Skype

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been in the US for a couple weeks and I haven't put my pictures onto my PC yet. I will soon. I also have a cool new camera that I got for Christmas, so expect higher-quality pictures in the future.

I also got a new Skype phone, so there's an easy way for you to get in touch with me while I'm in India. This is my new phone number (write it down!):

(678) 389-8911

You're probably wondering - what does it cost to call? Only the normal cost to call an Atlanta number. Don't worry, you won't run up an expensive international phone bill. But please be considerate of the time zone. I'm 10.5 hrs from EST. Here's a quick conversion tip: if you take the time in EST and subtract 1.5 hours, then switch the AM to PM (or vice versa), you've got it.

News From India 4

Judge Sunil Kumar Singh in the eastern state of Jharkhand has issued adverts in newspapers asking the gods to "appear before the court personally". The gods have been asked to appear before the court on Tuesday, after the judge said that letters addressed to them had gone unanswered. Ram and Hanuman are among the most popular Indian Hindu gods.

Judge Singh presides in a "fast track" court - designed to resolve disputes quickly - in the city of Dhanbad. The dispute is now 20 years old and revolves around the ownership of a 1.4 acre plot of land housing two temples. The deities of Ram and Hanuman, the monkey god, are worshipped at the two temples on the land. Temple priest Manmohan Pathak claims the land belongs to him. Locals say it belongs to the two deities. The two sides first went to court in 1987.

A few years ago, the dispute was settled in favour of the locals. Then Mr Pathak challenged the verdict in a fast track court. Judge Singh sent out two notices to the deities, but they were returned as the addresses were found to be "incomplete". This prompted him to put out adverts in local newspapers summoning the gods. "You failed to appear in court despite notices sent by a peon and later through registered post. You are herby directed to appear before the court personally", Judge Singh's notice said.

News From India 3

Troupes of monkeys are out of control in India's northeast, stealing mobile phones and breaking into homes to steal soft drinks from refrigerators, lawmakers in the region have complained.

"Monkeys are wreaking havoc in my constituency by taking away mobile phones, toothpastes, sipping coke after opening the refrigerators," Hiren Das told Assam state's assembly.
He said the primates were "even slapping women who try to chase them".

"It is a cause of serious concern in my area, with more than 1,000 such simians turning aggressive by the day," fumed Goneswar Das, another legislator representing Raha in eastern Assam.

Let there be pigeons

I was talking to someone last night, and thought I found someone in a similar situation. She has pigeons nesting and growing up at her apartment - but that's where the similarity ends. Her pigeons are nesting on the balcony, whereas mine are nesting on the cupboard in the dining room.


I came back from my Goa trip and here they were - a family of pigeons, already nested, and with eggs laid. The mom pigeon sat dutify on the nest day and night. And somewhere in the back of my head, I have a deep respect for hard work and persistence. And I absolutely read the Seuss book "Horton Hatches the Egg" too many times as a kid. So even though logic dictates that I should evict the pigeon, I let her be.


I googled diseases and pigeons, and the only risk is around pigeon poo. So I've kept my eye out for poo. And this is when I realized a remarkable thing: my pigeons are house-trained. They only had one "accident" in the house over three weeks. Maybe they realize that we have formed a fragile, unspoken alliance. I'm probably reading too much into poop, but I'm fascinated.

Unfortunately, tomorrow is the end of the road for the pigeons. I now have two baby peeping pigeons for roommates. On top of being obnoxious, they're hideous. And I'm worried that the kids won't respect the no-poo pact. But I have a nice place picked out on my porch for the nest, and hopefully it won't be too stressful of a transition for mom.

A special day at the office

Setting up a company in India is an uphill battle, and I've been fighting it tooth and nail for the past two weeks. Want to sell anything? You need a PAN to get a Labor Registration to get a Professional Tax Registration to get a VAT Registration. Want to get a UPS (battery backup) for your office? You need STPI Registration, Customs Registration, IEC Registration, an STPI Asset Register, and a Karnataka State Pollution Certificate. Some things have to be in black ink, or in triplicate, or need seven passport photos, or need to be on special paper. To unravel this mess, you going to need an army of consultants - two law firms, one tax firm, and two registration consulting companies.

The past two or three weeks have been some of the most stressful in my brief working career. Our deadlines were so tight that if anything slipped by a half-day, it was an emergency. And the red tape in this country is not conducive to urgency. All day I was racing from office to office, getting the appropriate signatures and stamps and forms. And I'm happy to say it: I'm done! We pulled it off. Nobody except me and one or two other people will ever realize how close we came to the brink of disaster.

In celebration of our new company, which really came into existance on December 1st, we had an office party in the cafeteria (which is on the top floor). The enthusiasm of the Indian employees was overwhelming. They've never known the struggles we've had in the US - they only see that the office is growing, and that there are good opportunities for them. It was really refreshing to be around so much positive energy and excitement. We had cake, and the senior leadership spoke, and then people came up for a kind of office talent show. People took turns singing songs, and the highlight (for me at least) was a traditional dance.