Leh Ja Leh Ja!

What else do you think I would name my post! I was dying to write this somewhere. And incidentally, I even heard the song while I was Leh, not that I needed the "inspiration". But anyway, "Incredible India" is really what came to mind when I saw Leh, the land, its people, in such sharp contrast to the rest of the coutry, the back waters of kerala for instance.
Then of course I ran into Charles Shobraj! More shocking was he was in my car.. okay. I am taking it too far. Just could it resist this one either! :-). Mr Shobraj then ordered a salad with Pyaaz and Onion, everything else optional. :-)
There are always somethings that always standout in each trip, in this one was the Pangong lake. There are hardly words to describe the untouched beauty of the lake, that lies a third in India and the other 2/3 rd in the land of the dragon! Pictures say a thousand words, they say. Lets see if its true!

Didnt have to say much did I ? More later.. Need some sleep :-)

More!

Was just wondering how much more would Oliver Twist get if he asked for more "more" in "more" korambzha at Krishna Cafe! :-)

Rajasthan diary!

There were always a few things I wanted to blog about my trip to Rajasthan. The touristy stuff were caught on camera. But there are things just stay in my mind. Small things that just lingered a little longer.
One such person was the our driver, frankly I never caught his name, so he just remained "Bhai saab" for the 4 days he was with us. There was a certain degree of simplicity to him. He came from a small town, Nagaur as he proudly mentioned. His sense of pride for his place and his state stood out for me. He was always at a respectable distance. Vani was always Bhabhiji! It reminded me of someone from a few decades back, cause we come from a generation where everyone including people 10 yrs senior to you are addressed with their first name.
He always had a titbits to tell me.. about himself.. about the place... politics.. development.. bollywood.. what not! The first interesting bit he told me was about a Bullet bike, which belonged to the son of the local panchayat, who was killed in a road accident. The damaged bike was promptly moved to police custody, where it would start by itself!! It was declared possessed and now is an item of interest. People come from far away places just to have a look. We were more fortunate, we just had to look out of the window! and no it did not start by itself! :-)
Jodhpur, apparently still has a respectable royal family, a family that cares of its people in the true sense of term. Zubeida was loosely based on the present king's dad. More fascinating was the fact that he suddenly mentioned Salman Khan. The black buck wasnt exactly fresh in my mind. Thats when he told me the local gossip of how Salman Khan had a little fling with the princess of Jodhpur and the locals and the royal family did well to keep him behind bars for a while. Quite a story I thought. Script in the making? Anyway, our bhai saab also mentioned how our sallu bhai is a man with the golden heart, the local Robin Hood.. savior of the poor... the good samaritan. Extremely filmy, but true!

Techno-cut!

Nice to be back here! The Techno-cut is something I wanted to blog about for a while now. A couple of years back, my usual barber decided to revamp his place. I guess the "competetition" was getting to him. I was forced to go his competitor for a few days and that was an welcome change!
It was one of those days when I woke up early by choice, a much needed haircut being the mother of all reasons. I showed up at 6:45 at the saloon, only to be disappointed. The saloon was not open then. After getting bored there for 15 mins, a saw a lone bike approaching. I was glad I had company. He looked a pretty "cool" guy with a brand new shiny bike, a leather jacket ( not an expensive one, a leather jacket nevertheless) and a pair of cooling glasses ( not sure why he needed that, atleast the sun gave him no reason to wear them). He slowly trudged along and as he walked up the stairs, he pulled out his cell phone ( this was at a time, when I still thought I could do without one) and called someone and asked "yellida?". He nodded, switched off the phone and said to me " boys bartidare. Innu 5 nimshadalli bartare". It was a pleasant shock for me to realize it was the owner, and that he had a cell phone and that his "boys" also had cell phones. He let me into the saloon, which apart from the usual works, had a TV, entertaining I thought, and then I saw this other box like device, which was giving out a purple light, something like a insect repellent. I asked him what it was and he explained to me, that it was a UV radiation device to sterilize his tools, which included several electrical blades. I started wondering who the techie was in the room. It was hair-raising experience for me in its own way.
Today after a long time, I went to the same place again. There were a few changes. He had expanded his saloon. A new addition was a disposable cover used instead of the regular cloth to cover the customer during the haircut. After a short wait, I saw the "cool" owner walk-in. The mannerism had changed. He looked like a regular guy. Nothing jazzy about his outfit. He seemed all grown up, an air of respectability around him. The typical local businessman of the yesteryears is what I saw in him :-). I politely asked him if he doesn't cut the hair himself and he said "only as needed". I couldn't stop thinking of Raja writing a script for one of the guys in the team, as needed of course! :-)
Another thing I noticed in our hi-tech shop was, he was certified! He had a certificate from Lo'Real ( Okay. I think I need to spell check that one). Suddenly, I realized certification was everywhere, its only the s/w engineers in service industries that are making a big fuss about it. There is ISO for the manufacturing industries, various quality certifications the world over, but the one from Lo'Real took the cake!

History Repeats itself!

I loved all my history classes and just to add to it, I had a wonderful teacher as well. He was amazing simply because, for him history was one big story. His view was wider than most. One such instance, was perhaps my first introduction to globalization. He was explaining to the early struggle for power, the battles the European powers were fighting in India. The East Coast of India did belong to French for sometime, and the English were battling hard for survival in India. History was truly being made. However, events in India were not just intervened by the princely states. When the French supported the Americans in their fight for freedom, the English didn't take it very well. They retorted by snatching a few key ports on the East coast of India!
Why the short story on history? Coming to the present, a series of mergers and acquisitions brought me here. Hutch, which was Orange, which in turn belonged to France Telecom had a strong presence here. And guess who buys it! Vodafone! I couldnt help but think it was history being repeated.. the French have been driven out once again!

He's human afterall...

Very disappointing day. I really wanted to witness history in the making, when I would see someone hold all the four grandslams together. It was not to be. Nadal played like a man possessed and Federer showed that he was human afterall. There was a certain fear in Roger today, a certain degree of self doubt. He was hardly the champion who holds the other 3 grandslams.
To me Roger is really an artist. A perfectionist. An excellent example of talent and hardwork. Yes hardwork, it doesnt seem like he works hard, but he does. It was nice to see him battle it out, be vulnerable and unfortunately, in the end accept defeat and gracefully at that. Sometimes I think I admire him for being a champion in the true spirit of the game apart from the grace with which he plays the game. I always liked watching the game, but no one really had the same effect. Will just have to wait for Wimbledon now..

Dual life!

I never thought I would be dealing with a dual life, one in Bangalore ( Not sure if I should call it India exactly) and one in New Jersey (again I dont think I can call it the US). Given my perspective, I think I have taken several things for granted, the Idli Vada at Adigas along with the luxury of driving on I95 and the Garden State Parkway. These are probably the 2 truths of my life. I am just as much at home in NJ as much as I at Bangalore. NJ is no longer an unknown commodity. I have my KTU as much as my Radio Mirchi back home. The frosted flakes are as familiar as the maggi I buy.

When I started reading the Namesake, I really felt a part of the book. Initially as the relative who awed at the "Foreign return" relatives who were mesmerized with the idea of the capitalistic west. When my uncle first showed me the green dollar bills ( I probably would have said notes a few years back), I had no idea I would one day be running after it.

As I further read it, I found myself being relating to and understanding Gogol, well actually Nikhil. Just wondering how much India and Indians are changing. Its not so much the globalization and the walmarts that are bothering me, but its the change in the mindset to me that is shocking. The social parameters are so much different today.

In an ordinary conversation you would mention the city railway station and the Penn station in a single sentence and the other person would completely understand what you are saying without even blinking. Today the normal life is the confused global world that we live in. We have aspects in life from a whole bunch countries and cultures and lets just experiences..