He never made it to high school. At 12 years old, during the Great Depression, he lost his father. His formal education ended then as he took on any odd job he could find to help support his mother and the family. Despite that inauspicious start in life, he taught himself mechanical, civil and hydraulic …
Keep the customer satisfied
“Is your last name Italian?” says the amiable tech support guy, whose youthful intonation leads me to believe he might be still be in high school. Look, kid, I’m thinking to myself, I have been on the phone with umpteen of your colleagues today trying to solve this Internet problem. I don’t at the moment …
A reluctant act of kindness
I was leaving the post office and in a bit of a hurry since I was late to a phone call and I still had one more errand to run. I was just slipping my bike helmet on for the ride to my next destination when I heard someone say: “Excuse me sir. Excuse me, …
My breakfast with Elon
On Jan. 1 of 1962, four lads from Liverpool auditioned at Decca Records, but they didn’t get the gig. The Decca executive at the time opted to sign another band: Brian Poole and the Tremeloes. (You remember them, right?) The Beatles pre-Ringo days.The Beatles climbed the charts in 1963 and to this day remain the …
Greaser, Bro and Godot
“I’m telling you it’s not like him. Maybe something happened to him.” “No, Bro. Nothin’ happened to him. He just didn’t show. I mean he didn’t show all day. I waited for nothin’.” The two middle-aged men generating this conversation are walking toward a park bench overlooking the shores of Waikiki. One is wiry, of …
Until next time …
A time to reflect ...বিদায়bidāẏaनमस्तेnamastēವಿದಾಯvidāyaGood-bye and thanks for stopping by. Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it. Heading "Down Under" for the first day of spring. And then I'll see you all you all back home.
Traffic
Hindu Times photo of downtown Bangaloreduring rush hour.On the one hand, it's mind boggling how bad the traffic is. You inch along along as every conceivable type of vehicle juts in and around, jockeying for position. The potholes are large enough to swallow small animals and the roads in many places give way to gravel. …
Shivaganga
ಶಿವಗಂಗಾShivaganga, site of a sacred Hindu temple.Crawling in traffic through the sprawling megalopolis, it seems the choking dust, the din of honking horns and jack hammers, and the stench of body odor, urine and rotting refuse will never end. And then, just when I'm beginning to wonder if this trek is even worth it, the first …
On the half hour
At its widest point, India is about 2,000 miles, whichequals 2 time zones (The math: earth is 24,000 or so miles in circumference and there's 24 hours in a day ...).In the north and south, as you can see, it tapers off.Splitting the country into 2 times zones wouldmake things confusing for the north and southwhere …
Sherry & George 