Debate It : Citizenship decisions based on medical history??

I read this article yesterday.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/10/31/australia.residency.denied.ap/

First read of the headlines and I went...no way. Thats unfair. This man deserves citizenship and cannot be denied just because his son suffers from Down syndrome. After all, who is immune to such situations? Anyone could be in his shoes and I would be really mad if someone discriminated against me due to my son's illness. But then as many things, put more thought and you relaize its not all black or white.

Well, the main argument for Aussie govt is " the boy would pose a burden on taxpayers for his medical care, education and other service". Again on first reading seems absolutely heartless and lacking any sort of consideration. But reflect it and you go, well...Here is someone who is seeking citizenship and as a govt, I have the right to reject it. Also we have the first duty of serving exisiting citizens and doing what is fair to them. The dad claims that he could take on all expenses for his son and will not be a burden. I think that is not an useful argument. Consider this. You take his word and give him citizenship. Now sometime into the future the dad really does not have enough to cover for the expenses (maybe due to rising costs or other unforseen circumstances)...What do you do then? Revoke his citizenship ? Thats worse because then you are not standing by a "citizen" . Also tomorrow if some other guy whose family member has a similar medical condition is denied citizenship because they, unlike the dad here, cannot pay the medical costs...Then you are discriminating based on fiscal ability..again debatable if thats right or wrong??

Also, think about what a country considers before giving anyone citizenship...Or for that matter even a VISA...I think the main question is...Does this guy give more to this country than take? Most people on VISA and who are given citizenships are well educated high tax paying folks. Hereby the govt improves the overall standing of the country. Absolutely no point granting citizenship to any Tom, Dick and Harry correct?

Back to the case, the dad claims to have stayed in Australia for 2 years...Well, not a long time and its not as if this man has put all his life in service for this country and expects at least an acknowledgment in the form of citizenship?
So here are the consolidated facts I got from the article:
1) Govt needs to think of existing tax payers first
2) The applicant has not necessarily served the country enough to have a special case.
3) Think about how VISAs are issued...If you are not giving more than what you take, most likely you do not get it!
4) I totally get the humanitarian argument...But then can we really add that in here and let practicality take a back seat?
5) In this case, the applicants home country (Germany) is in good standing by itself...again this may not be applicable for other applicants.

Overall, I think its the prerogative of the government and refusal is no way unfair.
Maybe I have missed some valuable points?? But thats my take away for now!

Dilbert everywhere...

Off late I have become really skeptic about work and am unable to see any reasoning or sense in some decisions which made me believe that I was getting heavily influenced by Dilbert comic strips. But honestly, those strips are sooo similar to what I experience at work, sometimes its spooky...So, Dilbert I thought was very reflective of a typical technology setup.
I just returned from my trip to SFO. Since I arrived mid day, I decided to take a bus back to work rather than bother someone by asking them to pick me up. Its was a really good experience taking the bus...I did not have any mission critical stuff at work and I was very relaxed...so the frequent stops made by the bus which usually irritate me were no longer that big a deal. The bus driver seemed pretty stressed and evidently displeased by his day at work. He was in a mood to share it with fellow passengers...and I was in a mood to absorb all that he had to let out. Suddenly his story sounded very very similar to what I have been cribbing about at work :))

Driver says : "These people who make the schedule expect me to cover city roads and suburb roads in the same time. They just go by distance...They do not understand concept of traffic. I somehow fall behind the schedule even if i exceed speed limits... They never seem to understand that at every stop there is some activity which consumes more time than accounted for. Like passengers with bicycles, or disabilities which need special treatment."
Me thinks: "Not sure how these people schedule us on projects? They expect both a simple bug fix and a complete project in the same time. They do not think of consequences or criticality of projects. Dont they understand no 2 software projects are the same? The developer can slip of schedule...the build can be broken...there can be randomizing support issues...why do these not go into schedule?"

Driver says: "Has the person who make the bus schedule ever driven a bus? Does he know how stressful and a not so fun job it is?"

Me thinks: "Have the people who schedule me ever done software development? Why do they not understand that everything cannot be completed in predetermined timelines. We need some sort of estimation process where we can say how long we think this project will take to do"

Driver says: " All these people know is cut corners. Reduce the driver and buses plying and expect same service by compressing bus schedules to maintain similar service"

Me thinks: "All I hear now is.... "Oh.you cannot get it done in 2 weeks...But we do need it. Lets get some off shore resource on it."....Why the hell dont you understand adding more resources is not always useful. All they want is deliver more software using same people on site and add more people off shore...little do they account that those people need training and the communication overhead is a reaaaalll painnn. But all that people above me see is...deliver more...hire less here..."

At the end of the bus ride, I could completely relate to this driver... And started believing...that there is a Dilbert everywhere.

What I did not know is how/what I would have done if i were in his/my leadership team and I had to make these decisions delicately balancing business and employee satisfaction?? I think I would have done something different? Maybe i will get an an opportunity to do that sooon....Wish our leadership was also elected like the next President...Then even I could get onto the "Change we can believe in" campaign and become the next Obama :)). That will be the subject of a whole new blog :)

Free credit report...MY FOOT

Disclaimer: 1) That is not my palm in the image. 2) I really do not have 5 reasons to not use it.
What I do have is a personal experience with free credit report.com which echoes a similar sentiment.
So I am not the best person to be handling your finances...Let alone yours...even mine. But then, I do not have a choice...Since I already told you I am not good at handling finances, obviously I do not have a financial adviser. (if I had one then, I would have deemed wiser.)
First thing...this big deal with credit history...A great concept...but a killer for the lazy and not so alert folks. So I had this credit card which I lost earlier this year...Filed the case with the bank and had them send me a new card...(which BTW I still have not got...not sure which black hole that went into...) . Being me, I never bothered checking on why I did not receive my new credit card. Instead I happily went spending using my debit card. I personally love debit cards. As good as cash without the hassles of change, stack of notes of different denominations, etc. And best of all, you do not have to pay back at a later time. An action which I never am able to do on time.

My basic question...If I have money right now, why do I need credit? isn't the fact that mostly I have money at hand a good enough indicator of my financial well being? Anyway, I do not make rules...I abide by them.

So, while I was happily paying off my debit card, with a recurring thought that since I had really not received my credit card I could not possibly have anything to pay off. Again, too lazy to go check online even once!
It was not untill late last month, a Sunday when I had sooo mucch time at hand that I went online to check status of my missing credit card...Holy Cow!!!!! was my first reaction after a successful login into my credit card account...

Your current balance : $1600

I was shocked...Without a credit card to use, I managed to accrue that amount...man...I did the impossible!!! Anyway...the amount was a dose of caffeine needed to wake me from my slumber. Off I went trying to call every possible customer service agent. I learn that I actually had accrued a balance of around $1000 before I actually lost my card. The remaining 600 were some miscellaneous monthly charges and interest I had to pay off for delinquency. WHAT THE F...
Ok...So a double blow awaited...Not only did I accrue more than 50% interest, I also knew this is very very detrimental to my credit score...I had a decent score I knew...But that was HISTORY! I needed a credit report...A flash of brilliance...freecreditreport.com...with their catchy tune and omnipresence...I went online and got my freecreditreport. OK...success. I needed a credit report and got it for free.

Yeah. Got the information about my score. Enough for an otherwise lame Sunday afternoon. A couple weeks later, I check my account again. FREE CREDIT REPORT ACTUALLY COSTS $15. Man...what cheats. where the hell do they make you give your money is beyond me. Maybe its for the more alert and careful. But everyone cares for their money and if they cannot easily spot where in a series of web pages they agreed to pay some amount, then I think thats swindling them of some well earned cash.

Alas...That was my experience with a "free" service...Piece of shit! Got to be god damn alert or just sign up for a paid service. Atleast you know you are paying and mostly end with much better result.

Just another email...

A day at work as usual...trying to get some work done amidst all chaos and people flocking in and out of my office...things had been pretty calm over the past few days with work proceeding as expected...surprisingly so. In between some work, the usual ritual of checking my inbox took place...mostly its just to glance at some not so important mails which have little more than distraction value. Since the last time I performed this ritual, i had 2 new mails in my inbox...
One was that of a co-worker announcing that today was his last day at work...and the other from another co-worker informing the team that he would be out of office that afternoon. Both these seemingly nondescript emails took more than their fair share of my thought cycles...

First, that of my co-worker leaving anyway deserved a second look..after all if someone from your team leaves, it affects you. But this was different. The co-worker cited health reasons preventing him from making the commute to workplace and affecting his overall productivity...this really made me think...as we go about doing our daily jobs with so much ease...do we ever pause and think that we are indeed lucky to have the ability to carry out our duties without other hindrances...having a good nights sleep before work, ability to type away on the keyboard for long durations, our eyes ability to stare at a computer monitor all day long without complaining, no nagging headaches through the day,etc are all gifts that we relish everyday...but never ever think of them like that...all we care for is work..work...and work...This email was a nice chance for me to step back and thank Lord for allowing me to focus completely on work rather than trying to fight other obstacles before I can get my work started....So next time you feel stressed at work, take a break and make sure you do not do damage beyond repair...since the things we take for granted today may not exist tomorrow.

The other email of a co-worker taking the afternoon off deserved no more than a glance...but the co-worker also stated the reason for his absence. He had a funeral to attend...that of his friends new born...This threw me off completely. never before had i heard of anything like this. It was really sad and I was pretty shaken. I could not think what the parents felt like at this moment. Man, life across the street can be so different. As we come to work, and day in day out struggle to meet deadlines and follow schedules, often we do not spend enough time with loved ones or do not communicate enough how much they mean to us. Here is the fact. Projects and schedules come and go forever. But moments with loved ones are limited. We need to cherish and make time for people we care for since that is what "living" is all about...besides, emails like this greatly help in putting things in perspective. How small our concerns/issues become in front of such insurmountable griefs. Again, lesson learnt. There are far bigger and important things in life and there is someone out there facing a much tougher problem.

Surprising how some emails are not "just another email"...

Its only a game....of life?

Recently I received news about the death of a cricketer in the local cricket league...on the field itself...I am not too sure what the circumstances surrounding that incident was...and so will not comment about it...But obviously I was shocked and saddened by the incident. It got me reflecting on my attitude while I am on the field...
During my stay in the US I have enjoyed company of great people who love sport and are passionate to no end...I too love sport...both watching and playing...I had the chance to play a lot of cricket while in school at Oregon...and a little here in Washington...I played indoor soccer here in Seattle for couple of seasons and now recently have begun "flag football" (a mellow version of American football). Admittedly I am not the best in any of these sports...but that does not take away from me the desire to try my best and give it all...well...is there anything wrong in trying your best on the field? The answer is NO...go there and give your best...But I have found myself getting into unwanted tussles/arguments while on these fields...Couple of incidents which spring up are...arguments with close friends on the field which later turn awkward once you get home and share a room with the same guy you just called "a cheat" or "an individual with no morals". Another one is when I was hit by a ball on my head and I still stood there just so that I do not seem weak and give that satisfaction to the guy who hit me...
Thinking back, I ask if those victories were really worth it? I mean...luckily I was not badly hurt or I did not lose a friend for life...but believe me...at that time, nothing was in my control. And I could have easily hurt myself or lost a friend...because at that time all I cared was for that small little game...While playing a game you tend to get carried away and the adrenaline rush blurrs the line between trying your best and pushing your self beyond what is required. I play sport only for relaxation...and stand to gain no fiscal benefit from it...believe me when I say I am far from making money as an athlete...So when my aim for taking up a sport is pure relaxation, I see no reason to get so worked up...
This news of the gentlemans death of a playing field just puts in perspective how much more there is to life out of the playing field...and the earlier we learn to keep that in mind at "All" times...thats when we become better sportsmen and play a tougher game....

There are no small parts....

When this is the first thing you hear at the first read of a play you will be acting in, you are bound to get a negative feeling about the whole thing. Acting for me was always about being a central character in whole act. Never could I understand the motivation of a guy standing at one corner of the stage holding a tray. Why was he wasting his time there when no one in the audience cares for him? Not so very long ago I auditioned for a role in a local theater. The audition notice did not say much about what roles they were or how long they would be. For me, at least then, a good role was all about being on stage most of the time and saying a lot of dialogues. I never could appreciate "guest appearances" by film stars under the pretense, this "character" has a lot of implication in the overall story. For me, it was simple. The more time you had on stage, more you get noticed...more you speak on stage, more chance you have to show your talent.
With this in mind, I auditioned for a part in the play. It was a typical setup with the "director" in a closed room handing out scripts and then asking people to "perform" the part. I read my part and it seemed really simple. As usual, I tried couple different implmentations of that part and picked one which I thought would be best given the background information about the character.
In I went and ranted away and performed to glory. At least thats what I thought. There was a pause...Some anticipation...More silence...Director scribbling notes on the sheet of paper...Finally, after what seemed to an eternity, he looked up..."Feel the character"...Those were the first words he said..."You did good...but feel the character". The "you did good" part came a tad late...Just reversing the order of statements would have done a world of good to me. I left the room and re-read the part given. After couple of attempts I said to myself.This is what I have...this is what he gets. I went back in. Did the act again and this time he reacted immediately. "Much better". I left the auditions on that high note.
A week later I got a mail from him...Saying you have a part. I was pretty confident based on my audition antiques that I would get a call. And the email re-enforced my belief. Off I went happy and high to the first read of the play. "Krishnan, you play 3 characters in this play". WOW...3 characters. I did god damn well. I looked through the characters I played. Six...The number of dialogues I had. I am not sure how I felt about it...Hurt...Insulted...ego busted...Nothing...Going to rehearsals when you just have 6 dialogues can get challenging. I just have 5 minutes to contribute...After 30 minutes driving and $4 worth gas. I started by attending a few and skipping a lot...But as I attended I was attracted to whole process of making a play...The nuances in movement...The motivation of characters...emotional interplay....how each dialogue is not merely a line but a dump of the characters psyche...On one hand it was such a tremendous learning experience...and on the other I met lot of people and gained wider perspective...All this with just 6 dialogues...In fact, later I liked the fact that having only 6 dialogues meant acting while you are at it...and getting the other fringe benefits all the way...
So...really...there are no small parts...because what you gain is well beyond what you do on D day...Besides...here is the way I look at it. If I forget what I have to say on stage, I could cause havoc...Which really means....There are no small parts.