, which contribute more than half of GDP, have grown fastest, above all India’s computer-services companies. Infosys, TCS and Wipro are now world-famous names. But Indian manufacturing has also done well. Its impressive run culminated in January with the launch by Tata Motors of an ultra-cheap family car, the Nano.

India is now facing harder times. Its stockmarket has been sliding all year. As global credit has dried up, even Tata Motors, one of India’s best companies, has been struggling to lay its hand on capital. India’s economy is slowing rapidly and confidence is fragile. Previously soaring foreign investment in the country is expected to dip. Nobody yet knows how serious the slowdown will be, but in theory a recession in the rich world should hurt India less than other emerging markets: exports amount to only about 22% of India’s GDP, against 37% of China’s.

Diplomatically, India has also started to matter more. The US-India nuclear co-operation agreement, which was approved by America’s Congress in October, was the clearest sign of this: to let India in from the nuclear cold, the developed world has made an exception to the counter-proliferation regime. Mr Singh can take much credit for this. A courteous and scholarly former finance minister who launched reforms in 1991 that unshackled India’s mixed economy, he has been an effective envoy for India.

At home, often stymied by his coalition’s leftist allies, he has done much less well. But, among his few successes, he can claim that India, the world’s fourth-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, has started to get serious about climate change. It refuses to consider cutting its carbon emissions, arguing that they are still very low per Indian. But guided by Mr Singh, India’s bureaucracy has at least accepted that, being hot, poor and agrarian, India will be badly hit by climate change.

That makes India’s main priority, reducing poverty through rapid economic growth, even more urgent. According to the World Bank, in 2005 some 456m Indians, or 42% of the population, lived below the poverty line. In 1981, by the same measure, the numbers were 420m and 60% respectively. The government’s own estimates are lower. But everyone agrees that poverty in India is falling much too slowly.

Pick another wretched statistic: there are plenty of them. India has 60m chronically malnourished children, 40% of the world’s total. In 2006 some 2.1m children died in India, more than five times the number in China.

To make a serious dent in poverty, India needs to keep up economic growth of around 8% a year. In the medium term that should not be too difficult. More impressive even than the success of India’s best companies is the zest for business shown by millions of Indians in dusty bazaars and slum-shack factories. They are truly entrepreneurs. It is no coincidence, as is often noted, that Indians have prospered everywhere outside India.

But India’s task remains daunting. Some 65% of Indians live on agriculture, which accounts for less than 18% of GDP. Shifting them to more productive livelihoods—and so reducing poverty—would be hard even if the number of people of working age was not growing so fast. Roughly 14m Indians are now being added to the labour market each year, and that number is rising. Half of India’s people are under 25 and 40% under 18 (see chart 2). They cannot all work for Infosys. Indeed, because of India’s historic underinvestment in education, many are not obviously skilled at anything. By one estimate, which may be optimistic, only 20% of job-seekers have had any sort of vocational training. If India cannot find employment for this lot, poverty will not be reduced and India may face serious instability.

Its democracy will be no defence. India is already worryingly violent. A Maoist insurgency in eastern India, which Mr Singh has called “the greatest internal security challenge we have ever faced”, is an obvious ill omen. Where it is spreading, in poor, agrarian and broken places, the “invisible threads” that bind India, in the phrase of Nehru, its first prime minister, are almost non-existent.

In recent years India has been creating more jobs than the gloomier scenarios suggested. Between 2000 and 2005 its rate of employment growth doubled, to 2.6% a year. But that is still insufficient, and there are also fears about the quality of jobs being created. To escape throttling labour laws, Indian entrepreneurs tend to keep their operations small: 87% of manufacturing jobs are with companies that employ fewer than ten people. These tend to be both less productive than jobs in bigger companies and less protected by the law.

If India is to sustain a growth rate of 8% or higher, as it aims to do, it will need to manage four potential constraints. The most pressing, its rotten infrastructure and the dreadful quality of its education, are, alas, not new. But the government’s response has long been inadequate, and with India’s burst of high growth these two problems have become more urgent than ever. India’s current rulers, the mahouts to an elephantine state, seem at least to understand this. But their efforts to end these troubles remain unconvincing. India’s other big constraints, its cumbersome labour and land laws, should be easier to fix. But there is depressingly little sign that this will happen soon.

India is getting stronger, but its problems are also growing. In the end, the pattern of its progress suggests, it will succeed. But it may be a long and painful grind.

Wow.. New president and he cant get into his house early...!!!

 

Sorry, Obamas, Early Check-In Isn’t Available

I really liked Michael Lewis' liar's poker. Someone on wallstreet just forwarded me this article from Bloomberg, its pretty good.

 

A Wall Street Job Can’t Match a Calling in Life: Michael Lewis
2008-12-10 05:03:00.0 GMT

Commentary by Michael Lewis

    Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Recently I received a letter from a young employee of a well-known financial firm, who asked that I not mention his full name, his employer or anything else that might give him away. Though a bit short on self-pity and self-dramatization, this letter was otherwise a fine example of a sort I’ve received often these past few months.
    “I am writing you for advice,” Anthony (let us call him) began. “I graduated in May of 2008 and since July have spent my time entangled in the culture of (his well-known New York bank). I’m thinking about leaving. My dad labored his whole life so I could have the opportunity to do something like this, so leaving isn’t exactly what I want to do. I know if I stay here I could work unbelievably hard and move through the ranks, or maybe move firms… (but) I guess I’m starting to question the whole securities industry.”
    The young man went on to concede that what attracted him to Wall Street was the chance to get rich quickly, and the excitement -- but that both of these things now seem gone forever.
    “So I have this plan to go to Hollywood,” he wrote, but then instantly undermined himself. “I feel confused, a little stupid, but yet somewhat confident. I mean, I read your book, I figured out how to get to Wall Street from a non-Ivy League school, and I got here. The only question now is, if I leave, where do I go?”

    Let me try to help sort it out:

    Dear Anthony,
     On several occasions I have taken my own advice and it has almost killed me, and so I’m a tad uneasy about offering it up to you. But if you promise not to take it any more seriously than I do, I’ll answer you as best I can.
    Let’s start by putting your problem into perspective: You still have a job. You work at one of the world’s biggest banks. It’s true: The thrill and money is rapidly being drained from such places. Your big bank, like all the other big banks, seems to be in the process of being nationalized -- thus the longer you stay the more you may find yourself in something resembling a government job.
     But that’s not all bad: Government jobs are secure. You are also young, in your early 20s, and without a family to support. That is, unlike the vast majority of the people on and off Wall Street, you have the luxury to wallow in your misfortune.
     Now let’s wallow. We’re at the beginning of a recalibration of the role of finance in global economic life. The excitement and the money that attracted you to Wall Street will probably not return for a long time. If these really are the only reasons you became a financier you probably should find something else to do with your life.

 

                         Hollywood Lurch

    But before you go lurching into Hollywood let us make sure you aren’t simply repeating the mistake you made by lurching onto Wall Street. That is, let us focus less on your immediate condition -- safely employed but disillusioned -- to the habits and beliefs that led you into it.
     You were never exactly wrong. If you’d been born 10 years earlier and behaved exactly as you have done, your career might well have made you as rich and seemingly successful as you imagined your father wanted you to be. You simply came to Wall Street too late, and are in the strange position of a man who won
the lottery on the first day there was nothing in the pot. The mistake you made, in your view, is to have played the lottery on the wrong day. The mistake you made, in mine, was to have played the lottery at all.
     There’s a question you might ask yourself: Am I looking for a job, or a calling? On the one hand the importance you attach to your career suggests a desire for a calling; on the other, your instinct to abandon your chosen career the moment it ceases to offer an easy path to fame and fortune, suggests that what you’re
really in the market for is a job.

 

                         Job vs. Calling

    The distinction is artificial but worth drawing. A job will never satisfy you all by itself, but it will afford you security and the chance to pursue an exciting and fulfilling life outside of your work. A calling is an activity you find so compelling that you wind up organizing your entire self around it -- often to the detriment of your life outside of it.
     There’s no shame in either. Each has costs and benefits. There is no reason to make a fetish of your career. There are activities other than work in which to find meaning and pleasure and even a sense of self-importance -- you just need to learn how to look.
     Reading between the lines of your letter I sense that some of your anxiety is caused by your desire for the benefits of each -- job and calling -- without the costs. Perhaps that is what led you to Wall Street in the first place, and why your mind now turns to Hollywood.

                          

               Doing Well

    What Wall Street did so well, for so long, was to give people jobs that they could pass off to themselves as well as others as callings. Such was their exalted social and financial status: Wall Street jobs made people feel special without actually having to be special. You never really had to explain why you were doing it -- even if you should have.
     But really, the same rule that applies to properly functioning financial markets applies to other markets: There’s a direct relationship between risk and reward. A fantastically rewarding career usually requires you to take fantastic risks. To get your seat at the table on Wall Street you may have passed through a fine filter, but you took no real risk. You were just being paid, briefly, as if you had.
     So which is it: job or calling? You can answer the question directly, or allow time to answer it for you. Either way, I think you’d be happier if you stopped thinking of what the world had to offer you, and started thinking a bit more about what you had to offer the world. Real excitement isn’t just in whatever you happen to be doing, but in what you bring to it.
    In the end, you have to look for it not on the outside, but on the inside. In my experience, if you find it, the other stuff will take care of itself.

    

(Michael Lewis, author of “Liar’s Poker,” “Moneyball,” and “The Blind Side,” is a columnist for Bloomberg News. The opinions he expresses are his own.)

Wow.. this is the first time I heard of this...

 

Justin McCurry in Tokyo

The Guardian, Thursday December 4 2008

Article history

Blood samples. Photograph: Valentin Flauraud/Reuters

Failed yet another job interview? Unable to meet the right man or woman? Don't blame your parents. Or society. The source of your suffering is your blood type.

The idea that blood type defines our personality, temperament and ability to mingle is routinely dismissed as nonsense, but that has not stopped four books on the subject from occupying Japan's top 10 bestseller list for the past year.

Instruction Manual for People with Type B Blood and follow-up titles - which offer life-changing tips on everything from career moves to romance for types A, O and AB - have together sold 5m copies so far this year, the book's distributor Tohan said yesterday.

Mainly bought by twenty- and thirtysomething women, the books reflect Japan's obsession with blood typology.

Blood types are cited as a factor in any thing from a colleague's quick temper to an inability to secure a coveted job or the affections of a prospective lover.

Blood typology has filled countless pages and a large chunk of television airtime since journalist Masahiko Nomi wrote the first of 30 hugely popular books on the subject in the early 1970s.

Daytime TV shows offer "blood horoscopes", while on sale are all manner of items supposedly tailored to each of the four blood groups, anything from chewing gum to condoms to bath salts - a relaxing, blue concoction for the sensitive type A.

Companies have been known to appoint employees to jobs based on their blood type, while dating agencies rank this genetic nugget alongside education and salary in recommending a male suitor.

Blood type-mania has a darker side. It has been blamed for bullying among kindergarten children, denying jobs to otherwise ideal candidates and ending happy relationships, all because of an imagined haematic mismatch.

About 90% of Japanese know their blood type, often before they know how to tie their shoelaces. About 40% are type A, 30% are O, 20% are B and 10% are AB.

Some experts explain blood typology's central place in the Japanese psyche by pointing to the rough similarity between the distribution of blood types and social classes in feudal Japan: the strong-willed samurai (O) and mild-mannered farmers (A), and smaller numbers of sensitive artisans (AB) and earthy tradesmen (B).

But Tatsuya Sato, an associate professor of psychology at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, dismissed the blood type-as-personality theory as "superstition".

"Even though psychologists and scientists have denied the relationship between blood type and personality, many Japanese are still naive about the connection," he told the Guardian.

"The name of the bestselling book is instructive, as it's touted as an instruction manual. Many Japanese adults have lost their knowledge of self, so they need books to tell them how to behave," says Sato.

From A to AB

Type A Reserved and prone to worry, sensitive perfectionists such as Britney Spears and Adolf Hitler.

Type O Decisive, self-confident, curious, and ideal for sport, including Elvis Presley and the Queen.

Type B Cheerful caring, flamboyant free-thinkers such as Jack Nicholson.

Type AB High-maintenance, distant, suited to arts, such as Mao Zedong.

Source: Informationism.org

I just received this today.. posting some of it:

 

Mumbai Attacks
Photographer Andri Tambunan was checking his email at an Internet cafe across from Leopold's when the attacks began.

Text and photographs ?? Andri Tambunan

 

 
A crowd looks through the bullet-shattered glass of Caf?? Leopold

I arrived in Mumbai several days before the terrorist attacks.  I was excited about being here because it's the "New York" of India.  Moreover, I wanted a change of pace since I had missed the city life.  I had been dying for a real coffee and going to a western restaurants and bars.  Also, I had been reading the novel Shantaram, whose story takes place in Mumbai, and I wanted to explore the city and hopefully encounter the same exciting adventure.  The first place I visited upon my arrival was Caf?? Leopold located in the heart of Colaba, a tourist district.  It gained international recognition when Gregory Roberts wrote about it in his novel.  Though he described it as a watering hole where gangsters, gunrunners, drug dealers, tourists, and locals mingled during the early years, it is now a city landmark attracting tourists and backpackers from all over the world.