Damn smart, these kids of today...

One of the unavoidable tasks that need to be attended to, each time I visit Kerala is doing
the rounds of some close relative's homes. If you don't do it, they get offended. So, I usually make it a point to keep apart some time for a brief visit at the homes of some close relatives (especially my Godparents) almost every time I visit Kerala.

Yesterday I was at my godparent's home in the evening for a quick visit. We talk shop -
mostly about the rains, the recently receded flood waters, which had entered their home
(an annual occurence) forcing them to move to the rooms on the first floor, etc etc.

I can hear the TV in the adjoining room and walk in to see my cousin's son watching an
English movie on Star Movies. The movie has Vin Diesel starring in it and the kid (he
would be like 9 years old) is watching it quite intently. Am not sure whether he really understands the American English or just watching it for any stunt/fight scenes.

Anyway, I make some small talk with him about his studies and then check with him if
he has seen the famous Vin Diesel movie (The Fast and the Furious) - I am guessing he
would like car racing movies like most young boys. He has not even heard of it. Hmmm.

Anyway, I sit with him for some time and try to make sense of the movie playing on TV.
A good looking young girl/lady joins the action and Vin Diesel is talking to her. From the
body language, I know that what is going to follow soon is a kiss. I am now thinking, should
I get up and move on before the kiss happens, to avoid both of us the embarassment ?

By western standards, a kiss is nothing big, especially in a movie. But, this is India and a
kiss, even if on-screen is not something that two generations would be comfortable
watching together. The sequence of events that followed were quite surprising.

Just as I am thinking of whether to get up and move to the living room, he also somehow
understands that a kiss is about to follow and immediately switches to the Cartoon Network
(CN) channel. He stays a few seconds at the CN channel and then switches back to the movie.

But the kiss had not yet happened and actually was going to happen only now. Another
touch of the remote buttons and we are back at CN channel, where he again lingers for a
few seconds before returning back to the movie. By this time, the kiss has been done and finished with.

I am zapped, to say the least. How did he know that a kiss is about to follow ? Nothing in the preceding dialogues indicated it. And even if the dialogues indicated it, he would anyway not
be able to make sense of the English dialogue, leave alone the American English, given his limited exposure to English.

What I presume is that from constant watching of English movies, he was able to know by
the body language that intimacy is expected. Quite smart. Anyway, it saved me the embarassment of having to endure an intimate moment on TV with my nephew.

Kids sure are a lot smarter today than we were at that age. Hmm.

Of floods, reptiles and presence of mind...

While the monsoons are welcome in Kerala each year, they bring along a host of problems
with them. The rivers get flooded first, followed by the low-lying fields and small streams / canals. And depending on how close to the river or fields you are, your house would be
affected accordingly.

Most houses in our neighbourhood had ankle deep water around them. Some of them had
water entering the home, leading the residents to either go up to the first floor (if they had
one) or relocating temporarily to the homes of relatives. We are lucky to be located such
that the flood water only reaches till our paddy field that borders our home.

While rains and floods are looked upon as unavoidable problems, one fallout of floods is that reptiles get driven out of their usual abodes and enter human residences, which to be frank
is quite unnerving. Would you like to wake up at night and see a cobra or viper alongside you? Definitely not my idea of a good night.

When I was young and had not heard of wildlife protection and the value of each animal in
the eco-system, snakes for me were something to be hunted down. My uncle, at that time,
used to be a distributor for roof tiles and he used to stock the tiles in our compound.

The tiles would remain undisturbed for a long time, till some buyer came to get some.
When the tiles were disturbed, almost every time, there would be a snake slithering out.
I loved those times. I would be ready with a stick (made of chural - a tree from the bamboo family) which my Grandfather used to keep for such uses.

I don't know what snakes they were, or whether they were poisonous, but in most cases,
I would have managed to kill them. Today, I am wiser, after knowing their role in nature
and would not go after one. Ofcourse, if me or my loved ones were facing a threat from one,
I would still not hesitate to kill it.

Anyway, killing a snake is no big deal if you are armed and also are expecting it. What is
daring is to take one head-on when you least expect it, like it happened to my friend
Vijayan a couple of days ago.

Vijayan's home borders the paddyfield on one side and a small canal on the other. Due to
the location, the area gets flooded each year and this year also was no exception. Since the
water was creeping up daily and was threatening to enter his home, he sent his wife and
kids to his in-laws place and stayed back to guard the house - thieves get active during
such times, you see.

So, one evening, he is at home sitting and reading a magazine, when he picks up a towel
lying on the floor. The next thing he knows is an anali (malayalam for Viper - venomous
snake) has bitten his hand and is hanging on. As per Vijayan, most snakes usually bite you
only long enough to inject the venom, but the anali is like a dog - it will hang on after biting.
The snake was only 2 feet long, but is venomous.

If I had been in his place, I would have been really afraid. But what Vijayan did next was remarkable. He killed the snake using a wooden log he found nearby. Not because it angered him by biting, but because he knows that when he goes for treatment, it would be very helpful for the doctors to administer the right anti-venom, if they know which snake bit him.

So, he killed the snake and took it along with him when he went to the hospital at Kottayam, some 35kms from our place. Its a pity that a person has to travel so far for anti-venom in a state, which has such a lot of snakes and I assume quite some snake-bite cases.

Anyway, his presence of mind was helpful to the doctors to administer the right anti-venom
and combined with the help from friends who donated blood for him, he is alive today. Looks much leaner and weak than how he looked when I saw him a few months ago, but atleast alive.

Kerala Tourism - masters in promoting God's Own Country

If I had to name one state in India that has marketed tourism brilliantly and
have taken the effort to think out of the box, it would without any doubt be Kerala.
The government organisation responsible for this is Kerala Tourism.

Kerala Tourism have been pioneers in marketing the most well-known asset of Kerala
- the scenic beauty of the state. Sun, sea, beaches, backwaters, hills etc etc - you name
it, Kerala has it. The only thing missing is snow. But then, if God gave Kerala that also,
it would be grossly unfair to the other states.

Thanks to Kerala Tourism, the term "God's Own Country" is famous the world over.
You could argue that it's not really a big deal selling a place that is blessed by nature.
I would have agreed with you, till a year or so ago, because Kerala does not really
need selling, given the beauty it posesses.

But, they won my admiration when they did something out of the ordinary - selling
the normally tourist-unfriendly monsoon season. Kerala is blessed with abundant
rainfall. While this is a good thing as far as meeting the water requirements of the
state goes, it is not really a good thing for tourism.

Tourists usually don't like roaming around wet or with umbrellas or raincoats while
they are on vacation. Rains would be the last thing they would like to have. But with
rains being a round-the-year phenomenon and atleast a couple or more months of
hardcore monsoons, too much was at stake, as far as loss in tourism revenues were
concerned.

That is when the bright guys at Kerala Tourism came up with the idea of selling the
monsoons itself. And what a brilliant execution it was. I would just let the picture do
the talking. Have a look at one of their promotional campaigns for monsoon tourism.
The text copy "Sometimes it takes water to kindle a fire" coupled with the apt picture
of a couple, would lure anyone to try out the romantic getaway promised by the state.




If you still harbour any doubts about their ability, do check out their brilliant website.
The way it is designed, the text that forms the site, the graphics/video/pictures used,
the language options provided for the foreign tourist etc make it stand out.

At times I am even surprised that Kerala Tourism is a government organisation.

Why does God have to take away the good ones so soon ?

Yesterday night I get a call from my Dad, which is quite unusual, because it is me who
calls up home regularly. He usually only calls up when he needs to convey something
or when he wants me to do something.

His voice is quite low, which is again unusual, because that's not the normal tone of speech
for him. He tells about the heavy rains there (nothing unusual, given the monsoon in Kerala)
and the flood caused by the nearby river being in spate. Floods are also almost a yearly phenomenon there, with river waters entering the low-lying fields that are not even
hundred metres from our home. But mercifully, they do not usually advance any further.

He then tells me that my second cousin, Shanti (means peace in many Indian languages)
who was down with pneumonia, expired just a few hours ago in Bangalore, where she was staying with her husband. I am shocked. I dont know what to say. He says that her mom
and brother had been there with her and will be bringing her to Kerala today.

No one could have had a more apt name than my cousin. She was peace personified. All of maybe 30 years, she always had a sweet smile on her face, was well-mannered, courteous
and humble. She would be any parent's dream daughter.

As a kid, she had some medical problems with her heart and used to be thin and weak,
but that smile would always be there on her lips. Over the years, she overcame most of
the medical issues and was a healthy girl. She dutifully married the boy her parents
found for her and soon was the mother of a 2-year old kid.

I am still unable to confront the reality that she will no longer be around. I can't imagine
the sorrow of her parents and brothers who doted on her. I am worried about the young
kid that lost a mother at such a tender age.

Why does God have to take away the good ones sooner ? Because he loves them more ?
But that is not fair to the people who love them and will miss them for ever.

Shanti, may you rest in peace.

You will always remain in my memories as the best sister I ever had.

Trust in the city.

As promised, I get a missed call from the hairdresser at around 2:30PM. After the usual
heavy Sunday lunch, I am busy with my favourite Sunday activity - reading the Sunday supplement of The New Indian Express, which in my opinion, is the most balanced and
fun read for a Sunday.

Even though I am not really in the mood to venture out in the hot sun, I leave the comfort
of my couch to have my hair cut. Get to the bike, only to see that the rear tyre is punctured.

Hmmm.

I could just walk to the barbershop, which is only like a kilometre (km) away. But I have
some friends coming over in the evening and need the bike to run some errands. I push
the bike to the neighborhood puncture shop. The lady who owns the place says that the
guy who fixes punctures does not come in on Sundays and there is nothing much she can
do about it.

The other places I know are quite far and there is no way I am going to push a punctured
bike all that way. So, I try a workaround. I fill the tyre with air, pay her and drive to the
other shop, hoping that the air will not run out before I reach the shop. Unfortunately, the
shop is closed, due to being a Sunday.

I rush to the next one that I know and luckily he is open. I heave a sigh of relief. Meanwhile
I get 2 more missed calls from the saloon. I call him and tell him that I am stuck with a flat
tyre and it will take some more time before I can come over.

Now the tyre guy removes the rear wheel from the bike, and takes out the tube. He is quite
a talkative guy and just loves chatting, while I, in contrast am the silent type, who would just want him to fix the puncture and let me move on. But I have no option other than listenting to him and replying wherever necessary. He is all admiration for my 12-year old bike saying
that the older ones are much better than the ones churned out today and give more mileage
per litre of petrol and are more reliable and so on.

Then he asks if I am a Malayali (from the state of Kerala in India).

I am a little miffed because having spent more than half my life in Tamilnadu, I have come
to think of myself more as a Tamilian than a Malayali. And I was damn sure that my command over the Tamil language was so good that no one would be able to make out my state of origin from my flawless Tamil. Looks like I still need to work on it.

Anyway, now he takes the tube, examines it minutely and asks me what air pressure I
normally use for the tyre. I reply that for the sake of a cushioned ride on the bumpy roads,
I use lower pressure than what's recommended by the manufacturer. He says that its wrong practice and that due to filling lesser than recommended air in the tyre, the sides of the tube have got damaged.

Also, there is a reasonably big puncture near the valve head. So, given the overall condition
of the tube, the only way out for me is to replace the tube. Which was not what I expected
when I rode to the puncture shop, because I had changed both tyres and tubes only a few thousand kms ago.

I was expecting it to be only a small puncture and had only 30 odd rupees with me, which
would have been enough to pay for fixing a puncture. Now the tube itself cost 140Rs and
his labour would be another 20Rs. I tell him that I dont have that much money on me.

He says, "No problem, sir. You don't bother about the money. You can pay me later."

I am surprised. Because he does not know me or know where I stay. What if I go and never return with the money ? There is no way he can trace me. Maybe his instincts tell him that
I would return with the money.

So, I ride off with a new tube and paying nothing. I go home, get the money and return to
pay him. He smiles, maybe thinking to himself, that he did not go wrong in his asessment.

I return home, still wondering how people trust others in a city where in most cases we
dont even know the next door neighbour. OK, the amount involved (like 4$), could be
termed trivial, but for that guy, I am sure its a decent part of his daily income.

If this happened in my home town in Kerala, I would not be surprised because everyone
knows everyone else. But, in a city, such trust does not cease to surprise me.

Indian ingenuity at work. Again.

I had posted here about how we Indians make use of the missed call feature.

Came across another one yesterday. I had been to my hairdresser's saloon,
a few blocks from home, for a long overdue haircut.

I reach there to see that there are already 4 guys waiting in line. Since it would
take atleast 2 hours for my turn to come, I tell the guy that I will come later in
the afternoon when it will hopefully be not so busy.

He replies, "Sir, just leave your mobile number. I will give you a missed call,
when it becomes relatively free".

Hmm. Cellphones do make life easy, don't they ?

And he did give me a missed call around 2PM. But I still could not make it, due to
a surprise puncture of my bike tyre. Inspite of the trouble that a punctured tyre
puts you to (especially on a Sunday afternoon), something good did come out of it.

I will post about that soon.

What you see (in the ad) is what you get

Saw this billboard advertisement for the Deccan Chronicle (DC) newspaper on
Cathedral road, on my way to work.

AD

BC

sometimes

two letters

denotes

an era

The ad, as you can see, is a play on their acronym (DC). But I fail to figure out what the newspaper has to do with either AD or BC or an era.

As I mentioned in one post earlier, calling the DC a newspaper would be an insult to actual newspapers like The Hindu, that do a great job of reporting news and educating the readers.
The DC on the other hand is for those that love to get the latest gossip on movie stars and
the likes of Paris Hilton, Britney Spears et al. Its just a tabloid, if you will.

However, this post is not about the DC's quality (or actually the lack of it). This post is about
the copy of their advertisement itself, which gives a fair indication of what you will get in the
newspaper.

I am no grammar expert, but somehow the wordings of the advertisement don't sound
correct to me. Is "sometimes two letters denotes an era" grammatically correct ?
I would think it should be "sometimes two letters denote an era".

But, even if they have it wrong, it would not come as a surprise to me because that is exactly
the way their newspaper reads - shoddy English, grammatical mistakes all over the place,
sentences that abruptly end without completion and so on. Sometimes I wonder whether they
actually have someone proof-reading the contents before it goes to press.

I would have expected them to be careful atleast while advertising. Maybe its an in-house
advertisement. I don't think a professional advertising agency would have made this mistake.

Inspite of all this, DC sales are soaring in Chennai, atleast if I am to believe their claims.
Not surprising given that they price the paper at Rs1.50 (some months ago it was only
1 Rupee). Add to it our interest in gossip, movie news and Page3 personalities. And at the
end of the month, it fetches more when you sell off the old newspapers to the recycler.

After all, we Indians love anything that is VFM (Value For Money).

What one arm of governance does, the other promptly undoes.

I had commented here about how good a thing it was that helmets were made compulsory
for bikers (and wearing seatbelts for car users) in TamilNadu (T.N.).

But looks like I spoke a little too early. While on the day of implementation, I could see
almost 100% use of helmets among the biking population, now it is back to the usual
Chennai scene - only those that anyway used to wear a helmet before the rule came
into force can be seen wearing one.

While it took a Public Interest Litigation and years of follow-up by a concerned citizen
to make the High Court order the T.N. Govt. to make helmets compulsory, all it took
to undo it was a couple of irresponsible statements by none other than the Chief
Minister (CM) of T.N..

A couple of days after D-day (1st June 2007), the CM issues a press statement, the gist
of which is "While the new rule is good and all, we would not want the public to be harassed
by the cops for not wearing helmet. We would like the cops to take a lenient view while
enforcing this rule".

Hmm. A person who is supposed to provide an example and direction to the public tells
the cops to be lenient. What would you expect to happen ? Ofcourse the public is happy
that they do not have to wear helmets and can now have their heads damaged well and
proper in the event of an accident.

A day or so later comes another statement. "Women/children riding pillion should not
be penalised for not wearing helmets. Just enforce helmets only for the rider".

How more illogical can you get ? It has been proved that in the event of accidents, it is
the pillion rider who suffers major injuries than the rider. Also, are the lives of women
and children not important enough ?

But why blame the politicians alone ? It has been rightly said that people get the leaders
they deserve. The fact that it takes a Court directive and a government law to make us do something that we should have been doing of our own accord and for our own safety, shows
us for the people we are. Given that, this is the only leadership we deserve.

Anyway, I have personally benefitted from this rule. While earlier, I would use the seat
belts only on the highway drives, me and my car-pool mate now belt up even within the city.

Going the extra mile - a natural Japanese trait.

The more I looked around and observed seemingly minor and normal things, the more
I understood why Japan is where it is today - at the top. For them quality is a continous
mission that can be achieved only with discipline and perserverance. Not something you
can slap on to a product, like an attachment or accessory, as an after-thought.

Add the trait of "respect for one's work" and you get a nation that will succeed in the face
of any adversity. I am sure there is no other race in the world that respects work more
than the Japanese do.

The Europeans come pretty close - the guys I worked with in Belgium were amazing.
They would come in sharp at 8AM (or earlier) and get down to work till 5PM, with just
a lunch break in between. And yeah, 2 visits to the coffee maker to get tall mugs of
black coffee.

But come 5PM, the office would be empty - you see, they respect their personal time
just like they respect work. And try asking about working on weekends ? They will
stare at you like you were nuts. Thats a strict no-no. The only people you will find in
the office onweekends would be the security personnel.

But, the Japanese beat them because of their trait of going the extra mile. Doing one's
assigned job is something that is expected of you. Doing your job well is appreciable.
But doing that extra bit, which is not really your responsibility, and that too of your
own choice is something that deserves real admiration. Let me list just two examples
that I noticed during my stay there.

We are sitting in the super-efficient and ultra-punctual Tokyo Metro on our way to
work and we see the conductor walk from one end of the vestibuled train to the other.
As he walks along, his eyes dart around each compartment, looking for any trash that
does not belong in the train. He picks up a newspaper left by a passenger from a seat,
then sees a empty can of coke on the floor which he picks up. Same for some paper
lying on the floor. I can't imagine a train conductor in India doing this. No wonder our
public places are the way they are.

Heck, why blame only the conductor ? I can't imagine any Indian citizen doing this. But
to befair to Indians, of late, we are seeing awareness in atleast not dirtying public places.
People look for a trash bin to drop the trash. If not available, I know people who will keep
the trash in their bag/pockets instead of littering public places. I also joined the ranks of
such people after my first exposure many years ago to such good practices followed by responsible citizens in other countries and am proud of the small difference this makes
to my country.

I witnessed the second instance at the Hilton Hotel. At the main entrance to the hotel
reception, there is the bell boy with his tall desk, helping guests, organising traffic etc.
His job would be done if he just sticks to doing these tasks efficiently.

While waiting for the hotel shuttle near him, I noticed that whenever he got some respite
from his work, he would take a permanent marker pen and use that to sort of paint up
the exposed edges of his wooden desk, from where the varnish/paint had peeled off.
This is not part of his job description and most likely the work of some service staff.

But, for him, it is about avoiding the guests from seeing it, and getting a bad impression
about the organisation he works for. His temporary fix would do the job till the service
staff get around to fix it.

Now, this is pride in one's work and about going the extra mile, without any expectations - monetary or otherwise. Was able to snap him in action - see attached picture.





No wonder the Japs rule. And one more reason affirming my existing faith in Japanese
products.

Karaoke bars - unique to the Tokyo night life.

Can a city be complete without some good nightlife, both for the residents and tourists ?
And Tokyo was no exception. Infact, I should say it offered a wide range of options for
people with varied tastes.


Pic 1 : Tokyo at night - bustling with people even at midnight.

Ofcourse, they had the usual pubs, bars, strip clubs etc that you find in any major city in the world - India is not there yet though. But one entertainment option that I have never seen anywhere else was the Karaoke bars of Tokyo.

I had heard a lot about the very popular karaoke bars in Tokyo and one Saturday, had the opportunity to go see one for real with a colleague. Let's call him Will. Will has been coming
to Japan for a couple of years now and loves everything about Japan. He likes the place, the variety of cuisine available here, loves travelling around. And last but not the least, he loves karaoke bars.

But, what separates his love for karaoke bars from that of a normal visitor to the bar (me,
for example) is that the guy can sing real well and is an active participant in the karaoke bar. Most patrons, however are there for the music, the drinks, the fun of being in a cool hangout place etc. So, we go to this karaoke bar called "Champions" in Shinjuku at like 10PM on a Saturday.


Pic 2 : The entrance to Champions Karaoke bar, Shinjuku, Tokyo

The place is bustling with people, but we still manage to find ourselves a small table.
A Karaoke bar looks like a normal watering hole, with bartenders (usually attractive
women) serving patrons from behind the bar.



Pic 3 : The lovely bartenders at work - another busy night.

What is different is that they have the option of letting you unleash your singing talent, to an audience consisting of other patrons like you, who appreciate music and are very encouraging.
They have these huge books (thick as telephone directories) which have most English (and Japanese) songs listed. You select the song you would like to sing and note its number on a karaoke slip and hand it over to the bartender. If I remember right, it was 100 Yen for
singing one song.

Once your turn comes, the soundtrack of the song is played, plus the video is shown on the
TV along with the lyrics scrolling at the bottom. And you sing along. As simple as that. The
only catch being that you need to be good at it and also time yourselves properly with the
music.

Since I can't hold a tune, the only option for me was to do what I do best - enjoy my
beer, sit back and enjoy the music and admire the guys and girls that were able to sing
oh-so-beautifully. Some of them really did a great job of singing karaoke and to me it
almost sounded as good as if the original album itself was being played.

My friend Will is blessed with an awesome voice and did a great job of belting out some
really nice tracks. No wonder he built himself a huge fan following there and got some
real applause, which he ofcourse deserved.


Pic 4 : Will singing, while an enraptured audience looks on.



Pic 5 : Will having a fun time singing karaoke.

I did not have my video camera on me - something that I regret as I could not take
a video of the karaoke fun. Pictures really cannot do justice to the fun we had there.
Still, hope the few pictures I have posted alongside do their bit to show the fun that
we had.



Pic 6 : This girl also sang well. Cute girl too, ain't she ?




Pic 7 : Will gets some company for a song.

Finally at around 3:30AM, the bartenders wanted to call it a day and we were back on the streets after a night well spent. Now, thats one place I would like to go back to again, if I
get to be in Japan again.

P.S. : The Karaoke bars are one fun way to spend the night away. But make sure you do it on a Friday or Saturday because by the time you finish, it would be the early hours of morning and you won't be in a frame of mind to haul yourselves to work, all hung over and tired.