Entries for May 2009
Season Finale
Season Finale in TV jargon generally means rest for the production team, the TV show ends with an unanswered question. In Cleveland, today is the season finale of Cleveland Orchestra a cherished and revered institution but as the season comes to an end, an unusual question lingers, whether it will come back in its full glory next year? with financial troubles many people are asking this question. The fear is not unfounded with the loss of city industrial power Cleveland lost many institutions like {Red} an Orchestra, Ohio Ballet , Cleveland Ballet (which now performs as San Jose Ballet) and Ohio Chamber Orchestra.
This fear has spread to sports as Cleveland Cavaliers reach the season finale and face the elimination in the play offs questions have risen whether LeBron James will come back or will it will be the end of rise of Cavaliers.
Its wrong time to utter season finale in Cleveland, but I would love to bring atleast one of the Cleveland Ballet companies back, to prove that there is nothing called a finale
Is my conclusion right?
I volunteer for the Case Western Commencement every year, since I manage the doors every year, I see thousands of people passing thru the doors. Like any event attracting thousands of people, the commencement has restrictions like not to use a particular entrance, clear the path for commencement procession etc..
What struck me was in any particular year a bunch of South Asians don't want to follow the follow the simple rules, this year one South Asian gentleman threatened to break my bones when I stopped him from entering thru the wrong door, he was so obnoxious that I had to send police to read his Miranda Rights. I don't understand why they do it, because they have concluded rules don't apply to them, or another South Asian like me cannot enforce the rules that might affect them.
On a recent visit to Silicon valley I saw a South Asian screaming at a pharmacist for delay in medication, while the pharmacist was explaining that she hasn't received the prescription from his urgent care clinic. During the same visit at an Indian restaurant few Indians walk passed the door my cousin was holding open without even acknowledging him, needless to say I was not please with this behaviour. The number of such incidents were too many to be counted while at Silicon Valley.
What ails South Asians? What attitude rubs on them when they land with their 32 kg Rexine bags? Do they conclude they can shout at anybody and have their way? Is the behaviour shaped by resource constrained environment in their native lands too hard to change? Do they believe the basic norms of society doesn't apply to them?....................................?
US and UN
Most high schools and colleges in US have a club called Model UN it is supposed to be a place where the school children learn the high ideals of UN, but the behaviour of the US government is anything but the opposite of it.
The attitude of the US and other so called world powers towards UN has made it ineffective as stated by these video clips from most trusted news sources in US, Daily Show and Onion
From more serious news you can hear the former US Ambassador to UN John Bolton deriding the Obama Administration effort to engage more with UN, this same gentleman can be seen deriding the International Criminal Court , in the movie The Reckoning. In the movie one can see Bush administration's effort to stifle the court and African countries putting their foot down and saying they want the Court, so that no genocide happen again in their continent.
The best part of US policy towards UN, is directed towards UN Human Rights Council, US boycotted this body for years because it elected countries like Libya etc. US used to make these statements without looking inside. US, Iran and one or two more countries execute juvenile offenders, US is the only country that executes mentally challenged offenders and, US and Somalia are the only countries that haven't signed UN Charter on Children Rights, with such company US joining the Human Rights Council will be more like joining the party instead of US creating change from within as stated by US Ambassador to UN.
Since US believes it is MY WAY or HIGHWAY it can walk out of UN it can save money to the tax payer, though it is a different story US has the largest arrears to UN
What makes UN dysfunctional is that it being used a vehicle to promote agendas of various countries which may conflict with each other. Since this problem cannot be solved best thing to do dismantle the peace making and intervention role of UN. Let the peace making be relegated to regional bodies of the world. UN should do the current functions of WHO, FAO, UNICEF and ICAO. UN may sell its New York headquarters to a developer like Donald Trump and use the proceeds for more useful purposes.
Constants of Life
I just learnt that a new born child of a friend of mine passed away though there is a surviving twin this is a small consolation for a life that didn't drive the parents nuts, that didn't bruise its knees, didn't play an instrument in high school band or go to college. The joy of seeing a life going thru life process was lost.
This death follows another which did affect me was that of the 37 year old nephew of the owner of my favourite restaurant in Cleveland. The deceased's daughter was close to me, the 5 year old was always ready for an argument with me. The young man who passed away at the prime of his life didn't have joy of giving away his daughter or seeing her thru tumultus teenage years.
Events mentioned above underlines the important fact of life that only thing that is constant in life is change and the extreme change is death. Change destroys our comfort with time, space and relationships. Death creates a void leaving those left behind to be healed.
I was mulling over change and death when I stopped at a convenience store, the owner out of the blue congratulated me on having kids which surprised me, he explained he saw the Children's Hospital tag on me and guessed so. The tag was put on me when I visited the hospital to meet my friend. When I told my friends story he said he
was moved and said that his prayers are with my friends family.
An absolute stranger's prayers showed the prevalence of goodness of mankind despite the perceived negativity all around , I realized that is the other constant in human life which we don't realize. Since mankind benefits from pervasive goodness it trumps over other constants in life.... change and death
Cuyahoga Valley and Silicon Valley
As I looked at downtown Cleveland from the glorious Edgewater drive, across the Cuyahoga River and Industrial Valley, I saw the Rockefeller Building where the Standard Oil was born, I also drove past the now shuttered factories of GE where Edison once tried his tricks before moving eastwards, Cleveland area had been the home of many innovators and entreprenuers who defined the industrial revolution in USA.These entreprenuers were migrants from Baltics, Balkans, Germany, Poland (Delicious Polish Perogies at West Side Market YUM) and Ireland. Currently, Cleveland area has few large corporations, Eaton, Parker Hannifan and 9 more are the Fortune 500 companies in the region. As I drove thru the various industrial areas of the past in the region it was saddening to see the various buildings standing like carcasses let out to dry, biggest carcass was 14 building complex of the former White Motors which was acquired by Volvo and shifted the plant and headquarters to Virginia, Cleveland lost a lot of industrial power due to bankruptcies, acqusitions or simply CEOs took the companies to fashionable places.
Last week I was in West Coast I drove around the Silicon Valley as a student of Industrial History I couldn't help compare it to Cleveland's past, plenty of ideas going around, people with energy and capital.The Silicon Valley has attracted many immigrants mainly from India and East Europe, the El Camino Blvd looked more like Serangoon Road of Singapore of Yester years. It was also intriguing to see the industrial cycles consuming the valley, Yahoo almost collapsing, Cadence shaky and pink slips galore. I was also alarmed at the amount of vacant office space indicating the predicated explosion of the Silicon Valley didn't happen. The vacant spaces looked like freshly cut meat unlike the carcasses back home
My take aways from the trip were despite what the people like Anna Lee Saxenian might say about places of strong innovation like the Silicon Valley, they have limits to growth, other take away was places of strong innovation like the Cuyahoga Valley or the Silicon Valley are better off innovating till the Wall Street types come and demand returns so that they can get Zillion Dollar bonuses
Elections
As the counting in the month long Indian general elections begins tommorrow evening (US eastern time) many NPR stations will be broadcasting this program to commemorate the election.
Before discussing the Indian election, it will be worth while to look at various elections that took place from around the US election to till now and what it means to US.
Russian presidential election meant continued hold of Putin on power despite being term limited and continued source of pain, Russia is more like a wounded tiger waiting to strike, Baltic states will be first to go.
Eucador election and Bolivian referendum indicated the continued shift to left in Latin America, not a good trend in American backyard.
Israeli election meant a lot to US as it wants to be peacemaker, statements like "Annapolis agreement is dead" by President Netanyahu, diminishes US role in the region
Other important election was Algeria were a good Arab friend of US got elected.
South African and Indian elections are of a seperate category as seen by US, only expectation US had from these two countries was that the election to take and government to be formed.
South Africa which had shown alarming signals of being consumed by the African trend of anarchy after President Mbeki was eased out, was pulled back from sure disaster by none other than Nelson Mandela.
India (oh boy) surrounded by Pakistan (where Taliban is gaining strength), Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Burma, is a strong buffer against all the negataive forces of the world that is of importance to US. So, it is important that election results are declared at the earliest, but the election will throw a fractured verdict and it may be months before a government is formed. That should not hamper security operations because of the seperation of army and political process.
For India a delay in forming the government may not matter because the Indians are these days getting government out of the way instead expecting anything from the government. With strong socialist principles of governance in India, irrespective of any party that forms the government it will be a case of more things change more they remain the same
Mother's Day
On my third full day of my visit to west coast I met a maternal cousin of mine, I had met him once 25 years ago briefly. The main reason we didn't get to meet too often was due to fact mother and siblings spread out due to unpleasant circumstances of their family.
My mother despite her family circumstances didn't allow any of her past to cloud our family, she spent all her energy in developing her children despite hurdles she faced.
Mom, on this day I realize all difficulties you faced and applaud your strength to face them and, thank you for the energy and encouragement you provided us.
Corporations
Despite having two masters degrees in management I haven't read much of business literature in the recent past. Probably because of some life changing events or probably I am cynical of trite I get to see in management journals, magazines and books.
Today I got to see the latest Inc. magazine which nearly shook me awake to the wonderful world of business with entreprenuers sharing their stories of struggle making things happen, probably it was enriching thing I have had in the recent past. It reminded me of the Business as an Agent of World Benefit, I subscribed to and will continue to subscribe to.
There is an all pervasive cynicism about business and rightly so. Looking at the economic mess around us one might call for end of all corporations but the alternate to businesses will be more undesirable.
Probably at the end of current economic turmoil better and reponsible corporations will emerge.
Corporations are dead Long Live the Corporations