Bay to Breakers

Yay! I did the Bay to Breakers this year.

Actually, I feel a little guilty claiming that. We were part of what Wikipedia calls "Large numbers of participants walk the route behind the runners". Sree and Farhan, our fitter friends, ran the race. While David & I (because of me) walked, alongside all the fancy dressed people. So it was more like a long tiring hike/halloween street party.

But a really fun hike! Bay to Breakers is known for its quirky participants, and we got a great view of all the cool stuff. The guys dressed up as Spongebob Squarepants, the several dozen swine flu costumes, the salmon runners who start from the finish line and "swim upwards" through the race. Have to admire all these people, it was a very hot day (first one I've seen in San Francisco!) and walking 7.5 miles in those elaborate costumes is a real test of endurance.

And of course, there were the brave "Bare to Breakers". I hope they took sfgate.com's advice and slathered on the sunscreen! Why is it that nudists are so often the people who most need to cover up? For a long stretch, my main view was a man's floppy naked butt. Hmm, considering the alternative maybe I shouldn't complain.

My digital camera's seized up, so I had to settle for iPhone pictures. And very soon after the start, I was too tired to care about taking pictures. So these are quite lame and have no fun costumes.. but they stand as proof of my participation. The only way you could take such lousy pictures is if you were in the thick of things!

At the start line



Sea of humanity racing up the steepest part (and bonus shot of David striding up the road)



I will probably be limping all week, but it was totally worth it!

One finger salute

Congress won the Indian elections! They showed a surprisingly good performance with almost an absolute majority. I'm not exactly jumping up and down cheering (like Vanity Fair, Indian politics is a story without heroes). But this is still good news.

For one thing, it almost doesn't matter who is in charge in Delhi if we could just get some stability! The last several administrations have been coalition governments - precarious, unlikely alliances between the strangest bed-mates politics ever made. And with so many different parties to please it is incredibly hard to get anything done. It was galling to think that the Prime Minister had to run his policies by a bunch of marxist communists (unfortunately, this is not an epithet, simply the name of their party). The Congress will still need allies but it has far more seats in Parliament than it did 5 years ago, so it doesn't need them as badly as it did in the previous government. And while I'm not a fan of Manmohan Singh, he feels like a boon from the gods compared to some other names being thrown around recently.

Also it's good to see the BJP put in their place. Oh, sooo good! The way they went around talking about national security and terrorism, bemoaning the Congress on being "soft on terror". It is nice being the party in Opposition, isn't it - you can thunder on about what you would have done, while secretly thanking your stars you weren't in charge. Let's just say the BJP's record on terrorism is... less than stellar. Even if you discount the domestic terrorism they themselves instigated.

Overall, I think the election results showed amazing maturity and wisdom on the part of the electorate. Ah, it is awesome to see any large mass of humanity behave rationally!

And now, on a lighter note

Usually, when you vote in India, they put an indelible ink stain on your forefinger so you can't vote again. Displaying that ink stained finger makes a great photo-op for politicians and celebrities on election day



For some reason the election officials in Mumbai decided to stain the middle finger instead. Here's the Bachchan family, clearly enjoying themselves :)


Other, more image conscious movie stars resisted the temptation


And then there were the ones who clearly had no idea that gesture meant anything special


Coming from a politician on election day... sometimes an image truly says a thousand words.

So it isn't actually green?

No it isn't, turns out it's white. But it says "Permanent Resident Card" at the top alright.

For several years now, the 'temporary' aspect of the H1-B visa has hung threateningly over my life and my career decisions. And now I am finally accepted as a permanent resident of the country where I have spent almost my whole adult life.

Also, it is one more check mark on the standard NRI success checklist - grad school? check. married? check. green card? check.

So I ought to feel happy. And I did too, for a moment. My first thought was "Wow, I could take a break from work if I wanted". My second thought was "Damn, I can't! I need the health insurance." And so life goes on..