Book Review- Mapmaking: Partition Stories from Two Bengals

Many of us, whose families were not directly affected by the partition of India, tend to look at the events of 1947 through a Punjabi prism. There has been an abundance of books, plays and Bollywood films about the ethnic cleansing that took place in Punjab in wake of the division of India. But the events in Bengal, which in many cases, were no less tragic have not entered the mainstream public discourse.

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Kingfisher to get another bailout?

According to an article in today's Hindustan Times, struggling airline Kingfisher will get a Rs 1650-crore bailout package from the State Bank of India. The airline's outstanding debts stand at Rs 7057 crore before this package.

I enjoy flying the "good times." The airline has excellent aircraft with in flight entertainment, very good service and good food. Unfortunately, they have never ever made a profit and well, you can't stay in business like that. If Kingfisher cannot compete then they need to shut shop. The same goes for the cancer called Air India, which has bad aircrafts, poor service, terrible food and awful employees.

Death on railway tracks

While there is a new wave of jingosim in the Indian media about the killing of Indian fishermen by Italian naval officers, no one seemed to notice or care about a government report about death on railway tracks.

According to a government committee report, 15,000 people die every year on railway tracks. That comes to around 41 people a day. Now, 6000 of those deaths take place in Bombay.

En route to Bombay Central yesterday, I noticed a group of rag pickers walking on a railway bridge over the Mahim creek and wondering how these people would escape death if a local train came on that bridge at that precise moment. They would have either been flattened or would have drowned in the Mahim creek! It's even scarier to see babies from slums crawling on railway tracks. Since it is a political issue, slums bordering railway lines will never be cleared, but not all deaths are of slum-dwellers. Many people cross tracks instead of climbing and using overbridges. Something needs to be done to curb this menace.

Austrians and stray dogs: And now it's Bertram's turn

All the while, when Bertram, the Austrian from Bandra heard of or witnessed the gruesome and pitched battles between his countrymen and Indian stray dogs, he laughed his head off, going to the point of blogging about Gunter and the Wolf's troubles with the canines.

On a new moon day in dusty, broken down Andheri, karma would rear its ugly head on Bertram. Inflammed by a dry and hot February day, Bertram took the painful and agonising walk through the Andheri market on J.P. Road. The honking of auto rickshaws, the aggresive bikers, the dirty savages spitting and the pollution made the unbearable heat even worse.

As Bertram crossed the Hanuman Temple, he stepped on an unidentified object. Within a second, a loud howl shook the Austrian out of his self-imposed anger with Andheri. Betram had stepped on the paw of a stray dog. The frightened mutt limped away to safety, choosing not to harm the Salzburger. On compassionate grounds, Betram tried to buy a pack of biscuits for the mutt, but the terrified creature ran towards Andheri station fearing for its life.

A sad episode that was none the less over, thought Bertram, but the future had a twist of fortunes awaiting the Bavarian beer-lover.

12  hours after the first encounter with the mutt, Bertram was walking again on the same  J.P. Road. Only this time, the streets were empty and the dogs ruled the roost. As Betram recalled the wonderful moments of the Sicilian opera that he had watched, one bark from a stray turned to 10. It was now time for the morning's mutt to settle old scores. Shouts of shoo, aus, hutt, all fell on ears that were not willing to listen. The mutts smelt Austrian blood. They moved in towards Bertram, who quickly used his reflexes to start a barrage of stone-throws straight at the mutts. The shocked strays made a dash for nearby lanes, barking at their loudest and calling for reinforcements. Bertram was unshaken. It was he, who paid the taxes to the Indian Government and not the canines. The roads were his property.

As Bertram crossed the infamous Navrang Cinema Hall, the barks got softer until they came to a standstill. Yes, it was another victory for the nation that is the successor to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Somewhere in celestial bliss, Franz Joseph I would have been proud that another one of his soldiers repelled a stray-dog attack in the land of savages!

My article on southern Sri Lanka in the Free Press Journal

Southern Sri Lanka is blessed with an abundance of beaches, with Mirissa being my pick of the lot. The white sandy beach has all the dramatic imagery to be classified as paradise: white sands, rows of coconut trees, green rolling hills and crystal clear and blue water.

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Book Review: My Life by Marc Chagall

I have read weird books before but this autobiography written by French-Russian artist Marc Chagall has to be the strangest piece of literature I have ever come across. In a style that I can't even possibly begin to describe, Chagall takes us on a journey from his upbringing in a traditional yet poor Jewish family in Vitebsk (now in Belarus) through his adolescent years and his first stint in Paris, and his second attempt at Russian life.

We learn that his family, friends, acquaintances and the colourful characters in his life were the inspiration for some of his earlier works. Chagall wrote this book in 1923, after moving to Paris a second time from Russia. We read about the sterotypes about Jews in Czarist and Soviet Russia and the terrible progroms that the community faced there.

More than anything, the book, full of the author-artist's illustrations, showcases Chagall's amazing sense of humour and his ability to let the small things in life just go.  We also get insights into the Russia of Czar Nicholas II and of St Petersburg in the days, when the city was closed to those without permits. Looks like the passport checkers have always been a part of Russian life.

Interestingly enough, Chagall even studied in a school run by Nicholai Roerich. Chagall wrote about how Roerich's poems and literature could only be  understood by the author himself. We also hear about the great artists and playrights of those days. This book takes the reader to through some of the tumultous moments in Russian history.

Despite the harshness of Russian life and the discrimination that Chagall faced, there seems not even be a hint of resentment for Russia. His greater attachment, of course, is to his hometown Vitebsk, but none the less there is an unconditional love he seems to have for Russia.

He says, "and perhaps Europe will love me, and with her my Russia." These words were written in 1923. 90 years later, he is fondly remembered in Europe as one of the greatest artists of the last century and Russia, which is now post-Soviet Russia, fondly reclaims him as one of its own.

Observations from municipal election day in Andheri

It was nice to see people from my building, who have a dubious reputation when it comes to civic responsibilty actually going to Sardar Patel Engineering College to vote in the municipal elections. At 7:35 am, we were among the first people to be there to cast our democratic resposibility.

My job was made easier, when a letter from Team Anna Hazare told me all I needed to know about the Congress goons trying to win the seat in my constituency. Besides the usual corruption allegations, I found out that the man who handed the ticket to the Congress party candidate is none other than local MLA Bhau Jadhav, the same man paying the legal fees of the killer thugs who murdered Keenan Santos and Reuben Fernandes. While all politicians may be corrupt, the least I could do was ensure that I don't support a man or a party that pays for the defence of molestors and killers!

On my way back home from the Bhavan's College campus, I saw a large group of Muslim women in burkhas walking towards the polling booth. They were literally being herded there like sheep by men in 2 motorcycles. They were being instructed to not talk to anyone and to vote for the "haath. (hand and symbol of the Congress)" This was the first time I saw a group of barely literate people being led to vote some where en masse.

My vote may not make a huge difference in the outcome of the municipal elections, but at least I was able to lodge some protest against the corrupt, communal and casteist Congress party, whose members openly support murderers and rapists!

Muhammad Yunus and IIM-Ahmedabad to fund social business

And now, some good news. I have been a huge admirer of Bangladesh's Grameen Bank-founder Muhammad Yunus. The nobel laureate's initiatives helped drastically reduce poverty in rural Bangladesh. Now, he is implementing a very workable plan to fund social business in India.

According to the Economic Times, Yunus is going to work with the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad to float a Rs 50-crore fund to seed social ventures. I quote the ET, "Yunus defines a social business as one that pays no dividend to shareholders, but ploughs all profits back into the company whose purpose is to serve social needs."

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Being firm with Israel and Iran

Like most Indians, I like both Israel and Iran (and any foreign country for that matter). The world would be a better place if Iran and Israel were friends. I don't however see that as a likely scenario at the moment but while these countries continue their "lovefest," the Indian Government needs to tell them to keep their violent activities out of our territory.

The attack on an Israeli diplomat's wife in Delhi this week was probably the first instance where India was used as a setting for settling international scores. Israel and Iran have been trading charges on this attack as well as botched attacks in Bangkok and Tbilissi. India has enough problems with terrorism and we don't need Mossad and the Quds force slugging it out in Chanakyapuri. Considering how sloppy the attack was, I doubt either agency was involved but India needs to tell these countries that such acts will not be tolerated under any circumstances.

Charles Dickens: A Highly Bigoted and Troubled Man

There was a programme at the 2012 Kala Ghoda Festival that was supported by the British High Commission celebrating the legacy of Charles Dickens on his 200th birth anniversary. Dickens remains a popular writer among the elite of India. Some members of this very elite are self-loathers and hate the idea of India. Such feelings would have delighted Dickens who had a particular hatred, partly powered by the savagery of India's 1857 War of Independence.

There were terrible cases of Indian freedom fighters killing English women and children and surely that would have added fuel to the fire of the hate that Dickens had for India. The following is what Dickens, whose son was an East India Company Officer, had to say about a country, where the elite love him. In a letter to Angela Burdette-Couts, October 4, 1857, Dickens wrote, "The first thing I would do to strike that Oriental race with amazement...should be to proclaim to them, in their language, that I should do utmost to exterminate the Race upon whom the stain of the late cruelties rested." Dickens also called for the "extermination" of the Indian race and applauded the "mutilation" of the wretched Hindoo who were punished by being "blown from...English guns[s]." (I cite "Letters from Charles Dickens to Angela-Burdett-Coutts", Edgar Johnson, Ed.; Jonathan Cape, London, 1953 and "The Speeches of Charles Dickens", K.J. Fielding, Ed., Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1960, page 284)



Some may argue that this was just a reaction to the events of the war. But then how we can explain his comments on Irish and Italians? The writer of  A Chistmas Carol and Great Expectations had such pleasant things to say about the Italians such as, "Whereas, as mere animals, they were wretched creatures, very low in the scale and very poorly formed; and as men and women possessing any power of truthful dramatic expression by means of action, they were no better than the chorus at an Italian Opera in England -- and would have been worse if such a thing were possible." (I cite "The Noble Savage", Household Words, June 11, 1853, page 168)

And I have saved the "best" for last. This is what he said about the Irish. "Ten, twenty, thirty—who can count them! Men, women, children, for the most part naked, heaped upon the floor like maggots in a cheese! Ho! In that dark corner yonder! Does anybody lie there? Me Sir, Irish me, a widder, with six children. And yonder? Me Sir, Irish me, with me wife and eight poor babes. And to the left there? Me Sir, Irish me, along with two more Irish boys as is me friends. And to the right there? Me Sir and the Murphy fam'ly, numbering five blessed souls. And what is this, coiling, now, about my foot? Another Irish me, pitifully in want of shaving, whom I have awakened from sleep–and across my other foot lies his wife–and by the shoes of Inspector Field lie their three eldest–and their three youngest are at present squeezed between the open door and the wall. And why is there no one on that little mat before the sullen fire? Because O'Donovan, with wife and daughter, is not come in yet from selling Lucifers! Nor on the bit of sacking in the nearest corner? Bad luck! Because that Irish family is late tonight, a-cadging in the streets!" (I cite "On Duty With Inspector Field", by Charles Dickens, Household Words, Saturday, June 14, 1851, pages. 266, 267)

Yes, Dickens wrote some great works of literature, but surely that doesn't excuse the fact that he was a racist, supported and promoted genocide and was against abolishing the slave trade.

My article about Yala and Kataragama in the Free Press Journal

The temple of Murugan in Kataragama on the southeastern coast of the island is one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Sri Lanka for Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims alike. During the season, the town is packed with busloads of pilgrims praying for everything from good results for children appearing in public exams to jobs overseas.

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The coup in paradise and India’s silence

Taking a closer look at the events that have transpired in the Maldivian Archipelago, one has to wonder whether the “world’s largest democracy” has any kind of foreign policy at all. A secular, liberal, democratically-elected pro-India president was forced to resign from the presidency at gun-point by rogue police on a mutiny. All this happens in India’s backyard with the largest navy in the region fast asleep!

The Manmohan Singh government decides to congratulate the new president instead of standing by the democratically-elected Mohammed Anni Nasheed. What’s worse is that this coup is backed by Islamic fundamentalists in the country. The same fanatics vandalized Buddha statues in a museum in Male, the island-nation’s capital.

The impotent Congress-led Indian government is probably waiting for a Taliban-style government in the Maldives. A regime that will give free access to groups like the Lakhshar e Tayaba, so that terrorist attacks can be carried out in southern India!! Bravo Manmohan Singh!

Tuberculosis is a serious problem in Bombay

Nicely hidden away in this morning's Hindustan Times is a report that says 900 cases of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis were detected in Bombay in 2011. There's obviously more important news in the paper like Shah Rukh Khan being rated the best role model for children!! A typical Indian way to deal with any problem is to pretend that it doesn't exist and hope it will go away on its own. I am not hinting that there should be some kind of mass panic in the city, but if serious measures aren't taken, then the situation can spiral out of control.

TB thrives in dark, dirty and damp environments. Given the fact that 60 percent of the city's inhabitants live in slums, there is a high risk that this killer disease can spread far and wide. NGOs, actors, cricketers and the municipal authorities need to educate the masses about the threat of TB and how spitting can spread this disease. A cleanliness campaign is the need of the hour, else the plague of TB will bring this city and its inhabitants down.

Indian cricket in doldrums

I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy the plight of the Indian cricket team and the board that administers the sport in India. The Indian cricket team was on an all-time high after winning the World Cup in April 2011. At that they time, they were also coming off a great test series in South Africa, and were rated the number 1 test team in the world.

Come the English Summer and it all came crashing down. India lost 8 tests in a row, the first 4 in England and the next 4 in Australia. Add to this fact that the Board of Cricket Control in India (or the Board of Criminals and Crooks in India) is losing sponsors and TV revenue, this sport, which is a colonial relic, faces a glum future.

The sooner cricket collapses, the better for India. India's cricketers are a greedy, selfish set of parasites, who have never done anything for the betterment of the country. While Australian cricketers come back to India post-retirement to help the sick and the poor, India's cricketers, who are treated as national heroes do nothing. Instead, they ask the government to bend rules so they can destroy heritage structures and construct ugly monstrosities in prime land. They ask for tax relief and import duty waivers. And a set of sycophants support these cricketers blindly.

I remember 1 particular incident in 2009. The Indian cricket team was in New Zealand and there were complaints that they had to pick up their own bags from the airport and load them themselves on to the bus. Apparently, the New Zealand authorities didn't provide them porters! This was a major issue and people close to me condemned New Zealand for this!!!

Well, time's up for cricket and the good times are gone for Indian cricketers.. Welcome to reality!!

Before sunrise

When a friend of mine from Colombo called me lazy for sleeping till 8 am, I laughed. I know people in Bombay who wake up at 10 am so that they can get to work by 11ish. Going by those standards, I was an early riser. But running the marathon changed everything. Being up at a time when most people were sleeping and greeting the sunrise on that wonderful day, made me rethink.

So now, I get up at 4:30 am (!!!) It's wonderful to be up so early, considering the fact that I can get a lot of work done by 8 am. There are days when I finish writing 2 articles by sunrise. Of course, this has been a death-knell to late nights, but I am not complaining.

My thoughts on 'The Outsider' by Albert Camus

If Rodion Raskolnikov, the protagonist of Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment had a Russian (albeit dark) soul, Meursault, the main character in Camus' The Outsider seems to have a "Western" soul. After all, it is a "Western" aspiration for a man to be strong, quiet and not emotional. Women have been stereotyped in the West and I assume other cultures of having traits to the contrary.

One of the best novels ever written in the 20th century, The Outsider uses colonial Algeria as the setting for the set of events that lead to the murder of a local by a Frenchman. To fully understand what Camus wanted to convey in the book,  the reader has to read the afterword. Meursault pays the price for being different, for not conforming to societal norms and for not behaving like the kind of robot that greater society churns out.

This book is more relevant in India today than it is in the West. Since western society has since moved on from its judgemental nature and developed an "I don't care" attitude that some fret is the other extreme.

I wouldn't do any justice to the great author and book if I didn't mention that his descriptions of Algeria at that time make me wish I lived there.

Of Urban Ghettos

Everybody loves Bandra because it's a liberal, mostly green suburb, which even though is cosmpolitan, is predominantly a Catholic area. It's apparently a pleasant sight to see "Christian-looking" aunties in dresses with bobbed hair. I have never heard anyone refer to areas near St Andrew's Church as "ghettos."

Now compare this to Yari Road, a predominantly Muslim area at the western end of Andheri. Instead of frocks, you see burkhas, burkhas and more burkhas. The trees have been felled and the less posh localities are chaotic. Do so many Muslims live there because they can't get flats in pre-dominantly Hindu buildings? Is it safety in numbers? Is it the comfort of living with members of the same religion?

Are the differences between Bandra and Yari Road, just those of Christians and Muslims? Of being liberal and being conservative?