What a beginning !!

I come home (technically i am not even home yet - i am in Singapore as i write this) after 1 and a half years, and the first big news i hear is an earthquake 8.9 on the scale, and a staggering death toll in South East Asia. it is amazing all man's technological advancements and so called knowledge of earth are simply humbled, and one gives some perspective and respect to how nature still has its grip on the human fate in this lonely planet. Scientists can predict a comet or meteorite in its collision course, but just cant predict with 100% certainty (even at a given second) if it is going to rain tomorrow. They've gotten better at false negatives but still it is very primitive. Not a single scientist predicted this natural disaster and look how much of lives and properties the force has claimed. Not a single nation on this planet has the the smarts to predict or the muscle to fight such a disaster - not even the US with its army of scientists.

Sometimes we take lot of things for granted; but sometimes we just overestimate ourselves. A simple list to show what a primitive world we live in -

1. it still takes me 24 hours of flight travel to travel from Seattle to Chennai.
2. there is no medicine for AIDS, same for ageing, impotence or even the simplest disease haunting mankind for ever - baldness.
3. i still cannot have a trouble free, decent quality video chat with my folks in India from my residence in Seattle
4. there are a thousand things i cant do even in the most technologically advanced cell phone
5. Moon travel or even space travel is restricted only to billionnaires and maybe to govt sponsored astronauts.
6. Man cannot fly (not inside a vessel, but self equipped)
7. women are still very hard to understand

Disappointed, huh?? Poor review score, humans - no salary raise or bonus this year !!

Just Cant Wait...

To get on to that plane that will take me home !!!
To set foot on the soil that is so warm
To stare at the Sun, say 'nice to see you again, Sir'
To walk on the noisy roads - horns, horns, horns everywhere
To have a cup of tea from the local tea stall
To lift up my little nephew and say 'Welcome to the world, son'
To lay my head on my mother's laps
To hear the temple bells chime
To meet my little cousins who have aged in darkness
To eat and sleep like there is no tomorrow !!

Crazy News of the day

They arrested the CEO of Bazee.com (eBay's India portal) for some teen selling porn video clips in the auction site !!. How worse can the legal system get? How more can the legislature reveal its stupidity? When you hear news like this, your reaction is like 'what the *$%$ were these guys thinking??' As some media person from Indian Express put it, will the govt arrest a Telecom CEO for someone having phone sex or even for someone illegally using cell phone for sex trade?? The administration is still in the brick/mortar mindset and they cant get out of it i guess - they probably compared it to advertising some sex racket in a newspaper etc.

I am reminded of the movie 'Triumph of the nerds' - Steve Jobs in an interview says how Xerox had it all and lost it. The people in the upper management just didnt get it - they were these 'copier heads' who could not envision the power of graphical user interface in taking computers to doorsteps. Xerox could easily have dominated the entire computer industry - but they just didnt get it.

God, please save this world from stupids !!