Yesterday I watched movie 'k pax' a nice movie which forces one to re think various assumptions and notions we have about life and family.
lead actor who is a lunatic but thinks he has come from a planet tells a lady in movie that they do not have family at their planet as there is no need of it. I assume that once we advance in material development same may be case on earth e.g. family is a unit is more weaker in developed nations than developing nations.
but then what is difference between someone in your family and someone outside who performs same function for you I mean between parent and someone outside family who takes care of you, between your spouse and someone with you have just a physical relationship.
at this point the lady says 'you worry'. one worries about family. why ? don't ask me
may be it is same thing which our sages called 'moh'
one old lady in our relations was a perfect example of this , first she wanted to get all her sons and daughters married in good families, then she wanted sons for all of them, then wanted good health and job for all grandchildren and then she wanted all them married.
okie this is getting a bit muddled but bottom line despite material and intellectual advances our civilization still needs family.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Jai Ho
UPDATE: HOORAY HOORAY HOORAY! JAI HO GULZAR AND RAHMAN!
(Music that makes you scratch your head and think of Baazi Lagaa from Guru, 00:28 seconds to be precise)
Jai Ho! ^n
Aaja aaja jind shamiyaane ke taley
Aaja zari waale neele aasmaane ke taley
Jai Ho! ^ n
Ratti ratti sachchi maine jaan gawayi hai
Nach Nach koylon pe raat bitaayi hai
Ankhiyon ki neend maine phoonkon se udaa di
Gin gin taarey maine ungli jalayi hai
Eh Aaja aaja jind shamiyaane ke taley
Aaja zari waale neele aasmaane ke taley
Baila! Baila!
(Dance! Dance!)
Ahora conmigo, tu baila para hoy
(Now with me, you dance for today)
Por nuestro dia de movidas,
(For our day of moves,)
los problemas los que sean
(whatever problems may be)
Salud!
(Cheers!)
Baila! Baila!
(Dance! Dance!)
Jai Ho! ^n
Chakh le, haan chakh le, yeh raat shehed hai
Chakh le, haan rakh le,
Dil hai, dil aakhri hadd hai
Kaala kaala kaajal tera
Koi kaala jaadu hai na?
Aaja aaja jind shamiyaane ke taley
Aaja zari waale neele aasmaane ke taley
Jai Ho! ^ n
Kab se haan kab se jo lab pe ruki hai
Keh de, keh de, haan keh de
Ab aankh jhuki hai
Aisi aisi roshan aankhein
Roshan dono heerey (?) hain kya?
Aaja aaja jind shamiyaane ke taley
Aaja zari waale neele aasmaane ke taley
Jai Ho! ^ n
So this is my good deed of the day. The Rahman/Gulzar/Sukhwinder combination delivers again. Was frankly disappointed with Yuvvraaj lyrics; Tu hi to meri dost hai sounds like Gulzar sahib on an exceptionally bad day. Have bugged all the music shops in Bangalore asking them when the SM soundtrack is coming. Apparently it's being imported via a Mr Godot.
Update: Thanks JpnDude for the Spanish section! Below is a loose English translation that murders the original Hindi. Apologies to Gulzar Sahib. Hope to post a link here when I find a good translation online.
Jai Ho =Something between “Hail” and “Hallelujah”
Come, come my Life, under the canopy
Come under the blue brocade sky!
Iota by iota, I have lost my life, in faith
I’ve passed this night dancing on coals
I blew away the sleep that was in my eyes
I counted the stars till my finger burned
Come, come my Life, under the canopy
Come under the blue brocade sky!
Taste it, taste it, this night is honey
Taste it, and keep it,
It’s a heart; the heart is the final limit
You dark black kohl
It’s some black magic, isn’t it?
Come, come my Life, under the canopy
Come under the blue brocade sky!
For how long, how very long
It’s been on your lips
Say it, now say it
The eye is downcast
Such lit up eyes
Are they two lit-up dimaonds(?) ?
Come, come my Life, under the canopy
Come under the blue brocade sky!
(Music that makes you scratch your head and think of Baazi Lagaa from Guru, 00:28 seconds to be precise)
Jai Ho! ^n
Aaja aaja jind shamiyaane ke taley
Aaja zari waale neele aasmaane ke taley
Jai Ho! ^ n
Ratti ratti sachchi maine jaan gawayi hai
Nach Nach koylon pe raat bitaayi hai
Ankhiyon ki neend maine phoonkon se udaa di
Gin gin taarey maine ungli jalayi hai
Eh Aaja aaja jind shamiyaane ke taley
Aaja zari waale neele aasmaane ke taley
Baila! Baila!
(Dance! Dance!)
Ahora conmigo, tu baila para hoy
(Now with me, you dance for today)
Por nuestro dia de movidas,
(For our day of moves,)
los problemas los que sean
(whatever problems may be)
Salud!
(Cheers!)
Baila! Baila!
(Dance! Dance!)
Jai Ho! ^n
Chakh le, haan chakh le, yeh raat shehed hai
Chakh le, haan rakh le,
Dil hai, dil aakhri hadd hai
Kaala kaala kaajal tera
Koi kaala jaadu hai na?
Aaja aaja jind shamiyaane ke taley
Aaja zari waale neele aasmaane ke taley
Jai Ho! ^ n
Kab se haan kab se jo lab pe ruki hai
Keh de, keh de, haan keh de
Ab aankh jhuki hai
Aisi aisi roshan aankhein
Roshan dono heerey (?) hain kya?
Aaja aaja jind shamiyaane ke taley
Aaja zari waale neele aasmaane ke taley
Jai Ho! ^ n
So this is my good deed of the day. The Rahman/Gulzar/Sukhwinder combination delivers again. Was frankly disappointed with Yuvvraaj lyrics; Tu hi to meri dost hai sounds like Gulzar sahib on an exceptionally bad day. Have bugged all the music shops in Bangalore asking them when the SM soundtrack is coming. Apparently it's being imported via a Mr Godot.
Update: Thanks JpnDude for the Spanish section! Below is a loose English translation that murders the original Hindi. Apologies to Gulzar Sahib. Hope to post a link here when I find a good translation online.
Jai Ho =Something between “Hail” and “Hallelujah”
Come, come my Life, under the canopy
Come under the blue brocade sky!
Iota by iota, I have lost my life, in faith
I’ve passed this night dancing on coals
I blew away the sleep that was in my eyes
I counted the stars till my finger burned
Come, come my Life, under the canopy
Come under the blue brocade sky!
Taste it, taste it, this night is honey
Taste it, and keep it,
It’s a heart; the heart is the final limit
You dark black kohl
It’s some black magic, isn’t it?
Come, come my Life, under the canopy
Come under the blue brocade sky!
For how long, how very long
It’s been on your lips
Say it, now say it
The eye is downcast
Such lit up eyes
Are they two lit-up dimaonds(?) ?
Come, come my Life, under the canopy
Come under the blue brocade sky!
Monday, February 16, 2009
वह तोड़ती पत्थर
First line of a poem by I guess sumitranandan pant .
When i first read these line I was too young to understand and anyway I had not read the full poem but when I got to read it a few years back I felt same the way poet would have filled.
A mother working to get food for his baby or sister for fee of her brother and so on.... but still maintaining their dignity in this big bad world. These kind of scenes actually re establish one's belief in indomitable spirit of humans. I have myself been witness to many such scenes and trigger to write this post came because yesterday on one of traffic junction here in Bangalore I saw a tribal Rajastahni woman in her full attire , wearing may be best chunari she possess, and all her bangles selling tissues on traffic junction.
First feeling was that there is a looming danger of drought as she had to come to work so far from Rajasthan, then disgust at politicians and local bureaucrats who would have siphoned the money meant for rural poor's job and in process throwing this woman to unsafe outside world but then a certain sense of assurance came to my mind looking at her confidence and her fighting instinct with life, like taking life from its horns.
A slightly different thing I saw a few months back when I was at Singapore. In one of the food courts at an Indian curry shop some Chinese guys were ordering food and when Indian wife made some mistake in understanding it , the husband ( also an Indian) taunted her in Hindi with words which only Indian husbands are capable of thinking that no one understands Hindi there. I cursed myself to have reached there just then as when eyes of the lady met with me I could see humiliation in her eyes as she knew that I could understand and hear what her husband had just said who was standing shamelessly and unrepentant.
Why Indian marriage is such an unequal institution and why parents prefer heartless arranged bridegroom for their daughters then someone who will care for her emotions
When I visited constituency of Ms Sonia Gandhi just before last general election ( I was on my training with a thermal power plant) . I happened to see a Muslim woman in her traditional gear with her daughter working on a field trying to get some remnants of crop for eating. It was a heart wrenching scene and I wondered why can't Muslim haters and Muslim lovers both see the suffering of this mother child duo. It reminded me of a story of a poor Muslim woman who feeds and spends lavishly on a distant male relative who comes to stay with her in hope of getting her elder daughter married to him but that bastard deflowers her younger daughter and runs away and local clergy punishes all three women on different charges.
But I would end this post on an optimistic note and this is from my childhood memories. It was the year of severe draught and we like many people in are had hired service of water bearers to supply water at our home from local well and this job was done by a Gujjajr woman. She was tall ( 6ft easily) and well built and could become a model if she was born in new york , had a husband who was lanky and suffered from TB due to working in mines, lived in a hovel in a community housing from old mill days of indore near the well. It was scene for my young eyes to see how fast she walked rather literally ran with two full cans of water in both hands, balancing her poise, her ghoonghat, her thick silver anklets, yellow chunari and white angles till shoulder with her confident strides when I ,pampered son of household (5 year old I was ) could not lift the bucket of water for my bath.
She fought with life and succeeded later I learn t she learn t reading and writing and got her daughter who was already past 10 years or so admitted in school. She made a house for herself at outskirts of city and moved there and since then I never heard of or seen her but in my heart I believe she must be doing well but that scene of that tall woman walking fast with those two cans and leaving behind a trail of water is etched in my memory since that time.
When i first read these line I was too young to understand and anyway I had not read the full poem but when I got to read it a few years back I felt same the way poet would have filled.
A mother working to get food for his baby or sister for fee of her brother and so on.... but still maintaining their dignity in this big bad world. These kind of scenes actually re establish one's belief in indomitable spirit of humans. I have myself been witness to many such scenes and trigger to write this post came because yesterday on one of traffic junction here in Bangalore I saw a tribal Rajastahni woman in her full attire , wearing may be best chunari she possess, and all her bangles selling tissues on traffic junction.
First feeling was that there is a looming danger of drought as she had to come to work so far from Rajasthan, then disgust at politicians and local bureaucrats who would have siphoned the money meant for rural poor's job and in process throwing this woman to unsafe outside world but then a certain sense of assurance came to my mind looking at her confidence and her fighting instinct with life, like taking life from its horns.
A slightly different thing I saw a few months back when I was at Singapore. In one of the food courts at an Indian curry shop some Chinese guys were ordering food and when Indian wife made some mistake in understanding it , the husband ( also an Indian) taunted her in Hindi with words which only Indian husbands are capable of thinking that no one understands Hindi there. I cursed myself to have reached there just then as when eyes of the lady met with me I could see humiliation in her eyes as she knew that I could understand and hear what her husband had just said who was standing shamelessly and unrepentant.
Why Indian marriage is such an unequal institution and why parents prefer heartless arranged bridegroom for their daughters then someone who will care for her emotions
When I visited constituency of Ms Sonia Gandhi just before last general election ( I was on my training with a thermal power plant) . I happened to see a Muslim woman in her traditional gear with her daughter working on a field trying to get some remnants of crop for eating. It was a heart wrenching scene and I wondered why can't Muslim haters and Muslim lovers both see the suffering of this mother child duo. It reminded me of a story of a poor Muslim woman who feeds and spends lavishly on a distant male relative who comes to stay with her in hope of getting her elder daughter married to him but that bastard deflowers her younger daughter and runs away and local clergy punishes all three women on different charges.
But I would end this post on an optimistic note and this is from my childhood memories. It was the year of severe draught and we like many people in are had hired service of water bearers to supply water at our home from local well and this job was done by a Gujjajr woman. She was tall ( 6ft easily) and well built and could become a model if she was born in new york , had a husband who was lanky and suffered from TB due to working in mines, lived in a hovel in a community housing from old mill days of indore near the well. It was scene for my young eyes to see how fast she walked rather literally ran with two full cans of water in both hands, balancing her poise, her ghoonghat, her thick silver anklets, yellow chunari and white angles till shoulder with her confident strides when I ,pampered son of household (5 year old I was ) could not lift the bucket of water for my bath.
She fought with life and succeeded later I learn t she learn t reading and writing and got her daughter who was already past 10 years or so admitted in school. She made a house for herself at outskirts of city and moved there and since then I never heard of or seen her but in my heart I believe she must be doing well but that scene of that tall woman walking fast with those two cans and leaving behind a trail of water is etched in my memory since that time.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
House of People aka Loksabha aka aristocracy
I was wondering over recent trend of making sons and wives of political leaders contest elections and felt that almost all parties across India are doing this and so I decided to check and results are startling some 17 MPs died in this Loksabha, four of the seats are still vacant in other 13 except 3 seats where CPI(M) won ( two in bengal and one in kerala) all other parties BJP, congress, SP, Shivsena, JMM, JD (U),TDP put sons or wives of deceased leader as candidate and barring 2/10 in 8 cases they won also.
muzaffarnagar up SP empty
hathras up bjp empty
chikmagalur karnataka bjp empty
thane maharashta SS son of late MP Paranjape his opponent was son of NCP minister
betul mp bjp son of late mp vijay khandelwal
bidar karnataka bjp Basavaraj Arya, son of Ramachandra Veerappa
mumbi nw maharashta congres priya dutt, daughter of sunil dutt
trivendrum kerala cpim P raveeendran
asnasol bengal cpim bangsagopal chowdhry
sangli maharashta congress prateek patil, son of veerendra patil
malda bengal congree abu hasem khan chowdhry, brother of abdul gani khan chowdhry
katwa bengal cpim ayesh mondal outsider
bobbilli AP TDP K naiduson of late MP, congress nominated wife of a mnister
bikramganj bihar jd u mina devi wife of deceased mp
balia up SP son of late PM chnadrashekhar BSP candidate was sone of a minister
jamshedpur Jharkhand JMM punam mahto wife of late MP
tehri gahdwal UttaranchalBJP Late MP (who was former king and MP since 1957) his son lost. Agaisnt him was congress candidate son of former CM
So this partly explains why political parties find it difficult to get workers when an average worker has no hope of getting ticket ( most of these MPs were contesting election since 5-6 times) and even if old men die their sons and wives take the mantle then what remains for the worker.
At independence congress leaders were vociferous in their demand for abolishing princely states but our democracy has created new princes in just a time of 60 years. At least those princes had a moral duty towards their subjects while these new princes are brazen power mongers.
This loksabha had one more distinction almost 40 MPs resigned in five years while another 27 were expelled so in all 84 MPs were not member any more. this almost 15% of total strength which shows how much importance party gives to candidate selection for Loksabha. even if one is old, of questionable reputation ,has criminal antecedents or an eye on local state politics he is chose for loksabha because he can win and add to that magic number of 272.
muzaffarnagar up SP empty
hathras up bjp empty
chikmagalur karnataka bjp empty
thane maharashta SS son of late MP Paranjape his opponent was son of NCP minister
betul mp bjp son of late mp vijay khandelwal
bidar karnataka bjp Basavaraj Arya, son of Ramachandra Veerappa
mumbi nw maharashta congres priya dutt, daughter of sunil dutt
trivendrum kerala cpim P raveeendran
asnasol bengal cpim bangsagopal chowdhry
sangli maharashta congress prateek patil, son of veerendra patil
malda bengal congree abu hasem khan chowdhry, brother of abdul gani khan chowdhry
katwa bengal cpim ayesh mondal outsider
bobbilli AP TDP K naiduson of late MP, congress nominated wife of a mnister
bikramganj bihar jd u mina devi wife of deceased mp
balia up SP son of late PM chnadrashekhar BSP candidate was sone of a minister
jamshedpur Jharkhand JMM punam mahto wife of late MP
tehri gahdwal UttaranchalBJP Late MP (who was former king and MP since 1957) his son lost. Agaisnt him was congress candidate son of former CM
So this partly explains why political parties find it difficult to get workers when an average worker has no hope of getting ticket ( most of these MPs were contesting election since 5-6 times) and even if old men die their sons and wives take the mantle then what remains for the worker.
At independence congress leaders were vociferous in their demand for abolishing princely states but our democracy has created new princes in just a time of 60 years. At least those princes had a moral duty towards their subjects while these new princes are brazen power mongers.
This loksabha had one more distinction almost 40 MPs resigned in five years while another 27 were expelled so in all 84 MPs were not member any more. this almost 15% of total strength which shows how much importance party gives to candidate selection for Loksabha. even if one is old, of questionable reputation ,has criminal antecedents or an eye on local state politics he is chose for loksabha because he can win and add to that magic number of 272.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
singapora !!
“However fool be a person who has travelled is better than the fool who has been kept at home”
Departure
Though I have widely travelled in various corners of India, both to big and small places and this was my first visit abroad.
India is in transition and clearly we have to bear some pains for this, so we reached airport 3 hours before scheduled departure. Recent terrorist attacks meant that security checks were multiple and cumbersome. A faulty PPP agreement which resulted scaling down of project later meant that airport has less number of aerobridges and flying on a low cost flight we could not get any.
India Airlines played to its reputation with grumpy cabin crew and horrible food.
When plane was about to touch shore of Singapore one could see vast gold course from air. I wondered if Singapore is a golf loving nation, it was only later I came to know that being a small island they have to plan and manage everything efficiently in a small space.
Arrival
Procedures at Singapore airport were fast and one could clearly see the cost that terrorism imposes on us. While taking a SIM, or Metro pass or going to any other place no unnecessarily security checks and whenever there were they were swift without inconveniencing passenger. People who think that terrorism does not affect them should rethink, because its indirect cost on economy in increased security and consequent decrease in productivity are enormous.
One does not face touts and aggressive taxi drivers as is common at all Indian airports. Immigration procedures are fast and one can get detailed map as per one’s requirement – tourism, official, any other at airport itself. This is something we can do in India without costing much and without needing a systematic rehaul. At Delhi I once did find once such map but its scale was so big to make it useless for pedestrian travel in city.
Roads were fairly empty because of Sunday and one could see an occasional jogger or cyclist on the side of road on the tracks meant for same, a sight difficult to find in India as unplanned construction makes it impossible to make any such civic amenities and to protect it from encroachers for long is even more difficult.
Orderliness in traffic also stems from uniformity of vehicles. Even heavy vehicles seem to follow a pattern not like India where vehicles with all shapes and sizes ply on road merrily and make traffic management difficult lane as well as speed wise.
Stay
Next stop was YMCA hotel. It was a surprise much better and cleaner than Mumbai YMCA which I had stayed just a couple of months ago. It can be country difference I guess.
Travel, stay next comes food. No army can march empty stomach so we reached to place next to us i.e. Singapore Plaza (one of the largest mall in Singapore). One was spoilt for choice but alas nothing for vegetarians beyond fired rice (it is a different matter that we discovered a SUBWAY joint at same place later. SUBWAY came to our rescue at many places and my friends in Malaysia & Dubai also vouched for it. Kudos to SUBWAY).
Little India
But by evening we had discovered Little India and that was a discovery. The place lives to its name though we soon discovered that little dark skinned men roaming streets are not south Indians but Bangladeshis. This place is ‘Little India’ in true sense. Traffic works in Indian style, no Singapore orderliness. Shops blare out music and are garishly painted. Mustafa occupied pride of the place and a central attraction like this can always be used to develop stand alone tourist attractions.
MRTS
A word about MRTS system will not be out of place here. Basically I want to praise Delhi Metro here for being something in India which is pretty close to its developed country counterparts in various respects. Announcements in train going to little India were also in Tamil. A welcome relief that this city does not hate its multilinguism after facing horrible discrimination against non local languages in Karnataka and Maharashtra.
Fooling around
Getting food near office was surprisingly not that difficult. One could go to this ‘Kaya Toast’ outlet for breakfast. There was Mosburger store which served nice vegan burgers also and then there was this large ‘Kopi tram’ ( Malay for ‘food court’) which had cuisines of almost all south east Asian countries with their respective aromas present. The vegetarian join which we frequented was something should be copied in India. This fellow had rice/noodles of various kinds as base and then offered vegetarian dishes as per your liking as topping with drinks. Due to standardization operation was efficient and inventory manageable. Later I found such joints in various food courts across Singapore so it does make a viable business proposition.
Street market at Tao Paoh MRT ( near our office) was another site. It had preserved old buildings but this did not mean a clutter on roads or inconvenience to passengers. Heritage market need not be crowded. Public library near MRT was another worthy thing to emulate. We visited only on our last day but as our guide told us there are such libraries in every sector, they are updated frequently, automated book renewal, issue and return system works to perfection.
“FINE” country
Respect for law and orderliness in public life was apparent as how everyone from old to young, rich to poor followed traffic rules religiously. But there is another secret behind it as our guide explained that why Singapore is known as “fine” county. There are heavy fines for some thousand crimes what constitute an unacceptable public behavior like spitting, eating in MRT, not flushing public toilets, smoking in no smoking areas and jumping the light. A detailed national identity card number system means you will get fine details no matter where the crime was committed at your home or office and there are no exceptions to rule. No one is any minister, bureaucrat or cop’s brother or friend.
Shopping and excursions
On our first weekend I had an opportunity to go to Singapore Expo centre for CFA exam and one needs to see the scale to believe it. It is an exhibition cum convention sector and huge air conditioned halls without a supporting pillar has been created. This CFA exam also reinforced the idea that this century is India. More than 90% participants were India, more so because it is banned in India. Imagine the kind of money Singapore economy is making because of judicial delays and red tape in higher education in India.
Mention of mall at City MRT will not be out of place here which consists of shops as one comes out of MRT towards main road. Compare this with shops we have at local stations in Mumbai and one can say that no space is small if judiciously used. China Street and Bougies street had some good bargains and foreigners were obviously amazed at handicraft items. Being an Indian we were not that crazy and were always looking for a good bargain which we found also but at last a visit to Mustafa was to be made much against our earlier insistence that we will not go for Indian style shopping here. Mustafa was also offering best currency exchange rates so clearly a textbook example of economies of scale.
INA Memorial & Sea Front
I had read somewhere about INA memorial in Singapore but none of the tourism brochures mentioned it and when I reached there near esplanade I discovered the reason why. Though just in front of Singapore parliament and near high court and occupying same premises as their own national martyr monument ‘Cenotaph’ it was dimly lit and no one seemed to bother about it. For that matter their own national memorial was also not in a better condition. Some obviously drunk men were chatting at its footsteps. No wonder why everywhere one sees huge ads of join Singapore army as with march of progress bonds of nationalism do weaken more so in city state which is a cultural melting pot and without a history that goes very long.
But sea front has been developed in a nice venue for dance and drama. There was a group performing Christmas songs on sea front and in adjoining esplanade concert and drams were going on. Backdrop of sea ensured relief from suffocating humid tropical environment and a great view also. Why cannot we do similar thing in Mumbai or Calcutta is really puzzling. Any new reclaimed land in Mumbai has to be filled by skyscrapers without paying attention to cultural needs of city.
A walk across Orchard road, main Commercial Street of Singapore showed why this nations is called prosperous. It seems eating out and shopping are the two main occupations of residents and one can see both places filled at all times of day throughout week. Weakened Indian rupee meant that there was not arbitrage in electronic items even in specialized mall recommended on tourist websites but at least one could take pride that SP road in Bangalore also offers similar variety though without gleam and sheen
Sentosa la la la
Last day was reserved for Sentosa Island and it lived to its reputation of priced high and nothing really to see. Children might enjoy it but for grownups Dolphin show, underwater & Songs of the sea laser show was only attraction. Beaches were very poor and 4D movie was a marginal improvement over what one gets to see in India. I think wonderla in Bangalore gives a better value for money. After every attraction exit was via a shopping space – so they do not want to leave a single opportunity to entice tourists. There was picture and live images show of Singapore’s history (officially sanitized – no bad points or turbulence was shown). All four races i.e. Malay, Chinese, Indian and European were represented. Underwater world was upto expectations but Laser show deserves to be mentioned. Laser show with backdrop of sea menat no background issue and calm see solved problem of wind to large extent. It could be combined with gas fires and fountains as sea water is readily available – real crafty people. Scarcity of space means that one can see container ships being loaded and cranes hauling them while commuting in buses at the island.
Physically all Singapore residents seem to be fit and reason in apart could be their protein rich fibrous diet free of oil and fats. In fact at one of the MRT subways there was large space and as against India or west where all kind of unsocial elements will come and occupy it there were young boys and girls practicing every imaginable kind of dance routine, acrobatics and skating.
Arrival
Once again an early morning flight with some initial apprehensions about luggage exceeding limit (almost everyone had done extensive shopping , more so because all of us had liquidity due to receipt of stipend in the end), and failed link at Indian airlines counter for more than an hour we finally arrived safe and sound in motherland once again in company of even more grumpier cabin crew ( these time two middle aged gentleman)
Departure
Though I have widely travelled in various corners of India, both to big and small places and this was my first visit abroad.
India is in transition and clearly we have to bear some pains for this, so we reached airport 3 hours before scheduled departure. Recent terrorist attacks meant that security checks were multiple and cumbersome. A faulty PPP agreement which resulted scaling down of project later meant that airport has less number of aerobridges and flying on a low cost flight we could not get any.
India Airlines played to its reputation with grumpy cabin crew and horrible food.
When plane was about to touch shore of Singapore one could see vast gold course from air. I wondered if Singapore is a golf loving nation, it was only later I came to know that being a small island they have to plan and manage everything efficiently in a small space.
Arrival
Procedures at Singapore airport were fast and one could clearly see the cost that terrorism imposes on us. While taking a SIM, or Metro pass or going to any other place no unnecessarily security checks and whenever there were they were swift without inconveniencing passenger. People who think that terrorism does not affect them should rethink, because its indirect cost on economy in increased security and consequent decrease in productivity are enormous.
One does not face touts and aggressive taxi drivers as is common at all Indian airports. Immigration procedures are fast and one can get detailed map as per one’s requirement – tourism, official, any other at airport itself. This is something we can do in India without costing much and without needing a systematic rehaul. At Delhi I once did find once such map but its scale was so big to make it useless for pedestrian travel in city.
Roads were fairly empty because of Sunday and one could see an occasional jogger or cyclist on the side of road on the tracks meant for same, a sight difficult to find in India as unplanned construction makes it impossible to make any such civic amenities and to protect it from encroachers for long is even more difficult.
Orderliness in traffic also stems from uniformity of vehicles. Even heavy vehicles seem to follow a pattern not like India where vehicles with all shapes and sizes ply on road merrily and make traffic management difficult lane as well as speed wise.
Stay
Next stop was YMCA hotel. It was a surprise much better and cleaner than Mumbai YMCA which I had stayed just a couple of months ago. It can be country difference I guess.
Travel, stay next comes food. No army can march empty stomach so we reached to place next to us i.e. Singapore Plaza (one of the largest mall in Singapore). One was spoilt for choice but alas nothing for vegetarians beyond fired rice (it is a different matter that we discovered a SUBWAY joint at same place later. SUBWAY came to our rescue at many places and my friends in Malaysia & Dubai also vouched for it. Kudos to SUBWAY).
Little India
But by evening we had discovered Little India and that was a discovery. The place lives to its name though we soon discovered that little dark skinned men roaming streets are not south Indians but Bangladeshis. This place is ‘Little India’ in true sense. Traffic works in Indian style, no Singapore orderliness. Shops blare out music and are garishly painted. Mustafa occupied pride of the place and a central attraction like this can always be used to develop stand alone tourist attractions.
MRTS
A word about MRTS system will not be out of place here. Basically I want to praise Delhi Metro here for being something in India which is pretty close to its developed country counterparts in various respects. Announcements in train going to little India were also in Tamil. A welcome relief that this city does not hate its multilinguism after facing horrible discrimination against non local languages in Karnataka and Maharashtra.
Fooling around
Getting food near office was surprisingly not that difficult. One could go to this ‘Kaya Toast’ outlet for breakfast. There was Mosburger store which served nice vegan burgers also and then there was this large ‘Kopi tram’ ( Malay for ‘food court’) which had cuisines of almost all south east Asian countries with their respective aromas present. The vegetarian join which we frequented was something should be copied in India. This fellow had rice/noodles of various kinds as base and then offered vegetarian dishes as per your liking as topping with drinks. Due to standardization operation was efficient and inventory manageable. Later I found such joints in various food courts across Singapore so it does make a viable business proposition.
Street market at Tao Paoh MRT ( near our office) was another site. It had preserved old buildings but this did not mean a clutter on roads or inconvenience to passengers. Heritage market need not be crowded. Public library near MRT was another worthy thing to emulate. We visited only on our last day but as our guide told us there are such libraries in every sector, they are updated frequently, automated book renewal, issue and return system works to perfection.
“FINE” country
Respect for law and orderliness in public life was apparent as how everyone from old to young, rich to poor followed traffic rules religiously. But there is another secret behind it as our guide explained that why Singapore is known as “fine” county. There are heavy fines for some thousand crimes what constitute an unacceptable public behavior like spitting, eating in MRT, not flushing public toilets, smoking in no smoking areas and jumping the light. A detailed national identity card number system means you will get fine details no matter where the crime was committed at your home or office and there are no exceptions to rule. No one is any minister, bureaucrat or cop’s brother or friend.
Shopping and excursions
On our first weekend I had an opportunity to go to Singapore Expo centre for CFA exam and one needs to see the scale to believe it. It is an exhibition cum convention sector and huge air conditioned halls without a supporting pillar has been created. This CFA exam also reinforced the idea that this century is India. More than 90% participants were India, more so because it is banned in India. Imagine the kind of money Singapore economy is making because of judicial delays and red tape in higher education in India.
Mention of mall at City MRT will not be out of place here which consists of shops as one comes out of MRT towards main road. Compare this with shops we have at local stations in Mumbai and one can say that no space is small if judiciously used. China Street and Bougies street had some good bargains and foreigners were obviously amazed at handicraft items. Being an Indian we were not that crazy and were always looking for a good bargain which we found also but at last a visit to Mustafa was to be made much against our earlier insistence that we will not go for Indian style shopping here. Mustafa was also offering best currency exchange rates so clearly a textbook example of economies of scale.
INA Memorial & Sea Front
I had read somewhere about INA memorial in Singapore but none of the tourism brochures mentioned it and when I reached there near esplanade I discovered the reason why. Though just in front of Singapore parliament and near high court and occupying same premises as their own national martyr monument ‘Cenotaph’ it was dimly lit and no one seemed to bother about it. For that matter their own national memorial was also not in a better condition. Some obviously drunk men were chatting at its footsteps. No wonder why everywhere one sees huge ads of join Singapore army as with march of progress bonds of nationalism do weaken more so in city state which is a cultural melting pot and without a history that goes very long.
But sea front has been developed in a nice venue for dance and drama. There was a group performing Christmas songs on sea front and in adjoining esplanade concert and drams were going on. Backdrop of sea ensured relief from suffocating humid tropical environment and a great view also. Why cannot we do similar thing in Mumbai or Calcutta is really puzzling. Any new reclaimed land in Mumbai has to be filled by skyscrapers without paying attention to cultural needs of city.
A walk across Orchard road, main Commercial Street of Singapore showed why this nations is called prosperous. It seems eating out and shopping are the two main occupations of residents and one can see both places filled at all times of day throughout week. Weakened Indian rupee meant that there was not arbitrage in electronic items even in specialized mall recommended on tourist websites but at least one could take pride that SP road in Bangalore also offers similar variety though without gleam and sheen
Sentosa la la la
Last day was reserved for Sentosa Island and it lived to its reputation of priced high and nothing really to see. Children might enjoy it but for grownups Dolphin show, underwater & Songs of the sea laser show was only attraction. Beaches were very poor and 4D movie was a marginal improvement over what one gets to see in India. I think wonderla in Bangalore gives a better value for money. After every attraction exit was via a shopping space – so they do not want to leave a single opportunity to entice tourists. There was picture and live images show of Singapore’s history (officially sanitized – no bad points or turbulence was shown). All four races i.e. Malay, Chinese, Indian and European were represented. Underwater world was upto expectations but Laser show deserves to be mentioned. Laser show with backdrop of sea menat no background issue and calm see solved problem of wind to large extent. It could be combined with gas fires and fountains as sea water is readily available – real crafty people. Scarcity of space means that one can see container ships being loaded and cranes hauling them while commuting in buses at the island.
Physically all Singapore residents seem to be fit and reason in apart could be their protein rich fibrous diet free of oil and fats. In fact at one of the MRT subways there was large space and as against India or west where all kind of unsocial elements will come and occupy it there were young boys and girls practicing every imaginable kind of dance routine, acrobatics and skating.
Arrival
Once again an early morning flight with some initial apprehensions about luggage exceeding limit (almost everyone had done extensive shopping , more so because all of us had liquidity due to receipt of stipend in the end), and failed link at Indian airlines counter for more than an hour we finally arrived safe and sound in motherland once again in company of even more grumpier cabin crew ( these time two middle aged gentleman)
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Obama obama ...
So Newspapers and news websites lose a significant portion of their news feed today. Obama becomes president and becomes convincingly. My few cents
1. I watched McCain on CNN. He was composed and he is not rhetorical like Obama.Wish India had such politicians.
2. he thanked his family and wife ,a very uncommon thing in India everyone thanks either Sonia Gandhi or their party leader
I guess Westminster model has failed us.It has led to fragmented polity and Prime minister is changed based on whether local candidate i of my caste or my drainage is working or not. All big countries in world USA, Russia, China, Brazil, Australia, France and Germany have a presidential system. Only in a highly homogeneous society like UK or Canada or small countries parliamentary system can work.It is time we get rid of romantic notions about parliamentary system and brace ourselves for a new system.
3. On TV people were seen crying in crowds.One of my friend remarked we can't feel this thing I said why you should you are not an American. Then he said "No, I mean in India whoever becomes I don't feel any emotion". This is why we need presidential system. This will make last man in street a direct participant in the process.Significant numerical communities but in effect disenfranchised like Muslims will get a new voice in such a system.
In India I guess people would have cried in similar way when Janata party came to power in 1977 and I saw some die hard nationalists like my grandpa weeping with joy when Atalji formed first 13 day government. But it has been a dream gone sour.Now whether at local, national or state level there is little to differentiate between BJP and congress
4. People are are unduly overjoyed at Obama win without realizing that he is sworn enemy of outsourcing, will twist India's arm on Kashmir and at least will affect salaries and jobs of us MBA's but media is still communist liberal so a sensible chap like McCain is equated with Bush and Obama is treated as new deal while essentially he is only a black JF Kennedy.
1. I watched McCain on CNN. He was composed and he is not rhetorical like Obama.Wish India had such politicians.
2. he thanked his family and wife ,a very uncommon thing in India everyone thanks either Sonia Gandhi or their party leader
I guess Westminster model has failed us.It has led to fragmented polity and Prime minister is changed based on whether local candidate i of my caste or my drainage is working or not. All big countries in world USA, Russia, China, Brazil, Australia, France and Germany have a presidential system. Only in a highly homogeneous society like UK or Canada or small countries parliamentary system can work.It is time we get rid of romantic notions about parliamentary system and brace ourselves for a new system.
3. On TV people were seen crying in crowds.One of my friend remarked we can't feel this thing I said why you should you are not an American. Then he said "No, I mean in India whoever becomes I don't feel any emotion". This is why we need presidential system. This will make last man in street a direct participant in the process.Significant numerical communities but in effect disenfranchised like Muslims will get a new voice in such a system.
In India I guess people would have cried in similar way when Janata party came to power in 1977 and I saw some die hard nationalists like my grandpa weeping with joy when Atalji formed first 13 day government. But it has been a dream gone sour.Now whether at local, national or state level there is little to differentiate between BJP and congress
4. People are are unduly overjoyed at Obama win without realizing that he is sworn enemy of outsourcing, will twist India's arm on Kashmir and at least will affect salaries and jobs of us MBA's but media is still communist liberal so a sensible chap like McCain is equated with Bush and Obama is treated as new deal while essentially he is only a black JF Kennedy.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
All good things come to an end
http://www.irctc.co.in/Inst_Eticket_Passengers.html
Now IRCTC has done away with ID card requirement at the time of booking. In ideal markets this is desirable as it is inconvenient to put those details but in a market plagued with scarcity this will help black marketeers and commission agents who had been forced out due to e reservation.
Now IRCTC has done away with ID card requirement at the time of booking. In ideal markets this is desirable as it is inconvenient to put those details but in a market plagued with scarcity this will help black marketeers and commission agents who had been forced out due to e reservation.
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