Our Shame

Two recent news items are a huge reality check for us Indians and should make us hang our heads in shame. While on one hand we have the largest number of under nourished people - especially children - in the world, apparently we are also having a real tough time in storing what are farmers our producing. So we have a situation where not only does our poor farmer not get adequate remuneration for what he produces, the grains that we produce will rot and our children will get seriously malnourished at the same time.
Now that the Oscars and the Filmfares have been won, can we get down to some serious thinking? Our leaders are answerable and this must be addressed seriously by whoever comes to power after the next general elections. Unfortunately we are still hearing about more and more sops and spending for unworthy causes - for e.g. further subsidizing an already subsidized petrol / diesel prices, more pay for govt servants etc. etc.

Jai Ho!

This exultation goes out for Bihar - the state where I spent the first 18 years of my life.
If Jug is a Hon. Bong, then I should be a Hon. Bihari - even though the town I grew up in is now part of Jharkhand. And whenever other fellow Indians have engaged in Bihar bashing - though I kept away from joining in the derision, I could not do much in defense either.
Things appear to be changing though. For quite some time there have been reports of economic progress. Also - we haven't heard of any caste related violence in a long time. Kidnappings in Patna - so common a couple of years back - seems to have reduced. At a recent lecture in Patna , Amartya Sen gave his prescription for the roadmap to progress.
A couple of weeks back , a colleague narrated the good experience he had in doing business with the state government officials. He had gone to Patna to get an office property registered. It seems the whole thing got done in a day. The concerned IAS officer himself calls up the sub registrar office to speed things up. The babus at the registry office ensure that the task is done ASAP with no speed money being asked for. Apparently a similar task in neighbouring WB has taken more than a year to accomplish.

North India Travelogue

I am back after about a 4 week hiatus. Various social and family engagements had kept me out of blogosphere. I am however quite eager to write about my 3 day vacation and travel in and around Delhi during the Republic Day long weekend.

North India has a special place place in our hearts - R having spent her childhood and growing years in Delhi is always eager for a trip to NI and the NCR. As far as I am concerned - having spend almost all my life in the eastern, western and southern part of the country - am almost a tourist and hence a fascination for the same. Indeed - I could claim to have a rather unusual perspective - a Rest-of-Indian tourist's view of North India - one who has just come back to eastern India after working in western India and who has had a vacation in southern India a month back.

It was a 3 day trip that started and ended in Delhi and the circuit included Mathura, Agra and Bharatpur. There were five of us and a driver and we drove through dusty roads stopping at various places to look at temples, forts , bird sanctuaries and of course - the one and only Taj Mahal. I am not going to write about all that - what will now follow is some of the things that I saw as we drove.

Auto Rickshaws - Boy! When I was in Mumbai I used to curse the Bajajs for having ruined Indian cities with these 3 wheeled ugly and pesky creatures. I hadn't seen the larger rural beasts running on North Indian highways then. Can anything be more ugly, noisy and polluting? I saw the name written behind the vehicles - Piaggio! Bajaj - you have been bested.

Buffaloes - They are large , slow and everywhere. Haven't seen bigger ones elsewhere.

Camels - These beasts of burden are pretty common. You hardly see them in R of I though.

Charpoys - There is one of these woven rope cots in front of many houses with turbanned men sitting on them.

Dust - Now I know why they called that movie Heat and Dust.

Engineering Colleges - As like rest of India - there is one every 5 km.

Food - These people know how to cook. Even the humblest Dhaba will satisfy you.

Gajar and Muli - That's Carrots and Radish for the uninitiated. These are sold as snacks on carts in rural NI.

Hindi - The language is natively spoken here and most definitely sounds different ( and to me - better) than what is spoken in the western parts.

Jugaad - A vehicle type- designed and manufactured in rural NI. Operated by a diesel engine that ususally runs a water pump - fitted with steering wheel, tractor tyres and lugging a wagon cart. I saw several of these on the roads.

Liquour Shops - These are called "English Wine & Beer" shops. I had heard of Australian, Chilean, Peruvian etc. but I had never heard of an English wine. A Google search for English Wine throws up lot of stuff - though I am pretty sure it has nothing to do with what is sold in NI.

Peacocks - Our National Bird - these are there all over the place. Whats wrong with R of I ?

Quacks - There is no wall in NI that does not have the name persons and clinics with cure for impotency , infertility and other related disorders written on them.

Tractors - They have a pride of place in rural NI. You see them all the time - large & small, old and new - on the road, parked in front of houses, ploughing the field. You have tractors carrying people , grain and buffaloes and you have trucks carrying tractors and you have turbaned men driving these tractors etc. etc. etc.

Tandoori Chicken - NI ( Delhi to be more precise) invented it and it is good !!