Auto Rickshaw Differentiation

One  advantage of staying at a 4 star hotel in Bangalore that caters to business travelers, is that when you hire a car there to drive you to work each day, the driver is personable, highly trained (he drives safely), experienced, and has good English speaking ability.  The drivers politely ask the usual questions during the 1 kilometer, 10 minute ride: 
- Did you have breakfast sir?
- First time in Bangalore sir?
- Have any plans for this weekend sir?
- What do you like most about Bangalore sir?
- Where is your home sir?
- What time do you need to be picked up this evening sir?

I politely reply, using no contractions and simple sentence structure (noun, verb, direct object) with clean and clear annunciation so they can hear over the din of other vehicles' horns and engines.  Then I ask them questions to learn more about life in India.
- How long have you driven for Taj?
- How many years did you drive before Taj hired you?
- Is Mr Sultan (the head of the Travel Desk) a good man to work for?
- Do you enjoy driving for the Taj?
- How many times each week do you make the Airport Pick-up route? (an hour and a 1/2 drive through massive construction traffic and bumpy bumpy roads).
Then on Wednesday, on my last trip to the office, we witnessed an auto accident.  Right beside us, a brand new Chevy (a tiny car that resembles a Smart Car) SLAMMED on it's breaks, coming to an abrupt halt, and the small Toyota behind it didn't react fast enough and rear ended the Chevy, at the entrance to the technology park in which the Taj Vivanta is located.  Tires screeched,  contact, impact, plastic was shattered and metal to metal contact was made.  The entire world STOPPED, for about 5 seconds.  Every pedestrian, motorcyclist, driver, and security guard, paused to see if the drivers were all right, and if the cause of the accident were two cars of approx equal size and value (they were, so no mob action was needed, link here).  We were RIGHT NEXT TO the accident, and though I was a witness, the Taj driver drove forward as soon as the cacophony of horns began to honk, everyone realizing it was property damage only and not bodily damage.

I mentioned to the driver that this was the 2nd accident I saw this visit.  The previous one, was the prior Saturday when we were stuck in traffic, and a Auto Rickshaw edging forward, bumped a pedestrian who was crossing the street in front of the green tricycle.  The pedestrian GRABBED the Auto Rickshaw driver's arm and handle bar, and shook it, a verbal argument ensued, the surrounding mob (our car adjacent, included) observed the confrontation.  A few seconds later, the scene de-escalated, and the pedestrian unhurt, except for his pride, walked off, and the cacophony resume, traffic inching forward.

To my surprise, the Taj driver asked me "What color was the Rickshaw sir?" 
"Green" I replied.
"Those are 4 cycle engines sir. The black ones are 2 cycle engines" the driver replied. 
THAT made sense.  The black ones were generally more beat up, older looking, belching more black smoke, and slower, powered by a 10 or 15 Hp lawnmower engine.  The green rickshaws looked (generally) newer, usually belching less black smoke, able to do 30 or 40 mph, as compared to the two cycle approx 25 mph strained max. 

I learn something new everyday.  =)

The Smell Of Hotel Carpet

After putting in a 60 hour week by noon Friday, I kicked back a little bit early to do yoga by the pool for the first time in 2 weeks. A 72F day, light partial cloud cover, 22% RH, dozens of sorties flown by thirsty female hummingbirds. I got outside late enough to avoid the morning smell of the cattle farms to the SE near Lower Buckey, and early enough to avoid the cacophony of the ice cream trucks. A refreshing, relaxing, rejuvenating hour in the sun.

Watching hummingbirds quench their thirst on the forest of aloe flowers I have blooming in the back yard was much better than watching women's hockey Olympic Coverage, or curling, or any of the random sporting events NBC decided to televise during the periods of time I was trying to do yoga in the hotel rooms the last two weeks.

Now if I can just get the faint smell of hotel carpet out of my mat. Ew. I Did use bath towels, as a "barrier" between yoga mat and likely-quite-nasty hotel carpets, but just being in close proximity is enough for the polymer mat to absorb residual orders I guess.

Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, Phoenix Symphony

2 weeks ago, on a Saturday night in February, Dr Desert Flower and I left a delicious crawfish boil at our friends' home in Gilbert to attend the Phoenix Symphony. Michael Christie was conducting Prokofiev's Symphony No 1, op25, and then another John Adams work (ugh! why is Christie obsessed with that guy!) Shaker Loops, followed by Peter and the Wolf (Peter i volk) op 67. with an "Oscar award winning film" by Susie Templeton. Well....

The Symphony No 1 was played superbly. It was engaging, dynamic, gripping. We thoroughly enjoyed it. Then, the dreadful Shaker Loops was trudged through. I found myself counting the pop-down sprinkler heads in the ceiling again, looking around the concert hall, impatiently enduring the quasi-minimalist work whilest looking forward to intermission and the pre-paid drinks I had awaiting us at the western entrance bar. Some cognac made me forget all about John Adams, ahhh.

After intermission, the playful Peter and the Wolf began. with a large screen over the stage showing the stop-motion animated short film. It was enjoyable - Christie kept up with the film nicely, and the animation was "cute", but as I look at my $62 ticket stub, I think "I paid $62 to hear Symphony No.1, be annoyed again by Adams cacophony, and then see a 30 minute film?" ...for that same price, I could have seen 5 movies at a theater, or paid my Netflix bill for 6 months. Oh well. It was interesting, but did not provide Dr Desert Flower or myself with $124 worth of symphonic joy. From the looks of the Facebook pictures of the crawfish boil after we left, I think we would have had alot more fun peeling shell fish and eating pinky-sized morsels of cajun seasoned food.

Enjoy The Silence

I've tried watching "Times Now" - India's version of CNN / BBC, and while their obsessive coverage of Pakistan's harbouring of Osama Bin Laden provides a unique insight (since no one hates Pakistan more as a nation, than India)  the majority of their BLARING VOLUME advertisements are a cacophony of Hinglish.  Hindi-Hindi-Hindi-great experiences... Hindi-Hindi-Hindi-amazing offer.  Hindi-Hindi-Hindi-are you okay? Hindi-Hindi-Hindi-false alarm.  The acCENTS emphaSIZED on all the wrong syllabelS causes the verbal interpretation centers in my brain to cramp up.  I've taken to working and getting ready in my room in silence.  Much more tranquil. 

Much Better than the Ice Cream Man

I am on my patio, wondering when Dr Desert's Flower's late Friday afternoon staff meeting might end - on ne sais jamais. A delicious glass (1/3 bottle left) of Aquila D'Oro, and I can HEAR (as well as see) the Anna's, Costa's, and Black Chinned hummingbirds, dog fighting above the yard & pool, drinking from the feeder, and one brave & determined Anna's hummingbird male perching in the lemon tree proclaiming my verdant & crimson landscape of flowers and nectar feeders as his own, while the January sun sets in a wispy cloudy sky.

If you want to hear them too, go to this whatabird link (here). and go down the left side to the sound files.

The hummingbirds' buzzing, chirping, and singing are a welcomed audio improvement over the seemingly omnipresent ice cream man truck's cacophony.

For more audio links go here, here, and here.

I find it fun to play bird call wavs on my computer with the volume Cranked UP... and it confuses the territorial males. LOL! In SC I used to play calls that a mocking bird would hear, and repeat, thrice in defiance, as I enjoyed sunsets on the deck there with a glass of wine as well. ALOT fewer bugs here though... and mold... and Fundamentalist Baptists... and moisture... and Klan members...

The sky's turned a shade of magenta in the west... yep, not a bad Friday so far.

Reasonable Evangelicals

Belief.net's Steven Waldman was on Fresh Air this afternoon. I'd heard the promo, and thought... "oh no.. another Fundy. I hope my head does not explode." But in listening to him, he came across as a very reasonable evangelical. He was not a narrow-minded ideological fundamentalist. He presented himself as a compassionate Christian, and made a great deal of sense. It is So Refreshing, considering the recent cacophony that fundamentalists are making globally, lately.

Ice Cream Truck Cacophony

Everyday here in West Phoenix, starting about 2:30pm, the dilapidated ice cream trucks circle the neighborhood, blasting (about 75 dB A) their songs to lure children to buy frozen treats. The songs range from Christmas carols, to the Mexican Hat Dance, to the "Constance" song that Todd, Harry, Andrew, Phillip and Winthorpe sang in "Trading Places". It is a bizarre cornucopia of sounds. Since the roads in my neighborhood are curved in a nautilus like shape, and my home is at the center of the phragmocone's camerae, the episodes of repetitively blared songs sometimes take the better part of an hour to dissipate. On weekends, one can count on hearing ice cream truck songs the better part of the day. With 1 out of 3 homes vacant, and 1/2 of the inhabited ones with renters in them, I really don't understand how these truck operators make any money, but they keep trolling.

Mandalay Bay Malaise

The beach side casino is seen here, with blue windows

Dr Desert Flower and I joined our friends Tim and Jill in Vegas last weekend to help celebrate their wedding anniversary.  We'd gotten deals in the mail for the Wynn (where there are signs at the entrance that say "for your safety, strollers are not allowed") but Tim & Jill had already booked Mandalay Bay, partially based upon DDF's praise of what a nice place Mandalay Bay was when we stayed there for one night last year for one of her co-worker's weddings.  The pool looked nice, the rooms and service were nice, the restaurant selection was extensive... why not?  

So we show up on Friday afternoon, and Mandalay Bay is extremely busy.  Maybe not 100% with no vacancies, but very very busy, with large families, lots of little kids ("little kids" = couples with toddlers, often twins, in strollers, ages 5 and younger mostly).  We looked around, gambled some, lost mostly, and drank comp'ed alcohol (play MAX credits on the 25 cent machines, and the servers tend to come by to see if you need a drink more often).  Everyone retired early, and slept it off, Tim & Jill being jet lagged from their transcontinental trip.

Saturday was to be BEACH DAY!  But..  we got started after 11am, and by then, there were no free beach chairs available at the massive wave pool, the 2 auxiliary pools, the two hot tubs (it was over 100F, so "Hot Tub" was not a good idea anyways), the lazy river, or the closed and barricaded off "south pool".  Sure, you COULD pay $20 a female, and $50 a male, to get into the Moorae Beach Club, a top-optional or "toptional" adults only area, but there too, were no more free chairs.  They DID have $100 cushioned beach chair, and accompanying $100 umbrellas...  so a "trip to the pool" would have cost us $270 per couple.  I found that insulting, and we opted for starting early on Sunday morning instead, and walked around the Las Vegas strip visiting various casinos Saturday.

Saturday night, we had a nice dinner together at the Aureola restaurant inside Mandalay Bay, and it was fine.  Sure, I DID find the one Bordeaux on their wine list that was called a "Fronsac St-Emilion" on the fancy iPad driven wine list.  [For those of you not familiar with Bordeaux regions, calling something a Fronsac St-Emillion is like saying you're from Welsh Scotland.  Fronsac and St-Emilion are two distinct regions, separated by the town of Libourne, and the Pomerol region.  I know this, because I have the map mounted on my office wall, just a few feet to the side of my computer monitor, and I've memorized the map over the last 4 years, and I have drank bottles of Fronsac and St-Emilion, and they have distinctive, different tastes].  But dinner was delicious, service was fine, and not too expensive... and the Sommilier admitted the mistake, and said they'd update their wine list.

Sunday morning came, and Tim and I staked out the free beach chairs, wave pool adjacent, saving $270 a couple, and slathered up with SPF50 sun block.  After an hour or so, Tim heard the call of the video poker machine, and headed to the beach side casino.  I stayed beach side, and held the chairs for the eventual arrival of the wives after their morning at the spa.  The longer I stayed, the more uncomfortable it got.

I chose the word "Malaise" for the title, mainly for the wiki definition:

Malaise (pronounced /məˈleɪz/, mal-aze) is a feeling of general discomfort or uneasiness, of being "out of sorts", often the first indication of an infection or other disease. Malaise is often defined in medicinal research as a "general feeling of being unwell".  

The chairs were jammed tightly together - so tight you could not get through the rows of 30 to 40 chairs each.  The sand was heated by the unrelenting desert sun to greater than 125F, since my feet can handle 115 to 120F without too much discomfort, and I couldn't handle walking on the sand to get to the pool, 50 feet away - flip flops required.  While the cramped space and the hot sand were not welcoming, the piped in music - which started calmly in the morning with a subtle eclectic mix - turned into an oppressive & intrusive cacophony of pool-wide sound competing with all 8 of the "bungalows" that ringed the perimeter of the free pool chairs (and which cost between $500 and $3000 a day per bungalow), AND the music carrying over from the Moorae Beach Club, 15 feet above and 50 feet behind.  I've been in train stations at peak times that have been less crowded and not as sonically chaotic, and that includes Garde de Norde in Paris, Grand Central in NYC, and Central Station in Amsterdam.  The sound began to berate one's senses. The burning sad gave you a feeling of being stranded.  The crowded & cramped chair arrangements combined with the searching families looking for empty seats made me feel like a ship wreck survivor floating in the midst of circling sharks. What fun!

Then, to make a Matrix / Terminator "hunter killer" reference, there was the near constant circling of helicopters.  Mandalay Bay Las Vegas is located near to BOTH the commercial heliport at the McCarran airport, AND the Nevada Army National Guard helicopter wing, which fly nearly continual sorties.  The commercial operators are taking people to the Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon, and we were lucky enough to stay at Mandalay during a National Guard training weekend when the OH-58A Kiowas were repeatedly taking off and landing, early in the morning, Saturday and Sunday. 

But there's a wave pool! - you might say?  Sure, there was a wave pool, and for anyone who's never been to ....  say...  the ocean, the 2 foot high swells that the wave pool generated were unspectacular.  the gulf of Mexico during calm winds gets bigger waves sometimes, and all of South Carolina and the South end of Lake Michigan gets larger waves.   Lots of the small children loved the Mandalay Bay pool, splashing merrily about, but for me, it was the antithesis of a fun beach.

And when I googled "Mandalay Burma" (as I KNEW there was a city called 'Mandalay' SOMEWHERE in SE Asia, unlike most Americans) I found that the land locked city of Mandalay is smack dab in the middle of tropical Myanmar.  It has no "Bay", and the only "Beach" is along a heavily commercial Ayeyarwady river that runs close to the Sagaing Fault where the tectonic plates of India and Sunda meet - so it gets earthquakes too!

I highly doubt the marketing geniuses at MGM (MGM group owns & operates Mandalay Bay) figured anyone would associate the beachless, land locked, oppressive totalitarian regime governed, tropical city of Mandalay that is the economic hub of Upper Burma to be the inspiration for their sizzling sand, tiny-waved, crowded chaired, helicopter buzzed, oppressively & blaringly loud Mandalay Bay hotel pool.  "Paradise" ?  Well... maybe if your idea of "Paradise" is hellish, perhaps.  If you've got little kids, you should not visit Vegas.  It's not a city for little children.  But if you do take your little children to Vegas, and their feet are immune to hot sand, and you get up early each morning, and you've never been to the ocean, and you don't enjoy cool alcoholic beverages on the beach (they'll sell you some for outrageous prices, but you can't bring your own into the pool area), then Mandalay Bay is the place for you and your youngins.  I won't be at Mandalay Bay again.

Being John Malkovich Assad

The more I hear about Syria killing Sunni (majority) citizens, and Bahrain suppressing Shi'a (majority) citizens, and the more bombs that keep going off in Iraq & Afghanistan & Pakistan... I find it hard to not implicate the involvement of the largest Shi'a nation in the world: Iran. 

First, Syria.  I keep hearing questions on the radio
Q: "When will Assad run out of money?"
A: Never, as long as Iran is pumping oil.  Iran won't pass up a chance to take out Sunnis and stick a thumb into Sunni run Saudia Arabia's eyes, whenever possible.
Q:  "How long before the Syrian military generals turn against Assad?"
A:  Never, as long as Iran is providing military advisers, intelligence, weapons
Iran NEEDS Syria and the Assad regime to funnel money and weapons to Hezbollah ( حزب الله‎ ).  Assad is an 'Alawite, which is a off-shoot of Shi'a.  Now, to most so-called christian[TM] Americans, a Muslim is a Muslim is a Muslim.  But to the Shi'a and Sunni, they see themselves as different as Roman Catholic and Orange Protestants in Northern Ireland.  Sunni doctrine dictates that Shi'a are heretics who need to be executed - Martin Luther didn't advocate killing of Catholics, the same way the Inquisition advocated hunting down and taking out perceived "heretics" but the level of hatred is the equivalent. 

So the Iranian Shi'a, who have loads of oil, and therefore a supply of Cash, are able to finance, supply, guide, influence, control the Syrian 'Alawites, and the Lebanese Hezbollah Shi'a militants, and the citizens of Bahrain who are 80% Shi'a but are ruled by a Saudi Aligned Sunni monarchy.  And to make things look worse for the United States, our 5th Fleet is stationed in Bahrain, so the United States Commerce, Energy (oil), Defense & State Departments don't want to have American media cover Sunni suppression of Shi'a majority citizen protests in Bahrain, but they DO want to have intense media focus on Bashar Assad's killing of his Sunni majority citizens in Syria.  Thing is, it's not Assad so much anymore killing anyone, but Iran pulling the puppet strings.  If Iran loses Syria to a majority Sunni revolution, they lose a 2nd front on Iraq through which to funnel IEDs, suicide bombers, and enough mischief & evil to entangle US troops in support of the Iraqi government for generations to come.  Iran would also lose their conduit to easily reach Hezbollah, since in Lebanon there's too many Druze and Christians getting in their way. 

Now, to circle back to Afghanistan & Iraq.  Iran Does NOT want America to withdraw troops, treasure, and attention from their neighbors Iraq and Afghanistan.   They DON'T want to be invaded, but at the same time, they won't pass up a chance to kill as many Americans and NATO troops as possible with increasingly sophisticated IEDs, so Iran creates as much mayhem and havoc as they can without stepping over the line to the point where they blatantly piss off the US and get cruise missile, predator drone & B2 bomber strikes.  From what I've observed, the bloody math figures to < 50 US troops killed / month = American Apathy*
* Note: as long as the IED or violent attack is not directly traceable back to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

So it is the Sunnis in Saudi Arabia who are pulling the puppet strings with the monarchy in Bahrain, and with Hamas ( حماس‎ ) in Gaza.  The Shi'a Iranians are pulling the puppet strings in Syria, in Lebanon with Hezbollah, fueling unrest in Bahrain with the Shi'a majority, in Iraq when Sunnis are blown up, and in Afghanistan when the Sunni dominated Taliban are not involved in killing Afghan & NATO troops. 

John Malkovich is no longer John Malkovich once John Cusack is pulling the puppet strings, and playing out his long lasting dream of exploring the 'art of puppeteering'... all while appearing to be John Malkovich, having the facade and reputation of Malkovich, but living out the dreams and machinations of Cusack.  Pick your puppet, and your puppet master.  Align each with rival Sunni or Shi'a sects who've hated each other and warred with each other for centuries, and perhaps now you have a better impression of just how messed up things are from the Sinai Peninsula to the Hindu Kush range. 

I do not include Libya and Pakistan into this, since they are far more tribal, diverse in which Muslim sect their populations are made of, and are therefore much harder to predict.  The puppeteers are playing smaller roles there, but are not the dominant voices in the cacophony of violence, chaos, and civil war (in Libya Open civil war, in Pakistan, just-below-boiling-point covert civil war).  In Egypt, the society is more educated, more tech savvy, more metropolitan and less agrarian relying heavily on tourism for revenue (or at least they Used To rely on tourism) so the religious puppeteers have less sway. 

Therefore, whenever I hear about "When will the Syrian regime collapse?" I automatically rephrase the question:  "Will Iran capitulate in Syria, to Sunni / Saudi dominance?"

"When will the media start covering the brutality against the Bahrain citizens?" automatically becomes "When will the 5ft Fleet leave Bahrain?"

"When will the US withdraw all their troops from Iraq?" automatically becomes "When will Iran stop funding Malaki and other Shi'a insurgent factions?"

I know it's somewhat of an over-simplification to label ALL the carnage in the middle east on the Sunni / Shi'a internecine conflict, but it helps my tired mind to see who the real puppet masters are, and why the killing continues on a massive scale fueled by religious fervor.