How safe is our country?

This post is NOT meant for 'Mrs E' from Upsaala, Sweden. Reading it, she may stop her son Bjorn from visiting Bombay in January for the marathon.

An article in today's DNA talks about the crime statistics in India. The writer admits that these stats must be the fraction of the ice berg as governments and police forces don't want ugly stats out there.

Let's take a look at some of the numbers..

• There were 33,335 murders in India in 2010 (About 7763 in UP and Bihar alone)
• There were 29,000 attempts to murder
• There were 213,585 cases of offenses against women (Remember that in rural areas, women hesitate to report crimes, thanks to a social stigma on the victim)
• More than 22,000 cases of rape (!!!)

I agree that India doesn't have roadside knife-point or gun-point muggings but these figures, which are the tip of the iceberg are disturbing to say the least. One of the most urgent requirements in India is police reforms.

See the DNA analysis here http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column_the-real-picture-behind-our-crime-statistics_1605290

Book Review: Le Gone du Chaâba (Shantytown Kid)

I am of the belief that it is more difficult for a person to rise from poverty to a good lifestyle in the west than it is in India. Being the son of illiterate Algerian immigrants and living in a shantytown would make it all the more tougher, but that didn't stop Azouz Begag from rising all the way from a Lyon slum to the French Prime Minister's Cabinet.

Begag, who was the minister for equal opportunities in Dominique de Villepin's government, writes this autobiography of his childhood in a slum near Lyon in the 1960s. Conditions in the slum were actually worse than in present-day Dharavi, which has electricity. Begag grew up in the company of other children who were in limbo between North Africa and France. But his resolve and ambition along with a few inspiring school-teachers helped him reach great heights, against the odds.

This beautiful coming-of-age book describes life in the Chaâba, a slum with Algerian immigrants. After Algerian independance, many impoverished men came in search of a better life in the former coloniser's country. While they stuck to their traditions in many aspects, this proved detrimental to a generation of confused children who weren't French enough.

I particulalry enjoyed the description of community life in the Chaâba, complete with fights between the womenfolk, when their husbands were at the construction sites. The book is a frank account of life in the slums but a positive one, none the less. Some might it find too hard to read the passage about circumcision, using common scissors or other details of the hygiene habits in the Chaâba, but I think this is a wonderful book to understand the questions of multi-culturalism, immigration and class divisions, issues that occupy centre-stage in many parts of the world.

Diwali in Pune

Pune's older areas called peths are an ideal place to witness the sights and sounds of Diwali, the Indian Festival of Lights.

Here are some images from a wonderful evening in Pune

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7444188@N05/sets/72157627865057487/

Suspicious trio in Pune's Cantonment

Something must arouse suspicion with this picture in the military cantonment of Pune: 3 young people walking towards a statue of Field Marshall Maneckshaw. The first looks like a northeasterner (although she's Russian), the second could have Arab roots and speaks with a North African accent and the 3rd would fit the prototype of a Dravidian but has a large camera around his neck.

An armed soldier walks in parallel with the trio, who try to stay unnoticed. Then comes a polite question.."Where are you guys from?" Bombay, I say, and my friendly tone warms up the soldier and he wishes all of us a Happy Diwali. The soldier from Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh was just making sure that no one was eyeing the cantonment for an attack.

One may laugh at the above notion but there's a road in the city named after General Arun Vaidya, who was the 13th chief of staff of the Indian Army. The general was assasinated in Pune in 1986 by Sikh terrorists, who wanted to avenge Operation Blue Star, one of the ugliest incidents in modern India. General Vaidya, who was a hero of the 1965 and 1971 wars, planned and executed the operation on the Golden Temple in Amritsar, when it was under seige by terrorists. There is a monument in honour of General Vaidya, at the same spot where he fell to the bullets of assasins.

Man's best friend

Unconditional love only comes from 2 sources: parents and pet dogs. The amount of love and affection that a dog possesses never ceases to amaze me.

Meet Caxixi, my newest friend from Pune

This 2-month old puppy goes completely beserk when people wake up. The fact is that dogs completely deserve all our love and affection.  

A Sad Demise

Uncle Frido was a cheerful and jovial man who loved to make fun of me, right from the time I was 15 years old. Like many of Bombay's Catholics, he was a huge hockey fan. If anyone had a typical Bandra accent, it was him. No afternoon was complete for Uncle Frido without his copy of the Mid-Day and an evening would not be the same without a particular type of bread from a nearby bakery.

He rode that bicycle of his on the crowded streets of JVPD, even the day before a massive heart-attack ended his life. That same old bicycle was parked in the corridor before the entry to his house. I froze when I saw it yesterday. Could I walk into that house and keep my emotions in check?

Memories from the glorious days of the early-to-mid 1990s rushed through my system. As hard as it is to believe for me now, I was once this annoying 15-year old kid, living in a city called Bombay after having been raised in New York. In 1993, it seemed like just about everybody in Bombay watched Santa Barbara and the Bold and the Beautiful on tv.  The only cars on the roads were Ambassadors, Premier Padminis and Maruti 800s. The "big shots" had their Contessas.

There was actually a beautiful roundabout circle at the area still called Juhu Circle. It had a very nice fountain and a very posh look. People still referred to the area around Shopper's Stop in Andheri as "Amber-Oscar" as the department store came up where there once existed a cinema theatre by that name. There was something very different about all of Bombay in 1993. Yes, it was already crowded by then and polluted as well, but courtesy was an integral part of a Bombayite's character. This city was known for its large number of gentlemen. Uncle Frido was definitely one such gentleman and for me represented all that was good about the Bombay that I once knew.

As I stood at the cemetery by the St Joseph's Church in Juhu, I said goodbye to someone who loved me and wished me well like few other people in this city did. A bright and sparkling light has gone out of our lives.

Rest in Peace: Frido Martin Perreira. You were loved and will be terribly missed by a countless number of people.

Gruesome Murder by Barbarians in Amboli (Andheri)

I was shocked and highly disturbed to hear about this murder on a block that is a walking distance from my house. A young man died because he slapped someone who molested his friend. That young man could have been me. It could have been any decent person who stood up to protect his friends.

The Times of India reported today that: "The deceased, Keenan Santos, who worked as a bartender in a five-star hotel, and his friends, including three women, were waiting at a paan shop in Amboli on Thursday night when four drunk men came by. One of the drunkards purposely fell on a woman in Keenan's group. When Keenan and his friends objected, a scuffle broke out. The drunks left the spot only to return minutes later with more men. They stabbed Santos and mercilessly beat up his friends-Reuben and Benjamin Fernandez and Avinash Bali."
The police arrested four people so far for the murder. The TOI goes on to say, "Keenan's friends alleged that the accused showed no remorse after the crime and were telling their friends at the police station that they would be out of jail within a few months. Eyewitnesses had said that a dozen men had attacked Keenan and his friends. However, the police, after verifying the facts, have concluded that only the arrested four were involved in the brawl."

It's a shame that someone had to die like this. I hope the full weight of the law is thrown on these barbarians.

I had a chance to visit the church, where the deceased young man was a parishoner. Some of his friends alleged that this murder was "pre-meditated and not caused by a slap." The mainly Catholic youth of Amboli are petrified after this incident and a funeral mass on Sunday had an unusually large number of visitors spanning all religions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR-F9cNLRZI&feature=related

Manners, anyone?

My level of tolerance has improved drastically over the last few months. I no longer wish that the earth would open up and swallow anyone who spits in this city. I no longer believe that Singapore-style caning is the way to go about cleaning this city.

I understand that the vast underclass in the city couldn't care less about living in a beautiful and clean city but I have a bone to pick with the middle class. While at a screening of an Italian film, a lady not only did not leave her phone on silent but was talking on the phone loudly enough to disturb others. I asked the woman to shush and she had the audacity to give me a dirty look. The fat cow is lucky that I didn't go there and grab her phone and smash it. (Never mess with a brotha, who was raised in Killa Queens, New York). My friends at the screening kept telling me about so-called 'decent' people with a complete lack of manners....

Bombay was a city that was known for its courtesy and the manners of the members of the middle and upper middle class. It's a shame that this is quickly becoming something of the past. When I encounter people like that lady last night, I am quite happy to hear occassional stories of Indians being put in place in civlized countries.

Vasily Vereshchagin: horrors of war through artist’s eyes

When it comes to Russian painters who had a fascination for India, the first name that comes to most people’s minds is Nicholas Roerich, an artist and philosopher who left an indelible mark in both India and Russia with his paintings and books. There was, however, another great Russian artist and traveller, who made a valuable contribution to India by chronicling the country under British Rule: Vasily Vasilevich Vereshchagin.

http://indrus.in/articles/2011/10/17/vasily_vereshchagin_horrors_of_war_through_artists_eyes_13126.html

Mad Stray Dogs and Austrians

Since last year I have managed to popularize Gunter from Graz's epic battles with stray dogs in Delhi and Bangalore   When it comes to battling India's stray dogs, the big man from Graz has compatriots facing similar struggles.

Take for instance, an enterprising young man (and India-lover) from another tiny Austrian town. Let's call him 'the wolf' for convenience' sake. The wolf is a talented long-distance runner who competed and won at the highest levels in Austria and had it not been for his love for humid, dusty and dirty India, we may have had an Olympic Champion. None the less, Indian conditions haven't stopped the wolf from running.

In fact, suburban Andheri was on the route of a wolf run recently. He glided past the lower middle class colony of D.N. Nagar, almost unnoticed by the Maharashtrians, who are used to seeing Europeans in those parts. The wolf was just a kilometre and a half away from Juhu Beach from where he could set the sand on fire, but like with Gunter, there lay an obstacle. No, I am not talking about the pot-holed roads...The guardian of D.N. Nagar, a stray dog on early morning duty, could not lose his self-respect by granting a wolf transit rights through his territory. A confrontation seemed imminent. There was fear in the wolf's eyes as the stray approached with his menacing teeth visible.

What would transpire in a bizarre turn of events surprised the locals of D.N. Nagar, who expected a tougher fight. They expected their stray to go for the wolf's leg, while the wolf defended himself with a barrage of stones aimed at or near the stray. As the mad stray got closer to the wolf, out came a smattering of German.. "AUS" "AUS," screamed the wolf. The stray was suddenly confused with the new word in an incomprehensible yet eerily familiar language.

Yes, 70 years ago, an Austrian who took the reins of the Third Reich, would have summarily executed all stray dogs. Perhaps this stray lived in those times in another life and the German word signalled enough danger to make for a hasty retreat.

The wolf won a war without raising a finger.

10 minutes later, he was running on Juhu Beach, shirtless and dripping with sweat: the right combination to make Indian girls turn their heads and spurn their boyfriends.

Final Score: Austrian Wolf 1 - Indian Mad Dog 0

Komsomolsk-na-Amure: A Distant Soviet Pacific Outpost

While most foreigners associate Komsomolsk-na-Amure (Komsomolsk on Amur) with Sukhoi aircraft, many in the Russian Far East have unfairly tagged the city as dangerous because of heightened criminal activity there in the late 1990s. But this peaceful city of 300,000, built in 1932, is a pleasant place to be in and is a surviving example of the pre-Second World War Soviet dream.



http://indrus.in/articles/2011/10/11/komsomolsk-na-amure_a_distant_soviet_pacific_outpost_13100.html

Nostalgie de la lumière/ Nostalgia de la luz

Being a film-lover, I have been fortunate enough to watch a large number of films over the last few months. I have seen all sorts of shots, all kinds of effects, several interesting story-lines and many very good experiments in cinema. However, nothing in any of those films made my chin drop the way this Franco-Spanish co-production did this evening. Patricio Guzman's 'Nostalgia de la luz' or Nostalgia for the Light had some of the most beautiful images of the cosmos and outer space that I have ever seen in my life.

Watching the film at the nice theatre at the Alliance Francaise de Bombay was an added bonus since such movies must be watched on a large screen. Before any of you think, this is just some documentary about space, I'd like to clarify that this is as much a story about the culture, psyche and history of the wonderful nation called Chile as it is about space.

The narrator spoke of a different Chile; the Chile before Augusto Pinochet's bloody and cruel regime, which incidentally was sponsored and backed by the United States of America!! Chileans have always had a love for astronomy and the film draws parallels to astronomers searching foo the hidden secrets of the cosmos along with women who are searching for the remains of loved ones killed by the Fascist Pinochet regime. The remains of many of Pinochet's victims lie in the same Atacama Desert where there is a centre to observe the stars. This centre is one place that I must visit in this lifetime.

After overthrowing Salvador Allende in 1973, General Pinochet seized power in Chile and unleashed a reign of terror that lasted until 1990. In Pinochet's Chile, thousands were murdered, 80,000 sent to concentration camps, with at least 30,000 of them being tortured.

This film is a visual treat and a great attempt at linking archaeology and astronomy along with recent tragic history. So the history-lover in me appreciated it as much as the star-gazing version of myself.

Here is the trailer of this must-watch film.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FvhsYCkcN8

Wonderful initiative at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park

I am happy to know that there are people in Bombay who care about cleanliness and are willing to do something to make some parts of the city cleaner. This morning I met someone with a few large bags inside the park, who was picking up rubbish from the park and involving some of the adivasi children. He promised them a gift if they could fill the bag with garbage. The enthusiastic children seemed more than eager. Since this gentleman was busy, I didn't want to disturb him and ask him any questions but kudos to this wonderful man.

Notes from the National Park

***
The national park is a wonderful place to be on a Sunday morning. Lots of joggers & walkers, people riding bicycles and other fitness enthusiasts throng the place. Nature, fresh air and fitness:- not an easily available combination in this city.

***
When security staff warn people to stay away from monkeys and they still doesn't listen, we have a problem. The aggressive monkeys get fed by people (including forest guards!!!) and then assume it's their right to grab food from people. The monkeys are NOT at fault here.

Here are some images from the park and the Kanheri Caves
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7444188@N05/sets/72157627851732004/

An Ordinary Execution

Relations between common Russians and Frenchmen have been defined by a fascination with and a curiosity to know more about each other’s countries and cultures. It’s probably this fascination that led French writer Marc Dugain to write ‘Une Execution Ordinaire’ (An Ordinary Execution), a book that looks at the nature of political power in Moscow from Stalin’s time to the present day. The result is a terrifying and gripping novel where an ordinary family comes face to face with extraordinary events over the span of 5 decades.


http://indrus.in/articles/2011/10/07/an_ordinary_execution_a_fictional_french_look_at_russias_corridors_o_13085.html

Dreaded October Heat

This is 1 month in the city that I am not particularly fond of. The post-monsoon month of October is hot, dry and brings it's share of dust storms. The city basically turns into a large hot dust bowl this month. Early mornings and late evenings are bearable but the heat is maddenning from around 11 am till 6 pm. As much as I am against air conditioning, I am left with no choice but to use it. Wake me when October ends!

In all fairness though, the sunsets and the twilight in the city this month are really beautiful.

Solutions for the auto-rickshaw problem in Bombay

I have avoided using harsh language against the auto rickshaw drivers in Bombay as they are far more honest than their counterparts in places like Chennai, Bangalore and Delhi. Except at the odd railways station, the drivers agree to use the meter and I believed that some of them tampered with their meters but the raids by the authorities have proved that this is an organised racket.

For about a year, I was paying ten rupees extra to get to the university's Kalina campus from Santa Cruz station. After the raids, the meters are surprisingly rolling slower on the same route. These crooks got their dues from the authorities. And now since they have been caught cheating passengers, they are demanding a far hike. They should be told to go to hell.

Here are my suggestions to the municipal authorities: For starters, clear sidewalks of hawkers and make the suburbs of the city more pedestrian friendly, especially by planting trees. Shaded sidewalks would encourage more people to walk shorter distances and of course, it's a good thing for the public health of an ever-fattening population.

Next, create specific lanes on the roads for buses and increase the frequency of buses. This will save money, fuel and time. Jakarta managed to do this in more difficult circumstances and so can Bombay.

Let's help these rogue auto rickshaw drivers know that we can do without them most of the time!

Book Review: Tea in the Harem by Mehdi Charef

News channels around the world beamed images of riots in the outskirts of Paris in 2005-6. The rioters were predominantly second and third generation Arab immigrants, who were frustrated with what they felt was blatant racism and social exclusion. One can assume that the ethnic Moroccans and Algerians are looked upon in France with the same fear and distrust that some across the Atlantic Ocean feel for African-Americans.

The only French person of Arab descent I have ever met is a wonderful French teacher, who was in Bombay for 6 months. She never wore a burka and was essentially French in all respects. Add to that, her immense beauty, and it was no surprise to me when she said she never ever faced any discrimination in France.

Then again, Charef's book was written in 1983, when Mumbai/Rio type shanytowns existed in the outskirts of Paris. The author describes the slums of Nanterre as being like those in Rio minus the sun and warm weather.

"The children seem happy enough as they play in among the mud and the poverty and the thick smoke from people's stoves:" This is not a description of Dharavi but a place within a half an hour car ride from the city of love!

The protagonist of the book Majid lives in a housing project in a not-so nice suburb of the French capital and is basically stuck between 2 worlds. He moved to France at a young age and found the French education system above his level of understanding. His younger siblings, however, seemed to be doing well in school.

Majid and his gang of friends get drunk, solicit prostitutes, use drugs and indulge in petty crime like pick-pocketing. The author describes the contempt that many French people had at that time towards Arabs, looking at them as thieves and low-lives. There is a strong yearning among the Arab youth in France to break free from this prison of a life in the estates, which have nice names like Acacia but are crime infested and neglected.

"Somehow the night seems darker here than in other parts of town, as if it feels at home," the author says about the area around the housing projects. "The estate dies, and the footsetps of passers-by sound like echoing drum-beats. It feels like being stuck behind a wall in a cemetery in a strange village in the middle of nowhere, trying to find your way home."

This book was hard to put down and while it was neutral, helped the reader see things from the point of view of Arabs in France.

Paying for plastic bags is a great idea

Many grocery shops in Bombay have started demanding money for plastic bags. Apna Bazar in Andheri West demands Rs 3 per plastic bag. This has led to a large number of people bringing cloth and jute bags to the shop. I hear it's the same across the city. This will go a long way in helping the environment.

For starters, it's plastic bags that choke gutters and storm water drains and end up making our beaches dirty. This charge will automatically help make the city and its beaches a lot cleaner and reduce flooding in the monsoons.

I won't call for an outright ban on plastic bags like in the Nilgiris, but I would have to mention at the same time that banning plastics and imposing a fine of Rs 20,000 has been one of the best decisions that the authorities in Ooty took. The level of cleanliness in the Nilgiri Hills is something to write home about.

My article about Lal Bahadur Shastri in the Free Press Journal

October 2 is marked across India as the birthday of the father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi, but few of us know that it is also the birthday of another great man, who personified Gandhijis principles of austerity and honesty in public service: Lal Bahadur Shastri.

Read more... http://fpj.co.in/news/24107-lal-bahadur-shastri-the-small-giant.html

Italian October in Bombay

If there is one European country that most Bombayites love, it has to be Italy. We love Italian food or the American/Gujarathi/Udupi variants of it that we get in this city. Anyone who claims to be an expert on films will list Bicycle Thieves as one of his or her favourites. Then there's the popularity of Serie A football and Formula 1 car racing. Several trendy shops claim to sell everything from clothes to handbags to furniture made in Italy.

Well, the Italians love us too. They are organising a set of wonderful cultural programmes in the city this month. While the rest of the world celebrates the World Italian Language Week, festivities in Bombay go on for more than 15 days.

It all starts on October 8 with the opening of an exhibition of photographs at the Prince of Wales Museum (I refuse to call it the Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj whatever) titled "The Persistence of Memory" by Dr Ishrat Syed, a noted surgeon and author. The exhibition, on how travel bookends history, will be curated by Syed and co-author Kalpana Swaminthan, who form the Kalpish Ratna team that has written several books, including The Quarantine Papers.

The exhibition will be launched along with another exhibition at the Prince of Wales Museum: Voyage to India of Ludovico de Varthema. The exhibition, which is based on the book 'Itinerary' by de Varthema, which was published in 1510, will be on view at the museum till October 23.

On October 8, at 11:00 am, the ICSSR seminar room at the University of Mumbai (Kalina Campus) will host a programme titled "Storytellers and jesters in the Middle Ages: Dario Fo's theatre." Dr Roberto Bertilaccio, our beloved Italian professor, will present 2 video extracts from Fo's Mistero Buffo  (Comic Mystery). This is part of the World Storytelling Association's international conference, festival and workshop "Magic of the Word: Storytelling for Ecological Conservation and Inter-Racial Harmony."

And then there's Lettera Amorosa, an Italian Music and Dance Concert with music composed by Italian composers of the 17th and 18th century. The concert by Basel, Switzerland-based Musica Fiorita is an invitation-only event at the Tata Theatre at the NCPA at 7:00 pm on October 10.

The celebrations culminate with an Italian Film Festival celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy.

Here's the list and timings of the films, all of which will have English subtitles, at the YB Chavan Centre. (Entry is free)

Oct 17:- 4:30 pm- La Presa di Roma (The Capture of Rome) (1905, silent, 6 minutes)
                              Il piccolo garibaldino (The Garibaldian Boy) (1909, silent, 14 minutes)
              5:00 pm- Allonsanfan, directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani (1973, 113 minutes)
              7:30 pm- Senso, directed by Luchino Visconti (1954, 120 minutes)

Oct 18:- 5:00 pm- Arrivano i bersaglieri, directed by Luigi Magni
                             (The marksmen are coming) (1980,  120 mins)
              7:30 pm- Bronte: cronaca di un massacro, directed by Florestano Vancini
                             (Bronte, chronicle of a massacre) (1972, 110 mins)

Oct 19:- 5:30 pm- Siamo uomini o corporali, directed by Camillo Mastrocinque
                              (Are we men or corporals?) (1956, 94 minutes)
              7:30 pm- I soliti ignoti, directed by Mario Monicelli
                             (Big deal on Madonna Street) (1958, 110 minutes)
          
This festival is the result of months of work by Dr Roberto Bertilaccio, the Instituto Italiano di Cultura, New Delhi and the Consulate General of Italy in Mumbai and is supported by the Prince of Wales Museum, The Rome Archives, UNESCO, The Swiss Confederation, Swiss International Airlines, Musica Fiorita, the National Centre for Performing Arts, the Indian Centre for Cultural Relations, the Chavan Centre, VFS Global and the French Department at the University of Mumbai.