Visit to Yosemite National Park and Lake Tahoe.
Comments (2)This Summer, we visited two beautiful places, Yosemite National Park (June 22, 2013) and Lake Tahoe (July 28, 2013).
Dhruba Mama’s family and we planned the first visit. Yosemite National Park is about 200miles drive and took about 3.5hrs. Me(Driving), dad, mom, sunita and saaksshi were on one car and Dhruba mama(Driving), Subash, Maiju, Bidhosi and Little Dev were on Dhruba Mama’s Car. The reason I am mentioning specific group of people is that once we took off, we never met together at the Park. It turned out to be a separate visit, sadly. The main reason is that our phone did not work in the valley and we had no specific destination to meet together.
We visited to Lake Tahoe while we went to met my sister Srijana and her husband. They recently moved to Reno (Very close to lake Tahoe) from New Hampshire and my parents wanted to see their new place. We five (Dad, mom, Dhruba mama and Sunita) took off at around 8AM in the morning and it was almost 3 hours drive.
Search for intelligent life, here at Earth.
Every year 15 million children die of hunger and malnutrition. But, our world spent almost 1600 Billion US Dollars in 2010 alone funding wars and military( Check http://milexdata.sipri.org/ and http://library.thinkquest.org/C002291/high/present/stats.htm). Why are we searching intelligent life in another planets? We are the biggest of idiots right here at home. We cannot sort our own differences and talk and negotiate but we take fun in bombing one another homes. This alone is enough to prove that we are not developed or evolved enough to sort these differences out and live with peace and respect.
Our home is tiny but full of resources. Tiny in comparison to this vast, unknown, uncharted cosmos. Earth has radius of lesser than 4000 miles. But, we, being master of Warcraft and sick ideologies, have managed to separate ourselves in to thousands of pieces based on religion, race, face color, eye color and all these non senses. Our world has enough resources to feed the people here planet. But, we are such stupid bunch that still so many people have to die because of hunger and malnutrition. We hesitate helping people in need when we figure out that the people in need does not belong to our religion, cast or country. We totally forget that the pain they have to go through is no different than ours.
I think being human, we should all ponder upon some deep questions. First, we have no control over our birth. Which means, we could have born anywhere, any cast, any skin color any religious group etc. This should tell us that we just happened to be white or black or an English or an Irish by pure chance. We have no choice and no control over it. So, when we are white or black or Asian by pure chance, why should we be proud or sorry because of this? We should all see ourselves as just humans rather than black human, white human, Asian human etc. This thinking creates the sense of responsibility towards the pain of anyone, anywhere in this planet. So that we could feel the pain of that hungry African, sick Asian or depressed American, whoever it is. So that we can have the guilty feeling for that dying, hungry children anywhere in this planet.
When we lift ourselves above race and religion, we become a better human. No race or religion is superior to another. It is just our unique identity and we should respect it. There is no reason we should separate ourselves based on these values and fight over it. So when someone ask us about what is your religion or where do you come from, we should simply say, “I am a human and I belong here to earth. I am just like you. My feelings of love and pain is no different than yours. My hunger is same, my happiness is same. I may not follow your religion but your god loves me no lesser than you.”
(Thoughts after reading famine in Somalia)
Hang in there Ponting, good things will happen
Sadly, it happens with almost everyone in life. It happened with almost all fallen heroes, conquerors or rulers. Whenever you are in charge and in total control, everything seem to be just fine. At good times, things go your way and happen the way you want it. But, just when you lost that touch, all of a sudden all your supporters, followers, fans and well wishers seem to be lost in thin air. Expect a few loyal ones, you are all by yourself and it’s only up to you whether you make it or break it. Just when you need ’em all, you find yourself fighting alone, totally abandoned by everyone. In this fight against the current, a lot of us will be dismantled and destroyed and a very few will make it across.
Former Aussie captain Ricky Ponting is going through the same phase right now. This great Australian batsmen is suffering a slump of form and nothing seem to be going his way. He lost his captaincy to young Michael Cleark but insisted to carry on for his love of the game. As we expect, media has always been hopelessly after him and calling him to retire. I understand that a job of a batsman is to make runs and if you don’t do it, you should step aside and yield to better ones. But, my point is, the way Ponting is being treated right now is just very unfair. He has been a great servant of Austrailan cricket for over 16 years now and led Australia to more World Cup victories then anyone else. But now, he is struggling to make runs and just everyone is treating him as if he is the real problem and that he should be booted out. Everyone is arguing that had already lost his charisma and charm as a bastman and it’s time to wave good bye. It does not take a master mind to figure out that most of these statements, if not all, are politically driven. They should all remember that he was the same batsman who had been scoring runs after runs in series after series and put Australia on top countless times. It is not possible to lost that fine art of dominant batting overnight. It is just that he is going through bad phase and this is the time when all of his fans and supporters should actually back him up and send a message that they are with him. He just needs some time to settle things down and get that magic click again. He is already 37 and for most bastmen, this is a time to retire. Precisely because of this, he should be given some more innings and make sure that no body drags this legend to ground and force him to retire when he is on a low. Give him a few chances and let him retire in style which he totally deserves. I wish to see this batting giant making tons and tons of runs against India in current series . Thanks to his finely crafted 62 yesterday. Hopefully that’s just a tip of an iceberg and a big-big inning is just around the corner so that he could send this age old cricketing message once again, “form is temporary, class is permanent.”
The curious case of Asif and Amir
I never understood and will probably never understand why Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, then two best opening bowling pair, had to involve in spot fixing and effectively ruin their career. It all started with this 2010 Lord’s test in England. I think this is such a sad story and it has left many questions unanswered thus far.
Historically Pakistan is known to be the breeding ground of finest pace bowlers. The likes of Wasim Akram, Waqar younis, Imran Khan and deadly Shoaib Akthar are few among the amazing talents Pakistan produced. They were absolute treat to watch and could literally make the ball talk. Coming from such a glorious history, these two pace bowlers Asif and Amir were deemed by many as the finest opening attack the world has seen in recent time. The pace and bounce of young Amir(18 years) and teasing and moving delivary of Asif, called by many as modern day Glen Mcgrath, were the most pleasant scenes to any fast bowing lovers. England batsmen were having a real rough time dealing with these two superb bowlers.
Then came the surprise, perhaps the biggest in the cricket history. “News of the World” magazine published the news, even before the completion of 2010 lord’s test that the bowling duo delivered the no-balls taking huge sum of money from their agent and betting mogul, Mazhar Majeed. The magazine reporter posed as one of the betters and Majeed successfully predicted the no-balls that were to be delivered in the lord’s test match after accepting the cash from the investigative reporter. This was all recorded by secret hidden camera and when both Asif and Amir delivered the no balls, right at the time which Majeed predicted, it was crystal clear that the bowlers were involved in the spot fixing rig. Captain Salman Butt was also said to be involved in the incident as it is very unlikely to spot fix the match without captain’s consent. As expected, ICC acted promptly and their anti-corruption tribunal handed Salman Butt ban of 10 years, Asif for 7 years and Amir for 5 years.
This betting rig is very unique for many reasons. First question anyone would ask is, why such talented players had to spot fix when they could make a fortune just by playing the game? Perhaps no one can answer this, not even the fixers. May be they wanted to make a few extra bucks. But, was the chance they took worth it? No, not at all. It is because the players knew that if they are caught, then that one mistake could end their career. Still, why would they want to do it? It is such a surprise. There had been fixing cases in the past. Former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin was banned for life and late South African Captain Hansie Cronje, suffered the same fate for fixing in April of 2000. But I think we cannot relate those fixing cases to this one. This is the case of two most deadly bowing attack. Like I mentioned before, they had a whole life of cricket ahead of them and of course, huge-huge amount of money. Beside handsome match fee for playing games, imagine all the money they could get from endorsements, advertisements and the central contract from the board. But still, they choose to spot fix and perhaps we will never see them in action again, not at least in their best form.
The case of Mohammad Amir is even more tragic. Coming from a poor background in Pakistan, he was seen a junior Wasim Akram. Even Wasim Akram himself had once said that he was not as good as Amir at that age. The cricketing world was just so delighted by this young talent. He had serious pace(could bowl at 150kmps), could swing the bowl either way and could bowl excellent short pitch bowls at his will. A lot of time, England batsmen were pretty much clueless to his attack. He had shown the same skills and temperament in the series against New Zealand and Australia too. Not only that, he was a very handy lower order batsman and you could count on his batting at crisis situation. But now, it’s all gone and he is done and dusted. He cannot even play county games as ICC has banned him from all forms of cricket. He is paying the price for his greed and perhaps for his immaturity. Considering his age, I personally think that he was lured in to it by his captain and some other greedy, filthy fellows. But, that’s not to say that he was not involved at all. He definitely played his part and sadly paid a huge huge price for it.
Right now, they are being prosecuted at the London court. You can follow the entire court proceedings here. Soon we will all be able to dig deep into the case. I am sure this proceeding will unearth more “interesting” facts. Regardless of everything, demise of what would be the best bowlers of world is devastating for the game of cricket and it’s loyal fans. 😦
Below you can see a video tribute to Mohammad Amir. This video shows some glimpses of his extraordinary talent( I don’t own the video. Credit to shaf2k8 for wonderful compilation).
Happy Dashian to everyone.
The time of year has come again when I miss my home country most. I simply cannot pen down how much I miss Nepal right now and words seriously fall apart in expressing this overwhelming feeling.
This is my 6th Dashain here at California and each year I miss it more. I miss that Dashain air, that Dashain feelings which we find only in Nepal and no where else. We people here in Bay Area have a good Nepali community and I am proud for that fact. We come together at special occasion like this and try to re-create the same dashain-ness. But still I fail to find the same charm and charisma that Dashain brings in Nepal. I feel like something is missing. California is my second home and I am here for 6 years running. I am with my parents and barely miss Nepal most other time. But still, this time around, I feel like flying back home and blend with my people there. Celebrating Dashain in California is like having a paper rose. It’s there, looks all right and natural, but lacks all the beauty and sublimity of real rose petals altogether. I particularly miss the wonderful 10-day Puja that my grandfather does every year. His high pitch Sanskrit chants, wonderful aroma of incense sticks and rotis, his long and never seem to be ending blessings!, good lord, where on earth can I find the same bliss?
I wish everyone a very Happy and Prosperous Dashian. May all the beings find peace and serenity.
United we stand.
The great Chinese saint Lao Tsu writes in the Tao Te Ching, “The journey of a thousand mile begins with a single step.” Lao Tsu’s insight suggests that we should first start at low, slowly develop upon it and thereby accomplishing big feats.
I have been very much impressed by “one dollar a month” campaign of HELP NEPAL Network. Thanks to BBC’s Rabindra Mishra for making this campaign widely known to many Nepalese, particularly living abroad by his popular facebook page. I would have probably never known about Help Nepal Network had he not been so aggressively promoting this campaign for the good.
This one dollar a month campaign at first may seem very insignificant. One dollar A month? What good it’s going to do? It’s just a dollar a month. These are the questions that first hit many people. But, don’t just stop there and give it a second thought. Think again and it actually makes a lot of sense. Yes, it is just a dollar a month, but it can do huge huge favor for our people of Nepal because it is a collective effort. US department of Homeland Security’s record shows that 7,115 people from Nepal got legal permanent resident in the year 2010. Even only if this group of people decided to donate, imagine how much good this amount of dollar collected can do in Nepal every month? Some of us may be wondering how the organization spends it’s donations and we might be a little skeptical here. After all, it’s about hard earned dollar. In that case,we can always get information about all the ongoing and past projects from it’s website. We can also get the financial reports and in case we want to donate more, all the contributions made are tax deductible in the US, hats off to Uncle Sam!!
Well, given the dismal economic situation right now, we may have to think twice. Time is tough and some of us are barely getting through. A lot of us are struggling to find a decent job or to keep one. But still I believe, at least one dollar a month should be something we all can afford to donate. It’s only about buying one less can of soda, one less bag of small chips or in some case, buying one less single swisher smoke a month. :). This very insignificant give up will end up being a huge favor for our own people back home. So, if you have not already done so, please take a moment to sign up here. I promise, this will be one of the best dollars you will ever spend and you will be proud you did.
Soothing summer
I have been residing here at the East Bay, California for more than 5 years and still this amazing weather pattern here never fails to amuse me.
I was born and grew up at very hot and humid climate, Chitwan district of Nepal. Chitwan being the lowland of Nepal, gets very hot in the summer. Temperature there often reached above 100, but I never got used to heat. Then I moved to Kathmandu and temperature there was a whole a lot cooler. Now, I am here at the bay area and the climate here is unique in every way.
The most unique feature being the coolness and ocean breeze throughout the year. Since we live at the coastal area, we get this chilly ocean breeze all year around so it never gets really hot. We only get a few days of above 100 temperature in the summer. Sun is usually bright but very gentle. The story is not very pleasing as we move into the inland, but right here at the coast, temperature is always cool and soothing. It rains in the winter, which is a bit nasty, but still the temperature very rarely falls down to freezing cold. This consistency in temperature makes life a lot easier when it comes to dealing with heat and cold, particularly for the older folks. Cooler temperature throught the year also means the happier utilities bills because of less usage of electric heater and air conditioning.
Right now, summer is almost done and I can remember only 2 or 3 days of intense heat. Other than that, it’s been awesome. While east coast, Like New York and Boston are being severely roasted, story here at the coast is very pleasing. Morning is generally gloomy, followed by bright and long afternoon. Sun sets at round 8:30 and still bright till 9PM, which was very surprising for me when I first came here. By this time in Nepal, we would have already finished our dinner and tossed ourselves at bed. One nasty thing about the weather here is the allergy season that starts right after the spring. It could get very irritating and affects some people more and other less. We can see a lot of running and itchy noses, red eyes and coughs at this time. So far, my summer is being characterized by long sleep, swimming, few short trips, fewer books(half then I expected!!) and usual work. I still have like 2 more weeks before our fall semester begins. As a long and tiring semester awaits me, I am looking forward to use these free time to the fullest, perhaps by more sleeping, which is what I call, a hibernating summer!!
Why Zaheer’s fitness matters?
In the ongoing India Vs England series, India has been sweating over Zaheer Khan’s fitness. He has been India’s bowling spearhead for quite some time now. There is no denying that this stylish left hander can deceive any batsman on any given day, given he is fully fit. He has proven this in many series, home and away. But unfortunately, in this much hyped ongoing series of India Vs England, he picked up a hamstring injury and not sure weather or not he will play second match.
First of all, Zaheer khan is that type of bowler, who can swing the bowl both ways. India are playing away in England and the English condition is known to be very suitable for such bowlers. He could get batsmen into trouble very early and swing the game in India’s favor right from the word go. This is exactly what he did in the first test match before he sustained injury, much to the relief of England batters. He removed both the openers on the very first day and left England camp quite worrying. But after he was removed from the bowling attack, the other bowlers looked very ordinary and that’s when England batters started to dominate. Though inexperienced praveen kumar looked dangerous at times and went to take a five for, England had no probelm facing him most of the time. Meanwhile, the danger man Kevin pieterson struck double century which showed the bluntness of Indian attack in Zaheer’s absence. To make the story short, India lost the match. It all started with Zaheer’s inabilty to bowl because of injury.
Also, England opening batsmen and captain Andrew Strauss, once known as English run machine, is quite vunlerable to left arm paceman. Khan could be a perfect nightmare for him. Like I mentioned before, he was acutally caught by sharma off Zaheer’s bowl in the first inning. So, if Zaheer khan could bowl in the second game, he would definitely have an edge over Strauss.
There is no substitution for experience. If exprienced Zaheer will be back in the squad , he is sure to cause early troubles for what looks like England’s rock solid batting line up. Let’s hope that he will be back and we fans will have a very competitive test match on the card.
Visit to Livermore Temple
It was a really nice and feel-good visit to livermore hindu temple yesterday. My mom was sort of pressing me to visit temple, since I do not visit temples very often. Yesterday was a perfect day, as I was totally free in the morning. We drove for livermore at about 8 in the morning. Dad was still asleep and snoring, so we thought it was not very good idea to wake him up!!. Highway 80 is always busy in the morning, especially in the weekdays. Accompanied by my uncle and sister, we were four people in the car, so we carpooled, till we reached 580 junction, beating all the traffic. It was an hour long drive and as I was cruising along, the gloomy bay sky was clearing up. We were having glimpse of beautiful California highway scenery. Because it was a weekday, there was not much rush in the temple. We stayed there for about an hour, worshiping and appreciating the beauty of temple. There was a long trafic delay on our way back, probably because of an accident. It took almost 2 hours to drive back home. It was one refreshing and crisp visit.
Welcome everyone.
A warm welcome to everyone visiting my blog. Please keep coming and commenting.
Sushil Pathak 