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

IN SUPPORT OF TIGER WOODS

Hello,

It is so easy to point fingers but so difficult to look beyond.

Tiger Woods and his women set me thinking.

I am sure Tiger was not looking only for sex. If it had been DISCRETE SEX he could have donned the best disguise and paid in cash for the costliest prostitute in the world.

Why did he leave traces as big as the footprints of the Yeti?

Was it intentional? Did he do it because he wanted to be in the position he is right now? Was he actually in a bad marriage? He did say so to many of his women.

Tiger Woods is an exceptional golf player. He was worshipped by fans all over the world, he was paid handsomely by the advertisers. Why did he put all of this on the 'Guillotine'?

I am sure he is not bird brained not to realize the consequences of his action.

He always has the spotlight on him and there is no way he could have thought that he would get away without being noticed.

So why?

Why did he risk his marriage for the several affairs he had?

The answer seems simple.

He was not happy in his marriage.

Now the question obviously is why did he not divorce his wife before he started on his affairs?

The answer to this is difficult and Tiger is the only person who can answer this accurately but most probably a wild guess would say that he did so because he did not have the guts and opted the easy way out by doing something that would automatically lead to the same result.

Now, he would be a brave man if he stood by his transgressions, did not bow down to the social pressure of trying to keep the marriage alive and got himself free from the relationship that had failed to bind him.

Best regards,

Manoj

BARCELONA LET DOWN

Hello,

Yesterday, 21/12, was a day I was badly let down by FC Barcelona.

I had waited for this match between FC Barcelona and Kazama of Kuwait for almost a week and arranged for two tickets for my son and myself. The excitement at the ground before the start of the game was extraordinary and it was hard to believe that a crowd of a mere 20,000 could create such a ruckus. We made mexican waves and shouted and clapped to the rythm of the music playing and everyone had their cameras out for the wonderful fireworks. The noise was at its best when the FC Barcelona team with Puyol, Henry, Jeffrey and others made their appearance for the photo shoot.

I was disappointed at not seeing Messi, the magician, but the disappointment was magnified when only Bojan, Milito and Jeffren of the main team made an appearance in the playing eleven.

The pace was slow and during part of the game Kazma managed to keep possession and dominate proceedings. It was infact in line with the proceedings that the game ended in a 1-1 draw with Abdullah of Kazma scoring a wonderful flick goal in the dying minutes of the game.

Abdullah earns himself a place in Kuwaiti folklore.

Thank God I did not pay for the tickets. When I think of the entertainment and fun my son and I had at the stadium I am satisfied that I had the KD 35/= tickets at KD 150/= each it would have really hurt.

Best regards,

Manoj

Global Investment House - Restructuring completed

Hello,

Not many people outside the GCC would know much about Global Investment House (GIH). But it was big.

Before the global financial crisis hit the Banks in America, Europe and then the other smaller markets, it was one of the leading Investment Banks in the region with a reputation strong and big enough to attract investors from Europe. Ms. Maha Al Ghunaim, the chairperson of this company was listed in the 100 most powerful business women in the world by Forbes in 2008.

The Global crisis induced a financial road block as Banks refused to renew exposures and recalled their debts which lead to a default by the Company. It also became evident that several strange investments meant that not much could be said about the asset quality.

But when everything seemed lost, Global has risen Pheonix like - The banks who refused to renew exposures in December 2008 signed a restructuring agreement in December 2009, which allow the Company the time they require to tie up their laces and get back into the race. The Banks are benefitted as their exposures are now secured by assets of the Company and there is a lot more transparency in the operations for Banks to forsee any misadventure in the future.

Best of luck to Global Investment House and the employees working there.

Manoj

EXCITEMENT

Hello,

I am excited about the visit of Ruchira, my daughter to Kuwait.

She is coming here on a short vacation, and most probably, will use her trip here to relax, sleep and shop.

She will be with us after a gap of 6 months and although we have video chatted on the internet almost everyday, there is something mental about the matter.

Best regards,
Manoj