...Big brother's long arms

China has the world's largest population of internet users & bloggers and the world's longest political arm at web censorship. On any regular day Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Blogspot, Wordpress, Typepad, Picasa, Flickr, Bing are blocked but on days leading up to any “sensitive” events (read National Day or any episodes pertaining to the Big 3 Ts) rest assured that even Google can be blocked...sometimes for months together, simply augmenting the frustration of all the internet users here alike. 2 years of living in China has made the “language barrier” a lot more of a lesser-evil than their Great "fire" wall

A famous (?) local saying goes, “whatever is blocked by humans, gets unblocked by humans too”. Apart from being mere inane bottlenecks, I for one do not believe that these "walls" are helping the cause for which it is being practiced. Any person with a little technical competency can break through these primordial "walls" using Proxies and PVPNs.

While proxy websites like Hidefap and Proxyboxonline are handy in reaching through to Blogspot and Wordpress, PVPNs like Alonweb and PacketiX, albeit a bit slow helps me access Facebook, Twitter, Picasa or any other blocked websites with considerable ease.
The Chinese version of Youtube called Youku, although not half as good as the former, is a good medium to watch Indian and English movies with live-streaming. Some free-willed Indians religiously upload most of the Indian movies onto Youku within the first week of its release. Another novel way we stumbled upon to watch movies are through torrent downloads. MuTorrent is a useful software that helps one download movie torrents from websites such as Isohunt, Mininova, Torrentbox, Themediasite et al. Most of the new releases are uploaded onto these torrent sites for global consumption. If you have a VGA-HDMI cable, you can connect your laptop to the television and voila you can see them movies on TV. Believe you me, I have watched all the latest Hindi and English movies much before my family and friends have watched them back home.

Being in China has made Internet my right hand….and ofcourse the mobile phone my left one. I feel thoroughly incapacitated if either of it is dysfunctional. I am sure a large population of Chinese must be adopting these or even more advanced methods to break through the "wall". It is certain that they would conceivably be less aggressive than they are right now had the "big brother" stopped being such a strict net nanny and allowed people the plain Right to free Information.

Obama is currently visiting China and has touched upon the susceptible topic of “non-censorship” of the Internet. In the townhall meeting at Shanghai today he has even been quoted saying that “unrestricted internet access is a source of strength"......But is China listening?

Wǒ huì shuō yīdiǎn Pǔtōnghuà

When V and I enrolled into “May in China” to learn Mandarin, we were just another “lǎowài” (the Chinese slang for foreigner) pair who were trying their hand at cracking this un-crackable language. The first couple of hours in the classroom literally scared us. They had Pinyins, Initial & Final tones and three full pages of words that needed to be practiced with the right tone! Apparently in Mandarin there are 4 tones for each word! But before you utter the three swear words (no no, not WTF; its Goodness Gracious Me :)) let me also tell you that in Cantonese there are about 9 tones for most words!… And 26 hours of classes later we are still struggling to remember the right tones for the right words!

This is how it sounds when I briefly introduce myself in Mandarin(Note the use of “tones” on each of those words):
Nǐ Hǎo. Wǒ Jiào Vani. Wǒ Shì Yìndù Rén. Wǒ Shì Zài Zhōngguó guòqu 2 nián. Wǒ hé wǒde lǎogōng gōngzuò zài Guǎngzhōu. Wǒ gēn Wang Tao xué Hànyǔ.

It simply translates into:
Hello. I am Vani. I am an Indian.I have been living in China for the last 2 years. I and my husband work in Guangzhou. I am learning Chinese from Wang Tao (Our Mandarin teacher Wichin’s native name). If you thought that was crazy, you must see how it is when it's written!

There are no separate words in Mandarin to discrimate genders and so a he or a she is just a plain "Ta". There are no plurals for anything too. Its always 1 pen, 2 pen or 3 pen.. and the simplicity of this language ends there.

A slight mis-pronunciation of the tones can land us in very awkward situations. For instance: If I go to a restaurant and tell them I want Jī (鸡), it means “chicken”. But if I pronounced it as Jì (妓), then I just ordered myself a “prostitute”!!
Amused? I’ll let you in to some more tone faux pas. Lǎogōng (老公) means “husband”. But if you happen to say Lǎogong (老公) it means a “eunuch”...and still if you say it as Láogōng (劳工) it means going into “labour”!!!. The word Sì (四) means “4”..but if you pronounced it as Sǐ (死) it means “death” and Sī (丝) means “silk”. Guì (贵) means “expensive” whereas Guī (鮭) means “salmon” and Guǐ (鬼)means “ghost”!

A lot of words with the same tone and the same Chinese characters can mean different things under different circumstances too, like for example the word Tái (台). This word with the same Chinese character and tone can mean “typhoon” or a “stage / platform”.

Who would have ever guessed that Ramayana is known here as Luó Mó Yǎn Nǎ and Mahabharata is Mó Hē Pó Luó Duō!

Now, to make an already complicated language more complex they have something called as “measure words” like we use in English for some objects such as a “loaf” of bread, a “pair” of jeans etc..but in Mandarin they have over a 100 measure words for a whole lot of things...even for things that don’t need them. Instead of plainly saying “two cars”, they say “two –measure word– cars”...how about that for keeping things simple.

To say this is a difficult language would be a gross under-statement. Wish I am able to learn it to make a decent conversation atleast...sigh!.

By the way, the title “Wǒ huì shuō yīdiǎn Pǔtōnghuà” means “I can speak a little Mandarin” :)

I am like this only.

This blog has survived a year. When I started putting up my thoughts and experiences on this platform I did not expect this to travel this long and considering what a chronic procrastinator I am, I must say that I am pleased to see it still alive.

With this 24th post marking the moment, I thought I must dedicate it totally to me. No people. This is no Narcissism or Soul-searching. I simply wanted to list out things that I like or dislike so that years later if I ever change, I wanted to remember being what I was. So here I go.

1) If soul-mates could be non-humans then I think movies and books would be a part of my list. I used to read ‘em dime a dozen but have slowed down a lot, thanks to the pretense of being busy on the job. Ayn Rand’s “Fountainhead” has been my best read so far. A habit I copied from V, I must say that I really do enjoy watching those movies and for the last 2 years I have even recorded the “watched-list” names. No prices for guessing that I am totally partial towards Pacino, De Niro and Mohanlal. If there are second favourite lists allowed, it would have Hanks, Depp and Di Caprio. I have a few more that will fit into the “not so bad” list too.

2) I like them men just plainly-sexual...not metro-sexual!! So please, please do not wear pink, velvet, bling or florals, do not shave your chest, legs and arms and do not ever, ever wear tapering jeans or trousers (you can do all this only if you are Hrithik Roshan!).All you Himesh Reshammiyas out there…shoo away. You belong to another planet. Please let earth remain for saner people.

3) I am an ardent Calvin and Hobbes fan...If Calvin is the imaginative 6 year old, then Hobbes is his greatest voice of reason. They were the coolest comic pair one could have grown up reading.

4) Doggies must be one of God’s best creations of life forms. These cute, adorable things never fail to make me go awwwww…I grew up with almost 16 of them at home and each one of them contributed their bit for fond lasting memories.

5) I am partial towards Namma Bengalooru. Maybe because I was born and raised there and maybe because I was one of the lucky few who lived through its wonderful phase before the IT boom brought about its downward spiral. Although now, this city remains only as a distant resemblance of its past, the memories of the hale (old) Bengalooru, with its English-named streets, old town pubs that played all my favourite rock numbers, the then “golden-quadrangle” of Galaxy, Symphony, Plaza and Rex theatres around my college area that we used to frequent, the now non-existent boulevard on the M.G Road, the Gulmohar-lined avenues that never fail to burst into bright red-orange blossoms at the onset of each spring, the moral police that minded only their own morals and the weather to die for remains etched in my mind.

6) I love music...I can’t claim that I am this punter and all but some good music of the Rock genre in the likes of Pink Floyd, Scorpions, GnR, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin...you get the drift right and ofcourse A.R.Rahman, Yesudas, S.P.B’s soul-stirrers can spring me back into a vim-ful mood.

7) I hate them morning alarmas. Awake, shine and rise must have been words made for the early birds that do believe they get the first worms.. but not for me. Whoever thinks they are out to conquer the world by waking up at 6 am has not known the real joy of sleeping. Snuggling under the sheets deeper as the morning becomes brighter; snoozing the alarms atleast 5 times before you actually really open your eyes; curse the sunlight for emerging so quickly when you just went to bed a few hours ago is a daily routine for me. I take almost an hour to jolt out from my sleep after I am awake...so there you are.

8)I am obsessed with perfumes. My overtly sensitive olfactory nerves couldn’t have wanted anything more than a good fragrance to sate it. The current faves are Nina Ricci’s Premier Jour, Bvlgari’s Pour Femme and Versace’s eponymous perfume simply named as “Versace” which I feel is a real classic. Given a chance I can shop endlessly for these wonderful smelling products...So, all you people out there intending to present me something you know you don’t have to think too hard for a gift idea :)

9) I am a complete travel aficionado. Given a choice between owning let’s say a Sedan or travel around the world for that money, I would jump for the latter. There is definitely a high in travelling to a new place each time and drinking in the wonders it offers to you.

10) I love colours. I am in awe with the nature for its greens...the seas with its blues and the brighter the dresses are the more I like them. I tend to lean a lot towards Blue, Green, Red and Black and do not prefer them pastels.

11) Indian reality (??) shows and soaps in all the languages I understand there give me the creeps. From the 500 year old Baa in the Kyunki saas bhi khabhi bahu thi to MTV’s mindless Splitsvilla to Rakhi’s torturous prime-time wedding saga has left me with headaches to last a life-time. This from watching a sample episode of each of them. I shudder to even think of what might have happened to me if I was one of the billion that actually followed these telecasts completely!

12) I am an anti-social-element, no no..not a terrorist, but someone who lacks the smooth-talking social skills. I am very comfortable with the people I already know very well than put in a lot of effort to know new ones. Yeah I know its nice to know new ones and its great to be socially-inclined and all that..and I am working on this people. Till then, swalpa adjust maadi.

13) Although I do not have a problem with the existence of female bosses, I hate to report into one. I always have a dart of bad luck with them & every one of these species I have worked with seems to have their run with the Queen Bee Syndrome! Sorry women...you need to use your PMS quirks on someone else and not me.

18 till I die...

My earliest memories of her date back to the “bhoomi pooja” (or the customary ceremony that is performed to inaugurate the construction on a new site) that we performed. During the later months, I remember accompanying my grandmother and parents many a times to monitor the construction progress throughout its various stages. As we completed the planned ground floor of the house, dad with his penchant for space and luxury, infused more money into her and very soon the little wonder grew up to be a three-storeyed one. It was like a vision taking form. A east-facing house in a quaint locality in Bangalore’s desirous Indiranagar was like a dream-come-true to all of us. The house when completed, was every neighbour’s envy and of course was the owners’ gigantic pride.

Fondly christened as “Meenakshi” after Muthi’s name, this house soon became a very integral part of our growing up years. I remember how Muthi, with her green hands, painstakingly build her garden with over a 100 pots of plants on the ample balcony space; the varied flowers that flourish on the pots there and Muthi plucking them out everyday for adorning the Gods’ pictures inside; the diverse vegetables like brinjal, drumstick, pickle-lemon, avarekkai etc that she used to grow in her garden making it quite a sumptuous meal for us all the time; how the wide terrace area provided abundant room for over 15 dogs that we used to nurture and rear; the warm summer nights that I used to like spending on the terrace under the jeweled sky; the numerous hide-and-seek games that we used to play inside the house with the cousins who used to visit us often; the street wearing a bright golden-yellow hue with the Tabebuia blossoms every year with the onset of spring; the house illuminated each year with diyas during Diwali and Karthika festivals; the bright illumines with lights and decorations with coconut leaf pandals & flowers on mine and the sibling's wedding eves... the memories remain vivid in my mind as I sit down and reminisce

It was on 22nd August 1991 that we conducted our “Grihapravesham” and commenced living there. Every year on this day, we used to visit the nearby temple to thank the Almighty for blessing us with her. Tomorrow is 22nd August 2009 and the house that grew old with all of us completes 18 years of proud subsistence. She was sold 2 weeks ago to someone else and I know that we wouldn’t have another anniversary to celebrate her existence in our lives. This person who has bought her from us may continue to live there or pull her down to erect a new one in her place but I can only look back at the days by-gone and silently thank her for being there with us..for us all along. Although I have melancholic feelings inside me, I know that, albeit with forlorn hearts, Muthi, Dad, Mom and our 2 year old lab puppy Achhu are moving to newer grounds, newer lives and newer experiences.

Of Abject reporting lines.

Life is definitely a series of experiences. While most of them are good, there are a few distasteful ones that can’t be avoided. Repugnant catastrophes like the person who I am about to write about here exist only to give us a taste of such experiences.

Let’s refer her here with her initials PC. (I am yet to decide if I need to write out her entire name on this and ensure this write-up is thrown on all the searches that anyone makes on this person!).

A 47 year old hag; All of 3 feet tall...er...short; Has a first name that sounds like the bark of a dog and the surname is a human body part; Must have attained menopause but behaves like she’s constantly on PMS!; Her laugh is so shrill and loud that it can curdle milk!. This is a little description of the Malaysian @#&$% I report to at work here. Did you just say I sound malicious...wait till you read further.

She is single which comes as no surprise since we really understand the guy who must have committed the gravest mistake of getting involved with this thing, but unlike us, managed to escape (hopefully alive!) and is living happily some place else. The constant smirk pasted on her face that looks like a weird extension of some body-part, anti-friendly behavior, rude remarks, breathing-down-your-neck fetish, inept at handling business pressure and petty conduct make her the “manic depressive” person that one can come across. She is the most expensive employee in the centre and gets billed onto an engagement with the lowest business margins. Five people across various levels have already become “casualties” of her wretched behavior and I, or for that matter, a lot of others would have been fine if there was even an iota of benefit that arose from retaining her in that role.

I knew I was always jinxed when it came to working with female bosses. But this time around I had vouched to not lay low. I escalated the last show-down we had, this time over my food preferences!. Someone who ate only Chicken from among the meat delicacies that this country dishes out did not “whet her appetite”. She expected me to eat Goose and Duck meat too! The Centre Director and the Head of HR were notified on this and they had to set right this behavior now.

Set right they did. I was moved out from her reporting line to now report directly to the Centre Director. Is this how a behavior issue at work is addressed did you wonder? I am wondering too.

Goodbye Blue Sky...

The view of the China sky from my office on the 37th floor of the building showed no shades of blue…..as always. The perpetual grey hues across the cities are not rain clouds. The smog, that has even driven away the birds from the city permanently, is the price this country pays for the industrial and economic boom it has been witnessing for the last decade.

As I stood there at the cafeteria listening to the famous Pink Floyd number, “Goodbye Blue Sky” in my mp5 this afternoon, I couldn’t help noticing how well the lyrics complemented the somber situation. There are no literal “falling bombs” like in the lyrics but the pollution in the city will always remain as a battle that no one wins…

Happy Wedding Anniversary!

Dear V,

Socrates once said, "My advice to you is get married. If you find a good wife you'll be happy; if not, you'll become a philosopher."

I know you have not become a philosopher "yet". So I must be good :-)

Happy Wedding Anniversary. Thank you for all the wonderful times that we have had together all these years. I look forward to share the exciting long years that lie before us!

Love,
V

Telly woes..

The initial few days in China had convinced us that far from being an entertainment, watching television was more like a nightmare here. Nevertheless, we had put the TV to good use by watching movies that the umpteen torrent sites assist in downloading from and through the DVDs that we buy locally. At an average of about 12 movies per month, approximately a movie every 2 days, our statistics as of last night stood at 222 movies watched from Nov 2007 till date! The list that I had compiled diligently to reminisce later about this period of life in China, had movies of varied genres and languages; Retro, Contemporary, Latest Releases, War, Romance, Action, Thrillers, Sobbers, Crooners, Rib-ticklers, English, Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada and surprisingly Chinese too featured in it!

However, last night we attempted to watch “television” instead of a movie. Nothing had changed since the last 2 years. The Chinese media would easily win the “award for consistency”, hands down. It had the same three channels of CCTV 1, 2 and 3 respectively in Chinese!, two channels called “Alpha” and “Pearl” which sometimes show a couple of English programs but conveniently played Chinese ones last night, a channel called “Guangzhou English” where we managed to catch the closing titles of the Tom Hanks’ movie “Apollo 13”, "MTV China" which obviously played some Chinese track, two other Chinese channels that focus solely on advertising mobile phones and a few more Chinese channels the names of which I could not even decipher! There is no access to the BBC or the CNN on television unless one was living in Hong Kong. A “watchable” television channel was still elusive for us.

V and I voiced our disapprovals to each other at this Red Governance and returned to find our solace in the internet. I finally watched a few episodes of the Late show with David Letterman, on YouTube (through a proxy website mind you!) and hoped someone would discover “proxy” methods to watch TV channels too! Hmm.....any techies listening?

Karna Shapatham....

The powerful rendition of “Karna Shapatham” (or Karna's Vow), as a part of the Kathakali art form brings to life the illustrious story of Karna and his great vow to his mother Kunti. V and I listened to Kalanilayam Unnikrishnan's recital on this over the weekend and I felt that I must write about it here. The story in this scene explains the “famous” conversation between Kunti and Karna before the Kurukshetra battle.

In the story of Mahabharata, one cannot fail to notice that every single character is a story in itself. Each individual’s characterization is perfectly sketched in this great saga and that of Karna’s stands out as one of the most fascinating one of them all. V and I even discussed on how someone should make a justifiable and well researched movie on this character. Born as a Kshatriya to virgin Kunti and the Sun God, he was abandoned by her, only to have been raised by a charioteer, taught by the proficient archer, sage Parasurama, befriended and knighted by the powerful Duryodhan and found his place in the Kurukshetra war against his own brothers, the Pandavas. He was slain in the end not because he was weaker than his opponent Arjun, but only because of the single mis-doing of his mother Kunti and the 3 separate curses that befell him decides to act on him at the same crucial moment in the war!

The sequence here explains how Kunti discloses his birth and lineage to him and tries to lure him into the Pandavas side to defeat the Kauravas, while Duryodhan and Dusshasan stand overhearing this conversation. Karna, shocked at his revelation, accuses her of all the humiliation that he has faced in his life due to his non-kshatriya status, his unconditional love and respect towards Duryodhan and his ever famous vow to her, that forms the crux of this Kathakali’s existence. He promises her that a) Out of all the 5 Pandavas, he will only kill Arjun while the others will be spared. It could only be either he or Arjun that will remain alive at the end of the war; thereby she will at any time have only 5 Pandavas alive and b) that he will use the famous "divine" weapon only once against Arjun and c) he will die before Duryodhan can die(stressing on the fact that Duryodhan's safety is ensured as long as Karna is alive).

The “Karna Shapatham” Kathakali is a lovely adaptation of the story with rich literature and detailed research on the scene. The emotions that the characters of Karna, Kunti and Duryodhan undergo are vividly displayed through the lyrics & clearly catch the mind’s eye. Though I did not follow all the Sanskrit verses in it, V translated some of them for me. I have watched live Kathakali performance earlier of “Keechaka Vadham”, but hope to watch this one too someday.

Precognition almost?

Michael Jackson, the undisputed “King of Pop”, died early this morning in LA, after suffering a cardiac arrest. This flash headline that I read on Times of India as soon as I came into work this morning turned out to be kind of eerie.

On my way to work, the taxis usually always play Chinese songs or the local radio relays some Chinese comedy talk-shows. But today before I got off, I listened to “Beat it”!!!. For those of you who know all about living in China will agree with me that its not every day that one gets to listen to an English song in a public transport and the chances of that song being one of MJ’s is a rarity in its own way!

This is not the only reason why I am calling this news as eerie. Late yesterday evening I was reading about Marlon Brando on Wikipedia (I actually read an article about Mohanlal and Priyan planning to start an IPL team – a question from V on whether Priyan had won any great awards got me to Wikipedia him out – that led me to read about Mohanlal – then about Mani Ratnam -then about Al Pacino and then about Marlon – all of whose work I am an ardent fan of!). Under the section “Final years and death”, I read this entire bit – “The actor was a longtime close friend of the entertainer Michael Jackson and paid regular visits to his Neverland Ranch, resting there for weeks. Brando also participated in the singer's solo career thirtieth-anniversary celebration concerts in 2001, and starred in his 15-minute-long music video, "You Rock My World", in the same year. The actor's son, Miko, was Jackson's bodyguard and assistant for several years, and is a friend of the singer. He stated "The last time my father left his house to go anywhere; to spend any kind of time... was with Michael Jackson.”!!

Now what are the chances of someone reading about Marlon Brando yesterday and that too his complete profile, life, death and chance upon reading about Michael Jackson on it, a day before his death!

..The In“sensitive index”?

For the last one month, like every other harrowed stock market investor waiting to “re-enter” the market, I have been waiting too – impatiently.

We were invested in the share market for long term but the sudden surge in the market immediately after the Election Result (The sensex witnessed its biggest rise in long time of over 2100 points, when it hit its upper circuit levels and trading had to be halted.) this year saw us liquidate our stocks for a handsome profit. We thought we were intelligent and made the most out of that moment, knowing that we would re-enter once the “Election Result Frenzy” died down and the markets go back to its earlier lows. The sensex however has mocked our intelligence. It has refused to show any kind of slowing down since then!

It has now been more than a month since the surge and everyday I study the market in hope of it getting “corrected”! Conversely, the number of points its shedding is way too less than its surge each day! Like any other average investor, I understand that the stock market’s rise during the last few weeks is no evidence of an economic recovery in the country but questions such as what must be preventing this bubble from exploding?, is the market going over-board in its feel-good euphoria?, is it making the stocks values go higher than their real worth?, are making me curious of its behaviour.

The market analysts and business writers have not been very insightful either. When we have a section of them predicting an imminent correction in the stock market, another section has proudly declared that there is no stopping back the sensex now.. its on its way to the 20K mark! I wish I was on the other side of the market now. I would have been preparing myself to laugh all the way to the bank if I was already invested in this. The waiting-for-the market-to-fall side is not a very exciting side to be in, especially when the wait seems to be “indefinite”!

As I write this, the sensex has gone up by 162 points from its previous close last Friday to hit 14667!...

Nihao Macau!

The 10th IIFA award ceremony at the Venetian in Macau was held last Saturday. I had never been to a movie awards ceremony and this seemed to be an ideal opportunity to grab a peek. 3 VIP passes for the event (the boss of our friend from Hong Kong got these passes for us) ensured our (me with both the Vinods) attendance at the event.

The 1 hour turbojet ferry ride from Hong Kong to Macau was interesting and eventful. The ferry area, on disembarking, has shuttle buses to all the casinos. We reached the Venetian by about 3:30 in the afternoon, collected our passes for the event and decided to try our luck at the casinos.

The 10,500,000 sq ft Venetian is a sight to behold! This place doesn’t fail to amaze me every time we visit it. The Venetian, with its 3000 suites, claims to be large enough to hold “ninety Boeing 747 jumbo jets” and houses the largest casino in the world! Now, that’s something. It feels like Venice, with its canals, gondoliers on their gondolas, food and the ambience has been created again for the Asians here! We walked around the place for a while, clicked a few pictures and grabbed a quick meal at one of their many restaurants. Lady luck did not accompany us this time and we were not successful in making any big fast-bucks at the casino, although I will remember Venetian as the casino where I made my first ever win last year!

Around 7pm we reached the Cotai Arena, the IIFA awards venue. The event “promptly” commenced at 9pm, almost 2 hours later than the scheduled event time. Come on.. its an Indian Awards event…what else did you expect! The event however was a huge success, thanks to the scale of the set-up and meticulous execution, which undoubtedly is one of China’s forte!

Barring the absence of the King Khan and his “friends”, there was a good “star” attendance which included the Big B and his clan, the Roshans, the Chopras, the Kapoors (Anil Kapoor this time) etc. The hosts Boman Irani, Ritesh Deshmukh and Lara Datta managed their tasks well and brought the house down on splits with their humour. Abhishek and Ash’s public proclamation of their love for each other, and Hrithik’s act to credit his “style icon” award to his wife Suzanne appeared to be desperate efforts to swing the media in the “right” direction away from the controversies of Ms.Ciesla and Ms.Mori respectively. However, Boman’s imitation of Anil Kapoor, Antakshari by the stars, spoof of the movies that were nominated under the “best film” category and good stage performances by a lot of the actors and actresses ensured a lively and eventful program.

.... A Red Salute!

Today is Fourth June and also the sensitive twentieth anniversary of “The Tiananmen Incident” in China. For all those who do not know what this incident is, I suggest you Google or Wikipedia it out to learn more! One is not supposed to write (or read or talk) about this “taboo subject” here lest fall under the watchful eagle eye of the “big brother”.

Leading up to this day, a lot of websites (and a lot of popular proxy sites such as kproxy.com) including youtube, hotmail, twitter, flickr, blogspot, wordpress and bing are blocked in China, to ensure there is limited searches and online protests demonstrated by the local nationals in commemoration of this day. I have observed that, particularly in China, internet is a very important platform used to discuss or criticize issues and blogging is a la mode. A lot of people take into blogging and chat forums passionately. The sentiments will definitely be high around the date of the incident and hence this move by the concerned to curb that “right”. It appears that the News channels such as CNN and BBC are blocked for most part of the day due to the frequency of words such as “In China today..”, or “In Beijing today…” or “Twenty years ago in Beijing…” etc used in their news relays. Of course, RTI and FoS can be controlled here!

I read that the capital city of Beijing will be heavily guarded with a lot of people being asked (read forced) to stay indoors today and foreign journalists & newspaper teams are not allowed to go to “the Tiananmen square”, to ensure the day passes by “peacefully”. I read further that, every year the last Sunday prior to the fourth day of this month will see the people of Hong Kong demonstrate publicly calling for justice. Being a former British colony, Hong Kong is probably the only place in China where matters such as these can be venerated openly. A local group there called the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movement in China (Yes, their website is also blocked), supports this demonstration by designing standard t-shirts for the event. However, this year they saw a lot of people design their own t-shirts with “protest slogans” and the “incident-related images” on it and share with others online. During the day, a lot of protests and candle-vigils will also be held in various parts of the city, in their attempt to force the Mainland government to acknowledge and apologize for that day. Although I am tempted to include images of the t-shirts here on this post, I refrain for the same reason I mentioned earlier.

I for one do not quite believe that these protesters dare wear these t-shirts anywhere in Hong Kong (or China) after the protests are over!......Lal Salaam!

Candlelight vigils in Hong Kong

From Picture Courtesy: BBC ....

From Picture Courtesy: BBC....

The day of the "Dragon Boat Festival"

It was the “Dragon Boat festival or Duanwu” in China yesterday, and thereby a holiday for all of us. When we enquired with a few of our colleagues on its significance and how was it going to be celebrated in their homes, they explained that the most famous theory of its origin was that it is celebrated in the memory of one of their famous poets (I later googled and discovered his name as Qu Yuan - a patriotic poet who lived more than 2,000 years ago, and who according to legend, drowned himself in the Miluo River in Hunan Province to protest the then corrupt kingdom) and it is usually celebrated on the 5th day of the 5th month in the lunar calendar. People eat zhongzi (a sticky/ glutinous rice ball wrapped in bamboo leaves), drink realgar wine and race dragon boats!

Zhongzi

From Pic courtesy:china.org.cn....

The legend behind the festival can be read here

All our excitement to watch the Dragon boat race on the Pearl River, from our riverside home dampened along with the continuous rain, when there were no races scheduled on that part of the river yesterday.Nevertheless we decided to step outside even though it was raining pretty heavily.

The water level in the river had risen considerably due to the incessant rain that has been lashing the city during the last couple of weeks combined with a possible release of water from the reservoir. As we walked beside the river we noticed a group of people with motley umbrellas gathered near the river-steps, which increased our curiosity too. Apparently, the high tide on the river had attracted a lot of enthusiastic people who had brought their pet dogs for a swim and lots of pet-owners too decided to jump in to enjoy the river. Most of the Golden Retrievers and Rottweilers seemed to be enthusiastic in jumping into the river and retrieving the empty water bottles and plastic slippers that their owners were using as baits. However, the much smaller poodles had a tough time trying to let their inconsiderate owners know their displeasure in such activities that were thrust upon them. It was a pity to watch these small dogs that were forced into the water, desperately trying to swim against the tide and reach the safety of the river bank and some shivering in fear of the water.

The Rains:

From Vani Menon....

People with their pets:

From Vani Menon....

Amidst all this, oblivious to these things happening around, there was a sweeper lady who was clearing away the riverside walkway quietly. It was raining heavily and she was undeterred on her task! She was happy to pose for our picture and acknowledged us with a happy “nihao”!

From Vani Menon....

We shopped around a while and had an early dinner at the Tiger Prawn, a Vietnamese restaurant. Just outside the restaurant in the mall is an indoor Ice-Rink. The vast rink had many skate enthusiasts practicing or learning. We watched some of them in action for a while, especially one of the young coaches there who was displaying his skills in ice-skating very well.

We ended the day with a movie in the theatre.. Yes! the first time we were watching a movie in a theatre in China!! We went to the Qinggong Cinema and watched one of the English movies that was being played there, Night at the Museum-2. The movie had a lot of attendance and I think most of them watched the movie since it had Chinese sub-titles while a vast majority could have been there because they understood English!

Chicken a la Carte

I recently came across this video in one of my fellow blogger’s post and I must admit that it is very touching.

This 6 minute short film made by Ferdinand Dimadura in 2005 won the “People’s Choice” award at the 56th Berlin International Film Festival, in the Most Popular Short Film category.

http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/1081/Chicken-a-la-Carte

Every time one wastes food, this reminds you of those lesser fortunate people for whom food is still a “luxury”. The children crowding around the food bag, the lady of the house setting out the dining table for their meal, the man ensuring they thank God for the food they received that day, before they eat, are all heart wrenching.

A large portion of a society lives merely in the “hope” of food everyday!

Take a look at the video. I am sure it will move you too.

A Tale of a Movie.....

In recent times, the most discussed topic in India after the Satyam debacle is the movie Slumdog Millionaire (SM). This feel-good, rags-to-riches tale of a Mumbai slum dweller has stirred the nation and its filmdom. Lots of opinions have been flowing for it, lots against it, analysis on why it won all those awards including the 8 Oscars, was the movie a complete “poverty-porn”, was it a brilliant work of art by the movie-maker, did it win only because it was made by a non-Indian, is it the portrayal of the real India, etc have been some of the topics in contention.

The poverty ridden slums of the infamous Dharavi in Mumbai…...prostitution…...communal violences..….children forced into begging have been exposed to the Western (and our Eastern neighbours!) audiences. I agree that it shows India (or rather a part of India) in poor-light and I will also join the voices that speak out stressing on the fact that India is not made up of only these. We have a lot of good things to showcase too. But, most of our “Bollywood” movies are shot in foreign milieus, with the protagonists wearing the Guccis and the Pradas and the Armanis, driving flashy automobiles, working on dream jobs, enjoying holidays and singing songs in the most lavish locales. Can all these be classified as movies which showcase the real-India!？If the same people who thrashed SM are contented with these movies, then is it hypocrisy? If movies such as these are the movie-maker’s artistic freedom that he has willfully taken as a part of being in the creative arena, then why can’t movies such as SM also be seen in that frame? We are the world’s largest democracy and the primary rights of a democrat are freedom of expression and speech. So if a movie-maker has exercised these rights in creating something, purely for entertainment (..and to rake in the moolah), why are so many of us crying foul?

I recently read an article on TOI which mentioned that the movie Mission Impossible 3 was called to be banned by many Chinese since it had a scene shot in Shanghai where apartments were shown with clotheslines outside their windows!! That’s typical China for you. They do not tolerate (err.. their Government do not tolerate) even a slight alteration to the way they want the “others” to perceive them…and they can afford to do that since they are not a democracy yet!

Shantaram, a novel by Gregory David Roberts, paints a similar picture of Dharavi, where he has expressed his shock and dismay at the condition of people’s lives in these 10000+ houses. What is our government and the average Indians (and not so average Indians such as Mr. AB) who are ashamed of a part of India being projected that way to the West doing about these slums? This “underbelly” of India is showcased in the movie only because it exists in reality!! Instead of being “reactive” to such movies and books, I hope now that these people step forward to revive these slums, so that more movies featuring it do not crop up again, reeling a section of the country into unwarranted dissensions.

“Wonder”ful India!

During the last couple of weeks, I have been watching “the Seven Wonders of India”, a program on NDTV and I must confess that I am amazed at the plethora of heritage monuments, culture and natural beauty that our country possesses. India was being discovered in every episode. So much of beauty lie unexplored or forgotten in every single state and with each of the nomination vying with one other in its beauty, rarity & magnificence, it is an arduous task to shortlist the wonders to a mere 7!. The list of “wonders” included ancient temples, universities, mausoleums, caves, wildlife sanctuaries, backwaters, synagogues, and a wide range of other man-made and natural marvels that make this country so rich and so different

India is indeed incredible! Whether it is the ancient town of Shravanabelagola in Karnataka or it is the splendid Meenakshi temple of Madurai or the rock-cut caves of the Ajanta-Ellora or the Golden Temple at Amritsar or the magnificent Sun Temple at Konark, or the ancient University of Nalanda or the Holy ghats at Varanasi or natural scenic areas of Sunderbans or the Silent Valleys or the Valley of Flowers, everything in my view had perfect reasons for their inclusion in the list.

Viewers were expected to vote for their choice of the 7 wonders to choose the ultimate list of winners. When the 20 short-listed nominees were disclosed yesterday from the initial 240 choices, the only reason for elimination that one could assume was when people voting for their choice of the 7 wonders tended to be partial towards their states. As the final list of 7 will be unveiled in a few weeks’ time, this year-long, first-of-its-kind effort can be hailed as a brilliant initiative by ministry of tourism in collaboration with the media. The attempt to capture the beauty of all these and explaining the factoids behind these places deserving a spot in the list of “wonders” was outstanding.

The grass being greener on the other side couldn’t have been more clichéd than here where we see Indians (including myself.. I can barely count the number of places I have visited from this list) thronging to travel to beauty locales abroad when they haven’t ventured out to catch a glimpse of such places their own country has to offer. I am definitely smitten by the beauty of this country & the glory of our heritage and I hope that there will be a large portion of people who will be enchanted by these places now and will want to explore them.....protect them for posterity.

The call of the cuckoo..

I was awakened from my peaceful slumber this morning by the call of a cuckoo. So pleasant was it’s sound that I lay awake a couple of minutes more hoping to hear it once again. It must have been perched on the tree just outside my house. As I stood sipping my tea, I tried to look for it on that tree from the window of my living room. I did not find it anywhere nor did I hear it coo again till I left for my work.

He must have chuckled in glee to indicate the end of the Bangalore winter; ushering in the spring or it must have sung to attract its mate. But those two notes stayed in my mind as I left home to board my bus this morning. I began to notice that the winter was indeed receding.. Fresh green leaves were sprouting on many of the trees that were bald even a week ago. The newly blossomed bougainvilleas stood beautifully in all their myriad colours on people’s house compounds. The early morning wind was less crispy today and I could feel the sun fiercely penetrating through the bus’s window to warm my cheeks.

I was feeling very low since the last few days and today since the time I heard the cuckoo sing, I felt my mood slightly go upbeat. It has made me want to travel to some place else… some place near a brook…away from the everyday din...under the clear blue sky…beneath a canopy of trees.. listening to more country birds sing and lie soaking in the imminent spring. I hope I am able to gather a few of my friends together and travel away atleast for a weekend to some such place soon.

I hoped he was the first cuckoo of the spring that I heard..it gives me hope to look forward to more such wonderful daybreaks.

...In lighter veins!

I have been intending to post this for a while now but as usual I have been procrastinating a lot… Like all deferrers say, it’s better late than never!

With every newspaper keeping aside a considerable portion of their columns to write about the global financial meltdown and with so many market watchers and eminent economists predicting the fate of the world economy and so many discussions on this subject, I know that anything more that I, or for that matter anyone else, write on it is just otiose. However, over the past few months, I have come across a few write-ups that help one to look at the subject in lighter notes. I have compiled them here for future reading as well….
(courtesy: a lot of sources from the internet)

a) A little ditty about Merrill Lynch and CEO John Thain..

At first I was amazed,
But I was dignified

When Merrill offered me the job,
I almost died
But I've spent the last few nights wondering just what went wrong
Our firm was strong
But I wasn't the boss for very long
There was just no way back
From Stan's bad place
I didn't have the time to write down all our toxic waste

I should have dumped it all at once
That really was the key

Then all those short sellers
Wouldn't have made such a fool of me
I thought we'd press on
I was pretty sure
Please believe me
I didn't see BofA coming through our door

But our firm stock, it soon went short
And the future, it looked real black
Like Lehman we'd get caught
And there would be just no way back
The name's John Thain (But I'm not to blame)
I thought we'd survive

Oh, now I'll soon be off
I'll be on my way

But I've got that real big bonus
Then there's my stock option pay
So I'll survive
I will survive, hey, hey
It took all the self-belief I had
To stay this strong
I even called up Goldman Sachs
To see if they would come along
And I spent all last weekend
Trying to do a deal
But I just can't lie
Now this firm don't need me
You'll have someone new
Ken Lewis rules
That much is very true
Our staff will really feel the pinch
You'll soon be feeling blue

There'll be no more Merrill Lynch
No more jobs left for me and you
I thought we'd press on
I was pretty sure

Please believe me
I didn't see BofA coming through our door

But our firm stock, it soon went short
And the future, it looked real black
Like Lehman we'd get caught
And there would be just no way back
The name's John Thain (But I'm not to blame)
I thought we'd survive
But I thought we'd press on
I was pretty sure
Please believe me
I didn't see BofA coming through our door

But our firm stock, it soon went short
And the future, it looked real black
Like Lehman we'd get caught
And there would be just no way back
The name's John Thain (I'm off to work for John McCain)
Sorry we didn't survive

b).The after-effects of the sub-prime crisis:

President Bush said, the clients shouldn't be concerned by all these bank closings. If the bank is closed, you just use the ATM, he said.

George Bush said that he is saddened to hear about the demise of Lehman brothers… His thoughts at this time go out to their mother as losing one son is hard but losing two is a tragedy.

How do you define optimism? A banker who irons 5 shirts on a Sunday.

Why are all MBAs going back to school? To ask for their money back.

For Geography students: What's the capital of Iceland?
Answer: About Three Pounds Fifty...

A trader: "This is worse than a divorce. I've lost half my net worth and I still have a wife."

If you want to gamble, go to Las Vegas. If you want to trade in derivatives, God bless you.

Forty years ago I sold fifty shares of my company stock and had enough money to purchase a brand-new 1967 Ford pickup. Last week, I checked it out, and if I sold another fifty shares, I'd have enough money to buy a 1967 Ford pickup. So, the market has stablized.

"I want to warn people from Nigeria who might be watching our show, if you get any e-mails from Washington asking for money, it's a scam. Don't fall for it" — Jay Leno

"Do you have any idea how cheap stocks are now? Wall Street is now being called Wal-Mart Street" — Jay Leno

Q: What is the difference between a pigeon and a London investment banker?
A: The pigeon can still make a deposit on a BMW

Q: What's the difference between a guy who just lost everything in Vegas and an investment banker?
A: A tie

The problem with investment bank balance sheets is that on the left side nothing's right and on the right side nothing's left

I went to buy a toaster and a bank was given free with it!

c). An ode to Lehman Bros...

There once was a bank built on credit
Toxic loans, CDOs further fed it
But when it came time to sell
It was after the bell
And the Fed and the Street simply fled it

But think of us upper class bankers
Good food and champagne we still hanker
Now back on Main Street
No more world at our feet
Yet still we are thought of as .......

Who next ? What now ? Where to go ?
Are we heading for Wall Street's last throw ?
Replaced by hedge funds emerging
Sovereign money resurging
Is there a future for us ? We don't know'.

d). Investment banking groom valuations fall in Wedding market

Hyderabad: The subprime crisis in the US has made its effects felt in India as well, this time in the highly lucrative weddings futures market in Andhra Pradesh. "An IIM passout at a US investment bank like Lehman Brothers was as good as it got, a few weeks back. But now parents of brides want to stay as far as possible from such profiles", said Dr Rajan, an expert with over 20 years of experience in the matrimonial industry.

The first visible effects were noted in the online space yesterday with scores of investment banking profiles being "blocked" by women across matrimonial & social networking sites. Apparently the average "Be my friend" request index from 20 - 26 years old women to investment bankers have dropped from 24 to 2 in a period of three weeks. "As Indians, we have always been trained to think long term", said an unrepentant Sophia after deleting 6 investment bankers from her Friends list.

Mrs Narayani, head of the Old Wives & Aunts Network, the most powerful lobby working in this industry said that the offline impact will also be felt sooner than later. "As of today, we are downgrading Financial Services, Investment banking & Outsourcing from 'Marriage Material (MM)' to 'Ignore Politely (IP)'. But we stand committed to all deals that have been mutually agreed upon before Sep 15th, provided the groom can present evidence of fresh employment & adequate capital reserves, preferably in cash only", she said.

Raj Malhotra, a Lehman Brothers investment banker who was holding out, hoping for a better valuation said "Maybe I should not have waited so long & should have accepted the buyout offer from the Mysore based girl". Utopia has also learnt that a number of investment bankers have lowered their next quarter projections and are now ready to marry any girl who will just let them.

It is also reported that the worst fears of any banker - the girl insisting on a sense of humour - might also come true as the market prepares itself for a long winter.

The Global Financial Meltdown...

The global financial crisis…catastrophe…turmoil...meltdown...whatever terminology one wants to connote it with, is a reality. The US sub-prime mortgage crisis left a lasting impact on the world economy and the depth of the economical destruction it has caused is unfathomable. The year 2008 will be remembered for the death of the once indestructible IB giants such as Lehman Brothers who filed bankruptcy (I had aspired to work for LB some day!!!), Merrill Lynch & Countrywide Financial being acquired by Bank of America, Bear Stearns being acquired by J P Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley revoked of their status of Investment Banks!!, Government take-over of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, by placing them into “conservatorship” and the failure of AIG, whom FED bailed out later and Washington Mutual who filed for bankruptcy & was later taken over by J P Morgan.

Over US$700 billion have been invested into the US economy as bail-out packages and these have left the country in its highest national debt ever. The Dow Jones & the NASDAQs of the world have fallen by over 20 to 25 % from their earlier highs; these have a cascading effect on the European and the Asian indices which have also fallen prey to the global turmoil. The share prices of the once inaccessible blue chips have touched rock-bottoms, almost. Corporate layoffs have left lakhs of people jobless at the helm of such a financial peril that has rocked even the world’s strongest nations. This has directly impacted larger industries such as automobiles, petrol, airlines etc which has experienced a fall in sales and consumption. The world’s most powerful country goes into elections amidst the country’s worst economic times and the candidates in contention, Obama and McCain respectively, campaigns promising a resurrection of sorts & guarantees on rescuing the country from going through another “great depression”, last experienced in the US during 1929.

For millions of people the slump directly translates to lost fortune.. a million dreams had come crashing down along with the free-fall of the stock markets. Stocks that were held as long term investments had to be sold at the current low prices for immediate liquidity to cater for their imminent sustenance and the decline of the housing prices left the people with lesser “wealth”.

But for lots of others this is the period to make money.. to rake in the moolah aplenty. For an average individual this recession could be the well paved path for making their dream fortunes.

The stocks of blue chip companies are sold for a song.. The global financial gurus predict a USD 10,000 investment in such stocks to turn into at least USD 30 million in the long run. It is the right time to invest in such stocks and gain from the revived growth that these companies will see in the near future. If one understands the Warren Buffet way, it is easy to notice the similarity in his pattern of investments. He invested about US $ 5 million in Goldman Sachs and about US $ 3 billion in GE during the slump instead of in their prime!!

The Real Estate is fast moving into a slump across most the developing countries, such as India and China. The US sub-prime mishap has woken up local banks in many of these countries who are now on a pre-empted corrective phase to set right their home loan segments before the inevitable crisis rudely wakes them up. Banks have tightened their loan-lending policies, doubled up the check on the loan applier’s eligibility and credit worthiness for loans and stringent loan recovery measures have been initiated. In such times of hard credit in the market, there is lesser number of people available to buy houses. The number of homes available for sale far exceeds the number of ready buyers. The once bullish real estate market is slowing seen losing its steam and has started on its downward journey. In a couple of months from now, it becomes the best time for people with good credit-worthiness and repayment ability to bite a juicy chunk of this sector; get their dream home at affordable prices!!

The enviable yellow metal has also yo-yoed along with the fluctuating market. It is however tried and tested that the price of gold will rise alongside inflations and it is one of the most preferred avenue for long-term investments. An article on investment by Emanuel Balarie, clearly explains the journey that Gold has traveled in terms of its value and its ROI, “In 1934, an ounce of gold was priced at $35; in 1973 it was priced at $42.22; and in 2006 it hit a high of $720. The general trend has been higher gold prices over a prolonged period of time.” The price of gold has currently fallen and hence it paves way for average investors like me to dip my fingers into it and stay put for a long period of time.

The BFS (Banking and Financial Sector) organizations in countries such as Hong Kong, Singapore, India etc are now able to recruit very knowledged and experienced talent at lower salaries than they were available for a couple of years earlier or their abhorrent current market value in the west. These job-seekers who have been evicted from their earlier plum jobs have headed to Asian destinations are more than willing to take up these jobs and contribute with their knowledge to the development of these organizations.

We do not know if this crisis is the beginning of the fall of the mighty US or whether the US will emerge like the phoenix from the ash, with all its might. With a new government days away from coming into power and the new economic policies and plans that it promises to bring in, one can only wait and hope that the current recession that the great economy is now experiencing do not fall further to see another depression.

Picture courtesy: TOI