The history buff that I am, it was absolutely fantastic to read  yesterday that Vijay Mallya, liquor baron and man-about-town, er, world extraordinaire, has spent a considerable fortune - sorry I couldn't help but notice him stress on the "hard-earned!!!!" part of his money - buying back a large collection - 30 of the 64 items - of Tipu Sultan's looted treasures that was up for auction at Sotheby's recently. (Whew!!)

Tipu Sultan has a special pride of place in Karnataka and Bangalore. Tipu Sultan, ‘Tiger of Mysore’ (reigned 1782-99), is one of the great heroes of Indian history for his dare-devilry against the Brits. There are also, however, controversies as to many aspects of his life. Few are in doubt, however, that  his honourable resistance and glorious death, standing sword in hand defending the gates of his palace, left a lasting impression on vanquishers and vanquished alike. Even now, there is no dearth of his fans in Bangalore....a large number of muslim youth observe/mourn his death anniversary.

History aside, the present custodians of our history - the govt and its museums - have hardly done a credible job in maintaining and preserving artefacts of historical value. Nor have they taken any pains to inculcate an interest among citizens to visit museums and understand the antiquity value. The cynic in me whispers that its possible & probable that many priceless artefacts have been smuggled abroad to rapacious collectors in collusion with greedy officials. Recently I read somewhere that the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore has more valuable artefacts on Indian History than our own museums have! Somebody correct me, please!

Obviously, Mr. Mallya has not forgotten the harassment that was meted out to him the last time he purchased Tipu's sword. This time around, he's keen on getting the govt's permission to start a privately run museum. This is an interesting development as it could be a precedent for similiar art collectors to be allowed to exhibit and display their collections of important cultural and historical artefacts.  ( In the U.S, nearly 90% of the museums in the U.S are privately owned). Anyway, over here, once the items are declared by anyone who states his/her intent to preserve them for their cultural and historical value while allowing the public to see them, governmental support should be forthcoming to allow/run their venture on a non-profit basis. The bare minimum regulations regarding declaration, management, monitoring by way of yearly audits by professional bodies of the historical artefacts should be promulgated. Perhaps a National Heritage Board should be formed to oversee the running of such privately owned but publicly exhibited ventures.

In sum, I say - 3 cheers for Mr. Mallya in his new venture. Should any bureaucrat oppose this noble venture, I shall borrow Tipu's sword and do the 'needful' on him....

;)

Ever since the little runt had arrived 6 years ago, her parents had sort of given up on her and her sister. Though he was the youngest, they seemed to be glow whenever he was around...he seemed to get the best of whatever food was cooked in the evening, for instance. Her father reveled in calling him 'beta'; she and her sisters were called all sort of unpronounceable names. Not a single day did she see him being beaten for his mischief; but she could hardly forget the thrashing at the hands of their father, every now and then. Particularly, when collections were low. Drunk or sober, beating the 3 of them - including her mother - was her father's fav. pastime. Every now and then, late at night, she would be woken up by the sounds of her mother moaning, as if in pain; in the morning, her throat and face would bear red marks. Her father was really a rakshas in disguise; where he worked and how much he earned to support all of them, only god knew. She was sure it was a curse to be born as a girl and that too as an eldest.

A little away from the pavement jhopdi they lived on the Andheri Kurla highway was the airport where every now and then, one of those big planes seemed to climb and land...what were they called? Hahn...hawai jahaz! There also seemed to be an endless flow of buses and cars carrying people on the road. A little ahead was a traffic junction; every now and then, buses and cars would stop. Many of the occupants inside looked different. They were invariably white skinned and they always seemed to stare at her and her band of fellow beggars. She didn't care; she would intensify her naatak and lift her dirty shirt to display her stomach…that was a surefire way to get them to part with their money; and if that did not, she was content to accept biscuits or sweets or water bottles….

Two updates to my recent posts.

India Today's current issue, focusses on the brutal subject of rape and its alarming rise in India. Yet to buy it but one can be assured of a comprehensive coverage on the subject and I won't be surprised if they feature interviews with a victim or two, to understand their psyche.

On the subject of demises, Ismail Merchant, one half of the Merchant-Ivory combination, India's finest example for Anglo-Indian collaboration(s) on film-making, passes away in London. Also, one of India's most wellknown actor cum politician cum social-worker cum a very decent guy - Sunil Duttji - too passes away. Two down; India's loss, totally.

After a long time, got to see a film on the big screen - Chandramukhi! Yeah, finally! I'd love to see it all over again - for Superstar, Jyothika ( all right, all right....Nayanatara too, particularly in that song Konjam Neram ... gosh, can she wear a saree or what?! )  & for the songs. I do wish, however, that all that music accompanying 'scary' scenes was done a little more, shall we say, discreetly? Perhaps they ought to consult Night Shyamalan and James Newton Howard for tips to truly scare an audience! Anyway. Good to see that Tamil film-makers are not taking on a patronising tone with the audience & their intelligence - the 'split-personality syndrome' premise of the film has been done well. Today, Jyotika informs us of having seen the film 9 times - all in disguise.

I'm on TGIF mood and so, here's something for you to read, smile and cheer up at :

Dispatcher: Nine-one-one. What is the nature of your emergency?
Caller: I'm trying to reach nine eleven but my phone doesn't have an eleven on it.
Dispatcher: This is nine eleven.
Caller: I thought you just said it was nine-one-one.
Dispatcher: Yes, ma'am nine-one-one and nine-eleven are the same thing.
Caller: Honey, I may be old, but I'm not stupid.
--
Dispatcher: Nine-one-one. What's the nature of your emergency?
Caller: My wife is pregnant and her contractions are only two minutes apart.
Dispatcher: Is this her first child?
Caller: No, you idiot! This is her husband.

:)

Every once in a while, I read something that really gets me angry and all worked up. I mean, there's only so much I can take.

I'm finding it difficult to track the news article recently where our P.M, the right honourable Manmohan Singh-ji, has said that rapes constitute a blot on our civil society and has called for all sections of society to deplore this horrendous act etc etc.

Pardon me for saying so but I mean, how impotent a statement can this be? Is the good doctor approaching senility for trying to remain status quo on this issue? Perhaps, its can become too great a price to pay for his party should he take a harsh decision?

Instead of throwing the weight of his authority and power of his position to send a clear, no-nonsense signal that all rape cases could be treated as a "federal crime" (so to speak) and personally come under his office's direct purview with a report to be issued in less than 72 hours and maximum possible punishment (the death penalty, no less) to offenders, the PM has chosen to take a moral stand to the issue i.e appeal to the hearts and minds of us common citizens in condemning this barbarous act, heinous crime, etc. As if we don't have enough on our plate already, as frustrations go.

Anyway.

Many of you might consider this suggestion of mine - rape cases under his direct purview - as something preposterous....doesn't the PM have anything better to do?

But consider these blood boiling statistics & facts (culled from the Internet; they may need updation) and the urgent need of the hour to have a single effective and efficient mechanism in place, pronto:

Statistics in the yr 2000 have shown that on an average, a woman is raped every hour in India.
Unfortunately, only one in 69 rape cases gets reported
Only in 20% of those reported cases, does the accused get convicted
Class does not matter...villagers to socialites to nuns can get raped. Even students.
Children are no less safe...75% of those raped in Delhi were minors & 77% of the accused in rape cases in Delhi over the last year have been acquitted.
Indian laws currently provide for capital punishment only in cases of murder and drug trafficking.Section 376 of Indian Penal Code (rape) provides a maximum jail term of 10 years and a fine.
Few women in India complain to the police about rape, fearing loss of face in society and lack of confidentiality. Being ostracized by family members is another issue altogether. Once the deed is done, trying a live a normal life without prying eyes and loose tongues can be another tortuous, to say the least.

Why do you think that only one in 69% gets reported? Statistics reveal that in 90% of the cases - the offender is most often known and linked to the family itself; in extreme cases  -  an uncle, a cousin, a relative. Secondly, even if the rapist were an outsider, the ordeal of going through the police procedures, overcoming them and then going public in a court of law where the victim has to PROVE that she was violated - jeez, how sick can this be? It is also recorded that in other countries, the victim had to prove that she put up a fight to prevent being raped. Why? For fear that the accused would foist a case of consensual sex! Why can't the mere testimony of a victim be enough to mete the worst possible punishment to the offender?

On top of this, there are these 2 disturbing trends:

a) The so called protectors of the law - cops - themselves turning rapists. And to think that  the mouthpiece of a major political party in Maharastra said that she must have asked for it - well, this can happen only in namma India!!
b) Rapists are now proposing marriage to their victims. Personally, the pessimist that I am - I don't think this is a noble gesture. I would venture to think this is just a brazen way to overcome the punishment issue by the offender; something which, if turned down by the victim, should entail  double the penalty for the culprit. And if one were to propose the harshest of sentences to a one-act offender, what do you have in mind for this culprit?  

If cultural practices are in anyway a representation of our society, then we are the worst culprits for double standards. We really ought to sink our heads in shame. On the one hand, we attribute almost everything to feminity and its power - be it in Mother India, Shakthi,Thai manne vannakkam et al while on the other, many do not hesitate to utterly humiliate - nay defile - and commit the gravest of crimes against the ones that we so easily idolise. Are we human or animals? Isn't there any way to curtail the bestial nature of the offenders?

I'll come to this in the coming para but in spite of the recent spurt, all India, in these crimes, one would expect that the government would rally itself around given public outrage and the necessity of the hour to pass strict and unyielding laws. Instead, verbosity and dithering has taken its place and by the time something is done, hundreds of innocent kids/girls/teens/women would have been taken advantage of. I wonder if there is some lobby working against passing such strong detterents, the way this issue goes on and on!!

Though there are many issues to this complex problem in this complex land that is India and which are beyond the scope of this blog, lets cut the bullshit short. The government should give all of us a frigging break from this nauseating crime that is now a regular and daily news item. Haven't they heard the 'ol saying about prevention...nay, deterrence is better than a cure?

So here's my proposal. I say - off with their warped heads! Else, off with their offending organs, like in the following visuals. And unless they are around this [ Readers are advised caution clicking on this link and seeing the images, please! ] hospital and its heroic doctor(s), they will not a chance in the world to commit their crimes again!

Women can then go about in peace and enjoy the freedom and independence they work equally hard for these days!

:)

Prior to my visiting the Taj last year, Prince Roy had been there and while posting on the same, remarked about how foreigners are literally forced to pay exhorbitant entrance fees. Here's a pic that I took subsequently, when I visited the place. Its good reason to get extremely upset about.  Where is Rs 10/- for Indian Citizens and Rs 250/- for foreigners????

The more I think about it, I just cannot reconcile myself what could be the rationale behind the diffrentiation. Could it just be the following?

Is it because they are "foreigners" and by extension, richer than us & therefore, they must pay more? Heck, some of them visit India on shoe-string  budgets and are as price conscious as us. Moreover, by coming all the way from their country - wherever - to visit us and our 'monuments', it is they who are doing us a favour. Shouldn't we be the ones who should be welcoming them with customary Indian 'hospitality' - a smile and a garland? Besides, I'd wager many of them are more aware of heritage preservation & conservation management; while an overwhelmingly large population of Indians give two hoots while scratching their declarations of undying love on the walls!

Is it because they are given some special treatment at the monument? Heck, other than the customary stares not even decent toilets are provided to them.

Is it because this price diffrentiation thingy is practiced in their countries too and we are merely aping the practice? At the risk of being found ignorant, I don't think so.

So, what accounts for this short sightedness, a speciality with us?

It was with glee when I read yesterday that our current flame & neighbour - Pakistan - also follows this asinine policy. We do have company, folks, and it makes one wonder who has copied from whom.

Unfortunately, we Indians are clubbed into the 'foreigner' category as Mrs. Sudha Murthy found to her chagrin and carefully couched angry article!

Anyway.

It was so good to read Colin Todhunter's view on the paradox that Chennai..er, India is, in yesterdays Sunday Express! Read all about it here!  Its so true -  " You can't change India, India changes you! " !!

:)

Perhaps you've heard or read about the blog-storm recently that Indra Nooyi's ( of the worldwide Pepsi Ungal choice fame! ) speech to the graduating class of Columbia Business School has raised. Its a bit of old hat now but what the hell...its a fine Saturday, this earl grey tea is so good and I'm in a nostalgic mood...

Perhaps Indra Nooyi did not see the effect of her speech...the 'hand'writing on the wall, in a manner of speaking. (BTW, I'm tempted to say Namma Indra, as she IS from Chennai!)

On hindsight ( which she acknowledges in her speech ) she would have found it 'handy' to run her speech past a couple PR guys...they would have told her the potential it hand er, had for damage! But then, she's almost the BIG BOSS ( aka. President & CFO ) boyo, and who said that such speeches have to be checked for damage control?

Now that the damage has been done, the spin doctors are left 'handling' the baby er, speech and boy, did it shriek or what? Not even a public ( if on the internet, does it become worldwide? ) apology from namma amma did the trick.

Perhaps  Indra Nooyi got a wee bit carried away, thinking she was part of and among the boys, so to speak. No doubt, she was trying to be truly creative while addressing all these brilliant guys and making sure they remembered all her lines. Too bad for her, they missed the fine details and opted instead, to choose her (not too manicured!) fingers. Ahem, one in particular. If you go through her speech, it starts off very well but somewhere in the middle (!!) it meanders. And badly. So much so that merely reading it, I had to cringe. The fatal mistakes happen when she dwells in depth on the middle finger and its profundity ( "....unfortunately, I think this is how the rest of the world looks at the U.S. right now.  Not as a part of the hand --giving strength and purpose to the rest of the fingers-- but, instead, scratching our nose and sending a far different signal.") as well as when she brings in a live example of crassness in the form of her compatriot - another U.S businesswoman!! If you preach cultural sensitivity, lady, make sure you practice it!

The truly unfortunate part is elsewhere. In the reaction of the contributors to the now famous blog and all the media reports, the allegations, the finger-pointing, the....whatever. Personally and very simplisitically, I wonder if all this 'hand-wringing' reflects a larger issue for the U.S. One that has been its bane since and unfortunately, 9/11. One that it is still in growing pains to accept - a sudden insecurity for itself on the grand world stage. ( Not to mention their airports.....did you folks read how they treated 76 year old and 68 year old Mrs & Mr. Venkataratnam? Thanks, Hemanth!) That of not being given their dues for all the good that they do, for this lousy, messy world. Yeah, us ungrateful ingrates. Don't you know they've liberated Afghanistan and Iraq, just to name two. Go figure! Yeah, and here's more:

".............What's missing from this? How about any positive statement about what America does for the world, from liberating Afghanistan and Iraq to billions in tsunami relief?  How about pouring AIDs relief into Africa and sending products, services, technology and trade round the globe. How about a full-throated defense of the country that analogizes it not to the middle finger but to the shoulders and spine of the planet, the last best hope of mankind??"

Thats right.....mankind, he said! Anyway, all this has taught me a lesson. I'm going to be very, very careful while attributing any body parts to the U.S. I mean, imagine if I referred to them as the vital nose - for its breathing - function and I promptly got buggered for indirectly meaning 'a bunch of nosepickers'. Or, if I referred to them as that vital, most important organ (the brain, you dummy!) in the body and get myself traumatised for meaning 'brainless' or 'braindead'! Or, or, if I said (after proper evaluation of statistics, what else?) that proctologists are the among the single largest speciality field amongst the medical profession there and someone read between the lines to implicate me for calling them a land of practising 'A$$holes'!

Gosh! These days, subtlety lies is keeping my hand over my mouth to keep it shut!! No less, no more!

:)

Update: Here's another read  ( Big thanks to Mani, a commenter on Suman's Yak Pad! ) on this issue by the inimitable Bachi Karkaria, in her 'Erratica' column, TOI.

Seems like this is fast becoming a season for dedicating one's posts; at the least, mine!

Having said that, I would never have come across this site, were it not a link on Shyam's blog. To add to her considerable repetoire of skills, she's started another new blog dedicated to what else - eating....er, food!!! Proof, if any, that she's certainly not b(l)ogged down!

The objective behind the "world's healthiest food" site is all about guiding you to cook food that's quick, easy, good for your health and aiding overall healthy living. Can anybody, I repeat - anybody not want such tips?

Me, certainly. My enthusiasm on discovering this site made me try out their recipe of this week - fresh minted garbanzo(chick peas) salad! Its so easy to make (except for getting that romaine lettuce!), so scrumptious that between me and my better half, we polished it all off! The kiddos never got to taste it, let alone see it! Ignore the chilli...thats only for effect! If you are a foodie, I urge you to check it out!

Hmmmmm...one of the good things about Chennai was the assured power supply here as against the umpteen scheduled and un-scheduled power-cuts in Bangalore - beautifully and descriptively called 'load-shedding'!!!! As of today, Chennai is fast loosing its advantage what with the breakdowns happening, day and night. At this rate, not only are many reporting to work, all bleary eyed and foul temper to match, some I guess will be out of work with their fancy handiwork - the bureau  thief!

Ok. Serious now. HackerWatch is a community and collection point for Internet users to report and share information to block and catch 'hackers' and other unwanted traffic such as unwanted spyware, adware and malware. Run this simple, easy test from the good folks at Hackerwatch to determine whether your computer ports are open or closed thereby allowing/preventing these pests from gaining entry, albeit a 'backdoor' one! How beautifully euphemistic can I get too, eh? 
 
;)

I must thank Narayanan for this post. Its genesis is in that one word - corruption - in his comment to my previous post.

Similarly, I must thank Lakshmi - my latest blogrolling friend - for doing a very dispassionate comparision & review on the differences between India and the US. She too talks about corruption as an impeding factor for our progress or rather, lack of it!!

Corruption in India is all pervasive. There is no activity of the nation which is totally free from this malaise. The World Economic Forum ranked India 45th out of 49 countries on the honesty of its officials. These are not my thoughts...it is merely a foreword to an article from here.

Here's my say. ( Ahem...finally! ;) Ed ) I'm a party to this as well since I silently condone corruption; I know and accept it as a systemic problem. One that will take years to remove and since none of us have neither the time or the inclination or the willpower, it will stay and continue to do its job insidiously.

Transparency International is doing its bit promoting coalitions to fight against corruption and for Good Governance but unless citizens accept it wholeheartedly and give it their full fledged support, nothing concrete can really be done! They have ranked India 90th out of 146 countries, clubbing us with - get this -  countries like Gambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Nepal, Russia and Tanzania! This should make us cringe with embarassment since we make all those tall claims about being world class in software and bio-tech and comic book design et al but all the while being lumped with countries whose index of development is nowhere near ours! Ha Ha Ha...if it weren't so funny, I'd cry. Have you guys seen grown men cry? Don't !!

Perhaps there is hope. But I'm hungry, this heat is driving me crazy and why do I feel so despondent reading the following comment (to the question : Do you think Indian blogs can change anything anywhere, especially in India?) from the winner of the 2004 Indibloggies Award for the best Indiblog? Ans: " Blogs change India? Are you kidding! Nothing can change India, least of all a bunch of stupid blogs that are written by a bunch of people who need to get themselves a life and read by those who desperately need to get out more often....... "

That does it. I'm off to the RTO office in Jaffarkhanpet for getting my licence. Boy, should anybody ask me for 'pocket money'....they are gonna get a fist from me. Should that happen, hope to see at least one of you bailing me out from jail? Don't forget to take care of Constable Veeraswamy...

;)