MY MOTHER IS AN UGLY WOMAN

Hello,

Read a wonderful blog with the above title. The link to the blog is here and all Indians should read it once: http://www.mindtree.com/subrotobagchi/my-mother-is-an-ugly-woman/.

The writer narrates his experience at a student seminar in Germany and tells us how disappointed he was when he heard an educated, well placed Indian trying to tell the German listeners about Indian habits.

I am not sure if all of us will actually agree with the sentiments of the writer but I do agree that the blog is well written and the sentence where the writer connects to the readers by mentioning 'mother' does pull the heartstrings. I also found the speech of the Ugly Indian interesting and humorous.

Humor is at its best when people have the ability to laugh at themselves. It is therefore not surprising that a comedian gets the loudest laughs when he potrays himself as a bumbling fool.

The Ugly Indian speaker who is potrayed to be inconsiderate and lacking in love for the motherland has actually done a wonderful job of making people laugh by becoming the butt of jokes himself. He, I feel, did fine till his error about Indians not being honest with their intentions.

There are jokes about how Indians can never form an orderly line and how like the crab they keep trying to pull down the other and how they will go to the extremes to save money.

These are fine. There is nothing wrong with such stories as these can be replicated for many other countries. We joke about stingy Indians, crabby Indians and unruly Indians ourselves.

But what is absolutely wrong is his joke about Indians inviting people and then not being ready. 'Athiti Devo Bhava' - 'The visitor is God' is engrained in every Indian mind and even an unexpected visitor can never go empty handed from an Indian house.

Except for this error the other things are normal and even this joke, although not applicable, did click because the people could connect with it. Every society and country have people who say things they do not mean. Germans of all people - the people who showed brutality towards their own people and lead to the world war II can hardly be the country who can treat others with disdain.

People can laugh at the Indian way as it is so different from the western way. It is stupid to say that just because we do not do things the western way we are not to be taken seriously. It is in this context that I remember the interview Aishwarya Rai did with David Letterman. DL tried to joke about the fact that Aishwarya at 26 was still staying with her parents. His statement made the audience roar with laughter but what Aiswarya said next made the studio go quiet and then the applause was deafening. She said something like "Yes I stay with my parents. This way I do not have to take an appointment with them for having dinner together."

What she pointed out was that just because we are different does not mean that we are disadvantaged in any way. She also made it clear that she saw advantage in the difference.

My mother may be an ugly woman but I love her. Just because I joke about my siblings does not make me a mother hater.

Best regards,

Manoj

My Reply to a debate on Indian Literature

I beg to disagree with her when she says that writers do not get the respect they deserve in India. No offense as this is my personal experience and opinion.

I buttress my statement with the facts below.

I grew up in an India where literature was always so rich and awe inspiring.
Reading English, Hindi and Bengali literature I was always happy to note that for every famous English author and poet we always had one home grown one.

If we read 'O Captain! My Captain!' by Walt Whitman and 'The charge of the Light Brigade' by Lord Alfred Tennyson we also read 'Jhansi Ki Rani' by Subhadra Kumari Chauhan and 'Sharfaroshi Ki Tamanna Aaj hamare dil mein hai' by Ram Prasad Bismil.

If Somerset Maugham, Oscar Wilde, Mark Twain and Shakespeare influenced us so did Munshi Premchand, Sharatchandra and Bankim Chandra and Kalidas.
If we had a 'The Gift of Magi' and 'The last leaf' we also had the 'Kabuliwala' and 'Idgah'. If we had 'The tempest' and 'Othello' we also read 'Shakuntala' and 'Debodas'.

Kolkata always worshipped the literary giants - past and present. Robindra Sangeet and Nazrul geeti influenced the way of life in Bengal.

Poems by Robindranath Thakur are given the utmost respect by being chosen to be the national anthem of India and also Bangladesh. Not to forget our National song "Vande Mataram".

And before I forget I need to mention that we also had RK Laxman, Mulk Raj Anand and Ruskin Bond, if we wished to read Indian English authors.

The Rig Veda, the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Ramcharitmanas have been literature masterpieces that have been heard by generations of Indians.

Would it be wrong to suggest that we took lesson in life by reading and listening to dohas of Kabir, Surdas, Rahim and Nanak.

Gita continues to influence the way of life of the entire world.

On the other side, there has never been a book like 'Kamasutra' ever written.

Yes, it is true that we never had the wherewithal to discuss it over champagne and cherries, but we did discuss them as well, over cups of chai and bread-pakoras at the road side addas and while traveling on jam-packed local trains of Kolkata.

Yes, I am sure they get the respect they deserve in India.

The Sahitya Academy fellowship and the Jnanpith Award honor writers every year.

Please note that I have not talked about the various other contributors from the South and the West and the North-East.

Best regards,

Manoj

India's top 50 powerful people

The list of 50 most powerful people of our times is recently published by India Today.

Not a single philosopher, thinker or writer has made it. Luckily we have AR Rahman, a composer, listed.

This in a country which gave birth to philosophers and thinkers of the caliber of Vivekananda, Adi Shankaracharya, Radhakrishnan, Chanakya and writers of epics like the Ramayana, Mahabharatha, Geeta, The vedas & the upanishads, Artha Shastra, Geetanjali and the Kama Sutra, which still mean so much not only to Indians but people all across the world.

The country which has such a vast reservoir of writing talent does not consider anyone to be influential.

It would mean two things -

The choice is governed by commercial considerations. The list includes everyone who can be connected with the ability of making money and are head turners. Starts with Ratan Tata, the Ambanis, Mittals, Godrej, Birlas, Ruias and also includes Sharukh, Amitabh and Swami Ramdev. Even Amar Singh and Parmeshwar Godrej find mention in the list.

Indian writers are no longer appealing to their readers. They have not been able to come up with ideas that influence the thinking of the readers.

The pen may be mightier than the sword but it has been bulldozed into silence by the creators of wealth. Sound bites are more important and visible.

World Cup 20 Twenty

Hello,
Last time while writing about the IPL I had mentioned that Dhoni, as captain of Chennai, had his bad moments in the field and made decisions that went against his team.
Now with India out of the World Cup 20 Twenty a lot has already been spoken about the mistakes he made in and out of the playing arena. He has also turned defensive and his batting (pushes, nudges and defensive prods) indicate that he is no longer the aggressive captain he was when India won the World cup and put up strong performances against Australia, England and Sri Lanka in the recent past. His defensive attitude on the Sehwag issue also indicated that he is now burdened by thoughts that are in no way connected with winning. Finally when he started blaming the BCCI for selecting players with injuries he exhibited fraility. When the leader tries to camouflage poor performance he is not doing justice to his position. Not only is he being dishonest, he is also blocking the path of remedy.
India is a cricket crazy nation and it is normal that defeats affect us badly. When you are so passionate about the game it is normal that you wear your heart on your sleave and it is again stupid of people to put this outpouring of feelings as a sign of immaturity. (Artherton says Indian supporters are most immature)
The only way to get back the support of the fans is by getting back to the winner's podium. Belief in their own natural abilities will get them back there. Too much analysis spoils the broth, Dhoni should go by his insticts again, attack and trust the attacking players. Do not play the way the media wants you to, play for victory.
Good luck to Dhoni and his men when they tour West Indies.
Manoj

INDIA, MALAYSIA, SINGAPORE & SRI LANKA

Hello,
I have just completed a 15 days tour of the above mentioned countries and the first difference between the southeast and the Indian subcontinent is clearly the cleanliness and discipline.
When we land into India from Kuwait we see some greenery and are so happy but then when we reach Malaysia and Singapore, India looks like a desert. The rain forests of the southeast are green and pleasant.
Then when you get out of the aircraft the manner in which things are handled is also different Malaysia and Singapore are strict but efficient. India and Sri Lanka are lax and indifferent.
The only thing in favor of the sub continent is the prices.
Singapore doubles the prices of everything in Malaysia. So if a tee costs 10 ringets in Malaysia it is 10 Sing $ in Singapore. And the price of a similar looking tee in Sri Lanka is just 400 Sri Lanka rupees. That is rupees 200 (Indian).
Rest in my detailed post later.
Best regards,
Manoj

SECOND INNINGS - REINCARNATION OF MOHAMMAD AZHARUDDIN

HELLO ALL,
YESTERDAY WE SAW THE WIZARD OF THE LEG SIDE - A MICHELANGELO IN THE MIDST OF HOUSEPAINTERS, START HIS SECOND INNINGS ON A DIFFERENT PITCH.
VERY RARELY DO PEOPLE GET ANOTHER CHANCE IN LIFE. SECOND CHANCES ARE FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE BASICALLY GOOD. WITH AZHAR MY GUT FEELING THAT HE WAS SUCKED INTO THE MATCH FIXING.
HE CONTINUES TO SHOW RISK TAKING ABILITIES BY PUTTING UP HIS T SHIRT COLLAR ON NATIONAL TELEVISION AND I AM SURE HE IS STILL SUSCEPTIBLE TO QUICK GET RICH SCHEMES.
AZHAR IS THE GUY WHO HIT THREE CENTURIES ON THE TROT (AFTER DEBUT) AND IT WOULD HAVE BEEN A FOURTH IF HE HAD A MORE MATURE PLAYER AT THE NON STRIKERS END AT EDEN GARDENS. I WAS THERE AT THE GROUND THAT DAY AND SAW HIS FACE DROP WHEN HE WAS BERATED BY MOHINDER FOR TRYING TO PLAY AGGRESSIVELY AFTER REACHING HIS FIFTY.
TWO SENTENCES WHICH WILL ALWAYS BE ETCHED IN MIND WHEN WE TALK ABOUT AZHAR ARE 'MIYA, CAPTAN BANOGE?' ASKED BY RAJ SINGH DUNGARPUR AND 'MAINE MATCH BANAYA' REPORTEDLY TOLD BY AZHAR AFTER HE WAS ACCUSED ON MATCH FIXING.
A NOTED CRICKET WRITER ONCE SAID, "IT'S NO USE ASKING AN ENGLISHMAN TO BAT LIKE AZHARUDDIN. IT WOULD BE LIKE EXPECTING A GREYHOUND TO WIN THE LONDON DERBY!'
BRAVO AHZAR ON YOUR 100TH TEST MATCH. LET US HOPE YOU HIT CENTURIES IN YOUR SECOND INNINGS AS WELL.
BEST WISHES TO MY HERO OF THE LEGSIDE
MANOJ