RICHLAND TALK

Local Tourists at Maximum Mumbai

2012-02-13T23:10:00.006+05:30

Busy days, late hours and horrid traffic left me and hubbySS exhausted on the Friday evening. Thus came many pleasurable and contentedways of spending our weekend. That of ‘relaxing at home’, ‘chilling out with advd’ and getting chores done. Then a simplecampaign by a leading newspaper happened asking us to switch off our teevees for aday. It sounds like a mighty marketing gimmick, but it honestly worked. Wedecided to finally get out of our contented monotonous chilling at home andexplore what was closest to us – the city of Mumbai. What first came to our head was the symbol most popularly associated with Mumbai City - The Gateway of India and and decided to start with areas around it.

The Taj and the Gateway from the Sea

Colaba Causeway

It was walk down memory lane for me as I passed thelegendary Regal theatre and the Alibaba Restaurant that was adjacent to anoffice where I once worked right after my engineering on the way to the Gateway.It was wonderful to walk on Colaba Causeway and hear the vendors speak expertlyin English and French and still see them target only the white tourist populationand ignore the brown skinned locals! Thearray of gaudy necklaces, trinkets, scarves, marble and wooden showpieces thathave not changed for a long time now continued to be there and continued tofascinate me. Only most of them were pretty pricey targeting a dollar audiencedollars and not for local Indians!

The Taj Hotel

Right across the Gateway of India, The Taj has stood like ashining beacon of lovely architecture in Mumbai city and a balm to eyes tiredof filth, peeling paint, slums and box like buildings with matchbox apartments.From the Gateway it looked grand as always and a testimony to what Mumbai haswithstood, repaired though not healed. The luxury hotel has attracteddistinguished visitors in Mumbai and it was always a pleasure to enter its luxurious,and rich interiors even if it was for just a cup of late night coffee or for aconference in one of its grand ballrooms.

Wah Taj!

The Gateway of India

Coming back to the Gateway of India, my earliest memories asa kid were walking right under the Gateway and buying puzzles, tricks and suchparaphernalia from a thriving market of encroachments even back then. Now, amidst security concerns, there is alarge police barricade and siege with elaborate screening, constant securityvigil and a heightened awareness although it was fortunately pervaded by muchlaughter and photographers asking couples to make various funny poses to holdthe Taj and the Gateway.

The Gateway of India

The Gateway of India was built to commemorate the visit ofKing George V and Queen Mary to Bombay back in 1911, a 100 years back from theapproaching March 11, 2011. The last of British troops to leave India alsopassed through the Gateway in1948. In earlier times, the Gateway was the first glimpse of Bombay thatvisitors arriving by Bombay would get. The architecture of the Gateway is Indo-Gothic representing thecosmopolitan culture of the city of Mumbai even today.

Elephanta Caves andthe Ferry ride

Our next destination was the famous Elephanta caves, whichare on an island across Bombay, reachable by a ferry ride in the sea from theGateway. It is funny how most locals including us have never seen these cavesdespite residing in Mumbai for so many years. It never helped that that thosewho had visited only disparaged the place saying there were just a few brokenidols and little else to see. Well, but look at it this way, it really is funto be a tourist in your own city and see things from a new perspective,understand history and see where the roots of your city indeed lie. The Gatewayis one part of understanding the city, the Taj another and the Elephanta cavesset in an era long bygone adding yet another dimension to this huge city.

Cruising in the Arabian Sea on an hour long ferry ride, fanned by a coolzephyr, watching the Mumbai skyline recede and trying to make out majorlandmarks in the city all added to our really touristy experience.

We reached the Elephanta Island by boat and clambered on atoy train which really ran the distance of a 5 minute walk but was again, apart of the experience! We then had piping hot tea from the ubiquitous teastalls and then proceeded to clamber the many steps up the hill that led to thecaves. As usual, the entrance all along the steps was lined by a huge market ofsouvenirs that sold everything that can be found at any souvenir market inIndia I suppose. We saw rows and rows of endless ‘handicrafts’ that we hadbought foolishly in Rajasthan at high prices as something unique and refused to buy more ‘unique items’.

Toy Train to Elephanta Caves

We finally reached the caves and found a guide (unauthorizedguy since there were no official guides!) to tell us the history of the placeinstead of us looking blankly at the statues. We learned that the Elephanta Island as it was now known isknown originally and referred to by locals as the Gharapuri Island which meansliterally island of caves. The island consists of Hindu and Buddhist caves withthe Hindu caves depicting tales from the life of Shiva.

The Portuguese called the island Elephanta on seeing itshuge gigantic statue of an Elephant at the entrance. The Statue is now placedin the garden outside the Jijamata Udyan at Byculla in Mumbai. This cave wasrenovated in the 1970s after years of neglect, and was designated a UNESCOWorld Heritage Site in 1987 to preserve the artwork and is currently maintainedby the Archaeological Survey of India. If the Portuguese used the sculpturesfor target practice blowing them up for most part, Indian ruffians scribbledand carved their names and declared undying love to their beloveds anddesecrated the statues. ASI has done a good job however in cleaning up amajority of these names, though on close scrutiny, one can still make outEnglish letters in the haze.

The guide told us several interesting stories about thesculptures most of which could be confirmed by the guidebook or Wikipedia. Theones I liked are Ravan lifting Shiva and Parvati on Mount Kailash, Wedding ofShiva, Shiva slaying a demon named Andhaka, and the most famous one, theTrimurti. The Trimurti is a 20 ft rock sculpture that depicts a three headedShiva manifesting creation, preservation and destruction and thus the threeimportant deities Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva respectively.

The Trimurti Idol

It took us around 2 hours to go around the entire place,take photos and listen to stories besides indulging in chai, and look atknick-knacks in the souvenir market. The ferry service starts early in themorning and continues till around 5:00 pm in the evening in winters. I supposethis time gets extended in summers.

The ride back thrilled us again as sea gulls swept up anddown, and in circles with their cries over the lapping waters. We disembarkedat the Gateway and headed back into the chaos of the city. With a few hoursleft to kill on that perfect weekend, we ate pav bhaji at one of the tinyrestaurants at Colaba Causeway, ate a really yummy looking pan and watched theBollywood movie ‘Agneepath’ at the historic Regal theater.

I would definitely recommend this trip to anyone who wantsto become a tourist at Mumbai. Go Out Mumbaikars and take that ferry ride!

A Glorious Sunset

More pictures on my Facebook site – http://www.facebook.com/richlandtalk

Fatwa Fever

2012-01-12T11:56:00.001+05:30

The Fatwa fever is on in India! Maybe that word should be a permanent Oxford dictionary addition if it already isn’t.

Kapil Sibal tried to put one on Social networking. It triggered more twittering and dis’liking’ and sniggers from the social media community. Anna came along and is still trying to put a fatwa on corruption and alcohol. Madhya Pradesh has reined in beef-eaters while even the glorious Sun has not been spared by fatwaing the Surya Namaskar. The biggest joke of all is the ban on showing the pink elephants and statues at Uttar Pradesh. Amidst the new, how can old one’s be forgotten – Muslim clerics are already up in arms against Salman Rushdie stepping into India for a popular literature fest. A few more fatwas that should be issued soon by various Hindu, Muslim, Brahmins, SC/STs, govt. etc.-

If Maya’s elephants can’t wave their trunks, people are here forth barred from waving for anything, riding bicycles and using sickles to harvest their crops.
A fatwa should be issued on fat and unfit Abhishek Bacchhan from dancing (and being in movies) and a fatwa on Sonam Kapoor and Imran Khan on acting.
Citizens and tourists should not be allowed to eat anything but boiled vegetables so as to not hurt the religious sentiments of other communities including Jains and imprisonment for those who dare eat beef/chicken/pork or anything else not in the list of allowed eatables.
There should be a fatwa on traffic policemen who aren’t of any use anyway on Mumbai roads.
A fatwa should be put on pedestrians who try walking on footpaths annoying squatting hawkers and bikers who drive on them if there are no hawkers.
A covert ban on Tendulkar making his century would ensure TRPs and advertisers getting their due
FDI fatwa continues and the movie association should follow suit and issue a fatwa on Hollywood to protect the interest of the wonderful Bollywood movies such as Rascals, Don2 and Ra One getting neglected despite their ‘wonderful’ stories.
A fatwa on all of all of yoga (not just the surya namaskar), pilates, kickboxing, for religious reasons, no-westernization reasons etc will be great so I have a convenient excuse to stop exercising.
A fatwa on Brahmins and higher castes to reproduce given that future increasing reservations will ensure they die of malnutrition anyway or they will go abroad
Thanks to Sibal, a fatwa on social networking in office will let me be more productive and go home early!
I wonder if a fatwa on the Rupee will rein in exchange rates at their current levels and if a fatwa can be issued on rising petrol prices
Last but not the least, after we exhaust all the fatwas, could we please have a fatwa against passing more fatwas and end this fatwaing?

Courtesy - Google Images

The democracy which India is supposed to be is now a fatwacrazy. It is insane that if a girl is molested, she is the one blamed for it since she was wearing a sleeveless shirt and not the lecherous man who did it. A motorist almost runs over a pedestrian and shouts at him for being in the way when he is breaking a signal. Unless power hungry politicians, moralistic clerics and wrong populist measures are reined in, the one thing – freedom - we prided ourselves on and thought we are better at than China will also cease to exist and leave little hope in a country desperate to shine.

The Dirty City

2011-12-12T09:58:00.001+05:30

‘Clean Mumbai! Green Mumbai!Beautiful Mumbai’ – These few phrases are a rude bundle of crap from BMC andall the politicians who have made the Shanghaification of Mumbai a colossaljoke.

Apart from the many popularpolluting elements of air, water, sound that afflict Mumbai, one which is lesstalked about but one of the most rampant forms is ‘Visual Pollution’.

Huge ugly looking vinyl hoardingswith ugly politicians with creepy smiles grouped with sycophants dot every roadand square. Those very smiling goonsbash up sincere lads who go to remove the illegal cost-free advertisinghoardings and threaten BMC workers who order them removed. Bah! to think, multinationals shell out moneyto pay for the almost as ugly OOH (out of home) advertising.

The airport road was once upon atime supposed to be ‘beautified’ to avoid foreign visitors from gettingheadaches from all the ugliness that hits them suddenly. After seeing a sea of blue, which is not theArabian sea, visitors and Mumbaiites come out in the open in grubby taxis, tosee people peeing, squatting, shitting on roads, picking lice on their headsetc. If that were not enough to make them want to turn back, they get to seethe unavoidable unseemly sight of people spitting usually that revolting redmuck every five seconds on pockmarked roads.

The ugliness continues on theunpainted roads with construction rubble lying everywhere –on the sides, belowflyovers, on the unpainted dividers, with dried up and dead ‘beautifyingtrees’. No lane markings are present on any roads, and the dividers brokenwherever convenient for motorists to make illegal passes and turns. Newflyovers had come up were supposed to be gleaming and shiny new structures. Then I saw these weird metal contrapments,probably cellphone towers all along the flyovers. God! More ugliness! Talking of unpainted,rows and rows of dilapidated buildings with peeling dirty paint look on withshanties at their bases all along every large road in Mumbai and in smallerbylanes.

‘Clean up!’ dirty green Garbagetrucks of BMC freely ride the roads at all times of the day and one sees a‘Mera Bharat Mahaan’ painted on some unsightly broken granite obstruction inthe middle of the road. The whole city is a dustbin for one and all wherepeople litter as they please, where they stand, leaving their legacy behind forsomeone to clean up after them. Shopkeepers dust their shops driving thegarbage to the middle of the road onto unsuspecting pedestrians. A pile of garbage that should not be where itis, collects for days together. Numerousflea ridden dogs and scraggly cats are seen loitering near these dumps or themiddle of roads.

One would escape the ugliness thatabounds this city once one was home; I would have liked to believe, but there,as I enter, dirty shoes of all the family haphazardly kept by my buildingpeople greet me on the staircase. Across the window, in the opposite building,I am forced to look at my neighbours’ chaddis, banians and bras hanging out oftheir living room windows to dry.

Call me intolerant or just aforeign returned NRI even if it was for a really short while, or call mesnooty, a snob, or whatever, but could we PLEASE stop exhibiting all ourclothes to our neighbours, and stop littering alteast!?

And to think, people call this morbidplace a beautiful city. Mere wishful thinking probably where we refer to the‘indomitable’spirit and resilience of Mumbaiites as beauty. I wish we stoppedtalking about beauty like that in the Miss Worlds where they unnecessarilydiscuss ‘inner beauty’ on mugged up answers. I am done with the inner beauty, Iwant to see some physical beauty in this city! It is nice to sit on to Marinedrive and stare out into the sea out of Mumbai. Staring out of Mumbai makes it beautiful you see. The city is a damn dump. Can anyone at all do anything to reducedisgusting habits, really clean up and to make this city less of an eyesorethan it can be helped? I love this city despite its short-comings and heavenknows why I want to return always to it and I always did, but indeed, it isbeing abused way beyond its tolerance limits. One day, it will exact itsterrible revenge from the denizens of Mumbai unless something were done aboutit.

Book Review - The Best of Quest by Laeeq Futehally, Achal Prabhala and Arshia Sattar

2011-12-06T23:07:00.001+05:30

Daring, illuminating, and inspiring. These bestdescribe a journal that took birth not so way back in the pre-emergency days in1954. It was called Quest – ‘a quarterlyof inquiry, criticism and ideas’. With a prolific writer, poet and socialcommentator Nissim Ezekiel at its helm, this magazine commented on thepolitical, social, philosophical, cultural and ideological environment of a newlyliberated India. The magazine featured amotley of brilliant writers and poets of the time that included great namessuch as the zesty Dilip Chitre, sociologists such as Ashis Nandy and SudhirKakar, and the feisty Khushwant Singh and the haunting poet Agha Shahid Ali to namea very few of those geniuses.

In its short life of 2 decades, this insightful magazine wasforced to down its shutters, but fortunately for our generation today, The Best of Quest, an anthology of thevery best essays, critiques, poems and stories from an era bygone provides uswith a superb insight into the thinking of the intelligentsia of those times.

The Best of Quest editedby Laeeq Futehally, Achal Prabhala and Arshia Sattar showcases writers fromdifferent backgrounds, and conversations on a myriad themes and topics. Dividedinto seven parts interspersed with old ads and including a worthy introductionand endnotes, this book features in three parts, Essays and Opinion, Poetry andFiction. Several translated works arethankfully included in this volume that might just have been lost. At the end of the book, I am already wishing,there was a second volume in this series!

In the Essays section, what struck me was that so many ofthe articles commented on the questions that are still raging more than 50years down the road. This section, includes writings on the still debatablecaste system, the place of women in an evolving society in articles such as Women’s Lib in India, The Married Woman andOur Sex Morality, Fair and Free; cultural discussions on the Konark temple;the Islamic connection in a still relevant article Am I a Muslim. On a lighter note, the spirited two articles, On Caged Chaffinches and Polyglot Parrotsand a reply to it in Indian Writing inEnglish on the usage of English as a medium of expression wereuplifting. Movies have always beeningrained in the fabric of India and these were seen in caustic critique ofSatyajit Ray juxtaposed with the hit movie Bobbyby the then mysterious ‘D’ aka Dilip Chite and in the Charm of Rajesh Khanna. I wish I could quote or just list down allthe well researched articles that said so much in so few words and trulyprovided a glimpse into the world which barely seems to have changed sincethen.

Poetry included works by the editor and great poet himself,Nissim Ezekiel, Kamala Das, A.K. Ramanujan to name a very few.

Some lines that I think will stick on in my head are in

Stance by NissimEzekiel

Elusive for ever,

the middle road

is never

strictly

in the middle.

From Three Cups of Teaby Arun Kolatkar –

i went to Burma

i was arrested and sent back

toManipur

no passport

thepolice commissioner asked

why did you go to burma?

Prickfacei said

what’s there in India?

I also particularly enjoyed ‘City Streets’ by Santan Rodrigueswhich echoes what I think of Indian cities today with the scum and filth inthem.

In the fiction section, a fantastic array of haunting,satirical and charming stories has been selected with great care in this book.I loved the twist in The Departure,the simplicity in Aunt Matilda turnsninety and the poignant story The Accompanist. Again, an enthralling anthology offiction.

The endnotes and the story behind the magazine Quest were illuminating and I feltprivileged to read so much more about Nissim Ezekiel, Dilip Chitre and theother scintillating men behind Quest.Kudos to the editors for the incredible collection of the essays, stories andpoems in this terrific book.

My verdict is a thumping 4.5 on 5 for this book.

About the Editors -

Laeeq Futehally is a writer and garden designer. She worked as the Literary Editor of Quest for over twenty years.
Achal Prabhala is a writer and researcher in Bangalore
Arshia Sattar works with classical Indian literatures and teachers at various institutions across the country

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Dark was the night and weird the atmosphere...

2011-11-29T22:38:00.001+05:30

Dark was the night andweird the atmosphere. It rained from time to time; gusts of wind shook thetrees. Between thunderclaps and the moaning of jackals could be heard the eerielaughter of spirits. Flashes of lightning revealed fearsome faces.

For those wondering where they have come across these lines, Chandamama it is, in the new tales ofVikram and Vetal that they featured for several decades and still continue. I loved the colorful delineation in paragraph mentioned above and had almost mugged it up! Ihave a collection that dates back from 1976 till around 1996 and I particularlylooked forward to reading these stories in every issue that I had hoardedthrough subscriptions and old ‘raddiwalas’ (waste/old paper buyers andsellers).

Vikram and Vetal (Vampire) has for long enamored generations ofIndians with stories of wit, mystery and stimulation of those grey cells. Thecourageous King Vikramaditya sought to dislodge a vampire from his hideout inan eerie jungle replete with ghosts, jackals, and several monsters and deliverhim to a tantric to fulfill a promise. The Vetal turned out to be loquacious,and he made a deal with Vikramaditya – If the King could answer his questionsafter listening to a story he narrated during the walk, then the Vetal wouldfly back to his original hideout. If he could not or did not, then he wouldstick around.

A page from Chandamama

The stories were particularly interesting revolving around kings,queens, commoners, princesses and a host of issues – ethics, morals, love,courage, dishonesty etc. The conundrumat the end of each story was particularly thought provoking and the Kingusually had his quick correct answer ready which he blabbered out which had theVetal laughing all the way back to the tree!

The original tales whichare 24 in number are as old as older than the 11^th century –incorporatedin the Kathā-Sarit-Sāgara ("Ocean of the Streams of Story"), which isa work in Sanskrit compiled by Somadeva. Sir Richard Francis Burton adaptedthese stories in his translated English compilation of 11 tales in his largelyfictitious work Vikram and the Vampire.I recently read this adaptation and found it to be highly intriguing and Ialmost thought I was reading the original stories. Next on my reading listwould be the more original 22 Goblinsby Arthur W Ryder.

The King did not continuehis cycle of walking up and down with the Vetal for eternity like I once usedto think seeing the Chandamama tales never ended! The last or the 24^thstory had him befuddled with this one tale. In a kingdom ravaged by war, a man married a princess and his sonmarried her mother, the queen and they had kids. The question to KingVikramaditya was – ‘What is the relationship between the children?’ Thediscombobulated relationship flummoxed the King and he was unable to answerthis question resulting the end of his ordeal and delivering the vampire to theevil tantric. The evil tantric hadhatched a plan to slay the King but was finally outsmarted by clever KingVikramaditya. With this the tales of Vikram and Vetal concluded originally, butlike most hallowed classics the legacy lives on with more tales being concocted around the same lines in books and on television.

PS - I was delighted recently to see all the old Chandamamas archived on their website http://www.chandamama.com/archive/storyArchive.htm. Loved those enthralling folktales and stories then, loved them now again.

Book Review - The Blogging Affair by Manu

2011-11-21T21:59:00.001+05:30

I don’t read books such as the one I am reviewing now, butwell, it is the author’s first attempt and he did get it published. There must be something in it after all. So,with such low expectations did I take up reading ‘The Blogging Affair’ by ‘Manu’and didn’t find it bad!

The author has attempted to write on a sleazy affair, madeas sleazy as an Indian sensitivity would permit it to be and woven a tale oflust with the façade of a mystery. I amnot sure what was more important to the author, the sleaze around the story orthe story around the sleaze. If you are gettingconfused, this book well, is an Indian Irving Wallace or a Clive Cussler kindatale. Quite honestly, the mystery is decentand did keep me engrossed with a mysterious blogger being an insanemurderer. The blogs were engaging tooand the investigation process well described. Yet another book, where the I was sold on the concept but the executionsomewhat questionable.

I am sure there is a sizeable audience that is interested infiction of this genre. However it is my perception that this audience willprobably venture towards known foreign writers rather than an Indian newcomeryet. Now, had this same author woventhis same tale, aka Chetan Bhagat, we might have had a wider audience. Just give Indians the story, plain and simplewithout the sexual tones to it and it probably will be openly talked about.

My verdict – This book is not meant to be a classic orintellectually stimulating which I give higher marks for, but I would give thisone a rating of 2.5 to this book for the story and the effort.

Book Review - 7 Secrets of Vishnu by Devdutt Pattanaik

2011-11-15T00:00:00.001+05:30

I have always been big on following mythology and folklorearound our thousands of Gods and Goddesses. Along came this book ‘7 Secrets of Vishnu’ by Devdutt Pattanaik whichpromised to reveal all. From Mohini toKrishna, this book wanders between folklore, stories as we know them and as wedon’t, symbolism in various art forms across the country and tenets of Hinduphilosophy.

The book starts off with a chapter titled Mohini. It startsoff with explaining that Mohini is none other but Vishnu in female form, thenthe chapter goes on to various stories revolving around Brahma, Narada, Sukaand Shiva with no apparent context with respect to Mohini and ends with a briefparagraph on Mohini’s liaison with Shiva. Now had the author not titled thischapter Mohini, the explanation behind Narada and Brahma falling into ‘Maya’ orthe delusional ephemeral world, would have made far more sense.

That aside, I am glad, the author explained the structure ofthe book at the outset in the foreword since the names of the chapters areseemingly misnomers. The rest of thebook concentrates on the popular tales from the Dashaavtar covering all of themin the remaining six chapters. Plenty ofstories have been woven in around those tales with explanation using moretales!

The war between Deva’s and Asura’s, symbolism around theGoddesses of Lakshmi and Saraswati, stories from the Mahabharata and Ramayanahave been narrated quite well and heavily illustrated. The book secures plenty of brownie pointswith the lovely illustrations of murals, sculptures and paintings from allparts of India.

Unfortunately, here isthe ‘but’ though with respect to the illustrations – But, the captions of the pictures were grossly inadequate,as were the labels. Perhaps a listing ofvarious temples/locations of the illustrations at the end in an appendix wouldhave really helped curious readers to know where they could actually see thereal thing. Many of the labels seemedquite superfluous too – a spear pointed as a ‘weapon’ or a painting of Matsyaavatar (half human half fish image) with a label on the human body part as ‘Thehuman upper body is a reminder of human possibility’. Sometimes the lotus indicated appreciation;sometimes it indicated affiliation with Kama, the God of Love, sometimes, justsomething that was held by Lakshmi. It seemed to me, pretty random, thatholding a child by a Yakshin, indicated earth’s fertility.

What I also did not like was the stress on ‘domesticated’consorts of Lakshmi, Sita, Saraswati. About Sita, the book claimed –‘Sitaembodies culture which is domesticated nature’, Lakshmi who is not ‘chased’ byVishnu but who ‘chases’ Vishnu, Lakshmi massaging Vishnu’s feet. The author did sound pretty chauvinistic tome!

My Verdict - All inall, I would give a rating of 3.5 stars (out of 5) to the book. I would take away a few points forillustrations not being aptly labeled, titles of the chapters not entirelyliving upto the content and some seemingly far-fetched answers. However, the positivesstill override the negatives with a good mix of stories interwoven with theguiding philosophy and apt illustrations. All in all, reading this book waslike reading an interesting textbook with plenty of illustrations, stories andlearning!

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Rickshaw Realities - The Other Side

2011-10-27T17:15:00.003+05:30

We hate them. But weneed them. I speak of the ubiquitouslifeline of Mumbai, The Rickshawwallahs. I have written and unwritten this (deleted I mean) blog several times,sympathizing with the 'bechare' rickshawallahs and then casting aspersions on the same damn rickshawallahs. In here, I ask the reader of only one thing –perhaps hate them a little less even though the most commonly used word intheir vocabulary in the early morning rush hour is NO-GO, their meters areusually fast, they constantly strike, blow loud horns, spit disgustingly onroads all the time and drive recklessly!

For the past month, the lack of a personal vehicle has forcedme into the rigmarole of hailing atleast 5 rickshaws before I get one to go andthen inch my way on the LBS marg and the bumpy stop and inch ahead climb toPowai. I must say, these rides have given me a fair view of the other side ofthe lives of these supposedly bad guys and almost feel sorry for them for allthat they have to bear. Perhaps there are certain myths and certain realitieswhich commuters need to understand.

On Roads

Mumbai is a tough city (except the roads which are sadlyvery weak). Bad traffic jams anywhereyou go at any time of the day, do not make a rickshawallah’s life fun. We the commuters, get utterly frustratedafter that one hour of ride for the rest of the day. Imagine being stuck on those roads withconstant loud honking and pollution equivalent to smoking a hundred cigarettesevery hour. What is also not seen is the health hazards that they probably facedue not just the pollution but also back aches that the terrible roads and thevery make of the rickshaw must give them. Of course, you might say, they have enough vices of drinking and chewingpaan and spitting out on the roads that make them deserve all the other healthproblems they have, but perhaps if lives weren’t as tough, they wouldn’t havethese very problems.

On Havaldars (TrafficPolicemen)

‘H&*#mi saale’ resonatedwith all rickshawallahs I spoke to, with reference to the traffic havaldars. ‘!Being stopped just for the sake of taking a bribe, or for pure harassment forbreaking no real rule isn’t something we can take, but being gareeb and lesschance of being influential, havaldars stop them all the time to extortmoney. Perhaps it would be a good thingif they actually stopped them when they do break rules, one would think.

On MNS and theMarathi Manoos

‘Raj Thakrey, MNS, Shivsena vagere madam, ugich hallakartat. Tyanna fakta votes payje’ –(RajThackray, MNS, Shivsena, create unnecessary trouble. They want only votes). Infact, the Marathirickshawallah, spoke on behalf of the ‘bhaiyyas’ saying they are very sincereand hardworking unlike their lazy Marathi counterparts. I was surprised to hear the ‘Marathi Manoos’say this. But apparently, vote bankpolitics is something that every aam aadmi has realized. These rickshawallahs, condemned the burningdown and ransacking of the rickshaws recently of those poor bechare rickshawallahswho must have lost so much with the destruction of their medium of occupation.

On Strikes

Rickshaw strikes lead to mayhem in commutes across the city furtheringtheir image of the bad guys, but sometimes, it’s a few errant rick wallahs,which force all the other ricks off the roads with threats of violence if theydon’t do so resulting in heavy losses for the day for everyone including theones who cannot afford the strike. Sadly,at the end of the day, with not much achieved, it’s the commuters and therickshawallahs who both lose out.

On Traffic and NoGo

When 10th Rickshawallah I hail says ‘Udhar bahut traffichian, No Go.’, I do want to tear my hair out, but the 11^th one sighsand takes me in, and says, ‘Madam, what to do, People get into our ricks for alittle bit instead of all the way, then get off in the traffic to walk offleaving us in the lurch in the heavy traffic.’ I can’t help but think, well, that is a different point of view!

On High Costs

Inflation has hit every aspect of one’s life in a city likeMumbai. Although fares have increased toRs 12 minimum now, still, really is it enough yet? After comparing the local transport rates inother parts of the world, Mumbai still charges a piffling Rs 12 for the firstkm as compared to an average of $5 (Rs 300) plus tip in the developedcountries. Maybe if the rates were morereasonable, meters would not be as fast and the rickshawallahs less reluctantto ply between their non-routine destinations. Where capital costs are concerned these aren’t too low either, with Rs1Lakh towards the permit to be renewed every three years and Rs 1.5lakh towardsthe vehicle. Fuel charges areseparate. A rickshawallah typicallymakes around Rs 700 on a good day of which he pays Rs 200 towards the lease ofthe rick and Rs 100 for fuel.

Day vs Night

I had no idea, rickshawallahs worked in shifts. Well, they do. The ones who drive at nightprefer the day, since obviously the number of people who take ricks are moreand the earning capacity is more. Theones who drive in the day almost wish they did so at night when the trafficwasn’t so bad and it wasn’t so hot. Thenight rickshawallahs are also under constant threat from drunks and louts whotake rickshaws for the fun of it and threaten to beat up drivers if they arecharged for the ride.

Ambition

Most people consider rickshalwallahs as those ‘chote log’and expect to be respected in return. Granted that they probably do not earn as much as the one’s using theirvehicle do, but still, I wish everyperson providing a service was respected atleast a little bit. Most rickshawallahs, have kids in good schools andhope they study well and not become rickshawallahs. One rickshawallah I encountered from outsideRK Studios, turned out to be a talented mimic who demonstrated his skills andgave me his card for his services in entertainment and hopes to get a breaksomewhere in that field. What I amsaying is, it’s time we stopped referring to the rickshawallahs in the ‘poortrashy category’. After all, they aretrying to get out of being poor.

I do not condone the harassment that commuters are subjectedto when there are constant strikes, are cheated and charged more and unethicalpractices by a humongous proportion of the rickshawallahs. But it helps torealize, not all of them are wicked. Most are out to earn their daily living. Hopefully,the next time I get frustrated due to the non-cooperation of this community,perhaps I could remember that they have their reasons probably to not gosomewhere. Whatever it is, the relation between Mumbai and its rickshaws willcontinue to clash but the meter will continue to run.

Mighty Chittorgarh and Blasphemous Indians

2011-10-01T11:06:00.000+05:30

Massive,Mighty and Magnificent. I lovedChittorgarh fort.

Morons,Miserable, Miscreants – Those Bloody Indians who desecrated its walls.

I speak of the Sunils who love the Nehas and are joined bythat cupids arrow through the heart on the Ramayana etching, Chandraketus whovisited the monument on July 7, 2009, Swapnils, Pankajs, and Rahuls who foundit fun to use a permanent marker to scribe their names and present theirautographs to the grim 1000 year statues. I speak of the Rams and Mohans wholeft their legacy on Mumtaz Mahal’s tomb.

I speak of the mother who instructed her kid to throw awaythe pepsi bottle in a corner of the monument and not carry it out to throw inthe many dustbins stationed. I speak of the vile pan chewer who spit on mostmarvelous engraving in the fort. I speakof the snacks vendor at the Rana Pratap memorial who discarded his trashoutside his window on a hill which he thought was not visible to tourists. Ispeak of the literate but uneducated girl who did not think twice beforethrowing out tissue paper out of her car on the road after seeing themonument.

Can we even remotely call ours a civilized society? We harp about the ‘Mahaanta’ of Bharat andthe rich culture and heritage and in the next instant trash it with ourwaste. I am so indignant and disgustedat this apathy and this lack of reverence.

I had trekked earlier this year to a wonder of the worldnamed Macchu Picchu to see some ruins which I have described in an earlier blog. Those ruins, mere walls of stone,have been preserved with utmost care by Peruvians. Peruvians who are from a similar poorcountry, are proud of their heritage and have not taken it for granted asIndians have. In eras older than theInca empire of the Peruvians, our emperors and kings were far advanced in theirart forms and built structures which withstood not just battles and attacks butthe test of time. I could go right uptothe Victory tower and I could only gaze in wonder at the art forms in themasonry and sculptures that were not valuable enough for the British to plunder. But can we say that we have preserved themwell enough? Sure, the Architectural Survey of India (ASI) has done a great jobin digging out similar structures and maintaining them. But what about the vast majority of the peoplewho do not understand how privileged they are to be able to see them?

I almost feel India and Indians are not worthy of this richheritage. All these beautiful ancient monumentsand gorgeous art forms would have been preserved far better in countries suchas USA or in Europe where people admire, appreciate and respect them.

Merely studying history is not enough. Can we inculcate enough pride in our heritageso as to only be able to at least very mildly respect the wonderful historythat still stands today and not desecrate it? If this cannot be imbibed, canmore punitive action be taken against the cowardly sociopaths who carry outtheir ‘rebellious’ pranks covertly? Perhaps a fine of Rs 500 to be enforced bya wiry thin watchman standing at the entrance may not be the right way. Can the government have CCTVs which aremonitored and enforce more stringent action, say a non bailableimprisonment? Is there anything wecitizens who love and value our country can do more than turning awayindifferently for fear of getting into arguments and then tsking tsking behindtheir backs? In this blog I speak of only our tourist places, but on a broaderlevel, I question, why is it that the very same Indians who break all rules intheir home country are able to even pick their dogs shit with their hands tothrow it in the dustbin in another country? If only, everyone respected intheir own country what they did in foreign lands, India could come somewherenear being called a civilized society.

A few glimpses of the magnificent Chittorgarh fort below –

Vijay Stambha (Victory Tower)

Hanuman 'Pol' (Gate)

Carvings in Victory Tower

Kumbha Shyam Temple

Trimurti

Padmini Palace

Jain Temple of Mahaveer

Meera Temple

Picturesque view near Gaumukhs Reservoir

The Secret of the Nagas by Amish Tripathi – Book Review

2011-09-28T00:19:00.000+05:30

This review of the second part of the Shiva trilogy follows my earlier blog where I have reviewedthe first part 'The Immortals of Meluha'.

The second part 'TheSecret of the Nagas' picked up where the author had left off with a skillful Nagatargeting Shiva’s consort Sati after the attack of Mount Mandar and killing his friend Brahaspati. Shiva vows to hunt down the Nagas to avenge Brahaspati. Along this quest, he searches for answers to understand what evil is and if the Nagas can lead him to this secret. Aspromised by the very attractive book cover and the blurbs from other reviewers published on the book, this second part of the trilogy is action packed. Perhaps a little too action packed. Shiva battles the Nagas, the Nagas battlewith others. There are also fights with the Brangas who support the Nagas. Amission to combat ‘bandit’ Parsuram is led by Shiva while Sati duels with tigers. A second love story apart from that of Shiva and Sati is alsothrown in. Kartik is born to Shiva and Sati and long lost siblings arere-united in this second book. With so much happening, I honestlyfelt like I was watching a hindi television serial that had twists and turns andample ‘dramebaazi’ on every page of the book. However, what irked me the mostwas the revelation of the secret of the Nagas, their identity and theirdelineation. The pleasure I had felt in reading familiar names in a fresh lightevaporated when justice was not done to these very revered and familiar names.

For those who likeracy books, possibly this book might be a treat. I have to admit, I was hookedto the book, but it gave me the impression, that the author had almost thrownaway the opportunity of writing a classic thriller by merely being crisp in hiswriting. I was hoping, the author wouldlend a little more color to Shiva’s character apart from his blue throat inthis volume, but alas!, Shiva remained very one dimensional, almost to thepoint where, he became just a figure head for the legend that He was out todestroy Evil in the world.

On the positive side, this book is certainly very vivid inits descriptions and would make an eminently watchable movie. The intenseaction in every battle and the internal turmoil that Shiva was undergoing hasbeen expressed well. I could almost hear the drums in the war and see the bloodshed. Shiva’s discovery of the deep underlying message that Evil is a matter ofperspective was well narrated, and I could almost see him in the ancienttemples and hear his conversations with the Vasudev Pandits who helped him inthis discovery.

I would give this book a three star rating out of five forits racy plot and innovative story. Acrisper story, a different choice of words to replace commonly used Indianphrases such as ‘what rubbish’, better characterization and good editing willprobably elevate this book to a much higher level. I do hope that while theauthor tones down what is not necessary, the high energy levels that are in thefirst two books continue in the third and final book of the trilogy, 'The Oathof the Vayuputras’. I look forwad to reading the final version and hope for aspectacular finish!

Read more on the triology on http://shivatrilogy.com/index3.html

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!

The Immortals of Meluha by Amish Tripathi - Book Review

2011-09-25T20:42:00.000+05:30

I was excited about reading the first book of the ShivaTrilogy by Amish Tripathi and was thrilled when Blogadda gifted me a set of thefirst two books in exchange for just an impartial review for readers and theauthor. It certainly was a win-winsituation!

‘The Immortals of Meluha’, the first in a series of three isa fresh perspective of what Hindus and Indians believe in or know asmythology. The author in his book haspersonified what Hindus have deified. Shiva as we know him, has been portrayed as a mere mortal, albeit agreat mortal and warrior. Reading this book with familiar landscapes andcharacters but a new story was an odd but interesting blend of knowing and notknowing what would come next. Familiar characters of Sati, Daksha, Nandi,Veerbhadra, Brihaspati have been personified in roles, as we know in mythology andI could easily conjure up images from the Amar Chitra Kathas that I had read inthe past. I loved the canvas that had been painted for the entire storylineusing various ancient civilizations of the Indus Valley of Mohenjo Daro andHarappa as well as from ancient Hindu cities of Ayodhya, Takshashila etc.

The plot revolves around Shiva aka the Neelkanth, Mahadev orNatraj, who is a young warrior and leader of a tribe in Mount Kailash. He moveswith his clan in a search for peace, to Meluha, a land famed for its idealcivilization more popularly called Ram Rajya. However all is not well inMeluha, this land of the Suryavanshis. The Chandravanshis, their foes who reside in Swadeep seem to have alliedwith the evil Naga race and engage in terrorist attacks causing havoc in Meluha. The story chronicles Shiva’s journey oflove, thirst for revenge, and his quest to find evil to root it out. Aided by the dependable Parvateshwar, withthe fearless Sati on his side and the Vasudev Pandits guiding him in hisspiritual quest, Shiva leads fearsome battles against his foes and leaves thereaders asking for more.

The flow of the story was smoothand the narration gripping, although somewhere I felt the author drifted off attimes losing focus of the main storyline and the characters. Although the characters were strong inthemselves, there was plenty of scope of adding more depth to theirpersonalities through their actions- especially Shiva’s. What I particularly did not like, was the useof modern day Indian parlance consisting of phrases such as ‘what the hell ishappening’, ‘Dammit’, ‘what nonsense’ etc. a tad too many times taking awaythat old world charm in which the story was set. The landscape Amish has chosento paint his story in, is marvelous, and I do think there is still plenty ofmore room to use this multi-region, multi-cultural background to his advantageto create a masterpiece.

All in all, The Immortals of Meluha was a gripping story that would probablymake a riveting movie. I enjoyed reading it and I look forward to getting to Secretof the Nagas – the second volume of this trilogy!

Read more on the triology on http://shivatrilogy.com/index3.html

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!

Royal Rajasthan - Part 1 - Udaipur

2011-09-25T01:10:00.000+05:30

Rajasthan –a state that was truly royal. A trip toUdaipur and Jaipur left me feeling proud of the heritage we have and increasedmy wanderlust in exploring more of India.

Udaipur - a charming city with shimmering lakes, ancient architecture, grand mansions and plenty of folklore. We got off the airport and were able to promptly avail taxi services at the airport. Our taxi driver and guide Rais Khan started our trip with taking us to the famous Nath Dwara mandir which is a temple of Krishna and more popularly Srinathji in those parts. We had around two hours to kill before the gates were opened to the hordes of devotees. The area was like any other religious area really. Rows of shops with artifacts to be used for worshipping, plenty of silverware, idols, marble besides the paraphernalia of the photos of Srinathji ofcourse, along with religious dvds etc. We had the most wonderful chai that we have ever had at a little chai tapri there. The chai vendor’s secret ingredient was Mint leaves! I tried it back home immediately, and I highly recommend it! Well, we waited and waited, with the throng of devotees, right upto 15 minutes before the gates opened.. and then, much to Sandeep’s chagrin, I freaked out from the charging crowd, and I actually backed out! Oh well, I tried My Lord! I hope we still have his blessings!

Near Nathdwara temple

Battle of Haldighati site

Udaipur andJaipur, we found were cities replete with plenty of stories. We were told stories of grandeur of theexisting royalty of the family owning whole huge palaces, dozens of vintagecars, private jets, and even private airports! We heard stories of howKokilaben built an entire town around a new temple she built adjacent to the Srinathjibuilding, stories of the many filmstars weddings that now favor the grandUdaipur palaces for venues. Particularlyinteresting was the tale of the two royal princes of Udaipur in which we weretold that the elder heir to throne had been thwarted in ascending the ‘throne’and hardly received anything from his ancestor whereas the younger brother gotall the wealth and title of King. Ourdriver told us how the people of Udaipur still stood by the wronged elder brotherand respected him as King even though he had not received all that his brotherhad. In Jaipur, the story was of that ofthe young teenage King whose princess mother had married a driver or commoner,and hence, her King dad, passed on everything not to her and her husband, butto the little prince. These stories wereall set in the modern day. Besides thesewere the stories behind each building, each mansion, and each structure in theforts around these cities. Where RanaPratap and his loyal horse Chetak, were the subject of stories, memorials, andstatues in Udaipur, it was Sawai Mansingh and Jaisingh who left their legacy atJaipur.

Rana Pratap Memorial at Haldighati

City Palace

Palace near Lake Picchola

Dudh Talai near Lake Picchola

We boated onLake Picchola and marveled at the gorgeous landscape with grand palaces, mostlynow heritage hotels, in all directions. Particularly spectacular was the lightedup Taj hotel in the shimmering waters of Lake Picchola. Being monsoon, the lakes were full, and itwas surprising to note that the desert state of India was probably more verdantthan Kerela!

Taj Lake Palace

Bagori ki Haveli dance

We proceeded the next day to visit the City Palace, still owned by the Maharaja of Udaipur. After a tour of the mansion, we bankedfor a bit on the shores of lake Fatehsaagar which was close to our hotel, hadmore chai, and then went to Bagori ki haveil to see some folk dances. As a pointer to future tourists, the show isfrom 7 pm to 8 pm and is certainly worth a visit! Our last stop at Udaipur was the lofty fortof Chittorgarh which I shall keep for a separate blog. In very few words though, Chittorgarh was oneof the most impressive forts I have ever seen. On thedownside, it was disconcerting to see the number of cows on most of roads leftstray by their owners to fend for themselves in order that they did not have towaste precious space on them. Apparentlyif the cows got rounded off, the owners were happier since the expensive cattlefeed got taken care of at the shelter. Thus, sadly the government stopped catching the cows, and the owners hadtheir own way. It is little wonder thatforeigners have this pathetic image of India with cows sitting all major roadjunctions without batting an eyelid! On visiting Udaipur, I finally see why!

Rolls Royce at the Vintage Car Museum

For pointerson where to eat, our driver unfortunately did not take us to the kind of placeswe would have liked, but the one place I would recommend is the lunch with avintage touch at the vintage car museum. The Rajasthani thali was delicious and the vintage car collectionincredible! We also had an animatedguide who quizzed us on Vintage car trivia and made our experience fun! All inall, a wonderful trip, and we left for Jaipur in the convenient night train withmemories of the shimmering palaces around the tranquil lake Picchola.

Creepy Horrors

2011-09-07T17:14:00.000+05:30

I am in shock and in deep pain. Lizards. Disgusting creepy lizards. Again. I was just confronted by alizard in my dusting cloth in what I thought was a lizard free home. I remembersome terrorizing times at my grandma’s place. Those disgusting, squiggly browncolored things have made me quake in bed in terror spending sleepless nightsfor fear they may be near me. I have opened cabinet doors fearfully expectingthose beasts to jump out or jump away for me and for me to jump back if I seethem. I have entered rooms armed with abroom in my hand (which usually has usually fallen down since I have never notpanicked and fled when confronted by those things). I seriously don’t get it. How can those tiny creatures incite such feelingsof hate, repulsion and fear in any one!

For those who belong to the lizard hating club whose numbersare quite large especially among females, I believe, canunderstand my agony when, I fled to a floor below to my MIL's as I await hubby dearto come home, find that awful creature and chase it away before I cancautiously go back. The other thingabout lizards and I think mice too, unfortunately is, once they come inside thehouse, there is no easy way to chase them out. One can chase a lizard aroundand around a room with all windows and doors and all possible openings open,but they manage to skip all of them and find that one immovable painting orcabinet above the most comfortable seat in the house behind which is securityfor them and insecurity for me if I dare to sit on that seat! Ruthless killingis not an option since these creatures have tails that live on and are moreeerie than even the whole thing! Iremember a friend even bought this ultrasonic sound producing device that wassupposed to shock lizards and drive them away. Didn’t work. Cockroaches andlizards have withstood the test of time and have I reckon, been through everypossible calamity to be driven away by mere sound waves! The only thing thathas worked is being armed with a nagging broom to chase them away so frequentlythat they give up and go to a neighbor’s house!

What I don’t understand, but am thankful for is the factthat guys and a few girls too never do find these things repulsive (atleastsomeone can chase them away!). In fact, I knew of a guy who had pet lizards andfrogs. Someone from that club, help meeither overcome my repulsion or drive out that thing from my house!

Mumbai Times

2011-09-06T20:15:00.001+05:30

I am back to Mumbai! Well, for my loyal readers, apologies for being away for so long, but moving gave me a convenient excuse to stay away and do fun things like sitting on rollercoasters in Six Flags instead of writing a gooey and grumpy blog on how sad it is moving and what a pain packing is! Well, I also didn’t want to write a blog on returning back and my first impressions, but well, that’s all I can do today.

First impressions – Well, Kareena is SRKs Chammak Challo and protected by the still dashing Salman as Bodyguard. Also, Katrina is Imran Khan’ brother’s dulhan and seems to also be dancing in every other trailor. The number of TV channels has happily gone up and I now am happy to continuously flip through a higher number. The songs are happily as nonsensical and annoying as ever and we still have the potbellied Sanjay Dutt and other old old actors jumping around with actresses half their age. Oh Boy, we really do need a new crop of actors and actresses. To think half the people in Mumbai came to be actors! We still have the same boring people who should start doing papaji and mummyji roles now. Anurag Kashyap still seems to be hell bent on producing apparently esoteric movies (say the reviews) that most people are not supposed to understand as he tries to paint the town yellow. I totally love the ads if they don’t have a Priyanka Chopra in each of them. From the realllly dumb ads in the US to the zingy ‘Har ek friend jaroori hota hain’ was a nice change. The khabars are still sansani and Maya is seems to be in her element as she proclaims wikileaks owner as mad and needs to go to the Agra asylum.

I love the rains at Mumbai. I think Americans were rather cute to call similar little puddles that form after a few minutes of a lashing, as flooding! The traffic outside my house has increased as have the honks. I also woke up suddenly from my cosy afternoon nap (of 4 hours) to rush out because of an earthquake that turned out to be beats from some loudspeaker from a nearby Ganesh Pandal. After exulting about getting a cook and getting meals which I DID NOT HAVE TO COOK, I ended up doing all the dishes from the last two days since the maid who did the washing did not turn up.

I still need to venture out and then come back and bitch here more about the traffic and pollution and honking and public spitting all the time and the filth and poverty etc and annoy all my Indian friends. Forgive me, but I am really trying hard to play the role of that foren returned NRI here although my past 48 hours of mostly lolling on the sofa and only watching tv while being served chai and lunch by my wonderful cook J makes me forget I ever did all those chores in US! (Okay, this second part is to make all my foren friends who are still slogging away with cooking and cleaning envious!). It is little wonder that I came back! All in all, I am loving it as of now and looking forward to eating Damodar ke mashoor samose, jalebis, Sardar’s buttery pav bhaji and paneer tikka masala that leaves orange color on my hands. More on Mumbai hereforth!

Passing Words

2011-08-12T08:59:00.000+05:30

Independence Day is around the corner now, and no, this is not another blog on patriotism, which some of my blogger friends have covered very nicely indeed. Right now I wish I could be completely dependent on someone dependable to just memorize some stuff for me.

It was way back in 2000, that I opened my first Yahoo account. That was my first ever account in anything and I loved it. I coined a simple id and a really easy password quickly and used it happily for two years. And then, I also got a bank account with an ATM card, my second ever account. Well, these were the only two accounts for I ever had to remember anything and this happy state of affairs continued right through my college and then I landed my first job and boom!

I had a new bank account opened- a new password for debit card, net banking had three passwords, the demat account had one more password, gmail caught up with me, my office assigned a new email to me and a separate login account for its intranet, I opened a demat account, my dad sent me his internet banking account credentials to manage, I got a couple of credit cards from different companies with separate login credentials! I don’t want to even start on the other string of my online accounts on facebook, twitter, Netflix, iphone, apple, itunes, indiblogger, various random sites such as shutterfly, retail stores –Macy’s, Target, Kohl’s where I had accounts and so on and so forth. Each account that I opened told me that I should not write down my password anywhere lest it fall into wrong hands. I tried memorizing and using those password remembering devices that locked with another password. I really tried.

But well, security is all important of course. One has to keep updating those dastardly things at different frequencies of a month, quarter or in a year. The brainwave of writing them down and stowing them into a locker with a real key which I don’t have to remember (unless it’s a combination lock!) didn’t work for me since I forgot to update that hallowed sheet! Still, security is what is key for various accounts of different levels of importance and hence the different requirements – no caps, no small caps, mandatory special symbols, spaces, my name should not be in the id or password, date of birth is not allowed either in either, no consecutive letters, no consecutive numbers, it cannot be simple, it has gotta be a jumble of preferably some indecipherable non word which is atleast 10 characters long! To remember passwords using the blessed link ‘Forgot Password?’ one has to remember answers to weird questions. I was given the idea of putting the same answer for all, sadly the same answers were not accepted either! And the buck didn’t stop there. Now it’s the ids that make me miserable with new accounts demanding new jumbles of my name as my id since there was no availability of even a pathetic mix backwards and forwards of my first, middle, last name and date of birth (maybe I made that id and forgot the id and password!).

At this point in time, I am pretty much living on my credit card which I had fortunately linked to my bank account to be debited automatically. Since I have pretty much forgotten all my debit card pin numbers, and the banks have already reissued me new cards thrice, I am too sheepish to ask for more and for fear that they will freeze my account due to suspicious activity! My bank account online has locked on me after entering the incorrect password 5 times and I cannot reactivate it as it requires my atm pin which I have forgotten and reactivating the atm card with a new pin requires atleast the phone ‘TIN’ whatever that is! I am in trouble! I hope now, the sabziwallahs in Mumbai accept credit cards soon or I will have to turn to my friends and family for cash (I know that’s a good excuse, right?) or sell jewellery for cash! Now I can only pray that my credit card bill has been paid for and my salary continues to drop into my account. God help me!

It's raining Discounts!

2011-08-08T19:19:00.000+05:30

SALE!, Discounts, Deals, Going out of Business, All Things Must GO!, 50-80% off, Clearance, Special Offer! These are indeed magic words. Magic for the retailers and magic for the buyers. They mean only one thing…’SPEND!’

I needed that ultra colorful now ugly winter scarf I bought after winter which I wore only the day I bought it. Groupon is so cool too. I really did need to indulge myself on a New York cruise for $50 on a cold biting day. Well, no, I didn’t need it, but it was cheap! I also spent more getting to a salon across town since I bought the ‘deal’ on Living Social.

I need to buy a new wallet now. I am waiting for the season end sale to start. My old purse does not fit in my all my discount cards from Macys, JC Penny, Kohls, Target, Shoprite, Airlines, Hotels and also need to have space for all the mailer coupons they keep sending. Hopefully, I will buy something at Macy’s season end sale (spring/fall/summer/winter), there is also a Macy’s sale during Christmas, Thanksgiving, July 4, Labor day, Black Friday, New Year or the Biggest two day sales all year. Well, no dearth of sales. I am sure I can get a deal! Jewelry anyone? These wonderful sales include diamonds. We got 70% off on one I bought. 70%! Really. They do have excellent margins and do make money by selling high value fine jewelry at throwaway prices. I should probably check and see if I can buy gold for half the high price these days back home. I don’t need to invest in the stock market then maybe. The returns if I sell the discounted gold will be phenomenal no?

Drat these discounts! I am running out of space in my cabinets with all these coupons, mailers, cards, tired of deleting and clearing my bombarded email accounts and wasting my time on searching for these deals. Are they really kidding me by selling everything for half the prices and still staying afloat! I have to be on constant alert to not default on the payment of bills in those million accounts. If I do miss out, which I do sometimes, I end up paying more than what I would save which is sad. And I absolutely do not revel in standing in harrowing queues at fitting rooms which are usually inundated during a blowout sale. There is also plenty of chaos and everything is dumped higgledy-piggledy on hangers, floors, dumpsters. What happened to the fun of shopping in peace?

How I wish, there were no more sales, coupons, rebates etc. That everything was fairly priced for all and I wouldn’t have to waste my time finding these wonderful deals. I hate Groupon and Living Social! They make my life more difficult.

Money saved is indeed money earned, but if I don’t spend on worthless things at all, perhaps that will be more money earned and more space around me to keep what I do need!

The Non-Returning Indians

2011-07-30T01:14:00.001+05:30

'I am going back to India', I said. 'Why?' said one Indian. ''Are you kidding?' said another Indian. 'Really?' said a third Indian. 'Oh!,is there a problem?' said a fourth Indian sympathetically, 'Didn't you like it here?' said a fifth with amazement in his/her voice...oh well, you get the hang.

Celebrating Independence - The tri-color on Empire State Bld New York

Every time I hear this question, I feel a sense of shame mingled by plenty of sadness. I understand people migrate for various reasons – better job opportunities, more luxury, more money, better lifestyles, peer pressure, family pressures, better infrastructure, to see the world, travel more and a myriad other reasons. Some of them do return back while many of them make the new country their new home. Based on my interactions with the various NRIs (Non Returning Indians -for the rest of this blog) in the West and the Middle east, I would cast them in the three categories below:

1. The one's who believe that India is a great country with wonderful traditions and culture and they will teach all about it to their kids – but from a distance. This variety watches cricket matches with great fervor, celebrate all festivals more devoutly, listen to Desi Radio, watch as many Hindi movies as possible, in their frequent 'potluck' parties and do try genuinely remain connected to their memories and culture of 'Des'. They also participate in the India independence day parades, attend bhangra classes and try to explain Diwali and cricket to their non Indian colleagues. Their homes are usually decorated with Indian artifacts and despite all the cuisines they try, they have to have Indian food regularly. A large part of this group also claims, they will return to Des in a few years if given a suitable opportunity. Of course, they say this every year for a good many years till their citizenship gets processed, and sometimes even after that. This group also ardently discusses politics in India and how everything is still in shambles and tut-tut the system and the government not wondering once if they are doing a thing about it. Most of my lovely friends here belong to this category and I do not really blame them for not wanting to return or not being motivated enough to return from the cosy lifestyles which most of the developed world leads.

2. The second variety is the one's who detest the fact that they are Indians, and would rather be passed off as Mexicans/South Americans (who have the same skin and hair color) and distance themselves from everything desi as far as possible. This variety usually comes to meet family for special occasions such as their own weddings or their siblings weddings. They usually strut around as if the NRI tag were pinned to their backs and expect respect because of that even if they maybe really nobodies in the other country! They typically turn up their noses at Indian rituals, festivals and beliefs, Bollywood, Indian clothes and everything that’s not American. They will also follow baseball and American football passionately and will try to be utterly indifferent to a World cup win in cricket. If there is some positive development they see in India such as a small mall in a sleepy town, they say, India tries badly to ape the west 'where they are from.' This variety feels that a dollar is a lot of money in India and flinch when to pay for anything remembering the prices of the last time they were there. They also try to develop an accent however fake it might be, and listen to only western music and pretend they never heard of the movie DDLJ. This variety, if single, also tries to seek out non Indian girlfriends/boyfriends/ spouses to further distance themselves or prove to themselves that they are indeed global citizens.

3. The third variety is the ones who long to go back desperately and would do so if they indeed had the means to do so but cannot for lack of any kind of job back home. This variety is mostly found in the middle-eastern countries where thousands flock to earn a basic living leaving home, heart and their families behind. This variety usually spends most of their lives lost in the memories and dreams of returning one day to their families with enough money to not have to work away from their home towns.

The India Independence Day Parade New York

The NRI's who do return do so for the following reasons

Visa issues or work permit issues where the host country refuses to allow them to live or work
A spouse wants to return because of visa issues around seeking jobs
Family back home
Health problems
Do not get a job or get kicked out of the existing job
Need to raise kids and get scared when they see teenage culture in America
Are crazy (To the propounders of the NRI faith, I belong to this category who does not have any real reason to go back and I don’t see why a reason is necessary to go back!)

In the crazy category, there can be several variants,

They go back for the sake of being in India and closer to their roots and believe they don’t need a reason to go back to their own country
They belong to the SRK Swades category who wants to go back and make a difference. I have only read about such people but I certainly wish more existed.
Those who believe that there are more conveniences in India. I can identify with this variety. I probably missed my Shobha Bai, the cook more than I probably missed all my family! Ah!, the luxury of being served and not having to do everything on your own!
Those who think there are more opportunities to grow professionally.

I have ceased to think about the wrong and right of this whole matter of moving out or moving back. Everyone has a right to a better living and if India cannot provide the standard they seek, migrating is a good option. Brain drain is a real issue for India and the insufficient infrastructure and lack of opportunities is making talented people India so needs to move forward, move further away from their homeland and not wanting to return to a land replete with bureaucracy, corruption, pollution, traffic jams and lopsided development.

The good news is the fact that India is making tremendous development and its sheer population is attracting large investments by foreign companies leading to an abundance in opportunities and development of talent. This is actually attracting a glut of long gone NRI's to return and allowing several others who would have otherwise left for greener pastures, to stay on. However, again, there is still much that needs to be done in the areas of infrastructure and better living standards in every city and town. Being one of those hopeless optimists about India, I am indeed returning (not next year but in a few more days!) and exhorting others to join me as I look forward to the day when the decision to migrate becomes not a must, but a choice.

Inca Land Explorations - Part 3: The Classic Inca Trail Trek

2011-07-14T08:55:00.006+05:30

Now for the final part of my blog on the Inca adventure and the highlight of our trip, I chronicle the much looked forward to or dreaded trek which was called the Classic 4 day Inca trail or Pilgrimage that we had booked way back in February.

Map of trail: courtsey traveltocusco.com

Off we go!

The first day, we were still happy and had smiley faces in our photographs, as we started out from Ollantaytambo on the Inca trail. Here are some pictures from the first day of our trekking. It is certainly amazing what nature presents when out in the open outside of the din of the city. These photographs are certainly barely representative of the sights we did see there. Mountains, rivers, Inca ruins, Clouds and forests live in a 360 degree view is really quite difficult to capture on a lens. But well, this is what we have to do with once we get back to the city! We tasted Chef Caramello's food for the first time starting with lunch which was an elaborate affair starting with an avocado starter, going onto a soup and entree of Pasta, Creamy Potatoes and Rice followed by some chocolate pudding for dessert. We certainly didn't want to hike after that sensory meal! We fortunately did get a few moments of rest though after that before we started off again rejuvenated.

Day 1

Llactapata ruins

During the course of our trip, we got to know our fellow trekkers who were fortunately a wonderful bunch of people including Americans, Australians and other Indians! For 12 of us trekkers, there were 17 porters, one chef and two tour guides. I must say they all did a wonderful job despite how difficult it really must be. In fact, things like food which are a luxury during camping, actually became a highlight as we received full elaborately prepared three course lunches and dinners as well as breakfast and snacks. All we had to do was really, just climb, as all our food was cooked for us, stuff carried up for us! Even that was not easy I must say. Especially, since I conveniently missed the step of training in the gym forever before that! It was quite incredible, that while we climbed up, the porters cleaned up our lunch, washed up, scurried up with the tents and all those other hundred things, set the tents all up, cooked our dinner and we arrived only much later.

Porters scurrying up

Lunch!

The second day was the toughest part of the trek having to climb to a high elevation of 4.200M to the Dead Woman's pass as it is called. Was that the high point otherwise for me? Well, honestly, it was the most difficult thing I must have ever done physically! I had to break after every 10 steps when I was some 100 steps away from it! The air being pretty thin at this altitude affected many of us in the group attacking us with migraines, nausea, sickness and the like. But well, we still grinned when the photo was clicked! :)

Dead woman's pass

What goes up has to come down, and the next phase of the trekking was just down down and more down till lunch! Even that was tiring! And to think, while climbing up all we wanted was to go down! Going up is more work, but coming down is scary and makes all those muscles really ache! I had almost given up hope of ever making it through the day after which we not only made it to the camp for lunch but revived by Chef Caramello's food, we hiked up the mountain for another 3 hours before we finally could celebrate the end of the toughest part of the trek with coca tea, popcorn and crackers!

Ruins at Phuyupatamarca - Don't I love the names!

The third day of the Inca trail was personally my favorite, since there was less climbing up, and less steep steps although there was a lot of climbing down. We went through a lot of verdant jungles and took in breathtaking vistas every few steps. But then, it started raining. And rain it did, ...it rained right till the moment and possibly beyond the day I took my taxi to the Cusco airport to depart Peru! The positive side of the rain however was the fact that everything looked far more mystical and magical with the floating clouds as we traversed through the hills and vales. We almost felt in the middle of an Avatar movie or an Indiana Jones movie amidst all that beauty. We reached the campsite early in the day and in time to visit a beautiful Inca site known as Winaywayna. Our chef made a special farewell cake for dinner as it was the third dinner together. Well, he certainly kept his high standards of food right till the last meal at the camp!

Runkurakay ruins

Mystic clouds

Waling in the rain

Flowers on the way

Winaywayna Inca site

Happy travels to Machu Picchu!

On the last day, we had a short trek to our final destination Machu Picchu. Unfortunately it was still raining, and there was little hope of really seeing sunrise. But we all started off at 4:30 am to beat other hikers at the gate that opened at 530 am. Wasn't an easy hike again as was expected. Plenty of climbing, and a lot more urgency to make it to the lost city soon. We crossed the Sun Gate, and there it was... Machu Picchu, in all its glory. The clouds that enveloped it, made it all the more ethereal, and we were enchanted.

Machu Picchu

Morning Haze

The lost city - Machu Picchu

The lost city nestled in clouds

Machu Picchu was indeed much bigger and far more different than the other Inca sites. It looked royal and awe-inspiring. There was an ancient aura about the place and amidst all the clamor of the tourists and the photo snapping din, it felt peaceful. Machu Picchu was surrounded by

mountains on all sides, and watching the clouds play hide and seek with it took our breath away.

Thus ended the highlight of our trip there, and we left with exalted minds thinking about all those who lived and fled there wondering how it must have been back then. I wonder, would it have been any different had the Spanish not forced them to flee? If they could create all these wonders in just a century, I wish I could imagine, the marvels the great Incas would have created had they ruled for longer. On a closing note, here are some beautiful words from a poem by Pablo Neruda that I read somewhere in Cuzco -

“Then on the ladder of the earth I climbed through the

lost jungle's tortured thicket upto you, Machu Picchu.

High city of laddered stones,

at last the dwelling of what earth

never covered in vestments of sleep

Mother of stone, spume of condors

High reef of the human dawn

Spade lost in primal sand

This was the dwelling

this was the place

here the broad grains of maize rose up

and fell again like red hail

Here gold threads came off the vicuna

to clothe the lovers, the mothers

the king, the prayers the warriors.”

To read more about the Incas and Cusco, their capital city, do have a look at my previous two blogs.

To read more about Machu Picchu, here is a wikipedia link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machu_Picchu

Inca Land Explorations - Part 2: Cusco

2011-07-09T09:28:00.000+05:30

I continue on my exploration of the Inca-world, in the second part of my Inca adventure blog, and this time for real and not through the million articles I waded through, the books I read and the documentaries I watched!

Why did I really choose Peru as a country to visit you may ask? When I was in grade 8, I hated studying history said my mum. But now that I am older and wiser (hopefully), I have actually developed an interest in our ancient world. This, coupled with an interest in exploring a whole new country and wanting to step onto a new continent, made me pick Peru, the land of the great Incas for my trip.

Our trip started off rather well and having a consultant husband really helped in getting us upgraded to the Business class in the flight and hotel points got us to a five star hotel. Well, it was certainly getting pampered before our ordeal began! By ordeal I mean, the 4 day arduous trek that we had decided to undertake in our week there!

Cathedral at Main square

On a bright sunny day, we arrived at Cusco. Cusco that I have spoken about already, back then was the capital of the Incas, and in the modern world is a teeming tourist town with vestiges of Inca Pride. Cuzco is at an altitude of 3,400 meters above sea level and is the base location for several places of interest including the starting point of several important hiking trails. This city retains many colonial buildings, plazas and streets, Inca walls and ruins, which led to it being declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO

Main Square

Old Inca Palace walls

We undertook a trip to Sacred Valley of the Incas first where we saw our first Inca ruins at Pisac. There is also a wonderful Sunday fair at Pisac where the local people come together to sell their handicrafts. Everywhere in Cuzco too, we came across wonderful shops selling Llama wool rugs, woven cloth goods, purses of all sizes, symbolic souvenirs and super knick knacks. I must say my husband had a really hard time pulling me away from buying everything possible in the shops there! I certainly was far more interested in the fair rather than the ruins! We must have exchanged our dollars for Peruvian 'Soles' at least 10 times in 10 days at the many money exchanges at every turn, each time spending more than we anticipated!

Sacred Valley

Local shop

Pisac ruins

After Pisac, we went to Ollantaytambo which like I had described in my story earlier, had been established as a stronghold of the Incas and a raging battle took place there. Ollantaytambo (don't I just love the Quechua names!), was a gorgeous Inca site with walls so finely built and without the use of mortar that not even a knife could pass through them (as you can see in the picture). In 1950, an earthquake had occurred in Cuzco, during which a lot of modern structures including colonial structures came down. However these Inca walls stood mighty and strong standing testimony to the engineering prowess of the Incas. This site also had well built terraces and granaries. All the terraces were also wonderfully engineered with varying temperatures at different levels for different crops. Irrigation was also done using a fine system of canals and aqueducts. Our guide told us, that the holes seen in the mountain across from where we were were burial chambers for the Inca dead.

Fine Inca wall with niches

Ollantaytambo terraces

Man holding mountain and burial holes in there

Near Cusco, we also visited the South valley to see more sites. We stopped at Piquilacta or the 'town of flies' which was a pre Inca site. I do wonder why it was called so, it certainly would not attract many people to stay there, if it really were full of disgusting flies! This town was a large town, and what remained today were the huge walls they built around the city and the houses. There even were entry gates to this city and everyone coming in and going out was monitored. We also visited a few churches around Cusco. Although, honestly they did not interest me as much as the old Inca structures did, for the sake of memory, we visited the Chinchero and the Andahuaylillas church which is called the" Sistine Chapel of South America.

Piquilacta ruins

Gates at Piquilacta

We began on the next part of our trip, the four day Classic Inca trail, but I will chronicle our journey there in another blog. When we returned from our trek, tired and with exalted minds more fun was in store for us without our knowing it! 1911 being the year Machu Picchu was discovered, 2011 was the centennial year of its discovery, and we were perfectly in time to be a part of the festivities. We were able to witness a grand spectacle of a military parade and a cultural celebration. The whole square and streets were full of mirthful dancers and musicians in their eloquent costumes of lions, clowns, traditional Peruvian, colorful flumes of birds, elegant Spanish dancers and masked jesters who swirled about gracefully around us in a parade. Ah! I can almost hear their lilting melodies and the beat of the music they danced to.

Machu Picchu discovery centennial celebrations

Before I conclude this post on the picturesque town of Cusco however, I would certainly like to make a special mention of our tour agency Llama Path who had made all the bookings for us and were our trek operators. I have certainly never ever seen the exceptional level of service that they provided at the trek and outside of it. They did goof up on not booking our hotel, but certainly made up for it by going the extra mile and we had no grouse whatsoever. At the trek of course, the service was indeed superlative. Every day, we even had hot water and soap in front of our tents to clean up, tea served on our waking to our tents, warmed plates to eat from and our every need tended to. The guides and porters were courteous and knowledgeable and the chef Caramello's food couldn't have been finer in taste or presentation. I almost feel sorry for our guide Jose, who accompanied us and patiently encouraged the battered miserable us in difficult moments with 'My champions – you can do it!' even though we were taking breaks after every 5 minutes, after everyone else in the group were at the top of the mountain already! Llama path certainly was a very commendable and enterprising tour company and I would certainly endorse it to anyone who would be interested.

Like all good things come to an end, our trip did to and it was with a heavy heart that we walked away from the welcoming city with warm people and back into the world of work and humdrum existence.

If I haven't tired you enough already, do stay tuned for the next blog on the exciting four day trek that we undertook from Ollantaytambo to Machu Picchu. The pictures will certainly not disappoint you!

Inca Land Explorations - Part 1

2011-07-07T08:47:00.001+05:30

Travelling in history is a wonderful thing. As I hiked down the Andes, in the highlands of Peru, I could not help, but wonder how it must have been during the Inca times. The Incas were the Romans of the South Americas. Brilliant builders and engineers, they created Machu Picchu, the most sophisticated road system in Americas and masterpieces of gold.

Inca terraces

What I write next is a pre-read to my next blog on my visit to Peru. Most of the information here is from a wonderful documentary I saw namely 'Conquistadors' by Michael Wood which was featured on PBS and insights from the book 'Inca land Explorations in the Highlands of Peru' by the discoverer of Machu Picchu, Hiram Bingham.

During their short rule from Peru from around 1400 to 1525, the Incas built a 40,000 km road network, wonderful cities and monuments, and converted steep wastelands on mountains into terraced farms. They used a variety of methods from peaceful assimilation to aggression to incorporate a large portion of western South America including large parts of modern Eucador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile and Colombia into a large empire

Inca Empire - courtsey google

In the winter of 1527, a boat arrived at a lonely island on the coast of Peru. Its leader was an old conquistador called Francisco Pizzaro. He had come to seek the gold from a previously unknown world, not knowing he would lead the conquest of the most powerful kingdom in South America, the conquest of the Incas.

Atahualpa who was the king of the Incas was proceeding with his army towards Cuzco. He met Pizarro at Cajamarca. Being a band of 150 people Atahualpa did not consider them a threat. Atahualpas army was 30,000 strong. The Spanish told the Inca ruler Atahualpa that they would help him against his enemies. However, in reality the Spanish were plotting to kill everyone then. An accompanying priest made a speech on the cross and the pope, and asked Atahualpa to convert to Christianity. 'I follow my religion' said Atahualpa and threw the Bible he had been handed on the floor. Pizarro was waiting for just this provocation and attacked. Crude Inca weapons of sticks and stones were no match for Spanish guns and steel. Blood ran freely and some say 6000 people were killed. Atahualpa was captured alive. He made an offer to the Spanish. If they set him free, he would fill the room with gold. He thought Pizarro would simply go away if he did so not realizing it would make the conquistador even greedier. Atahualpa filled his ransom room with 7 tons of gold. He kept his word, but what would Pizarro do? Pizarro put Atahualpa on trial for treason. The jury was the Pizarro brothers and their friends. The verdict- the Inca must die. After his execution, Pizarros men, went across Peru looting the greatest shrines of the Peru. Pizarro marched his army on the royal road to the capital- Cuzco (modern day Cusco). In November 1933, they reached Cuzco. The streets were grand, and the palaces wonderful. Pizarro looked at the ceremonial squares and palaces and set about systematically ransacking them all.

Inca Ruins

As news reached the shores of Europe, Spaniards flooded Peru in their gold rush. Pizarro brothers were exalted as they tightened their grip on Peru. They appointed a puppet Inca king Manco, Atahualpas half brother to placate the local population.

But the Spanish treated the Peruvians with contempt. Gonzalo Pizarro raped Manco's wife the queen. Discontent rumbled around and word spread of war of liberation. Manco summoned his subjects in 20 days to attack the Spaniards. Above Cuzco, a vast Inca army surrounded the Spaniards. Spaniards were outnumbered, one Pizarro was killed, but in the end, the Incas were outgunned. It was a heroic battle and is still remembered as the great rebellion.

Pizzaros rule took savage reprisals against the civilian population for their revolt. A massive exodus followed into the Sacred Valley in the footsteps of the fleeing Inca king. The Sacred valley was the Inca heartland. Here they built their finest palaces and terraces to grow maize and coca leaves. Here Manco could call on for help of the ancestors. Manco built more houses and terraces to feed the many pouring in. These terraces can be seen at Ollantaytambo. Here was where the Spanish attacked next. The Incas rained down the walls everywhere. For the first time, the Incas beat the Spaniards in a battle. Manco planned to build a new Cuzco in the Sacred Valley. But he knew, he needed to flee further as Spaniards continued to pour in. He decided to retreat into the valleys and jungles of Vilcabamba. It must have been a heart breaking moment for the young Inca as he made a moving speech to his followers. He asked them to remember his ancestors had been good rulers. 'I know' he said, 'One day in the future, a time will come, when they will force us to worship their Gods. But in private, do what you have to. If they destroy our shrines, keep them forever in your hearts.' With that, Manco with his army began their long march into the Andes and the jungles demolishing the road behind them. Pizzaro went in search of him into the jungles. The road was weary with high altitudes, dense jungles, and landslides. When Pizzaro reached Vilcabamba, Manco had retreated further into the jungle. Gonzalo Pizzaro searched for 3 months till sickness and starvation threatened them. In his fury, Pizarro took revenge. He shot Manco's wife and sent her down the river to be found by the Inca king. Manco was grief stricken. However, he fled further and made his capital at Uiticos. The Spanish described this place on high mountains with wonderful views. On top there was a substantial flat area, where majestic buildings were built with great skill and art. Manco held court here for 7 years but in the end they got him. With him, the supreme reign of the Incas ended as his descendants were either mere puppet kings or executed.

Ollantaytambo terraces

Thus the mighty Inca empire came to a fall as the political structure ended. However what lasts still today is the long lasting tenaciousness and deep rooted culture of the people. The Inca people survived, and beliefs survived just like Manco Inca had said they would. Nearly 500 years on, the people of the Andes still respect the ancestors of the Incas and worship the sun. Every year in June they go to the glaciers in the mountains. Like their ancestors, they still greet the rising sun.

A trip to Washington DC and the Shenandoah National Park

2011-06-05T08:38:00.002+05:30

With family visiting us in May, we set out to shortlist all the ‘touristy’ locations on the East Coast to show them around. Most itineraries of people visiting the east coast include New York, Washington DC, Niagara falls, Boston and if budget/time permits Orlando theme parks. Throw in an Atlantic city, and the US visit is complete!..rather if they don’t go for a ‘Tirth yatra’ to any of the above places, they have seen nothing at all in the US!

We were on our way!

So, as Memorial Day (the day to honor war heroes and veterans) dawned, we packed up our bags and our assortment of snacks of sandwiches, gobi parathas, pickles, ketchup, cheese, chips, laddoos, bananas, oranges,strawberries, water, frooti, ‘fast’ snacks, halwa, cake and chocolates! Yeah, I can’t believe we actually finished all of that! It took far more time to make and buy all that than gobble it up!

I dozed off almost immediately in the car to wear out the weariness of all that food preparation and refused to wake up till lunch time at Maryland where we stopped for a picnic lunch. That power nap did me a world of good, as I took up the wheel in the next leg of our drive to Shenandoah National Park. As we got on to the Skyline Drive of 105 miles, the cool mountain breeze and the scenic vistas greeted us all along. Although we did not spend as much time as we would have liked to hiking and biking, I did enjoy the feel of wild grass under my feet, the bloom of the wild yellow flowers, deer peacefully chewing away in natural surroundings and the balmy breeze.

A short hike at Shenandoah

The sun peaking through the lush trees at Shenandoah

A Shenandoah wildlife sighting

The woods are lovely, dark and deep

Day two and three of our trip had been set aside for Washington, and we set forth after a heavy breakfast at the hotel. Well, again, it being a purely touristy trip, that translates into getting off the car, taking photos and getting back to the car, we thought, we would do it in no time at all! But fortunately or unfortunately, the city had other plans for us! Memorial Day is a big deal in USA, and I was hoping to witness something of this day in the capital city to reflect some of Americas traditional celebration. I was not disappointed. As we drove in, people with waving flags greeted us as we crossed overhead footwalks and bridges, several Harleys zoomed past us everywhere making us wonder what was in store. As traffic moved to a snails pace, we pulled out and took the metro route. Riding a city’s trains has always excited me, be it New York, Kolkata, Mumbai or Washington as it is something non-touristy, something that citizens use to go about their life everyday anywhere. The stations here were much cleaner and spacious and far less smelly than NYs stations. Being Memorial day, well, only tourists clambered onto the train and took away the charm of the locals travelling! We got off at the station near the White House, and started our act of clicking away to glory in the usual silly poses. Barrack and Michelle must certainly be uneasy in that fortress with snipers patrolling its terraces and with all that security and tourists and even protesters constantly outside their windows. Never a moment of peace to enjoy those lush gardens outside!

The White House

The next halt was the George Washington memorial which is the tallest structure in Washington DC. Here is the exciting part. As we neared it, the vroom of motorcycles was heard nearby. As we recollected the many bikes we saw on the road, we hastened towards it. It turned out to be a spectacular rally of 400,000 bikes (these huge mean machines- Harleys or look alikes) aptly known as ‘Rolling Thunder’ that was paying tribute to American war heroes in their own style. That certainly was a super show!

George Washington Memorial

Rolling Thunder

The Capitol

For the remainder of the day we proceeded to visit the Smithsonian museums. I went to the National Gallery of Art and tremendously enjoyed seeing master pieces of Impressionists as well as Modernists. I particularly enjoyed seeing the Chester Dale collection that included works of great masters such as Monet, Renoir, Picasso, Van Gogh among others. I was also pleased to see special exhibits by Gauguin, who I was first fascinated by' on reading Maugham’s ‘The Moon and the Six Pence’. Apart from these that I admire, I also managed to find the ones I didn’t and took pleasure in rebuking Rothko’s and Barnett Newman’s modern (non!) art which I wrote about in a recent blog! I finally left the museum after it closed and dragged myself to the Air and Space museum to join the others and find out about their sojourn to the Natural History museum which I skipped seeing. We ended the day with a meal at an Indian restaurant with a snooty manager and driving around in Washington , uh..driving around was not out of choice, but because our GPS kept taking us round in circles and all over the place!

The Air and Space museum

Our trip drew to a close the next day when we saw the lofty memorials built in honor of US Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson and the Vietnam and Korea war memorials. With plenty of memorial spots dotted across town, we had to skip most of them albeit with no regrets really!

Thomas Jefferson Memorial

Abraham Lincoln in his towering seat

Well, again, for people out to visit places for the sake of the photo, Washington DC was a pleasant place to be in. However, as always, I always believe, cities are to be experienced by living there and a couple of days’ visits will never capture the essence or the culture. However, all in all, this was a lazy fun trip that kept everyone contented for all the things they saw.

Random Ramblings

2011-05-26T22:06:00.000+05:30

I have been finally been given my first blog award, ‘The Adorable Blog’ by my fellow blogger Lipsy. Many thanks to you for this honor! Her award is here.

Since, this also entails me to write those 10 random things about me, here goes-

I love

watching the motley of people in big cities on their daily commute
walking the streets of wherever I am without a destination in mind- alone.
browsing through a physical bookstore and the high that I get when I make a purchase
reading the comments I receive on my blog! Thanks all for the support!
all desserts. Infact I start my meal with a dessert. Why not start and end the meal with the best part!
the songs and dances in Indian movies! They are way better than any broadway musical!

I hate

a cluttered desk and a cluttered home
cooking! Though I appreciate those who cook well., seeking to emulate them usually ends up in disaster!
lending my prized books. Everybody knows they don’t come back!
packing before travels. I always wish I got my bags magically delivered with all that I wanted!

What comes around of course has to go around, and I would like to pass this award on to the very talented bloggers-

I will really appreciate it if you sent this further on in the blogosphere and mention those 10 random things about yourself if you haven’t already done so and link me in!

Richa

A Picture NOT Worth a Thousand Words?

2011-04-28T04:30:00.001+05:30

‘A picture is worth a thousand words’ said Napoleon Bonaparte. Some famous pictures are also worth thousands of dollars. Okay. I understand that. But can a mere scrawl be classified as a picture worth a thousand words and several thousand dollars? Apparently it can. A guy I don’t know said Abstract Art is a product of the untalented sold by the unprincipled to the utterly bewildered!

A painting by Barnett Newman

How I agree with this quote, on visiting one of New York’s exalted museums on Modern Art. This is not to disparage the Whitney Museum of Art or MoMA or anyother. But seriously, it did feel at the end of my visit, that all Modern art and so called abstract art is a huge con. A racket meant to deceive people into calling absolutely silly stuff they call‘Art’. Art critics or artists may feel offended by an absolute layperson like me talking on a subject which I have no authority on. But, let me give you examples and you might just agree.

In the museum I visited, exhibits included honestly- a graph paper drawn by pencil, a square, a few rectangles, just a plain colored canvas with a line across it, scrawls that a two year old might draw, some random squiggles in multiple colors or in one color, a few threads hung on a hanger, shoes hung outside a boxing ring, some scraps of colored paper on a wall, some twisted ropes in no particular shape and several such. I can understand art in nature, in a leafy or in a bare tree, in water, in the sky, in living beings, in buildings, in objects. But seriously, just lines in a commonplace graph? Come on! And people pay millions for this! Why, I almost regret paying the few dollars that I did to enter the museum!

Moreover, all these paintings are described in so many words. A single rectangle might be described to have perfect symmetry (well isn’t that expected of a rectangle?) or if it is a trapezium, describe it as a rectangle with imperfect symmetry and then go on to call it Bold, Charming, Evocative, Reflective, Callous, Mystic, Timeless, Lyrical, Strong, Touching, Expressive, Deep, Raw, Powerful, Amazing, Rebellious, Anarchic, Idiosyncratic, Nihilistic, Avant-Garde, Surreal, Symbolic, Blunt, Imaginative.

I would probably describe it as insipid, inane, silly, absolutely unimaginative, hollow, fake, is that art?, a scrawl, a line, trash!

A painting by Rothko that recently sold for $18 Million

Take this one exalted artist for example, Rothko who has several famous paintings to his name. Do gaze at the painting and see for yourself, what wordplay transforms the painting into! ‘Rothko happened upon the use of symmetrical rectangular blocks of two to three opposing or contrasting, yet complementary, colors, in which, for example, "the rectangles sometimes seem barely to coalesce out of the ground, concentrations of its substance.’

When criticized about the lack of substance in these large paintings, Rothko retaliated, “I realize that historically the function of painting large pictures is painting something very grandiose and pompous. The reason I paint them, however . . . is precisely because I want to be very intimate and human. To paint a small picture is to place yourself outside your experience, to look upon an experience as a stereopticon view or with a reducing glass. However you paint the larger picture, you are in it. It isn’t something you command!”

Well, okay, if he and the art world insists. Maybe one could stand infront of a gaudily painted wall and experience that instead of paying a million bucks for the same experience. I would rather go anyday with a painting that has some real art in it instead of something that I can or a five year old can draw. I hope the Renaissance days return with more landscape paintings or still life paintings or portrait paintings (Realism and Impressionalism), less esoteric symbolism, and more substance instead of deceptive squiggles and scrawls described in flowery language and given a fancy name. Let the picture be worth a thousand words rather than a thousand words that make the picture sell!

Japan Tragedy: A wake-up call?

2011-03-12T04:50:00.003+05:30

FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND people have lost their lives in 2010 to natural disasters. Mother Nature has struck, and struck hard again. The devastating earthquake at Japan has caused massive damage to life and property over major parts of Japan. All the development, all the technological advancements there are can do nothing, absolutely nothing to combat the might of nature. Perhaps, it is indeed these developments that are causing these natural disasters.

The year 2010 was a disastrous year with calamities taking lives and causing destruction without respite.

Nearly half of the victims of the total 2010 casualties were from the Haiti earthquake alone.
Chile suffered a terrible 8.8 magnitude earthquake with more than 500 killed and 300,000 homes damaged.
Almost 12 million people were affected in the floods in Pakistan with around 1200 losing their lives to the waters.
Wild fires in Russia caused smog killing an estimated number of 15,000 and causing health problems to thousands more.
A raging snowstorm struck the north eastern part of US in late December (though now that seems merely inconvenient as compared to the rest of the list).
An Icelandic Eyjafjallajokull volcano (how unpronounceable is that!) spewed gas over Northern Europe disrupting flights and travel for an extended period of time.
New Zealand was hit with a 7.7 magnitude earthquake causing damage of millions. Even as the recovery progressed slowly, further tremors though lesser in extent hampered recovery efforts.
Indonesia suffered another earthquake and Tsunami causing damage though not as massive as the others.
A cold wave struck the usually not-so-cold Peru and Argentina killing several hundred unaccustomed to the cold.

Plodding through the Snowstorm in NE America

While the world grappled with disasters in 2010, nature did not relent in 2011.

2011 did not start too well either, with the Brazil floods causing landslides and taking many lives.
Australia experienced the same problems with major cities being inundated for several days.

This list very unfortunately is not an exhaustive list and there have been many cyclones which have been terrible too as unexpected that they were. I pray for all those affected to pick up the pieces and restart their lives.

Increased urbanization, deforestation, depletion of the ozone layer, global warming have now started perpetuating the debilitating effects of human ‘progress’ and several lives are heavily paying for it. If terrorists can’t get one, there is indeed no telling when these natural disasters will. Ofcourse, I don’t want to predict any doomsday or acocalypse, but one can’t help feeling a sense of utter helplessness when tragedy strikes. However, I do feel, that it is indeed high time, that the industrial community, governments, and individuals started to understand the evil that is happening because of the consumerist and the selfish progress that has been made by mankind to disrupt the ecological balance that has kept life on earth alive for several million years before the advent of the Humans.

Industries need to stop spewing noxious fumes and toxins depleting the ozone layer. It is necessary to reduce CO2 emissions and going green whether it is green vehicles, power or manufacturing. Individuals need to use less disposable things such as paper products, napkins, use less electricity as far as possible and preach the message as they practice. More trees need to be planted and population needs to be reduced! Whew, I guess, writing it, makes it sound pretty difficult considering burgeoning populations and lack of space and increased consumerism! But, notwithstanding the immensity and the challenges of the tasks, everything possible has to be done with a sense of urgency.

If the ever increasing list of natural disasters is not a wake-up call then what will it ever be?

Lighting up lives at the Lamp Post School

2011-03-01T09:22:00.004+05:30

An estimated 35,000 street children live in Mumbai . We see them in trains selling trinkets, at traffic lights begging or selling flowers, at the vegetable market helping their parents, in restaurants cleaning tables, in our buildings cleaning cars, taking the laundry or dropping off the newspapers. What do we do? Most of us avert our eyes or buy stuff from them or plainly take them for granted. We think we are being compassionate if we say a kind word or that we are helping them by buying stuff from them. There are others with cynical hearts that feel nothing but revulsion for them. And then, there are those who step up to actually do something for them.

The Lamp Post school was one such story started by a compassionate individual, Sanjay Pasrija of Deloitte who happened to notice street kids studying by roadside lamps. Seeing their dedication day after day, and several days of nightly chats, he finally took the plunge of teaching them and the Lamp Post school was born. With support from other Deloitte employees and Deloitte, the school was given a space in the office basement, where regular learning began and now continues to boast of over 50 students now, many of which are doing remarkably well at their regular class with the ‘schools’ support. It is indeed remarkable what can be achieved if we pledged even a couple of hours a week.

It is all such individuals that I wanted to salute in this blog of mine. While most of us plainly sit in drawing rooms and criticize the government, the poverty, the corruption, the disparity between the rich and the poor, the fact that there are so many IT jobs in India, going abroad and a plethora of usual topics, there is basically no action that is being taken. I speak of the educated employed as well as educated unemployed. While everyone has their own priorities in life wouldn’t it be great if the privileged lot of us actually got up, got out and did something out there?

An organization that is doing its bit is IndiBlogger that is doing a great job of propagating the Akshaya Patra foundation of ISKCON, that is helping feed hungry mouths for education. Their cause reaches out to 1.2 million kids everyday. Read more about them at http://www.akshayapatra.org/ and see what you can do to help.

One more person who acted truly extra-ordinarily was an IIT-IIM alumnus, Vinayak Lohani who gave up a lucrative career for an altruistic life dedicated to serving abandoned kids in Calcutta. I do not know what motivated him to do so, but it certainly is inspiring to know that he successfully founded an NGO known as Parivaar that now serves over 400 kids. Kudos to this gentleman too who chose the difficult road less travelled. Check out http://www.parivaar.org/

Ofcourse, all of us may not be as selfless as Mr Lohani and will venture to ask, What is in it for us? Well, in this world crunched for time, it is an important question, given our ‘important’ priorities and crazy lives.

Firstly, spending some time with a different strata in society, adds a completely new dimension to one’s life and we appreciate what we have much more. I remember what a humbling experience it was, when I heard the aspirations of these street kids in a very short stint that I had done in India. On being questioned, what they wanted to become when they grew up, the usual doctor, engineer, astronaut were replaced by the ‘high and mighty’ ‘rickshawala’ or ‘mechanic’ as the highest ambitions.

Secondly, there are so many skills out there to be picked up. Public speaking is one, especially if one is involved in teaching. I have a friend who has been involved in an organization known as ‘Samidha’ (www.samidha.org). After digging their pockets to support the initiatives, they found that it wasn’t enough. This friend explored fund raising options and came up with several innovative schemes that keep the organization ticking (though they still appreciate more help!). Now, running an NGO is like running an organization with several project management skills that can be picked up.

Thirdly, for college kids looking for work to ramp up their resumes, working with an NGO or community service is a golden opportunity to pick up some skills along the way.

For all the professionals out there, a stint in social work is always appreciated by prospective employers.

Lastly, it is the satisfaction that can be gained by doing something for the nation that is ours and the chance to improve a life. Unless we rise to do something, the disparity and problems that our nation faces are not going to solve themselves.

If you finally think, it might be worth a shot, there are several ways to do it.

Starting a new initiative will be a challenge of course, and might take far more dedication and time than one might have. However, there are a whole lot of NGOs out there ready to help and that seek help. Googling these is not too difficult to join up in your respective city. Teaming up with friends, colleagues etc might bring a fun element that might motivate you to go to do this! If at all, you refuse to leave your homes, perhaps you could start with just our own maids' kids who wash the dishes alongside their moms and help them better their education.
Each One Teach One.

A Samidha volunteer educating kids on computers
(courtsey Amit Poharkar)

For the complete Lamp Post school story, please read http://www.deloitte.com/assets/Dcom-UnitedStates/Local%20Assets/Documents/us_Deloitte_Life_Winter_2008.pdf

Boogieing to the Bollywood Beat

2011-02-24T05:27:00.007+05:30

“Indian movies are extremely inane with no sense or story or message in them and it is time they stopped having silly songs.”, said a friend of mine to me. I was zapped momentarily at someone casting such aspersions on my favorite entertainment avenue!

“My dear friend”, I refuted him, “Bollywood is not a charity organization that makes movies for the sake of passing moral messages about righteousness or education or the evils of casteism or awareness about some obscure disease or empowerment. Movies are first supposed to be entertainment and then everything else is a bonus if it makes money. If they are not supposed to be entertaining, the producers might as well make documentaries which are a completely different genre. There have been wonderful commercial movies with meaningful social messages such as ‘3 Idiots’ on the education system, ‘Udaan’ on the ambitions of a young aspiring writer etc. However, if these social movies were not entertaining as well, who would watch them? The message wouldn’t hit the nail then anyway. A fantastic movie like Sholay would never have happened if it was only about the message.”

Melodrama, Romance, Music, Horror, Action, Titillation, Tragedy, Comedy, Meaningful cinema, Fantasy all bundled in one is one genre. Bollywood. In my head I agree though, sometimes movies get too silly for words. It is not uncommon to have a grisly death sequence in a comedy movie when the dying guy flashes back with his heroine dancing away on the Alps all of a sudden, and in the next moment onto the Pyramids with a retinue of dancers behind them! An audience not used to the Bollywood way of things might just get befuddled, but wait, there is more. As soon as the Hero’s ‘Mom’ is disparaged by the villain, the hero gets superpowers to thwart 10 goons against him, and he saves the heroine, the mom and everyone goes home happy while he goes to dance against the backdrop of an exotic waterfall with his heroine! But then, even Hollywood can boast of enough terrible movies. 2010 saw enough dumb movies such as Tron which was made from an old superflop, the Last Airbender by an otherwise wonderful director M Shyamlan, the Last Song, Sex and the City 2,..well you get the idea. For every one good movie, there are strings of ludicrous movies, be it Bollywood or Hollywood.

Scene from Raja Harishchandra, first Indian movie

The Indian Cinema industry has been prevalent for almost a century now with the first movie, Raja Harishchandra being made by Dadasaheb Phalke way back in 1913 (well, there’s a Marathi language movie on that too!). By 1930’s the industry was producing well over 200 movies per annum. And now, Bollywood comes up with more than 800 movies every year and that does not even include the other regional Indian cinema which has not all diminished in stature. Amazing. There certainly are reams that I can write on the history of Indian cinema and its development through the decades but you can just flip to Wikipedia for all that factual information. In a few lines, Hindi cinema has seen a wide variety of themes every decade, drawing inspiration and stories from epic tales such as the Ramayana and Mahabharta, history, social themes, books and ofcourse plenty from Hollywood including even the term Bollywood which has its roots in combining Bombay, the heart of Hindi cinema and Hollywood!

But what characterizes Hindi cinema, is its unique ability to be enjoyed by a widely different audience which I cannot stop emphasizing. Having studied marketing, I can well say, how difficult a task that must be. Catering to even slices of a teeming mass of culturally, politically, linguistically, economically, regionally, religiously and socially different billion people is certainly a daunting task. Just when I thought, Bollywood is transitioning to cater to a more urban intellectual and affluent audience that can afford expensive tickets at multiplexes and to international audiences targeting overseas sales, there came up ‘Dabangg’ a typical ‘formula’ movie with a super star as a cop hero, a villain with no scruples, interspersed with some unnecessary songs, an unnecessary heroine as an accessory, the omnipotent mother, plenty of action, melodrama and boom. A smashing hit! A movie liked by the so called urban intelligentsia as well as the rural masses. That is certainly tough to understand!

'Dola re dola' dance sequence from movie 'Devdas'

Refuting my friends point about not having the song and dance routines, “Well, that’s what Indian cinema is about!...I utterly detest the Indian movies without the songs and dances in them. All those beautiful haunting melodies by Lata, Asha, Mohd. Rafi etc, not ever existing! That’s unbelievable. And not having Shiela ki Jawani to save an utterly inane Tees Maar Khan or not having Dhan ta nan in Kaminey to keep the audiences grooving is terrible news too! Think about classics such as HAHK, DDLJ and all other fluffy SRK movies that the nation adored, and we are transported to exotic locales in Switzerland or US which most Indians would never have seen otherwise. No songs in those movies?! Bah! They wouldn’t be 1/10th as good as they are today. “

I guess, I am a die-hard bollywood buff with its melodrama and song and dance sequences and for all its detractors, I just need to say, we ought to be proud that our entertainment industry is one of the biggest in the world even as it caters to such difficult markets. Bollywood has so much potential to not just create entertainment, but also to showcase India’s rich culture in the international arena, delineate positively the burgeoning intelligent population and foster self confidence in Indians. Again, entertainment first, and then the messages!

Book Review: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

2011-02-18T04:29:00.001+05:30

When I started reading this first book of a triology, I was entranced by the very strange storyline. It started normally enough with the protagonist Katniss Everdeen, a teenage girl giving the description of the aftermath of an apocalypse and the remains that became Panem ruled by the Capitol. Panem was divided into 13 districts, one of which was razed because of a rebellion, and then, as punishment, here comes the interesting part- ‘The Hunger Games’ were organized. These games were no ordinary games, not dissimilar to a regular reality survival show we see on TV, but dissimilar in the fact that, to win these games, participants had to survive from other participants, which meant, they had to kill all the others. As punishment for the rebellion, these participants were kids or ‘tributes’ from the twelve districts chosen by lottery. Katniss Everdeen, the protagonist was chosen along with Peeta to be a part of the Hunger Games. The prize for the victor was a continuous food supply to their district and a lifelong of comfort for them. The book goes on to describe the violence and blood thirst as well as compassion that goes on in the arena as the reader begs to stop it all, at the same time being riveted to it. Chilling concept isn’t it? A story which makes adults want to shield their kids from this very stuff, but can’t, given today’s violent day and age. Watch kids play a video game, and see how they don’t bat an eyelid as they blow up hundreds , hundreds of times!

The second and the third part of this triology, ‘Catching Fire’ and ‘Mockingjay’ continue with the second Hunger games and with organized rebellions and revolutions against the Capitol buoyed by the symbol, surviving Katniss Everdeen. I guess, the first two books did grab my attention because of the novel concept even though I hate even watching less brutal reality shows. I got wearied by the time I reached the third part and I wondered, did I really like the first two parts? Kids killing kids! Really?! Even if they felt remorse or spent sleepless nights after that,still! Too bloody. All the same, Suzanne Collins has been able to keep the reader hooked to her books. Though I hate to admit it, her books were rather entertaining if I actually stopped thinking it could be for real!

Disney Magic

2011-01-30T05:23:00.001+05:30

Cinderellas Caslte

What kind of superheroes will an Indian a la Disneyland have, I wondered, when I visited Disneyland in Orlando, Florida. Some friends of mine instantly recalled our very own Chacha Chaudhari and Sabu. Instead of the simulated launch on to Mars in the ‘Mission Space’, we could go to Jupiter ofcourse after traversing the planets that come in between. We could have a 3D movie with Sabu throwing off evil villains off peaks.

Or how about a Rajani ride…It would ofcourse include rides which would flout all laws by Newton, Einstein or any scientist! If Disney had an Epcot World Showcase, our Bollypark could have all the locales which SRK spread out his arms and sang to his heroines. That would pretty much cover all the gorgeous places there are in the world.

Instead of delving into the fairy tales of Snow White, Cinderella, we can always dig into our treasure trove of popular mythological characters like Ganesh, Hanuman, Bhim, Ram, Krishna who have already been animated too.

Anyway, I guess, there is no point in me speculating about what can be, when I have just returned from a trip to this truly magic kingdom…a kingdom for the kids actually. It was fun walking through the Main Street, Adventure Land, Frontierland, Fantasyland, Liberty Square, Mickeys Toontown and Tomorrowland in this fairyland. It certainly made me wish I was back there as a kid. However as an adult, I did enjoy the two Parades, the one in the day time and the electric parade at night, which were fabulous and I enjoyed watching them and calling out to my favorite characters swinging by me. The electric parade was a dazzling display of illuminated floats and wonderful lighted up costumed dancers and characters. The shows ended with a spectacular display of fireworks with the backdrop of Cinderella’s castle. Unforgettable. Amongst the rides and shows, I did enjoy the 3D movie with the popular Disney characters, the jungle cruise on the boat, and the Space Mountain rollercoaster ride.

But as an unfortunate adult in the world dominated by kids in this magical land, most of the rides such as Winnie the Pooh, the Magic Alladin carpets, Peterpan, Snow-Whites adventure etc, were for ages 2-8.(we read to our consternation after enjoying them earlier!). The lines were long and winding and the waits were intolerable 30-80 minutes for each ride. Though after the first crazy wait, we discovered using our ‘Fastpass’ to beat the lines. And this was supposedly in the off-peak season. I reckon, the lines would be even worse in the vacations and summers.

Epcot was the other Disney Park I visited, and though the Rain Gods spitefully tried to dampen our spirits and us all day, we still managed to have a great time, especially as the crowds thinned and there were no lines as compared to those in the Magic Kingdom! Epcot was certainly one targeted to adults and teens and was an educational as well as a fun experience that helped kids and adults alike learn about a variety of burning issues. It taught environmental consciousness through the ‘Circle of Life’ short film through the eyes of Simba, Timon and Pumba. Another show explained power and energy sources with the Ellen DeGeneres dream that took us through a journey from the Dinosaur jungles to the nuclear age today in a vast moving theater. The fun rides were the space mission ride to Mars, the fast paced drive on Test Track, the entertaining 3D video by the King of Pop Michael Jackson as Captain EO and the Soarin’ ride to California. However, the best part about Epcot was the World Showcase with its miniature country pavilions. Dining at an Aztec temple in Mexico, riding a Norse boat in Norway, seeing miniatures of the Teracotta warriors, and learning about the various other cultures of France, Germany, Itay, Japan, Morocco, France, UK and Canada through short films in huge theaters were highlights. I particularly enjoyed the China video that was very well done and was projected in a 360 degrees absolutely humongous theater. All in all, a wonderful experience for people of all ages.

How I wish I were back there as a child! Some snapshots of my trip here.

Walt Disney- The Man behind it all.

And the fun started with the Parade!

The Genie to grant wishes with Alladin

Dancing with the stars

Lighting up the day at night!

Dazzling lights and illuminating memories

Hola! At an Aztec Temple

A German Square

A Japanese Pagoda

A spectacular show at the Magic Kingdom

The Epcot dome

Krazy about the Kindle

2011-01-12T03:36:00.001+05:30

As this is my first blog of the new year and decade, I wish you, my dear reader, a very Happy and a Wonderful New Year!

I remember a class in school once in which we envisaged a future world in 3000AD that would have kids having no more books and them scribbling on tablet like computer devices. Well, with the advent of the e-reader and tablet devices, I believe, we are slowly getting there. Imagine, kids not having to carry those heavy satchels that we once did. One device would do it all.

eBooks started way back in 1970 with the advent of Project Gutenberg that still works to digitalize and preserve books. From a limited selection formerly available to a limited audience, eBooks have come a long way in threatening the paper and pulp books. Amazon can be credited with developing the first hardware to read e-books, the e-reader. The Amazon Kindle is a product that I cannot help eulogizing over and over again to anyone who will or will not listen.

At a tiny 8” x 5.3” and as slim as a 100 page notebook, the Amazon Kindle has a capacity to carry 3,500 books, if one can read that many in a lifetime! It is a miraculous device with benefits that totally outweigh real books. Reading tomes such as Tolstoy or Tolkien feels much lighter than it actually is! I can read in the flight, in the train, on the beach, in the park, in the gym and what’s more, I never fall short of choice as I can carry my own personal library wherever I go! If I want more, I can simply browse to the Amazon store and buy books wherever I am to be delivered within seconds! If I am driving, and can’t read, I can make it read aloud to me. I can increase the font while in the gym and make it autoscroll. The embedded dictionary as a super fast reference certainly helps my vocabulary. The Kindle apps in various other devices, help me flip between devices as well. I can highlight, book mark pages, share them over facebook and twitter, make notes and read more than I ever did! What more could a book lover really want? Unlike backlit devices such as the Ipad and other tablets, this magic tablet doesn’t even strain my eyes anywhere, and it beats me, why one would read in the dark anyway!

I can almost now imagine an exam question now. Cite the differences between an ebook Reader and a real book in a history lesson in the near future! Well, the pros I have stated above. The only thing I do like in books not available in the Kindle , is…is… well there is nothing I can think of now!

Those individuals, who smell the paper in old books, love the sound of turning pages, enjoy delicately handling crumbling paper, cringe about e-ink and decry the new eReaders and eBooks should just have a reality check and check foolish sentimentality. It wouldn’t hurt to think of all the paper and trees that will get saved as more and more books go the e-way. eBooks and eReaders are here to not just stay, but to take on the real books. Maybe I should just start collecting hard copies of books now. They probably will be very rare a few years down the line and might sell for a fortune!

Cheers to the New Year and Happy Reading!

"Lights, Camera, Action!"

2010-12-24T06:49:00.004+05:30

'Lights Camera Action’…is virtually the only thing I knew went on behind the silver screen. That changed, once I visited the Universal Studios at Los Angeles. Movies are one thing, which all of us have grown up with, and totally taken for granted. What went on behind the scenes was a new realization. Hand drawn pictures and portraits were replaced by black and white cameras, which gave birth to the pictures juxtaposed to give the silent movie which went on to become full blown color movies in high definition and sound which we see today, with 3D being the next generation. I hope the characters never jump out of the screens for a live performance after that!

Apart from being entertaining, the whole Universal experience was highly educational when I further realized the rigor and genius that went behind creating those scenes which we absolutely fail to appreciate such as exploding cars and buildings, alien space ships flying, racing chases, swimming with man eating sharks, dinosaurs chomping away at people and the million other myriad things that we utterly take for granted.

The studio tour in itself was a revelation, knowing the dreadful Amity island beach of the shark thriller ‘Jaws’ was but a tiny pond, the shark was a mechanical equipment, the underwater shots were from a big tank! It was exceedingly interesting to learn about what brilliant camera work could magnify and the effects that it could produce. I saw quaint European towns, New York city, Mexican villages, all in the course of that one hour! It was a revelation seeing that all these cities were but facades and totally not real! Explosions and floods being simulated seemed almost real and it was amazing to see just how catastrophic these could look on the big screen.

This visit only cemented my belief that film ‘actors’ are just a piffling part of the entire cinema experience. Though they are the face of the final product and get all the money, acclaim and fame, it’s the people who work behind the scenes such as the directors, cameramen, special effects peoples who are the real brains and heart of the entire movie. Give anyone 10 years of experience, a 100 times and several hours to mouth one dialogue in multiple takes that too guided by a director, they better say it right atleast once! Well, if they don’t, God help such people! Fortuitously watching a painful film shooting for 8 hours with star acclaimed 'actors' mouthing one dialogue completely made me lose respect for all ‘actors’! But, well, we still have best actor awards for work being done by the directors and everyone else on the set. And that is why, I firmly want these so-called ‘actors’ with their humbug charms and supposed skills to be atleast good-looking, be able to dance well (for Bollywood atleast), maintain a good physique as ‘acting’ really isn’t an art anyway!

Well, now that I have finished venting on this long felt sentiment, back to the other highlights of the tour that I would like to remember forever. Jurassic park was a major highlight of the Universal experience and the knowledge that the massive dinosaurs were actually extinct and I was looking at controlled machines, certainly helped manage those nerves! The 3D fight of KingKong and the dinosaurs was simply mind blowing and I certainly feel lucky to have survived in that jungle where that earth-shattering fight took place! Another of my favorite rides was the racy ride with the Simpsons in Krustyland where I thought I was on a roller coaster flying about in that animated world, but it turned out that, I was in a car that just rocked in several directions while being in one single position while I looked at a giant domed screen! That certainly was brilliant. The rest of the shows on Shrek, the Mummy and the house of Horrors, etc entertained as well and there was nothing that I thought fell short of my expectations.

All in all, a wonderful, fun and educational experience that I would highly recommend! My rating would be 5 stars for Universal studios!

A trip to Yosemite Valley

2010-12-06T08:45:00.002+05:30

Towering trees, bumbling bees; Azure skies, peaks old and wise
Snowy pebbles, brooks that babble, Mystic mountains, springs and fountains
Plains some mossy, still lakes all glossy; Icy cloaks, pines and oaks
Skulking bears, prancing reindeers;Scampering squirrels furry, coyotes in a hurry
Rains and thunder, Nature’s wonder; Glistening snow, eyes that glow
Hills and vales, Treacherous trails; Winding roads, Glaciers once flowed
Myriad hues, beauty so true; Blue and Golden, resplendence beholden
White and green, a splendid scene; Pristine white, shimmering moonlight
Sculpted boulders, fire that smolders; Zephyrs trance, a verdant dance
Pindrop silence, sweeter than violins; A trickle of water, frozen in winter
Glorious clouds, Beauty endowed; The Great Half dome, God’s own home?

Mother Nature has drawn one of her priceless canvases in Yosemite National park with an elegance that makes her splendor even more beautiful. Big is beautiful at this national park known for its old wise sequoia trees that are the biggest in the world, the tallest waterfalls and the most challenging of peaks protecting themselves from nosy humans by the sheer force of nature again.

I fortunately was permitted to see this priceless picture on a sunny day while it was splashed with a pristine whiteness on the myriad hues of greens and yellows. I hated to sully the whiteness of it with my footprints. While I could not stop Aahing and Wowing and taking pictures, I realized that it was one of those places where a mere camera lens could not capture even a 50th of the beauty that the live canvas possessed.
Someone rightly said, when nature has a project, she is a genius at work. From the bare leafeless tree to the ice laden pine, she ensures each season has something wonderful to look at. I fall short of words here, to describe the endless vales of snow covered pines and cones that I saw and went past, the winding valleys covered with mist and sheer drops below overlooking unbelievable vistas making us want to stop at every twist and turn where there was space to stop and gaze.

Despite all the human advancement, nature still makes man feel miniscule on just seeing the vastness of what She can create. The United States has certainly preserved the park well, and I am pretty thankful and privileged to see such beauty in this world where almost every piece of habitable land has been captured by humans.

Book Review: Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

2010-11-18T02:55:00.001+05:30

The one thing I think I liked about this book and now movie was its title and the cover. I watched the movie with much anticipation but Alas!, I was disappointed, not so much in the execution, but the fact that it was long and boring despite a great concept, locales and a lot of strong characters! I tried the book then, thinking books are usually better than movies, but again I was disappointed. EAT PRAY LOVE was supposed to be a celebration of life, and was supposed to uplift me. It turned out to be one big rigmarole by an unduly supposedly depressed woman who ranted on and on and on about what a nervous wreck she had become and how brave she was facing everything alone. Had she left the part of her depression out for atleast half of what is in the book, I would have been much happier reading it! She wondered what went wrong, all throughout the book, so did I..even granted that she wasn’t ‘normal’ and like ‘all other women’ who enjoyed happy and married monotonous lives with their families, I didn’t get right upto the end her reasons for a mental breakdown!

Besides the part of her sad sad life, I didn’t really find the rest of the book very uplifting either and I didn’t get any vicarious thrills out of her wolfing down pizzas and gelatos at Naples or her absolution in India or her finding her ‘balance’ in Bali. What I did glean though is what I might like to see and experience in the places that she has talked about. Like I said before, most of the characters were really good, especially Kekut in Bali, but apart from that I got heartily tired of reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s whining!

Perhaps I have been too critical since I have been reading too many classics off-late. All in all, this book might perhaps help people with serious problems (hopefully not boyfriend ones) try new things and inspire them to lead happier lives by letting go, but as a read for people with perfectly peaceful lives, it might get a tad boring.

To Spend or Not to Spend

2010-10-29T07:18:00.002+05:30

I recently read an article on Mukesh Ambani’s One Billion dollar splurge on his 27 storey home and some readers’ reproachful comments about him frittering away wealth instead of feeding 68 million kids for 20 full days! Mr Ambani is the fourth richest man in the world, has built a vast empire employing several thousand people and still people expect him to be charitable as well as though it is his responsibility to eliminate poverty in the world! Eliminating poverty is certainly not as simple as all the rich people in the world donating their wealth to all the poor. If they choose to be charitable, it certainly helps in some way, however that is not something that should be imposed on them and it certainly is unfair on them to be judged because they spend their money the way they like. And honestly, I wouldn’t even call living in a beautiful home a splurge (even though I found the Ambani mansion pretty ugly!) Everyone has that one dream of having a beautiful home and a comfortable one. Why then deny Mr Ambani that pleasure and insist he live in a 3 bedroom house just because the even wealthier Mr Warren Buffet does. Who is John Galt after all. (for those of who may recall Ayn Rand’s tome Atlas Shrugged)

Well, those were my views on this one rich man spending his money on his dream house. However, this article brought to my mind the other stuff the rich and famous buy and which I don’t approve of! I know, now I m being judgmental just after all those statements above about each to his own. . I completely endorse buying something that would lend value, a technologically advanced car with more features, a large home that’s in a prime location with the latest gadgetry and comforts, to some extent for creativity in outfits and accessories, but I fail to understand how people can actually pay the ostentatious amounts they do for objects that are as ephemeral as passing seasons and stuff that they may not use probably twice. My case in point is handbags

The Luxury bag market is a multi-billion dollar industry and luxury brands Hermes, Fendi, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Gucci, Chanel all jostle for space as new brands try to entice rich gals with their expensive goodies. Well, I was astonished that salaried people even bought these bags at all but apparently they do! Check out the prices of these bags below. Don’t be taken in by the simple design you have probably seen on the roadside purse shop as well! For starters this seemingly simple wallet from Hermes costs $2,600 or Rs 1,16,000.

Now if that ain’t too bad, how about a fancier and larger purse from Hermes for you? Well that costs $7,600 or Rs 3,40,000.

I continued this eye-popping exercise of checking the prices of these bags till I reached a magic figure of…. 1 Million Pounds or or $1.6 Million or Rs 7 Crores for the world’s most expensive bag!!!

Well if Mukesh Ambanis wife, Nita Ambani buys 600 of those bags, it would cost as much as her home would! I guess, the new home is a good bargain after all then!

I wish I had a Time Machine

2010-10-09T03:51:00.000+05:30

How I hate waking up in the morning and getting dressed to go to work. Maybe in the near future, we won’t have to go to offices anymore. Maybe we will have a few screens showing us the people installed in our homes for meetings and a robot to take down notes and email them to us after formatting them. Maybe we’ll have flying cars. Maybe shopping will be through simulated rooms with us experiencing even the feel of the fabric and not just plain online shopping. Perhaps we will be able to touch our near and dear ones from miles across on the computer or whatever becomes of it. Maybe we won’t need to know different languages. Speak in English at one end and have it translated and come out in perfect Chinese at the other end which is something I believe Google is working on.

Floppies have become pen drives and hard drives, desktops have become laptops and will soon be tablets or phones or something else totally. Landlines have become mobiles which in themselves are computers. Maybe we will be able to use any surface as a laptop with some projections out of thin air and of course we will have a robot cook and clean for us. I hope we don’t become all fat and wobbly creatures with all that work being automated and not having to step out. Post offices will cease to exist and philatelists (stamp collectors) will perish if they already haven’t.

Maybe schools will cease to exist and kids will be taught like they do in The Matrix..put in a CD through the brain and copy paste the ‘books’ or delete to make more room. No more mugging up History! Books, paper and pens of course will not exist and maybe even most trees won’t. Hopefully we will have travelled to some more inhabitable planets and shifted half the population there. Maybe we will be able to control rains and storms. Maybe we will never run out of food.

Maybe biodegradable only will be the only norm, maybe plastic will be abolished. Maybe the world will cease to have boundaries and maybe there will be no more terrorists. Maybe everyone who is corrupt will stop being so. Maybe there will be no more diseases.

Maybe there will be a nuclear war fought over water not oil. Maybe trees will be present only in Museums. Maybe there will be an ice age, or maybe the ozone layer will tear apart and half of the world will become uninhabitable. Maybe aliens will attack us. Maybe a new form of disease will come and eliminate humanity. Maybe the world will become a garbage dump. Maybe there will be no more room for more population on earth. Maybe, Frankenstein’s monster will become reality and Sarah Connor will not be born.

We are all getting so ahead of ourselves in Technology or maybe I was born just after the dinosaurs! Computers in all sizes, Google, smart phones, Global Satellite systems (GPS), Video conferencing, e-readers, Social Networking are exploding and the world is closer and more aware than it ever was before. What was unbelievable in the past is reality today and we are still in awe of the technology wave that is sweeping us. While the human race is not just ambling ahead, but taking great leaps racing ahead, let us remember the bleaker side and take steps starting with recycling, generating less waste, using fewer disposable things, saving electricity, planting trees and spreading the word in building this amazing future perfect world called Utopia!

Draculaaaaa

2010-09-30T04:43:00.002+05:30

I am currently riding the Vampire wave which has caught the attention of readers and viewers alike. Stephanie Meyer with her Twilight series certainly caught the attention of young romantic readers with her thrills and chills in the backdrop of a soppy romance between a good-at-heart (if he has one) vampire, Edward Cullen and the still human teenager. This fascination around their world did not start with Buffy the teenager who stalked, staked and slayed vampires mercilessly in the late 90s and early 2000s but ever since Bram Stoker wrote the epic novel Dracula in 1897 which I read recently. There have been more than 700 movies that have been made on the topic (recent ones in this decade being the inane Twilight series, the hilarious spoof on them, Underworld, and several versions of the original Dracula. You can find the list of movies here http://www.uh.edu/~cfreelan/vampires/vampmovies.html). There has also been a recent spate of TV shows (popular being True Blood, The Vampire Diaries, Angel Forever Knight, Blood Ties, Being Human, Being Dracula, Blade, Moonlight, Kindred-the Embraced) which continue to attract wide audiences. Dracula the literally immortal vampire, alone has been the central character in over 170 versions which makes him the most repeated subject in movies so far from the early 1900’s to 2011 in Fangland when Dracula comes to New York. Hats off to Bram Stoker for his fiery imagination that can still cast fear into the hearts of many after the turn of a century.

Vampires as they are known are blood sucking creatures that can transmute into bats or even into mist, control elements of nature, control evil animals, and raise an army by merely infecting more people. They sleep in coffins, cannot stand garlic, cannot stand light, cannot see their reflections in mirrors (poor female vampires) and are afraid of anything that is Holy. The only way to kill them is to drive a stake through them, behead them and stuff their mouths with garlic! The Un-Dead is a term coined for these creatures that have the wile and cunning of the living, powers gained on dying and immortality. It is not in the scary masks and made up faces apart from their malicious fangs, that they cast terror but in the fact that they look like all other humans, only more charming and connive to ensnare their victims into letting them drink their blood. Vampire lore has indeed come a long way from Count Dracula who was evil vampirified to Edward Cullen, the good vampire.

Duhh..are vampires for real? Well, I don’t think so despite the presence of the many websites which exhort ‘real vampires’ to join their communities and give helpful tips to identify people as vampires! Come to think of it, maybe real life vampires are just blood sucking leeches and mosquitoes! What do you think?

Here are some bloody cheesy vampire jokes:

Why is it a bad thing to tell a vampire to get a life?

Because it might decide to take YOURS.

What's the difference between a lawyer and a vampire?

A vampire only sucks blood at night.

How did the ghost say goodbye to the vampire?
So long sucker!

Why does Dracula consider himself an artist?
Because he likes to draw blood!

What is a vampire’s favorite holiday?
Fangs giving

Wat does a vampire fear most?

Tooth decay.

If you like Vampire stories, you might be interested in Zombie movies. Do check out this blog (after you share your views with me!) http://www.vinni.in/2010/07/the-greatest-zombie-movies-of-all-time/ for more to keep you awake!

The Great Common Tamasha

2010-09-24T02:11:00.002+05:30

The Commonwealth games have already begun! Well, perhaps not the actual sports, but the ongoing tamasha before the games itself is no different from any game! It is India vs the Rest of the World, the Organising committee in India vs the global committee overlooking the games, US the common people vs Them the Corrupt Government. Debates abound, and forums, blogs, TV, Radios, Newspapers all cry foul. Every little thing is zoomed on to the last detail and penalized heavily by further outcry. To add the final icing on the cake, there is the suspense of finding out, if they are indeed going to be pulled off well, with a segment even hoping they are not so that there is a further brouhaha that will bring the defaulters to book even if it is after a few decades and by that time their account books are fatter than ever with the credits they make in the meanwhile.

I wonder what the hell is happening ? Does it take a public outcry from all corners of the globe to get the Prime Minister involved into the organizing of these simple games when he should have probably just done the lamp lighting or something insignificant like that? The whole situation is so insane. On one hand, we talk about being the next super power and on the other hand, dunnkkkkk, we can’t manage a piffling few thousand sportspersons accommodations..why even big fat weddings in India boast of over a 1000 guests and organized immaculately! It’s a shame, a great shame.

Richa

Divinity

2010-08-18T10:26:00.005+05:30

I had been to a Classical Music concert by Shubha Mudgal once with Mom and was absolutely enthralled in it when I had anticipated a good 2-3 hours of pure boredom! The fact that Music transcends language and all other barriers is so true. Even though I had no knowledge of what the lady was singing, it was divinely captivating. There was much I needed guidance on, the talas, the ragas, surs et al. Consciously singing absolutely in control to match all those permutations and combinations to the exact beat of the tabla and the chords of the tamboora and keys of the harmonium is indeed an art. I wonder if our future generations will have in them to go through the rigors of training to produce music that is fulfilling and lasting. In this age of clamor, the best we get are songs which are all absolutely forgettable. Good songs take you on a high and they keep you floating for a while ruminating over the lyrics and the music and make you forget the worries of the world and linger in your mind. Sometimes irritating jarring songs stick around too and it is particularly difficult to get a hated song out of ones head unless replaced by a better one! But I digress from what I’m saying.

I am no expert on music and I hate to go down in the past again, but seriously the half baked half English half Hindi Bollywood songs liberally sprinkled with Punjabi with nonsensical lyrics and several booms and bangs called beats, and ‘sung’ tunelessly are getting worse! Perhaps there are good singers, and perhaps there are great composers out there, but these are the songs we appreciate now. It’s only the songs that sound and look like they will be runaway hits are broadcast. Why, the song is least important, put a sizzling Bipasha Basu in it, and it could have everyone hooked!

The music shows and the talent hunt shows have indeed brought about a revival of the classical music scene and there is much encouragement towards the arts such as singing and dancing. Organizations such as SPICMACAY are doing their bit too, but honestly I don’t think it’s enough..why, I have no clue about who the upcoming singers are on the classical scene and I am sure there are more who are totally oblivious or disinterested or who find it uncool to listen to Indian music but appreciate ‘Jazz’. This is certainly not to disparage those who find the western forms of music alluring, but to bring to the point, that our Indian youth in its rapid westernization is rapidly moving away from its own cultural roots and mostly takes no interest whatsoever in what is indeed an age old civilization. I should certainly wish there were more music schools and more dance schools to propagate this art.

Though I would heartily like to dwell on the facets of Indian Classical music, I discover, there is just too much to be said. For the uninitiated, I shall try to fit a bit in one paragraph. Our Indian classical music emanates from the Vedas which are in the form of a song and hence, divine in itself. The tradition of Indian classical music is an oral one. The music tradition has been handed down over 2000 years to the pupil and there still live the ‘gharanas’ that have descended from eons back. Unlike Western music, the sounds cannot be captured on any manuscript. There are two forms of the music, Hindustani from Northern India and Carnatic from Southern India. The soul of the classical music is based on ragas which is a combination of several notes (sa re ga ma..), sung in a particular sequence, pitch, speed etc where as tala is the pulse of the music that captures the rhythm of the music . Where the musical instruments are concerned, there is a long list, some of the popular ones’ being Sitar, Sarod, Santoor, Veena, Sarangi, Harmonium, Shehnai, Flute, Tabla, Mridangam.

Due to the diversity of the culture we have, there are numerous popular folk music forms which differ from region to region. Folk music instruments also differ from those of classical music and may be less refined and are usually fabricated from commonly found materials such as bamboo, coconut shells, conches etc. For example in the rich culture of Rajasthan there are folklores, tales of heroism of the Rajput kings and queens, the praise of Gods etc. In most cultures the songs have been handed down through generations to mark the beginning and end of seasons, of phases in life, festivals etc.

The Indian culture has such divine forms of Art in it. I sincerely hope that I am mistaken, and even in this impatient fast moving world, certain beautiful things will never diminish.

Idle Thoughts of a Desi Mind

2010-08-10T21:05:00.002+05:30

Well, it’s been almost half a year since I moved to the US from India, and I continue to marvel at the differences between the two countries. I guess, I am about to say what every Desi who comes to this land goes through.

On Conversions

The first thing that hit me in a week was the number of conversions I kept doing to get my perspective right. Fahrenheit to Celsius, Miles to Kilometers, Pounds to Kgs, Ounces to Grams, Dollars to Rupees, Gallons to liters… I know we are used to the difference in the spellings now, with due thanks to Bill Gates who points out not coloUrfully but colorfully in red and all of a sudden I was flummoxed when everyone resorted in India to saying XYZeee instead of XYZed that I had learnt years back! Here even the switches get turned on the wrong way..On is up and Off is down!

On Beggars

Our local beggars endeavor to be as pathetic as possible singing sad songs in pathetic voices and generally making everyone feel guilty about being better off. Believe it when I tell you, here beggars wear weird costumes and have smirks on their faces with placards which say ‘Gimme $5 for a glass of beer!’ or ‘I need my Dope’ or sit with a dirty dog with a placard saying ‘Help me care for my dog’ and yes, they mutter maybe ‘Ass****’ at each person, loud enough to hear if you pass them without giving them anything. Local train beggars aren’t dissimilar to our Local buggers. They come with their musical instruments and make speeches and stories all starting with ‘Ladies and Gentlemen. I am homeless. Please help me’. Of course, this being a far richer country, the numbers are far less than what we have. But it’s funny to see ads of ‘Please donate a used car for the poor’. I could use one of the donations!

On Prices

And now for my long pent up emotions on the horrendous prices here, even though I have recuperated from the shock now. People back home said we would be really rich in the US! But consider this. Back in India we were supposedly in the upper middle class having a 3bhk, a car, never used the local train, and had 2 maids to cook twice a day, pack our lunches, clean up, tidy up and do everything that enabled us to lounge around only watching TV. And here, we live in a 1BHK, have a four wheeler..uh, I mean 2 bicycles, no maids (if you discount the dishwasher) and commute in the packed subway trains. Now that life on the other side of the ocean was certainly comfortable!

I reckon getting past the currency conversion from the $ to the Rupee was a challenge given the fact that ‘everything is so cheap back home!’ It started with the bread being $4 (Rs200) for a loaf (@#* I paid Rs 20 back home!), onions being $2 a pound (Rs 200 for a kilo) (@#&; Governments have been brought down back home because of the rising onion prices!), well you get the idea. I won’t even speak about the unspeakable amounts we pay as rent! Okay, even if you don’t convert, sometimes the rates that are charged for some piffling labor are downright absurd. There was a cleaning ad saying they would clean up rugs or carpets really well and remove all stains etc in just $150 (Rs 7500). Well! I could get a new carpet for that price! In fact there is no concept of MRP or any sort of standard pricing. It all depends on the rate the store wants to fleece people! You could get the same brand for half at some other store or for 1/10^th online. Perhaps it is because I am around one of US’s most expensive cities.

On Healthcare

Well, I am one of those really unfortunate people who are underinsured due to ignorance, and now may have to shell out some $500 (Rs 25,000) for a single sitting to have an ear cleaned! A doctor charges a cool $150 (Rs 7,500) to prescribe an OTC balm for an aching hand. I have not known a more screwed up healthcare system than that exists out here. Wikipedia told me that it is in US that 62% of all personal bankruptcies are due to Medical Debt. I don’t blame them. If an uninsured or underinsured person were to fall ill, he would sell everything he has to pay it off or die of a cardiac arrest on seeing the bill! Well, there is health insurance, and since 85% of the people have health insurance, all doctors charge astronomical amounts, and because they charge astronomical amounts people have to rely on health insurance. And, since the docs get sued all the time, they have to make up for the money they spend on litigation! So, I guess, being a lawyer is the best profession there is in the US! I am now contemplating a flight to and fro from India to have my ear cleaned! It might just be cheaper.

On Labor

The other thing that struck me, was the fact that despite the unemployment numbers being supposedly high, the labor rates here continue to be just phenomenal. There is little wonder that there are so many drop outs in America. I hear that truck drivers make around $100,000 to $200,000 a year in this country! I mean that’s really wow! They certainly can compete with educated PhDs flaunting all their degrees or investment bankers or make even more! Babysitters charge some $15 an hour in cash, that’s around $32,000 tax free. Women who earn around $50,000 a year, which is a decent amount, quit as their babysitters charge more! I think all the girls on H4 out here who cannot really work, but do like kids should offer their services in this field! It never amazed me in American TV serials when they showed plumbers and handymen living in the best of the suburban houses with manicured lawns..(if you are guessing, that’s Desperate Housewives)! Now as my building doorman drives down in his car wearing a tie and a designer suit, I have ceased to wonder! What I don’t understand is, why can’t the unemployed unskilled workers, just offer their services for a lower wage? I am sure there will be a lot of people willing to employ them. The unemployment rate will certainly go down.

On Cabbies

Something that is similar though is the sport of fighting with the Cab driver. There was this cabbie who wanted to charge a cool 100 dollar bucks (~Rs 5,000) for a 25 min ride with one stop on the way, the unreasonableness being, he would charge $50 without having to stop! Add to that, the ridiculous 'tips' that are mandatory to the tune of 20-30% of the total fare. No wonder, people prefer renting cars and driving around the whole day for a maximum of $100. Most cabbies are either Pakistanis, or Indians or Bangladeshis and the seats are dirtier and mustier than in Mumbai.

On Shopping

Finally, once I entered the acceptance mode after the denial, anger and resignation stages of shock of prices, I discovered shopping was a pleasure here, thanks to the huge departmental stores around here. There is no dearth of brands and consumers are spoiled for choice in every category. Furniture, cosmetics, Electronic goods and all the capital investments that go into a new home are relatively still cheap because mostly everything is Made in China. The awesome part is you can always return goods, no questions asked for up to 90 days!

On Gadgets

Thanks to the technological advancements here, most happening products such as the iphone, ipad, e-readers, Wii, GPS Navigators and other cool gadgets get first released in the US, and then trickle down much later to India. It’s pretty cool to be connected on 3G everywhere and the large number of wifi hotspots there are. I can’t wait for 3G to get to India and download books on my Kindle e-reader as easily as I do here. Browsing the internet is a pleasure, since the ultra fast speeds allow me to stream videos really fast, watch movies on Netflix etc.

On People

People are so much more civilized here. The very Indians who wouldn’t blink before they discarded chocolate wrappers from their car window, pick up their dog’s shit with gloved hands (that part is really ewwwwwwwwwww for me) and discard it wherever designated. Even though the subway is really crowded, no one really jostles to get in or cause any stampede to get out. People don’t spit on roads or consider the outside of their homes as the garbage can. They are always polite and smile and hold doors and the smiling does not arouse any suspiciousness. Everyone is interested in sports and not everyone wants to become an engineer or a doctor.

On Dogs

Talking about dogs in the previous blurb, US is a dog obsessed country. I have never seen dogs pampered as much as they are here. There are dog birthday parties, dog sitters, dog walkers, dog designer clothes, prams for dogs, beauty products, cosmetics, and accessories for dogs, dog beauty parlors, dog restaurants, dog toy shops, dog playgrounds…It really gets disgusting the amount of pampering that goes on!

On Sports

One thing that is apparent is the evident enthusiasm of everyone in sports. Each match is attended with gusto and the subways overflow even when there are obscure local matches and there are Cheerleaders for most matches. Even the sports Americans play are different from what the rest of the world plays. While the world calls Football, Football, the Americans call a game they play with their hands, as football, and the actual football is relegated as Soccer. And that American Football is actually almost like Rugby, but with extra protective gears, helmets and padding. I’ve heard few Europeans call it a sissy sport. While the world played cricket, they invented Baseball. In Baseball, they have something called as a World Series in which the local teams compete with each other and the winner becomes a World Champion! No wonder many Americans think they are the world in themselves and everyone else is an alien! Thankfully, basketball which is another popular game here is still the same.

On Roads

In India I used to look left and then right before crossing. By the time I realized my mistake, I shifted here, and I now look right and then left which is like all other things opposite to what it is in India. I guess I can attribute whatever misfortunes I might have to the curses of the motorists in both the countries! However, the roads here are truly beautiful. The infrastructure is simply superb, the highways are a pleasure to drive on, and connectivity is great. And the good news is there are good clean restrooms to stop by. That is so very difficult back home to find! It is sad that we can boast of a few good highways, such as the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. Imagine all of India being connected from every village with such roads. Travelling would be so much easier.

On Natural Beauty

The country on the whole is so gorgeous and there always huge forests they call National Parks around everywhere in the country, an endless number of weekend getaways and a host of weekend activities to indulge in. With the fact that this is such a huge country, there is so much to see and appreciate. The terrain varies from the rugged Colorado Desert to the blue water beaches of Florida to the verdant greenery elsewhere. I certainly can't get enough of the beauty around me!

All in All

All in all, I reckon, living in each country has its pros and cons. As I remove my rose tinted glasses to look at India, I reckon I can point out fallacies there for all my criticisms above with the rising inflation and low transparency and a million other reasons in our governing system. Each country has its pros and cons. While I miss the culture that I grew up in, I have grown to appreciate the country I am currently residing in. Fulfilling the American Dream is still aspired by many, and I don’t blame them. After all, it is a beautiful country with much to explore and excellent facilities and infrastructure to explore it. Cleanliness and less pollution add to better living. It is quite an experience to live in the multicultural vibrancy of this country. India isn’t quite there yet, but I am optimistic, with all the leaps taken towards development, will one day fructify and it will be a more pleasant place to live in. Right now, I reckon, I will just indulge in everything that India doesn’t offer, and then when I don’t have time to do that, I shall come back and live a life of luxury with maids and cooks and drivers to serve me!

The More and Less of it

2010-07-16T09:06:00.003+05:30

I do not remember what led to this train of musings, but well, warning you to keep off if you don’t want another dose on the philosophies in life from yet another person!

Well, I have no idea how to start this..so off to an absolutely non-introductory start..

Why do we always want More? Just because Pepsi tells us wisely Yeh Dil Mange More? The question I pose is, is there a More or a Less? Isn’t it all relative?

A poor guy who earns just enough to have two square meals a day and lives in a garret wishes that he just had more money to move to a bigger hole. The bigger hole leads to bigger aspirations and so on. A person commuting on a bicycle may wish for a motorbike, a person on a motorbike for an AC car while the gentleman in the AC car would want a bigger car maybe and his wife next to him is grumpy about why his friend’s wife has More diamonds than she does. For him, More diamonds is Less money and all the traffic out there makes him wish he could take the Lesser bicycle fleeing both the traffic and the grumpy wife. Its funny when people are proud of their wealth and others jealous of them for it. Don’t they know there is always someone richer, brainier than them? Even the richest in the world want to get richer in the race to remain the richest. At the end of, don’t we all know it’s a journey to oblivion?

While at school, for a kid, a trip to Juhu beach Rs 5 worth of peanuts and 10 Rs of Bhel and a balloon would be a wonderful holiday. In college heading off to Lonavala-Khandala in an ST bus, yet enjoying the ride on the rickety bus singing songs loudly would be just as much fun. With the first job, even if it doesn’t pay much, a trip to a farther off hillstation or Goa is more fun. Now suppose our lad has further gone ahead in life, nothing short of exotic foreign locales please his family. Why don’t I just pause for a moment and put this grown man where he started on his holiday..at Juhu beach with Rs 10 worth peanuts(Rs 5 of inflation J), and then on that bus which is still rickety, to Lonavala. Well, ofcourse he ll be miserable and hot and bothered with so many poor people around him and cannot conceive how he enjoyed those moments but the fact remained that he did like so many in that station of life do and that same More is now so very Less.

Go to any Sari shop in Mumbai. The range of prices is mind boggling. I am sure a sari of Rs 500 pleases a our maid at Diwali as much as a sari of Rs 50,000 pleases the so called rich. And this Rs 50,000 may probably be peanuts to our designer label toting celebrities. It is crazy what people can pay for a brand. I think there is very little value in a Gucci plain black conventional leather purse that sells for Rs 50,000 if I can get the same for Rs 500. Ah, but the brand has More value you see, even if the cost of material and labour and other overheads are valued at Rs 500. Take for example, a branded Cross Pen that costs Rs 5000. Give it to a young executive who knows its value. He will value it and think its worth a lot. Give the same Pen to a factory laborer who has no idea about it, as a big prize, and he will curse saying, it is worthless to him.

So, probably, being happy is completely relative to the expectations and desires and Less or More of anything has different connotations for different people. Its not just money which could be the ephemeral factor on road to satisfaction. The value of time is different for an athlete where a microsecond might count , a terminal patient to whom days might be longer than usual, or a parent whose kid is growing up quickly or a commuter who has missed a train. The ugliest of old dolls might have a sentimental value to the richest kid. Being the CEO of a company would be of greatest consequence to one while being in a comfortable less stressful job might make another happier. My point is, the measure of everything is relative. Money, time, ambition, relations, comfort, everything. There is no difference between More or Less the final goal being fulfillment or contentment. It is not to say, we should not desire more. Our aspirations will rise and that is a human trait that has brought us a long way. It is not to say, lets be contented with what we have and not exert ourselves to fulfilling ourselves to our potential. These are thoughts just to say that we need to value more what we have and stop the comparisons of More and Less because there is no difference. What we may perceive of little value to us today, could be a dream and an aspiration to another.

Disclaimer: I honestly do not know if I can actually follow all these ruminations given the fact that I am a materialistic, self-centered, pleasure loving person caught in the rat race..well who isn’t? But do not question me or judge me too harshly for indeed, I am afterall another trivial human being.

Champaks and Tinkles and more...

2010-05-13T20:24:00.006+05:30

Continuing the ACK Blog that I wrote last, there was a wide world for us young readers back then. Champak was looked forward to every fortnight when the postman used to drop it in. Champak, you might remember, was that small sized colorfully illustrated magazine full of life, of animals who dwelt in Champakvan and Nandanvan apart from other children stories and a few comic strips in it of Cheeku the wonder rabbit and others. Then there was Tinkle too, which was loved by all. Initially I used to get the larger sized Tinkles, then I remember getting the smaller sized fatter versions of it in the form of Tinkle digest. Fond readers might remember Shikari Shambhu and who can forget Suppandi and his goofiness.

There was a phase when I also read up Chacha Chaudhari with his red turban and stick and Sabu who hailed from Planet Jupiter. These were of course our own home bred super heroes who saved the world! And who can forget, whenever Sabu gets angry, volcanoes erupt!

I’ m not sure if a lot of people read Chandamamas, but they were one of my favorites too. I had amassed quite a collection of Chandamamas right from the 60s from various ‘raddi’ and scrap stores! They used to have several amazing folktales from all over the world and different parts of India. There used to be an engrossing serial story too in each volume and typically continued for the year. And it was from Chandamama that I learnt about Vikram the king and Betal the ghoul who put up an ethical or moral question after a story recited to King Vikramaditya in an eerie cremation ground with strong gusts of wind and terrifying voices around. Unfortunately with the technology boom and changing times, I am not too sure how well it has adapted though I hear they are out with a revamped look but I didn’t really see it in the regular book stores.

The American world of Archie also had us hooked and his perpetual dilemma back then over Betty and Veronica kept us commiserating with Betty and bitching about Veronica! Now I believe, Archie proposed to Veronica. That was big news a couple of years back! Besides the American teens, the Gauls Asterix and Obelix who entertained then, well, still have me in splits over their banter and the magic potion by Getafix is still quite potent! Tintin and his dog too led me through several adventures along with Captain Haddock (I still remember his characteristic ‘Blistering Barnacles’! though I haven’t read it for long now), and the forever bungling up twin detectives Thompson and Thompson.

Besides the comics ofcourse, there was a world of Enid Blytons to plunge into. Magic, adventure, mysteries, school stories, simple stories, the lady had it all! I guess, giving me an Enid Blyton was my Moms way of getting me out of the way! She did try some of the childrens classics too such as Tom Sawyer etc, but I guess, I stuck to the Enid Blytons!

Then as we grew up we graduated to the teen detectives in Nancy Drews, Hardy Boys, Alfred Hitchcock and baffling mysteries of Agatha Christies. I guess, that was the last of my childhood reading and then suddenly I just wanted to read other books!

I certainly am thankful that these delightful books were a part of my childhood and they certainly inculcated the habit of reading in me!

What do you remember of your reading as kids?

Amar Chitra Katha

2010-05-13T00:36:00.009+05:30

Mythology is the study of the myths or folklore of ages gone by and been a part of the human life since the most ancient of civilizations. I have been fascinated by the subject, especially Hindu Mythology since Anant Pai started his comic series Amar Chitra Katha. The vivid imagery and the gripping storylines about my favorite characters suddenly stopped making Religion a bore. The innumerable Hindu Gods and Goddesses suddenly had a story behind each of them rather than my just recollecting what each stood for. I understood the trinity of Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver and Shiva the destroyer when the other Gods went to them each time when they were in trouble. I could feel my spine tingle when I saw Maa Kali in her terrifying form with her long black hair, the garland of skulls and large eyes and blood red tongue and saw why the rakshasas had run amuck on her arrival. My personal favorite has always been Indra and Vritra with the front cover of an image of a towering Vritra and a charging Indra with his thunderbolt embedded in my memory for good.

No TV serial made the stories of Ganesha, Lakshmi, Parvati, Indra, Dashavatar, the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, the Goddesses come more alive than when I saw the sketches in ACK. The later series of historical figures, our independence struggle leaders, the volumes on other religions such as Jesus Christ, Zarathushtra, Guru Tegh Bahadur added to my repertoire of wonderful tales and even History ceased to be boring.

When people talk about making education interesting and interactive, I always find myself wondering as to why they simply don't convert all the history books and Geography books to comics! I am sure that would gainfully employ lots of talented artists as well as make life much more fun for students apart from them remembering it better thanks to the visual aspect.

Ofcourse, ACK though had steered clear of most censures, the depiction of the evil Asuras as black skinned and the devas as fair skinned has always been controversial. The violence depicted in several of the battlefields has also been subject to criticism and much has been said about how much blood should be shown to children. Well, I ll say, in these terrorizing times of lurking terrorists, its better that they are aware of the bloodshed that exists in the world and the grief it causes.

I am still a big fan of ACK, but now I do wish they came out with newer titles instead of basking in the glory of the ones I read as a kid. I would certainly love to read about modern day heroes in an easier way than read their fat expensive biographies and also read about other cultures’ mythological characters such as the Egyptian and Greek. Do tell me what was your favorite and what would you like to read in ACK?

Its Magic!

2010-04-23T22:58:00.004+05:30

I recently watched a ‘Mary Poppins’, Broadway show about the magical nanny on a lovely evening. 'Magic', the term has such an aura of mystery and charm to it. I have always been fascinated by everything to do with magic starting with the elves and goblins of the Magical Faraway tree of Enid Blyton to the magic by Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings to the recent very magic Harry Potter series. The characters of all these authors seemed (still do honestly) so real in a parallel universe, which I 'ld like to believe exists.

But of course magic does exist, albeit in different forms rather than witches and wizards waving their magic wands and staffs or brooms. I just looked at things anew from a different angle. There is magic in the way nature works. The sun rising and setting every day, the rains, the twinkling stars, the massive sand dunes in deserts, the terrifying as well as mystic and beautiful sea, the beating of a living beings heart or two.

Humanity itself has come far in the quest for advancement as Ayn Rand, the author and philosopher rightly acknowledged. We take so many things for granted now but what technology has achieved is nothing short of magic. For a moment, I ceased to wonder about the logic of a lot of things. I can see what is happening at the other part of the world on TV, on a web camera, now isn’t that magic? I can fly in the air in a helicopter or aeroplane even though I don’t have wings..Magic? I can speak to my dear ones, wherever they are and from wherever I am on the mobile phone..Magic!, I can search a million computers from mine on Google..Magic…

There is magic in a spell binding book, an enthralling performance on stage or on tv, an awe-inspiring painting, a delectable dinner with that just right spice, the scent of a rose, the sweetness of a strawberry, sitting and staring at the vast ocean on a sunny beach, a little child's innocence, a genuine smile or laugh, friendship, a beautiful day with loved ones...

So, the next time you want to feel the magic, just look around you and let me know what you see!

Train Travails

2010-04-12T23:55:00.001+05:30

Here is a piece I wrote long back when I used to travel regularly on the Mumbai Local Train..

The Great teeming mass swarms ahead. The drone of voices, footsteps, the heartbeat of throbbing millions, mellifluous announcements made ceaselessly, the clamor of vendors, the haste of the multitude, the hanging on for dear life, the heaving and pushing, the sluggish movement on the tiny footbridge, the agony of losing a fast, the swearing, the compunction of that extra sleep that caused the missing of the fast…Welcome to Mumbai local station.

Chug chug chug chug… There she comes like a beacon of hope, winding her way and halting with geometric precision impeccably at the same location every time. Whooooosh...a new mass of heaving human bodies extrudes from the train. Great amounts of adrenaline is pumped to board the train and the cacophony grows manifold as seconds tick away and amidst the imprecations uttered, the horn blows and the train moves on. The ones left behind look away disgruntled, to the next opportunity. No, train travel at Mumbai during the rush hour is certainly not for the faint hearted.

Once inside, one heaves a sigh of relief for the toehold available thanking ones stars with the density of people per millimeter square varying according to the station. There is an entire range of humanity and a sea of different faces in different garbs. Fashionably dressed teens, local fisherwomen, tired teachers, smartly dressed office goers in saris, suits, western formals, cheerful students, students poring over their notes for exams, some old grouchy women, girls in love fighting with boyfriends on their mobiles, you name the type of woman, she certainly will be found in this great leveler of people in the women’s compartment. Smells of deos, perfumes, lipsticks, garam samosas, food from dabbas and smells from outside mingle as the train and the people move along..

The hum of voices discussing everything from love affairs, relationships, office gossip to recipes, the fights over the place to stand or seat available, the announcements made about various stations, beggars singing terribly… are heard over the chug chug chug of the train. Vendors selling accessories, magazines, cosmetics, fruits, vegetables, snacks, clothes and much more call ones' attention to their wares in this mini shopping mall. With a phenomenal sense of balance, they carry their bundles through the crowd in the moving train. Stations whiz by as the train moves on with great celerity. Minutes tick by and the somnolent grow alert wiping their sleepy eyes and await the moment when the train halts.

Well, however trying it might get, this experience is one of a kind and the short journey has a life of its own. However crowded, they may get, they are the lifeline of millions of the commuters they ferry to and fro day after day after day. That is the Great Mumbai train travel.