Malicious Rants: Contains added bias and prejudice

A news report says that some Arundhati Roy thinks Kashmir is not a part of India.

Activist Arundhati Roy, who created a controversy the other day by questioning Jammu and Kashmir's accession to the Union, on Sunday harped on the same thing saying that the state was never an integral part of India. Roy was speaking at a seminar on the theme 'Wither Kashmir'.

Who is Arundhati Roy? Is activism a rewarding business?

As far as I know, Ms Roy has written a book in which a young boy gives a hand job to some pervert in a cinema complex. After winning a prize for the book, she joined Medha Patkar's aandolan, possibly for learning the tricks of activism business. (Is Ms Roy still part of the aandolan?) Originally known as a writer, Ms Roy is more of an activist now. (It must be more lucrative than penning books at a time when publishers are complaining about poor ales and cutting down on royalties.) You can find her giving her voice to all sort of "causes"--from Maoist rebels to Kashmir separatists. Her modus operandi: take the stage, hog the lime light and then move on to another cause for consuming tonnes of newsprint.

Just for Ms Roy:
There was no "India" before it was taken over by the British empire. Use this logic and fight for freedom of your 10-acre farm (if you have any) from India. Now that you have joined the Kashmir freedom movement, try for some foreign aid. By the way, I hate activists who stand on the stage before an audience talking about her cause and start weeping. (No, it wasn't you, but someone else.)

On a personal note:
I have worked with two Kashmiri colleagues: one Muslim who wants a free Kashmir despite having studied and worked in "India" and the other a Kashmiri Pundit living away from their land of origin, with the picturesque Kashmir as her desktop wallpaper.

I don't really mind Kashmir being let go. If people of Kashmir want to be free or be a part of the rouge and ailing Pakistan, let them doom their lives. I would have loved if they moved to various parts of India, mingled with people (without any biases) and benefited from the Indian growth story.

Delhi Metro: Left is not Right

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

The Delhi Metro is one of the wonders of the Ancient World (or at least so it seemed to me when I first discovered it in 2005). You descend from the often dirty, cacophonous, teeming world of India's capital with its bustling millions and suddenly you find yourself in an air-conditioned, high-tech, spotless, gleaming world almost empty of people. For some of us Westerners who need respite from the Eastern street, going down into the Metro is positively a vacation (from regular India). Even though the fares are inexpensive (even by Indian standards) the metro in 2005 was fairly empty. Maybe, the Delhians hadn't got used to it yet. [Flick user David Lisbona]

I have recently started (since Monday, 6 September 2010) using the metro's Yellow Line to commute to my new office in Connaught Place (CP). It's a good option, given that it takes less time and has plenty of trains. But is that enough? India is always short of resources, partly because we manage to proliferate quite rapidly. If you have travelled in a Delhi bus on select busy routes during peak hours, you can easily get the idea of crowd that you have to face in these trains. At around 7.45pm, it takes at least 5 minutes in a queue before you get to enter the Rajiv Chowk metro station. And you get some space to stand, often leaning on fellow passengers. So far, I haven't managed to get a seat in the metro service.

Let alone the crowd, the signs at the Rajiv Chowk metro station are also not very helpful. On my first day, I kept looking for the Yellow Line platform. The sign showed it's the station on the lower floor, and the platforms over there had huge signages saying "Blue Line Platform" and "Exit", with a direction. These signs made me assume that the platform where I was standing was for the Blue Line route. The signages were actually meant for directing passengers to the Blue Line platform. To avoid any miscommunication, the signage should have read "Way to Blue Line Platform". I don't know if it's just me who got confused due to the signs, but any professional interface designer will agree that the signs are faulty.

A rookie driver (I am sure the driver was a rookie) of Delhi Metro gave me the latest chance to criticize. On Wednesday, on my way to CP from Hauz Khas, the metro stopped before the platforms arrived and then reached the appropriate halt points with jolts due to regular brakes. The driver seemed to be unaware that there's something called "Right". For the announcement system and indicators, the platforms were always to the left of the train. As a matter of fact, there were just one or two platforms on the stretch that were to the left side of the train. Thankfully, the doors opened on the correct side despite wrong announcements and indicators.

It's a relief that these errors cannot lead to some tragedy, but it's a sign of carelessness. The metro management cannot do anything about the population but they can, of course, increase the number of trains. If that's too much to ask for, they can surely remove erroneous signs and teach their drivers when left is not right.

The Three Nannies

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

MidDay reports that Bollywood director Farah Khan is planning a family vacation. She will be tavelling with her husband, three daughters and their nannies. In this picture that accompanied the report, Khan is holding her handbag instead of one of her daughters. Look a bit odd to me and reminds me of several Hollywood flicks based on how children grow in care of nannies rather than their mothers. With increasing prosperity, Indian film industry will soon be able to copy from those US films. More fresh scripts for Bollywood and plenty of inspirational material available.

Farah Khan with her triplets and their nannies

Farah Khan is planning a 10-day vacation in Thailand after shooting for Tees Maar Khan ends. This is the first time FK will take a vacation with her husband Shirish Kunder, babies Anya, Diva and Czar, and their three nannies! [MidDay]

Kick some ass

Monday, June 14, 2010

Maybe, I am a pervert with a contorted brain, but then I couldn't stop wondering what these Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) activists/members are trying to learn as part of their drill.

If you look at the first (from right) man/boy/activist/volunteer, it's not clear what he is up to. But as you pan your head towards the left, their body language makes it amply clear what they want. The last man in the row is actually trying to kick the ass of the person ahead of him. Just look at the intensely wicked expression on his face. Trying hard to have fun by kicking some ass (or maybe nuts).

This kick-ass picture was published in today's (14 June 2010) Hindustan Times Delhi edition.

Maa! Do not tell anyone that you killed me

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Nirupama Pathak was murdered by smothering. Who killed her? Though the truth will take some time to emerge, circumstances point at her family, her mother who tried to mislead the police about her daughter's death. The young journalist was guilty of taking decisions about her life on her own, flouting the age-old regulations of "Sanatan Dharma". This is a letter that she might have written if dead people could write and post letters.

Dear Maa,

Today, I remember a bedtime story that grandma had repeated several times, the story of a mother's heart. Maybe, your mother or grandmother had also narrated it to you.

Once upon a time, in a small village, there was a young man who fell in love with a beautiful damsel from the neighbouring village. When the man proposed to marry her, she agreed on condition that they set up a separate household in her village. He agreed to it and informed his mother.

Old Indian jugaad: newspaper on rent