The jouney begins

It all started on a March or April morning when I received a call from India. Will I be interested in applying for a position in MyCompany Bangalore? Of course, the name of the company is not MyCompany. But, that's besides the point here.

In last 4-5 years me and Paramita have explored the idea of going back to India in a semi-serious mode. That generally involved talking to people vising US from India, especially my Brother-In-Law, who comes at least once a year in summer.  That would be followed by some more phone calls to friends in India who had made the r2i journey at different times in past.

My position was that if I return, there is no point returning to any city other that Kolkata. But as time went by, I came down from that position since with the kind of career profiles we have, it's difficult to get the right kind of opportunity in Kolkata. There are a very few product companies in Kolkata. We both have spent most our working lives in product componies. If not Kolkata, Bangalore was the natural next choice.

When the call came I agreed to explore it with an open mind.

It was a long process. There were 4-5 telephone conversation (interview) over telephone. Then there was one in-person interview at MyCompany's local office. It was August by the time the in-person interview happened. My father suddenly passed away in August. I rushed back to India.

I came back with a  changed perspective. I was no more on an exploratory path. I was convinced that we should make the move. Now. MyCompany or not. My kids are 5 and 2. This is high time to make the move, if at all, for them too.

After I returned from India, me and Paramita had some deep discussions and decided we will try to make the move now. I won't say that Paramita was totally convinced, especially when approaching the issue from an emotional angle,  but she agreed to give it a serious try.

In early September, I started negotiating on the offer with MyCompany. Paramita started preparing her resume. We started thinking about the logistics. From that point onwards it became a hectic affair. I just joined a new company. Paramita had her fully-loaded job. Megh's school session had already started. We had to keep up our regular life and added this planning and execution, mostly planning at that stage, of R2I.

Don’t Read This …

... instead, read Robert Fisk in The Independent - Why do they hate the West so much, we will ask. What I wanted to say and could not, is there.

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As we are entering into the new year, the news and life is bleak all around. This is particularly true for the people in Gaza. They are a hapless victim of a lethal pounding from Israel. What Israel is doing in the name of 'self-defence' is totally and absolutely unacceptable to any person of rationality and conscience. This is not to condone the behavior of Hamas, but a much bigger blame must be affixed to Israel. But I guess this is somewhat expected from a aggressor and occupier like Israel.

What is more unacceptable to me is US foreign policy towards Israel and Palestine. In 2008 Israel was the recipient of the biggest chunk of US aid. 2.4 Billion. "Virtually all of this money is used to buy weapons (up to 75% made in the U.S.). Beginning in 2009, the U.S. plans to give $30 billion over 10 years." (Source: Parade magazine) I have tried to figure out the reason for this uncritical and total support of Israel from US, especially if we remember the English statesman Lord Palmerston's aphorism that "Nations have no permanent friends or allies, they only have permanent interests." It is true that US has to have a strong ally in that region. It's strategic importance is too high to ignore for US. Israel fulfills that requirement. However, it has also become quite clear that the blind support of Israel and its aggression is given rise to a deep hatred towards US. Not only in that region alone, but all around, especially with such a blatant nonchalance from Israel's part when more than a quarter of the victims are civilians, mostly children. Israel-Palestine issue has become a very potent tool for separatists and terrorists to recruit and deploy youths all around the globe - be it Middle East, Afganistan, Iraq, Pakistan or Kashmir. In the final tally, a blind support of Israel's aggression retuns a negetive balance to USA's foreign policy balance sheet. I guess, US can still support Israel and it's existence and still maintain some semblance of balance. It may not be an easy task. But the deplomats and the elected officials are not selected or eleced to do easy tasks.