Back on my wheels again (sort of)

Yesterday (Saturday) was a long day.

I slept very poorly Friday night, unable to get to sleep until after 3AM. It may have been jet lag, anxiety, the chaat I had for supper (Srinivas' theory...) or all of the above, but I just tossed and turned and read and tossed some more. In any case, this left me only a few hours of sleep before Srinivas arrived, as requested, at 9AM to take me out to run errands.

This was a crazy time to start; I forget that most shops in Hyderabad don't even open before 11. After driving around to a number of stores, and finding them all closed, I gave up and had breakfast at Chutneys, killing time until 11. Then we stopped at Himalaya Book World, where I picked up my preferred office supplies, and headed off to Pedaler's Point to look at bikes.

The selection there was disappointing. The manager remembered me from the previous year and offered discounts, but I just couldn't find a bike at any price that really "fit." I told him I'd have to think about it, and we went to look at bike shops near Park Lane in Secunderbad.

I wound up at Jai Ganesh Cycle Stores, and bought an 18-speed mountain bike, with decent brakes (the most serious flaw in my old bike...) and a good size for Rs. 5500. Call it $125. At the end of the trip I can either return it to the store and get maybe 25% back, or the shop will pack it to bring home (a possibility I never considered). More than likely I'll just give it away; Srinivas might like it.

See the Picasa album Bike, Anil and guest houses for the photos in this blog entry, and more.

I forget a few things, notably a bell and a lock. I got a bell on the way home at a shop at the intersection of Street #7 and Road #1 in Banjara Hills; I got a lock (just the lock, no cable) at another nearby store. I'm not sure what I'll do about a cable.

As I passed through the bustee below Mithla Nagar (Syed Nagar?), things started to go wrong. The screws holding the front fenders on loosed up; I stopped and tightened them. Then I felt the left pedal crank start to wobble. It eventually came off as I neared the top of the bustee. I smacked it back on as best I could and walked the bike to to a repair shop nearby. This was not a success; the shop was really a motorcycle shop, and the guy who helped me didn't have the right tool to tighten the recessed nut in the crank. He did the best he could (5 minutes work, maybe), which wasn't great. As I left I gave him Rs. 10; he tried to ask for 20, but I told him I could get a flat fixed for 10, so no way. Grumble.

I limped back to the guest house (the crank seemed OK as long as I didn't push too hard), got out my tools and went over things. The crank I think is going to require a bike shop; I just don't have the tool I need to tighten that nut, and it's going to just keep coming loose. I tightened up a lot of other loose fittings, and I'll have to see if I can get to a shop this week.

Here's my path home (about 9.6 miles):


View Larger Map

It was about 5PM by this time; I took a much needed shower and then dressed for dinner with Anil and Anu. Srinivas arrived at 6; we spent some time looking at pictures on my computer. Srinivas wants to get an email account; I'll help him get set up with gmail at some point. At 6:30 we left for Anil's house. We arrived around 6:50; I went up to Anil's flat and waited while Anu did whatever it is women do. She appeared, fully dressed and looking ready to go, around 7:15, then disappeared and did something with the baby (Tricia) until maybe 8:20. FINALLY we headed downstairs and off to dinner.

Based on a thread on IndiaMike we had decided to try a new chain called 6pack. There is one near Anil's house; when we got there, we discovered it's a take-out place. Oh, well. I think Anu then suggested Angeethi, across the street from Fusion 9. The ambience was nice, the food was good, and the prices moderate (although Rs. 60 for a bottle of water kinds smokes my shorts...).

Anil, Anu and Tricia

I finally got home, and to bed, by about 11:30PM, completely exhausted. As a result, I slept until 10AM this morning; maybe this will let me kick my jet lag once and for all.

I putzed around on the computer for a while, then went out for a walk. I got a good picture of the front of the guest house, as well as other pictures.

The Hillview Guest House, my home for the next 6 weeks

Golconda Fort and the Qutb Shahi tombs from the roof, off in the haze to the south

The amazing castle-like house on the next hill over, to the north

The guest house has a little shrine. The gods pictured are (left to right) Ganesh, Durga, Sai Baba (not technically a god) and Krishna.

And, of course, the ubiquitous housing for the poor, not 50 yards from my door.

About a block away from Hillview is the Lotus Inn guest house. It looks pretty nice, too; I stopped and got a tour. Similar nice views, even nicer game/exercise room, and about the same rates. I was quoted Rs. 1500/day for 30 days, Rs. 1800/day for 5 days. No web site; call 040-2354 1105 or George, at 98499-26610.

Lotus Inn guest house

Continuing my walk, I came across a typical Indian construction site.



I also passed this shining example of the prototypical Indian government service car: the Ambassador Classic.



My brother-in-law John may find this interesting.

Rooftop solar - both electricity and domestic hot water.

These flowers are for Katy.



Finally, this made me think of Jonathan Coulton.

Watch and listen here.

After my walk I at an early supper at Jalsa, a restaurant at the end of the street, came back and blogged. And now I'm at least slightly caught up.

If you EVER use an ATM, read this!

An IBM security expert recently posted this tutorial on ATM skimmers on IBM's internal blog site. I had no idea that this kind of hi-tech theft was even happening, let along that it's quite common. Here's a picture from the presentation:



You should really download and read the presentation (it's short), but here are some key recommendations:

When using an ATM:

• Cover the keypad while you enter the number.
• Don't give the PIN number out to anyone.
• If you do not feel safe, refrain from using the bank machine.
• Know where the security cameras are located. While many ATMs have cameras, they won't be positioned to record the keypad.
• Be wary of any offers of 'help' with your ATM transaction.
• If you feel you are being watched, ask the person to step back.
• Conduct ATM transactions during the day. Most ATM crime occurs in the evening.
• Be suspicious of a machine that has signage indicating you should use a specific machine.
• Use a different machine if you feel uncomfortable about the ATM instructions.
• Be on the lookout for fraudulent withdrawals on your monthly statement.
• Report anything that seems suspicious or strange about the ATM machine to your financial institution. This could include anyone who offers to help you, tries to look over your shoulder, or is taking pictures in the area.
• Call your bank right away if your card is held by the machine.

BTW, this tutorial tickles one of my pet peeves: redundancy in acronym usage.

• ATM stands for Automated Teller Machine, so "ATM Machine" is redundant.
• Likewise with PIN: Personal Identification Number. "Enter your PIN number" is redundant redundant.
  

Social Butterfly

 

I've been in Hyderabad for less than a week and already I'm booked for next weekend. Shivani has invited me to her wedding Sunday night, and Harini has invited me to her housewarming Sunday morning.

I've moved out of the IBM guest house in My Home Navadweepa and into Hillview guest house in Jubilee Hills. I'll post pictures tomorrow; I got home this evening after dark.

Fall in Hyderabad

I'm back in India for what's become an annual trip to Hyderabad. From now until November 16, I'll be working with the PX engineering team at IBM's India Software Lab, showing them where the bodies are buried in the Orchestrate source code.

This trip began with the customary 21 hour plane trip: Boston to Frankfurt, a long layover, and then Frankfurt to Hyderabad. I managed to catch a few hours of sleep on the first leg, which made the layover a little less difficult. After stashing my carry-on in the Lufthansa business lounge I wandered around the terminal for a few hours, picking up some gifts in the duty-free shops and stretching my legs.

Duty-free shopping seems to be mostly about sin of various stripes: booze, tobacco, perfume (sex), and candy (gluttony) are the featured items. At least one of them comes with some degree of truth in advertising.

From India arrival 2008

After a while I returned to the lounge and dozed, then climbed aboard another Airbus for the second, longer leg to Hyderabad. The mostly sunny skies served up some very attractive views of the rugged terrain of Turkey, northern Iraq and Iran. I've often flown this route in early spring, when the mountains are covered with snow; in early October, they were mostly brown. Pictures through the plane window are always a disappointment, but hopefully these will offer some idea as to what I was seeing.

From India arrival 2008

The plane landed at the new airport at the new Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad, some 23 kilometers south-southwest of the old airport in Begumpet. As usual, I cleared customs very quickly (the new airport has many more immigration control lanes, and they were all staffed), and my baggage arrived much more quickly than usual. BUT - the ride into the city is much longer. I finally settled into bed at the IBM guest house at My Home Navadweepa at 3AM local time.


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Tuesday, my first day at work, was a short one. I collected a temporary badge, and Rajesh showed me to my desk. I got a list of potential serviced apartments from Lakshmi and headed out with Srinivas to hunt.

Our first stop was the Airtel store. Before I left Hyderabad on my previous trip I converted my "postpaid" Airtel account to "prepaid" and got a "lifetime recharge" that was supposed to keep the phone number active. Well, the number was indeed retained, but I had to buy additional minutes for it, and it turns out that "lifetime" meant "one year." I purchased additional time, and when I leave India this time I'm going to leave my phone with someone who can periodically make an outgoing call with it to keep the frakkin' account active. Aside: it drives me crazy that IBM isn't willing to provide prepaid cell phones to visitors.

We then began the apartment search in earnest. I intend to provide a detailed report at a later date; for now, I'll just say that nothing was perfect, but I'm probably going to take a place in Jubilee Hills.

On Wednesday I tried, with only limited success, to actually get some work done at work. People stopped by all day to greet, though, and I made little progress on the stack of chores I had planned. Late in the afternoon Nagesh took me to Srinagar Colony to search for more possibilities. In the process we wound up stopping at Anil's flat, and I met his new daughter. Anil has gotten an H1B visa and is leaving IBM, bound for San Francisco, at the end of October. I hope to spend some time with him - and get pictures - on Saturday.

Today is Dasara. For the second year in a row, Srinivas graciously invited me to his home for dinner. I met his brother's new son and was treated to his wife's wonderful cooking. Here's most of the route to Srinivas' house.


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Srinivas have me the customary missed call when he arrived to pick me up, and when I got downstairs he was cleaning the car from the previous night's drive; it poured rain as we were leaving Anil's, and we drove through a muddy flood.



We stopped on the way to his house at the All Saints' Church in Tirimala Giri (or Tirmulgherry; spelling is always dicey...). Srinivas had never been inside a Christian church; the caretaker allowed us to enter, and for few minutes Srinivas and I switched out usual roles as I explained the inside of the church. I liked the sign at the main doorway.

From India arrival 2008

Our next stop was at Venkateshwara Temple. It's a busy place on Dasara.

From India arrival 2008

Finally, we arrived at his home, and I met his new newphew.

From India arrival 2008

There are more pictures in the album.

After eating, Srinivas brought me back to the IBM guest house; I crashed for a few hours (I still haven't entirely shaken my jet lag) and I posted this. And so starts another season of my Hyderabad blogging.

Visitors and an Anniversary

It's been a busy week. My buddy Dave and his wife Bernice arrived in Boston Harbor on a cruise ship last Saturday, followed soon after by Oki and Clothilde from Germany (via NYC). We stopped by RiverSing on Sunday evening, and on Wednesday night Katy and I drove to New Hampshire to hike Mt. Chocorua as our anniversay celebration. I got a new camera last week, so all these goings on provided an excuse to give it a try.

Dave and I are friends from college; I met him a few weeks after arriving at FTU in the fall of '72, hanging out in the computer room late at night. He got me two of my early jobs (computer operator at Orange Memorial Hospital, and super-junior programmer at Orange County Public Schools), and we've somehow stayed in touch ever since. He and Bernice were passing through Boston on Saturday at the end of a ten day trans-Atlantic cruise, and we had the privilege of putting them up for the night. Here's Dave on our living room rug, noodling around with his fancy cell phone.

From Visitors and an anniversary

It was all too short a visit.

Later on Saturday Oki and Clothilde arrived by car from NYC. I won't go into all the details, but Katy knows Oki (and the rest of his family) from generations of cross-family extended visitations. Oki's brother, Toby, visited us earlier in the summer. Here are Clothilde and Oki at RiverSing on Sunday evening.

From Visitors and an anniversary

RiverSing was a big party in celebration of the autumn equinox on the north bank of the Charles River. It featured many singers (including Bill Staines, one of my favorites), big puppets and general frivolity. We were also treated to a lovely sunset.

From Visitors and an anniversary

From Visitors and an anniversary

From Visitors and an anniversary

Today is our anniversary; because my Morris team (the Pinewoods Morris Men) had a tour planned for today, Katy and I decided to celebrate our anniversary early by hiking Mt. Chocorua in New Hampshire. We originally planned to drive up on Thursday evening, but the threatening weather forecast led us to move the trip up a day. This monkey-wrenched our overnight plans; Katy had to find us a new inn for Wednesday night on short notice, and we weren't able to cancel the Thursday night reservation. This turned out to be just fine; once we finished the hike, we decided to spend Thursday in New Hampshire and drive home very early Friday morning.

Chorcorua has an incredibly exposed summit cone.

From Visitors and an anniversary

We decided to try a different route than our "usual" route up Chocorua (the Piper trail to the Carter Ridge trail and down the Hammond and Weetamoo trails) and instead did a loop up the Brooks trail and down the Liberty trail.


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From Visitors and an anniversary

This blowdown looked like a critter of some sort - a dragon? a moose?

From Visitors and an anniversary

The views from the top of the mountain were, as ever, spectacular, although the day was a bit hazy.

From Visitors and an anniversary

From Visitors and an anniversary

We took this self-portrait after finishing lunch at the summit.

From Visitors and an anniversary

We clowned around a bit at the Jim Liberty Cabin.

From Visitors and an anniversary

From Visitors and an anniversary

The trip down was fast, but it always seems longer that the trip up. We (especially our feet...) were happy to get back to the car.

From Visitors and an anniversary

From Visitors and an anniversary

The Gilman Tavern Inn in Tamworth was a great place to stay. The room was nice, and it's right across the street from a very funky little store (the "other" store, next door.)

From Visitors and an anniversary

From Visitors and an anniversary

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Addendum: Katy has been uploading pictures to Picasa, including some from Mom's visit to Boston in August.

Yet Another Hyderabad Map

Someone on IndiaMike just posted a link to a PDF map of the Outer Ring Road, which I've cached a copy of. The original is from the web site of the Hyderabad Growth Corridor Limited.

Orchard Street Block Party 2008

Our neighborhood block party was today. Here are the few pictures I took. It was fun!

Block Party 2008

Lies, Damn Lies and McCain Campaign Statements

The McCain campaign is so full of lies that even Republicans are starting to complain. See this article in today's New York Times.

The policy lies bother me the most; I think the most outrageous are in regards to tax policy, which I've already written about. McCain claims that Obama plans "painful tax increases on working families." In fact, the detailed and well-sourced comparisons at the non-partisan Tax Policy Center show otherwise. Their analysis states:

The two candidates’ tax plans would have sharply different distributional effects. Senator McCain’s tax cuts would primarily benefit those with very high incomes, almost all of whom would receive large tax cuts that would, on average, raise their after-tax incomes by more than twice the average for all households. Many fewer households at the bottom of the income distribution would get tax cuts and those tax cuts would be small as a share of after-tax income. In marked contrast, Senator Obama offers much larger tax breaks to low- and middle-income taxpayers and would increase taxes on high-income taxpayers. The largest tax cuts, as a share of income, would go to those at the bottom of the income distribution, while taxpayers with the highest income would see their taxes rise significantly.

Sarah Palin's assertions about her opposition to earmarks really get to me, too. She has said, "I told Congress, thanks, but no thanks for that 'Bridge to Nowhere' in Alaska. If we wanted that bridge, we'd build it ourselves." This is a flat-out lie. As a candidate for governor, Ms. Palin supported the project. She told the Ankorage Daily News in 2006 that she would like to see it and other projects built sooner rather than later, "while out Congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist." After the bridge drew national ridicule, making it harder to secure more federal money to meet rising cost projections, she abandoned it, citing the financial shortfall. Alaska was able to keep the federal money and direct it to other projects.

Wake up, America!

Update: Go watch the ABC news interview with Sarah Palin. Could she possibly be less prepared to be vice president?

Strange local politics...

I had an odd, unsigned note slipped into my mail slot sometime today, asking me to attend a City Council meeting tomorrow. The details of the situation aren't interesting to the general reader (look here if you really care), but I do want to say that I think it's slimy to slip unattributed political propaganda into people's mail slots.

This gave me an excuse, though, to noodle around a bit with Google Sites. I'm thinking that this is good enough to use for rehosting all the old content from narsil.org, which would finally let me power down the server in the basement...

Energy Balls in the blogospheric echo chamber

A recent posting on Engadget about a new spherical wind turbine design by "the Swedish company Home Energy" caught my attention:





I wanted more information, so I started following links back the chain of blogs - sort of a game of telephone - looking for a link to the company that makes these. No luck. So I turned to Google, and quickly found Home Energy International, a Dutch company. It's amazing to me that none of the previous bloggers did any fact checking - something always to bear in mind when reading blogs...

Anyway - a few of the specs for the turbine:

• Rated power, 10 m/s wind: 100W
• Max power, 17 m/s wind: 500W

And it's supposedly very quiet, unlike many small turbines.

Update: All Small Wind Turbines has a list of small wind turbines. Cool!

Pakistan, Twitter, Schools and Shrinking Republicans

This week's Sunday New York Times Magazine is worth the price of the paper all by itself. Home delivery gives me the luxury of spending Saturday mornings with the Magazine, and today my lingering over coffee was especially stimulating.

Paul Tough leads off with 24/7 School Reform - What poor kids really need can't be taught in a classroom. He describes the two camps he sees in the Democratic Party regarding education - "the unionists" and "the reformers." The unionists argue that No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is the biggest problem in public education: that it encourages "teaching to the test" and blames teachers for the poor performance of disadvantaged children. The reformers, on the other hand, see problems with the implementation of NCLB, but applaud the accountability provisions and the encouragement of experimentation through charter schools. (Neither camp, it seems, are particularly attracted to vouchers - a policy I personally favor, which makes me persona non grata with much of my liberal cohort when it comes to discussions of education...)
The two camps are anxiously dissecting Barack Obama's speeches and policy announcements, looking for support.

Tough argues that both camps have missed the point: Obama's education plans are novel and interesting in that they largely involve institutions other than schools. Tough quotes a speech Obama gave last year:

If poverty is a disease that infects an entire community in the form of unemployment and violence, failing schools and broken homes, then we can’t just treat those symptoms in isolation. We have to heal that entire community. And we have to focus on what actually works.

This is a realistic assessment, one I agree with - but not one easily reduced to the sort of bumper-sticker catchphrase that seems so important any more in American politics.


Next up is I'm So Totally, Digitally Close To You, by Clive Thompson. He explores the effect of what he calls "incessant online contact" on friendship and privacy. This is a topic that I've long found interesting and blogged about before. By and large, people who have come of age in the past 10 years or so are very familiar with this. Older people, except for the tech-savvy like me, who've used email for over 30 years, tend to know little about about it and generally don't get it. This sort of "radical transparency" is freeing to some, terrifying to others, and emerging as a new norm.

Thompson is followed by David Frum's The Vanishing Republican Voter. Frum, author of Comeback: Conservatism That Can Win Again, argues that the growing income inequality in the U.S. is undermining the G.O.P. and must become a conservative issue. Frum seems to be calling for a return to the brand of "main street Republicanism" so colorfully described by Garrison Keillor in Homegrown Democrat (for a real treat, buy the audio book, read by Keillor).

Finally, Dexter Filkins gives us Right at the Edge, an insightful look at the complex relationships between Pakistan, the Taliban, Al Queda and the U.S. It's scary but compelling reading.

Yes, the election matters...

...and Sarah Vowell, frequent contributor to This American Life, author of the wonderful Assassination Vacation and voice of Violet in The Incredibles, has an explanation of why in this Sunday's New York Times. This excerpt captures, I think, the spirit of her piece:

I have spent the last eight years so disgusted with the incompetent yahoos of the executive branch that I had forgotten that I believe in one of the core principles of the Democratic Party — that government can be a useful, meaningful and worthwhile force for good in this republic instead of just an embarrassing, torturing, Book of Revelation starter kit.

If you're not already familiar with Sarah, here's a fun little video clip to help you out.

A map from Owen

Owen's in Budapest for fall semester; today he sent me this map, with a few key places marked. Yea!


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Economic Plans: What are the candidates really proposing?

This week's New York Times Sunday Magazine contains an excellent article on Barack Obama's economic philosophy and plans, by David Leonhardt. It refers to a study of the Obama and McCain tax proposals by the Tax Policy Center (TPC), a non-partisan joint venture of the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute. The Times article is a great read, and I recommend it; the Tax Policy Center's study provides more detail (in particular, breakdowns of tax impact by quintiles, which I find far more useful than the usually-stated means).

Some interesting factoids:

The tax rates for individuals earning $5m/year (in current, inflation-adjusted dollars) have been:

• 1980: %60
• 1988 (end of the Reagan presidency): %35
• 1990s (Clinton era): %40
• current (GW Bush): %34

Both Obama and McCain would cut taxes for bottom 80% of population (those earning $118,000 or less). McCain's cuts would average $200/year for this group; Obama's would average $900. But the quintiles for Obama's plan are far more interesting than the single number:

Quintile	Top Income for Quintile	$ Change in Federal Tax Paid	Average Federal Tax Rate
20%	$19,740	-$617	-0.4%
40%	$38,980	-$950	8.0%
60%	$69,490	-$1,035	15.4%
80%	$117,535	-$757	18.9%
100%	Top	+$6,770	27.2%

The detail for the top 20% is interesting, too.

Percentile	Top Income for Quintile	$ Change in Federal Tax Paid	Average Federal Tax Rate
80-90	$169,480	-$442	21.7%
90-95	$237,040	+$448	23.3%
95-99	$619,561	+5,686	26.5%
Top 1 Percent	$2,832,449	+114,238	34.1%
Top 0.1 Percent	Top	+650,938	37.5%

Obama's plan is clearly targeted at cutting taxes for middle-income Americans, while fairly dramatically raising taxes on the very wealthiest Americans (but not back to even the top rates of the Clinton administration).

McCain's plan cuts taxes for everyone, including the wealthiest. Not surprisingly, this is reflected in projected increases in the national debt, as described in the TPC's summary:

Compared to current law, TPC estimates the Obama plan would cut taxes by $2.9 trillion from 2009-2018. McCain would reduce taxes by nearly $4.2 trillion. These projections assume the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts expire in 2010 and that the Alternative Minimum Tax is fully effective.

So who's the fiscal conservative here?