Wasted Life

The Great Indian tamasha is almost over, except for the last jitters in government formation. Mr. Karunanidhi is caught in the crossfire between his party and his three wives. At this ripe age of nearly eighty it is a tough call to satisfy all your better halves.

This is the first time I followed the elections from the word go to the end. It was riveting experience. I remembered the times when we were in our college days. We used to blow a storm over coffee cups over political matters. Born and bred in Kolkata, my heart was always red with anger against the capitalist imperialism. Maybe that was one of the reasons I never ever dreamt of going to U S of America. The other reason, which was more pronounced, was the death of Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead in 1995. That was the last nail in the coffin. The charm of USA was gone in the thin air.

As we moved in our career our views on politics got limited to the headlines on newspapers. It was just a passing look before we shifted to the last section of sports or the business news. The movements in stock market prices reflected in our blood pressure rather than the social injustices of the society we are a part of. We became a part of the society which enjoyed the “breaking news” on electronic media and felt satisfied of doing our bit by scribbling a bit in social networking sites – this writing is a perfect example of that.

We enjoyed the train blasts in Mumbai and wondered why do still people travel in trains, we saw the gruesome murder of young Arushi and hoped for some filthy gossips rather than finding out the real culprits, we saw the massacre of the twenty odd children brutally killed by some psychopaths in Noida, Delhi and wondered why the parents allow their children to work as household servants, we were glued to the television watching the rescue operation at Taj, Mumbai and then joined the candlelight protests at gateway of India and all along we had groups being formed in “Facebook” for each of these incidents.
And we did ourselves proud of becoming a “fan” of these groups.

Then after the elections we forecasted as wise men that India has voted for stability, secularism and good governance, although we never voted ourselves (1. Oh! it was just so hot outside, 2. How many times do we get such a long weekend, let's make the best out of it, 3. Thank goodness, it's a holiday, I had so much catching up to do.).

We went back to our cubicles doing our daily work, shopping, having fun with the satisfaction that we have played our role as an ideal citizen on India.

Have we lost the plot somewhere?
In Kolkata in the sixties people came out in the street, burnt buses, demonstrated against government because the bus fare was increased by ten paisa.
Were they not people like us, were they the youth who had lost their sense of direction? Who were those people who braved the bayonets for the sheer ideology of social justice?

All I know for sure is that they were not us, they were not the people who have lost their backbone to some cushy jobs and have made “speed money” a part of Oxford dictionary.

It's Springtime In Deutschland

It’s Fruhling in Germany and this is the best time to visit Germany - April to June.
The weather during the five days of Hannover was nothing but endearing. Though the temperature varied from 9 to 22°C but the sun kept us all warm and smiling.

We stayed in a small hotel called Oehlers in the outskirts of Hannover, in a place called Empelde. The hotel was a family run business – small and really comfortable.
Hannover is the capital of the State of Lower Saxony and the food served in the hotel was typical of the region.
Spring time also has a surprise for the taste buds – the time of spargels (asparagus). Spargels grow only in spring and that to for a period of 6-8 weeks. It is a real delicacy in Germany and I believe has a lot of respect in international cuisine.
I had spargel soup every night for dinner along with a dish that served boiled spargel along with. The hotel had two menu cards – one especially for spargels called ‘Spargelkarte”.
All the dishes were served with a bunch of steamed hot boiled spargels and “Hollandishe Sauce” to go along with. You could have any kind of meat or fish as the part of the dish and some boiled potatoes and liquid butter to go with.
The hotel also served a special white wine called “Frulingsbote” that goes well with spargel.
You all can imagine that I was never starved during this trip to Germany.

Hannover Fair was as usual a great event but this time it looked more diminutive in terms of grandeur. The participating companies have scaled down on their marketing spending, the number of overseas visitors was less and that vibe was missing.
A taxi driver told me that the population of Hannover is around five hundred thousand. In the early nineties the number of visitors for Hannover Fair exceeded the population of the city. Now it hovers around one to two hundred thousands. Europe has become very costly in recent years and Hannover Messe International has decentralized the fair. They now have similar fairs in India, China and other places with more local & global companies joining the sphere.

The companies that are still spending a lot are the Utilities and the power generating companies – mostly from the wind energy sector. Whatever happens, we cannot live without air and air conditioning – so utilities will laugh their way to banks, no matter whatever is the state of economy.

I was lucky to get upgraded to Business class on my way to Hannover. Saw Quantum of Solace, Marley and me and Rock On!, drank a lot of white wine and Baileys.
Spoke to Jodu (Joydeep Ghosh) after a long time. He tried to impress me with his German - I am impressed, Mr. Ghosh.

On and all was a good trip, so till next time, amigos,
Auf Wiedersehen

Travelling Wilburys - End of tour for the time being.

Last week we traveled to Neyveli by car. It took nearly six hours to cross a stretch of nearly 400 kms. We drove through Hosur, Krishnagiri, Thiruvanamalai and Villupuram to reach Neyveli. This time we started early in the morning so as to spare the adventure of traveling all night long, as we did on our way to Dandeli.
We stopped at Thiruvanamalai, famous for the Arulmigu Annamalaiyar Temple.
The temple has a Lord Siva lingam and devotional tourism has made this small town out of nowhere buzzing with activities. As far we could count there were more than 12 ATMs in this small town. All such temple towns have a legend associated with them and I found the story of Thiruvanamalai quite interesting.

“Lord Bramha, the creator of the Universe and Lord Vishnu (Thirumal in Tamil), the Protector entered into a controversy among themselves so as to ascertain who was the greatest. Lord Siva was asked to be the judge. Lord Siva told them that whoever was able to see his crown as well as his feet would be termed as the greatest. Then Lord Siva transformed himself into a Jyothi (a column of fire) touching the heaven and earth.
Vishnu took the avatar of varaha (wild boar) and dug deep into the earth to find Siva's feet but at last accepted defeat. Bramha took the form of a swan and flew to see the crown of Siva. Unable to see the crown, Bramha saw a ketaky (thazhambu in Tamil/ Screw pine in English) flower which had decked Siva's crown falling down. He asked the flower as to the distance of Siva's crown whereby the flower replied that he had been falling for forty thousand years. Bramha, realizing that he would not be able to reach the crown asked the flower to act as a false witness.
The ketaky flower acting as a false witness declared that Brahma had seen the crown. Siva became angry at the deception and cursed that Bramha should have no temple on earth and that the thazhambu flower should not be used while praying to Lord Siva. The place where Lord Siva stood as a column of fire to eliminate the ego is Thiruvanamalai.”

I find these mythological stories fascinating because of their use of “magical realism”. I believe all writers of “magical realism” are influenced by the stories of Upanishads or simply by Ramayana & Mahabharata.

The stretch of Tamilnadu we passed through is full of mango orchards. My friend told me that the region boasts of at least twenty different types of mangoes.

The Neyveli Township is quite small compared to the townships of Bhillai, Bokaro or Rourkela. The township is abundant with cashew trees and next to lignite; cashews are a big source of income for Neyveli Lignite Corporation.
The next day we went to mines and saw the man machines in action. Bucket wheel excavators, stackers & reclaimers, all sizes of five to six story buildings working in the open cast mines.
They have dug the earth so deep that it seems like you are on the top of a hill when you look down at the machines in the mines.
We could not take our SUV inside the mine, as we needed to do a particular brake test, as per safety guidelines. The driver who took us to the mine told us that the temperature soars to more than 45 during peak summer and it’s a nightmare working in the mines then.

Pondichery is only seventy kms from Neyveli. We drove down one evening to Pondichery and strolled along the cornice. The cornice was neatly maintained. The tea/coffee vendor requested us at least thrice to throw the empty cups in the dustbins. Pondichery was a French settlement and still all offices and streets (mostly along the sea) bear a French name. We could not go to Auroville, which is around ten kms from the sea beach. But there is always a next time.

In the last two business trips I have learned a lot about rural India. It was really an eye opener. The concept of village kids running after a motor car is in the archives of NFDC, picking up dust. The village people seem to be more empowered and they seem to know their role in this society.
They are proud of what they are and what they do.

Week on the Road - MTV Roadies esthyle

Last week we traveled for 22 hours covering nearly 1200 kilometers on road.
We first went to a place called Dandeli in North Karnataka, some 460 km off Bangalore. The road from Bangalore to Hospet was really world class. We paid Rs150 on toll but it was worth more.
From Hospet the road to Dandeli was through a forest, not so dense, but we could see a fox or two on the road.
In south they say that if you see a fox early in the morning, the day will be good. It worked for us.
We never thought it would take nine hours for the journey, including relaxed breaks for dinner and some intermittent tea/cigarette breaks. We reached Dandeli at 4:30 a.m.
Dandeli is located on the banks of River Kali, the river originates somewhere nearby and hence the place is famous for adventure sports like white water rafting.
Before anyone even confers to the idea that we traveled to Dandeli for white water rafting, I should say at the same breath that the place has one of the largest paper mills in India – West Coast Paper mills and they are under 100% capacity expansion.
Unfortunately that was our only rafting idea, getting some business out of the huge expansion money cake.
Except for the West Coast Guest house there is no decent hotel in Dandeli. Most of the resorts or camps are 20 to 30 km of Dandeli. There is a tourist lodge opposite the main bus terminus and we shared a room for four for Rs 800. Reminded me of the college days when we used to do budget traveling.
The travel from Dandeli to Bellary was for 6 hours and we reached at two in the night. The road was good except for a bad patch of two km while entering Bellary. Bellary is a small but rich town in Karnataka known mostly for iron ore mining (mostly illegal). Mercedes Benz, Audi and BMWs are like local taxis in Bellary.
Some people have grown rich through illegal mining but the city remains quite underdeveloped, despite the attention it receives from the media, mostly for wrong reasons. Murders are like daily happenings and all miners are politically connected.
JSW has one of the biggest steel plants near Bellary is a place called Thornagalu. They are under expansion from seven to ten million tons. The house keeping of the steel plant is really outstanding and so are the visitor facilities like canteens, waiting areas etc.
On the second day in JSW I fell sick. There must have been something in the breakfast which the body could not take.
The next day we traveled back to Bangalore. We covered 306 km on the National Highway 4 and reached Bangalore from the Tumkur side.
What I noticed is a great improvement in the infrastructure of the country. I am sorry, if I had commented adversely, but really something is happening. The private public partnership (PPP) concept is really working.
I firmly believe that within next ten years we will have infrastructure equivalent to most modern countries.
Work is in progress and in a methodical way. Technology is used to the fullest. You can see big dumpers, diggers and other construction equipments and all workers wearing helmets and safety shoes. You feel proud when you see the developments touching people who really count rather than we, city dwellers who has ample opportunity to defend for them.
Developments are undeterred by the government in centre, whoever comes has to carry on with it. Now governance will be rooted more to developments because people have realized the power they can wield.
My journey continues on monday at 8 a.m.
Amen!!

Shop Lifting & Pink Lingerie

We went out shopping today. No, let me put forward in right words, went to the supermarket to pick up groceries. There's also few sections up & down which you can designate as "pure" shopping areas. There are no " Everyday Low Prices" tag but in today's condition the discount tag is always above half a century.
We wanted to buy some vegetables and some munchy crunchy stuff and as usual landed with things mostly we will never ever require.

I present myself as a logical, reasonable & matured animal being to the other species that dominate this planet. But in spite I never found out why my legs twitter when I enter the supermarket. When I see prices which are far below the " MRP" my legs thunder, I feel that the end of the world is near by and if I do not buy that today, I can never.

My wife tells me that she will make a huge cupboard just for my compulsive buyouts, like my shares and Mutual Funds. Maybe after some time she will be in a position to open a grocery herself.

We wanted to buy some clothes for the little one. This thing baffles me more that anything in the world. Why are childerens clothing way costlier then grown up male? They charge you for the little piece of "shit", which will pass as my hankerchief, more than my entire suit put together.
It's also like when my wife goes to a salon to cut her hair, they charge her the money that will pass for my next ten haircuts. And every time she has to tell me that she had a haircut.

I can see LOGIC jumping out of the window.

Usually on weekends the supermarket gets crowded, but not today. Today was Valentine's Day and every one had gone to the church to pray. It will not be much of a time when Valentine surpasses the credibility and popularity of Jesus.
I will wait for Vatican's reaction to that.

On last count the number of "Pink Underwear" was 97865342 and now they are putting as per sizes. The exporters have cued up. Within next two weeks neighboring countries will be flooded with "underwear" at special prices.

Ms. Shoba De's Pink Lingerie will be auctioned, but after a week. Mr. Mutalik just wants to feel comfortable after such stressful incidents.
I will be the highest bidder, because I am willing to blow away my life earnings just to get hold of that Pink Lingerie of Ms. De.

Be My Valentine

Tomorrow is February 14th - Valentine's Day. This Valentine thingy is too much in the news after the Mangalore Pub incident. Peolple have formed forums in Facebook and will be sending "Pink Underwear" to one Mr. Mutalik of a "till known unknown Shri Ram Sene". Mr. Mutalik in retaliation will be buying sarees to all the senders - hope all senders are female, otherwise a man in a saree will be totally out of Indian culture & tradition.

Ms. Chowdhury, our beloved minister for "women & child developement" is off late quite silent. By the way, do we have something like minister for " men & child developement". Never heard of, but madam Mayavati would be a good candidate.
Question is, are women still so underdeveloped that they need a ministry for their developement?
I would have had doubts, but after this "pink underwear" campaign I have no more doubts. Looks like who ever is part of the Facebook community needs serious development.

Today someone supported the "pink underwear" campaign saying that it was a Gandhi like strategy laced with non violence and humour.Journalists are quite new to such new incidents over something called "valentine". All journalists are in the age braket 45+ and duiring their collage days Valentine was not in the syllabus - so they really do not know what to say.
Whatever they say feels like overtly bloated like a dead dog in a ditch.

Good for the courier company - they are busy making the moolah.Sarees & underwear - please don't get the adress wrong.

Just saw a debate in Times Now about this whole issue. As usual Shoba De was there looking radiant in the pink dress with dark yellow bids necklace & ear rings and the dark pink lipstick. She was all pink and I was all violet (thats the color for overtly horny from today).Who will say she turned 60 few days back. Can I be your Valentine, Ms De? Mr De would never mind. He has hit his menopause.

There was a someone in the show, fully covered in black veil. Don't know male or female. Who cares, so long as you can see Ms. De.

I will have a good night today thinking about Ms De and her Pink Underwear.
Tomorrow I can think of Mr. Mutalik wearing the same used one.

Hopefully by 15th, the biggest ever crisis faced by the country will be put to rest.

Short Skirts & Spraghetti Straps

“First they were arrested for the mere offence of partying in a farmhouse and put in jail. Then they were accused of consuming drugs without any trace of evidence………So two nights in a row in the jail house for the sin of wanting to dance and, maybe drink in a city that doesn’t know the meaning of “fun” anymore.” – First page headlines in India’s most influential, mostly read, benefactor of people by providing unbiased news – The Times of India.

I have noticed that in last six months after BJP government took power in Karnataka, the English media is hand in glove against the regime. The reasons are pretty clear. Bangalore, where the English media has its sway, is fairly populated by a huge young crowd. They are mostly attached to BPO and not being judgmental, I have doubts on their social or political acumen.
The tirade against the present government has increased after the announcement of elections.

Moral policing is the only focus issue with the English media. It started with the infamous “Mangalore Pub” incident. Renuka Chowdhury called the BJP government of Talibanisation. Women groups joined together to sent pink underwear to Mr. Mutalik. Nirmala Venkatesh was axed as she could not put anything provocative in her investigation. None of the girls beaten up came out in front of the media, never ever their parents stood up in protest against “Ram Sene”. The neighbors are more pained than the sufferers.
We saw debates in all English television channels for nearly a month. We forgot about the bomb blast in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, forgot about the daily wrong doings by the high & mighty of the society, and glorified ‘short skirts and spaghetti straps”.

Now they are back with vigor. Hundred people were arrested in a PARTY, held in the outskirts of Bangalore in a farmhouse owned by the state secretary of erstwhile Congress Deputy Chief Minister. The media were not allowed in the site, so whatever they write are nothing more than hearsay and that is the best thing they can do to provoke the young minds in Bangalore.
“What is the definition of scantily dressed? Are short skirts and spaghetti straps indecent?” – Quips “The Times of India”.
In Europe there are many beaches where you cannot enter if you are wearing clothes. For them wearing clothes in a “nude” beach is indecent.
So decency is a perception, the way you are brought up in a well defined culture and society. For fanatics in Afghanistan, women without a hizab are indecent. We do not make a hue and cry about the things in the world. The same newspaper rues after every Lakme fashion show that Indian women are giving up sari for western dresses. What a dichotomy?

In CNBC TV18 an anchor threw a question at a panel, if a man comes home after a stressful day after eight and he just wants to hang his hair down, can’t he go to a pub and have a couple of drinks or dance his stresses away.
The question is justified and I wanted the same when I was in Mumbai. I wanted to go after a stressful day and have a glass of bear in a “Ladies Bar”. Why did the Maharashtra government shut down those bars on grounds of indecency?
No one raised a finger when Maharashtra government went ahead and closed all bars. Why, because it never affected the so called English speaking crowd. Who cares for the masses?

We are there to write for Shoba De, Alec Padamsee and the entire nonsense breed who gives a damn about India or its culture.