Today, contemplating while being snowed in, I started thinking about everything that Obama is doing in his first few days in office. Be it trying to save the economy by bailing out banks, insurance companies, car manufacturers, etc. OR pushing through a 10 year budget OR embarking upon health care reforms OR taxing the rich to feed the coffers & supposedly help the poor... Why is he rushing to get all this done now? Why not space it out over his first term?
So here is my epiphany, he is trying to push as much as possible right now when the country is in panic mode & looking hopefully to the new leader of the free world to fix it. In these "tough economic times", people are willing to overlook any so called inconveniences for the sake of the light at the end of the tunnel - SAVING THE ECONOMY!
Now here is my question - how is this different from the actions of W (Dubya) in 2001? There was panic in the US & in the name of security & defense against the axis of evil, so many initiatives were pushed through which may have made us a safer nation of people, but have also pushed the limit on constitutional rights or even basic human rights. Did we bat an eyelid? No siree! We were rallying around the Commander-in-Chief to save us from terror on our own soil!
In business this is called, taking a bath. So if nothing else, they have an intelligent set of advisors! But woe to the common man! We are being taken for a ride yet again. All my money (through taxes) are being ploughed into penny stock companies like CITI & AIG!
It is time not only to bat eyelids, but banding together to put an end to this nonsensical vicious spiral that we are being dragged into. If companies are not fit to run, let them sink. Do not try & throw these multi-billion dollar life preservers at them! Their mass is so ginormous & unwieldy & grotesque that drowning is inevitable. Live & let die! Survival of the fittest!!
By,
Alok Gupta
Showing posts with label raving and ranting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label raving and ranting. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Bell Bajao !
Once upon a time, Z lived in a flat adjoining one occupied by an ogre and his persecuted family. Z’s days were happy and fun-filled, yet sometimes she had nightmares and was unable to sleep properly. This used to happen on nights when she had heard shouting and shrieking from the ogre’s house as she began to fall asleep - she dreaded the times the ogre lost his temper and she would hear his gruff voice raised in anger. Sometimes she lay awake trying to convince herself that the high-pitched shrieks she heard were screams of frustration or retaliation and not of someone in pain; she tried to wrap herself in a snug cocoon of false conviction so that she did not feel guilty about doing nothing; but reality would insist on unraveling it, bringing along a bitter and feverish feeling in her stomach, a tightening of her face muscles and a grinding of teeth. She felt totally helpless – unable to block it out, unable to figure out what to do to stop it.
Z moved on, changed houses, continued to be happy and enjoy life (this is where you touch wood for luck). But every so often she wondered what would have been the appropriate course of action and about its consequences - alerting the police, alerting an NGO, speaking to the aggressor etc, would an intervention have made the victims’ life better or worse ?
……………………
If, like me, you have been through such a scenario, you will understand why I was thrilled to read this article in the newspaper one day.
Finally, there is an organization that has outlined a simple solution that a concerned individual can adopt in such a situation. It’s ‘Bell Bajao’
, or, ‘Ring the Bell’. (see the ads here, here, here and here)
Bell Bajao, an awareness and intervention campaign to bring domestic violence to an end was launched in August 2008 by Breakthrough, an organization dedicated to gender rights. Created pro bono by Ogilvy and Mather, the TV commercial has been distributed across popular TV channels. It has also been distributed across radio channels, press and the Internet. Video vans will follow with on-ground activation across six districts over 150 days to begin with, building awareness on issues regarding domestic violence and women's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS.
This campaign asks men to take a stand in order to reduce the violence done by other men. It aims at killing the ‘it's not my business’ and ‘it will be of no use’ mentality. It seeks to engage men as direct partners ready to 'ring the bell', and intervene in situations of abuse - a path-breaking venture within the Indian context. Breakthrough sees the involvement of men as important for many reasons. Key amongst those are the fact that men are more likely to listen to other men, and less likely to see domestic violence as permissible if other men in their society look down on it. Also, men are an integral part of the community that supports and interacts with families dealing with violence - they are the majority of judges, police officers, and doctors who work with families in crisis.
My only quibble (and a tiny one) against this campaign is that it does not give concerned women any advice at all. How about a Bell Bajao phase 3 where women ring on the doorbell ? I would like to understand whether the thought of a woman – and an outsider at that - questioning him drive the aggressor to attack the victim with even more force than usual later ? Is there a chance of violence being committed on the woman ringing the door-bell too ? I would really like to know the answer to both these questions – there’s a doorbell in a nearby suburb that’s waiting for me and I want to be aware of the consequences first. (Yes, I am a coward. Don’t bother saying it. )
By,
Zenobia Driver
For those of you that want to read more :
This site gives information about what all constitutes domestic violence, statistics on violence, what to do if you know someone who is being abused, what can the abused do to help herself etc. The statistics on domestic violence are truly shocking – one out of three women in India faces some form of domestic violence at home ! 51% of the 75,000 men surveyed thought that hitting their wives is acceptable, if in-laws were disrespected; with a smaller number thinking that bad cooking/refusing sex were also legitimate reasons.
This is a short primer about the laws on domestic violence in India, and this is an article on the long struggle towards a law against domestic violence.
Go ahead now ! If you’ve read this far, you’ve read enough to be convinced - Take The Bell Bajao Pledge
p.s. Cannot end without mentioning this. Breakthrough is also the organization responsible for the ‘Mann ke Manjeere’ album, a collaborative effort with singer Shubha Mudgal, Prasoon Joshi and Shantanu Moitra. View the song here
Z moved on, changed houses, continued to be happy and enjoy life (this is where you touch wood for luck). But every so often she wondered what would have been the appropriate course of action and about its consequences - alerting the police, alerting an NGO, speaking to the aggressor etc, would an intervention have made the victims’ life better or worse ?
……………………
If, like me, you have been through such a scenario, you will understand why I was thrilled to read this article in the newspaper one day.
Finally, there is an organization that has outlined a simple solution that a concerned individual can adopt in such a situation. It’s ‘Bell Bajao’
, or, ‘Ring the Bell’. (see the ads here, here, here and here)
Bell Bajao, an awareness and intervention campaign to bring domestic violence to an end was launched in August 2008 by Breakthrough, an organization dedicated to gender rights. Created pro bono by Ogilvy and Mather, the TV commercial has been distributed across popular TV channels. It has also been distributed across radio channels, press and the Internet. Video vans will follow with on-ground activation across six districts over 150 days to begin with, building awareness on issues regarding domestic violence and women's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS.
This campaign asks men to take a stand in order to reduce the violence done by other men. It aims at killing the ‘it's not my business’ and ‘it will be of no use’ mentality. It seeks to engage men as direct partners ready to 'ring the bell', and intervene in situations of abuse - a path-breaking venture within the Indian context. Breakthrough sees the involvement of men as important for many reasons. Key amongst those are the fact that men are more likely to listen to other men, and less likely to see domestic violence as permissible if other men in their society look down on it. Also, men are an integral part of the community that supports and interacts with families dealing with violence - they are the majority of judges, police officers, and doctors who work with families in crisis.
My only quibble (and a tiny one) against this campaign is that it does not give concerned women any advice at all. How about a Bell Bajao phase 3 where women ring on the doorbell ? I would like to understand whether the thought of a woman – and an outsider at that - questioning him drive the aggressor to attack the victim with even more force than usual later ? Is there a chance of violence being committed on the woman ringing the door-bell too ? I would really like to know the answer to both these questions – there’s a doorbell in a nearby suburb that’s waiting for me and I want to be aware of the consequences first. (Yes, I am a coward. Don’t bother saying it. )
By,
Zenobia Driver
For those of you that want to read more :
This site gives information about what all constitutes domestic violence, statistics on violence, what to do if you know someone who is being abused, what can the abused do to help herself etc. The statistics on domestic violence are truly shocking – one out of three women in India faces some form of domestic violence at home ! 51% of the 75,000 men surveyed thought that hitting their wives is acceptable, if in-laws were disrespected; with a smaller number thinking that bad cooking/refusing sex were also legitimate reasons.
This is a short primer about the laws on domestic violence in India, and this is an article on the long struggle towards a law against domestic violence.
Go ahead now ! If you’ve read this far, you’ve read enough to be convinced - Take The Bell Bajao Pledge
p.s. Cannot end without mentioning this. Breakthrough is also the organization responsible for the ‘Mann ke Manjeere’ album, a collaborative effort with singer Shubha Mudgal, Prasoon Joshi and Shantanu Moitra. View the song here
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Indian of the year 2008 : You Decide
I'm sure that anyone who has been watching the news channels as much as I have lately will have seen ads urging you to vote for the "Indian of the Year" on NDTV 24x7. Curiosity got the better of me and I finally looked up the nominations. Some of the "reasons for nomination" really puzzled me. Pardon my ignorance but I really think it would've helped if NDTV added a few lines on what the nominees did IN 2008 that would make their nominations relevant.
· Katrina Kaif - "Tornado of Another Kind" - what on earth does that mean?
· Mayawati - "Sab Maya Hai"- maybe it's because she has decided to tone down her 53rd birthday celebrations in light of the 26/11 attacks. However party members refuse to discontinue her cake-cutting tradition.
· Shivraj Chauhan - "BJP's Golden Boy" - last I heard, he became Madhya Pradesh's Chief Minister in 2005 - so why nominate him for Indian of the Year 2008?
· L.K. Advani - "PM in Waiting" - he gets nominated because he's waiting? He's been waiting since 2005, so what makes 2008 special? Maybe we should add Rahul Gandhi to the list. He too has been waiting ever *so* long.
· M.F. Hussain - "Painter in Exile" - nomination for *voluntary* exile? I hear Salman Rushdie is upset at not being nominated for "Writer in Exile".
I would've added the following to the list:
· Shobhaa De - For shedding the "I'm so perfect, I can do no wrong" image and openly admitting to watching Slumdog Millionaire on a pirated DVD. I don't know if adding "Oh Danny Boyle, we love you so" was her attempt to dissuade him from suing.
· Mayor Shubha Raul - For suggesting that we give military training to slum kids so that they can work as security officers for the BMC. Here's an idea - how about we send them to school instead?
· MINT reporters - For telling us exactly what Ramalinga Raju ate, drank, what time he went to sleep and how thick the mattress was in the prison cell. Talk about investigative journalism! I think the nomination might have to be withdrawn on the grounds that we're still unclear whether Raju had any of the "chicken curry, rice and rasam" that the prison serves on Sundays. Seriously guys, how could you leave out this crucial piece of information?
· NDTV reporters - For outlining why British Foreign Secretary David Miliband's visit to Mumbai is very significant "because ONE Britisher was killed in the attacks".
· Priya Dutt - For her naivety in thinking there is any kind of loyalty in politics. · Last but certainly not the least - Ramalinga Raju - but the nomination has to be in the Cinema category. I think he can beat Nasseruddin Shah as "The Actor", what with such a convincing performance over the past 7 years. He sure had everybody fooled.
Now, who are you going to vote for?
By,
Sanjana
· Katrina Kaif - "Tornado of Another Kind" - what on earth does that mean?
· Mayawati - "Sab Maya Hai"- maybe it's because she has decided to tone down her 53rd birthday celebrations in light of the 26/11 attacks. However party members refuse to discontinue her cake-cutting tradition.
· Shivraj Chauhan - "BJP's Golden Boy" - last I heard, he became Madhya Pradesh's Chief Minister in 2005 - so why nominate him for Indian of the Year 2008?
· L.K. Advani - "PM in Waiting" - he gets nominated because he's waiting? He's been waiting since 2005, so what makes 2008 special? Maybe we should add Rahul Gandhi to the list. He too has been waiting ever *so* long.
· M.F. Hussain - "Painter in Exile" - nomination for *voluntary* exile? I hear Salman Rushdie is upset at not being nominated for "Writer in Exile".
I would've added the following to the list:
· Shobhaa De - For shedding the "I'm so perfect, I can do no wrong" image and openly admitting to watching Slumdog Millionaire on a pirated DVD. I don't know if adding "Oh Danny Boyle, we love you so" was her attempt to dissuade him from suing.
· Mayor Shubha Raul - For suggesting that we give military training to slum kids so that they can work as security officers for the BMC. Here's an idea - how about we send them to school instead?
· MINT reporters - For telling us exactly what Ramalinga Raju ate, drank, what time he went to sleep and how thick the mattress was in the prison cell. Talk about investigative journalism! I think the nomination might have to be withdrawn on the grounds that we're still unclear whether Raju had any of the "chicken curry, rice and rasam" that the prison serves on Sundays. Seriously guys, how could you leave out this crucial piece of information?
· NDTV reporters - For outlining why British Foreign Secretary David Miliband's visit to Mumbai is very significant "because ONE Britisher was killed in the attacks".
· Priya Dutt - For her naivety in thinking there is any kind of loyalty in politics. · Last but certainly not the least - Ramalinga Raju - but the nomination has to be in the Cinema category. I think he can beat Nasseruddin Shah as "The Actor", what with such a convincing performance over the past 7 years. He sure had everybody fooled.
Now, who are you going to vote for?
By,
Sanjana
Friday, December 05, 2008
Bombay Blast Aftermath
The last few days have exposed the gaping holes in India’s security. No one had a clue that such large tranches of arms and ammunition were being moved along the coast. The agencies which did suspect it passed on the information to people who could act but who chose not to act. When the terrorists struck, the Mumbai police was clearly out of its depth. It took the NSG ten hours to land in the scene of action. The media became a liability by providing information on what was happening at the three locations. Shivraj Patil in his interview to the media in the middle of Wednesday night sounded as clueless as the media about the reason behind the attacks and the scale of it. People stood around Nariman House cheering commandoes like a Trapeze artist had just finished his show in the circus and a couple of bystanders gawking at the scene in Taj actually got hurt in the crossfire.
The whole thing sounds like an unbelievable novel set in some impoverished nation in the 70s. Not like it happened in one of the world’s rapidly growing economic and nuclear powers. As a citizen of one, I would so love to kick some butt.
Why is our security not better than this?
We are surrounded by an elite crop of neighbours – Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Burma, and China. Pick any one name off this list and you cannot but wonder how we can be lax on security. What are we spending our money on if we don’t know what is going on right beneath our noses? And once hit, why is our response time so bad? While it is understandable that local cops can’t be expected to respond to extraordinary situations like this, why don’t we have specialized cops in all key places? It is not like this is a sudden occurrence. After all Bangalore, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Assam – all of them were hit just this year. What is our strategy in the face of terror attacks and hostage situations? Do we fumble around before getting our act in place? Why did we have to lose our head of the Anti Terrorism Squad in the line of fire so early on when, with all due respect, he should have been planning strategy?
The fight going in the media about the exact number of terrorists was incredulous. Central sources claimed 15. Mumbai police said 10 landed and 5 went back. I am having a tough time trying to visualize 5 young, determined terrorists training for a year coming to Mumbai’s coast and saying to themselves ‘Oh dear, I don’t feel up to it. I am heading right back to Karachi’. The hatchet was buried when the Police commissioner clarified that the number was indeed ten and all terrorists were accounted for.
What are we doing about our esteemed neighbour, Pakistan, the hotspot of terrorists?
If anyone remembers Dawood Ibrahim (from the 93 Mumbai blasts, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Mumbai_bombings), it is probably from his sightings at social functions in Pakistan. The man will die a natural death before we can even extradite him. Our failure in bringing to task a man wanted in one of India’s most horrific attacks certainly sends out signals that we either don’t care or are incapable. Forget Dawood, the closest we have got to his on-the-ground guy in India, Tiger Memon, is to arrest his family including his younger brother, Yakub Memon, when they finally came back to India.
The universally accepted fact is that if ever a list of best training grounds in the world for an ambitious terrorist were to be made, Pakistan would be right up there in the list.
Does that mean we go to war with Pakistan?
Certainly not. If we did go to war, where would it stop? Unlike a boundary dispute where you know the purpose of aggression, this would just be ‘we will show them’ kind of war with no end in sight. On the other hand, the time has come to gang up with other nations. If Pakistan were to make inroads into Kashmir, it becomes a bilateral boundary dispute. If Pakistan were to train people to create terror situations, it is a global problem. The time is right, with such an outpouring of support from nations across the world, including the big daddy of all, the U.S., to put pressure through cutting them off. Stop dealing with them till they manage to demonstrate that they have put an end to ISI’s training-terrorists activities or managed to get some kind of control over the apparently wild North Western frontier which acts as a freeway in the arms trade.
So what are top honchos doing?
Bickering on TV. Vilas Rao Deshmukh had nothing useful to say and sulked in his interview (http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=hyJ8iIib3A0&feature=channel) outside the Trident on Friday, implying that Narendra Modi should have stayed at home. Then he decided to get some goodwill for son Ritesh by taking Ritesh and Ram Gopal Varma on a guided tour of the Trident (http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=qXqHP3peBUs) (Note to father and son – RGV’s films suck these days. You could have bet on someone else). R.R.Patil displayed his sensitive side by making a remark that sounded like a DDLJ quote on how small things happen in big cities (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Small_incidents_like_this_do_happen_RR_Patil/articleshow/3773971.cms). Kerela CM Achuthanathan’s massive ego made him make rude remarks about Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan’s family(http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1712278). Surely, these guys are not for real ?
Do we sack them ?
Oh yes. Deshmukh deserved to go. I don’t believe for one minute that his likely replacements are more competent or less corrupt than he is. What we however need to demonstrate is the minimum standards that we, as the voting public, expect from our leaders. We expect that they understand that it hurts to live in fear of where the next bomb would go off. We are shocked by how easily the sequence of events happened. We are outraged by the general air of cluelessness and silliness. We will put up with a lot and we do put up with a lot. But expecting us to put up with incompetence that threatens our lives, is really pushing us too far. If people in charge of our security cannot deliver, then we would like to see them pay for it.
So what do we do now?
No clue. Really. Taking part in candle vigils does not work for me. I can see it is a great outlet but am not sure if it is much of a solution. Not to mention, I am worried that it may provide an attractive venue for any leftover terrorists who did not take the boat back to Karachi as the Mumbai police claimed. Not being resilient and sitting at home is not an option. I have to pay my rent and feed myself.
I don’t think that voting out a particular party is enough. My only hope is voting out specific politicians who screwed up this time. It is one thing when your party does not come to power. But it hurts at a very personal level if you lose and are faced with the threat of becoming inconsequential within your party.
I am certain that Shivraj Patil (http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14808590) will bounce back after a while. But in the interim, I am sure the ‘perks’ and the power he will lose on account of not being a cabinet minister for a couple of years will pinch. But if he just lost elections again… Presumably, sneaking in through the back door as a cabinet minister would become a difficult option then. Boy, that would sure keep him awake at nights the way I woke up in fits on Thursday night, very frightened. And when he comes back, hopefully, he will keep it in mind and deliver slightly better so as to not be sacked. And hopefully, other politicians in similar jobs will also sit up and take notice of how ephemeral their posts are when they don’t deliver.
I still have faith that you can use your vote to make your voice audible. Just think about what your minimum standards are.
By Anita B
(reproduced with permission from http://royalvilla.blogspot.com)
The whole thing sounds like an unbelievable novel set in some impoverished nation in the 70s. Not like it happened in one of the world’s rapidly growing economic and nuclear powers. As a citizen of one, I would so love to kick some butt.
Why is our security not better than this?
We are surrounded by an elite crop of neighbours – Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Burma, and China. Pick any one name off this list and you cannot but wonder how we can be lax on security. What are we spending our money on if we don’t know what is going on right beneath our noses? And once hit, why is our response time so bad? While it is understandable that local cops can’t be expected to respond to extraordinary situations like this, why don’t we have specialized cops in all key places? It is not like this is a sudden occurrence. After all Bangalore, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Assam – all of them were hit just this year. What is our strategy in the face of terror attacks and hostage situations? Do we fumble around before getting our act in place? Why did we have to lose our head of the Anti Terrorism Squad in the line of fire so early on when, with all due respect, he should have been planning strategy?
The fight going in the media about the exact number of terrorists was incredulous. Central sources claimed 15. Mumbai police said 10 landed and 5 went back. I am having a tough time trying to visualize 5 young, determined terrorists training for a year coming to Mumbai’s coast and saying to themselves ‘Oh dear, I don’t feel up to it. I am heading right back to Karachi’. The hatchet was buried when the Police commissioner clarified that the number was indeed ten and all terrorists were accounted for.
What are we doing about our esteemed neighbour, Pakistan, the hotspot of terrorists?
If anyone remembers Dawood Ibrahim (from the 93 Mumbai blasts, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Mumbai_bombings), it is probably from his sightings at social functions in Pakistan. The man will die a natural death before we can even extradite him. Our failure in bringing to task a man wanted in one of India’s most horrific attacks certainly sends out signals that we either don’t care or are incapable. Forget Dawood, the closest we have got to his on-the-ground guy in India, Tiger Memon, is to arrest his family including his younger brother, Yakub Memon, when they finally came back to India.
The universally accepted fact is that if ever a list of best training grounds in the world for an ambitious terrorist were to be made, Pakistan would be right up there in the list.
Does that mean we go to war with Pakistan?
Certainly not. If we did go to war, where would it stop? Unlike a boundary dispute where you know the purpose of aggression, this would just be ‘we will show them’ kind of war with no end in sight. On the other hand, the time has come to gang up with other nations. If Pakistan were to make inroads into Kashmir, it becomes a bilateral boundary dispute. If Pakistan were to train people to create terror situations, it is a global problem. The time is right, with such an outpouring of support from nations across the world, including the big daddy of all, the U.S., to put pressure through cutting them off. Stop dealing with them till they manage to demonstrate that they have put an end to ISI’s training-terrorists activities or managed to get some kind of control over the apparently wild North Western frontier which acts as a freeway in the arms trade.
So what are top honchos doing?
Bickering on TV. Vilas Rao Deshmukh had nothing useful to say and sulked in his interview (http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=hyJ8iIib3A0&feature=channel) outside the Trident on Friday, implying that Narendra Modi should have stayed at home. Then he decided to get some goodwill for son Ritesh by taking Ritesh and Ram Gopal Varma on a guided tour of the Trident (http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=qXqHP3peBUs) (Note to father and son – RGV’s films suck these days. You could have bet on someone else). R.R.Patil displayed his sensitive side by making a remark that sounded like a DDLJ quote on how small things happen in big cities (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Small_incidents_like_this_do_happen_RR_Patil/articleshow/3773971.cms). Kerela CM Achuthanathan’s massive ego made him make rude remarks about Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan’s family(http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1712278). Surely, these guys are not for real ?
Do we sack them ?
Oh yes. Deshmukh deserved to go. I don’t believe for one minute that his likely replacements are more competent or less corrupt than he is. What we however need to demonstrate is the minimum standards that we, as the voting public, expect from our leaders. We expect that they understand that it hurts to live in fear of where the next bomb would go off. We are shocked by how easily the sequence of events happened. We are outraged by the general air of cluelessness and silliness. We will put up with a lot and we do put up with a lot. But expecting us to put up with incompetence that threatens our lives, is really pushing us too far. If people in charge of our security cannot deliver, then we would like to see them pay for it.
So what do we do now?
No clue. Really. Taking part in candle vigils does not work for me. I can see it is a great outlet but am not sure if it is much of a solution. Not to mention, I am worried that it may provide an attractive venue for any leftover terrorists who did not take the boat back to Karachi as the Mumbai police claimed. Not being resilient and sitting at home is not an option. I have to pay my rent and feed myself.
I don’t think that voting out a particular party is enough. My only hope is voting out specific politicians who screwed up this time. It is one thing when your party does not come to power. But it hurts at a very personal level if you lose and are faced with the threat of becoming inconsequential within your party.
I am certain that Shivraj Patil (http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14808590) will bounce back after a while. But in the interim, I am sure the ‘perks’ and the power he will lose on account of not being a cabinet minister for a couple of years will pinch. But if he just lost elections again… Presumably, sneaking in through the back door as a cabinet minister would become a difficult option then. Boy, that would sure keep him awake at nights the way I woke up in fits on Thursday night, very frightened. And when he comes back, hopefully, he will keep it in mind and deliver slightly better so as to not be sacked. And hopefully, other politicians in similar jobs will also sit up and take notice of how ephemeral their posts are when they don’t deliver.
I still have faith that you can use your vote to make your voice audible. Just think about what your minimum standards are.
By Anita B
(reproduced with permission from http://royalvilla.blogspot.com)
Friday, October 03, 2008
In One of My Moods
Ganpati Bappa Morya, Land ahead, its time to dock. And with flies in my stomach from last night's chicken at the office party, I descend on client land. Trooper (loud tone to general): No hostile reception, welcome with flowers while we are expecting brickbats, tujha aai chi. Courtmartialed am I, dare not, I am a Ghat and Raj will get back at you with a vengeance. Entering, I find people working, much like us, we in black suits and computer look like emaciated MIBs. I may not have the charm of Will Smith but by Dada Kondke's verve, when I spin, I turn Bhel Air's eye's too
Aside: Having learnt the art of building bridges, your truly sought to build one of out paper, Only while spinning the paper, my eyes chanced upon Urvashi, that lady of buxom breasts who spun on the floor as she spun them papers. I spun too and embroiled in paper, a sad state I was. Coy laugh, the bitch, what a setup. So anyways, abandoning all thought of spinning (on the ground or with paper) I continued to remain true to my roots. I am ghat and I am proud of it, WS can spin well so can we just like DK
So the enemy sighted, but what is this he comes in peace. Flummoxed, I hail on radio (damn these old machines always turn on at the right time). General, they come in peace. Courtmartialled am I, so you send another trooper in. Well so be, upon the word of Mata Hari, I shall betray thy fear like she betrayed lusting allies up in War. I tell you, these women, they always come good in my mind, Urvashi and now Mata Hari, what a wonderful day
So I come in peace too, O! erstwhile foe, what have you a marketing problem. You land these troops ala Normandy but you find the front unconquered. '43 it was I landed too, I shall tell you a thing or two of landing, marketing is like war I say and I am THE trooper. Have you heard of Raj of the Thackeray fame, well yours truly leads his Navnirman Sena
Aside: Pay commissions not forthcoming, Troopers turned to other means of income. While Generals lavished on themselves the spoils of war, troopers were left to decay. So why, why not like the IPL and By Yusuf, I am also Pathan ka baccha. Taken to the cause of Ghats (finding it profitable), I fight and rest my wounds on Zhunka Bhakar at eod ( a term originally connoting extinct or disappeared loyal troopers to the cause of the enemy, now meaning end of day!!)
We come in peace too Comrade. By MG (What you don’t know what that means, you sonova bicycle, recognise your father, he who spawned a billion). Strong sperm and what not, his brethren the enterprising Gujaratis
So I decide to be traitor and explain. My trooper comes and he comes with Powerpoint. My comrades from the dark suits sit in a room and Bang, they splash colours on a screen and then draw boxes and then by my smoking guns they come up with some names. By Ganpati, I have sworn, once in a Night Queen, sitting on a damsel's lap, I used to be light those days, I saw the general cooking up the colors, they came from the eye of the nautch girl. Ganpati bappa I said, to which I heard, "The answers in the girls' eyes. Let me draw her consumer portrait". Oh what debauchery. I learnt to enjoy it soon, my class of Ghats we are very corruptible
So there you go, that's Powerpoint in a nutshell, in a nautch girl's eyes it lies. Go my foe, before they release their weaponry, run and find that girl, Draw that portrait and get learn effective landing
And May you win
Ganpati Bappa, Court martialled. By Sivaji, we never were nor ever shall be courted be your pardon, court martialled
With due apologies to G V Desani for use of his Contraro style of writing
By jove apologies over
Anonymous
Aside: Having learnt the art of building bridges, your truly sought to build one of out paper, Only while spinning the paper, my eyes chanced upon Urvashi, that lady of buxom breasts who spun on the floor as she spun them papers. I spun too and embroiled in paper, a sad state I was. Coy laugh, the bitch, what a setup. So anyways, abandoning all thought of spinning (on the ground or with paper) I continued to remain true to my roots. I am ghat and I am proud of it, WS can spin well so can we just like DK
So the enemy sighted, but what is this he comes in peace. Flummoxed, I hail on radio (damn these old machines always turn on at the right time). General, they come in peace. Courtmartialled am I, so you send another trooper in. Well so be, upon the word of Mata Hari, I shall betray thy fear like she betrayed lusting allies up in War. I tell you, these women, they always come good in my mind, Urvashi and now Mata Hari, what a wonderful day
So I come in peace too, O! erstwhile foe, what have you a marketing problem. You land these troops ala Normandy but you find the front unconquered. '43 it was I landed too, I shall tell you a thing or two of landing, marketing is like war I say and I am THE trooper. Have you heard of Raj of the Thackeray fame, well yours truly leads his Navnirman Sena
Aside: Pay commissions not forthcoming, Troopers turned to other means of income. While Generals lavished on themselves the spoils of war, troopers were left to decay. So why, why not like the IPL and By Yusuf, I am also Pathan ka baccha. Taken to the cause of Ghats (finding it profitable), I fight and rest my wounds on Zhunka Bhakar at eod ( a term originally connoting extinct or disappeared loyal troopers to the cause of the enemy, now meaning end of day!!)
We come in peace too Comrade. By MG (What you don’t know what that means, you sonova bicycle, recognise your father, he who spawned a billion). Strong sperm and what not, his brethren the enterprising Gujaratis
So I decide to be traitor and explain. My trooper comes and he comes with Powerpoint. My comrades from the dark suits sit in a room and Bang, they splash colours on a screen and then draw boxes and then by my smoking guns they come up with some names. By Ganpati, I have sworn, once in a Night Queen, sitting on a damsel's lap, I used to be light those days, I saw the general cooking up the colors, they came from the eye of the nautch girl. Ganpati bappa I said, to which I heard, "The answers in the girls' eyes. Let me draw her consumer portrait". Oh what debauchery. I learnt to enjoy it soon, my class of Ghats we are very corruptible
So there you go, that's Powerpoint in a nutshell, in a nautch girl's eyes it lies. Go my foe, before they release their weaponry, run and find that girl, Draw that portrait and get learn effective landing
And May you win
Ganpati Bappa, Court martialled. By Sivaji, we never were nor ever shall be courted be your pardon, court martialled
With due apologies to G V Desani for use of his Contraro style of writing
By jove apologies over
Anonymous
Friday, June 20, 2008
Annoy-o-meter
Regular readers of this blog will be aware of the special relationship I share with Aishwarya Rai. Namely, I can't stand her acting. I find her plasticky, annoying and the target of my prayers for being an early victim in any movie having any chance, however minuscule, of killings.
Given that Ash usually just has to make a physical presence in a movie to make her annoying, in Dhoom 2 she managed to take her "my-annoying-self" performance to sterling levels. Five minutes into her appearance, I was wanting to throw something at the screen. Ten minutes later, I was pulling my hair out in frustration. Fifteen minutes later, I hoped Hrithik or Abhishek or even random character on the road #3 would have the good sense to bump her off.
Of course no such thing happened. At the end of the movie, finding myself still sane, I felt like a survivor. I found a new appreciation for the tolerance levels of the entire crew of Dhoom-2. And though I woke up at night in cold sweat with echoes of "Funny guy" and "Sunehri like likes you" in my head for quite a few days afterwards, the frequency of these incidents gradually decreased.
The point I am trying to make is, after watching Ash in Dhoom-2 I thought the absolute zenith of an annoying performance in cinema had been reached. No matter how annoying any other actor was in any movie, beside Ash's spectacular Dhoom-2 performance, they were mere fireflies beside the sun. That Dhoom-2 performance would forever occupy the numero uno position in my Annoying Performances Hall of Fame.
Or so I thought. Then I watched Asin in Dasavatharam. Till she opened her mouth to talk, she looked very pretty. The words "En perumal-a kudu" were the harbinger of doom. High pitched, irritating, murder-inducing, annoying - Asin managed it all and more!
Why on earth could not the character Fletcher who seemed to kill everyone else at first glance not have killed Asin on a priority basis? I think it was his devious plan to try to drive Govindraj to suicide due to unbearable torture by giving him Asin's constant company. Seeing the sheer number of places where Asin could have been bumped off convincingly and yet was still left alive was like being denied candy after being taken all the way to the checkout counter again and again.
By the time the end of the movie rolled around, I was eagerly awaiting it. There did not seem to be any other way out of watching the torture called Asin.
To be fair to Asin, unlike Ash's role in Dhoom-2 which *might* have been saved by a better actress, *anyone* performing Asin's role in Dasavatharam would have been equally horribly annoying. Which is why I have decided to let Ash retain her title of most annoying performer ever. But let me tell you, it is a very very narrow victory.
By,
Archana (http://archana.blogspot.com)
Given that Ash usually just has to make a physical presence in a movie to make her annoying, in Dhoom 2 she managed to take her "my-annoying-self" performance to sterling levels. Five minutes into her appearance, I was wanting to throw something at the screen. Ten minutes later, I was pulling my hair out in frustration. Fifteen minutes later, I hoped Hrithik or Abhishek or even random character on the road #3 would have the good sense to bump her off.
Of course no such thing happened. At the end of the movie, finding myself still sane, I felt like a survivor. I found a new appreciation for the tolerance levels of the entire crew of Dhoom-2. And though I woke up at night in cold sweat with echoes of "Funny guy" and "Sunehri like likes you" in my head for quite a few days afterwards, the frequency of these incidents gradually decreased.
The point I am trying to make is, after watching Ash in Dhoom-2 I thought the absolute zenith of an annoying performance in cinema had been reached. No matter how annoying any other actor was in any movie, beside Ash's spectacular Dhoom-2 performance, they were mere fireflies beside the sun. That Dhoom-2 performance would forever occupy the numero uno position in my Annoying Performances Hall of Fame.
Or so I thought. Then I watched Asin in Dasavatharam. Till she opened her mouth to talk, she looked very pretty. The words "En perumal-a kudu" were the harbinger of doom. High pitched, irritating, murder-inducing, annoying - Asin managed it all and more!
Why on earth could not the character Fletcher who seemed to kill everyone else at first glance not have killed Asin on a priority basis? I think it was his devious plan to try to drive Govindraj to suicide due to unbearable torture by giving him Asin's constant company. Seeing the sheer number of places where Asin could have been bumped off convincingly and yet was still left alive was like being denied candy after being taken all the way to the checkout counter again and again.
By the time the end of the movie rolled around, I was eagerly awaiting it. There did not seem to be any other way out of watching the torture called Asin.
To be fair to Asin, unlike Ash's role in Dhoom-2 which *might* have been saved by a better actress, *anyone* performing Asin's role in Dasavatharam would have been equally horribly annoying. Which is why I have decided to let Ash retain her title of most annoying performer ever. But let me tell you, it is a very very narrow victory.
By,
Archana (http://archana.blogspot.com)
Monday, June 09, 2008
Response to 'IPL'
Venky’s post here got Arunabh to comment – at length. I felt his response might get lost as a comment, hence here it is as a post :
I liked this post so much that I had to read it twice. And I totally agree with whatever you have said to the last word. IPL is nothing but one giant corporate monster that is slowly but steadily going to swallow traditional cricket. Expectedly, people thronged the stadiums in large numbers to watch this ultimate cricketing tamasha. The sad part is that a majority of the audience went there to catch a glimpse of the Preity Zintas and Shahrukh Khans rather than watch the 'Cricketing Gods' in action. Not to forget the omnipresent Vijay Mallya with the dumb Katrina Kaif in tow. As if this was not enough, there were the girls from Washington Redskins gyrating to numbers which made no sense to them. And the capacity crowd leered and cheered!
T20 is silly because you are expected to hit a six off every ball. Batters wield the bat like a sledgehammer throwing all cautions to the winds. A bowler can only hope to bowl a containment line. Warne need not produce a "ball of the century" to snare a wicket. If he's lucky enough, the batsman will be caught in the deep. Otherwise, he is unlucky. Guys like Swapnil Asnodkar, who score runs only via edges and nicks, become instantaneous prodigies. While the real batting greats like Dravid and Kallis are subjected to public humiliation by a man who doesn't even know the C of Cricket.
Once in a while, T20 is understandable. Having a T20 spread over more than a month is only going to kill the traditional but thoroughly enjoyable forms of the game viz. test cricket and the one-dayers. But then, T20 rakes in the moolah and in all probability, is here to stay. Meanwhile, the diehard fans should start following 'Golden moments of World Cricket' on Star Cricket.
By,
Arunabh
(http://fitsoffantasy.blogspot.com)
I liked this post so much that I had to read it twice. And I totally agree with whatever you have said to the last word. IPL is nothing but one giant corporate monster that is slowly but steadily going to swallow traditional cricket. Expectedly, people thronged the stadiums in large numbers to watch this ultimate cricketing tamasha. The sad part is that a majority of the audience went there to catch a glimpse of the Preity Zintas and Shahrukh Khans rather than watch the 'Cricketing Gods' in action. Not to forget the omnipresent Vijay Mallya with the dumb Katrina Kaif in tow. As if this was not enough, there were the girls from Washington Redskins gyrating to numbers which made no sense to them. And the capacity crowd leered and cheered!
T20 is silly because you are expected to hit a six off every ball. Batters wield the bat like a sledgehammer throwing all cautions to the winds. A bowler can only hope to bowl a containment line. Warne need not produce a "ball of the century" to snare a wicket. If he's lucky enough, the batsman will be caught in the deep. Otherwise, he is unlucky. Guys like Swapnil Asnodkar, who score runs only via edges and nicks, become instantaneous prodigies. While the real batting greats like Dravid and Kallis are subjected to public humiliation by a man who doesn't even know the C of Cricket.
Once in a while, T20 is understandable. Having a T20 spread over more than a month is only going to kill the traditional but thoroughly enjoyable forms of the game viz. test cricket and the one-dayers. But then, T20 rakes in the moolah and in all probability, is here to stay. Meanwhile, the diehard fans should start following 'Golden moments of World Cricket' on Star Cricket.
By,
Arunabh
(http://fitsoffantasy.blogspot.com)
Saturday, June 07, 2008
IPL
I distinctly remember that morning. I opened the news-paper and read that Juhi Chawla, among others, was buying her own cricket team! Cricket, for me, died that a.m.
What the hell was wrong with the world? Why was a Kurkure-salesman buying a cricket team? And she probably spelt the game with a K! The ball had begun hurtling down the slippery-slope. Soon there was talk of million-dollar salaries being offered. That’s when I realized what IPL stood for. International Prostitutes’ League.
With each passing day, I saw with dismay how the sports-writers/television anchors/media-pundits were going into frequent orgasmic frenzies, talking (very infrequently) about how this would help the game, and frothing (very frequently) about the money being spent! And all this, in our typical way, was in some perverse fashion an indicator of India’s coming of age. The new India!!! A resurgent world-conqueror (who’d stay benign, nevertheless) who was on the march. An irresistible march. And I was reminded of the old Confucian saying, ‘Thumping chests makes ribs crack!’
And then the big stars entered the league. A pseudo-playboy who makes money out of selling hooch; a superstar whose gamut of expressions runs from A to B; a billionaire whose broad shoulders carry the mantle of Corporate-India; an ex-drug convict posing as an executive in charge of the carnival; a dimpled actress who suffers from terminal hug-itis ………the list grew and grew as I watched in fascinated horror.
The not-so-poor cricketers were photographed alongside these stars, and their discomfort was evident in the sheepish smiles they flashed. There is something completely artificial about a ‘successful’ businessman/actor that these players couldn’t fathom, yet they were taken in by the bonhomie-act that both types put on so well. Soon, the sheepish smiles gave way to an arrogant smirk as the cricketers found their feet. And I watched on in dismay.
Then the tournament began. Nearly every newspaper carried almost 4 pages of news about the International Prostitutes’ League. The stadia were full. There was talk of a new generation being drawn to the game. This new generation included boys who wore their caps backward and flashed hand-signs popularized by rap-artistes. And girls who thought saying, “He’s soooooooo delicious” meant they finally understood the game! And I watched on in anger.
The commentators whipped the crowds into a frenzy. Every ungainly shot was applauded, cheered, placarded, and no matter where the camera turned, there were the same faces. Lips drawn back in a rictus that was supposed to convey enjoyment, eyes bulging out, hands splayed in the air, and jumping up and down. All around. Everywhere. Faces mirroring faces. And the commentators droned on about how the game had entered a ‘new era’. About how important it was to ‘move with the times’. About how excitement could be so easily manufactured! And I watched on in frustration.
Till one day, I couldn’t take it anymore. And I began conducting an informal survey of my own. My questions were very simple, that anybody who’d followed the game genuinely would easily answer :
Who were the three Ws?
Would Bill O’Reilly be considered great if he were to play today?
Why was Sobers’ first test century so very special?
Have you ever been to a stadium to watch a test-match?
And a few other questions. It was simple, ridiculously so. The idiot-generation, the new-converts to cricket hadn’t a clue!!! And I smirked!
I shouldn’t have been horrified, though. I would complain about the decline of test-cricket loudly and frequently to my friends. I believe the first step was taken with the introduction of helmets in the late 70s. While everybody will tell you that the sport is about talent and stamina and patience, not many will tell you that it is also built around fear. The fear of being hit by a ball can act as a wonderful spur to a batsman to be technically correct. And that fear was lessened considerably when helmets made their appearance. The natural result of this, over the decades, is the quality of players today.
There was this wonderful novel called ‘My God Died Young’ dating back to the late sixties by a Sasthi Bratha. I think the title is perfect for my relation with cricket today. Cricket is dead. Long live the poofters who wax their eyebrows and perm their hair and call themselves cricketers. At a pinch, they could probably shed their gear and join the gyrating cheer-leaders at the boundary!!!!
There are already acrobats, fire-eaters, motor-bike riding stutmen and other assorted clowns at cricket grounds nowadays. Why don’t they throw in a couple of elephants, call it the GRC and be done with it?
GRC, you wonder? That’s an acronym for Great Rayman Circus.
And for all the morons who think this is cricket, you also probably believe in the whole ‘India Shining’ bit, too. Oh well, delusions are good. Let us all delude ourselves and live happily ever after!!!
JAI EVERYTHING!!!
By,
Bhankee
What the hell was wrong with the world? Why was a Kurkure-salesman buying a cricket team? And she probably spelt the game with a K! The ball had begun hurtling down the slippery-slope. Soon there was talk of million-dollar salaries being offered. That’s when I realized what IPL stood for. International Prostitutes’ League.
With each passing day, I saw with dismay how the sports-writers/television anchors/media-pundits were going into frequent orgasmic frenzies, talking (very infrequently) about how this would help the game, and frothing (very frequently) about the money being spent! And all this, in our typical way, was in some perverse fashion an indicator of India’s coming of age. The new India!!! A resurgent world-conqueror (who’d stay benign, nevertheless) who was on the march. An irresistible march. And I was reminded of the old Confucian saying, ‘Thumping chests makes ribs crack!’
And then the big stars entered the league. A pseudo-playboy who makes money out of selling hooch; a superstar whose gamut of expressions runs from A to B; a billionaire whose broad shoulders carry the mantle of Corporate-India; an ex-drug convict posing as an executive in charge of the carnival; a dimpled actress who suffers from terminal hug-itis ………the list grew and grew as I watched in fascinated horror.
The not-so-poor cricketers were photographed alongside these stars, and their discomfort was evident in the sheepish smiles they flashed. There is something completely artificial about a ‘successful’ businessman/actor that these players couldn’t fathom, yet they were taken in by the bonhomie-act that both types put on so well. Soon, the sheepish smiles gave way to an arrogant smirk as the cricketers found their feet. And I watched on in dismay.
Then the tournament began. Nearly every newspaper carried almost 4 pages of news about the International Prostitutes’ League. The stadia were full. There was talk of a new generation being drawn to the game. This new generation included boys who wore their caps backward and flashed hand-signs popularized by rap-artistes. And girls who thought saying, “He’s soooooooo delicious” meant they finally understood the game! And I watched on in anger.
The commentators whipped the crowds into a frenzy. Every ungainly shot was applauded, cheered, placarded, and no matter where the camera turned, there were the same faces. Lips drawn back in a rictus that was supposed to convey enjoyment, eyes bulging out, hands splayed in the air, and jumping up and down. All around. Everywhere. Faces mirroring faces. And the commentators droned on about how the game had entered a ‘new era’. About how important it was to ‘move with the times’. About how excitement could be so easily manufactured! And I watched on in frustration.
Till one day, I couldn’t take it anymore. And I began conducting an informal survey of my own. My questions were very simple, that anybody who’d followed the game genuinely would easily answer :
Who were the three Ws?
Would Bill O’Reilly be considered great if he were to play today?
Why was Sobers’ first test century so very special?
Have you ever been to a stadium to watch a test-match?
And a few other questions. It was simple, ridiculously so. The idiot-generation, the new-converts to cricket hadn’t a clue!!! And I smirked!
I shouldn’t have been horrified, though. I would complain about the decline of test-cricket loudly and frequently to my friends. I believe the first step was taken with the introduction of helmets in the late 70s. While everybody will tell you that the sport is about talent and stamina and patience, not many will tell you that it is also built around fear. The fear of being hit by a ball can act as a wonderful spur to a batsman to be technically correct. And that fear was lessened considerably when helmets made their appearance. The natural result of this, over the decades, is the quality of players today.
There was this wonderful novel called ‘My God Died Young’ dating back to the late sixties by a Sasthi Bratha. I think the title is perfect for my relation with cricket today. Cricket is dead. Long live the poofters who wax their eyebrows and perm their hair and call themselves cricketers. At a pinch, they could probably shed their gear and join the gyrating cheer-leaders at the boundary!!!!
There are already acrobats, fire-eaters, motor-bike riding stutmen and other assorted clowns at cricket grounds nowadays. Why don’t they throw in a couple of elephants, call it the GRC and be done with it?
GRC, you wonder? That’s an acronym for Great Rayman Circus.
And for all the morons who think this is cricket, you also probably believe in the whole ‘India Shining’ bit, too. Oh well, delusions are good. Let us all delude ourselves and live happily ever after!!!
JAI EVERYTHING!!!
By,
Bhankee
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
NANDIGRAM - West Bengal's Ongoing Shame...
Having just returned from Calcutta, which is still shut down in protest of the ruling Communist Party's (CPM) hardline dealings in Nandigram, I am ashamed to say that this is nothing but a hard look in the mirror for those claiming West Bengal and Calcutta have meaningfully undergone political and economic liberalization.
The extent of the massacre last Saturday, in which CPM militias allegedly massacred suspected Maoist / Naxalite infiltrators in Nandigram, as well as innocent villagers, including women and children, is still unclear. Reports range from 20 to 200 dead, and may more wounded. Bodies were apparently burned and disposed off, and the media and central army peacekeepers are not being allowed in. Protesters in Calcutta, including leading social justice activists and intelligentsia, were arrested.
West Bengal's attempt to convert an erstwhile Communist machinery into a liberal, investment-friendly economy stutters to a halt at times like these. Worse, the Central Government has traded a blind eye for a loosening of the CPM's position on the nuclear deal.
If you want to read more, please check out the following links:
1) The latest spin on the CPM takeover:http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071113/asp/frontpage/story_8542825.asphttp://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Red_terror_grips_Nandigram/articleshow/2536817.cms
2) What the CPM is saying:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Karat_blames_Trinamul_Maoists_for_violence/articleshow/2536814.cms
3) What Saturday was a reaction to:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Nandigram_turns_blood_red/articleshow/1764786.cms
By,
Anamitra Deb
The extent of the massacre last Saturday, in which CPM militias allegedly massacred suspected Maoist / Naxalite infiltrators in Nandigram, as well as innocent villagers, including women and children, is still unclear. Reports range from 20 to 200 dead, and may more wounded. Bodies were apparently burned and disposed off, and the media and central army peacekeepers are not being allowed in. Protesters in Calcutta, including leading social justice activists and intelligentsia, were arrested.
West Bengal's attempt to convert an erstwhile Communist machinery into a liberal, investment-friendly economy stutters to a halt at times like these. Worse, the Central Government has traded a blind eye for a loosening of the CPM's position on the nuclear deal.
If you want to read more, please check out the following links:
1) The latest spin on the CPM takeover:http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071113/asp/frontpage/story_8542825.asphttp://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Red_terror_grips_Nandigram/articleshow/2536817.cms
2) What the CPM is saying:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Karat_blames_Trinamul_Maoists_for_violence/articleshow/2536814.cms
3) What Saturday was a reaction to:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Nandigram_turns_blood_red/articleshow/1764786.cms
By,
Anamitra Deb
Monday, September 24, 2007
Reality Weekend
Thanks to a TV addicted family, and multiple sms from my mother telling me when to watch TV, I ended up spending three hours this weekend watching reality shows on TV. This post is an attempt at catharsis.
My reaction to ‘Nach Baliye 3’ can be summed up thus – ‘cut the cr**, get them on stage and start the dancing’. I am just not interested in what Kashmira said (intentionally or unintentionally) about Rakhi Sawant’s silicon (or lack of it), neither in whether the ten couples think it fair to include Juhi and her yet-undiscovered-Baliye in the competition. ‘Yeh Na Socho Sirf Nach Hoga’, they warned us in the posters, but they did not disclose that what we in for was more ‘Big Boss’ and less ‘Nach Baliye’.
I want foot-tapping music, entertaining dancing and good, wholesome drama – all of which ‘Nach Baliye 1’ delivered. For instance, there was Varun Badola dancing to ‘Khaike Paan Banaraswala’, a version far superior to the Shahrukh Khan one that was in ‘Don’. Remember Varun and Rajeshwari dancing to ‘Banda Yeh Bindaas Hai’ – the salsa / tango they did was amazing ! And there were the comic numbers – Archana Puransingh and Parmeet Sethi dancing to ‘Dariya kinaare ek bangle hoga’ where Archana did a hilarious take-off on a woman applying make-up, and Parmeet dancing to ‘Koi Kahe, Kehta Rahe’ in shorts and a bright yellow shirt. There was tons of drama and emotion too – Archana and Parmeet brought their kids along for almost every episode and always addressed them on-stage after their performance or blew kisses at them, Poonam and Manish cried after every decision – irrespective of whether they were praised or criticised, Saroj Khan added to the drama content by making a 100 rupee note a symbol of success, Delnaz Paul showed us what sycophancy was every time she spoke of Saroj Khan etc etc. There was no dearth of drama ‘in Nach Baliye 1’ but none of it was crass (at least, not that I can remember). ‘Nach Baliye 3’ would do well to incorporate more elements of ‘Nach Baliye 1’, though avoiding crassness might be a wee bit difficult for some amongst the current set of contestants.
Immediately after ‘Nach Baliye 3’, I switched channels to watch an hour of ‘Jhalak Dikhlaa Jaa’, and I must admit, it seemed to promise much more energy, fun and D A N C E than ‘Nach Baliye 3’. From a loyal ‘Nach Baliye’ fan, I may switch to ‘Jhalak Dikhlaa Jaa’. (Makers of ‘Nach Baliye’, please note, I grant you a grace period of one more episode to get your act together.)
Sunday night I devoted to watching the ‘Indian Idols 3’ final. One hardly got to hear Amit and Prashant sing – most of the time the other contestants, judges, guest stars etc were on stage. It seemed more like a dance programme than a singing programme – are all the ‘Indian Idol’ final episodes like this ? All the dance numbers chosen were recent tapori hits – less melody, more noise - so I didn’t enjoy those much. Alisha chose to appear in medieval-queen-whose-split-personality-is-a-whore outfit – it was just awful. The last straw was Mika appearing on the stage for a number – I switched off the TV then and decided to read about the results in the newspaper. I will leave comments about the merits of the winner to Aqua, for a loyal Prashant supporter like her will definitely blog about it (link to Aqua’s previous post about Prashant - http://aquadreamer.blogspot.com/2007/07/prashant-rocks.html).
By,
Zenobia D. Driver
My reaction to ‘Nach Baliye 3’ can be summed up thus – ‘cut the cr**, get them on stage and start the dancing’. I am just not interested in what Kashmira said (intentionally or unintentionally) about Rakhi Sawant’s silicon (or lack of it), neither in whether the ten couples think it fair to include Juhi and her yet-undiscovered-Baliye in the competition. ‘Yeh Na Socho Sirf Nach Hoga’, they warned us in the posters, but they did not disclose that what we in for was more ‘Big Boss’ and less ‘Nach Baliye’.
I want foot-tapping music, entertaining dancing and good, wholesome drama – all of which ‘Nach Baliye 1’ delivered. For instance, there was Varun Badola dancing to ‘Khaike Paan Banaraswala’, a version far superior to the Shahrukh Khan one that was in ‘Don’. Remember Varun and Rajeshwari dancing to ‘Banda Yeh Bindaas Hai’ – the salsa / tango they did was amazing ! And there were the comic numbers – Archana Puransingh and Parmeet Sethi dancing to ‘Dariya kinaare ek bangle hoga’ where Archana did a hilarious take-off on a woman applying make-up, and Parmeet dancing to ‘Koi Kahe, Kehta Rahe’ in shorts and a bright yellow shirt. There was tons of drama and emotion too – Archana and Parmeet brought their kids along for almost every episode and always addressed them on-stage after their performance or blew kisses at them, Poonam and Manish cried after every decision – irrespective of whether they were praised or criticised, Saroj Khan added to the drama content by making a 100 rupee note a symbol of success, Delnaz Paul showed us what sycophancy was every time she spoke of Saroj Khan etc etc. There was no dearth of drama ‘in Nach Baliye 1’ but none of it was crass (at least, not that I can remember). ‘Nach Baliye 3’ would do well to incorporate more elements of ‘Nach Baliye 1’, though avoiding crassness might be a wee bit difficult for some amongst the current set of contestants.
Immediately after ‘Nach Baliye 3’, I switched channels to watch an hour of ‘Jhalak Dikhlaa Jaa’, and I must admit, it seemed to promise much more energy, fun and D A N C E than ‘Nach Baliye 3’. From a loyal ‘Nach Baliye’ fan, I may switch to ‘Jhalak Dikhlaa Jaa’. (Makers of ‘Nach Baliye’, please note, I grant you a grace period of one more episode to get your act together.)
Sunday night I devoted to watching the ‘Indian Idols 3’ final. One hardly got to hear Amit and Prashant sing – most of the time the other contestants, judges, guest stars etc were on stage. It seemed more like a dance programme than a singing programme – are all the ‘Indian Idol’ final episodes like this ? All the dance numbers chosen were recent tapori hits – less melody, more noise - so I didn’t enjoy those much. Alisha chose to appear in medieval-queen-whose-split-personality-is-a-whore outfit – it was just awful. The last straw was Mika appearing on the stage for a number – I switched off the TV then and decided to read about the results in the newspaper. I will leave comments about the merits of the winner to Aqua, for a loyal Prashant supporter like her will definitely blog about it (link to Aqua’s previous post about Prashant - http://aquadreamer.blogspot.com/2007/07/prashant-rocks.html).
By,
Zenobia D. Driver
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Bombay City
Here is what I have come to realize about Bombay in my three years of stay and four years of long distance relationship with the city:
1. They forget to build drains but crib whenever it rains. My guess is the city drains have been shut by a cartel involving all TV channels which get 3 days worth of content every year
2. They build houses that look like matchboxes meant to store prisoners before they are shipped off to Siberia . They can never remember that small space does not translate to nil aesthetics
3. They have zero sense of cleanliness. Which other city do you find people spitting at will on the road, on the stairwell, on other people? And staying in buildings so filthy you need a TT shot just to look at them.
4. They love narrow roads and pollution and come up with weird ideas on what to do in your travel time. I mean, what about the basic question – why would I want to travel so much?
5. They come up with logical explanations on the city being too narrow to accommodate everyone close to their offices, hence the travel time. But the actual idea of building a bridge from new Bombay to south Bombay is too much for them to handle.
6. If they do build a bridge, they are fastidious about getting it right and don’t mind taking their time over it. Look at the Worli-Bandra Link
7. They hate the sunlight and air circulation. That is why they build tall skyscrapers everywhere. Even if some mill lands get freed up, they talk about building parks but that is just to stretch an illusion about their love for nature. It has nothing to do with actual action
8. In fact, they dislike nature and like to obliterate any signs of it. So they build buildings on erstwhile rivers. The ones which are too large to be drained out, they simply kill. Like the fishless lake in Powai.
9. They love having their slums right by their doors so they can get their kick out of seeing how rich they have grown. No, other cities are not hypocrites for hiding away their slums. Their maid servants have slum housing boards or do a 2-hour commute if they stay far away.
10. Their love for fantasy is well known. All their bathrooms and toilets are built for hobbits. So what if humans have to hold their breadth, crouch and lose weight to squeeze into this space
11. Their public transport is the best in the world. Especially if you are young, aggressive and don’t mind F1 kind of accurate timings to jump in and out of trains. Just move somewhere once you grow too old for this.
12. They don’t mind buying a newspaper even if the only thing covered in its 13 page main section, 8 page supplement and the 4 page colour feature is Bollywood.
13. Their range of movies is simply breathtaking – right from Govinda to Bruce Willis. And obviously you are not a patriotic Indian if you want to watch some of the more offbeat foreign language movies
14. They can leverage themselves 10 times over to buy a 1000 sq feet house in the heart of the city with a view of the neighbours dilapidated flat and the pollution from the vehicles on the road wafting up and spend the rest of their lives paying back the debt. Their children will do the exact same thing, moving to a more up market location.
15. They can wait two hours to sit in restaurants around tiny tables with their elbows banging into strangers ordering food that costs half a month’s pay and think they lead a cool happening life
Sure they are super efficient. They have six sigma beating Dabbawallas, shops that are open till 11 in the night, service providers who can be at your house by 7 in the morning. But all so that the average Mumbaikar can be on the right side of sanity in a city waiting to push him over the edge. Still, their claim that they have resilience is definitely true. After all how many people can travel three hours a day in a hot, sweaty train, breathing in the toxic air of their co-passengers’ armpits, reach home too late to meet their kid and still have the energy to do it again, again and again. They need the resilience.
By,
Anita B.
1. They forget to build drains but crib whenever it rains. My guess is the city drains have been shut by a cartel involving all TV channels which get 3 days worth of content every year
2. They build houses that look like matchboxes meant to store prisoners before they are shipped off to Siberia . They can never remember that small space does not translate to nil aesthetics
3. They have zero sense of cleanliness. Which other city do you find people spitting at will on the road, on the stairwell, on other people? And staying in buildings so filthy you need a TT shot just to look at them.
4. They love narrow roads and pollution and come up with weird ideas on what to do in your travel time. I mean, what about the basic question – why would I want to travel so much?
5. They come up with logical explanations on the city being too narrow to accommodate everyone close to their offices, hence the travel time. But the actual idea of building a bridge from new Bombay to south Bombay is too much for them to handle.
6. If they do build a bridge, they are fastidious about getting it right and don’t mind taking their time over it. Look at the Worli-Bandra Link
7. They hate the sunlight and air circulation. That is why they build tall skyscrapers everywhere. Even if some mill lands get freed up, they talk about building parks but that is just to stretch an illusion about their love for nature. It has nothing to do with actual action
8. In fact, they dislike nature and like to obliterate any signs of it. So they build buildings on erstwhile rivers. The ones which are too large to be drained out, they simply kill. Like the fishless lake in Powai.
9. They love having their slums right by their doors so they can get their kick out of seeing how rich they have grown. No, other cities are not hypocrites for hiding away their slums. Their maid servants have slum housing boards or do a 2-hour commute if they stay far away.
10. Their love for fantasy is well known. All their bathrooms and toilets are built for hobbits. So what if humans have to hold their breadth, crouch and lose weight to squeeze into this space
11. Their public transport is the best in the world. Especially if you are young, aggressive and don’t mind F1 kind of accurate timings to jump in and out of trains. Just move somewhere once you grow too old for this.
12. They don’t mind buying a newspaper even if the only thing covered in its 13 page main section, 8 page supplement and the 4 page colour feature is Bollywood.
13. Their range of movies is simply breathtaking – right from Govinda to Bruce Willis. And obviously you are not a patriotic Indian if you want to watch some of the more offbeat foreign language movies
14. They can leverage themselves 10 times over to buy a 1000 sq feet house in the heart of the city with a view of the neighbours dilapidated flat and the pollution from the vehicles on the road wafting up and spend the rest of their lives paying back the debt. Their children will do the exact same thing, moving to a more up market location.
15. They can wait two hours to sit in restaurants around tiny tables with their elbows banging into strangers ordering food that costs half a month’s pay and think they lead a cool happening life
Sure they are super efficient. They have six sigma beating Dabbawallas, shops that are open till 11 in the night, service providers who can be at your house by 7 in the morning. But all so that the average Mumbaikar can be on the right side of sanity in a city waiting to push him over the edge. Still, their claim that they have resilience is definitely true. After all how many people can travel three hours a day in a hot, sweaty train, breathing in the toxic air of their co-passengers’ armpits, reach home too late to meet their kid and still have the energy to do it again, again and again. They need the resilience.
By,
Anita B.
Friday, June 01, 2007
When Thin is Sin
We have figures that make Rubenesque women envious. Waists that can be spanned by a man’s hand, pixie-like bone structure, boobs too insignificant to require support and straight lines where regular people have bulging curves. It’s a body type that forgives the extra cheese on our pizza, and makes us scoff at the boiled veggie options when we are eating out. It’s really fun being petite, except when we go shopping.
That’s when the entire preening and subtle showing off catches up with us in the trial room mirror. When size S is too small and that flowing kurti fits you like a tent, suddenly being petite is not so desirable.
Most of us have had buy Tees and tops from the kid’s section so that it fits right. Few stores that do have XS size available unfortunately have a very small collection which is extremely frustrating.
This is not a ‘poor little thin girl’s call for attention. With most mass manufacturers catering to what they call the Indian woman silhouette (big-hipped and curvy) another kind of Indian woman is left behind. The one with the 24-inch waistline who has as much right and interest in trying on a pair of low-rise flares at Pepe without them falling off.
Many women who are of a petite size shop in the junior section in order to find clothing items that best fit their dimension. This is often frustrating as junior clothing is of a designer typically too young for more mature women who wish to be taken seriously. Usually, petite women end up purchasing clothing that is too large or too long, and then work to have the items specially tailored so it best fits their body. This practice can be costly and time consuming, in addition to having an end product that still does not quite fit right.
While formal clothes are the most problematic for petite people, Indian wear, surprisingly poses problems too. One size-fits-all kurtas look like one-size-fits-two on a petite frame. And salwars get embarrassingly bunched up around the hips when drawn into a too-tiny frame.
I being an adventure sports enthusiast often have had trouble with the right size in shorts and bulkier jackets. I still am kitted out with a kid’s harness when go waterfall rappelling or rock climbing. As my friend Jayesh who conducts these adventure sports activities always jokingly makes it a point to say this harness was specially bought for you. It’s sad that there really is no provision for the petite woman who wants to wear something other than girlish florals and frills.
And while women at the other extreme (the XL sizes) now have specialty stores and product lines that cater to their figures and makes them look slimmer, there is still no special line of clothes to help the petite woman fill out fashionably.
So the next time you pass a petite woman by and envy her concave belly and skinny legs, remember, she has problems too. And most of them start in the trial room.
By,
Anusha
That’s when the entire preening and subtle showing off catches up with us in the trial room mirror. When size S is too small and that flowing kurti fits you like a tent, suddenly being petite is not so desirable.
Most of us have had buy Tees and tops from the kid’s section so that it fits right. Few stores that do have XS size available unfortunately have a very small collection which is extremely frustrating.
This is not a ‘poor little thin girl’s call for attention. With most mass manufacturers catering to what they call the Indian woman silhouette (big-hipped and curvy) another kind of Indian woman is left behind. The one with the 24-inch waistline who has as much right and interest in trying on a pair of low-rise flares at Pepe without them falling off.
Many women who are of a petite size shop in the junior section in order to find clothing items that best fit their dimension. This is often frustrating as junior clothing is of a designer typically too young for more mature women who wish to be taken seriously. Usually, petite women end up purchasing clothing that is too large or too long, and then work to have the items specially tailored so it best fits their body. This practice can be costly and time consuming, in addition to having an end product that still does not quite fit right.
While formal clothes are the most problematic for petite people, Indian wear, surprisingly poses problems too. One size-fits-all kurtas look like one-size-fits-two on a petite frame. And salwars get embarrassingly bunched up around the hips when drawn into a too-tiny frame.
I being an adventure sports enthusiast often have had trouble with the right size in shorts and bulkier jackets. I still am kitted out with a kid’s harness when go waterfall rappelling or rock climbing. As my friend Jayesh who conducts these adventure sports activities always jokingly makes it a point to say this harness was specially bought for you. It’s sad that there really is no provision for the petite woman who wants to wear something other than girlish florals and frills.
And while women at the other extreme (the XL sizes) now have specialty stores and product lines that cater to their figures and makes them look slimmer, there is still no special line of clothes to help the petite woman fill out fashionably.
So the next time you pass a petite woman by and envy her concave belly and skinny legs, remember, she has problems too. And most of them start in the trial room.
By,
Anusha
Monday, May 28, 2007
ECCE HOMO
THWACK!
The startled birds radiated outward along with the horrible sound.
THWACK!
The pain was unbearable, compounded by the muteness.
THWACK!
Limb was rend , agonisingly, from limb.
THWACK!
A gentle, generous life, chopped down in its prime.
THWACK!
The leaves susurrated their fright to the world, in vain.
THWACK!
THWACK!
THWACK!
THWACK!
Last month four trees were murdered in our area. The powers-that-be say it wasn't murder. They say it is PROGRESS.
WEEP
For the sap that curdled and died.
CRY
For the leaves that will rustle no more.
WAIL
For the many generations that lived their stories under the trees. The first kiss, the laughter, the banter, the furtive cigarettes, the meeting up for movies, the arguments, the fights, the unending tea, the friendships, the sighs, the cheers. Gone, all gone.
SHED TEARS
For the proud trunks chopped up into frail toothpicks.
SOB
For the innocent many, who, in their naivete, worshipped the trees, believing in the sacredness of life in all forms.
BLUBBER
For the innocent many who are yet to come, who will never know what they've already lost.
BAWL
For the toothless infant who'll gurgle at a scampering squirrel no more.
LAMENT
the marvel of it all. To take in air and water and create magic. The magic of lightness, beauty, shade, coolness, peace, serenity. All gone, gone forever.
HOWL
At a world gone mad, that so easily destroys what it can never create.
CURSE
The raindrops that hurtle to their death without the leaves to catch them and let them down, gently, to earth.
SCREAM
At the seas who keep moving farther inland in search of their green friends.
SHOUT
At the angry sun who pours his withering, hot scorn on us with scorching intensity.
And when the throat dries up, have a fucking beer and burger in your air-conditioned car parked at that very spot.
ECCE HOMO!!!!!!
By,
R. Venkatesh
The startled birds radiated outward along with the horrible sound.
THWACK!
The pain was unbearable, compounded by the muteness.
THWACK!
Limb was rend , agonisingly, from limb.
THWACK!
A gentle, generous life, chopped down in its prime.
THWACK!
The leaves susurrated their fright to the world, in vain.
THWACK!
THWACK!
THWACK!
THWACK!
Last month four trees were murdered in our area. The powers-that-be say it wasn't murder. They say it is PROGRESS.
WEEP
For the sap that curdled and died.
CRY
For the leaves that will rustle no more.
WAIL
For the many generations that lived their stories under the trees. The first kiss, the laughter, the banter, the furtive cigarettes, the meeting up for movies, the arguments, the fights, the unending tea, the friendships, the sighs, the cheers. Gone, all gone.
SHED TEARS
For the proud trunks chopped up into frail toothpicks.
SOB
For the innocent many, who, in their naivete, worshipped the trees, believing in the sacredness of life in all forms.
BLUBBER
For the innocent many who are yet to come, who will never know what they've already lost.
BAWL
For the toothless infant who'll gurgle at a scampering squirrel no more.
LAMENT
the marvel of it all. To take in air and water and create magic. The magic of lightness, beauty, shade, coolness, peace, serenity. All gone, gone forever.
HOWL
At a world gone mad, that so easily destroys what it can never create.
CURSE
The raindrops that hurtle to their death without the leaves to catch them and let them down, gently, to earth.
SCREAM
At the seas who keep moving farther inland in search of their green friends.
SHOUT
At the angry sun who pours his withering, hot scorn on us with scorching intensity.
And when the throat dries up, have a fucking beer and burger in your air-conditioned car parked at that very spot.
ECCE HOMO!!!!!!
By,
R. Venkatesh
Saturday, May 12, 2007
I Protest
I feel that I have become too much of a conformist and stopped rebelling, am feeling quite nostalgic about my younger, angrier self. To reassure myself that my senses have not been totally dulled by age, have decided to e-protest against things that irritate me – some mundane, some silly, some important.
This just goes to show how old I am – instead of fighting with people, I am compiling lists of things I would like to fight about. Sigh !
- I protest against people who insist that conforming to other people’s norms is the way to live
- I protest against TV channels that sensationalise news and blow stories out of proportion. I especially protest against the crassness of a ticker on a news channel that while describing an incident of alleged marital rape said something like ‘uske pati ne mitron ke saamne usko parosaa’. ‘parosaa’ !!! ‘Rape’ or ‘baladhkaar’ would have sounded far better – in this case, the euphemism sounded much more disgusting than the actual word
- I protest against the low salaries paid to police officers and the defence force. If these people are to save my life (and yours), I want them to be paid better
- I protest against calories, think they should be declared illegal and exterminated. Forever and ever
- I protest against those who submit false rent receipts (or any false receipts) to save tax. I hate paying 30% tax too, but cheating on it brings one down to the level of the politician / bureaucrat who makes money on the sly
- I protest against those who think that everything Indian is bad and everything Amreekan is good
- I protest against those who think that being thin gives them a right to tell fat people what to eat. It’s my life, I will eat what I want, it is nobody’s business but mine
- I protest against people who are anal about ways of writing stuff or ways of doing things. If you want it written / done exactly ‘that’ way, then roll up your sleeves and get to it yourself
- I protest against those who are casual about details and accuracy, and think form is more important than content
- I protest against farters, hypocrites, arrogant people and unkind people
- I protest against those who think they know everything and want to pass on their gyaan to me
- I protest against ungrateful wretches
- I protest against the continued Chinese invasion of Tibet
- I protest against scientists and technologists who can put a man on the moon but can’t make a male uterus (so that men can have babies)
- I protest against the Olympics being held in Beijing – don’t think there has been much reform in China in any domain but economic
- I protest against Abhishek marrying Aishwarya
- I protest against the movie ‘Bheja Fry’ – think it was unkind to make fun of stupid people in that manner
- I protest against townies who make fun of Bandra
- I protest against those who recognised themselves in one of these points and won’t do anything to change the way they are
- I protest against high-heeled shoes and make-up
- I protest against those who are proud of their lack of knowledge of Indian history
- I protest against those who think that not singing ‘Jana Gana Mana’ is cool; also against those who make no effort to remember the lyrics
- I protest against people who point out that ‘protest’ is a verb and ‘I protest against’ is grammatically incorrect
Aah ! I feel so much better now. Think I should do this more often.
List compiled by,
Zenobia.
p.s. Anyone who wants to add stuff to the list, please feel free to add a comment. If there are enough additions, will post a second list.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Does this worry you too ?
This post consists of a bunch of news article (ctrl c - ctrl v ki jai !). I thought these were a matter of concern, so I decided to string them together and run them on the blog.
From whatever I have read about the run-up to the 1962 India - China war, it seems that the Indian government was given multiple warnings about Chinese army incursions into Indian territory but it chose to ignore the same. So I wonder what the truth is this time.
Are the news agencies creating a hullaballoo for the sake of readership / viewership ? Or is the government turning a blind eye to something it should treat as top priority ?
Zen.
From DNA (http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1095181)
China makes new inroads in Arunachal
Rajesh Sinha
Monday, May 07, 2007 09:47 IST
NEW DELHI: As India and China move to resolve their differences over borders, there is one aspect both countries have carefully refrained from talking about: that China has moved up to 20 km into India and grabbed a portion of the 90,000 sq km area of the Northeast that it claims as its own.
Though India has consistently denied that China has occupied its territory, the MP from West Arunachal, Kiren Rijiju of the BJP, said he has received written replies from the ministries of external affairs and defence, indicating that they were aware of the inroads made by the Chinese.
“I have their replies, admitting that there are problems and the government is trying to sort them out,” Rijiju told DNA.
Earlier, the Centre had sought a report from the state on the matter, which resulted in a detailed note being sent to the Union home ministry in 2005 by the state police. The document said the Chinese had started their foray into Tawang district in 2004, covering an unspecified huge area that includes several villages.
According to Rijiju, the areas under foreign occupation include the Sumdorong Chu valley, the Asapila and Lungar camps, large portions of grazing lands used by villagers, and some strategic points. A helipad in Sumdorong Chu has also been under Chinese control for two years, he said.
Repeated attempts by DNA to obtain comments from the Chinese embassy were turned down by its officials.
According to an officer from military intelligence, certain flat stretches in the region have been cleared and levelled for use as helipads. The border is unmarked, which sometimes opens these makeshift helipads for use by both the Chinese as well as the Indian Army.
According to Lokam Tassar, independent MLA from the Koloriang reserved tribal seat, “The Chinese are now 20km inside Taksin and have taken over several camps belonging to the Indian Army.”
In 2006, Chinese Ambassador Sun Yuxi’s statement reiterating Beijing’s claim to a major portion of Arunachal Pradesh had created a flutter in diplomatic circles, but both sides played it down. It now seems, however, that China has done more than simply make verbal claims.
Security agencies say that the recent incursion began in the winter of 2003 and was noticed when an Indian Army patrol found the Chinese occupying what had been an Indian outpost. In the absence of any action from the Indians, the Chinese stayed on and moved in further.
Extent of transgression
Though India has denied that China has occupied territory, West Arunachal MP Kiren Rijiju has said he received word from the ministries of external affairs and defence that they were aware of China’s inroads.
Rijiju said the areas under foreign occupation include the Sumdorong Chu valley, the Asapila and Lungar camps, large portions of grazing lands and other strategic points. A helipad in Sumdorong Chu is also under Chinese control.
According to local MLA Lokam Tassar, the Chinese are now 20km inside Taksin and have taken over several camps belonging to the Indian Army.
The Indian Express : May 08, 2007
Arunachal denies China entry report
Itanagar : The Arunachal government on Monday dismissed as ‘baseless’ a media report that the Chinese army had entered 20 km inside Indian territory at Sanchong-Chu in Tawang. Spokesman Tako Dabi described the news as ‘baseless and unfortunate’.
http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/may/08china.htm
No incursion by Chinese: Arunachal CM
May 08, 2007 19:01 IST
Close on the heels of the defence ministry's denial of a Chinese incursion into Arunachal Pradesh, Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu has said that there was no report that Chinese forces had entered 20 km inside Indian territory at Sumdorong-Chu in Tawang district.
Referring to a statement in this regard made by independent legislator Lokam Tassar and quoted by a television news channel on Monday, Khandu said the comments were 'irresponsible, most unfortunate and unsubstantiated utterances.'
Khandu told media persons in Guwahati while on his way to New Delhi on Monday that the Chinese have been claiming Arunachal Pradesh as their territory but there have not been any incursions.
Chinese forces had crossed the Line of Actual Control and occupied Sumdorong-Chu Valley and Asapila and Lunger areas in Tawang district in 1986.
In the absence of a properly delineated LAC, troops from both sides wandered into each other's territory, Khandu said.Khandu reiterated that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India and people of the state would never give up their territorial rights.
Just before the visit of the Chinese president to India last year, Chinese envoy Sun Yuxi had claimed that the whole of Arunachal Pradesh was Chinese territory.
Nearly 180 opposition BJP members of both houses of Parliament on Tuesday decided to demand for constitution of a joint parliamentary group to visit the border in Arunachal Pradesh.
Kiren Rijiju, a BJP lawmaker from the state, alleged the Chinese, taking advantage of poor infrastructure on the Indian side, had been 'continuously encroaching' into Arunachal Pradesh at many places along the over 1,000-km-long border.
From whatever I have read about the run-up to the 1962 India - China war, it seems that the Indian government was given multiple warnings about Chinese army incursions into Indian territory but it chose to ignore the same. So I wonder what the truth is this time.
Are the news agencies creating a hullaballoo for the sake of readership / viewership ? Or is the government turning a blind eye to something it should treat as top priority ?
Zen.
From DNA (http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1095181)
China makes new inroads in Arunachal
Rajesh Sinha
Monday, May 07, 2007 09:47 IST
NEW DELHI: As India and China move to resolve their differences over borders, there is one aspect both countries have carefully refrained from talking about: that China has moved up to 20 km into India and grabbed a portion of the 90,000 sq km area of the Northeast that it claims as its own.
Though India has consistently denied that China has occupied its territory, the MP from West Arunachal, Kiren Rijiju of the BJP, said he has received written replies from the ministries of external affairs and defence, indicating that they were aware of the inroads made by the Chinese.
“I have their replies, admitting that there are problems and the government is trying to sort them out,” Rijiju told DNA.
Earlier, the Centre had sought a report from the state on the matter, which resulted in a detailed note being sent to the Union home ministry in 2005 by the state police. The document said the Chinese had started their foray into Tawang district in 2004, covering an unspecified huge area that includes several villages.
According to Rijiju, the areas under foreign occupation include the Sumdorong Chu valley, the Asapila and Lungar camps, large portions of grazing lands used by villagers, and some strategic points. A helipad in Sumdorong Chu has also been under Chinese control for two years, he said.
Repeated attempts by DNA to obtain comments from the Chinese embassy were turned down by its officials.
According to an officer from military intelligence, certain flat stretches in the region have been cleared and levelled for use as helipads. The border is unmarked, which sometimes opens these makeshift helipads for use by both the Chinese as well as the Indian Army.
According to Lokam Tassar, independent MLA from the Koloriang reserved tribal seat, “The Chinese are now 20km inside Taksin and have taken over several camps belonging to the Indian Army.”
In 2006, Chinese Ambassador Sun Yuxi’s statement reiterating Beijing’s claim to a major portion of Arunachal Pradesh had created a flutter in diplomatic circles, but both sides played it down. It now seems, however, that China has done more than simply make verbal claims.
Security agencies say that the recent incursion began in the winter of 2003 and was noticed when an Indian Army patrol found the Chinese occupying what had been an Indian outpost. In the absence of any action from the Indians, the Chinese stayed on and moved in further.
Extent of transgression
Though India has denied that China has occupied territory, West Arunachal MP Kiren Rijiju has said he received word from the ministries of external affairs and defence that they were aware of China’s inroads.
Rijiju said the areas under foreign occupation include the Sumdorong Chu valley, the Asapila and Lungar camps, large portions of grazing lands and other strategic points. A helipad in Sumdorong Chu is also under Chinese control.
According to local MLA Lokam Tassar, the Chinese are now 20km inside Taksin and have taken over several camps belonging to the Indian Army.
The Indian Express : May 08, 2007
Arunachal denies China entry report
Itanagar : The Arunachal government on Monday dismissed as ‘baseless’ a media report that the Chinese army had entered 20 km inside Indian territory at Sanchong-Chu in Tawang. Spokesman Tako Dabi described the news as ‘baseless and unfortunate’.
http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/may/08china.htm
No incursion by Chinese: Arunachal CM
May 08, 2007 19:01 IST
Close on the heels of the defence ministry's denial of a Chinese incursion into Arunachal Pradesh, Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu has said that there was no report that Chinese forces had entered 20 km inside Indian territory at Sumdorong-Chu in Tawang district.
Referring to a statement in this regard made by independent legislator Lokam Tassar and quoted by a television news channel on Monday, Khandu said the comments were 'irresponsible, most unfortunate and unsubstantiated utterances.'
Khandu told media persons in Guwahati while on his way to New Delhi on Monday that the Chinese have been claiming Arunachal Pradesh as their territory but there have not been any incursions.
Chinese forces had crossed the Line of Actual Control and occupied Sumdorong-Chu Valley and Asapila and Lunger areas in Tawang district in 1986.
In the absence of a properly delineated LAC, troops from both sides wandered into each other's territory, Khandu said.Khandu reiterated that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India and people of the state would never give up their territorial rights.
Just before the visit of the Chinese president to India last year, Chinese envoy Sun Yuxi had claimed that the whole of Arunachal Pradesh was Chinese territory.
Nearly 180 opposition BJP members of both houses of Parliament on Tuesday decided to demand for constitution of a joint parliamentary group to visit the border in Arunachal Pradesh.
Kiren Rijiju, a BJP lawmaker from the state, alleged the Chinese, taking advantage of poor infrastructure on the Indian side, had been 'continuously encroaching' into Arunachal Pradesh at many places along the over 1,000-km-long border.
Friday, March 16, 2007
What does 10th March mean to me...
(This blog post is lifted entirely from Aqua's blog (with her prior permission) and can be read at http://aquadreamer.blogspot.com/2007/03/what-does-10th-march-mean-to-me.html )
In the Quiet Land, no one can hear
what is silenced by murder and covered up with fear.
But, despite what is forced, freedom's a sound
that liars can't fake and no shouting can drown.
- Aung San Suu Kyi
Tomorrow is March 10th – the Tibetan National Uprising Day! On this day, 48 years ago, 300,000 Tibetans surrounded the Dalai Lama’s Norbulingkha Place in Lhasa, in order to protect him from an anticipated abduction or assassination plot by the Chinese. Tibetans risked their lives and came out to the streets to protect their beloved leader and to assert Tibet’s independence from China. China’s military response in the following days resulted in the uprising being crushed and the "wiping out" of 87,000 Tibetans within seven months. The Dalai Lama escaped to India and some 80,000 Tibetans followed him into exile.
Ever since then, March 10th has come to symbolize the Tibetan struggle for Freedom, and is a reminder of that eventful day in history, which changed the course of Tibet’s future, and of the lives of so many Tibetans and the Dalai Lama. Rallies and peace marches are held every year on March 10th by Tibetans living in exile all over the world.
However, not every Tibetan born in exile will perhaps remember the March 10th rallies with much misty eyed nostalgia and fondness. Atleast not me! As a rebel kid growing up in Darjeeling, it was one of the many crosses I had to bear, along with the tag of a refugee next to my name. I desperately wanted to fit in with the crowd back then, and if having a Tibetan accent while speaking Nepali wasn’t bad enough, on the 10th of March every day we had to march through the town carrying banners crying “Free Tibet” and “Chinese stop mass massacre in Tibet”. We got special permission to miss school on that day and we would be allowed to wear our school’s special uniform. Being a prim and propah Loreto girl, I didn’t quite look forward to shouting myself hoarse on a topic I had scarce interest in.
While we marched on Mall Road with our banners and placards, we would occasionally hear the locals commenting on us. “Tibet ma paani pardai cha, anta eyta Darjeeling ma chaata odhdai cha”, they would say. Translated this means that ‘it is raining in Tibet and the Tibetans are carrying umbrellas in Darjeeling’. In my heart of hearts I agreed with them. Though it did hurt, somewhere. Perhaps it hurt the Tibetan in me who didn’t want to surface, just as yet. I remember one particular March 10th processesion, where the group of us LC girls debated more on the pronunciation of the world ‘massacre’. We tut-tutted about the way it was being pronounced, raising our eyebrows at this trivial issue rather than concentrating on the rally or giving any thought as to the reason why we were saying it in the first place and the context as it affected us. Tibet and its assorted problems were a world away, and it sounds terrible to say this, but it didn’t really affect me then. Then.
After a few years, March 10th rallies in Darjeeling started fading out. It would of course be held every year, albeit at a smaller scale, and I was no longer forced to attend them. My mother however would unfailingly participate every year, and come home charged with the spirit of ‘rangzen’. I always wondered why she bothered going in the first place. Indifference had turned to cynicism. The whole world knew that nothing would come out of these rallies anyway. There was no hope of China returning Tibet to Tibetans and “rangzen” (Tibetan for Freedom) seemed an impossible dream.
The writer Pico Iyer, born in England to Indian parents, has said that his "Indianness" is asserting itself within him as he gets older. My mother used to say the same thing to me, that as we grow older, our roots inside us grow stronger and stronger. “You will grow more and more Tibetan as you grow older, whether you like it or not”, she had said ominously to me, when I was younger. It turns out that she was right after all. As I pile on the pounds and years, I find that I am growing more and more ‘Tibetan’ by the day. I now ask more questions to my father about Tibet and Buddhism, I love hearing stories about their lives in Tibet, and I now understand my parents better than I ever did before in my life.
My mother used to talk about how she and my grandparents crossed over into India, how they had to leave everything they owned behind and travel on the mountainous passes to India with just one horse between the three of them. My father however, would never talk about his days in Tibet or how he came to India. I knew just vaguely that he had left his family behind in Lhasa and escaped to Kalimpong in the Himalayan foothills in India. He doesn’t like to draw attention to himself and he is one of the most self-effacing and mild mannered people I know.
When I visited Darjeeling last winter, we got to talking about Tibet and about 10th March 1959. I never knew that my father was one of the thousands of Tibetans, who surrounded the Norbulingkha Place on that fateful day, in a desperate bid to protect the Dalai Lama from the clutches of the Chinese. This piece of information amazed me, and made me realize how little I knew of my father as a person, and his history. My father was only a young lad of 14 then. He was part of a voluntary group who had decided to protect the Dalai Lama and prevent him from visiting the Chinese camp. When the Chinese started shelling and bombing the Palace and the city, the crowds broke up, and my father and his group knew then, that they could not return home. They decided to follow the Dalai Lama Lama into exile to India. My father, leaving his parents and sisters behind in Lhasa, escaped to India. My thoughts instantly turned to his family, and to his mother especially. She would have worried for his safety. Now a mother myself, I could not imagine not knowing the whereabouts of my child, and whether she was safe or not. ‘It was a nation in turmoil’, he said. ‘The same thing was happening to all families, not just to us. There was no time to wallow in self pity’.
Hearing this story from my father had a profound impact on it. From being a mere incident in history, it became one with which I had a personal linkage to. It suddenly became very real. I made a mental note to myself to become more aware of Tibetan issues and to participate in future March 10 rallies, not because I have to, but because I want to. Because Tibetans inside Tibet need us to raise our voices for them. We owe it to them, and to all the people who have fought for Tibetan freedom.
Out of Exile…into the streets, is the new war cry of Tibetans the world over this year. March 10th has gained momentum and this is an opportunity for all Tibetans to show China and the world that we have not forgotten our homeland; that the Tibetan cause lives on; that we sincerely believe that Tibet belongs to Tibetans; that Tibetans have a right to govern their own country as they seem fit, and not be slowly annihilated by China. There is cultural and human genocide going on in Tibet, and as the Dalai Lama says, time is running out. If we don’t protest now, it will be too late.
So I am going to be there at the peace rally in Bangalore tomorrow, so show my commitment to the Tibetan cause; to honor my father’s sacrifice; and to contribute in my own humble way to the Tibetan Movement.
I was talking to P the other day about how my blog posts on Tibet hardly get any comments. I post a cartoon or a silly joke, and I have people posting comments. But whenever I write about Tibet, all I get is stony silence. I guess the blog world pretty much mirrors the real life scenario where the Tibet’s cause is swept under the carpet. “This does not mean you should stop writing on Tibet”, P said.
And I wont!
Links:
Read more on the history and events leading up to March 10th here.
The March 10 website.
Watch videos of Tibetans speak about what March 10 here.
US Speaker Nancy Pelosi's statement released the following statement today on Tibetan National Uprising Day. Read it here. It is very heartening to read and is a testimonial to the fact that Tibet has not been forgotten after all.
In the Quiet Land, no one can hear
what is silenced by murder and covered up with fear.
But, despite what is forced, freedom's a sound
that liars can't fake and no shouting can drown.
- Aung San Suu Kyi
Tomorrow is March 10th – the Tibetan National Uprising Day! On this day, 48 years ago, 300,000 Tibetans surrounded the Dalai Lama’s Norbulingkha Place in Lhasa, in order to protect him from an anticipated abduction or assassination plot by the Chinese. Tibetans risked their lives and came out to the streets to protect their beloved leader and to assert Tibet’s independence from China. China’s military response in the following days resulted in the uprising being crushed and the "wiping out" of 87,000 Tibetans within seven months. The Dalai Lama escaped to India and some 80,000 Tibetans followed him into exile.
Ever since then, March 10th has come to symbolize the Tibetan struggle for Freedom, and is a reminder of that eventful day in history, which changed the course of Tibet’s future, and of the lives of so many Tibetans and the Dalai Lama. Rallies and peace marches are held every year on March 10th by Tibetans living in exile all over the world.
However, not every Tibetan born in exile will perhaps remember the March 10th rallies with much misty eyed nostalgia and fondness. Atleast not me! As a rebel kid growing up in Darjeeling, it was one of the many crosses I had to bear, along with the tag of a refugee next to my name. I desperately wanted to fit in with the crowd back then, and if having a Tibetan accent while speaking Nepali wasn’t bad enough, on the 10th of March every day we had to march through the town carrying banners crying “Free Tibet” and “Chinese stop mass massacre in Tibet”. We got special permission to miss school on that day and we would be allowed to wear our school’s special uniform. Being a prim and propah Loreto girl, I didn’t quite look forward to shouting myself hoarse on a topic I had scarce interest in.
While we marched on Mall Road with our banners and placards, we would occasionally hear the locals commenting on us. “Tibet ma paani pardai cha, anta eyta Darjeeling ma chaata odhdai cha”, they would say. Translated this means that ‘it is raining in Tibet and the Tibetans are carrying umbrellas in Darjeeling’. In my heart of hearts I agreed with them. Though it did hurt, somewhere. Perhaps it hurt the Tibetan in me who didn’t want to surface, just as yet. I remember one particular March 10th processesion, where the group of us LC girls debated more on the pronunciation of the world ‘massacre’. We tut-tutted about the way it was being pronounced, raising our eyebrows at this trivial issue rather than concentrating on the rally or giving any thought as to the reason why we were saying it in the first place and the context as it affected us. Tibet and its assorted problems were a world away, and it sounds terrible to say this, but it didn’t really affect me then. Then.
After a few years, March 10th rallies in Darjeeling started fading out. It would of course be held every year, albeit at a smaller scale, and I was no longer forced to attend them. My mother however would unfailingly participate every year, and come home charged with the spirit of ‘rangzen’. I always wondered why she bothered going in the first place. Indifference had turned to cynicism. The whole world knew that nothing would come out of these rallies anyway. There was no hope of China returning Tibet to Tibetans and “rangzen” (Tibetan for Freedom) seemed an impossible dream.
The writer Pico Iyer, born in England to Indian parents, has said that his "Indianness" is asserting itself within him as he gets older. My mother used to say the same thing to me, that as we grow older, our roots inside us grow stronger and stronger. “You will grow more and more Tibetan as you grow older, whether you like it or not”, she had said ominously to me, when I was younger. It turns out that she was right after all. As I pile on the pounds and years, I find that I am growing more and more ‘Tibetan’ by the day. I now ask more questions to my father about Tibet and Buddhism, I love hearing stories about their lives in Tibet, and I now understand my parents better than I ever did before in my life.
My mother used to talk about how she and my grandparents crossed over into India, how they had to leave everything they owned behind and travel on the mountainous passes to India with just one horse between the three of them. My father however, would never talk about his days in Tibet or how he came to India. I knew just vaguely that he had left his family behind in Lhasa and escaped to Kalimpong in the Himalayan foothills in India. He doesn’t like to draw attention to himself and he is one of the most self-effacing and mild mannered people I know.
When I visited Darjeeling last winter, we got to talking about Tibet and about 10th March 1959. I never knew that my father was one of the thousands of Tibetans, who surrounded the Norbulingkha Place on that fateful day, in a desperate bid to protect the Dalai Lama from the clutches of the Chinese. This piece of information amazed me, and made me realize how little I knew of my father as a person, and his history. My father was only a young lad of 14 then. He was part of a voluntary group who had decided to protect the Dalai Lama and prevent him from visiting the Chinese camp. When the Chinese started shelling and bombing the Palace and the city, the crowds broke up, and my father and his group knew then, that they could not return home. They decided to follow the Dalai Lama Lama into exile to India. My father, leaving his parents and sisters behind in Lhasa, escaped to India. My thoughts instantly turned to his family, and to his mother especially. She would have worried for his safety. Now a mother myself, I could not imagine not knowing the whereabouts of my child, and whether she was safe or not. ‘It was a nation in turmoil’, he said. ‘The same thing was happening to all families, not just to us. There was no time to wallow in self pity’.
Hearing this story from my father had a profound impact on it. From being a mere incident in history, it became one with which I had a personal linkage to. It suddenly became very real. I made a mental note to myself to become more aware of Tibetan issues and to participate in future March 10 rallies, not because I have to, but because I want to. Because Tibetans inside Tibet need us to raise our voices for them. We owe it to them, and to all the people who have fought for Tibetan freedom.
Out of Exile…into the streets, is the new war cry of Tibetans the world over this year. March 10th has gained momentum and this is an opportunity for all Tibetans to show China and the world that we have not forgotten our homeland; that the Tibetan cause lives on; that we sincerely believe that Tibet belongs to Tibetans; that Tibetans have a right to govern their own country as they seem fit, and not be slowly annihilated by China. There is cultural and human genocide going on in Tibet, and as the Dalai Lama says, time is running out. If we don’t protest now, it will be too late.
So I am going to be there at the peace rally in Bangalore tomorrow, so show my commitment to the Tibetan cause; to honor my father’s sacrifice; and to contribute in my own humble way to the Tibetan Movement.
I was talking to P the other day about how my blog posts on Tibet hardly get any comments. I post a cartoon or a silly joke, and I have people posting comments. But whenever I write about Tibet, all I get is stony silence. I guess the blog world pretty much mirrors the real life scenario where the Tibet’s cause is swept under the carpet. “This does not mean you should stop writing on Tibet”, P said.
And I wont!
Links:
Read more on the history and events leading up to March 10th here.
The March 10 website.
Watch videos of Tibetans speak about what March 10 here.
US Speaker Nancy Pelosi's statement released the following statement today on Tibetan National Uprising Day. Read it here. It is very heartening to read and is a testimonial to the fact that Tibet has not been forgotten after all.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Terrorism
Terrorism
Reading a column by Irfan Hussain in Dawn about how he has become indifferent to terrorist violence reminded me of most Indians' reactions to terrorist murders around the world recently, in particular my own.
When the Punjab terrorism problem started in the early 1980s, culminating in Operation Bluestar and Indira Gandhi's assassination, people around me had already started getting used to random violence. I remember my mum talking of the news - "Let's watch the news and find out how many were killed and injured today," ("chalo news on karo, pata to chale kitne mare, kitne ghayal"). While funny at the time for the sheer macabre acceptance of the situation as it was then (and still is today), it is at the same time shocking and maddening when I see it in the context of how Americans have reacted to 9/11.
My family were in Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi when it was announced that Indira Gandhi was assassinated. Our neighbors were Sikhs, and they proudly displayed a bronze religious symbol outside their town home. Before we knew what was happening, a mob was entering the locality. Our neighbors were trembling in our house, in one of the inner bedrooms. We had wet blankets down the front of their house to cover the bronze symbol, which we were dousing with water every hour or so to keep the blankets from flying up in the wind. My super-geeky dad and uncle fished out the one hockey stick they had in the storage closet and took turns in the neighborhood patrol, in case there were overnight attacks.
Guess what, we accepted this is outside the norm, but not so much that anyone got fired, or anyone even got sued over. Yeah, the owner of the Volga store in Lajpat Nagar market had his house ransacked and burned, and was ruined, but he was okay. Yeah, there were stories of Sikhs at the railway station who were killed by putting tires around their necks and burning the tires. Yeah there were stories of Sikhs being paraded naked. Yeah the Shiv Sena threw acid bulbs into houses of non-Maharashtrians, and harassed Sikhs in Bombay. But we all kinda shrugged it off - very few of us knew anyone directly involved in the atrocities or upon whom a crime was committed. (You could argue that a crime was committed upon my neighbors, but we just didn't see it that way then.)
The net effect was that when I was in a US government lab and the 9/11 terrorist attacks happened, it was all a bit of "blah". However, the reaction from the people around me shocked me. My officemate was completely stressed out, but that became understandable when he told me that his dad worked in one of the World Trade Center buildings on the 89th floor (his dad escaped just in time). The lab director - who knew no one that was affected - was overcome with tears. People were genuinely concerned. People wanted war, revenge, retribution, something.
But my reaction to it ranged from "Aren't these guys making a big deal of it," to "Wow, these guys really do care, the India I knew didn't care at all when people got killed," to "Pshaw! This is nothing, we lose more people in Kashmir every month, probably!"
Somewhere along the line, the part of my mind that thinks about my thoughts told me that I had become an indifferent monster, and I think that's true.
By,
Speck42[at]gmail[dot]com
Reading a column by Irfan Hussain in Dawn about how he has become indifferent to terrorist violence reminded me of most Indians' reactions to terrorist murders around the world recently, in particular my own.
When the Punjab terrorism problem started in the early 1980s, culminating in Operation Bluestar and Indira Gandhi's assassination, people around me had already started getting used to random violence. I remember my mum talking of the news - "Let's watch the news and find out how many were killed and injured today," ("chalo news on karo, pata to chale kitne mare, kitne ghayal"). While funny at the time for the sheer macabre acceptance of the situation as it was then (and still is today), it is at the same time shocking and maddening when I see it in the context of how Americans have reacted to 9/11.
My family were in Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi when it was announced that Indira Gandhi was assassinated. Our neighbors were Sikhs, and they proudly displayed a bronze religious symbol outside their town home. Before we knew what was happening, a mob was entering the locality. Our neighbors were trembling in our house, in one of the inner bedrooms. We had wet blankets down the front of their house to cover the bronze symbol, which we were dousing with water every hour or so to keep the blankets from flying up in the wind. My super-geeky dad and uncle fished out the one hockey stick they had in the storage closet and took turns in the neighborhood patrol, in case there were overnight attacks.
Guess what, we accepted this is outside the norm, but not so much that anyone got fired, or anyone even got sued over. Yeah, the owner of the Volga store in Lajpat Nagar market had his house ransacked and burned, and was ruined, but he was okay. Yeah, there were stories of Sikhs at the railway station who were killed by putting tires around their necks and burning the tires. Yeah there were stories of Sikhs being paraded naked. Yeah the Shiv Sena threw acid bulbs into houses of non-Maharashtrians, and harassed Sikhs in Bombay. But we all kinda shrugged it off - very few of us knew anyone directly involved in the atrocities or upon whom a crime was committed. (You could argue that a crime was committed upon my neighbors, but we just didn't see it that way then.)
The net effect was that when I was in a US government lab and the 9/11 terrorist attacks happened, it was all a bit of "blah". However, the reaction from the people around me shocked me. My officemate was completely stressed out, but that became understandable when he told me that his dad worked in one of the World Trade Center buildings on the 89th floor (his dad escaped just in time). The lab director - who knew no one that was affected - was overcome with tears. People were genuinely concerned. People wanted war, revenge, retribution, something.
But my reaction to it ranged from "Aren't these guys making a big deal of it," to "Wow, these guys really do care, the India I knew didn't care at all when people got killed," to "Pshaw! This is nothing, we lose more people in Kashmir every month, probably!"
Somewhere along the line, the part of my mind that thinks about my thoughts told me that I had become an indifferent monster, and I think that's true.
By,
Speck42[at]gmail[dot]com
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Raising Girls to be Scientific Citizens
The USA is a funny country. It has never had a female president, and is apparently still not ready for one. Children are routinely asked if they want to be a fireman (boys) or a princess (girls). If you buy a train set for a girl, people look at you askance, accusing you through their stares of wanting to raise your daughter to be a lesbian (I kid you not). Very few people seem to mind that subtle messages are being conveyed to girls all the time via the media, via their toys, and the people around them. These were things that were in the news from time to time, still are, but were pretty remote, and mostly debating points, until Daughter1 was born.
When Daughter1 was born, I had not given much thought to how I would raise a daughter (or a son) ... I had vague ideas of raising my child "scientifically," and looking back, I can see that I had no real Definition of what that might mean. I had, and still have, lofty ideals, such as ensuring that my kids know medical quackery because that can kill them - homeopathy really gets my goat, for example. But three-year-olds are Not usually interested in learning about randomized double-blind placebo-controlled drug trials, and Daughter1 is no exception. I have
managed, however, to teach her to say "semiconductor" and "lugubrious" - "Papa makes semiconductor chips," and "I feel lugubrious today," so that puts me right up there in the league of parents who impose their unachieved dreams on their kids. (I dreamt of being able to say complex words when I was three.)
I did resolve to not impose the stereotypical doctor/engineer career decision on her, which felt like it occurred to my generation in India almost from the day we were born. I had not counted on her fascination for all things medical, and for a nurse in hospital to ask her, when she was about to be 3 years old, if she wanted to become a nurse or a doctor. Daughter1 was hooked - she hadn't realized till then that she could be this Authority figure when she grows up, and resolved that she wanted to be a doctor. Then she saw Toy Story 2, and wanted to be a cowgirl-doctor (actually doctor-ballerina-cowgirl, but I don't think she knew what a ballerina was). In the past week, however, she has decided she wants to be a cashier in her own grocery store, and has promised me free eggs (but not all groceries - for those I will have to pay).
The nurse was an exception - most people ask if she wants to be a princess. For example, when I took Daughter1 to the grocery store, the cashier asked her if she wanted to be a princess. Daughter1 replied that she wanted to be a cowgirl ... I wonder how long that lack of desire to be a princess will last. She already wants to get her ears pierced. Most girls seem to have their Ears pierced when they're a few months old - that's just wrong. Fortunately, Her pediatrician is on my side.
I don't know how long I will be able to protect her from the world of Barbie. At a birthday party for a colleague's daughter (where the father is of similar views), the father confided that he was dismayed at one of the gifts - a princess shoe set, with a set of nine shoes emblazoned with the faces of Disney princesses. A Barbie doll with accessories would have been the ultimate nightmare - how do you explain to a kid who is enamored by shiny choke-hazard plastic accessories and a doll famous for spouting "Math is hard," that you're afraid of the impact it will have on her future ability to soar in her career, that you feel it's inappropriate for her to end up thinking it's okay to be a mindless princess waiting for Prince Charming to come along and carry her off without a proper period of courtship, background checks (for criminal behavior), blood tests, and possibly a dental exam for gingivitis?
How big a problem is the media in all this? Huge, but can't blame anyone too long. The media is successful because that's what people pay for. If people really wanted less stereotyping, why would Disney feel compelled to have Quasimodo turn into a handsome prince at the end of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (Disney-ishtyle)? Is it so bad that the gel in "The Hunchback" liked a fella who was out of the standard distribution. Heck, the whole Cinderella and the Prince-with-foot-fetish story is way older than Disney, though Disney has certainly perpetuated the problem. (Yes, I realize that Disney distributed Toy Story 2, which has a strong female character that led Daughter1 to decide to be a cowgirl. I'm talking gross generalities here.)
Public television is a welcome respite to this, though not without exception. The one exception I know of is the title song in "Maya and Miguel," which is a cartoon about a set of twins, where there is a line That goes, "he leads with his head, and she follows her heart." Why does the sister not use her brains? On the other hand, there's "Arthur," who's mum has a career, who's friend Francine is a soccer-playing bully, and where Muffy is a shopping-addicted object of ridicule. PBS also has "Ruff with Ruff Ruffman," where the girls routinely show that they're as good as
the boys (as they did on "Zoom" before it was cancelled), and Wendy is a perfectly capable builder on "Bob the Builder".
So, now that it's wrap-up time, what am I going to do?
1. Avoid Barbie,
2. Avoid Disney Princesses,
3. If she must watch TV, let her watch Toy Story 2 and PBS cartoons,
but not Maya and Miguel if I can help it,
4. Teach her about exercise,
5. Convince her to always use a seatbelt,
6. Teach her about sensible shoes when she sees women in stiletto
heels, though that will hopefully be a long time away,
7. See what I can do about green leafy vegetables in her diet,
8. Get her started on learning about epidemiological testing and
randomized double-blind placebo-controlled drug trials.
And since she wanted to be a doctor, I've already bought her a toy
stethoscope. The cashier thing is new, I don't know what toys to get
her for that.
By,
Speck42
(speck42[at]gmail[dot]com)
When Daughter1 was born, I had not given much thought to how I would raise a daughter (or a son) ... I had vague ideas of raising my child "scientifically," and looking back, I can see that I had no real Definition of what that might mean. I had, and still have, lofty ideals, such as ensuring that my kids know medical quackery because that can kill them - homeopathy really gets my goat, for example. But three-year-olds are Not usually interested in learning about randomized double-blind placebo-controlled drug trials, and Daughter1 is no exception. I have
managed, however, to teach her to say "semiconductor" and "lugubrious" - "Papa makes semiconductor chips," and "I feel lugubrious today," so that puts me right up there in the league of parents who impose their unachieved dreams on their kids. (I dreamt of being able to say complex words when I was three.)
I did resolve to not impose the stereotypical doctor/engineer career decision on her, which felt like it occurred to my generation in India almost from the day we were born. I had not counted on her fascination for all things medical, and for a nurse in hospital to ask her, when she was about to be 3 years old, if she wanted to become a nurse or a doctor. Daughter1 was hooked - she hadn't realized till then that she could be this Authority figure when she grows up, and resolved that she wanted to be a doctor. Then she saw Toy Story 2, and wanted to be a cowgirl-doctor (actually doctor-ballerina-cowgirl, but I don't think she knew what a ballerina was). In the past week, however, she has decided she wants to be a cashier in her own grocery store, and has promised me free eggs (but not all groceries - for those I will have to pay).
The nurse was an exception - most people ask if she wants to be a princess. For example, when I took Daughter1 to the grocery store, the cashier asked her if she wanted to be a princess. Daughter1 replied that she wanted to be a cowgirl ... I wonder how long that lack of desire to be a princess will last. She already wants to get her ears pierced. Most girls seem to have their Ears pierced when they're a few months old - that's just wrong. Fortunately, Her pediatrician is on my side.
I don't know how long I will be able to protect her from the world of Barbie. At a birthday party for a colleague's daughter (where the father is of similar views), the father confided that he was dismayed at one of the gifts - a princess shoe set, with a set of nine shoes emblazoned with the faces of Disney princesses. A Barbie doll with accessories would have been the ultimate nightmare - how do you explain to a kid who is enamored by shiny choke-hazard plastic accessories and a doll famous for spouting "Math is hard," that you're afraid of the impact it will have on her future ability to soar in her career, that you feel it's inappropriate for her to end up thinking it's okay to be a mindless princess waiting for Prince Charming to come along and carry her off without a proper period of courtship, background checks (for criminal behavior), blood tests, and possibly a dental exam for gingivitis?
How big a problem is the media in all this? Huge, but can't blame anyone too long. The media is successful because that's what people pay for. If people really wanted less stereotyping, why would Disney feel compelled to have Quasimodo turn into a handsome prince at the end of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (Disney-ishtyle)? Is it so bad that the gel in "The Hunchback" liked a fella who was out of the standard distribution. Heck, the whole Cinderella and the Prince-with-foot-fetish story is way older than Disney, though Disney has certainly perpetuated the problem. (Yes, I realize that Disney distributed Toy Story 2, which has a strong female character that led Daughter1 to decide to be a cowgirl. I'm talking gross generalities here.)
Public television is a welcome respite to this, though not without exception. The one exception I know of is the title song in "Maya and Miguel," which is a cartoon about a set of twins, where there is a line That goes, "he leads with his head, and she follows her heart." Why does the sister not use her brains? On the other hand, there's "Arthur," who's mum has a career, who's friend Francine is a soccer-playing bully, and where Muffy is a shopping-addicted object of ridicule. PBS also has "Ruff with Ruff Ruffman," where the girls routinely show that they're as good as
the boys (as they did on "Zoom" before it was cancelled), and Wendy is a perfectly capable builder on "Bob the Builder".
So, now that it's wrap-up time, what am I going to do?
1. Avoid Barbie,
2. Avoid Disney Princesses,
3. If she must watch TV, let her watch Toy Story 2 and PBS cartoons,
but not Maya and Miguel if I can help it,
4. Teach her about exercise,
5. Convince her to always use a seatbelt,
6. Teach her about sensible shoes when she sees women in stiletto
heels, though that will hopefully be a long time away,
7. See what I can do about green leafy vegetables in her diet,
8. Get her started on learning about epidemiological testing and
randomized double-blind placebo-controlled drug trials.
And since she wanted to be a doctor, I've already bought her a toy
stethoscope. The cashier thing is new, I don't know what toys to get
her for that.
By,
Speck42
(speck42[at]gmail[dot]com)
Monday, November 20, 2006
Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai ?
For how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds
For the ashes of his fathers
And the temple of his gods.
Quote at a war memorial in Tawang where the names of all the Indian soldiers who died in the 1962 war are listed.
Until I visited Arunachal earlier this year, the 1962 India-China war was just a number in a history textbook to me, one among many to be mugged up and repeated when asked for. I had no idea about the magnitude of the conflict, or of the extent to which Indian borders had been violated.
Somehow reading about a war or even watching documentaries / movies about it never brings it home to one as forcefully as actually visiting the battlefield does. Though we started out on a trekking plus tourism trip, we ended up getting a forceful introduction to our history, a reminder of our tenuous existence as a nation and a sense of gratitude to the army for being there.
It began one cold morning when the only place we could find that would give us breakfast was an army canteen at a height of 11,000 ft - nothing builds loyalty as fast as hot food and piping hot tea on a cold morning ! Then we drove on, higher still, and reached Sela Pass which was covered in snow. After having spent an arduous two days trekking in snow, watching army jawans at the camp made me really sympathise with those who have to live and work in such conditions for months on end.
A bit ahead of Sela Pass is the Jaswantgad war memorial, a memorial to Jaswant Singh, a Garhwal Rifles Soldier who helped by two local girls, defended his post against the Chinese for three days. I am sure that were this memorial to be in a park in a city somewhere, it would not have evoked strong emotions in me. But here in this lonely, desolate, grand, majestic setting, one cannot look at it, shrug and walk on; something tugs strongly at you. And you
realise that a soldier from an alien land had attempted to own this piece of land, maybe even strutted about somewhere close by assuming that the land would soon be his, and you begin to feel …………angry, hurt, bewildered.
Bewildered because I never realised till then how far into India the Chinese army had advanced, and am amazed that our history books so lightly gloss over this fact. Bewildered because I realise I do not know my country and it’s history at all. Bewildered when later on I see bunkers on the hillside and realise that I never before understood the difference between bunkers and trenches properly. Still bewildered when we drive past Tawang town the next day and find the hillside dotted with bunkers – somehow a sense of the enormity of the war grows on me day by day.
When you go home
Tell them of us and say
For your tomorrow
We gave our today.
Another quote at a war memorial for the Indian soldiers that perished in 1962
By,
Zenobia.
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Is ‘Resilient’ the new ‘Metrosexual’ ?
Every once in a while, a new word appears from nowhere, and before you know it, everybody is using it like it has been around forever. The hottest new cliche is ‘Resilient’. Which means ‘an ability to recover from misfortune’. Since Tuesday, it must have used by every Tom, Dick, and Harry; from news anchors to celebs to activists to politicians.
Bombay laid claim to this title many years ago, when it was serial bombed in response to the Babri Masjid demolition. Since then many a small incident, like the Mulund/Ghatko blasts, the Gateway blasts and now the Terrible Tuesday blasts, and the moniker is firmly Mumbai's.
Even before the pyres were lit, everybody had been falling over each other to congratulate themselves about their resilience, and how they are able to get back to work without skipping a beat. But did we really ?
Take a look at how Bombay reacted. First, the phone companies were blasted for networks getting clogged. When calls started getting through, people ensured that they and their near ones were safe, and promptly started bitching about when the trains would get working.
The fact is, bombings are very finite acts. Either you are hit, or you are safe. And once you are safe you aren't really concerned because it ain’t happening again. It is very easy to talk tough, when the enemy has already left. The much bandied 'you can't keep me down' spirit was missing just a couple of days before when the Sena held the city to ransom. Not knowing what to expect, everybody stayed indoors. Don't want to ding my car, do I ? Going for a drive on Sunday required more balls than getting on to a local train on Wednesday morning. 3 million people travel by the western railway daily. Probability of getting hit could have been the definition of zero. On Sunday night at 8:00 pm dadar wore a deserted look. There was no spirit to be seen, unless it was being consumed indoors.
In 2004 when the metro was bombed in Madrid 190 people were killed. You know what the city did ? 2 million people went on strike in Madrid (population of 3.2 million), 1.5 Million went on strike in Barcelona (population 1.6 million) saying they were not resilient. They said they wouldn't take it in their stride. Overall it is estimated that 28% of Spain's entire population protested on the streets. They wanted answers, and they wanted action. Three days later they voted the incumbent national govt. out of power, saying they wanted somebody to do something.
Here are samples of what our leaders said: In Mumbai, the top cop A.N."Pg3" Roy came out with a blinding pearl of wisdom, "These seem to be planned attacks"(source : ticker on NDTV). Planned as in not for fun? Not spontaneous? I bet the Mumbai police won't be able to set off 7 firecrackers in 7 different locations in a spread of 10 mins. The Chief Minister : "We want the world to know Mumbai is not worried about such events." Not worried ? He was right, we are resilient. When asked about intelligence failure, he said, "Let us not talk about such things today. We need time to conduct investigations." (source : front page article in Business Line, 13/07/06) Such things ? Yeah. When there are bar dancers to be hounded, why bother with terrorists.
So go on Bombay, go back to work. Pretend like nothing matters to you. After all what is 200 people out of 12 million getting blown to bits, as long as my 8:34 shows up on time the next day. Burning buses for a vandalising a statue is ok, but when it comes to bombing trains we don't mind, we need new ones anyway.
Tiger Memon is running businesses in Dubai. Miandad can track Dawood down to marry off his daughter. We don't care. The accused in the Ghatko/Mulund bombings were let off because of shoddy investigations. Does anybody remember? Or is resilience about amnesia as well? The Israelis are still arresting Nazis in Argentina, 60 years after the Holocaust. I guess they refuse to be resilient. Bloody morons. Learn to let go from Mumbai. A N Roy will get promoted. He is being praised. An enquiry will be launched. 500 muslims will be arrested. Then Medha Patkar, Shabana Azmi and Arundhati Roy will protest that minorities are being victimized.
So all my resilient Mumbaikars, I hope we get bombed again. So that we can again engage in self congratulatory forwarding of 'Dear Terrorist' emails.
By,
Nikhil Pednekar
Bombay laid claim to this title many years ago, when it was serial bombed in response to the Babri Masjid demolition. Since then many a small incident, like the Mulund/Ghatko blasts, the Gateway blasts and now the Terrible Tuesday blasts, and the moniker is firmly Mumbai's.
Even before the pyres were lit, everybody had been falling over each other to congratulate themselves about their resilience, and how they are able to get back to work without skipping a beat. But did we really ?
Take a look at how Bombay reacted. First, the phone companies were blasted for networks getting clogged. When calls started getting through, people ensured that they and their near ones were safe, and promptly started bitching about when the trains would get working.
The fact is, bombings are very finite acts. Either you are hit, or you are safe. And once you are safe you aren't really concerned because it ain’t happening again. It is very easy to talk tough, when the enemy has already left. The much bandied 'you can't keep me down' spirit was missing just a couple of days before when the Sena held the city to ransom. Not knowing what to expect, everybody stayed indoors. Don't want to ding my car, do I ? Going for a drive on Sunday required more balls than getting on to a local train on Wednesday morning. 3 million people travel by the western railway daily. Probability of getting hit could have been the definition of zero. On Sunday night at 8:00 pm dadar wore a deserted look. There was no spirit to be seen, unless it was being consumed indoors.
In 2004 when the metro was bombed in Madrid 190 people were killed. You know what the city did ? 2 million people went on strike in Madrid (population of 3.2 million), 1.5 Million went on strike in Barcelona (population 1.6 million) saying they were not resilient. They said they wouldn't take it in their stride. Overall it is estimated that 28% of Spain's entire population protested on the streets. They wanted answers, and they wanted action. Three days later they voted the incumbent national govt. out of power, saying they wanted somebody to do something.
Here are samples of what our leaders said: In Mumbai, the top cop A.N."Pg3" Roy came out with a blinding pearl of wisdom, "These seem to be planned attacks"(source : ticker on NDTV). Planned as in not for fun? Not spontaneous? I bet the Mumbai police won't be able to set off 7 firecrackers in 7 different locations in a spread of 10 mins. The Chief Minister : "We want the world to know Mumbai is not worried about such events." Not worried ? He was right, we are resilient. When asked about intelligence failure, he said, "Let us not talk about such things today. We need time to conduct investigations." (source : front page article in Business Line, 13/07/06) Such things ? Yeah. When there are bar dancers to be hounded, why bother with terrorists.
So go on Bombay, go back to work. Pretend like nothing matters to you. After all what is 200 people out of 12 million getting blown to bits, as long as my 8:34 shows up on time the next day. Burning buses for a vandalising a statue is ok, but when it comes to bombing trains we don't mind, we need new ones anyway.
Tiger Memon is running businesses in Dubai. Miandad can track Dawood down to marry off his daughter. We don't care. The accused in the Ghatko/Mulund bombings were let off because of shoddy investigations. Does anybody remember? Or is resilience about amnesia as well? The Israelis are still arresting Nazis in Argentina, 60 years after the Holocaust. I guess they refuse to be resilient. Bloody morons. Learn to let go from Mumbai. A N Roy will get promoted. He is being praised. An enquiry will be launched. 500 muslims will be arrested. Then Medha Patkar, Shabana Azmi and Arundhati Roy will protest that minorities are being victimized.
So all my resilient Mumbaikars, I hope we get bombed again. So that we can again engage in self congratulatory forwarding of 'Dear Terrorist' emails.
By,
Nikhil Pednekar
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)