ADDENDUM

I recently came across two well-travelled guys, one a research scholar & the other a scientist, both young; the same day I chose to wear my brand new 'Benetton' tee shirt & favourite 'Guess' jeans. They struck up a conversation that obviously precluded me. I mean....
What would I know about the 'National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme' or God forbid 'phenotypes'?? Better to talk to me about Charlie Chaplin or Zindagi Na Milega Dobara.

I 'dared' to ask them a question about Bt cotton. They glanced at my 'Week' magazine & smiled,
"You see Bt means ..."
"Bacillus thuringiensis"
"well..you see in our department we modify the phenotype of plants.... phenotype you see means..."
I couldn't believe it, so I replied "appearance, more or less; differing from genotype, where you REALLY change the organism"
At least he kept quiet.
Next guy - "You see the Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is no good."
"I think its a pretty good thing" I added
"Did you know that the BIMARU states are not as bad as they are painted out to be? You see BIMARU means...."
I couldn't believe these two guys... "Bihar, M.P,Rajasthan and UP. Also, since your work revolves around NaREGA, that's what we call it in short", I 'informed' him, "can you please tell me more about the Pakistan team that came to study the NaREGA scheme?"
"What? Pakistan knows about our NaREGA scheme? I had no idea..."
"By the way, WHAT do you do?" he quickly asked
Hmmm... good question. Now, no ones looking thaaat much...
Anyways, we all ended up as buddies with promises to visit each other in Spain, Delhi etc etc...
And they're not all that bad.

ARE YOU GOOD LOOKING?

I dont know...... Supposing I am, would you be surprised that I am a dental surgeon?
a pretty good one at that?
from a college that only admits students through merit as opposed to Private colleges that take in students who pay for it,
that I am a serious civil service aspirant who passed a few exams that people consider quite tough?
that I KNOW whats going on around me?
that I'm politically aware?
Why, I've even come across a few kind people who called me intelligent.

But all of that wouldn't matter if you're only staring at me right??

When will we accept that a well turned out lady who can differentiate between a Versace and a Valentino can also differentiate between a Look East Policy and a North West Frontier Province?
Why cant a doctor know that Britney Spears worries that Katy Perry is taking over her kind of music? or
that Ranbir Kapoor is finally single post Deepika Padukone, post Katrina Kaif post Nargis someone?

There seems to be a subtle attempt to patronise a 'pretty' girl who can read the papers. STOP IT! N O W. I cant believe I was so stupid as to give my poor lip gloss a vacation. The ubiquitous 'they' pass on 'mores' that glorify 'simple' girls - whatever that means. And whoever said 'simple' girls are either good or homely? I know many 'simple' girls who are anything but 'simple' and 'homely' - not that all are.... you get the drift.

I once worked in a hospital with 2 other lady doctors who happened to be Muslims. One was in purdah, while the other wasnt and drove a car. I was as usual discussing this. Our usual audience was a young Muslim dental assistant. The one without the purdah told a stunned me that she admired them for wearing burkhas. The one in purdah (as those wearing burkhas are called) said she encouraged all believers to wear one as it prevented men from looking at them with 'immoral' eyes. I told them that this was hogwash. She tried to convert me to her point of view and educate "innocent" me on the wickedness of men saying that men were so bad, they actually misbehaved sexually in front of a hostel if they knew it was a ladies hostel. I pounced - all men are not alike. Those who are sick in their minds will mis-behave even if they dont see an inch of you. Its all in their mind. So, if you're within legal limits, please feel free to wear what you wish! My colleague? she never argued with me again! And yes, she's still in purdah and so is our dental assistant now...

The point is that as a society we must strive to give space to each other, keep open minds and try not to be too prejudiced. I stress on 'too' because as humans, I know its impossible not to have some form of prejudice lurking in our bosoms! If you see a hot girl in jeans, please don't think she's stupid or try to pull a fast one on her?? Puhleese don't. She might just end up giving you a lesson on the the origin of the word 'stupid' and why 'fast one' didn't make it to the dictionary! And for those attractive women out there - feel free to strut your stuff (er... not too much o.k? I'm a little conservative here!! - out of choice)

And yes, I know the diffreence between a fetuccini, a spaghetti and a penne. So there!

STRETCH....... FOR FLEXIBILTY

Stretching, they say is compulsory. Else your joints get tight and you become rigid; In life too, one is expected to be flexible; one must compromise an elderly person recently advised me, as I am lucky enough to live in India where complete strangers think nothing of asking you about anything under the sun, and where advise is always given free, asked or un-asked. He made me think a bit.....

I know a lot of people - young, old, medium, men, women, girls, boys... you get the drift. It naturally follows that I've also come across a number of personalities. Some flexible, some rigid, some in-between, some ambiguous etc etc.

So what's your poison?? Most people find it easy to class so and so as flexible, rigid etc but find it difficult to accurately class oneself. I'm no different. I found that flexible people, the kind whose thumb you can bend so far back it goes flat, are the easiest to spend time with. But I also found that most of my friends DO NOT fall into this category and that most of my ACQUAINTANCES do fall into this category.

I suppose in the larger scheme of things, it all boils down to depth. One really doesn't need or want too much of reality everyday everywhere. That's why we have movies - the ultimate escape from reality. And we all know what a resounding success the movies have always been from the moment go, from Rudolf Valentino to Robert Pattison.

On the other hand we have our item girls and now-a-days boys. Must the men confer equality to women ONLY in these dubious categories? If a certain status for women is bad, is the solution to bring it up or bring the other sex down to that status? Clearly we seem to be in a rush toward the latter. Anyway, the point is that while an 'item' number is used only as a relief for the content of a movie's story so it is with flexible people.

A yes man is good for people who lack egos and for people who need an unreal prop to face themselves. For everyone else, a yes man is a pleasant man to have around as a decorative piece much like those beautiful wedding props that have no place outside the wedding venue. They in fact look ridiculous in real life. Imagine putting that prop in your clinic or office!!

The balance methinks lies in the middle approach - too much flexibility only highlights the fact that you don't have a mind of your own and cannot think. Too much of rigidity on the other hand shows an insecure mind, afraid of change and a lack of confidence to face an unknown and thus, in oneself.

Lets celebrate the Middle Path. It was good enough for the Buddha, its good enough for me!! Life's good! So laugh a lot........

WHY IS MY LIFE CHEAPER THAN YOURS???

The Armed Forces Special Act, AFSPA initialled in 1953 is a huge burden to the North East of India, and just a vague mnemonic or at best acronym to the rest of India. I write this in the time of Anna Hazare and of late, Baba Ramdev. Both ceased to eat for a few days, in a country where half the population goes on an empty stomach to bed at night and the other half are malnourished. Recent studies have shown that India’s ‘Hunger Index’ is higher than Sub-Saharan Africa, with Bihar, M.P etc being the usual suspects.

Anyway, India got MAD and angry when these two fasted – I mean, they’re nice people, you know, “acchha” log. Whose bothered about the servant’s unmarried sister not having enough food to eat, or the famous widows of Varanasi? much less the Dalits of M.P who regularly fast for no cause at all? These are all regular everyday stuff “yaar”. Now, Anna and Baba, they fasted for a cause that they believe in – something to do with corruption. One wants a paper to work magic and erase corruption from India, the other, a billionaire with a TV network of his own, wants the billions of black money stashed away abroad by other people to be brought back to India. And so they fast….

This fast, made portly politicos move at lightning speed to the ‘fasters’. Either ways, the newspersons are on to this news and cover it at a speed faster than the speed of an Ambassador car, at least. Whether you like it or not, there it is – in your face. Anna ‘topis’, Baba’s concave sternum from a profile view, why you even have Anna as a guest editor for a day!! The next guest editor, by the way, was Yuvraj Singh, a 29 year old who makes a pretty decent living by throwing balls, chasing balls, catching balls and last but not the least, whacking balls as best he can.

I’m not trying to make light of what all these stalwarts are doing. I adored Yuvraj at the World Cup. But to another person, and factually, he is just that – a guy who plays around with a small ball. How light these fasts seem when you have been fasting for TEN years. The newspapers make a hue and cry when even as I write, Baba is on his 6th day of fasting. The government is actually nervous and Anna politely and truthfully says that the Government would’ve collapsed if he had not ended his fast at Jantar Mantar.

And yet, no one gives a damn when Irom Sharmilla has been force fed for TEN long years. The same government jumps up when DMK stalwart Karunanidhi ‘fasted’ between breakfast and lunch for the Tamils in Sri Lanka. When people fast from Delhi to Tamil Nadu, from the North and South of India, it makes a difference. But when a helpless lady from the North east fasts for ten years, no one cares. Why??? I’m not saying that whatever she believes in is right, but just ignoring it is cruel and inhuman beyond description.

Is her life cheaper than theirs? Is the North East blood cheaper than the rest of India’s?
Is blood spilt in the Nort East of no consequence, while even a hint of blood ‘threatened’ to be spilt elsewhere is of urgent consequence??


11/6/11

And so..........

Dear all,
Time flies and how! The cool Delhi mornings make way for the harsh afternoons. Just when you think the heats too much, you have the cool breeze start to steal in, slowly and surely till it steals the space taken by the heat. And there you have a cool cool breeze. Just the kind I like. Stand on your balcony, cuppa tea in hand and stare.... Yes, its time to stand and stare.

I have no time, but I must make time to stand and stare.

ABOUT INDIA AND CHINA

Let us be clear about it. China is FAR ahead of India, many many milestones away. There’s no doubt about it. We don’t need a Freidman or Kaplan to tell us the obvious. BUT if anyone thinks India is losing out to China, they couldn’t be more wrong.

I am proud to be an Indian. India is a thriving democracy. This is a fact just as sure as the above fact is. In a democracy we take everyone along with us when we move forward. This necessarily takes time. We are a complex peoples. No country in the world is as diverse and no other country in the world has a representative of almost all the races known to man. These are not small things. Anyone will tell you that.

Therefore, unlike in a communist country where freedom is regulated and people are ordered to think and feel, we in India are free to think and feel. We need to be convinced that every forward step we take is agreeable to ALL of us. This necessarily takes time. BUT the end result is also necessarily better - the preferences and collective wisdom of such a vast peoples is incomparable. Think of all the pent up emotions of a billion people that have been ordered to move ahead. The explosion is going to be horrific. Much better to express yourself every now and then, even if the rate of progress must be sacrificed along the way.

And unlike non-communist capitalist countries that are free to think, but race ahead with only the fit, leaving everything and everyone else behind, you get to be a world class economy, you get to be number one, but we all know what happened to the man who left his wife, children, family and friends behind, exploited everyone he came across to get ahead – He did get ahead, but collapsed in the end. Greed always leaves egg in the face.

The CWG says a lot about us. Chaos until the curtains unveil – and then India, even with India’s most hated man Kalmadi around, shows everyone that we are second to none. India is the ideal country. It is a country that ought to be. It’s a country like no other. It’s a country that all other countries must emulate and aspire to be. We are not here to win the battle were here to win the war. We’re here for the long run. Let the others run till then…… Our time is coming. India is a ‘lamba race ka ghoda….’

Er….. on hindsight I should have at least written it around August?



November 2010

JAPAN AND THE USUAL SUSPECTS


Sorry to be a party pooper guys, but WILL YOU PLEASE SHUT DOWN YOUR NUCLEAR PLANTS ALREADY??? For Fukushima, a cement burial a la Chernobyl or anything else is fine by me – just cut out the helicopter water spraying OK?? If that works, we can next try to empty the world’s oceans with a spoon? A level 7 nuclear danger is way too high for me and now the Far East isn’t looking too far to me now – in fact it’s getting too damn close for me. And my deepest sympathies to the victims too – a 9 Richter earthquake combined with a tsunami IS really too much.

Japan is of course in the ‘Pacific Ring of fire’, those places that have fault lines that make them susceptible to earthquakes. But this current tragedy was a lethal combination of an earthquake combined with a tsunami, giving Japan its worst disaster after World War II, when it set out to rule the world and was stopped by the US – Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

What I’ve always wondered is why Japan’s map is dotted with nuclear plants when it has a history of earthquakes and is in the ring of fire, for heaven’s sake!! Wrong time to bring it up, but I used to talk about it to no one who was interested!! I can see Madam Merkel giving a superior ‘look’ (Germany forbids nuclear plants in its territory) and Sarkozy furrowing his forehead (France is a huge fan of nuclear energy).

Just imagine, heaven forbid, something like Japan’s tragedy happening in India!! Minus Japan’s STRICT building rules and highly posh disaster management system in place, for every 1 dead now, we’d easily have 10 thousand (at the very least – I’m not even kidding). What is wrong with us Indians?? Post the devastating Tsunami that struck a few years back, after pouring pots of milk into the ocean (the stupidest thing to do – Which marine life guzzles milk? It would only asphyxiate all the living organisms in the waters – luckily there’s enough water in the ocean to dilute the stuff) every now and then, the locals in good old Indian – thrift style, have already started stealing the warning systems placed in the waters for a Tsunami alert. At last count there were 3 left!!!

And we complain about the Government!! But little wonder we complain about the Government - because as I often say, the Government is nothing but many ‘you and I’ s coming together and I guess I know myself best just as you do yourself!!

Happy Holi and happy complaining!!







20th March 2011