Burmese Connection. Ashish Basu

sat down with his laptop to clear his email. His flat screen TV was on mute. Kip saw on CNN that the Black Lives Matter protests were now happening in multiple cities in the US simultaneously. Some of the CNN analysts were saying that professional sports teams from the NBA and NFL would soon join the protests. Kip thought it was about time. He was tired of seeing examples of racial discrimination on TV weekly; it was like having two legal systems in the same country. What bothered him even more was that the government and the folks in power were still mostly in denial.

      If Kip had time, he would have liked to go to San Francisco and join one of the protest marches. He made a mental note to check the schedule and check if he could go. If he drove down to San Francisco, he would have to commit himself for a full workday. That was the only reason he had not been able to go. He did not have that kind of time right now, but he would in a month or so, and at that time, he would most definitely do a plan with Tim and drive down to San Francisco. Because of the lockdowns, parking in the city had become much easier.

      The next morning, Kip woke up at 5:00 a.m. so that he could start the day early after his run on the trail near Marin Headlands—he got back after his five-mile route. He came back from his run, showered, and was about to sit down for breakfast when his landline phone at home rang.

      The display had John’s phone number from Glendale, and as he picked up the phone, he could hear Joe’s excited voice at the other end, “Uncle Kip, I made it into the university; they have even offered me the Electrical Engineering honors program I was waiting for. I might get good financial aid as well.”

      “Wow, wow, Joey, slow down,” Kip said, “we were talking about this only yesterday at your house in Glendale. I am so happy and thrilled for you. I am sure you would become a great electrical engineer someday. Anyway, very big congratulations!”

      He really felt great for the kid. After a couple of minutes, John came on the line. John said, “Kip, I never thought I would bother you like this, but could you please drop off the car this week? Joe will need it on the campus because there is no other form of transportation.”

      Kip replied, “No worries at all, John. I had to visit Southern California next week anyway for a project in San Diego. Could I bring it over on Thursday, say midday?”

      “That will be awesome. Thursday any time would be all right, Kip. You decide, I don’t want to impose,” John said.

      He realized that John was feeling a bit awkward, but in reality, it was not an inconvenience for Kip’s schedule at all. He thought he would let John know next time they met face-to-face in Glendale. Kip disconnected and started planning. If I’m going back to SoCal, it might make sense to connect up with Dr. Kang in San Diego, he thought. After a few minutes of thinking, Kip discarded that thought. It was probably better to keep the schedule flexible for now, at least.

      Finally, Kip decided that he would start early on Thursday, drive to Glendale, and return the car. Only after that was done would he plan the rest of the activities. After his last trip got disrupted the way it did, Kip thought that too much detailed planning was not very wise. If he could plan to drive in off-peak hours, he should be fine because the distances in SoCal were not far. After dropping off John’s car, if things went as planned, he could easily rent a car from Glendale or Burbank Airport.

      He could drive down to San Diego; he would use United Airlines on the way back. He had lots of unused miles for 2020, and in their mileage program, some miles could expire. Kip wanted to bounce off a few ideas with Dr. Kang about the Thai wireless job. No big deal. Kip spent most of Wednesday in meetings with his partner Tim. He briefed Tim on the ongoing cases and made sure that Tim had all the case files, copies of agreements, email addresses, and contacts for the priority items. After his last trip got extended, he had become wiser.