Moving from D to C

Expanding D to C : Doha to Coimbatore

As preparations to go to the home land for the anual two month vacation drew near, plans changed drastically and it became a shifting of the entire base operations permanently. And so, loading the plane with about 150 kgs of our belongings, we boarded without regret but only anticipation (except for the youngest member of the family who had many a question, also making it clear he would miss many people, places and things) And so, yet another phase of my life closes, only to begin in the land where I was born. The stint in the gulf ends. The IMAX view of the sky has been replaced with a 70mm one. There is no sea here and the various awe inspiring shades of blue and green that was visible from the terrace. The silence that was totally enveloping and round the clock only to be broken by our own activities; has been sacrificed for quiet only at night.

As I write, the background has a variety of sounds. For one, the discussion of some men painting in the neighbouring compound. The horns of all types of vehicles, especially the buses and their running engines come through to the house from the road which is 25feet from the house(luckily). Then there is this constant conversation going on which I am enjoying. It is in varied pitches. First of all I can hear a whistle like constant soft sound over which there are sudden bursts of a cough like noise. Before I carry on, I want to say that these sounds are the chattering of energetic, winged and feathered aves class of vertebrates from the tree whose leaves brush against our balcony. Now the deep and resonant call of the cuckoo on this Gulmohar travels a long way to be returned with a reply and soon the brown spotted male is joined by the black female . The crow which is also squatted on a branch gives his ‘caw , caw’ joining the Myna and the sparrow occasionally, although seated alone and at a distance from them. Today being cloudy and cool, all of these feathered friends seem to be enjoying themselves. I can now hear a scraping sound which I think is the squirrel which seems so busy scampering, pausing and running off. The pigeon which seems happy not to leave the corner of my bathroom window makes his characteristic booming noise.

New sights, sounds, smells will replace almost 4 and a half years in Doha. There will be fresh inspirations, beautiful experiences and challenging adjustments and here I am ready to gain new memories to go alongside the older ones.

I am 10 years old

(A short story for kids)

My age has One and Zero in it. This year(2010) too. I feel they are the two most important numbers. I imagine the number One as straight and single. Single like the One Sun and the One Moon that our One Earth has. It is really unique. Now I’ll tell you what I feel about the Zero. Zero to me also stands for the Sun, the Moon and the Earth. You may wonder how they can be one and zero because zero means nothing. To me they are like the zero as they are all round, hugely round.



I love all the three Ones or Zeroes that I have mentioned. But it still puzzles me that in the vast sky, when the Sun appears, the Moon disappears. But I have seen the Sun and the Moon together sometimes, one to the left and one to the right. Is it like my Mom says, ‘I am the opposite of my brother’? Are they enemies most of the time, I wonder? In my home my one father and my one mother live along with me even though they are enemies sometimes. So I imagine the Sun as the father, Moon as the mother and the many, many stars, their children all sharing a same home which is the sky.


I have not yet spoken about another single, unique, round object. That is the Earth. The pictures taken by astronauts orbiting the earth are all blue with clouds but the globe on my desk shows me new things everyday. There is a big dent on my globe which has made the Americas go into the earth. This dent was caused when my brother and I fought over a football and the ball banged into earth just like a meteor


I ask myself whether I should make Sun and Moon my current heroes as I do not have anybody, although it may sound stupid to my friends. I think I should leave out Moon and only choose Sun, as I feel Moon cannot be trusted. On some nights she is perfectly round, which I love. Then it is like a half eaten biscuit and at other times like a lonely ‘smiley’ mouth. Oh, well! Then I shall make only the Sun my hero. I feel he rules the whole world, unlike the many Presidents and Prime ministers who head only a small part on earth. He is always bright and radiant. I’ll forgive his scorching habit as he is fierce only for two or three months in a year. The clouds, rain or dust sometimes try to overpower him but they fail to drive him away permanently. When he wakes up and passes his wand in all directions, we wake up and when he goes to sleep, in a few hours we also sleep. I have learnt that it is due to him that we have the chlorophyll filled greenery on the earth. As I heard someone say, he helps life to go on. Till I turn eleven next year the One(1), round(O) Sun is my hero, when somebody else may take his place.

Another weather report

Hear I go again. Talking about the weather. Well since it is the most easiest to write on, to deabate, to quarrel over...  . I AM turning into a weather reporter from Doha ;-)

Today morning started off with the 'beginnings of Summer' kind of weather which is going on for 10 days or so. Here in the desert, summer beginning means 30 deg inside the house sans AC. Outside it is 39 deg but feels 39 + 3or4 because of the added humidity. India this year, has been hitting the highs of the temperature chart and breaking records in the process. Relatively, spring has spread her umbrella longer than usual protecting against the harshness of the coming season.

Coming to the surprising element, there has been rain for 51/2 months here. Well ,(There are no wells here, dug ones) there is obviously no monsoon in Doha. It has surprised everyone here that it is raining a few days every month since december. There are clouds in the sky for days together. Sometimes I had this nostalgic feeling of being in Bangalore with these sudden showers, cool breeze and generally cloudy sky.

Today's thunder, lightening and the sudden darkness with the sharp showers again cleaned the fine desert dust on my windows. What is happening ? These days most of the answers are in two words whether people understand it or not. Global Warming. In Qatar though, it is not warming for sure. It is raining !

Questioning today’s MII trends

The title ‘middle class trends’ came to mind but then saying middle class or lower class may get me into trouble just as the author of cattle class had to twitter-ly apologise, explain and ‘press’ his point. Using the word income seemed safer. So you have LII, MII and HII; lower income Indians, middle income Indians and higher income Indians(note the plural).
Just as India’s majority consists of MII, we have a large number of trendy topics to choose from, discuss and dissect.
Beginning with food….
The ubiquitous dhaba of North india have sprung up even in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. There is also the culture of ‘food on wheels’ all over India dishing out regional and other common food. Will KFC promoting its nuggets nudge out these places which have only ‘word of mouth’ as their marketing strategy? Will MII prefer the sterile tables with uniformed men to a cluttered and careless atmosphere?
Next on the list are not very new brands. Nobody ever remembers this was originally an Italian dish. It has spawned desi versions but will MII still prefer Pizza Hut and Dominoes? Will their melt in the mouth ads encourage all to bite into something that every Indian pronounces differently, even on Diwali and Holi? The double z sure is confusing just a ‘zh’ as in Kozhikode is for a north Indian.
A bar of Chocolate was an item on the monthly grocers list about six or seven years ago before off the rack shopping became an in thing. Will MII fall for the promotion of our old friend ‘Cadburys’ to distribute exotic and elite chocolates on auspicious occasions? Will they replace Bharati pedas and burfis?
Liquids have had a troubled past, especially the controversial colas. They have dodged the likes of George Fernandes and cases for water depletion. Still they have our superstars drinking out of their hands. Will the aam aadmi still ignore an old ad about these being good toilet cleaners?
Are all of the above on a drive to compete with America whose statistics show 30-40% obese adults with the utmost cooperation of the MII population? Will MII succumb to the day in and day out fizz washing of their brains? Will threats that all the local stuff like ghee, coconut oil, samosas, parathas and the twisted jilebis are untouchable be taken seriously and surge imports of olive oil and oregano? Will pies and pastas replace dhoklas and dosas or will confused MII throw in the towel and head to the nearest joint, desi or otherwise ?
Be it LII,MII or HII, all have broken the night’s fast in the morning from time immemorial, many with idlis, dosas, some with rice and others with paranthas or delicious puris. Then comes along great inventions like Kellogg’s and other brands which teaches us that breakfast is a must with cornflakes, oats and drinking orange juice is the healthiest alternative. Every Indian with money to spare loves new things, beautifully packaged and with atrocious prices. In the long run, will the flaky corn rule over the tedious dosas?
The menu has many more items to choose from but, I’ll stop by saying that we have always prided ourselves on being a blend of cultures and so we have our local hotels serving pizza as well as bonda. One last question, will trendy MII prefer a branded lime juice to Amul’s buttermilk?

IPL once again

I had written about this instant cricket a long time ago when this new concept came in with a bang showering money all around. It is getting time for the season 2010. But in 2008, the story went like this -

http://inthemiddle-lane.blogspot.com/search/label/cheerleaders

A SAINT

While browsing the medley of channels on Indian television, I come to one in which a naked Saint is expounding what the footnote called, “bitter truths “.
Initial curiosity makes me pause. I then burst out laughing at the manner in which he suddenly shouts and with flailing arms repeats his sermon which he had softly said earlier.
The ‘world conditioned’ me finds that first of all ,he is not wearing clothes - how uncouth; he screams out now and then – how hilariously uncivilised and the negative list regarding this person includes some more points. Smirking, I change the channel and forget him.
After a few days, I happen to see the Saint again and thinking that a few laughs on his behalf will do me good, I do not change the channel. The row upon row of men and women listening to him does not make me change my mind. After forming an opinion once again that a person should have some sort of decorum, I switch.
Now, this becomes regular. I see him for a few minutes and then press the remote to move on. Slowly I start listening to him without judging him by his outward appearance. He was talking of the way a daughter-in-law and in general women have to be treated whether they are wives, mothers or any of the different roles they be in. He had caught my attention! I approved of his view and listened some more.
His topics were simple yet for a society riddled with confusion they were eye-openers. The Saint had this method of giving simple examples by playing and punning words. He brought the audience to laughter while conveying the deeper meaning. I too laughed this time –not at him but with the audience.
‘While buttoning a shirt , if you choose the wrong button hole, no matter what you do all the buttons will go into wrong holes’- This he said to explain of the consequences of taking a wrong decision in life. In a similar manner, he explains many truths which are visible to us but which we do not ‘SEE’. I realise wisdom need not have any clothes!
I realised then what an obnoxious snob I had been and that smirking should be at me. He may not be featured in any list of ’10 most influential people’ or get any award ‘For AWAKENING people’ or ’10 best dressed men’(with his sense of humour, I’m sure he won’t mind) but this person was a MAHATMA who was not aware of his own body but was bringing awareness into thousands of people.
Like some other Mahatma’s said, we people with our boundaries for civilised behaviour of humanity, forget that we have turned ourselves into educated illiterates. We see only the outer forgetting that just as in an ice-berg, more lies under the water than above.

cold, colder, coldest

Today is cold. As we Doha'iites thought that this winter has gone into history, wind blows across chilling the city. Inside the house, it shows a not so impressive 20 deg when, pictures of life at a virtual standstill in many parts of the world especially the U.S are flashed on the tv.
A snow remover(whats the actual word ?)is partially being shown(is the cameraman shooting from inside this contraption?) behind which the whiteness of the Capitol Hill blends in with the accompanying scenery.
In Kashmir, India; snow piled 6m high on an army base camp causing death.
In the face of all this heavy precipitation, a middle east winter is not actually winter.But here I am with sweater & socks, feet tucked in a siddhasana position, typing with exposed, cold wrinkled,nervous hands.Why is it that some feel so cold at so little dip in temp.
I would wonder at the actresses with their bare bodies sitting through award nights as award ceremonies are usually held in the winter in India & elsewhere. Last winter, Bipasha Basu made an entry into Doha in January and walked about in bare back, leg exposed outfits. Are these damsels more thick skinned than me? May not be but they sure are hotter :)

I saw a cute story for kids by jayamadhavan on her blog. Here is the link.Read it.


http://www.mediafire.com/?teu2yo1uzta

Aggressive journalism

I have found that many have a new hobby these days. Journo bashing. It is also one of my faourite topic. Earlier, much earlier... we used to see only Khadi clad politicos (if I can call them that !) and so our ire was turned on them. Whether it be about 'what they said' or 'what they did', we had to comment & brand them all as hypocrites, etc etc . Now, we see less of them and more of a hound of superstars. None other than our T.V journos . So for the amount of limelight they are hogging & getting handsomely paid for it, it is only right that they have to come in the line of fire. Only that they are so bloated that the bullet will get lodged in their skin without affecting them. The more an anchor screams and out-shouts his interviewee, the more he feels proud. It does not matter that interviewers are supposed to do one thing properly and that is to Listen.
Journalists these days are a breed of egoistic, haughty ones who think they know everything and can shout down acheivers and doers in any field who they do not agree with. At least this is what we see on the T.V , the likes of Arnab.. of Times.
Headlines... have their own version in the form of Rahul something....
The trend setters of this 'drama on screen ' ;NDTV have ONLY such 'Experts' who nobody can argue with, whatever be the interviewees point of view !

They are the HE-MEN and SHE-WOMEN (?)of Indian news drama series being played out 24 hrs a day. They decide whom to support, who comes to power; which man to tear apart, which to project as a hero and so onnnn.
And we are either dumb struck audiences falling for all that they say or commentators sitting back and giving them a bashing(o.k, so what if it does'nt touch them)

Journalist with a difference

When I am in Coimbatore, the newspaper Indian Express offers little or no temptation to be read. But there is a writer I look forward to in the sunday magazine section of this paper. A mention of sunday magazine, to those who know this paper will think that the scantily clad heroines and immature articles on the new found hot topic, gay "culture"(How can this be termed culture ,I fail to see) must interest me.

Well, there is a regular column which offers much more than sensual appeal. It is by Swahilya, a journalist with a difference. She has taken us through the paths of Himalayas through her small travelogue and in her main article, through insights into the Self. Currently, she is doing a Yoga series.


For a reader, these may be capsules of the secrets in our Shastras which can be explored through in depth reading and better still ;guidance from our ever willing Acharyas. Anyway such articles lift us from the profane to something meaningful and valuable.

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silence

Today I woke up at my usual 4.10 (weekdays). The temperate cold these days is enjoyable. It is dark for an hour more and so combined with the darkness, I just sat and absorbed the silence. A few years ago,as a new resident in Doha, the silence here was frightening and even claustrophobic. But now I value this.
Sounds and Noise has become part of our lives that we forget what silence is. This is one 'sense' that we can't cut off voluntarily. Plugging our ears hardly shuts off the sounds. So, we are exposed to them all the time. I am not aware of the efficiency of today's soundproof windows etc.
Yesterday I listened to a Swamiji's New Year talk on the 'Faculty of Silence'. This sure has made me more aware of the silence. I have to question 'what when I am always in a noisy place ?' Maybe I will have to search for the silence or quietude in noise. And make it mine.