Bangalore Rising

“Heyyyyyy Narrasshhhh”, screamed a raspy voice from the other end of the telephone line. I bought time with a long, drawn out “yeeeaasss?”, as I attempted to rapidly process and identify the owner of this loud but not too familiar voice. Mr. Raspy-Voice at the other end did not wait for recognition; he continued “Narraaash, this is Greg calling from the Deputy Sheriff’s Association of California. Thanks brother for helping fellow brothers out last year. Can I put you down for $20 this year as well?” “Aaah”, I said to myself “this guy is selling me charitable contributions …. no ….. not this time dude”. “Ahem, ahem..Greg”, I said, with barely a hint of familiarity. “I would have loved to help out dude, but this year isn’t good…We've had some.....blah blah....”, I explained with some arcane reason for not plonking another $20 down a worthless cause, and quickly put the phone down. I paused for a moment and then thought. Narrraashh! Nushley! Nah-ley-aah! Norris...

I usually don’t write vacation reviews. But this one had to be written. Finally, we did take a holiday! But we had to wait till Dushyant was done with school. Yes..DONE. His senior year at school was stressful – not to him but to Shanthi. Between her incessant travel, she found time and space to fret over D’s school work, his examinations, his college apps, his photography, his fieldwork, his cricket, his…. you get the picture. Dushyant of course, is a cool customer. Nothing ever bothered him – he would do stuff at a leisurely pace, quite unperturbed by a mom who was willing to tear her hair in frustration. He would go to school, get back home to rest, watch his fave movies and shows he downloads from torrent, chat with friends, order in food every once in a while when he gets ‘fed up of your chapatti and rice meal’, and get down to studies once he put his parents to bed! Spotted Deer in the Jungle Hut property Weekends therefore were busier ...

A good friend of mine sent this email to me a couple of months back. The author's assertion rankled me no end, so I wrote my agitated response. As I was browsing through my email folder today for a 'lost' customer email, I chanced upon this. As I re-read the email, it triggered the same emotion in me as it did the first time around. I thought I should share this exchange and seek your views. Obituary-Very Interesting read on till the end..... In 1887 Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years prior: "A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a   permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from th...

Last weekend Dushyant, Shanthi & I had the privilege to be with children of Chiguru Balavikasa Samsthe at Magadi, thanks to my sister-in-law Lakshmi. The story of Chiguru,which is a home for rescued female children, its founder Saroja, and of the 35 rescued girl children who are housed there, is very inspiring. Dushyant's recent class on Ancient History of China and Egypt to the children of Santosh Charity in Sarjapura enthused him to take the same class to the Chiguru kids of Magadi. So, we four jumped into a car Sun 9am for a nice, cool, 75kms drive to Magadi; Sarojamma joined us midway and took us to the facility. Chiguru Balavikasa Samsthe is housed in a very small, unimposing two-storeyed structure off the main road. A couple of very pleasant senior girls welcomed us with tea, coffee and tender coconut water, and then took us to the 1st floor which houses a small conference room, a tiny yet cool library, and a computer room. A projector had been set up and 35 girl...

India seems to be in the midst of a crisis. The string of bad news is never ending. The rupee is falling faster than a wet easter egg slipping out of a four-year old's hands. Prices are galloping faster than Rajnikanth's steed. And worst of all? Sachin fell six dratted runs short of his century of centuries. Can it get any worse? Nope, it cant. In India, it can never be all doom and gloom. There are always reasons to cheer. Like when 1.2 billion Indians collectively responded to the midwife's call to 'push...push....push'. And push they did...till a brand new bachchan popped out of moma Rai! Dad..oops..Grandad Senior Bachchan was seen beaming ear to ear. Junior Bachchan was seen sulking somewhere in the shadows, mobile phone in hand, mumbling something to the effect "no idea surjee". The UPA government waited for Baby B to gain some four pounds before announcing the opening of doors to Walmart and the likes. What fun! Ms. Rai will soon get the benefit...

Our India move is now over three years old. And it has been one heckuva ride. And Bangalore is an awesome place to live. The weather is great. And …and..umm.. yes… .the weather is really awesome. To become a true-blue bangalorean (and I must confess, I am nowhere close), I had to unlearn and relearn a few things. But the experience is real fun. So I thought – why not pass on these experiences to future migrants? So here are some tips for would-be Bangaloreans. Since the learning is huge, I thought I should attack this topic in parts. Today’s topic is DRIVING. Driving in Bangalore is worry-free, and a real pleasure. Know why? Here are some reasons. 1. Drive wherever you want. You can drive up on the left side of the road just like the British did when they ran India. Or on the right side of the road, like the Americans do.. or like the water tankers now do. Or drive right in the middle if you are unsure. If you find traffic thick on your side of the road, just hop over to the othe...

As I sat in front of the TV, watching P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal and Ambika Soni justify the government's....oops, the police's decision to arrest Anna Hazare, I was dumbfounded at the arrogant and condescending attitude of those three senior members of the political establishment. Their attitude towards a million strong peaceful protesters was summed up in PC's statement towards the end 'Laws cannot be made by some social activists sitting in a maidan'. This is tantamount to saying that people should not hold their elected representatives accountable. That people should elect them once in five years, go back to do their chores and workplaces, while these representatives ostensibly go about their duties of passing laws. To take people to be idiots is bad enough. To go on national television to broadcast this message is arrogance to the core. I have my views on the Lokpal Bill. The question is not about whether the Anna version of the bill is perfect. Or whethe...