At the Drawing Competition

I happened to visit a drawing competition (only crayons allowed) for kids the other day. This is what the arena looked like once the competition got under way:

Most of the kids were positioned like this:

And like this:

This kid, however, was seated differently. He looked poised, relaxed, and every inch the professional artist:

When most of the kids had turned in their work, this boy was still at it. He was putting the finishing touches to this:

A wonderful drawing! It depicts a temple festival. This boy has been coached, I’m sure. Good for him! I’m sure he won a prize.

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Inauguration of a Fashion Shop

I happened to be walking by when a new shop was being inaugurated. It was morning, and I was on my way to work. I paused, partly because the shop was close to my home. I was hoping it was a restaurant (the area cried out for a good eating joint), but it turned out to be a fashion shop. See for yourself.

Let me point out some salient features of the picture. First, note the footwear lying outside the building. Also, the policeman in khaki near the steps is standing on one leg. Is he in mid-stride? No, the leg is too high. Got it now? He’s removing his shoes. It’s a new shop, you see, expensively done up no doubt, and for today at least, let not the shiny floors be besmirched by the dust of the streets.

See something else? The first thing that caught my eye was the three women standing in the shadows to the left. From their clothes and mien, they were very poor. What made them stand there? Curiosity, perhaps. Or perhaps they had worked on the site in some capacity.

Whoever they were, they knew their place and stood self-effacingly in the shadows, silently taking in a world they could never be a part of.

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The 26/11 Mumbai Attack: How I Lost and Recovered My Liberalism

It was on this day (November 26) last year (2008) that the Mumbai attacks began, with a volley of shots fired on hapless commuters at Mumbai’s CST railway station. In January 2009, I wrote the following piece. The attacks were fresh in my mind then. One year later, it’s interesting to relive my thought processes:

I have kept silent up to now, but cannot hold out anymore. I’ve kept mum over Mumbai, but I must have my say now. In November of 2008, the brazen terrorist attack on Mumbai played out. Yes, India has been the worst victim of Islamist terrorism over the years, but India is a big country and one can distance oneself from bomb blasts in a distant corner of the country. That’s not possible in a tiny country like Israel, where a bomb blast or rocket attack anywhere must seem as though one’s own backyard has been hit. However, the Mumbai attack was on an altogether different scale, a commando operation against civilian targets, and we Indians could see the horror unfolding live on TV. Like most Indians, I was furious. Bleeding heart liberal though I was, I said to myself that if this happened again we were going to go over the border, come what may. My unspoken thought was that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons were a deterrent, but if they dared use them on us, we, as a large country, would be able to absorb that first strike, but there would be no further strikes on us. They would be finished.

Many Indians felt the same way. When Israel began its air strikes on Gaza, a leading newspaper here had two headlines next to each other: “Israel Strikes” was the first headline, “India Dithers” the other. The latter story was on yet another of the innumerable statements by our foreign minister urging Pakistan to come down hard on terrorist training camps there.

Let me take you on a flashback of the Mumbai attacks with two articles. I wonder how many of you have read the following first-person account of heroism by common folks who went about calmly doing their jobs while under fire:

http://www.forbes.com/2008/12/01/mumbai-terror-taj-oped-cx_mp_1201pollack.html

Here’s another account:

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main40.asp?filename=Ne061208ro_ticket.asp

[Here's a recent four-part series:

http://www.vqronline.org/blog/2009/11/16/2611-ten-gunmen/]

Even as I write these lines I can feel the emotions coming on. A mother who lost her children asks, “What did they want? They just came to kill? What for? They didn’t make any demands.” The terrorists had been thoroughly brainwashed by their handlers into thinking the lives of unbelievers–and idolators at that– were of no value. They believed they would be in paradise shortly. In fact, the captured terrorist believed that his slain comrades would look like angels, and he was shocked when he was shown their bullet-ridden corpses.

During and after the Mumbai attacks, bleeding heart liberals were singled out for attack. Where are they now, went the taunt. They are worried about the human rights of the terrorists, went another taunt. Politicians were another object of ridicule, as they issued statement after helpless statement. The media (even iconic television journalists I greatly respected were reduced to a quivering mass of emotion), ostensibly echoing the views of the citizenry, kept relaying the following shrill message: “We want action, take out the training camps, attack and smash Pakistan. Look at how Israel retaliates, look at how the U.S. went into Afghanistan and Iraq. These are countries that value the lives of their citizens. By not acting, we are sending the message that India is a soft state with a spineless government, and that Indian lives are expendable.”

That was November 2008. This is January 2009. Time for a change of gear. Time for a reality check.

Now that sanity has reasserted itself, I realize that this line of thought is fatally flawed.

It’s all very well to say Israel strikes and India dithers. Pakistan has a large professional armed forces and nuclear weapons. It would be a major war with unpredictable consequences. There is just no comparison with the Palestinians, who have no planes, tanks, etc. I don’t know what the Mumbai attackers wanted to achieve, but every third casualty was a Muslim. Mullahs in Mumbai have refused to bury the bodies of the terrorists.

And make no mistake about it, bleeding heart liberals are required. It is they who embody idealism and speak up for the oppressed, for those who have nobody else to turn to. It is they who take on fundamentalists of all stripes when the majority remains silent, passive, or even colludes with the fundamentalists. The voice of the bleeding heart liberal can never be silenced.

I’m developing a healthy respect for our politicians and diplomats leading a nonviolent campaign to shame Pakistan into acting to set its own house in order. War is a dirty business. It should be a last resort, to be undertaken only when all other means have been exhausted. Even our right-wing government pulled back from the brink after massing troops on the border after the attack on our parliament.

In spite of precision technology, in spite of all precautions, we know of terrible mistakes. And what would have been the end result of a war against Pakistan? For a temporary psychological feeling of well-being, we would only have succeeded in hardening attitudes there, breeding even more terrorism against us in the long term. Terror (in the sense of feeling terrified) only breeds more terrorism. I liked the piece “Eyeless in Gaza” by Marty Kaplan (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marty-kaplan/eyeless-in-gaza_b_155204.html) because he explores nuances. The title of the piece reminded me of what Mahatma Gandhi said: “An eye for an eye will only make the world blind,” or words to that effect.

Indians and Pakistanis are one people artificially divided by religion. Nawaz Sharif is a Punjabi, and so is Manmohan Singh. They have more in common with each other (beginning with their mother tongue, Punjabi) than I, a South Indian, have in common with our gentle Sikh prime minister (my mother tongue is Malayalam). Indians and Pakistanis can come together; religion need not be an insurmountable barrier. Aberrations notwithstanding, India herself is a living proof of this, a beautiful tapestry of cultures, traditions, and religions woven together harmoniously, and the Pakistanis have not been blind to this. Similarly, I believe Arabs and Jews are related, cousins even if distant cousins (Arabs and Jews are Semites), with shared ethnicity and cultural traditions. I see no intrinsic reason why what is essentially a property dispute cannot be resolved, provided sufficient momentum for peace builds up in both communities.

We in India have had a big victory to cherish in Kashmir, where, in elections that were held not long after the Mumbai attack, people defied separatists and came out to vote in large numbers. Around 60% of the electorate exercised their franchise in a free and fair election without a ghost of coercion. It was unbelievable, because a few months ago there was an ugly dispute over land allocation to a Hindu shrine in Kashmir that embittered both Hindus and Muslims in Kashmir. I look on that election as as the just reward for the moderate policies India has been pursuing. Peace is well worth not fighting for, and time a slow but sure healer.

Something else for Indians to celebrate is the landslide victory of Hasina in the Bangladesh elections. Hasina is Sheikh Mujibur Rehman’s daughter, a friend of India. There is hope that the terrorist training camps in Bangladesh will now come under pressure. By the way, Mujibur Rehman was leading the Mukti Bahini, the Bangladeshi force that resisted the West Pakistan army engaged in butchering their Muslim Bengali “brothers” in 1971 until the Indian army intervened, quite justifiably this bleeding heart liberal thinks.

In November 2008, if I was prime minister of India, I might well have ordered an attack on Pakistan, nuclear deterrent or no. Today, I’m back to my usual pacifist self. Now, if another Mumbai were to occur today, I honestly can’t predict how I would react. It’s just as well that I’m not a politician.

But for now, I’m back in business being a bleeding heart liberal.

[Here are some parting thoughts on terrorism:

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main40.asp?filename=Ne131208crimes_are.asp

or http://tinyurl.com/8ymyc4]

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Judging “Judging India”

World Hum published a short piece on India by J.D. Roberts (http://www.worldhum.com/features/travel-stories/judging-india-20090909/) on September 14, 2009. Here is the comment I posted to the article. I will confess that the blood went to my head, but I will leave the wording as it appeared on the Web page. I think what caused the rush of blood was “families shilling their daughters.” In the United States, the institution of marriage is in tatters, and yet Americans have the gall to lecture us on our marriage customs. Families trying to get a good match for their daughters are “shilling their daughters”? Here is what I wrote:

The introduction of Claire makes this piece interesting, but the depiction of India is on the level of gut reaction; there is no attempt to analyze or dissect. The eyes see what one’s conditioned mind wants them to see. It must be nice for Westerners to read about third world shitholes and allied stereotypes and think, “There I would have been born but for the grace of God.” But surely a travel piece can rise above this level of superficiality?

Let me first critique some assertions that are presented as bald facts (well, I could have sworn I spotted a literary license or two lurking in the background):

“Karen and I have staked out a small patch of concrete and dirt that is almost entirely free of rotting garbage and human waste. We’ve gone a full three minutes without anyone trying to beg/sell/pilfer anything, but the Shih Tzu-sized rats are getting bolder. One of them is actually leafing through my Lonely Planet book while another is laying waste to a bag of trail mix from our day pack. I am exhausted and sweaty and cultivating a rash of mysterious origins.”

The above sounds more like a bad acid trip than anything corresponding with reality. It gives the impression that Indian railway platforms are overrun by human waste (by which euphemism I think our hero means “shit”), rotting garbage, and rats. I live in India. Trains are to India what planes are to the U.S. I’ve been to many a railway station, but am yet to see what our writer has seen: mounds of shit and rotting garbage leaving just a patch of uncontaminated terra firma that our heroes gratefully occupy, only to be besieged by rats that have somehow lost their fear of humans. I think it was probably more like this: our heroes saw a pile of rotting garbage (or perhaps a banana peel) and some pigeon droppings and put as much distance from it as they could. I’m not saying human waste and Indian railway platforms are like oil and water. Sanitation is a big problem in India. There are people who defecate by the tracks, and in fact, even train travelers defecate onto the tracks, because everything is funneled to the ground. But I draw the line of credulity at mounds of human waste ON railway platforms. Indians are no strangers to shit (presumably unlike civilized “bottom-swiping” Westerners), but even we Indians don’t like to roll in it. Please. (And talking of shit, an Indian who traveled by train in the U.S. in the Fifties recalled seeing people squatting in the fields with exposed bottoms, a corncob stick in hand for swiping the bottom.)

Again, the references to widows, dowry, sati, and divorce are misleading. India is a country in transition, and the old customs and attitudes are fast withering away. It is only in feudal, hidebound pockets of the country that widows are regarded as bad omens. Dowry can become a problem, but most families arrive at a mutually agreeable settlement. Sati … it makes the headlines in India on the rare occasions when it occurs. The stigma attached to divorce is fast disappearing as divorce rates increase, but again, it depends on which segment of society one is talking about.

On arranged marriage … I have posted on this earlier and have no wish to cover the same ground. Remember, dowry and arranged marriages were not invented in India; they were pretty common even in the West not so long ago. In any case, those who wish to marry a partner they love can do so in India. One can also opt for the arranged marriage. Both options exist. A successful marriage is a tricky business, and one can see from the ragged state of the institution of marriage in the West that the Western way is hardly the solution.

The four gigglers who asked our heroes about “love marriage” are the Indian counterpart of Westerners who harbor stereotypes about India. I know how they and their ilk view the West and Westerners: Westerners indulge in sex, booze, and drugs while still in school; the family as an institution has virtually broken down, with parents divorcing and remarrying as they keep falling in and out of “love” with nary a thought for how it affects their kids; maladjusted, neglected, psychologically troubled kids grow up to be sociopaths and psychopaths; parents are abandoned by children in old age; rampant alcoholism and drug abuse; high levels of violent crime, much of it mindless as in school carnages; high incidence of sexual crimes, sexual sadism, serial killing, and every sick, violent perversion under the sun; and all this, despite a relatively high level of affluence. In the eyes of the “gigglers,” Western women are available, because they start trading their bodies for material rewards while still not out of school, often have multiple partners, keep changing partners (a different partner for each season of life?), and leave their kids and elderly parents to fend for themselves. In the eyes of such Indians, the sexual habits of Westerners are comparable to that of dogs copulating in the streets. (And, horror of horrors, they don’t even wash their bottoms properly with water, preferring to swipe with tissue instead!)

Do successful, long-lived marriages exist in the West? Yes. Are Western women available? No. Are Western bottoms encrusted with shit? No. Are Indian railway platforms layered with shit? No. Are widows burned in India? No. Is the custom of arranged marriage uncivilized, barbaric, or even undignified? No.

What is the point of traveling if one cannot take the trouble to peer behind the veil and ask why something is as it is?

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People at Work: Coconut Tree Climber

In Kerala, there are coconuts trees everywhere one looks. Almost every garden has coconut trees in it. The roots of these trees are very strong and spread under the ground, so they should be planted at a safe distance from walls.

Every part of the coconut is pressed into service, including the water, which is drunk; the meat, which is eaten; the fiber, which is woven into mats, etc.When the coconuts become ripe, they have to be harvested. There are workers who specialize in doing this. They climb up the trees with their tools and accessories, and throw down the coconuts. Rarely, such workers have fallen to their deaths. Electrocution is a danger.

If the coconuts are not harvested, they’ll fall to the ground. There have been cases of falling coconuts killing people. The solution is to fix a metal net, as shown in the second photo below, but very few do this.

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It’s Election Time!

Three by-elections were held in Kerala last week, and one of them was in Ernakulam. Elections in India are a colorful affair. Here are some pictures. The Communist candidates lost all three elections in Kerala. Public disenchantment with the ruling Left Front government is rife. The Communists lost all the elections (nine, I think) in West Bengal, too, raising the possibility of a non-Communist government taking office (it would be the first in decades) after the next assembly elections. History is in the making in West Bengal.

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Trip to Guruvayur

I’d been to Guruvayur to attend a friend’s wedding a few months ago. Here are some impressions from the journey. This was my second visit to Guruvayur.

I traveled by the early-morning train. A colleague told me the departure time was 6:10 am. The board with train timings near the platform entrance, however, said 6 am. I looked at my watch. I had just 7 minutes left to get the ticket and board the train. I made it with seconds to spare. Whew! The Railways had changed the departure time since my colleague’s last journey. A lesson for the future: Get your dope straight from the horse’s mouth. Call the railway inquiry number in future.

A pleasant surprise was in store for me when I entered the railway carriage. The Railways had become photographer friendly! One of the two windows in the compartment had no bars, to make it easy for photographers to do their work unimpeded by metal railings. Don’t believe me? Take a look at this.

I settled down in my chair and treated myself to the scenery outside. The Kerala countryside is, of course, a veritable green paradise. I did not manage to capture the pics I wanted, but here is one.

Guruvayur is a famous temple town. Here is the entrance to the temple complex.

Inside the temple complex are shops with colorful wares on display, like this.

Here are some priests attached to the temple.

The Guruvayur post office is a pretty heritage building.

The dining hall looked inviting with the banana leaves laden with the food served at a traditional vegetarian wedding feast.

A closeup of the food on the leaf. The main course, rice, has not yet been served. Note the reddish color of the water. It’s a common practice in hotels in Kerala to add a herb to drinking water that imparts a reddish hue to the water.

The magnificent eagle below commemorates a temple entry campaign for Dalits, or so I was told. The eagle marks the point up to which Dalits were permitted to approach the temple in the bad old days.

A couple of pics from the return journey (again by train). This is the Periyar river at Aluva. This river is the main source of water to Cochin.

Kerala is dotted with waterways like this.

My train compartment bustled with activity as a group of energetic fellow travelers entertained us with song and dance. Take a look below.

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People at Work: Idler

On the way to work one morning, I saw this. Was he drunk? It’s possible, but the dead drunks I’ve seen were all flat on their backs. This chap, although asleep, looks in control. (Contrast with this: http://cochinblogger.wordpress.com/2009/07/20/first-the-man-takes-a-drink/) In fact, the way he is holding his head reminds one of Rodin’s famous sculpture, The Thinker, but 90 degrees askew. I was tempted to wake him up and ask what gives, but then decided that discretion was the better part of valor.

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Criminal Negligence: Why Are We Like This?

Recently, a boat loaded with about 90 tourists capsized in the waters of the lake at the popular wildlife tourist destination, Thekkady (http://beta.thehindu.com/news/states/kerala/article27040.ece). Around half of them died. An investigation is still on into the causes of the tragedy, but it appears that the boat was overloaded. Also, the passengers were not given life jackets. It seems nothing has been learned from the earlier boat accident at Thattekad (http://gawdsowncountry.blogspot.com/2009/10/thekkady-boat-tragedy.html).

Why are we like this? Why are we incapable of learning? Why do we keep quiet when our roads are an unmotorable, sorry mess? If we remain silent, we are complicit in the negligence of the authorities.

Here’s another example. A big slab is missing from the pavement of a road that is near a school near Elamkulam. The gaping hole is a tragedy waiting to happen. It’s only a matter of time before man, school student, animal, or vehicle falls into it. After which the familiar pattern will repeat itself: all hell will break loose, inquiry committees will be appointed, etc.

The following photos illustrate the danger.

Who cares?

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Predators, Fear, and Suicide

A year or so ago, a horrifying report with an accompanying photo was published in <i>The Hindu</i>.The report described a family visit to the Guwahati zoo that ended in tragedy. The man wanted to take a closeup of a tigress, but without the iron bars in the frame; so he stuck his camera-holding hand inside the cage. What happened next can be read here:

http://www.thehindu.com/2007/12/20/stories/2007122055461200.htm

Living as we do in cities, we are insulated from the jungle and its denizens. We think of them only when we visit a zoo or perhaps a wildlife sanctuary. I was fortunate in that my father had a passion for the jungle, and so stocked up on books by Jim Corbett and Kenneth Andersen at home. I read these books in school, and the experience left me with a deep and abiding respect for the jungle and its inhabitants. I love the peace and solitude of the jungle, the absence of fellow humans, and the calls of the birds and insects. This is life in the raw, a far cry from the synthetic urban bubbles we cocoon ourselves in for most of our lives.

The article (a blog post, really) below is a fine piece of writing that examines various aspects of predators and our uneasy relationship with them. A couple of thoughts occurred to me as I read it. The author says that animals never commit suicide. Hey, how about lemmings? A little online research revealed the headlong suicidal plunge from cliffs of lemmings to be a myth. Most swim to safety, and a few drown. Still, I wonder. Some animals appear so listless in captivity that such behavior borders on suicide. Some of the comments below the blog post point this out. Also, I’m reminded of the contention of some that homosexuality is unnatural because it is not seen in animals. We know what happened next: it turned out that a wide range of animals and birds exhibit homosexual behavior. Will this “suicide is not seen in animals” hypothesis go the same way? Or perhaps it applies only to animals in the wild?

Enough of my babbling. Here is the piece, by evolutionary biologist Olivia Judson:

http://judson.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/13/a-long-melancholy-roar/

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