Thursday, January 24, 2019

Kamala Harris


Almost 6 years ago, on April 11, 2013, I wrote a post “A Name to Remember”. It was about Justice Srikanth Srinivasan. In that post, I had also mentioned that (a practically unknown at that time) anytime in the next 25 years Kamala Harris may contest for the President of USA and may even win.

Kamala’s mother, Dr. Shyamala Gopalan, is from Chennai.

Day before yesterday, Senator Kamala Harris announced that she is officially entering the race for the President of the United States in 2020. She is one of the more than a dozen candidates from the Democratic Party.

She has a similarity with President Obama. Obama was a first term Senator and ran for the President. Kamala Harris is also a first term Senator.

Obama was the first African-American to be elected as President. Will Kamala Harris be the first woman (and Indian origin) to be elected as President? Stay tuned.

Saturday, December 1, 2018

The Play

Stanford won today against Cal Bears with a comfortable margin of 23 to 13.
 
Thank God they did not have to send their Marching Band into the field to stop Cal Bears from winning the game as in 1982. HeHeHe.
 
It was November 20, 1982. Stanford against Cal at the Cal Berkeley Stadium. Stanford Cardinals were leading 20-19 with only 4 seconds to play. The Cardinals flooded the field to celebrate and the referee ushered them back to the bench.
 
Now with only 4 seconds left, Cal had possession of the ball.
 
Stanford’s band, assuming their team has already won, started marching into the field. The Cal Bears made several backward/lateral pass among their players and ran through the Stanford Band to make a Touch Down and win the game 25-20.
 
This last play by Cal Bears on that day (November 20, 1982) is the called “The Play”,
 
“The Play,” as it became known remains one of the most famous in college football history.   Here is the YouTube of that last play.
 

Monday, November 19, 2018

Those Were The Days

When I used to work in San Francisco, I had to cross the Bay Bridge in Highway 80. It is crowded during commute hours (at all times now). There is a special lane for cars with 3 or more passengers. I lived in El Cerrito and it would take about one hour and 15 minutes to reach my office. Thru car pool lane, I could reach my office in 25 minutes.
 
People who drive cars and don’t have 3 passengers in their cars will stop at the bus stop or the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) station to pick up passengers. I used to go to the bus stop and everyday different people in different model cars will pick me up and drop me in my office.
 
 
One day, a stretch limousine stopped and the driver asked me if I wanted to go to San Francisco. I agreed and took the back seat. In the front was the driver and his wife. They both run a funeral home in San Francisco. He had 4 stretch limos for use during funeral services.
 
He asked me if I would like to be the third passenger every day. I agreed. He used to live very close to my home. He said he would pick me up at my home every morning and drop me off in my office. He thought I was doing him a big favor by being in his car as a third passenger.
 
Ricky (the driver) was a big showman. When we reach our office, he would ask me to wait in the car. He will come out of the driver seat, open the back door and let me out. When I get out of the limo, he will give me a big salute and bow slightly and say “have a good day sir”. Just to make fun so others who are entering the office building notice that.
 
One day when he was doing that routine, my Regional Vice President (Number 1 man for the entire Western Region) who was entering the office noticed that. He asked me if I was coming from the airport. (Side bar: Managers are allowed to go in limousine to and from the airport.) I said I am coming from home. He had a puzzled look. He asked coming from home in a stretch limo? I said yes and this is how I come every day.
 
He stared at me for 10 seconds and said “I think I am paying you too much money”. He then entered the office.
 
I went to office like this for 3 years until they transferred me to Salt Lake City, Utah.