BEING INDIAN WITH CHANGING TIMES

Residing in the south of India, we were exposed to a new entrant two years ago in the form of a newspaper. We were soon lured and anticipating novelty combined with low price into subscribing to this age old, established paper. After that, our days changed. We seemed to have a lot to 'debate', as our television hosts love to say.

First of all, an English paper, whether an answer paper for an exam or the daily diet of news, will lose a lot of marks for wrong spelling. So when every page has horrible errors, I leniently cut only 25 marks.

Now let's see from where this paper reaches us. The paper states that it is Coimbatore edition, the exact city where I reside in. What does that mean? I want to hear more about my city and state. But what do I get to read.? Only a rape, murder, accident or chain snatching and an occasional genuine researched article. Unfortunately their ads to promote this new paper turned out to be more creative than the content. Now I have to cut marks for poor choice of content. Maybe 30, as at least the state of Tamilnadu gets a better mention.

There are certain things that I abhor in this daily.

The first one being, the only major headlines(at an eye-catching, top spot with a font size 14 !) in 'global' page will invariably be the love life of some famous or sometimes obscure person from film or television media in a globe which usually has only America in it. It sometimes carries disgusting quotes like 'some lame x would like to sleep with some y, an lmn singer is back with her xyz boyfriend'. Is being obsessive about boyfriends and girlfriends called 'being in tune with the times'?

Then to grind this sort of 'being modern' into the reader, there is another boxed section with a lot more of global private life. For this trash in the main paper, I would give negative marks but that is not usually permitted. So let's leave marking out for this.

There is serious political stuff in its insides if you love to read totally subjective views written  in the name of reporting. For example, During poll campaign for Gujarat elections, the editorial frantically turned into an advisory board  for the Congress party on how to counter the Modi juggernaut. They seem to have taken the 'scion' under their wing, protecting him when he is criticized. Another thing is that, sometimes reporters use vile language to address people who they do not like, which I see as being arrogant.  For all the above issues I will deduct 25.

The paper conveniently sources articles from the Internet and fills in its supplements and Sunday pages. Never mind if it is not relevant or is culturally irrelevant to us ordinary Indians. There are porn actors quotes, diet advice which has fruits like grapefruit,(how many people know what this is? ), kiwis in it.  Is this a paper brought out in India, for Indians you wonder. All through the 2 years, I may have  seen only a countable number of authentic advice given by indigenous professionals, as if there is a dearth of such people in our country. For this 'easy way out' attitude, I will have to cut remaining 20 marks.

To this null score,  I have to add a positive and that is peace of mind I now have after switching to another daily which thankfully is by indians and for Indians like me. I do not even miss the debates, in fact we begin the day with a clear head! 

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.