I met Max in 2007. He was in Mumbai for a 6-month internship. He is from Rennes. I got to know him during this internship - we would lunch at the same place. He came back next year with a few more friends. This time as a 6 week vacation. For the last 1 year he is in Australia, completing his Masters (and travelling all over the continent). In between he spent a few months vacationing in Portugal and Spain.
Jan and Tomas are friends who were in Brisbane along with me - all of us were there for some university education. I came back to Mumbai after my MBA. Jan and Tomas took a flight to Hong-Kong from where they chug-chugged their way in some kind of a pan-China railway stopping at all the interesting places. This railway met the Trans-Siberian along the way and the two transferred on and crossed over to Europe. They even made a detour to Mongolia!! From Europe they apparently made a brief stop over in Amsterdam and from there they went to Nairobi. Among other things, they hired a team of 12 helpers and mounted an assault on Kilimanjaro - burra sahib-style. The recce team would go ahead and clear the way, set up the tent, make the meals and drinks, smoothen the pillows and the blanket; and wait for the intrepid duo to puff in. Jan sent me a pic of Jan 'Hillary' and Tomas 'Norgay' atop the snowy peak, fluttering flag and smudgy unwashed grins and all. They went back home to Norway, settled down into jobs and are busy raising families now. Of course, they go vacationing every year - almost always to new, unexplored places and people.
Last year I was on my way to NY in a Jet flight. I was cursing my luck that I had the middle seat in the middle at the tail-end of the plane. I was greeted by a grinning, wire-haired, skinny guy who had pierced ears (3 places), pierced eyebrow (left), and a tattoo on the right forearm. His was the right hand-seat. Name - Rafael, Rafa. Percussionist from Barcelona. Rafa was in India for 6 months. Spent time in temples listening to panch-vadyam, attended all the recitals he could in Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai; was thrilled to bits watching pung-cholam in Delhi (I think). He was eager to come back. He loved every minute. So was he going home now, after six months of breathtaking excitement? No sir! He was going only as far as Brussels. Then he would attend some seminars in Netherlands and Belgium before leaving for Yaoundé, Cameroun. He would spend a month or two travelling along the coast - Accra, Abidjan right up to Dakar, meeting people, learning about African percussion. Why Yaoundé? Well, he had a contact.
There is a custom in Europe, Anzac and in North America for young adults, just out of college, being encouraged by parents, by neighbours, by teachers, by strangers and by the State to go out and see the world. To experience freedom, to face difficulties, to overcome impossibilities and come back enriched and hopefully, wiser. Or maybe to just let off steam, soak in alcohol and cheap drugs and cheaper sex. Whatever!
We seem to have the opposite culture. Start the career immediately after college, work, don't fritter away any time, stay at home, be mamma's good, dutiful boy; go vacationing to 'native' or with the family. If one is bold, then go with friends to Goa and drink cheap beer, ogle at whores (but do nothing), do a surreptitious skinny-dip for all of three minutes, piss on the beach in moonlight and come home braver.
Paul Theroux talks about interacting with the gentle and helpful Vietnamese, and marvels at the absence of rancour against the Americans. How I wish we, the increasingly boorish, loud and pompous desi would go to Vietnam and learn a bit of humility. And there is no harm at all in starting young - right after college.
A generation or two of our youngsters travelling across the world would change the tone and even the substance of national debate. This present generation is far more mature and open minded than any in the past; and they are, I believe, free from many of the baggage older generations carry. With rising prosperity and expendable income (thanks to IT and BPO) perhaps the generation of intrepid Indian youngsters is not too far away!
Surge forth, children! The world is indeed our family. Go, meet them.
Sunday 27 September, 2009
Thursday 17 September, 2009
India-bashing in Ozland
In the wake of the recent attack on the Singh family at the snooker club in the Melbourne suburb of Epping, I thought to check how the issue of racism is being seen in the Australian media and in the 'most popular' articles. Here are screenshots of all the major newspapers. The curious thing is that the bashing and the race-relations between Oz and India are nowhere in sight. The google news search shows that there are articles, but they seem to be tucked in the inside links somewhere.
Clearly, this is not something that the Australian media thinks is important. Maybe this has been drummed up enormously by the Indian media and the touchy, prickly, uber-sensitive student-diaspora in Australia. Farokh Dhondy's call to arms has made some news.
On the other hand, when I caught this headline in The Australian and this in SMH, I began to wonder if there is some meat to the vague suspicion I have that Australia is slowly disintegrating back into a racist society. Something that comes to it naturally, for Australia has been a deeply racist country till the 1970s. Notice how the word racist comes in inverted commas.
It is difficult to say for certain, but one thing that I have personally experienced in my 2 years at Brisbane, is that by and large Australians do not allow race-ridden thoughts to come to the surface of their interactions. Of course, there is a set of people who are openly racist (But then all societies have extreme fringes). However the point is, most people whom I met and became friends with, continued to be hesitant and strangely clumsy about making that unconditional connect that you make with a friend. Perhaps Australians are so used to the idea of White Australia, it is finally dawning upon most that it has changed and will continue to change rapidly, and that there is nothing that they can do about it. Maybe this is the last revolt against the inexorable march. Indians make an easy target; they are not as ghettoised as the Chinese or the Vietnamese, they are generally slighter in build unlike the Pacific islanders and Fijian-Indians (who, by the way, are far more aggressive and violent than Indians). Indonesians, Singaporeans and Malaysians simply stay out of the way and melt homewards at the slightest sign of trouble. But Indians are easier meat.
I'm afraid that the relationship between white Australians and Indians has soured beyond repair and it will take a generation to redeem it. The Symonds affair showed an ugly side of both our countries, the student bashings and robbings have got bad press, the worm of doubt has crept into the minds of fair-minded Australians and emotional Indians. This will get showcased in the cricket rivalry in all the series' to come.
It is only going to get worse.
Clearly, this is not something that the Australian media thinks is important. Maybe this has been drummed up enormously by the Indian media and the touchy, prickly, uber-sensitive student-diaspora in Australia. Farokh Dhondy's call to arms has made some news.
On the other hand, when I caught this headline in The Australian and this in SMH, I began to wonder if there is some meat to the vague suspicion I have that Australia is slowly disintegrating back into a racist society. Something that comes to it naturally, for Australia has been a deeply racist country till the 1970s. Notice how the word racist comes in inverted commas.
It is difficult to say for certain, but one thing that I have personally experienced in my 2 years at Brisbane, is that by and large Australians do not allow race-ridden thoughts to come to the surface of their interactions. Of course, there is a set of people who are openly racist (But then all societies have extreme fringes). However the point is, most people whom I met and became friends with, continued to be hesitant and strangely clumsy about making that unconditional connect that you make with a friend. Perhaps Australians are so used to the idea of White Australia, it is finally dawning upon most that it has changed and will continue to change rapidly, and that there is nothing that they can do about it. Maybe this is the last revolt against the inexorable march. Indians make an easy target; they are not as ghettoised as the Chinese or the Vietnamese, they are generally slighter in build unlike the Pacific islanders and Fijian-Indians (who, by the way, are far more aggressive and violent than Indians). Indonesians, Singaporeans and Malaysians simply stay out of the way and melt homewards at the slightest sign of trouble. But Indians are easier meat.
I'm afraid that the relationship between white Australians and Indians has soured beyond repair and it will take a generation to redeem it. The Symonds affair showed an ugly side of both our countries, the student bashings and robbings have got bad press, the worm of doubt has crept into the minds of fair-minded Australians and emotional Indians. This will get showcased in the cricket rivalry in all the series' to come.
It is only going to get worse.
Tuesday 15 September, 2009
Bangladesh: a new beginning. Or is it?
Relations generally improve when the Awamis are in power in Dhaka. So it was not a surprise to see Shiekh Hasina being welcomed by Delhi with much warmth. There have been equally warm and friendly overtures from Dhaka. The recent visit by Dipu Moni has trotted impressive columns in B'desh. Many commentators are positive about the goings on.
Shiekh Hasina's government has been more rigorous in rooting out insurgents from the hill tracts and have made the right kind of noises. No pronouncements have been made by anyone in the Hasina government which can be seen as 'belligerent' by Delhi. Likewise, SM Krishna has agreed to all the 'demands' made by Dr. Moni. So it seems all is hunky-dory.
The populace is much more cautious though! in fact, it is remarkable that today in Bangladesh, there is more support for Pakistan than for India. The dam on Tipaimukh has touched a sensitive spot in the collective psyche of our eastern neighbours. To be fair their experience of Farakka has been not too good - in fact it has been a disaster on most counts.
India has the chance to behave like a future regional power here. It can show some wisdom and be generous even. If it steamrolls Tipaimukh and causes another desertification in the lower riparian area then B'desh will be lost forever from our circle of influence. I hope we have the sense to be as sensitive to Bangladesh as we expect China to be for the dam that is proposed on Brahmaputra. We have been raising a hue and cry against the dam for pretty much the same reasons as Bangladesh's.
If we are seen as a reasonable and a caring big-brother then we will also be able to veer B'desh away from the Deobandi disease. This looking to the west, and to Arabia for its cultural roots is not more than 7 years old. Its still not widespread. One would like to think that the Bangladeshis will again remember that they are Bengalis first and shun this movement towards Deobandi islamization. What we in the subcontinent need is to rediscover our own links to Sufi and gangetic-islamism. For Bangladeshis it would mean rediscovering Baul and Lalon Fokir. We are after all, the product of what Saeed Naqvi calls, our ganga-jamni tehzeeb. And there are sane voices, as this article shows. But the problem is that not just the government and the bureaucracy, even us, the citizens of this country think of our neighbours with hostility, with derision and with contempt.
So let us make a start.
We in India need to start behaving like a great nation, and stop just expecting others to perceive us as one. We need to have a hard and critical look at ourselves first.
We need to start believing in our multi-culturalism, and not just tolerate it; we need to open our eyes to the parts of our country that we are unfamiliar with. Start there. And then look towards our neighbours with those opened eyes. Can those of us who are in the plains and in the stretch from Punjab to Kerala, for instance, put our hands on our hearts and say that we think - even remotely, briefly - just think of our fellow-citizens in the North-east? Do we think of 'them' as part of 'our' nation? Do we have the broadness and generosity to acknowledge that a person from Mizoram needs to be given the same treatment as a Tamilian, or a Maharashtrian gets?
For us to be a great nation and a responsible neighbour, we first need to set our house in order.
Shiekh Hasina's government has been more rigorous in rooting out insurgents from the hill tracts and have made the right kind of noises. No pronouncements have been made by anyone in the Hasina government which can be seen as 'belligerent' by Delhi. Likewise, SM Krishna has agreed to all the 'demands' made by Dr. Moni. So it seems all is hunky-dory.
The populace is much more cautious though! in fact, it is remarkable that today in Bangladesh, there is more support for Pakistan than for India. The dam on Tipaimukh has touched a sensitive spot in the collective psyche of our eastern neighbours. To be fair their experience of Farakka has been not too good - in fact it has been a disaster on most counts.
India has the chance to behave like a future regional power here. It can show some wisdom and be generous even. If it steamrolls Tipaimukh and causes another desertification in the lower riparian area then B'desh will be lost forever from our circle of influence. I hope we have the sense to be as sensitive to Bangladesh as we expect China to be for the dam that is proposed on Brahmaputra. We have been raising a hue and cry against the dam for pretty much the same reasons as Bangladesh's.
If we are seen as a reasonable and a caring big-brother then we will also be able to veer B'desh away from the Deobandi disease. This looking to the west, and to Arabia for its cultural roots is not more than 7 years old. Its still not widespread. One would like to think that the Bangladeshis will again remember that they are Bengalis first and shun this movement towards Deobandi islamization. What we in the subcontinent need is to rediscover our own links to Sufi and gangetic-islamism. For Bangladeshis it would mean rediscovering Baul and Lalon Fokir. We are after all, the product of what Saeed Naqvi calls, our ganga-jamni tehzeeb. And there are sane voices, as this article shows. But the problem is that not just the government and the bureaucracy, even us, the citizens of this country think of our neighbours with hostility, with derision and with contempt.
So let us make a start.
We in India need to start behaving like a great nation, and stop just expecting others to perceive us as one. We need to have a hard and critical look at ourselves first.
We need to start believing in our multi-culturalism, and not just tolerate it; we need to open our eyes to the parts of our country that we are unfamiliar with. Start there. And then look towards our neighbours with those opened eyes. Can those of us who are in the plains and in the stretch from Punjab to Kerala, for instance, put our hands on our hearts and say that we think - even remotely, briefly - just think of our fellow-citizens in the North-east? Do we think of 'them' as part of 'our' nation? Do we have the broadness and generosity to acknowledge that a person from Mizoram needs to be given the same treatment as a Tamilian, or a Maharashtrian gets?
For us to be a great nation and a responsible neighbour, we first need to set our house in order.
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