Tandoori borscht in Central Asia

In the early 1800s Russia attempted to invade India, but they had to fight the Mongols in Central Asia, and then deal with the British in the Himalayas. Russia's dalliance with India and Central Asia is brilliantly documented in Peter Hopkirk's "The Great Game," a book I need to revisit before reading "Chasing the Monk's Shadow," written by Mishi Saran hitting bookshelves in December.

According to a preview, Saran's book is a travelog about a 7th century Chinese monk walking through Central Asia, Pakistan and into India where she wants to pick up knowledge from a Buddhist monk. Cut to the 21st century, where Saran follows that path and brings us observations about the people and places from both time periods.

Saran has traveled the world and worked in different countries, just the kind of job I desire. Think I'm half way there; now it's a matter of putting the contacts to work. A bit crazier than Saran is my friend Olivia whose blog documents her past travels, including trips to Afghanistan and Yemen. (now have YOU ever thought of going there?).

For travelers like Mishi Saran and Olivia, the local blend matters a lot. Olivia is a great observer, and her blog digs deep into the microcosm of each country she has visited -- sort of like answering the small lingering questions about life. Her viewpoints pack a wallop, so get ready for that pulse rising occassionally. It makes for days of fine reading.

More perspective about The Great Game: An undercover battle was waged by Russia and Britain in the Himalayan/Pamir regions when Russia made an effort to conquer India for its riches. Russia had only one route to come -- through Central Asia -- where they fought with the Mongols, who hated the Russians. The book takes a look at the diplomatic channels, the small battles and the levels of intensity of this semi-war. It's an interesting need, though the names could be hard to remember.

These books won't trigger mass appeal; its about Central Asia, Russia and Western China, regions that people don't care much about. But I just can't get enough of those areas -- so intense, deep and lively that it opens up a whole new world.

I file an occassional entry with the hope to open up that fantastic part of the world and get people to know what's going on there. I just hope those entries are readable.

And yep, I'll write on just about anything to stay away from US politics! Anyone for a poem on Fig Newtons?

A swig of grass

Dwarka is one of the most sacred Hindu cities in India. It's rusty and idyllic feel are charming, and beyond its temples and beach, the village's train station is worth a visit. There are more cows hanging out there than humans, chugging away at grass growing out of the station's bricks.

I wanted to write something about it, but I forgot what. Think of something in the lines of the cows and weed.... hey, just imagine your own story for now! If Krishna and her Gopis don't attack me, I'll revisit this and present the feature story.

Taming Chewbacca

I become Chewbacca every few months -- my hair grows into a tropical jungle, and it needs a home cut. It's an easy job; get a razor and buzz it off. Something not worth spending $20 on.

"Your hair has jammed the building pipes and it needs to be cleared," said my bald neighbor who knocked on my door one day. "I have to spend $115 to have the pipes snaked," he said. His first appearance in 2-1/2 years.

The guy is an a-hole, so good for him. To make his life tougher, I wanted to ask for evidence. I wanted him to dig his hand into the dirty pipe, pull out some of my hair, bring it up, show it to me, fall to my feet and beg for mercy. Right, you a-hole, if you don't have any evidence, I will press charges for threatening a person pointlessly. What we'd call Chinese torture.

It had to be my hair though. He is bald, and my roommate is red-headed.

"You have wonderful genes and your family has wonderful black hair," he said. For some reason, I apologized immediately. Naturally, the guy was talented in dealing with weirdos like me. He spent the $115 to snake the pipes thankfully.

A few weeks later, the latest salvo from his inventory of complaints hit the laundry room, which said "PLEASE CLEAN THE LINT AFTER USING THE DRYER." Grrr. Another one followed a few weeks later -- this one in the laundry room's cabinet -- "Please identify and label your laundry products by Saturday or they will be discarded." I feel like jamming the pipes again.

But Halloween's coming -- after being a leprechaun, a Powerpuff Guy-Superman mix and a morgue consultant over the last three years, it'll be nice to be a real life Chewbacca. No papparazzi please.

Trash bag technology

I've seen ads on TV of "powerful" trash bags that can even hold portable potties and horse's hoofs. WHY???

Who needs a more "powerful" trash bag? The aliens? Are people's trashes getting more powerful day by day?

What is wrong with the ones we have?

I'll soon come up with a trash bag with bubble wrap -- for those who want their trash to sit delicately.

Bootcamp for 800-pound oil gorilla

Gosh, how oil companies spin the world around. It partly drove Bush to take US to war with Iraq, and in Russia, Vlad Putin may be shivering a bit as one 38-year old oil tycoon is now threatening him politically.

Putin isn't happy about the $13.1 billion acquisition of Sibneft by Gazprom, which is majority owned by the Russian government. One reason why Putin is unhappy, explained a think tank friend, was because of the political threat he sees in it from one Roman Abramovich, a London-based businessman.

In 1995, Abramovich acquired the Sibneft subsidiary from the Russian govt. for the junk price of $100 million, which he turned into $13 billion, which Gazprom gladly paid to acquire it. Essentially Sibneft was sold by the government for junk, and reacquired at a premium. It was originally sold in 2003, but a glitch kept the deal on hold.

Abramovich minted money out of Putin's coffers -- which Putin will be unhappy about -- and emerging as a strong political threat to Putin. Putin's history of cleaning out political threats is prolific, but this time he may have missed one.

To gather wealth in Russia, become a politician. Abramovich is using Chukotka, a remote Russia province, as his political vehicle -- he's a leading candidate to be re-elected governor there. Chukotka is attached to the Bering Sea and is the closest province to Alaska (I have written about it here).

He knows Kremlin is ignoring Chukotka, a region yet to be discovered for its natural wealth abundance. As he loads up years of governorship there, he will keep loading his bank account up. Chukchis love him anyways for the money he has invested in the region. However, his reelection is in the hands of Putin.

But the game of political chess has always been on -- it’s just that Abramovich seems to be outplaying Putin.

Abramovich could perhaps smell Putin's approach -- he knew that the Russian government could find a reason to not only acquire Sibneft, but use it as a pretext to jail him for the rest of his life -- tax evasion, illegal oil supply, anything.

For Putin, it would remove a political threat and load up Gazprom, the country's largest oil company and in some ways, his personal piggybank to achieve his political goals.

Abramovich was smart enough to realize that he had to cash in before Putin busted him under a silly pretext. Putin had already used the same trick to get rid of oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky (MK), who earned billions through Yukos, once the second largest oil company after Gazprom.

Gazprom faced a threat from Yukos, and Putin felt threatened by MK, so both were rubbished for evading taxes. MK was jailed, Yukos broke down and Gazprom acquired its assets for virtually nothing.

But I must admit, Yukos did evade taxes, so Putin isn't to blame for MK's jailing. It was the way he was framed that made it look like a political vendetta. MK was called a political threat to economic success, and Abramovich is the next target. Both are protégés of ex-President Boris Yeltsin, whose democratic mind Putin wasn't a fan of.

Abramovich has somehow gotten out of a jam and made billions, but he still remains in Putin's sights. Expect Putin to strike back -- he is wieldy and unpredictable, which is what makes him so politically successful. There will be many chances for him to crush Abramovich.

Sibneft isn't a big oil company, so its acquisition by Gazprom won't affect us, but it is significantly big enough to push the world supply of oil in Russia & Putin's favor. Gazprom is the world's second largest oil and natural gas holder, so any kind of addition to its assets will affect us and the oil prices.

While my friend spun an interesting Abramovich-Putin theory, I can't buy it completely from an economic perspective.

However, she made it clear how oil rules the planet. Putin values and uses his oil companies, just like Bush does.