Mann mein Ram, bagal mein churri..

Ram. The God. The Perfect man. The warrior king.

But unfortunately, India is one country who shies away from reveling in its own culture. India, where a common man doesn't even doubt if Ram existed. Where still a large portion of the population says 'ram-ram' as a salutation. Where Ram stands not just as a God, but much more than that. He tells us how a man can live perfectly, sticking to his beliefs and following the path of righteousness. No matter how attractive the temptation in the form of Shoorpnakha in disguise, or how grave the danger in the form of Ravana- the demon king.

But we now wish to forget Him. His city, Ayodhya has been reduced to a political battleground. The soil where Ram played and grew up, has been splashed with the bloodshed. No one ever bothered to develop the city. No one thought of starting a ram-rajya there. All they wanted were a few votes. I know Ram is watching and one day He would ask a few questions. He would certainly want to know that if our belief in Him is so firm and doubtless, how can we not believe in His values? How could we kill each other in His name? He would be perhaps kinder to certain Mr. John Lennon, who once said "Imagine a world with no religion; nothing to kill or die for!"

Well, there is another side of the story as well. The story of Ram-Setu. How the politicians of post-liberalized India wish to doubt authenticity of its own literature which dates back a thousands of years. They say Ram didn't build it. I don't wish to comment upon it. But even a simple google search would tell you how beautiful the Ram-Setu looks. Why not rather build it for tourism attraction? Search a little further and you see a solid case in Environmentalist's objections to the proposal to tear it down! The Ram-Setu divides two portions of water where the sea life is different. tearing it down might be very harmful for the ecological balance in the region. The coral reefs would be in danger and so would be the mainland India. Certain reports suggest that it was this Ram-Setu that stood as a wall against the onslaught of the devilish Tsunami waves of 2004 and limited the destruction India had to face.

But a country on its path to industrialization and modernity has to make some hard decisions. Alas, the decision is not to curb inefficiency at the ports, rather than making navigation easier. The focus is not on the corruption that is eating our economy like a termite, but on providing another BIG project where the bureaucracy can mint some more money..

India sure is changing!

The Ground Beneath Her Feet - Salman Rushdie

It has taken me exceptionally long to read this book.. Too much was happening around me and within me as well! Approx 3 months to be precise ;) If you allow me, I can boast of having my own book published in this duration!!
Well, being an ardent Rushdie fan, I had very high expectations from it. His last book that I had read was Shalimar the Clown, with which I started this blog! Master of metaphors, God of magic realism that he is, I was hoping to find in this book all the Rushdie masala! Am not sure if am disappointed or not, but it certainly wasn’t one of his best! At best an average!
Thankfully, Rushdie was in the first person narrative in this one, which never fails to add a special feel to the whole story. But what was disappointing was that the narrator from whose eyes the story is seen has hardly any presence in the story. The story, like the two male protagonists, belongs to Vina Apsara! A Madonna of sorts, she is the ultimate ageless diva, loved across the continents. She gives voice to the music of Ormus Cama and fuels the passion in the heart of Rai, the narrator & a photographer. Troubled childhood forces her to come to live in India and grow-up with both these boys. India! A land she hates in the beginning; but falls in love gradually.. not just with India but Ormus as well. Theirs is a true love. Love that the poets talk about, endless, till the end of life and beyond. Vina & Ormus form a rock n’ roll band which is revered across the globe, while Rai becomes an accomplished photographer accidentally. As the story progresses, the lovers come together and separate and then unite again to separate for ever.
After this, Rushdie finally decides to give us a flavour of the magic that he is known for. Surrealism. As the earthquakes begin to shake the earth, Rushdie describes the collision of our world and another world. A world, which is similar to ours, and is different at the same time. The way he has dealt with this part of the story is amazing.
I am still a great fan of his. So great that I hope that someday he visits this blog and reads my request! Please please please make the central pages of your books a bit more interesting. Like all his other books I have read, even this one opened beautifully and ended magnanimously! But the middle part was quite dragging! I hope his latest – Enchantress of Florence is better!
Till I lay my hands on it, I have One Hundred Years of Solitude to accompany me! ;)

Jai Ho - Be Victorious!

Its going to be a month soon. I have been lazy all this while.. Wanting to write about it, but then not writing it.. Pushing it away.. But suddenly I realized that I am beginning to forget things about it, losing the euphoria around it..

For the uninitiated, I am talking about our book called Titans of Branding and its launch. It was the result of 15 months of some work on our part and a lot of gas on the part of our guide ;) Hehe.. No, but really I am really thankful to Prof Kirsti Lindberg-Repo to have provided this opportunity! I remember our recruitment last year in the MoS class.. How skeptical we were about what to expect from this research project. None had a clue, all we wanted was some quick money, maybe about 100 euros! Little did we expect that it would culminate into an auditorium, fully packed (almost), clapping for us! Not even when we came to know for the first time that its going to be published as a book, did we really understand what it meant!

I am soo tempted to use the phrases like "It all started with a BIG idea" etc etc.. But I know for sure, that Esha and Apramey would die laughing on it! (We started our launch presentation with this line). Sitting in the lobby of Hotel Qutab, trying to come up with ideas, filling in the occasional silence by pulling each other's legs, or speaking in hindi, so that our guide doesn't have a clue that we are talking about her! Vividha getting really irritated with all the gas floating around, while Apramey providing in suffieciency! ;) To be honest, it was fun, real fun! Despite the graphic designer whom I had to deal with to get the right figures, right look and feel of the book. He was quite a story! I remember looking at him unbelievingly, while he was trying to see which color fits Kone CEO's pic better! He hadn't slept last night and had become totally.... I remember that day, it was perhaps the most demanding of all.. Apramey busy elsewhere ;) , Esha & I unwell.. but all doing 100s of things that were left. The book was to go for printing the next day, and at one time it all looked impossible! But we pulled through! And I must say, we pulled through beautifully!

Eventually it was all worth it.. Standing in the lobby of our publisher, Gummerus, waiting eagerly to see the book. And when Heli put a copy into my hands, I was speechless. Holding the book for the first time, I felt overwhelmed! I knew how it would look n all, but still to touch it, flip the pages, see my name on the cover, my photo at the back.. I really was speechless. I Esha & Apramey were looking at each other, all smiles.. Trying to just grasp in the feeling! To be honest, I was actually feeling choked with emotion... Called up Ma & papa immediately! Couldn't even talk to them! I was so so happy!!!

N then the day came when the world would see our book and

comment upon it. We all were soooo nervous! Though we had practiced quite a lot, but addressing a firang audience, and that too from the boards of companies like Nokia, Kone etc.. I was developing cold feet! When I saw the packed auditorium in the morning, I just asked... "Are all of these people here to listen to us???". That too, after paying quite a high participation fee!!

N suddenly we heard the loudspeaker playing "Jai ho!" Yes guys, thats how we landed on the stage.. with A R Rehman's music welcoming us.. To be honest, I had never liked the idea.. It was

tooooo dramatic and rather funny.. But that day, looking at the audience, I felt that somehow it helped us in catching their attention! Suddenly, I see people smiling and perhaps thinking.. "Ok, so far so good, now lets c what u gotto offer". And then we started speaking.. One by one.. It went flawlessly! I remember when I was speaking, some of the people in the audience actually were listening as if.. haha..let me not get narcissist! But it looked good! N then the applause! Well, it was quite a applause! I felt soooo proud. How I wished my family was there to witness it. How proud they would have been at that time, I could only imagine!

After the seminar, I was then suddenly asked to sign the book (it was given to the audience). All of us were actually mesmerized and flattered by the gesture.. and then one more such request followed.. and then more.. At one time, it looked surreal! All

three just trying to manage the whole scene.. signing our own books! I din't even know what to write! It would have looked so funny to others, while we three discussed as to what would look appropriate! Haha! Some told us that they watched the presentation in disbelief, some said we were brilliant "stage performers" (???). People just coming and telling us that it went great. Some flattering us to the extent by saying that we were the Titans actually!!! Alas, it all ended eventually, and our 5 minutes of stardom got over! :( But I was quite impressed by the humbleness of all present!

So for all the readers, who would be feeling that this post was in fact a narcissist exercise, here's something fyi.. In the Media Mingle party (???) basically a cocktail party to celebrate the successful launch, I kinda goofed up.. While all the coprorate hotshots were buzy in socializing.. I (standing in the center perhaps)... dropped a glass of champagne! Thadaaam! The sound it made!!! Everyone just fell silent and looked at me! How I wish at moments like these that Dinosors were not extinct and one would emerge to swallow me right away!

DevD in Delhi-6!

For those who have seen both the movies, I apologize to them for putting both these movies in the same line. Both are I believe complete anti-thesis of each other. But still I saw both movies with eyes wide open. I couldn't believe what I was seeing on the screen. While DevD was showing the generation next, where talking about sex is not taboo, where SRK's Whiskey has given way to ecstasy; Delhi-6 couldn't probably have taken on more cliches than this.

Lemme start with DevD. It was an absolute delight to watch Hindi cinema coming of age. I know the phrase is cliche, but nothing about the movie is. One of the reviews said that it seems that the director showed whatever he felt like, and so he did. The lingo was the one you would actually see around you.. dropping the F word here n there, using Slut to desrcibe even a guy casually. Where sex is not taboo. At times the movie looked a bit abstract, especially during a few songs where 3 men would start gyrating to the wonderful music like the presence of 3 witches of Shakespere. Initially, I was shocked that how could anyone show that on screen. All the 3 actors, Paro, Dev, Chanda couldn't have played it better. I especially loved Chanda! And then am addicted to its music. Keep listening to it in a loop!

And how so much I may nnot want to, I shall have to think about Delhi-6. Disappointment is such an understatement. I was appalled, and enraged. Making a whole movie on something like Monkeyman was a reason enough for me to not like it. Though, initally I was enjoying it very much. Having grown up in Delhi-6 myself, I was getting a childlike pleasure in seeing those areas. But those were only about 5-10 minutes. Then those shots gave way to the artificial sets and the whole smell of the old Delhi was lost. Though all the characters were very good with great artists to help them, but then you need more than good characters to make a good movie. FIrst, the movie got the facts wrong. Monkeyman phenonmenon never happened in old Delhi. It struck east Delhi. N then there was no purpose of the movie. You could see its not going anywhere. And then those in your face morality lessons on caste system, religion, dowry, and what not! I felt like screaming that pplllllssssss spare us the ordeal. And if anyone was expecting a better second half, sorry guys! The monkeyman was being called Hindu from one community on account of Hanuman being a Hindu God, while Hindus accuse the Monkey to be a Muslim terrorist. Thats where I lost all patience. Height if ridiculouness! I was only too happy to see Abhishek dying, deriving a sadistic pleasure, but UTV could not tolerate even that and brought him back to the mortal world after serving him Jalebis in heaven with Amitabh in his most avoidable comeo. The movie is so bad that I have started to avoid one of the finest albums everby Rehman after watching it! I feel like suing Rakesh Om Prakash Mehra!!!

Guys, go see DevD again after watching Delhi-6 if you want to regain faith in Hindi movies. M sure it won't disappoint! You'll like Delhi more in DevD than in Delhi-6 for sure!!

The beloved Dhabas... I'll miss you!

I went to college after quite a few dayz. Since I entered from the back gate, I didn't notice then. But while returning home, I could see it.. Or rather not see it.. My beloved dhabas are gone. Demolished, eliminated, decimated, cleared!

IIFT life and dhabas, could they ever be thought of without each other? The only place where I could hope to venture out to, despite the most gruelling of schedules I have ever seen in my life. The paneer parantha, the aloo pyaaz ones, the ghobhi parantha, mix-veg parantha, the macorroni, methi parantha etc etc etc... Storming the cold freezing nites of winters, we would savor those paranthas and wonder what would have happened had they not been there. I thank God that I never had to do without them!

A place, that many delhities have been frequenting for decades now, has succumbed to MCD's orders to clear the encroachments under some hawkers related act. I don't think any other dhabawala could ever dream of achieving fame equivalent to that of Tanku! A brand in himself. While driving back, I saw him lying on the cleared platform, which used to witness the buzz of the youth at any point of time in the day. Thw whole green stretch is silent now. Perhaps brooding over the demise of the kiosks that gave life to this street.

The cheap food is gone, perhaps someone somewhere would have gotten the license to operate a restaraunt in a posh market somewhere instead. India, sure is changing!

Gone are the days, and gone are the dhabas! Like 100s of IIFTians and students from nearby B Schools, I will miss you dhabas!! May your souls rest in peace!

The Little Drops..

Once upon a time, there was a small village.. It was lined up with vegetation everywhere.. Lush green trees, kachchi roads, where everyone used their cycles to travel. N it was monsoon.. The best time of the year.. People used to curse it at times though.. There was always a danger of floods, then there would be mud everywhere, n u couldn't get anywhere without getting wet..

But he liked it, rather he loved it. Every time it used to rain, he never missed it. He would go out and soak himself in the water.. Alone. He would pick up his cycle and go on the muddy road to no where.. The trees soothed him.. While he would be riding the cycle, he would look at the sky and try to see where is the water dripping from. N there suddenly a drop would hit his eye straight.. N he would lose his balance and fall off.. N instead of getting up, he would start laughing and rolling.. Lying on his back, he would stop worrying where the drops were coming from and just open his mouth to taste the sweetness of the water, scented by the lush green of the vegetation!

One such rainy day, he went to the railway station of the village. Just like that.. he had nothing else to do.. There was only one train that used to visit his village in the whole day. It was still some time that it would arrive.. He parked his cycle and went to the platform.. The tracks were witnessing the small grass growing through them.. Everything was damp as far as he could see.. The smell of the metal was blending with the odor of the damp soil.. As the time to board the train came near, he sat down on the bench.. He loved to see people in commotion! People talking to each other, people sitting alone, people thinking something. He would try to concentrate on them, their facial expressions, trying to make out what exactly is it that they were thinking.. He would wonder if he would ever get his assumptions verified, but he was always sure that he knew. In fact, he held this opinion that only by merely watching a person closely for a while, you can know the person inside out!

As the train moved in to the platform, it seemed that the whole village had flooded the station. The chai-wallah kept running from window to window, the Kooli kept persuading the old man to pass his luggage to him.. The boy just kept watching amusingly. Then, after a few minutes, the engine made a groan. The station-master whistled aloud, n the coaches started to move.. Suddenly, he spotted in a distance, a guy's gaze fixed at a window. He looked and he just looked. as if the world had stopped for him. The boy wondered what was it that was keeping him in such a state. Something on the guy's face told him that his life would never be the same again.. The little boy was noticing that perhaps he was trying to form a sentence or two in his mind that he would find suitable enough to speak at such an occasion, but his throat was going dry as the boy could notice by the strains on his throat's muscles.

As the window moved closer to the boy's bench, he saw.. a hand clinching the window bars.. Delicate as they looked, they conveyed the same emotions as the guy's eyes.. They held on to the bars, as if just by putting all her might in holding them, the girl would be able to tear them apart. The train was picking up speed, so was the guy.. Oblivious to the world around him, his gaze was still fixed, but his steps matched up with the speed of the train. it was a small village, and the platform reflected this completely in its length.. Even when the train had not gathered much speed, the guy reached end of the platform.. He still ran by the side of the, next to the vegetation, knowing fully the wastefulness of his efforts!

As the engine threw clouds of black smoke into the pristine air, the guy decided to stop the chase and come back to the world in which he was now alone. Still exhausted from the chase, he suddenly stopped in front of the boy, and sat down next to him on the bench. The little boy was suddenly nervous, he could hear the rhythm of the guy's breaths. He didn't know what to do, n then suddenly he felt some moistness on his small hand. Confused, he looked at it and when he understood what it was, looked at the guy. For the first time, they made an eye contact. N all the boy could see was himself in the guy's damp eyes..

The platform was again starting to bear the deserted look with silence setting in. The few moments of commotion receded to a past that looked distant. Very soon the sun would set down, the silence will give way to the buzz of the jhingurs.

And in a distance, a back was pressed against the seat to the window, eyes closed.

And the train moved away into a landscape silhoutted by the greens.

The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh

My return to fiction couldn't have been more exciting than this! Having experimenting with a lot of work in non-fiction, I picked up this book on the recommendation of a friend and I know I didn't regret it!

Somehow, the intial pages reminded me a lot of Roy's God of Small Things.. No, it doesn't depict siblings craving for each other. What I mean to imply is it leaves u with a smell of fresh air, the scent of river with you, the way Roy's book left you with the taste of pickles. The descriptions of the Sunderbans are vivid to say the least. Never for a moment I felt I had gone out of Sunderbans. N having completed teh book now, I long to goto Sunderbans. Even the way "Lucibari", the place in the Tidal Coasts of West bengal, leaves you yearning. The charms of a small town, couldn't have looked better than Ghosh's description. The entire landscape comes to life in front of you eyes. The animate descriptions of dialy cycles of tides - Jowar, the Bhata, with the big cat making its presence felt at regular intervals create a world that kept me hooked to the book.

For the story, it is about Piya, a woman of Indian origin and troubled past who finds her way into the labirynths of Bengal whiel researching the enigmatic river dolphins. On her way she meets Kanai, a middle aged who is tracing his roots back to the same place to read the notebook left by his now dead uncle. While a fisherman Fokir helps Piya in her quest, Kanai discovers through his uncle's notebook the history of the circustances in which he died and how the lives of everyone around Kanai were connected and entangled.

Surprisingly, the book asked a few questions that got lost in the narrative. For e.g. one of female characters Kusum, after starving for days together wonders on the existence of the people who value animals' lives more than people's; about people who would kill men to save trees. Or about the fate of refugees. More philosophically what Kanai's old aunt asks him in end.. Why is it that poets have everyone to speak for them, while no one sees any poetry in the strong, the ones who try to build things!

The beauty of the book is really not the story, but the words that the author has chosen. If you are looking for some edge of seat kind of suspense or fast pace, this may not be the best of the books to read. But for someone who wants to experience a place he never has been to, for someone who likes nature, for someone who is as relaxed as I am these days, there could have been nothing better!

By the way, as the story reaches its climax, there is a lot of mention about the name of this blog! :) Never knew how it actually felt to be in the eye of storm! Quite literally that is..

For now I think i'll continue my affair with fiction :)

Chocolat!

I was driving back home tonight n i was feeling damn damn hungry. Checked my bag to find if Ma had put anything to eat in it.. N I found something which brought an instant smile! It was my favorite Finnish mist chocolate Karl Fazer Marianne! Yeah!

Quickly I ate a couple of pieces. When I had to halt at the red light, I told myself that no one can now stop me from finishing it before I reach home! But then I saw something. A street urchin.. a girl child.. maybe 5 yrs old.. was askin for money, from the driver of the car before me.. N suddenly out of impulse, I honked n called her.. Gave her my chocolate.. She cudn't recognize the unfamiliar wrapper, so I had to tell her.. "Chocolate hai ye!!" She heard me n asked... "Chocolate?????? Sachchi???" N when I nodded, I saw perhaps one of the most happiest smile! She grinned ear to ear, started jumping n tellin her friends that she got a "Chocolate!!!"

Suddenly I realized that the car behind me has started honking as the signal turned green.. I slowly pulled over, watching the girl disappear in my rear view mirror, still happy with her conquest.. I hope she liked it and enjoyed it!

There are some things money can't buy, but then... there are many which it can!