What a life!

Friday 16 September 2011

The Hong Kong sojourn - 4

From the previous post: "...A bit of drizzle, but not much to bother. Stopped at a viewing point on the walkway to snap off some nice shots. And it was time to go back to the hotel.

Another day, another adventure. Coming up."

Leaving Hong Kong island

Yummy dim sums!

The day started like any other day, as you may have seen in my previous posts (HK-1, HK-2, HK-3). Today's highlights really were the trip to a huge mall, near the airport and the lovely lunch that followed at the food court. Have I said before, that I simply can't have enough of steamed dim sums? Any day, give me any number and I will be happy as a hungry baby with a bottle in its mouth. Have a look at the trays in the picture, delicious isn't it? And have to mention that the spicy chicken - a Sichuan province speciality, was a tongue bomber to say the least. I was left sweat soaking wet from head down, with paroxysms of pain and pleasure alternating on my facial muscles. Was it worth it? Yes. Would I repeat it? Maybe.

After having picked up more clothes and other necessities, it was finally time to leave the mall, get back to the hotel, pack up and leave Hong Kong island. As I am blindly following my friend and guide, I have absolutely no clue where I will be staying for the night. And it does turn out to be a good choice.

Lamma island

We end up at Aberdeen dock on Hong Kong island, and realisation dawns on me that I will be experiencing one more mode of transportation of this city - boat! And guess what? The octopus card works here too. Incredible. So off we go on an approximately 45 minute sea ride, ending up at a resort on Lamma island. This island is known to the Chinese as Pok Liu Chau or simply Pok Liu. It is the third largest island in this city/state. Interestingly, the island is named based on its shape of the limb of a tree and its similarity to the Chinese character resembling Y.

Lamma island

It was a wonderful resting place. And the next day morning, waking up, sitting on the balcony and watching the far away skyscrapers minus the hustle and bustle of city life - it really felt like a chilled out holiday. Even the fishing boats and trawlers, seem to be crawling at a leisurely pace. There are many things to engage in, on this island. From trekking around the island, to visiting the authentic villages, still populated by fisher folk. Spending a day there was the absolute balm to the hectic lifestyle that the city somehow ingrains into your system, irrespective of whether you are a visitor or a resident.

After spending the day on this beautiful island and enjoying the breezy but calm beach, sights and people it was time to head back to the city once again. And this time, it was going to be Kowloon that was the destination.

Kowloon

Being back in the city, after the island was akin to stepping in through a time warp. One moment, it is the gentle breeze and calming sounds of steady waves landing on the beach, the next is the whizzing around of all modes of transportation carrying copious amounts of women, children and men, intent on reaching their destination at the earliest possible time. What a difference.

Finally, I ended up in a place called Mong Kok, which is quite famous for the extremely great deals on electronic products that one can find there. As I discovered first hand. But first, was meeting up with some more old friends for dinner. And if you are in Hong Kong, I strongly recommend that you should try to visit, at least once, a dai pai dong (classified as cooked food stall), before they completely disappear from Hong Kong. For the authentic Cantonese food and atmosphere. Do try to visit in a group, it's much more fun. The dai pai dong, we were ensconced in hardly looked like a stall on the street, as it had a full roof and was covered from four sides. But the tables, chairs, quick service all attested to it being one. And it was yet another gastronomic delight. Prawns in garlic sauce, fried beef strips seasoned with vegetables and an assortment of other food dishes were laid on the table, thanks to the skilful ordering by my friends.

Street market entrance

Wading through offers galore

Finally, a walk through the street markets was undertaken. I could see pretty much everything and anything would be sold in these tented shops, neatly lined up in front of concrete shops. As my friend and guide had to go work, I had plenty of time browsing through various streets, looking at some exotic and inexplicable food products to stand knick knacks and souvenirs.

Also managed to find some of the latest electronic products and I discovered that negotiation works. I really have no issues negotiating, as long as there is mutual respect at the end of it all and both the trader and I have a satisfied countenance.

A tired but happy traveller, I was by the end of this day. And the next day promised to be even more interesting as my friend had agreed to take me to the very well known and popular hangout, followed up with the famous sound and light show.

Just a few more days left here, but the thought in my head as I dozed off was, I could so happily live here. How was I to know that the next day, would make this thought, nearly a resolution?

Lan Kwai Fong or LKF as it is popularly known. What a place to walk through. A jazzy, posh watering hole for the thirsty minded, would be the first thought that comes to mind. Having a beer and interacting with the staff at the classic Hard Rock Cafe was a pleasure. Exiting from here, we moved on to ferry that shuttles between Hong Kong island and Kowloon. We timed it just right. Everyday between 8-8.20 PM, many of the buildings lining by the sea shore, light up and gives an aura of beauty that could possibly be found in a concrete jungle.

Tsim Sha Tsui

Night view

Arriving on the ferry pier at Tsim Sha Tsui, often abbreviated as TST, we took a nice long walk by the sea front. Akin to Hollywood, there is a boulevard of stars (with hand prints) of popular actors and cinema producers like Jackie Chan. All that walking, left us hungry enough to go to the local version of a fast food joint, where I came to realise that toasted break with honey and sprinkled powdered sugar was a local favourite, apart from the soupy noodles. Finally, it was time to head home, with the indication given by my friend that tomorrow, I would be literally touching the sky!

The next and last post in this series, comes up next.

Thursday 15 September 2011

The Hong Kong sojourn - 3

From the previous post: "...A nearby bakery also beckoned for a look at some exquisite creations, but was already full so just ended taking a snap.

The adventure continues, in the next post. "

The story continues

The first place, I went to was Times Square (of the Hong Kong variety). I discovered that it really does not matter, what time or day it is - people love to browse and shop in this city. Maybe it is the fact that more than 7 million people are crammed into a small portion of the available land makes the density seem so high, but it certainly leads to efficiencies in use of space. Maybe only Tokyo does a bit better, but there is no denying the energy on display.

Or for that matter wasted. Walking on roads, especially in Kowloon, you are likely to suddenly feel a nice cool breeze, particularly emanating from one direction. Look around you, and chances are you will notice a shop with two sides open and air-conditioners in full swing. A spectacle, that wouldn't be normally experienced anywhere else in the world. Make no mistake, it is a selling point for the merchant. Get out of the hot, humid street and buy my wares, screamed at a subliminal thought level.

Sweet Basil Thai restaurant

After a walk around the place, soaking in the atmosphere (thank goodness for air conditioning), it was time for lunch. And it was my choice to select Thai food as the preferred cuisine on this occasion. Off we went to 'Sweet Basil' Thai restaurant. Words fail me here. What a sumptuous meal! Gastronomic delight is all I could gasp out at the end of the leisurely drawn out lunch. Interestingly, I thought that as a traveller I had time to take it easy, but it seems, even working people were drawn to this place to spend some quality time eating and talking with each other.

Flute player idol

There was a beautiful idol of a flute player intricately carved in traditional Thai style. So alive was the statue that I could almost hear the flute playing in my head.

Now, it was off to shop! And it was a rather forced choice, due to the incident I mentioned in the first post of this series.

Shopping and eating

Shopping in Hong Kong is an activity that is as easy as blinking your eyelids. The plethora of shops enticing me to have a look is near bewildering. The choices, aplenty. The range, enormous. The deals, exciting. If you travel to this place, and you know that, you are the sort who has a penchant to pick up products, impulsively, be prepared to part with cash! Way more cash than you may have imagined. Of course, all for a good reason, eh?

Another realisation was that this city is extremely good for picking up amazing deals on electronic products, but when it comes to clothes, it is a different story. Your size may be considered quite normal where you are from, but it is not likely to be the case here. Especially not, if you are bargain hunting. It took me ages to pick up a shirt, because my usual size is L or XL, and when the design I chose would be brought to me for a trial, I would realise on trying that it was not meant to be worn on my kind of size. And I can't even claim to be a really large person!

The eatery

The menu!

Finally, picked up a few clothes, and it was time to try something, I never had before - tortoise shell gelatine. Another thing, to keep in mind while in south east Asia is an open mind to the kind of food that is available. Locally, the tortoise shell gel/soup is favoured for its medicinal properties. The shell is only one of the many ingredients that go into the soup. It is quite bitter to taste, can be had hot or cold, has a smooth jelly-like texture and a layer of sugar syrup can be added to make it more palatable. Interestingly, there were clear visuals of the ingredients used. All were reared and grown in farms - how sustainable, no idea. The entrance of the eatery had these huge samovars that were used for keeping the product hot.

The walk through the Park

Map of the Hong Kong park

Finally, we left the area and proceeded to a destination, usually on the 'must visit' list, for travellers to this city - The Peak! Thanks to my friend and guide, we chose to take a short hike through the Hong Kong park on the way to the peak. It is a point, on top of a mountain, that gives some of the best views of Hong Kong. But first, the walk. It was a very soothing walk through the park and as you can see from some of the pictures that I have put up here, very green, calm and quiet - in total contrast to the rest of the city.

Man made waterfall

Birds chirping, turtles and fish swimming calmly, walkers strolling leisurely, enchanting fragrances - all in all, a true breath of fresh air in the city that hardly relaxes, really.

Where all to go?

The Peak as it is locally called is actually the Victoria Peak, also known as Mount Austin is located in the western part of Hong Kong. While the actual summit is occupied by a radio telecommunications facility and is closed to the general public, much of the surrounding areas consist of parks and extremely pricey residential buildings.

The park walkway

The iconic Bank of China building

To think back to the old days, when those few people who used to live on the mountain had to be hand carried on 'sedan chairs' before the funicular tram was built.


The peak layered waterfall

With the tram opening up way back in 1888, more and more people started building residential units, which later on got converted into today's modern high rises. Today residency in this location is purely a function of how rich you are and has got nothing to do with the beauty of the place or the arresting views that the peak/mountain side offers.

Crowded tram entrance

At last, we made it to the peak tram entrance. With tickets priced at HK$ 40 for a same day return on the tram, it is a must see, must do activity.

See the print behind

And the crowds were teeming. So much so, that it took us nearly half an hour to get to the point where we could board the tram. The return journey was equally bad. But that is just the way it works in this city. No complaints.

The weirdest feeling while riding the tram is the optical illusion that all the buildings on the mountain are horribly tilted, and seem likely to fall off any moment! Reality, though, is actually a matter of physics.

The tram is the world's steepest funicular system, and while only a short 1.4 kilometre journey, the angle at which one sits is half way between sitting and lying down on a normal bed, leading to this optical illusion.

The Peak

Hong Kong at night

Finally, we reached the top. It had not been a sunny day and by the time in the evening, when we got there, the misty rain heavy clouds would keep on reducing visibility to nearly 0 at times. Initially, we went through the steep high rise building housing the shops.

It had been many months since I had a nice juicy hamburger. And Burger King beckoned alluringly. So it was off to dinner. Ah the joy of a nicely cooked, soft, juicy, spicy burger. Then followed up, by a walk just outside the building. The walkway could also be used as jogging track, since it goes around the mountain, but jogging was the last thing in our minds after that burger. A bit of drizzle, but not much to bother. Stopped at a viewing point on the walkway to snap off some nice shots. And it was time to go back to the hotel.

Another day, another adventure. Coming up.

Wednesday 14 September 2011

The Hong Kong sojourn - 2

From the previous post: "...It was not a write off. Not at all. Many more interesting experiences were going to happen. This was only a small blip in the other wise beautiful experience. And yet another lesson learnt.

The rest of the experience continues in the next post."

...and here we go.

Day 1, first half had been extremely exciting to say the least. Hong Kong, as with other cities is only a part of the larger city. Actually New Territories is at the far end, close to the China boder, then Kowloon, further down is Hong Kong island and still further down is Lamma island.


Happy Valley racetrack spectator stand

Finally ended up at a very nice and comfortable hotel in a place called Happy Valley, formerly known as Wong Nai Chung Valley. Predominantly residential in nature, there was a lovely horse racetrack nearby as well, and as I was informed, the area is rated as one of the posh ones in Hong Kong.

My friend had decided that I was to be subject to as many culinary treats as possible and I was only happier for it. For my objective of going to any new place is assimilate as much as possible about the Customs, Culture and Cuisine, followed locally. So just about 30 metres away from the hotel was this traditional, wonton noodle soup eatery. A tad expensive, but what a lovely treat. It was a pleasure consuming shrimp wontons floating in a soup filled with glass noodles. I did wonder along, why was it so expensive (apart from the now understood Hong Kong factor). I was informed that this is an old, well established, up scale and popular eatery and as we were sitting there, across the table sat one of the, apparently, most popular Hong Kong singers!

Efficiency - a hall mark of Hong Kong

Back to the hotel, feeling comfortable and full. Rested a bit. Then it was off to the Sheung Shui, New Territories for a 'hot pot' dinner with my friend's family. And this is where I discovered the power and utility of 'Octopus'. My friend had already purchased an Octopus card for me. Now, I have to reminisce a bit about it. I found it to be a typical, representative Hong Kong product, fully geared towards the concept of efficiency! And it truly is. It is a pre-paid card, called Octopus simply because it was an enabler for anyone to smoothly commute across the various types of transportation as well as use it for purchases at the ever present 7-Eleven stores.


The HK version of the tube map

It is essentially, a rechargable contacless stored value smart card. It can be used to make electronic payments in offline and onlien systems across Hong Kong. And as I discovered over the week, just hold your purse containing the card near and reader at an appropriate time and the barriers to the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) or buses or trams and many more would open up. Way better than having to carry around notes and loose change all the time. And I will write a bit later on about the transportation system in Hong Kong. Impressive, to say the least.

The first dinner

Back, to the dinner plan. This was my first ever hot pot (also known to some as 'steamboat') and apart from meeting the family, I was so looking forward to the experience, having heard a lot about it earlier.

Hot pot at Sheung Shui

Oh man. It was some culinary experience. I fell in gastronomic love with it. The concept is so interesting, easy, full fledged, group oriented and overall very fulfilling. There was a huge variety of meats and vegetables. There was a deep bowl with split sections, which was continuously being heated by a butane gas burner. One side had plain water, without many condiments, the other side was spicy. And much to my chagrin, I realised that despite being an Indian, there was only so much spice I could take!

To quench the thirst was some very delectable bamboo shoot drinks. Spread over nearly a couple of hours, it was an extremely enjoyable and sociable evening, cooking, talking, eating, talking, drinking, talking. So much so, that at the end, I wanted to walk back to Hong Kong island given the amount of food and beverages in me. Realisation dawns: people in Hong Kong really love to eat and drink.

And then it was back to hotel, for some rest until the next day morning which my friend indicated was going to be equally fun filled. Exciting!

Thoroughly tired, by the time I got back to the hotel, after having been travelling since the previous day (delayed flights onward to Delhi, time dilly dallied at the IGI airport, actual flight time, lost a bag, and criss crossing Hong Kong - see my previous post), when I hit the bed and opened my eyes, it felt like it was just a minute ago, but a full 8 hours had passed!

The next day

It was mid-morning and time to go off and explore some more of Asia's world city. First thing out, was to stop at a nearby semi-street joint for some rice, roasted pork and chicken, with soup brunch. A nearby bakery also beckoned for a look at some exquisite creations, but was already full so just ended taking a snap.

The adventure continues, in the next post.

Tuesday 13 September 2011

The Hong Kong sojourn

Recently, I took the plunge and made a trip to Hong Kong. It was an experience that left me with memories that I cherish. Not everything was positive and hunky-dory, but certainly there were so many highlights, that this account may only do short justice to them. This account will be in series, as there is way too much to recount and I do not want to keep you away from whatever else you are engaged in, for that long (at least I would like to think what I write is engaging enough).

Pre-travel perception

Hong Kong. Meaning 'fragrant harbour'. Marketed as Asia's World City. And it is. No doubts about that. At all. My perception about Hong Kong was based on a few Jackie Chan, Chow Yun Fat and Michelle Yeoh flicks and more recently based on my interaction with colleagues who were from this pulsating city/state.

Being an intrepid traveller, after hearing so much about the city from my former colleagues, it was a rather natural choice to go and directly experience the place. And one short week, has left me with a taste for want more. Much more.

The flight experience

Departure Terminal 3, IGI Airport, Delhi

Even from Kerala, that is so well connected by airlines to the Gulf countries, rather than other parts of the world, due to the significant population working in the Middle Eastern countries, with technological advances I was able to book my trip tickets on line and get to Hong Kong. It did involve rather tedious waiting periods at the new glitzy IGI airport in Delhi, however since this was my first trip out of India through Delhi in recent times, it was memorable.

I also found it interesting that the local airline, I used is still on the learning curve as far as international travel is concerned. One of the key points being that for most international airlines, if a stop on the way to the destination lasts for more than 8 hours, usually the traveller is offered a hotel room to rest - absolutely not the case here! Spending a night sitting on one of the modern benches at the Delhi airport leaves you feeling rather bleary and with a crick in the neck. But having made the decision to go, I suppose it is part of the experience. Would I repeat it? No. We learn from our experiences, don't we? I would rather take an airline that gives me more comforts, for the price that I pay, to go long distance.

The first view

Travelling to a place that is time-wise ahead of India is always fraught with the chances of being bleary eyed and woolly headed, given the time difference with my body clock. But the excitement of the first time, usually makes it bearable.

Hong Kong, first view from air

And if the flight arrives early morning at the destination, it is more than made up by the fantastic vistas one gets to see from the aircraft window, thanks to the morning sun light.

To me, it is also a reminder that however much, I view images or read about a place on line , nothing beats being there and experiencing it first hand.

The first peeks through the clouds start getting the heart pumping a bit faster. Yes! made it, is the usual thought.

I have been repeatedly told that Hong Kong is a congested place, given that only 20% of the available land mass is used for human occupation versus the sheer density of the population residing there. Sounds similar to India, would it be? Not quite, as I discovered.

Immigration is an unusually smooth process for me. I am an Indian. I am not used to being given visas (and that too free!) on arrival in any country. At this point, bubbles a thought in my head - I really do not understand why the Indian government cannot have a reciprocal on arrival visa arrangement with at least the top 40 countries that Indians generally travel or have visitors arrive from. But that is another blog post for later.

Having gone through the smooth stamping of the passport process, picked up the luggage and freshened up at the airport itself. When everything is clean, neat, organised and sign posted, it is such a relief! Met my close friend, who had very kindly agreed to be my guide for this trip.

Double deck bus at the HK international airport

It was agreed that taking the City Bus A11, departing from the airport and arriving finally at the North Point ferry terminus, is a good option, as we were supposed to get down at Wan Chai. Turned out otherwise, though. It was a modern double deck bus that came up to the bus station just outside the terminus.

Going in, understood that while I could keep my small backpack with me, the one medium sized luggage I had, was too large for the steps to the upper deck, so had to leave it on the luggage rack near the entrance. And as this was the first views on land, I was keen to go and sit on the upper deck, as it would afford great views. So modern are these buses, that there are video cameras and small LCD screens that show the interior of the bus, allowing you to keep an eye out for the luggage as well. Unfortunately, the bus we got in, the camera had fogged up due to the humidity and the visibility was very low on the LCD screen. The only stop in the next one hour that it took for us to reach Wan Chai, was at the Macau ferry terminus, Sheung Wan. Many people got off the bus, as I guess they were travelling to Macau or getting off at Sheung Wan.

So excited I was sitting on top and enjoying the views as well as catching up with my friend, I didn't notice anything else. Came down at the Wan Chai bus stop and received a hard mental blow! My luggage was no longer there. Somebody had taken it, when leaving the bus as the stop about 20 minutes back. First time ever this has happened to me, in all my world travels. A surreal feeling. It slowly registers in my head that I have actually lost all my clothes, gifts, toiletries, etc. Luckily, I had all my important documents and the camera with me in the back pack.

Got off the bus. My friend and I were dismayed. But nothing much that we could do at that point of time. Meantime, the stomach has started growling like crazy. So first stop, feed the stomach. Rest will follow. Off to a nearby Yoshinoya - a Japanese food chain that serves pretty good quality food at reasonable prices. Lovely bowl of beef noodles with hot tea, and the stomach had quietened down. What next?

North Point bus terminus

The first thing we did was to go to the Wan Chai Police Station and register the loss/theft of luggage. Then we visited the North Point ferry terminus - the last stop for the A11. We found a bag there with the terminus official, left by another Indian traveller from Delhi to Hong Kong via an Air India flight. The immediate thought was, ok maybe it is just a mix up. The bag was not exactly similar to mine, but at a quick glance it was possible - same colour and all that. So there was hope that maybe this is all just a mix up and that when the person realises his mistake, the bag will be exchanged through City Bus.

Sadly, despite the many follow ups by my friend, various calls and emails to City Bus offices, the Macau Ferry company and the HK Police, my luggage was never located. Thus started my trip. But hold on.

It was not a write off. Not at all. Many more interesting experiences were going to happen. This was only a small blip in the other wise beautiful experience. And yet another lesson learnt.

The rest of the experience continues in the next post.

Saturday 10 September 2011

The great Indian democracy

Once again, as my mind has been a bit focussed on what is happening in this lovely nation, I came across this beautiful article. As I do not know, from where it has really originated or who composed it, I am unable to give any credits. But I can say for sure, that it is a must read insight into the great Indian democracy and its continued survival.

"HINDU WISDOM

The beauty of being a Hindu lies in your freedom to be who you want to be. Nobody can tell you what to do, or what not to do. There is no central authority, no single leader of the faith. No one can pass an order to excommunicate you, or like in some countries, pass a decree that orders your death by stoning for walking with a strange man.

We don’t appreciate our freedom because we can’t feel the plight of others who aren’t free. Many religions have a central authority with awesome power over the individual. They have a clear chain of command, from the lowliest local priest to the highest central leader. Hinduism somehow escaped from such central authority, and the Hindu has miraculously managed to hold on to his freedom through the ages. How did this happen?

Vedanta is the answer. When the writers of Vedanta emerged, around 1500 BC, they faced an organised religion of orthodox Hinduism. This was the post Vedic age, where ritualism was practiced, and the masses had no choice but to follow. It was a coercive atmosphere.

The writers of Vedanta rebelled against this authority and moved away from society into forests. This was how the ‘Aranyakas’ were written, literally meaning ‘writings from the forest’. These later paved the way for the Upanishads, and Vedanta eventually caught the imagination of the masses. It emerged triumphant, bearing with it the clear voice of personal freedom.

This democracy of religious thought, so intrinsic to Vedantic intelligence, sank into the mindset of every Indian.

Most couldn’t fathom the deep wisdom it contained, but this much was very clear. They understood that faith was an expression of personal freedom, and one could believe at will.
That’s why Hinduism saw an explosion of Gods. There was a God for every need and every creed. If you wanted to build your muscles, you worshiped a God with fabulous muscles. If you wanted to pursue education, there was a Goddess of Learning. If it was wealth you were looking for, then you looked up to the Goddess of wealth — with gold coins coming out of her hands.

If you wanted to live happily as a family, you worshiped Gods who specially blessed families. When you grew old and faced oncoming death, you spent time in contemplating a God whose business it was to dissolve everything — from an individual to the entire Universe.

Everywhere, divinity appeared in the manner and form you wanted it to appear, and when its use was over, you quietly discarded that form of divinity and looked at new forms of the divine that was currently of use to you. ‘Yad Bhavam, tad Bhavati’… what you choose to believe becomes your personal truth, and freedom to believe is always more important than belief itself.

Behind all this — was the silent Vedantic wisdom that Gods are but figments of human imagination. As the Kena Upanishad says, “Brahma ha devebhyo vijigye…” — All Gods are mere subjects of the Self. It implies that it is far better that God serves Man than Men serve God. Because Men never really serve God — they only obey the dictates of a religious head who speaks for that God, who can turn them into slaves in God’s name.

Hindus have therefore never tried to convert anyone. Never waged war in the name of religion. The average Hindu happily makes Gods serve him as per his needs. He discards Gods when he has no use for them. And new Gods emerge all the time — in response to market needs. In this tumult, no central authority could survive. No single prophet could emerge and hold sway, no chain of command could be established.

Vedanta had injected an organised chaos into Hinduism, and that’s the way it has been from the last thirty five centuries. Vedanta is also responsible, by default, for sustaining democracy. When the British left India, it was assumed that the nation would soon break up. Nothing of that kind has happened.

The pundits of doom forgot that the Indian had been used to religious freedom from thousands of years. When he got political freedom, he grabbed it naturally. After all, when you can discard Gods why can’t you discard leaders?

Leaders like Gods are completely expendable to the Indian mindset. They are tolerated as long as they serve the people, and are replaced when needs change. It’s the triumph of people over their leaders, and in this tumult, no dictator can ever take over and rule us. Strange how the thoughts of a few men living in forests, thirty five centuries ago, can echo inside the heart of every Indian. That’s a tribute to the resurgent power of India, and the fearlessness of its free thinking people.

Fact still remains that as a people, we are far more open minded on many aspects and equally close minded on many others. This confuses the hell out of anybody who is not really an Indian. Given that change is a fact of nature, it is also the case that Indians may have roots that may not change, but their reaction and action to external events may. With this country emerging as one of the top 3 countries in the world within the next two decades, will mean significant chaos and change across the board at political and psychological levels. Of course, it remains to be seen how it eventually works out.

Friday 9 September 2011

Delhi shaken, but not stirred

It is the weekend. I think back as to what was the highlight of the week, and no surprises - 'D day' is what comes to my mind. The day when Delhi was shaken by both man and nature. Yet what continues to surprise me is the sort of stupor in which our great leaders continue to remain in.

Apart from a few and rather drowned out calls about national security, nothing was new. Investigations and 'pre-emptive security tightening' measures are taken up after the deed has been done by cowards who don't believe in a democratic way to air their grievances.

The USA today spends more than a few billions of dollars under the name of Homeland Security. And while I am not stating that it is the best thing to do, there has resulted some sense of security for their citizens. Yet, our India government only talks about how secure our borders and citizens are! Really? Are we? Not attempting to be paranoid here. But when unsecured, unmanned large ships can be cast away and land on the beach of India's financial nerve centre, the reason given is gaps in our radar system. Why do we have these gaps? We can afford to send space missions, afford to be one of the biggest buyers of defence systems, yet we have gaps? Something doesn't quite ring right here, don't you think so?

In my previous post, I asked a few questions directly to the elected representatives of this amazing country. A month down the line (yes, I have not been particularly prolific in posting), there is hardly a discernible sense of anything being put into action that could potential improve the safety and security of Indian citizens.

Today is that day when the USA woke up to a vulnerability. It is a large country. It can protect itself from external aggression. But from the inside, there was nothing that could stop the planes from hurtling into the New York World Trade Centres. And the result, in a decade of war on terror, much has been done.

When India can claim to be racing to the world top spot on economic grounds, yet factually remains way below in terms of what it does for its citizens - be it protection from terror or hunger, the question is for how long and how many more deaths would it take for us to change?

I will be among the first to state, that there is a lot of good things that have happened since 60 years of independence, but there is a much longer way to go to make India into what was dreamt by the founding mothers and fathers of this nation.

As a democracy, I do have the right of speech. I am exercising it now. In the hope that somebody on top of the pecking order on the Indian political food chain, is listening and just maybe interested enough to do something about it on the scale required.

Thursday 14 July 2011

Blasted! again and again

Today, I write this with a feeling that is anything but normal. But I am going to exactly express, what I feel. And if any of you who read this, feel the same way and choose to do something...anything, whatever you can, then it is one more step taken in the right direction.

Yesterday, once again Mumbai was shaken by multiple deadly 'Improvised Explosive Device' blasts. Once again the TV channels were running around showing repeated footage of the terrible event. Police were trying to figure out what was going on. Hospitals were trying to save lives. And many others rushed to see what is it like to be blasted! Newspapers have carried the ghastly images bringing them in printed color formats to the numbed senses of millions.

There are many of us out here, who feel a complete sense of outrage. A sense of being uncared for by the very people and the system which we subjugate to, every working minute, the Indian government leadership.

Terrorism of any sort is abominable! How many times do the citizens of India have to take these deadly intrusions into their lives? How many mothers have to cry? How many children have to be orphaned? How many fathers have to bleed in their hearts?

Safety and Security are not some optional check box on the list of living conditions in India. It is a necessity. It is a right.

Why is it that this right, this necessity is not being delivered by our leaders? A friend suggested that they are all corrupted and will not do anything beyond the immediate action of conducting press conferences.

Yes, the usual action of professing sympathy, displaying solemn grief with the victims is all fine. But what are our leaders doing to prevent this farce of security and safety to remain?

I agree that Indian civilians are courageous and continue to live despite the odds. However, our beloved leaders tread the path of indifference, making these very civilians ordinary and insecure and scared and living with the cudgels of fear around their minds.

The American, British, Australian, and more more other country leaders will go to war over its extraordinary citizens. They do not and will not accept that it is okay for their citizens to be targeted repeatedly by cowards who hide behind a the cloak of 'jihad' or 'injustice' or 'religious morals' or whatever it is that they subscribe to.

We all know that no activity takes place without a set of people teaming up. That includes Indian who are support and enabling other Indians and non-Indians to conduct this shameful and sad act of cowardice - killing regular Indians from a distance and more importantly - repeatedly showing how weak and ineffective our systems are in rebutting their attempts.

The point is, what are the Indian leaders going to do???

Do You Have It in you to take on the responsibility of securing our lives?

Do You Have It in you to go after those who commit these dastardly acts and bring them to our courts or deliver justice in any other manner?

Do you?