RIP Lee Kuan Yew

Almost three years back, I visited the city-state of Singapore. I was quite impressed by the place, professionalism and discipline displayed by its citi-zens. Singapore's success as a nation is exemplary, we all know about that. But a tiny thing about a tiny animal did not go unnoticed to me, it's the conspicuous absence of mosquitoes over there. One would expect Singapore being a tropical country to have lots of mosquitoes. In reality, it is other way round. Though tropical and an ideal ground for breeding of these blood sucking parasites, it is mostly free of them. Thanks to the cleanliness and civic sense of the authorities as well as the citizens.

 

One of the reasons one doesn't get a scratch from mosquito bite can be alluded to a man called Lee Kuan Yew, who built the country from scratch. A diverse nation of quality people, in a short span 50 years, he led its transformation from a struggling nondescript war ravaged port city, to a giant hub of business. It also arguably has the best Healthcare facilities in Asia. Singapore has turned out to be a model state in Asia, least corrupt and the most entrepreneur friendly in Asia.

 

A la America, it is also the greatest example of diversity. Over the years it has attracted the best talents from across the globe to become the epicenter of trade and commerce. Many who contributed to its growth, originated from another nation. Singapore frequently invites our legendary Odia writer Manoj Das as a cultural consultant, using the expertise of a real expert in the field of culture, who is pretty much ignored in his own nation. That tells part of the story. Singapore which lacked human resource, nurtured human resource in a short span of time to touch the zenith of success.

 

Experts say Japan stagnated into a lost decade due to its stubborn refusal to diversify. Diversity is not a dirty word, it is dear word. It creates a conducive environment, a confluence of knowledge and ideas for the betterment of the society. Embrace it to leap forward. Desist it to risk going back to the stone age at a fast rate in a faster changing world. Lee Kuan Yew, the founding father of modern Singapore could envision this. He once famously said " China can draw on a talent pool of 1.3 billion people, but US can draw on the World's 7 billion. " He wasn't far from the truth. His death marks end of an era. RIP Mr. Kuan, without you Singapore would not have been where it is today.

Matriculation Time in March

We are marching into the month of March, a time for Spring Break for the kids at school here. It also reminds me of examination time back home, especially the matriculation and Board exams (called tests in America). In our time there was a saying in rhyme

"Matriculation examination,
Is a great botheration,
For the young generation".

 

Matriculation or the Board exam as called in the English medium schools, was arguably a make or break moment of our time. Failure was not an option. A below par performance in other exams always had the prospect of a second chance, yet if you do bad in this particular exam chances of a comeback is remote, though not mission impossible. I have seen very few as exceptions who after GANDHI SHRENI or Gandhi Class ( sarcastically named after our Father of the Nation who supposedly passed in 3rd division) who have excelled academically. Often I wonder why not name 2nd Division after Nehru and 1st Division after Subash Base as a fitting tribute to the icons.

A good score in Matriculation assures you an entry into a decent college, otherwise for many the goose is cooked. Not getting into a good college can get you tagged as a DHAIN, which in the local lingo means a person with respiratory ailments gasping for breath but as a slang depicts a "worthless" person. It's not unusual for teenagers to commit suicides post the ignominy of poor performance, as they can't cope up with the prospect of being persona non grata or as we call in Odia LOKE BOLIBE KANA (what the public will say) ?

 

Often failing in an exam in Odisha in the local lingo is said as KHARAP HEIGALA or "bad happened", a more soothing metaphor for the ill sounding "Fail". In my father's generation passing the Matriculation examination was a matter of prestige as well as a passport to a decent government job. A contemporary of him passed it after no less than dozen attempts. His initial attempt with Mathematics Optional paper, the preferred option of good students. After that he kept switching optionals to the less preferred Sanskrit yet failed again. Finally he toggled with the least preferred Physiology & Hygiene and Home Science optional before finally managing to clear the exam well into his 20s, following the footsteps of Gandhi. He was ecstatic as it propelled him into landing  up a coveted Goverment job and a secured life.

 

Many who could not clear the papers under Odish BSE (Board Of Secondary Education), had the option of getting the Matriculation degree from Andhra matric. The later was considered an easier option, yet still it provided the solace of having a degree. Those less fortunates had to stay satisfied (often in ignominy) of MABF degree for rest of their life.

The Legend of Gopal Bhanda - the Odia wit

We have heard many witty stories from the legendary Birbal of Akbar's court, to his counterpart from South, Tenali Raman from the court of Raja Krishna Dev Ray. In Odisha we have our  Kabi Jadumani, a poet with ready wit humor. I don't remember the name of the King who was his patron.

Last but the least, most Odias from our generation must have heard about our legendary GOPALA BHANDA (Gopal, the mischievous prankster). Not sure if such a person really existed. In all likelihood he is a fictional character with rustic wit, ascribed to a plethora of local jokes.

 

One famous anecdote involves Gopal Bhanda and his employer King (more like a small time Chieftain rather than an Emperor). Once the royalty was blessed with a child. The elated King asked favorite court jester Gopala, how he felt. The later responded, "CHHAMU (My Lord), my feeling is similar to the relief one gets subsequent to taking a huge dump, especially after a complete clearance of the bowel as clean as a whistle".

 

The King was furious and sentenced his court jester to death. The witty Gopal asked the King for a last wish, in form of the king consuming a big meal (rumored to be laced by with JAMALA, a high fibre laxatives given to horses to relieve their constipation by Gopala), to be followed by a joint boat ride inside lake. The king felt flabbergasted by this wierd request, but nevertheless obliged to the last wish of his favorite court jester.

 

After a few hours in the middle of the lake all of a sudden the King was overwhelmed by Nature's call, feeling a sudden urge to relieve himself. He pleaded Gopal Bhanda to oar the boat towards the shore. Gopal delayed it long enough for the King to beg him to row faster. No sooner than he got close to the shore, the King jumped off the boat and started steeple chasing through the shallow water, aiming to go behind the bushes. But unable to hold himself any further, the King was forced to evacuate himself on the white river sand. Few moments later, a much relieved and relaxed King, ensuring that no one saw him, came with a big smile and forgave his vassal. Now in a pleasant mood, he admitted that he completely misunderstood Gopal Bhanda and rewarded the later with several gold coins. I do remember a CHATI (thin) Odia book GOPALA BHANDA RAHAHASYA (The mythical Gopal Bhanda), mostly available near Bus Stands in Odisha. It must contain many more such stories about him.

ISIS crisis lingers on as Shiite Militia fights them

ISIS crisis lingers on. It was sad to know that in occupied Mosul in Iraq priceless, historic monuments were vandalized by these despicable thugs. This has been followed by a monumental shift, the Iraqi militia Army of mostly Shiites, well assisted by Iranian Republican guards are now going all guns blazing against ISIS. This should not have happened at first place, if last year the Iraqi forces did not flee away from that city with their tails well tucked inside their hind legs. Don't know what kinda training the Americans gave them. What a wastage of tax payers money ! Apparently the Iranian led and infiltrated Shiites Militia is doing the cleaning of those responsible for ethnic cleansing. Vindicating Newton's 3rd law of Motion, the Shiites are reciprocating with equal magnanimity, one of them posting a picture of a decapitated of his ISIS opponent.

 

So how the world reacts ? Europe is in an economic mess. China is content at flexing its muscles over its neighbors. Russia is obsessed with Crimea, with Putin scratching his bald head as it's currency is competing with oil prices in free fall. Apart from cricket, the only news I heard about Australia and New Zealand was them jointly sending a formidable force of 300 to help the Iraqis. Still a unipolar world, without a bigger involvement of USA no tangible gains can be made. But American is prudently avoiding the ISIS trap as the public opinion is heavily against war, primarily due to the Bush led Iraq fiasco. Obama is an antiwar liberal and least interested in putting American lives on the ground. Minus US leadership, no one wants to take a plunge into a full fledged war beyond the token air strikes.

 

The response of the neighboring Middle East nations is at best incoherent. Jordan and Egypt go on a bombing spree, only when their citizens are brutally butchered or roasted alive by these maniacs. Mind it, these nations are not democracies. They are ruled by Kings and dictators with a fragile hold on their subjects. The fear of being toppled due to a religious  backlash prevents them from going after the ISIS in full force. Interestingly Fareed Zakaria recently interviewed a French guy who returned after a stint with ISIS. According to him he hardly saw any of the ISIS foot soldiers praying or there was anything religious in their activities. Most of them were plain thugs, enjoying their loot of money and women. There are no shortage of unemployed idiots in this universe who aspire for some kick in life, Now it's high time their butt is kicked before it's too late. Luring of girls and kidnapping of Japanese, who are at best tangentially linked to the Jihadists speaks for itself.

 

Both US and Iran form an uneasy alliance on the surface, supplementing each other for a common enemy, to the chagrin of Saudis and others. The initial American bombing has been followed by Iranian surface-to-surface missiles and ground support. Reminded of the common utterance from Bollywood movies, DUSHMAN KA DUSHMAN DOST HOTA HAI (Enemy of an enemy is a friend). No wonder we learnt in our High School Math lessons, -ive of -ive is always positive.

Chastity without Opportunity - Hats off to the unsung heroes

The body of a young IAS officer in Karnataka, known for taking the sand mafia heads on, was found hanging. Many don't believe that he killed himself, suspecting foul play. Today I dedicate this post to those I know are wronged, by the society and by The All Mighty. We have heard this proverb "Chastity without opportunity". It is very easy for me to criticize about corruption in India comfortably seated thousands of miles away. I have never been in a position in my life where I was offered bribes. So I salute those unsung heroes I have come across in my life who could easily have succumbed to easy money, yet never did so. They are a very rare breed in India, rarer than the rarest of Blends of Scotch Whiskey.

One of them was a friend of my father, who once was posted as a BDO, a lucrative position to make money in Govt Of Orissa. Millions of Rupees was handled by, without him touching a single Paisa. Always short of money, greasing his palm a bit would not have hurt him. But he never compromised on his ethics. He had plenty of of family issues, his married daughter's family pressurized him to steal some government money to help his son-in-law's faltering business. But this gentleman never ever faltered. He later died a lonely man, an unsung hero. The society, nor any of our 33 crore (330 million) Gods, the Benevolent and Merciful, The protector of the Just etc. ever came to his rescue.  

Another person I knew, was the leader of the Worker's Union of a major industrial complex in Odisha who refused a few lakhs (1 lakh = 10th of a million) in cash graciously offered to him by his employers, a substantial amount in early 90s. It was during his sister's wedding when the management thought that he was vulnerable. Yet he refused. Right now he lives an unassuming life of sickness, not so far rewarded by the society or God. Not many mortals will do that, at least in modern India. May the soul of the whistle blower who dared to take on mafia Rest In Peace.

Our Complex about Complexion

An Indian politician, Sharad Yadav recently called South Indian women "Dark Skinned" in Rajya Sabha and refused to apologize. No question, we are a fair skin crazy nation, never been able to get rid of this complex about our complexion. Fair skin lotions sell like hot cakes. Indian matrimonial columns are filled with ads where the prime most criteria for the bride is "FAIR", followed by Tall, Beautiful, Qualified blah blah blah. In Odisha when a marriage broker says JHIATI TIKE MANDA RANGA meaning " the girl has little bit dull color", it's an euphemism for dark complexion. Fair enough. Can't blame the broker, as one should not kill the messenger. He is just trying to make his sales pitch in a marriage market where fair complexion rules the roost.

 

An article in India Today magazine not so long ago mentioned about numerous high society Call Girls operating in Delhi are from impoverished ex-Soviet Republics. The reason, their white skin is more sought after than the rest.

 

Shakespeare wrote "What's is a name ? You call Rose by another name, it still smells the same". Similarly we can very well say "What's in a Complexion"? A part of Martin Luther King's I have a dream speech was "a person should not be judged by the color of his skin but the content of his character". He was so correct.

 

The Cheer girls performing at IPL cricket matches are conspicuously Caucasians. Yet in a country where most are dark or brown skinned, the craze for white skin cheer girls is nothing to cheer about. Do we lack any good looking able dancers who are not necessarily skinned ? This cheerleading concept have been straight taken out of the page books of American NFL where the cheerleaders include many African Americans or Hispanics, who are dark or brown skinned. So why not take a step further in IPL and make it more inclusive ?

 

The other day I watched MAGADHEERA, a Telugu hit movie where the son of ex-Superstar Chiranjeevi plays the leading role. The leading female role is played by Kajal Aggarwal, a North Indian import, who hardly knew any acting but was fair skinned. Wonder what happened to the talented Telugu film industry, which has gone so bankrupt of actresses that they have to import B graders from North. Gone are the days of Vaijayantimala, Hema Malini, Rekha, Sridevi, Jayaprada and many more who not only had excellent looks, were endowed with great acting skills, extending their reach from South to Bollywood. Now  it seems the trend has been reversed. Nothing but the craze for fail skin would ascribe to it.

 

Reminds me of my college days when we had students from Ethiopia and Kenya amongst us. Many called them KALLU (a derogatory term used for blacks). They were aware about it. One of them once told "you guys call us black, but most of you are just a shade fairer than us". He had a point.

England's Ouster from World Cup brings back memories from it's haydays

The first casualty of this cricket World Cup was the England's ouster from the Quarterfinal rounds. Their defeat against Bangladesh (no more a minnow) sealed their fate. Didn't come much of a surprise, the way they played in this World Cup they didn't deserve to qualify, a sad come down of a nation which gave birth to this glorious game.

 

It wasn't the case 33 years back, when a power packed English team with the likes of Gooch, Gower, Botham and Willis were touring India. England then had a formidable team. They already had an indomitable One day record, being the finalist of the prior World Cup, loosing to the mighty Windies. India at best, had a below average record in the limited overs version of the game.

 

A late winter day of that cricket season seems just like yesterday, when the first ever One Day International match at Barabati Stadium in Cuttack was played between India and England. It was the last week of January 1982. It was one of it's kind of that time. Earlier it had hosted a few games between the touring international sides and East Zone. But for the first time an One day match involving team India was going to be played at the picturesque venue.

 

Enthusiasm was building up in anticipation of the match. There was a huge demand for the tickets, with all the them soon getting sold out. My father managed to buy couple of tickets to the jealously of my friends, giving an ardent cricket fan in me the most cherished opportunity of that time. A few officials were openly selling their passes in the black market. 

 

The English team arrived early and were housed in Hotel Kalinga Ashok, barely a mile from my home. Next morning I heard "TRING TRING".. a friend of mine ringing his bicycle bell in front of our flat (apartment).  It was his usual signal that something important was going on. I immediately rushed down stairs. He told me to ride with him as he got the news that English players were out in the lawn of the hotel. I did not think twice as my heart was pounding fast with unbridled excitement. Now I am going to actually see those I see regularly on Sportstar, Sportsweek and Sportsworld, the Sports magazines of the time. We pedaled fast and within 5 minutes reached the spot.

 

I could see Bob Taylor (their wicket keeper) and Ian Botham from close, sipping their morning Tea and chatting on the lawn. Only a barbed wire separated us by a few feet. My friend got over excited and started shouting in Oriya at top of his voice"HE HE..ARRE DEKH RE, TALOR AU BOTHAM BASICHANTI (Hey Hey take a look, Taylor and Botham are sitting)". A few passerby took notice and a crowd started gathering. Both these English players could sense the commotion. They got up and hurried towards their room. Before leaving Botham made a monkey like gesture and rolled a half eaten apple towards us. We felt so privileged of getting his attention and felt as if we got salvation. Little we realized it wasn't a very laudable gesture on his part.

 

Finally the D-Day arrived. On the day of the match we got up at 4 AM and proceed towards Cuttack. We started early as we were told in advance that there were many fake ticket holders, so we better get inside the stadium before it gets full. The match started. I had my pocket transistor with me. England batted first with the Oriya commentary blaring " GOOCHA AAU COOKA (Gooch and Cook in Oriya accent) THIA HOICHANTI AAU MAHANADI PATU KAPILA DEBA ASILE( are standing and from Mahanadi rive side Kapil Dev is walking in). It was a long day.

 

At lunch time we consumed some cold Puri and Potato curry brought from home. After the match ended we came out of the stadium with one hand closing our nostril trying to avoid the yellow rivulets of urine almost flooding the exit gates. Finally got back home tired, with tons of memories to cherish down the lane. Later I learnt that at least 5000 spectators with valid tickets were denied entry into the stadium.