Random Thoughts

As the year comes to an end, the various media folks out there are compiling lists of things that happened during the year and during the last decade. I guess we all started 2000 wondering about this scary Y2K thing. I remember people saying that the lights would go out and the VCRs would awaken and try and kill us all... But that seems like such a long ago. I remember I had a cellphone then. But not even in my dreams did I think that there would be a phone that plays music and videos and allow for emails to fly through the air and what not. A decade can make such a huge difference! One of the political countdowns had a picture of Arafat and Bill Clinton hanging out with Ehud Barak trying to make peace before the second intifada started. Seems like such heady times then. Since then, Arafat made an exit (permanently), Clinton went his own way, some lunatic bastards got on some planes and flew into buildings, George Bush started all sorts of wars and even he's disappeared from the fa...

As I sit here on Boxing Day , I thought I would look back at 2009. My main inspiration for such a compilation comes from an entry of a similar vein from someone I have learned a lot from... so why not apply what we learn eh? So, what happened in 2009? A lot of things happened. For much of the early year, I was, like many around the world (and most in the DC area and the United States) engrossed in the impending swearing in of the first non-White President of the United States. If I could use but one word to describe it, that word would be spectacular. I don't think I have ever been in a crowd that large and I will certainly not forget the sense of happiness and pride those people had. I know a lot of democracies cry about the disconnect between the voters and their government and the level of apathy that takes over the populace but the time leading up to the inauguration was indeed marked by the opposite. February and March seemed to creep by far too slowly. Most of it was filled...

This year, I kept track of every hike I made up the Grouse Grind. I think I've blogged about the grind before: its a really good hike up a local mountain in Vancouver. People call it nature's stair master and they're not kidding. My best time ever up the mountain was about 55 minutes. Sadly, I was nowhere near that time for this (shortened) season. Here's what my hike times looked like for 2009: The graph is courtesy of Google spreadsheets (part of Google docs). I wish the graph itself was more than just an image, I wish it was dynamic. I am sure Google will make that happen one day. In other news, I headed out skiing for the very fist time (ever) to Cypress Mountain (close to Grouse Mountain) today in the pouring rain. I have to say skiing is quite a bit different than snowboarding. The mountain was not busy on account of the weather and we had to drive through some wicked fog to get to the parking lot. I like that you can park the car, walk a bit and get on the chair...

I have been a (relatively) silent spectator to the various goings on of these much hyped climate talks in Copenhagen recently. But now that the circus is over, I thought I would jot down my thoughts on the issues raised there. There are still sceptics in this world who question whether climate change exists and whether it is a man-made phenomenon or something that occurs naturally. There are also people out there that question whether one Charles Darwin was high on some really good crack when he came up with the idea of evolution. But we will leave Mr. Darwin out of this one. Let me say that I believe that climate change is happening and that it is man-made. That is not to say that I completely understand the science behind it all, but I can say that I trust the people who say that change exists and I believe they are credible and worth listening to. In case you're wondering what I am not sure about, or interested in finding out about, I am curious to know how they measure green h...

It has been a busy few weeks out here on the Wet coast of North America. November seems to be zooming along at a great pace. Our future King made an appearance in Vancouver, sparking all sorts of debate about the role of the monarchy in this Dominion and whether it will end with the demise of our Queen. The final phase of Olympics tickets went on sale in Vancouver. I didn't get any tickets. And it has been raining like crazy here. Apparently about 220mm worth of it. I also went and met up with some people whose story is quite a good one. Let's start with our Prince. As many of you hopefully know, Canada is a Constitutional Monarchy. In rough terms, that means that we are part of a Kingdom or realm... in this case, one headed by the House of Windsor. We have a monarch. We like to call it the Canadian Monarchy. The Canadian Crown. This is rather important. For example, when speaking of the Queen in the context of Canada, she is Queen Elizabeth II of Canada (and then Great Brita...

I came across this video as I was reading up on things and I thought it was rather a nice way to remind ourselves of our recent past. Sometimes, Charles Schulz had a way of teaching all of us young and old a little bit about the world. All I can say is, we shall never forget.

I have something of a set ritual every day when I wake up. I try and dodge the alarm clocks. I have an old little analogue alarm clock I set for around 6am. I also have the alarm on the blackberry set to (depending on how I feel the night before) about the same time. I usually don't hear the regular clock for whatever reason. Anyway, one favourite technique of avoiding the alarm is to wake up, pick up the blackberry and head back to bed. I keep the thing deliberately away from arm's reach so that I have to get up to turn it off. Usually, it ends up with me taking the phone back to bed with me and leaving it by my head so I can hit snooze again in 10 minutes. Sometimes, I read the already queued up emails (being on the West Coast of North America means that the Indians, Chinese and the East Coasters have already finished/started their day). I also, if I am up for it, check facebook and the BBC in that order. And so it was Friday morning last week. The headline of course, in cas...

One of the things I missed terribly while I was out of Vancouver was the lacking in my life of interesting events that I actually enjoy. Not the type where someone tries to break into the house... I mean pleasant things. I've done some interesting things in the spur of the moment... and on Sunday, my friend and I decided to drive all the way across town to get a burger. Not an ordinary burger mind you, this is one good burger. Except I didn't get one. Because I had already eaten. Anyway, to Vera's we went. As is usual with most of my friends, we talk about a few staples. I think most guys talk pretty much about the same things. Women. Cars. Sports (if we can agree on what). Money maybe. We somehow ended up on the topic of women. We pulled into a petrol station and there in the next pump was this absolutely gorgeous woman filling petrol in her car and then wiping her windows down. There was something incredibly attractive about that. It helped that she was indeed very good ...

I've been trying to set myself realistic goals for where I want to be in life and trying hard to achieve them for a while now. Bear with me, I am no granola crunching hippie or some kind of new age practitioner or something... I am just a fat guy trying to not be so fat as it were. But what if you're goals are simply unachievable? I mean, what happens if you're goal is a worthy one and your work towards it admirable... but the chance of you achieving it nigh on impossible? This week, His Holiness the Dalai Lama came to UBC and Vancouver for a conference on peace. While I am not one of those people who looks to Eastern philosophy for spiritual guidance (what with me being from the East and all), I genuinely do admire this man and his take on life. Regardless of what the official Chinese government and some others may call him, he is something of a spiritual being... someone a lot of people seem to be mesmerised by. He is no wolf in sheep's clothing as the bureaucrats in ...

Tuesday, September 8, 1998. It was a somewhat sunny day. And it was the first day of classes at the University of British Columbia. It seems like such a long time ago now... but I recall back to those days fondly. From somewhere out there, came a naïve little person who spent 5 years of his life being moulded and influenced by that place, its ways and teachings only to end up working there... making this my 11th year on Campus (minus the year and a bit between graduating and working there and the 2 and a few years of which I spent in DC). I am still naïve, but I would like to think that I am a little less so. A good friend and teacher once told me that after all these years of being immersed in something, he realised that he knew so little. I guess the difference for him is that he acknowledges and understands the scope of what he doesn't know. Someday I hope to be more enlightened. Every day is a journey towards that goal I suppose. Wish me luck. And the best of luck to the stude...

I haven't been blogging as much as I would like now that I am back in Vancouver. Why? I've been busy doing other things. Like climbing mountains and swimming laps and working. Being home is great. Working from here is a bit of a different story though. But there's no point writing about that. Because not much will change. Anyway, what have I been up to? I've been lazy of late in terms of apartment hunting. I haven't done much travelling. I haven't really lost a lot of weight. But I am happy. And that wasn't the case before. I am perfectly happy enjoying what is left of summer. I have to say, I have come to a few realisations. First, being happy is important. Far more important than earning more money. Second, I missed sushi. Third, friends are awesome. And fourth, having a car is not a bad thing. I can live without it for sure, but having it makes things happen faster. Its also something else to have dogs once more. I grew up in a house full of all sorts of...

Over the weekend, I had to go spend time with 15 friends to celebrate the 29th birthday of a friend. We're sort of at that age where we are going to cross that invisible threshold that marks 3 decades on god's green earth. Somewhere between the lamb and the tiramisu, we kept coming back to trying to figure out a way to make our mark on the big 3-0. Since this also happens to be the time where some of us are settling down to a married life (I missed one wedding this summer already and am hopefully not too late for at least one next year; and one friend took out his phone and showed around the 3 month old baby's pictures), I get the feeling we are in sore need of some validation for our almost 3 decade reign here. A lot of the conversation hung around going to Vegas or Mexico for the next stag, but I am convinced that there is more to it than a stag. I have a list of things I have wanted to do in life and some day I hope to do them. I am going to list them here in the hopes t...

I made it. I really made it. I have started the next phase of my life. Looking back at almost 3 years ago, I was on the right side of the 20s, busting out of my cocoon and exploring the wide world out there. And I loved it. And then I realised what I had done. I had left behind everything that mattered to me. I am coming home to my beloved city. For those who follow my blog, you know that I do ramble on and on about Vancouver. But I am home now. And I am secure enough to know that where ever I may end up in life and whatever I may do, I will always have two homes: Vancouver (and Canada in general) and India, where I was born and lived for the first half of my life. As I sit here, just past my 13th year living in North America, I realise that I have almost spent half my life here. Between Vancouver and DC, the last 13 years have had its fair share of ups and downs, opportunities gained and dreams crushed. As I look back at why I came here, I am more certain that the choices that were ...

I have not been blogging for a while. I need to get back on the blogging wagon once more. A lot has happened since I went to New York and came back. I celebrated a birthday. I was in Texas for 2 weeks on work. I made some big decisions relating to my life. Canada and the United States both celebrated their birthdays. So here it is. I'm officially 28. That's scary. When I was a kid I always wondered what it would be like to be an adult. Well, here I am, adult enough, yet I am not sure I have an answer for that question. I know what it means to be an adult in some ways... you are responsible for all sorts of things: rent, food, laundry, you have to work for a living, your friends get married... but surely, there is more to being a grown up than all that. I somehow feel cheated, its like there is this list of awesome things adults do, but I am not aware of them or have not encountered them. Maybe getting drunk is what being an adult is all about, who knows. Still, there is one tan...

I love travelling and going on vacation. A couple of weekends ago, a few friends and I went up to New York City. I met up with more friends there. New York city is awesome. And getting there from DC is cheap, fast and easy. You hop onto a bus right by the office, spend four hours on it and viola you're in the middle of NYC. So that's what I did with a couple of friends. We headed up to New York on Friday morning. We took the Megabus double-decker (with glass roof!) bus there and got seats on the upper deck. The bus got us there on time and we decided to go check into our hotel. The hotel is right across from the UN building and once we had sorted that out, we did what most tourists do in NYC, wander around. We walked a lot that day. We ended up going to a comedy show on the upper east side in the evening and because my friends smoke, we ended up meeting one of the comics. He was quite the interesting guy. He wants to change the world with humour and his ideas. He seemed to know...

Canada is a country full of immigrants. From the folks who crossed the Bering Strait way back when to the loads of Europeans who hopped on boats and took the perilous journey to the east coast to the Chinese, Japanese, Indians and so forth that took boats and what not to get to the west coast, Canada is a country built on immigration. I am one such immigrant. And I am a very proud one at that. I can happily say that I am Canadian and not worry one bit about whether someone would have a hard time (at least in Canada) believing that to be the case in spite of the colour of my skin, the lack of knowledge as far as things like touchdowns or Kardashians go... and in spite of any accent I may have. That is what makes Canada so unique, so beautiful. We welcome all sorts of people. Rich ones, poor ones, light ones, dark ones... it runs the gamut. We even welcome war criminals and refugees. Mind you, if we catch you (as a war criminal), we are sticking you in prison. And so we come to Burnaby. ...

I had some decisions to make recently. About where I want to live. About what I want to do with my life. I have made some decisions. I also had another decision to make. Should I buy myself a new toy (Nikon D90 most likely) or travel... and I decided to travel. While I really do want to buy the camera, I think I would be a little deflated with that purchase if I couldn't do much in terms of travelling for the summer. Because my discretionary funding for such things will not accommodate both. Anyway, now that I have decided on travelling, I have a bunch of places to go see. I have decided to stay (for the most part) in the North-eastern United States (though I have been contemplating a trip to Nova Scotia for the The Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo ) and see what I can before I leave this part of the world. So, I am planning on going to New York city at the end of the month, Boston, Chicago, Miami, LA and Vancouver. I am sure there will be other places along the way... but th...

There are some things one should never do. One should never cheat on your taxes, one should never lie to one's physician or lawyer. One should not be stubbornly dumbassed about something that the majority of the country and its courts agrees on. The Canadian government has been, of late, doing some unnecessarily dumb things. My concern today is the appeal by the government of a ruling by a federal court in Canada that says they have to appeal to the US government to repatriate a Canadian citizen who is being held at Guantanamo Bay on questionable charges in a reasonable time-frame. As a Canadian, I have some rights. I am allowed to come back to the country whenever I want. I can expect to use my travel documents (my passport) to enter many other countries. On behalf of Her Majesty, the Minister of Foreign Affairs requests that I be afforded all assistance and protection as seen necessary to travel through other countries. I can even expect, when there is no Canadian mission, to a...

I know I say Vancouver is a great place... but there are not so great sides to that lovely city too. Take a look at this CBC video  and see some of problems the city is facing. I am hopeful that some day, we will solve this problem. We as a country have a lot going for us, money, great healthcare, smart people, I hope to see the day where these problems are not just contained, but actually solved. We are no super power, but we should be solving these problems and exporting our innovative solutions to the rest of the world that can use it. I think that is a role Canada is perfect for.