Tuesday, May 31, 2011

The monsoons are coming

You have to be a quintessential Bombayite to enjoy the monsoon rains. I don't know of too many people who don't like the sight of dirty brown waves crashing on to Marine Drive.

The monsoons give this city life and water and they are a great remedy for various mental ailments. I love the smell of the earth after the first rain. I love seeing children in my building enjoying the rain and getting wet. There is a romance to the monsoons: added green cover, cloudy days, reflection of illuminated monuments on water puddles at night.

This is a season of hope, renewal, rebirth. A season of warm masala tea and samosas. Of ragas. Of treks on the hills around the city.

Rain, wash away the tears from saddened eyes, cleanse the troubled souls as you cleanse the dusty and parched earth. Bring joy and excitement back to this wonderful city.

Monday, May 30, 2011

More from the Secret Scrolls

"You can limit yourself by the story you have created about you. Here are some simple examples of how the story we have created about ourselves can limit us:

I am no good at math. I have never been able to dance. I am not a very good writer. I am very stubborn. I don't sleep well. I am very moody. I struggle with my weight. My English is not good. I am always late. I am not a very good driver. I can't see without my glasses. It is hard for me to make friends. Money seems to slip through my fingers.
 
The moment you become aware of what you are saying, you can delete these things and rewrite your story!"
 
- Rhonda Byrne
 

Friday, May 27, 2011

Bombay's Fat Cats

All sorts of studies and reports have indicated that India will soon be the diabetes capital of the world. In this, I think Bombay is going to be a torch-bearer.

Just try a visit to any middle-class locality and you’ll see more people with big stomachs than those without. While shopping for groceries this morning, I was startled to find myself the most fit-looking guy in the supermarket. I peeped into their shopping carts and what I saw was an excess of cokes and potato chips and chocolates. Now add that to a diet of fried foods, and parathas laced with ghee and extra servings of rice with fattening curries and papads and pickles. Combine this with the fact that most Middle Class people have no time for any kind of meaningful exercise except for a slow paced walk in the morning and you have your answer as to why this country is becoming a coronary artery disease and diabetes hub!

Let’s face it: this city is not conducive to fitness. It’s tough to run on the streets, without breathing in toxic fumes from vehicles, the pot-holed filled roads and sidewalks are another problem. The sea is just too polluted to swim in and most of the pools in the city are not cleaned regularly. That leaves people with the option of expensive gym membership or running on the few places suitable in the city, like the Worli Sea Face, Bandstand, Carter Road, Juhu Beach and Marine Drive. What happens if you’re far away from these places? Tough Luck, I guess!

But then again, we Bombayites are underdogs. We thrive under adverse conditions and take pride in overcoming the challenges of daily life in this city. So, I will continue running on Juhu Beach, dodging cricket balls, the hordes of humanity around the Ramada, the tides and of course, the heat. If fitness was easy, I guess I wouldn’t value it that much.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Yeh Hai Mumbai Meri Jaan

I haven't seen any other place with so much 'in your face' poverty. Millions go to bed hungry each and every night in this city.

A couple of days ago, a friend and I were going to have a sunset drink at AER, a fancy rooftop bar 34 floors above the ground at the Four Seasons in Worli. My friend had a sandwich she wanted to give away to a beggar and as soon we rolled down the glass and called a young boy of 8 or 9, he dashed towards us to take the sandwich, which probably would have been his only meal of the day.

At AER, expats and rich Indians were enjoying the sea breeze and great views by paying Rs 500 for a beer! Enough has been written about the gaps between the haves and have-nots, so I won't get into that.
But what irked the living daylights out of me was an article in the Hindustan Times this morning about a dog whisperer training program.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/mumbai/Sudden-change-in-pet-s-behaviour-Learn-to-become-a-dog-whisperer/Article1-702463.aspx

It costs Rs 13,000 for the course, which helps dog-owners understand the behaviour of their canines. I am just amused that people might actually be ready to pay that kind of money for something as trivial as this when millions go to bed hungry!

No 1 person can solve the poverty issues in Bombay or India by himself or herself but wouldn't Rs 13,000 go a long way in helping several starving families?

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

David Headley's trial in Chicago and mental illness

26/11 was by far the worst terrorist attack on Indian soil, more so because it successfully traumatised an entire nation. It's yet to be seen whether the attack was under the direct command of the Pakistani Army and the dreaded ISI. The Pakistani handlers of the attack were definitely consumed by hatred.

Headley spoke in a Chicago court yesterday about how he hated India for the country's role in formation of Bangladesh in 1971. Others arrested in Pakistan are similarly rabidly hateful of Indians and a lot of it has to do with the education system in the country, but that system alone isn't enough for the entire educated population of Pakistan to hate India and Indians. I have to wonder though, what is it that drives people like Sajid Mir and Headley to such hatred that they would like to massacre so many people?

Like Charlie Chaplin said in The Great Dictator, "only the unloved hate...the unloved and the unnatural." This brings me to the point that there just aren't enough mental health practitioners in the world. We all dislike someone or the other in this world for some reason or the other, but what is it that stops us from wanting to kill the person? Sanity! When people are consumed with hatred, sanity takes a back-seat. In our quest to rid the world of physical ailments, we leave aide mental ailments, something that can far more damage to far more people.

There will never be peace in the outer world if there is no peace in the inner world. I remember sitting for a fascinating session at the Tibetan Cultural Centre in Domlur in Bangalore, where the monks spoke about spreading inner peace from person to person like from candle to candle. These meditation techniques transcend religious barriers and may actually be a good way of promoting mental health.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Karpagambal

For some reason, the Karpagambal Temple in Mylapore, Madras has been in my thoughts this morning. The wonderful Dravidian temple built by the Pallavas in the 7th century is one of favourites. Unlike some of the great temples in places like Madurai and Trichy, the Karpagambal is right in the heart of an Indian metro city.

It was a pleasure for me to visit the temple and the area during a hectic business trip in February. Away from the usual crowds of Chennai, Karpagambal and its pond take you back to another era. The simplicity, charm and cleanliness of the area are also a major turn-on.

As much as I love Banganga on Malabar Hill, the feeling at the ancient Madras temple is different. It's one of continuity, of traditions that have been passed down through several scores of generations. Another temple that has that kind of aura is the Bull Temple in Basavanagudi in Bangalore. I wrote an article about that temple and the area a couple of years ago.

http://in.reuters.com/article/2009/08/28/us-bangalore-neighbourhood-idINTRE57R0TG20090828

Friday, May 20, 2011

Tropical paradise in the wrong hands

On this beautiful summer Saturday morning, I am listening to the chirping of the birds, enjoying the breeze and watching the neem leaves partially lit by the sun swinging away. This blessed plot of land deserved better owners.

Any people with a sense of beauty would have helped enhance the aesthetics of Bombay. Seeing, the May flowers on the trees, I can't help but wonder how much of a paradise this city would have been, had it been in the hands of another set of people.

Would we have beautiful public squares with flower beds? Would we use our seafront better? Would we have beautiful plazas where vehicles wouldn't be allowed? Would people celebrate the glorious extended evening hours in these months, when the sun sets late? Poverty is no excuse for this kind of mismanagement. In fact, employing people to beautify and develop this city, would be a way of getting at least a few out of poverty.

How would it feel like to enjoy the crimson and pristine sunsets in the city without the noise and the dust?  

Andheri (West)- A solution from Yogananda

When my parents bought the cosy apartment I live in, Andheri (West) was a peaceful suburb far away from the maddening crowds of southern and central Bombay.

In 2011, the area from the railway station to Navrang Cinema is among the most chaotic you will find anywhere in the world. Hawkers, vendors, 3-wheelers bikes, hordes of humanity and stray dogs all tussle for space in the midst of the metro construction work, which like any project in India is behind schedule.

It's impossible to walk from my building to the station without getting my nerves tested in some way;  a speeding 3-wheeler, someone spitting paan on the roads, piles of garbage, the regularly-broken sewer lines. But then I have 3 choices: put up with it, fight it or move the hell away from the locality.

But this is India, a country with a great history and tradition of spiritual and self-realized human beings. One such person was Paramahansa Yogananda. His words are an answer for my neuroticism and hopelessness in anger management.

"Do not take life's experiences too seriously. Above all, do not let them hurt you, for in reality, they are nothing but dream experiences...If circumstances are bad and you have to bear them, do not make them a part of yourself.

Play your part in life, but do not forget it is only a role. What you lose in the world will not be a loss to your soul."

He goes on to say "Trust in God and destroy fear, which paralyses all efforts to succeed and attracts the very thing you fear."

Sunday, May 15, 2011

The Dangers in Assam

The elation in India's television media of Mamata Bannerjee and Jayalalitha's thumping election victories took away the attention from a dangerous trend that seems to be shaping in one of India's most beautiful, yet enigmatic states, Assam.

I remember, a few years ago, admiring the wide Brahmaputra River from an aircraft just before my plane landed in Guwahati. The shades of green that I saw on the landscape surrounding the wide river were nothing like I'd ever seen in even the greenest places like Kerala. The Brahmaputra plain is lush and probably even more fertile than the Gangetic Plain. That's the very reason that people from neighbouring (and impoverished) Bangladesh would like to settle in Assam.

While in Guwahati, I read about how a group of 200 illegal Bangladeshi migrants, who were evicted from Arunachal Pradesh, were assisted by Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who passionately argued that they were Indian Bengali Muslims. That was my first introduction to the communal and vote-bank politics of the Congress in Assam. A brilliant reporter from the Assam Tribune told me that Bangladeshi settlers now form close to 33 percent of the Assamese population and that even the dreaded separatist group ULFA, which was ironically formed to expel Bangladeshis, wouldn't touch the settlers since the group had its base now across the border.

Assam has had a long troubled with Bengal over the past few centuries. In fact, Assamese proudly talk about how the state resisted the Mughals and other Muslim invaders. There are traces of Hinduism in its pre-Buddhist form in the state. The biggest example being the Kamakhya Temple, where there are regular animal sacrifices.

The danger with the latest election result seems to be the fact that the Muslim minority voted en masse for a Deobandi party that follows a rigid form of Islam. Education across religious barriers is a problem in Assam but the fact that there is an assertive group of people, who are essentially Bangladeshis but with questionably acquired Indian citizenship, is a serious danger for India.

I remember having a debate with a close family-friend, who was an Executive Director with the Reserve Bank of India, who told me that he realised that he had to be communal to save all of India from turning into another Kashmir. He was implying that a Muslim majority area in India would never accept Indian rule. I do believe that the particular gentleman was misinformed but I can sense a real danger in Assam.

The blatantly communal Congress Party created many monsters that they couldn't control, like Bhindranwale and Prabhakaran. If education and development aren't given priority in Assam, we are sitting on our next communal flash point.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Book Review: Black Book by Ankush Modawal

I have been fortunate enough to read some very good self-help books written by authors such as Jack Canfield and Rhonda Byrne and the messages written by these authors are very much universal.  However, as an Indian, I've been disappointed with what I've seen from Indian authors on this subject, many rely purely on scripture and that doesn't go to well with a non-religious person like me.

Black Book, by Ankush Modawal, a charming and talented young man in his mid-20s, is refreshingly different from the books written by western and Indian authors. Like a member of India's go-getter generation, Ankush keeps things simple in this book, which has some explanations that I believe are more practical.



For starters, how many times have we been told that wanting something automatically attracts that thing to us? Ankush has a better take. If we keep wanting something, we would continuosly be in the state of wanting it. He suggests that we feel ourselves having it and that would be a greater magnet. I haven't seen Ankush's Mercedes myself, but I think you can get the idea.

Ankush also rubbishes the popular belief that hard work brings success and wealth. He uses the example of labourers constructing luxury houses, without ever living in them. The author cites success to a combination of working smarter and focussing and visualising on the end result.

The author lives the ideas that he talks about in the book and it was an honour for me to have met him in Delhi in March. In the over-competitive India of today, it's nice to read a book, which very much reaffirms the fact that there is enough for everyone and if only more young people believed that, we'd have a much greater amount of positivity in our educational institutions and workplaces.

The Black Book is an easy read and something that will accompany me on my travels, as it's a great reminder for me stay positive, no matter what the situation.

To know more about Ankush, visit http://www.ankushmodawal.com/, from where you can exclusively buy his books.

Friday, May 6, 2011

Celebrating the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore

I am privileged to be part of the wonderful celebrations being conducted by the Bhavan's Cultural Centre, Andheri to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore. The celebrations kicked off yesterday with a panel discussion on Tagore's contribution to humankind. What touched me was the wonderful speeches by a couple of Bengali professors from Bhavan's in Calcutta, who reminded the audience in the other coast of the country that Tagore did not just belong to West Bengal but to all of humanity.

In a similar vein, Tagore said "Patriotism cannot be our final spiritual shelter; my refuge is humanity. I will not buy glass for the price of diamonds, and I will never allow patriotism to triumph over humanity as long as I live. "

Tagore taught us to embrace all the good things the rest of the world had to offer and while accepting his Nobel price, he told the audience that it was very much a part of Indianness to accept and embrace other cultures.

The event yesterday was unnecessarily delayed because his highness, the vice-chancellor of the University of Mumbai was 1-hour late!! It was ironic that he spoke about freedom of expression and some of the values that Tagore propogated when the VC himself banned Rohington Mistry's "Such a Long Journey" because the latest generation Shiv Sena brat demanded it on flimsy grounds.  The VC said students should read less books and spend more time outdooors, so I guess he banned the book because he wanted the students to be outdoors!!

The organisers also screened a wonderful documentary on Tagore, made the great Satyajit Ray. The restored version will be re-released by the prime minister today. The evening was capped off with a screening of Uphaar, a movie based on one of Tagore's short stories. The film, which was primarily screened in Kerala, stared Jaya Bachchan and I have to say that it was in my opinion her finest performance.

The celebrations continue both on Saturday and Sunday with a musical and cultural extravaganza. It's wonderful to learn so much more about a man, who contributed so much to literature, art, music and India's freedom struggle.

I end this post by quoting the great man.

"Where the mind is without fear



and the head is held high,


where knowledge is free.


Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls.


Where words come out from the depth of truth,


where tireless striving stretches its arms toward perfection.


Where the clear stream of reason has not lost it's way


into the dreary desert sand of dead habit.


Where the mind is led forward by thee


into ever widening thought and action.


In to that heaven of freedom, my father,


LET MY COUNTRY AWAKE! "






Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Full speed ahead for the Kuala Lumpur 21K

It was just 2 days ago that I started training for the Kuala Lumpur Half Marathon, which is on June 26. Although I lost quite a bit of weight in March, thanks to Delhi belly and an extremly unhealthy lifestyle, while travelling on work, the shedding of weight by no means indicates that I am in better shape.

Day 1 of the training was a struggle to put it mildly. I have run 2 half-marathons, both in Delhi, and feel I have what it takes to go the distance in KL. The weather in Bombay is similar to that in KL in terms of humidity but there is little chance I will be aided by the late-evening Bombay sea breeze, which cools things down, when I run in KL.

This will also be my first run overseas and that should motivate me all the more. 53 days is enough time for me to prepared enough to beat my Delhi 2010 timings.

From the Secret Scrolls

"Stress, worry, and anxiety simply come from projecting your thoughts into the future and imagining something bad. This is focusing on what you don't want! If you find that your mind is projecting into the future in a negative way, focus intensely on NOW. Keep bringing yourself back to the present.


Use all of your will, and focus your mind in this very moment, because in this moment of now there is utter peace."

- Rhonda Byrne

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Weekend photography anyone?

This city never ceases to amaze me. 

In Sunday's Indian Express, there was a wonderful article about a group of amateur and semi-professional photographers who meet every weekend to go on photo shoots across this city.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Weekend-shots/784082/

This is something I would really love to take part in.