First Day on the Job

The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.

Moments of Pop- and Gay Culture

Today, "The India Times" features a photo of the Kolkata gay pride parade -- just a photo with an innocuous caption, though the two subjects seem to me to be a bit of an editorial: a transwoman, and a man, wearing a "Tease Me Please Me" T-shirt, and neither looks happy or proud.

During my commute this morning, I hear a duet by Christina Aguilera and, I think, Kylie Minogue that seems sure to be the hit of the summer, "Candyman."

Oops. I'm behind. It was released in early-2007, but apparently, hasn't yet become a hit on the pop radio stations I listen to in the States.

It is surreal to be listening to it on Radio Indigo, "the color of music," while whizzing by such various neighborhoods in Bangalore.

Reality Checks

This afternoon, sitting outside of the Leela Palace Hotel, I am marveling at the thick, butter-swirled, agate table, the substantial white-cushioned, wicker furniture, the inlaid marble floor. I have just come from a local IBM leadership learning event.

Should I put on my new sunglasses, or will I look too glamorous? The breeze makes my salwar kameez billow and act like a femininity-flag.

What gorgeous landscaping! What a welcoming, warm breeze...."Oh, man!" I exclaim. A woman and her two young sons turn around and I gesture to the arch above us, where a pigeon seems to be wagging its tail-feathers at me.

My open notebook has received a critical comment from the bird. The family smiles at me and I surrender to the grossness, using tissues to wipe it off.

Later, this evening, a woman says, "You're the first Jew I've ever met."

"That's what I'm here for!" I respond, smiling, "What's your religion?"

"I'm Catholic."

"You're pretty rare here [in India], too; aren't there just two percent of you?"

"*One* percent --"

"Well, two percent Christians in total, I thought."

"You know Catholics; we figure that everyone else is going to hell," she says with a chuckle.

I smile and recall now, but not then, that people's beliefs are not better or worse than mine, but rather, just different.