The World is Flatter

Earlier today police fired tear gas on people protesting the G20 summit in Pittsburgh. Those poor bastards are pissing against the wind. 

Because the other day, when Bollywood, Google, and a Tajik crossed paths, they blew away the notion that anyone can or could control the globalization beast.

Back in the early 1980's, Bollywood made yet another movie that was as amazing as it was awful. Spoiler warning - how bad, you ask? Mithun (the star) got "guitar-phobia" when the bad guys hooked up 5000 volts to Mithun's electric guitar to kill him - but fried the star's unfortunate mother instead. One of the several un-note-worthy song-and-dance sequences in the movie is "Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy Aaja" ("Jimmy, come hither"). Long after the movie ran out of steam in India, it percolated in Central Asia's movie houses and soon had a cult following (boy - do they need help...). We tend to focus on India's outsourcing industry as a symbol of globalization - but Bollywood is India's most potent globalization beast.

Enter Tajik Jimmy - the "un-global". We are told he is Baimurat Allaberiyev, an ethnic Uzbek from Tajikistan.  A one-time sheep hearder, cotton picker, construction worker, stock room guy, and now recording artist. TJ can render all of Jimmy Aaja using a stockroom table, his knuckles, and his vocal cords. All the disco music, the male singer and even the falsetto female singer (that Bollywood is infamous for). And one-man Bollywood band with panache.

Enter that most ubiquitous of globalized technology - the mobile phone. TJ's buddies recorded him on their phones and played them back and forth. According to BBC, one such recording made it to Moscow.

Enter YouTube - that startup sensation before Twitter and before Facebook. Google bought YouTube for $1.65 billion a few years back. 7 billion videos are viewed on YouTube each month (more than one for every man, woman, and child on earth). 20+ hours of video content is uploaded to YouTube every minute (that's a ratio of 72,000:1). But is YouTube global? Three-quarters of that content comes from outside the US.

Sometime in early June, someone's brother in Moscow uploaded 2 minutes and 53 seconds of TJ's video while others the world over uploaded the rest of the approximately 19 hours, 57 minutes, and 7 seconds of video that same minute. TJ's video went viral.

Friedman and Nilekani said that the world was flat. That was in 2005. Vivian - it's a whole lot flatter now. What will it look like when you are old enough to wonder? 

Skoki Valley

Vivian - I found a couple of pictures on Flickr (thanks, bosco). They show Ptarmigan Lake and Baker Lake in the Skoki Valley in Banff National Park, Canada.

Ptarmingan - the lake in the first picture - becomes visible very suddenly after a short clamber up Boulder Pass. My first thought was - hey - here's a zero edge lake. When you reach the zero edge, you see Baker down below you. Gunaraj and I camped at the far end of Baker. Horses take visitors and provisions to the Skoki Lodge. So we can put you on a horse and hike out there.

I Propose

We were driving back from Ikea in the rain. Vivian was chatty as usual. I can't even recall what it was that she wanted. But she said "I propose that...". After a double-take, I attempted verification. "What did you say?". She said again "Mommy, daddy - I propose that..." followed by whatever it was that she was proposing.

I don't know when I first proposed anything. But it surely wasn't when I was two-and-a-half.

Peanuts?

Months ago I taught Vivian a few handy anatomical terms but Jo didn't approve (specifically of "anus"). So I dropped it. Through disuse, the terms have mutated in Vivian's brain. Penis is now "peanuts".

That brings us to this morning. We were in Room 6 waiting for Dr. Z, Jo's trusty OB/GYN. He entered and started telling Vivian how beautiful she was. She interrupted "Doctor - my mommy has a baby in her belly and it's getting bigger and bigger and I'm going to be a big sister".

This announcement inevitably led to cold alien-green jelly being squirted on said belly and sound waves being directed at said baby. Vivian stood up on my lap and peered somewhat anti-climactically at the squirming ultrasound image of our new tadpole. She was silent for a second or two. Then she said "Daddy - does the baby have peanuts or a huha?".

Catching Up

This blog has had a hard time keeping up with Vivian this summer. Our last trip was to Kate's wedding in Philadelphia followed by a quick dash to New York to meet the imminent and eminent Mrs Nagrani.

Kate's wedding was a success. The night before, Vivian entertained the crowds at Kate's and was entertained by Chris' drum lesson. And she got to spend the night of the wedding with her BFF Lily and their sitter Billie (who travelled all the way from NY to sit Lily and Vivian). Vivian left Philadelphia happily clutching her bag of goodies and her pink inflatable guitar (thanks Kate). And loved ever moment of the train ride from the 30th Street Station to Penn Station.

Our biggest worry in NY was to make sure the Vivian didn't get any chocolate on Vik's mostly white expensive furniture. She loved Vik's home (what's not to love), hung out in Soho, rode the subways, did the Museum of Natural History, and chowed down on hot dogs in Central Park. She put aside the grouchiness that usually results from a lack of her usual afternoon naps and managed to pull off a nice dinner with Irina who was delightful. And we made it back to Austin with our sanity intact.

She started school the week after that. The first morning she didn't even turn around to wish us goodbye. We were warned that the next few days may not be so easy. But Vivian ran into class each morning and seemed a bit taken aback to see us at the end of her school day each day.

In the midst of all this, Vivian got to spend two fun-filled days with her buddy Brandon whose mother was busy with his new sister who she incidentally delivered by herself on the way to the hospital. Congratulations, Patrick and Laura, and welcome Hailey. Never a dull moment. Hailey - no - that's not how it's usually done.

Little Lamb

We are back in Austin for a month and Vivian has gone to "school" for three straight days and absolutely loves it. Ask her who her teacher is and without any hesitation Vivian says "Ms Mary". And then usually follows it up with the first few bars of "Mary had a little lamb - little lamb...".

And so it was at the dining table the other night. Hence it was with some trepidation that I answered her question over dinner when she asked what she was eating. "Lamb" I said, "Lamb stew". I was getting myself prepared for anything.

Vivian, as she often does, sang her response. She said "Ms. Mary had a little lamb. Daddy had a little lamb stew".

I'm not saying that my little girl won't ever try a vegan diet or two.