San Jose = New India

Me and friend have been considering rechristening San Jose to New India. The number of Indians in the bay area is staggering. I was there recently for a conference I really felt I was in India by the sheer number of Indians I saw there. There is multiplex that exclusively plays Indian movies. So for a change I had the option of actually picking which movie I wanted to watch. We ended up picking Don. We got something to eat at a fast food India place nearby. Someone from the town I grew up was there and came up to me and asked me if I was "Neha". We trying to compute that from all the places in the world what was the probability of this happening in San Jose. The conclusion was "Quite High". We also a had a single data point to prove it, so it was decided to be statistically sound for this problem domain. The service was very typical of something you would find in India. No the US sweet and sugary customer service. My friend was asked twice to show her receipt when her order didn't show up. Embarssingly we found it more amusing than insulting. All things said and done, the food was really good, and after Utah it felt like being back home. On the next day I had the best Mysore masala dosa ever. It felt like dosa from a really good South Indian restaurant located in South India and not on El Camino Road in San Jose.

Pointing vs. Sharad Pawar

When I saw this video I was confused. Earlier Ponting seems to be having a sort of "banter moment" with Pawar saying "come on mate hand me the trophy". I am willing to give Ponting the benefit out doubt that he was pushing Pawar away as part of joke. Pawar is the president of the Board of Cricket Control in India, and cabinet minister in the current government. A lot of Indian viewers were shocked at this incident. A lot of that outrage has to do with a cultural background of respect and deference to other people older in age and in better social positions.

Ponting has offered to apologize to any Indian official offended by his actions. He should be specific and target his apology to Pawar. He did not mention it was part of a joke or trick being played on Pawar. So maybe he just got carried away in the moment. It is the first time the Aussie's have won the ICC Championship Trophy.