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A met up with her one of her best friends who moved from Bay Area back to India in August to be closer to their aging parents; their kid was only 1 or 2 years into elementary school and the timing felt right. She was telling A that while her husband and the kid adjusted back to India in almost no time she has been having a hard time adjusting to life back there. The kid obviously has already made friends after initially having a hard time, she thought she would adjust back faster and it would be her husband who would have a harder time adjusting back to India – turns out the opposite. The same joys (aka cheap household labor) she was looking forward to are the same things that annoy her now – people constantly going in and out of house, constantly managing their and your schedule, constantly being vigilant of them. It was hilarious A later said that things she really looked forward to assuming delegation would give her more time to herself are the very things eating up her time entire day. No plans of moving back though yet she said, and being closer to either set of parents for them has outweighed all decisions for now.

My foi/bua’s husband has been in and out of hospital / ICU for almost 2 months now and its taking a toll on my dad because my dad is the one running around with his sis to hospitals, doctors and all. My dad’s brothers are being at a distance (because well my dad is also paying for the entire hospital visits and they want no part of it), and the husband’s own sisters who regularly demand their rakhi gifts are nowhere to be seen. They haven’t even come to the hospital once to even check on him. My foi’s family is not well to do and after pandemic struck neither of them has a proper job and are getting old, so naturally my dad decided to take care of them by sending a monthly allowance much against our wishes because it effectively made them lazy and codependent on my dad – a price for which now my dad is paying because they have no insurance and hospital stays in India are expensive these days. Now I love my foi a lot and grew up in her hands, and life dealt an extremely unfair cards to her – so I decided to help my dad and send some cash too.

This news of course reached other people – I have gotten a range of WhatsApp messages going from “Why did you help? Now you are also on the hook to support her entire life!”, to “it is in your and your dad’s best interest that her husband recovers otherwise further conversations can be tough!”, to “we know you love your foi but think of us also!”, to “set your boundaries on what you can and cannot do otherwise you will end up like your dad”. The last one being the only message that I think was not depressing. Now I am pissed at my dad and foi for making a news item of how I helped them but I can’t yell at them either right now. I guess one of those things I have to shrug under the rug. And yes less said about those other relatives, better.

Trumps approval is lowest it ever been it’s seems. Is this a fucking joke to Americans? He represents you America, and you are right now abhorrent is the message. I don’t care if you didn’t vote for him, enough of you did. Even I did not vote for him but I get to wear the same badge of shame as rest of you and for that you suck.

Fifteen years to the day since mom passed. It feels forever ago and not too long ago at the same time. Time has healed the wounds so to speak. The first few years of her anniversary were hard on me and family, but over time all of us have moved on in many ways. Dad still does his puja and all, but now life just goes on after a quick prayer in the mind wishing her well. A part of me still imagines what would have life been if she was still around.

Rinku Singh’s dad died just 2 days ago. The guy went and came back to the team in no time. This is not something to be celebrated or praised as “duty to country BS”. This is purely an indication of insecurity and feeling that you cannot let go off your back lest someone else take your spot feeling. It’s a terrible. (I know it’s possible he hated his dad and all that, but it’s still setting a terrible example)

So many of my colleagues and acquaintances are now talking about creating a passive income source to hedge against AI taking their jobs. I know folks who started a soccer academy, another colleague wants to open bakery franchise, and a few others looking to real estate rentals for income. I am not sure of any of it though. If AI is going to take away white collar jobs wholesale, people will have no money to spend on any of these. We are staring at a collapsing society if jobs disappear like that and no amount of donuts are going to bring you that needed income. I get the idea of creating a secondary source of income I just don’t know what will click though.