Lungi

This piece was posted by Shantanu Aditya in our Yahoo Group. The source unknown. Do read It. Before you do that some terms would need explanations:

Kerala: A coastal province in the Southern Part of Indis
Lungi: The lungi, also known as a sarong , is a garment worn around the waist in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar (formerly Burma), Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Horn of Africa and the southern Arabian Peninsula . It is particularly popular in regions where the heat and humidity create an unpleasant climate for trousers.
Mallu; Mallu is a person from Kerala, A person whose mother tongue is Malayalam.


Just as the national bird of Kerala is Mosquito, her national dress is 'Lungi'. Pronounced as 'Lu' as in loo and 'ngi ' as in 'mongey', a lungi can be identified by its floral or window-curtain pattern. 'Mundu' is the white variation of lungi and is worn on special occasions like hartal or bandh days, weddings and Onam.

Lungi is simple and 'down to earth' like the mallu wearing it. Lungi is the beginning and the end of evolution in its category. Wearing something on the top half of your body is optional when you are wearing a lungi. Lungi is a strategic dress. It's like a one-size-fits-all bottoms for Keralites.

The technique of wearing a lungi/mundu is passed on from generation to generation through word of mouth like the British Constitution. If you think it is an easy task wearing it, just try it once! It requires techniques like breath control and yoga that is a notch higher than sudarshan kriya of AOL. A lungi/mundu when perfectly worn won't come off even in a quake of 8 on the richter scale. A lungi is not attached to the waist using duct tape, staple, rope or velcro. It's a bit of mallu magic whose formula is a closely guarded secret like the Coca Cola chemicals.

A lungi can be worn 'Full Mast' or 'Half Mast' like a national flag. A 'Full Mast' lungi is when you are showing respect to an elderly or the dead. Wearing it at full mast has lots of disadvantages. A major disadvantage is when a dog runs after you. When you are wearing a lungi/mundu at full mast, the advantage is mainly for the female onlookers who are spared the ordeal of swooning at the sight of hairy legs.
Wearing a lungi 'Half Mast' is when you wear it exposing yourself like those C grade movie starlets. A mallu can play cricket, football or simbly run when the lungi is worn at half mast. A mallu can even climb a coconut tree wearing lungi in half mast. "It's not good manners, especially for ladies from decent families, to look up at a mallu climbing a coconut tree"- Confucius (or is it Abdul Kalam?)

Most mallus do the traditional dance kudiyattam. Kudi means drinking alcohol and yattam, spelled as aattam, means random movement of the male body. Note that 'y' is silent. When you are drinking, you drink, there is no 'y'. Any alcohol related "festival" can be enjoyed to the maximum when you are topless with lungi and a towel tied around the head. "Half mast lungi makes it easy to dance and shake legs" says Candelaria Amaranto, a Salsa teacher from Spain after watching 'kudiyaattam' .

The 'Lungi Wearing Mallu Union' [LUWMU, pronounced LOVE MU], an NGO which works towards the 'upliftment' of the lungi, strongly disapprove of the GenNext tendency of wearing Bermudas under the lungi. Bermudas under the lungi is a conspiracy by the CIA. It's a disgrace to see a person wearing burmuda with corporate logos under his lungi. What they don't know is how much these corporates are limiting their freedom of movement and ex-pression.

A mallu wears lungi round the year, all weather, all season. A mallu celebrates winter by wearing a colourful lungi with a floral pattern. Lungi provides good ventilation and brings down the heat between legs. A mallu is scared of global warming more than anyone else in the world.

A lungi/mundu can be worn any time of the day/night. It doubles as blanket at night. It also doubles up as a swing, swimwear, sleeping bag, parachute, facemask while entering/exiting toddy shops, shopping basket and water filter while fishing in ponds and rivers. It also has recreational uses like in 'Lungi/mundu pulling', a pastime in households having more than one male member. Lungi pulling competitions are held outside toddy shops all over Kerala during Onam and Vishu. When these lungis are decommissioned from service, they become table cloths.

Thus the humble lungi is a cradle to grave appendage Sphere: Related Content

The Weaver, the Princess and Goldman Sachs

A friend forwarded this story to me. I thought I should preserve this!!

Everyone knows that we Indians invented the zero. Without zero and the decimal number system, writing and calculating really large numbers would be very difficult.

This would be awful for people in the financial industry, whose work depends on having really big salaries. Fortunately Brahmagupta came to their rescue.

Another thing which is crucial to the financial services industry is the concept of being too big to fail, which has been put to good use by Citigroup, Bear Stearns, and Goldman Sachs over the past few years in sucking money from American taxpayers. This beautiful concept was also invented by an Indian - Vishnu Sharma, the author of the Panchatantra, in the story of the Weaver and the Chariot Maker.

The story of the weaver and chariot maker is one of the Panchatantra stories that usually doesn't make it to primary school textbooks or Amar Chitra Katha, mostly because it's full of sex, war, and moral hazard. Since you probably haven't read it, here's a quick summary.

A weaver sees a princess during a festival and falls in love with her. As a weaver, he has no chance of marrying her, so he sinks into depression. His friend, a chariot maker decides to help him out. He designs a flying chariot in the shape of Garuda, dresses the weaver up as Vishnu, and tells him to fly the chariot into the princess's room, tell her that he is Vishnu and wants to marry her Gandharva style. That is, the wedding is kept a secret from everyone except the princess and the faux-Vishnu. The princess agrees, and the weaver comes back every night to consummate the marriage.

Eventually, the maids notice that the princess is spending her days in total bliss, suspect that she's in love, and tell the King. The King asks her what's going on, and she tells him that she's married to Vishnu himself. The King is absolutely delighted, and decides that there's no point in paying tribute to the Chakravarti now that Vishnu himself is on the kingdom's side. The next night, he catches the weaver as he enters the princess's room and asks him to fight the Chakravarti' s army.

The weaver is horrified. Pretending to be Vishnu was fine when it allowed him to make sweet, sweet love to the princess, but taking on the role of Vishnu to face an imperial army single-handed is another thing altogether. On the other hand, if he confesses to the King that he is not actually Vishnu and has been boinking the princess under false pretences for the past month, he will have his head chopped off. So he decides to get on to the battlefield and do the best job he can, while the King is whipping up enthusiasm in the population by telling them that Vishnu himself is going to do all the fighting.

By this time, Garuda (the real one, not the mechanical one) has tipped off Vishnu about what's going on, and warned him that if the fake Vishnu doesn't win the battle, the people of the kingdom will lose all faith in him. Vishnu doesn't want to see this happen, so on the battlefield he enters the weaver's body and annihilates the Chakravarti' s army. The entire army. Every single soldier. After this, the weaver marries the princess, everyone goes on worshipping Vishnu, and the king becomes the new Chakravarti.

The moral is that you should conduct your affairs in such a way that if you fail, it will lead to someone or something even bigger or more powerful failing too. This lets you get away with anything. The weaver got away with having sex with the princess on false pretences (this is rape under Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code), pretending to be a god (awesomely enough, this too is a criminal offence under Section 508), and annihilating an entire army that was fighting a just war - after all, it was the king who broke the treaty (you could make a case for this being genocide under Article 2 of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide).

American banks and financial institutions were very good at absorbing this lesson, and leveraged themselves up to such an extent that if they failed they would take the global economy down with them. And just as the weaver lived happily ever after with the princess, banks have lived happily ever after with taxpayer-funded bailouts.

But no matter how hard American investment banks try, Indians still remain the masters of this art. If the whole truth surrounding Lalit Modi is revealed, big politicians might be trapped. Modi is, thus, likely to get away lightly -- as is A Raja, who might have given away spectrum at bargain basement rates, but whose sacking would lead to the government collapsing. All this goes to show that no matter what the anguished elderly gentlemen who write letters to the editor feel, Indians are still in touch with our ancient and glorious culture Sphere: Related Content

Death and Propriety - Death Penalty for Kasav (26/11 Mumbai Terrorist)

Last week Kasav (26/11 Mumbai terrorist) was given the death penalty by a special Mumbai court. We perhaps, in fact did know the outcome and when the actual judgement came out it was just some sort of a validation of our thoughts.

Undoubtedly we hate him and we hate all the others too behind the crime. But given the nature of our species I am quite disgusted with us that we do not know how to respect and honour the judgement. I would have thought. Dancing in the streets, lighting fireworks was no way to celebrate the conclusion.

We should have rather held candle marches or prayers or somber functions that would honour the death of the innocent that would honour the trial and its judgement that would honour the families affected by the death of innocent civilians.

The judgement does not celebrate the death of Kasav. The judgement upholds our rights to justice and also sends a message to society. We should rather pay our homage once again to the men, women and children that we lost.

We keep losing propriety on issues at regular intervals and that’s sad. Sphere: Related Content

Gypsy Passion –Kuwait Little Theatre (April 30th) – An afterword!!

Performing Arts interests us a lot, so when the Kuwait Little Theatre announced that there would be a program on Flamenco dancing by Ana Utero; I quickly booked a few tickets for the family. The synopsis in the website was quite self-explanatory in the sense that the evening would consist of Poetry, Music and Dance.
The theatre was a small affair with a motley crowd that largely knew one another making us sort of the odd men out. In time, the lights were dimmed and the guitars came alive. There were two guitars and a bongo for percussion. The lady came in and we did see some moves. There were 12-13 items on the show. The recitals of poetry were without passion and mediocre. The saving grace was the music because the subsequent dances failed to impress the crowd – what with the same moves et al.

To be honest, this was a bad investment of time against what I had thought it would be. The overall rating would be a 4 out of 10. I only hope that this performance was an exception.


For those of who are not inclined towards my thoughts and want to know more about Ana - the website is given below.

http://anaoterodance.blogspot.com/ Sphere: Related Content

IPL 2010

IPL has started again. I have watched all the matches so far. KKR always will be a fav for obvious and unknown reasons. It's genetic perhaps - Bong connection.

Why do then need those semi clad cheerleaders is beyond me? I mean I have no objections to them, but they don't seem to fit in the scheme of things. Maybe they could have given a show in the beginning and the break and at the end!!

Every evening for a month now has been taken care of. The World T20 to follow and after that its the mother of all. FIFA WC 2010. This is a good YEAR!!!! Sphere: Related Content

Caesar's Restaurant - Kuwait

This is the second visit to this joint. I have a simple review for this place:

NOT WORTH IT. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME!!! IT's A DISASTER!! Sphere: Related Content

People@Disaster.com

I am not the ulitimate authority, in fact far from it. If you ask Chaitali she will perhaps roll on the floor with laughter hearing that I have had the audacity to pen down a few words on the topic. But all the same it's a free world and here I go.

The other day a facebook friend - Indira commented that "silence is the best method of eloquence". The statement has to be taken in its spirit and that's quite true. A lot of times we blurt out words that has drastic effects and we do it unknowingly. The other day in a get together a lady had come who manages a play school. When the topic of discussion was playschool somebody mentioned that the school managed by this lady was the best in Kuwait. Immediately another person commented and expressed his full disagreement in front of the lady. Now that's what this piece is all about. How not to put your foot in the mouth? The worst is perhaps when you don't even realize that the deed was done.

A lot of times it could happen with gifts. You gift something to X and then Y transfers the same to Z. Then X and Z discover about the sequence of actions. Disaster ---- and imagine the bad perceptions this creates!!

Would you open a door to a lady or would you stand up when a lady enters the room or perhaps comes and speaks to you at your desk? Points to ponder...while you might also say...what the hell, this is utter nonsense!!

Discussing food is a great topic. I have increasingly found that Indian vegetarians are quite non tolerant in the depths of their mind about non-vegetarians. Mind you this is also true about a lot of sub continent non-vegetarians when they come across food habits say of a Chinese or Korean. The facial gestures or body language that is expressed by a typical Indian vegetarian when they see or hear about non-vegetarian stuff is something that I absolutely dislike and abhor.

It could be surprising to many, but I regularly watch Big Boss, the Indian version of the reality program Big Brother. There’s many a situation happening in that house that happens in office too. It’s more complex in an office with so many people in a close group and let me tell you that men perhaps gossip equally or more than women!! So misrepresentations are the order of the day and then when you get caught at it's nothing but a series of disasters. Sphere: Related Content

Disasters, Manners, Mannerisms, et al

I am not the ulitimate authority, in fact far from it. If you ask Chaitali she will perhaps roll on the floor with laughter hearing that I have had the audacity to pen down a few words on the topic. But all the same it's a free world and here I go.





The other day a facebook friend - Indira commented that "silence is the best method of eloquence". The statement has to be taken in its spirit and that's quite true. A lot of times we blurt out words that has drastic effects and we do it unknowingly. The other day in a get together a lady had come who manages a play school. When the toipc of dicussion was playschool somebody mentioned that the school managed by this lady was the best in Kuwait. Immediately another person commented and expressed his full disagreement, and all this in front of the lady. Now that's what this piece is all about. How not to put your foot in the mouth. The worst is perhaps when you don't even realise that the deed was done.





A lot of times it could happen with gifts. I had this situation where I bought XYZ for a colleague. After a week when I visited a mutual friend I found the same items in their house. On query my hunch was confirmed and I am not sure who was more embarassed. Transfers do surely happen and rather not do them in close groups.




Would you open a door to a lady or would you stand up when a lady enters the room or perhaps comes and speaks to you at your desk? Points to ponder...while you might also say...what the hell, this is utter nonsense!!





Discussing food is a great topic for me specially given the topic i am writing about. There is this guy who makes a big face whenever he hears of Non-Vegetarian. So if you mention that you had this and that he would produce funny demeaning sounds. I find this disgusting. So the other day when I had this bout of food poisoning the same gentleman opined that this must be due to non-vegetarian. I had extreme pleasure in spite of the pain to let him know that the trigger was a simple vegetarian popular snack!!


I have this immense thrill of describing to people how I had cow's intestines but I promise you that the same is always as a retort to something you would have stirred in me.

There is this other guy who when you visit his office will always open this drawer of his that would be full of chocolates. But beware, he would never offer you one, though on every occasion he would make it a point to open the same. Serves me right, with my high sugar problems!! Sphere: Related Content

Misplaced sympathies

Nalini has broken her fast!! Not that I am too concerned with Nalini eating or not while in jail. I have no objections to the fact that her death penalty was revoked. But I do have objections if she is released from prison. The law needs to decide on that and we will abide by our law. She had killed our Prime Minister-Rajiv Gandhi(good or bad) and she was caught. That's it.

This has got nothing to do with Indians killing Tamils in Srilanka or all such related theories. Sometimes we just confuse issues and misplace our sympathies!! Sphere: Related Content

Immature Attempt to Simplify India - III (Written for SAKAI - University of Rhode Island)

In India Pop Music would typically mean Movie Based Music/Songs, Individual Artist Modern Songs, Bands and Groups. In fact there is a term named Indi-POP where songs could be in Indian Language but are highly influenced by Western Rhythm. Indeed we do find a lot of influence of African Rhythms and Melodies too. Lately we have instances where Indian Pop is also influenced by music from the other Asian countries in the South East.

Indian Film Music is a concept that needs to be understood. In the West you had these musicals where acting and the story is based on music and songs. In India it would be a variation of this Most Indian movies would have a story and at regular intervals the actors and actresses will break into song and dance sequences that may or may not be relevant to the main story. Hard core fans would tend to believe that they do enhance the film!

Film Music in India could be based on Classical Music for melody or they could be based on Indian Folk that given the geography of the country is very diverse in nature. They would also be influenced by or sometimes tunes could be directly lifted from other genres or countries,

The majority of Indian Film Music is created in Mumbai (Bollywood) in Hindi the national language of India. The other major film producing centres are in Chennai (Tamil or Tollywood), Hyderabad (Telugu) and Kolkata (Bengali). There would be films in other Indian languages too but ALL of them without exception follow the concept of incorporating song and dance sequences in their respective productions. There are directors who do not follow this format but that are a minority. There is extensive public demand for Film based music. In fact there would be a rare Indian who would not be appreciative of Film Music.

Indi-POP is however sometimes restricted in their appeal and face major competition from Film Music. These types of music evolved in the late seventies but still have not been able to garner a major pie. There are exceptions as usual and a few artistes have done very well for themselves.
Music Bands are very rare and have very little sustaining power and that’s the statistics. In elitist educational institutions they have these rock festivals that most often than not are head banger balls. These bands typically die but some of them continue on. However the more successful bands are definitely the regional ones singing in the local languages.

Please do post questions and then one could answer in detail and specifics. Sphere: Related Content

Immature Attempt to Simplify India - II (Written for SAKAI - University of Rhode Island)

I am no scholar in music and therefore this would be purely an attempt to put forward to you a canvas that you could further explore. Indian music is surely diverse but this comment would need explanation.

Broadly, I personally would divide Indian Music into three categories:

1. Classical Music
2. Pop Music
3. Folk Music

Classical Music

The Free Online Dictionary describes Classical Music as “traditional genre of music conforming to an established form and appealing to critical interest and developed musical taste”. I somehow like this definition since it is sort of limitless and can apply to any distinctive society. The Indian Classical Music scenario could be divided into two parts. We have the Hindustani Classical Form while the other is the Carnatic Form. The former has evolved from the North while the latter is has typically evolved from the South of India. Before explaining the differences we need to explain some associated concepts.

The Indian Classical Form is based on Ragaas. Ragaas are unique, single combinations of notes and are typically monophonic. Western Classical Music on the other hand could be a multiple combination of notes played in harmony. The composition in the latter form could be polyphonic or monophonic or a combination. Am I making any sense? If you listen to the two, I am pretty sure you would discern the difference.

The difference between Hindustani and Carnatic essentially are in rendering styles. They also have different Ragaas. Again after listening to a Hindustani piece and then a Carnatic piece, you would sort of immediately recognize the difference in terms of the instruments, the style of music, etc.
Classical Music is said to be practiced in India for more than 3000 years and there are famous musicians from both the forms in the vocal and Instrumental categories. In the West I think my namesake, “RAVISHANKAR” had a major influence with his Sitar (originally a three wire instrument but later modified with more wires).

These days you have Ustad Amjad Ali Khan with his Sarod and there are many more. I just gave a sample and depending upon choice and perceptions there could and would be more famous musicians whom I have not named, since that was not the purpose. If you however would want some suggestion, I could produce a ‘suggested’ list of artists and their works!!

Typically Indian Classical Music, vocal or instrumental goes through a few stages when an artist is rendering a composition. To begin with the artist would warm up in the form of an ALAAP where the tempo is slow. Later the percussion players join in, the tempo increases and the artist starts rendering variation in the same form of the Raaga. In the end we sort of reach a crescendo in terms of tempo and variation. There could be situations where the artist and the percussionist have this musical tete-a-tete in terms of back and forth responses. In Jugalbandis (two artists with same or different instruments playing together) they would have similar back and forth responses.

There are instances where Indian Classical Musicians have also played along with Western counterparts e.g., Ravishankar playing with Yehudi Menuhin. There are also instances of Western Philharmonic Orchestras playing Indian Ragaas.

The most popular instruments used by Hindustani Classical musicians are the sitar, sarod, tanpura, bansuri, shehnai, sarangi and tabla. Instruments typically used in Carnatic music include venu, gottuvadyam, veena, mridangam, kanjira, ghatam and violin.

In my next post I will deal with the other two genres of Indian music.

3uhsa4rk7d Sphere: Related Content

Immature Attempt to Simplify India - I - (Wriiten for SAKAI - University of Rhode Island)

Typically what you want to see in a picture depends upon your perspective. So when I paint a picture it could have diverse connotations. First is my own perspective and then it would be yours. So ideally there would be no true picture but it would be all about what we perceive of the picture. Without complicating matters let me start of with my comments or commentary if you may name this one

The first thing that comes to your mind (here you would mean an average Urban American) when you think of India would be perhaps as follows and not necessarily in that order

Large Country

Lots of People

Lots of Poverty

Many IT Professionals

Taxi Drivers

Large democracy

Corrupt

Dirty , Dusty and Crowds

Call Centers

Now let me add a few more from my perspectives:

Many languages

Mix of extremely diverse cultures each of them rich in culture and tradition

Rich Classical Music along with the Popular Music

Natural Beauty in terms of mountains, seas, flora and fauna

Classical dances and other Art Forms

Culinary Diversity

Diverse Literature and Films

There would be more and we could go on and on but that’s not my intention. Of course I did not mention one more aspect that fascinate Westerners : The Indian Spiritual History, Practices and Quest.

When you mix up all these attributes you get a heady mix of confusion and perhaps you would lose perspective of what it’s all about. My first endeavor therefore would be to segregate your perspectives and then sort of clear the issues so that you get a clearer picture. I therefore cannot promise that one note like this would do the job and perhaps my off and on word paintings would be better for this gallery.

Let me dwell on the languages to begin with. There are 22 official 'scheduled' languages: Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Marathi, Meitei, Nepali, Oriya, Eastern Panjabi, Sanskrit, Santali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu. The National or official languages: Hindi and English.

The Indian Sub Continent was ruled by the British and since our Independence in 1947 the Republic of India was divided into states/provinces that was based on languages spoken, Now whether scientific or logical this was a rather populist move. It had it’s positives and negatives and today we are living with it and perhaps meshing well too. As far as the constitution of India is concerned an Indian is free to settle in any part of the country at any point of time. In other words one has a right to move anywhere, speak any language and follow any religion of your choice and belief

There is no language that we could say is Indian, technically that is. Like in the US we have a Central Government with certain rights and responsibilities and you have the State Governments with their own laws and administrative machinery. So the Central Government official languages are English and Hindi which means that official correspondence, reports and workings are a lot of times conducted in English and Hindi and sometimes both. Some of the states do carry out their official work in the predominant language of the region but when it comes to State – Center or Inter –State communication, English would be the prevalent language.

So typically in most urban areas in slightly better shops and establishments English would get you through with communication. In terms of Police, down the line traffic constables may have difficulties with English. However in the Southern states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, etc English is quite prevalent

As you travel and go to the rural parts, you would see that communication in English will gradually deteriorate. Exceptions will prove the rule here too

In urban areas the middle class and other upper classes would be normally sending children to English medium schools. These days due to the IT and Telecom penetrations even in remote towns people are realizing the strength of learning English and mind sets are changing. Its also not just about mindsets but also about opportunities and we still have a long way to go

Most regional languages are extremely rich in their home grown literature. I myself come from a Bengali family (my mother tongue is Bengali) and its literature like others are pretty developed and have world recognition. Tagore the Nobel Prize winner was a Bengali Poet and renowned literateur.

I am sure you would find detailed state wise language descriptions for each of the state in Wikipedia, and for that matter, The Lonely Planet Country Books would fill you in with quite an amount of detail

I would be glad if you could ask questions too and surely they would be answered. There is a lot to talk about. If you have the inclination, I have the time!! Sphere: Related Content

IPL Final

For some funny inexplicable reason IPL did not tingle my nerves so much as a world cup or one day series would. True to its philosophy it was a circus and perhaps I am no longer a child, though I would still love an actual circus.

At the end of it, I still find the setting rather impersonal and I could not find myself to be attached to any particular team…whether the sweety Zinta or the pompous Shahrukh…they did not appeal. Though I am from Kolkata, I just hated the KKRs and it was largely due to Buchannan and the team’s egoistic owner. A lot of times I wished doom on them and they were playing in to my hands every time.

In some way, I always wanted the underdogs to come up the curve and they did it in style. Deccan Chargers were the winners and thank God for the same.

The stars perhaps need to polish up their fire engines for next time with an overdose of hydrocarbons!! As far as KKR is concerned perhaps they need to change the coach or the owner. I would love it however if both goes. Just like in the liquor industry, Mallya perhaps can manage two competing brands albeit owned by the same company. But then who am I in the scheme of things!! Sphere: Related Content

Variable Captain, Kolkata Knightriders,John Buchanan, Cricket and bits of Shame!!

I somehow like Sourav Ganguly but that’s not what this is all about. A press conference was held today at Kolkata where John sort of spelled out the KnightRiders Team’s captaincy plan.
I understood that for every match there could be a different captain. Also, while the matches are on there could be more than one player directing different aspects of the play like fielding, bowling and what have you.

Let me draw up some analogies. So in a concert you would be having a multiple conductors; one managing the violins, the other perhaps percussion and depending upon the mood of the crowd that day it could be Zubin Mehta or somebody else as the main conductor. There could be more examples but I guess you get the hang of it.

This smacks of overworking minds in an ivory tower trying to take control over the game. Managing communication, keeping up the morale are going to become key issues. I am not old fashioned but stupid changes in formats just for trials is not my concept of good governance A leader is a leader; period. Let’s not undermine the leader and there can only be one.

Shame on you John and Shame on you Sharukh! Sphere: Related Content

IPL (Cricket) goes out of India

On television tonight I was watching the frustrated face of Lalit Modi screaming on television rather proudly on how IPL will now be played in South Africa or England this year. Some other BCCI staffer announced that due to the rather negative attitude of the Government this was inevitable.

My points are as follows:

1. The BCCI was stupid to have planned for this date clash with the elections. Knowing reality and taking action is prudent rather than take the stupidest form of risks. Security is about spectators too.

2. The Home Ministry was rather sedate in its approach to resolve issues. I think we did not try enough. It is apparent that the Sports Minister in the Government has no say, nor can he contribute.

3. I still feel that IPL could have been held in India and in some form or the other, maybe with reduced matches or some other way.

4. Sometimes money and pride make human beings vulnerable and this is also another example of the same.

5. I feel sorry for ourselves that we did not work as a team to make this happen. The Government and the BCCI; both are at fault.

Sphere: Related Content

My Comments on Reality Televison on We The People, NDTV

Reality TV is not necessarily voyeuristic. Its the ''type'' of show that is of concern. As always there is always a good and bad in everything and that is judged by the societal norms of our surroundings. You have to admit that these rules are ever evolving and beyond your control. Human beings given the complex minds that we have cover the full extremes of positive and negative of morality(that itself is vague by definition).

Parenting and education are the control mechanisms when somebody is young. The law and societal rules are the control mechanisms when you are an adult. The problem is that in every sphere we absolve of or do not perform our responsibilities. So OK should have refused the coverage contract of Goody but they did not. Similarly a mother gave too much of pocket money to a child when that was not required.

You and I cannot define these. But that's how human culture evolves and only time will tell whether civilisation is marching towards doom or ever better future.

Media events are a reflection of our society.Good debate is good for the mind, but you and me do not have the powers on how humans will behave in the future. Morality is relative and its all a cycle. The word freedom can be interpreted in different ways and that's what is going to count in the future. Unfortunately, neither you nor I or for that matter anybody else will have a definitive answer.

The human laws unfold over time and always spring a surprise on older generations. Sphere: Related Content

Dubai Desert Safari - October 2008

PROJECT
Desert Safari – Dubai – 19th October 2008

What was the OBJECTIVE?
Take visiting friends from UK for a Desert Safari

What are the Official Features of a Desert Safari?
Dune Bashing
Go to the Sunset Point on the desert
Camel Ride
Dune Buggy Ride (Optional extra)
Dinner with Soft Drinks (Hard Drinks optional extra)
Belly Dance
Pick Up and Drop
Time: Pick up at about 3.30 pm and drop back by 10.00 pm

How do you select a Travel Agent?
Read up reviews on the web. Write and/or call your shortlisted travel agents. Select the best in terms of cost and service delivery. We selected North Tours. There are others that are more expensive without perhaps additional value. The Cost would vary from 120 AED to 300 AED depending upon something that I am yet to decipher. Maybe in a camp the food is better(I am conjecturing).

What matters most in the selection process ?
1. Does the agent response promptly to your queries?
2. Does the cost suit your budget?
3. Do they have goodwill in the market?

The Beginning:
The assigned escort would typically call you and fix the minute time arrangements and pick up point. We had asked him to come at 3.30 pm for a possible departure by 3.45 and he was on time. The vehicle would typically be a Toyota Land Cruiser. Since we were in Qusais we quickly got onto Emirates Road and then took the Hatta, Oman exit. I would reckon that after about 20-30 kms we came to a roadside inn cum touristy thingy shop. Here the escort would deflate the tyres to about 15 psi from the normal 29-32 psi so that we are ready for the desert. A tyre with lower pressure would have a better grip over the desert sands.

The Main Event:
We were now on our way to the desert where we left the highway and got into the real desert. This is a designated place fixed by the Government for the Desert Safari Tour Operators to “bash the Dunes”. We went deep inside the desert and then when we reached the dunes it was like a thrilling roller coaster ride. We went up and down the dunes and at all sorts of angles. The vehicle roared along and finally we reached sunset point. We de-boarded to go through the mandatory photography routines and also took a shot of the setting sun where each amateur was trying to outdo the other. It was also entertaining to watch the other vehicles traverse the terrain up and down and you realize that you would need special skills to drive around in a desert like that.

The feeling of your barefoot touching or submerging inside the soft silky sands were fantastic. It reminds you of touching nature closely that we in our daily mundane lives have forgotten to do. All done, we were on our way back to the camp where Arabic tea and dates were waiting for us.

The Camp:
Once we reached the camp, we were provided as promised the tea and some not so good dates. The tea was provided in small cups and when you finished off the used ones would be thrown into a bucket full of water. After a while the same cups would be recycled and I understood that washing here meant just submerging used cups in unchanged water for a mile. No Arabic tea for me next time for sure.

The camp is surrounded by a dense fence. Inside the enclosure there is a concrete stage surrounded by tables and cushions. There were drink and food counters along with a henna(a paste made of powder prepared from Henna leaves is used to typically decorate your hands) counter. You could try out sheesha (flavoured tobacco smoke passed through water – not necessarily absolving you from the toxins).

After a few rounds of drinks (remember that you have to pay for hard drinks), they would announce that food is ready. A selection of grilled lamb and chicken and some vegetarian and non vegetarian dishes were on the offer. You had some insipid dessert too in the form of some custard with apples.

The grilled lamb chops were good, but the rest of the food was some roadside common eatery and nothing to talk about.

The END:
That was that, and we were no entertained by a belly dancer, who we found was quite good in her art and looks too. She managed to pull in one or two from the crowd and we did enjoy her performance that was accompanied by some good Arabian Music.

Our small one in the group posed for a picture or two with the dancer and then it was time to say good bye. Same vehicle, same driver and off we went before stopping once again to inflate the tyres. We did tip the escort and the end of it all we were quite a pleased lot.

Views:
The driver Sharafuddin from North Tours was extremely polite, smiling and helpful. He was also an expert on the sands and that makes a lot of difference to your enjoyment. North Tours gave us competitive prices and for a full house Landcruiser (6 pax) we paid 1000 AED for the tour (all inclusive). There were others too but I felt more comfortable dealing with them The camp is shared by a few travel agents and I have suggested North Tours to take it up with the organizers on the quality of food and attitudes of the people who serve the food. Overall I was happy, and I would give an 8 on 10, the two marks being deducted for the gliches.

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India for a Korean : An Inconsequential Chat

A simple conversation:

Korean: Where are you from?
Me: India
Korean: Indo?
Me: Yes
Korean: Gandhi?
Me: Yes
Korean: Indira Gandhi? Your President?
Me: No. She was the Prime Minister, once upon a time. Our President now is Dr. Abdul Kalam and our Prime Minister is Dr. Manmohan Singh.
Korean: You speak good english.
Me: "SMILE"
Korean: So, you can speak Indian?
Me: Umm..uhhh...I speak Hindi and Bengali
Korean: Meaning?
Me: You see I am from West Bengal that is towards the east of India and my mother tongue is Bengali. I also know Hindi because it’s our National Language.
Korean: So your friend, he speaks Hindi? Bengali?
Me: No he speaks Tamil. He is not a Bengali. He can’t speak Hindi.
Korean: You are confusing me.
Me: We have many languages in India, depends upon where you are from.
Korean: Oh I see, but Hindi is your common language.
Me: Yes, but we talk in English with him.
Korean: I give up!! Lets have a drink!!
Me: Lets!!
Korean: So what language do you speak at home?
Me: Bengali
Korean: So English is at work and Bengali at home. When do you speak Hindi?
Me: With friends!!
Korean: Sorry?
Me: I mean with friends who are from the Northern, Central and Western Part of India.
Korean: So in those parts of India, they speak Hindi.
Me: No. I mean Yes and No.
Korean: What do you mean?
Me: I mean there are languages other than Hindi, for example Gujrati in Gujarat, Marathi in Maharashtra, Punjabi in Punjab.
Korean: They are different provinces?
Me: Yes, we call them states.
Korean: But in English State would also mean country..
Me: That’s right, they almost are.
Korean: What are you trying to say?
Me: Never mind, I am just joking.
Korean: So all your prov...er...states and your language name is similar.
Me: NO!
Korean: Oh!!!!!
Me: Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in the North use Hindi. In the South we have Kerala using Malayalam. There are other examples
Korean: OIC! So each province....ohhhh...states have different governments?
Me: Yes, true.
Korean: So what is the official language?
Me: Each to their own.
Korean: Now I understood. So they communicate to each other in Hindi.
Me: NO, not always.
Korean: Are you trying to confuse me?
Me: No. While they use their own language, when communicating with others they also translate them to Hindi.
Tamil Friend: NO!!!
Korean: What?
Me: Some do and some don’t.
Korean: I had enough of this.
Me: Oh sorry. We must have bored you to death. It’s rather confusing. Oh by the way. Why do you guys have English Headings in Posters and Books but all other content in Korean?
Korean: HUH??? Sphere: Related Content