After watching "Watchmen" in Hyderabad, I was going home in an autorickshaw. We were driving by Lumbini park and there was a horde of reporters with cameras over there. It looked like they were waiting for some politician or someone big to show up. The auto driver remarked, "That crowd over there, do you think there was another bomb blast or threat?" and burst out laughing. I couldn't help laughing either. Lumbini park, in case you didn't know, was the location of one of the three bomb blasts that rocked Hyderabad a couple of years ago. It was bizzare that both of us were laughing about a scenario that was entirely possible and not really funny. But then again, that's Indians. I mentioned this a while ago that Indian humor is very broad. It's un-PC and it takes on every topic under the sky. If you watch Indian movies, you'll find jokes about politics and politicians, about AIDS and cancer, about death and dying, about debilitating diseases, physical handicaps, mental retardation, poverty, religion (and by that I mean all religions, Islam, Christianity and most of all Hinduism) everything. No topic is really taboo. So with that in mind, I hope you'll excuse the bizzare laughter.
The title connection here of course is the character of the Comedian. Without spoiling anything, the Comedian is an ironically named character in the Watchmen universe who finds humour in the dark nature of the world around him. And when the book starts, with his killing, another character remarks that there are fewer laughs in the world because "the Comedian's dead".
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
My own "Deewar" moment
(Deewar as in "Lambe race ka ghoda" scene rather than "Mere pass maa hain" scene.)
As I was walking around the MG road area in Pune, I heard a small voice behind me say, "Hello sir, can I polish your shoes?" I was surprised because I heard that line in English. I turned around and it was a kid of about 10 years with a small packet who repeated, "Can I polish your shoes sir? Very good polish." Very much amused but also in a hurry to finish some errands I told the boy that I didn't need it. After all, I was wearing some super cheap slippers that would probably die in a few months and at any rate would get dirty immediately after any polish. I kept walking and thought I lost the kid but as I crossing the road I heard the voice again, "Please sir, very good polish, only Rs. 2." (Rs.2? What the hell does he hope to accomplish with Rs. 2? How many people does he need to ask to get enough of them to agree to get a polish to raise enough money to eat a single meal???) "I'm sorry I just don't have the time to get my slippers polished. Here, let me just give you Rs. 5." Immediately the kid pulled himself back, "Sorry sir, I am not begging."
That kind of old-fashioned dignity and pride in oneself captured my attention and I said, "OK, let's go." He asked me to sit on a small bench and he proceeded to take my slippers and apply polish on them. I commented on his good English and he thanked me. He said he was from Rajasthan and not a lot of people get their shoes polished like I did (I suppose he was commenting on me being nice? I dunno.) He then asked me why people don't ask him to polish their shoes more. I tried to explain that people in this part of the city are probably very rich and don't bother with polish, they just throw them away if they don't look good anymore. Then I asked him why he was in Pune, so far away from Rajasthan, instead of going to, say, Delhi. Apparently he came here with his mom and kid siblings.
As this was going on, I was a bit on my guard. A Rs. 2 shoe polish was ridiculously cheap and the kid looked too innocent to be real. But nothing much happened. No hidden thugs jumping out to grab my wallet, or even pick it. No elaborate con. Just a simple shoeshine.
As the polish was going on, I had already decided to pay the kid much more than the Rs. 2 he had asked for. But then the kid started talking about how someone told him that he reason he couldn't get customers was because he didn't have a shoeshine box. I asked him how much one cost and he said Rs. 180. And as he was finishing up the polishing, he asked me to help him out with the box. Giving him the Rs. 180 wasn't a big deal for me. But somehow I got the nagging feeling that the entire innocent kid routine was the con to get the Rs. 180 out of me and that just killed the good samaritan in me. I gave him the Rs. 20 I had originally planned on giving him and walked away.
As I was walking around the MG road area in Pune, I heard a small voice behind me say, "Hello sir, can I polish your shoes?" I was surprised because I heard that line in English. I turned around and it was a kid of about 10 years with a small packet who repeated, "Can I polish your shoes sir? Very good polish." Very much amused but also in a hurry to finish some errands I told the boy that I didn't need it. After all, I was wearing some super cheap slippers that would probably die in a few months and at any rate would get dirty immediately after any polish. I kept walking and thought I lost the kid but as I crossing the road I heard the voice again, "Please sir, very good polish, only Rs. 2." (Rs.2? What the hell does he hope to accomplish with Rs. 2? How many people does he need to ask to get enough of them to agree to get a polish to raise enough money to eat a single meal???) "I'm sorry I just don't have the time to get my slippers polished. Here, let me just give you Rs. 5." Immediately the kid pulled himself back, "Sorry sir, I am not begging."
That kind of old-fashioned dignity and pride in oneself captured my attention and I said, "OK, let's go." He asked me to sit on a small bench and he proceeded to take my slippers and apply polish on them. I commented on his good English and he thanked me. He said he was from Rajasthan and not a lot of people get their shoes polished like I did (I suppose he was commenting on me being nice? I dunno.) He then asked me why people don't ask him to polish their shoes more. I tried to explain that people in this part of the city are probably very rich and don't bother with polish, they just throw them away if they don't look good anymore. Then I asked him why he was in Pune, so far away from Rajasthan, instead of going to, say, Delhi. Apparently he came here with his mom and kid siblings.
As this was going on, I was a bit on my guard. A Rs. 2 shoe polish was ridiculously cheap and the kid looked too innocent to be real. But nothing much happened. No hidden thugs jumping out to grab my wallet, or even pick it. No elaborate con. Just a simple shoeshine.
As the polish was going on, I had already decided to pay the kid much more than the Rs. 2 he had asked for. But then the kid started talking about how someone told him that he reason he couldn't get customers was because he didn't have a shoeshine box. I asked him how much one cost and he said Rs. 180. And as he was finishing up the polishing, he asked me to help him out with the box. Giving him the Rs. 180 wasn't a big deal for me. But somehow I got the nagging feeling that the entire innocent kid routine was the con to get the Rs. 180 out of me and that just killed the good samaritan in me. I gave him the Rs. 20 I had originally planned on giving him and walked away.
Happy Ugadi
A happy new year to all my Telugu brethren. First full-fledged Ugadi festival at home in ages. (There was one two years ago but being as it was in the middle of about three huge family events, it was way too busy to enjoy.) Had the usual Ugadi Pachadi (a salad of sorts) which come out really good. The belief is that whatever flavor dominates your Ugadi pachadi, that symbolizes the type of year you're going to have. People "cheat" by overdoing the sweet part of the pachadi anyway. Regardless, mine was sweet this year and I'm hoping that translates to all the new things coming my way. Like a new job and a new city.
Monday, March 23, 2009
A trip to "Old city"
One fine day I got really restless and decided to take a trip to "old city". Old city, clearly, is the really old part of Hyderabad. It's Muslim-dominated and contains the traces of the Nawabs who ruled this part of the world. In particular, I wanted to visit the Salarjung Museum which is one of biggest museums in the country and the biggest in the city. I hadn't been to this place in about 20 years and since I was in Hyderabad anyway, I felt I should use this opportunity to check it out. Since the temperatures had cooled down a bit, I felt I could take the bus, but luckily my friend who lives here wanted to come along too, so we took his car. Good thing too since Chiranjeevi was hosting a big meeting in the city and I could have been stranded in the traffic.
We managed to get there late so we were kind of in a rush to see all the galleries. It is quite an exquisite collection from all over the world. (A note to my friends who are lovers of all things Italian - this is a fun museum to explore for some of its paintings and sculptures.) The best item in the collection probably is "The Veiled Rebecca" (fourth image in this page - http://www.berkshiremuseum.org/galleries/art_sculpture.html). It's beautiful.
Another big attraction in the museum is the clock. Everyone in the city has heard of this clock. Every hour, a tiny person steps out and rings a bell to indicate the hour. Thing is, I assumed by this time, ages after the museum opened, visitors would tired of this thing. But even this day, a few minutes before the top of the hour, the hall which houses the clock got filled up and everyone eagerly awaited the arrival of the little man. A new addition here is the camera that focusses on the clock and shows the magnified image on two giant TV screens for the people sitting further away from the actual clock. Everyone laughed out loud when the guy actually showed up.
After the museum we made a trip to Charminar. For all the times I've seen it, I've never climbed up to the terrace. I did this time. Beautiful view all around. This might sound like I'm kidding but seriously, I loved the view of all the autorickshaws parked all around the monument. From above, it looked beautiful. My friend and I even walked into the Mecca Masjid which is right next door. You know, being Hindus, a lot of us have a lot of apprehension about entering mosques. We feel we don't know the "protocol" and in general, we feel we will stand out and hence be kicked out. Nothing violent just embarassing. But once in a while I do get the courage to enter some of these mosques and you know what? They're OK :) This place is famous for the large number of pigeons that hang out there. People feed them and the kids love to run among them and scare them. It was very peaceful sitting there and taking it all in. We then walked around the mosque itself and admired its great walls and overall architecture. The prayer hall of the mosque itself had a sign that said "No outsiders allowed" which we assumed meant that non-muslims weren't allowed. That kind of stuff, when any religious monument prohibits people of other religions from entering, troubles me because it's just more walls between communities. But oh well, atleast we got to see the pigeons!
We managed to get there late so we were kind of in a rush to see all the galleries. It is quite an exquisite collection from all over the world. (A note to my friends who are lovers of all things Italian - this is a fun museum to explore for some of its paintings and sculptures.) The best item in the collection probably is "The Veiled Rebecca" (fourth image in this page - http://www.berkshiremuseum.org/galleries/art_sculpture.html). It's beautiful.
Another big attraction in the museum is the clock. Everyone in the city has heard of this clock. Every hour, a tiny person steps out and rings a bell to indicate the hour. Thing is, I assumed by this time, ages after the museum opened, visitors would tired of this thing. But even this day, a few minutes before the top of the hour, the hall which houses the clock got filled up and everyone eagerly awaited the arrival of the little man. A new addition here is the camera that focusses on the clock and shows the magnified image on two giant TV screens for the people sitting further away from the actual clock. Everyone laughed out loud when the guy actually showed up.
After the museum we made a trip to Charminar. For all the times I've seen it, I've never climbed up to the terrace. I did this time. Beautiful view all around. This might sound like I'm kidding but seriously, I loved the view of all the autorickshaws parked all around the monument. From above, it looked beautiful. My friend and I even walked into the Mecca Masjid which is right next door. You know, being Hindus, a lot of us have a lot of apprehension about entering mosques. We feel we don't know the "protocol" and in general, we feel we will stand out and hence be kicked out. Nothing violent just embarassing. But once in a while I do get the courage to enter some of these mosques and you know what? They're OK :) This place is famous for the large number of pigeons that hang out there. People feed them and the kids love to run among them and scare them. It was very peaceful sitting there and taking it all in. We then walked around the mosque itself and admired its great walls and overall architecture. The prayer hall of the mosque itself had a sign that said "No outsiders allowed" which we assumed meant that non-muslims weren't allowed. That kind of stuff, when any religious monument prohibits people of other religions from entering, troubles me because it's just more walls between communities. But oh well, atleast we got to see the pigeons!
Sunday, March 22, 2009
A "Sholay" themed restaurant in Hyderabad
There's a "Sholay"-themed restaurant in Hyderabad. It sounds like an awesome idea! The walls are covered in murals from the movie. The staff is dressed in costumes from the movie. You even have the water tank from which a drunk Dharmendra threatens to kill himself in that "sooossside" scene. Surma bhoopali has a pan shop, as a tribute to his pan-chewing character from the movie. Apparently there are plans to show the movie on a continuous loop which, by the way, might be a very bad idea with people being reluctant to leave if an important scene comes on.
Can't wait to check it out sometime.
http://www.hindu.com/2009/03/16/stories/2009031650810200.htm
Can't wait to check it out sometime.
http://www.hindu.com/2009/03/16/stories/2009031650810200.htm
Friday, March 13, 2009
A day trip to Chennai
One fine day I woke up and I realized that I should try to visit Chennai and visit the IIT campus because I don't know when I might get the chance again. Unfortunately the day I woke up and decided to do this, the tickets that I could get my hands on left me with very little time in Chennai. I would have barely 8 hours in Chennai from the time the train arrives in Chennai to the time my return train would leave. Still, I had to do it.
As my luck would have it, my train arrived 30 mins late. However I used the shower facility in the train station and that saved me some time. (Although I must admit, I wasn't really planning on taking a shower elsewhere if the station's shower facility didn't work out!) I hired my favorite nemesis, the Chennai Auto, to get to the campus. It wasn't a nuisance since I took a prepaid auto. The original plan was to see if I could rent a two-wheeler for the duration of my stay there, but no one knew where to find those.
Immediately, almost unconsciously, I slipped into full Tamil mode and not a single person in Chennai asked me if I was really a native Tamil speaker, so points! There were quite a few changes in the city including a lot of high rises and flyovers, including a flyover right in front of the campus. Much more changes in the campus. The biggest was probably the construction of four high-rise hostels. On first inspection they looked like huge improvements over the older ones, but as I learned later, the corridors are extremely dark and poorly ventilated.
My own hostel looked as good as before. One change I noticed in the population was that I heard a LOT of Telugu. That fits with the reports that I heard earlier that AP now has a ton of IIT coaching centres that have effectively "cracked" the entrance exams for the IITs and are, therefore, mass producing IIT candidates. Ate at one of the new canteens on campus.
I wanted to meet my friend, who's now an IIT professor in my own department but he wasn't available. I did meet two of my own professors. Normally I dread meeting IIT professors because I'm always afraid they wouldn't remember me and it would be an awkward conversation from that point onwards. But while these two took a few mins of my prodding to place me, they did remember me and my classmates and the project I was working on etc. They talked very excitedly about changes on campus and in the department. It was surprisingly nice talking to them.
After that I managed to catch a bus and short auto ride to one of our favorite offcampus food joints, Shakes and Creams, famous for its icecreams. I was dreading going there because while I had been craving those icecream creations for about a decade, I was afraid of ruining my memories of the place if they changed management and suddenly their icecreams sucked. While the management did change, the icecreams were just as good as I remember them! Heavenly. My only regret was that I could eat only one before I had to rush to catch my train. I managed to catch another bus to the station, which meant that my overall interaction with the auto drivers in Chennai was very minimal.
Nice trip, I'm glad I got to do it before it got too hot or before I got too busy to go there again.
As my luck would have it, my train arrived 30 mins late. However I used the shower facility in the train station and that saved me some time. (Although I must admit, I wasn't really planning on taking a shower elsewhere if the station's shower facility didn't work out!) I hired my favorite nemesis, the Chennai Auto, to get to the campus. It wasn't a nuisance since I took a prepaid auto. The original plan was to see if I could rent a two-wheeler for the duration of my stay there, but no one knew where to find those.
Immediately, almost unconsciously, I slipped into full Tamil mode and not a single person in Chennai asked me if I was really a native Tamil speaker, so points! There were quite a few changes in the city including a lot of high rises and flyovers, including a flyover right in front of the campus. Much more changes in the campus. The biggest was probably the construction of four high-rise hostels. On first inspection they looked like huge improvements over the older ones, but as I learned later, the corridors are extremely dark and poorly ventilated.
My own hostel looked as good as before. One change I noticed in the population was that I heard a LOT of Telugu. That fits with the reports that I heard earlier that AP now has a ton of IIT coaching centres that have effectively "cracked" the entrance exams for the IITs and are, therefore, mass producing IIT candidates. Ate at one of the new canteens on campus.
I wanted to meet my friend, who's now an IIT professor in my own department but he wasn't available. I did meet two of my own professors. Normally I dread meeting IIT professors because I'm always afraid they wouldn't remember me and it would be an awkward conversation from that point onwards. But while these two took a few mins of my prodding to place me, they did remember me and my classmates and the project I was working on etc. They talked very excitedly about changes on campus and in the department. It was surprisingly nice talking to them.
After that I managed to catch a bus and short auto ride to one of our favorite offcampus food joints, Shakes and Creams, famous for its icecreams. I was dreading going there because while I had been craving those icecream creations for about a decade, I was afraid of ruining my memories of the place if they changed management and suddenly their icecreams sucked. While the management did change, the icecreams were just as good as I remember them! Heavenly. My only regret was that I could eat only one before I had to rush to catch my train. I managed to catch another bus to the station, which meant that my overall interaction with the auto drivers in Chennai was very minimal.
Nice trip, I'm glad I got to do it before it got too hot or before I got too busy to go there again.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Subway in Hyderabad
When I first moved to India, in September, my dad said that he wanted to try out "that new Subway place". I told him I loved their sandwiches and that we should go there sometime. Except, it never worked out for a long time. Something kept coming up.
A few weeks ago, I did manage to take both my parents there. They were, understandably a little anxious about entering a new restaurant but I explained to them how subway works and how you order, the various choices you have etc. Most of this flew over their heads since it was their first time there. So I picked three different sandwiches for the three of us so that if we didn't like our sandwich we could eat one of the other two.
Now, as you read the rest, remember we're in Hyderabad, a Telugu-speaking city.
The manager greets us politely in English "Hello sir, welcome to Subway." I conversed with the manager in English from them on. Midway through the process of making our sandwich, my mom had a doubt about some ingredient and she asked me that question in Telugu. I, in turn, turned to the guy behind the counter and asked the same question in English. He, then, turns to the kitchen and shouts out the same question in Telugu! He gets his response, in Telugu obviously, and turns to me and gives me the answer in English.
Wow, I thought! Why all this song and dance? If he's a Telugu speaker, why can't we just give our order in Telugu instead of maintaining all this facade of being "posh" just because we're in a Subway? Does Subway instruct all its workers to talk in English only in order to justify the price tag? I mention the price tag because later that day my dad asked me why we just spent about Rs. 500 on a meal when we could have had the same meal in a generic restaurant for about Rs. 150, and I didn't have a better answer than "brand value". On another side note, in Chennai, the Subway restaurants have signboards in Tamil, that made me realize that no one has as much regional pride as the Tamilians do!
Coming back to our lunch. We ordered cokes along with our meals. As we sat down to have our meals, I noticed that our cups were only about 80% full. Being as we were in India where they don't allow the customers fill their own drinks or get refills (with good reason I might add!) I was peeved that they didn't have the decency to fill our cups to the brim. So I called the guy and pointed this out. "OK sir, I will fill them." He goes behind the counter and comes back with our drinks. "Here you are sir." I took off the lid and the cup had exactly the same amount of drink as before!!! I was so furious, I burst out laughing. I pointed this out to the guy and he mumbled something like "What can I do sir?"
Subway, this won't do. You've lost my respect.
A few weeks ago, I did manage to take both my parents there. They were, understandably a little anxious about entering a new restaurant but I explained to them how subway works and how you order, the various choices you have etc. Most of this flew over their heads since it was their first time there. So I picked three different sandwiches for the three of us so that if we didn't like our sandwich we could eat one of the other two.
Now, as you read the rest, remember we're in Hyderabad, a Telugu-speaking city.
The manager greets us politely in English "Hello sir, welcome to Subway." I conversed with the manager in English from them on. Midway through the process of making our sandwich, my mom had a doubt about some ingredient and she asked me that question in Telugu. I, in turn, turned to the guy behind the counter and asked the same question in English. He, then, turns to the kitchen and shouts out the same question in Telugu! He gets his response, in Telugu obviously, and turns to me and gives me the answer in English.
Wow, I thought! Why all this song and dance? If he's a Telugu speaker, why can't we just give our order in Telugu instead of maintaining all this facade of being "posh" just because we're in a Subway? Does Subway instruct all its workers to talk in English only in order to justify the price tag? I mention the price tag because later that day my dad asked me why we just spent about Rs. 500 on a meal when we could have had the same meal in a generic restaurant for about Rs. 150, and I didn't have a better answer than "brand value". On another side note, in Chennai, the Subway restaurants have signboards in Tamil, that made me realize that no one has as much regional pride as the Tamilians do!
Coming back to our lunch. We ordered cokes along with our meals. As we sat down to have our meals, I noticed that our cups were only about 80% full. Being as we were in India where they don't allow the customers fill their own drinks or get refills (with good reason I might add!) I was peeved that they didn't have the decency to fill our cups to the brim. So I called the guy and pointed this out. "OK sir, I will fill them." He goes behind the counter and comes back with our drinks. "Here you are sir." I took off the lid and the cup had exactly the same amount of drink as before!!! I was so furious, I burst out laughing. I pointed this out to the guy and he mumbled something like "What can I do sir?"
Subway, this won't do. You've lost my respect.
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