tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71712181057285613882024-03-19T02:33:14.174-07:00Literary Notes and Beyond...Gitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17599223647472364450noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171218105728561388.post-24050056208352461302017-03-13T06:42:00.000-07:002017-03-13T06:42:12.505-07:00My Take on the 2017 Goa Assembly Election and its Results<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span data-offset-key="6mo4d-0-0"><span data-text="true">This below is a post I have adapted from a Facebook post of mine. I felt it needed to "have a longer run" than be a soon-to-be-forgotten FB post!</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="6mo4d-0-0"><span data-text="true">As I look back on the events of the last 3 months or so, and especially, over the last couple of days, there are several observations I have made. There are also several issues I'd like to point out to those who are FURIOUS at the turn of events. Let us step back and analyse this calmly.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="2v9rm-0-0"><span data-text="true">First, let us ALL get one thing straight: ALL political parties, everywhere in the world, run (nay, THRIVE) on Money and Power. This is not going to change. It has been this way since time immemorial! Only the percentage changes from one party to another.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="33il1-0-0"><span data-text="true">Second, only those with a certain amount of Experience can go all the way and expect to Win, due to their familiarity with both the process and the electorate.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="ddgm5-0-0"><span data-text="true">Third, new entrants need to give themselves and others some Time. You cannot just jump into the fray and wish to bring about miracles in a society and a system that has been ruined by several decades of corrupt rule.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="cnprd-0-0"><span data-text="true">Fourth, smaller parties will ALWAYS be at the mercy of the larger ones. There will ALWAYS be compromises and "horse trading". Coalitions have been common for a great many years now! </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="2gftr-0-0"><span data-text="true">Fifth - and here, I come to the point - in the case of Goa in these elections, the hung assembly verdict is unfortunate. But, we ALL expected it anyway, right? Everyone KNEW what the results were going to throw up! The Congress should've immediately called for a meeting, elected a Head, and got on with the process of staking a claim. Yet, that did not happen - for whatever reason. Maybe their focus was more on Punjab or UP?</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="e3eud-0-0"><span data-text="true">Sixth, when the BJP saw the Congress Party's inability to secure support (mainly thanks to its stubborn stance on certain issues), it took advantage of the situation. I see NOTHING wrong in this at all. As for the Independent and smaller party candidates who won, let us give them some credit where it's due. They fought a free and fair election, won, and were waiting to be given a chance to lead and be part of a governing body.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="a7e7q-0-0"><span data-text="true">Let us give them all a chance. No point in bickering over any of this. Let the BJP and its allies form the government; let the Congress be an able and efficient Opposition. We need stability. In these uncertain times and strife across the world, our entire nation needs stability.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="3s6o8-0-0"><span data-text="true">Everyone knows my political leanings. I don't want to be called names (if I am called a brainless Bhakt, I can also turn around and call people AAPtards and Congis, mind ya!)...I don't want any "Likes" on FB either, for I am well aware my ordinary posts with food pics get more likes than serious posts :-) I just want YOU to take a few minutes to read this long post and get into an introspective mood. Thanks. Jai Hind!</span></span></div>
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Gitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17599223647472364450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171218105728561388.post-76466042179296201742016-08-14T07:56:00.000-07:002016-08-14T07:56:08.346-07:00A Tale of Two Restaurants<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
At the start of a long weekend, I decided to dine out on my own, as always. Since the palate craved something South Indian, I thought the nearest restaurant offering a reasonably OK fare should be my first choice. So, off I headed to Adyar Ananda Bhavan, popularly known as A2B, to savour a South Indian Thali.<br />
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At the very outset, I was disappointed to find that only one of two floors was operational that weekend. The management had decided, for some strange reason, to keep the upper floor locked/closed. The lower floor with limited seating arrangement was already full, but I was soon led to a table for 6, which I was to share with another lone diner - a lady who was about to finish her meal. I thought it would be all right as it was a no-frills eatery. However, what annoyed me was that as soon as the other lady got up, a couple of thug-like guys was asked to occupy the same table. One of them immediately took out his smartphone and was holding it ON the table - all which was very suspicious and made my antennae stand up!<br />
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I decided to get up and leave. I did request the management and waiting staff to see if another table was available, but obviously, an eatery like A2B was only interested in larger groups and not a lone diner, that too, a lady. I paid just for the coffee I'd managed to gulp down and left - having sworn never to step into this awful place again! In the while I'd been there, I saw a couple of young working women also turned away from the place as also a family. Surely, this is not the way to run a restaurant?<br />
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Still, I was not discouraged in any way for Koramangala is a diner's paradise! This time, I opted to head to a Fine Dine Restaurant just a few meters down the road from the above-mentioned dreadful eatery. I walked up to Bayleaf, on the ground floor of Raheja Complex. The welcome was so good and I was made to immediately feel comfortable. What a refreshing change...The serving staff was attentive, made suitable suggestions about the food choices and the best part was their music playlist! So many of my old favourites from the 1990s and early 2000s...<br />
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Since I cannot consume alcohol, I opted for my usual Fresh Lime Water, which arrived promptly and was spot-on. Bayleaf serves complimentary roasted papads with a divine mint chutney for diners waiting for the food to arrive...I opted for Aloo Chaat Chandni Chowk Wali as my starter, and was I hooked to the flavours or what! Hot, tangy, spicy and delectable...It took me right back to Delhi in one spoonful. I couldn't wait to have more of this...<br />
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For my mains, I ordered a Butter Naan and Nizami Handi, a mildly spiced dish full of vegetables in a thick gravy. While the naan was flaky and hot off the tandoor, the Nizami Handi had plenty of carrots, peas, beans and other vegetables. Again, the taste was near-perfect, the beans were not stringy, and the extras served along with the Mains were mango pickle and Pickled Baby Onions.</div>
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And finally, to finish off this wonderful meal, I decided to got for a Dessert Platter - their Mithai Sampler. I chose Gajar Halwa, Pista Gulab Jamun and Sondesh Aur Gulkhand Pasanda...Needless to say, this was the highlight of the entire meal (or, was it the starters?)...The desserts are heavy and surely not intended to be consumed by one person. However, I could not help but eat as much of these flavourful desserts as I could.</div>
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Bayleaf matched ALL my expectations - and then, some more! I will surely be back for their weekday lunch buffets and their Lunch Boxes. More than anything, what was endearing was their treatment of and attention to every diner. Surely recommend this place to all! It is an oasis of calm in the midst of the hustle and bustle of traffic at the Forum signal. The interiors are tastefully done up and nothing jars the eye.</div>
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In brief, a perfect meal for a lone diner!</div>
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Gitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17599223647472364450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171218105728561388.post-19265351985718495822016-07-23T09:22:00.000-07:002016-07-23T09:22:03.377-07:00My Experiments with the Indian Workplace<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">For a long time now, I’ve wondered if ALL companies in India that work on
language-related projects act in a certain manner? When I first relocated in
2011, I tried working in-house.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">At the very first company, I was taken in for Quality Control of created
content, but was soon made to “create content” – the same job that recent
graduates were doing. To add insult to injury, a sleazy manager insinuated I
was “eating too much at lunchtime” (company provided food to make up for low
salaries). I QUIT in 5 weeks. Heard the news a couple of years down the line
that the sleazy element had been sacked. Good for the women in the company!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">The second company where I accepted a job claimed to be a publishing
services firm. The set-up was so fraudulent, the CEO one day proudly told me he
hadn’t even paid the Export License Fee that year. I was horrified. Capacities
were vastly exaggerated when sending proposals to prospective clients. It had
just a handful of employees at that time and even fewer freelancers. I QUIT in the
fourth month.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">The third one, where I was taken in as a French Language Expert (and this
firm was later taken over by Big Name Group!) wanted me to “Just use Google Translate,
Copy and Paste the results on a Word document, Edit here and there, Create a
summary and Submit.” I had to show up for work at 8am even on Diwali day, had
work between 8am and 10:30am, then again between 3pm and 5pm. What did I do in the
meantime? I ate THREE plain cheese grilled sandwiches every single day at the
cafeteria upstairs – for a mid-morning snack, lunch and evening snack! To make
things worse, an incompetent little pest who claimed to be fluent in BOTH
Spanish and German was paid much more than I was, sitting right next to me and
asking ME to help him translate – when I proved he didn’t know jack shit about
the Spanish language and/or culture, and my sample summary of
Spanish>English translation was better, the HR Manager defended the pest. I only have an Ab Initio certification in Spanish, but have an MA in Translating and a PhD in Translation Studies from a British university. I also completed 2 levels of Japanese and 1 level of Arabic. I
QUIT in my second month at this particular company. And I had the last laugh when I found out through
LinkedIn that the pest had also QUIT the firm 2 months after I did…So much for
HR policies! My immediate manager at that firm told me to be patient as I’d “easily
reach managerial level within 6 months, given (my) capabilities”…I told him I
wasn’t interested as using Google Translate for work goes against ALL my ethics.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Then, I started freelancing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">The very first firm paid me peanuts – EIGHTEEN INR per page of font size
10, with up to 200 footnotes in even smaller print for legal journal articles!
I QUIT as soon as I bagged a good firm that was looking for freelancers. To get a rough idea of rates in India, 67 Indian Rupees = 1 US Dollar as of today. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Then, I started with a company that was reasonably good – at least initially.
I took offense to my works being handled later by a certain Project Manager who
could not even speak grammatically correct English. When we finally met at the office,
he said something something along the lines of “Sorry, we could not be able to
meet earlier”…Now, CAN = TO BE ABLE TO. You CANNOT use the two together. And he
should’ve known this as a PM in a publishing services company! I refused to
work with him, and stand by my decision till date.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">I freelanced for them till a couple of months ago. What made me see red was
being sent negative feedback on my last assignment for them, when clearly they
had not put it through a QC stage at their end. Now, this is very common in
Indian workplaces – several of them CLAIM to put all processes and checks in
place, including through “a stringent QC/QA process”, but alas, that is seldom
the reality! If anything goes wrong, they find a scapegoat – in this case, it
was to be ME. The manuscript in question was by an Indian author who clearly
didn’t know how to write! As someone paid only slightly more than half a US$
per page, I cleaned it up as much as I could. Why did I accept such a low pay?
Because I DO believe in some kind of loyalty to clients for as long as the work
is reasonably interesting and I am paid promptly…Clearly, in this case, time to
let go. I QUIT!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Another firm also sent me interesting titles to work on during 2012–2013.
What started off well soon went downhill. At one point, instead of the 250–275
words per page that is the industry norm taken as forming ONE page, these
people were cramming up to 425 words into each page. I QUIT!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">A couple of other companies also sent me freelance work between 2012 and
2013. One sent me fiction which was so bad, the uninterested author herself forgot
the name of one of her main characters! This firm mainly dealt with
self-publishing authors – and no thanks to Chetan Bhagat, we have HUNDREDS of
wannabe writers in India now. Most of them send their work to this particular
firm…I gave up after having almost REWRITTEN every single line in the first
eight pages of an awful manuscript that should’ve never seen the light of day!
When I sent it back to the publishing services firm, saying “Author needs to
look at changes suggested in the first eight pages and revert with a cleaner
version”, I never heard from them again! Do I regret it? Absolutely NOT! I
QUIT!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Now that we’ve seen the Bad and the Ugly, let
me come to the Good ones…In Nov. 2013, I was contacted by a wonderful
Bangalore-based company…and I still work for them. Touch Wood. The ONLY problem
I had with them was when a new PM came on board a few weeks ago. That minor
hiccup has since been dealt with successfully. Or so, I’d like to think.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">A Mumbai company has been sending me reasonably
well-paid work, but the assignments are few and far between. At this point in
time, it does not serve my purposes, though I am still on their list of freelancers.
Another firm dealing with similar jobs got a taste of my temper when they
messed up the online time scheduling system. The notification to me clearly
mentioned 12:30 the next day, not 00:30. Obviously, I had intended to work on
the small piece after 11am that next morning and send it before the 12:30
deadline. Got a nasty shock when I received an email, saying I had breached the
deadline. So, I kindly pointed out that 12:30 generally means thirty minutes
after 12 noon, not thirty minutes after 12 midnight. There was no AM/PM to
distinguish the scheduled deadline either. To that, the Editorial Manager sent
me an email response, pointing out my email to the team was rude in tone…Really?
I can sound WORSE than that…This one didn’t even see me taking on the first
assignment. I QUIT!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">I’ve been trying out something new lately –
Quality Control again! I was told I’m being extremely thorough in my work and I
was an asset. Yet, not being paid 25 days since my invoice was raised (when the
contract said payment would be within SEVEN days) means I do NOT take on QC
work for them again. This is because their vendors carry out such poor-quality
editing that almost EVERY manuscript that comes to the QC stage needs to be
looked into thoroughly, a Line Edit – making it almost a Re-Edit stage in the
workflow process. FOUR pages during the QC process are treated as ONE page of
edits and rates offered accordingly in INR. I QUIT! They want me on a freelance
basis with a higher rate. I am giving them some time to redeem themselves. THEY
are on trial; not ME!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">So, the above have been My Experiments with
the Indian Workplace. All the above in the last 5 years. Please pour in with your comments! I’d enjoy reading
every single one of them, for sure…Have I given up? Not yet...Always an optimist. I am a dreamer and would still like to believe in silver linings, and lights at the end of every tunnel and a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">PS: I've not mentioned the company name in even a single instance. Kindly do not contact me asking for further details.</span></div>
</div>
Gitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17599223647472364450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171218105728561388.post-86692554777525329962016-01-17T08:55:00.000-08:002016-01-17T08:55:07.024-08:00A Village Trip<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">From afar, we saw them – <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Cheerful, gay and clothed in various hues,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The women were waiting outside their second home.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The eldest among them opened our bus door<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">To welcome us warmly <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And embrace us with their collective love!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We bent our heads down<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">To enter their humble workplace<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Rows upon rows of near-rusty sewing machines<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Yet, on the walls hung their vibrant creations – <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Bags, pouches, gift baskets, iPhone cases<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Short of imagination they weren’t, for sure!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The sharp contrast hit the visitors<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">For how grateful these women were<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">For the little nothings they possessed!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The children, more than happy with an old tricycle <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Donated by a mother whose child was now a teenager.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Sometimes, it’s the small things in Life that
matter…</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">(Composed in Panchgani, October 2015)</span></div>
Gitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17599223647472364450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171218105728561388.post-40216802665512032032016-01-17T08:52:00.000-08:002016-01-17T08:52:07.987-08:00Where Are The Children?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Winding along the narrow road up the hillside,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">On the right, an amusement park – <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But wait! Where are the children?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A little further, a near deserted village<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">With cows and stray dogs roaming about…<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In the third house along the road,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A family of three – just seated for lunch,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But hey, where are the younger ones?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The three at the table ate silently.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The grandmother peers at her son,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Who was taking a break from the farm<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">To mourn his young child’s passing<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In the accident along the busy hillside – <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The school bus taking the village kids<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">To the town school nearby <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Had crashed into the hillside,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Wiping away an entire generation<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">From the now silent village!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">(Composed in Panchgani, October 2015)</span></div>
Gitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17599223647472364450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171218105728561388.post-68883360933577913232016-01-17T08:49:00.000-08:002016-01-17T08:49:08.987-08:00Vagabond - a poem in 7 minutes<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Searching, researching – for a lost soul<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Where could she be hiding <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After all these years?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">She left one sudden morning<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">While the Dal<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Was still simmering on the hob…<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The main door left ajar<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">For the maid to come in<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And discover she had left!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Vagabond! Be the vagabond you’d always wanted to be,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Said someone to her one day<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At a café, where she was going through travel books.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Her mind was made up that very instant – <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">THIS wasn’t the life she wanted to live.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">She wanted to run, to be free,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">To escape, to be a Vagabond.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">(Composed in Panchgani, October 2015)</span></div>
Gitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17599223647472364450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171218105728561388.post-71156734691339270342015-09-11T23:50:00.002-07:002015-09-11T23:50:35.749-07:00Iyer Mess in Malleswaram - What a Let Down!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Being a true-blue Tam Bram, and wanting to eat a traditional meal in Malleswaram, I had Googled for ages and decided to hunt down Iyer Mess for a delicious Friday lunch. I was quite familiar with 7th Cross and 8th Cross Roads, and was confident of finding the place in a jiffy...Little did I know I'd be going round and round for well over 20 minutes!<br />
<br />
Finally, I had no option but to pop into Sri Krishna Sweets, an old favourite, and enquire there. They very kindly offered to show me the exact location...and so, I trudged along till I spotted a large board pointing to "Iyer Mess". Turns out it is at the very end of a really small (as in less than 3 feet wide throughout) passage. I was wary and apprehensive on seeing the dimply lit passage...As I neared the entrance to the passage itself, a large black dog bounded up from another gate and was hastily shooed away by people around...Not a Good Omen, I said to myself!<br />
<br />
I entered a small, not very clean room, about 10 feet by 10 feet, and at one corner sat the owner lady with her cash box. Dour-faced, unfriendly, she stared back at me as I neared her desk. I requested one meal and she turns to the side and barks at one of the serving staff, "Are the vadas still available"? Then, she says it would cost me 60 INR. She then thumps a plastic token on the table, points out to a 2-seater table and tells me to "Go, sit there". I crossed the small room and plonked myself on the rather uncomfortable steel stool, then proceeded to unfold the banana leaf, splashed a few drops of water on it and wiped it clean - all set for what I'd come here - LUNCH!<br />
<br />
There were 4-5 other lunchtime diners, at various stages of their meal. I waited, and waited some more. No action from the owner lady? And then, the power goes off! Our lady gets up, only to shout at someone to "Switch on the generator"...A loud noise and a whiiiirrrrrr, and the stench of diesel fills the air, the lights come back on. And I am still hungry...It was sheer determination that made me sit tight and hold on to the thought of a good Tam Bram meal. I was as close to the entrance (exit?) as possible, next to a window. The urge to flee was very strong indeed...<br />
<br />
And finally, one of the serving staff comes to my table and plonks a Masala Vada and a bowl of White Rice. Another comes along to place a small plastic container of Yogurt by the side. Another wait...Then come the Pickle, Carrot/Coconut Dry Curry, and Drumstick Sambhar. I quickly started gobbling up the food as I realised I was being stared at in a rather uncomfortable manner by the idle serving staff and some hangers-on (I guessed, from delivery services)...The sambhar was the typical "arachuvittai sambhar" (with fresh ground spices and coconut) one gets in Tam Bram households. Halfway through this course, someone places a Fried Papad on my banana leaf. Half of that goes in too...<br />
<br />
Again, another wait for a few minutes till someone comes to enquire if I wanted more Sambhar or Rasam. "Rasam", I mumbled, by now, totally freaking out and wanting to run out...The place was getting creepier by the minute! Rasam was nothing to write home about. There was then just the Yogurt to consume, and then I could be out of this place, I told myself...A few more people had come in by then, and were also being served slowly. I hastily finished my "Curd Rice" and found out diners had to proceed to a rather dirty hand basin, next to a trash bin, to wash their hands. Not a very pleasant experience...<br />
<br />
As I ran out of the little passage and made my way to the afternoon sunshine, I thanked my lucky stars I was not as desperate as the regular diners of Iyer Mess! Once was enough in this dingy, unclean eatery - never would I make my way to it again for as long as I live...To all those who CLAIM to be foodies, please STOP recommending Iyer Mess as an option for Malleswaram! The location is hard to find, the place itself miniscule, hygiene dubious, food very ordinary and service poor...As a single diner, and a woman, I would not suggest this eatery to others like me. <br />
<br />
</div>
Gitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17599223647472364450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171218105728561388.post-10538726406538053832013-02-18T04:08:00.000-08:002013-02-18T20:28:09.418-08:00An Enchanting Evening With Two Women WritersOn Saturday evening, my local library, Easy Library, had arranged yet another fantastic author meet with not just one, but TWO women writers whose works reach out to all of us. They were in conversation with Shinie Antony, who needs no introduction to Bangaloreans. The first of these was Sheila Kumar, a journalist and travel writer, from an Army background, whose book of short stories, <em>Kith and Kin</em>, is a collection centred around the individual members of a single Keralite matriarchal family, the Melekat family. The second author for the evening was Manreet Sodhi Someshwar, with books like <em>Earning The Laundry Stripes</em>, <em>The Long Walk Home</em> and, more recently, <em>The Taj Conspiracy</em>.<br />
<br />
The evening started with the two writers talking of their own backgrounds and that of the characters in their respective works. Manreet comes from a corporate background and gave us a delightful insight into her former world...one wherein she was the Area Sales Manager for the biggest consumer products company in India. She explained how the scheme included not just sales stints, but also a factory stint (so the sales personnel could understand the manufacturing processes) and a rural stint (as the heart of India lies in its rural hinterlands). Everywhere she went, she could see how "Women in rural India are in a bind". She said being in sales gave her a great insight into India - the real India. Her book <em>Earning The Laundry Stripes</em> draws heavily on her own experiences in the corporate world. In a way, <em>The Long Walk Home</em> too is an outpouring of her expression, hailing as she does from a border town. She grew up in a town closer to Lahore than to Chandigarh and Partition had a profound effect on most lives in the town. Almost every elderly person in the town had a story or two about the ravages of Partition. Manreet also grew up in the Khalistan era...<em>The Long Walk Home</em> paints a picture of Punjab over 80 years, from pre-Partition to the current times.<br />
<br />
Manreet's latest book, <em>The Taj Conspiracy</em>, required extensive research and she came up with some really intriguing facts about the Taj itself! For instance, I am sure its news to most of us that the Taj, an iconic symbol of India to the rest of the world, was measured for the first time in its history only in 2001 - and that too by an Austrian Indologist! She also uncovered that the Taj was originally meant to be approached from the North, over the river, in the Mughal era, not from the South side, as contemporary visitors to the monument do...Manreet proudly declared that the Taj is a truly Indian monument as it not only is an Islamic monument, but also has Hindu aspects interwoven into its construction and architecture. She also believes that around 99.9% of Indians today know nothing much about the Taj except the story associated with its creation!<br />
<br />
Sheila Kumar then took over and explained how, in her collection of short stories, while each story is about a particular individual, the matriarch, Ammini Amma, ties them all together. She is the central force of the book. These are all slice of life stories with all the 19 stories about the same clan. Sheila jokingly admitted that she used to come across all sorts of "life stories" when she was regularly handling the Agony Aunt section of Femina, the women's magazine, for years! When quizzed by Shinie as to how Sheila wrote about Pain without being "cloyingly sympathetic", Sheila explained that the catharsis was three steps removed as she was writing someone else's story. She deliberately kept it light as Life throws all sorts of things at people; some characters are in perpetual denial.<br />
<br />
Shinie also complimented both writers on possessing a "quiet intelligence" and of keeping their writing extremely fresh. She felt both Manreet and Sheila firmly belonged to the School of Anti-Cliche! To which Sheila willingly admitted that she was definitely rebellious, while Manreet declared that all her works deal with the two Fs - Fundamentalism and Feminism. Sheila also explained that as a journalist, it was expected that the next step would be a book...<br />
<br />
The talk then moved on to the use of dialects and the vernacular in their works. This was a rather animated part of the session as there were divergent views! While some present felt that English works HAD to use only words in English, others spoke out for the peculiar brand that is Indian English...Shinie felt that one is no longer apologetic about using the vernacular, as Sheila has used a lot of Malayalam words and phrases in her works, while Manreet too has peppered her books with regional flavours. Manreet defended the use of these as much is learnt from the context itself, while Sheila has used a mini glossary to justify her characters' use of language. The discussion then moved on to whether we are on our way to having multilingual works. Sheila felt that while her own use of colloquialism was for entertainment, Manreet's was for instruction...<br />
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Being held so close to Valentine's Day, the session ended with a light discussion on the place of Love in the books by these two authors! In Shinie's words, both authors were teasers on this subject...Gitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17599223647472364450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171218105728561388.post-68366647208985198262012-12-02T05:47:00.002-08:002013-01-15T03:08:12.340-08:00Amandeep Sandhu's Roll of HonourI had the opportunity to attend yet another delightful event at my local library, Easy Library, last evening! The event was an author talk with Amandeep Sandhu, author of <em>Sepia Leaves</em> and <em>Roll of Honour</em>. With him in conversation was Dr. Shekar Sheshadri, Professor at Child and Adolescent Services, NIMHANS.<br />
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The event started with Prof. Sheshadri reading out some disturbing statistics on the state of education in general in India, and the steps being proposed by not just the UGC, but other bodies as well, to bring about some much-needed reform in our system. For instance, he revealed that almost 60% of school children show an intolerance towards immigrants from other states. Even more shocking is the appalling attitude towards the differently abled people of our country - 70-80% of those surveyed believe that the differently abled are "burdensome" and "unhappy"...If figures like these weren't enough, Prof. Sheshadri also stated that 48% feel household finances dictate whether girls should be educated, as often household expenses are considered more important than the education of girls in the family!<br />
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Given that such are the prominently-held views of society and students today, it is indeed not surprising that efforts to stop ragging, or "ragra"as it is called in Amandeep's work, have been in vain. The book incorporates several layers in that it not only depicts life in a residential school, but that of a boys' residential school, and a military one at that. In addition, it was also based in Punjab and in Punjab of the mid-1980s, which adds an altogether interesting perspective to the narrative. Prof. Seshadri then put forth a series of questions to the author about the nature of the book in question, <em>Roll of Honour</em>. Amandeep's response to them was affirmative - Yes, the book is a Rite of Passage book; Yes, it is a book about Identity Formation; Yes, it explores violence in our educational system...<br />
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As the author explained, ragging or bullying is prominent in residential schools, especially in boys' residential schools. The world itself is rift in violence and this is naturally reflected in various microcosms too, including schools. Bullying was very much seen as the "right" of senior students, who would revolt if prevented from bullying the newcomers. Sodomy was often the preferred means of bullying in residential schools. Residential schools in India were modelled on Eton and other public schools of England, which took in only the upper classes. However, the military residential schools were different in that pedagogy tried to invert the social classes! And herein lay the root of much malaise...<br />
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Amandeep has used India of 1984 as the background to tackle this rather difficult subject at hand. As he explained, "Orwell's 1984 really came true in India." That was the year a lot of major issues came to a head in this country - it was the year Operation Blue Star was ordered and begun, the year the Indian Army stormed the Golden Temple, the year Indira Gandhi was assassinated, the year of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy...among other significant events. Amandeep believes that "Operation Blue Star was an act of sodomy on the nation. The Indian Army attacked the Sikh community at a place where they could not defend themselves." The 1980s was when we lost a centre as a nation, and if we took that decade as ending in 1992, the demolition of Babri Masjid concluded possibly the most violent decade in Indian history...and this in an age of rising literacy!<br />
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Amandeep also alluded to John Hopkins Professor, Veena Das' work on the Delhi riots and explained that while such anthropological works have been carried out in the context of the events of 1984, not many have looked into its consequences at the microcosmic level. It must be acknowledged that students have faced and continue to face a lot of violence in their worlds today. As Prof. Sheshadri explained, Lifeskills Education does give prominence to Decision making too. But, is this enough to combat the violence they face,sometimes on a daily basis?<br />
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To wind up a rather thought-provoking session, Amandeep revealed that it took him 7 years to write the book as personally, the book was an investigation of his own fears. He also drew on the significance of a work like this on contemporary life. While the book itself is set in 1984, the parallels can be drawn in everyday student-centred violence even today...being cocooned in gated communities is not going to protect today's students/children. Its time parents, the community and the country itself took measures to change the lives of students.<br />
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I belive that this is a book that needs to be read and digested by every parent in India today...Its time to act, not just sit back and watch in horror!Gitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17599223647472364450noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171218105728561388.post-33564116902336854442012-08-22T03:18:00.002-07:002012-08-22T03:18:57.213-07:00Shriram Iyer and the Wings of Silence<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Last Sunday, it was time to head out to my local Easy Library, in Koramangala, Bangalore, yet again...The scheduled event was the promising launch of Shriram Iyer's <em>Wings of Silence</em>...Attendees were promised an enjoyable performance from the soundtrack that accompanies the book. Author Shinie Antony quizzed Shriram Iyer on the various facets of his authorial debut. <br />
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Shriram Iyer started off by talking about the dynamics at play between siblings. He explained how, as a single child, he had always wondered how his life would have turned out if he had had a sibling, though he never really felt a "lack" of siblings. As an only child, he had the very best that his parents could offer him and it was a delight to have his charming parents in attendance too at this event! The author believed that "younger kids are almost assured of success in the world", and this observation of his is what prompted him to pen down the novel. What would the younger one choose when it came to other members of his family? In order to explore this issue, Iyer chose to tell the story of Raj, the elder child of a couple, who had been born deaf and hence, unable to express himself verbally. This character was not meant to be gifted in any way. His younger sibling, on the other hand, rose to be a popular sportsperson in school.<br />
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Iyer explained how being a deaf child in the 1970s was different from being a deaf child in today's world. He had carried out extensive research into the topic and about 5% of his research made its way into the final version of his novel. His research validated the decision to make the character deaf. The main challenge for anyone with a disability is to let the other senses take over from the disability itself. The author read out 3 excerpts from his coming-of-age novel, which gave us a fascinating insight into the world of the two brothers through Raj's diary. As to why he chose the 1980s and the Moscow Olympics as a backdrop to the novel, he said it was because the Olympics are the higest pinnacle of sports and sports is a lot about human character and endurance. The Cold War too provided an interesting setting for the Moscow Olympics.<br />
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As for the way the novel shaped up, Iyer observed how storytelling could be through different media - books, music, theatre and so on. The novel, though a debut novel, is entirely fictional and there is nothing autobiographical about it. The author candidly admits, "The protagonist was what I wanted to be"! He enjoyed writing in crowded malls as it gave him an opportunity to observe and integrate the conversations around him. He felt that dialogues are always difficult and the main task of a writer is to "show" rather than "tell". <br />
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Shinie Antony asked Iyer about the highs and lows of writing the book. Iyer said the thrill of spontaneously chanelling the story over 4 years was a high, while he would count his earlier rejections by US and UK publishers as the lows. He explained how this was not a niche book, but was more of a coming-of-age story. While characters are young adults, it was not just another teenage book. The author commented on how his second attempt had overlaps with this first one and he was forced to drop the idea. His second book is a murder mystery that he is terribly stirred about, while the third book he is working on is a mythological thriller!<br />
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To finish this extremely engaging session, Shriram Iyer said that being a trained singer, he wanted to see how the readers would react to an accompanying soundtrack that would express the emotions of the characters through music. He regaled the audience with a few chosen songs from the soundtrack...It was interesting to note that while Iyer writes fiction only in English, he is able to pen lyrics <em>only in Hindi</em>. This, I believe, calls for an excellent translation effort in the near future! </div>
Gitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17599223647472364450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171218105728561388.post-65274905613467570552012-06-10T10:27:00.001-07:002012-06-10T10:27:47.749-07:00Dr. Amitabha Bagchi's Storytelling Approaches<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
As yet another Sunday dawned, I was eager to spend time with a bunch of literary aficionados and headed to Easy Library, my local library in Koramangala. There was a scheduled author meet with Dr. Amitabha Bagchi, faculty member at the IIT, Delhi and author of <em>Above Average</em> and more recently, <em>The</em> <em>Householder</em>. As an academic myself, I was keen to see how he balanced the two vocations - that of an academic scholar and a fiction writer.<br />
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Dr. Bagchi read out a few extremely thought-provoking excerpts from his latest book, <em>The Householder</em>, and the audience wasted no time in bombarding him with questions about his literary techniques. Dr. Bagchi insisted that not all storytelling was necessarily an allegory. However, the notion of storytelling does spread out from its point of origin. Readers must learn not to read the story only as a specific story or only as an allegory. <br />
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When asked by an audience member if he thinks in a specific language while writing fiction, Dr. Bagchi explained that language was what one thinks in; though his writing voice is English, the positioning of his characters and what they think was an extension of what he himself has read in Hindi Literature. Shrilal Shukla has long been one of Amitabha Bagchi's inspirations, as the author himself explains. <br />
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Another audience member enquired about whether Dr. Bagchi had carried out extensive research to draw the characters of Naresh Kumar and others in <em>The Householder</em>. The author elaborated on how the setting of the novel was a familiar one for him, as he was the son of a bureaucrat, and his own personal experiences and observations in his home town helped him while writing the novel. However, he had done some research into the Stenographers' Guild and other such institutions. In addition to keen observation, Dr. Bagchi also lists his intuition as an important aid to his writing endeavours. He would not write a book set in a place that he did not share a certain intimacy with, which is why Delhi was so critical as the setting of his novels. He explained how the richness of layering in memory leads to the enchantment of a novel's setting. Later, he added that the best way to write about a city was to write about specific aspects of it, and not about its entirety. <br />
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When asked about the use of humour in his novels, Dr. Bagchi insisted that though his sense of humour is considered above par, he did not normally bring it to bear on any scene! The writer was also quizzed about the issue of preserving culture. He let on that he had a tremendous suspicion of people who tried to preserve culture. Cultures also die, like human beings, so why the need, and indeed the effort, to preserve culture, he asked. It was interesting to note that he had recently started learning Arabic calligraphy, to know more about Delhi's historic monuments.<br />
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Then on, came the rather crucial issue of how much background information/description Indian writers need to give their readers. Dr. Bagchi explained that when a writer worries about how much/whether the reader would understand his work, it would not be possible to go in-depth into the various aspects of the literary work itself. This was the main reason, he says, why Hindi literature just flows - its writers are not concerned with how much background information the readers know. He also reiterated that his own intention was not to show his readers Delhi, but to link emotional interactions with physical experiences. <br />
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Dr. Bagchi also disappointed some of his readers by declaring that he would not be writing sequels to any of his works, as he considers them to be over when the first work ends. If he were to write a sequel, it would be like trying to rewrite the characters' lives, which does not happen in real life! He also shared that when he got down to starting any fictional work, he needed to have the end in mind; the last scene was very important to him as a writer. And, finally, he also divulged some statistical data with an eager audience: <em>The Householder</em>'s manuscript runs to about 60,000 words, and took him 7 months of thinking and 11 months of writing! <br />
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I, for one, can't wait to read <em>The Householder</em>! We look forward to reading many more novels by Dr. Bagchi, including the one that, he said, remains unpublished...</div>Gitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17599223647472364450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171218105728561388.post-15643654004561353832012-06-10T07:16:00.000-07:002012-06-10T07:16:55.933-07:00Dr. Vijay Nagaswami's Take on Relationships<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
A few weeks ago, I attended an author meet at Easy Library. The writer was Dr. Vijay Nagaswami, renowned Chennai-based psychiatrist. I must admit I had been eagerly looking forward to his take on relationships, in the current Indian context, having been away from my homeland for the last few years!<br />
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The talk was well-attended, with most in the audience being couples, as was to be expected. Writer Shinie Anthony led the group in interactions with the writer, who has authored several books, including The 24X7 Marriage, The Fifty-50 Marriage and 3's A Crowd, among others. According to Dr. Nagaswami, deception was the main issue in most marriage failures. He drew heavily on his own personal experiences as a counsellor. He lamented the lack of good resources in India, since the only congregated data about marriages and divorces available for/about Indians is the national census. The data from the 2011 census is not yet available, he informed us. <br />
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Dr. Nagaswami then went on to explain the concept of Toxicity in Marriages. He described how a series of unfulfilled and unarticulated expectations formed the main cause of/reason for toxicity. It is vitally important to de-toxify the toxic elements in the marriage to make it work. He also insisted that affairs happened not just in bad or toxic marriages, but in several good marriages too! Much of it, in the Indian context, he believes, is due to liberal thought processes that have emerged in the last thirty years. <br />
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Dr. Nagaswami also detailed how "Template clash" often led to the break-down of a marriage. These templates he alluded to are nothing but the ideas and expectations that we have formed, during our early years, about the institution of marriage. Most Indians have only their parents' marriage on which to base their own individual templates. "Parents do not plan to be anything other than a parent", he declared. Not many Indian parents actually sit down and chat to their children about marriages and what make them work. Hence, to avoid any template clash, what needs to be done is both partners need to create their own "final marriage template", which would essentially mean retaining the best of both their individual templates and rejecting all that would possibly work against a good marriage.<br />
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We are a marriage-obsessed society, Dr. Nagaswami noted, which had the audience nodding their heads vigorously in agreement! To ensure that a marriage works, he stressed, boundary definitions need to be set in order to prevent unsolicited advice and intrusions not just from parents and in-laws, but from so-called well-meaning friends and neighbours too...I do personally believe that this setting of boundaries would need to be implemented not just for marriages to work, but in all other personal/private spheres too! Dr. Nagaswami also commented on how a few years at least of nuclearisation would help most marriages. <br />
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He then moved on to talk about marriage counselling. There are two types of people who approach him for counselling: the solution-seekers and the enhancement-seekers. Counselling was not just about advice, he reiterated. In India, the concept of counselling has slowly begun to catch on, but it is not yet at the levels seen in the West. The bond, says Dr. Nagaswami, is much more substantive in a live-in relationship than in a traditional marriage. He also felt that intellectual abuse (where one batters the partner intellectually) was becoming more common these days. The 4 Cs in a marriage are what keep it working and make it a "good" marriage: communication, commitment, compatibility and communion. <br />
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To finish off, Dr. Nagaswami touched on how, in the present Indian economic climate, women entering the workforce are trying to become more like men. However, the psychiatrist stressed that rejecting one's feminity was not the way to break the glass ceiling. As a final note, he declared that "never" and "always" are to be avoided to make one's marriage work...<br />
</div>Gitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17599223647472364450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171218105728561388.post-14309000011745340752012-03-18T05:38:00.000-07:002012-03-18T05:38:05.871-07:00Ashok Banker at Easy Library, Bangalore<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This morning, a few of us were fortunate enough to attend a cosy Book Talk by renowned Indian writer, Ashok Banker, who surely must be one of the most unassuming persons on the planet! He started by narrating how he came upon the concept of re-telling Indian mythologies by giving us listeners a fascinating insight into his familial background, which formed the essential prompt for him personally. He hails from an essentially Catholic/Christian/Anglo-Indian background, with both his mother and maternal grandmother having spent a few years in the then-Ceylon (Sri Lanka). His devout Catholic mother met his Hindu birth-father in India and they divorced within a few months of marriage. The divorce process was enabled by Banker's mother's conversion to Islam (for legal reasons).<br />
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Thus, Banker explains, he did not believe he "belonged" to any particular religion per se. It was only in school when fellow-students questioned him that he began to question himself about his religious identity. While classmates were being pressurised to attend Sunday Catechism classes, he was under no such obligation. <em>They</em> had reason to resent this pressure, while <em>he</em> took pleasure in reading and indeed studying the very same verses and psalms they hated. He had always been a voracious reader too. Banker said his family frequently visited religious places; not only churches but also <em>dargahs</em> and mosques. He took a personal interest in learning about Hindu mythology too, in order to understand his feelings towards his biological father (and a step-father). In short, it was this melting-pot of religious myths and stories in his own persona that prompted him to embark on a series that would interest today's Indian children.<br />
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Though Banker's earliest works were successful, he is more widely-known today for his series on Hindu mythological stories - all this while he does not claim to be "Hindu". He believes that while young Indians do need to be exposed to other literatures, they also need to get a better grounding in our own literary heritage. This is what he aims to do with his massive projects. He also gave us his take on the Ram/Ravan and the Ramayana/Mahabharatha dichotomy. According to Banker, there is neither a black-n-white universe nor are there shades of grey. Instead, each one of us is a distinct colour, a unique hue, which cannot be replicated. I found this an extremely engaging concept...<br />
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He explained that he did not aspire to re-write the Ramayana by changing its end. For instance, he has neither challenged Sita's banishment by Ram nor has he given it a feminist twist by making Sita banish Ram instead! Banker reiterated that he was both a radical and a feminist in its truest sense. Another feature of his works is that he does not attempt to "paint" his characters, in that there are no vivid descriptions of the mythological characters' body and form/features. As one audience member pointed out, the average Indian today simply cannot identify these mythological characters with the cast of a televised version that appeared on Indian screens several years ago! And this Banker totally agreed with. He also spoke of his mode of working, which was to read available versions of these mythologies translated into English (which is his mother tongue) as well as read up on the Sanskrit texts (of which he has sufficient knowledge). Then, one closes the books and switches on the computer...and the words start flowing...He does not immediately send his manuscripts for publishing. Instead, he carefully analyses the readers' reception of his works and then decides on the right time to send his next work to the publisher. Hence, some of his manuscripts have sat on his desk for almost 5 years! It is indeed heartwarming to know of authors like this, who keep their readership, and not the potential revenue, in mind...<br />
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Banker has also taken to new media and is a frequent user of Twitter, as many will know from his reaction to recent episodes in the Indian literary scene. His books are available in e-book format too. He is extremely generous with his time and attention and I do hope we readers get to benefit more from his knowledge and intellect in the years to come. And lastly, a massive Thank You to Vani, owner of Easy Library, who is instrumental in arranging such fantastic Author Meets...<br />
</div>Gitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17599223647472364450noreply@blogger.com1