Headline - "US Death toll jumps to 36"

This is the top headline off the Google News site. Should I be shocked that a genius of a company like Google is using such an inefficient algorithm that picks off partisan headlines or should I resign myself to the arithmetic that an American life will always be valued more than any other nationality ? Or am I reading this wrong ?
The day the Tsunami struck, I flipped through channels frantically hoping for some news, any news of my country. There wasn't a beep about this out of any of the news casters about it. They served the same predictable platter about weather, travel and sales. And now, every news channel is clawing to find the saddest tale, the goriest body and glorious episodes of the American survival.
Don't news channels portray the kind of people living in that region? I am sure that only after extensive marketing analysis and statistical surveys would they mould their news to cater to the audience. So does this not mean that the average American does not care about anything else but the weather, travel and sales ? What he does care about is "American Values" apparently. George Bush wants us to believe that it is these values that will help tsunami affected people survive. You arrive last, with the paltriest of sums and want the golden crown of Charity, because you proclaim to have some special "values" ? And now the Islamic states are supposed to have the privilege of seeing them in action as they perform their Boy scouts deed. Is that why they have come to aid ? To make sure the world knows they are there ? If this isn't the heights of narcissism, then what is? Bah! To say I feel disgusted is putting it lightly. Even after such a devastation of unimaginable magnitude, if one cannot forget the Self, it is indeed pitiable.

Subbu

Happy New Year 2005!!

Jan 1, 2005

Happy New Year! I had a blast snow tubing yesterday. I pray that this year brings peace to all. I have not really made any new year resolutions. Some how I feel too "old" for that. I am grateful to God for giving me so much and more. Thank you God, if you are reading this blog.
I read a really interesting article in the Spectator about how hygiene may not be all that important as you grow older. The author talks about a certain prescribed routine - "Towels should be changed every day, people should take daily five-minute hot showers, change their bed linen twice a week, and check their anatomies for tummy-button fluff. If you followed their routine, you would have little time left for other, far more important pursuits, such as staring into space and thinking about the meaning of life."
I find myself agreeing with this! It is especially the house wife who has to face the burden of cleaning and keeping clean. In an indian household where the food is oily, washing vessels is a painful task and to do this day in and day out borders on torture.
A recent article in the Hindu talked about how Kitchen Management should be pursued as a science and some research should be undertaken to relieve the housewife of the daunting task of daily dishwashing.
Although I am digressing from body hygiene to dish washing, they all relate to the fundamental concept of cleanliness. How clean is clean? I would rate myself at a 5 on a scale of 10. I would not freak out if at a certain angle I see a layer of dust revealed by the sun shine on my computer screen; if my gloves were on the bed instead of the cupboard; or if my clothes were in a disarray. I would be upset if I had mouldy stuff growing in the fridge, or the commode looked like it was under attack. Maybe my sense of cleanliness is dominated by the greater power of laziness and a primitive need to maintain the essential facilities as hygeinically as possible.I know for a fact that my grandpa never uses soap when he bathes and yet he looks so clean (and smells good too). Lady Macbeth developed an obsessive compulsive disorder and kept washing her hands in an effort to get rid of the unseen blood stains.I guess we could take cleanliness to a whole new level and use it to help reveal the kind of people we are.
Behind the veil of the 'I don't care about cleanliness attitude', the truth is, when I clean the house and everything looks so sparkling neat, I have a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment that I doubt, I will get by just staring in space and musing about life.

-Subbu