Chinglish!

Not every post of mine regarding China has to contain vehement passion. As proof, here's to a lighter side of Chinese society, at least to English speakers.

Signs in Chinglish

Mani, I know that you are currently able to access this blog only intermittently using Torpark, but when you do see this post, please send me photographs of any such signs you have come across, incl. the "deformity toilet" (i.e., handicapped restroom) in your office building.

And I thought we were bad when I took this photograph on Indian roads:

California or Bust!

Note: All times mentioned are local. Also, this is going to be one of my long(er) posts, detailing my arrival in Davis and how I find things over here, so be prepared.

Well, I'm here! I was supposed to take the 7:20 a.m. Frontier Airlines flight from Philadelphia to Denver and then connect to a 12:30 p.m. Frontier Airlines flight from Denver to Sacramento and get home by around 3:00 p.m. I was a bit late in getting to the airport on Tuesday and got there around 6:40 a.m. To my chagrin, I discovered that unlike virtually every other domestic airline, Frontier Airlines closes all check-in counters 45 minutes before departure (for me, that was 6:35 a.m.) and I had missed my flight.

However, the Frontier Airlines people were very helpful and set me up as a stand-by passenger for the 5:05 p.m. Philadelphia-Denver flight which connected to the 9:30 p.m. Denver-Sacramento flight. Luckily for me, both flights were reasonably open and I got a confirmed seat and was here at home in Davis around 11:50 p.m. Tuesday night.

I still think Frontier Airlines is pretty good. Their service, cleanliness and performance is unmatched in domestic flying and their EarlyReturns frequent flyer program gets you a free round-trip ticket within the lower 48 for only 15,000 miles, as opposed to 25,000 on most other major airlines.

Anyway, I was supposed to take a taxi from Sacramento International Airport to Davis, but I noticed that they had the airport Super Shuttle over here, so I just signed up for that. It was pretty nice, since I ended up spending $27 (incl. tip) for the 33.5 km (21 mi) trip as opposed to the ~$60 that I would have spent on a taxi. While waiting for the shuttle, I noticed that almost all taxis are white Toyota Corollas here, which is something very different from the Ford Crown Victorias we are used to seeing on the east coast.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (I just think it's so cool that The Terminator is my governor now!) announced plans in late September 2006 pledging to reduce California's greenhouse gas emissions to 25% below 2005 levels by the year 2020 and recently, Gov. Schwarzenegger led an initiative by six western states and two Canadian provinces called the Western Climate Initiative that aims for a total 15% reduction below 2005 levels by 2020.

So I wouldn't be surprised if the taxi industry's greenhouse gas emissions are regulated in California and this is a reason why taxi companies are shifting their fleets from the gas-guzzling, outdated technology of the Ford Crown Victoria to the modern, fuel efficient technology of the Toyota Corollas. Either way, it's a step in the right direction and it may not be long before hybrid taxis become the norm around the streets of California and, eventually, the U.S.

On the way here, I was talking to the shuttle driver (I was the only person coming towards Davis) and he was telling me that he couldn't understand it why people take taxis since they're so much more expensive than the shuttle, which also drops you to your door. The only thing with the shuttle is that you may have to wait up to 15 minutes. I was telling him that maybe people don't know the concept of a shuttle. We have shuttles out in the Phila.-NJ-NY area, but maybe they're not there in other parts of the country.

Anyway, the weather is beautiful out here. I'm not sure what the temperature was when I landed, but it was probably around 25 degrees when I landed and it didn't feel even slightly uncomfortable. In Philadelphia, if it's 25 degrees, it's impossible to fall asleep without the AC on, but here, I just had the ceiling fan on and it was perfect. I was asleep in no time (it also probably helped that I hadn't slept the previous night while staying up for the morning flight and I had slept only from 7:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Philadelphia Airport while waiting for the evening flight).

Anyway, when I went out for some errands on Wednesday, it was about 40 degrees outside. That's hot by any standard, certainly Bangalore's standards where 36 degrees is more the norm for hot days in summer. But the air here is drier than even in Bangalore (the humidity was 17%) and while in Philadelphia, at 35 degrees, I would be gushing sweat, here I hardly felt any sweat on my clothes. It's not the sauna heat of the east coast. Rather, when you're in the sun, it's like that heat that radiates off an electric stove or electric heater. You're kind of being dry roasted in the sun out here.

Also, the difference between night and day is huge here. As opposed to the east coast, where the night temperature is usually around 8-10 degrees lower than the day temperature, here it's about 18-20 degrees. So once this heatwave subsides and we're back to seasonal highs of around 32-33 degrees next week, the nights are going to be quite chilly. With the advent of the rains in the winter, the night-day difference will come back down to about 8-10 degrees in the wintertime.

Anyway, one of my errands was to go grocery shopping. I went to Nugget Markets, the closest grocery store to my house about 2.4 km (1.5 mi) away using the UniTrans bus which stops just a few blocks from my house. They had a very good selection of food (including lentils and mustard seeds which I needed for cooking and which I found). Unfortunately, I also need tamarind paste, asafetida powder and garam masala and I am going to have to wait until I can head down to the Indian store in Sacramento before I can buy these things. I wanted to buy them at the Indian store in Philly, but I never got around to it. But anyway, getting back to Nugget Markets, they had a good selection of food and, in particular, Organic food (everything I bought today, except the rice, lentils, and vegetable oil was organic).

I thought it was expensive at first, but after reviewing my bill, it seems reasonably priced. The milk was cheaper than in Philadelphia. The organic Clover milk here costs roughly $1.80 per liter, while in Philadelphia, the organic Stonyfield Farm milk costs about $2.00 per liter. I thought regular rice is more expensive here. I saw like a 4.55 kg (10 lb) bag of regular rice being sold for $9.99 and I think that was the cheapest. Just a few weeks ago, at Pathmark, I had bought the same size bag of parboiled rice for something like half that price. However, brown rice is similarly priced over here to Philly at about $2.18 per kg and I did end up buying about a kg of brown rice.

I could try going to Safeway next time to see how cost effective that place is. But it's further away (~3 km, 1.9 mi) and I have to take two buses to get there, so I am probably going to end up going to Nugget Markets. I'm not going to consume more than 5 kg of rice per month anyway, so at less than $11 a month for rice, it's not too bad and it's worth the convenience of the place. Besides, Nugget Markets seems to be a good environmentally-friendly, socially-responsible grocery chain.

Prior to entering the store, I noticed that they had a container for recycling plastic bags right in front of the store. So at the checkout counter, the bagger asked me whether paper bags would be OK. I asked him to give me plastic and he seemed somewhat disappointed. I noticed that the paper bags had handles and I could recycle them right in front of my house rather than bringing them back to the store, so I asked him to go ahead and get me the paper bags. After getting home, I realized that the paper bags themselves are made from recycled paper with 40% minimum post-consumer content, so they were clearly the right option. Anyway, the eco-consciousness of the baggers at Nugget Markets is clearly different from those of the employees at Gray's Ferry Pathmark that double-bag and triple-bag groceries into plastic bags with no thought.

Also, the main other thing I have to comment upon is the flatness of the land. I live near the eastern edge of town and on the way to the supermarket at one point, there's nothing but farmland to the east. You can see the Sacramento skyline about 18 km (11.25 mi) away clearly and the land in between is flat as a table. The trees here look like those in Bangalore in the peak of summer before the pre-monsoon showers, with leaves that are a very brownish, dirty green rather than the lush green of the east coast. The grasslands are also very brownish awaiting the beginning of the rains in October.

Of course, I am talking about the natural vegetation which exists here and there. Like everywhere else in the U.S., California also seems to exhibit a "screw nature, man is king" mentality. The consequence being green lawns in front of people's houses, trees in the medians along roadways being watered daily and looking bright green. It looks very pretty, but it's unnatural. This area is certainly not as green as the east coast is right now, but it's way greener than it naturally should be in this climate.

I'll upload photos tomorrow, stay tuned.

Cat's out of the bag

Apparently this article is inaccessible for those trying to access it from within China. I guess the Chinese are trying hard to keep the fact that they are pulling the strings behind India's Left Parties a secret.

Congress' New Found Courage

So the Indian National Congress is finally becoming pro-active when it comes to policy. It certainly took them long enough. For those unfamiliar with Indian democracy, a quick overview. India is a Parliamentary Democracy with 543 seats in the lower house of Parliament, which is responsible for government. The Prime Minister (Executive) is decided upon by this lower house. The Indian National Congress is the largest single party with 145 seats and the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party is the second single largest party with 138 seats.

The Congress is part of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) which is a group of parties that together control 218 seats and the BJP is part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) which is a group of parties that together control 181 seats. Neither of these alliances reach a majority 272 seats required to form a government.

The Left Front, which consists of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Revolutionary Socialist Party, and the All India Forward Bloc, holds 59 seats and decided to extend outside support to the UPA which allowed them to form the government. For the first time in recent history, the Left Front had a policy making voice in government.

They could have used this opportunity to advance the cause of India's poor. They could have ensured reforms targeted at rural Indians, ensured that a large portion of the budget was spent on education and infrastructure, among other things. Instead, over the past three years, they have stymied reform after reform, resisted privatization, disinvestment, propped up corrupt trade unions, and their decision making body, the Politburo (and their masters in Beijing), have watched with alarm as India forged closer ties to the U.S. and to Israel, anathema to the Cold War mentality which these morons are stuck in.

Now three years after the nuclear deal was first announced and the government had met all their conditions, they suddenly realize that they are against the idea of such a deal with the U.S. and are threatening to withdraw support for the government.

It's time for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his government to call the bluff. This government cannot have every single major initiative of its crippled by these buffoons and he knows it as well. The Congress is fighting back and I am very happy. It's time to publicize the "invisible Chinese" hand behind the Left's actions. It's time to publicize the "pro-poor and pro-people" policies of the Left which are in reality very "anti-poor, anti-people, anti-India, pro-China and pro-Pakistan."

The Left will (hopefully) not be foolish enough to provoke fresh elections. It is very unlikely to garner as many seats as it did in 2004 and it would be downright stupid to lose the say in policy making that they have currently. But even if fresh elections are provoked, I'm happy that the Congress is ready to fight. For the first time since I began following politics, the Indian National Congress has my respect.

Treason from within

Nuclear deal is passed by Indian Parliament and U.S. Congress ... Left Parties demand certain safeguards regarding India's rights ... Skillful negotiations between both sides results in India winning those rights, garnering a major political victory ... three years after accord was first announced, the Left decides that it is ideologically opposed to cooperation with the U.S. and demands scuttling the deal, knowing fully well that this Congress and any future U.S. President is very unlikely to offer anything half as good. And did I mention that nuclear power will slash India's power deficit, without relying on greenhouse gas producing fossil fuels? By reducing India's reliance on oil imports, it would control inflation as well, helping the common man. But the Left is opposed, stuck in a Cold War mentality.

This is treason, pure and simple. Crippling the nation from within the halls of Parliament.

The Chinese must be rejoicing with glee. Mao's followers within India are ensuring Chinese dominance over India for the next fifty years.

Well, enough is enough. Let's take the concept of democracy to the politicians. If you are an Indian citizen, please sign this petition and get as many other citizens to sign as possible. My aim is to send a copy of this to these so called "Parliamentarians" and let them know what the real pulse of the people is, as opposed to what they feel it is.

IF YOU HAVE ALREADY SIGNED IT, please don't forget to forward the link to as many people as possible and remind them to forward it as well. We need volume here!

Chinese Colonialism

The New York Times has recently run a series of articles exploring Chinese investment in Africa and it's simply disturbing. Once again, the Chinese Government has shown itself to be the near epitome of evil, plundering natural resources and destroying local economies in the process.

Unless the Africans realize that the Chinese colonialists are no different from the European colonialists from the 1800s, it may be too late for them. Already the emerging signs from Africa are disturbing.

"The factory used to roar. From the day it opened more than 20 years ago, the vast compound had shuddered to the whir of rollers and the clatter of mechanical weaving machines spooling out millions of yards of brightly colored African cloth.

Today, only the cotton gin still runs, with the company’s Chinese managers buying raw cotton for export to China’s humming textile industry. Nobody can say when or even if the factory here will reopen.

“We are back where we started,” said Wilfred Collins Wonani, who leads the Chamber of Commerce here, sighing at the loss of one of the city’s biggest employers. “Sending raw materials out, bringing cheap manufactured goods in. This isn’t progress. It is colonialism.”"

Perhaps the worst consequence of Chinese imperialism in Africa is the impact on democracy, corruption, and transparency in African countries. As can be seen from the junta's rule in China, none of those things are very important.

While western nations and international institutions require minimum standards of transparency and attempt to bolster democratic forces by tying them to development money, this investment by China has served to undermine our efforts in bringing about a political change in Africa. Some excerpts from the article are below:

"“China’s no-strings-attached approach is problematic, particularly if its effect, if not its intent, is to undermine others’ efforts to change situations on the ground,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “Often what is happening,” he added, “is underwriting of repression.”"

"But Limassou Saleh, a community organizer in Bongor, said he was deeply skeptical. “Chad is maybe the most corrupt country in the world,” Mr. Saleh said. “We have a long history of human rights violations, of lack of transparency, of exploitation. China has a reputation for corruption. They are one of the worst human rights abusers. They have no record of transparency. What would we want with a country like that? Only to make our own problems worse.”"

Of course, China is not alone. India, too is increasing investment in many African countries as well as Myanmar, which has one of the worst democratic records in the world. Unfortunately, India must look out for itself, since it's pretty much the only nation in the developing world which can potentially stand toe-to-toe with the Chinese juggernaut. It's also lagging behind, in no small part due to the fact that radical change happens more slowly in an election booth when compared to an iron fist. Although, concerns regarding China are pushing forward investment in Indian infrastructure.

A concerted effort by the world's democracies is needed to contain the Chinese and ensure that they do not hinder the progress of the developing world. First and foremost, intense pressure is needed so that the Chinese yuan, which is severely undervalued, is floated freely so that Chinese exporters do not enjoy an insane advantage. At the same time, it's important for the world's democracies to invest in nations around the developing world, such as Zambia and other nations with democratic governments, in order to counter the Chinese and prove to the people that there is an alternate to Chinese colonialism.

Television Ads

Anyone who has lived in both the U.S. and India will know that television ads in India beat those of the U.S. hands down. For those visiting this blog who have not ever had the fortune of watching Indian ads, well, here are some of my personal favorites.

TVS Apache RTR Motorcycle Ad

Center Fresh Candy

-- The mobsters ask him what he saw and then he stutters. Then in the end he says, "Sir, your shoes ..." and is sunk.

Mentos Ad

Another Mentos Ad

-- Yeh hai aam aadmi = This is the average man
-- Yeh hai Mentos aadmi = This is the Mentos man

Happydent Chewing Gum Ad

This is mainly from memory. I'll add more as I remember / come across them and if I find them on YouTube.

Once a wimp, always a wimp

... or so the [more or less accurate] saying goes. I'm talking about the "Protect America Act." This act, enacted by a Democratic Congress & signed into law by a Republican President, legalizes the abrogation of our civil rights for a further six months. Bush and his cronies can continue to wiretap into phone calls made by Americans suspected (read "randomly picked on a hunch or prejudice") to be terrorists without a court warrant. The judge and jury on who needs to be wiretapped continues to be Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, a partisan hack whose firing of Democrat leaning federal prosecutors has lost him the support of much of Congress.

Even though Nancy Pelosi voted against this act, she still brought it onto the floor of the house with the intention of it passing. Why? One can only assume that fear has once again ruled the day for Democrats and lest they be open to political attacks through their summer vacations, they just decided to mortgage our civil rights.

Ironically, this is the group of jokers that can't even wait for General Petraeus' progress report in September and is screaming from rooftops about opposing George Bush and pulling out our troops immediately. But when it comes to civil rights, they're perfectly content with polishing Georgie's shoes. Why? Oh, that's right, the political winds are blowing with them on the Iraq issue and while the public probably supports them on the wiretapping issue, it's probably better to be safe than sorry, right? After all, it's only civil liberties. Who cares? And the Democratic Congress wonders why it's approval rating is lower than that of George Bush.

You see, when Nancy Pelosi promised us "A New Direction" in November 2006, I didn't think she meant the same direction, but this time packaged in a bright blue color. How stupid am I?

Between a rock and a hard place

It's no secret that I support Al Gore's nomination as the 2008 Democratic Presidential Candidate. He's the only one who has the "street cred" to pull this off and he's the only one the Republicans are terrified of, which is why they are going after him in their internal mailings even before he has announced his candidacy.

I told a friend some time back that if the contest were between a Republican & Hillary, it wouldn't matter since she's from the "Republican wing of the Democratic party, a.k.a. the "centrist" Democratic Leadership Council." He asked me if I had watched the Republicans' debates and when I said no, he said that I should & I would realize that any Democrat is preferable to these scary lunatics. From reading this article, I'm beginning to think he's right.

“Forty-five million killed since Roe v. Wade is not worthy of this great land,” he [Brownback] said.

... he [Tancredo] pledged that, as president, he would “deport people who are here illegally, because it’s the law.”

-- Never mind if you tear families apart or cripple the working force of this nation.

Not to mention their previous railings against global warming, evolution, science, as well as reinstating teaching in schools that the Earth is the center of the universe because it says so in the Bible. Did I mention that they bend over backwards in who supports torture more and why America's favorite torture prison (Guantanamo) should be expanded?

Yes, I suppose that even an arrogant, flip-flopping, Republican-in-Democrat clothing candidate (Hillary) is preferable to theocrats, torture-philes, xenophobes, and racists.

2008 Presidential Debates

Anybody else realize how crazy this year's debates have been, so early this season? This article sums it up quite well. The most noteworthy paragraph is listed below:

For all that, what has been striking this year is the extent to which Democrats are more confident about appearing at forums of liberal interest groups than they would have been four or eight years ago. It reflects a party that seems secure in its political standing, and just how much the political landscape has changed since President Bush was re-elected.

Thank goD for that! Much of the last two decades has been a depressingly downward spiral into conservatism, with Bible-quoting, science-skeptic medievalists being considered most "electable." In November 2006, propelled by George Bush's war, I think we passed the winter solstice. The future belongs to liberalism, until, of course, we become corrupt with power ...

EDIT: The Economist also coincidentally has an interesting article on this topic. America's turn to the left. Run, Al, run!!!

A new chapter in my life as well as my blog

Now that I am about to embark on a new chapter of my life, I think my blog should change along with me. Hence, I introduce you to the new blog. Of course, all my previous postings are still accessible because, let's face it, anything I write is golden and to delete it would be a sheer unimaginable waste.

Now that I've gotten modesty out of the way, a little info regarding my new blog. It will be more political, but it will also be succinct. The emphasis will be on short, quick statements, interspersed with long, thought-provoking posts when required. Think of it as having the depth of the [sympathetic] New York Times, the succinctness of the Metro, and none of the right wing garbage of the New York Post. In addition to politics, this blog will also contain humorous and / or thought provoking commentary on daily life.

So, without any further ado, it begins ...