Summer trip to Savannah - Day II

 Savannah is a quintessential tourist town which has enough history to showcase. The first tour a Trolley ride through its historic streets. We stopped by the oldest house, its first owner was a Pirate in 1735 and still preserved. The tour guide stopped by the bench made famous by Tom Hanks in his iconic movie "Forrest Gump" who sitting on the bench delivered in his thick, Southern accented monologue - "Life is a baax (box) of chaacklates (chocolates). You don't know what yaa going to geyt (get)". 

USA is blessed with gigantic water bodies to sustain the river cruise liners. The rivers are fed by rainfall which is well distributed throughout the year, not just limited to a particular season. It explains why there is no particular "rainy season" in most parts of America. In the relatively dry West, snow clad mountains feed the rivers, making them perennial. US is filled with big lakes of different shapes sizes - starting from tiny ponds to Great Lakes in North, all gargantuan sources of freshwater. 

It was a cooler, slightly windy and humid day here in Savannah with intermittent rains for few minutes. Water, water every where - coming down from top in form of rain and the Savannah river brimming in water below the River Cruise liner with the drenched American flag fluttering on the tall flagmast atop the ship. 

We all were ensconced inside the ship followed by shifting to the deck for a better view of the shore as the ship snaked its way through the great Savannah river, dredged to 50 feet deep to let ships pass through. From the comfort of cool enclosure we watched the seagulls brave the rain, diving into the river water for a fresh catch. The Seagull catches fish the hard way, under harsher circumstances and lower visibility. It yet vindicates that fishing on your own way gives you better confidence than being an armchair angler. 

Americans have mastered the art of commercializing things which even Science doesn't explain. The country is full of hunted hotels, mansions where folks pay a premium price to experience. It is said that the Actor Jim Carey once stayed in one such famous Hunted hotels paying heavy price. In the middle of night he was seen running bare bodied with only his shorts on in the hotel lobby. He promptly shifted, never going back to his room again. When asked, he never disclosed the reason for his weird behavior in the middle of the night but vowed never go back to that hotel ever again. 

Same goes with the Ghost tours and Savannah in the state of Georgia is famous for those. A trip to Savannah is incomplete without taking one of the several ghost tours available after dark. Many stay in the Hunted hotels for the sake of experiencing spooky stuff, but we preferred to avoid such hotels. I am afterall a meek Odia without much water stored in his ass (GA**I RE PAANI NAHI, as they say in Odia) chicken out of any such adventures. 

Last time when we were here in the winter of 2019, the weather was perfect for a Ghost tour - Cold, Dark and Stormy. We took a guided tour of the most famous Hunted House of Savannah - Andrew Lowe's mansion. Andew Lowe was a rich and influential man who minted money by exporting Cotton when the demand for the cash crop was high at in the initial days of the Industrial Revolution. 

But even stinking rich people are not immune to tragedies as one after another struck him at the height of his money and fame. His wife and couple of kids died young. Andrew Lowe was left crestfallen. Many since have witnessed shadowy figures in that mansion, a man in a Butler's dress named Tom. Smell of cigar suddenly wafts inside the hallway with no one seen smoking around.  

A few have smelled a rosy perfume close by as they felt like suddenly brushed aside by some. The perfume was supposedly worn by Mary, the second wife of Andrew Lowe who died young in that house.  

Following the hurricane of 1979, men working around the Mansion heard the painful sobbing of a woman. Their first thought was it was someone taking refuse there, as many mansions were used as temporary shelter homes for the hurricane evacuees. They followed the sobbing sound to one room above the staircase, but found nobody there. However, they found that it was the Anniversary of the death of Mary, who died in that exact room where the crying came from. 

As a finale to our Savannah travelogue here are a few Spooky Jokes told by our Ghost tour guide retold here. 

Why the Skeleton didn't go to Prom ?Because he had nobody.  

Why the Ghost didn't couldn't get his crush?

Because he had no guts. 

What's the cross of a Vampire and a Snowman- Frostbite. 

We made a short trip to the Tybee Island beach, a popular beach close by. It is arguably the best sea beach of the state of Georgia and I found it muddy, hardly worth of taking a stroll. Saw a few angles fishing and tourists wading through the shallow brownish blue water as a sea gull couple were struggling to make love in the sky. Thus concluded our short and sweet tour to Savannah, Georgia.

Summer trip to Savannah - Day I

Come summer time in America, schools are closed and closing on to the July 4th weekend, it's time for some downtime by taking some time off from work to enjoy the holidays, shugg off the jaded nerves recharging your batteries. As human beings we all are entitled to take a break from the daily drudgery and nothing helps better than taking a vacation. Being a busy year for me (each following year it invariably gets busier) a vacation had been long pending to prevent any burnout. 

We, gang of 4 friends from REC (now NIT) Rourkela with families decided to spend few days in the historic city of Savannah, Georgia - a place diametrically opposite of the city of Columbus where we live. Georgia is a big state, area wise it is pretty much close to Odisha, my home state back home. If you fold a map of Georgia by the Piedmont line extending from its North West corner to South East, Columbus on South West and Savannah on North East will probably overlap on each other.

Georgia was one of the first 13 states forming the United States of America. Savannah was a major port city down South, a center of trade where most of the cash crops produce - especially Tea, Rice, Indigo and Cotton were exported. It explains why cold Sweet Tea, (rather than hot tea we are accustomed to in India) is very popular in the South, served in almost every restaurant to help wash down the food.

Savannah was a prosperous city in the 18th and 19th century. But slowly except Cotton the demand for Tea, Rice and Indigo reduced over time as the main customers British started Tea and Indigo plantations in India. And India being their prized colony Great Britain, they got Tea, Indigo and Rice from India virtually free with plenty of cheap labor to exploit. 

The English found a better way of profiteering - plunder your own colony than compete with an independent country. However Savannah still remained the main port as far as exporting Cotton was concerned as England still needed American cotton. Though the Americans drove the British out of their country, the trade between the nation continued. Business and Politics have a strange contradictory relationship, similar to married couples they bicker with one another, yet stick together for the sake of mutual gain. English language created a bond between the two nations of common people separated by a common language.


Prohibition started in the year 1908 in Georgia which went dry 12 years before the complete prohibition was imposed in rest of America. It led to flourishing of bootlegging and the rich, port township  of Savannah was its epicenter in South. History has vindicated that prohibition has been a failure across the globe. Great Innovators they are, Americans distilled some of the best Bourbon Whiskeys during the prohibition era. (Lot of English words are shortened in American English, e.g. colour is called color, Cocoanut as coconut. But Whisky is called Whiskey in America, a rare instance of a longer version of the word in American English vis a vis British).

On a hot, muggy day while taking an evening walk on the famed River Street bustling with tourists and loud music on sidewalks and convertibles passing by, we saw a couple smooching and fondling each other with youthful enthusiasm ahead of us. They were high on Holiday spirit. The bald beau looked much older than the younger girl. I suddenly remembered a popular Odia DHAGA (Couplet) used in my village about Sugar daddies - the much older husbands of younger wives.

LANDA MUNDA KU SORISA TELA, 
BUDHA GHAITA KARUCHI GELA.

Mustard oil atop Bald Head
Old hubby is Kissing Ahead.

More later...

First world war and history

 Exactly 121 years back on June 28, 1914 a young Serbian Gavrilo Princip shot dead Archduke Ferdinand and his wife to trigger the first World War which went on till 1918 with Germany being humiliated, soeimg the seeds for World War II.

It is said that Gavrilo and his group were a rag tag bunch of nationalists who were plotting an act of terror. For some reason the cavalcade of the Archduke and his wife on whom life attempts were made moments earlier took a wrong turn and stopped right in front of the anarchists.

The couple's cavalcade was destined to take a turn to destiny on that fateful day. For Gavrilo it was a God sent opportunity not to be to missed. Couple of his bullets found their mark as the Archduke and his wife slumped lifeless into each others arms. This event had its ripple effect triggering the First World War.

The war went on and one over several years. In the same war, a short, lean German soldier who was poked fun at by his taller, heavily built fellow Germans for his short height and funny moustache was sleeping inside his camp when he had this strange urge to get out. He duly followed his instinct and stepped outside. Moments later a bomb wiped out the rest of the soldiers sleeping inside the camp.

The rest is history as this man was no other than Adolf Hitler who survived the attack that night and another day in order to rewrite history by adding the chapter of World War II to it. One successful assassination started a war and another failed attempt prepared for the second. War can be treacherous & unpredictable. A small act of terror like a bunch of teenagers killing an Archduke can be like a matchstick lighted in a room filled with inflammable gas, leading to a larger and wider conflagration. One war leads to another, another war to another which can end up in a World War. History repeats itself and hope we learn something from history and don't condemn ourselves to repeat it.

Happy birthday PV Narasimha Rao

An episode from the year 1991 might ring a bell. This is how Subramanian Swamy, a man who has been in almost all parties and now-a-days a BJP man turned into a BJP critic, who then was a Commerce Minister in Chandra Sekhar's government, had this conversation with the US Ambassador to India.

This was during a very crucial time in early 1991 when the American led coalition forces were fighting the Iraq War and Indian economy was totally in shambles. The American Ambassador asked Dr. Swamy what India needed in exchange for refueling facility provided on Indian soil to the Gulf bound US planes fighting the Iraq war.

Here is how the conversation was reported. US Ambassador - "What do you want in return" ? Swamy said - "We want $2 billion because we are on verge of bankruptcy". The Ambassador replied, "You want it from the United States" ? Swami responded - "No, from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and without any condition attached".

The Ambassador went on, "How can I get you money from IMF" ? Dr. Swami replied, "You Americans have 87 percent voting right in IMF. So, if you want landing rights, then on Monday I want $2 billion". The American played hard - "Today already it is Friday". Said Swami, "In Washington DC it is still Thursday night. I know you have the ability to get it." (And unlike many believe that world leaders get ecstatic by looking at Mahaprabhu's white beard and fake laughter, we know in international matters it is always a give and take relationship. It invariably needs some negotiation and hard bargaining before a deal is settled).

So US gave India $2 billion and they were given the landing rights. We changed our non-alignment policy overnight. 2 billion dollar, even adjusted to inflation is not a gargantuan amount by today's standard, considering India a USD 4 trillion plus economy and $700 billion in its Forex reserve. But it was no laughing matter then, when India's Balance of Payment position was extremely precarious and its coffer was on the verge of depletion. India with few hundred million of USD in its reserves and its gold mortgaged in a London Bank was staring at nightmare scenario of economic catastrophe.

Long rule by the Congress Party and its disastrous, leftist - socialist economy policy followed by years of classic Hindu rate of economic growth took us to the doorstep of impending bankruptcy. Yet it took another Congressman, incidentally not from the Nehru - Gandhi family to fix it. A huge credit for this transformation we are seeing 34 years down the road goes to one man, who almost retired from Politics, but became Prime minister of India by fluke on the aftermath of the tragic, untimely assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. He is the polyglot, erudite ex -Prime Minister of India P.V. Narasimha Rao.

Rao's contributions to India are many. Like all politicians he had his share of failures and shortcomings which is beyond the scope of this post. So, I will touch base with two of his significant achievements during his 5 year tenure as India's Prime Minister. 

First, salvaging the economy from brink of disaster as I mentioned upstream and heralding era of economic liberalization, ending the Licence - Permit Raj and red tapism which for years hung like an albatross on India's neck constraining and contributing to its meager growth.

Two, solving the Punjab Problem which looked beyond solution when he stepped into his office in June, 1991 in the middle of the state burning. Within months of becoming PM, Rao called elections in Punjab and managed to conduct one amidst fireworks of bullets and bombs. As we say in Odia, KANTA KU KANTA KADHE - A nail is needed to take out another nail. The Congress government that followed gave a free hand to the Super Cop KPS Gill whose motto was very simple - Kill a terrorist, earn a promotion. The Punjab police responded spectacularly by reaping bounties on the terrorist heads as bountiful as a successful Ravi crop harvest during the BAISAKHI (a popular festival in Punjab). By end of the year 1993, little more than two years after Rao taking office, terrorism in Punjab was a thing of past.

The man proved his mettle, carved his niche, vindicating that a leader can deliver sans histrionics in public. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to PV Narasimha Rao - Thanks to you, the country will never have to resort to mortgage its gold reserves once again.

50th Anniversary of Emergency

 One fine morning in June 1975, Justice Jagmohan Sinha of Allahabad High Court judged Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's victory over her rival Raj Narain, a political buffoon of the time, as null and void. This unexpected verdict was followed by calls for her resignation. Strikes and violence spread across parts of India as anarchy reigned. Soon she imposed internal emergency on the sultry midnight of June 25, 1975. That was exactly 50 years ago.

At that point, India was independent for less than 30 years. The hangover of being ruled in an undemocratic way was still strong (hasn't changed a whole lot since), so also the obsequiousness towards the ruler hadn't faded yet. It manifested itself by Indira Gandhi behaving herself as if she was the "Empress of India", not a democratically elected leader.

She couldn't be blamed alone, as a pliant media branded her as "The Iron lady". We can see this in the current disposition. The success of Bangladesh war and its subsequent liberation probably went on to her head. It is said that even a senior opposition leader A B Vajpayee of Jan Sangh (the precursor of India's current pro-Hindu ruling party BJP) who later went on to become India's Prime Minister famously idolized Indira Gandhi by describing her as our "Goddess Durga". RSS was soft on her those days.

Indira had become a cult figure by then. With cult status came sycophancy. Deb Kanta Barooah, a Congressman from Assam famously said about her - "India is Indira, Indira is India" (We have similar thinking these days by a few who say India is Modi, Modi is India. If you are against Modi, you are anti-Indian). She was soon surrounded by pliable sycophants who fed her what she liked to hear. Her younger son and groomed political heir Sanjay Gandhi was already behaving as a bully.

All fundamental rights were snatched from the citizens. Those who protested were put in jail. Indira and Sanjay Gandhi expected the opposition and the media to bend. Yet to their surprise barring a very few, most of the contemporary media decided to crawl. (Now history is repeating itself as the Godi or laptop media crawls before Mahaprabhu). One exception during those days was Kishore Kumar, an extremely popular singer at that time. He refused to sing for Sanjay Gandhi and was promptly banned from government controlled All India Radio and TV.

Not everybody opposed emergency. Barring a few incidents in Kerala, the rest of South India stood solidly behind her during the emergency and after (We see some parallels now as our Vishwaguru has the backing of his staunch supporters, mostly in North India). South of the Vindyas she stayed very popular among the masses as AMMA INDIRAMMA (mother Indira). In the Election that followed after emergency was lifted, Indira Gandhi swept the South though she was defeated from rest of India. (It needs to be noted that RSS and Siv Sena admired her for teaching its arch enemy Pakistan a lesson by carving a Bangladesh out of it. Both extended their covert support to her and she reciprocated by occasionally taking the help of RSS and Siv Sena during the Emergency to further her political goals).

Indira shrewdly played soft Hinduva card to her advantage as and when needed. But her son Sanjay had no soft corner for anyone and had no patience for the rule of law. He bulldozed slums of Delhi and rumored to have organized forced castration of Muslims, blaming them for India's population explosion.

But many who still remember those days say that though the freedom of citizens was clipped, the emergency had some positive outcome. People in government offices (biggest employer those days) came to work on time. Public sectors started making profit. Buses, planes and trains were dot on schedule. Though short lived, it was proven that we Indians respect the power of DANDA (rod) more than democracy.

I still believe a benevolent dictatorship with a vision is better than the chaotic democracy we presently have. We can disagree on this, but Jeffersonian model of democracy is a myth, a mirage and certainly doesn't fit to all milieu. Yet we can agree that Emergency was one of the important events in the post Independent India and there is always something to learn from history. 50 years since history is still keep repeating itself.

US attacks Iran

 So finally the President of the United States, Donald Trump who came to power with a promise of not only not starting a war, but to  stop the existing wars in a day, has attacked Iran within 5 months of coming to office. That too, not to fight America's war, but Israel's. Sometime back I wrote that whenever Republicans come to power, they have a history getting involved in avoidable wars, causing a loss to human lives and contributing to America's rising debts leaving Democrats to clean up the mess. The cycle repeats. Only difference, this time the Trump administration went to the war saddled in a cloak of hypocrisy - the promise to stop wars all over the world, unlike the prior Republican administration who were more sanguine about it. 

It won't be be an exaggeration to call Israel the 51st state of the United States. Ever since 1948 when Truman as the President of US was the first world leader to recognize the newly formed state of Israel, the bonding between the two nations has been rock solid, with America providing military and diplomatic support, using its veto power in UN regularly in favor of Israel. That's clearly due to the influence the Jewish lobby in American politics. The Jewish population of America is almost equal to the population of the Jews in Israel, if not more. Not only that, unlike us DESIs (a slang used in US for the folks of Indian origin, often in a deregatory way) who are mostly small time businessmen and software coolies like me, the Jews constitute the backbone of American economy - including and not limited to Rich Businessmen, Wall Street hochos, CEOs of large corporations, Doctors, Lawyers, Media persons,  Congressmen, Senators, Governors etc. More importantly unlike us Desis who are divided in lines of Gujjus, North Indians, South Indians etc, the Jews in the United States are extremely united. The Who's Who of America are jews who are known to bankroll politicians to sustain America's pro-Israel tilt. 

Most Jewish immigrants came to USA  around the World War II, especially from the Mainland European nations of Germany, France, Poland, Hungary, Lithuania, Bulgaria etc. No immigrant community has carved their niche in USA as the jews have, probably with the exception of the Irish immigrants. Notable among them are the famous Scientist Albert Einstein who came to America when Hitler started persecuting Jews in Germany. Many worked as scientists in the Manhatten project developing nuclear technology. Jewish immigrants who desperately fled Europe to America in rat infested ships to escape Nazi gas chambers lived in soup kitchen after their arrival in ports. They learned A, B, C, D literally to learn English as they were mostly from Mainland Europe with little or no knowledge of English. They worked as delivery guys, cab drivers etc. One child of a Philadelphia cab driver was Sheldon Adelson who died as a Billionaire Casino Mogul. Another Jewish guy who once delivered newspapers died few years back as the owner of one of the biggest Poultry chain in America. Even the grandfather of Marc Zuckerberg was a Bulgarian jew who emigrated to USA in 1940s. There are many more success stories of jews as entrepreneurs which beyond the scope of this blog. 

Coming back to the current Iran imbroglio, both Israel and America are taking advantage of the existing Sunni and Shia divide in the Middle East. The influential and powerful Sunni Islamic world led by Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar etc are conspicuously silent at Shia Iran's battering. Except Russia to certain extent, no world power has come in support of Iran. But that doesn't mean that Iran can't be a nuisance to America and its interests world over. It can choke the oil supply at the Strait of Hermoz in its backyard, shooting up the global oil prize and creating havoc in world economy. 

It is America who time and again meddles in the Middle East and continue to create a mess there. In 1953 it removed the elected Iranian government to replace it with its stooge - the Dictator Shah Reza Pallavi. He created as much public anger to harbinger a Mullah led revolution in 1979 followed by a theocracy. Then it was Saddam Hussain who kept Iran under control by fighting a war with its Persian neighbor with tacit US support until he went against the American interests. Then USA removed Saddam only to release the lease around Iran's neck who stepped in to fill the vacuum left after Saddam's removal to expand its control over Iraq and beyond. Then Iran started extending its tentacles to finance Hamas and Hezbollah who were perennial thorns on Israel's butt. And now we are again in this mess as Israel attacked Iran,, followed by US and don't know how long this war is going to continue. A war is always unpredictable, bringing in nothing but loss of innocent lives, followed by destruction. God only knows how this thing is going to end. So be afraid, be very afraid !!!

Cholera in Odisha

 Latest news from my home state back home is about Cholera - an epidemic thought to have been extinct decades ago is now back as several cases has been detected in Bhadrakh and Jaipur districts. A dreaded diarrhea and dehydration causing disease, Cholera along with Small Pox used to eliminate families in matter of days and thought to be eliminated after the arrival of vaccination is raising its ugly head again.

During my childhood, I often used to spend long Summer vacations in my native village, not far from the temple town of Puri. One commonly used GALI (rebuke) in our village was BAADIPODA. Growing up in Bhubaneswar, I wasn't familiar with this slang, which literally means "Barbecued from Cholera" - a death wish curse to perish from a malignant, dangerous disease of "BADI" or Cholera, dysentry followed by dehydration due to a disease which was a scourge only few decades ago.

It's not Condom, but Cholera which kept India's population under control couple of generations back. Life then was a matter of surviving the next cholera season (small pox was a close second). Both wiped out entire homes, leaving many rudderless in matter of days. Many of my grandparent's siblings and cousins perished from Cholera. So much so that, after cremating one, there will be more dead bodies in pipeline to be picked up along with firewoods. Three of my grandpa's Cousins, 2 of his sisters and a brother, all perished from Cholera within a time frame of 48 hours.

Lack of knowledge and awareness - like soaking rice with water for PAKHALA (A staple Odia diet) from the same pond where folks washed their bottoms post ablution took a toll on hygiene and helped in spreading the disease. But  superstitions galored. During the epidemics, the entire village would shut down after dark. No sooner the twilight sets in, than the villagers liberally filled huge earthen pots outside with PITHA (cakes made from rice and grams), PANAA (a sweetened puree made from yogurt and fruits like Banana and Stone Apples or BEL) for the consumption of BAADI THAKURANI (Cholera Goddess) or Maa SITHALA (Small Pox Goddess).

Job done, the villagers rushed back to home never to dare venture out untill dawn, lest they earn the wrath of the Goddess. Not sure how far the diety was appeased, but the stray dogs of the village had a field day. They put on a lot of weight and seemed healthier and happier than their human counterparts.

Post independence, vaccinations virtually wiped out many communicable diseases. Since the MAHAMAARI or Epidemics like Cholera and Small Pox became curable, we are perpetually fighting a losing battle against the menace of explosive population growth. The term BADIPODA was relegated to the Museum of Slangs. Cancer Poda or AIDS Poda, both incurable diseases are better substitutes.

A dose of Cholera inoculations I received during my childhood was no fun. I have a very faint memory of small pox vaccine which was tattooed on my hand, the scar of which is still visible. But my first vivid memory is getting a shot (called injection in India) of cholera vaccination when I was in primary school. As the D-Day arrived I was scared to death. After getting the shot I mistakenly assumed that the ordeal was over. I was proved wrong. By evening I was running a high temperature and could hardly lift my left arm which was hurting like hell. My grandma gave me LUNA PODA SEKA, gently sponged the vicinity of the tiny orifice on my arm pierced by the needle with heated pad of salt wrapped in a piece of cloth. The pain subsided after couple of days. A piece of paper called Inoculation Certificate is all I got after bearing all the physical & mental agony.

Little I knew that this Certificate will come handy a few months later when I was on a bus to Puri days before the famous RATH YATRA. On the outskirts of the city near Chandanpur, the bus was stopped by a battalion of health officials eagerly waiting with syringe on hand. It was time to give cholera shots. I proudly brandished my inoculation certificate and they spared me.

Those who didn't meekly disembarked and lined up for the shots. A few who tried to flee were immediately chased down by the officials. Some escaped by wading over the paddy fields, melting away behind the coconut groves. Those not so lucky were grabbed by their collars and a DAMPHANA (the Odia term for thick needles used to sew jute sacks) sized needle was stabbed to their bottom with great force. They grimaced and screamed in pain, limping back to bus in full view of passengers peeping through the window. I was watching Wild Wild West enacted on the east coast of India.

Things are much better now and folks are able to overcome the fear of syringe. I think it is wise to take a Cholera booster shot to upgrade the last ones our generation took in the 1970s as it may not be still effective. Never know if your next GUP CHUP (As GOLGAPPA or PANI PURI is called in Odia) session could land you in a hospital. Prevention is better than cure and better safe than sorry.