Humour in uniform

The ‘Sena Bhavan’, which houses the bulk of the Army Headquarters’ offices and a few of the Naval Headquarters’ offices like mine, is in the process of renovation and it’s still a long way to completion. But gone are the dull grey visage, the hideous and the drab looks that made the massive building stand out like a sore thumb in the vicinity of the monumental, brown sandstone façade of the Rashtrapathy Bhavan and the ornate, but imposing looking North and South Blocks that surround it. The Sena Bhavan’s new colours, which is a combination of brown and brick red, rightfully highlights the Army’s colours and compliments the imposing building that houses the Defence Research and Development Organisation’s Headquarters, just across the Rajaji Marg and opposite to it.
Since the present Army Chief is retiring by the end of this month, some bright ‘sycophant’ had decided to dedicate the renovation to him and hence organized the inauguration, this evening around secure time. The frontage has been completed, in a photo finish, though rubble and broken concrete litter many areas, but effectively covered with buntings and festoons, complete with colourful flowerbeds, ornamental shrubs, small and shapely cut trees and a centre patch of china grass – all sprouted overnight (Till now, had only heard of the Army’s proverbial ability to do Godly stuff, but this was to be seen to be believed!). Sadly, the renovation work will continue to happen all through next week, outside the building and inside it and in all probability, stretch to another couple of months and I wonder as to whose great idea this was, to have a hasty inauguration? Hope the ever vigilant media does not highlight this over all their channels and make us look like a bunch of cruds!
And parking was a Herculean task this morning, with us being given clear instructions that our vehicles would not be allowed to be parked within or anywhere in the immediate vicinity of the Sena Bhavan – one had to park and walk a good distance before reaching one’s office and on reaching the entrance, had to go through the routine of frisking for cellphones ( the scan proved negative in my case, as I’d already put mine into the dashboard of my van, thanks to an advance warning from my man Friday! But what nettled me was that almost all the labourers working in the innards of the building not only had their cellphones with them but also could use them unabashedly. Who gives what sort of orders to the poor DSC jawans, I wonder and if this is our concept of security, even God will disown us in our times of need, in utter disgust!!
No wonder the guys in the civvy street call us so, we, indeed, are humour in uniform!!!
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IPL cricket and me

Today is the start of yet another session of IPL cricket or is it tomorrow? It’s colourful, no doubt, but what sustains viewers’ interest in it, is something that defies my comprehension. To my logic, when my country is involved in a game – be it any game, for that matter – I would in all probability be glued on to the television set, rooting for my country and its fortune elates me or misfortune upsets me. But for some reason, I’m unable to back a Nita Ambani team or a Shah Rukh Khan team because there’s no sense or a cause of attachment and hence, the disinterest.

Does the involvement or the interest shown by a sizable section of the society – and I respect their choice of spending their time – show that actually, we’ve nothing better to do to keep ourselves busy? Is it the game or is it the antics on the field like the scantily clad cheerleaders breaking into a jiggle, whenever runs are scored or a wicket is taken or is it the sight of the glamorous film stars at the stands, the chief attraction? I’m yet to get a direct answer for this query of mine, from any of the IPL enthusiasts amongst my friends. However, I must hasten to add that, in the name of this format of the game, there’s a lot of interaction and socializing among the people, at least in Delhi, where visits to others’ homes are strictly reserved for weekends and holidays.

I saw two guys from my office staff making a beeline to the nearby canteen today, to buy an assortment of wafers and snacks along with a variety of soft drinks, as part of the logistics back up to cater for their guests’ taste buds, who were expected to join them at their homes to watch the IPL matches jointly.
Long live cricket! And may the IPL seasons flourish, year after year!! And may more and more people interact with each other and watch the game together in these, otherwise, trying times when people have begun to be suspicious of the other, in a terror stricken atmosphere!!! As for me, I shall give it a miss, in toto, but watch a few snippets on the news channels and continue to follow my usual programmes.

Celebrating parenthood, albeit silently!

On my evening walks, there’s one sight that shall always remain etched in my mind much after I leave Delhi, perhaps to my very end. There’s a seventeen year old boy suffering from Down’s syndrome, who is taken out for his walks under the ever watchful eyes of his father or mother or both. They’re the Baniwals – Col Baniwal is posted in one of the units nearby and they have another son who’s attempting his board exams of class XII right now. The boy in question - I do not know his name and I haven’t had the courage to interact with him or his parents lest I be considered as a guy sympathizing about their plight – is extremely good looking and had his faculties been all right, would have kept the girls in the neighbourhood around him, on their toes, for sure! There’s another army couple who take their daughter out for walks in a similar fashion– another sweet kid with the same problem but compounded with disability of her limbs. Of late, I don’t see her and I presume it’s because of the prevalent cold weather. Since I’m a regular on the circuit, both the kids recognize me and I always wave at them for which I usually get responses, at times, though, prodded by their chaperones. Why has God made them like that, I often wonder and what’s the intensity of the agony their parents are going through? Would the parents, in their heart of hearts, ever wish the speedy ends of their deformed children at a weak moment or even curse their luck?
But one thing about which I’m very sure is that all of them are living heroic and extraordinary lives compared to the normal or even drab life, that I lead. Whenever I see them, I must admit that I celebrate parenthood silently. And I really wish them strength to continue going about their lives as though everything is normal, from the bottom of my heart.

It never pays to be decent..........never!

It has been my experience in life thus far, that, it never pays to be decent. The others always consider you to be weak or timid and therefore, can be taken liberties with. I remember, quite a long time ago, a sailor telling me when I’d just joined the navy and was raring to go, that the sailors categorized their officers into two – the first who were mean, rode roughshod over anyone and everyone who came their way, was foulmouthed who were called the ‘b*******’ and the second who were genuinely nice, empathized with others, were reasonable being nice to one and all, never lost their cool who were termed as the ‘c****’( actually, he’d used their ‘Hindi’ equivalents, which however cannot be used in the circumstances, for obvious reasons!). Paradoxically, it was the former who almost, always got everything they wanted – the fear psychosis in their subordinates, notwithstanding! And the latter, despite their good intentions, missed deadlines, or stopped short of absolute achievement much to the derision of their superiors and got ‘lost out’ in the mad race that life is all about!!
When such bitter experiences befall one in the workplace, where one’s working with strangers or even acquaintances, one shrugs it off as something inevitable and blames the time and space, for being out of sync with one’s luck and moves on. But when similar bitter experiences are courtesy people, whom one considers close and as one’s own, then disillusionment sets in and a seething anger sets in.
Why does it happen? Is it because the others take one for granted, think that one's gullible or dim-witted like a cretin with an incredibly short memory or even a bumbling fool who'd lap up anything that's doled out as an afterthought or an excuse, I wonder? Just beats me and I don't think I shall ever fathom that.
What does one do in the circumstances? Become a b****** and join the crowd - easier said than done as it’s difficult to go against one’s grain. So, then the only other alternative is to continue to be what one is, take the pain in one’s stride and convert it as another experience of life and move on the road of life that’s less travelled!

International Woman's Year - The Indian woman doesn't need a bill to ensure her rights!

Today’s being celebrated as the ‘International Woman’s Day’. The government has tabled the bill for 331/3% reservation of parliament’s seats for women in the Rajya Sabha, today. The resultant commotion and brouhaha, enacted by the bill’s opponents within the haloed interiors showed our democracy at its nadir, yet again. There are too many elderly MPs who should have retired long ago and I was under the impression that they’d overwhelmingly pass the bill, so that they could bring in their wives, daughters and daughters-in-law and continue to wield real power from the sidelines, especially against the backdrop of the surge in youth power! Anyways, that’s not my point of contention at this juncture as I would like to concentrate on the core issue.
Do we really require to celebrate ‘woman power’ on a single day? If yes, do we have the liberty to abuse them for the remaining 364 days? And what are we achieving by tom- tomming the strength of the woman, by wasting reams of newsprint and cluttering the visual media with wasteful discussions for this one singular day? This is because, in this country, the woman has always exhibited that she’s stronger than the man and has proved time and again that she’s central to the growth and enlightenment of the country -female infanticides and bride burning notwithstanding! Be it the woman since the time of the Vedas and the Upanishads or during the medieval periods or even during the British rule or to this day, the Indian woman has always shown a remarkable amount of resilience and have contributed their mite to this country’s evolution.
The politicians might eventually succeed in bringing about a bill, to save their face but the Indian woman does not really require a bill to ensure their rights at par with her male counterpart! And that is the core issue!!

The 55th Filmfare Awards

After a relaxed day and finishing up all the planned jobs, it was time for my evening workout followed by settling down, in front of the television, to watch the Filmfare Awards ceremony. Over the years, the ceremony has become sleeker, with every passing year, with more of substance and elegant packaging. No wonder the star studded evening is one of the most popular events of tinsel town even though there is a plethora of awards functions. My endeavour is not to review the function but to touch upon a few snippets that tugged at my heart.
I think the most poignant moment was when a wheelchair bound Shashi Kapoor was presented with the ‘Lifetime Achievement’ award. One of my favourite actors, who was always effervescent in the roles he essayed, he was suave and elegant in the way he carried himself, both off and on the screen. I was reminded of the saying and I quote, “Time erodes gratitude, just as it does beauty” on seeing him in his present condition. My favourite Shashi Kapoor movie is the evergreen, ‘Sharmilee’ in which he'd acted opposite Rakhee, who was in a double role.
The section that paid a tribute to all the film personalities who'd bid adieu to this world during the year 2009 was not only touching but appropriate.
Another poignant moment was when lyricist and music director, Khayyam, received the second 'lifetime achievement' award of the evening, from Asha Bhonsle. He nostalgically remembered his initial days of struggle and spoke movingly of how the late BR Chopra took him under his wings, as his assistant, and gave him his first remuneration of Rs. 125/-.
I was also elated that the movie, that I was backing all the way, ‘Three Idiots’ bagged quite a haul of awards including the ‘best film’s’.
Our Filmfare Awards can definitely match the Oscars, in glitz and substance while retaining the ‘desi’ flavour all through. Cheers!

Television and the craze for reality shows

We Indians have come a long way in television viewing. Since 1982, with the advent of TV sets in the home of every Indian to facilitate viewing of the Asiad and thereafter, the coverage of the papal visit in ‘85, a lot of ground has been covered. Those were the days, when the Doordarshan news channel used to announce the inaugural transmission of their stations all over the country with a remarkable regularity. Starting with the Humlog-Buniyad evenings, graduating with more sophistication through Khandaan-Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi-Prannoy Roy’s ‘The World This Week’-Sidhartha Basu’s ‘Quiz Time’ with his ever smiling hostess during late evenings, plunging into mythology through the Ramayan-Mahabharat Sunday mornings when the whole nation came to a standstill over that one hour, moving onto the ‘saas-bahu’ serials during late nights and finally into the numerous reality shows, television viewing has indeed taken great strides forward, despite the aping of certain formats from popular western programmes. News coverage has also improved with almost hourly coverage of more issues, considered trivial earlier and encompasses larger areas.
However, there are two disturbing trends that I see – one being, an increase in unruly and uncouth behaviour on reality shows, where winning at any cost seems to be the aim and the other, a slew of crass programmes that beats one's imagination! To cite an example, the swayamvar of Rahul Mahajan – now, what credentials does he or his predecessor (with their questionable past) have, to be icons for the young generation, is something that beats me. Quality needs to be maintained with the overall aim of moulding the future generations to understand and imbibe correct behaviour towards betterment of the society and bring up a disciplined nation. Give us good, clean and interesting entertainment please!!

Ishquia

Wonder what the exact meaning of the word is, but we saw a Hindi movie by that name and I really enjoyed seeing it. Set against the beautiful and rugged backdrop of the UP countryside, centred around Gorakhpur, it speaks of an unusual woman – played brilliantly by my favourite, Vidya Balan – who lives life on her own terms and comes up trumps! She watches every activity around her and observes everyone, that comes her way and understands the person correctly. She is fully aware of the fact that she’s beautiful but is superbly adept in the handling of weapons and keeps errant guys at bay, simply by her smouldering looks. There’s a scene in which she’s holding a gun but conveys the message that she cannot be messed with, through a haunting expression in her eyes paradoxically conveying her vulnerability, which I liked best. The whole ambience is rustic and the language spoken throughout the narration is a variation of Hindi, spoken in that part of the country. I must admit that much of the conversation went over my head because of the unfamiliar dialect and a not-so-clear sound system of the auditorium.
To me, it’s always a pleasure to see a strong woman, who underplays herself, but helps her man to overcome difficulties with her careful, analytical thought process and despite all that, she continues to remain feminine and extremely vulnerable! I’m a firm supporter of the age old saying that, a man is nothing without a woman. I’ve had the fortune of being born in a family of strong women – my grandmothers, both paternal and maternal, ran their households, looked after their children’s education and all other activities, but always preferred to remain in the shadows of their husbands’ towering personae, ungrudgingly – who’d so much to offer but never demanding anything for themselves as their needs were incredibly less, nay nothing! My Amma continues on the same mould and I’m proud to be her son!!
Three cheers to womanhood and my humble tribute to the strong women of my life, without whom I wouldn’t be what I’m today.

"Dream as if you'll live forever, Live as if you'll die today"

1. My musings.

Profound words! They were sent to me today, by a friend of mine, which got me thinking as to whether my life, thus far, encompassed this axiom. And I tried to go back in time to establish it and surprisingly found that, indeed it does - I had followed it, in letter and spirit. There are no regrets in life, whatever had been chosen was on my own accord with the inputs that were available at every given point of time. I must admit that there was a time when I used to put the blame for my shortcomings on others, but on further analysis, I realized that it was me who took the call as I always had the freedom to take or drop the advice given to me by my well wishers, and the responsibility for everything that I’ve done, thus far, has been mine and mine alone!!

2. Why do ‘Godmen’ attract people?

Of late, thankfully, there has been an increase in the busting up of the wayward activities of many so called ‘swamijis’ or ‘godmen’. Their backgrounds always follow a familiar pattern – start up as no gooders failing in every thing they take up, then make a disappearance act only to reappear as an individual with ‘godliness’, who take it upon themselves to teach their unfortunate and ignorant brethren the meaninglessness of life. They publicly despise power and pelf, but surreptitiously cultivate both, in that, they’re always surrounded by people who adorn powerful positions in society and never refuse donations towards charity( which is actually diverted in building up their empires where all things, unlawful, take place). What beats me is that educated people get roped in and I always wonder as to how this hoodwinking takes place – I mean, how do they complement each other? Are the educated lot also running away from something they want to forget? The one factor that these unscrupulous godmen exploit is man’s fear of God and the unknown. I’ve seen people, who depend on servants to get menial work done at their homes, willingly doing the same jobs at the ashrams – a euphemism for the godman’s den – without any hangups. From the huge family circle of my father’s, two young men - both brothers, one an IITian and the other an IIM product – left their MNC jobs to become a part of the inner circle of Mata Amrithanandamayi and have been there for the past ten years. Their parents died heartbroken after they lost the battle – they’d gone to court saying that the Amma had seduced their sons and therefore, the court should help retrieve them - against the powerful ‘Amma mafia’.
My take on this is that one does not need an usher to attain one's God. Period!
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Demystifying Buddha

Happened to read a review on Stephen Batchelor’s ‘Confessions of a Buddhist Atheist’ to be published this month in the US. The man who’d renounced worldly pleasures, at a very young age in his quest for the truth, finally died a sad old man quite unsure as to whether his ‘dharma’ was accepted by this world. That he has millions and millions of followers and his teachings have more relevance in today’s world, go to prove that his discovery has sagacity and earnestness.
The author, during his research, went through the Pali Canon – the oldest set of texts of Buddha’s teachings – which provide glimpses into Buddha’s social and political world. Batchelor’s portrait of the Buddha is sad and disturbing.
Buddha’s cousin, Mahanama, took over the reins of his homeland ‘Shakya/ Sakia' after the death of his father. He’d cut of all ties with his home but returned to Kapilavastu after attaining enlightenment and made peace with his family. His cousins Devadatta, Ananda and Aniruddha play important roles in his later life to the extent that Devadatta plots to kill him for the sake of taking over his legacy, but thankfully fails. And since Buddha’s teachings were at loggerheads with the existing beliefs spread by brahmanical thought, that struggle ultimately took his precious life when he was poisoned.
Was always under the impression that jealousy and treachery were essential ingredients that tried to hinder Greek philosophy, at its infancy, in the way their society treated men like Aristotle and Plato, in their prime. But now it's proved beyond doubt that this frame of mind is universal and can we Indians be far behind?
Must read this book.
Tailpiece. It was sad to hear about the tragic air accident, at Hyderabad involving two naval officers. Fate has yet again robbed the lives of two promising young men in their prime. I was reminded of the words of a pilot’s wife, long ago, “Rajeev, I just forcefully blank my mind whenever my husband goes up in the air on sortie and I keep myself busy by doing some work or the other and remain in that condition till he returns and presses the doorbell.” May God give enough strength to their families to tide over these difficult times and Maurya and Nair, a salute from a comrade-at-arms and may you rest in peace.

Reactions, late reactions!

1. Vehicles off roads in Kerala
Today, the ruling left parties and their affiliates in Kerala had given a call for all motorists to stay off the roads to protest against the fuel price hike, introduced by the union government. From what I could gather from the TV grabs, the call has been very ‘successful’. The common man went through untold suffering, in that schedules were upset, connection flights and trains were missed and urgent medical aid to the needy was nowhere in sight. Who benefits and what is achieved from such mindless acts is something that has baffled me, always. And mind you, there’s a ruling of the Kerala High Court that bans all forms of strikes! God save ‘God’s own country’!

2. Shashi Tharoor in trouble again.
Shashi Tharoor seems to have a penchant for shooting off the cuff remarks and landing himself in avoidable trouble. He’s highly photogenic, extremely articulate and eager to do something but the fact is that he’s no run of the mill politician who can resort to glib talking and get away with murder. What baffles me is that he’s too intelligent to be bumbling time and again and so, is there an agenda behind all this? No one, other than the PM, is permitted to announce major shifts in foreign policy and that too, after its endorsement in parliament. So is he the sounding board for the PM to bring about a change in the core thinking of the government or the ruling party? Does he have the backing of Sonia Gandhi and her son? Or is it that he’s too vain to want the spotlight on him, time and again, though I refuse to believe this after my interactions with him, in connection with the PN Panicker foundation’s activities, where I found him to be a jolly good fellow.

3. Indian hockey on an ascendant note?
Very belated though, I was extremely thrilled to see our hockey team thrash Pakistan 4-1 last Friday, in their opening game. The team was tops in all departments of the game that evening and the Pakis didn’t even have a chance to show their mettle. My heartiest congratulations to each and every member of the team though as I script these thoughts of mine, they seem to be doing badly against Australia. Anyways, hope that they do well in the tournament and may God be with them in their endeavours, I shall be watching them at every outing of theirs.

PN Panicker - the legend and my grandfather.

Today is 01 Mar and it is my grandfather’s 101st birthday. Various programmes have been organized at the major cities of Kerala – Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode to commemorate the end of the yearlong centenary celebrations and take stock of a slew of projects, undertaken during the period, by the Foundation named after him. The main programme is at the ‘Kanakakkunnu Palace’ at Thiruvananthapuram, where political leaders, covering the entire spectrum, will deliver the PN Panicker memorial lecture and the house in which he was born and spent his childhood – ‘Puthuvayil House’ in a sleepy hamlet at Neelamperoor, Kottayam – will be dedicated to the nation. The legend that he is – the father of the Kerala Library Movement(started with a loose conglomeration of 47 rural libraries, spread in and around the present day southern districts of Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and southern part of Alappuzha districts, in 1945 and by the time the movement was celebrating its silver jubilee in 1970, he’d set up a strong and vibrant network of 5,282 libraries spread across the entire state, which had become a powerful tool in providing the social and cultural emancipation of the people) and the architect of Kerala attaining 100% literacy, in 1994(in ’70, on realizing that his libraries were of no use to millions of illiterate malayalees - who had either never gone to school or were school dropouts at a very early stage- he took up the task of educating them through his ‘functional literacy programme’) - his place in Kerala’s history is assured. Be that as it may, I’d like to concentrate my thoughts on PN Panicker, my grandfather(Muthachan, as I call him), a simple man who did not hanker for power or pelf and did not possess a house of his own, till his very end.

I think our relationship started moments before my birth! My mother had a difficult time on the delivery table and the doctor told the Panickers that only one of us would survive, to which my grandfather seemed to have retorted that he was only interested in his daughter surviving the ordeal. And when everything ended well, he took personal interest in everything that I did – from my ‘annaprashna’ to my schooling and beyond- to remove that feeling of guilt, as he opened up to me years later. He used to call me by a pet name, ‘Mone’(pronounced as 'mo' in 'more' and 'ne' in 'nest' and the literal translation meaning ‘a dear son’) and did not bother to remember my actual name, which landed him in very comical situations. I must narrate an incident that happened in school when I was in class IX and even to this day used, by my masters and classmates at Sainik School, to pull my leg. It was just after evening games, when the Tagore house team that I was a member of, was thrashed in the football finals and we’re being talked to by our coach, when somebody came running to say that a gentleman, in a state car(the one with a red number plate and two numerals depicting its serial) had been waiting to meet his son –whose name he didn’t know- for almost an hour and did anybody know as to who that student was. I rushed to the spot to see the familiar figure of my Muthachan in spotless white khadi, much to my pleasant surprise. He was both angry and glad to see me, a decision that he’d taken at the spur of the moment, as he was going on a long tour to Kannur and hence, the visit without any advance information! And after the incident, he used to carry a slip of paper with my name written on it!!

I’ve had the privilege of meeting and interacting with eminent people drawn from all walks of society, even to this day, thanks to being my grandfather’s grandson. He always used to stress on education through interaction with a wide cross section of people – he derived his strength and zest to live, from it.
He was very fond of my grandmother(Ammachi, as I call her) but never showed it. In fact, we’re privy to some intense fights between them, so much so, that after one such incident, she’d left our home in the wee hours of a morning to one of her daughters(in fact, at such times, I’d wholeheartedly support Ammachi and he used to be rather amused by it). Ammachi’s death in Jul ’91 was a jolt for him and as I reckon, he never recovered from that pain till his end on 19 Jun ’95. They were really made for each other. Six months before his end, Muthachan had come to Delhi to attend a felicitation function and stayed with Lekha and me, for a week. Those were some of the happiest days in my life and there were occasions when we’d a one-to-one conversation on a number of things – an education that I could not have got from any institution in the world. Muthachan, may the light of knowledge, that you’ve kindled in Kerala, shine on to eternity. Your slogan, “Read and grow, Think and achieve wisdom” shall always remain an inspiration for generations to come!

"MY GRANDFATHER BESTEST".