Cupid’s sena

Planned your Valentine’s yet? If your love life is set, parents on-board, easy access to each other, future plans all worked out, you need not read further. This post is for the other 99% !!!!

So you think your love life is absolute movie material, the villanous parents, the cruel society, the longing, the yearning and in contemporary terms, the ‘emotional atyachaar’ which just doesnt end? Dont worry, help is here. Make a note of the following plan:

1. Buy return tickets to Mangalore to be able to stay there on 14th.

2. Walk out, hand-in-hand with your should-be, on the streets. TIP: Carry a bunch of roses or a stuffed toy, a little bit of PDA could be advised as well.

If one were to believe the words of the saviors of my Indian traditions, you would be married off duly at a registrar’s office !! And the best part, the marriage would be legal, regardless of your respective religions or castes !! I wonder why these noble men are then being ridiculed by the intelligentsia of our society. The vent to their frustrated lives is actually a boon to hundreds, if channeled cleverly !!

Well, on a serious note, who decides what’s in my culture and what’s not? Who re-wrote the basic tenets of the Hindu faith i.e freedom of belief and expresion? I refuse to believe that a religion which can worship gods who drink soma (exclusive wines) and make merriment to the sight of dancing ‘apsaras’, can allow some self proclaimed guardians to exhibit their machismo by assaulting an innocent pub-hopping girl in public.

Anyone who has bothered, even as much as, to pick up a few Hindu texts would know that there’s no stagnant sets of rules which have defined  it forever. And that precisely, is the beauty of it. The beauty which makes, even a person like me, of agnostic tendencies, feel proud of it. The 330 millions gods we worship are 330 million different expressions of faith. It’s a culture where a Meera can flout all social norms and still be regarded in history as the epitome of devotion. A culture where a social worker from Shirdi, of unknown religous origins can be revered as an incarnation by millions, no questions asked. A culture where a Public Display of Affection (Raasa leela) by the lord himself is adored and re-told in millions of temples everyday!!!!

We tought the world the art of kamasutra. We gave the world the temples adorned with erotic sculptures. And despite all the supposed traditions and taboos, we still managed to give to the world around 17% of it’s population !!!! What then, are these poor-misguided guardians of my culture trying to protect us from??

Not everyone will, so let me tell you that God is not really so insecure of being invaded by foreign traditions. Actually you see, nothing is foreign to my God in the first place.

Happy Valentine’s day !!

 

For the love of God…

Another blood-bath, another massacre in the name of God. The power-bearers, trying to get the most mileage, not much different from the swarms of flies which haunt the battered corpses. A proud bunch of cowards, smearing shame on divinity, botching the holy month with stains of innocent blood.

I look up to the sky and wonder, why did man evolve the intellect to imagine things beyond the stars in the skies. What would the world be like, if we hadn’t imagined that the skies contained within them, powers much greater than the heat of the sun, or the gentleness of the moon and the charms of the twinkling stars. How can a supreme being, who never bothers to represent himself beyond stories and folklores become more important than my fellow brethren who inspire faith in me through their lives everyday.

“Yada Yada Hi Dharmasya

Glanirva Bhavathi Bharatha,

Abhyuthanam Adharmaysya

Tadatmanam Srijami Aham’.

<– “Whenever there is decay

of righteousness O! Bharatha

And a rise of unrighteousness

then I manifest Myself!” –>

Have we ever wondered why it doesnt say… “yada yada hi hindu dharmasya ….”

or “yada yada hi islam dharmasya ….”

It seems, our forefathers learned the secret to coexistence centuries ago, and left it to us as their inheritance. We, the shameless inheritors, have let them down, yet again today.

 

The Lone Traveler

The beginning was blurred; there was a lot of hullabaloo around him. He was wrapped up, taken care of and treated like a prized possession. It was certainly not telling of the journey which lied ahead of him. Assured by his creator of a purpose, he was soon on his own. Moving on, traveling through lives, touching people, craving for a bond. A bond, which was not ordained for those who were of his kind. Yet he traveled, knowing that it would not all be wasted in the end.

People came and went. Some say, he came and went. The change was the routine of his life. And his destiny was like a child, who would not let the sand settle in a jar of water. Shaking up his world even before he could make it his own. Keeping up the beacon of hope was not easy. It was not easy to keep himself going, filled with hopes of achieving a travelogue which would be worthy of a proud final rest.

His creator had stamped him with his own indelible mark. That the stamp made every creation of his as special as the rest, was commonly rumored. However it didn’t take long for him to realize that more than all the valuable reflections of his creator’s identity, it was something else which was really of value to the world. Some called it his worth, some called it a number and many others would just make up new adjectives to describe it. And strangely, his entire self, which glowed with the impartiality of his creator, was marred by one attribute which was not the same as all others. He had heard that his kind was not the only one cursed with such attributes. Religion, color, caste and creed, although unheard among his kinds, were very much a reality for men. The fact that they were separated from their own brethren by one unnecessary attribute, gave him a feeling of bonding with mankind.

And then, in the countless days that made his journey, came a day which made it the journey. He never forgot that tender touch, the fragrance of excitement in those hands and the radiance of hope in that smile. He realized, for the first time, the distinctness didn’t matter. To this person, he meant all the worth in the world. And for the first time, someone called him his own. That longing, that bonding which had always been missing in his rest-stops, had finally been found in this person. And for the first time after his creator, someone marked him, without soiling him. Shall he call this the purpose? Is this what his creator wanted him to provide to this machinery of existence. He would like to believe that, because he knew his journey was over. Although he was soiled from his travels but the long wait for a proud final rest had been rewarded.

Life, no-one told him, is the most exciting of all lovers. She comforts you when you are in discomfort. She wakes you up to pleasant mornings after a well deserved night of rest. She surprises you with charms un-imaginable. She makes you work hard, lest you get complacent about her assured presence. She rewards you with brief spells of love, to lure you into the effort that the relationship is. And just when you feel like you are home, she moves on, leaving you alone with an unfinished fate which will never be completed by anyone else. Just like that, when he thought he was home at last, he was on the road again. Those hardworking hands, let go of him, exchanging for something which promised more.

I began my morning oblivious to the presence of ‘the lone traveler’. As I reached into my wallet and pulled out the worth of my breakfast, my eyes caught the mark on the lone traveler. Instantly my hand retracted from the reach of the cashier. I took a close look at him and something within told me, this traveler would not be moving on for my breakfast. Pocketing him instantly, I reached back into my wallet and pulled out another traveler and handed him over to the cashier. As I stepped aside from the anxious queue behind me, I stopped and pulled him out of my pocket and read the mark left by that bond which changed him forever. I tried decoding the botched English and Hindi words, and read this “My first Salary. – Culcatta – Hamara naam Chandramani Singh – Kalkada”

A gush of memories is stronger than a broken dam which washes out entire villages. The lone traveler brought back a gush, mixed with longing and fondness for that lost mate whom I had once entrusted with my own ‘lone traveler’. I longed to see that mark which I left on my traveler and the enormousness of emotions behind those tiny marks of ink, which no-one else saw. Whether or not those emotions are rewarded, I know my traveler deserved to be rewarded, for sacrificing himself so I could participate in an important exchange of emotions with my lost mate.

I knew when life forced the Bengali to part ways with his own traveler; he left the mark so that someone, who could afford it, would give him the much deserved rest. And as a symbol of my respect for their un-acknowledged efforts, I promised this lone traveler, “You are resting with me, till I can afford it!! Because somewhere on some unknown streets, my own traveler would be waiting for his unfinished fate to be fulfilled, may be on the streets of Culcatta…”

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Wondering what triggered this randomgiri ?? .. here it is …

 

Inside Out

Ever rushed through while wearing a sweater and suddenly realized you got it wrong and it’s supposed to be inside out. What did you do? I know, silly question. You immediately reached in to the sleeves, held the other end and pulled it inside out. Bingo!! You’re good to go!!!

Ever rushed through life and suddenly realized, you got it all wrong!! Have you ever wished, if you could just reach back into that sleeve and pull the other end and reverse everything with a swift effortless motion? That’s what HG Wells was talking about!! No matter how far back that fond memory is, no matter all that went wrong in between, no matter how unfair life was, just reach into that sleeve and pull that other end, that fond memory, inside out!!

Today was one of those days… again. Don’t know how, this song has been on my mind since evening, it goes like this ‘Yeh waqt na thehra hai ….’. It’s not a movie song, so stop whacking your brains!! Back in those days when we were innocent enough to stand in queues during the School’s Morning Assembly but old enough to think it was lame, we used to sing this song. Somehow today, this song has so much meaning!! My school music teacher would be very proud!! So basically I reached inside the sleeve to catch hold of the other end, this song, and after 30 minutes of googling finally managed to pull it out!!

Here’s how the song goes (I’ve translated it to English, for everyone’s sake)

….

Yeh waqt na thehra hai, yeh waqt na thehrega

(Time never stopped in the past, nor will it stop in the future)

Yun hi guzar jayega, ghabrana kaisa

(It will pass you by just like that, so why be afraid?)

Himmat sey kaam lengey, ghabrana kaisa

(Let’s be brave about it, Why be afraid?)

….

Sukh dukh toh jeevan mein, aatey aur jaatey hain

(Happiness and Sadness come and go in life)

Dukh pehley aa jaye toh, ghabrana kaisa

(So what If sadness came first?.. Why be afraid?)

Himmat sey kaam lengey, ghabrana kaisa

(Let’s be brave about it, Why be afraid?)

….

Jo aaya duniya mein, usko jaana hi hai

(Who came to this world, Has to go back too)

Apney bhi chaley jaayein toh ghabrana kaisa

(So what if some one you loved had to go, why be afraid?)

Himmat sey kaam lengey, ghabrana kaisa

(Let’s be brave about it, Why be afraid?)

….

Jab Kadam badaya hai, Manzil mil jaayegi

(If we’ve dared to take the first steps, we’ll find the destination too)

Hai raah zara mushkil toh, ghabrana kaisa

(So what if the journey is a bit difficult, Why be afraid?)

Himmat sey kaam lengey, ghabrana kaisa

(Let’s be brave about it, Why be afraid?)

….

Hum, yug sainanee hain, himmat sey kaam lengey

(We are fighters of this era, and we’ll be brave)

Manzil pey nazar hogee, guruvar ka naam lengey

(Let’s keep our eyes on the destination and remember our teachers and their teachings)

Vipreet dishaon sey fir, ghabrana kaisa

(Then why be afraid of all the opposite directions we may choose)

Himmat sey kaam lengey, ghabrana kaisa

(Let’s be brave about it, Why be afraid?)

Yeh waqt na thehra hai, Yeh waqt na thehrega ….

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Yeah, I know, we can’t really pull the sleeve inside out, but this is good enough, I’m good to go!!

PS: If you wanna listen to the song click here: http://www.awgp.org/audio/songs/jaguthabharat/jaguthabharat_ye_waqt_na_thahra_hai.mp3

For more of those old, school assembly songs click here: http://www.awgp.org/gamma/AudioSongs

 

Staying afloat

Do you remember the time when you started learning how to ride a bicycle, or the first time you entered a swimming pool? You started off with some support, and the knowledge that you had someone (or something) to fall back on. You could rely on your big-bro holding the bicycle for you. There was that reliable floating aid to keep your head above the water. You turned around and told your bro, ‘don’t let go!!’ And he assured you he won’t… but, he did. And you probably fell down, shouting at him for lying to you. At that moment, it was difficult to comprehend why he did that. It was difficult to imagine entering water without a life-jacket on.

Now, flash forward a few years. Imagine your big-bro still running after you, while you pedal the bicycle, just in case you went off-balance after hitting something on the road. Imagine swimming with your life jacket on, all the time. Doesn’t sound much fun, does it? Well, sometime back a friend provoked this thought in me and I asked myself, isn’t a life-jacket actually the worst thing to happen to an aspiring swimmer. If they were never invented, we would all just learn to swim better, because we would know, we are on our own. It would be entirely up to the swimmer to make every possible effort and take every possible precaution to make sure his/her head stays above the water.

Isn’t that what life is also about. Learning to keep your head above the water? We meet people, make friends, fall in love and basically at some level, we are accumulating life-jackets, to fall back on, to keep us afloat when we screw up. Isn’t, by that logic, your life-jacket actually your worst enemy? An enemy who assures you that it’s okay to screw up, because it’s there, for you, always. It sure does save you, but it never teaches you how to keep your head above the water. It basically rewards your weaknesses and mistakes.

Have you ever feared what if you go through an entire life-time, accumulating life-jackets and never really learning to swim on your own? People say life is an adventure. Is an adventure really adventurous, when you know you can not drown or get hurt?

Okay, why stop here; let’s take this a step further. Haven’t we been taught since child-hood, ‘A friend in need is a friend indeed’? I asked the same friend who started this chain of thoughts. Isn’t it wrong at a basic level? If your friends are always there, to catch you falling, you will never learn how not to fall over. Let me present my dilemma. If I always strive to be there, when a friend needs me, unconditionally … always. And after some time I realize that my being un-conditionally available as a fall back is actually the reason my friend goes ahead and recklessly screws everything up again and again. Am I being the life-jacket which is rewarding my friend for failing to learn from his/her mistakes and stay afloat on his/her own? I know the thought is very unilateral and unrounded, but still worth a thought, isn’t it?

Let me stretch your patience a little further and ask you, What If thousands of years ago, the giraffes had monkey friends who would climb up the tree and throw leaves and fruits down for them to eat? Give it a thought!!

PS: Blessed are those who have life-jackets which never fail and big-bros who never stop running besides them !!

 

A box of chocolates, no more.

“Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get”, said a wise-man’s mom. What no one told you was, that Life can also be like a big bully, who will snatch the best of what you pull out of that box of chocolates. She leaves you crying and desperate for what you lost, and waits to make a second round next time you pull out something from the box. Such is her nature.

 

My little sister, Srishti, left us, for her onward journey to heavens this month. She was 24. She possessed the purest of hearts, was the most generous in her actions, always thought for others and loved everyone unconditionally. Everyone who had ever been touched with her friendship or love would know how grave the loss is and how time would never be able to heal what fate has inflicted.

 

Srishti was different. She would donate blood without telling people. She would give away her lunch box if she found someone else who needed it. She would never be tired of caring for the old or pampering the kids. She never stopped from loving someone because they were strangers. Everyone got much more than just benefit of doubt.

 

Life moves on. But what if for once, you don’t want it to move on? What if you want it to standstill and acknowledge that the world is never going to be the same again. The normalcy is sickening. You want to hate everything which is normal. You want to hate the people who still keep cribbing about their petty worries, you want to hate the traffic which keeps racing and killing people as usual, you want to hate the hunger and thirst which you still feel as usual, you want to hate everything that survived and moved on. You want to hate yourself.

 

Whenever I would pack bags while leaving home after a holiday, Srishti would keep telling me to take all sort of things, her books, her pens, her notepads and what not. I would tell her, I don’t need them, but she just couldn’t stop. She wanted to make sure I never fall short of anything I might ever need. In her short life, she has packed enough love and memories for each of us to last a life time. She knew we’ll need them.

 

“Dying, is a part of life”, said the wise-man’s mom. I don’t know about death, but Srishti is, and will always be.

 

–

 

For those of you who share the loss, I would also like to share these precious memories of her.

 

PS: We lost Srishti to a motorcycle rider who was trying to save a 100 meter distance by driving on the wrong side. Observing traffic safety at all times is important and it starts with you. Please observe traffic safety at all times.

 

Let’s talk music

Picture this: Two Indians and one Chinese driving together and a CD of Hindi songs playing. Do you know what happens? Well, re-discovery!!!

Frank, my Chinese roommate every now and then asks us (me and Chaitanya, the indians), what the people in those songs are singing. Everytime I answer him, it’s a re-discovery. It’s like going out for a morning jog (or a late night drive). The same places, the same signboards, the same streets, but totally different sights.

It started off with a song which had been stuck in Frank’s mind since years. Yes, it’s a hindi song!! The legendary ‘Awara hoon…’. Frank can only hum it, vaguely. And it took us a long time to decode which song he was humming. Instantly, Frank asked us “What does it mean?”. Here’s what I attempted.

“I’m a nomad, I’m a nomad. Or maybe I’m just a star from the sky, going through a rough time”.

“Wow!!!!” Isn’t it? Something which I’ve been humming since childhood, presented to me in a totally different avatar. Totally touched me, in a way it never did earlier.

Take 2: Chait, Frank and Me driving off to work. Song on the car stereo: “ Allah key bandey” by Kailash Kher. Frank pops the question!! This is what I attempted.

“A bird broke, and it broke such that it never got together again. Who robbed him? And robbed him such that it never flew again.

He fell all the way down on this earth, but in his eyes, there were clouds still. And he kept saying this,

Oh god’s child, please smile. Oh god’s child, please smile.. because whatever it is (that you lost) will come again tomorrow.

That’s when he learnt to fly, when he lost his wings. And he has to keep travelling with the sadness, because the pain is gonna be useful in the future”

Wow!!! Let’s just leave it at that and say no more.

 

Take 3: Chait, Frank and Me, pulling into the parking outside our appt, back from work. Song on stereo: “Dil kabootar-khana hai” from the movie ‘Bollywood Hollywood’.

Here’s my version as narrated to Frank.

“My heart is like a pigeon hole (the thing people put outside their homes where birds can come and feed as they wish to)”

“My heart is like a pigeon hole, and anyone comes and goes as they wish”

Smart isn’t it. A while later I told Chait, “isn’t it funny that we never thought that song actually had a meaning” !!!

I mostly dismissed this song as junk lyrics, unlike the earlier ones which I always held in high regard, except that they never hit me like they did when I tried translating them. We told Frank later next morning about the re-discovery of the meaningful lyrics. Frank popped back the question instantly. The song in the car this time was ‘Dil ney yeh kaha hai dil sey’ from Dhadkan. The female is asking the hero, ‘kaisey aankhein chaar kar loon??’ and I attempt translating this to Frank. I tell him, in hindi lyrics we often use this phrase ‘how can I make my eyes four, from two’… sounds funny..isnt it? Hold on, I tell Frank this is the literal meaning, what ‘Aankhein chaar karna’ (Making your eyes four)really implies is, to look into the eyes of your beloved and get lost in them such that, they are no longer two different pairs of eyes !!!!

Needless to say, I was amazed with myself!! And this phrase, ‘Aankhein chaar karna’ which has been such a trivial part of our jibes and conversations since, forever. I never thought it can be translated to such a beautiful implied meaning.

A few seconds later, Chait and Me are taken by surprise when Frank sings out ‘Kaisey aankhein chaar kar loon’, In pucca bollywood tone and accent!! He’s practicing, so he can woo his wife allover again with a Hindi song. She herself, happens to be a big fan of ‘Awara hoon’. Frank tells us that the movie Awara is a big favourite among the Chinese.

Being the smart guy that Frank is, he’s ready with the next question. “Are most Indians always into this kind of love?”

I tell him, yea. Most of the Indian movies would be like this, dreamy love stories, far away from realty, just the way Indians like it !!!

 

Isn’t it funny? How somethings, which are out there, long forgotten, present themselves to you and you realized how much you have missed because you didn’t pause and spend time with them. Just 5 minutes of effort spent trying to translate these songs for Frank, made me feel sorry for, why I didn’t try doing it earlier. And even funnier is how someone alien to these masterpieces is the reason why I feel closer to them once more, more than ever before.

 

PS: Another example of re-discovery. After almost two weeks of food experiments we had Maggi for dinner today!!! The 2-minute re-discovery !!!!!!!!

 

Closure !!

I want to move on now. And it’s important that I get closure first. So here’s ‘Closure’, (from Mangalore). I came back to bangalore this weekend and on monday took 1hr 45mins to reach office. That’s Bangy, telling me, “Welcome Back” !!!

Anyways, enjoy these pics for now.

The first set is from our trip to Coorg (Madikeri).

The second set is from Panambur beach, Mangalore.

PS: The quality of pics is slightly bad on main page due to resizing. Click to see them in original (better) quality.

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The Troupe (without Durga)

The Troupe (with Durga)

The source of all controversy: Talakaveri, the origin point of river Cauvery

 

 

Atop Brahmagiri hills (Talakaveri)

 

Lots-a-Blue: Atop Brahmagiri hills (Talakaveri)

 

Living on the edge: Peaceful grazing at Karnataka-Kerala border atop Brahmagiri hills

 

Picking Fights: Throwing stones at neighbors (Kerala). Kerala got it’s revenge too, our cell-phones picked up Kerala roaming signals immediately

 

Abbey falls: Peace and Tranquility, Coz I cut the crowds out of the picture !!!

 

Business Plans ka Baap: Paying 300 bucks to bathe an elephant, some genius must have hatched this business.

The elephant kept cursing us for doing this to him on a Sunday morning !!!!

 

Getting Personal !!!!

I broke it’s other tooth… foto key liye maan hi nahin raha tha !!!!

 

Mangalore life @ Panambur beach

 

 

Another shot: Panambur Beach

Moments with self: Panambur beach

 

 

Games @ Panambur beach

 

Two Boats @ Panambur beach !!!!

 

 

Picture perfect: Sunset @ Panambur beach.

 

 

Of Stylish Cops and Pretty Ladies

After considerable procrastination I’ve finally decided to put up another entry here. I’ve been at Mangalore for approx 3 weeks now and have been trying my best to complete my agenda, which I prepared before coming here. It reads as follows:

1. Eat loads of sea-food (Done and doing more)

2. Explore Narayana’s (an eatery specializing in fish delicacies) with Sampath and Surjit. (Done)

3. Go to the beaches (Sadly not yet)

4. Explore some popular tourist attractions which are within reachable limits from Mangalore.(Done a little)

5. Explore the local streets, markets etc (Done and doing)

As you can see, I have been decently successful so far.

Mangalore is kind of mid-way between the laid back gullies of Pondichery and Hip night life of Goa. Politicians and businessmen herald this place as the next economic hub of the country(It’s already quite there). But very contrary to all the economic boom and the hullabaloo surrounding that, every time you go out for a walk on the quite lanes, it feels like you are on a vacation. The easiest way for me to tell you about Mangalore would be to jot down some of the place-holders it has created in my memories. So, here they are.

Narayana’s

This small, unassuming place is a treat for any one who craves for fish delicacies. I heard about this place first, from Sampath and Surjit, the last time I came to Mangalore. It’s situated close to the Taj Hotel, Mangalore. The interiors and the ambiance would make even the smallest of dhabas feel proud. But don’t be fooled by that. The food is spicy, served with fervor and is rich, both in taste and authenticity. If you haven’t been to this place, you cannot claim to have tasted Mangalorean sea food. You might dismiss my excitement over this place as hype if you don’t try it yourself so, let me tell you an incident which will make you believe me a little more. Over tea one evening, I asked a colleague friend of mine for driving directions to the Taj hotel, so that I could go to Narayana’s on my own (assuming he might not know about a small place like Narayana’s I asked for Taj). He didn’t take a second to think about it. “It’s right next to Narayana’s”, pat came his reply !!!

Food

Well, Narayan’s is not the only thing worth mentioning about Mangalorean food. A trip here would be incomplete if you don’t binge on the local sea-food delicacies at least once. You can try many varieties of fishes, served in varieties of preparations ranging from: plain fry, masala fry, tava fry, rava fry etc. Most of the preparations are spicy and rich in flavor. Almost all the places serve good sea food, but it’s always better to get a review from a trusted source before trying a new place. Anjal or King Fish (a member of the shark family) is the most popular of all the varieties of fish and not without a reason. Ask any waiter at any restaurant what he recommends for sea food, and Anjal is almost guaranteed to be on the list!!

Another popular foodie-thing to do in Mangalore is to try out the local ice-cream joints. A ‘localite’ friend of mine told me that eating ice-cream would probably the most popular form of time pass among the junta here. And today I saw why. You’ve got places, as big as the biggest restaurants anywhere, serving nothing but ice-cream !! And loads of varieties of it. The prices are unbeatable and quality, comparable to the best anywhere else.

Evening walks

The best way to get in touch with Mangalore would be to take a stroll in the quite back lanes in the evening. The architecture is mostly contemporary with a heavy influence of French / European styles. My company guest house is located in a peaceful pocket called ‘Kaprigudda’ and walking on the narrow lanes is a treat here. There’s lazy barber’s shop where I spent around two hours last weekend, without cribbing once about getting late!! Right next to that, is a small kirana store whose stock you can count on your fingers. These places, which are normally lazy during their business hours, almost stand still when you walk past them idly in the evening. The evening walks have kind of been a good consolation for my long drives in Bangalore which I miss very much. (more about the long drives later).

The traffic in Mangalore, though much easier than Bangalore, is an indication of the things to come in the future. It’s the only place after Delhi, where I’ve seen huge city buses actually zig-zagging past two wheelers, that too on two lane city roads!! The cops however, are a different story. I have only one word for them: Stylish. That’s coz of the way they’ll guide traffic at the junctions. Contrary to normal city cops, who will frantically wave at you to go and sometimes even come charging at some poor soul whose vehicle refuses to fire up, the cops here will grace-fully point towards the direction which is open to go and then step back to the side lane and watch from a safe perch. The gesture is executed so leisurely, it almost makes you pity them when the brash buses bully them into letting them go and sends them scampering for cover !!!

Among other things to relish in Mangalore are the PYT’s !!! FYI, this region is the native place for many bollywood beauties. Aishwarya Rai, Shilpa Shetty, Deepika Padukone to name a few. And you don’t need to work hard to discover what I’m talking about. A stroll in one of the malls here on a weekend evening, and you’ll get your required dose of NSP (Nayn Sukh Prapti, for the un-initiated!!!).

Well, let’s just close it here for now. Will post more about my Mangalore stay later.

 

To the half-naked fakir

I’m at Bangalore airport and on my way to Mangalore (where I’ll be based out of for the next couple of weeks). Since this is a ‘2^nd of October’ blog, you would have an idea about what I want to write about.

 

I woke up today, rushing around to reach airport in time. And frankly, Gandhi Jayanti was the last thing on my mind. But, not for long. Today’s newspapers have been splashed all-over with motivational, patriotic stuff. I however, choose to start this blog by mentioning a couple of ignored stories in today’s newspapers, which are fitting for a day like today.

 

The first one (published in today’s Deccan Herald), is about a small constituency in kerala called Irinjalakkuda, which has quietly achieved a feat that, surprisingly, none other has done in the country so far. For those to whom this name is new (as it was to me), Irinjalakkuda is home to several Kathakali maestros and Malayalam film-stars. And no, the achievement is not a grandiose new scheme announced by a local minister to improve the plight of local artists or the populace. Irinjalakkuda has become the first assembly constituency in the country to be completely electrified. The completion of the project was announced in a small, quiet declaration last Saturday, and got hardly any coverage from the media. The mission has been spearheaded by local leader, Mr. Thomas Unniadan. His mission statement, as published by the paper, is simple, “I did not want absence of power to be a stumbling block to aspiring students or poor households being denied electricity because they did not have money.” Unniadan has utilized his MLA fund and funds from Rajiv Gandhi Kudiljyoti scheme to help achieve the target. I don’t think Unniadan has publicized any opinions on any nuclear treaty and it’s pros and cons. Nor has he taken a leftist or rightist or centrist stand, because he is expected to take one as per his party’s stated (or unstated) goals. He has gone ahead and honestly done his job, in a small corner of the country, where it mattered. The story ends on a practical note, highlighting Unniadan’s newly gained firm footing in the local electorate as a result of his efforts. I’m sure Gandhi won’t mind that !!

 

Second story that I chose to mention comes from Assam, where a mob lynched an ULFA militant and almost killed his accomplice. There are two dimensions where this story hit me. First is about the increasingly prevalent mob violence all around the nation. Is this new trend of public justice an encouraging sign? What does it actually mean to our society as a whole? Is this a sign of a populace which has lost faith in its judicial system? Or is this a sign of a populace which is becoming increasingly gullible to the tactics of some scheming individuals, who are using mob-fury as an excuse to achieving their personal ends? In this instance, probably sympathies will be with the mob, but what about the couple which was murdered for an inter-caste marriage? What about the tiny chain snatcher who was metted out gladiator style treatment by a local police officer? And many more such instances we have been seeing off-late from all parts of the country.

The second dimension which provoked me was, how can a publicly known militant walk into a local leader’s premises in broad daylight to serve an extortion threat??!! Or is there another version of the story which was chosen to be ignored? I wonder if the local leaders are as easily approachable to their junta, as they are to these militants who seem to be running their businesses with all the freedom!!

I wish we had a Gandhi who could have suggested some answers.

 

Gandhism, (or Gandhigiri, as it’s new – popular avatar) is the prime agenda for most of the leading national dailies today. Lengths of pages are splashed with tonnes of patriotic ink, underlining the significance of today. The tributes and celebrations are almost ritualistic. And needless to say, as with most rituals, almost no ends will be achieved when our calendars move on to tomorrow. What then, is the significance of Gandhi in today’s world? I’ll be honest, I’m no Gandhian, not even remotely. If I list down a check list, I have probably violated, atleast once, all of gandhi’s ideologies. I’ve lied, bribed, stolen, fought, consumed alcohol and the list goes on. I know, the same holds true for most of us today. But Gandhi to me is something more about following all of them (not to mean they are pointless ideologies). The single-most important and guiding lesson I retain from my school essays on Gandhi, is the ability to think rationally and question intelligently. To question all that I am expected to believe in. To question myself, before I judge others. To stand up for my convictions without harming other’s rights to their’s. To be a catalyst of change, rather than a product of circumstances. With that, I remember Gandhi, without joining any ritualistic celebrations. I hope, Gandhi would approve.

 

PS:

1. UN has declared 2^nd October as International Non-Violence day, a fitting tribute to a man who never got the nobel peace prize himself, but has been the inspiration for many winners of that prize. (See today’s Times of India, pg 9 for this story).
2. My motto for the day:

” Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility “

-Dietrich.Bohoeffer