An open letter to Arundhati Roy (with some additions)

Hello,

I read your article “The monster in the Mirror” in The Guardian the other day (readers can visit http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/12/mumbai-arundhati-roy to read it). I couldn’t help not to respond. I wrote this as I read so it is moving with the paragraphs. In the onset you start with McCain, I guess, I ignore that since he lost the election. Clearly the Republicans are trying to justify their unilateral actions in Iraq, instigating the hawks in India to fall for it. My concern is the later paragraph that I quote here “We're told one of these hotels is an icon of the city of Mumbai. That's absolutely true. It's an icon of the easy, obscene injustice that ordinary Indians endure every day”. I believe that Taj is an iconic building because of its location and history, as much as Gateway of India is. I have endured lots of crap in my daily life and have seen lots of people around me in abysmal surroundings that are painful. Yes when people have money (and power) one can have it easy, some even take high moral ground from this cushy foundation. Nothing wrong in that I guess it is a free country (as Bush said recently “in a free society people seek attention”) but the tragedy is when some mediocre people start to represent the agony of people for their selfish end. In cities these breed go by the nomenclature “celebrity activist” (i guess you refered them in one of your earlier articles years back, these are not very popular people trying to compensate their lack of popularity with activism. Attention seekers whom we all have contempt for), they are acutely aware of demands and supply needs of market. The return of investment is quite high just need to latch on to clinches. However the luxury in Taj cannot be juxtaposed to problems common people endure, that is unfair. In that case one will have to go against all forms of luxury, also it is quite subjective- what you may consider as need is a luxury for me. You catch a flight and go abroad can be quoted as “when millions of people cannot have daily meal she has the temerity to travel in luxury”. If I could write prose like you maybe I could have written better. “Roy is the icon of obscene injustice” because of the place you reside (it is undeniably a posh locality), to the kind of place you go to eat (you look unlikely candidate for road side dabba)….one can go on like this. We live in an unequal society that is a fact. The fact also is that there are hundreds of luxury hotels in the country and so are there millions of extremely poor people, there are people who catch bus to work there are people who use luxury cars. There are people whose articles get published in Guardian and some write blogs!!!. So what?. According to the laws of the society we live these are not crimes. Also some of these people don’t deserve what they have but then who am I to comment?. Capitalism seems to be the best form, there doesn’t seem to be any alternative. And yes government earns money through taxes, there is also luxury tax. Fair enough.

One of my all time favorite movie is Roshomon, the Japanese movie by the legendary Kurosawa. Now here is a situation that has claim to varied truth, true from each person’s perspective. Another truth about Taj (run by TATAs) is that JRD was amazing man. He was one the greatest human being I have ever come across. His contribution to Indian society is immense and I adore him.

The newspaper and TV channels nowadays come out with one liners that are nothing short of buffoonery. It is the impact of market competition, and they say it leads to quality!!. In USA they now compete as beggars for doles from government. “Hungry kya?” is that absurd excuse to reach the consumers, I wouldn’t be surprised if these guys have delegated these decisions on titles to teenagers!!. “intellectual infancy”. Most section in media are beyond redemption I gave up on them long time back but the claim to freedom of expression is what kept me amusing. The question is who ever take print media seriously!!. Yes they trivialize the issue, worst is they mostly have no value for life of common people. One shouldn’t blame them since they are catering to their consumers and that is the least they can get responsible in capitalism. In the meantime though democracy as a concept is eulogized the reality is there is every attempt to shift the power to market. Thankfully the recent happening in US Financial world has put a long pause to that arrogance. Storm troopers of market are rare sight now!!.Suhel Seth and Suketu Mehta (dude!!) are the kind of people without whom world will be incomplete, they are the kind of people whom I have stopped taking seriously. But yes the kind of access they have is astounding. Small miracles these.

I found the idea of Side A and Side B very interesting, and yes there is no religion for terrorists and murderers. Religion is being misused whether it is Hafiz Saeed or Babu Bajrangi or Hitler, these are the worst kind of people. I also believe the ambit of any new law on terror should include attacks on minority. Creating an atmosphere of terror on certain section of community itself is an act of terrorism. However external threat is more grievous and should be given the seriousness it deserves, that in anyway doesn’t negate the atrocities committed on common people in the name of caste, religion or even class.

I too agree with Side B- context is important. I agree with the historical perspective and also the fact that India shouldn’t be taking the high moral ground vis-à-vis its experiment with LTTE. Imagine if the world had more of Tamil population (like Muslims), India could be in the position where Pakistan is today, if not worse. Pakistan seems to be victim of circumstances generously helped by incompetent and self serving egoistic feudal leaders (the kind India had till 70s).

There are some relative truth that have wider application, the “secular” politicians of this country have been squeezing it for more than a decade. There are some other truths too and that is Babri Masjid demolition didn’t have anything to do with common people of this country. It is about powerful people scoring points against each other as and when it suits them, so do the terrorists. Further what happened in Gujarat or what is happening in Kashmir is internal matter of the country, off course it is tragic and if needed be condemned at international forum. But that shouldn’t be the ‘context’ for anyone based in Pakistan (as I understand the identities are proved beyond doubt, as also complexities of rogue elements from this region), that will fall into Side A - pan Islamic jihad against infidels. You in the search of contexts are treading into dangerous zones Ms Roy. Most importantly you seem to have conveniently forgotten the deliberate attack on Jews at Nariman. What kind of context we have there?. Or the fact that few Keralites were found fighting in Kashmir. Explain that context. You surely are trying to twist the “contexts” into the narration you see obvious.

There are other narrations that too should be obvious. There are millions of people who face all kinds of atrocities from State simply because of circumstances they are in. Sometimes it has connotations of religion, caste, region or class, in most case it is just a coincidence. Since it is random it doesn’t become an issue, it may end up as millions of small news column somewhere in the country, most cases it is not noticed. Life is too cheap in here. Since it is not an issue there is no political mobilization or any article written, worst there is no scope for international press. It just doesn’t fall into comprehensible narration. The issues of Muslims though seems to (or made to) fall into a pattern and therefore the angst exaggerated, not denying that in recent times there has been lots of pressure on this community. I will give an example there was issue raised by an attention seeking “celebrity” that being a Muslim she was denied house in Mumbai. Are Muslims the only one who faces these biases? I recall when I was a kid we were in Jaipur, every day after dinner for almost 6 months we went to search house to take on rent and had difficult time. The reasons varied from being south Indians to Non veg to even whether you eat onions or garlic (very amusing we thought). Later in mid nineties I found that students from Bihar or UP found it difficult to get room on rent in Karol Bagh, wherein they preferred south Indians (I found that punjabis just hate biharis). They thought guys from Bihar-UP are ruffians who will not shift. Nowadays I do have problems getting rooms while I travel to religious centers as they don’t prefer singles!!. Prejudices happen at many levels and it too has contexts. If I was a house owner in Mumbai it is but natural for me to suspect tenants with Muslim names, if tomorrow Sikhs are involved in killings the same will be applied to Sikhs. If Tamilians or Keralites are involved, ditto. But yes I will have no problem with people whom I know or have references whom I trust. That is very human, it may sound like prejudice, I guess the onus is not entirely on me since I am trying to live a peaceful life so taking precautions (as for the attention seekers trying to sensationalize and be in the news. Even I wouldn’t like her to be anywhere near where I stay. She should do some introspection than whining; understand most Indians would love to have Amir Khan or Shah Rukh as their neighbors. Anytime. Try not mix disgust to a person with prejudice on a community).

Also I believe the statement of “not to pay taxes” was expression of collective anger, it is a vent of frustration. Obviously nobody had that seriously working in their mind. What they were expecting was minimum safety standards and some responsibility from political leadership. If one can have the vision to see the contexts of terrorists one assumes that this should have been easy. (Also since we are talking about contexts how about judging LK Advani from the context of partition, that should have been catastrophic experience for him).

Further most people in this country don’t have high regards for cops, rarely anyone have good experiences dealing with them. It is not about particular section but is universal. I for instance steer clear of police (I didn’t report even once although my home has been burgled many time. “don’t want to get into trouble” is what i believe?!!). Yes i do think that minorities are doubly at risk in recent times. In kerala it is rare to come across these kind of prejudices (the cops hit randomly!!. I too got a lathi once during my college days. Never underestimate the lathi, it pains horribly!!). I guess there is an urgent need to induct people from minorities into law and machinery. It need be done at the earliest (I have written about Kashmir in my earlier blog you may read, if you have time!!).

Clearly writers and columnists too nowadays have an eye on Big Picture, individuals dying in thousands daily everywhere from causes they don’t understand (including those killed in the recent attacks) are collateral damage for central issues or shall we say contexts. So senseless killings are hinted to a cause albeit with much care and dexterity of words. The other day I was reading this brilliant Short Story by Karel Capex (Czech writer), it is an amazingly compassionate story (titled the "Last Judgement"). The story is about a tribunal in heaven. On trial is a multiple killer (named Kugler) who was recently killed by a policeman. God is present, but only as a witness. He will not judge the accused, for he knows everything about him. God says “…because my knowledge is infinite. If judges knew everything, absolutely everything, then they would understand everything. Their heart would ache. They couldn’t sit in judgment neither can I. As it is they know only about your crime, I know all about you. The entire Kugler. And that is why I cannot judge”. (Incidentally the Judges are the same people who judged people on earth !!). What this amazing story is saying is: To know everything is to understand everything; to understand everything is to know the necessary causes of everything. In the eyes of God therefore there can be no guilt only comprehension. Amazing stuff..

Kugler then ask God “But why are they judging…the same people who were judges on earth?”

“Because man belongs to man. As you see, I am only the witness. But the verdict is determined by man, even in heaven. Believe me Kugler, this is the way it should be. Man isn’t worthy of divine judgment. He deserves to be judged only by other men”.

Incredible story that one!!

Regards,

Depalan

PS. A minor detail: I came for Rally for Valley” to Narmada in 1998, it was a great experience, though I slipped into serious debt after that and took few months to recover!!

War on media created terror….it is exclusive !!

We get the information about the events around the world through media, recently lots of innovations have happened as also internet but the primary source of information for most people remains visual media. This blogger came to know about the events in Mumbai within minutes (it was just a coincidence as I had finished watching the One-day match, otherwise mostly switch off by ten), the gun battle in CST was reported first, I like most people could never conceive what was to unfold. It was around 1:30 that I understood this is too big and was stuck to TV until about 3am. (God’s grace I am a kind of a person who when closes his eyes falls immediately to sleep- never had any insomnia, next few days though I did get some nasty nightmares).

There are some amazing people working with the TV channels but unfortunately they are not in majority. So almost all channels gleefully geared up for some realtime reality action. Thankfully for them the events and images were more spectacular than their blabbering. All these times while they were stampeding for “exclusive” images people were being killed. This blogger is shocked what kind of people will look for “exclusive” images from the misery of people. The attempt at brand building at the most inopportune times in our lives is shocking to say the least (one instance a “senior” fellow -sardesai??, from media actually pulled a Japanese victim for exclusive information I believe). This blogger strongly believes that the privacy of victims need be given top priority, the violation of these need be considered as human rights violations. Further the information about the event as usual got blurred with voyeurism of peoples suffering. This put serious question mark on what exactly is the role of media.

The question this blogger want to ask is whether information confined to what is in front of camera? Do the happenings in front of TV camera constitute information?. Clearly images therefore can be used for manipulation of market need, they therefore may lack the facts needed and could be taken out of context (this is something most in media expertise). Thus the event is reduced to titillations and exaggerations to keep the audience watching. Then with these images they go in for conjectures and sometimes blatant misinformation. In the melee even the gravity of situation tends to fall short of the hype they create. In this marketing overdrive they even don’t mind disclosing details that would be harming the victims (we can get the candle light images later is the strategy). Many people in Taj I gather were killed by the callousness of TV channel, an apology is the least needed. I as a common citizen of this country requests the government to formulate laws to keep the rogue elements in media under control.

Media understandably was aware of people’s anger towards politicians (they failed miserably some even were audacious to reap political benefits) but it went overboard. This blogger believes that not all politicians are bad. There are some amazing people across the party line right from Congress to BJP to Communists but yes I agree with the sentiments that most politicians in India are miserable lot.

But then that doesn’t put the media of the hook. Most in Media too are very irresponsible people, some plain incompetent. But somehow they have latched on democracy and freedom of expression. My main concern though is how media impacts policy makers. There was a time when print media was so powerful that if they put aspersion on any minister they use to resign !!. That is shocking, media is not a court to judge nor do media define any moral standards. It became a channel for elite section to put extra constitutional pressure, with some exceptions. Thankfully print media is ineffective now and there are many players in visual media, at one level these has led to democratization of these power centers.

But still there are concerns like for instance recently there was “Hindustan Times Summit”, even the PM and many union cabinet members found it necessary to participate (like this they do have yearly TV channels events). The question is what is the priority of the leaders of more than a billion nation?. On what basis they choose these events (HT for instance could be catering to not more than 0.1 % of the population of this country. So why not all the newspapers and TV channels in the country? Why only some?. Clearly it is a case of corruption, favoritism therefore misuse of official position). They could do these once they retire. These are serious dereliction of official position. One of the problems of this nation is there are some attention seeking leaders (these breed are found in Delhilike hoards of mediocre “celebrities”, with national aspirations) who may not have any mass base. They use official position to strengthen their PR. I have nothing against Hindustan Times nor organisers of the event, the points i am raising cannot be negated. And i for one consider it important to mention, as a citizen i am concerned.

Most importantly the Broadcasting ministry is not been able to coordinate and channelise information to the public, therefore there is utter confusion, the official version is mostly absent. Not that like the business of running channels the government is expected to give minute by minute commentary. Authenticity of information is the role of the government and verification of that of media’s. People in most case have serious reservations on the authenticity of news channels.

Post script: at the end of the day it boils down to how each one of us individuals live our life. How much we respect laws. How responsible are we to the surrounding and society, media and politicians included. These events help to understand our society better.

I was shocked to know that the man in the bookstall at CST was killed in the attack by the animals based in Pakistan. Every time I went to CST I do visit that stall near the entrance, two months back I interacted with that man I remember him distinctly. I really don’t buy book from stalls but yes spend lots of time looking at it that is how ended up talking to him since there were not many people around, despite the fact it was peak hour. Also I have a habit of eating vada pav from the stall on the left side inside but this time though I gave it a miss and settled for packed dokhlas from the front shop, I seriously doubt whether those guys survived, it is sickening. Of all the attacks the one on CST was quite painful for me.

Life is cheap in this part of the world. People keep dying most times not of their fault. Dying is only the end but then people fall around all the time, they get up, dust themselves and carry on. It is event like these when hundreds of people are targeted that the tragedy gets accentuated. It is the time like these when I start to believe in fate, providence. I too had some very close calls but that has not made me fatalist or superstitious. You don’t think about it but fully aware that it is one step away, things can go horribly wrong and in chaos of India it really does. I do carry 1971 ten paisa coin “khota sikka” whenever I travel (because we began the journey together!!). I found it in banks of Ganges at haridwar many years ago. I believe the ten paisa coin saves me. It is ridiculous thought but then when nothing is sure absurd may give some logic!!!. Also aware that my absence or presence doesn’t have much for the world, it is an immense place. But yes the khotta sikka is going to outlive me!!!. Now that is a troubling thought!!!!

Imagining Dubai

Trees are being cut in Bengaluru (also Bangalore) as if it nobody’s business. Decades old trees are vanishing overnight. The roads could be made around it if they want but then policy makers have been touring abroad and bringing alien model of development here. They need to know that Dubai is constructed on a desert. Also if you go to My Photos (www.photodepalan.blogspot.com) all these beautiful trees are to go within a week. Offcourse the priority need to be on MRTS but some innovation like BRT in Delhi is welcomed (this blogger sincerely hopes that the CM and her cabinet take decision on further extending BRT to other parts of Delhi. These are the reasons why common people favor Sheila Dixit).

“Imaging India” is a book that is being discussed in the Net a lot. It is written by Nandan Nilekeni (one of the guy who runs the successful IT Company Infosys). It seems to be about ideas that shape India, interesting premise but a very costly book. This blogger would wait for the pirated version on the pavement, so has postponed the buy for atleast 5-6 months.

The Chief Minister we all admire

This blogger has been a great admirer of Sheila Dixit, the Chief Minister of Delhi. Also seen her few times in my stay at Delhi. Although i was not very comfortable in Delhi (and so did my best to gain and experience as much as possible as along i stay there). Sheila Dixit is an amazing woman, one of the very few Chief Minister we all admire.

Yeh hai Mumbai meri jaan !!

That is a line from the song from a Hindi movie of 60s (acted by very popular comedians of yest years Johny Walker). This blogger too finds Mumbai quite a different city as compared to other metros. It is “maximum city”; a city that exposes extremities of human experiences at short notice, every time it stretches imagination. It is a city of unbelievable human degradation and fabulous rich coexisting without much of a paradox. Every street corner, every experience making one feels quite insignificant. Nothing alive, it seems, has any value, there though is high premium on everything else. The nonchalance in conversation, the accent, tone, the ease, is what hits the outsiders first. Maybe a caution for things to expect if not careful, on the other hand it could even be an invitation- simplifying the complication of pretense. It is a city with many masks. I guess it touches something primal, it probes. It leaves you to choose. You can like the city you can hate but it will definitely influence you.

I had probably turned 14 when we first visited Mumbai (then Bombay -I always liked the sound of this name!). We were in Pune so during holidays it was decided to go to Mumbai. We stayed in Colaba (significant Army presence), I recall walking to Gateway of India and admiring Taj Hotel building, later to Birla planetarium and aquarium. It was a great experience. Next few years visited Mumbai many times. In last few years also I had visited Mumbai many times, last one being a month back. Infact I plan to go again early next year as I realize that I need to spend more time at BNHS (Bombay Natural History Society for the uninitiated). Most of my visits are only for few hours as I cannot afford to stay for too long. I generally stay at Pune and so catch the 5.30pm train back from CST (earlier VT). Once I came from Chennai to Mumbai for a job interview, bathed in Railway station toilet (it’s yuck) gave the interview roamed around in chowpathy and caught the night train to Chennai (unreserved compartment ofcourse). Those were hectic days for me. And what happened to the interview…well during the interview one guy in the panel said abruptly that we are wasting time, I promptly agreed with him. So that was it!

Somehow I never could like Mumbai, the city has been quite harsh or maybe I have spent far too less time to judge. It remains an intriguing place.

Post Script: Many of Indian English writings has Mumbai as the focal point right from Naipaul, Mistry, Rushdie, Chandra, Mehta, De…and many more. Mumbai needs different minds to grapple. The best movie on realities of Mumbai street remains Meera Nair’s “Salaam Bombay”, Ram Gopal Verma’s spectacular Satya captured the other reality lurking and exploding on the street, Mani Ratnam’s hugely successful “Bombay” tries to humanize the riots (it did had some brilliant songs). There are many movies, documentaries, fiction, non fiction, poems….so on about Mumbai, obviously there is something special about this place.

Bloggers are invited to my new blog www.photodepalan.blogspot.com where i will be posting the photos i take from Nikon D-60 (its a beauty), sample this snap. Amazing stuff....

Condolences

It is saddening that some brave people had to sacrifice their life protecting innocent from marauding psychopaths. Police Officers like Hemant Karkare, Vijay Salaskar, Ashok Kamte, Maj. Unnikrishnan, Hw Gajendra Singh …..and others (I particularly am saddened by the death of young Major, few decades back if we were in Bengaluru he would be family friend who would be invited for weekend get together-it’s the mallu thing. The images of his funeral in TV were quite depressing, I couldn’t hold back my tears. These events affect me deeply the reason why I change channel to Pogo’s Hole in the Wall. I guess it better to go a long break).

I hear that proper equipments were not being sanctioned, the reason why ATS Chief was killed was lack of bullet proof vest, if it is true then it shocking. Also the cops were carrying vintage .303 rifles (I read in the Net that .303 was developed in 1880s)!!!. The inherited steel structure (read bureaucrats at Home Ministry) is nothing but plastic, buckling where the political weight is. It is also appalling case of negligence that few people could breach Indian maritime boundary with boats loaded with weapons, and no it’s not some obscure coast but India’s commercial capital. Understanding that India’s huge coastline maybe difficult to guard but breach at Mumbai is an amazing case of incompetence. Foreign Minister was quoted as saying “elements from Pakistan” are involved, it looks likely. But why isn’t the DG of NSG calling a press conference and make the evidence public and make it formal rather than wild theories spread by some sections in media, some even implicating Taj employees others even flashed that terrorist have been given safe passage to escape!! (....well these kinds of incidents are better than reality shows for some, atleast they don’t have to chase the boy with leaf growing out of his ear!!. It is prime time jingoism masquerading patriotism, the sale pitch is understandable). Pointing fingers at Pakistan if there is concrete evidence is the right step to take but what about negligence within, who will be held responsible?. It though is clear that rogue elements in Pakistan are a threat to world peace.

This blogger as any other common Indian feels that it is high time that India has centralized unified response to such crisis, there is a need for reduced action time. There is an immediate need for creating central agency or upgrading NSG to face increasingly technology savvy and vicious forms of terrorist threat. There is also an immediate need for crisis management cell that is given all power to deal with the situation in a professional manner. NSG though has done a commendable job. It gives lots confidence to common people for the State.

This blogger understands that it is very difficult to stop terrorist attacks of the kind seen at Taj, it could be any iconic building, establishment or figure (I guess that the reason why even Amitabh Bachchan felt insecure), but there should be zero tolerance for negligence or dereliction of responsibility. This blogger though is very concerned about shoddy investigation; the reason why I strongly feel that it should be taken away from political influence since they use it for settling personal scores (Godhra is a minor example). How many blasts cases have been solved?. It is appalling that investigation areas are not cordoned off, even this blogger who doesn’t have much knowledge about forensic knows that evidence get contaminated!!. There is an urgent need for modernization and putting some procedure in place.

Audacious and unprecedented

What is happening in Mumbai has never happened before in this country, these random attacks on hapless people by gunmen with impunity are unheard of. This blogger like most people is pained, aghast and very angered by the events unfolding in Mumbai. How the collective anger finds its expression is the concern. Will the extreme elements in the society find support in the people as a reaction?. Quite likely, the communal forces will be getting more vocal. Will the anger be against the minorities-muslims or beleaguered neighbor Pakistan?. These also looks very likely. The common people are going to be put into severe testing in the coming days…

Will the government use this opportunity to strengthen and give autonomy (non political interference) to investigative agencies?. Quite unlikely as politicians don’t like to give away their clout. It is difficult to prevent such events but investigation can at the least be earnest and fast, before all kinds of theories are floated by vested interests. It is a daunting task.

People are very angry and collective anger of people can be very dangerous. Something is going seriously wrong.

Howzzat for irresponsibility !!

Bengaluru (or Bangalore) hosted the international one day cricket match between Indian and England the other day. It is amusing that they decided on day and night match. I guess amusing is not the right word, blatant irresponsibility is. The city is enforcing atleast 2hours power cut on its people, in the outskirts people go without electricity for as much as 6hours. Small scale industry, students so on go through immense hardship but despite all this the authorities found it alright to spend huge amount of electricity for this game. At the basic level it is indecency, complete disregard for common people and at another level it is a joke, an ancient one that.

Most people who have spend some time in bengaluru know that more than often it rains in the night, in particular this time of the year. On the day of the match it was very clear that there would be shower (clue is dark clouds, just have to look up). But they still carried on, I guess once they decide they don’t change, I also guess that is what they call discipline, expectedly rains interrupted and the game was stopped for many hours and all this time the flood lights were on (they did switch the lights the day before too, to check I guess). If some one calculates the electricity waste it would be thousands of watts. And then they bring out ads telling us how to save electricity. They also construct huge dams, create environmental havoc, displace societies…all for the “demand” for electricity. Quite amazing.

One wonders what is in this game that couldn’t be played in the sunlight or is it part of India shining?!!. Take it literally !. I am not saying day and night cricket shouldn’t be played but some prudence, some responsible behavior…

More about happenings in Bengaluru: few weeks back there was a huge traffic jam due to some political rally. This blogger was stuck for sometime but thankfully was able to sneak out through a short cut (that is the best part of traveling in two-wheeler you can squiggle through. Bangaloreans are ok kind of people relatively calmer in traffic with occasional en re thu, which more than being offensive makes me laugh the thu part- very unique to bengaluru). Also this blogger is not into meeting deadlines (dead serious about that!!) so not in any hurry. But yes I am very concerned about stranded ambulances, I sincerely hoped they are upgraded to take these delays.

The media was up in arms against the political rallies. This blogger doesn’t share the volatile reactions of the media against the political parties. There are many reasons for that most important being- political parties have all the right to hold rallies the problem is mismanagement and lack of proper facilities. Further if I knew about this event I would have avoided that route. This blogger though has strong reservation against city roads being converted into track for marathon. If they want why cant they go to bengaluru-mysuru highway?. Part of the road could be converted into this event thus not blocking the traffic.

Also one shouldn’t read too much into the media’s high moral ground on this issue since they are doing what is good for their business, it is their consumers who are the victims here. They will choose issues that have potential to sell to their consumers. Political party (in this case JDS) holding rallies are equally not bothered about city dwellers since their base is mostly rural, they too are serving their clients. Most people in cities are not much concerned about what happens to rural India (mainstream India has no space for these except when there is some crime. This blogger would also point to the misery caused by exploitative products like say CocaCola-Pepsi, you will not find mention of these) sometimes the favor is returned. The political party’s claim that “rural people face these and bigger problem every day” finds resonance among rural. The stories of school children stranded in buses find resonance among people affected by these events in cities. It is a jungle out there I guess that is how democratic capitalism functions !!. So what do I do? Well I say thu re maga and try to be an optimist!!

Then there was a man named Salim Ali

Yesterday was birth anniversary of one of the most well known Ornothologist “bird man” Salim Ali, he is surely the father of Ornithology in India. It is saddening that in the overdose mediocrities of events and non events- that are made into events someone so very significant is forgotten. Even this blogger was able to remember this date quite accidentally ( i had visited Ranganathita Bird Sanctuary few days back and so thought about reading about Salim Ali as the place had a significant influence of Salim Ali, even having Salim Ali Bird documentation centre- always locked though!!). I strongly feel that Salim Ali’s birthday needs to be celebrated as Birds Day.

Salim Ali was an amazing man, this blogger has read most of his writings (I am also a big fan of Ranjit Lal, he has an amazing ability to connect with the readers particularly the younger ones. Futehally is another well known Ornithologist, there are many more probably I will deal some other time). Very rarely we come across such passionate people. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that Salim Ali single handedly put the foundation of Ornithology in India. The nation is indebted to him for his contribution to Ornithology as also issues related to environment as he wrote once “my chief interest in bird study has always been its ecology, its life history under natural conditions and not in a laboratory under a microscope. By travelling to these remote, uninhabited places, I could study the birds as they lived and behaved in their habitats” (taken from the Net). He was instrumental in saving Bharatpur Bird sanctuary as also silent valley in Kerala.

This blogger can identify more than 50 species of birds, till recently I used to enjoy watching and reading about them but now I intend to take photographs. Very soon I would be creating a new blog on birds, and posting about the birds I “capture” and writing about them. I dedicate this to Salim Ali, man who has influenced me lot.

PS: to commemorate the occasion this blogger decided to be with the nature for a day so went to Bannarghatta sanctuary today. I have traveled to most wild life sanctuaries in India as also zoos. The zoos are really a tragedy, one wonders when will this country have zoos of the standards found in Singapore or Sydney. The way a society treats its animals and nature defines how developed it is.

Existing in the world of Nuclear Bombs

Revenge of the Roaches

I see this roach

emerging from cup of vaporized tea

swiping its antennae through the mandibles

stretching its wings a bit

as if yawning after a feast.

I reach for something hard to swat

just that instance it explodes

into a huge ball of fire

mushrooming out to engulf the city

there are millions of them

no longer hiding in the drainage and crevices

but proudly marching the streets

devouring houses devoid of people

laying eggs in the sockets of vanquished humans.

(my fond dedications to “leaders” in the Left and Right spectrum of political parties for fighting for Bharat Mata’s inalienable “sovereign right” to explode nuclear bombs)

Can we miss them!!

I wrote in the last blog about dancers in the popular genre (read movies) but find myself guilty of not mentioning two names. One is enchanting Prabhu Deva. He is a class act. The movies are just an excuse, he is waiting to explode into some “number”. I saw him first while I was in college in the hugely popular Tamil movie “Gentleman”, the chiku bak rele song was a rage among youth. When Prabhu Deva dance time and space give way to his body, it is an ephemeral act only meant for connoisseurs. He got the tag Michael Jackson of India by media, this blogger though believes it is other way round Michael Jackson is Prabhu Deva of US !!.

Next is another class act: Hrithik Roshan. Apart from being a great dancer he is also a tremendous actor, one of the most popular. That is terrific.

(the above snap taken from the Net. It is not a Nazi symbol but something considered auspicious by Hindus)

Post Script: There are some dance troupe I admire one is that of legendary Chandralekha, they used to show it on Sundays in DD, and also Mallika sarabhai.

There is one short story written by Anita Desai I read long time back (not able to recall the name) that deals with life of tanpura artist. “Small remedies” by Sashi Deshpande, about an elderly classical singer was an excellent book.

Bharat Ratna to Bhimsen Joshi, some recollections…

Bhimsen Joshi is one of the greatest legends of Hindustani Classical music. This blogger had decided more than a decade back to listen to these great masters live as and when I get the opportunity. I have listened to most of them like Pt. Ravi Shankar, Ustad Amjad Ali khan, Pt. Chaurasia, Ustad Bismillah khan (a very rare recital at Benaras), Zakir hussain, Yesudas, Pt. Jasraj, Pt Shiv Kr Sharma and so on. As also great dancers like Birju Maharaj, Padma Subramanium, Kelucharan Mahapatra, Sonal Mansingh, Leela Samson, Reddy’s, Astad Debu (I particularly enjoyed his emulation of grasshopper. He is an amazing man), Bharati Shivaji, Madhavi Mudgal and many more. I am a big fan of Uday Shankar dance troupe the dances sequences in "Kalpana" was incredible. I also follow the events in Kalashektra, Rukmini Devi Arundale was an amazing lady (infact my room wall has a black/white photo of her in Bharatnatyam). From popular people and genre, I

like Vijaythimala, Hema Malini, Shobana. I think Madhuri Dixit (a song where she is dressed as fisherwoman, don’t recall the song but it is picturised in studio was amazing) and Aishwarya Rai (in Taal and Guru) are natural dancers. I am also an ardent follower of folk dances (I should write about it sometime later).

I also follow modern forms of dances, long back I happen to witness dances using light and sound, lots of dancers from abroad performed (I also liked Aditi Mangaldas rendering of Neruda). It was an amazing experience. Specifically about Kathakali I will write sometime later, I learned it for few months just to understand the form. Now though I prefer CDs but yes I would love to listen Gangubai Hangal live, missed an opportunity last year. One of my biggest regret is never to have listened to MS Subbulekshmi katchery.

Unfortunately I also was not able to listen to Bhimsen Joshi live; I read that he has not been keeping well last few decades. I recall listening to him in DD when in school. I was not much into classical music but my neighbor’s daughters were learning Hindustani, they used to drop in to watch TV and so had to sit with them sometimes. I had started to like Bhimsen Joshi.

I am quite influenced by music. Not much into singing but to my own surprise I was selected to school music team in my pre teens!!. We learned songs in different languages and I was part of the group that sang on Independence Day celebrations. I never took up singing though. Much later when studying in college a friend who stayed in the neighborhood was seriously into Carnatic. I used to visit him very often, he was one of the smartest boy around, good in studies (doing MBBS from reputed Trivandrum Medical college, one of the toppers. Since I liked medicine used to go through his texts). A vadyar used to come all the way from Nagercoil to teach him Carnatic. One Sunday happened to be in his house while he was practicing Carnatic, just for fun sang few lines. Now it so happened that Vadyar was listening and he said I had flair for singing. So I too started learning Carnatic!!. It is quite arduous but interesting, I stuck to it for few months. It didn’t make me a singer but gave a fine ear for Carnatic. Those days Malayalam movies was going through spectacular time. Most movies had songs based on Carnatic, even protagonist playing singer, that were huge commercial hits and also maintained high aesthetic standards like Sargam, Bharatham, Kudumbasametham, Sadyam, Chitram, Kamaladalam and so on. They were all superhits. These movies make me seriously nostalgic sometimes.

On Western Classical Music: I was not much aware about Western Classical. Quite accidentally listened to an orchestra in Chennai, found that it was by Beethoven. I had read about Beethoven (probably in school) but rarely heard !!. Much later when I was in Delhi thought of exploring this form of music. Max Muellar Bhavan conducted a two days study/seminar on Western Classical Music (I guess in 1997), it was a great experience. An Indian man probably in his mid thirties (I found that two years later the man had died, it was shocking) had immense knowledge on this subject. He made it interesting by interjecting the talk with music, explaining the nuances and even showing film clipping (like on Mozart). I really got stuck to Western Classical, attended many performances. I absolutely love Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Tchaikovsky (strictly in that order!!) as also Brahms and Chopin.

There is so much in the world!!!.And the best part is these experiences don’t cost anything!!. Rokda nahi mangtha baap!!

America rises with OBAMA !!

Finally America has come out of the morass they have been in last decade or so. Something incredible has happened: a rank outsider, and that is understatement for someone who is almost like a foreigner. I guess almost is an interesting word here since Obama is quintessentially an American, but that makes it amazing. (Despite tall claims of democracy India is mostly closed to socio-cultural outsiders, for most it is an uphill task in daily life too. Though thanks to elections there have been some political leaders who can claim to be outsiders like Mayawati. Entrenched societies have their advantages and disadvantages. Ridiculous comments on Sonia Gandhi as a foreigner during last elections fall into this context). Obama’s win is an occasion that changes the perception of USA for the better.

It is a win for America. It is a win for all that is beautiful about America. It is a symbolic win for humanity. Having said that reality check is: Obama is an American President and therefore he will have to stand for national interests (like for instance Al Quaeda remains a serious threat). One is not expecting any radical changes but yes some significant changes for better. Hopefully this will be a step for multilateralism in dealing with issues facing the world. Hopefully this is a change towards empowering UN. (Also in the Indian context this blogger hopes that the “nuclear deal” with US doesn’t mean that Indians will get away with nuclear testing. India will have to follow the international rules including CTBT. The commies might call this “sovereign right”-symptoms of schizophrenia no doubt. But then commies are good as opposition they should never be in power. It is dangerous. India’s sovereign right should not precede interest of the humanity. The deal should be nullified if Indian tries any nonsense. And yes for the record as an Indian this blogger asserts that most Indians never had any deep love for Bush. On these matters Singh is not King!!. No apologies there). This blogger strongly holds the view that the rise of authoritarian China is a serious threat to world. Also happenings in Burma is a challenge to conscience of the humanity. If someone could explain what is the crime of Aung San Suu Kyi?.

Obama’s win (indeed win for Democrats in particular leaders like Nancy Palosi) surely need to be seen as assertion of America’s rightful place in the world we live in. Nations don’t become powerful by military nor economic might, it becomes powerful by ethical force. The force of righteous, the force of liberty, the force of people to stand up for rights of common people. By this vote Americans have proved that.