Friday, December 30, 2011

Glimpses of Colombo

Here are some images from this wonderful city.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7444188@N05/sets/72157628631150001/

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Fitness consciousness in Sri Lanka

Many parts of this country tend to be particularly hot for a big part of the year. This December though, Colombo is experiencing wonderful weather. Temperatures dropped to an all-time low of 18 degrees. The cooling down of the country as a whole has been attributed to tropical cyclone Thane.

Despite the weather, there is a great outdoor and fitness culture in this country. The city's parks and seaside promenade are full of joggers in the mornings. You also see a lot of sports being played in the various clubs and grounds in the city. And this year, the country hosted a bicycle race called the Tour de Sri Lanka (of course!!)

Navy cadets walking on Colombo's Galle Face Green


Given the amount of rice that Sri Lankans eat, they sure do need the exercise. You see either super-fit people or those with bulging stomachs...There seems to be no room for the in-betweens.

Don't mess with Shah Rukh fans in Colombo

There was a serpentine queue for tickets to watch the new Shah Rukh Khan film, 'Don 2.' The cool and fashionable people of Colombo seem to be huge fans of the Indian actor (who I believe can't act). I happened to be in the same cinema hall in Bambalapitiya to watch another film and told a few Sri Lankan friends what I thought of Khan. I guess I was a bit too loud and that attracted vicious stares from some people in the queue for Don 2.

In fact, a couple of larger than life Sri Lankans seemed visibly irked until I explained that I am an Indian. The angry look turned into a smile, which was followed by questions about the nightlife in Bombay. I was safe from harm's way.

What the adulating public of Colombo see in Shah Rukh Khan, I don't know.

"You don't look like an Indian!"

Sri Lanka has a community of Eurasians known as Burghers, who seem to have the share some idiosyncrasies with Anglo-Indians on the other side of the Palk Straits. Many younger generation Burghers now live in Australia, but you can still see a lot of Burgher aunties across Sri Lanka.

At a shop in the town of Nugegoda, a Burgher aunty wanted to know why I was responding to Sinhalese questions in English. When I told her that I was an Indian, she responded by telling me that I did not look like an Indian. "Do I look like a Pakistani or Bangladeshi, aunty?"

She replied in the negative and said I looked like I was from Colombo. When I thanked her for what I thought was a compliment, she said, "it is not a compliment, but an observation." I restrained myself from chuckling as I left the shop. This particular lady reminded me more of Mrs Mangel from the Australian soap-opera 'Neighbours,' than a typical Anglo-Indian aunty in Bombay.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Notes from Sri Lanka: Stray Dogs and Highways

Stray dogs are the cows of Sri Lanka. This country loves its strays, who tend to be far cuter and innocent than their anti-Austrian counterparts in India (For more on stray dogs and Austrians in India, search this blog's archives).


On our way back to Colombo from Kattaragama, in southeast Sri Lanka, a total of 8 strays ran across the highway.Our skillful driver managed to avoid running over them but we did have some bumpy moments. Dogs have the right of way on these highways!! Killing a wandering stray can get you bad karma! It doesn't matter if you end up in an accident, let the holy canines live.

Notes from Sri Lanka:- Colombo-Matara Expressway

The buzz word in post-war Sri Lanka is development. You see construction activity everywhere. Residential high-rises are coming up at the speed of light in and around Colombo. Of course, the new pride of the nation is the Chinese-built Colombo-Matara Southern Express Highway. It takes just 1 hour to reach Galle from Colombo on this scenic and beautiful expressway.



The expressway was built by the Chinese after all, so yes, there are complaints. Rains managed to wreck havoc in some stretches and the asphalt had to be relaid. This expressway is a sign of a new freedom for many in Colombo. One particular brat was showing off to me about driving at 220 kmph on his BMW. So, it shouldn't be a surprise that there are many accidents on this expressway.

This is an image from Boxing Day.

With speed-crazy idiots on the expressway, accidents are likely to be a common occurence.

My travel article about Bali in the Free Press Journal

Bali has long been stereotyped as an island that Europeans flock to in large numbers to avoid severe winters and take in some sun, sand and surf, before partying away. When the Indonesian Government invited me to visit the island, such images played on in my mind. Three days on the enchanted isle, however, completely removed these false impressions.

Read more. http://www.freepressjournal.in/news/39420-bali-of-temples-volcanoes-gardens-and-the-deep-blue-ocean.html

Monday, December 19, 2011

Section 420 for cabbies and rickshaw-wallahs in Bombay?

The Mumbai Mirror reported today that auto and tax drivers that rig meters could end up spending time in the slammer. Now instead of paying a maximum fine of Rs 2600, cabbies and auto-rickshaw drivers will be subject to a police complaint under section 420 of the Indian Penal Code.

I welcome this move. Most taxi drivers don't rig meters but I wish I could say the same about those who drive autos in Mumbai. These guys are better than their counterparts in Bangalore, Chennai and Delhi, but many do rig their meters. When the Wadala Regional Transport Office caught auto drivers rigging meters in Santa Cruz, the fares suddenly dropped and people were paying less money for short and long rides. Then of course, the auto drivers agitated and got their way with increased fares.
 
Problem solved right? Wrong. Even after getting a hike, auto drivers started rigging meters. It irritated me so much that I decided to get to Santa Cruz station early on weekends so that I could take a bus to university for my Italian class. I save money and don't have to deal with the band of cheats that wait for 'fools' outside Santa Cruz station.

It's comforting to know that they get jail time if they attempt to cheat passengers.

Read more here.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Kim Jong-il dead at 69

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il died at the age of 69, the country's state-run television said this mroning.  Kim died on a train while visiting an area outside Pyongyang, according to the announcement. The tyrant, who had a liking for cognac and lobster, suffered a stroke in 2008 and was absent from public view for months,  but North Korean television showed him to be in good health during is recent trips to Russia and China.

I don't believe in celebrating anyone's death, no matter how the person may have been. Having said that, I can now declare that North Korea (and the world by default) is a much better place. Kim was as evil and brutal  a dictator as could have possibly been.

I spent 4 days in North Korea in 2005, something that I can't write much about at this moment, as the government may go after a dear friend of mine. I can say though that I felt like kneeling and kissing the ground, when I left the country and entered Nakhodka in the Russian side of the border.

But for those of you who want to get a glimpse of North Korea under Kim, please read 'This is Paradise!: My North Korean Childhood' by Hyok Kang, a North Korean who managed to escape the brutality of Stalinist North Korea. The book is one of the most disturbing personal accounts of life in the 'great paradise.'

Saturday, December 17, 2011

My travel article on Udaipur in The Free Press Journal

There will always be one type of India that exists in movies, literature and the imagination: an India of maharajas, palaces, vintage cars, a land of turbaned men and a place, where women hide behind the purdah. While traces of this romanticised land have all but disappeared in most parts of the country, Udaipur retains this India in its purest form. Welcome to what some call the 'White City'and what others call the 'Venice of the East'.


http://fpj.co.in/news/38150-UDAIPUR-RAJASTHAN-SFABLED-CITY-OF-LAKES.html

Friday, December 16, 2011

Rhonda Byrne's recipe for a Magical 2012

"You can make 2012 the best year of your life! And you can do it very easily, right now.
All you have to do is set the most powerful intention you can ever set in your life, which is that you will focus only on what you want, think only about what you want, and talk only about what you want. Decide right now that anytime you find yourself thinking or talking about what you don't want, you will stop and demand of yourself, "What is it that I want?" And with all your might, with all your strength, with all your willpower - you will focus on what you want!

This one intention, repeated daily until the New Year and reinforced through 2012, will ensure that you make 2012 the year that your dreams came true, and the greatest year of your life!"

Thursday, December 15, 2011

RIP Boris Chertok: You helped the USSR win the Space Race!

One of the reasons that the Soviet Union won the space race was because it had dedicated visionaries like the great Boris Chertok. Since he was involved in highly secretive programmes, Chertok wasn't a household name until Gorbachev's reforms.

Chertok died this week at the age of 99. Here is a brief bio published by the Russia & India Report.
 
http://indrus.in/articles/2011/12/14/russian_space_designer_boris_chertok_dies_13398.html

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Confronting a woman-abuser on a Mumbai local train

It started off as a humdrum ride on a local train from Churchgate to Andheri, where my attention was fixed hard on a book. Rush hour hasn't started yet but many office-goers clad in white formal shirts were heading home. When the train stopped at Dadar, among the usual crowd that jumped in, there was a "middle-class looking" couple.

The girl, who looked like she was in her mid-20s, was about to sit, when the man yanked her back and made her stand next to him. A petty quarrel among young lovers, or so I thought. The man, who looked like a Latin American, was built like a truck and his muscles were bulging out. As the train moved on from Dadar, the arguing got louder and the man was increasingly looking violent. All the middle class office-goers pretended to not notice what was going on.

As the man's actions started getting more aggressive, I intervened and said, "excuse me, I think you're making the lady uncomfortable." The guy asked me to "f*** off" and mind my own business. By that time, other people came up to the man and told him to cool off. "She's my fiancee," he said. I responded that he still had no right to physically threaten or abuse her. I had the backing of at least 10 people on the wagon and one person threatened to call a railway police officer. The man got off at Mahim in anger, alone.

The girl stayed on till Vile-Parle, thanking me for standing up for her. I hope that she has the sense to get out of an abusive relationship, but that's her life...

For those of you that think domestic violence exists only in the lower classes of society, think again! Please take a stand against such people. Under no circumstances should violence against women be tolerated in a society that considers itself civilized!

Monday, December 12, 2011

Book Review: The Exile by Navtej Sarna

I remember once being told by a Sikh friend of mine in college about the legacy of the 'Lion of Punjab,' Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The great ruler had a kingdom that covered what is now a large chunk of Pakistan. Ranjit Singh was secular and ruled over largely-Muslim areas, without a hint of cruelty towards Muslims, in contrast to some Afghan rulers in India who terrorized Hindus and Sikhs, indulging in forced-conversions of the former.

 When I asked this friend about what happened to the Lion of Punjab's kingdom. He then told me about how the Maharaja's son embraced Christianity and sold out to the British. 13 years after having that conversation in college, I came across this brilliantly written semi-fiction book of narratives by seasoned Indian diplomat Navtej Sarna. "The Exile" is the story of Punjab's Last Emperor, Maharaja Duleep Singh, a child who was forced to abdicate his throne, surrender his kingdom and the famed Kohinoor diamond.

Lack of unity is not just a problem in the India of 2011, but it has been a plague on this nation for centuries. The death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, set off a series of power struggles and murders that finally culminated in Duleep Singh being appointed king, while he was still a child. As the story goes, the red coats moved in when Punjab was busy in in-fighting and self-destruction and put an end to the Sikh Empire.

The British robbed, manipulated, brain-washed, spoilt and stripped Duleep Singh of his identity, making him a confused soul who accepted and later renounced Christianity. His wish of retaking the throne of Punjab and liberating India from colonial yoke in his lifetime, never came to be. I see a few parallels between Duleep Singh and Pu Yi, the Last Emperor of China.

The author, Navtej Sarna, now India's Ambassador to Israel, has written this book in an articulate manner and the reader gets a glimpse into Lahore of the 19th century and the often-troubled and exiled life of the last maharaja. The book is a result of careful research, dedication and the brilliant writing prowess of Sarna.

A hundred years after the British occupation of Punjab, the land of 5 rivers was divided in a bloody partition, of which the scars remain to this very day. A century changes circumstances, situations and life as a whole. Will the great and beautiful people of Punjab be divided forever? I personally don't think so.  

Reading this book, I yearn to visit the colourful land of 5 rivers and to experience just what Sarna describes in the prologue. "On winter nights, when the moon rides into a dagger-sharp sky on her chariot of two wispy clouds, our Punjab looks very beautiful, like it has never been wounded, never divided, never broken up. The five rivers twisting towards the great Indus, like dark serpents swollen with the blood of centuries, belong to one people. And on all our villages, our thousands of ancient villages, fall gently, like the moonlight, the blessings of all gods."

I think the greatness of the modern Indian Republic lies in the fact that I can be as much a Punjabi as anyone in India. We are a cohesive mosaic of beauty, this great nation. I may be a dreamer, but I do see an India, where we have an unprecedented unity that makes us a greater and stronger whole.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

What to expect from Reliance on the Mumbai Metro...

The Economic Times reported last week that Delhi Metro Supremo E Sreedharan, who I believe deserves a Bharat Ratna for his contributions to the nation, is unhappy with the way Reliance Infra is running the airport rail service in Delhi.

According to the article, Delhi Metro is "not happy with the Airport Metro Express corridor and wants its operator Reliance Infrastructure to improve train speed, frequency and various other aspects within four months, failing which the operations will be taken over."

These are the same people constructing the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar link in phase 1 of the Mumbai Metro.

Sreedharan told PTI in an interview that "Our PPP experience was not very pleasant with Airport model. First of all, the works were not completed on time. The line was supposed to be ready for Commonwealth Games but it got delayed by five months. Even after opening, they have not been able to increase the speed to (the promised speed of) 120 kmph."

"I am not very happy with the performance. It should have been an aristocratic type of service which it is not today," he told PTI.

He pointed out several deficiencies like the train speed still being maintained at 105 kmph, the proposed frequency of 10 minutes not being implemented and check-in time for fliers who use the corridor which have to be corrected.

If only Sreedharan was given charge of the Mumbai Metro like he was of the wonderful metro in Delhi.

Gujju Pijja

Anyone who reads this blog, knows how much I adore Gujaratis. They are an enterprising community that have mastered the art of business and take prosperity wherever they go, be it India, Africa or North America. I was born in pre-dominantly Gujarati Vile-Parle in suburban Bombay.

What amuses me among other things about Gujaratis is the way they make an adapted vegetarian version of just about any kind of food. After enjoying my favourite (and over-priced) pav bhaji at Shiv Sagar in very-Gujarati Juhu, a German friend and I decided to go completely Gujju. We ordered a "curry pizza."

Photo Courtesy: Stefan Mey


A curry pizza, apparently a favourite among the faithful of Juhu- Vile Parle Development Scheme, is made of peas, potatoes and curd. Yup, curd replaces the cheese! And a sweet salsa accompanies the delicacy. It had an odd and sour taste and the salsa wasn't exactly my idea of delicious. But, one man's meat is another man's poison.

Friday, December 9, 2011

Notes from a Sardine Tin

I generally avoid taking a fast train at a busy time like the plague. By the time the trains get to Andheri from Borivali, they are crowded as hell and unless you want to smell like someone else, it's better not to try to gain forceful entry. But since I had to head south in a hurry, I squeezed into a fast train in order to maintain a reputation of punctuality.

With the advent of smartphones, people are now adapted to doing business while travelling in a local train. There was this one man, who was deeply concentrating on whatever he was doing on his phone. The mid-40s "executive" was dressed well and managed to type with ease. Every once in a while he was getting bumped by someone when the train yanked and that seemed to upset him immensely. This may have been a stock-broker or trader, I figured. The man then yelled at someone who bumped him  (accidentally). Could he have lost a lot of money on trade?

As I was about to get off, I peeped into this phone and this "busy-body" was actually playing Tetris! So much for important business. It makes you wonder what life does to a person for him to yell at people in a crowded train because he can't play a video game in a packed compartment!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Brilliant comment from the Los Angeles Times on the Indian Government

"The turnaround (in the decision to allow FDI in retail) is the latest sign of weak leadership and a lack of direction by India's Congress Party-led government, which is beset by corruption scandals, an increasingly ineffective prime minister and rebellious allies. The long-awaited opening of the retail market was touted as the government's biggest reform initiative since it was reelected in 2009."

The whole world knows that the Manmohan Singh Government is a plague on the nation! 

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Those great Russian Far Eastern Winters

If there's 1 thing I miss the most about Russia, it's the long and beautiful winters. They did get annoying when it didn't stop snowing even in April, but I loved them.

Here is a tribute.

http://indrus.in/articles/2011/12/07/an_ode_to_the_great_russian_far_eastern_winters_13355.html 

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

A story of Indo-Soviet love!

When the news spread last week about the passing away of Josef Stalin’s last surviving child, Svetlana Alliluyeva, there was a buzz among the members of the generation at the helm of power in India in the 1960s. Alliluyeva, who was called “my little sparrow” by Stalin, was responsible for a set of events that looked like they were right out of a James Bond film.

Kapil Sibal and Internet-censorship

A few years ago, when I was criticising the Congress Party, my Russian teacher gently reminded me that it was because of the very Congress that I loathe, that I have the freedom to criticize them. We have a vibrant democracy, of which freedom of speech is a pillar.

Yet, despite the existence of freedom of speech and freedom of expression, the government has taken "big brother" initiatives. They banned Stanley Wopert's "Nine Hours to Rama," a fictional account of Nathuram Godse and the assasination of Mahatma Gandhi.  Another government banned Salman Rushdie's 'Satanic Verses.'

Media censorship existed during the Emergency in the 1970s. Films and books are also censored. You can't watch a foreign film on Indian television these days, without the curse words being censored. This goes for French or Italian films with subtitles as well!!

So where is this uproar over Kapil Sibal wanting Facebook and Twitter to screen content coming from? This is nothing new in India. The same people who slam the Congress on Twitter and Facebook will either not vote in the 2014 elections or will vote the Congress back into power.

I am all for Freedom of Speech and I am most certainly against calls for content to be screened on social networking sites. But just paraphrasing Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, why do some members of the twitter brigade protest when Hurriyat supporters slam India on social networking sites? Why don't they let people who have a different opinion have an opinion?  If Sibal is a Fascist, so are many of those people who are abusing him on social networking sites.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Delhi’s T3 in the mornings

For those of you thinking of flying out of Delhi Airport’s Terminal 3 in the morning, I have some advice. For starters, if you’re not flying business class, get to the airport 3 hours before your flight. The queues are ridiculously long and the airlines don’t seem to have the capacity to handle the rush. There’s a realistic chance of getting to the airport and not being able to check in on time. I was fortunate enough to have a credit card that gave me access to business class check-in.


I would avoid T3 in the mornings, whether I have an economy or business class ticket. The airport has been expanded, but runway capacity seems to be the same. It can be painful to sit in the aircraft and wait for half an hour to get a takeoff clearance. What’s the use of a new and glitzy airport if it can’t even handle existing flights?

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Whatever happened to the life we once knew in Delhi

When I visited this city in 1996, I loved seeing beautiful single-story cottages everywhere. Such kind of living was impossible in Bombay. My hometown has such a scarcity of land, making living in an independent house a pipe-dream.

In 2000, I noticed that most single-floor villas were converted into 3 floor houses. While that charm of yesteryear was gone, the houses still made a pretty site. Now in 2011, with property prices at ridiculous levels, people are handing over their land to builders and the houses are being converted into ugly appartment buildings. What a pity that a new generation in this grandoise city will never experience the thrill of living in an independent house in a big city! I am sure that Delhites don't want their city to look like Bombay but the lure of money is too much for them to not turn their houses into ugly appartment buildings.

Evil Spirts in East Delhi terrorize unlucky house

The housing colonies near Patpatganj, east of the Yamuna, are newer developments in an area that was a setting for some of the epics of centuries past. Delhi’s djinns and tormented souls have been roaming these eastern parts even before the arrival of the Turks.


Tucked away in a nameless colony, just a stone’s throw away from a metro station is a haunted house. No, this is not your typical ‘bhooth bungla,’ which was abandoned in the 1950s. In those Nehruvian times, the plot of land where this house stands was in all probability, an agricultural field.

Could it be something that happened around the time Arjuna was fighting his cousins in nearby Indraprastha? Or was it the result of a post-independence land-feud? Is it something that may have transpired in those simple socialist days, when Dilhi was far away and disconnected from these parts largely because of the then-clean and wide Yamuna? No one has a clue. The farmers of the 1950s are all gone. The inhabitants of the area only know that there was a murder in the house and that every family that moved in since has witnessed a death.

Cobwebs, decay and spirits jostle for space with the only external sounds being azaans from nearby mosques and bhajans from a neighbouring gurudwara! A group of adventurous girls once decided to walk in to the compound on a cold winter night. The lucky or unlucky 13 moved in quietly hand-in-hand and as the cold breeze swung some branches, an odd strike of lightning and thunder made the girls scream in horror and scram for the gates. Few have dared to venture in since!

Some hear screams and plates being broken, others see lights, yet no one knows who haunts this wretched house! What is the story? Will the truth ever come out?

Delhi : Existing and forgotten traditions of Purani Dilli

This is a wonderful article written about Old Delhi by Chief Election Commissioner Qurayshi in The Hindu.

The Hindu : Cities / Delhi : Existing and forgotten traditions of Purani Dilli