true love?

This incident happened on the Berg Lake trail last week. On our way down to Whitehorn campground from Emperor Falls, I was a few steps ahead of Q and Idris. I see this woman climbing up the trail, with a backpack, nice looking, in a black t-shirt. I thought I could strike up a conversation with a pretty woman and make the Canadian Rockies backpacking experience even more charming. So I asked her where she was headed to. Her response was a deadpan "I don't know", and her look essentially telling me to MYOB. Not one to waste my own breath on a lost cause, I continued walking and in a few minutes Q caught up with me. Apparently, he too had taken an interest in starting up a conversation with the same woman, and he chose the path of sympathy by remarking that her pack looked really heavy and asking her how much it weighed. He got the exact same response from her "I don't know", and he too had to move on with no gain. We both compared notes and shook our heads on failing to make any headway with a single woman on such a beautiful trail.

We took a little break at the Falls of the Pool, and then this guy comes huffing and puffing up the trail. He is almost bent over with his pack, and looks completely exhausted. He asks me the usual question - how far to Emperor Falls, and then he asks me if I had seen this woman in a black t-shirt on my way down. I told him yes. He took a little stop there and then confided that she was with him, and couldn't carry her pack. So, he had left his pack behind on the trail, carried her pack up for some distance, and then went down again to fetch his pack, and essentially doing the steepest part of the 12-mile trail, twice. I was highly impressed..this is true love, I declared. Q's theory was different. They were certainly not married and the guy was counting on being rewarded at the campground later. Maybe Confucius was right when he say: Man who goes camping with woman has one intent.

Sticking our necks out

Its been a while, and now I'm back after some recent prodding from Changu. At the outset, let me say that I was never a huge fan of Feroz Khan, who passed away into the ages, couple of weeks ago. Nor did I have the opportunity to meet him in my Bollywood past. But when I read the news of his death, it got me reminiscing of my growing-up years, and left me a bit saddened. He did make some iconic movies of the time, and nothing stands out more in my mind than Qurbani.

Qurbani was THE movie of the summer in 1980. And its song, Aap jaisa koi, is the defining song of that era for me...Hindi song with a Western influence, disco, Zeenat Aman...epitome of cool. I remember the first time I heard this song. We used to live on the 6th floor of an apt building in Bandra and there was this Sardar family on the 2nd floor, the gentleman used to work in the Gulf, he was a shaukeen guy, with an imported car (Peugeot if I recall), vcr, and a nice music system in his apt. He had got the music of Qurbani from the Gulf and was playing it on his system, loudly of course. I remember so clearly my sister calling me excitedly one evening and telling me "come here, can you hear that song", and both of us sticking our necks out of the window, trying to catch the sound waves from the 2nd floor. It was Aap jaisa koi, and we loved it. Of course, the songs became popular later, and prior to the release of the movie, my Dad bought the EP vinyl record for us when we were in Delhi for a family wedding. And we no longer had to stick our necks out.

Fast forward 6-7 years, and his next movie comes out, Jaanbaaz. Style movie as usual, but not the same class as Q. But that certainly didn't stop me and my friend, Prasana, to skip class, go over to Satyam in pouring rain, buy a ticket in black, and watch it...first-day-first-show. Jaanbaaz had pretty good music too. His next was Dayavaan, and by then, I was old and jaded, and watched it at home.

Here's another FK song thats part of my growing-up years. Prior to Bombay, we used to live in Jodhpur Park, Calcutta. There was this slum-area behind our home, it was called basti, and some shop in the basti would play this song, very frequently on the loudspeaker. Until Sholay came along.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ38VCtPc-0

A tip of the hat to Feroz Khan, thanks for the memories.

Hawaii can wait

I'm back in the US after my trip to India. Since this was my first trip to India in 9+ years, everyone has the same remark for me - India must have changed a lot. In certain aspects, it has but I think the bulk of the India experience is unchanged.

Some of what I liked:
- Communications (cell phones, internets and the google). People are connected like never before, they revel in the air waves around them and cell phone calls are answered promptly irrespective of other conversations around them. A socially-done thing? Or maybe, incoming calls are free so no one wants to miss out on a freebie opportunity. Can't blame them, I'd do the same.
- Air quality in Delhi is much better. It seems the move to CNG by autos, buses and some cars has had a significant impact.
- The airport in Delhi seems better too. I found the entire check-in, immigration and security process efficient and well executed.
- Health awareness among populace with physical activity on the rise. Everyone's a yoga expert here, promoting the benefits of pranayama and asanas.
- The spiritual experience in India is well alive. There is a temple very close to home, Bhairon Mandir and I was quite fascinated by the activities in the temple. Its right on busy Ring road, folks stop in their vehicles right on the Ring road and pay their respects. The temple itself is full of devotees, rituals, diyas, incense, the ringing sounds of the bells and the color. I truly enjoyed visiting the temple, and the festive season also added its own atmosphere to the experience. I realized there that this is something I missed here all these years.

The stuff thats not changed for the better are traffic, poverty, the me-first mindset - People love to keep their own homes clean, but wont hesitate to throw junk and household trash over to their neighbor's backyard or in front of the neighbor's house. The HOA's (referred to as RWA - residents welfare association) are out of control there just as we have here - they come up with rules and regulations that make no sense, and exhibit favoritism based on politcal beliefs of members. The BJP-Congress rivalry spills over to the HOA's. Parking is a huge problem. There have been instances of gun-fights over parking in so-called high-end neighborhood's. The conspicous consumption and the avenues for it, and the general display of wealth is something that had me thinking, especially when one sees the extreme poverty on the streets. This disparity in India always existed, but now it just seems to be more visible. Law and order, and the agenda of politicians are other downsides that needs its own blog.

Overall, it was just great to be in India. The familiar sights, the sounds, family ties, the charming women, the variety in food, the fresh vegetables and markets, the respect shown to senior citizens... I think I can continue dwelling on the positives.

I am looking forward to spending my next vacation again in India. I feel I have a lot to catch up on, plus hope to do some hiking in the Himalayan foothills or in the Ladakh area....after many visits these past years, Hawaii can wait.

Cell phone invasion

There is no cell phone etiquette here like what we are used to back in O-land. People answer their phones oblivious to the conversations that are going on. Maybe thats the way it should, and we have it all wrong. I was at an aunt's place for lunch today. Some other visitors dropped by. So, there were about 6 cell phones in the room. What seemed about every couple of minutes, one of them would go off, and the call would be answered. It wasnt considered inappropriate to interrupt the current conversation. Thankfully, the networks are over-loaded and I'm sure some of the calls are not getting through. Junk SMS's abound too and each one causes a beep or ring alert.

Only Vimal

Yes, this ad jingle is still around, it was kind of nice to see the ad, without Ravi Shastri in it.

The ads here are highly repetitive, and with no Tivo around, I have to watch them. It was especially bad during the Mohali cricket test match. They ran the same set of 2-3 ads in a loop after every over. Some of the ones that stood out were a Scottish bank ad with Sachin Tendulkar getting a suit tailored, nothing to do with a bank. Another one was of some pension scheme from HDFC. Mr. Bachchan of course has his share of ads. Then there is this deodorant ad with this guy attending a wedding, and a quickie ensues with some woman. Today, I saw a Hrithik Roshan ad for underwear where he kicks this martial arts master you-know-where.

Animal bites

There is a huge issue here with cats and dogs, both stray and pets. My mother got scratched by a cat in our backyard a couple of days ago. It cut her skin and some blood was visible. Initially, there was some debate on whether rabies shots were needed, but this was quickly settled. Next morning we went to the Central Rabies Lab near Civil Lines. This is where they do rabies testing and recommend shots schedule. They told us to go to the Government hospitals in Safdurjung to get the shots. So, we made our way there. My aunt, who is a life-long Delhi resident, knows the ways of the world here. We went to the ER (its called Casualty ward) and of course there was a sizeable crowd. She found her way in, dropped some names, plus there is a general sense of do-good for senior citizens here, and my mother was able to get her first shot. But for subsequent shots, the doctor told us that we would have to go to the Government hospital near our residence, since thats how the accounting for shots works. No problem, we went to the other hospital today. Its in Malviya Nagar. Acutually, its a pretty well-kept hospital, I was pleasantly surprised. Again, there was a sizeable line for OPD, but it moved fast. We were directed to a total of 3 rooms in all, but the system seemed to work pretty well. We were out of there in about an hour30.

Cat and dog bites seem to be a common occurence here. We met this lady..elderly, diabetic, and she was bitten so bad by a monkey on her leg, she needed surgery plus rabies shots. It was sad to see her limping around. She was obviously someone of limited means and I can only imagine the torture she would have gone through. At the previous hospital, we saw mainly kids bitten by dogs. There was one young kid howling with the painful shots.

I didnt realize it at first when I saw young people carrying sticks with them on their AM walks in the park, but these sticks are for warding off animal attacks. In our colony, there are no stray dogs, thanks to a resident who took the initiative to catch all the stray dogs in sacks, and transport them out of the city. Plus there is a HOA rule that no one can feed stray dogs.

Pet-owners dont seem to be holding a tight leash on their dogs. I have seen it twice already...a dog on a leash, jumping up at passerby's and frightening the crap out them. Also, there is this 7-yr old boy who walks a dog twice his size at night, or rather the dog walks the boy.

In Shirdi, and the trip to the Shani mandir in Shignapur

We arrived in Shirdi on the 13th around 2 pm. Its changed significantly since my last visit in 1999. Things are on a much bigger scale, many hotels, even a water park. We found a nice room in a new hotel some 3 minutes from the temple. After a nice thali lunch at Woodlands (recommended by Aparna's mother), we went for darshan inside the temple. We were very fortunate, since there were no crowds. I had heard of long wait times, but there were no queues when we got there. Also once inside, the guards told me to take my time..normally they hustle people quickly to keep crowds moving. It was very nice experience and we got Baba's darshan to our heart's content. After darshan, we went to the PRO office and were able to get VIP passes for the night Arti (Shej Arti). The Shej Arti itself was wonderful that evening. I have never seen an Arti in Shirdi and this was a memorable event.

The next day, we decided to go to Shignapur, for the Shani temple there. There are various SUV operators that do this 5-hour trip. We joined an existing SUV with other passengers, and took off for Shignapur. I was quite impressed with the roads in Maharashtra. They seemed well-maintained and traffic kept moving. The single lane undivided highways were dangerous but I attribute that to bad driving habits. For example, our driver, insisted on scaring the oncoming cars by driving in their lane and switching only at the last moment. It was just reckless on his part. He was a Hindi song buff and kept mouthing dialogues and songs. He would talk to himself, and I would think he was saying something to me, but no. "main apne dil se baat karta hoon". This dude would mouth dialogues like "Insaan apne karmon se bada hota hain, paison se nahin", but would not hesitate to pass comments on girls walking on the street. On the way back, the dude points to my shorts and asked me to give it to him. Now these are my hiking shorts paid primo$ at REI, and I was in no mood to part with it. I just refused. He seemed a bit embarassed at my refusal.