Kerala is associated with many things - monsoons, greenery, beaches, hills,
highest liquor consumption in the country and last but not the least literacy.
It is supposed to be 100% literate, in the sense that almost all the population
can do some basic reading, writing and arithmetic.
The people are in general well-read and can be depended upon to carry a
conversation about basically anything under the sun. And they have their
own opinion and viewpoint too. Here, I am not referring to the educated
guys, with a school/college education. Even those that have not had a proper
schooling, are pretty much aware of what is happening and do not miss the
daily newspapers.
However, every now and then, some news item about Kerala crops up which
makes you wonder whether it would have been better to add some basic lessons
in common-sense along with the adult education classes. Infact, why limit it to
the newly literate ? Even the school/college educated crowd could do with a
strong dose of common-sense.
The immediate provocation for this post was what I saw on the Kairali channel.
It was a program about a girl (aged 10 or so) whose parents died of AIDS, and
had only an aged grandma as the sole surviving relative. The kid wants to go to
the nearby school, which you would agree is a pretty normal desire.
However, what was abnormal was the opposition from the public, especially from
the parents of the other kids studying at the school. They do not want her mingling
with their kids, just because she happens to be afflicted with AIDS. I was like, "How
stupid can people be that they discriminate against a kid that is in that state due to
no fault of hers ?". What use is your being educated or literate if you have such a
mentality towards a kid ?
It was heart-rending to watch the program. The grandma is really old and thus the
kid takes care of all the work at home and then rushes off to school, where she is
kind of segregated from the other kids. How much would it hurt her tiny heart to
be subjected to such behaviour ? The kid should be admired though for maintaining
a cheerful demeanour even in the face of such crappy behaviour from the people
around her. She was calmly talking to the media about the problem she was facing.
The good news is that after the intervention of some sensible people and NGOs, she
is able to attend school, though some kind of passive discrimination still exists.
Actually, this not something that would happen only in Kerala. It could be any
other state. But, it hurts more when it is Kerala, because the citizens are supposed
to be educated, well informed and in tune with stuff happening around the world.
We even had cases where professionals like doctors and nurses refused to treat
AIDS patients. If that's how aware the medical fraternity are, why blame laymen ?
I just hope that Indians in general and Malayalees specifically treat AIDS patients
without any discrimination and be aware that normal interaction with them does
not lead to them getting infected, as they believe.
Friday, December 15, 2006
Monday, December 11, 2006
And the search for "indian dream girls" continues ...
This is kind of funny. I had a sitemeter installed on this blog recently.
More than knowing the number of visitors to my site, my intention was
to get an idea of the places from where they came from. The bonus was
knowing how and from where they linked to this site.
There were some that were searching for 'Danes' or 'Tranquebar' and Google
led them to "The Danes were here ?", my write-up on the Danish Fort at
Tranquebar. And there were others that were led here due to their searches
on topics that were written about on this blog.
However, the largest number of visitors that stumbled in here were those that
were looking for "indiandream girls". I am not sure what's special about this
variety of girls, but something tells me that the intentions were not really good.
Hmmm. Not the target audience that I was looking for, if at all.
More than knowing the number of visitors to my site, my intention was
to get an idea of the places from where they came from. The bonus was
knowing how and from where they linked to this site.
There were some that were searching for 'Danes' or 'Tranquebar' and Google
led them to "The Danes were here ?", my write-up on the Danish Fort at
Tranquebar. And there were others that were led here due to their searches
on topics that were written about on this blog.
However, the largest number of visitors that stumbled in here were those that
were looking for "indiandream girls". I am not sure what's special about this
variety of girls, but something tells me that the intentions were not really good.
Hmmm. Not the target audience that I was looking for, if at all.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
No friend, no beer
My friend Dilip had dropped in from B'lore on work. And, as is the norm whenever he is in
town, I dropped in at his hotel room on my way back from work for a few drinks. Being the
extrovert, friendly guy that he is, there are others in town who look forward to his frequent business visits. This time it was a couple of girls who worked with him at his previous job.
Since their joining us at the hotel would not be very appropriate for conservative Chennai,
we decided to meet at a bar.
We ordered our usual vodka and I was expecting the girls to opt for coke (or atmost a beer). However, they preferred to go along with us in the choice of drink.
Hmmm. Traditional/conservative Chennai sure has come a long way.
I had always wondered how women in Chennai source their liquor (retail). Though tagged
a conservative city in general, I am sure quite a few of the current generation drink. But
since I didn't know one who did, the answer had always eluded me.
Now was my chance to get my doubt cleared. In all of Tamilnadu, the retail liquor business
is done by the state-run TASMAC shops. The way these shops are, the kind of crowd that
comes there, etc make it almost impossible for a woman to get her liquor from there.
Ofcourse you could drink in the many bars available at hotels, but what if you were in the
mood for a beer at home or wanna party with a few of your girlfriends at home ?
I voiced my doubt to the ladies and their answer stumped me. They have a male friend who
gets it for them. What if he is not available or gone out of town ?
"No beer", was the reply in unison.
I imagined a role-reversal and wondered about the situation if we men were stuck like this.
It's a Saturday evening and I need to have a few vodkas. But my friend is not around to go
get it for me. It sucks.
For those girls that are not in the know and who do not have a handy male friend to go get
their liquor, one good option is the premium version of TASMAC at the upscale Spencers
Mall. It's not your typical dirty TASMAC shop and you needn't worry about anyone staring.
My bit of public service for women who drink. :-)
town, I dropped in at his hotel room on my way back from work for a few drinks. Being the
extrovert, friendly guy that he is, there are others in town who look forward to his frequent business visits. This time it was a couple of girls who worked with him at his previous job.
Since their joining us at the hotel would not be very appropriate for conservative Chennai,
we decided to meet at a bar.
We ordered our usual vodka and I was expecting the girls to opt for coke (or atmost a beer). However, they preferred to go along with us in the choice of drink.
Hmmm. Traditional/conservative Chennai sure has come a long way.
I had always wondered how women in Chennai source their liquor (retail). Though tagged
a conservative city in general, I am sure quite a few of the current generation drink. But
since I didn't know one who did, the answer had always eluded me.
Now was my chance to get my doubt cleared. In all of Tamilnadu, the retail liquor business
is done by the state-run TASMAC shops. The way these shops are, the kind of crowd that
comes there, etc make it almost impossible for a woman to get her liquor from there.
Ofcourse you could drink in the many bars available at hotels, but what if you were in the
mood for a beer at home or wanna party with a few of your girlfriends at home ?
I voiced my doubt to the ladies and their answer stumped me. They have a male friend who
gets it for them. What if he is not available or gone out of town ?
"No beer", was the reply in unison.
I imagined a role-reversal and wondered about the situation if we men were stuck like this.
It's a Saturday evening and I need to have a few vodkas. But my friend is not around to go
get it for me. It sucks.
For those girls that are not in the know and who do not have a handy male friend to go get
their liquor, one good option is the premium version of TASMAC at the upscale Spencers
Mall. It's not your typical dirty TASMAC shop and you needn't worry about anyone staring.
My bit of public service for women who drink. :-)
Monday, November 20, 2006
Divya's trump card to keep the bully away.
I am not much of a phone guy. Infact, unless I am talking with friends calling from the US
on weekends (when they are drunk, they just want to talk to someone), I am usually short
& crisp. But one call that I look forward to is the one made to my lovely & adorable niece,
Divya. It is fun talking to her. All of 7 years old, yet such a lot of stuff to share with me.
The last time I called her, the conversation went something like this.
Divya : Uncle, I am going to give a speech in front of the whole school during morning assembly.
Me : Wow ! That's great. What is the subject ?
Divya : e-World.
Me : Hmmm. Great. Let me know if you want any pointers.
(Man, at that age, if someone had asked me about e-World, I would have stared blankly into
space. Heck, there was no e-World to speak of, back then.)
Divya : What time is it there now ?
(A favourite question of hers, since the time I called her from the US many years ago and she
was introduced to the concept of time difference.)
Me : I am at Madras, babe, and the time is same as yours. It differs only when I am in the US.
Divya : OK. I have another thing to tell you. Unnikuttan (her cousin & 1 year younger to her) is
always fighting with me . When we (her group of girls) are playing, he disturbs us.
Me : Oh, OK. Tell him that I will be in town next week and will beat him to pulp.
Divya : (Giggles in that cute way only girls can). OK, that would shut him up. He is very afraid of you.
Me : Just let me know when he is mischievous and I will do the needful to set the brat right.
Divya : (More girlie giggles). Don't forget to take him to task on your next visit, OK ?
Me : Sure, babe.
Unnikuttan is the typical boy that we all were at that age. He finds fun in pulling the ponytail
of his cousins, playing pranks on them, bullying them etc. Even though she is elder than him,
girls being girls, at times there would be only so much that she could do when dealing with a
brat like him.
And when everything else fails, she would invoke her trump card which I am assuming,
would be something on the lines of, "Behave yourself, brat. Else, I am going to tell my
uncle (yours truly) who will make mincemeat of you."
From what I hear, this threat is enough of a deterrent for Unni, who would try to buy
peace to ward off the threat from this uncle in Chennai.
Ofcourse I have no intention of hurting Unni. I just love Divya so much that I play along.
Keeping Unni in check is just a bonus.
on weekends (when they are drunk, they just want to talk to someone), I am usually short
& crisp. But one call that I look forward to is the one made to my lovely & adorable niece,
Divya. It is fun talking to her. All of 7 years old, yet such a lot of stuff to share with me.
The last time I called her, the conversation went something like this.
Divya : Uncle, I am going to give a speech in front of the whole school during morning assembly.
Me : Wow ! That's great. What is the subject ?
Divya : e-World.
Me : Hmmm. Great. Let me know if you want any pointers.
(Man, at that age, if someone had asked me about e-World, I would have stared blankly into
space. Heck, there was no e-World to speak of, back then.)
Divya : What time is it there now ?
(A favourite question of hers, since the time I called her from the US many years ago and she
was introduced to the concept of time difference.)
Me : I am at Madras, babe, and the time is same as yours. It differs only when I am in the US.
Divya : OK. I have another thing to tell you. Unnikuttan (her cousin & 1 year younger to her) is
always fighting with me . When we (her group of girls) are playing, he disturbs us.
Me : Oh, OK. Tell him that I will be in town next week and will beat him to pulp.
Divya : (Giggles in that cute way only girls can). OK, that would shut him up. He is very afraid of you.
Me : Just let me know when he is mischievous and I will do the needful to set the brat right.
Divya : (More girlie giggles). Don't forget to take him to task on your next visit, OK ?
Me : Sure, babe.
Unnikuttan is the typical boy that we all were at that age. He finds fun in pulling the ponytail
of his cousins, playing pranks on them, bullying them etc. Even though she is elder than him,
girls being girls, at times there would be only so much that she could do when dealing with a
brat like him.
And when everything else fails, she would invoke her trump card which I am assuming,
would be something on the lines of, "Behave yourself, brat. Else, I am going to tell my
uncle (yours truly) who will make mincemeat of you."
From what I hear, this threat is enough of a deterrent for Unni, who would try to buy
peace to ward off the threat from this uncle in Chennai.
Ofcourse I have no intention of hurting Unni. I just love Divya so much that I play along.
Keeping Unni in check is just a bonus.
Thursday, November 16, 2006
How sensible is it to use white skin to sell to the brown-skinned ?
The other day, I was showing an American colleague around Madras and he was staring
wide-eyed at almost everything, just like any tourist. Being a Sunday, traffic was almost
nil during the day and I could give him a good tour of Mount Road, the Marina beach,
Eliott's beach, etc.
Like any guy new to India, he had lots of comments and questions, most of which I was
able to answer satisfactorily. However, one question stumped me. Actually, it was one of
those things that we have come to take for granted over the years, without even giving a
second thought. That is, until the time, someone raises it & then you fumble for an answer.
My colleague was wondering how appropriate (& logical) it was to have white-skinned guys
(and gals) sell stuff to us. He had noticed that most of the hoardings had white people selling
stuff to us. Be it apparel or electronic items or undergarments or liquor, he noticed that the models were mostly caucasian & in some cases even black. He wanted to know the marketing logic behind the same and whether it helped increase sales, if the models were foreigners.
Well, I had never given it another thought till he brought this up. And could not think of a suitable answer. Even though I am not in marketing, I am intrigued by the whole business
of marketing. So much that it led me to pursue a programme in marketing, and which admittedly gave me a whole new insight of how marketing works. Still, I did not remember reading about this particular practice, and whether it yielded any dividends.
How much sense does it make to have a white guy, dressed in formals, sell us the idea of a
nice set of formal clothes ? Does it create any additional aspirational value in our minds, if
the model is white ? Will we drink more of a particular whisky because Ricky Ponting is advertising it, as compared to our buying behaviour if Dhoni was to model for it ? Are the chances of our women buying a particular lingerie brand more, if a white women were to
pose alluringly in the said stuff ?
Frankly, I would actually not give a hoot about whether the model is white or black or
brown. I do not buy stuff because it is modelled by someone I like - I buy it if it suits my requirements. Infact I would usually avoid stuff modelled by stars because it makes me
aware that the huge pay packet paid to him would be spread over the product cost. So,
I would be paying more for such products. I am a big fan of Jothika, but studiously avoid products endorsed by her.
But I am also aware of people who actually buy a particular brand because it is endorsed by
their favourite personality. And contrary to popular belief this is not a behaviour restricted
to illiterate, rural consumers. My friend, an MBA from a premier institution, bought a car
(Hyundai Santro) just because his favourite star Sharukh Khan was endorsing it. Going by
this, I guess there is a case for the success (atleast partial) of brands that have cine/sports personalities endorsing the products.
But, is their any logic in having personalities of a different race, endorse products meant for
consumption by another ? As a race, apart from the very visible difference in skin color, we
are quite different from the caucasians in build, behaviour, culture etc. If so, what's the logic
that marketers find in selecting white models while selling to us ? Beats me.
wide-eyed at almost everything, just like any tourist. Being a Sunday, traffic was almost
nil during the day and I could give him a good tour of Mount Road, the Marina beach,
Eliott's beach, etc.
Like any guy new to India, he had lots of comments and questions, most of which I was
able to answer satisfactorily. However, one question stumped me. Actually, it was one of
those things that we have come to take for granted over the years, without even giving a
second thought. That is, until the time, someone raises it & then you fumble for an answer.
My colleague was wondering how appropriate (& logical) it was to have white-skinned guys
(and gals) sell stuff to us. He had noticed that most of the hoardings had white people selling
stuff to us. Be it apparel or electronic items or undergarments or liquor, he noticed that the models were mostly caucasian & in some cases even black. He wanted to know the marketing logic behind the same and whether it helped increase sales, if the models were foreigners.
Well, I had never given it another thought till he brought this up. And could not think of a suitable answer. Even though I am not in marketing, I am intrigued by the whole business
of marketing. So much that it led me to pursue a programme in marketing, and which admittedly gave me a whole new insight of how marketing works. Still, I did not remember reading about this particular practice, and whether it yielded any dividends.
How much sense does it make to have a white guy, dressed in formals, sell us the idea of a
nice set of formal clothes ? Does it create any additional aspirational value in our minds, if
the model is white ? Will we drink more of a particular whisky because Ricky Ponting is advertising it, as compared to our buying behaviour if Dhoni was to model for it ? Are the chances of our women buying a particular lingerie brand more, if a white women were to
pose alluringly in the said stuff ?
Frankly, I would actually not give a hoot about whether the model is white or black or
brown. I do not buy stuff because it is modelled by someone I like - I buy it if it suits my requirements. Infact I would usually avoid stuff modelled by stars because it makes me
aware that the huge pay packet paid to him would be spread over the product cost. So,
I would be paying more for such products. I am a big fan of Jothika, but studiously avoid products endorsed by her.
But I am also aware of people who actually buy a particular brand because it is endorsed by
their favourite personality. And contrary to popular belief this is not a behaviour restricted
to illiterate, rural consumers. My friend, an MBA from a premier institution, bought a car
(Hyundai Santro) just because his favourite star Sharukh Khan was endorsing it. Going by
this, I guess there is a case for the success (atleast partial) of brands that have cine/sports personalities endorsing the products.
But, is their any logic in having personalities of a different race, endorse products meant for
consumption by another ? As a race, apart from the very visible difference in skin color, we
are quite different from the caucasians in build, behaviour, culture etc. If so, what's the logic
that marketers find in selecting white models while selling to us ? Beats me.
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Not exactly his master's voice ...
The poodle has finally decided not to toe the master's line. After years of blindly following
the leader, the poodle has finally had a viewpoint different from his master.
The master has worked behind the scenes to get Saddam a death sentence for crimes
which the US has been doing for years and has gotten away with. However, this is one
area where Blair cannot toe the Bush line. Not because he does not want to or because
he differs in opinion, but just because the European Union of which the U.K. is a part,
has a strict view on capital punishment.
The E.U. has always been against capital punishment and Blair cannot be seen differing
from that view. Hence his difference with the master, however reluctantly.
When New Labour overthrew the Tories many years ago and Tony Blair took office as
Prime Minister for the 1st time, I was among the many that applauded. I have no vested
interest in U.K. politics, nor have I stayed there. A 4-hour transit at Heathrow airport
many years ago, does not count as a stay anyway.
My interest was because the country was getting a young leader who I expected would be
more efficient and proactive. Unlike the leaders that we are cursed with, who are reluctant
to give up power even when they are having one feet in the grave.
However, the Iraq invasion exposed Blair for what he actually was - a white colonialist,
working with another of the same ilk, who rushed into Iraq among other things, to avenge
the insult that his Dad had faced many years ago. Ofcourse, it helped that there was lots
of oil around & the opportunity to provide companies owned by friends, lucrative contracts,
in the name of rebuilding Iraq.
I am happy that Blair will be moving out of Downing Street pretty soon. Good riddance.
the leader, the poodle has finally had a viewpoint different from his master.
The master has worked behind the scenes to get Saddam a death sentence for crimes
which the US has been doing for years and has gotten away with. However, this is one
area where Blair cannot toe the Bush line. Not because he does not want to or because
he differs in opinion, but just because the European Union of which the U.K. is a part,
has a strict view on capital punishment.
The E.U. has always been against capital punishment and Blair cannot be seen differing
from that view. Hence his difference with the master, however reluctantly.
When New Labour overthrew the Tories many years ago and Tony Blair took office as
Prime Minister for the 1st time, I was among the many that applauded. I have no vested
interest in U.K. politics, nor have I stayed there. A 4-hour transit at Heathrow airport
many years ago, does not count as a stay anyway.
My interest was because the country was getting a young leader who I expected would be
more efficient and proactive. Unlike the leaders that we are cursed with, who are reluctant
to give up power even when they are having one feet in the grave.
However, the Iraq invasion exposed Blair for what he actually was - a white colonialist,
working with another of the same ilk, who rushed into Iraq among other things, to avenge
the insult that his Dad had faced many years ago. Ofcourse, it helped that there was lots
of oil around & the opportunity to provide companies owned by friends, lucrative contracts,
in the name of rebuilding Iraq.
I am happy that Blair will be moving out of Downing Street pretty soon. Good riddance.
The Sena to the rescue. Surprisingly...
A news item couple of days ago had my interest. The Siv Sena through its mouthpiece,
Saamna, had come out in support of Saddam Hussein, and condemned the US-influenced
death sentence imposed on him by an Iraqi court.
Wow, that really made for interesting reading. A rabid anti-Muslim organisation coming up
in defence of a Muslim ??? I am sure this is a first for the Sena. I am no fan of communal / regional / casteist organisations and would like to have these formations removed from the
face of the Indian political scene. However, the viewpoint deserved looking into and some
of the points made in Saddam's defence did make sense.
Saddam was one of the few Muslim rulers to be on India's side in its tangle with Pakistan
over Kashmir. While other Muslim countries would blindly support Pakistan just because
they shared the same religion, Saddam chose to dwell on the merits of the case.
Saddam also was one of the few leaders that did not allow his country to be a base for
terrorists. Surprising, eh ? More so, because the US plank for invading Iraq was his
support for terrorists, apart from the non-existent WMDs.
And the item blamed Indian leaders for not coming up in support for Saddam. Forget
supporting another country/ruler, our leaders would not have the guts to stand up for
our own country, if it were under seige. And don't dismiss that as a crazy thought.
A bully is a bully, anything is fair game for him. Our nukes might be the perfect excuse
for the world's leading nuclear proliferator to invade us.
But then, the bully also knows whom to pick on. Observe the silence when it comes to
N.Korea, which is not without reason. The bully knows the extent to which the dictator
would go, if forced into a corner. And a nuclear flare-up is going to be costly for all parties concerned. Hope better sense prevails atleast there instead of the foolishness that led
them into Iraq.
Saamna, had come out in support of Saddam Hussein, and condemned the US-influenced
death sentence imposed on him by an Iraqi court.
Wow, that really made for interesting reading. A rabid anti-Muslim organisation coming up
in defence of a Muslim ??? I am sure this is a first for the Sena. I am no fan of communal / regional / casteist organisations and would like to have these formations removed from the
face of the Indian political scene. However, the viewpoint deserved looking into and some
of the points made in Saddam's defence did make sense.
Saddam was one of the few Muslim rulers to be on India's side in its tangle with Pakistan
over Kashmir. While other Muslim countries would blindly support Pakistan just because
they shared the same religion, Saddam chose to dwell on the merits of the case.
Saddam also was one of the few leaders that did not allow his country to be a base for
terrorists. Surprising, eh ? More so, because the US plank for invading Iraq was his
support for terrorists, apart from the non-existent WMDs.
And the item blamed Indian leaders for not coming up in support for Saddam. Forget
supporting another country/ruler, our leaders would not have the guts to stand up for
our own country, if it were under seige. And don't dismiss that as a crazy thought.
A bully is a bully, anything is fair game for him. Our nukes might be the perfect excuse
for the world's leading nuclear proliferator to invade us.
But then, the bully also knows whom to pick on. Observe the silence when it comes to
N.Korea, which is not without reason. The bully knows the extent to which the dictator
would go, if forced into a corner. And a nuclear flare-up is going to be costly for all parties concerned. Hope better sense prevails atleast there instead of the foolishness that led
them into Iraq.
Monday, November 06, 2006
Saddam Hussein sentenced to death ...
Finally the court trying Saddam has pronounced judgement and sentenced him to death.
The newspapers were agog from yesterday about a possible death sentence and they have
been proven right. Looks like this is the time of capital punishments - first Afzal, then the
lawyer in the Maattoo case and now Saddam Hussein.
I guess opinion is divided on whether Afzal should be put to death or not, with our own
Arundhati Roy using up quite a few pages of the latest Outlook mag for his cause. I am
not sure I really buy her theory though. Regarding the lawyer, general opinion is that
justice has been done, though delayed. The crime was pretty heinous and would look
like it deserves the punishment doled out.
Coming to Saddam Hussein, the crimes attributed to him, have been committed by many
a dictator, and in most cases with the active support of the US & other western countries,
that are working behind the scenes to have him crucified.
This is not to say that he is innocent. The guy has quite some blood on his hands and needs
to be punished. But then, do not Dubya and Blair deserve the same or more stringent punishment for killing so many innocent Iraqis (6.5 lakhs as per latest reports) ? And that
too without any real reason. They invaded a country just like that, bombed it to dust, killed innocent men/women/children and in short turned it into a mess. Agreed that Saddam was
no just ruler, but atleast the people had the basic necessities and there was no chaos like
what is seen today.
The 1st Gulf war was started due to Saddam invading Kuwait and which was a blatantly
wrong thing to do. However, if reports are to be believed, he had an informal go-ahead
from Bush Sr., who later went back on his commitment. Either ways, it was wrong to
invade another country and Iraq paid for it, along with Saddam. However, there was no justification for invading Iraq the 2nd time. Even if he did have WMDs, they would have
been sourced from the US only.
So it has been such a sorry joke - first arm dictators, then invade them after accusing them
of having WMDs which you only provided them in the first place.
I was in college when the 1st Gulf war happened and people in Kerala keenly followed the happenings as it had a large number of its people working in the Gulf countries, who would
be affected by war breaking out. Even as I conceded that Saddam was at fault, I admired
him for taking on the world's bully. He might have lost the war, but no one can accuse him
of not putting up a fight. The Yankees might have won finally, but the world got someone
who could stand up to a bully.
The 2nd time around, there wasn't much to fault Iraq/Saddam of and still the US and UK
invaded it. The Americans have seen a thousand odd of their soldiers returning home in
bodybags and many more maimed. The way these guys are bogged down in Iraq, this does
not seem to be the end of casualties. Sentencing Saddam to death is only going to add fuel
to the fire.
The US is already aware of the grave mistake it did by getting into Iraq and this is one misadventure they are not going to forget for a long time. But then, I am not betting on
that possibility either. They forgot Vietnam, didn't they ? As someone aptly put it, "The
only thing we learn from history is that we do not learn from history".
The newspapers were agog from yesterday about a possible death sentence and they have
been proven right. Looks like this is the time of capital punishments - first Afzal, then the
lawyer in the Maattoo case and now Saddam Hussein.
I guess opinion is divided on whether Afzal should be put to death or not, with our own
Arundhati Roy using up quite a few pages of the latest Outlook mag for his cause. I am
not sure I really buy her theory though. Regarding the lawyer, general opinion is that
justice has been done, though delayed. The crime was pretty heinous and would look
like it deserves the punishment doled out.
Coming to Saddam Hussein, the crimes attributed to him, have been committed by many
a dictator, and in most cases with the active support of the US & other western countries,
that are working behind the scenes to have him crucified.
This is not to say that he is innocent. The guy has quite some blood on his hands and needs
to be punished. But then, do not Dubya and Blair deserve the same or more stringent punishment for killing so many innocent Iraqis (6.5 lakhs as per latest reports) ? And that
too without any real reason. They invaded a country just like that, bombed it to dust, killed innocent men/women/children and in short turned it into a mess. Agreed that Saddam was
no just ruler, but atleast the people had the basic necessities and there was no chaos like
what is seen today.
The 1st Gulf war was started due to Saddam invading Kuwait and which was a blatantly
wrong thing to do. However, if reports are to be believed, he had an informal go-ahead
from Bush Sr., who later went back on his commitment. Either ways, it was wrong to
invade another country and Iraq paid for it, along with Saddam. However, there was no justification for invading Iraq the 2nd time. Even if he did have WMDs, they would have
been sourced from the US only.
So it has been such a sorry joke - first arm dictators, then invade them after accusing them
of having WMDs which you only provided them in the first place.
I was in college when the 1st Gulf war happened and people in Kerala keenly followed the happenings as it had a large number of its people working in the Gulf countries, who would
be affected by war breaking out. Even as I conceded that Saddam was at fault, I admired
him for taking on the world's bully. He might have lost the war, but no one can accuse him
of not putting up a fight. The Yankees might have won finally, but the world got someone
who could stand up to a bully.
The 2nd time around, there wasn't much to fault Iraq/Saddam of and still the US and UK
invaded it. The Americans have seen a thousand odd of their soldiers returning home in
bodybags and many more maimed. The way these guys are bogged down in Iraq, this does
not seem to be the end of casualties. Sentencing Saddam to death is only going to add fuel
to the fire.
The US is already aware of the grave mistake it did by getting into Iraq and this is one misadventure they are not going to forget for a long time. But then, I am not betting on
that possibility either. They forgot Vietnam, didn't they ? As someone aptly put it, "The
only thing we learn from history is that we do not learn from history".
Friday, November 03, 2006
The Mallu blogging scene.
Even though I have been blogging for sometime now and also have been a regular at some
nice blogs like waiterrant, clublife, Crystal blur etc, I never knew that there were a whole
lot of Mallus blogging away, and in style.
I somehow did not associate Mallus with blogging. I realised how wrong I was when I
stumbled upon the well written and humorous blog of Silverine. Silverine is a Mallu girl working/based at Bangalore and describes herself thus, "Cancerian, happy go lucky girl
who likes to sock life in the face if it gets too serious".
On her blog are links to a whole array of Mallu blogs dealing with varied topics. Have not
had the time to go through them yet, but will try to sample them as and when possible.
Till then, all ye Mallus, blog on, you have nothing to loose but your inhibitions.
nice blogs like waiterrant, clublife, Crystal blur etc, I never knew that there were a whole
lot of Mallus blogging away, and in style.
I somehow did not associate Mallus with blogging. I realised how wrong I was when I
stumbled upon the well written and humorous blog of Silverine. Silverine is a Mallu girl working/based at Bangalore and describes herself thus, "Cancerian, happy go lucky girl
who likes to sock life in the face if it gets too serious".
On her blog are links to a whole array of Mallu blogs dealing with varied topics. Have not
had the time to go through them yet, but will try to sample them as and when possible.
Till then, all ye Mallus, blog on, you have nothing to loose but your inhibitions.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Kerala Piravi - Golden anniversary of the creation of Kerala state
It is 1st November again and a big day for all Keralites. OK, not as big as Onam maybe,
but nevertheless important. And this year it is extra special as it is the Golden Anniversary.
A Happy Birthday to GOD's Own Country.
Lots of emails from Mallu friends with photographs capturing the beauty of Kerala.
Actually, is it really possible to capture her beauty using a camera ? I have tried many
times and even though the photos came out pretty good, I always felt that it looked
much better in reality.
Of all the photos (of beaches, backwaters, kathakali artist, pookkalam, tea estates,
waterfalls etc) that came in, what really attracted me was the following caricature
and the accompanying lines (which I am told were written by Malayalam poet Vayalar).
Pardon my ignorance as inspite of being a Keralite, I have spent almost all my life outside
Kerala. Well, what's new about that, right ?
A rough translation for the benefit of non-Mallus would go as below :
Are there people who have lived in this place to their heart's content ?
Are there people who have lived here and loved to their heart's desire till their last breath ?
Please give me another life on this beautiful shore,
Please give me another life here...
but nevertheless important. And this year it is extra special as it is the Golden Anniversary.
A Happy Birthday to GOD's Own Country.
Lots of emails from Mallu friends with photographs capturing the beauty of Kerala.
Actually, is it really possible to capture her beauty using a camera ? I have tried many
times and even though the photos came out pretty good, I always felt that it looked
much better in reality.
Of all the photos (of beaches, backwaters, kathakali artist, pookkalam, tea estates,
waterfalls etc) that came in, what really attracted me was the following caricature
and the accompanying lines (which I am told were written by Malayalam poet Vayalar).
Pardon my ignorance as inspite of being a Keralite, I have spent almost all my life outside
Kerala. Well, what's new about that, right ?
A rough translation for the benefit of non-Mallus would go as below :
Are there people who have lived in this place to their heart's content ?
Are there people who have lived here and loved to their heart's desire till their last breath ?
Please give me another life on this beautiful shore,
Please give me another life here...
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Capital punishment - various viewpoints.
I have been reading different views in the newspapers by readers, apart from the editorials, concerning the courts awarding capital punishment to the accused in the Parliament attack
case.
Some are for capital punishment. Some are normally against capital punishment, but want
it to be awarded in this case, as it involves terrorism. And the rest are fully against capital punishment etc.
Those that do not want a pardon to happen in this case cite the following :
1) A terrorist act and an attack on our country's foremost institution.
2) It would be unfair to the 9 security people killed in the attack.
3) The accused showing no remorse and not asking for pardon personally
(it is his family that have asked for pardon on his behalf).
4) The accused not accepting Indian constitution and authority.
5) A reduction to life sentence would mean that he will be again out in the
streets in 12 years plotting another attack.
6) If sentenced to life, could lead to another air hijacking in future to get him
released and free to plot more terror games.
Those that want a pardon in this case cite :
1) No human has the right to take another's life.
2) It is inhuman; the world as such is moving away from this type of punishment.
3) India, the land of Ahimsa, should not practice such western punishments.
4) If at a later stage, it turns out that the person was not guilty, it would not be
possible to reverse the injustice meted to him etc.
I personally am confused. I think that this is a grave crime and deserves serious
punishment. Also, I am worried about the signal this would send to our armed
forces (and their families) who sacrifice their life for our safety. But, I also believe
that no human has the right to take another's life. But if the sentence is reduced
to life, there is the possibility of trouble later as in points 5 & 6 above.
A person I know mentioned another novel / simple approach - pardon him (which will
satisfy those protesting against his being hanged), then bump him off in a stage-managed encounter (will satisfy those that are baying for his blood).
Ingenious, eh ? More like, killing two birds with one stone, and satisfying everybody.
case.
Some are for capital punishment. Some are normally against capital punishment, but want
it to be awarded in this case, as it involves terrorism. And the rest are fully against capital punishment etc.
Those that do not want a pardon to happen in this case cite the following :
1) A terrorist act and an attack on our country's foremost institution.
2) It would be unfair to the 9 security people killed in the attack.
3) The accused showing no remorse and not asking for pardon personally
(it is his family that have asked for pardon on his behalf).
4) The accused not accepting Indian constitution and authority.
5) A reduction to life sentence would mean that he will be again out in the
streets in 12 years plotting another attack.
6) If sentenced to life, could lead to another air hijacking in future to get him
released and free to plot more terror games.
Those that want a pardon in this case cite :
1) No human has the right to take another's life.
2) It is inhuman; the world as such is moving away from this type of punishment.
3) India, the land of Ahimsa, should not practice such western punishments.
4) If at a later stage, it turns out that the person was not guilty, it would not be
possible to reverse the injustice meted to him etc.
I personally am confused. I think that this is a grave crime and deserves serious
punishment. Also, I am worried about the signal this would send to our armed
forces (and their families) who sacrifice their life for our safety. But, I also believe
that no human has the right to take another's life. But if the sentence is reduced
to life, there is the possibility of trouble later as in points 5 & 6 above.
A person I know mentioned another novel / simple approach - pardon him (which will
satisfy those protesting against his being hanged), then bump him off in a stage-managed encounter (will satisfy those that are baying for his blood).
Ingenious, eh ? More like, killing two birds with one stone, and satisfying everybody.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Long time, no post.
Phew ! It's a long time since I posted anything here.
Not that I have any regular readers that are complaining. But still, need to start devoting
some time on a regular basis to this blog.
Not that I have any regular readers that are complaining. But still, need to start devoting
some time on a regular basis to this blog.
Monday, March 06, 2006
A nuke in hand is worth two with Bush.
So, finally Bush came, saw and conquered too, if we are to believe the media. I am not
against new technology, FDI or responsible nuclear behaviour, but somehow the visit
of George Bush left a bad taste.
I feel bad that my country and its administrators were laying out the red carpet for a
criminal responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians that
include children and women, who due to no fault of theirs or their country had to suffer
bombing of their country and illegal occupation by foreign forces.
All this so that the US could dip into the huge oil reserves of Iraq to feed the increasing
oil-dependency of its citizens. All this by misling Americans and the world that somehow
Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11 and could wreak more havoc on the world in
general and the US in particular with the WMDs that he is in posession of. Even when
the whole world knew this to be untrue, the US and UK went ahead with their plan of
bombing Iraq to dust and even after 3 years, there is no sign of any WMDs.
And BTW, most dictatorships have always been armed by the US, to further its aims
or to have an ally in its erstwhile war with Russia. So, even if Saddam had any WMDs,
it would have been supplied by the US only. What a big joke. You supply a dictator
with WMDs so that he can wreak havoc on his enemy countries or even his subjects
and then later you accuse him of having WMDs which you sold him in the first place.
I am pretty sure that India will not benefit as much as the US from this much hyped
nuclear treaty. We could be lucky if we even get a 25% benefit for every 75% benefit
the US gains from this treaty. And, as history has proved time and again, while we
will be expected to keep our end of the treaty, do not even in your wildest dreams
expect the US to keep its word as we go down the line.
Till the Prime Minister briefs Parliament and we see the fine print of the treaty, all we
can do is keep our fingers crossed.
against new technology, FDI or responsible nuclear behaviour, but somehow the visit
of George Bush left a bad taste.
I feel bad that my country and its administrators were laying out the red carpet for a
criminal responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians that
include children and women, who due to no fault of theirs or their country had to suffer
bombing of their country and illegal occupation by foreign forces.
All this so that the US could dip into the huge oil reserves of Iraq to feed the increasing
oil-dependency of its citizens. All this by misling Americans and the world that somehow
Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11 and could wreak more havoc on the world in
general and the US in particular with the WMDs that he is in posession of. Even when
the whole world knew this to be untrue, the US and UK went ahead with their plan of
bombing Iraq to dust and even after 3 years, there is no sign of any WMDs.
And BTW, most dictatorships have always been armed by the US, to further its aims
or to have an ally in its erstwhile war with Russia. So, even if Saddam had any WMDs,
it would have been supplied by the US only. What a big joke. You supply a dictator
with WMDs so that he can wreak havoc on his enemy countries or even his subjects
and then later you accuse him of having WMDs which you sold him in the first place.
I am pretty sure that India will not benefit as much as the US from this much hyped
nuclear treaty. We could be lucky if we even get a 25% benefit for every 75% benefit
the US gains from this treaty. And, as history has proved time and again, while we
will be expected to keep our end of the treaty, do not even in your wildest dreams
expect the US to keep its word as we go down the line.
Till the Prime Minister briefs Parliament and we see the fine print of the treaty, all we
can do is keep our fingers crossed.
Saamy gets connected. And how ...
Saamy, my neighbour living in the colony adjacent to our apartment complex has got
connected. He's got his own cellphone, which is great since it indicates that all sections
of Indian society are reaping the benefits of the telecom revolution.
BTW, I guess this must be the only instance where all sections of the society have solidly
embraced a new technology in the Indian scenario. TV comes close, but I guess it took a
lot more time to spread, when compared to cellphones. And even today, the spread of TV
in India is much less compared to that of cellphones.
Our cellular penetration is awesome, to put it mildly. Go to any city, town or village in
India and you can see people chatting on their mobiles. I don't remember seeing such
high usage even in the US or Europe.
Saamy, as I mentioned in an earlier post, is a house painter by vocation and I guess the
mobile phone helps him get more work / business. However, what I found irritating was
his kid-with-new-toy behaviour. Like any new mobile user, he wants the world to know
that he has a cellphone. So, he positions himself on the stairs of his first floor home, calls
up friends / relatives and then proceeds to chat at real loud volume. I am sure his banter reaches each and every home in a 20m radius around him.
Last weekend, he was again at it, talking in a loud voice with a friend about meeting him
in the evening for a few drinks. Luckily for everyone around, his wife stepped out of their
home as soon as she heard the "drinks" part and told him in no uncertain terms that there
was no way he would go drink that day. So, Mr.Saamy disconnected the call and tried to
persuade her to grant permission for a boy's night out.
I am not sure he succeeded because I did not hear at night the usual racket that he makes
on returning home drunk. Maybe, this incident will make Saamy talk quieter on the phone
from now on and us neighbors could have it easier.
connected. He's got his own cellphone, which is great since it indicates that all sections
of Indian society are reaping the benefits of the telecom revolution.
BTW, I guess this must be the only instance where all sections of the society have solidly
embraced a new technology in the Indian scenario. TV comes close, but I guess it took a
lot more time to spread, when compared to cellphones. And even today, the spread of TV
in India is much less compared to that of cellphones.
Our cellular penetration is awesome, to put it mildly. Go to any city, town or village in
India and you can see people chatting on their mobiles. I don't remember seeing such
high usage even in the US or Europe.
Saamy, as I mentioned in an earlier post, is a house painter by vocation and I guess the
mobile phone helps him get more work / business. However, what I found irritating was
his kid-with-new-toy behaviour. Like any new mobile user, he wants the world to know
that he has a cellphone. So, he positions himself on the stairs of his first floor home, calls
up friends / relatives and then proceeds to chat at real loud volume. I am sure his banter reaches each and every home in a 20m radius around him.
Last weekend, he was again at it, talking in a loud voice with a friend about meeting him
in the evening for a few drinks. Luckily for everyone around, his wife stepped out of their
home as soon as she heard the "drinks" part and told him in no uncertain terms that there
was no way he would go drink that day. So, Mr.Saamy disconnected the call and tried to
persuade her to grant permission for a boy's night out.
I am not sure he succeeded because I did not hear at night the usual racket that he makes
on returning home drunk. Maybe, this incident will make Saamy talk quieter on the phone
from now on and us neighbors could have it easier.
Friday, March 03, 2006
Why single out only the RSS for criticism ?
Reading my previous posts could give an impression that I am singling out only the RSS
(and thus only Hindu fundamentalist organisastions) for criticism. However, that is not
definitely the case and it is time I made my intentions clear.
I am against any form of religious fundamentalism, be it Hindu, Christian, Muslim or any
of the other religions in the world. I believe that religion is separate from politics and the
thrust of any religion should be to prompt its followers to do good. If a religion preaches
the so-called Golden Rule "Treat others as you would like to be treated", then I guess it
is worth following.
A religion should bring me closer to God, should teach me to be good towards other human beings, to lead a respectable life. If instead, a religion teaches me to kill my fellow human
being, I would rather stay away from it.
We do have fundamentalist / communal outfits from other religions also like the Indian
Union Muslim League and I am sure there must be some Christian outfits also (though I
do not know of any myself).
All these are abominable as far as I am concerned and can only do more harm than good
to our country. I hope that the Indian youth do not get caught in the web laid by these
so-called nationalists and have the prudence to avoid them.
(and thus only Hindu fundamentalist organisastions) for criticism. However, that is not
definitely the case and it is time I made my intentions clear.
I am against any form of religious fundamentalism, be it Hindu, Christian, Muslim or any
of the other religions in the world. I believe that religion is separate from politics and the
thrust of any religion should be to prompt its followers to do good. If a religion preaches
the so-called Golden Rule "Treat others as you would like to be treated", then I guess it
is worth following.
A religion should bring me closer to God, should teach me to be good towards other human beings, to lead a respectable life. If instead, a religion teaches me to kill my fellow human
being, I would rather stay away from it.
We do have fundamentalist / communal outfits from other religions also like the Indian
Union Muslim League and I am sure there must be some Christian outfits also (though I
do not know of any myself).
All these are abominable as far as I am concerned and can only do more harm than good
to our country. I hope that the Indian youth do not get caught in the web laid by these
so-called nationalists and have the prudence to avoid them.
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Indianising Muslims and Christians, whatever that means ...
Another one from the head-knickerwallah of the RSS, Mr.Sudarshan, who seems to be bent upon proving conventional wisdom wrong. As people age, they tend to become wiser & tend
to deliver sage counsel. But not so for the types of Mr.Sudarshan.
After his stupid exhortation to India's Hindus to go ahead and multiply, about which I wrote
here (http://indiandream.blogspot.com/2006/01/go-ahead-and-multiply.html), another
great idea has struck him. This time it is to Indianise those who are not Hindus, whatever it means. To quote him, "We cannot throw our Muslims and Christians into the ocean. So, let
us Indianise them."
From when did India become synonymous with a particular religion ? My passport mentions
my country as "Republic of India". It does not mention "Hindu Republic of India" as in the "Islamic Republic of Paksitan".
Who the hell is Sudarshan to think about what should be the ethnic / religious composition
of India ? What authority does the RSS even have to debate such things ? They are at best
a group of thugs who use religion for their own petty gains. What locus standi does the RSS
have to make such an observation ?
Who made them the voice of even the Hindus, leave alone all Indians ? If they were indeed
the voice of all the Hindus in India, the BJP would be in power today, which fortunately is
not the case.
India is lucky that the majority are not taken in by the absurd logic of communalists. Else,
we would have probably degenerated into the kind of chaos that can be seen in countries
where religion is allowed to mix into politics.
to deliver sage counsel. But not so for the types of Mr.Sudarshan.
After his stupid exhortation to India's Hindus to go ahead and multiply, about which I wrote
here (http://indiandream.blogspot.com/2006/01/go-ahead-and-multiply.html), another
great idea has struck him. This time it is to Indianise those who are not Hindus, whatever it means. To quote him, "We cannot throw our Muslims and Christians into the ocean. So, let
us Indianise them."
From when did India become synonymous with a particular religion ? My passport mentions
my country as "Republic of India". It does not mention "Hindu Republic of India" as in the "Islamic Republic of Paksitan".
Who the hell is Sudarshan to think about what should be the ethnic / religious composition
of India ? What authority does the RSS even have to debate such things ? They are at best
a group of thugs who use religion for their own petty gains. What locus standi does the RSS
have to make such an observation ?
Who made them the voice of even the Hindus, leave alone all Indians ? If they were indeed
the voice of all the Hindus in India, the BJP would be in power today, which fortunately is
not the case.
India is lucky that the majority are not taken in by the absurd logic of communalists. Else,
we would have probably degenerated into the kind of chaos that can be seen in countries
where religion is allowed to mix into politics.
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Playing a vigilance officer.
This was a funny incident that happened during a trip to Kerala few months ago. As is my practice for years, I board the Tvm Mail at Chennai in the evening with enough stuff to
read to last me atleast till I hit the bed around 10PM. And, since the scheduled arrival
time at my station is 9AM (usually the train is late by atleast 30 mins), I can afford to
sleep late till 8AM or so.
This time also, I was sleeping or actually half-asleep around 8AM when I was woken up
by some shouting coming from the next coupe. What I understood was that a lady had
boarded the train at Cochin and got into the sleeper compartment with only a normal
ticket. And to top it all, she had some 4-5 kids with her.
As per Railway rules it is illegal to do what she did and though the T.T.E. can fine people
caught doing so, they usually ask them to detrain at the next station and board the
unreserved compartment.
However, this T.T.E. looked at it differently. He saw a great opportunity to make some
money on the side. He started off with berating the lady about how grave a mistake she
had done and then went on to explain the huge amount of money that she will have to
pay as fine. And then left it to her. Kind of like "OK, pay this huge amount or pay me
something and I will gloss it over".
I was already irritated having been woken up from my slumber and to top it, here was
a guy brazenly engaging in corruption apart from harassing the poor lady who most
probably did not know that she was not supposed to board that compartment.
I woke up, took a few minutes to freshen up & came back to my seat. I expected atleast
someone to plead the lady's cause, but everyone was sitting back and enjoying the drama,
if you could call it that. Finally, I decided that enough was enough & walked to the T.T.E.,
bent a little (he was sitting) and looked at his badge as if trying to read the name.
This done, I just returned back to my seat and took out a book to read.
As my seat was facing away from the TTE, I am not sure of his facial impression, but I
could bet that he was astonished and maybe this was something he never encountered
in his whole career. There was silence for a couple of minutes and then the TTE walked
over to me and sat on the opposite seat.
TTE : What were you trying to do ?
Me : Just looking at your badge.
TTE : What for ?
Me : What else for other than knowing your name ?
TTE : Why do you want my name ?
Me : Just like that. You have the badge there to indicate your name. Is it a crime to read it ?
TTE : No it is not. But, what are you going to do ? Who are you ? Show me an identity.
Me: Why are you bothered about what I am going to do with that information. And
regarding my identity, all you can demand to see is my ticket. I need not produce my
identity when demanded by the TTE.
TTE : Oh, OK. Why don't you write down my name so that you do not forget ?
ME: Well, now that you mention it, it is a good idea as I might forget. Thanks.
And then I take out my pen and my diary, look again at his badge & note down the name.
Now, the guy is like mad and unsure what to do next. He sits there staring at me for a few
minutes, while I continue reading my book. Everyone around is watching us.
He gets up, goes to the adjoining coupe and says "I am trying to do things as per the law
and here you have people noting down my name for that". And so on .....
Finally, he tells the lady and kids to detrain at the next station and board the unreserved
compartment. No fine charged or bribe demanded.
Mission success, I return to my Malayalam novel by Zachariah.
Moral : All we need to do is stand up against corruption instead of just talking about it.
As in this case, you don't even need to say a word to put the point across.
Let's do our bit to make India corruption-free.
P.S. : Since I travel very often to Kerala, and since the TTEs aboard the train are regulars,
I do come across this guy occasionally. Don't know whether he remembers me though.
But I am sure, he would never forget that incident.
read to last me atleast till I hit the bed around 10PM. And, since the scheduled arrival
time at my station is 9AM (usually the train is late by atleast 30 mins), I can afford to
sleep late till 8AM or so.
This time also, I was sleeping or actually half-asleep around 8AM when I was woken up
by some shouting coming from the next coupe. What I understood was that a lady had
boarded the train at Cochin and got into the sleeper compartment with only a normal
ticket. And to top it all, she had some 4-5 kids with her.
As per Railway rules it is illegal to do what she did and though the T.T.E. can fine people
caught doing so, they usually ask them to detrain at the next station and board the
unreserved compartment.
However, this T.T.E. looked at it differently. He saw a great opportunity to make some
money on the side. He started off with berating the lady about how grave a mistake she
had done and then went on to explain the huge amount of money that she will have to
pay as fine. And then left it to her. Kind of like "OK, pay this huge amount or pay me
something and I will gloss it over".
I was already irritated having been woken up from my slumber and to top it, here was
a guy brazenly engaging in corruption apart from harassing the poor lady who most
probably did not know that she was not supposed to board that compartment.
I woke up, took a few minutes to freshen up & came back to my seat. I expected atleast
someone to plead the lady's cause, but everyone was sitting back and enjoying the drama,
if you could call it that. Finally, I decided that enough was enough & walked to the T.T.E.,
bent a little (he was sitting) and looked at his badge as if trying to read the name.
This done, I just returned back to my seat and took out a book to read.
As my seat was facing away from the TTE, I am not sure of his facial impression, but I
could bet that he was astonished and maybe this was something he never encountered
in his whole career. There was silence for a couple of minutes and then the TTE walked
over to me and sat on the opposite seat.
TTE : What were you trying to do ?
Me : Just looking at your badge.
TTE : What for ?
Me : What else for other than knowing your name ?
TTE : Why do you want my name ?
Me : Just like that. You have the badge there to indicate your name. Is it a crime to read it ?
TTE : No it is not. But, what are you going to do ? Who are you ? Show me an identity.
Me: Why are you bothered about what I am going to do with that information. And
regarding my identity, all you can demand to see is my ticket. I need not produce my
identity when demanded by the TTE.
TTE : Oh, OK. Why don't you write down my name so that you do not forget ?
ME: Well, now that you mention it, it is a good idea as I might forget. Thanks.
And then I take out my pen and my diary, look again at his badge & note down the name.
Now, the guy is like mad and unsure what to do next. He sits there staring at me for a few
minutes, while I continue reading my book. Everyone around is watching us.
He gets up, goes to the adjoining coupe and says "I am trying to do things as per the law
and here you have people noting down my name for that". And so on .....
Finally, he tells the lady and kids to detrain at the next station and board the unreserved
compartment. No fine charged or bribe demanded.
Mission success, I return to my Malayalam novel by Zachariah.
Moral : All we need to do is stand up against corruption instead of just talking about it.
As in this case, you don't even need to say a word to put the point across.
Let's do our bit to make India corruption-free.
P.S. : Since I travel very often to Kerala, and since the TTEs aboard the train are regulars,
I do come across this guy occasionally. Don't know whether he remembers me though.
But I am sure, he would never forget that incident.
Monday, February 13, 2006
The Danes were here ?
While on the topic of cartoons published by a Danish newspaper, I was thinking of a
recent discovery that I made about the history of our nation.
It all started during a trip to Karaikkal (part of the Union Territory of Pondichery).
Though a part of Pondichery, it is physically located around 150kms from Pondichery.
Nothing unusual, considering the fact that Mahi and Yanam (the other two parts of
Pondichery) are located much farther away in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh respectively.
All these places were French colonies and joined the Indian Union after India secured independence from the British.
While at Karaikkal, I decided to go around the place and visit any places of interest
including the famous temple of God Sani (Saturn) and then came to know that a few
kilometres away was a fort from the colonial times at a place called Tharangambadi.
Unable to pronounce it, the French had shortened it to Tranqebar.
When I directed the cab driver to go to the fort, he was always referring to it as the
Dutch Kottai (Dutch fort). So, I was like, "OK, so who all were here ? The French, the
British and also the Dutch... ". However, I was in for a big surprise when I reached the
fort and read about its history. It seems the term "Dutch fort" was a misnomer, because
the Fort was built by the Danes who had visited the place sometime in the 16th century.
I do not claim to remember all the history lessons that I crammed at school. But, I was
pretty sure that I had never read of the Danes having a colony in India (I might be wrong
though). I remember reading about the French, the British and the Dutch. Looks like the
Danes had also caught the colonising bug and had reached Tranqebar where they had
established the Fort just close to the sea. Later, unable to withstand the British
onslaught, they had sold the fort to the English, and left for sweet home.
Over the centuries, the sea had damaged the fort and infact some structures were taken
by the sea. But the ASI has done a commendable job of restoring the fort to its past glory.
A must-visit place, if you are anywhere near Karaikkal or Nagapattinam, not just for the
beauty, but also for that bit of history that we were not aware of.
Just close by is a temple from olden times, severely damaged by the sea. It is sad that
no one is taking any effort to renovate it or atleast to limit any further damage.
recent discovery that I made about the history of our nation.
It all started during a trip to Karaikkal (part of the Union Territory of Pondichery).
Though a part of Pondichery, it is physically located around 150kms from Pondichery.
Nothing unusual, considering the fact that Mahi and Yanam (the other two parts of
Pondichery) are located much farther away in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh respectively.
All these places were French colonies and joined the Indian Union after India secured independence from the British.
While at Karaikkal, I decided to go around the place and visit any places of interest
including the famous temple of God Sani (Saturn) and then came to know that a few
kilometres away was a fort from the colonial times at a place called Tharangambadi.
Unable to pronounce it, the French had shortened it to Tranqebar.
When I directed the cab driver to go to the fort, he was always referring to it as the
Dutch Kottai (Dutch fort). So, I was like, "OK, so who all were here ? The French, the
British and also the Dutch... ". However, I was in for a big surprise when I reached the
fort and read about its history. It seems the term "Dutch fort" was a misnomer, because
the Fort was built by the Danes who had visited the place sometime in the 16th century.
I do not claim to remember all the history lessons that I crammed at school. But, I was
pretty sure that I had never read of the Danes having a colony in India (I might be wrong
though). I remember reading about the French, the British and the Dutch. Looks like the
Danes had also caught the colonising bug and had reached Tranqebar where they had
established the Fort just close to the sea. Later, unable to withstand the British
onslaught, they had sold the fort to the English, and left for sweet home.
Over the centuries, the sea had damaged the fort and infact some structures were taken
by the sea. But the ASI has done a commendable job of restoring the fort to its past glory.
A must-visit place, if you are anywhere near Karaikkal or Nagapattinam, not just for the
beauty, but also for that bit of history that we were not aware of.
Just close by is a temple from olden times, severely damaged by the sea. It is sad that
no one is taking any effort to renovate it or atleast to limit any further damage.
Friday, February 10, 2006
Does 10 equal 35 ?
Strange logic isn't it ? I can hear you asking, how in the world can 10 be equal to 35 ?
Unless ofcourse you are an employee of a call centre in India catering to US customers,
in which case you know the logic behind it.
Apparently, it seems this is one golden rule that the Indian call centres (dealing with
American clients), make sure that all their employees are aware of, during the initial orientation / training.
What this means is that a 35-year old American has the mental build-up of a 10-year
old Indian. And thus, the call centre employees need to be extra patient dealing with
them, as if they are kids, and be ready to handle all sorts of inane queries.
Well, it is not like all Americans are like this because I do happen to know quite a few
Americans and they do not fit into this logic. They are pretty intelligent guys with a
sharp mind and aware of things around them. But then again, they are techies that I
work with and I do not have any exposure to normal Americans who would have been
the rationale behind this logic.
Infact, you need not go far to find an example that perfectly fits this logic. Just think of
the most powerful man in the world today who also happens to be an American.
OK, OK, I know. For him, the rule would need to be changed to 60 equals 10. :-)
Logic courtesy : The novel "One night @ the call centre" by Chetan Bhagat.
Unless ofcourse you are an employee of a call centre in India catering to US customers,
in which case you know the logic behind it.
Apparently, it seems this is one golden rule that the Indian call centres (dealing with
American clients), make sure that all their employees are aware of, during the initial orientation / training.
What this means is that a 35-year old American has the mental build-up of a 10-year
old Indian. And thus, the call centre employees need to be extra patient dealing with
them, as if they are kids, and be ready to handle all sorts of inane queries.
Well, it is not like all Americans are like this because I do happen to know quite a few
Americans and they do not fit into this logic. They are pretty intelligent guys with a
sharp mind and aware of things around them. But then again, they are techies that I
work with and I do not have any exposure to normal Americans who would have been
the rationale behind this logic.
Infact, you need not go far to find an example that perfectly fits this logic. Just think of
the most powerful man in the world today who also happens to be an American.
OK, OK, I know. For him, the rule would need to be changed to 60 equals 10. :-)
Logic courtesy : The novel "One night @ the call centre" by Chetan Bhagat.
Thursday, February 09, 2006
The Danish storm in a tea cup.
A big storm has been unleashed by the publication of some cartoons depicting prophet Mohammed in a supposedly derogatory way, in a Danish newspaper. Ofcourse, as far
asMuslims are concerned, depiction of Mohammed itself is a no-no, irrespective of the
way he has been depicted.
I was trying to find the cartoons on the Net, to see what is it that could have offended
so many people all over the world to such an extent, that they have been protesting for
weeks & also setting ablaze Danish embassies (and even that of other western countries).
I google-ed the cartoons and to use an oft-repeated cliche, one link led to another and
finally I landed at http://www.faithfreedom.org/ where they had the cartoons.
I could not make sense of most of them and was like, "Did these necessitate the attention
that was generated ?"
But then, I am not a Muslim and thus might not be able to comprehend their outrage.
Anyway, the point here is not about whether the outrage is justified or not. This article
is about the website mentioned above and the contents of the website.
This website is managed by a group of ex-Muslims. Yes, you heard it right. The term
ex-Muslim refer to those who were born as Muslims, grew up as Muslims, but then of
their own free will decided to renounce Islam. The reason for denouncing/leaving Islam
was because, they learnt that Islam propogates / advocates practices that are not
advocated by other religions in the world.
And this understanding comes from their reading the Quran and the Hadith itself. They
also cite references from these books, which suggest that Mohammed has committed all
sorts of crimes (their list includes rape, paedophilia, immoral behaviour, lust etc) which
are not becoming of someone who is supposed to be a Prophet & the intermediary
between GOD and man.
Reading those articles can change the outlook you had about Islam. With the kind of
religious fanaticism prevalent today, it is surprising how these guys can dish out such
stuff and still hold on to their lives. I am not an expert on Islam and have never read
the Quran. So, am no authority on this subject & thus am not sure which side is correct.
Anyway, these guys call on everyone to do something to prevent a disaster. They want
Muslims to leave Islam due to the evil propogated by it. And they want non-Muslims to understand how much of a threat Islam is to the world and to work towards erasing it
from the world.
asMuslims are concerned, depiction of Mohammed itself is a no-no, irrespective of the
way he has been depicted.
I was trying to find the cartoons on the Net, to see what is it that could have offended
so many people all over the world to such an extent, that they have been protesting for
weeks & also setting ablaze Danish embassies (and even that of other western countries).
I google-ed the cartoons and to use an oft-repeated cliche, one link led to another and
finally I landed at http://www.faithfreedom.org/ where they had the cartoons.
I could not make sense of most of them and was like, "Did these necessitate the attention
that was generated ?"
But then, I am not a Muslim and thus might not be able to comprehend their outrage.
Anyway, the point here is not about whether the outrage is justified or not. This article
is about the website mentioned above and the contents of the website.
This website is managed by a group of ex-Muslims. Yes, you heard it right. The term
ex-Muslim refer to those who were born as Muslims, grew up as Muslims, but then of
their own free will decided to renounce Islam. The reason for denouncing/leaving Islam
was because, they learnt that Islam propogates / advocates practices that are not
advocated by other religions in the world.
And this understanding comes from their reading the Quran and the Hadith itself. They
also cite references from these books, which suggest that Mohammed has committed all
sorts of crimes (their list includes rape, paedophilia, immoral behaviour, lust etc) which
are not becoming of someone who is supposed to be a Prophet & the intermediary
between GOD and man.
Reading those articles can change the outlook you had about Islam. With the kind of
religious fanaticism prevalent today, it is surprising how these guys can dish out such
stuff and still hold on to their lives. I am not an expert on Islam and have never read
the Quran. So, am no authority on this subject & thus am not sure which side is correct.
Anyway, these guys call on everyone to do something to prevent a disaster. They want
Muslims to leave Islam due to the evil propogated by it. And they want non-Muslims to understand how much of a threat Islam is to the world and to work towards erasing it
from the world.
Friday, February 03, 2006
India needs more like him.
It is tough writing about someone whom you have not even met, forget knowing personally. All you know about that person is from someone else who knows him and then it is upto you whether to believe it or not. In this case, I guess I could take my wife's views as the truth because I know that she is not one to speak what she is not sure of .
The person in question here is Dr.Jacob Thomas I.P.S., the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of the Kerala Civil Supplies Corporation (better known as Supplyco). The Supplyco website does not give any details about his academic qualifications except for the "Dr" prefix indicating a doctorate (I heard he has more than one doctorate) and is an I.P.S. I do know that he is an Agriculture graduate. Don't know his post-graduate specialisation though.
It would be in order to give a brief description of Supplyco also, which he heads. Quoting from their website "http://www.supplycokerala.com/"
"Supplyco is the gateway for the 30 million people of the State of Kerala, assuring the much
needed food security in a substantive style by supplying life's essentials and reaching out to the
rural-poor and the urban-rich alike. Incorporated in 1974 as a fully owned Government
Company with an authorised capital of 15 crores, to meet the limited objectives of regulating
the market price of essential commodities at reasonable prices."
OK, the above is the official description about Supplyco. To know what Supplyco means to the public in Kerala, all you need to do is tell someone that you are working at Supplyco. If that person has heard of Supplyco, I can guarantee that the response will be something like, "Really. Then you must be making a lot of money on the side. Lucky you."
Coming back to the CMD, what makes him special or any better than the other bureaucrats manning other government organisations in India ? Actually, he cannot be compared to any usual bureaucrat due to his various qualities like integrity, dedication to work, broad outlook, an eye for technology and involvement in social work. If I remember right, it is maybe a little more than a year since he took over as CMD of Supplyco.
And it has been more than two years since my wife started her career with Supplyco as a Junior Manager (Quality Control). She was part of a group of 7 young guys/girls recruited by the Kerala Govt to the post of J.M. (Q.C). Their role in Supplyco includes inspecting the quality of food items (rice, pulses, spices etc) procured by Supplyco to sell at their stores and at the local public distribution system (PDS) outlets which are also known as ration shops.
I have met these group of young people who were excited about getting a job (a Govt. job does not come easy in India) and more importantly wanted to do it as per the rules. But then, they were not aware of how things worked at Supplyco at that time. Corruption was rampant, the suppliers were bribing everyone that mattered and would supply inferior stuff which was either not as per the specifications or in some cases even spoilt. Still, they would get their bills cleared on time and were minting money like crazy.
The new batch of managers found themselves in an unenviable position. They had only two options - either get corrupted and face the consequences at a later stage OR work with integrity and face the wrath of not only the suppliers but also their managers, who would bombard them with memos, suspensions and enquiries for doing their job the way they were supposed to do.
It is a good sign for India and a brownie point for today's youth that these young people decided that they would not get corrupted, come what may. Ofcourse taking a resolution is easy, but standing up to all kinds of pressure to hold on to that resolution is tough. There were cases where the supliers threatened them with official action if they rejected the sub-standard stuff. There were cases of managers verbally (never in written form) ordering them to accept stuff not meeting the specifications. And along the way came vigilance enquiries and memos for actually doing their job.
While it was tough for all of them, a couple of them were slowly loosing their morale and started deciding about quitting Supplyco. How fun is it to work in a place where you are actually punished for doing your job properly? One girl even put in her papers.
Luckily for them, the existing CMD was replaced with Dr.Jacob Thomas. Here was a person who meant what he talked, was aware of Supplyco's reputation and who was serious about what he was doing. For him, this was more than a job. He had a mission to achieve - to set things right at Supplyco and bring things back on track. Not an easy mission when you think of how prevalent corruption was in the organisation. But then, he is also no normal person.
He came in, took some time to study the existing situation and started putting in place new ideas to stem the rot. He had meetings with the managers, understood the pressure faced by them and promised them all his support in doing their job. He personally talked with the girl who quit and convinced her to come back to Supplyco. He changed the tender practices, made things more transparent and made people accountable. He streamlined the purchase department, which usually is the starting point of corruption in any organisation.
Ofcourse, he met with opposition along the way - from suppliers who felt the heat, from his own employees who were now denied the cut from suppliers that they had been used to for so long. Fortunately for him, he had the full confidence and backing of both the Chief Minister Mr.Oommen Chandy and the minister that he reports to, Mr. Adoor Prakash, which helped him in dealing with all kinds of opposition.
Under his management, Supplyco has set record turnover levels, never seen before in its history and employees can do their work with freedom. He is constantly looking for new avenues in Supplyco that he could make better, areas where computerisation would help and at how technology can help in making things better. He puts in long hours at work and it is the office gossip that his driver and Personal Assistant are two unlucky souls - they can't leave for the day before him, right ? :-)
And after all this, he finds time for his family (wife and two daughters), to keep fit and also for social work (he is part of a group that works for the developement of slum dwellers). If only we had more like him, India would accelerate from being a third world country to the best in the world.
Dr. Jacob Thomas I.P.S., we appreciate your selfless and true service to the nation.
The person in question here is Dr.Jacob Thomas I.P.S., the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of the Kerala Civil Supplies Corporation (better known as Supplyco). The Supplyco website does not give any details about his academic qualifications except for the "Dr" prefix indicating a doctorate (I heard he has more than one doctorate) and is an I.P.S. I do know that he is an Agriculture graduate. Don't know his post-graduate specialisation though.
It would be in order to give a brief description of Supplyco also, which he heads. Quoting from their website "http://www.supplycokerala.com/"
"Supplyco is the gateway for the 30 million people of the State of Kerala, assuring the much
needed food security in a substantive style by supplying life's essentials and reaching out to the
rural-poor and the urban-rich alike. Incorporated in 1974 as a fully owned Government
Company with an authorised capital of 15 crores, to meet the limited objectives of regulating
the market price of essential commodities at reasonable prices."
OK, the above is the official description about Supplyco. To know what Supplyco means to the public in Kerala, all you need to do is tell someone that you are working at Supplyco. If that person has heard of Supplyco, I can guarantee that the response will be something like, "Really. Then you must be making a lot of money on the side. Lucky you."
Coming back to the CMD, what makes him special or any better than the other bureaucrats manning other government organisations in India ? Actually, he cannot be compared to any usual bureaucrat due to his various qualities like integrity, dedication to work, broad outlook, an eye for technology and involvement in social work. If I remember right, it is maybe a little more than a year since he took over as CMD of Supplyco.
And it has been more than two years since my wife started her career with Supplyco as a Junior Manager (Quality Control). She was part of a group of 7 young guys/girls recruited by the Kerala Govt to the post of J.M. (Q.C). Their role in Supplyco includes inspecting the quality of food items (rice, pulses, spices etc) procured by Supplyco to sell at their stores and at the local public distribution system (PDS) outlets which are also known as ration shops.
I have met these group of young people who were excited about getting a job (a Govt. job does not come easy in India) and more importantly wanted to do it as per the rules. But then, they were not aware of how things worked at Supplyco at that time. Corruption was rampant, the suppliers were bribing everyone that mattered and would supply inferior stuff which was either not as per the specifications or in some cases even spoilt. Still, they would get their bills cleared on time and were minting money like crazy.
The new batch of managers found themselves in an unenviable position. They had only two options - either get corrupted and face the consequences at a later stage OR work with integrity and face the wrath of not only the suppliers but also their managers, who would bombard them with memos, suspensions and enquiries for doing their job the way they were supposed to do.
It is a good sign for India and a brownie point for today's youth that these young people decided that they would not get corrupted, come what may. Ofcourse taking a resolution is easy, but standing up to all kinds of pressure to hold on to that resolution is tough. There were cases where the supliers threatened them with official action if they rejected the sub-standard stuff. There were cases of managers verbally (never in written form) ordering them to accept stuff not meeting the specifications. And along the way came vigilance enquiries and memos for actually doing their job.
While it was tough for all of them, a couple of them were slowly loosing their morale and started deciding about quitting Supplyco. How fun is it to work in a place where you are actually punished for doing your job properly? One girl even put in her papers.
Luckily for them, the existing CMD was replaced with Dr.Jacob Thomas. Here was a person who meant what he talked, was aware of Supplyco's reputation and who was serious about what he was doing. For him, this was more than a job. He had a mission to achieve - to set things right at Supplyco and bring things back on track. Not an easy mission when you think of how prevalent corruption was in the organisation. But then, he is also no normal person.
He came in, took some time to study the existing situation and started putting in place new ideas to stem the rot. He had meetings with the managers, understood the pressure faced by them and promised them all his support in doing their job. He personally talked with the girl who quit and convinced her to come back to Supplyco. He changed the tender practices, made things more transparent and made people accountable. He streamlined the purchase department, which usually is the starting point of corruption in any organisation.
Ofcourse, he met with opposition along the way - from suppliers who felt the heat, from his own employees who were now denied the cut from suppliers that they had been used to for so long. Fortunately for him, he had the full confidence and backing of both the Chief Minister Mr.Oommen Chandy and the minister that he reports to, Mr. Adoor Prakash, which helped him in dealing with all kinds of opposition.
Under his management, Supplyco has set record turnover levels, never seen before in its history and employees can do their work with freedom. He is constantly looking for new avenues in Supplyco that he could make better, areas where computerisation would help and at how technology can help in making things better. He puts in long hours at work and it is the office gossip that his driver and Personal Assistant are two unlucky souls - they can't leave for the day before him, right ? :-)
And after all this, he finds time for his family (wife and two daughters), to keep fit and also for social work (he is part of a group that works for the developement of slum dwellers). If only we had more like him, India would accelerate from being a third world country to the best in the world.
Dr. Jacob Thomas I.P.S., we appreciate your selfless and true service to the nation.
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Women and the art of persuasion.
You gotta hand it to women, when it comes to the fine art of persuasion. Got to witness a
sterling example of this the other day from my bedroom window, which overlooks a very densely populated colony.
At any given point of time, you could hear someone quarelling with someone else in this
colony with lots of onlookers to egg them on. Drunken brawls are common and so is the
use of real filthy language. Anyone living near this colony is sure to pick up real fast the
choicest abuses that have become part of the classical language called Tamil.
The main characters here are Mr.Saamy, his wife & two kids. Saamy is a house painter
by vocation & his wife works as a maid in a few homes. He must be having a real name,
but I have always heard him referred to as Saamy which I guess is due to his penchant
for visiting Swamy Ayyappan's temple in Sabarimala (Kerala).
As is his practice the year round except when he has taken a vow to go to Sabarimala,
Saamy returns from work either a little drunk or somewhat drunk or fully drunk. On
most of these drunken days, he is pretty decent & limits his antics to singing a movie
song or enquiring with the neighbours about their well-being etc. But on certain days
when he has had a little too much to drink, he can be hard to control. This was one of
those days.
Saamy stays on the upper floor of a 2 storey home. He is in no mood to climb up to his
home and instead is content to stand below and starts singing loudly. In between, he
stops to abuse someone at work and to cut the story short, is creating quite a ruckus.
His wife and kids come down and try to convince him to quiten down and come up to
their home. But, well Saamy is not convinced so easily.
His wife pleads, the kids request him and yet Saamy stands his ground. His wife almost
falls at his feet & pleads him to come up. She keeps repeating, "Enge, dayavu seydhu ulla
vaanga. Ulle vandhu pesalam inge" meaning "Please come in. We can talk it out inside the home". This continues for some 5-10 minutes. You start pitying the poor woman who has
so much respect and patience for her man, even though he has come home drunk and is
creating such a nuisance.
Finally, they somehow are able to convince him and he agrees to go up. They literally drag
him up the stairs as he is clearly unable to walk properly. They get him inside the house &
the doors shut. I am about to move away from the window when I hear the wife shouting
at him like a madwoman. She is using all the abuses that you only normally hear men use
and which also includes the Tamil word for "bastard". And to top it, she is also hitting him
left and right. It takes her around 5 minutes to give vent to all her pent up anger. Ofcourse Mr.Saamy won't remember this the next day.
I was astonished at the sudden change in that woman. Someone who was the epitome of
patience a few minutes ago had transformed into almost a witch. And to think that she was
so patiently getting him inside the home only to treat him to her anger in the privacy of
their home.
All I got to say is, "I would not like my wife to emulate her".
sterling example of this the other day from my bedroom window, which overlooks a very densely populated colony.
At any given point of time, you could hear someone quarelling with someone else in this
colony with lots of onlookers to egg them on. Drunken brawls are common and so is the
use of real filthy language. Anyone living near this colony is sure to pick up real fast the
choicest abuses that have become part of the classical language called Tamil.
The main characters here are Mr.Saamy, his wife & two kids. Saamy is a house painter
by vocation & his wife works as a maid in a few homes. He must be having a real name,
but I have always heard him referred to as Saamy which I guess is due to his penchant
for visiting Swamy Ayyappan's temple in Sabarimala (Kerala).
As is his practice the year round except when he has taken a vow to go to Sabarimala,
Saamy returns from work either a little drunk or somewhat drunk or fully drunk. On
most of these drunken days, he is pretty decent & limits his antics to singing a movie
song or enquiring with the neighbours about their well-being etc. But on certain days
when he has had a little too much to drink, he can be hard to control. This was one of
those days.
Saamy stays on the upper floor of a 2 storey home. He is in no mood to climb up to his
home and instead is content to stand below and starts singing loudly. In between, he
stops to abuse someone at work and to cut the story short, is creating quite a ruckus.
His wife and kids come down and try to convince him to quiten down and come up to
their home. But, well Saamy is not convinced so easily.
His wife pleads, the kids request him and yet Saamy stands his ground. His wife almost
falls at his feet & pleads him to come up. She keeps repeating, "Enge, dayavu seydhu ulla
vaanga. Ulle vandhu pesalam inge" meaning "Please come in. We can talk it out inside the home". This continues for some 5-10 minutes. You start pitying the poor woman who has
so much respect and patience for her man, even though he has come home drunk and is
creating such a nuisance.
Finally, they somehow are able to convince him and he agrees to go up. They literally drag
him up the stairs as he is clearly unable to walk properly. They get him inside the house &
the doors shut. I am about to move away from the window when I hear the wife shouting
at him like a madwoman. She is using all the abuses that you only normally hear men use
and which also includes the Tamil word for "bastard". And to top it, she is also hitting him
left and right. It takes her around 5 minutes to give vent to all her pent up anger. Ofcourse Mr.Saamy won't remember this the next day.
I was astonished at the sudden change in that woman. Someone who was the epitome of
patience a few minutes ago had transformed into almost a witch. And to think that she was
so patiently getting him inside the home only to treat him to her anger in the privacy of
their home.
All I got to say is, "I would not like my wife to emulate her".
Thursday, January 19, 2006
call centre lingo
I was having my usual 6PM coffee + cigarette routine outside my office complex, which incidentally has various IT-related businesses like call centres, medical transcription
centres etc apart from software development companies.
6PM Indian time would be early morning in most parts of the US (except maybe the West
coast) and the US of A is slowly waking up. Europe has already been up for sometime now.
What this means for the Indian call centre industry is that, there are calls to attend and customers to face (over the phone that is).
You can see the cabs hired by call centre companies rushing past as they drop employees
at work. Some of them gather for a quick cigarette before they get in for the night shift.
I did not really intend to overhear their conversation. But they were so close and also so
loud that there was no way I could have avoided hearing it, even if I wanted to. Well, it
was about nothing serious. Just about how they had spent their weekend.
The usual banter about the discos / pubs visited, the hot chicks etc. What did strike me
was that for every two words they uttered, they used either the word "fu.." or some
variation of it. I mean, I can understand it if someone uses that word once in every
sentence, which itself is not a rational use of the word. But, here these guys were like
using it more like punctuation.
Have noticed this phenomenon earlier too and always with call centre guys. I am not in
any way implying that all call-centre guys talk like that. But the ones that do, usually
seem to be from that domain. I was wondering how this speech phenomenon came about.
Do they think its cool ? If so, it is definitely not. It actually sounds crude. Do they think Americans talk like that ? None that I ever met during my trips abroad. It is strange to
see our current Indian generation think of such things as fads.
Well, why blame them when most of us are aping the Western way of life in some way
or the other - food, drinks, materialism, spending, sexual habits, whatever ? While the
westerners having understood the uselessness of their habits are moving towards the
good facets of our culture.
centres etc apart from software development companies.
6PM Indian time would be early morning in most parts of the US (except maybe the West
coast) and the US of A is slowly waking up. Europe has already been up for sometime now.
What this means for the Indian call centre industry is that, there are calls to attend and customers to face (over the phone that is).
You can see the cabs hired by call centre companies rushing past as they drop employees
at work. Some of them gather for a quick cigarette before they get in for the night shift.
I did not really intend to overhear their conversation. But they were so close and also so
loud that there was no way I could have avoided hearing it, even if I wanted to. Well, it
was about nothing serious. Just about how they had spent their weekend.
The usual banter about the discos / pubs visited, the hot chicks etc. What did strike me
was that for every two words they uttered, they used either the word "fu.." or some
variation of it. I mean, I can understand it if someone uses that word once in every
sentence, which itself is not a rational use of the word. But, here these guys were like
using it more like punctuation.
Have noticed this phenomenon earlier too and always with call centre guys. I am not in
any way implying that all call-centre guys talk like that. But the ones that do, usually
seem to be from that domain. I was wondering how this speech phenomenon came about.
Do they think its cool ? If so, it is definitely not. It actually sounds crude. Do they think Americans talk like that ? None that I ever met during my trips abroad. It is strange to
see our current Indian generation think of such things as fads.
Well, why blame them when most of us are aping the Western way of life in some way
or the other - food, drinks, materialism, spending, sexual habits, whatever ? While the
westerners having understood the uselessness of their habits are moving towards the
good facets of our culture.
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Go ahead and multiply.
The title of this post can be found at more than one place in The Bible. Over the years,
this exhortation has lost its relevance because today we are in a different age and the
above maxim can prove suicidal, if followed.
The Earth can support only so many people and resources being finite, this could have
a huge impact on the planet and the people on it. No wonder, even the Christian leaders
do not ask their following to toe this line as they are aware of the negative fallouts. Even
when they are against contraceptive methods like condoms / pills etc, they do not suggest
unlimited procreation. Instead they suggest methods like abstinence which I know are not
really very helpful.
I personally do not think the Bible is against condoms and believe that condoms are the
best bet to control the burgeoning population and also to control the spread of AIDs.
However, I am digressing from the topic.
This post is a reply to the call by Mr.Sudarshan (top RSS leader) to Hindus to go ahead
and have a minimum of 3 kids. Ofcourse he would be happy if they have more.
Reason behind this twisted logic is to overcome what he feels is the high rate of growth of
Muslims, which was made infamous by the 'butcher of Gujarat' by the line "Hum Paanch, hamare pachees", which translates to "We Five, Ours TwentyFive". This refers to a muslim
man & his 4 wives (the max they are allowed) and their kids. Other than illiterate Muslims,
I am not sure how many of them have more than 1 wife. The Muslims I know, do not, in
any case.
As mentioned earlier on this blog, there is no way any of the minority communities (all of
which total up to a mere 15%) can be a threat to the 85% majority. But then logic is useless
to politicians and fundamentalists who find it better to serve up absurdities to the majority public who are illiterate and will swallow whatever they say.
The main obstacle today to India's development is its high population. The reason why
infrastructure fails to keep with the demand, the reason for illiteracy, the reason behind
hunger etc. And here we have a leader exhorting his cadres to go ahead and spawn more.
When will our leaders ever start talking sense ? When will they rise above the petty hatred
and think of the national well being. As far as I can see, not in the near future.
So, what can be done about this situation ? Is there nothing we can do as Indian citizens ?
Yes, there is a lot that can be done. To start with, we could stop talking about change and
instead be instrumental in bringing it about. The following maxim sums it up well,
"Be the change you want to see in the world."
Let us not rely on our so-called leaders to lead the way to a better India. Let us instead
think of contributing our efforts to making this happen.
Jai Hind.
this exhortation has lost its relevance because today we are in a different age and the
above maxim can prove suicidal, if followed.
The Earth can support only so many people and resources being finite, this could have
a huge impact on the planet and the people on it. No wonder, even the Christian leaders
do not ask their following to toe this line as they are aware of the negative fallouts. Even
when they are against contraceptive methods like condoms / pills etc, they do not suggest
unlimited procreation. Instead they suggest methods like abstinence which I know are not
really very helpful.
I personally do not think the Bible is against condoms and believe that condoms are the
best bet to control the burgeoning population and also to control the spread of AIDs.
However, I am digressing from the topic.
This post is a reply to the call by Mr.Sudarshan (top RSS leader) to Hindus to go ahead
and have a minimum of 3 kids. Ofcourse he would be happy if they have more.
Reason behind this twisted logic is to overcome what he feels is the high rate of growth of
Muslims, which was made infamous by the 'butcher of Gujarat' by the line "Hum Paanch, hamare pachees", which translates to "We Five, Ours TwentyFive". This refers to a muslim
man & his 4 wives (the max they are allowed) and their kids. Other than illiterate Muslims,
I am not sure how many of them have more than 1 wife. The Muslims I know, do not, in
any case.
As mentioned earlier on this blog, there is no way any of the minority communities (all of
which total up to a mere 15%) can be a threat to the 85% majority. But then logic is useless
to politicians and fundamentalists who find it better to serve up absurdities to the majority public who are illiterate and will swallow whatever they say.
The main obstacle today to India's development is its high population. The reason why
infrastructure fails to keep with the demand, the reason for illiteracy, the reason behind
hunger etc. And here we have a leader exhorting his cadres to go ahead and spawn more.
When will our leaders ever start talking sense ? When will they rise above the petty hatred
and think of the national well being. As far as I can see, not in the near future.
So, what can be done about this situation ? Is there nothing we can do as Indian citizens ?
Yes, there is a lot that can be done. To start with, we could stop talking about change and
instead be instrumental in bringing it about. The following maxim sums it up well,
"Be the change you want to see in the world."
Let us not rely on our so-called leaders to lead the way to a better India. Let us instead
think of contributing our efforts to making this happen.
Jai Hind.
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