Sunday, December 30, 2007

As you sow, so shall you reap

Little over a decade and a half ago, a suicide bomber assassinated Rajiv Gandhi. I vividly remember one Sinhalese student at that time telling me in an acidulated voice about how they have this saying in Sri Lanka that can be summarized as follows - if you feed a snake it is apt to bite you in the end. She was referring to Rajiv Gandhi's support for LTTE and its subsequent withdrawal finally culmunating in his assassination by an LTTE suicide bomber. I was shocked at that time. How could someone be so uncharitable? It is a convention that if one is unable to praise the dead one should at least avoid censure.

Benazir Bhutto was assassinated a few days ago in Pakistan and my first reaction was how sad. A little later the reaction set in. I now realize that the reaction from the Sinhalese student made sense in a perverse way. This is not to justify my uncharitable thought. It is my thought right now.

Almost all Pakistani political leaders typically follow a policy that can be summed by a saying - To run with the hare and hunt with the hounds. In a way Benazir Bhutto's assassination is a logical denouement; the proverbial chicken coming home to roost. For over two decade Pakistan has been been involved in a proxy war using religion as a strategic tool. It has had the tacit approval of all political leader regardless of their public utterances.

Well the creation has now fully come of age. The snake that used to dance to the piper's tune so well initially has realized that it no longer needs to obey the master. It now dances to a tune of its own.

May be some good could come from this. India lost two Prime Ministers to assassination; Mother and Son. Both of them were done in by creations of their own making. This I think lead to certain healthy introspection in India. Last week's event could lead to a maturing of body politic in Pakistan.

Friday, December 28, 2007

Can I sing Jana Gana Mana?

A few months ago, to be precise on August 14th, we were having dinner at our friends place. She had also included several other couple we have known for almost a decade now. All of us at the dinner were of Indian origin, settled in this country for over 15 years. All of us had chosen to take US citizenship voluntarily. You must be thinking "If there is a point, please make it now"

Since August 15th, the following day, is the independence day for India, some of the people in this group wanted to sing the Indian National Anthem. I asked the question that having voluntarily chosen American citizenship, if it was appropriate and pretty soon the conversation got pretty heated.

From this point on this post is nothing but me simply bloviating at the WWW. So stop reading if you so choose.

So let me pontificate.

To sing a national anthem of another country; let us face it; India is another country for some of us; is similar to swearing allegiance to another country. No one in US actually twisted our arms to become citizens here. We voluntarily chose this responsibility. In fact we wanted to be US citizens for the multitude of benefits that it gives is starting with no hassle travel all over the world. Moreover in the US thankfully for the white dude, we are just this brown skinned guy who speaks with a funny accent, worships strange gods, eats spicy food etc. We are not thankfully segmented by caste, language, region, and all the many ways we choose to divide ourselves. Don't kid yourself we do not; just check the matrimonial section of any newspaper. This is not to imply that there are not many advantages in remaining Indians. The fact is that all of us made some analysis and chose one over the other. Case closed.

Now obviously certain members of this crowd still felt guilty about their choice.

Some of them tried to gloss over it with the quip "It is just a song". If that were so, why sing it on only August 14th or 15th. Why not sing it in the loo or during showers. These individuals felt emotional and a strong sense of nostalgia when that song was played. Obviously symbols like the flag and national anthem mean something of belonging to a group.

Nuf said.

Friday, December 07, 2007

How I went on a hike and ended up eating a great Breakfast instead

Last weekend I was in Bangalore to visit my wife's family. I landed at the house at 5:30 and we leisurely talked about this and that. Usually my b-i-l and I make some plans or other to go see some nearby places. So after talking about various places of interest we settled on a day hike to a place called Shiva Ganga near Tumkur.

We had starting problem. To eat or not, to shower or not, to drive or not etc. Finally we hauled our butts at about 8:30 and left Jayanagar without having had a decent breakfast. Within 10 minutes it was apparent that we should have left much earlier. The traffic was stop and go and near Yashwantpur it pretty much stopped moving. After about 45 minutes of this intermittent driving I could sense my b-i-l getting a little frustrated and I suggested that we just turn around and go back and maybe plan on an early morning hike the next day. By this time our stomachs started making themselves heard rather loudly. As luck would have it we saw some signs by the side of the road that lifted our spirits. Turn left for Golden Palm Resort. It turned out to be a really posh hotel cum restaurant cum resort cum spa. Yup, just a nice place to have a much needed breakfast.

We parked our car and went through a lobby with vaulted ceiling. Beyond that were nicely laid paths with grass, shrubbery, flowers, and trees on either side. In front was a large swimming pool with a restaurant further away. I must tell you that the dosa was really good and so was the coffee. After eating a mere 6 masala dosas and 4 vadas and 2 coffees the world was at peace. I could hear birds chirping again. After idling over our 2nd coffee we paid our bill and drove away. At this point I made a supreme discovery. After the rather sumptuous meal I had lost my appetite for the hike. Moreover since I had landed just the day before from the US the jet lag kicked in making me very sleepy. So to cut it short we went back home!!

A small digression; while we were walking back besides the pool my b-i-l told me how he had stayed earlier at this resort and had met the person who was the manager of the pool. This man was a white man who looked vaguely familiar. My b-i-l could not resist mentioning the fact to pool manager and guessed if he was an ex-cricket player. The white man laughed and said "Jai Bajrang Bali" in anglicized accents.

Did you guess who he is?

He plays one of the bad guys in Mr. India, you know the one trying to steal India's heritage.

Tchuss

Puddle hopping in Velachery, Chennai

Today is December 3rd and it has rained in Chennai early in the morning. By most standard it would be an average sized downpour, something that when it happens in the US we do not take notice. But in Velachery, Chennai the streets are waterlogged. Not that anyone is making any fuss about, it is not a catastrophe. People just walk around the puddles. When they are unable to navigate around the puddles, the shrug the shoulders, remove their sandals, and wade in!! They are used to the corporation doing nothing and have no future expectations either.

Anyway, I set out to get something from the store near Vijay Nagar Bus stand and was navigating my way around the various puddles and really enjoying it. If you have not done it before try it; it is a lot of fun. Then I was in front of a mega puddle which means that the entire street, end to end, was covered in water. Unfortunately I was wearing shoes and wading in water was not an option. It looked like I was stumped and was on the point of walking back when I saw an ingenious solution. I saw this guy walking along the wall of a house holding on the metal grill set on top of boundary wall literally hanging on to it!!

I too tried it. It worked. As I was hanging from the grill, a car went through the puddle and my heart was in my mouth as the waves (yes they were small waves) washed over my shoes. Luckily I navigated without any disaster.

The next one was interesting. So far all the puddles were in the middle and the high ground was on the side of the road. This puddle was all on the side I was walking on and to get around it I had to go to the middle of the road and just then this huge van horn blaring came behind me. I was surprised by the agility I displayed. No one else seemed surprised; the speed with which I got around this puddle is normal for people here but it was a bit scary.

On the whole I loved it all. Puddle hopping, puddle skirting, hanging to the grill and evading a puddle.

How easily we lapse into our old self. For example I now nod my head side to side as Indians generally do. You know what I am talking about. The ambivalent, neither a NO, nor a YES, shake of the head!! It took me decade and half to cure myself of the side to side waggle of my head. A mere year and of half of association with India and Indians was enough to undo it!!