All the way to Madurai

For sometime lately I have been toying with the idea of a adventurous journey to Madurai, my hometown in India from New York City and back. Sure, going to JFK by using public transportation could be adventurous but I am talking about a different kind of adventure - Riding a motorcycle.......all the way(Yeah, right...).

I came with this idea through several avenues - First I figured out that journeys have the capability of completely transforming people - we find examples throughout history. Only a journey changed Siddhartha into Buddha and Ernesto Guevara into Che Guevara. Even Mahatma Gandhi took a train journey to discover India. Hopefully a motorcycle journey will change me in similar ways. While this is on one hand, I also wanted to travel through whole of Europe stopping at historically important places - by 'historically' I mean WWII, of course. That travel could be on anything - But the freedom a motorcycle offers, particularly if it is off-road capable like the one I have, is unmatched by any other. Pack a couple of bags + tent + sleeping bag and you are ready to discover the world!!

With that said, let me speak about the places I want to see, the route I want to take etc. I have so far only planned the Europe part properly. Imagine I head out east from NYC to London on a plane and start my journey to Madurai from there. I would first ride to the beaches of Normandy where thousands of allied soldiers died on D-Day. Then I would go to Belgium tracing back the routes Guderian and Rommel took during the invasion of France. I definitely want to spend some time in Ardennes, particularly Bastogne where the 'Easy company' from 'Band of Brothers' and others fought so bravely in the winter of 1944. Then I would proceed to the Ludendorff bridge at Remagen, the only bridge intact that Patton's army managed to capture while trying to cross the Rhine. In Germany I would trace through the rise of Nazi party, and, of course, see the "Eagle's nest" at Berchtesgaden. Then I would proceed on to the eastern front, where lies the most important place of the entire European section - Stalingrad, now called Volgagrad. I would spend at least a week in this place where the bloodiest battle in history took place. It would be a privilege to keep a bottle of dirt collected from there. Along with a piece of metal I collected from a restored C-47 that actually dropped 101st Airborne (Band of brothers) on D-Day as well as Operation MarketGarden and also participated in Berlin airlift, I will keep this bottle on a showcase.

So far this is the plan - have to plan the rest of the route. Any suggestions? You may also write about any similar journey you always wanted to take.

Rare alignment - U.S. and Venezuela

In June, I wrote about the unraveling constitutional crisis in Honduras. Well, it has just got messier!

Strangely enough, U.S. and Venezuela find themselves on the same side, albeit for completely different reasons. U.S. wants to restore order and considers removing and extraditing a sitting President as a bad precedence and refuses to accept it as a legitimate move by the Honduran Congress, Supreme court and the Military. There is definitely a point in that view. Military reports to the President and cannot take orders from the Supreme Court or the Congress. President may need to be impeached by the Congress and removed from office. Not under the military gun based on a Supreme Court order in the middle of the night. The swift removal of the President from Power and the escorted expulsion from the Presidential palace and the country is chilling misuse of power.

Venezuela president on the other hand wants his buddy Mr. Zelaya to remain in power without any term limit just as himself is in his country. Mr. Zelaya earlier attempted to amend the constitution to eliminate the presidential term limit through a public referendum. That is disturbing in itself. Countries that are Republic allow Constitutional amendments only after discussion and debate of the elected representatives and through a ballot typically requiring two thirds majority to support any amendment. Honduras is a republic. Public Referendums only lead to tyranny of the masses. A country's Constitution cannot be changed based on a popularity contest or fickle public opinions.

In any case, Mr. Zelaya's move initiated all of what is unraveling now. He has returned back into the country and has taken refuge in the Brazilian embassy. From this diplomatic den he is inciting his supporters to agitate in the streets on his behalf. The sitting President for his part has promulgated curfews and other rules to restrain the public. It is never going to be easy to come out of this stalemate.

In June 1975, India went through similar crisis. On a bold judgment, Allahabad High Court ruled that the election of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as null and void. The rightful move by the Prime Minister should have been to step down and let the President conduct re-election on the constituency. Instead, Indira Gandhi used a rare provision in the Indian Constitution, Article 352 to declare National Emergency. Through this declaration the Executive branch instantly got overwhelming power. Power to detain and arrest anyone without any due process. Media was heavily censored and the Court system was severely undermined. The crisis came to an end after nearly two years in March 1977 when the general elections was conducted. The Congress Party led by Indira Gandhi lost the elections for the first time in Independent India.

Anytime the Executive branch grabs power, it is the first step to establishing martial law and dictatorial regimes. We have seen this many times over in Pakistan. Myanmar is a living example of a country ruled by military junta. Equatorial Guinea in the Central Africa has been ruled by two ruthless men from the same family since 1968. The ruling oligarchy of the Middle East is no stranger to the world.

In the U.S. wartime provision of the Constitution lend shift in power to the President. President Lincoln suspended Habeas Corpus during civil war and President FDR curtailed civil liberties of the citizens of Japanese origin by moving them into the internment camps during WWII. Both these regrettable events were turned over after the war. If every country goes through stages of evolution to establish its norms as a sovereign nation, it is Honduras turn now.

Better explained!

Ever wondered what the natural logarithm, exponents (e), complex numbers, etc mean really?

Here is a fantastic site that explains it.

Eye of God

If the lengths of sides of a rectangle are in the golden ratio, then the rectangle is a golden rectangle. It is possible to divide a golden rectangle into a square and a golden rectangle. We could continue this process indefinitely, producing smaller and smaller golden rectangles. The point at which all the golden rectangles converge is referred to as the "Eye of God". We can magnify the figure but can never get to the 'Eye' using finite magnifications. If we connect all the vertices's, we form a logarithmic spiral that envelops the "Eye of God".

For the mathematically inclined...

An impressive turn around

My mom got the passport yesterday. That is within two weeks of application! I got to admit it is a very impressive turn around for passport re-issue. It takes about the same time in US. But the demand in India is more than 3 times that here. They must be doing something right in the back room. Kudos to that. Friendlier service would reduce the stress of the applicants. There are real problems with the public interface that needs to get addressed. Let's hope we get there sooner than later.

A -ve turned funny and +ve

Artist

If you use your hand, you are labor;
if you use your hand and mind, you are crafts person;
if you use your hand, mind and heart, you are an artist.

Cycle of Market Emotions

Imagination at work

Four principles of decision making

1. Only certainty is that there is no certainty.
2. Every decision is a matter of weighing probabilities.
3. Despite uncertainty we must decide and we must act.
4. We need to judge decisions not only on the results, but on how they were made.

"Reject absolute answers and recognize uncertainty. Weigh the probabilities. Don't let uncertainty paralyze you."

- 70th Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin. May 1999.