Standing outside the KC Management Institute, waiting for Mira to exit upon completing her SATs. Groups of greeting parents standing around. The street dogs, collared and rotund from over feeding, lie in the winter sun. A druggie walks past and reaches out to pet one of the dogs, which the dog eventually allows after overcoming her initial scepticism. The druggie stumbles on, head down, eyes unfocused. Many of India's best and brightest students still leave the country for their college and university education, at least if their families can afford it. The very affluent or rich with children who are less than bright send them overseas as admission into an Indian university is not even an option. Strange times. News comes fast and furious. Shashi Tharoor's socialite wife fought a very public spat on Twitter with a Pakistani journalist who she suspected of going after her man. Two days later, Tharoor's wife Sunanda Pushkar was found dead in a hotel room in Delhi's seven star Leela Hotel. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), in power in Delhi for all of two weeks, has turned vigilante, attempting to take on the Central Government and Police in Delhi. News of horrific attacks on women across India, now no longer limited to the cities, dictate the daily headlines. A former judge of the Supreme Court is under attack for having tried to molest an intern. The editor of Tehelka, a left leaning magazine, was arrested for having molested and/or raped a young journalist on his staff during a lit feat that Tehelka organizes. The kids are streaming out, most of them bespectacled and anemic looking. These future IT entrepreneurs and bankers will be gauged on raw brain power first and foremost. Social skills and outdoorsy experience are optional. Off to Café Mondegar for lunch. Tarini is not willing to consider any other options.
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It’s 6.58 in the morning and we’re in Bangalore, at my parents' home. I overslept, a lapse brought on by my cold. Life starts early in the Tiwari household. Kumud, Mira and Tarini are still asleep. Forgive them Father, for they are weak, not aware of the benefits that banging doors at 5.30 a.m. brings to your health. From my vantage point on the sofa I see people running past in the early morning, getting exercise. There's no running for me today, 2013 is all set to go out with a whimper. What I like about this imperfect city in which we live year round, Bombay, is the effort by some to reclaim the city, to try and establish order and cleanliness where there was little or none. On a recent cycling trip on a Sunday morning Mira and I rode through parts of Horniman Circle, past Yazdani Bakery where we picked up some fresh bread and onwards to Ballard Estate. What we saw were beautiful buildings in various states of refurbishment. Small pleasures such as those make up for a lot. The Aam Aadmi Party did finally come to power in Delhi. It's early days but governance has suddenly become a topic. Propriety seems to be back in fashion. Lal Bathis, the hated read lights on the cars of members of Government, Parliament and other national institutions are being banned. The Chief Minister drove to his first day at work in a $10,000 Maruti Suzuki. What would the effect of good governance be on our city? 2014 will hopefully bring an uptick in the global economy. The US is doing better, Europe appears to be out of the woods. India will face elections but one way or the other governance will be front and central. It may be too early to say, but the days of horse trading pols are hopefully numbered. It’s 8.15 a.m. and I’m jogging around the lawns of the Bombay Gym. The winter sun is rising over Bombay, casting the lawns of the Bombay gymkhana in a mellow light. The grass is wet with dew. Two men are doing their round of surya namaskars at the end of their daily workout with a fixed band of men and women. A few weeks ago a fire swept aside the hutments and the meager and miserable belongings of slum dwellers living in a slum bordering our otherwise tony neighborhood. The huts had been built on stilts over mangroves that surround much of Bombay. How do you replace that which was illegal to begin with? The inhabitants marked off what was left of their plots, now a mushy area of mud, with pieces of string. Mira and her school’s fellow student council members helped raise money to buy the affected children new school bags and school supplies. State elections in four states resulted in the opposition BJP gaining or regaining power and an upstart political party, AAP (the Common Man’s Party) set to form the Government in Delhi. The arrival of this new party, on an anti corruption platform, so unsettled the ruling classes that the Lokpal Bill, an piece of anti corruption legislation stuck in a parliamentary holding pattern for 45 years (!) was tabled and passed in less than a week. The newspaper today has a report on a young police inspector who just passed out of his training college at Nashik and who had taken up his first posting in a small town in Maharashtra. The Anti Corruption Bureau "caught him red handed accepting a Rs. 20,000 bribe”. Our brethren from 'abroad', Indians living in the US and the UK, have started descending on Bombay. The twang at the Gym has changed, hand carried bottles of mineral water surface again. As they arrive the local glitterati gets set to leave. Conversation in the locker room turns to everyone’s holiday plans for Christmas and New Year, Thailand, Singapore, Dubai. We've been enjoying an unusual bonanza of museum exhibits here in Bombay. Flemish paintings and the 'Cyrus Cylinder', a cylinder with cuneiform writing extolling the virtues of Cyrus, the Persian emperor who conquered Babylon. For most parts of the country winter is the best time of year and we too are intent on enjoying the mild warmth. Let's see what sprouts of renewal 2014 brings. Years ago, the December of the year we moved to Chicago, we sent out a Christmas and New Year's message entitled "Merry Christmas from the land of 'Happy Holidays'". It seemed bizarre that in a predominantly Christian country everyone would be wishing each other 'happy holidays', living in mortal fear of offending someone celebrating a festival other than Christmas. My secretary at the time was mortified that we were sending out Christmas cards to our customers. "But you're not a Christian!" she asked, "doesn't this bother you?" "No", I replied, "Hindus have more than enough festivals to make up the difference, so I'm perfectly happy wishing people Merry Christmas in December". Eight weeks from now Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis and Buddhists will be wishing each other Merry Christmas across Mumbai, if not all of India. For now everyone has just finished wishing each other Happy Diwali, in person and via text messages. It's when my countrymen and -women get poetic, or try to, via text messages: "Many Millions of lamps illuminate ur life with Endless joy, Prosperity, Health and Wealth forever. Wishing u and ur family - HAPPY DIWALI !!! - but also, from a twenty - something year old: "Hey, Happy Diwali!!!" Nobody wishes you 'more consideration in traffic' by the way, 'less car horning' or "I won't jump the queue when behind you". It's all love, peace and happiness gifted and imposed from above, somehow materializing in your apartment. It's Sunday, and therefore an airless day. Go to any petrol pump to have your tires pumped and you will be told by the attendant, 'aaj hava nahin hai', today there is no air. Why?? These are left overs from Indira Gandhi's days, when bizarre rules attempted to govern what was and wasn't allowed, what you could and couldn't produce, what you could and couldn't import. That era has so permeated our behaviour that we still have 'airless Sundays', that we only operate one elevator at a time in the building when there are two. It is the umpteenth clash of the old and the new India. Airless Sundays vs the IT sector that provides 24/7 support to the global economy. Anyway, for now peace has returned. There's a pumpkin - banana bread in the oven, and Beethoven's 6th is playing. Wish u and ur families a vry Happy Sunday full of Joy, Peace and Luv. I was in New York and Boston for a few days last week, to take care of some personal work, and took the opportunity to reconnect with friends in New York and family in Boston. I was once again amazed by the warmth of people and the ease with which they made time to meet, more often than not insisting on it. It reminded me why we so enjoyed living in Chicago for five years. Of all the cities that we have lived in across the globe Chicago was the only one where we were welcomed into our new house by neighbors carrying a plate of cookies, where Jewish friends invited us to a Seder dinner, where our neighbor Carol invited us to her annual Oscar party and where the same neighbors organized a send off when we left for Bombay. Shopkeepers and people in the hospitality industry in the U.S. have politenesses built into their language, thanking you for coming, for shopping and for patronizing their establishment. In times of crisis, domestically or internationally, Americans reach out to each other and to other nations without hesitation, offering food, shelter, money and even military assistance when necessary. Kindnesses large and small form an integral part of daily life in the U.S. It is amazing therefore, to witness up close the gridlock, deadlock and vitriol that has come to characterize political life in the U.S., bringing the country to the brink of economic disaster several times in a row. Even in India, where political opposition is conducted loudly and brazenly, there is at times of crisis, for example when the Indian Rupee almost touched 70 to the dollar, a very quick coming together of the top echelons of society. Members of Government, leaders of the Opposition, the Head of the Reserve Bank and key industrialists convene formally or informally to decide quickly on a course of action to correct the direction the country is headed in. Within days key legislation is passed to re - instill confidence in investors, following which the 'game' of politics resumes as before, but with immediate crisis averted. Why is this kind of coming together increasingly so difficult in the U.S., where on a daily basis people are helpful and kind to each other? Globally people look to the U.S. to provide economic leadership as never before. With Europe in the doldrums and even the BRICS economies such as China, India and Brazil slowing down, business people look to investment from and consumption in the U.S. to provide direction. By all means get your economic house in order, pair down debt while investing in health care, education and alternative energy, but please find a way to do so that is more in line with who you are, and always have been, as a people. Rewind, be kind. Was bumper to bumper on the way home today and bumped into a car in front of me when they slammed their breaks in response to someone in front of them who slammed his breaks. It was in front of the JJ flyover with a late monsoon shower breaking loose over us. The policeman tried to get us to patch up ("samjhauta kar leejiye", come to an understanding), but I was at fault and the driver of the Government of India vehicle couldn't afford to have the cost deducted from his salary. His passenger, a South Indian lady called Mrs. Shankar, berated me for driving too close to them. Try keeping three seconds' distance from the other car in Bombay traffic. We exchanged insurance details, bumped iPhones so to speak, and moved on, but not after I had apologized and she had rolled her head. The entire city lives bumper to bumper and when stuck in traffic I am amazed if not exactly fascinated by the lives of people that I observe on the street. Increasingly I turn away, which is as sure an indication as any that I am turning into a Mumbaikar, a Bombayite, seemingly impervious to the poverty around him. And yet I am amazed when I see women and children sitting under a tree or a lamp post, combing their hair as they would when living under a roof, and laughing. The toddlers trying to attract their mothers' attention and the mothers responding as mothers typically do, by smiling and laughing back. How do you smile and laugh when you're living under a tree, in what would appear to be inhuman conditions? Or is there something essential about being human that comes to the fore when your life is stripped of its News of David Frost's untimely passing just came through, he who along with comedians in Britain and the U.S. first created a satirical news programme in 1964 titled That was the week that was. Years later I was hooked to Frost's Breakfast with Frost on Sunday mornings on the BBC and his piercing interviews with British politicians. His grilling of Tony Blair at the onset of the Iraq War remains most memorable. What would Frost make of the week that just passed here in India? The photographer who was raped in Mumbai a little more than a week ago left hospital with her head held high but is, as Shobha Dé writes in today's Sunday Times, the exception rather than the rule. The attack on her is also an inkling of the existence of two Bombays, of the super haves and the absolutely have nots. Dé predicts the ghettoizzation of large parts of Mumbai, Sao Paolo style. It's a more dramatic take on what has occurred to me more than a few times, that the part of Bombay where we live will turn into a quaint open air museum ten years from now. A few months after coming to India in 2010 I met the head hunter who placed me in my current job for lunch. "Isn't there something seriously wrong with the Indian economy?" I asked her. "The bulk of the growth seems consumption led, with a huge 'BS' component. If you sell enough expensive apartments and cars you will show growth." It was colourful language for a South Bombay lunch and she gave me a quizzical look. In the past several months the BS economy has come home to roost. I'm borrowing unashamedly from today's editorials in the Sunday Times as they capture the huge economic and social challenges faced by India and the unlikelihood of any of them being resolved quickly. Mr. Swaminathan Aiyer, an erudite economist, predicts that the rupee will sink further to 80 rupees to the dollar. As with all crises a new equilibrium will be found in time. 'Never let a good crisis go to waste' goes the expression. The country is under such shock that few people will have the temerity (I hope) to protest increases in fuel prices. Increases in fuel costs may actually slow down the movement of goods via road. Imports will be affected drastically and will come down. Exports will increase in due course, although manufacturing still needs to pick up and is unlikely to do so in the short term with high borrowing costs. Indian services will become cheaper and may spawn the start of new businesses. Sorry, last clipping. This one is from M.J. Akbar, one of India's best commentators. He calls the bankruptcy of the current Government. A good friend called me today, to enquire why I hadn't been showing up at the gym. He's 85 and a gym regular! After telling him why I hadn't been going (minor surgery a few weeks ago, all Schwarzenegger type exercises on hold by the doctor, and so my physical evolution into Arnold of Mumbai is also on hold) I asked him whether there would be early elections. "Are you nuts??" he asked. "Who wants to run the country in this state?". There'll be no elections till next year. On a positive note, India has faced its share of crises before and at the senior most level minds come together to redress the balance. Here's hoping it happens quickly this time round. We went to an art exhibition today at the Tao Gallery, in Worli. Some very good modern Indian art.
Cubbon Park, Bangalore, a few weeks ago
On a Sunday morning flight to Delhi for some personal work. Clear skies, brand new aircraft, excellent service on Jet: India at its best. Down below, 30,000 ft lower, things are in turmoil, more than usual. A young woman photographer was raped in Bombay. Safety of women is a major issue across India. The Indian Rupee is at an all time low and almost touched Rs. 70 to the US dollar. Inflation is high, growth is declining rapidly, industrial output growth is close to zero and there is limited fiscal room to maneuver for the Government. The rains are good, and that means that three months from now at least agricultural output will once again be high, bringing down food prices and boosting exports. Not everything in daily life is profound, not everything is doom and gloom, not everything is funny. Sometimes you just amble along, enjoying the service oriented culture in a snazzy part of town, interrupted by my daily 8 a.m. outburst because the traffic from the opposite end starts moving when their light turns red. India is in for a slowdown, red lights or not, so may as well enjoy the ride.
Angkor Wat, photographed on July 18th, on what Lou Reed would have called a perfect day.
An unintended but highly beneficial side effect of family holidays that exceed more than a few days is that it leads to a hard stop in your day to day life. Newspaper deliveries are stopped, long pending projects are suddenly rushed to completion for fear that they may not survive the break, the fridge is cleaned out, for fear that the apples may otherwise greet you at the door when you return. Life in the city formally known as Bombay necessitates other measures as well, such as dehumidification and the cleansing of suits and shoes. It reminds us of all of opposite measures in other cities, such as the humidification we used to have to do in the cold winter months in Chicago. Our hard stop vacation this year has led us to Cambodia, Siem Reap and Phnom Penh. We're on a bus right now from Siem Reap, home to most of the Angkor monuments, to Phnom Penh; a bus with wifi, TV and a Sylvester Stallone movie. Sly Stallone and five other fast moving, slow thinking beef cakes. At a time in the first millenium that Paris and London weren't more than overgrown towns Angkor was already a center of power and culture that lasted for four to five hundred years. It took the best of Hindu culture and mythology from India to build elaborate and stunning temple complexes, roads, bridges and irrigation systems. For those of us raised on or familiar with Hindu mythology it amazes to see the accuracy with which that mythology got transported from India to Cambodia, and even on to Vietnam, more than 1200 years ago. Entire storylines from the Ramayana, Mahabharata and later Buddhism brought to life on temple carvings. What system of governance, what school of thought, what industry would India export to Cambodia, this still healing nation, today? They do not appear to have many institutions of higher education, they don't make their own cars, their newspapers would hardly qualify as a supplement to an Indian paper, so when and where do we start? Disregard that question for a moment, because in the absence of all these outward signs of economic progress Cambodia has a thing or two that India doesn't, things that help to make to make life eminently livable. Ten years out of a war and a genocide and the country already has good roads, a functioning traffic systems, schools, and well maintained buildings. Viewed from here you realise once again that we are a cacophonous, vibrant and flawed democracy, that our industry can hold its own against an increasing number of international competitors, on their terms and our own, and that our workforce has an increasingly international mindset. That said though, some of the basic links between the executive branch (intent) and the administrative branch (will to act on intent) are broken, as a result of which we do not have good roads, functioning traffic systems, functioning schools or maintained public buildings. Even at a personal level the battle against apathy and lack of hygiene (the two often go hand in hand) continues. Our building society maintains (or doesn't, as the case may be) that it is our strange, non - Indian standards acquired while living in the U.S. ('America') that make us so insistent on neatness. Indians apparently are different, according to the Society, coolly disregarding the many spotless villages that you will find in the interiors of Kerala or Rajasthan, at outer ends of the country. It is these disconnects, at a Governmental or personal level, that have the capacity to bring a country or a conversation to a hard stop. For now though we have hit a more literal hard stop. Entering Phnom Penh we have unwittingly landed smack back in the middle of the largest political rally the country has seen in a while, celebrating the return of opposition leader Sam Rainsy, back to fight an election against Prime Minister Hun Sen. The unexpected glitch makes us stop and think, one of the unintended aims of travel. It was sunny and stiflingly hot until a few hours ago. On our way back from the Gym we looked up at the cloud formations in the sky, wondering when the monsoon would hit, knowing that it had arrived in Kerala yesterday, three days ahead of schedule. A few hours later, preceded by a short thunderous pre announcement, we got our first rain. It's not the monsoon itself, just a pre announcement of things to come. It's enough for the concrete to start releasing that pungent smell of pent up heat, built up over the summer months. The press have been investigating the city officials' readiness in terms of clearing out rivers and drains on behalf of a city sorely dependent on but also affected by the rains. I'm sure we'll be cursing it a few weeks from n For now a strong sea breeze is blowing through the apartment and the temperatures have cooled. |
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Btw, the banner photo was taken from our holiday home outside of San Gimignano at 6.20 am. What light! It lasted all of five minutes.
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