Can't bear the stench

A sign of how desperate our politicians are and how degraded our politics has become.

So we have Rahul Gandhi and his anglicised Hindi for Congress and rabblerouser Varun Gandhi for BJP.

Can it get any worse?

Yes, it can, when Mayawati is being hailed as the Indian Obama!

Fetch me a bucket, someone! A big one.

Barbie eeeeeee

Another reason (as though I needed one more) why I don't want to buy or even see Barbies in India…or anywhere in the world. Ugly as!

P.S: I am confused. Is the new Barbie face that of Aish or Kat? Either way, plastic.

Santalam Album fini

Take a good look at the photo of this tree photo (below). This photo was taken when I was in India recently, in a heavily forested area in south India..

I took this photo because I wanted to record the sandalwood tree for posterity. Because, in the next few years, the last of the sandalwood trees will be gone. South India, home to the best quality sandalwood in the world, will have none left.

Long before Mr Moustaches aka Sandhana Kadatthal Veerappan came on the scene, the sandal snatching had been going on with great vigour and with the active connivance of many top government honchos and well-known public figures. They were the ones that benefited the most from it. We’re talking very big bucks here.

After Moustaches came on the scene and sandal smuggling came under a very bright spotlight, most of the sins were conveniently blamed on him. Not that he was any angel, he certainly did his bit to rid the earth of Indian sandalwood and other Indian fauna as well. But he came in after more than half the tree population had already met their ends. And he hastened the process with those trees that were left.

And now, even after he is gone, there are many who devoutly follow in his footsteps.

Here’s something that happened late last year, in a small hamlet in south India.

Taking centrestage is a 100-year-old sandal tree (the older the tree, the more the wood, the costlier it is etc). It is consistently and actively protected by government officials, as they know the danger it is in.

But obviously a lot of work went into the background planning for Operation Treegrab, for all this protection was for nothing. These new age Moustachios in charge of Operation Treegrab brought with them padlocks for EVERY house in that hamlet and locked all the residents in. They also brought with them a cellphone frequency jammer (yes, such things exist) which meant that NO ONE in this small village could use their phones to summon extra help or aid. And they chose a day when the officials were out on business. Before the officials could get on the scene after getting the information, the bandits had successfully brought the tree down and sawed it into manageable bits. They had even loaded the wood onto their vehicles.

They were chased by the officials with great vigour. But the officials’ old-fashioned weapons (almost antiques) were no match for the state-of-art weapons the bandits had. The bandits finally escaped by the simple expedient of throwing out blocks of sandalwood in the way of the pursuers’ vehicles and then crossed the state border triumphantly. End of chase.

The retrieved sandalwood was stored under lock and key. Questions were asked, but there were very few answers. Inside connivance (of some of the villagers) was a given but when you are dirt poor, what does the survival of a species of tree mean to you? Solid cash that will feed you for a few months means more.

Even small trees are not safe, the officials I spoke to said. People can’t be bothered to wait till a tree is mature, even if it 10 years old, they chop it down and sell it for whatever they can get. The situation is so bad that any remaining sandal tree probably needs personal and one-on one protection…..the situation is the same or even worse in all southern states that still boast a few trees.

Hence my photo here – take a good look at the tree. You won’t have any more left in a few years.

Kirikutt match…after

Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, V.V.S. Laxman, Zaheer Khan and Sachin Tendulkar
'walking' on the edge of the Sky Tower in AKL. Pic courtesy: The Hindu.

It was wonderful, a nailbiting finish, fantastic carnival-like atmosphere and lots of good cricket. I was surprised that I didn’t feel sadder that India had lost…

And the girls got so completely into the game, it was amazing. S was totally absorbed, but no surprises there. As for me, I was yelling and screaming and clapping and booing and waving my placard just as wildly as anyone else. It was almost as exciting as watching a cricket match in India. Almost, but not quite...but hey, no worries. It was a great evening, even if India lost.
The highlight for us was when one of Yuvraj's sixers landed amongst us - into the hands of a teenager sitting one row before us. Way to go.

Kirikutt match...before

I am going to watch a cricket match today - this evening, 7pm onwards, local time, to be precise.

I am going to the Westpac Stadium to watch the 20/20 match between India and the Kiwis.

I can’t believe it, but I am actually excited.

The last time I saw a cricket match live was when I was in college. My good friend S and I decided to bunk a day of college and go watch the match. I didn’t even feel guilty about it as I had told Amma and she was ok with it.

But S’s dad wasn’t ok with us bunking college. He came to drop off S at my place the next morning (we had planned to meet at my place to go to the match). He was very polite and nice, but he did make it clear that he didn’t like us bunking college to go watch a match. Chastened, but still enthusiastic, we went off to watch the match at Chepauk.

That was then. This is now…and as all four of us are making it a family outing, I have nothing to feel guilty about this time around;-)

Um, I just hope it doesn’t rain.

Oscars ho!

It was interesting how India and the UK both claimed ‘Slumdog’ for their own.

BBC went on and on about how it was a wonderful evening at the Oscars for Britain. ARR barely got a mention here. Gulzar got none. Resul was mentioned in passing.

And the Indian media was full of ARR and Resul and the Slumdog crew.

The bottomline is 3 Indian Oscars. Jai ho.

Cheating and more

Students, especially overseas students, sitting exams in some specific subjects here, have been caught cheating recently. All the students who were caught cheating were of Indian origin.

And the explanation that they and their trainers (incidentally, another Indian) could come up with was:
a) It’s part of the Indian culture
b) It’s an acceptable practice in India.

EXCUSE ME?

But then, why am I surprised? There was this wife-beater a few years ago here who tried to justify his 'habit' saying that it was a culturally acceptable practice in India.

And there was another man who tried to justify killing his wife. His reason? She was having an affair with a Pakistani man, ie, the enemy. So he was actually being patriotic by killing her.

And there was this guy in front of me in the Immigration office, asking if he could get his visa stamped in the NZ office itself instead of taking it back to India, as "India is bad, nothing works properly there and nothing gets done on time", he said in his pigdin English.

BLOODY SLIMEBALLS!

Getting to the Ganga

The Himalayas are still too far away to get to this time around. But what we did get to was the Ganga. And places like Rishikesh and Haridwar, which all of which were just names I heard from my grandparents. Till now. And a huge area called Rajaji Wildlife Reserve - it was gorgeous to see so much greenery (and animals) here.

And of course, local shopping, exquisite mehendi (henna designs) done on our hands on the road, a glut of sweets....the list goes on. Only a few more days to go here, till we move down south...

In Dehradun

True to form this time, even my last flight from Delhi to DDN was late. I was in a foul mood and completely exhausted.

The 40-seater small aircraft and its bumpy takeoff didn't help my mood any. Till, in the distance, I saw the first sight of the Himalayas - snow capped and extending in both directions as far as I could see. I was moved. I had never imagined that I would set eyes on the Himalayas in person in this lifetime or that it would affect me so much. It was just awesome and was so completely unexpected. Suddenly, it was as if all the hassle with getting here never even happened.

And so now, I am in Dehradun. Small city, friendly people. The house has a view of Mussorie from the front balcony. We are planning to go there soon.
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It is really surprising to see what draws the attention of kids. Small N is fascinated by a brick house being built next door. She spends hours watching them lay the bricks in a row, putting cement on top and then moving on to the next row. She's never seen any brick houses being built, only wooden houses in NZ.

It has got to end

Almost set to go. The bags are packed and the tickets and passports are in my bag. But I feel so different to what I did just before the happenings in Mumbai.

I feel rage, sorrow, horror ...and the hostage situation is still going on. It is obvious that it is not just the whites who are being targetted. It is all the 'infidels'.

Your God, their God, my God or any God in whose name such things are done, will damn their souls to all eternity for all that they are doing now, all that they have done in the past and what they will undoubtedly continue doing in the future. If I had a gun now, I would have willingly shot the bastards.

But anger is not for now. I say Om Shanthi shanthi shanthi: and think of what Gandhiji said: an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind.

When will all this end and how?

Counting down now …

… and only 4 more days to go.

Feeling faint trickles of excitement.

Also, trepidation when I think of how much I want to squeeze into those 6 weeks away.

And annoyance at having to repack my bags for the nth time to make sure it is all within the measly 20 kg baggage weight that I am allowed (I hate the fact that just because I am not flying from or to the US, my baggage allowance is so drastically reduced - that's just so wrong).

And just sheer irritation when I think of the number of flights – 4 – that I have to take to get to my destination.

WLG-AKL-SIN-DEL-DDN – here I come.

Checking the checklist

I am getting nervous.

So many last minute things to do before going away to Bharat and I can't remember half of them.

Yes, I have made a checklist, but the problem is that I forget many of the things that pop into my mind, before updating the checklist...

I should find some way of making sure that my checklist is complete and that I complete all the things on it. Heaven help me!

My first freegan encounter

While waiting at the supermarket checkout on Sunday, I was idly flicking through a mag on all things green. And in there was an article on the food fad known as ‘freeganism’.

Click here to read the rest of the post.

Navarathri manjal kungumam invite

Happy Saraswathi puja to you all.

Ladies, and girls: check out our kolu (in its full glory below) and do drop in for manjal kungumam (haldi kumkum) and prasadam (sundal et al).

The men are welcome too!


this here is our wildlife reserve on the right and the farm on the left.

This is of course, Disneyland!!!! Don't miss the skating rink.

PS: In case you are not familiar with the bommai kolu concept, please remember that a willing suspension of disbelief is essential to enjoy the spectacle in its entirety.

I managed to make time to watch Singh is Kinng on the weekend.

I wish I hadn’t. Singh isn’t the king or even a yuvraj or a manthri, but rather, a complete two-dimensional moron, who ends up getting the gorgeous girl only because it is a badly-made Bollywood movie. *snore*

Can somebody, anybody tell me how that movie became such a hit - I do have a very fertile imagination, but this one is beyond me!

Dy(e)ing to design

I was at the littlie’s school last evening to demonstrate ‘India’, as their topic for this term is India. From saris to ghagras and Diwali, we talked about all that and then talked some more to the kids about henna.

Finally came the practical session, which was also the grand finale of the evening: we had to put henna on the kids’ hands. Although I can do the southie way of henna quite well (which is more basic shapes, as opposed to the really delicate northie designs), I did my darnedest best to accommodate the kids’ requests, such as hearts, butterflies, suns etc. Till it was one little boy’s turn.

Little Boy: Can I have a shape done on my hand too?
Me: (encouragingly)'Course, u can. What shape would you like?
LB: A body?
Me: A body? (struggling a bit here)Um, sure, what sort of a body?
LB: A dead body…

Of xenophobes and lunatics

Such xenophobic, parochially prejudiced idiots are dangerous and should be made taboo, illegal, and certified - permanently. If you listen to him talking, then you’d think that Maharashtra is a separate country, as are Delhi, UP and the South – separate from India, that is!!! And targeting famous faces only, as that is good publicity. And we all know that any publicity for such slime is good publicity.

And Hindi films are banned in the South in Tamil Nadu? Does he even know what he’s talking about? Some of the highest grossing films recently have been Hindi movies. Talk about rabble rousers and opportunistic politicians! Disgusting!

Is it…? Yes, it is Ganesha, but not as we know him

The pits. PC gone crazy. How can Pillaiyar be Pillaiyar without that distinctive 'thoppai'? A slim Ganesha???? With 6-pack abs?

Anyways, a happy Vinayaka Chaturthi to you all. And the Ganesha I know and love at home still has his paunch intact.

Theratti paal in ten minutes

Fancy home-made theratti paal in 10 minutes flat? Then check this out.

Madras nalla Madras

Apparently, now, Madras day is on Aug 22. This is the first time I’ve heard of it, but I say, way to go.

The city that is used and then abused by many, even its ex-natives, has a lot to offer. Come hell or high water, Chennai is home.

Here
are some choice snippets to celebrate the ‘real’ city and
here you have a view from a moderate ‘northie’.

Read on and if you have been one of the city's abusers, regret!