Saturday, September 12, 2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009
pictures from Algeria
A view of the street from the hotel lobby
A view of the countryside from the bus to work
A grand mosque under construction
nobody messes around with these guys
graffiti on a side street in Mostaganem
Dropped an aitch
Saturday, August 8, 2009
DEATH: Violent, Occasionally Sublime, Always Guaranteed - 2
Before the final moment of truth for the bull, there are several increasingly bloody stages by which the bull is reduced from a rampaging, unstoppable killing machine to a panting, disoriented, tortured creature - still too proud and uncomprehending of its destruction.
In this picture you see a magical moment when the prey and the killer are as one.
This bull had been particularly brave - charging tirelessly, shaking off the banderillas (harpoon pointed shafts), feinting, attacking, taking the fight to its tormentors.
The matador finally managed to pierce its heart with his sword, and waited tensely for it to fall. But the bull just refused to die. It kept standing there, spurting blood from its mouth and from the multiple wounds, panting and staring at the man.
And then something happened. Something beyond the contest passed between the bull and its killer. The matador, perhaps, had his own moment of truth.
He slowly inched his way to the side of the bull, placed his cape on its back and started caressing its back, with his head hung as if in silent prayer for the bull's soul.
Only then did the great animal finally decide to give up and die.
The thunderous applause that followed was as much for the magnificent beast as for the matador.
But let us begin at the beginning to understand why this was such an unequal, unfair contest.
(to be continued)
In this picture you see a magical moment when the prey and the killer are as one.
This bull had been particularly brave - charging tirelessly, shaking off the banderillas (harpoon pointed shafts), feinting, attacking, taking the fight to its tormentors.
The matador finally managed to pierce its heart with his sword, and waited tensely for it to fall. But the bull just refused to die. It kept standing there, spurting blood from its mouth and from the multiple wounds, panting and staring at the man.
And then something happened. Something beyond the contest passed between the bull and its killer. The matador, perhaps, had his own moment of truth.
He slowly inched his way to the side of the bull, placed his cape on its back and started caressing its back, with his head hung as if in silent prayer for the bull's soul.
Only then did the great animal finally decide to give up and die.
The thunderous applause that followed was as much for the magnificent beast as for the matador.
But let us begin at the beginning to understand why this was such an unequal, unfair contest.
(to be continued)
Saturday, August 1, 2009
DEATH: Violent, Occasionally Sublime, Always Guaranteed - 1
These are my impressions of my first visit to a bullfight in Spain.
I delayed writing this because I wanted to read Hemingway's "Death In The Afternoon" before I started and I'm glad I did. Whatever I have written here is as a candle next to the sun when compared to the book. I recommend that everyone reads the book. Irrespective of the subject, it's exquisite writing. And on the subject itself, it's like a seductive bible written by a questioning, amoral believer.
I went to my bullfight in Barcelona which perhaps was not the ideal choice. Catalonia is just barely Spain. All things Catalan are fundamentally at cross purposes with the rest of the country.
The very fact that the bull fight still survives in Catalonia is in itself a salute to the law of the land and it is also, as yet, a symbol of the overarching but tenuous string of federalism that still binds this frisky province to the rest of the nation. Catalans in general do not approve of bullfighting and for years now have been waging an intense political campaign to ban the "sport" in their state.
It was a glorious, sunny Sunday afternoon. Across the road from the venue, there was a small group of anti bullfight protesters holding placards, sullen and silent. Carefully watching over them were three beautiful, tough looking policewomen.
There was a steady stream of people, mostly Spaniards and the mandatory sprinkling of American and Japanese tourists, buying tickets at the counters and strolling into the building. The mood was rather business like.
The ticket prices were reduced, I was told at the hotel reception where I booked mine, because the bulls on that day were not as big as they ought to have been.
Now here's the essence of the Spanish bullfight:
Six magnificent bulls, each weighing on an average half a ton, which have never faced a man in a ring before, will be killed one after the other before the evening is done. No bull leaves the ring alive. And when you see these proud beasts prancing into the ring with their skin glistening, their muscles rippling and their head held high, you realize that the bull has no idea of its imminent death.
For everyone else, that - the bull's death - is a given. A guarantee. The end result is always the same. (Well, almost always, but I'll come to that later).
How these six deadly, glorious creatures meet their inevitable end, one after the other, in the course of the evening is the story. The spectacle.
The entire drama is governed by a very elaborate and strict set of rules. These rules define each stage of this unequal contest. These rules attempt to lend a sense of balance to what is essentially a carefully choreographed series of assassinations. As if six Caesars were first corralled and given some space before being attacked. And killed.
The truth is that even the most accomplished of bullfighters has absolutely no chance of survival with even the most cowardly or reluctant of bulls, if they were to meet one on one, both unaided, one armed with a sword and the other with two lethal horns, and if the rest of the steps that precede the final encounter between them were eliminated.
As I said, this really is not a "fight". It is an assassination.
(to be continued)
I delayed writing this because I wanted to read Hemingway's "Death In The Afternoon" before I started and I'm glad I did. Whatever I have written here is as a candle next to the sun when compared to the book. I recommend that everyone reads the book. Irrespective of the subject, it's exquisite writing. And on the subject itself, it's like a seductive bible written by a questioning, amoral believer.
I went to my bullfight in Barcelona which perhaps was not the ideal choice. Catalonia is just barely Spain. All things Catalan are fundamentally at cross purposes with the rest of the country.
The very fact that the bull fight still survives in Catalonia is in itself a salute to the law of the land and it is also, as yet, a symbol of the overarching but tenuous string of federalism that still binds this frisky province to the rest of the nation. Catalans in general do not approve of bullfighting and for years now have been waging an intense political campaign to ban the "sport" in their state.
It was a glorious, sunny Sunday afternoon. Across the road from the venue, there was a small group of anti bullfight protesters holding placards, sullen and silent. Carefully watching over them were three beautiful, tough looking policewomen.
There was a steady stream of people, mostly Spaniards and the mandatory sprinkling of American and Japanese tourists, buying tickets at the counters and strolling into the building. The mood was rather business like.
The ticket prices were reduced, I was told at the hotel reception where I booked mine, because the bulls on that day were not as big as they ought to have been.
Now here's the essence of the Spanish bullfight:
Six magnificent bulls, each weighing on an average half a ton, which have never faced a man in a ring before, will be killed one after the other before the evening is done. No bull leaves the ring alive. And when you see these proud beasts prancing into the ring with their skin glistening, their muscles rippling and their head held high, you realize that the bull has no idea of its imminent death.
For everyone else, that - the bull's death - is a given. A guarantee. The end result is always the same. (Well, almost always, but I'll come to that later).
How these six deadly, glorious creatures meet their inevitable end, one after the other, in the course of the evening is the story. The spectacle.
The entire drama is governed by a very elaborate and strict set of rules. These rules define each stage of this unequal contest. These rules attempt to lend a sense of balance to what is essentially a carefully choreographed series of assassinations. As if six Caesars were first corralled and given some space before being attacked. And killed.
The truth is that even the most accomplished of bullfighters has absolutely no chance of survival with even the most cowardly or reluctant of bulls, if they were to meet one on one, both unaided, one armed with a sword and the other with two lethal horns, and if the rest of the steps that precede the final encounter between them were eliminated.
As I said, this really is not a "fight". It is an assassination.
(to be continued)
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
3 Ganja Stories
I read these pieces in the police update section of The Hindu over the last few weeks
Woman held for growing ganja plants
Staff Reporter
BANGALORE: An employee of a private medical institution was arrested here on Tuesday night for allegedly growing marijuana plants at her rented house.
On a tip-off, the Viveknagar police raided a house on 2nd Main of Viveknagar Extension and seized 16 marijuana plants, generally known as ganja plants, being grown in pots. The police arrested Asha Christopher (32), a nurse at a medical institution in Wilson Garden.
The accused is a native of Wilson Garden, and the police said she was estranged from her parents and her husband. The police said that she had rented the house on the fourth floor of a building seven months ago, where she was allegedly growing ganja plants. The marijuana plants were planted in two flowerpots and placed in the portico. During the course of investigation, the accused confessed to planting and growing them for a few months. However, she did not reveal about the origin of ganja seeds or about her associates, the officer said. Asha was subjected to medical examination here on Wednesday, and the police have requested the Forest Department to assess the value of the seized plants. A case has been registered against the accused under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1985.
BANGALORE: Two men with criminal antecedents died after they stabbed each other following a petty quarrel in J.J. Nagar police station limits.
The police gave their names as Zabi (23) of Padarayanapura and Yasin (27) of Mominpura. Around 11 p.m. on Sunday, Zabi and Yasin, who were drunk and were smoking ganja near the Mominpura burial ground, started quarrelling over money. Following a verbal duel, the two attacked each other with knives. As the two suffered injuries in the abdomen, their relatives rushed them to hospital. The two died in the early hours of Monday, the police said.
Man arrested on charge of selling ganja
Staff Reporter
BANGALORE: Siddapura police on Saturday seized 23 kg of ganja from Aiyappan (40), a resident of Byrasandra.
According to the police, Aiyappan was caught when he was selling ganja from his car to college students in Doddakallasandra.
The police arrested him and recovered four kg ganja from the car. Later, based on information provided by him during interrogation, the police searched his house in Byrasandra and seized 19 more kg of ganja. According to the police, the value of the seized ganja is more than Rs. 1.5 lakh in the international market. The police suspect that Aiyappan used to get his stock from Afghanistan. Further investigation is on.
Now, which story is the real rocknrolla here?
The nurse got some fat cops to walk up and down four flights of stairs; she got the Forest Department to do some urban evaluation and she has successfully gotten herself booked under an exotic act for which the trial might go one for the next 3 years...
Meanwhile 2 losers killed each other around midnight in a cemetery and Mr. Aiyappan is probably out on bail and holidaying with his business associates in Dubai (via Afghanistan!).
My vote is for that stoned nurse... imagine that woman groping for a vein at 3 AM on a Saturday morning to get a blood sample from you when you get busted for DUI.
Woman held for growing ganja plants
Staff Reporter
BANGALORE: An employee of a private medical institution was arrested here on Tuesday night for allegedly growing marijuana plants at her rented house.
On a tip-off, the Viveknagar police raided a house on 2nd Main of Viveknagar Extension and seized 16 marijuana plants, generally known as ganja plants, being grown in pots. The police arrested Asha Christopher (32), a nurse at a medical institution in Wilson Garden.
The accused is a native of Wilson Garden, and the police said she was estranged from her parents and her husband. The police said that she had rented the house on the fourth floor of a building seven months ago, where she was allegedly growing ganja plants. The marijuana plants were planted in two flowerpots and placed in the portico. During the course of investigation, the accused confessed to planting and growing them for a few months. However, she did not reveal about the origin of ganja seeds or about her associates, the officer said. Asha was subjected to medical examination here on Wednesday, and the police have requested the Forest Department to assess the value of the seized plants. A case has been registered against the accused under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1985.
BANGALORE: Two men with criminal antecedents died after they stabbed each other following a petty quarrel in J.J. Nagar police station limits.
The police gave their names as Zabi (23) of Padarayanapura and Yasin (27) of Mominpura. Around 11 p.m. on Sunday, Zabi and Yasin, who were drunk and were smoking ganja near the Mominpura burial ground, started quarrelling over money. Following a verbal duel, the two attacked each other with knives. As the two suffered injuries in the abdomen, their relatives rushed them to hospital. The two died in the early hours of Monday, the police said.
Man arrested on charge of selling ganja
Staff Reporter
BANGALORE: Siddapura police on Saturday seized 23 kg of ganja from Aiyappan (40), a resident of Byrasandra.
According to the police, Aiyappan was caught when he was selling ganja from his car to college students in Doddakallasandra.
The police arrested him and recovered four kg ganja from the car. Later, based on information provided by him during interrogation, the police searched his house in Byrasandra and seized 19 more kg of ganja. According to the police, the value of the seized ganja is more than Rs. 1.5 lakh in the international market. The police suspect that Aiyappan used to get his stock from Afghanistan. Further investigation is on.
Now, which story is the real rocknrolla here?
The nurse got some fat cops to walk up and down four flights of stairs; she got the Forest Department to do some urban evaluation and she has successfully gotten herself booked under an exotic act for which the trial might go one for the next 3 years...
Meanwhile 2 losers killed each other around midnight in a cemetery and Mr. Aiyappan is probably out on bail and holidaying with his business associates in Dubai (via Afghanistan!).
My vote is for that stoned nurse... imagine that woman groping for a vein at 3 AM on a Saturday morning to get a blood sample from you when you get busted for DUI.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
A butcher slaughtered...
Is there any lesson at all for humanity in the ugly story of Prabhakaran's life? And, if indeed there was one, will anyone even remember it a few weeks from now?
I distinctly remember that The Hindu initially used the term "freedom fighters" to describe VP and his gang back in the 70's. It was very thrilling to read.
But as the years rolled by, that romantic, heroic fiction of a modern day Che, a Tamil Robin Hood, an Asian Castro, a veritable "hero", turned out to be just that: fiction dosed with a large slug of wishful thinking.
The evidence was there for all to see right from the early days - the serial assassinations of political rivals; the murders (executions) of close aides who were perceived as potential threats; the cynical, nerveless massacre of innocent civilians; a complete disregard for international protocol - all the pieces were in place, but no one in the Indian media was willing to recognize them as such. VP was too good a story for the media to play spoilsport. And politicians of all hues gleefully jumped on the bandwagon for their own devious, filthy reasons.
In the final count, Prabhakaran wrought more damage, permanent damage, to the legitimate aspirations of Sri Lankan Tamils than all the Singhalese governments of the last 50 years put together. Prabhakaran single handedly circled the history of the Tamils with a dark, black ring of shame with his psychopathy and megalomania.
It is chilling to reflect that only if Prabhakaran had been even a fraction more politically savvy he might have actually won the mantle of international legitimacy that he so craved.
Makes me wonder about the thing they say about people always getting the leader they deserve!
I distinctly remember that The Hindu initially used the term "freedom fighters" to describe VP and his gang back in the 70's. It was very thrilling to read.
But as the years rolled by, that romantic, heroic fiction of a modern day Che, a Tamil Robin Hood, an Asian Castro, a veritable "hero", turned out to be just that: fiction dosed with a large slug of wishful thinking.
The evidence was there for all to see right from the early days - the serial assassinations of political rivals; the murders (executions) of close aides who were perceived as potential threats; the cynical, nerveless massacre of innocent civilians; a complete disregard for international protocol - all the pieces were in place, but no one in the Indian media was willing to recognize them as such. VP was too good a story for the media to play spoilsport. And politicians of all hues gleefully jumped on the bandwagon for their own devious, filthy reasons.
In the final count, Prabhakaran wrought more damage, permanent damage, to the legitimate aspirations of Sri Lankan Tamils than all the Singhalese governments of the last 50 years put together. Prabhakaran single handedly circled the history of the Tamils with a dark, black ring of shame with his psychopathy and megalomania.
It is chilling to reflect that only if Prabhakaran had been even a fraction more politically savvy he might have actually won the mantle of international legitimacy that he so craved.
Makes me wonder about the thing they say about people always getting the leader they deserve!
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Does India have to be alarmed, or even worried, about Obama's Outsourcing Promise Kept?
I'm no economist but no ostrich either. This morning I bent my mind around the furore created by Obama's ending of tax breaks to U.S. of A companies that invest and create jobs abroad.
The way I see it, there is a fundamental law of efficiencies that governs ALL activity. In it's simplest form (the only form that I can understand, given that I do not have an MBA, not even a cheap, mass produced, mail-order, Indian one, let alone a fancy phoren one) this law, I think, works like this: Inefficiencies in any system are either eliminated or the system dies.
So, if by preventing the export of American jobs, Obama's measure leads to greater efficiencies in the impacted companies, then the universe is anyway unfolding as it should and the countries that temporarily lose those jobs will move on to find better products to sell to the world in order to prosper.
If on the other hand, as claimed by some experts, this is a retrograde move and American companies become less efficient because of this, then eventually American products will cease to be attractive and the world will stop buying them (Chrysler, anyone?). Again, the countries that were temporarily affected will eventually find their rightful space provided they still have attractive products to offer the world.
Either way, in outsourcing too as in all industries, there is a constant, inexorable tectonic shift towards ever greater productivity, profitability and what have you.
Even if Obama had done nothing, India would eventually find itself priced out of the market if it did not constantly chase efficiencies by, just for example, moving the BPO jobs out of locations like Bangalore (that are already pricing themselves out of the market) to smaller cities and towns. And by other similar policy and governance activism - both big and small.
So, if we did not give in to this Great Indian Desire To Dramatize and just sat back and reflected for a moment, this whole thing just might be a blessing in disguise. A gentle poke up the collective Indian gluteus maximus, so to speak, that wakes us all up from this pleasant picnic that was the BPO BOOM.
After all, till a decade ago "BPO" was as new a concept to us as "3G Telephony" now is...
And, it's not like this entire "BPO" thing is India's birthright. Just happened that the Chinese, the Russians and the Brazilians didn't know English and we did....
The way I see it, there is a fundamental law of efficiencies that governs ALL activity. In it's simplest form (the only form that I can understand, given that I do not have an MBA, not even a cheap, mass produced, mail-order, Indian one, let alone a fancy phoren one) this law, I think, works like this: Inefficiencies in any system are either eliminated or the system dies.
So, if by preventing the export of American jobs, Obama's measure leads to greater efficiencies in the impacted companies, then the universe is anyway unfolding as it should and the countries that temporarily lose those jobs will move on to find better products to sell to the world in order to prosper.
If on the other hand, as claimed by some experts, this is a retrograde move and American companies become less efficient because of this, then eventually American products will cease to be attractive and the world will stop buying them (Chrysler, anyone?). Again, the countries that were temporarily affected will eventually find their rightful space provided they still have attractive products to offer the world.
Either way, in outsourcing too as in all industries, there is a constant, inexorable tectonic shift towards ever greater productivity, profitability and what have you.
Even if Obama had done nothing, India would eventually find itself priced out of the market if it did not constantly chase efficiencies by, just for example, moving the BPO jobs out of locations like Bangalore (that are already pricing themselves out of the market) to smaller cities and towns. And by other similar policy and governance activism - both big and small.
So, if we did not give in to this Great Indian Desire To Dramatize and just sat back and reflected for a moment, this whole thing just might be a blessing in disguise. A gentle poke up the collective Indian gluteus maximus, so to speak, that wakes us all up from this pleasant picnic that was the BPO BOOM.
After all, till a decade ago "BPO" was as new a concept to us as "3G Telephony" now is...
And, it's not like this entire "BPO" thing is India's birthright. Just happened that the Chinese, the Russians and the Brazilians didn't know English and we did....
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