Subject:   rt37 -- mostly Minneapolis
    Date:   Mon, 09 Aug 2004 09:05:12 -0400
   

Heavenly heartmates, 

I bring you happy vibes from beautiful Minneapolis, where I was until
this (saturday) afternoon. Thoroughly enjoyed my little jaunt in this
piece of the midwest, land of the taller and blonder, where the women
are strong and the men are good looking, home of Garrison Keillor and
Target. I was attending a number theory conference in the University of
Minnesota. Stayed in a youth hostel uptown across from the Minneapolis
arts institute. The location was very convenient, near bus-routes and
the Chain of Lakes, and the hostel (in an old mansion) was comfortable.
The arts institute set me wondering if they really cared about art in
this city, and based on my three day experience I think they do.
Starting from the glass and steel skyscrapers downtown that form a
towering garden of sculptures, to the most mundane things like park
benches and bike stands, they have infused everything with a quirky,
playful elegance and careful craftsmanship. I was also lucky to be there
while some summer art fairs were going on. Last night (friday) I rented
a bicycle and biked to my heart's content on the shores of the lakes and
the Mississippi river. The conference attendees also got to go on a
riverboat tour, and it brought back to my mind stories of Mark Twain.
The river still has remnants of its wild and glacial past, and the city
has a sizable native American population. It is easy to imagine several
thousands of years ago when tribes camped on its shores while bears
roamed the forests and the river thundered and rushed down the gorge.
Today, especially near downtown, the river is as tame as a canal, dotted
by ruins of the once bustling saw-mills and flour mills, concrete
abutments lining its banks.

It is always refreshing to be in a new place, full of wonderful
surprises. It frees the mind from habit and familiarity, atleast
momentarily, and fills it with a surge of new thoughts, hopes and
feelings. It is especially nice to be in a city that is so clean and
well-designed, where the people are very warm, relaxed and friendly.
Atleast it beats Washington in those aspects. But I am also happy to be
back here, to be with friends, family and other objects of my love, and
to get back to life on the edge of sanity.

Please do let me know how you are doing!
Sankar

Random thoughts (37) -- Mostly Minneapolis
8/7/04

1. Travelling around Minneapolis, I noticed how several things that I
enjoy in DC might have had their origins here. On the campus I saw
people from all over the US. I think the mobility of people and ideas
around America is one of the things makes this country so dynamic and
creative. In the past thirty-something years many Americans have also
lived in third-world countries as peace-corps
volunteers, and they have brought with them a new sensibilty and
sensitivity towards the world. I wonder if the current wave of global
awareness, activism and volunteering has its origins in all the RPCV's
(returned peace corps volunteers). I happen to be good friends with many
wonderful specimen of RPCV's.

2. Last week I happened to catch a bit of Charlie Rose's interview with
Ted Turner. It made me realize that the battle between Bush and Kerry is
really just a trifling sideshow to the real struggle for power, which is
waged among the titans of trade, the plutocrats who control the
multinationals. They have the real power. Turner and Murdoch are two
such titans, and they are almost like Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader,
atleast as far as I can tell. Turner strikes me as someone who has his
heart in the right place, with a little compassion for the poor,
commitment to truth and justice, and fear for nothing. Murdoch, on the
other hand, seems to be (atleast in Turner's words) a ruthless
megalomaniac whose sole goal is to amass as much power and wealth as
possible. It is almost like the (Hindu) mythological war between the
Devas (Gods) and Asuras (translates as "demons," but really 
people drunk with power, greed, and lust for material things).

3. Life in the American ghetto (or any enclave of marginalized people in
any country) is all about survival. Very few hold any hopes or dreams
for a different future. One could almost feel it in the air, moving from
one part of the city to another. Any ghetto also has its predators, men
and women who basically rule over it, through intimidation and thuggery.
The silent, hard-working majority is held hostage by this aggressive and
brutal minority because of its herd-think mentality and fear. In India
this goes on in a massive scale. Before it was the Maharajas and the
Zamindars. Today it is the industrialists, the politicians and their goondas.

4. Minneapolis has really embraced bicyclists. There are great,
well-maintained bike paths throughout the city, many of them in very
scenic areas. The bike paths are designed the way we bicyclists like
them -- long, uninterrupted bike "highways" with two lanes -- and they
are mostly separate from trails for pedestrians. There are also several
bike bridges and ramps that make it easy to go over busy roads and climb
onto bridges. 

5. Seen in BWI airport -- a private jet with a big "Hooters" logo on it.
It looks like it belongs to the restaurant chain of the same name.

6. I must admit that I love airports. I haven't seen the movie
"Terminal," but I wouldn't mind wandering around terminals for a day
myself. I didn't have time to go to the Mall of America, but I love
wandering around malls too, occasionally, though I hate it when it also
involves shopping. Just now and then it is nice to walk over marble
floors through well-lit, wide and spacious corridors with high ceilings
and colourful displays. One thing that is great about such places is
that payphones and restrooms are always
nearby. For someone who lives a non-cellular life and has a very sweaty,
easily dehydrated body, these two things are essential.

7. I accidentally discovered a way to get good seats and avoid the lines
in airports. While waiting in Chicago to board my connecting flight, I
somehow lost track of the announcements and was just sitting in the
lounge while everyone was getting into the plane. Only when they said
"final boarding call" did I rush to the plane. I was the last one to
board. I walked through the gate without waiting, and took a seat in one
of the many empty rows. The plane started moving a few minutes later.
Encouraged by this, I repeated this on the way back, with the same
satisfactory result. This time I found seats with more leg-room, even.
Of course there is a little risk involved here, and also it may not work
so well if the flight is full. But if you can just wait alertly for the
final boarding call, and don't mind if you can't stow your luggage
somewhere right near your seat (assuming the plane is full and you have
two pieces of baggage), then this is a very pleasant, relaxed way to
board a flight.