17 July 2014

Gate C48 at Atlanta airport

My flight was from C50. When I reached there, something struck me. See if you can see anything odd with the picture.

Note the gate C46 on the far left. And note my gate C50 on the far right . Note the doors next to the gate numbers.

Now look at gate C48. There is clearly a board declaring it is gate C48. But there is no door!!! I looked from the side and then while getting on my plane again, there is no jetway bridge either.

Why do they have the gate number there? I asked a Delta agent – she had no clue either!!

Ah well!!

20140717-131704-47824830.jpg

16 July 2014

The Divided States of America

Evidently, this November, California will be voting on whether to divide itself into six states. And one of those new states will be called Silicon Valley! Reading this, of course, I had one of those “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” moments. Did I totally miss some news like US was occupying California for fourteen years and now the military is going to withdraw or something? πŸ™‚

I think all states should vote whether they should split up then. Here are some that I can think of. Why don’t you add your own?

1. The state of Oklahoma is divided east-west and are called “Not OK” and “Absolutely Not OK” πŸ™‚
2. The state of Alabama similarly will be divided north-south and called “People’s Republic of Redneckistan” and “Overgrown Lawn of Redneckistan” πŸ™‚
3. Florida should be divided into three states by latitudes running thru Lake Okeechobee and Ft. Myers. They will be simply called “Eighty and above”, “Ninety and above” and “Hundred and above” πŸ™‚
4. The alternate-lifestyle friendly state of Maryland similarly can be carved up into two states. The new state can be called Johnland. The remaining can still be called Maryland πŸ™‚
5. Alaska will be divided into the monarchy states of Alaska (ruled by Sarah Palin) and Alaskim (ruled by John McCain)
6. New Jersey will be divided into two states – “New India” and “Three
White Guys”
7. Texas, being Texas, has to be different. I am sure it will vote to stay as a single state although it will go with a more appropriate name like “North Mexico” or something… πŸ˜‰

You want to fill in for the other 42 states?

15 July 2014

Cosmic Connection

So, there is this lovely lady called Bidisha Rudra. In 2007, when we moved from Dallas to Atlanta, we found out thru a common friend that she was looking for a nanny for her very young twins. Nikita’s nanny was out of a job (since we moved) and we made the connection. I think the nanny worked with Bidisha’s kids. After moving to Atlanta, one of the very few people I became reasonably close with – Amitesh – turned out to have known Bidisha and her family very well. Apparently, they lived in Atlanta before they moved to Dallas!!

After that, all I know is Bidisha and her family moved to Asia (multiple times?) for work. I never got to meet them but Sharmila and the kids have met them in their visits to Dallas later. I knew enough about her and her family that by this time we were Facebook friends too.

Now cut to many years later to this evening. As you see in the picture, the in-laws, Sharmila and myself were relaxing by the poolside late in the evening. One thing led to the other and finally, at the end of a really excited set of questions and answers, I was able to put the following together:

My wife’s dad’s sister’s husband’s brother’s son’s daughter is the same lovely lady Bidisha!!

Don’t ask me why I get so excited about these really long connections (remember my bench mate from fourth grade Subir Hore who I found out was a relative many times removed many years later? ). Probably the odds against a total population of 1.2 billion. As Bidisha herself put it “cosmic connection” πŸ™‚

20140714-221454-80094934.jpg