Margazhi

Margazhi is the Tamil month that begins in the middle of December. The beginning of the Madras Music Season, when even the otherwise difficult weather co-operates, with cool breeze and just-warm-enough sunshine. I was fortunate to be a part of it for 2 days, and those 2 days were one of the best I've had in a long, long time. Great weather, an air of festivity and above all, fantastic music. An out of the world experience.

Although Bangalore is where home (and therefore the heart) is, Chennai as a city has a unique energy to it. You can see it in the wide pothole-free roads, tasteful buildings and umpteen saree and jewelry shops, and you can feel it in the cultural events and happenings. It is elegance and beauty, borne out of years of perfection and adaption to changing times but without losing touch with history and tradition. Chennai is the uncrowned cultural capital of South India, and is at its most beautiful in December.

As quoted by S Ramadorai, Vice Chairman, TCS, 10 things to do in Chennai during the music festival season:

1. Visit Sampradaya music library which has 7,000 hours of music from the great masters, old and rare books, photographs and gramophone records.
2. Go to Ayodhya Mandapam in Mambalam, sit on the floor and listen to religious discourse which blends humorous storytelling of the epics with songs.
3. Get up early and join the bhajan groups marching to the temple; make sure to sing a song at the temple; get pongal as reward.
4. Go to the house of your favourite film star and have a photo taken of you with him or her; all stars employ photographers for the purpose.
5. Don’t fret if your favourite star is out for a shooting. Go to Marina Beach and take a photo with the star’s life-size cutout.
6. Eat chilli bajji at Santhome; drink filter coffee anywhere.
7. Eat “full meals” on a plantain leaf.
8. Spend Christmas at the church on St. Thomas Mount, where the Apostle Thomas was killed in the First Century; also, visit Santhome Church where his body was buried for some time.
9. Shop at Ranganathan Street for trinkets; Nalli Silks for Kanjivarams; Usman Road for jewellery.
10. Have your fortune told by a hawker’s parakeet.

So I have my task cut out for my next visit :)

States

Sometimes I can't help feeling that Life is like a badly constructed Indian road. Potholes all over the place, steep bends and humps at the wrong places, mad and noisy traffic.

Unlike for the Indian road, I know there would be no fun if we were warned of happiness or calamity before it hits. Though it would definitely help to be prepared. It's ironic, all these phases. You don't enjoy them - the periods of anticipation, confusion, lack of clarity. But it gives your mind something to chew on, and to create infinite possibilities. When you reach the end of the road and the fog clears, you actually miss the excitement! It's a roller coaster ride, this one.

I guess the thing to remember is not what happens, but what you make out of what happens.

Someone wise once told me that if we focus our efforts in giving our best shot at all that we do, the results will show for themselves. I understand now that for a 16 year old writing THE all important board exam along with thousands of others, it was great advice. Because then, everyone is judged by the same yardstick. Everyone was doing the same 5 or 6 things, reading the same 10 or 11 books.

Now, some x years later, I realize I have been hanging on to advice that should have been left behind, along with board exams and school. Because in the real world, everyone is not doing the same thing. Everyone is working at chipping away their own and unique bit of rock, hoping to hit the jackpot. Or is that why they are hitting the rock?

Everything is not simply black or simply white it seems. Most of the time I know exactly where I am and exactly where I will be. But sometimes when this neat scheme is given a hard shake and all the colours flow into each other, flowing and mixing, I get shaken too. Sometimes I succeed in making sense of the mayhem; sometimes I don’t.

It’s agonizing, this intermittent dip into blur-dom.

Watch it!

I never thought I would be blogging about a watch I bought (!) but sometimes you have to put your money where your mouth is :P So here goes..

All that guilt about not contributing to society (top 1% of the youth in the country who has had the privileged access to premium education and all that) can actually be assuaged by buying a watch - do you believe it? Atleast that's what I felt when I first saw the watches on the Titan website. And one particular watch caught my eye - the Red Panda.

The Red Panda, also called the Firefox, is native to the Himalayas, ranging from Nepal to west of China (thanks to wikipedia for the info). It is also found in Northern India, Bhutana and Myanmar. The Red Panda's diet consists mainly of Bamboo. It is hunted for its fur, and its lush bush tail which is used to make hats. It is an endangered species today, protected by laws in all the countries where it lives. Hunting it is illegal.

In my case it was the cart pulling the horse, if you know what I mean. I saw the watch before I knew about the animal:
What a beautiful creature, I thought. And the watch, with its rich brown leather strap and golden casing seemed to enhance its beauty. I bought the watch.

And every time someone remarks on my watch (it's usually: "Oh wow! What a beautiful watch!") :)) I tell them: "This is the Red Panda. It's native to the Himalayas.. "
My 2 cents.

Is it true?

Last Sunday (5 July 2009) the Times of India supplement Times Life! (can be accessed through: http://epaper.timesofindia.com) carried an article that in a sense answered the questions I raised in one of previous posts Being Indian to the Rest of the World. This article is titled “Why are Indians targeted?” and using the recent attacks on Indian students in Australia as a backdrop, it tries to answer why Indians living abroad seem to be targets for hate/racial crimes than other immigrant minorities.

From a personal viewpoint, being an Indian in a foreign country has its advantages and drawbacks. The advantage is the familiarity that locals and others in the country have with ours thanks to the predecessors. It makes it easier to mix and get along, for us and for the locals. The drawback is that the Indian visitors before us have left some impression on them, and in most cases we have no idea what it is. We are simply the recipient of their behaviour that has resulted from this impression. Sometimes, this impression is not a good one.

The article mentions that although Indians are admired for their brains, looks and in some cases money, we are despised for showing off shiny gadgets, playing loud music and talking in our native tongue in public. In short, we Indians wear our culture on our sleeve. Indians do not make any effort to assimilate into their culture, preferring to “herd” with other Indians.

Of course, there is nothing wrong in being connected to our culture. In fact, there is every reason to be proud that young Indians despite being exposed to the various other cultures and globalization are balancing their culture with living in the modern world admirably. I would say that our mature sensibilities and conflict management skills are a natural result of growing up in the mela that is India :-) So the thought here is, maybe we are just being too loud about it.

Airtel Broadband, I Miss You! :-(

There was a time when Internet Connectivity was so seamless and consistent that it was taken for granted. That was the time of Airtel Broadband, where wireless meant what it should: connect to the Internet without the hassle of complicated wiring and also have the benefit of high speed.

Alas, those times are past. Now Internet Connectivity hinges on the whims and fancies of the little green dot below the words "Internet", written on a piece of plastic that has a strking resemblance to a Wireless Modem. Where I have recently moved to is BSNL Rajya. Illi Airtel baralla Saar!! (No Airtel here Saar!) Like the famed Three Kings of Orient following the Star, Three Musketeers in dull blues and greys landed up a week ago, presumably to give us "Wireless Internet Connection". Ten days later, I don't know what is more frustrating - having IP Address clashes (more than one system having the same IP address - ??) or the shutdowns that happen anytime, but everyday without fail.

In the event of the life changing event of a shutdown, all feet head towards the hallowed platform of the "Window to the World" a.k.a. BSNL's Wireless Modem in the house and all eyes swivel to the little green dot. OMG!! It's blinking rapidly! Must be the time for the nth Chai break of the day at the BSNL Office.

I'm getting really bugged. Having been forced to type this post out in a notepad, I can only pray that it will see the light of day. God willing. Oops, BSNL willing.

A piece of advice for Deepika Padukone - the brand ambassador for BSNL, with her beautiful face and winning smile plastered on every possible road and billboard in Bangalore: do you really want to be associated with such an inferior product? My dire prediction is that it has the power to knock a huge chunk off your brand equity.

Being Indian to the Rest of the World

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this post are from personal experience and may sound myopic, insecure and downright wrong. Still, they are based on experiences and I am writing about it, hoping that it will ease the discontent that has been nagging me for quite some time now.

I recently returned from a family holiday to the African sub-continent (name of country withheld for personal security reasons :P). I had a great time and unforgettable memories were created. Nevertheless, certain behaviour that I observed from tourists and locals alike along with past experiences in other countries (in other continents) have prompted me to write this post. 

What does being Indian mean to the global tourism industry? Do hotel staff and tourist guides enjoy extending their hospitality to Indians? Do people like Indian tourists??

My experience says: not really.

For the record, all those stories about being as squeaky clean when abroad as aloof and dirty when home are definitely true. But we are also thrifty to the point of being miserly – we tip grudgingly and never make impulsive purchases. And of course, we bargain to the last bone if price negotiation is even remotely prompted.

Now the logical question is: is tourism only about money? Isn’t it also about appreciating the local culture and respecting the country’s rules?

The answer: Of course money isn’t everything. But which other tourist doesn’t appreciate the local culture and the country’s rules? Money is the bottomline, at the end of the day.

Self-bashing aside, I don’t think any of what has been mentioned above is worth being shameful about. We are all the product of our respective environments, and there is no contesting that the environment in which we Indians grow up is one of the most complex in the world. That makes us natural adapters to change (as our large expatriate population justifies) and excellent at conflict resolution. But I digress.

The result of this Indian tourist stereotype is the step-motherly treatment that we are privy to. Watch for it: the airhostess in the international flight is all smiles for the Westerner sitting beside you but barely spares you a glance. (Note: Western tourists also travel in Economy class!) The shop owner in the souvenir shop trails behind the American couple but ignores you completely.

It rankles, obviously. But it's not going to stop us from travelling the world, of course :)