Grilled In an Indian Summer of 2014

Switched on to the TV this morning to watch the Odia news. A promotional song LEMBU, ATI CHUPUDILE PITA ( excessively squeezed lemons taste bitter) from an Odia movie scheduled for the Raja release was being played. A new Odia actress Meghna Mishra dancing to the tune of this song in that movie was being interviewed by another lady anchor. It didn't go unnoticed to me that a discussion about an Odia movie between an Odia anchor and an Odia leading actress getting released on a leading Odia festival, was taking place with a typical accented Odia with almost an equitable spread of 50% Odia, 30% English and 20% Hindi.

 

Late this morning I went to a local gas station ( petrol pump ) to fill up the gas tank of the Scooty I ride. Job done, the attendant was about to hand me over the changes when his mobile phone rang. He took the call and went on " TIKE PIAJA AU RASUNA DEI BHAJIBU (fry using onion and garlic)". A customer can afford to wait getting fried waiting for change in 100 degree plus 80% humidity heat but onion garlic stir fry can't wait.

 

Rushed back home at noon for a shower to cool down. Before I could switch on the motor to fill up our overhead water the electricity went poof. So 4 hour no power; no toilet no shower. Felt like a fish out of water, lying supine on hot bed getting barbecued. It's 5 PM, still no sign of electricity. Sprinkle some salt and pepper over me I am a great grill. Another couple of hours I could have become a SUKHUA or dried fish, an Odia delicacy. Hopefully no more power cuts for the rest of the day.

Chinese get cracking against corruption

Today I read about the sentencing of a Chinese security Czar to life over corruption charges. China's President Xi Xinping is cracking whips on corruption and the corrupt officials. He is now using his influence, persuading foreign countries to send back those who fled with ill gotten money. The list contains about 100 such people.

 

Amongst the fugitives is a bureaucrat who flew to America with $40 million of embezzled funds, another with $15 million to Singapore. Some of the fugitives have surrendered. A few still remain at large, being harder nut to crack, for they have fled to US, Canada and Australia with whom China has no extradition treaty.

 

Yet China has been able to press America to get some concession in the form of them agreeing to cooperate by deciding to repatriate some, with the condition that the cases being handled as per American law and value (it's just a standard rider from the Americans. No sooner than those Chinese guys are sent back to China, as some already are, Gulag rather than American value will be awaiting them).

 

Now the question comes how those government officials accumulated sums like USD $15-40 million without the compliance of others in China. I don't think they made $40 million overnight without the knowledge and connivance of others in China and fled. Yet, setting up an example by bringing a few fugitives back to homeland has it's effect, acting as a great deterrent, political vendetta or agenda not withstanding. When the bull is in China shop, they take it by horn. There will be damage but minimized.

Toyota's malfunction and Maggie's Lead

A few years back certain Toyota vehicles in America had sudden acceleration malfunctions resulting in deaths. Millions were recalled. The Toyota chief, Akio Toyoda flew half the world from Japan to be verbally VALATKAARed (raped) by the Congress hearing committee. All the members took their turns, until they were exhausted as Mr. Toyoda apologized profusely, taking full responsibility. His face shown widely on TV bore the testimony of it. Apparently not enjoying the ordeal, he had to bear this ignominy, for he didn't want to lose his share of pie in the highly competitive car buyer's market in America.

 

I think it's time this " Maggie" incident LEADS to similar accountability system in India, where the CEO of Nestlé is grilled and simmered like its in(famous) product in front of a Parliamentary Committee. The Nestlé' s CEO may not be on the same boat as Akio Toyoda. Yet bringing him to his knees will send a strong message to the perpetrators, keeping them on their toe. Justice, Equality and Accountability for any wrong doing, should be the hallmark of a democracy.

Ideally, Consumer should be the King and Customer the God in a free market governed society.  But unfortunately we don't live in an ideal world. India is long trending towards free market economy. Gone are the days of "take it or leave it consumerism" as the Indians have an array of choice these days, so it's time to strike when the iron is hot. Delaying will make the iron cool down and hard to bend. As the media shifts its focus to something a la "Salman Khan's wedding", Maggie will be back in business.

The Historic New Zealand and England One Day in 1983

The current series between New Zealand and England reminds me of a spectacular game between them at Adelaide Oval, in January 1983. I was following the match on ABC, Radio. England started well, with an unusual maverick move of sending Botham as the opener. It surprised many as such a thing was hitherto unheard of in the nascent days of One day cricket. Botham duly obliged scoring a swashbuckling 65 with 4 sixes, not a common thing those days. David Gower followed with a stylish 109 (he was in a great form in that series) and England made a formidable total of 296, which was quite huge at that time.

New Zealand started shaky, soon lost 2 wickets with hardly any substantial score on board. At that point England did the cardinal mistake in Sports, never ever take your opponent for granted. As they say in America, "it ain't over until it's over". They got lazy and sloppy in the outfield. Needless to say, Richard Hadlee (79), Coney (50) and Crowe (49) comfortably took the Kiwis home as the English bowlers and fielders faltered on a hot afternoon in Adelaide when the temperature touched 40 degrees (104 F). Those days Day and Night games were limited only to MCG and SCG. (Later in 1983 the first day and night match was played in at Nehru Stadium, Delhi marred by power outages. India defeated their traditional rivals Pakistan by a late burst of hitting by Kirti Azad).

Later in 1987, I saw the highlights of this match on a popular Sunday morning show on TV called Gavaskar's present ( there was only one channel available called Doordarshan. hence the term was TRP alien to all). The English could not believe that they could not defend their indefensible total. Their body languages said it all. This was probably one of the first instances of greatest chases in One Day Cricket, not by the mighty Windies. I did not see any footage from this match on youtube. Will appreciate, if some one ever locates it. it will be interesting to flip through the pages of history.

Kashmir Valley's sympathy for Pakistan

I was watching Kamal Mustafa, a senior member of National Conference, showing strong sympathy towards waving of the Pakistani flag in Kashmir. He was unabashed about his opinion.

The Valley's sympathy for Pakistan is not something new. During my college days in REC (now NIT) there was  unprecedented violence over in Srinagar. Those students from Odisha, who used to study in Srinagar REC were shifted to ours, as their institute was closed due to prolonged disturbances. They narrated their interesting and certain harrowing stories. (One of them is Ashutosh Mallick, who was asked SALIM MALIK TO MUSALMAN HAI TU KAISE HINDU BAN GAYA, "Salim Malik is Muslim, how come are you a Hindu", ascribing to his last name ).

 

The students from the Srinagar Valley were in a majority, kept to themselves and were completely segregated from their mostly Hindu and Sikh counter[arts from Mainland India. Except perfunctory interactions of exchanging academic notes and greetings on festivals of Ed and Diwali, there were hardly any interactions between them. Pakistan was seen as the Promised Land, the land of freedom and opportunity. When  Zia Ul Haq died that fateful day in August, 1988 the mostly Muslims Kashmiris felt bereaved while the rest 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 the Kashmir Muslims cheering for Pakistan. Only Indian players who ever got an occasional cheer from the predominantly Muslim Kashmir students were Azharuddin and Arshad Ayub.

 

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

MAACHIS, the Movie

Recently I saw the Hindi movie MAACHIS. Lovely depiction of the milieu of Punjab at the height of its militancy ( reminded me of "Operation Blue Star" on this very day of June, exactly 31 years ago). Arguably, it was Chandrachud Singh's best performance ever. He looks and aptly fits the bill of a Punjabi lad, peeved at the system and police brutality, veers into wrong path. Taboo and Om Puri, both played stellar roles. The crisis (as usual) was created by the Congress government who turned one Sant Bhindranwale, a non descript,  small time preacher into a charismatic leader, catapulting him into limelight. 

 

As Khushwant Singh mentioned in his autobiography, Giani Zail Singh famously described Bhindranwale as SADDE DANDA "our stick" to beat the Akalis with. Well, eventually the genie escaped from the bottle and the DANDA became a huge stick to cause the pain to Congress and Nation's back. The man's myth still lives on. It's not unusual to find T-shirts figuring his turbaned head with flowing beard and cassettes containing his speech in parts of Punjab, especially in the rural areas. His simple slogan JO DARTA WOH SIKH NAHI AUR JO SIKH HAI WOH DARTA NAHI..( one who fears is not a Sikh, one who is a Sikh never fears), caught the imagination of the Sikh youth of the time.

 

The violence and senseless killings reached its peak in late 1980s when the Punjab problem seemed to have gone beyond solution. I met an Odia chap, who was lucky to survice one such attacks in JCT Mills, Phagwara. One night, a bunch of terrorists entered the plant compound and wrapped up all the outsiders get could. Then they forced them stand in a line and shot them randomly. But before doing their cold blooded target practice, those heartless folks took some time, poking fun at their victims who were crying and begging for their lives. Our Odia guy was standing in a dark corner. In the commotion, he decided to take his chance. He slowly back stepped, jumped off a wall and ran away, luckily surviving the volley of bullets sent after him. The next morning (Night time bus services were banned in Punjab those days) he left Punjab forever, determined not to return again.

 

Lots of water has flown since in the 5 rives which make Punjab. The Khalisthani militancy is dead. it's probably the only insurgency successfully countered by the government, though it had its role in creating it at first place. As the name of the movie suggests, a spark from MACCHIS (match stick) can flare up an inferno. We now have its parallels in Maoist movement across different states (not sure why it is named after Mao who hardly cared for or visited India, Naxalite is more appropriate as it refers to a village in Bengal). Hopefully, we learn something from History.

ANASARA of Lord Jagannath and Muggy time in Odisha

Lord JAGANNATH as HIS name symbolizes is formed as the conjoint (SANDHI) of the two words JAGAT (Universe) + NATH (meaning Lord of the Universe). Yet, He follows the simple rituals of a commoner, eats his sumptuous CHAPPAN BHOG (56 items devoted by the devotees), takes shower and falls sick. This occasion is celebrated as SNANA YATRA, or the auspicious Shower Ceremony, on the full moon day of the Hindu Calendar JYESTHA.

In the famous temple town of Puri, water from 108 earthen pots are poured over his head, the result of which comes in the form of a bout of fever. He suffers it for several days, taking complete rest in solitude and attended by the RAJ VAIDYA or the Royal Priest. This hibernation phase of the Lord going incognito for several days is called ANASARA, a phase the devotees are not allowed to see the Lord.

Coinciding with just a few days prior to the arrival of monsoon in Odisha, this time is accompanied by stifling heat and humidity. Hence this phase is locally called as ANASARA GULUGULI (muggy) days. The almost static air, pregnant with water vapor and barely moving a leaf on the trees is often unbearable, with hardly any relief on sight. The local populace take solace from a free Sauna for a few days, praying for early advance of monsoon.