Freedom of Creativity in Qatar

The last few weeks the various media forms have been agog as to how MF Husain will be giving up his Indian citizenship for Qatar’s and now about his decision to return the Indian passport.

Mr Hussain for all his creativity chose to paint the Hindu religious figures in the buff and I wonder what stopped him from using his liberties with religious figures of his faith or other faiths of this world. Or why did he never seek the liberty with people from his known and close proximity. I doubt if depicting a much revered Hindu Goddess in a sexually pervert and derogatory posture can be a case of artistic liberty.

A pool of our so called intelligentsia has been ranting about how we Indians are becoming less tolerant about artistic and literary liberties and how Hindu extremism is rising. They miss the point that Hinduism is actually not a religion but it’s actually a way of life. Hinduism is often referred to as Sanātana Dharma (a Sanskrit phrase meaning "the eternal law"). Hinduism is formed of diverse traditions and has no single founder. Among its roots is the historical Vedic religion of Iron Age India, and as such Hinduism is often called the "oldest living religion" or the "oldest living major tradition". Hinduism also happens to be the most accepting faiths of the world. The history of the Indian Subcontinent is ample proof to this. There are examples in abundance when the Hindu religious characters has been misused as motifs for labels of alcoholic drinks, lingerie, as well as swimwear during fashion shows. It is because Hinduism is overtly tolerant faith and does not propagate aggressive behaviour declaring Jihads and Crusades.

I personally, feel relieved that we do not have Mr Hussain playing truant with our faith, in our country and disturbing the already fragile peace. As for all the liberty activist, my heartfelt request would be for them to travel to Qatar, alongwith family and friends and avail of all the artistic liberties of Mr Hussain!! And I am eagerly waiting to see the instances of his artistic liberties with members of the royal family of Qatar! I am sure he will not disappoint!

A Busy Hiatus in New Delhi!

Many of you might be wondering how can a hiatus be busy when it is supposed to be a break from the daily humdrum of life. The daytimes were extremely hectic because of work while the night was a period of gastronomic binge to take away all the tiredness!! And what more does a Bong need when you serve him meat in its purest form.

Am just back from 12 long and hectic days in New Delhi and am still unwinding from the after effects of conducting an event like DEFEXPO 2010. DEFEXPO is a biennial, International Exhibition, held under the aegis of the Indian Ministry of Defence. The event has grown over the years and the strategic importance of India in defence circles is amply demonstrated with the number of participants and the countries vying for space. This year me and 2 of my team mates were entrusted with the responsibility of executing the entire event right from the planning till the curtain dropping! And a marvellous experience it has been bringing all the diverse teams from various location together, planning to effectively use a 8000 sq ft stall space and standing your high ground amidst the global giants in the business, and the logistics of it all. We made a big impression by showing three live, frontline Weapon Systems made by L&T. And the faith in L&T was demonstrated by the number of high level dignitaries, right from the Defence Minister to a flurry of Admirals and Generals. It was ten 12 hour days, spent mostly standing, but a time worthily spent.

The icing on the cake, however, was the gastronomic binge that Delhi provided alongwith temperatures dipping to almost single digits on a daily basis!! The first day was Nathu's at Bengali market with an array of chats, chhole bhaturas, tikkis, lassi and sweet. And all this at an excellent value for money. We also discovered a chain of stores called "Sandoz" which specialises in kababs and everything meaty. One of the stores was close to our hotel and hence became our dinner joint. Run by a sardarji, they make the kababs fresh for you and what a heavenly flavour. So our staple dinner menu was variety of kababs and roti. One of our group suggested that we should avoid gravy as it has lots of spices and therefore just rely on plain, burnt meat. And what a marvellous meaty experience it has been! I have rarely experienced such fresh and succulent meats here in Mumbai. And all this was topped by the brashy warmth of the Delhi-ites which is incomparable.

It is now back to work and am still unwinding, but looking ahead to a visit to Delhi!

The Sunday Gastronomic Binge

Yesterday was a "heavy" Sunday!

For the last week I have been thinking of having some good grilled Pomfret and the local sellers are exorbitant at Rs 120 - 150 for 2 small pieces. And thankfully we have a foodie in Anu, who resides in SoBo (South Bombay!). So asked her to try and see if she can get some good catch from the whole sellers at Crawford Market. She informed on Saturday that she could get a good load of Pomfrets as well as medium to large sized prawns.

Sunday morning started with our usual round of fresh & crispy home made dosas with coconut chutney. And finally our "fisher woman" arrived with the promised fish load. After putting in a few hours of effort through the day, our menu of Sunday was a gourmand's delight.

The lunch comprised of Peyajkoli (fresh & crispy version of spring onions) lightly sauteed with slivers of potato (Aloo Peyajkoli bhaja in Bengali) - courtesy my wife, Dr D; a yum dry preparation of duck eggs with baby potatoes (courtesy my mother, flown down from Kolkata!!); and "simple" Bengali style prawn curry by me. And we had our lunch the typical Bengali way - at 1500 hrs or 3 pm!!

The dinner was much simpler (numerically!!) and had Grilled Pomfret and "meaty" fried rice.

My tryst with FB and my venture at teasing my friends following me on FB, resulted in continuous messages and updates through the mobile, expressing friendly anger and consternation at being swamped with menus. With messages coming well past midnight, led to the wife commenting at midnight: "these networking sites and the mobile has taken away the slightest privacy"

For all those who would be keen to experiment with the palate, you can get the recipes on the hyperlinks.

Spoils of the Red Bastion

Last week I had visited Kolkata on an official trip. In fact, a week before that I was in Kolkata for vacation. Nothing unusual in it. But what made me think of this post was my experience last week and the Rajdhani hijacking incident by the Maoists.

The Communists are supposedly a believer of equality and grass root growth / elevation. They are also the one who bandied about with the term "bourgeois" from the late 60's onwards (when they were not in power). They took over the reigns of Bengal in 1977 and continue to rule Bengal. But it appears that their days are now numbered. You talk to any Bengal / Kolkata resident, and in majority cases, you will see the disgust glaring. I carry the notion that they are a group of utter hypocrites and having no connection to the reality of the 21st century. Over the years, they have decimated the industrial prowess that Bengal had and they have broken the backbone of the famed Bengal education system.

The Rajdhani hijacking incident 2 weeks back is a testimony to the fact that they have "lost it". The Maoists in the 60's were part of the Communist movement and broke away only in the late 60's. The current rebellion of the Maoist is against the years of neglect and deprivation of the most common facilities due to a human being, from a democratically elected government. The fact that the protests have turned violent and barbaric is a testimony to the utter disregard of the people in power to pay heed to the common man. This coming from the Communists is much more surprising.

The other incident is far more interesting and a personal experience. During my official trip last week, I had to visit a large Govt PSU organization. When I first visited this organization more than a year back, my colleagues cautioned me about the work culture and the pathetic status of utilities. Initially I brushed them off as overzealous criticism but was proven wrong. During the lunch hour, my host asked me if I would prefer a working lunch. He then went to the pantry and told the “old, scrawny” pantry man to give a lunch. The scornful look and the cornier reply can be only displayed and not described! The Bengali readers would understand when I draw an analogy to Manoj Mitra in one of his scornful looks and one liners in any of his shows. The working lunch part was more interesting – 4 slices of bread, a mango cut into cubes, a cucumber and 2 rasogollas. I remember my working lunches whilst serving in the Indian Navy – a 4 course affair, all miniaturized to make it convenient to eat. In my current organization, we generally go for pizzas / sandwiches with a coke. Hence, it is definitely nice to know some more variety! But what was a shocker was not the menu, but the way a pantry guy can have the audacity to reply back / question a senior staff member. This was early 2008. Cut to 2009 Oct and I was visiting another office of this largely spread organisation. During my visit, I had to wait for some meeting scheduled post lunch. Unfortunately, the coordinating officer was away and could not arrange for lunch. So I took the chance and requested the pantry guy in this office (expecting it to be different) for some lunch. It was the most blunt and rude refusal that I had ever heard. On trying to be more cajoling (remembering all the tactics of subordinate management!!), I was met with the blunt explanation that there is no helping hand and he does not have time. And I backed off. It was then that me and the driver set out for our quest for some decent place to have food and it ended after travelling almost 10 kms. Many of you may be thinking why I am making such brouhaha over some lunch. The point is ATTITUDE. When you have a location immediately surrounded by ghettos and shops selling beef, and you invite people from distant places, the minimum one can do is arrange for some basic utilities of food and drinking water. The apathy and boredom is distinct. When one has to tell “No”, one can do it in a nicer way than to give a rude reply. Years of immense clout and power of trade unions has led to a situation where a person today has no positional authority when it comes to disciplinary issues. So what have we ended up with? Have we made the working class “heard” or have we created a vortex of indiscipline? 
The red bastion continues its run. God knows how long we have to continue on the "bungee jumping" drop to inefficiency and apathy!

Birds of the same feather flock together

These days the gaps between my posts are increasing by GP (geometric progression). The items of interests are many and equally significant are the points in mind. But probably the laziness, domestication and professional pursuits are more dominant than the literary pursuit.

However, one topic which caught my amused attention is the current penchant of the privileged members of the society to shun the privileges. The biggest limelight seeker is the ongoing debate on austerity. The Govt has advised that the MPs should lead by example and hence shun public display of wealth. Whilst avoiding display is fine, what happens to the stashed away stuff, is a question no one is going to answer. Two of our ministers were staying in 5* hotel suites for more than a month and paying to the tune of Rs 1,00,000 per day. They clarified that they were staying on their own funds. But they probably has a huge stash of funds, though they get paid paltry amounts as MPs.

But what is interesting is the way the entire political spectrum has come together to protest against the Govt request. There are raging debates on the news channels. There are news pieces all over the media regarding how the political leaders are taking austere measures / against austerity measures.

But the most interesting is the kind of stupid logic that the opposition politicians, including the Communists, are putting forth justifying there travelling first class by air. This reminds me of an old saying in bengali about the communists. It is said "nenin nebu kheto na" (Lenin never used to have lemons). The reason was that Lemons were an expensive fruit in USSR. But it is said that he used to wear dresses made from the best and most expensive fabric and imported from Europe. This was a satirical take on the hypocrisy of the Communists. The current debate and the logic is similar.

I was watching a debate on this issue on one of the leading english news channels of the country, the other day. Mr Gurudas Dasgupta, a CPIM MP, said on TV "We are not dictated by the Govt. We are under the orders of the Speaker. Hence, Govt dictums are not worth enough." The BJP MP, Rajiv Rudy, on the same debate was talking such gibberish logic, I could not comprehend what he was saying. And the Congress MP, Manish Tewari, contended that if the compere gets him permission, he will hereafter travel in the cargo hold!!

But some of the nagging questions / issues in my head are:

1. Collateral expense (a la collateral damage): While travelling by economy is fine, what about the expense for security, vehicles, mass deployment of security personnel etc. Does anybody check the expense that these MPs and their cronies do on account of electricity, water and telephone? Does anybody check the amount of money spent on maintaining and redoing their plush bungalows in Lutyens Delhi? Not to mention their porpoerties in their constituency!
2. The other point that is poking me is more factual. In a study of the total expense, it has been found that the total expenditure on travelling is 0.01 - 0.02 % of the total expense. Probably the total travelling expense would be akin to that of a large corporation.
3. But why this sudden austerity in travelling only? Why is not being implemented as rule rather than an advisory for a year only?
4. Why are we not curbing on the unnecessary security apparatus that is used for guarding people like Mulayam Singh and Behenji Mayawati?
5. What are we doing to curb expenses on the fleet of vehicles that is used by Govt babus and in many cases smoothly diverted to use by family and spouses? The maintenance of such vehicles and the fuel expense would be pretty significant.

These are all patchwork solutions and probably gimmicks! As someone said "these are all but band-aid solutions". Nevertheless, lets enjoy the hypocritical debate and the news items. We are being fed items on how Rahul Gandhi refused special cutlery onboard the Shatabdi express and how Sonia Gandhi flew economy, how the External Affairs minister is travelling by commercial flight and spending 4-6 hrs more in transit. We also now know that some miscreants pelted stones at the train Rahul gandhi was travelling in and it hit coaces C4, C5, C6. But Rahul was in coach C3!!!

What a circus! Am I sounding cynical ...... let me know.

Happy to help you - Vodafone

Got this in the mail today from a friend ..

"The 99 Club"

Once upon a time, there lived a King who, despite his luxurious lifestyle, was neither happy nor content.
One day the King came upon a Servant who was singing happily while he worked. This fascinated the King; why was he, the Supreme Ruler of the Land, unhappy and gloomy, while a lowly servant had so much joy. The King asked the Servant, "Why are you so happy?"
The Servant replied, "Your Majesty, I am nothing but a servant, but my family and I don't need too much - just a Roof over our heads and warm food to fill our tummies." The King was not satisfied with that reply.
Later in the day, he sought the advice of his most trusted Advisor. After hearing the King's woes and the Servant's story, the Advisor said, "Your Majesty, I believe that the servant has not been made part of The 99 Club."
"The 99 Club? And what exactly is that?" the King inquired. The Advisor replied, "Your Majesty, to truly know what The 99 Club is place 99 Gold Coins in a bag and leave it at this Servant's doorstep." When the servant saw the bag, he took it into his house. When he opened the bag, he let out a great shout of joy... so many Gold Coins!
He began to count them. After several counts, he was at last convinced that there were 99 Coins. He wondered, "What could've happened to that last Gold Coin? Surely, no one would leave 99 Coins!" He looked everywhere he could, but that final Coin was elusive. Finally, exhausted, he decided that he was going to have to work harder than ever to earn that Gold Coin and complete his collection.
From that day, the servant's life was changed. He was overworked, horribly grumpy, and castigated his family for not helping him make that 100th Gold Coin. He stopped singing while he worked.
Witnessing this drastic transformation, the King was puzzled. When he sought his Advisor's help, the Advisor said, "Your Majesty, the servant has now officially joined The 99 Club."
He continued, "The 99 Club is a name given to those people who have enough to be happy but are never contented, because they're always yearning and striving for that extra "1" telling to themselves: "Let me get that one final thing and then I will be happy for life."
We can be happy, even with very little in our lives, but the minute we're given something bigger and better, we want even more! We lose our sleep, our happiness, we hurt the people around us; all these as a price for our growing needs and desires.
That's what joining the 99 Club is all about."

Experience & Expertise

Came across this small piece a few days back:



The error of youth is to believe expertise is a substitute for experience.
The error of age is to believe experience is a substitute for expertise (in IT, social networks and latest gadgets)
When Experience & expertise work together towards a common goal, great things can be achieved.

An interesting article by Sam Pitroda

The Magic of teamwork

View more documents from Amitabha Ghosh.

Exercised my franchise

Whoah .... we finally exercised our first vote today.

A school in our neighbourhood was the nominated voting centre and our Company gave us the day off after lunch to enable voting.
It was a simple process and hassle free. A counter to check your name on the list before you enter the voting room. Details checked and sent ahead. You enter the nominated room. A person checks your identification, checks the master list, sends you ahead. The next person takes your signature on the register, applies the voter's ink (an indelible mark on the middle finger to ensure one does not re - vote) and sends you ahead. The next person activates the electronic voting machine and directs you to the voting counter where you exercise your vote. And its done. The whole process took us less than 20 mins.

Yippeee!!!

Pursuit of the Franchise

Me and wife have finally been successful in getting ourselves registered as “voters” for the current parliamentary elections. But the pursuit of this goal has been long and interesting .

Our pursuit of the franchise started way back in 2003. Being in the Armed Forces, we were sent forms from the Headquarters in New Delhi. Everyone had to fill up the forms and send them back for taking up with the Election Commission. A part of it was to be sent to your representative in the hometown. We did all that, my father went to the local electoral office and tried to register our name, but nothing happened. The entire exercise turned out to be a damp squib with lot of wastage of precious government money and bales of paper and of course increasing the carbon footprint drastically.

Inspite of the uselessness, the incident triggered my father to continuously pursue me to get myself registered as a voter and get myself an EPIC (Electoral Photo Identity Card or the Voter’s Card). While he started on the primary premise that it is an important and valid identity proof, I countered that my Armed Forces Identity Card and Passport was good enough. He was smart. He changed his tack and chided me no end that being a responsible citizen of the country I cannot afford to be lackadaisical about something as important as exercising my franchise. His efforts came to a peak when the West Bengal state election machinery swung into action in 2005. Forms were taken, couriered to Mumbai with clarifications and important places to be filled up marked in pencil. We (me, my wife and sister) filled up the form, prepared the certificates required and sent it back. My father dutifully deputed my mom to deposit the form. The photo clicking session was on in phases and it coincided with our visit home. So I had no option but to visit the local school which was the epicenter of activity. One old, typically Bong Govt babu saw my slip and asked me to go to someone else. The next babu saw the slip and gave me a thick bunch of papers and directed with the well known gruffness “find out if your name is there”. After scanning a few sheets, suddenly I spotted my grandmother’s name followed by my parents and sister. But the list didn’t have me or my wife on it!! On pursuing it with the babu regarding how everyone but we are there, we had this interesting conversation:

Babu: Why are you trying to register now when you are 28 years old?
Me: I have been studying outside and have been serving in the Armed Forces since I completed my studies. I tried registering for the postal ballot last time but nothing happened.
Babu: Then if you have not felt the need to register to vote in the last 10 years, why are you bothering now. Go to the district headquarters and try your luck there.

I was flummoxed. But I was not cowed down. Next I went to the District Headquarters and it turned out to be an experience in being shunted from one desk to another. And that was enough for me to give up any attempts to exercise my franchise.

Cut to 2008.

NGOs and groups have been highly active and I came across the mass campaign by Tata tea – Jaago Re. Registering on the website was a cake walk with the exact address for form submission provided on the electronic form generated by the website. With all proof documents, photographs and the forms, I went to the designated office. People were courteous and helpful. The form was accepted, another guy checked it out on his computer database and gave me the relevant ID nos and it was done! I was still skeptical as the last couple of weeks my searches on the Maharashtra Election Commission website was coming to naught. And then yesterday I saw that my name was there. So yippee! We are finally going to vote. And we are excited.

Those of you who think the pursuit has ended are a little mistaken. Our names have some hilarious errors. My name has now my father’s name as my middle name and it is going to be an exercise to convince that we do not use our father’s name as our middle name. My father in law has been changed from Subhendu Bhusan Dasgupta to someone called Subhendu Ghosh and my wife has now become Devasree Subhendu Ghosh! Ofcourse getting this corrected would be much easier. Thanks to technology and changing mindsets.

So let’s go vote and be part of the choice!

Taking Stock - Oindrilla

Its a year now that there has been any post on Oindrilla’s blog which was set up to chronicle her birth and growing phases for the huge group of Uncles & Aunts, Grandparents, Grand Uncles (& Aunts) and cousins spread all over the place. Days have been zipping past with us and not leaving enough time to chronicle the happenings on a regular basis. She has been growing fast (very fast I guess) and too many things have been happening. And therefore definitely busy to get back to blogging. Hence, I thought about shifting our experience chronicle to the main blog.

Just after we were back from our Durga Puja holidays (Oct 2008) Oindrilla made her first steps to interact formally in the external environment. She had to start playschool from 10^th Nov 2008. It started with visiting the studio and getting her mug shot clicked!! In fact we also had to get ourselves clicked for her school records. The Playgroup it appears has given her a much needed outlet for social interaction. She had her first sports day on 14th December. She participated in the "Mother Daughter race". All spirited, at the starting line, when the referee blew the whistle, she was bored to her gills and not keen to walk. After a few pulls, she reluctantly strolled towards the finishing line!

Jia became 2 in Jan 2009 amidst a big birthday treat for herself at the local Pizza Hut outlet. The major anomaly of the birthday party was that there were only 6 kids and 26 adults in attendance. On the family front, apart from her parents, she had both sets of grandparents, grand uncle & aunts, and a set of great grandparents too. The organizing guys never had such a scenario and had a tough time thinking of games to arrange to include elders!! But overall we had a blast. Once most of the guests had left, she and her friend Sharanya kicked off their shoes and ran amuck all over the place. And the aftermath was a bout of fever, coughs and cold for a few days. But with grandparents available to pamper her and use their innovative grandma’s medications alongwith the usual prescription meds, she was back in action in no time.

The other significant event was the Annual Function of Jia’s school. It was held at Gadkari Rangayatan – a cultural hotspot of Thane, the venue for theatres (plays) and such events. She had been showing her dance moves to us quite often but we could never make out what it was all about. They had a group dance to the rhyme “London Bridge is falling down”. Have a look at the video. One of the groups (senior class) also had a dance number against Rehman’s Jai Ho (Slumdog Millionaire). And then we realized the reason as to why she always broke into a jig whenever this was playing.
So now we have a smart lady, who is highly decisive in when and what she wants to have. Ofcourse, she is mostly on a dietary binge these days with lot of juices and less of solids ;). She is attracted to Tom and Jerry & Ben 10 shows on Cartoon Network. She also knows Ben’s “Granpa” and asks for “cartoon” whenever the TV is on. So all this has made us both, highly innovative cooks (to cater to her variable palate) and innovative excuses like “Ben has gone for dinner” or “Tom has gone sleepy”.

It is fun to experience the daily surprises and the wonderful challenges of parenting. Hope to be more regular in putting posts now that the blog is on the main site.

Amazing Team Work 2

Amazing Team Work

Office Stress 4

Office Stress 4

Office Stress 2

Office Stress 1

Men Can't Cook?

Youngest Piping Engineer