Set your House in order

Dear lawmakers,

              

     WE voted you to power and WE gave you the opportunity to be a part of our Parliament- the temple of democracy, because we trusted you and believed that you would deliver on the promises you made to us. We, the gullible public are today watching you holding the country’s economic and social progress to ransom by your mulish conduct, whichever side of the fence you are on.

     You swear by the Constitution and sing hosannas to democracy at the drop of a hat, but the fracas and filibuster we see in the Parliament day after day tell us a different story. What is the message you are sending out to the world that is watching us when we are on the cusp of an economic surge?

     Spar, if you have to, but please do so over issues that relate to the citizens of the country and not over trivial personal and political rivalries. WE empowered you to fight for a better quality of life for us and not to treat us to this unedifying spectacle on a daily basis, wasting the country’s time and money.  

     Session after parliament session has been frittered away waging wars over who is more corrupt than the other or fighting ego battles over matters that have nothing to do with the common man’s problems.

     The privileges you enjoy as parliamentarians are phenomenal, and as average citizens of the country we neither get to live in the palatial bungalows of Lutyens’ Delhi nor do we have access to free business class tickets (including an attendant), free Railway tickets for life, free phone calls, free electricity, pension (even if the House is dissolved in 13 days like the Vajpayee government), unlimited quantity of petrol/diesel in the name of security, or other subsidies like you do.


     You owe all of the above to us because WE facilitated your entry into the hallowed precincts of Parliament. We have always wondered if other countries are as charitable towards their Parliamentarians!

     We work hard to pay for each of the above necessities for ourselves. If we abscond from work or walkout from office after a skirmish with the boss, we don’t get paid for the lost day, like you or Sachin Tendulkar or Rekha do. We would either get fired or lose our salaries or both!

     We are a tolerant citizenry and have survived corruption and chicanery for over six decades. Our destiny is in your hands for now, but in another 4 years, we will determine your future. Please spare a thought for the poor, downtrodden and underprivileged who stand to lose heavily from your intransigence.

     Please understand the language of conciliation and rapprochement in the larger interest of the nation’s welfare.

                                                                        

                                                                          Distraught citizens.

Latha Raghuram

    

  

    

    

    

    

The RaGa saga

     Is there such a paucity of talent or intelligence in our population that we are so eager to foist the crown on a reluctant prince just because he has a certain lineage? Is pedigree, heredity or ancestry vital to lead a nation or a political party?

     Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown. However, in this context, the probable wearer fled the scene well before the coronation.

    

     Our fixation for a name or dynasty is legendary. Exceptional genes are entitled to extraordinary privileges in our country. You could be absconding from your chair for two months and continue introspecting or meditating (chintan-manan in native parlance) in undisclosed locations or you could be pondering over strategies to stage a comeback. Deciding the duration of your clandestine vacation is your birthright.

     You could be flying kites in Laos, windsurfing in the Pacific, chasing butterflies in Peru or fishing in Myanmar.You could still return and find your seat unoccupied, get a hero’s welcome for re-surfacing after a mysterious sabbatical and even have your cohorts celebrating with firecrackers and laddus. An elevation to a higher job, is the coveted trophy for making a stealthy exit and a furtive homecoming. Your outstanding genes bequeathed to you by your illustrious forefathers ensure that you are unaccountable to the voters, even if you choose to play truant. 

     If you are work-weary or bored of playing hide and seek, you could dabble in theatrics and tear up drafts of ordinances, assert that poverty is a state of mind, recommend 12 subsidized gas cylinders for the great Indian housewife, tell industrialists that your nation is a beehive, or make a gallant speech in Parliament about Kalavathi and other impoverished villagers in Vidarbha and forget about their anguish soon after.

     You could also make an offhand remark about India being a computer where your political party is the default program or seek refuge in astronomy by proclaiming that Dalits need the escape velocity of Jupiter to achieve success.. You could ramble incoherently, look forlorn, confused or bewildered and still have a mammoth fan following, worthy of a rockstar.

    Three cheers to the young scion for pulling off a vanishing act with such elan, he could give PC Sorcar a run for his magical money. 

    

      

BAGRU - The textile hub

     Living in Bangalore, the "Silicon valley" of India, it is hard to imagine that, hundreds of miles away, nestling in the plains of interior Rajasthan, there is a small dusty, fascinating hamlet, Bagru, from where some of India’s finest textiles are churned out, using wholly native methods of dyeing, printing and processing.

     In the present day and age of high tech and digitized printing techniques, the practice of using vegetable dyes for dyeing and printing sounds outmoded.  But thanks to the efforts of the Chhippa community that has perfected the skill over the last three hundred years, the art is vibrantly alive and the town of Bagru bustles with activity.

     Jaitex art is a leading  manufacturer of hand block printed fabrics in Bagru. The employees at the factory are highly dexterous craftsmen  from the surrounding villages.Their unswerving loyalty and dedication to the profession is commendable. They create a stunning range of fabrics dyed in alluring earth tones, printed with ethnic images and motifs.

      I attended a one-day hand block printing workshop in their factory, organized at very short notice at the behest of Shri.Udit Sethia. Despite his busy schedule, he made every effort to make it an unforgettable experience for me.

     The workshop was as educative as it was awe-inspiring. The participants are permitted the use of wooden blocks and colours of their choice on fabric provided by the factory. At the end of an extensive procedure of washing, drying, printing and boiling, using natural, and eco-friendly herbal extracts, the result was a yard of fabric that had transformed like sheer magic.

                                                           The beautiful people 

    

     I was captivated by the humility, simplicity and courtesy shown by every member of the staff during my short stay at the factory. Mr. Ratan and Mr. Lala are two committed employees, whose professional expertise is an asset to the unit.

     Rajasthan is a key destination on India’s tourist map and Bagru is a powerhouse of textiles. The workshop promotes tourism in a novel way by showcasing a traditional art form.

     Shri.Udit Sethia and Shri.Hemant Sethia are genuine ambassadors who have made a conscientious effort to preserve and perpetuate an ancient craft.

    

 

Adaptations

                                                                              

      Manjunath is Bangalore’s quintessential local lad. He could be the boy next door, the milkman, auto driver, newspaper boy, executive or bank employee.  He is omnipresent in Karnataka’s landscape just as Unni is in Kerala, Murugan in Tamilnadu or Srinivas in Andhra. He is proficient in Kanglish, Bangalore’s lingua franca - a quaint melange of English and Kannada.

      Manjunath greets a fellow Bangalorean, with an opening question, “Ootta aayta or tindi aayta or coffee aaytaa”, irrespective of the time of the day. The reply he routinely hears is - “Eega jeshtu” which means he just finished oottaa  (lunch) or tindi (breakfast /snacks) or coffee.  

     His second question in all probability is, “What is your native saar”?

     Next question could well be, “Saar, own housaa, rented housaa”?

     I have never quite understood why Manjunath refers to a non-vegetarian restaurant as a "Miltry Otlu" ( Military hotel ) and a vegetarian restaurant as  a “darshini or Udupi”.

     Simp-simply, sep-separate and sing-single are expressions he translates from Kannada to English. He thinks Kannada and repeats the expression in English, to emphasize the effect.

     At times he laments about the "one to dabal" (double) price of a "gyaas-silendru", (gas cylinder) if bought in black.

     He describes a gruesome accident as “spaattu”. He means the victim died on the spot!

     When he claims he has no "habits", he actually means he is a teetotaller.

      Full marks in a Maths paper is “out of outtu” (100 out of 100), a meter is a "meettru", a scooter is a "scoottru", a dual sim mobile phone is a "dabal simmu", a branded product is "virginallu", a spurious product is"locallu" and a good looking girl, a " figurru".

     Languages have a novel way of adapting themselves to the demands of  the local milieu.

     Kanglish is a charming dialect, sometimes incomprehensible for the English speaking, non-Kannadiga populace of Bangalore.

Meeeeooooow

                                                      

      There are two categories of people in this world - those who love cats and those who loathe cats. The division is so stark that there is no middle ground and there can be no conversion or migration from one faith to the other.

     I belong to the former faith, the minority, and thoroughly revel in idiosyncrasies of the feline kind.   

     I am 16 cats old, yet can never claim I owned them. Every cat lover understands that one can never own cats as they consent to the luxury of domesticity on their own terms. They are free spirits and don’t like to be restricted like canines.

     There’s always a dog-cat comparison in the pet-world and one senses pride when a cat lover tells a dog lover that cats don’t need toilet training and that they perform the feat with remarkable flair. The cat lover would also smugly assert that a cat is clean and loves grooming itself. On the contrary, you can spend an hour bathing a dog and grooming it and he can roll in the mud soon after, much to the owner’s chagrin.

    Dogs wolf down food while cats dine with decorum, except that, when eating fish, cats forget all about etiquette. A dog’s welcome for the master is always boisterous, even if returning home after a half hour walk. But a cat can be placid and ignore you even if you are returning from a vacation. At best, he might just open his eyes from his snooze and stretch his limbs, which is almost like saying, “Oh, so it’s you” !

     Kitten watching is a delightful pastime but not if you are studying or engaging in serious concentration. They are simply enticing clowns that scamper around with extraordinary ease and fervour, chasing nothing, raising their backs, puffing up their tails or just frolicking with little bits of paper or strings or anything that moves.

     Cats strike a variety of adorable poses and each pose is a reflection of the mood. They can climb heights with ease and soft land gracefully on their four feet. A cat’s purr is the most peaceful sound of happiness and contentment.

     Bangalore is home to a sizeable population of cat lovers, as was evident in the 3rd International Cat Show held here recently. These were among the 80 stunningly beautiful cats, of all sizes, shapes and breeds at the show.

      

Enfant terrible

     Dear Mr. Anchor,   

     You are the self appointed spokesperson of one billion Indians because you claim to represent them and ask questions on their behalf. It is another matter that you don't listen to the answers.

     You love your voice, your face, your TV channel and your self-declared, self-assessed, self-inflated TRP ratings.You choose your guests carefully, introduce them with panache, and over run them with questions. When they begin to reply, you ask more questions, quote from archives, wave a sheaf of papers, inundate them with statistics and overpower them to such an extent that they throw up their arms in despair. You assume the role of the nation’s conscience-keeper and even pressurize them to retract their statements, apologize or resign from their posts for their offences.

     We don’t need a Lokpal/ombudsman when you are perpetually on the prowl. Politicians shudder and spokespersons wince when you remind them of their past and present transgressions. Sometimes when your guest does not show up, you point to the empty chair, just to rub it in that a coward shied away from the debate.

     You frequently proclaim that yours is an open debate, but pray tell me, Mr. Anchor, from which angle is it open? You could instead call it a closed debate where right of admission is reserved for you alone.   

     You pulled off a coup when you interviewed the elusive scion of the erstwhile first family and set the trend for a change in the mood of the nation. His discomfiture was palpable as he sat on the edge of his chair, perspired and fluffed his lines. He dreamed big but you laid his dreams to rest on that famous night.

     Sometimes we wonder why your guests from across the border valiantly show up on the Newshour despite not being able to get their elbow in.Their repeated appearances seem to have made them impervious to your vitriolic barbs. We salute their resilience!

     We, the viewers are not sure whether we love you or despise you or love to despise you. Yet, we tune into your channel day after day to watch you brazenly intimidate, taunt and coerce your hapless guests.

     You are a trendsetter who has transformed the way news is viewed today. You have facilitated and influenced opinions and helped people take a stance on key issues. We acknowledge your service to the nation , Mr. Arnab Goswami !

                                                                                          Yours obediently ,

                                                                       The Nation that awaits answers everyday.                                                                                                                                                                            

The second innings

     The newbie in Indian politics was over ambitious and impetuous. He abdicated the throne when the going got tough. Nobody gave him a ghost of a chance in the aftermath of the last general elections.  He ploughed a lonely furrow, clawing and burrowing his way back from the pits. He trekked relentlessly through the lanes and by-lanes of Delhi, coughing and spluttering, unmindful of the fact that he was labeled an anarchist.

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     He admitted his folly, owned up to his gaffes and apologized to the people for deserting them midstream. He was hence their new messiah with a​ growing band of followers. The same audience that sniggered at him after his first innings of 49, cheered him when he pleaded with them for a chance to play the second innings.  If ever there was a story of resurrection as phenomenal as the one we just witnessed in Delhi, it was that of Arvind Kejriwal, the maverick politician, who rose like the proverbial phoenix from the ashes.

     He was up against a sartorially elegant show-stopper, yet he wore the humble muffler effortlessly, making a style statement that resonated with the masses. The lion volleyed and thundered from lofty heights, while he sauntered along, oblivious to the din, in his easy, languid mien. Was it a case of David vs Goliath, hubris vs humility or a lone man vs a formidable army?

     He dared the mighty and tamed the lion in his own den. Or did he? Only time will tell. If he keeps his promise of working for the benefit of the common man, irrespective of caste, colour, creed or religion, democracy would be the biggest winner.  

     The Indian voter sends a strong message in every election and politicians would do well to listen to their voices.  People rarely forgive twice. 

     A failure is a disheartening diversion but not the end of the road. That he did not give up was his biggest success.

    

     

WOMAN POWER

    

     I was an invitee at a wedding where the bride and groom were both highly qualified Indian-Americans. A group of Americans who had flown in from Boston for their friend’s big day were seated next to me, looking resplendent in ethnic Indian couture, keenly observing and soaking in the rituals. One young man from the group asked me which part of the tradition was most sacred and I explained to them that the tying of the mangalsutra around the bride’s neck by the groom, when the drums would beat louder, was the auspicious moment when they would be officially declared man and wife. Another young lady from the same group asked me about the significance and I said that the tying of the three knots of the sacred mangalsutra or the auspicious thread was symbolic of the marital bond for life. I also told her the three knots signified obedience to her husband, his parents and to God. She pondered for a moment and asked me,” Well, why doesn’t the bride tie the same for the groom? He also needs to obey her, her parents and God, doesn’t he? We exchange rings, you know”! I was struck by the simplicity, logic and relevance of the question. I explained to her that Indian society was patriarchal and that the man was the Lord and master in the relationship, besides being the bread winner.

     I am no feminist in the classical mould, yet the question rankled. Gender equality is a distant dream in our misogynistic and feudalistic society where female foeticide is rampant, and abysmal sex ratios are becoming more of a rule than an exception in most states.  

      It was a proud moment for India when woman power was on full display at our recently concluded Republic-day parade, yet, can we call ourselves a civilized society till we are free from rapes, molestation, stalking, acid-throwing, dowry killing, female infanticide, eve - teasing and gender inequality ? Can we rid our nation of males who consider themselves the superior sex and for whom rape is a minor misdemeanour that “cannot be punished by hanging because boys will be boys “?

     Tough laws, symbolism and platitudes do not empower women. Education has to begin at home where parents teach their sons to treat the female gender with dignity and, daughters, to respect themselves.