Update: i tried three-four issues of this magazine. absolutely fabulous stuff., highly recommended.

at least the promise of the magazine is good, will check it out over the next few weeks.

the attendants in the department store come from neighboring villages. various charities go to their villages, train them on basic human interaction skills and small-time english and employ them with these stores. they are over achievers in their own right.

the security guard keeps the gate half open, and such that he can keep busy opening it for incoming cars, such that he doesn’t stray away from his post. it’s to keep him occupied at his post.

the traffic doesn’t respect the lanes. if it’s a 3-lane road, the cars go 6-wide with motorcycles thrown in. if they in fact went one-behind-the-other with perfect lane discipline, the backup would stretch so far back it would clog the city to immobility in hours – guaranteed.

and then, those annoying power cuts. they happen because this country doesn’t have energy to provide for such basic things as farming. and that, while the electricity hasn’t even reached the entire population. and we depend on monsoons for our power generation, which can’t be engineered.

litter is all over the place. simply because the garbage bins placed by municipal corp get stole right off the street. and if we see that happening in front of our eyes, we turn a blind eye.

and why do goons get elected? because you and i don’t vote. and the starving man values one square meal more than the mirage of a perfect governance.

the vehicles on the road honk a lot. it still rankles me when someone honks at me. but you know., with so many cars trying to ride in such tight patters and noise all around, honks are used in many instances as cautionary notice to folks in front. i found myself saved by those honks many times on the road. yeah yeah some of them are rude, i know.

the junk inane movies are dime-a-dozen. over-the-top acting. why? most people need very easy-to-understand narration, rather than subtlety of character development. that’s why the move Shivaji is more of a success than BLACK. it’s so much simpler to take in the narration when the villain looks mean and the hero looks handsome. the least common denominator is really low here.

may be i am growing into the mode of ‘explaining things away’. this is a nation trying very hard to shake off it’s servile past. it’s trying to figure out a way to feed a billion mouths at the mercy of monsoons. it’s trying to discover the impact of education on human well-being. learning the value of money and risk taking. being non-apologetic about loving a good bollywood flick. and.. in standing up and be counted.

or i could be accused on ‘giving up’ the wish for better things. but then, that’s the way it is. this is a world of it’s own natural laws – so suspend judgment and become one with it.

people use the image of gandhi to embody everything that symbolizes indian righteousness. gandhi is as omnipresent as i have ever known: as a symbol of everything good, powerful, effective, impactful.. you name it.

gandhi-the-person-on-a-mission has grown beyond the the realm of his vision, his leadership, his principles and his times. gandhi is no longer a person. ‘gandhi’ is now a concept. it’s a way of life.

it’s a concept that trusts the innate goodness of people. it’s a belief that non-violence and courage are a more potent an explosive mix than any destructive weapon. it’s a way to influence people with the strength of conviction and the courage to follow it.

gandhi is no longer a person. it’s a way of life. for one day, for today whynot, i am a gandhi.

This kind of function is one of those things I longed to be a part of for many years while I was in the Bay Area.

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Functions like this are one of the rituals still left that connect you back to ‘the way things were’. The experience evoked a reflection on my NRI life. Oddly enough, less than 24 hours ago, my iPod picked up the title song from the movie ‘Swades’ on the shuffle play, while I was transiting thorough Hong Kong on my way back from the Bay Area.

Desis packed the shabby Naz cinema hall when the movie came out, most likely due to a strong sense of identity with with the story line: an NRI makes it big in the u.s, returns to India, and single-handedly uplifts a village. A messiah-style performance, set in a in a fairy-tale idyllic village that celebrates festivals with re-enactment of mythology, town hall functions, distribution of cheap sweets, the works.

The subliminal undercurrent among the NRI crowd has always been a mix of condescending patronage of everything Indian combined with a romantic view of a perfect life rich in culture and plush in comforts. I myself should probably plead guilty on both counts.

Once i returned to Bangalore, I chanced upon the movie on T.V., and watched it a second time. It’s as captivating as ever. With the benefit of first-hand view of the dual realities, my reaction this time was entirely different.

The sense of accomplishment and confidence that NRIs develop abroad is no different from the brimming self-assurance i see in my IIMB classmates. People in my age group have developed a can-do attitude that allows them the freedom to dream about what India *could* be. Not as an NRI or a non-NRI, but as any normal new-age professional.

The NRI backdrop in Swades merely provided a pre-text for employing a fresh pair of eyes, stretching the traditional horizons of possibility and took the courage to question everything one more time. These sentiments aren’t a monopoly of the NRIs. Everyone paying due respect to the flag today has no less daring an outlook.

There was a time when one such renaissance occurred. At that time, the Greatest NRI of All actually followed through on the instincts we all now have, and earned freedom for a nation, and taught the civility of non-violence for the world.

Who would be the new face of the second coming of India? If you were to write the New Indian Manifesto, what would it be?

]]> http://valleychai.com/blog/2008/chai/the-new-indian-manifesto/feed/ 10 http://valleychai.com/blog/2008/return-to-bangalore-india/bangalore-shopping-experience/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed http://valleychai.com/blog/2008/return-to-bangalore-india/bangalore-shopping-experience/#comments Sat, 19 Jul 2008 23:54:05 +0000 spandana http://valleychai.com/blog/2008/07/19/bangalore-shopping-experience/ a little trust, a ton of service, and one suffocating crowd after another.

it may be the widespread spend-culture, plethora of brands or may be my myopic view of the few places i frequent. as my professor at IIMB puts it, india has 350M middle-class population in india that can afford most of the good brands out there. and with GDP growth rate pegged at 9%, nobody is feeling bashful about spending what they earn.

and it shows. any decent retail outlet worth it’s food court is packed to the brim 24×7. i am not talking sunday afternoon packed. i am talking december 24th packed.

the seven-eleven shopping experience is supplanted by the neighborhood pharmacy or the ‘kirana’ stores. they stock amazing amount of merchandise in a very small place. just gotta ask him. if he doesn’t have it, he’ll get it to you by end of the day, devlivered to your door. no receipt, no sales tax. only thing missing is beer.

the regular groceries can also be bought via the safeway experience in outlets like spar supermarket and about 10 other clones. they just cost a lot more and have a nice overall experience., including the aforementioned long checkout lines. we indulge in it a few times. regardless of where you buy the fruits in particular are spectacular. they are fresh, ready to eat and totally delicious. i’ve discovered the true taste of fruits after coming here – they’re now my preferred mid-night snack.

as far as eating out goes, you have the now-familiar range of ultra-expensive to ultra-cheap. the breakfast stuff is best at the ‘darshini’ or ’sagar’ outlets. cheap, hot and pretty taste most of the time. i heard that women typically don’t go there. the city has all kinds of cuisine within a 20 min driving distance. you’d have to put up with some creative liberties with the authenticity of cuisines you expect. as they say here.. “swalpa adjust maadi”.

while looking for the furniture getting settled in, we pretty much went with the two kinds – the mythical shivaji nagar area (any auto fellow would know where it is) for the mid-range furniture. we got our guest bed set there. we shopped at lifestyle (at richmond soolay circle), @ home (near forum) and the home town (on outer ring road at marathahalli) for the living room furniture. pricey, i know. but if you want good looking furniture, you’d have to go to one of these places.

and speaking of door-step service, the “ironbox” man is awesome. he picks up the clothes, presses and delivers them back to you by evening.

all said and done, the best shopping experience is still with the vegetable vendor that comes calling punctually at 7am. he is polite, on time, reasonably priced, and you feel good supporting the hard-working man.

and finally some rules of thumb: don’t pay until someone asks you to pay and until you’ve received the goods in your hands. don’t give an advance for anything. for big ticket purchases, don’t be bashful to ask for discounts and deals. most good deals happen ‘off the books’, so don’t be anal about it. it’s part of the economy/culture. returns pretty much aren’t a norm. so feel free to open the boxes to inspect the goods before a purchase. for electrical items, the shop keeper even plugs in and demonstrates to you that it works before you buy. for many services, there isn’t a need to tip – but tip them.

but indians rushing to confer an award reeks of a diplomatic coup and of people in high places that don’t understand the fundementals of nationalism. if ms. williams is preoccupied to respect the second best civilian award and the president of a nation, she doesn’t deserve to lay her hands on the metal she is receiving.

aside from questioning her qualifications for such a high honor, i’d have to doubt our own servile leanings. and really, how badly do we suck up to anything with white skin and accented english? sad day.

while shopping for a bike in india, all said and done, it comes down to whether you want that is zippy and sporty or, a classic hog. in the sporty/zippy segment, the bajaj pulsar is the staple. then comes the hero honda kariza: a bit pricey but definitely has the looks and the performance. tvs has come out with the apache model that looks quite bad-ass and has excellent performance as well.

but i thought the sporty bikes weren’t what i want. having sold my jeep wrangler in the u.s. before i moved out to bangalore, and i had to to backfill my need to own a specimen of classic mechanical perfection. something that lets you see what it’s got, and yet have plenty of mystery underneath.

so i went with the only two motorcycles that had the looks and the performance worthy of being called a chopper. the bajaj avenger and the royal enfield bullet.

the bajaj avenger felt wanting on the raw power side. popping a sport-bike (pulsar) engine topping out at 220 cc into a cruiser bike neither gave it the performance nor the sound nor the comfort while cutting through the roads around the kasturba road. the sitting position is too low, the foot pegs too forward for practicality of the bumpy indian roads. one friend (nicknamed ‘bogo’) said it right – a cruiser is awesome on the open roads of american back country where there arent’ too many bumps. but when you git the nasty patch on the indian road, you feel it on your ass on the cruiser – it ain’t pleasant. opening the throttle yields only a quiet whimper and a purr. disappointing.

i was quiet happy with my test ride on the bullet, so i ordered the green machismo variant weighing in at 350 cc. after a 3 week wait and repeated phone calls to the dealer (jayanagar) for the status of my order, i got mine last week.

the ride home was, frankly, nervous. she felt heavy and awkward to handle. the kick-start on the right kept getting in the way of my right leg when i stop, so i kept using my left leg. the engine halted once or twice but that’s rider-error. after a day or two, i took her out for my ride to work from koramangala to domlur.

breaking into the gear shift was a bit rough. hanging a right through the sony world junction, i was awkwardly groping for various gear positions, and the complaining growls it made were quite embarrassing. but once you know the spots, she shifts smooth as butter. she definitely does let you know when she’s happy and she ain’t. once you let her loose, she makes that familiar thumping noise, and you know you and her are in perfect harmony. shifting into gears as i rip through the intermediate ring road, you feel the raw power in your hands and the heat from the engine on your legs. the seating position is perfect and the overstated engine rhythm runs up the spine. the ride is firm, smooth and sure-footed, but in case you forget, the big tank in front is a reminder of what you are riding. i let ‘er rev in the 4th gear, but you can’t go faster on that road. leaves you wondering how it’d be when she’s ripping at 120.

it was cloudy and overcast on my way home, and the chill of the pre-rain wind shows exactly what ’sticking your nose in the wind’ really means. and then it started to rain. i had taken the visor off the helmet for the ride, don’t really mind getting wet. as she’s rumbles through the rain, you can’t help but wonder why men dig something big and powerful between their legs.