This is a repost of my blog from 2011 – almost 12 years ago on a older blogger platform.

Original Post – without any changes below and update at the bottom.

As many of you know, I travel quite a bit almost 150 K miles each year and come across a lot of unexpected events and situations. Lately I have been noticing a trend… especially with the security procedures in US Airports.

In Phoenix airport, Terminal 3 (where Delta flies out of), there is a station for “random” screening for explosive residue between the officer that checks your boarding pass and the actual X-ray screening. This person stands there with a little cloth that they swab you and put it in a machine to check for explosives – you probably heard of it. Now, since there are so many people going through – they only screen one out of may be 10? So what do you think my odds are? 1 in 2? So last couple of times there was an officer at this station, I might as well stop before they signal – because it seems like he/she is ready for random testing when I walk by. 2 weeks ago, when the passenger in front of me got stopped and then she noticed me coming, then she waved her to move on and stopped me – never fails… so I feel lucky to be Randomly chosen 🙂

Then just last week on Wednesday I took a really late flight out of Phoenix for Denver. This is around 8:30 p.m. in Terminal 4 of Phoenix airport. There was only one security gate open since there weren’t many people. They have a regular X-Ray and a Body Scanner next to each other. They also randomly send people through one or the other based on queue – so when I got in the line, there were 4 people – I am the 4th. The 1st one was in the scanner – so 2nd one will go through X-ray, 3rd one through scanner, 4th one me through X-ray… based on how they split them normally. But I somehow knew this is going to be RANDOM again, so I took off my belt and emptied pockets (needed for body scan), just to be safe and sure enough… the officer decides to let #2 and #3 through X-Ray so I can go through the body scanner. So, I am figuring that when it comes to Air Travel, I am Mr. Random (ly) screened passenger.

Now, I don’t mind going through this (often), I am used to it, there are some other interesting stories I will post later.

If TSA decides to profile passengers and spare old people in wheel chairs and infants, I am all for it. But our official policy is that we only do random additional checks on passengers, and somehow it feels like profiling to me… may be it is just me.

Although, these additional screening are nothing compared to the FULL PAT DOWN i received in Amsterdam in 2009 – 2 days after the guy tried to blow up a plane headed to Detroit from Amsterdam – that my friends is a pat down just short of a full cavity search 🙂

If you feeling lucky – let me pick Random numbers and we may win lottery or something!!

2023 Update

Lot changed in last 12 years. I am now a member of Clear, Global Entry, TSA Pre and still get the dreaded “SSSS” on my international boarding passes and random checks at airports. I have a better appreciation and patience for it and no longer think about it. – Mr. Random

Content is King … said Bill Gates about 20 years ago.. and I believe it is true in all aspects of life… including what you work on, watch or get entertained by!!

This blog is in reference to the rise of success in Indian Movies, especially from South India in the last few years.

I wanted to give props to a few movies that I watched recently and wanted to review each and every one them individually, but got lazy or thinking it doesn’t matter… but I think it does… after all, content is King!!

RRR (2022) – A film made by a Telugu director (from my state and mother tongue)… and released in multiple languages in India and worldwide. It even won an Oscar this year for Best original song… well at least it got noticed.

If you haven’t seen it, it is on Netflix in Hindi and Zee5 in India in Telugu (original version). A few of my American friends said, they watched it and liked it. Why is it good? Content, Quality, dedication to each and every detail… I watched it multiple times and keep finding little gems of scenes still. My Rating 4.5/5 – just because the director had 500 Cr budget ($80 million USD approx.) to make it and took 5 years.

Then on my recent trip to India, I watched 2 movies that took my breath away!!

Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai (2023) – Hindi

Manoj Bajpayee is an extraordinary artist… and his performance in the climax seen gives you goosebumps and a couple of tears. This movie was directly released to “OTT” (Streaming) in India and became such a popular movie, they had to release it in a few theaters later. It was 2 hours long and I can’t believe I didn’t want to even take a bio break. My rating: 4.75/5… because I heard there was some controversy on the original characters.

Then I saw 2018… no not the year…

2018: Everyone is a Hero (2023) – Malayalam

A Malayalam movie made with 20 Cr Budget ($2.5 million USD) made approximately 200 Cr. ($25 million USD). I tried to go to a theater to watch it and then couldn’t get to it in time and it was released on Sony LIV streaming platform.

Talk about Content … it has a whole lot of it. I watched it twice and still can’t fully appreciate the effort of what it took to make this. It was made with many top actors, no VFX, real effects with sets (the old way) and of course, a gripping screenplay. No wonder it is as successful as it is. My score (4.9/5) … as it is not available in USA to watch… Darn it!

There are a lot of other movies to recommend that I really enjoyed… but without overwhelming everyone, I will stop here.. South Indian movies stepped up a lot recently and it is an exciting time for viewers!!

Here are another top 5 recommendations from last year or so. My recommendation is to watch them in original language with subtitles for best experience.

Kantara (2022) – Kannada on Amazon Prime

PS-1 and PS-2 (2022 and 2023) – Tamil on Amazon Prime

The Kashmir Files (2022) – Hindi on Zee5

Pushpa Part 1 (2021) – Telugu on Amazon Prime

KGF 1 and KGF 2 (2022) – Kannada pm Amazon Prime

Please feel free to recommend other gems I might have missed… and enjoy these movies.

I have been waiting to write a new blog for a while… but putting other priorities in front of my writing desires… but no more…

Ok, as you may have guessed, this is not a review of Kantara, the mega-blockbuster in India recently featuring Rishab Shetty…

It is a review of another Kannada Movie starring him… called Garuda Gamana Vrishaba Vahana (GGVV) … probably haven’t heard of it yet.

To get feel for the intensity of the movie, I would recommend watching this YouTube song video from that movie.

If you want to watch it before reading further to not have any spoilers, please do so NOW!!

Ok, where do you start to review this movie? It is not made for kids or a family drama… it is serious, deep and sometimes disturbing. If you want to watch while you are doing something else, you will miss most subtle twists or dialogues. So you have to give it your full attention.

You will also not find female leads, dance numbers, or comedy tracks… it is just pure storytelling.

First thing to note is the director and one of the leading characters… Raj B. Shetty. There is no glamour, no six pack, no fancy fighting sequences like bad guys flying into the air upon hero touching them… instead what you find is what natural storytelling is…

Unfortunately, this movie is not on Prime or Netflix… it is on Zee 5, that too only in its original language of Kannada. So you have to read the subtitles to follow it. One thing you will find interesting is that many actors from this movie show up in Kantara also… including the child actor that plays Rishab in Kantara is the child character in GGVV. There must be a reason Raj and Rishab trust their fellow actors so much. They are REALLY good.

I haven’t been this much impressed with an Indian movie in a long time… Considering we had RRR, Pushpa, Vikram, PS-1, KGF-2 , Kantara and other South Indian movies that dominated the box office and publicity.

You have to watch very closely or a couple of times to put the events together.. including Raj Shetty’s “shoes” fetish or why he did what he did.

I won’t spoil it for you anymore…if you watch it, let me know what you think of it.

BTW, my new word from both GGVV and Kantara is “Bevarsi”… seems like a common demeaning word … that is used frequently!!

Enjoy!!

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor (even though I can pretend as one), Scientist, Politician or so called experts on all TV programs.

So, we can’t watch any news program that is not 95% about Covid-19 or go to websites, social media or anything else without hearing about it. After a few weeks of overload I am confused… May be someone can explain the terms better.

Flatten the Curve

Alright, we all need to lock ourselves up to flatten the curve.  Ok, what does flatten the curve mean? I see these nice graphs that show flat lines or even downward curve.  I think it is good news? Confused?

I think flatten the curve is number of new cases reported either less or same as last 5 days. Ok, if we extend stay at home for another 30 days and all curves are flat… what happens then? They will stay flat as soon as we come back out in droves?  In my layman’s understanding it is to stop the spread exponentially and then figure out what to do next.  Because as soon as we OPEN it up without a solid plan the curve ain’t going to stay flat.

So what is the plan to open up? What does let’s open it up mean? That’s coming next.

Rapid and Enhanced Testing

Ok, we have swab testing, quick test, Anti bodies test… all kinds of tests and they did over 4 million tests in US and 400,000+ in India.  I found this handy website that gave testing numbers.  And stay with me here.. I heard false positive tests, false negative tests, defective test kits from China, etc. etc.  So does anyone really think we have this testing thing under control for the entire world population?

The other comment I read was the only way to get back to normal is to test the heck out of everyone and it available everywhere.  Hmmmm… do you think we will have enough test kits for everyone? Also, how many times everyone needs to be tested?

Emirates airlines is testing every passenger before boarding this week (on their limited schedule).  So if this is the new norm, then as soon as someone lands will that country accept his test result? Ok, once they enter the country, their test result is useless unless they are guaranteed to be mixing with 100% tested and clean community…

So again, in my layman’s thinking… testing is a temporary fix and there is no way we will be able to keep up with it… even if we convert a lot of people into “testers”.

Which bring me to my last topic…

Lockdown to be or not to be extended

We have stay at home orders expiring soon, people are anxious to get back to work and life.  India is on 30 days of supposedly strict lockdown (even though between 6 and 9 am it is like open season).  We keep looking at these “studies” that predict lots of casualties to now about 60 K in US by August 3rd… they change these studies regularly.  They are all based on data… no one is a messiah to predict the future.  Heck, the state of Arizona is supposed to “peak” on April 27th whatever that means.  After that we will go down automatically? India is doubling their cases every 4-7 days now after 30 days of lockdown.

So lockdown effective? Stay at home effective? To Mask or not to Mask? If you are as confused as I am, I may feel a little better.  Everything is a guess or experiment.  If we start opening for business and we see the curve going up, what are we going to do? lockdown again and test everyone?

Without a proven cure for Covid-19, I wouldn’t bet on any one projection on when we will be back to business as normal.

To conclude, again in my layman terms… the only option I see is to keep educating people, adopt to the new normal to reduce the spread… most of the people that want to live will be responsible.  Every business need to innovate how they are going to contain the spread.  Sitting at home and waiting for a politician or statistician to tell us what to do.. is not the solution.  Present the actual information about virus, educate and let us be responsible to stay safe.

 

So you see on the news that US Government is doing a lot to give relief to everyone to ride out this Pandemic!!

How is that working out for you?

• Many people that are let go are going on unemployment… waiting for their benefits
• Small business owners working on SBA loans and keeping employees in hope of loan coming through… what happens if their loan runs out and no new business in 3 months?
• Vendors are the first ones cut out – so freelancers and non-essential vendors are hurting
• Freelancers and vendors don’t have any guidance for loans or any unemployment benefits so they can’t even apply for anything
• Oh and if you made $100 K or more last year don’t worry about getting any check from government either… you must have a lot of reserves.
• Did the credit card companies or any others you owe money to stopped sending reminder emails or call you about your late payments?  They have more time to follow up more than ever…

Not sure how many are in a position of not receiving any help, but it is tough to ride this out… for another month? Two Months?

While congress is working on 4th, 5th and 6th bill… for relief, I am thinking this is not going to be sustainable.  How many more months you will do this? Is there any realistic expectation of when all businesses will open and be normal?  2, 3 or 6 months?  By that time people are sitting at home either surviving on one of these benefits or absolutely wiped out of all resources and desperate.

I am neither against or for these efforts but without a clear plan possible for future (based on current information), these are all just temporary fixes… the only thing that can change the situation is a cure or vaccine.  May be a Trillion $ should be put into that effort by the world.

My views are limited by the information I see during my stays in India.  As I cannot vote in India I don’t have the privilege to influence its outcome or be a part of it, but it does effect the life of everyone I car about…

First of all about Parliament elections…

Congratulations to Modi for returning to power… no one person can make an effective change in policy of any kind and he needs sometime before the progress shows.  India is still a country that is only 72 years young after independence…. after 200+ years of British Raj, how can you expect it to be on right path in such a short term.  We still follow British political system it instilled on us.  I seen more bold moves to get India to be on right path than the years before… and Modi is also a beneficiary of the changing dynamic of the entire thinking of the country… Hope the next 5 years puts India in the fast track to being a formidable force in the world.

Now coming to politics of my home state Andhra Pradesh… I am not sure what to say… since the separation of Andhra Pradesh into 2 states, things haven’t been the same.  The ruling party the last few years was so wishy-washy… there is no chance for them to return to power.  YS Jagan, the new to be CM fought hard to get into power.. is he the right person to get AP to its glory? Only time will tell.  You have to respect the will of the people and can’t criticize your leaders and undercut any progress they may be able to make… but I am skeptical on the impact ANY government can have on this fractured state of AP, since its separation from Telangana.

The most disappointing outcome of the elections is about my home town of Rajahmundry.  The two Members of Legislative party are going to be from TDP not from the YSRCP the party that is getting into power. In this huge wave of change in AP, how come we have two people one a veteran member and a new comer won the seats.  Rajahmundry got the least amount of attention after the separation and now for the next 5 years the two representatives will be in the ineffective opposition side and it will only make things worse.  I really hoped to see Mr. Rowthu Surya Prakasa Rao garu to be the next MLA and a minister in the government and help move Rajahmundry forward.

India is the largest democracy in the world… big respect to that… but it still needs to evolve and reform its political system to compete with rest of the world rather than continuing embrace the “colonial” and “imperial” political system that British left us with… that is just my humble opinion.

 

A Plastic Straw that is!!

You probably seen a lot of news about major companies promising to cut down on using Plastic Straws including Starbucks and a few airlines.  Man, it is just a straw, with all the single use plastic being used daily all over, why are we after the straw? Will it even make an impact on environment??

My guess is it does!! Well, it is not the straw, but the concept of being aware of single usage plastic in your every day life is what the result should be.

Reduction of Single Use Plastic

Back in June we did a small event in my hometown of Rajahmundry, India under our non-profit Enrich Future.  It was an eye-opening experience, the lack of awareness of how plastic doesn’t degrade and it is clogging up water resources.  Ever since we have been trying to distribute bags, make people aware of plastic by publishing news and articles on the Facebook page.

Around the same time, there has been a lot of similar activity around the world and there are a lot of new plastic ban laws are springing up in India and also all over the world.

I am not one of those that will try to preach to everyone about Plastic, so I am making a humble attempt to make people aware of their plastic use.

Plastic is a great material, it is a scientific marvel and unfortunately it is so good, it doesn’t disintegrate and every plastic item manufactured is still on earth somewhere or in some shape.  Everyday we use a lot of “single use” plastic without even noticing it… like the morning news paper in a Plastic bag, the coffee cup at Starbucks with plastic coating, the straw in your drink, the water bottles, the utensils in a lot of fast food places and wrappers on everything you buy.

So, just try to reduce one item at a time, starting with the “Straw” 🙂

Warning!! – This post may have language or views that are not suitable to over sensitive and extreme politically correct people!!

rac·ist definition

noun
a person who shows or feels discrimination or prejudice against people of other races, or who believes that a particular race is superior to another.

When I was leaving for US back in 1990, I heard a lot of advice from people about how I should adopt to life in US.  Some said – try to stay with Indian people (I guess strength), some said try to stay away from black people (I guess that is what they knew from stories and movies), don’t make the white people mad (that was funny one).  I arrived here without a clue about racism… in India there is mostly one race.  But the basic definition of racism is “discrimination” and “prejudice” – that I am very familiar with.

EVERYONE discriminates… in some shape or form… no denying it.  It is human behavior.  We discriminate based on race, caste, color, gender, sexual preference, weight, height, money and of course religion.  If you never made a joke or said something discriminating in any of those areas, you are a saint and I bow to you.  I have seen a lot of discrimination in caste, color and money growing up.  I even heard that who we are was based on our sins or good deeds in previous lives.

Fast forward 28 years… I now stand in a much different place.  I have seen my fair share of discrimination and still do now and then… I just chose to not be impacted by it any more.  Here are some funny (albeit not so funny when they happened) incidents.

• When I was preparing for our software presentation in 1998 at a big company, one of the attendees came up to me and spoke loudly “so what are we going to see today?” – I guess talking loud and slowly really make a difference for people that don’t speak english well 🙂
• In 1997, when I was looking to buy a new truck, I was at a gas station and asked a guy that pulled up in a new F-150, how much it cost… he looked at me and said “it is very expensive”… I guess I didn’t look like I can afford such a truck.
• When I was browsing new shirts in a big department store in Scottsdale, a sales lady approached me and said “those shirts are not on clearance”… wow! that one stung.
• and of course the classic one, when a flight attendant said “hey, are you sure this guy is in business class?” on a flight from Bombay to Zurich in 1997 right in front of me, I was speechless (read about it in my post My most memorable travel story!)

In many of these incidents, you become numb and usually can’t respond immediately.  Are they really discriminating? Racist? or just don’t have enough exposure to realize that stereotyping based on color or ethnicity is not right?

In early 90s I used to hang out with mostly Indian students, relatives and didn’t get exposed to much about other races in US.  When I got married in 1995 to a white girl, I heard many comments – married to get Visa, married to show off, married for money (really? :)) – but after that milestone my opinion about race changed significantly.  There are bigots and people that discriminate in every race… just because of those handful, everyone gets labeled as the same.  Is every white person a KKK member? or is every hispanic is here illegally? But you can’t escape the rhetoric that some people use in general.  Racism and discrimination haven’t started recently, they has been there forever and just recently it has been brought to forefront.  Now, you see people that hate discrimination so much they themselves discriminate against whole race and group of people.

Recently I heard a comment at a hotel bar from a young white girl that she hates rich people.  I asked her what is her definition of rich… and she said those people that drink fancy scotch, buy their kids expensive things and stay in nice places.  Her boyfriend also had sympathy for me that how hard life must be for me for being brown in this culture. So I had to talk to them about my life experiences and how being brown doesn’t bother me and also how all rich people are not bad… some work really hard to get there.  That is what prompted me to write this post.

When did you see a problem fixed “it self” if you yelled right in its face?  Calling people racists or showing that they are WRONG is not the way to fix it.  I had the privilege of reading a lot of posts from Sadhguru recently.  We will not be able to fix Terrorism, Racism and Bigotry in our life time!! But we can start making a difference.  The only way is to start making people realize what they are beliefs are not right and make them aware of life in general one at a time.  So take time to educate one person at a time and don’t waste time in calling people out and feeling good about yourself by doing so.

For me, there is only one race and that race is HUMAN RACE!