Ever wondered bumping into celebrities and how that experience would be? Here is a fictionalized account of me accidentally meeting Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift, with the Hindu God Ganesha and guardian angels behind me for support!
He is tall, I am short, She is mean*, You know what I mean!
* I am talking height and math when I say mean. Don’t want Swift fans coming after me 😊. I will let you calculate what our heights could be!
How would I describe myself? Not a Swiftie (Just means I haven’t listened to her songs. Her multiple hit albums from her teens is proof of her undeniable talent and the Eras tour creating a bump for the economy is evidence of her phenomenal popularity 👍),
Not a hardcore KCC fan (while acknowledging the Mahomes-Kelce duo as one of the best one-two combo, with Andy Reid as the coach, in the history of the sport 👌),
I am a cheesehead (Packers are my home team, I have to support them and what is not to like about a major sports franchise in the smallest city that is also referred to as Titletown and is community-owned! 👍)!
What I genuinely appreciate is accomplished people using their name, fame, money, time and effort for a cause dear to them and it doesn’t get much better than partnering with local food banks for donating food to those in need 👏🙏 I am neither as accomplished nor do I have the same power but hopefully I can be generous too if I achieve even a fraction of that fame and power, to do good 🙏 Generosity of spirit is the among the most uplifting characteristics of humans 🙏
Hey Travis, use your leverage when you bump into Jake of State Farm fame. Make him a Triple Discount (3 discounted tickets for Swift’s concert at State Farm Arena, no less 😊) offer he cannot refuse! 😉 Hoping my man, Aaron ‘Double Discount’ Rodgers, will not think he is getting one-upped 😂 but he will understand. It is the season of Love 😊
On this Giving Day words bonanza heads your way but only fighting words come to mind. Let me list the words, their meaning, and a story to weave in the words. No pictures, no emoticons, let the story paint the picture. A pleasant picture it may not be, but it is what it is.
Pugilist: a boxer, especially a professional one Cocky: boldly or brashly self-confident Plucky: having or showing determined courage in the face of difficulties Haymaker: a forceful blow Crocky: impaired in one’s powers, physically frail Sucky: very bad or unpleasant Geriatric: relating to old people, especially with regard to their healthcare Gibberish: unintelligible or meaningless speech or writing; nonsense Constitution: the composition of something
Here’s the story
The two pugilists, fighting for the biggest prize in the sport, stumbled their way through the fight. Billed as the “Heavyweight Fight Of The Century” it was promoted as a battle between Cocky and Plucky. Cocky was supposed to be the ultimate counter puncher and Plucky the consummate technician, biding his time and waiting for an opening to get his punches in. Trash talk was in plenty and attempts to throw haymakers were many but all of them ended connecting thin air. By the time Round 1 was over, all those who had paid big bucks for a seat to see the fight in person, were wishing that the fight would be brought to an end immediately. The spectators were unanimous in thinking the fight should have been promoted as one between Crocky and Sucky. Hoping to watch left hook and right jab the spectators were instead left shook and paying for a tab that didn’t seem right. By the time Round 2 started, even the ringside judges, tired of all the trash talk and low blows, were thinking of DQing both the fighters, who were well past their prime and should have hung up gloves for good many monsoons ago. Those who were covering the fight realtime had scathing words to describe what was on display. So sluggish were the fighters the writers thought a geriatric ward was a better place than a boxing ring for the fighters. The inane chatter and gibberish that was supposed to be trash talk was compared to the level of 5-year old. Not surprisingly, elder folks and young children took offense to this description. Couple of 90-year-olds completed 100 push-ups without breaking a sweat and a few 5-year-olds recited the Iliad end to end perfectly even while playing video games on their preferred gaming system. Since we are talking about a blood sport it’s a good time to talk about the fighters’ own blood. Well, they were not at all interested in the sport and were more focused cashing in on their father’s name and (in)fame. The quality of the fight was so bad, it left the long departed original creators of the sport, revered as Founding Fathers of the sport, turning in their grave, sensing the grave danger to the sport. When they originally framed the rules of the sport they had emphasized the importance of sound constitution and mind for those taking part in the fight. The Founding Fathers were dead, right, but is it fair to expect them to be dead right forever?
Let me start with a question. Have you sought a simple and satisfactory answer to a vexing question that has been on your mind? One of the questions I have been asking myself and pondering about is “What is God?” 🤔 Reason and urgency for an answer to that question is the fact that many of the current and past conflicts in the world have been in the name of God. Deciding to deconstruct God I wondered if the question should start with “What” or “Who” and settled on “What is God?”. Some might ask why. For some, God is like a person, for others a concept. I am going with concept as it appears more appropriate given that people have different ideas and visions when they think of God. The next question that arose was “Is religion a must for believing in God?”. After some reflection it appears that religion serves the purpose of a wrapper around the concept of God. Which led to the next question “Does God require a shrine?”. Human beings like to wrap and package what they consider is precious and I arrived at the reason that a place of worship serves as a package. Where there is religion, there is denomination too. Reason for that is human tendency to narrow down any group to only those who are aligned totally with a set of beliefs and values. Any group needs a leader too for direction. For some, the leader is a human being that embodies the qualities of God and for others it is God. In effect, God appears to be a construct (idea) that needs to be wrapped and housed in a construct (place of worship). Which brought an interesting thought. Even money could fit the definition of God for people who believe in absolute power of money! Typically, any currency has two sides with figures on either side. On one side the figure is a person (or a symbol) and on the other side the figure is a number. What does the number denote? Denomination! What is the significance of the number? Its value! The US currency even has “IN GOD WE TRUST” on one side of the currency! So, money has a figure of leadership (or symbolism), denomination and values attached to it. The similarity doesn’t end there. People in different parts of the world feel comfortable with their own versions of God and money! So, I ended up where I began with the question “What is God?” as I wanted to find an answer that fit my perception and general perception.
The conclusion I arrived at: God is each individual’s inner voice that commands their thoughts, words and actions. 🙏 The inner voice offers a rationale and can manifest itself in either good qualities (broad outlook, kindness, generosity, empathy etc) or unbelievably bad outcomes (harming and killing in the name of God). This definition of God fits everyone, whatever their beliefs (theist, agnostic or atheist), offers me a simple and satisfactory answer I was looking for. I am at peace with this conclusion. 🙏
Australia’s dominant victory over India in 2023 Cricket World Cup final took me back 20 years. Beginning of 2003 saw me move to Madison, Wisconsin for work after a few months in India with parent Indian company in the 2nd half of 2002. I wouldn’t advise January as the best time to visit Madison, especially if traveling from warmer climes. Wife and son joined me in Madison after 3-4 months. The interregnum was mostly like bachelor life as most of my project team were young guys (in their 20s) and single which meant project work till late in the evening during the workdays and activities as a team during weekend that also included playing cricket. For a very short period initially, during a very short stint, I was the vice-captain of a cricket team we had formed (Over the past 2 decades that team is now one of many teams that are part of a Midwest cricket league). 😊
In 2003 the Cricket World Cup was hosted jointly in Africa, in February-March, by South Africa, Kenya and Zimbabwe. 14 nations featured in that World Cup and they were split into 2 groups of 7 each with the top 3 from each group advancing to Super 6 stage, to determine the semi-finalists and on to the final which was played on March 23, a Sunday. India and Pakistan were in the same group of 7 and their group match was on March 1, a Saturday. India-Pakistan matches generally have a lot of edge to them and attract huge crowds. With time on our hands and cricket fully in our hearts and minds we (co-workers and me) decided to go to a downtown place in Madison where the match was being aired live. We trooped into the place on Friday night and it was jampacked with India and Pakistan supporters. The atmosphere was electric, the excitement palpable and the result very satisfying to Indian supporters as the team easily cantered to victory. 3 weeks later India stormed into the final with Australia as their opponent on March 23. 👍
Arrived the day of the final and duly arrived we at the same downtown place with high expectations due to very strong performance by India earlier in the tournament. The match in itself turned out to be a big disappointment as Australia scored a very dominant victory on the back of sensational batting by their captain and another player who rose to the occasion. The wind was knocked out of Indian team’s sails by the time it was India’s turn to bat. On big occasions, like the finals of an international tournament, the Aussie team do not play just to win. They play to make a statement and so it turned out then. And 20 years later…..thus it turned out today! Some differences in the script though. Australia batted first then, India batted first today. Australia were the undefeated team prior to the final then, India were the undefeated team during this World Cup, prior to the final. Back then I watched live, this morning I just followed the score occasionally. Back then I was a more passionate supporter, now I am more of a dispassionate observer (supporting my team, of course, in a quiet manner). No matter, same result. Another day, same feeling. If it’s not meant to be, it’s not meant to be. Life is about acceptance. Sport is fun and feels more invested and fun to identify with and support a team while the competition lasts. There are more important things in life though. I now look at sporting feats as more of an opportunity to see and appreciate the possibilities expand when individuals and teams pushed themselves to achieve higher and better! 👍🙏
Life without spice is boring. This past summer, along with other veggies and flowers, had grown some varieties of peppers too. Few days ago, I plucked couple of peppers from the backyard. They were multicolored and looked interesting, orange/saffron at the top and green at the bottom, evoking images of the Indian national flag. Placed a black peppercorn at the center (to represent the Ahoka Chakra in the flag) and took a picture 🇮🇳. Few days later the peppers had turned bright red. They were sporting a wrinkled and pocked look. Out of curiosity I cut a piece from the bottom of the red-colored pepper and popped it in my mouth. Not too hot I thought initially, for a few seconds. In the next 30 seconds my initial impression changed drastically. As the heat kicked in and burned its way, my eyes started watering, my nose was running and my hands were burning from contact with the pepper. The thought that I had lost my mojo to handle heat was very troubling to me. It’s like a body blow for a person whose job responsibilities also involve taking heat for the team. Anyways, chopped a few more pieces of the pepper, added them to the dinner dish to spice it up. The pepper must have been singing “I’m hot, hot, hot!” as it coursed through. I cleaned my hands few more times with soap before my night sleep. The morning after, my system got cleaned pretty fast. 😂 While taking a bath, as my fingers came in contact with my eyes the eyes started burning. I was thinking “Whoa, what was that? Is that heat from the pepper from previous night even after cleaning my hands multiple times with soap?” 😡
To check out what pepper I had, downloaded an app only to find that the plant was generally identified as belonging to pepper family that listed cayenne, habanero etc. What the heck, I can identify a pepper myself without using an app. Even taking picture of the pepper for the app did not yield specific result. I took one pepper to work to check if any of my co-workers could identify it. Not much luck there. After googling images of peppers it seemed that my pepper came closest to Dorset Naga in appearance. That’s a super hot chili. It was somewhat comforting to my ego, if not my eyes, nose, throat and gut to learn I might have sweated over a super-hot chili pepper 😉 I then reached out to another co-worker from a different department who I remember mentioning about his picture on a wall of fame at a local hot wings place for finishing very spicy wings. He agreed to come to my office and have a bite of the pepper I had. I cut a piece of the pepper from the tail end for him, and I mouthed a small piece myself. His verdict: It was Trinidad Scorpion hot pepper! Another super hot chili! I was happy to hear that but not convinced, as pictures of Trinidad Scorpion peppers I had seen did not look like the pepper I had. I generally store the packet (that contain seeds I plant) or plant tags (if I buy plants) near the seeded or planted area. Next morning, braving the cold, I looked for either a packet or plant tag. Sure enough, I found a plant tag. The mystery about the identity of pepper plant was solved. It’s a ghost chili pepper (Bhut Jolokia)! Another super-hot chili pepper cultivated originally in the northeastern States of India. 👍
Ghost pepper was the reigning champ from 2007 to 2011 as the spiciest chili pepper before the Trinidad Scorpions and the Carolina Reapers (and more recently Pepper X) took over the title of spiciest chili pepper. The spice level of a pepper is measured in Scoville Heat Units (SHU). For example, Jalapeño SHUs range from 2500-8000 SHUs. The super elite “bad boys” of the hot chili pepper world have their SHUs ranging from ~ one million SHUs or over. Ghost pepper is also a member of the “bad boys”. Man, the heat of those higher Scovilles can really be felt by every part of the body that comes in physical contact with the pepper. Talking of heat, the hottest team in Cricket World Cup currently in progress is the Indian cricket team. With 7 wins from 7 matches they are all fired up 🔥and have already made it to the semis, with 2 matches still to play before the knockout stage begins. Like the ghost pepper the Indian cricket team intensity has been overwhelming other teams they have played so far. It’s as if other teams have been too stunned to respond effectively after being hit by a can of ghost pepper spray. If the Indian cricket team can maintain the form and performance enough to win it all, that will help the team exorcise the ghosts of recent World Cups where they have fallen short at the final hurdles. May the team that plays the best win. The heat is on! 🔥
In one of my recent posts I had mentioned about my interest in coins getting rekindled when I got a Wheat Penny (pennies produces between 1909 and 1958 that feature two ears of wheat on one face of the coin). That led to me taking a look at the loose change that got accumulated over the years and some coins I had either bought or kept aside because they looked interesting, either because of their craftmanship or beauty or theme (historic events, people and places etc). One good certainly resulted from the effort to locate the coins at home: I took them to my bank local branch, used the coin sorter and deposited to my account. One big load off my shoulders (and wrists and elbows too)! The coins I had retained I sorted based on their denomination and stored in separate containers. Some old coins I cleaned so that my old eyes could see the details of the coins (like the year and the mint in which they were produced) to determine whether to keep them or get them into circulation by using them.
Did some basic research on coins by googling for more information. What I found about the value of some of the old coins (in ebay and other websites) was astounding! Made me think I am sitting on top of a goldmine containing deposits of metals like zinc, copper, nickel and silver 😊 I said to myself “What the heck am I doing working a daytime job when I could just rake in the moolah by just trading coins and make myself a decent pile! Retirement beckoned but I resisted the temptation to tell my employer that I was putting in my papers 😉 I heard a voice in the background telling me something, but I was too engrossed in living out my dream to pay attention to the voice. Few weeks later I took my stash to a local coin and jewelry shop to get their value appraised. Got to prepare for retirement too, right? 😂
I announced my arrival at the coin shop by saying I had some old coins that I wanted to find the worth of. I placed the containers on the table for the shop person to take a look. First, he unloaded the container with pennies to his palm, then the nickels, followed by dimes and quarters. Boom, boom, boom, within no time he had them all appraised and gave me his 3 cents on the value of my coin collection. First the good news! Of the pennies I had the three that were wheat pennies he valued them at double their face value. i.e. One cent value = Two cents each! Great start I said! 😊 The nickels, dimes and quarters he valued all of them at their face value. Seeing him on a roll I fished out some more coins from my jeans and said, “While you are at it, take a look at these coins too”. Same result! Just worth their face value 😂 Hmmm, not the news I was expecting to hear. Man, the value appreciation did not even cover the effort and the cost of vinegar+salt I had spent in cleaning some of the coins. As a final twist of the dagger, he added there were 8 billion quarters minted to mark the bicentennial year of Independence, so what appreciation could I expect? I had a few of those quarters too. Anyways, no worries. It was a temporary high, was good as long as it lasted! No harm, no foul! None of the coins had lost their value. 👍
As I sat in my car with my stash of coins in the passenger seat, I heard the same familiar voice I had heard earlier when I got started on my coin research voyage. It was God! 🙏 God: ‘Sup, son? (God is chill, likes to keep it light!) Me: Hey, boss! God: You were lost in thought. Anything bothering you? I related to God how I had to scupper my plans for retirement after visiting the coin dealer. God: Retirement? Ha, ha, ha! (God likes to have a hearty laugh) Me: What’s so funny, boss? God: For most people retirement is a pipedream. Just do what you like to do and don’t worry about the future. Me: Yeah, you have a point. With so much social insecurity, can’t bank on Social Security either and it’s capped too. There are also doubts whether it will stay when I qualify for it. God: Did you see the good in what happened today? Me: Yes, I did! I can spend my coins without thinking I might be spending a fortune 😊 and the lightened load will be easy on my wrist and elbow too! God: There you go, you see the good. You are a quick study, son! Me: Of course, with you as the master what else did you expect? 😉 God: Good try, to butter me up 😂 Me: I try 😊. Hey boss, how is it up there? Any tension with the other Gods? There is so much anger, hatred and violence happening here in the name of God. God: Oh son, absolutely no problems! Unfortunately, my creations are the source of some of my biggest disappointments. Sigh! (I thought only humans have to learn with their disappointments. It was revealing even Gods have their disappointments) Me: Good to hear all is good there God: Listen, just came by to check on you. Got a lot of work to do. Come to think of it, mine is a 24×7 job forever with no breaks and no pay. I just do it and I have more on my plate, son. Me: Yeah, your portfolio is much bigger than mine 🙏 I couldn’t do that job. God: You got that right! Take care, son! (God then disappeared with a beatific smile on face)
There you go, some good always results. One just has to carry on and look forward. That reminds me, I got to go now. No, silly, retirement is not beckoning 😂, got to do my laundry for the work week ahead. Take care 🙏
Novak Djokovic. José Carreras. George Harrison. All part of a famous group in their field. Novak Djokovic’s name will forever be associated with Nadal and Federer. José Carreras’ name evokes memories of Luciano Pavarotti and Plácido Domingo. George Harrison, important member of the Beatles along with John Lennon and Paul McCartney. All very accomplished, yet, not having the same name recall or reverence or affection as the other members of the group they are clubbed together with. 🙁
That set me thinking. Does it have anything to do with being the third member in a group, anything with being #3? Solo George went “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, Novak can’t seem to buy much love. Is it a variation of “Two is company, three is a crowd”? It’s as if there is a reluctance to welcome a 3rd member into the fold. Talking of fold, it’s easy to divide a regular shaped paper into two or even four parts just by lining up the edges but dividing equally into 3 parts takes some effort to get it right. One third of one (1/3) yields recurring decimals unlike 1/2 or or 1/4. Could lack of division equally be a reason for reluctance when it comes to 3? In the Olympics the top two finishers are awarded gold and silver medals while the 3rd place finisher gets bronze. Gold and silver are considered noble metals while bronze is an alloy. It’s as if 3rd place finishers are supposed to have mixed feeling and not experience unalloyed delight. Why not award platinum, gold and silver instead as these metals are classified as noble metals. In some Olympic events, like martial arts and combat sports, two bronze medals are awarded to losing semi-finalists with no contest for 3rd place as though it’s not worth it. Even TV stands for smart TVs now come with 2 legs instead of 3 as if 3 upsets the balance. In the Senate a two-thirds vote is considered as supermajority which translates into 67 votes out of 100, leaving behind 33, hitting the number 3 with a double whammy. Will #3 ever get a fair shake?
Objective of observing this day is to spread awareness and benefits of vegetarianism. Cool! 😎 Presents a problem for me though. ☹️ May go out for lunch or dinner today with a friend. Will it be appropriate to say “Meat you not at the restaurant!”? 🤔 This question has been eating me all morning. Man, my life is difficult! 🙏
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