Reaching There

FADE IN INT: AN AIRPORT TERMINAL FILLED WITH PASSENGERS AND STAFF. THE DAYLIGHT MAKING ITS WAY INSIDE THROUGH HUGE WINDOWS. A PASSENGER SITTING BESIDES AN EMPTY SEAT. I'm anxiously waiting for my flight back to home.  It's a long journey and I don't particularly enjoy sitting in a closed aluminum tubes with three-hundred other people for hours. I'm not claustrophobic or aerophobic; maybe I just share nerves and jitters before a journey with hundreds out there. A middle-aged man comes to me and asks, "May I?" as he points to the empty seat next to me. He has a warm smile and the mannerisms of a gentleman. "Of course", I answer back with a smile. He is carrying a huge duffle bag. He tucks it under his seat and ensures it doesn't invade my space . We just share a smile but no conversation for the rest of the time. However, something has changed within the last few minutes. I'm more relaxed and take out my copy o...

All of you have heard about the Hubble Space Telescope - launched into the space in 1990, named after Edwin Hubble - who made one of the greatest discoveries in the modern science; the universe is expanding! A discovery that had great cosmological and theological impacts on the psyche of human beings. However this is the story of Milton L. Humason . A man who started as a mule driver and rose to the ranks of permanent staff member who unraveled the mysteries of universe alongside great names like George Ellery Hale, Edwin Hubble and Harlow Shapley. Humason's life taught me two lessons which I hope to embed in my mind for the rest of the years I have on planet Earth. #1 It's never too late to change your life.  #2 Change is as big as your imagination. Milton Humason was a school dropout who started working as a mule driver for carrying building material for Mount Wilson Observatory in 1917. It is said he applied for the position of janitor at the observa...

The Joker had a sinister motive when he asked his victims - why so serious? I asked the same question to me a little while ago; my motive was entirely benign. My thought process evolved from an interview of three-times Academy Award winner in Sun Times. I saw Lincoln a few weeks back and enjoyed the experience. Steven Spielberg and Daniel Day-Lewis complement each other - the combination of aesthetics of direction and realism of method acting. I would love to talk about this more but some other day! Lincoln is a revered figure in American history and with this comes the burden to portray the character as godlike. I would let a quote from the movie The Insider to put forth my sentiments about human beings who are now considered heroes. Mike Wallace: Who are these people? Lowell Bergman: Ordinary people under extraordinary pressure, Mike. What the hell do you expect? Grace and consistency? The movie Lincoln shows the extraordinary pressure on Abraham Lincoln - a human ...

It's tough to be a vegetarian deep inside the provinces of Philippines, far away from the cosmopolitan Metro Manila! I would have been forced to survive on cup noodles for almost thirty hours if not for the new friends I made on the trek. The plan that began with a seventy-five percent chance ended up with me on the top of Mount Cristobal in Philippines.  "You'll have to bring vegetarian food", cautioned Cbass, my host for the trek. I amassed as many cup noodles and snacks I could for the trek. I was hoping someone would bring a burner to boil water for my noodles (I was lucky that Josh had enough gas to "burn down the mountain "- his exact words). When I landed in Philippines I hadn't thought I would take a local bus ride to a province almost three hours away from the Makati City. A bus ride, my first jeepney ride, surviving loud snores, Emperador shots, meeting wonderful people and about four-five hours of trek later I was on the top o...

It's been over two weeks in Manila and I seem to have got used to the busy life of this bustling city. It is one of the fastest growing cities in the world (growing faster than India in BPO industry); you can read about this here . So you can just imagine the volume of traffic that flows through the roads of Metro Manila. To just give you a few numbers; distance from my hotel to office around 7 kilometers and commuting time of around 1 hour, where sometimes I'm crawling at 7-8 kilometers per hour. To tackle this MMDA (Metro Manila Development Authority) came up with Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program. To me it simply means that I cannot drive in Makati City (that's where my hotel is) from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM on Friday. Bummer! Unaware of this rule, I bravely drove to my work on a Friday. Around halfway to workplace I was stopped with a loud 'Ehhh'. I was not sure what rule I had broken but I stopped a few meters ahead (confused and dazed). ...

It's almost the time of the year when red roses, Cupid arrows, chocolate hearts and lots of other symbols of love come out for the young and old to express a feeling of love for others. I've seen people celebrate this occasion with lots of zeal and jitters. I've seen people express their feelings to each other through videos, on a giant screen in a stadium, words on letters or just the old fashioned talking. However, I hadn't seen the Filipino way. Around lunch time today, a guy walked up to a girl (with his buddy holding a guitar) and started singing I'm Yours by Jason Mraz . At first I wasn't sure what it was, maybe just a gimmick or probably the guy was serious (I don't know that yet). However I do know now that in Filipino culture  Filipino men would make  harana   (serenade) the women at night and sing songs of love and affection. And it's pretty common, something inherited from Spanish culture. Interestingly the Tagalog (local langu...

OH, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet, Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat; Rudyard Kipling I beg to differ slightly with Mr. Kipling. Manila is turning out to be a mixture of east and west. In an earlier post I wrote about Manila - as an Americanized Asia. Almost a week here and I seem to agree more and more with this observation. Today was the first day of my driving in Manila. Philippines drives the US-way, on the wrong side of the road for Indians. Most of the traffic seems to believe in lane driving, unlike India. The infrastructure is well maintained; it's easy for a foreigner to drive here (most of the foreigners would never dare to drive in India). Makati City has a lot of one ways that makes the driving slightly easier. However, don't be fooled by this! Like any other Asian country Manila has its share of craziness on road. The best I can say is if you mix about 75% craziness of Indian...