Category: That & This

Remembering Satyendra Dubey

Posted on by sudhagee

Today is 27/11. A day that is almost over at the time of publishing this post. For many, it may have been a day like any other. For some, it may have been a day marking a personal or professional milestone. But 27/11 is no ordinary day. It is a day that no Indian should forget for it was on this day, 8 years ago, that the issue of entrenched corruption in India was brought to the forefront like never before. It was the day that Satyendra Dubey was killed for exposing corruption.

Source: http://www.rediff.com/news/dubey.htm

Satyendra Dubey was a bright young engineer and project manager of the Golden Quadrilateral, one of India’s most ambitious road-building projects undertaken by the National Highway Authorities of India (NHAI). In a letter to the Prime Minister’s Office in May 2003, he exposed  the corruption and irregularities in the road building contracts issued by the NHAI for this project. In the same letter, he also requested for his identity to be kept a secret. The contents of the letter and his identity were ‘leaked’ by the Prime Minister’s Office and on 27 November 2003, he was shot dead in Gaya, Bihar. His murder sparked off an unprecedented public outrage in a country that is quite thick-skinned and immune to such callousness. It would not be incorrect to say that Satyendra Dubey’s was probably the first martyr against corruption in recent times

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Attitudes and Appearances

Posted on by sudhagee

6.45 am. Mumbai domestic airport. The flight to Hyderabad is now delayed by 25 minutes. It is raining heavily and the passengers, most of whom are on their way to Hyderabad for a day trip on work or business, are getting restless. When some of them insist on knowing the reasons for the delay, the air hostesses roll out a standard and automatic response: “ATC has not yet given us clearance for take-off”.

The reason for the delay in take-off is finally understood at around 7.00 am, when about 15–20 new passengers enter the plane. It is quite evident from the tags on their hand baggage that they have arrived on an international flight from a gulf country and this flight to Hyderabad is a connecting flight for them. These passengers, all Indians, probably work in the gulf region and are on their way to home (Hyderabad) for the Ramadan holidays. As soon as the new passengers are in, the plane doors are shut, the air hostesses get busy closing the overhead luggage racks, remind passengers to wear their seat belts, switch off their mobile phones, etc. The captain’s announcement also comes on to welcome the passengers and give the flight details.

Soon all the passengers are seated and buckled to their seats. Except one. He is one of the new arrivals, and boarding pass in hand, he is looking for his seat, any seat, an empty seat. He is a dazed looking, middle-aged man, a little dishevelled and frayed shirt cuffs. One of the air hostesses tells him firmly, “Sir, please take your seat.”

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With love, from Palestine

Posted on by sudhagee

Guess what I received for Id this year?

Some lovely, fragrant za’atar (a herb mix), and some absolutely, stunning, gorgeous, traditional handicrafts, all the way from occupied Palestine, courtesy my friend, Erab. Go on, have a look…

Cross stitch embroidered cushion cover
Bag with cross stitch embroidery

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Pubs, inns, bars

Posted on by sudhagee

The English pubs, inns and bars are an institution in themselves, and the local people are very proud of them. Their history, their quirky names, the drinks they serve, as well as the err… food has loyal followers. During my year-long stay in London, I visited quite a few of them and, in the process, developed a love-hate relationship with them.

I love their exteriors (bright electric blue, red, yellow, black), their quirky names (how about The Slug and the Lettuce), and the history that many of them have, but don’t really care much for what they serve. That’s because I hate the smell of beer, ale, etc. and don’t eat non-vegetarian good. And the less said about the vegetarian food served in such places, the better. The worst meal that I can ever remember having was at an inn in Kent—a pumpkin risotto (kaddu ka khichdi for you and me) garnished with blue cheese and pine nuts. Aargh !!!! However, the soups served in such places are hearty and to die for. Not surprisingly, one of my best meals has also been at an inn (The Waffles Inn at St. Albans) where I had mixed vegetable soup with bread and lots of butter. Mmmm…

So presenting the side of pubs, inns and bars that I like. While I remember where most of them are located, my apologies for those that I don’t.

The foundations of 'Ye Olde Fighting Cocks' at St. Albans date back to the year 793. This inn claims to be the oldest public house in England and to have sheltered Oliver Cromwell for one night during the Civil War.

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The exploitative Indian

Posted on by sudhagee

“Shyam Singh”, yells Mrs. A. “Shyam Singh, where are you?”.

Mrs. A is one of the residents of our building/housing society. She has run out of fresh coriander leaves and needs Shyam Singh to go to the nearby vegetable market and get some for her. But Shyam Singh is not there; he has been sent by Mr. B, another building resident, to get a pack of cigarettes. By the time Shyam Singh gets back, Mrs. M (yet another building resident) is calling also out for him; she needs him to go and get her a dozen eggs. He takes both the “orders” and proceeds to the nearby shops once again.

Let me introduce Shyam Singh here. He is the 48-year old watchman of our society and who has been working for the society and its residents from August 2001. I must also add here that he is our only watchman with duty hours from 9 am to 7 pm every day, with no weekly holidays (if he needs a day off, it is his responsibility to arrange for a replacement). During his working hours, Shyam Singh is at the gate, watching over the building and its residents, manning the gate for the residents’ vehicles, keeping out salespersons, allowing the courier and other delivery guys into the building, etc. As watchman of our housing society, it is also Shyam Singh’s responsibility to carry out any bank-related work of the society, as well pay the society’s electricity or water bills at the concerned offices.

At least this is what he is supposed to do. Unfortunately, Shyam Singh is unable to carry out these duties as he is also the unpaid 24X7 errand boy man-cum-help-cum-aid for the residents of our building. He is forever going to the market to buy something or the other for them or helping them lug huge shopping bags to their flats or supervising the children of our building at play, or match-making domestic helps to the residents.

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A weekend with a purpose

Posted on by sudhagee

This weekend was a weekend with a purpose. A single-minded purpose to do some much-needed pruning. No, not pruning of trees or bushes or shrubs, but of my book collection, which had grown, multiplied and reached unmanageable levels at home.

Yes, I am talking about space constraints which was threatening domestic peace. A week ago, my mother nearly had a fit when she found 3 of my books inside the pressure cooker she uses when we have more than 10 people over for a meal. When I told her that she had not used that cooker for more than 6 months and would probably not use them for another 6, she was not amused. When I persisted by saying that I was only making good use of available space like a true Mumbaikar, she mumbled something about encroachment and territorial rights. Mothers !

But I knew that she was right. A pressure cooker is nearly always meant for cooking (though I do remember the pressure cooker in question being used for storing water, when we faced severe water shortage a few years back) and is certainly not the place for keeping books. And my books were all over the place at home (in addition to being in book shelves meant for them)—they shared space with sheets and the pillow covers, my dupattas and shalwars, my CDs and my tanpura, and of course my mother’s pots and pans.

Image Source: MS Office Cliparts 

The easiest thing for me would have been to get additional shelves made, but I knew that this was not the solution. The solution lay in pruning my book collection—not an easy decision at all as I am attached to all my books and it would be difficult to decide which books to keep and which ones to discard/give away/sell.

After thinking about it for some time, I came up with a 5 point criteria that I hoped would help me separate the books I wanted to keep and the books I could to say goodbye to.