Continuing from the last blog, no, the sandwiches were not cucumber and cheese; they were instead, bathed in some kind of a homegrown tomato sauce of dubious parentage. So the breakfast-on-the-move was a flop but the tea-stop at Ravangla was nice. But before we Gang-talk, some more observations from yesterday.
Perhaps its the timing; when we leave we see groups and lines of children making their way to school. On our way back we see groups and lines of children on their way, presumably on their way home. The children are sometimes tiny - maybe 4 years old; and most often it is unaccompanied children - girls and boys in equal number. Sometimes one can spot a parent but mostly it is children. Last morning I saw a small girl, possibly a laggard, for there was no child following her, make her way slowly, with hundreds of tiny digressions (an aimless step to the right, a skip and a jump, a craning of the neck to watch a bird, a swing of the arm...) to her school which was a couple of turns up the road. It was just that little girl alone. I struggled to remember if I ever saw a child that young being unescorted at the bus stop in Mumbai, let alone a child walking all by herself to school. I was left wondering admiringly at a society that encourages and supports parents to behave in the way that they did. And not just parents; for this to work the other people on the road, the drivers of the hundred taxis and jeeps, the teachers and older school-children - all have a part to play. I hope and pray that this cheerful practise continues - it certainly brought a smile to my lips.
We had lunch at a place called Cherry Village, a traditional Nepali lunch. The food was good with a few dishes like Chhurpi bhurji being excellent! Chhurpi is Yak cheese and this particular variety was the soft kind. I also liked the way we were served - the trays held high, the food being offered with the left hand touching the right elbow; it was traditional without being dramatic - we felt quietly special. We mentioned chhurpi casually while we were eating and within minutes the bhurji was on the table.Munching on the slighty stringy beans and mustard greens I had the time to reflect that such alacrity is not something that we experience everyday; indeed, we felt special!
However the highlight of the visit was to know from Sushil Tamang that Cherry Village is actually a community-based business - the land is Sushil's and he is the MD of this group called Darap Eco-Tourism Committee. I would have hyperlinked this site had it worked. Maybe it is down temporarily so I'll leave it in. This committee provides jobs to the locals and promotes tourism. The resort has a few rooms and independent cabins; all laid out tastefully with enough space to not feel hemmed in. I hope it succeeds, and as Sushil says, it has started well. All the best DEC! I shall follow your career with interest.
OK, back to Gangtok! To say it was unrecognizable would be a cliche and completely true. I'm afraid the first impression was not positive - too crowded, narrow streets, warm, nauseating gasoline fumes and too few trees on the main roads. By the time I came back to the hotel room to write this blog I was convinced of one thing: sitting and loitering on the MG Road is cool! The people of Gangtok dress well and are good-looking; the girls and women look very chic in their high cheek-bones and slim legs, the boys and men look a tad loutish but it changes when they laugh and smile.
The weather is changeable, indeed callous. It was sunny at 1:30, by 2 the dark clouds and thunder enveloped the city and the wind threatened to pluck the prayer flags out from every rooftop, by 3 it was drizzling lightly but the dark clouds were gone, by 4 it was sunny again and I had to remove my jacket. However soon it was cold enough to wear it again. Temperamental; that is the word I was looking for.
We had dinner at Hotel Tibet. I've had better dumplings than the vegetable momos that got served, but the brothy noodle soup with hand-made doughy round noodles was interesting. Peasant's fare, true, but honest and nourishing. By the time we reached the hotel room it was pretty cold again and the sky was starry. The paan I had on the way back was just as ordinary as the one that I get near my flat in Andheri - so one could say that I was feeling quite at home.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Vacation Report - Days Three, Four and Five
Kolkata is steaming hot. For the next 8 days we will attempt to cool off in Sikkim. We leave tonight - train it up to New Jalpaiguri and then motor to Pelling. I've been to Sikkim before - as a child. Have only a few memories: for instance, playing badminton with a tall Sikh officer gentleman in the BSF colony. I have no recollection of Gangtok.
It was just as hot and humid in NJP. My phone conked out and had to buy a new one simply because the idea of not being 'connected' made me break into a cold sweat, which, in the circumstances made a disagreeable cocktail of sweats.
As we drove up I got reminded of small incidents from earlier encounters with hill folks. The one uniform memory is that hill people are surly and not talkative. While I noticed that trait almost immediately in our driver, I also realised that between then and now my appreciation of their taciturnity had undergone a 180 degree reversal. I now see the condescension, the aggression that the travellers from the other parts of the country heap on. This is especially true for my friends from the north-east - from Mizoram, Nagaland, Assam and Manipur - the stories they tell of everyday life in Mumbai is a treatise in cultural over-simplification and of plain, unadulterated gracelessness. So if were a Sikkimese, I would be seething inside and looking for the first opportunity to bash a few knuckles with the car door. Instead what I see is a once-bitten-twice-shy kind of wariness which, depending upon the encouragement one gets, very soon gives way to delightful smiles and an eagerness to help that has so much niceness that it makes me feel very happy indeed!
Before making the plans, everyone whom we asked advised us that this being peak season, it would be impossible to get good hotel rooms. Now that we have booked and that we are here in Pelling, it does seem bustly (too many loud Bongs everywhere), but there still are many rooms available, the restaurants are fairly empty, the shops are moderately busy. So the question is: why is it so? Is Sikkim over-designed for tourists? Or is something else at work that we are unable to spot?
Yesterday we had the local toddy called Chhang; it is a hell's brew cooked out of a millet. The fermented grain is placed in a bamboo tumbler and hot water is poured on top; we are encouraged to sip from a wooden straw - the liquor is warm, sour and piquantly fragranced - altogether an OK experience. Today I had a dish made of Yak's cheese - I loved it!
Both Pemayangstye and Rabdantse were terrific! I felt a strange emotion to see children in the monastery playing 'lagori' with gusto and unbridled merriment of kids everywhere - and at the same time think of the nature of their chosen path. Many among these would choose to be full-time monks. Perhaps it is beyond the comprehension of a person like me - someone who is wordly but not wise, someone who empathises but is actually not connected.
Tomorrow we leave for Gangtok. Bright lights and a fully functional tourist town awaits me, or so I have been warned. So it is going to be an early morning with a hurried cup of tea and packed sandwiches. What is important is that sweet-smiled chaps in the kitchen remember to pack both the cucumber and the cheese.
It was just as hot and humid in NJP. My phone conked out and had to buy a new one simply because the idea of not being 'connected' made me break into a cold sweat, which, in the circumstances made a disagreeable cocktail of sweats.
As we drove up I got reminded of small incidents from earlier encounters with hill folks. The one uniform memory is that hill people are surly and not talkative. While I noticed that trait almost immediately in our driver, I also realised that between then and now my appreciation of their taciturnity had undergone a 180 degree reversal. I now see the condescension, the aggression that the travellers from the other parts of the country heap on. This is especially true for my friends from the north-east - from Mizoram, Nagaland, Assam and Manipur - the stories they tell of everyday life in Mumbai is a treatise in cultural over-simplification and of plain, unadulterated gracelessness. So if were a Sikkimese, I would be seething inside and looking for the first opportunity to bash a few knuckles with the car door. Instead what I see is a once-bitten-twice-shy kind of wariness which, depending upon the encouragement one gets, very soon gives way to delightful smiles and an eagerness to help that has so much niceness that it makes me feel very happy indeed!
Before making the plans, everyone whom we asked advised us that this being peak season, it would be impossible to get good hotel rooms. Now that we have booked and that we are here in Pelling, it does seem bustly (too many loud Bongs everywhere), but there still are many rooms available, the restaurants are fairly empty, the shops are moderately busy. So the question is: why is it so? Is Sikkim over-designed for tourists? Or is something else at work that we are unable to spot?
Yesterday we had the local toddy called Chhang; it is a hell's brew cooked out of a millet. The fermented grain is placed in a bamboo tumbler and hot water is poured on top; we are encouraged to sip from a wooden straw - the liquor is warm, sour and piquantly fragranced - altogether an OK experience. Today I had a dish made of Yak's cheese - I loved it!
Both Pemayangstye and Rabdantse were terrific! I felt a strange emotion to see children in the monastery playing 'lagori' with gusto and unbridled merriment of kids everywhere - and at the same time think of the nature of their chosen path. Many among these would choose to be full-time monks. Perhaps it is beyond the comprehension of a person like me - someone who is wordly but not wise, someone who empathises but is actually not connected.
Tomorrow we leave for Gangtok. Bright lights and a fully functional tourist town awaits me, or so I have been warned. So it is going to be an early morning with a hurried cup of tea and packed sandwiches. What is important is that sweet-smiled chaps in the kitchen remember to pack both the cucumber and the cheese.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Vacation Report - Day Zero and One
First it was pre-poned by an hour. On the day of the flight an early SMS announced that it s postponed by an hour, so back to its scheduled time. At the check we were told its another hour late, that is 2030hrs. After the security check we overheard others say it was going to be far more delayed. At 2130 hrs we were loaded in the buses and all seemed imminent: we had promised Mum that we will all have dinner at home; so midnight seemed a late hour for the repast but not unheard of. But we were fooled, all of us; we waited in the bus on the runway, looking at the aircraft from steamy windows we waited for 30 minutes. Finally we were on board. But the airconditioning was off. And we sat for 45 more minutes until it was our turn to take-off. We landed at 1:10. But the ordeal was not over. The pre-paid taxi stand was moving very slowly - and we realised it was slow because there were no taxis at that time at the airport. Welcome to the village called Kolkata! We reached home at 2:15.
And after a quick wash, had dinner. A sumptuous, delicious dinner that only Mum can make. It was already well past three by the time we finished; and birds had started warbling.
The day started with the aroma of Darjeeling tea. After another delicious spread at lunch we sped underground to the North - and saw diases being made everywhere - it is Gurudev Rabi Tagore's birthday tomorrow. So it will lots of elocution and singing (which is all right) all day long. Hopefully we will have little of that godawful dainty prancing that is passed for dancing. The metro seemed awfully full today. The tickets are still so cheap - just INR 8 from Tollygunge (renamed Manayak Uttam Kumar Station)!
The one thing that I was impressed with yesterday and again tonight was the street lighting. All the main streets and the side ones were awash with powerful sodium-vapour lamps. The streets seemed wide - but then they do look wide so early on, with nary a soul on the streets.
I had a chance to walk along the streets in the evening tonight and the impression is the same as the last time: Kolkata is a city that looks even more dilapidated everytime; the same poor people living in exactly the same hovels; the same irrationally excited 'bhadralok', teetering on the edge of sanity. Yet it has a charm - the old-worldish charm of a city that lives in several decades all at once. It has not been trammelled by the garish new desi culture. There seems to be a system in place that allows both cultures to exist and even flourish in silos. I hope they continue to do so.
And after a quick wash, had dinner. A sumptuous, delicious dinner that only Mum can make. It was already well past three by the time we finished; and birds had started warbling.
The day started with the aroma of Darjeeling tea. After another delicious spread at lunch we sped underground to the North - and saw diases being made everywhere - it is Gurudev Rabi Tagore's birthday tomorrow. So it will lots of elocution and singing (which is all right) all day long. Hopefully we will have little of that godawful dainty prancing that is passed for dancing. The metro seemed awfully full today. The tickets are still so cheap - just INR 8 from Tollygunge (renamed Manayak Uttam Kumar Station)!
The one thing that I was impressed with yesterday and again tonight was the street lighting. All the main streets and the side ones were awash with powerful sodium-vapour lamps. The streets seemed wide - but then they do look wide so early on, with nary a soul on the streets.
I had a chance to walk along the streets in the evening tonight and the impression is the same as the last time: Kolkata is a city that looks even more dilapidated everytime; the same poor people living in exactly the same hovels; the same irrationally excited 'bhadralok', teetering on the edge of sanity. Yet it has a charm - the old-worldish charm of a city that lives in several decades all at once. It has not been trammelled by the garish new desi culture. There seems to be a system in place that allows both cultures to exist and even flourish in silos. I hope they continue to do so.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Fat in the Firing Line
There has been a recent discovery that might lead to a 'natural' cure to obesity. The discovery of brown fat in adult humans. Hitherto this magic fat was found to reside only amongst children and adolescents, and animals (rats have it in plenty, apparently) - we all have heard about it - as puppy fat. The reason why it has excited the researchers is because brown fat is capable of being used to 'burn up calories'. It very literally gets consumed when the host gets busy; in fact it also gets used up to combat cold. So the really lazy blimps amongst us (superfluous use of lazy, you reckon?) can turn up the air-conditioning and call it exercising.
So what other kind of fat is there? Most adult bodies were so far thought to contain only white fat - the stuff of legends that wobbles over the six-pack and jig-jigs under every thundery thigh. This fat, unlike the brown variety is used by the body as reserve. It is probably the remnant from a time where ice-age meant that most mammals would starve for 6 months, hence needed a mechanism to ensure that they survived till spring (bears and whales still do it). This is the reason why white fat is so bloody tenacious - it sticks like a limpet to the tummy no matter how hard you exercise. Of course it also depends upon individual body-types. All of us who are adiposally challenged have painful memories of that person who would nonchalantly toss with a light laugh, 5 pineapple-cream pastries, 4 floating aalu parathas, a gargantuan slab of Dairy Milk and a tubful of ice-cream down the hatch and yet be rake thin. Yes, these misbegotten children of Beelzebub have more brown fat than white. Which is why when they walk they burn fat, when they shake a leg on the dance-floor they burn fat, when they frisk and frolic they burn fat; when they energetically shove all that food in they burn fat, and even when they feel cold they burn fat.
And no, there is no justice in the world for people with white fat. But finally there is hope. Researchers feel that if they are able to trigger the human body to produce more brown fat than white then it will become easier to control obesity. Will researchers be able to find a way to convert white to brown? This point is moot - its too early to comment.
One might say what is the big deal in being generously built? After all many cultures prize 'traditionally built' people, where the show of paunch is seen as a sign of prosperity. Well, the popular culture in most parts of the world now tends to portray slimness and athleticism as the healthier body-type. There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that extra weight attracts ill-health. Its better to be slim than be sorry.
And most importantly, it's the willowy guys and gals who get the most dates.
Now that we have our priorities in place we await the day when the wonder pill will give us the freedom from the tyranny of the gym, tearing the shackles of the guilt of looking in a lascivious way at a plateful of fries. Ah! the day of deliverance! When will the sea part again!
So what other kind of fat is there? Most adult bodies were so far thought to contain only white fat - the stuff of legends that wobbles over the six-pack and jig-jigs under every thundery thigh. This fat, unlike the brown variety is used by the body as reserve. It is probably the remnant from a time where ice-age meant that most mammals would starve for 6 months, hence needed a mechanism to ensure that they survived till spring (bears and whales still do it). This is the reason why white fat is so bloody tenacious - it sticks like a limpet to the tummy no matter how hard you exercise. Of course it also depends upon individual body-types. All of us who are adiposally challenged have painful memories of that person who would nonchalantly toss with a light laugh, 5 pineapple-cream pastries, 4 floating aalu parathas, a gargantuan slab of Dairy Milk and a tubful of ice-cream down the hatch and yet be rake thin. Yes, these misbegotten children of Beelzebub have more brown fat than white. Which is why when they walk they burn fat, when they shake a leg on the dance-floor they burn fat, when they frisk and frolic they burn fat; when they energetically shove all that food in they burn fat, and even when they feel cold they burn fat.
And no, there is no justice in the world for people with white fat. But finally there is hope. Researchers feel that if they are able to trigger the human body to produce more brown fat than white then it will become easier to control obesity. Will researchers be able to find a way to convert white to brown? This point is moot - its too early to comment.
One might say what is the big deal in being generously built? After all many cultures prize 'traditionally built' people, where the show of paunch is seen as a sign of prosperity. Well, the popular culture in most parts of the world now tends to portray slimness and athleticism as the healthier body-type. There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that extra weight attracts ill-health. Its better to be slim than be sorry.
And most importantly, it's the willowy guys and gals who get the most dates.
Now that we have our priorities in place we await the day when the wonder pill will give us the freedom from the tyranny of the gym, tearing the shackles of the guilt of looking in a lascivious way at a plateful of fries. Ah! the day of deliverance! When will the sea part again!
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Biggest Gain from IPL
For me the biggest single achievement of the IPL has been the camaraderie between players from different nationalities playing under the same franchise. Yes, there was something vaguely similar during the heydays of county cricket, but it was not as global in the way IPL is. Things will get even better in a few years after the key players do a 'circuit' of the major franchises.
This does not mean that the international matches will be any less competitive. But hopefully they will not have that savage edge that one sometimes witnesses nowadays. To take an example: would the Symonds-Bhajji fracas have happened had both played for the same IPL team? Answer: No!
Perhaps IPL will bring back to the game a degree of brotherhood that we used to see in the 70s and 80s? I remember that during those days it was not an anathema to see the fielding team clap and shake hands of batsmen when they reached personal milestones. In the recent past I recall only a handful of such incidents. I would still like to think that these small considerations add up to make cricket the game that I love. I like to see the concern that fielders show when a batsman is down, either felled by a ball, or through cramps or injured while running; I like the fact that batsmen turn to the bowler to request him to tie up the shoelaces; I like it when during breaks fielders heft and inspect and swing the bat in appreciation; I like it when during a sudden break the batsman strikes up an animated conversation with the fielder on some random aspect of the game. It makes me believe in civilization and in humanity. It tells me that sport can be just as competitive without it being necessary to make the opponent your enemy.
I would very much like to see this kind of cricket come back on the international arena.
This does not mean that the international matches will be any less competitive. But hopefully they will not have that savage edge that one sometimes witnesses nowadays. To take an example: would the Symonds-Bhajji fracas have happened had both played for the same IPL team? Answer: No!
Perhaps IPL will bring back to the game a degree of brotherhood that we used to see in the 70s and 80s? I remember that during those days it was not an anathema to see the fielding team clap and shake hands of batsmen when they reached personal milestones. In the recent past I recall only a handful of such incidents. I would still like to think that these small considerations add up to make cricket the game that I love. I like to see the concern that fielders show when a batsman is down, either felled by a ball, or through cramps or injured while running; I like the fact that batsmen turn to the bowler to request him to tie up the shoelaces; I like it when during breaks fielders heft and inspect and swing the bat in appreciation; I like it when during a sudden break the batsman strikes up an animated conversation with the fielder on some random aspect of the game. It makes me believe in civilization and in humanity. It tells me that sport can be just as competitive without it being necessary to make the opponent your enemy.
I would very much like to see this kind of cricket come back on the international arena.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
When all is done and dusted OR Musings on IPL and Cricket
And so it has ended - this Lent-long vigil of mostly underwhelming and mediocre cricket. At the denouement there were so many distractions that the actual play appeared incidental. Perhaps fittingly the final - and this is from those who watched it and not from a prejudiced twerp like me - turned out to be mild; soporific, even.
Let's return to the original premise - that 2020 is the 'new' face of cricket, that it is the version that youngsters and housewives are interested in. I hope not. Whatever little that one saw of IPL, the lasting impression was that a large part of the audience was not really interested in the game of cricket - they were there to be seen in the company of the film stars and other glamorous people; they liked to be part of the glitz and the festivities. One hopes to be proven wrong - I hope that most people watching IPL were there because of their love for the game. And it is in the hope that cricket shall prevail that I wish to make several random points; and an random points go, these appear here in no particular order:
Let's return to the original premise - that 2020 is the 'new' face of cricket, that it is the version that youngsters and housewives are interested in. I hope not. Whatever little that one saw of IPL, the lasting impression was that a large part of the audience was not really interested in the game of cricket - they were there to be seen in the company of the film stars and other glamorous people; they liked to be part of the glitz and the festivities. One hopes to be proven wrong - I hope that most people watching IPL were there because of their love for the game. And it is in the hope that cricket shall prevail that I wish to make several random points; and an random points go, these appear here in no particular order:
- For 2020s and IPL to be taken seriously by all (i.e. the godforsaken lovers of Test Cricket) it is imperative that the dumbing-down is stopped forthwith. (duh!) Well, that means no short boundaries, no cute breaks, no rechristening (pardon me, fair Christian folk!) of Sixes and catches and hits to the box. Let's not dick around with the game. There, I have said it.
- That Sachin is an all-time-great player, but is not, is not, is not a leader of men in the traditional sense. (remember! I said random points). He is a fine example of arrested boyhood and also of an exemplary cricketing brain. But it does not, does not, does not translate to him being a great captain. And I say this as a devotee who writes to praise him, not bury him that let us not burden him with attributes that he does not have.
- That in Mahi we have a captain who is grounded, clever, decently skilled, brave and amazingly lucky. It won't surprise anyone if he ends is career with a high win-loss ratio - let me stick this neck out - a ratio above 60%
- That showing a battery of ill-clad white girls doing hoops is not innovation. In passing, don't know about you, but it struck me to be a deep case of racism to have only white, girls dance. (Hope you noticed the comma, pregnant with meaning between white and girls)
- That commentary is an integral part of all sports; more so in cricket - for it is blessed with a vocabulary so rich and eccentric that it is absolutely, insanely criminal to let loose upon the unsuspecting public the likes of Sidhu (it would be ok if he meets with an accident that robs him of his speech. Just saying, mind you, not wishing!), Morrison (drown him, please!), Bedi (Angad, not Ms noodlestrap - and I honestly do not know who is the worse of the two; and that is saying a lot!), et al. To be honest, even a seasoned speaker like Shastri was reduced to being a buffoon and an all-time great cricketer and a sober commentator like Gavaskar was annoying more times than decency warrants.
- If there is to be innovation then bring it in the game. An example: allow one catching mitt to the fielding team - let the captain decide which fielding position should have it. This will bring a semblance of balance; after all, every rule favours the batting side nowadays. So it will be a treat to see 99 out of the 100 of those impossibly high, curling catches being bagged.
- Let ricochets off the stumps be declared as dead-ball in 2020. There have been some cricketers who have mooted this idea - and I think it is only fair. If the administrators are reluctant to adopt this universally, let it be made operational in 2020s at least.
- I'd like to see another change in 2020 - let the bowling team have the right to bring in their brand of balls. As long as it is a standard issue and meets the regulations I don't see why batsmen should have all the advantages of bringing Mongooses and Civets into the game without giving a similar option to the bowlers.
- Captains finishing their overs slowly, for every 5 minutes delay they should be fined the equivalent of one over worth of runs scored at the highest run-rate that the batting team achieved in its 20 overs. And of course, also the stiff fines. If 2020 is meant to be fast and furious cricket where there is only time to react, then no side should have the advantage of getting free-time to think and ponder and delay
- If BCCI is the coffer for the game and its shepherd, then let it be a good shepherd! Let it not be a bully that steamrolls cricket into a dish that is neither fish nor fowl. How I wish that BCCI would first fill the calendar of the years to come with test series, then ODI and then 2020 (if it must!). The rock, the pebble and the sand...then the cup of cricket shall not run over with bad tidings; it will sound a sonorous, melodious ring and spread unalloyed joy to all! Amen!
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Us Indians
Here is a lucid account of the status of water-sharing between India and Pakistan. The author, John Briscoe sums with minimum fuss the practical issues and also points to possible solutions. He cites the example of Brazil, and how it has chosen to be generous towards Bolivia and Paraguay, poor neighbours both; he hopes that India too will show such generosity.
I very much doubt it. We may be a tiny bit benevolent to Bangladesh or Nepal even; Pakistan is not a country that makes the milk of generosity flow in Mother India. For one, Pakistan has been foolishly aggressive. Kargil is impossible to forget - the TV has ensured that it will endure at least another generation of viewers. Second, unlike Bolivia and Paraguay, Pakistan is a dangerous country that is capable of causing serious harm to India. Brazil is lucky to be in an altogether salubrious neighbourhood.
As I pointed in my earlier blog on Bangladesh, India must repair the relationship with the rest of the neighbours. Being generous is only the beginning. The first few movements with Bangladesh suggest that perhaps we can hope for a better future there.
The second point that Briscoe makes - about the media in India - that is a serious and valid criticism. I am often dismayed at the lack of rigorous enquiry by the media towards what the various arms of the government do. The media in India is obsessed with trifles and on sensation; on melodrama and bathos; the level of debate on our weaknesses and our holy cows are so mild and staged, it makes me feel very ashamed indeed.
But the most devastating reality that I have had to face after reading the comments of the Internet community in India and Indians is that the young Indians today are so belligerent and so full of themselves - not ready to engage anyone who happens to differ in opinion. As an experiment try this: engage a couple of young adults, say 21 to 30, on any topical issue - be it the women's reservation, Pakistan and US, the state of infrastructure, food prices, education - chances are that they will not have a clue, or they will not be too concerned beyond their immediate issues. Any criticism of the current icons and any attempt to talk about the deep disparities in our society will immediately bring in the most vulgar kind of discourse: religious hatred, caste based hatred, language and region based hatred.
Sometimes I feel that the Internet and the TV have not brought the noble and the civilized in us. Reading the interactions and watching the audiences one would think that we are becoming closed and intolerant, unread and uncouth, shrill and surly.
Perhaps these are the sign of times? Perhaps this too will change and the tide will turn.
I very much doubt it. We may be a tiny bit benevolent to Bangladesh or Nepal even; Pakistan is not a country that makes the milk of generosity flow in Mother India. For one, Pakistan has been foolishly aggressive. Kargil is impossible to forget - the TV has ensured that it will endure at least another generation of viewers. Second, unlike Bolivia and Paraguay, Pakistan is a dangerous country that is capable of causing serious harm to India. Brazil is lucky to be in an altogether salubrious neighbourhood.
As I pointed in my earlier blog on Bangladesh, India must repair the relationship with the rest of the neighbours. Being generous is only the beginning. The first few movements with Bangladesh suggest that perhaps we can hope for a better future there.
The second point that Briscoe makes - about the media in India - that is a serious and valid criticism. I am often dismayed at the lack of rigorous enquiry by the media towards what the various arms of the government do. The media in India is obsessed with trifles and on sensation; on melodrama and bathos; the level of debate on our weaknesses and our holy cows are so mild and staged, it makes me feel very ashamed indeed.
But the most devastating reality that I have had to face after reading the comments of the Internet community in India and Indians is that the young Indians today are so belligerent and so full of themselves - not ready to engage anyone who happens to differ in opinion. As an experiment try this: engage a couple of young adults, say 21 to 30, on any topical issue - be it the women's reservation, Pakistan and US, the state of infrastructure, food prices, education - chances are that they will not have a clue, or they will not be too concerned beyond their immediate issues. Any criticism of the current icons and any attempt to talk about the deep disparities in our society will immediately bring in the most vulgar kind of discourse: religious hatred, caste based hatred, language and region based hatred.
Sometimes I feel that the Internet and the TV have not brought the noble and the civilized in us. Reading the interactions and watching the audiences one would think that we are becoming closed and intolerant, unread and uncouth, shrill and surly.
Perhaps these are the sign of times? Perhaps this too will change and the tide will turn.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
3 Idiots
Went to see it with trepidation: a 40 year-old lead masquerading as a college student was a recipe that was sure to go horribly, predictably, utterly, irredemiably, excruciatingly, writhingly-embarassingly wrong.
So as penance the least I can do is give a constipated smile here :-\
There. I was wrong.
Loved every moment of it - almost. Loved the oh-so-real contrast of Chatur. Loved the downplaying of mushy-mushy moments. Loved the absence of cynicism. Most of all, loved the unabashed idealism; not the preachy Swades kind, but a more believable kind of let's-go-about-it-and-let-the-devil-take-the-hindmost-kind of glowing goodness.
The childbirth sequence is painful, but it is a small price to pay. The only other crib: why make the prospective dulha, the Wildesian guy-who-knows-the-price-of-everything-but-value-of-nothing, a caricature? (Sigh! I'm in the mood for hyphens today. Well, let me make the most of it)
To me the standout thing about the movie was the attempt at mainstreaming hitherto obscure elements of India and Indians. Wangdu is the unlikeliest of names for a hero in Hindi commercial cinema. Here it was slipped in without a whiff of majority-smarminess that we often see when dealing with any minority issue. The Muslim character and his family are not built-up as a shining beacon of secularism - they are a regular family with regular problems who happen to be Muslims. Chatur could have been seen as a madrasi-from-uganda jester who mixes up his tenses and genders while wafting in noxious farts; but we see him as a desperate anally-retentive man who takes himself so seriously that he loses any sense of proportion that might have given him a peaceful night's sleep. We don't make fun of him. We want to shake him by the scruff of his Hugo Boss jacket and drill some sense into him.
The Director played by Boman Irani teeters on the edge of caricature but redeems himself as only an artiste can. It is not difficult to find such people in our campuses and schools - isolated from the world by years of cotton-balled environs, so devoid of a sense of otherness! I know of headmasters and teachers and lecturers who are uncannily like the character we saw - maybe each with different tics and idiosyncracies, but vivid in their colouration and exotic as a menagerie.
All of these elements mingled in this film and they crafted a story for us that was both overdue and is boilingly-hot. After this film one should not now be surprised to see many more youngsters in our IITs and IIMs and RECs questioning the relationship between career and desire. They have found an ally and a tongue. However, it is not just Kapil Sibal who is responsible to open the windows, it is actually the parents and teachers and employers who need to look out of this opened window and realise that the horizon really meets at infinity.
So as penance the least I can do is give a constipated smile here :-\
There. I was wrong.
Loved every moment of it - almost. Loved the oh-so-real contrast of Chatur. Loved the downplaying of mushy-mushy moments. Loved the absence of cynicism. Most of all, loved the unabashed idealism; not the preachy Swades kind, but a more believable kind of let's-go-about-it-and-let-the-devil-take-the-hindmost-kind of glowing goodness.
The childbirth sequence is painful, but it is a small price to pay. The only other crib: why make the prospective dulha, the Wildesian guy-who-knows-the-price-of-everything-but-value-of-nothing, a caricature? (Sigh! I'm in the mood for hyphens today. Well, let me make the most of it)
To me the standout thing about the movie was the attempt at mainstreaming hitherto obscure elements of India and Indians. Wangdu is the unlikeliest of names for a hero in Hindi commercial cinema. Here it was slipped in without a whiff of majority-smarminess that we often see when dealing with any minority issue. The Muslim character and his family are not built-up as a shining beacon of secularism - they are a regular family with regular problems who happen to be Muslims. Chatur could have been seen as a madrasi-from-uganda jester who mixes up his tenses and genders while wafting in noxious farts; but we see him as a desperate anally-retentive man who takes himself so seriously that he loses any sense of proportion that might have given him a peaceful night's sleep. We don't make fun of him. We want to shake him by the scruff of his Hugo Boss jacket and drill some sense into him.
The Director played by Boman Irani teeters on the edge of caricature but redeems himself as only an artiste can. It is not difficult to find such people in our campuses and schools - isolated from the world by years of cotton-balled environs, so devoid of a sense of otherness! I know of headmasters and teachers and lecturers who are uncannily like the character we saw - maybe each with different tics and idiosyncracies, but vivid in their colouration and exotic as a menagerie.
All of these elements mingled in this film and they crafted a story for us that was both overdue and is boilingly-hot. After this film one should not now be surprised to see many more youngsters in our IITs and IIMs and RECs questioning the relationship between career and desire. They have found an ally and a tongue. However, it is not just Kapil Sibal who is responsible to open the windows, it is actually the parents and teachers and employers who need to look out of this opened window and realise that the horizon really meets at infinity.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Google Games
An interesting fact from the google pages - as this article shows, Google shows Arunachal as Chinese to users in China; Indian to the users in India; and disputed to the rest of the world.
I thought I'd check it for myself at the maps.google.com instead. Here's what I see: All of J&K is shown as disputed, all of AP is. However Tibet is shown as Chinese and Taiwan is left to interpretation as it is not on mainland, hence no contiguous boundary. As it happens, google maps don't show international maritime boundaries. So there is no way of knowing.
Tomorrow if India were to claim Bhutan as it's own, would it be seen as disputed by Google? After all, one sovereign nation, India, thinks Bhutan is her's.
Another case: Srinagar is shown as India, Gilgit as Pakistan; and funnily enough, Siachen too is shown as Pakistan!
Further afield, in Palestine, the land between the '49 Armistice and the '74 Ceasefire line is shown under Israel, and not as disputed. It is occupied by Israel.
So, what to make of it all? Siachen is occupied by India, but is shown as Pakistan. But Ein Zivan, for instance is occupied by Israel but not shown as Syria.
Clearly, there is evidence to show that Google it towing the US line - it is in alignment with the overt and covert US foreign policy. It cannot be termed as business sense; it is anything but that. It is jingoistic.
So why can't India, a country that has some clout, not make it difficult for Google? China has. Israel has. Why should India be seen as pusillanimous? I'm all for making it tough for companies like Google - companies who, in the military parlance, are nothing more than mercenaries; ronin.
They should be treated as one.
I thought I'd check it for myself at the maps.google.com instead. Here's what I see: All of J&K is shown as disputed, all of AP is. However Tibet is shown as Chinese and Taiwan is left to interpretation as it is not on mainland, hence no contiguous boundary. As it happens, google maps don't show international maritime boundaries. So there is no way of knowing.
Tomorrow if India were to claim Bhutan as it's own, would it be seen as disputed by Google? After all, one sovereign nation, India, thinks Bhutan is her's.
Another case: Srinagar is shown as India, Gilgit as Pakistan; and funnily enough, Siachen too is shown as Pakistan!
Further afield, in Palestine, the land between the '49 Armistice and the '74 Ceasefire line is shown under Israel, and not as disputed. It is occupied by Israel.
So, what to make of it all? Siachen is occupied by India, but is shown as Pakistan. But Ein Zivan, for instance is occupied by Israel but not shown as Syria.
Clearly, there is evidence to show that Google it towing the US line - it is in alignment with the overt and covert US foreign policy. It cannot be termed as business sense; it is anything but that. It is jingoistic.
So why can't India, a country that has some clout, not make it difficult for Google? China has. Israel has. Why should India be seen as pusillanimous? I'm all for making it tough for companies like Google - companies who, in the military parlance, are nothing more than mercenaries; ronin.
They should be treated as one.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
India's 'new' military doctrine
This article by Dr. Maleeha Lodhi raises some interesting points.
The summary of the thesis is that India has over-reached and has aspirations that it cannot possibly meet in the future. This has been translated as a show of arrogance and misplaced self-importance.
There is merit to this argument. It is not for the first time that Indian foreign policy has been discussed by people who should know better and by people who ought to be discreet. Our FO mandarins have never shied away from bombast. Pity! It does not behoove a country of India's pedigree to allow such loose talk from its elite.
It would have been far more effective to not discuss the specifics at this stage and to bend all the powers of the mind, statecraft and the military to achieving the vision.
However, let's examine the main points of the new strategy. First the cold-start doctrine. It's been in place since 2004. This doctrine is totally Pak-centric. And that is my first objection. When we sat down to craft a Pak-centric strategy, why did we not at the same time sit to design a China-centric strategy? Surely we have the thinkers in this country and enough experts in geo-politics and military strategies? It seems inconcievable that the only foe which has defeated us does not figure in our primary strategy. Well, perhaps the think-tank is and has a strategy; maybe it is chary of revealing it. If it is so, then kudos, well done!
The cold-start strategy itself has its pros and cons. The ultimate idea of creating smaller and more mobile 'Integrated Battle Groups' (IBG), capable of being deployed on the western front within 96 hours is a laudable one. Since it is being seen as an integrated exercise, the Navy and the Air Force will also bring their respective strengths on board. Whether or not we will even exercise this option and attack Pakistan is very moot. Perhaps a combination of political and tactical events may make it necessary - example: another Paliament-like/Mumbai-like attack by Jihadis and with Al Qaida being chased on Pakistan's western borders, India might think it is the right time to do large-scale damage to specific targets in Punjab or Sindh.
However, I doubt if we would ever think of a controlled strike as a strategy to retaliate against the game of attrition being played in the Kashmir vale - as this article from Walter Ladwig suggests. That game has become far too complicated.
Second, to the articulation of a 'two-front war' - Ms. Lodhi has a pathogenic dislike to anything that the Indians might want to say about themselves that throws them in good light. Is the 'two-front war' only a rhetoric meant to boast about our military prowess of handling two formidable foes at the same time? Is it not a reality for India that there could be a situation in the future where China and Pakistan gang-up on us? Is that too outre? I don't think so. In which case, is it not a smart thing to be prepared for that eventuality? If Raja Mohan is to be believed, the strategic think-tank has not been too active in making these plans. In fact, he raises a far more disturbing point: that under the current political dispensation we have lost at least two opportunities to stake our leadership in this region.
Either way, if there is a move to articulate our defence and offence strategy for the northern border it ought to be welcomed. One only wishes that not too much is divulged - or only misleading bits are divulged. We need to be far more crafty in dealing with China - we need to believe in Chanakyaneeti. The buff and raucous way that we behave in dealing with such matters needs to change, or it needs to be part of a brilliant side-stepping strategy to pull several fast ones. If the latter is true then even as I write and as we speak, we are being out-flanked by the FO mandarins. In which case, FO guys (and gals), Good show!
The only way to figure what is the reality would come from mapping the strategy to the purchases and from the recruitment and from the slow and invisible changes in the command-structure. I'll post something about this later - at the moment I don't even have the starting data. Readers are welcome to direct my attention to links and web resources.
The summary of the thesis is that India has over-reached and has aspirations that it cannot possibly meet in the future. This has been translated as a show of arrogance and misplaced self-importance.
There is merit to this argument. It is not for the first time that Indian foreign policy has been discussed by people who should know better and by people who ought to be discreet. Our FO mandarins have never shied away from bombast. Pity! It does not behoove a country of India's pedigree to allow such loose talk from its elite.
It would have been far more effective to not discuss the specifics at this stage and to bend all the powers of the mind, statecraft and the military to achieving the vision.
However, let's examine the main points of the new strategy. First the cold-start doctrine. It's been in place since 2004. This doctrine is totally Pak-centric. And that is my first objection. When we sat down to craft a Pak-centric strategy, why did we not at the same time sit to design a China-centric strategy? Surely we have the thinkers in this country and enough experts in geo-politics and military strategies? It seems inconcievable that the only foe which has defeated us does not figure in our primary strategy. Well, perhaps the think-tank is and has a strategy; maybe it is chary of revealing it. If it is so, then kudos, well done!
The cold-start strategy itself has its pros and cons. The ultimate idea of creating smaller and more mobile 'Integrated Battle Groups' (IBG), capable of being deployed on the western front within 96 hours is a laudable one. Since it is being seen as an integrated exercise, the Navy and the Air Force will also bring their respective strengths on board. Whether or not we will even exercise this option and attack Pakistan is very moot. Perhaps a combination of political and tactical events may make it necessary - example: another Paliament-like/Mumbai-like attack by Jihadis and with Al Qaida being chased on Pakistan's western borders, India might think it is the right time to do large-scale damage to specific targets in Punjab or Sindh.
However, I doubt if we would ever think of a controlled strike as a strategy to retaliate against the game of attrition being played in the Kashmir vale - as this article from Walter Ladwig suggests. That game has become far too complicated.
Second, to the articulation of a 'two-front war' - Ms. Lodhi has a pathogenic dislike to anything that the Indians might want to say about themselves that throws them in good light. Is the 'two-front war' only a rhetoric meant to boast about our military prowess of handling two formidable foes at the same time? Is it not a reality for India that there could be a situation in the future where China and Pakistan gang-up on us? Is that too outre? I don't think so. In which case, is it not a smart thing to be prepared for that eventuality? If Raja Mohan is to be believed, the strategic think-tank has not been too active in making these plans. In fact, he raises a far more disturbing point: that under the current political dispensation we have lost at least two opportunities to stake our leadership in this region.
Either way, if there is a move to articulate our defence and offence strategy for the northern border it ought to be welcomed. One only wishes that not too much is divulged - or only misleading bits are divulged. We need to be far more crafty in dealing with China - we need to believe in Chanakyaneeti. The buff and raucous way that we behave in dealing with such matters needs to change, or it needs to be part of a brilliant side-stepping strategy to pull several fast ones. If the latter is true then even as I write and as we speak, we are being out-flanked by the FO mandarins. In which case, FO guys (and gals), Good show!
The only way to figure what is the reality would come from mapping the strategy to the purchases and from the recruitment and from the slow and invisible changes in the command-structure. I'll post something about this later - at the moment I don't even have the starting data. Readers are welcome to direct my attention to links and web resources.
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