In retrospect

So my New Year sucked. Well, the stroke of midnight was fine, but the day's been pretty lousy. And considering my mum's always believed that your year will go the way the first of the year goes, you can bet my 2009 is going to be just dandy.

Having said that, 2008 was an interesting year. Plenty of firsts, if nothing else.

My first job, my first experiences of work related travel, my first travels alone.

My first trip to Kolkata which wasn't just about visiting relatives. My first holiday in Bombay. A quick trip to Goa where I did nothing but attend a wedding and work in the hotel room, but where I did manage to fit in my experience of parasailing. Which by the way, was completely terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. I had no intention of going up (have I ever told you how freaking terrified of heights I am? Seriously, even standing on a chair makes me dizzy), those guys pretty much just grabbed me and wrapped me up, and sent me up, and I was so freaked out that even the guy who goes up with you could sense my paranoia. But at that one moment, when we were turning back and the boat pulling us stopped for a split second, and I looked out west with my heart in my mouth? I saw the sun actually go down, and that moment made it totally worth it. I'm never doing it again of course, but I'm glad I was forced to do it this one time.

I started using social networking a lot more this - last - year. I joined Twitter, started using LinkedIn rather effectively, and even started a second blog, which really does need a lot more attention from me.

2008 was also when I got a little more used to my brother being away from home. When I learned to manage my "finances" by myself (which isn't really much, considering I'm living at home, but it's a step!). When I learned a little bit more about going out and meeting people - professionally, that is. On the personal front? Still as clueless as ever.

I don't see that last bit changing in 2009, but here's hoping all of you have a wonderful year. A whole lot better than my first of the year was at any rate.

Success

I came across this while looking for something else.

Success

To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.

Often attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson, it is an adaptation of a poem published in 1905 by Bessie Stanley.

I like.

The aftermath

It's almost exactly a week, to the hour, since it all began. Since India saw the beginnings of what would turn into 60 hours of unending horror.

I was in a conference in Chennai all of Friday and Saturday, and had told my father and my friend to keep updating me. All my friend would keep saying in her SMS' all through Friday was "It's still not over." Saturday morning I was about to leave the hotel when I saw the Taj catch fire again on the ground floor and first floor. Half an hour later, en route to the conference, I got the news: It was over.

My brother's friend's uncle. My friend's aunt's friends. My dad's former colleague's nephew. These are not people I would have ever met. But they're impacted. Greeting people online in the past week, we haven't been saying "how're you doing?"; we've been asking, "is everyone you know alright?"

It's hard to put down thoughts about all that has happened. I could talk about how anguished I am at all the deaths and the injuries. I could talk about how awed I am at the courage displayed by the hotel staff of the three hotels, all the NSG commandos and to some extent, the journalists who were out there for three days, telling us what was happening. I could tell you how grateful I am to know my immediate near and dear ones are safe. I could tell you how weird and guilt-inducing it feels to realise that we are back to our regular lives, when for so many, life will never be the same again.

Or I could tell you how sickened I feel when I hear R R Patil quote DDLJ, or watch Naqvi talk about "paschimi poshak". How exasperated I feel when I watch the Congress and the NCP squabble over who could be the next Chief Minister of Maharashtra. How disgusted I feel when I hear about Narendra Modi offer compensation to the widow of the man he said all kinds of things about when he was alive - well, that I don't really need to; you all know I hate the man.

There are, however, three things I would like to say.

First of all, the BJP has no bloody business talking about the Congress' ineffectiveness against terror and demanding the whole government resigns. Their Prime Ministerial candidate, L K Advani, was Home Minister when the IC 814 hijacking took place; he didn't resign when his Foreign Minister escorted those terrorists to the border. He didn't resign when Parliament was attacked; he didn't resign when hundreds of Muslims were killed in Gujarat. So, no, I'm not particularly impressed with the Congress, but the BJP has no right to say anything.

Secondly, there's been a lot of comment all round on the role of the media in this entire incident. I am impressed with the courage they have shown, and if not for them, we would have had no idea about what was happening. I watched only three channels all through the events - NDTV 24x7, CNN IBN, and Times Now. Of the three, I thought NDTV was the sanest, Barkha Dutt's increasing stupidity notwithstanding. I could have whacked all the channels on the head for showing minute details of the rescue operations while the operations were on, but that's 24-hour news channels for you. They don't think terrorists with satellite phones have access to cable television.

What is annoying me, however, is the way they're carrying on after the attack is over. By carrying on and on about how ineffective our government is, they're pretty much telling the whole world the state of our country, and scaring the people of the country even more. So the terrorists might be dead, but you're just adding to the success of their mission, aren't you?

And finally, this entire campaign that the citizens of India have begun. Candle light marches, rallies in all the metros, and a strong desire to make our authorities understand what we need.

Here's my question: why has this come about? Because the "elite" of the country were hit. You can talk all you want about wanting a better India; the only reason this is happening is because the moneyed people have woken up to the fact that they are vulnerable as well.

The TV channels were up in arms talking about injustice to Jessica Lall when Manu Sharma got acquitted; other than Tehelka, name one newspaper, magazine, or channel which even mentioned the Dalit killings in Maharashtra? Plenty of soldiers die everyday in J&K and in the North East; which politician goes to visit their homes?

For three days, we saw cameras focused constantly on the Taj, the Oberoi, the Trident, and Nariman House. Can someone tell me the sequence of events VT station? How many people died there? What really happened at Cama Hospital? I don't know. Because amidst all the media reports, the blog entries, everything, these events are barely mentioned.

I can understand the focus being on the Taj. The people trapped inside for 58 hours, the commandos who went in and battled it out - they all have my utmost sympathies. But don't forget the aam aadmi in the concern for the rich.

If this campaign by the citizens lasts, I'll be extremely happy. If it achieves some good, I'm all for it. But please, be honest about why this has happened.

And on a lighter note, here's Jon Stewart for you:

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Mumbai Tragedy

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

The horror continues

After my post of midnight, I was up till 1.30 AM last night, watching with increasing horror at the situation in Mumbai. For the first time since I left college I think, i was up before 6.30 AM, to see the latest updates, only to realise that, far from being better, things were the same, if not worse. I did absolutely nothing productive at work today, spending most of my time tracking things on Twitter. This is by far the most horrifying thing to happen to India in my living memory, although the parents may counter that.

I am also feeling extremely guilty about the way I spoke of the Taj and the incident in my last post; considering the gravity and the widespread nature of incidents across our "commercial capital", it was completely unjustifiable.

There are people who have been inside their hotel rooms, unable to leave, for more than 20 hours now. Luckily, in this modern age of technology, almost all of them have mobile phones and are in touch with their near and dear ones. But does that lessen their trauma in any way?

Amidst all the reactions in the blogosphere, the most evocative first-hand accounts come from two of my favourite bloggers, who happened to be together at the time - Amit Varma and Sonia Faleiro. Another first-hand account which I heard on the news this morning was from a guy named Deepak, who was/is a guest in the Taj. He talked of how the hotel staff had kept him and his neighbour updated through the night, how he could see the terrorists from his room window, and how he was staying calm by reading the Hanuman Chalisa. Does it ever strike you as strange, how religion can calm and destroy at the very same moment?

I'm so very scared for the future of my country.

And again

My one and only visit to Mumbai was in May this year. It was soon after the Jaipur blasts, if I remember correctly, and we happened to go to both the Taj and the J W Marriott. The latter had actually beefed up security to the extent that my purse was put through one of those screening machines - the kind you see at the airport.

The day of the second Delhi blast in October - the one which happened exactly a week after the GK ones - I was in Connaught Place. A friend called from Mumbai to find out if I'm fine and mentioned that he's actually made groups in his phone's contact list - one for each metro city of the country. Makes it easier for him to react and find out about family and friends every time a blast happens.

I'm beginning to realise he has a point.

Back in May, the Taj had no security to speak of. What're you betting that'll change for the next six months at least?

This is sickening.

Wouldja look at that?!?

This is what the 47th over of the third ODI being played today between India and England in Kanpur looked like (Read from the bottom; makes more sense that way!):

 1 . 1^nb 1^nb 5^wd 1 W W 1^wd . 

46.6 I Sharma to Broad, no run, good length outside off stump, Broad swings and misses Ishant runs in for the tenth time in the over. 46.6 I Sharma to Broad, 1 wide, and he's sprayed it wide outside off stump! It's a huge wide! Stuart Broad to face the hat-trick ball. 

46.5 I Sharma to Prior, OUT, what a crazy over this is! Ishant's now on a hat-trick! Prior walks across his stumps to try and flick the ball towards long leg, he misses and the ball swings past him and clips leg stump. Two no balls, one wide that cost five, and two wickets in the over so far

J Prior b I Sharma 5 (13b 0x4 0x6) SR: 38.46 

46.4 I Sharma to Patel, OUT, caught in the deep! Patel charges to loft Ishant down the ground, it's another slower ball from Ishant and Patel mis-hits it high in the air towards long-off where Raina settles under the catch and takes it easily 

SR Patel c Raina b I Sharma 26 (29b 1x4 1x6) SR: 89.65 

46.3 I Sharma to Prior, 1 run, Prior chips the free hit towards midwicket, and Ishant hasn't over-stepped this time! 

46.3 I Sharma to Prior, 5 wides, Ishant's lost it today, the ball slips out of his hand and goes way down leg side, Dhoni had no hope to reaching that and the ball goes down for five wides, the free hit carries over to the next ball 

46.3 I Sharma to Prior, 1 no ball, Prior swings and misses the free hit outside off stump but would you believe it, Ishant's over-stepped one more time, Prior gets another opportunity 

46.3 I Sharma to Prior, 1 no ball, now he's got beaten by another lower one, this time outside off stump, Ishant's over-stepped yet again, that's his fourth, a criminal offence in this age of free-hits 

46.2 I Sharma to Prior, no run, Prior attempts a wild heave over the leg side but gets completely foxed by a slower ball that just misses the leg stump 

46.1 I Sharma to Patel, 1 run, Ishant looks for the yorker and Patel plays it towards the off side for a single

 

As time goes by

All our lives, my father has always made sure that he's not traveling on our birthdays. If it was unavoidable, he would always try and either get back on the D-day or leave the next morning, or something. But he would be there.

Tomorrow's my mother's birthday, and I'll be catching the night flight out to Mumbai for work. For the first time ever, I won't be there for the family birthday dinner in a restaurant. For the first time in many years, my mother won't have either of her kids with her for dinner on her birthday.

Feels weird.

The Stylish Indian

I love Shoba Narayan's latest column, especially the ending, in which she talks about just how stylish Indians are.

Style is hard to define. Reams of pages in fashion magazines are devoted to it. Designers take it apart and even then it is useless because style is subjective — the exuberant overdose that John Galliano thinks is stylish would be anathema to a Japanese.

As a people, I believe that we Indians are stylish. I don’t mean the Page 3 socialites who have fallen prey to Western dictates (and brand names) of what constitutes style. I mean that rural India has a style that is entirely and uniquely our own. It is in the upturned jootis and the dignified walk of a turban-clad farmer in Rajasthan; in the crisp folds of a Bengal cotton sari, especially when worn by pretty much any woman in Kolkata; in the green bangles of a koli fisherwoman who goes to Crawford Market; in the pristine white “mundu” dhoti of Kerala politicians including defence minister A.K. Antony; in the graceful walk of any woman who balances a pot of water on her head. Wherever you look in India, we have a style and grace that is a mixture of Bauhaus functionality and Baroquean exuberance. It follows Mies van der Rohe’s dictate that form must follow function and then adds a fillip of colour and je ne sais quoi to it.

Every morning after putting my kids in the school bus, I sit down and watch the line of maids who enter our building complex. Not one of them is poorly put together and I’ve heard this said about bais (maids) all over India. They take pride in their appearance and come in wearing neatly-pinned saris, perhaps some jasmine in their hair, maybe a bangle or two and a dangling earring as a nod to current fashion. No make-up, no expensive accessories, just professionals dressed up for their jobs. Are they stylish? I doubt that they think in those terms. They are unstudied but not nonchalant. They pay attention to their clothes but don’t fuss over them. Most of all, their outfits stay true to themselves, with a little extra fillip. If that’s not style, I don’t know what is.

On another note, I started another blog, dear visitors. You may visit it here.

And here we go again...

Who do you believe: The commission set up by the government, or the undercover investigation by a magazine kind of known for sting operations?

Y'know what I don't like about Blogger?

When you leave a comment on someone's blog, and they click on your name, they come to your profile. Then they click on your blog and get to visit it. Which totally messes up my visitor stats. How do I know which blog they saw my comment on and decided to come?

Bah.