Happy New Year 2022

 The antonym of "Happy New Year" would be "Unhappy Old Year". Year 2021 was pretty close to that for many, though better than the previous year. 2021 paves way for the year 2022 - a new year we wish will make 2021 a forgettable one. While wishing so and stepping into it, with thousands of Nostadamus and Malika predictions from Whatsapp University circulating on social media, we don't know what lies ahead and what's in store for us. As the old man 2021 bends his spine and extends his hand to open the door to welcome the New Year, it is now time for some retrospection. 

The passing year 2021 will be forever be remembered by me for several unique reasons - Coronavirus pandemic caused by its Delta variant which killed millions across the globe and a new American President taking office. For the first time an Olympics was held in an odd, unscheduled year. And for the first time since 1993 a new President was sworn in after the defeat of an incumbent one term President who lost his reelection.

A la getting rid off old cloths for the new ones, the soul moving from one body to another as famously extolled by Lord Sri Krishna in the BHAGWAT GITA (a Hindu Scriptue), year 2022 will be reborn yet again at midnight tonight as the soul of 2021 passes away. The year dawns with the cherubic smile of a newborn, as another number is added to its age in the form of a New Year.

But hardly anything else ever changes with the arrival of the new year. For me the mundane life trudges ahead as the same shit, different day - with different color and texture. Hardly anything cataclysmically different occurs, the status quo is maintained more or less.

I don't make any New year resolutions myself, as I don't and I can't keep them anyway. Resolutions like promises are made to be broken. I simply roll over to the year ahead of me.

We may forget history but we don't forget to repeat it year after year. Similar to this starting stanza of the Kishore Kumar's song :

EK RUUT AYE, EK RUUT JAYE PHIR,
MOUSAM BADLENA, BADLE NASEEB.

"One season comes and another goes,
Seasons don't change, fate does". 

This year came and went with a mixed bag. It was all good, bad and ugly for me, with additional baggage of memories gently rolling into next year. Made new friends, revived old ones and lost a few near and dear ones, once and for all. Yet the year comes with this stark reminder - life goes downhill from here, tasks become uphill and years are numbered before we go over the hill. 

To me, almost all the New Year wishes expressed over the years have been too pleasant to makes them forgettable. The Homo Sapien species has this inherent instinct to remember the unpleasant ones. I am no exception. Remember this one from 1st January, 1982. On the first New Year after his marriage to Diana, Prince Charles wished the nosey British Paparazzi, "Have a Nasty New Year".

But I don't have to be nasty. So let me repeat the forgettable wish, as I do not forget to do at the end of every year - HAVE A WONDERFUL NEW YEAR ahead and stay blessed.

12 years of 3 Idiots

 It will forever be my all time great movie, as I could relate a lot shown in that movie to my Engineering College days. Today completes 12 Years of the iconic film ever made in India "3 IDIOTS". It is called the "Shawshank redemption" of India, a movie you can watch again and again, yet not get bored.

In a 2013 interview, iconic filmmaker Steven Spielberg had revealed that he loved Aamir Khan starrer 3 Idiots and has watched the film thrice. Today the movie completes 12 years of its release.

What makes the movie so great ? It is full of fun, love, sarcasm often bordering on dark humor, capturing ethos and pathos of human and student life - how parents force their children into Engineering against their will, spoiling their dream forever. As Aamir Khan has mentioned in the movie - "If Lata Mangeskar played cricket and Tendulkar made singing as his career wonder what would have happened to both" !!!

Though Aamir Khan stole the show, everyone else in that movie excelled in their performance - especially the character played by the irrefutable Chatur Ramalingam, the teacher's pet and with his South Indian accented Hindi a butt of joke of his classmates. 

Throughout the movie it pokes fun of our education system - our tendency to prefer complex solutions over simple ones, deliberate obfuscation versus common sense. At beginning of the movie when the director of Engineering College boasts in front of the students showing a pen which works in space, the pragmatic but playful Rancho played by Aamir Khan retorts back - "Why don't they use pencils in space" ? As they say in Hindi "BADI BADI KHUSIYA HEY CHHOTI CHHOTI BATON MEIN" (Big happiness lies in small talks). The audience instantly burst into laughing after Rancho's impromptu response.

Both friends of Aamir Khan feel sad as they thought their friend Rancho has failed in the final exam. And they were sadder, when they found that he topped the class. It exposes our human foible - we can very easily share some one's sorrow, but rarely someone's happiness at the same breath.

Rancho keeps telling him two closest buddies - SUCCESS KE PICHHE MAT BHAGO. KAVIL BANO. EK DIN SUCCESS TUMHARE PICHHE BHAGEGI" - "Don't chase success. Be capable. One day Success will chase you". He stood vindicated at the end.

The icing on the cake was this scene. When the Hindi speech writer told Chatur Ramalingam to understand the text of the speech before speaking in public, the later said "Don't worry, I will rote it". Then Aamir Khan as Rancho changed the word "CHAMATKAAR" to "VALATKKAR" and so on in the script. We all know what happened to Chatur who read it out loud on the stage without an idea of what he was talking about. That famous scene from the movie reminds us the perils of studying without understanding.

Chatur memorizes a SLOKA (hymn) by heart in Sanskrit meant to eulogize the Director and spits it out on the stage, without understanding a single word of it, not realizing that the original lines were altered by Aamir Khan. As Chatur on the stage was about to vomit out the Sloka, the later warns his friends to get ready to hear some sermons about Chatur's farting prowess. Chatur recites:

UTTAMAM GAD GADATA PADAM,
MADHYAM PADAM TUCHAK TUCHAK;
THUR THURIYA KANISTHAM PADAM,
SUR SURIYA PRANA GHATAKAM.

Roughly transliterated...

"Loud farts are majestically thundering;
Medium farts come along stuttering,
Small Farts arrive whisteling & sirening;
The silent ones are life threatening."

As the audience goes berserk, poor Chatur got kicked out of the stage. Rancho's dark humor teaches us another lesson in academics - Knowledge acquired through roting without understanding may earn you a degree and a job. "LEKIN AGLE 40 SAAL TERA VALATKAAR HI HOGA" (you will be screwed all the next 40 years of your life). The movie has left an indelible mark on me and I am sure on many. Even after dozen long years and watching it no less than a dozen times, I can still watch it once again.

TU, TUME and APANA

 The words TU, TUME and APANA in Odia, though all carry the same meaning are three different ways of addressing. In Hindi its counterparts are TU, TUM, AAP. The choice of words to address depends on the familiarity and strata in society of the person at the receiving end. Basically all stand of the equivalent English word "You". English language doesn't distinguish a person addressed as "you".

In Odisha it is common to address one's mother, brothers (especially the younger one in Brahmin families) and friends (on basis of familiarity), or people of the lowest strata in society with "TU". Sisters in Odia families are normally addressed as "TU" irrespective of she being older or younger than you. The next layer of addressing - TUME or TUM (in Hindi) is reserved for the more respectful uncles, spouces, boy-girl friends (depends) and people at the next level of stratum.

APANA (Odia) or AAP (Hindi) is reserved for the best, the elderly folks, teachers and those at highest strata of society. It is a way of courtesy extended to others. I am now reminded of this stanza from a song in the Hindi movie BOBBY, "JAISE Lucknow KI DO NAWABON KI GAADI PEHLE AAP PEHLE AAP KARTE NIKAL JAATE HAIN" - "as two vehicles carrying Royals of Lucknow, a place known for etiquette request each other to go first when they get into a Deadlock situation at road intersections when two drivers are stuck, requesting the other one to go first. Such courtesy extended in Lucknow is rarely extended elsewhere, certainly not on the roads of Bhubaneswar.

Sometimes a change in social status, in relationship or otherwise, changes the way of addressing. In most arranged marriages the couples address each other as TUME (TUM). In case of marriages preceded by dating (dating in India may not be exactly the American way of dating) or in the so called love marriages as known in local parlance (in most cases it's less love, more like self arranged marriages based upon convenience). During the pre marital courtship the couples are known to address themselves as TU (if they are classmates of close age) but post marriage at least the bride addresses groom as TUME (TUM). It's complicated.

Post marriage the inertia of TU addressing continues like Newton's law of motion, unless an external factor like mother-in-law forces the girl to address her son with the more respectful TUME. It is less common, though not unusual for the husband forced to switch from TU to TUME as the girl yearns for more respect.

In arranged marriage, the bride and groom usually call each other TUME or TUM, though in some cases for the husband to address his wife as TU (our's is still a male dominated society). It's not unusual for such couples to come down addressing with TU, when they fight or get down to the basic instincts, as TU is the base way of addressing.

I have seen the dilemma in some cases addressing when someone's elder sibling gets married. A person, who forever had addressed his elder brother as TU, finds it little odd to address his BHAUJA or BHAVI (brother's wife) as TUM. Eventually he or she adjusts (another ubiquitous word, we adjust a lot in our society).

Once upon a time, Bhubaneswar was filled with Cycle Rickshaws. Everybody from our generation has yelled "HEY RICKSHAW JIBU" (O' Rickshaw will you go). Now it's replaced by HE AUTO JIBA or JIBE KI ? (O' Auto, will you go). A rickshaw puller was rarely called JIBA KI (better respected expression) and Auto driver is rarely called TU or JIBU (least respected expression). Either denizens have become more respectful, or the transformation from a Rickshaw puller to Auto driver has catapulted them to the next social strata to command respect. 

In English language it's always you, you and only you. Can't resist mentioning this two liner Odia limerick from childhood :

AGYAN APANA TUME TU,
TUMA MUHARE KUKURA MUTU

Respected base(you), better (you) and the best(you),
May a dog pee on the face of you.

Odias and their food habits on days of week

 When I post pictures of food at home, I get occasional response about eating non-vegetarian food on certain avoidable dates and occasions (In American English there is nothing called non-vegetarian, either you are vegetarian or a meat, fish, poultry eater). 

In Odisha each day of the week has its own food related significance. You chose to go vegetarian or be a non-veg in local parlance.

MONDAY- Day of Lord Shiva and moon worshippers, arguably obeyed by most Odias.

TUESDAY - Day of Maa Mangala and Hanuman. In North India many go vegetarian on Tuesdays same as Odias on Mondays.

WEDNESDAY - Budhei Osha. Very few practice this though. Most devour non-vegetarian food after a hiatus of two days. Fish markets and mutton (meat) shops in Odisha are invariably crowded on Wednesdays. 

THURSDAY - Goddess Laxmi and Saint Sai Baba. Mostly women stay veggie than men on this day. Now per Hindu Lunar Calendar we got MANABASA Gurubar (Thursday), a special festival of prayers Goddess Laxmi. Hence non-veg food is a strict no no.

FRIDAY - Santoshima Brata. The devotees of the Goddess apart from avoiding non-Veg food avoid KHATTA (tangy) stuff like lemon, tomato, tamarind etc. But devotees of Santoshi Mata are a handful. Most Odias eat non- vegetarian food on Fridays.

SATURDAY - Lord Sani and Hanuman.
Lord Sani is known to have a malevolent aspect on many on their horoscope chat and his effect is most profound. So they stay vegetarian that day pacify him, so as the followers of Lord Hanuman.

SUNDAY - Lord Surya (Sun God). Not many follow through, as Goat meat features on the menu at many homes of Odias during lunch.

 Some Odias go extra yard by not only staying vegetarian on these day, they even avoiding Onion & Garlic, called TAMASHIK (titillating carnal desire) food on the above days of a week. Recently my mother scolded me for eating Egg on a special MANABASA Thursday. I teased her - "my Egg is perfectly poached. I have sprinkled a little bit of salt and black pepper on it. You won't find a trace of onion and garlic. So, it should be okay".

We have 13 festivals in 12 months in Odisha. On top of the days of the week, certain festivals override if they happen to be on days conducive for nonveg food. For example if a Ganesh Puja, Saraswati Puja or Sankranti comes on a Sunday, many resist eating any kind of non-vegetarian food on that day. Another occasion is the lunar month of KARTIKA in October - November. Many desist eating non veg for the entire month. Some who can't keep their taste buds under control obey a mini version of Kartika by going vegetarian on the last 5 days of that lunar month.

A gentleman was in quest for a pious daughter-in-law who won't be eating non-vegetarian food as well as Onion and Garlic. They found the right candidate (in Odisha a prospective bride or groom is called a candidate) - A pretty, educated girl fitting the bill. The issue was not with her food but drink. A la before hiring an employer does a background check of the prospective employee, in arranged marriages in India a background check is done on the to be bride or groom, scruiny is usually more on the bride side. After background check it was discovered that the girl was fond of alcohol.

I said to the gentleman - "It's perfectly fine. Alcohol is purely vegetarian. They are made from grapes, wheat, potato, rye, corn etc. I have not come across a single alcohol product made from onion and garlic. Technically speaking alcohol is vegetarian. Unless there is alcoholism and drunkenness involved, what's wrong with a girl getting occasionally tipsy ?" Not sure if the gentleman proceeded further on the candid candidate.

Democrats have a messaging problem

 Democrats have a problem. They need to get better at messaging. Economy is doing good. Job market is booming. Unemployment is at a record low. Wages are rising. More people are switching jobs. In such a scenario you would think the public support for the Democratic party must be growing. You are wrong. In fact it is going in the opposite direction. Even tons of free money as part of the post Covid stimulus package has done little to assuage the dour mood against the Democrats.

First of all Democratic party should shed its image of the party of the elite and their snobbish attitude towards the non College graduates. Hillary Clinton lost because she branded them as a bunch of deplorable. You may help someone, but no one likes condescending attitude. Every body deserves respect. The city living College graduates look down upon those living in the rural area without a college degree. But a rural American has one vote same as the urban College educated voter and more numerous. 

Democrats simply cannot win with the votes of just the minorities and big city college graduates. They need to expand their base by coming back their basics - the party of American middle class and blue collar workers. The general public perceives that they Democratic party has ceased to be that and have forgotten their roots.

Republicans are smart. They have mastered the art of winning elections by staying on the course of their message. Their base is strong and committed - a la all Right wing parties across the globe. So it's high time Democrats smell the coffee and wake up rather than seen as the party of "woke". American is not a left liberal country like Europe. It's much more conservative. If Democrats don't stay in course as a Center-Right party and make the middle class feel left out then welcome a Republican in the White House in 2024 - possibly Trump.

Brain drain and new Twitter CEO

 A lot of discussions going on the media - social or otherwise about the appointment of Indian origin Parag Agarwal as the CEO of Twitter. He is only 37 years old. The achievement of the IIT Bombay Alumnus and Stanford PhD holder is definitely praiseworthy, though many have used terms like "divorcing", "ditching" his motherland for greener pastures for him. In the jungle of social media everyone is entitled for his or her opinion. Not to be left out here is mine.

Years back, an Odia officer from IFS (Indian Foreign Service) was posted in America in one of the several Indian Consulates. During an interaction with him, the gentleman narrated to me an interesting episode of his own. 

Per the Foreign Ministry rules, he was entitled to bring a Domestic help - an euphemism for servant from India to the United States. So he brought this semi-educated, married young man with his family back in his village in Cuttack, thinking he would be least likely to elope or escape with the thought of his family back home in back of his mind. Or so he thought.

The officer, a bachelor, spent long days and evenings at work, often eating outside and attending diplomatic parties. Having nothing to do at home in America, getting bored watching TV in those days sans cell phones and social media, his "helping hand", popularly known as CHAKARA TOKA in Odia helped himself by going around the city.

Slowly he started getting a taste of the American life and got hooked to it. One fine morning he simply absconded without informing his employer. Our IFS Babu (Officer) anticipated that his fellow Odia must have melted away, gobbled by the gargantuan city as an undocumented illegal immigrant, doing some odd jobs.

His suspicion turned out to be true. One evening he was in an Indian Restaurant where he saw his ex-helping hand  mopping the floor. No sooner their eyes met than the later turned away and fled. Our officer bro chased him for a while, calling his name at top of his voice, that he is going to forgive him and his folks in Cuttack are now a worried lot. 

It had no effect on the CHAKARA TOKA, as he vanished into the labyrinth of the parked vehicles. If the officer wanted he could have followed up with the local authorities to trace him out. But he let him go, allowing his co-villager pursue his American dream. He walked back gasping like the Cheetah on National Geographic Channel after failed chase.  

The Odia escapist may never have gone back to see his family ever again. Due to expiry of his Visa and lack of proper document, he could have forever settled down here as one of the estimated 12 million illegal undocumented workers in America, about half a million those are of Indian origin. No question he fell to the desire to stay in the Coke land by hook or crook. Thus ended the story of the Officer and the Gentleman from Cuttack.

That was the saga of an illegal immigrant. But there are a lot of legal and successful Indian diaspora all over the globe doing well in Technology and Business fields at different level. Brain drain will continue as long as there are wrong people in wrong places (an IT Minister of Odisha didn't know what Microsoft is), a huge population, caste based reservations, nepotism, reward of mediocrity, ignoring meritocracy, lack of growth and opportunity. Adding lure of more money, a sense of adventure and accomplishment by going abroad will continue to drive the brain drain.

The tribe of the likes of Parag Agarwal (CEO of Twitter), Sundar Pichai (CEO of Google) and Satya Nedula (CEO of Microsoft) is bound to grow. It will only keep on growing irrespective of what people think, say, comment or troll about them on social media. As more and more such folks are trolled more often, it will keep me reminding Kishore Kumar's iconic song from the movie AMAR PREM - "KUCHH TO LOG KAHENGE, LOGON KA KAAM HAI KEHNA " (People will always say something, there job is to say).

Tomato and Egg Syndrome

 The other day I came across the news of protesters throwing eggs at their Chief Minister in Odisha, my home state back home in India. Riots, bottle, chair and stone throwing is a global phenomena. But throwing of eggs and tomatoes are very typical of India, probably extending to other South East Asian nation like our neighbors Pakistan and Bangladesh. Why not potatoes and bananas, what's so special about eggs and tomatoes ? What's so special about as they say in Hindi ANDE KA FUNDA (Fundamentals of Eggs) ?

Not sure about the reason, but throwing tomatoes and eggs at the target, especially the rotten varieties is a very popular mode of protest (another one is throwing and garlanding with shoes and sandals, the older, more torn and dirtier the variety of shoe, more humiliating it is). Nevertheless all these items do add some value additions to the turmoil of protests, particularly tomatoes which don't come cheap as they are quite expensive these days.

Bollywood movies freely depict the throwing of eggs, tomato, shoes at unsavory characters. Immediately comes to my mind Amitabh's movie SHARABI where the Superstar forcing a Saree clad Ranjeet to dance on stage showing off his hairy chest and cleavage along with his protruding navel as the audience throws tomatoes at him.

A Congress politician from Odisha and now deceased, Lulu Mohapatra was the champion of Tomato and Egg politics. Protected by his Godfather who was an ex-CM of Odisha his henchmen left no stones unturned while throwing stones and off course volleys of tomatoes and eggs. After his death this trend too a break from Odisha politics until now as that culture is back again.

There are lots of juxtaposition between Egg and tomato other than the nuisance value of being used as missiles and projectiles. Both have high nutritional value. Egg has almost all vitamins except Vitamin C, i.e., it is filled with Vitamins A, B, D and E. Only Vitamin it lacks is Vitamin C. Tomato compensates for the lack of Vitamin C by supplying plenty of it. So being hit by a mix of Egg 🥚 and Tomato 🍅 missiles will provide the stipulated daily dose of Vitamins to the victim.

A la vitamins, Eggs and Tomatoes compliment each other as weapons of protest as well. Not to mention tomato and egg get along well in several dishes like omelets and sandwiches. Tomato as an ingredient enhances taste and flavor of egg curry. It seems egg and tomato, one non-vegetarian and other vegetarian are made for and married to each other, exhibiting cordial conjugal life on dining table and brickbats to be hurled at, a trait commonly shared by married couples.

The tomato and egg brand of politics in India isn't going away anytime soon. But like the legendary unsolved mystery - which one of chicken or egg came first, the query of which one the two, tomoto and egg comes first in the throwing sequence will remain unsolved forever.

Fortune drives the fate

 I finished watching the latest of the Narco series "Narcos Mexico" on Netflix. Set in the 1980s it has captured the life and progress of Mexican drug cartels, especially Miguel Angel Felix from a junior level Police official in the badlands of Sinaloa to a Billionaire Drug trafficker on international fame.

It was the time "El Chapo" the infamous drug lord who is currently in US custody was merely a driver in Miguel Felix's gang. He was called by his big bosses to fetch a pack of cigarettes, make them a drink and occasionally give them a head massage. Slowly El Chapo (meaning Shorty in Spanish) started driving the drug trade and driving the officials nuts on both sides of the US - Mexican border.

Drivers, also referred by better sounding Chauffeurs sitting close to their bosses and listening to their conversations have a history of learning the skills of the game and occasionally acting as henchmen for their masters. An ex-politician from India's state of Karnataka C.K. Jefferson Sharief started as a driver of a better known politician and ended up as a Cabinet Minister in various ministries during Congress time. 

In the 1987 movie SATYAMEVA JAYATE (Only Truth Prevails) the police inspector Vinod Khanna responds when threatened by the driver of a minister for stopping the later's car - MINISTER KA GAADI CHALATE CHALATE KHUD KO MINISTER SAMAJH RAKHA HAI KYA (By driving Minister's car you thought yourself as minister or what) ? That was reel life. But such arrogance of drivers of folks at the helm of affairs aren't something not entirely unheard of. In real life  C.K.Jaffer Sharief went one step further. He actually became a minister. 

Miguel Felixe was the Pablo Escobar of Mexico. In one scene the famous Columbian Escobar of Madeline cartel threatens Felix to feed him to his pet Hippos. Pablo Escobar was to drug trafficking as Pele was to Soccer - the all time great.

El Chapo rose from a mere driver to the driving force behind the famous Sinaloa Cartel - a billionaire drug mafia. Many stalwarts and his competitors in the drug business would perish sooner or later. He had couple of close encounters with death too but was tortunate to survive. At one point he was almost killed when gunmen shot his boss from point blank range and were about to execute El Chapo when he pleaded for his life - "I am just a driver. Leave me alone". "So can you drive our vehicles ?", he got an whimsical order. El Chapo wasn't in a position to decline such once in lifetime, life saving offer. He had luck to live another day until it finally ran out a few years ago landing him in one of America's maximum security prisons where he currently is.

There used to be a popular saying during the days of Mughals who ruled India at  medieval time - "TAKHT YA TAKHTA", meaning "Crown or Coffin". It aptly described the fratricidal wars fought between the brothers for the prized Kingship which knew no Kinship. In the end one ended up with Crown, the rest destined to graves.

Nothing much have changed. In the quest to control the lucrative drug trade many went unsung to their grave, but El Chapo survived by a whisker to earn the crown. Dawood Ibrahim, India's most wanted Don played the second fiddle to his brother. His brother was shot dead, Dawood got shot but survived. He is a rumored to be a billionaire now but no one remembers his brother. In our own state of Odisha a don Pratap Swain of Barhampur was slain on the street while his counterpart in Cuttack CHHOTA (Lame) Ananta was trampled under a truck. Yet one of their contemporary Dons who rumored to have survived a shoot out went on to become a well to do businessman still at the helm. Another one went on to become a minister.

Such a thing called Destiny ! It can be freaky - cruel and rewarding and destroyimg at same time. History is always partial to the winners, with losers destined to its dustbins. Life ain't fair and lovely. Fortune drives the fate. It is no better elucidated in the "Narcos Mexico" series.

RIP Akhlaque Ahmed

 I don't know him personally. He was my Facebook friend and different from a whole lot of others which I could make out from his no nonsense posts. His posts were moving, factual and fodder for real not fake intellectuals. I like people who can override emotions with logic. He was one such rare person. From his posts I figured out that he was a man of few words but his words carried a lot of punch, leaving no stones unturned.

Akhlaque Ahmed was few of those distinguished gentlemen who are now an endangered species. When trolled, vilified in a vitiated environment in which we live these days, he would never get reactive and ignore. This is something I need to learn as I often get reactive and don't hesitate to call spread a spread. But not reacting can irritate your troller further unless that person is a super BAHIA (Shameless fellow). On occasions Akhlaque Ahmed would respond with his intellectual sarcasm which understandably his detractors could barely understand.

Once while he was being trolled on one of his posts I respected sarcastically to one troller who was espousing India going to war - "I know many who I see here advocating war never stepped on a battlefield. Forget about holding a real gun, I am sure they have never held a toy gun in their life. They are the ones who now want to go to war". I got many "likes" 👍 to my response. Akhlaque bhai sent me a smiley ☺ - "You are getting more likes on my post than I get". I was flattered.

I came to know the other day that he was ailing. Something snapped inside me when I got the news today of him passing away to the other side of the world. It's always sad to see good people leave early. May he Rest in Peace in heaven.

Snake and the credit card

 What's the similarity between a snake and a credit card ? Sounds strange, isn't it ? A few days ago on the Smithsonian Channel I was watching a 15 feet long female King Cobra (Queen Cobra) somewhere in the Nilgiri Hills in South India hunting. King Cobra is one of those rare snake species which eats smaller ones of its own species. The gargantuan Cobra suddenly sprang upon her pray and bit it. Then she withdrew back to watch her pray, the 6 feet long Indian rat snake die an agonizing death in few minutes. The victim didn't have a chance when the bite of King Cobra is capable of injecting venom enough to kill 20 adult human or a full grown elephant.

In another episode somewhere in state of Maharashtra a brown Russell Viper fully camouflaged in dust was silently waiting for its pray - a big size rat. This snake is slothful and has poor eye sight but tremendous sense of movement. As the unsuspecting rat jumps close by the viper slowly crouches back and strikes at an estimated speed of 20 feet per second. Stunned by the strike and the lethal venom taking its effect the rat convulsed for a moment before being still as the Russell Viper non chalantly waits for its meal.

The other day after swiping my card at a local grocery shop, I waited for the transaction to go through - same as the King Cobra and Russell Viper waited injecting venom to in their victim's body. I was pretty sure that the authorization will go through in seconds, same as the serpents waited in confidence for their authorization of venom to go through their victim's bodies. My transaction went through in few seconds, the Cobra and Viper's transactions a few minutes.

Well, the analogy could sound far fetched but working in the credit card industry for a while I could see through it. Again the authorization depends on the balance on my credit card account. If there is no balance theauthorization will not go through. Same with these snakes. If they don't have any venom left their bites would end up as dry bites. As I would watch appalled, my confidence belied in case the transaction failed, the pray could escape the perplexed snake.

A credit card is useless unless I put it inside a chip reader or swipe it. The deadly snake venoms Neurotoxin in King Cobra and Hemotoxin in Russell Viper (it's like choosing between hanging or electric chair as death penalty) are useless unless the serpents insert their fangs, the same way my card is worthless as long as I don't swipe it at the point of sale at the Merchant's. Neurotoxin vs Hemotoxin is same as inserting a Chip card vs card swipe. End results for both are the same.

Post card swipe I get rewards for the purchases I make and snakes get rewarded with a hearty meal after the swipe their fangs into their victim's body. Snakes are needed to keep the balance of nature as credit cards are needed to balance the payments industry. Yet the similarities may not end there. Nature reminds us that we inadvertently replicate it in the real world a whole lot.

End of road for Ravi Sastri ?

 Finally it seems to an inglorious end of innings for Ravi Sastri, the man known to play long innings during his playing days. Known for his grit and patience he has a history of making comebacks when left for good. His exit from an administrative role was as damp squib as when he retired unceremoniously as a player, if I remember correctly after India's maiden tour to South Africa in 1992.

He was a hearthrobe of girls during his peak playing days and known for his cricketing acumen as it was said that he was the best captain India never had. But media and public in India never liked him. Though a great allrounder, unlike Kapil Dev and even Sunny Gavaskar he was never a man of the masses and was perpetually seen as a selfish cricketer, a rock like burden on his shoulders which he couldn't shrug off. On popularity chart many times he would be at the rock bottom. Glad there was no social media those days to be another fly in ointment.

Mountains out of molehill are made out of him. Much has been said about his abilities and disabilities. I am no fan of him, but I admire him coming a long way from entering the international scene as a lanky 19 year old leg spinner in 1981 to end up as an opener and a crucial all rounder of utility value, then on a managerial role post retirement.

When you are a celebrity you are no more a private person. The public believes they own you and you owe them. No one can be a celebrity without the acceptance of commoners but one still has his rights to privacy. But when there is a huge expectation bestowed on you, you are expected to meet that expectation by sacrificing your privacy in a cricket obsessed nation.

Unlike these days when most test matches end in 4 days and draws are quite unheard of unless caused by weather intervention, 1970 to 1980s saw plenty of dull draws. One of which I witnessed when India played Pakistan in Jaipur test of 1987 - the test match is remembered as the venue for Cricket diplomacy initiated by General Zia Ul Haq, the military dictator of Pakistan. The match ended in a tame draw, with Ravi Sastri taking more than an hour to move from 99 to 100. India lost that 5 match series 0-1, with the rest 4 tests in that series ending in draws. Sastri's image as a slow, selfish player who can kill any number of time to reach his personal milestones was cemented. 

Emotions when run high can swing like a pendulum. One day the fans put you on a pedestal, the next day they mercilessly troll you, shower you with shoes - literally happened so to Sastri. In 1985 when he returned as the Champion of Champions from Australia he was so overloaded with garlands that his face was barely visible. A few years later he was blamed for his slow scoring rate on March 1, 1992 when India lost by 1 run in a crucial world cup game in Brisbane against Australia. Though a silly rain related rule cost India victory, public put the blame squarely on the slow batting of Ravi Sastri earlier that innings.

Same day I happened to be in the temple township of Puri, Odisha. His effigy now ironically garlanded with shoes was carried on a donkey on the BADADANDA (Broadway) for a while before the straw made effigy was burnt. I asked one bystander PANDA (priest class folks from Puri) what all the commotion about. In his typical lingo he started showering Rabi Sastri's entire family with choicest of Odia expletives. (Not sure what Sastri's mother and sisters had to with his slow batting).The funniest part was the guy did not even know who the heck Rabi Sastri was. He just got tagged into the melee for the sake of fun and was emulating what his fellow onlookers were doing. 

Though this happened in Puri, you would think Sastri would have been spared in his home town Bombay. It didn't happen. I saw on Times Of India his pictures adorned strings of old, torn footwear (a sign of insult in India) and his effigies were burn all over the metropolis. 

I personally believe public has been a bit too harsh to judge him as he definitely has contributed to many India's victories - as a player and in management role. As expected he has been pilloried on social media. But he had seen enough in his life to get immune to these things by developing a Rhino's thick skin. Wish him a happy retirement life. Public memory is short and this too shall pass.

 

Why Republicans won Virginia

 Republican candidate won the Election for Governor of Virginia by unseating the incumbent Democrat. Though the state of Virginia has turned blue of late, the results didn't come as bolt from the blue to me due to following reasons :

1. Democratic base is not usually excited and charged up to come out and vote during these one off elections. They are known to come out in droves for voting during the Presidential elections. This time it was no exception.

2. The infighting between the moderate and progressive wings of the Democratic party is in contrast with the united Republicans. Washington is broken. The inability of Democrats to pass bills is hurting them pretty badly.

3. Increase in gas price and visible inflation didn't help the Democratic incumbent, so also Biden's low approval ratings. Though economy is doing well people feel the pinch of gas price and inflation rather the rate of GDP or job growth.

4. The current Democrat Governor was defensive about certain local schools related issues which was fully capitalized by his Republican opponent to his advantage.

Virginia and of late my state of Georgia are light blue states. So a Republican winning there is no surprise. But what really surprised me was in the deep blue state of New Jersey the Democrat Governor barely winning by a slim margin. Too much taxes and New Jersey's property tax being the highest in the Unites States makes it stifling for the tax paying working class. My friends their who are hard working Democrats aren't happy with the high tax they are paying. Also ralleys in liberal strongholds Seattle, Minneapolis, California to defund the police hasn't gone down well in suburbs. These places may be far away from Virginia and New Jersey but it did reverberate and sabotaged the chances of Democrats in the suburbs. 

Politics is matter of perception. America 🇺🇸 is after all a Center-Right country. Perception of Democrats taking a sharp left turn has caused accident for them in Virginia and New Jersey. Unless they stay center-right it could hurt them pretty bad in the future. They need to be careful and focus being the champion of middle class rather than pander to their extreme Left base. Remember statistically 35% of Americans are Conservatives, 25% are Liberals and 40% are Center of Right. So a message to Democrats - do your Math here. Pandering only to the 25% of your Progressive base won't help you win elections. It's as simple as that.

Death Anniversary of Indira Gandhi

 Exactly 37 years ago, on the morning of 31st October, 1984 Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India was assassinated by her Sikh body guards. Eminent writer Khushwant Singh once used to be very close to her family, especially to her younger son Sanjay Gandhi, but later fell out of her favor after Sanjay's death in an air crash. He wanted to visit her place to pay his last respect in spite of their estrangement.

When he was about to leave he got a call from a well wisher (I have forgotten the person's name) - "Sardarjee (as Sikhs are addressed), Have you lost your mind ? Don't ever dare going out now. The goons of Congress are dragging Sikhs out of vehicles and roasting them alive. They are going to make a Sikh KABAAB (roast) out of you".

Needless to say, the hired goons of HKL Bhagat (An East Delhi Mafia) and goon troika of Lalit Maken, Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar - all HONORABLE MPs from Congress party, were directly accused of conniving and complicity in the riots against the hapless Sikhs who have no connection with Indira's killers except their religion.

Thousands of Sikhs were killed and maimed in the days following. Estimates vary - from the government issued figure of 2,800 to the independently assessed number 8,000 to 10,000. All said and done, many hardened criminals were released from jails that fateful evening in full police protection. Scores were armed with iron rods and Kerosene oil.

Bribed and motivated by the 100 rupee note handouts (had a decent purchase value then) and fueled by bottles of liquors alleged supplied by Sajjan Kumar and Lalit Maken (Uncle of the present Congress politician Ajay Maken who was a baby when his parents were mowed down by Sikh gunmen months later for his dad's involvement in anti-Sikh riots in Delhi), they went on rampage, destroying life and property of Sikhs they came across.

Indira's son Rajeev Gandhi who took over as the Prime Minister after his mother's untimely death shrugged off the Sikh massacre as "When a big tree falls the surrounding earth shakes". Government controlled All India Radio and Doordarshan blacked out the mass killing of Sikhs. People tuned in to British Broadcasting Corporation(BBC) to get stunning news of Sikhs killed not in the hundreds but in thousands (Ironically the news of killing of Sikhs by iron rods and garlanding them with tyres set on fire would have stayed hidden from the same folks who today despise BBC for reporting some unpalatable truth from India).

This is not the sole example. Our great Congress party, espousing soft Hindutva has a history of involvement in several large scale killing of minorities including Muslims whom ironically it now portrays itself as their savior. The following ones come on top of my mind, though I am sure of many more such incidents taking place under the auspices of our Grand Old Party Congress.

1983 - Nellie massacre in Assam (3,000 killed)

1987 - Maliana near Meerut (50 Muslim youths picked up from their homes and killed by the UP police)

1989 - Bhagalpur in Bihar (1000 killed).

Congress was in power in both at the Center and the above states during these pogroms of Muslims.

BJP is no lily white, but it sounds utterly hypocrite when Congies like Digvijaya Singh and Ajay Maken whose father incidentally handed out 100 rupee notes and liquor bottles as prize to teach the Sikhs a lesson, are accusing BJP of resorting to Communalism. This is nothing but a classic case of Pot calling the kettle black. Death of Indira was itself the end of an era but the progrom that followed paved the way minority bashing in the future.

The fickle nature of human relationships

 Human relationships can be fickle, fragile, fake - a mix of some or all the above. It often defying logic. Many folks I have noticed have temperamental relationships which repeat every year like seasons. I call it Animalistic relationship. Animals get friendly during their few months of mating season every year, rest of the year they spend fighting with one another. This habit gets repeated every year. 

Man is nothing but an intelligent animal. A similar pattern is followed by the homo sapien species. We have a couple of relatives whom I have been following for few decades. One year at our various family gatherings and social functions they would fight tooth to nail, the next year they are seen being extremely friendly, hugging and embracing one another, embarrassing others by such turncoat behavior. Again the very next year they will get into fighting mode and the following year they will patch up yet again. This has been going on for several decades now.

One particular year when both families were in a fighting mode, they came separately to our house to complain against each other. My parents would interject - if you guys can't get along why not just cut off the relationship ? For years we have been observing this farcical endless cycle of fracas and squabbling followed by patch ups and bear hugs. This repeats every year like seasons. Just let go this relationship and move on for God's safe. You are making a laughing stock of yourself. No one will take you seriously if you keep doing this. 

They responded by considering my parents as interlopers, retorting back - We are blood relations and blood is thicker than water. We fight, make up to fight yet again and don't mind getting into this infinite loop of break ups and mending. How can you say we take a break from this ? Shit happens between relations, but we love to get entangled in this shit. This is how we live and have no qualms with this pattern repeating every year. 

"Fair enough. It's your life to live the way you like. But stop compIaining and bitching behind each other. Respect the thickness of your blood by living amicably. You guys don't have to fight" - my parents replied. Not sure how they took it, but this farce gets re-enacted each year.

Such relationships are not just limited to our family. It's pretty much rampant, especially in our DESI (as Persons of Indian origin are ascribed to) community in America. More than any thickness of blood pragmatism is the glue which keeps them together though they enjoy engaging in their periodic squabblings. There are no permanent friends or enemies, only permanent interest thrives - ethics or morality be damned. 

Inexplicable it may sound, but these aren't minor human foibles to be ignored. Logically it doesn't make sense. But we humans are inherently complex and our relationships are complicated affairs. Love (its opposite hate too) is strongest when it's unseasonable. Emotion is known to override logic. Your public hater could be your secret admirer. Psychologists struggle to explain it.

My take - if a relationship doesn't work simply move on. No one in the world and at this age indispensable. Graveyard is full of indispensable. Time and tide wait for non. Life goes on. No wonder Lord Krishna espoused his buddy Arjun in our epic Hindu scripture BHAGAVAT GITA to use weapons against his own relatives - because for a higher cause human relationships doesn't matter, so let it go if necessary for the sake of duty and sanity. Sri Krishna was way ahead of his time and the eternal truth spoken by him still stands out.

Celebration in Kashmiri following Pakistan's win

 Reports of celebration of Pakistan's victory over India in the recently concluded T20 game in Kashmir didn't surprise me at all. We all have been there, seen this before. This is neither new, nor unique. 

The Kashmiri valley was never with us. During the West Indies 1983-84 tour of India, an One Day International held in Srinagar prematurely scrapped due to the crowd violence. It didn't go unnoticed in the teenager in me to see the crowd cheering wildly for every wicket India lost and every boundary hit by the Windies. Bottom line - the spectators hated India to the core.

Fast forward by 5 years. Rubiyya Saeed, daughter of a Cabinet from Kashmir was kidnapped by terrorists. The Central non-Congress government then well supported by BJP acquiesced by releasing some hardcore militants in exchange for the release of a VIP's daughter. This decision had its long unforeseen consequences, emboldening the terrorists and reinforcing the perception of India being a weak state.

Soon Violence took over the Valley. REC (Now NIT) Srinagar was closed Sine die and all the students from Odisha studying there were transferred to NIT, Rourkela. It included some of my childhood friends. We welcomed them with open arms to REC, Rourkela. Those brilliant brains lost a valuable year due to our Centeral government's indecisiveness and vacillation.

Our new NIT Srinagar immigrants brought us exciting anecdotes from Srinagar. Most of us in our upper teens with adrenaline rushing through our body and fickle minds ruled more by emotions than logic were battered by the events surrounding them. 

The Valley's antipathy towards India and sympathy for Pakistan was appalling. The locals in Kashmir valley hardly considered themselves as part of India, clearly seeing those from the Mainland India as outsiders. The environment inside the Engineering College Campus perpetually resembled a room filled with flammable gas. All it needed was to light a match stick, in form of celebration of a section of students post India's win or defeat in a game of Cricket or Hockey .

They narrated many interesting and harrowing stories. One of them Ashutosh Mallick, was taunted frequently "SALIM MALIK TO MUSALMAN HAI, TU KAISE HINDU BAN GAYA, "Salim Malik is Muslim, how come you are Hindu", pointing to his last name and referring to Salim Malik, a Pakistani Cricketer.

The students from the Srinagar Valley were mostly Muslims, who kept to themselves and were completely segregated from their Hindu and Sikh counterparts from Mainland India. Except few perfunctory interactions of exchanging academic notes and greetings on Eid and Diwali, there were hardly any interactions. 

Pakistan was seen as the Promised Land, the land of freedom & opportunity. When Zia Ul Haq died that fateful day in August, 1988 the mostly Muslims Kashmiris felt bereaved while the rest from Mainland India rejoiced in silence.

Nothing reflected the mental partition and the hiatus based on faith than cricket. The rooms of the Kashmiri Muslims adorned the pictures of Imran, Akram, Miandad and Salim Malik. In their common room, during Indo-Pak cricket encounters they used to sit segregated, with Kashmir Muslims grouped together vociferously cheering for Pakistan. Only Indian players who ever got occasional cheer from the predominantly Muslim Kashmir students were Azharuddin and Arshad Ayub. No prize for guessing why.

Unfortunately for the students from the Mainland, those days India used to lose often to their traditional rivals. Their hapless supporters had to bear the brunt of taunts from the Pakistani supporters from Srinagar. It's no surprise for the politicians from the Valley to sympathize with Pakistan, for they have correctly assessed the pulse of the locals.

I am sure this will ring a bell to my friends who studied in that institute a quarter of century ago. Kashmir is still very much a volatile problem - a political issue of extremely complex dimension, which in Engineering parlance is not a fluid dynamics equation which can be solved in minutes or overnight. It needs a political solution and we have a long way to go. More victories of Pakistan over India will lead to more celebrations in the Kashmir Valley. Don't think much will change during our lifetime.

Mocking at South Indians in Bollywood

 The other day I was watching a nondescript Hindi movie on TV. Actor Paresh Rawal was dressed as South Indian with egg head with a long ponytail wearing a Dhoti. When asked to introduce his family he says I got 3 Lyakshmi (Lakshmi prounced in South Indian accent). First comes his wife Laksmi attired in a Saree with conspicuously visible flower bedecked back of her head. The other two Lyakshmis were his young daughters, Bhagyalaksmi and Soubhagyalaksmi with their flowing waist long hear knotted nicely into breads accompanied their parents on a long road trip.

They happen to stop by a roadside DHABA (North Indian eatery). Looking at the menu all family members look confused and took some time to order. Finally Paresh Rawal in thick south Indian accent queries - "IDHAAR SAMBAR MILEGA" - Is Sambar (a popular South Indian dish) available here ?

Comedian Johny Lever, who plays the waiter taking order dressed as Sardarjee retorts back - OI MADRASI, DHABA MEIN SAMBAR MANGTA HAI. KYA USME ROTI DUBOKE KHAEGA, "O the guy from Madras, you want to dip your bread in Sambar and eat" ? The onlookers in Dhaba surrounding the family break into a hearty laugh. For many North Indians anyone living South of the Vindyas is addressed as "Madrasi". But that person may be from Srikakulam, Ernakulam or Mysore who never have visited Madras. Yet he is branded as a Madrasi.

This might be funny for the Hindi speaking audience at which this movie is directed, but to many South Indians it may not be so funny to be mocked at like this. I am fondly reminded of Amitabh's hit movie AGNIPATH (The path of fire) which was released in the 1980s. I would consider it as an ordinary movie, but it was the time when the tall hero stood tall over others as the one man Bollywood industry. Any mundane movie from him would pass by as super hit.

In the same movie the actor Mithun Chakraborty plays the role of a South Indian who sells coconut water for living and dances Bharat Natyam to tune of :

YUMM (HUM) LUNGI UTHAKE,

TUMHE DISCO DIKHATI...

YUMM (HUM) KRISHNA AYYAR

EMME (M.A.) NARIYAL PANI WALLA.

Our Audio Visual (AV) Hall in REC (NIT) Rourkela where the movie was screened erupted as the audience clapped and laughed at the actor Mithun who danced ahead, swirling his Lungi around (Perfect for Indian summer, Lungi is a white or multicolored loincloth wrapped around the waist, easy to lift and take off as and when needed). 

However not everyone in the audience was amused, especially some of my South Indian friends who grudgingly disapproved. Another hit movie CHENNAI EXPRESS had similar stuff of mockery at South Indians, especially Tamils. I am sure there are many more such movies. Not sure if there are South Indian movies which poke fun at the rest of Indians.

The tryst of Pandit Gopabandhu Das and Biju Patnaik

 Not long ago someone wrote an article in the leading Odia daily "The Samaja". One fine monsoon morning it's founder UTKALAMANI (Jewel of Odisha) Pandit Gopabandhu Das was on a boat in the flooded river of Mahanadi. Suddenly his umbrella 🌂 fell into the swirling water. Our UTKALAMANI didn't bother losing it and thinking it as a lost cause let it go. All he could do was watch helplessly as the umbrella floated away from him in the the rapids of ferocious Mahanadi.

Just out of the blue a young boy jumped into water. He swam and fought against the current of the flooded Mahanadi, fetching Gopabandhu's umbrella caring a hoot about his own safety. He is no other than our beloved Biju Patnaik. Our UTKALAMANI mildly chided a young Biju not to take such unwarranted risk for just an umbrella as it ain't worth it. The year of the incident was mentioned as 1932 in the leading "The Samaja" where this article was written by a lady.

No question about Biju Patnaik's history with dare devilry but the timelines here raise some eyebrows and needle of suspicion. Utkalamani died on June 28, 1928, four years before 1932 when this incident supposedly happened. Biju was born on March 5, 1916. Monsoon floods doesn't come early in June and Pandit Gopabandhu Das was ailing for a while in 1928 before passing away, making it impossible to be there on Mahanadi bank that year. The timeline is way too tight to be true to fit into this scenario. It is of course unimaginable a toddler and infant Biju Patnaik jumping into the river and showing his heroics.

My uncle Chandra Sekhar Dash who shares my skepticism of this incident intimated about it to Mr. Dhirendra Das, a descendant of UTKALAMANI from his native village of Suando (a la Pandit Gopabandhu, his descendants write their last name or surname as "Das", instead of "Dash). The gentleman had no inkling or knowledge of any such incident involving his great grandfather Sir Gopabandhu Das and Biju Patnaik. 

An aghast Dhirendra Das called the lady of "The Samaja" Newspaper seeking clarification and questioning the veracity of this news item. The article mentioned 1932 as the year of this umbrella episode whereas Sri Gopabandhu died in the year 1928 - a good 4 years before Biju Patnaik supposedly jumped into water to save UTKALAMANI's umbrella. 

The Newspaper responded by correcting the timeline of the event but stood by its authenticity. The reaction by the news outlet was not surprising as this story has apparently been planted by a supporter of the ruling party whose scion is the son of legendary Biju Patnaik. 

I am not discarding this story outright. Technically  speaking it's extremely difficult though not misson impossible for a 8 or 9 years old to swim in a flooded Mahanadi. But there are a lot of additional questions which raises skepticism about the incident. Is there a historian to vouch about this incident when Gopabandhu's own descendant was gleefully unaware of any such incident. Did anyone really see this event or noted it in a diary or a piece of paper or even recorded as hearsay ? Any document available to prove it ? If such an incident really occurred involving two historic figures of Odisha it should have been duly noted long ago somewhere. Why we weren't aware of this incident until now ? There are way too many unanswered questions to raise an eyebrow. Incidentally Pandit Nilakantha Das, a contemporary of UTKALAMANI has debunked many such popular myths of the time.

My take - this story has been deliberately coined and planted in media for political purpose and sold it to the gullible commoners. A lie repeated 100 times becomes truth. (We see parallels in propaganda by IT Cell of another political party where lies are peddled to boost the political odometer). My grandfather was a contemporary of Pandit Gopabandhu Das. Both lived on the bank of river Bhargavi separated by 4 miles from each other. I can say once my grandfather saved UTKALAMANI from drowning, with a nice, lucid story to back it. Like Ripley's Believe it or not - I would leave it to you to believe it or not. Same can be said about the tryst between the Bull and Jewel of Odisha. These days not everything reported on media should be believed - social or otherwise.

Procedure needed to travel to India

 I just came back from my India trip. Thought of sharing my experience with all the travel related documents and paperwork needed which might come handy in case you are planning an India trip during this pandemic time in the near future.

Going to India :
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1. Take the RT-PCR test within 72 hours of the departure of your international flight. My flight was at 8PM on a Wednesday from Atlanta to Delhi with a stopover in Amsterdam. I did my RT-PCR test at a local CVS Pharmacy at 10.30 AM on Monday. It generally takes 24-36 hours to get the results. I got it around 6PM on Tuesday. They sent me a pdf copy to the email address I provided.

Note : If you are traveling on Saturday and Sunday, remember at most places RT-PCR tests aren't done on weekends. So schedule your testing accordingly.

2. You need to fill out the "Self Declaration Form" and upload the results on the following website https://www.newdelhiairport.in/airsuvidha/apho-registration. Make sure your RT-PCR result shows NEGATIVE on it. This RT-PCR report and the photocopy of the front page of your Passport should be in pdf format and less than 1MB in size. Otherwise it won't allow you to upload to the above mentioned website. Within a few minutes of uploading you should get a pdf copy of the approval. You can carry a soft copy of the approval or carry its printout to the airport. I took 3 copies of it to be on the safer side. 

3. They did a customary check of the RT-PCR report at Amsterdam Airport before boarding. Nothing more.

3. After the arrival in Delhi I had to do a Rapid Antigen test (you don't have to do this in case you are taking a nonstop flight from US to Delhi with no stopover in between. Also if you're going via Bombay I read somewhere that this test is not required if you carry a vaccine card showing you are fully vaccinated from Covid. But this is a requirement at Delhi Airport if you are coming through a stopover flight). It took me about 30 minutes to do the rapid antigen test - from standing in the line, paying Rs.500, collecting the receipt and getting tested. You have to provide a local cell number where they will send you the results in future. You don't have to wait for this test results and can directly proceed to your immigration, collect your baggage and do customs.

4. Immigration and customer clearances are standard. Same while checking in for Domestic flight to Bhubaneswar. Don't forget to wear your mask all the time. The New Delhi Domestic terminal 3 resembled Cuttuck's Badambadi Bus stand with hardly anyone following Covid protocol. Social distancing - forget it. So do your best to protect yourself following all CDC guidelines. Remember, COVID MAY BE DOWN, NOT OUT yet.

Coming back from India
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1. In Odisha hardly anyone was seriously following Covid protocol. At most crowded public places people were hardly maintain any social distancing. Forget about standing 6 feet apart, instead of standing in line they stand in clusters, often literally breathing down your neck. So don't let your guard down.

2. You need to do a RT-PCR test withing hours of boarding your international flight, in my case from Delhi. From what I heard, RT-PCR test in India needs to be done in one of the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) approved Labs. If you Google, you can find 6-8 such locations in Bhubaneswar. I did my RT-PCR test at Genex Lab on Maharshi College Road in Saheed Nagar. It is open from 8AM to 12 PM, 2 PM to 4 PM. I arrived around 7.30 AM and was the 2nd person on line. So, arriving early is recommended to beat the crowd. Carry your Passport and Adhar card, whichever applicable as well as a photocopy of the front page of the passport with you. (I didn't carry a copy of the Passport and had to get it Xeroxed inside the Lab. The reason I mentioned inside, the Covid testing is done outside the lab, adjacent to the main entrance of Genex. My testing was done around 8.15 AM. I got my results at 4PM. They Whatsapped the results to me on a link to the portal to the local phone number I provided. 

3. At Delhi Airport they will check the RT-PCR Report before issuing the boarding pass. Soft copy of the RT-PCR report will work, but I carried 2 hard copies with me. I came by Air France which had this requirement to use only N-95 or surgical masks inside the flight. Wearing any other mask is not an option if you are traveling on Air France. There was no requirement on the KLM flight which I took during my onward journey to India.

4. On arrival at Atlanta Airport no one asked for RT-PCR report. You have to go through the standard immigration as usual. 

Note : This is purely based on my experience. Procedures followed by the Airlines and immigrations in India, US and stopover nations can change anytime for better or for worse. So, keep your eyes and ears open for any change in policy. Please shoot me if you got any questions. I will answer as best as I can.

Back in US - India trip 2021

 My return trip to United States wasn't uneventful at all. The Indigo flight from Bhubaneswar to Delhi growled on the termac for a good half an hour after my boarding and before take off. Right in front of me was a middle aged man, probably in his late 50s or early 60s - short, bald and plumpy with hippie hair on his ears busy frantically Whatsapping. The screen of his smartphone was barely two feet away from my eyes and a semi-bare female body slowly appearing on the screen raised my curiosity to eavesdrop.

The large size font of his smartphone and the subsequent raunchy chat further got my attention and gave away his intention. From the attire of the girl, the nudity and the kind of lascivious exchanges made between the two made it quite apparent that it is a conversation between a call girl and her client. The man seemed desperate to reach Delhi. He wrote his final sentence as the flight started running on the termac - "Keep sending me your pictures for my in flight entertainment". He probably wasn't aware that he wasn't the only one inside the plane having in flight entertainment. He switched off the phone as the flight took off and I switched my head towards the window to take a view at the fading string of the lights below as the flight slowly vanished into the cloud.

I have already covered the topic of a large number of Odias these days talking in Hingodia (Hindi mixed Odia). Visiting Odisha after a hiatus of 3 years one other thing I did notice - there is a drastic drop in the quality of Odia songs. They are filled with nonsense lyrics and double entendres. Not to be left out the Odia music videos play cheap songs full of gyrating hips in gay abandon. Modern Odia music videos are made for the masses by asses.

Back in Georgia to a cool 80 (25 degree centigrade) afternoon and a lot less humidity compared to Bhubaneswar. It felt odd not to hear a single vehicle honking on my 100 miles (160 km) road trip from Atlanta to Columbus. Miss the din and bustle, crowd and the continous kickee...kickkee..kickee...of bikes yonking horn and slicing their way through the traffic - the ubiquitous jerk on the road and the bumpy rides, the roads being too smooth for comfort to my back here. A person who has driven on roads of Odisha, driving anywhere else in world is a walk in the park.

Already miss the murmuring of the mosquitoes and brutally clapping them to death, the yodelling of mongrels in the middle of night. The cool and crispy Fall (Autumn) air of Georgia felt refreshingly fresh after spending hours inhaling the breath and fart filled stale air emitted by hundreds of passengers inside the flight in 21 hours of flight time. 

The 30 hour long journey including the in flight and stoppage time seemed eternal and tiring when you are packed like sardines inside the Cattle Class, better known as the better sounding Economy Class. Above 40,000 feet in the sky the moon looked a whole lot bigger and brighter in the pollution free air - the rabbit inside the moon looked eager to jump out into the window seat I took.

The US President Ronald Reagan was known to doze off during meetings he attended abroad as he couldn't get sleep inside long flights. I also share similar trait of not able to go beyond sporadic cat naps on long haul flights. I am scared of turbulence and the slightest of shaking of airplane gives me nightmares.

My first working day post vacation awaits me when late in afternoon my chin is destined to drool and hit the space bar of my desktop keyboard. Still drooling over my India trip. No black coffee or aspirin can assuage this post vacation hangover, only time will heal it. It did not went in vain. Travelled miles to achieve several milestones meeting my parents, friends and relatives, connected to old friends and meeting new ones, ate a lot of local food with fun filled moment.

Reminds me of Kamal Hasan from the movie PUSHPAK who while staying in a posh hotel could not sleep as he missed the sights and sounds of his locality, where his deep rooted roots lied. The pleasure of staying amongst your own is unparallel. A la one's own fart smells sweet, as one tends to fall in love with own millieu. Love it or hate it, amidst all these there is a unique flavor of incredible India which one does not find elsewhere. It concluds my travel blog to India. More next time...

Time for Goodbye - India trip 2021

 A Math question for today. The first few lines of an Odia duet I overheard the other day.

Boy - TO SEXY SEXY ANTA DEKHI

           MO DIL FIDA HELA.

Girl -  TO STRONG STRONG BODY DEKHI

           MO NAZAR LAKHI GALA.

Calculate how many English, Hindi and Odia words are there in this so called Odia song loaded with tons of vulgarity. It is high time for the legendary Odia singer Akshay Mohanty to take a rebirth to save Odia music from adulteration, cataclysmic alteration and eventual extinction. 

This isn't the sole example. At a local sweet shop I saw a purely Odia looking girl talking in pure Odia with someone on phone suddenly taking a pause and asking another pure Odia shop owner - "BHAYA JALEBI DENA". Bhai has become Bhaya and Jilapi has turned into Jalebi. Dhantera has replaced Akshi Trutiya. We celebrate Lori. Nothing wrong in imbibing North Indian culture, but how many of them celebrate Raja or Kumar Purnima ! North Indian invasion is not just limited to festivals. Nani and Apa have become Didi. Bhinei has become fashionable Jiju and so on.

A lady who I used to address as APA (elder sister) now insists on being addressed as DIDI (as they address elder sister in Hindi). "APA, NA KADALI CHOPA (Banana peel), MOTE DIDI DAAKE (call me Didi)" - she retorted back as I addressed her as APA. I got the message loud and clear. Ekta Kapoor's serials are clearly having their effect. First time I heard the word "bro" was in Hollywood movies and after coming to America. Now bros are roaming rampant in Bhubaneswar, many address one another with "Hi bro". 

For someone from current generation of middle class in Bhubaneswar being closer to Hindi and English sounds "Hef" (the word used for being cool here). The Forest Park dwellers, Netflix and Amazon Prime watchers are one step ahead of them in "Hef" category, as they chew "Phew, Oops, Shit" in English - for them Hindi is so passe.

In the United States most places open for breakfast quite early, between 5 AM to 6.30 AM. Then open for lunch from 10.30 and dinner at 6 PM. Here breakfast stalls open after 8 AM, most restaurants around 9AM. Lunch is eaten not before 2 PM and dinner often after 10 PM. With such late dinner one can imagine eating a late breakfast. But at our home here we don't eat that late and it keeps me sane. I prefer to have my cuppa tea early in the morning, but lunch at 2 PM and dinner at 10 PM isn't my cuppa tea.

There is a severe shortage of Rs.2000 notes (Bills) though Rs.500 notes are in plentiful. I hate to have a bulging out pocket filled with lower denomination notes in it, so carrying Rs.2000 bills is my preferred option. Yet couple of banks I checked out couldn't provide me with any 2000 rupees note. Someone told me his reasoning behind this shortage - that Rs.2000 notes are mostly used for black money transactions and hence much sought after, eventually becoming elusive for commoners. Conspiracy theory or otherwise, it made sense.

Overall trip went well. My RT-PCR test, a requirement to take within 72 hours of boarding an international flight came clean. Though bitten by mosquitos multiple times so far no symptom of Dengue. Ran lot of errands, did some charity work which includes helping a poor family clear their medical bill and paying an academically bright but needy student buy a laptop. The feeling was more satisfying than visiting a temple.

When I loaded some Airtel minutes to my local mobile (cell) phone, I was prompted to speak out my phone no. Speaking "96688" as nine-six-six-eight-eight" is often frowned upon and not properly understood. You need to pronounce 66 as "Double 6", 88 as "double 8" and so on. Being out of touch with the milieu for a while, it took me a while to figure this out.

This eminent writer R K Laxman sited this reason for him to stay back in India when he had the option to settle abroad - "Where on earth you will find so many variety of characters to write about !!!" He wasn't far from truth. No place under sun can match India in the richness of flora, fauna, chaos and characters to write about. Often chaos and disorder brings the fun and frolic out of life rather than orderly tidiness.

What's the similarities between a vacation, a consulting assignment and life ? All have a start date and an end date. Like all good things in life a vacation has to come to an end. Before vacation one is rejuvenated and filled with energy. Towards the end of the trip one is jaded, somewhat depressed. There is always an inherently internal wish you had a few more days to spent. Three, four or five weeks, however long you stay it is never enough.

In the wee hours of the trip it's always the endless cycle of last minute shopping, meeting friends and relatives, run errands, packing, weighing, repacking and re-weighing of luggages.  Now the time has arrived to bid adieu to my motherland. Good Bye India. See you later...

Day XXI and XXII in Bhubaneswar - India trip 2021

 During my initial days in Odisha, the incessant honking and zigzag traffic felt little irritating and occasionally annoying. But it is nothing compared to the "Auto-cracy" I see in Bhubaneswar. The 3 -wheeler vehicles called "Auto", a short form for Autorickshaw try to outsmart and outrun each other in the rat race of catching the next BHADAA, the Odia term meaning rental passengers, akin to the rat race of news channels for higher ratings (TRP).

As there were hardly any Zebra crossing here, it took me a good 5 minutes exhibiting my ass swinging skills to cross a 20 feet wide road. Road crossing is an art in Odisha and one needs to be a trapeze artist to cross roads at most crossroads of Bhubaneswar. You not only have to deal with the incoming traffic, you have to deal with stray dogs, cows and bulls competing for their space on the road. It took above and beyond my normal hip swaying skills to cross the road which would have made any danseuse proud.

After a bout of morning showers due to a tropical storm, I drove to the nearby Samantaraipur Chhak to get some ALU CHOP (potato cutlet) - one of my favorite snacks. Alu Chop tastes better in Odisha as French fries taste better in America. The area is full of street vendors on both side of the road selling vegetables. The place reminded me of an incident from one of my trips to India a few summers ago. Visits to India is always memorable. Incredible India, full of sights and sounds with wonderful imagery you will find nowhere.

One fine morning I came to this vegetable market to do some shopping and catch a glimpse of the milieu. No sooner I finished my purchase from a vendor than I heard someone shouting MAHADEB MUNDIA (Salute, O Lord  Shiva. The venerable Bull is the ride of our Hindu God Lord Siva). I turned my head to notice a huge Bull sniffing vegetables hardly couple of feet from me. The mountain sized bovine acknowledged my neighbor's greetings by nodding its head while happily munching the veggies fed to him.

A man suddenly arrives at the scene clad in LUNGI (A loincloth wrapped around the waist), scratching his private parts in public (blame the hot and humid weather for that) and asked the lady vendor "ALO BAIGANA KETE NEKHA meaning "Hey, how much is the Brinjal ( Eggplant ) ?" Then from nowhere comes another woman in rags shouting explicit at someone who refused to part her with vegetables. 

She started cursing the vendor's whole family to die from BAADI (cholera, a killer disease from yesteryears, now defunct). She could have cursed her to die from Covid which was the scourge here. One has a better chance to perish these days than Cholera. She also went on accusing the lady vendor of soliciting illicit relationship with her mothers and sisters. I couldn't understand why she didn't direct her anger towards her father and brother rather than mother and sister. Apparently we are still a male dominated society.

After being content from covering all the 14 generations with all her curses she finally relented. The lady selling the vegetables ignored her and went on shouting BAIGANA BAIGANA (eggplant eggplant). I asked the lady vendor the reason behind the other woman's sudden outburst. Before she could answer my query a man in loin cloth and unkempt hair told me "She is a mad woman. Nobody takes her seriously". 

As he walked away the vegetable vendor started giggling. I asked her what's so funny ? She said "Babu (Sir ), this man just told you that the abusive woman is PAGELI ( she-mad), right ? " "Yes, I think I heard him loud and clear", I replied. She continued giggling "Hee hee. He is no different. He is a PAGALA (he-mad) too."

Now trying to make sense of the madness surrounding me I swept off the beads of sweat from my forehead as the tropical sun was peaking right over my head. It was time to rush back home, far from the madding crowd. More later...

Day XIX and XX in Bhubaneswar - India trip 2021

 Yesterday afternoon as I came out a Shoe Store, saw couple of guys passing comments (local lingo for catcalls) directed at a girl passing by.

"EMITI SUNDARI KEMITI HELA

KOU PANI RE GADHAU THILA".

Roughly transliterated 

How could you turn out such a beauty,

In what water you bathed to be so pretty.

The girl didn't appear to be insulted as she stepped inside a Autorickshaw. Either she didn't care or took it as a compliment.

Two Babus are wrestling for the topmost post of the President of Bhubaneswar Club - A popular watering and networking hole in the capital located in the heart of the city. The lesser mortals are fighting for the lesser important positions. Last year's contest between Trump and Biden will pale in comparison to the aggressiveness in vote soliciting going around for these cherished posts. The campaign reminds me of BJB College Student Union Election. There is an African proverb - When two elephants make love or war it's the grass which suffers. Many Club members are irritated by way too much campaign solicitations in form of personal calls, emails and Whatsapp messages. Some freeloaders are taking advantage of campaign parties held at Bhubaneswar's premium hotels.

I went to do some marketing in Market Building - the Times Square of Bhubaneswar (Shopping is called marketing in local parlance, not to be confused with selling any product). The place wasn't too crowded. I made purchases from UTKALIKA, a Government owned enterprise which sells gift items related to the state's culture and tradition. Then from a nearby shop bought a few snack items including my favorite "Cuttuck Mixture" and "Badam Pakoda (Spicy peanut fritters)", which tastes far better compared to their counterpart Indian groceries in US.

My next stop was a store nextdoor selling cooking utentils and sundry items. Buyers clustered around it with masks perfectly covering their chins, barely a feet from each other. From a safe distance I shouted at top of my voice asking for the price of a Tea Kettle - "E KETTLE RA DAAM KETE (What's the price of the Kettle) ? He could not understand my pronunciation of "Kettle" and after me repeating the word couple more times he could finally make out - "OH KETILEE" (Oh, you need a Kettle) ? KETILEE vs Kettle, the meaning was lost in pronunciation. Didn't stick around too long in the Market Building as I thought it's prudent to stay away as much as possible from public gatherings during this pandemic period.

HAR EK MAAL (Street vendors) sellers come often to our locality selling their products, from trinkets to cloths and utensils. They come on bicycles and motorbikes. Over the years they have improvised. One I saw this morning had a recorded voice playing time and again in high decibel - DEKCHI 200 TANKA (Container 200 Rupees), KAREI 250 TANKA (Frying pan 250 Rupees), DANKI 100 TANKA (Spatula 100 Rupees). A few minutes later came another guy on a nondescript bicycle shouting at top of his voice "DABA TINA BIKRI KARIBE (Wanna sale Containers, Tins)". His dusty bicycle with a hanging, perforated leather seat, its two wheels with multiple patches on the tyres barely able to hold enough air, the tube almost touching the ground.

I have an account at the local State Bank of India from 18th Century. This Thursday when I visited the Bank, it was conspicuously less crowded. Then I realized that Thursday is the day of MAA LAXMI, Hindu Goddess of wealth - so a monetary transaction is best avoided on that day, lest one wants to attract the wrath of the Goddess which will leave you in penury. I was glad that I was there on a Thursday facing less crowd, especially during this pandemic time.

At Kalpana Square right in front of the Fire Brigade office there is a big bill board proclaiming NUAKHAI BHET BHAT (Meet and greet on the occasion of Nuakhai). Nuakhai is a major festival of Western Odisha is now conspicuously celebrated in Bhubaneswar, a place not native to this festival. At several places I haven't failed to notice the prevalent Sambalpuri dialect, popularly spoken in Western part of Odisha. 

It says one thing - Bhubaneswar is getting more and more cosmopolitan. During my growing up days Nuakhai was unheard of in the capital city of Odisha. Now big billboards in Bhubaneswar announce its arrival along the arrival of immigrants. The migrants to the state capital are not just limited to folks from other parts of Odisha. There is a sizable Bihari population, vindicated by the visible celebration of "CHHAT PUJA" in Bhubaneswar.

On the other side at the same location in Kalpana Chhaka there is another billboard advertising an Odia movie PHULEI GHARANI (Attention seeking wife). Every wife is attention seeking. It is enacted in everyone's home. One doesn't have to visit a movie theater to see its reincarnation. More later...