How many flights are too many flights?

This week has been particularly excruciating. I had to take 5 different flights in the past 5 days! 

Flying to or from Mumbai, especially during the monsoon season, is not my favourite activity. The journey is turbulent, and the airport is always congested. One is usually busy praying, or contemplating the end of one’s existence, for an inordinately long time during such phases. 

Every time the plane lands in Mumbai I promise myself that I will not do this to myself again, at least for a week. And then the next day something comes up at work which compels me to subject myself to this routine again.. and again.. and again. 

Some day I hope I can break out of this cycle. 

Aside: this week, a number of flights that I took had empty seats, which is unusual. So maybe everyone else is thinking the same way! 

Ruminations about a holiday (and a country)

 It’s been more than a decade since my last post here!! 

I don’t think anyone really blogs anymore, and I am pretty sure no one reads this one anymore, but I find myself feeling the urge to journal some thoughts. Just so I can visit this years later and hopefully relive some of the emotions I currently feel. It is also quite typical that I am posting this while aboard a long haul flight, with not much to do except ruminate. It is somewhat sad that such moments are now far and few between - but that is something I will remedy going forward. 

So we did a big fat holiday recently - the full monty. Mumbai to the US, multiple flights, multiple cities, multiple coasts, hotels, cuisines, experiences! All 5 of us, trying things that we had not tried before. I was a bit apprehensive prior to the trip, but we all turned out ok. I drove around in great cars, over long distances and at rapid speeds, on the “wrong side” for the first time. And enjoyed it :-). 

My first observation is that the US as a country is still the greatest nation on Earth. Systems work just fine, for all the alarms that social media seems to raise. Our oldest child had a fit of dehydration in the long immigration line at Dulles airport, and immediately received comprehensive medical attention. Over my many hours of driving, I saw police cars maintain discipline and apprehend defaulters, and fire and emergency services respond promptly. The infrastructure is not new, whether airports or roads or malls or office blocks, but it works just fine! Public parks in large cities are large and clean, the air is fresh and bracing and natural beauty abounds, whether in the small towns of Virginia or Maryland, or in the redwood forests of California. 

My second observation is that the great universities are hugely inspirational, and continue to attract the best and brightest from all over the world. Many times during our trip, I felt the urge to get back to academia because of the beautiful campuses, the energetic students and the general “let’s change the world” vibe! Till the US remains the go-to place for the world’s talent, it will maintain its formidable edge in innovation and quality. 

It’s not as if everything is perfect - I saw a lot of homelessness and abject poverty on the streets of Philadelphia and elsewhere. And I am sure that economic inequality is stark and unfortunately rising. However, I also noticed general humanity among ordinary folks - whether displayed through road etiquette, Uber drivers, general retail behaviour or in the actions of a kind official from Delta Airlines who got us checked in in time for our cross-continent flight. 

It was somewhat strange that the things that hog headlines - politics, companies, international affairs - hold so little significance in the day-to-day life of the folks I visited with. Another reminder to me that social media is an echo chamber designed to create noise, not signals. 

The one thing that stood out to me, as a lay consumer, was that the only metric on which India is better than the US currently seems to be the service economy. We have quick commerce and food delivery that is faster and significantly cheaper than in the US. UPI seems a bit overhyped - during our entire trip, the only time I used cash was at a vending machine where our youngest child wanted to use “her money”.     

At the end of it, I am actually feeling a bit sad at the end of our holiday. I am also feeling a little envious of the folks that stay behind - to enjoy the brilliant weather, the clean air and the great outdoors! I think we will be visiting during the beautiful summer months many times hence! 

Raghuram Rajan is Modi's best friend

Sometimes you need luck on your side. India is exceedingly fortunate that Narendra Modi brings with him heaps of good luck. In the 6 months that have been 'acche din', Modi has reaped the good fortune of revived animal spirits, crashing crude prices and benign inflation. He is also going to benefit immeasurably from Raghuram Rajan's helmsmanship of the RBI.

My theory is that the real reason the Sonia - Manmohan duo have sounded the death knell of the Congress is because of bad economics. Manmohan Singh, that oft praised politician, has proved to be a total failure in the one area that was supposed to be his strength i.e. economics. He did not realise how entrenched inflation and inflationary expectations had become in India, and how burdensome a tax it is on the common man. All the doles in the world, all the NREGAs and all the food security bills possible cannot win you votes if the common guy is finding it tough to consume his daily basket of essentials. Enter Raghuram Rajan.

I often find it puzzling why politicians and indeed self proclaimed economists cannot understand 2 simple facts - 1) low inflation wins votes and 2) inflation is volatile but inflationary expectations are deeply entrenched. Every RBI meeting sees the FM raise asinine clamour for policy rate cuts. He is championed in this by 'captains' of industry, who are always on the lookout for the next dole from 'mai-baaps' in the government. Why doesn't the FM realize that lowering inflationary expectations will eventually benefit his own government? Or perhaps he wants to make sure that the 'captains' keep funding his election campaign if he obliges them by putting in a good word with the RBI governor?

Tough to say. Modi did not choose Rajan as the governor, but he will reap the benefit of low inflation for his 5 year term as PM, thanks to Rajan's efforts. Just for this, India should be thankful!   

A debate on morality and absolute good or bad

I was recently debating with my mother on the necessity of absolute good or bad. My contention was that nothing is absolute, all is relative - morality more than anything, since actions cannot be seen outside of the context that they take place in. My mom, on the other hand, seemed quite horrified at the idea of my moral agnosticism, and argued that some truths are absolute. For example: one must be kind.

My argument against moral absolutism was principally that the truth we know or perceive is coloured by our experiences or senses, and that there is no way of arriving at a common axiom. E.g. I think that green is the colour of leaves. I have no way of knowing how anyone else sees green. Similarly, I experience happiness, sadness, pain etc in ways that are particular to me - i have no way of knowing for sure how others would experience it. Ergo - what i think is right or moral may or may not be moral to someone with different contexts or experiences. Therefore, there cannot be an absolute axiom or truth.

Drawing this even further, the only question is therefore - Why am I here? Why do I live? And the answer (at least the least offensive one to me) is that i live to maximize my happiness. Someone gets happiness by being moral, and someone else gets it by being immoral. To each his own.

The debate ended without conclusion, but i have recently found sympathy with my point of view in no less a person than Hamlet. Check out what wikipedia says about the philosophy behind Hamlet:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamlet

Philosophical[edit]

Hamlet is often perceived as a philosophical character, expounding ideas that are now described as relativist, existentialist, and sceptical. For example, he expresses a subjectivistic idea when he says to Rosencrantz: "there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so".^[75] The idea that nothing is real except in the mind of the individual finds its roots in the Greek Sophists, who argued that since nothing can be perceived except through the senses—and since all individuals sense, and therefore perceive, things differently—there is no absolute truth, only relative truth.^[76] The clearest alleged instance of existentialism is in the "to be, or not to be"^[77] speech, where Hamlet is thought by some to use "being" to allude to life and action, and "not being" to death and inaction.

Hamlet reflects the contemporary scepticism promoted by the French Renaissance humanist, Montaigne.^[78] Prior to Montaigne's time, humanists such as Pico della Mirandola had argued that man was God's greatest creation, made in God's image and able to choose his own nature, but this view was subsequently challenged in Michel de Montaigne's Essais of 1580. Hamlet's "What a piece of work is a man" echoes many of Montaigne's ideas, but scholars disagree whether Shakespeare drew directly from Montaigne or whether both men were simply reacting similarly to the spirit of the times.^[79]

In his openness to embrace the message of the ghost, Hamlet assuages Horatio's wonderment with the analytical assertion, "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

Must See!

Reminds me of engineering days :-)

On an airplane

I write this on yet another aircraft. In a very difficult position. This is because my little princess is fast asleep on my lap. I have just sung her songs for the past 50 minutes to get her to sleep. 

Elina and I are going together to delhi to her dadu and dadi's home while her Mom stays back in chennai. When most people hear this they are surprised. Their being surprised surprises me, because Elina and I have been travelling together since she was not even two. Perhaps there is something in the old saying about the bond between fathers and daughters. Or maybe she is just an absolute darling who is easy to manage.

One thing I've never been able to understand is why planes make passengers sit straight / switch off phones / wake up once they 'begin their descent'. this is generally a full 30 mins before actually landing. Seems very suboptimal to me. Especially when you have a tiny princess sleeping in your arms and you don't want her to wake up. 

I hope and pray she is able to sleep soundly all her life. She is now smiling in her sleep. Probably having a pleasant dream. My heart melts totally and I'm unable to write anymore.

More Ishiguro

I read Sputnik Sweetheart on a couple of airplane rides on my new iPad. Typical Ishiguro stuff - metaphysical, poetic, abstruse and spooky. The best part about it was that it is short and has a single event as its main plot device.

However, two weeks out, I remember it as a bit of mumbo-jumbo. I preferred Dance Dance Dance instead. At least it had a lesson for me!