tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58637196731140815952024-03-13T05:33:15.808-07:00bits and bytesRupa Chatterjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09738904836859776006noreply@blogger.comBlogger76125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5863719673114081595.post-41424948089902532402013-12-06T08:11:00.002-08:002013-12-06T08:11:40.308-08:00The meaning of Mandela to a Mahatma fan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Nelson Mandela was many things to many people. What the man and his message meant to South Africa and the rest of the world doesn't need repeating. As a citizen of the world I too reveled in his greatness, his capacity to spread cheer and hope with his very presence, his innate serenity that seemed infectious. But as an Indian and a lifelong fan of a man Mandela himself drew inspiration from, Madiba also gave me a distant glimpse into the persona of the Mahatma.<br />
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I am a privileged Indian born in a free country. But I came into this world a quarter century after Mahatma Gandhi had left it. Annual commemorations, history books and cinema kept bringing that great Indian harbinger of hope to life for me through my childhood, and I became a devoted fan. The strength that radiated from his small, frail frame was enough to rally an entire nation and bring an occupying empire to its knees. It still seems unfathomable that the force of the Mahatma's personality was enough to spread his message of peaceful resistance across a large country before the era of rapid transit, 24-hour news and instant messaging.<br />
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Whenever I watched interviews of people who had known or met the Mahatma, I was puzzled by their slightly mesmeric recollections. They weren't just recounting memories - it was as if they still felt his forceful presence. That bafflement and slight skepticism were put to rest when I stepped into Gandhi's small, sparsely furnished office at the famous ashram on the banks of the Sabarmati river in Ahmedabad. I can't explain the depth of the feeling of serenity that descended into my person as I stood gazing at his floor-level scribe's desk with a pair of wire-rimmed glasses perched atop. Never until then - nor since - had I felt so calm, so humble. And visiting the mansion in New Delhi where the Mahatma was assassinated left me inexplicably agitated. For me at least, the Mahatma's aura transcended time.<br />
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Curious about what it might have been like for people who were blessed enough to be in the presence of India's great soul, I closely watched the faces of people who shook hands with the South African Mahatma of my time. Even on television I could see the pure joy on their faces and the instant relaxing of tense muscles. It was as if being in Mandela's orbit made them all want to be more humane, more forgiving, more resolute.<br />
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Mahatma Gandhi's legacy for India is uncontested. Without his stewardship our struggle for independence would have been a lot more bloody and devastating. But history is beginning to be a little more harsh in judging him as time goes by. There are now murmurings about some of his human failings. I, however, remain a staunch fan. Flaws and vices are part of being human. But how many of us had/have the fortitude to lead teeming millions to freedom from a brutal oppressor without much bloodshed? <br />
<br />
Madiba and the Mahatma were remarkable human beings. They both chose the more difficult, morally sound path. Just apply their principles to your life if you still need proof of their fortitude. Isn't is easier to bear a grudge than forgive? Isn't it easier to be blinded by rage than be guided by calm objectivity? Isn't it easier to cower with fear than to stare your bully down? Aren't more of us increasingly opting for retribution over reconciliation? Can you imagine being locked away for a third of your life and coming out of it smiling, hopeful, forgiving and strong as Mandela did? You'd think it would take superhuman capabilities to do that. But these men were human, like you and me. If they can do so much, can't we do at least a little to be better and more humane?<br />
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Perhaps the next Mandela or Gandhi is already among us. I hope I get to meet him/her this time.<br />
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Rupa Chatterjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09738904836859776006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5863719673114081595.post-36151843829494093412013-10-18T15:24:00.000-07:002013-10-18T15:24:17.206-07:00Sexist subtext<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I've spotted a very subtle yet obvious sexist subtext to some television commercials in Canada of late and it is a little disturbing. On the face of it the ads don't seem offensive. But there is some subliminal stereotyping of female roles/behaviors and gender expectations being broadcast into our homes and collective sub-conscience. <br />
<br />
The first is a Nivea anti-perspirant product for women that apparently combats stress sweat. Turns out the very stressed-out subject is the girlfriend or female friend of a contestant on a Who Wants To Be a Millionaire-type game show. She's extremely tense before the contestant locks in the final answer and apparently survives those trying moments of suspense untainted by perspiration only because she used the Nivea product. My question is if you're attempting to create the illusion of a very stressful situation, wouldn't making the woman the contestant have worked just as easily - perhaps better? I can bet the person in the hot seat would be more prone to perspiring than one in the spectator gallery.<br />
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The next comes from Canada's telecoms giant Rogers. This dapper man walks into a Rogers store to ask about changing his mobile phone plan. The whole time he has his phone to the ear and the girlfriend/wife's tinny voice coming through. Here go the stereotypes - she seems like she can talk the hind legs off a donkey; her side of the conversation is entirely about shopping; and she, naturally, talks about buying shoes. So our poor protagonist mentions his new couples plan better have unlimited minutes. This sexist overload is enough to make my brain explode. <br />
<br />
The third offending commercial is from Vicks. On the eve of the dreaded flu season this company urges you to use its DayQuil and NyQuil to get mommy back on her feet as soon as possible so she can slave away to make everyone else's day better and easier. It shows a little brother and sister talking about what their mom will do for them the following day because she will - obviously- have recovered overnight. The premise is meant to be cute. I find it anything but.<br />
<br />
I am disappointed to see commercials like these in a country that claims to value rights above all else. Some might say I'm reading too much into what are meant to be light, amusing vignettes from everyday life. But the problem is that this subtle reinforcement of gender expectations and generalizations is being absorbed on a mass scale. It sneaks into the subconscious, hibernates there undetected and can spring out and ambush us some day. So why not vet commercials a little more before they're released? Self-regulation should be good enough because I still have faith in people's innate goodness. And Canadians have to protect their reputation of being proper. Let's not send these messed-up messages out there.<br />
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Rupa Chatterjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09738904836859776006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5863719673114081595.post-77659717804396509372013-08-29T09:03:00.001-07:002013-08-29T09:03:48.099-07:00The Syrian conundrum <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
(May 29, 2013, Facebook status)<br />
<br />
<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">Spare
a moment to think of what it might be like to live today as an ordinary
Syrian. What is it like to not know if you'll see tomorrow, if your
children have a future at all? Not know who to trust? To see a
government that is supposed to look out for your welfare turn up to
butcher you and your family instead? To see a resistance movement
hopelessly start to lose its way and become a pawn in the<span class="text_exposed_show">
hands regional geopolitics? To watch the world stand idly by, reluctant
to intervene? To watch it shed tears for victims of terrorists and
natural disasters elsewhere but turn its back on the mass murders you're
living through every moment? How can one have the will and grit to live
through months of this torture, endure the unendurable for so long? How
can a man be so hungry for power that he thinks nothing of nearly
wiping out his brethren just to remain in office? How is this possible?
Why is it being allowed to happen? Can we do absolutely nothing? There
must be a way to end this cycle of insanity. How can ordinary people
like you and I help?</span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
(August 22)<br />
<br />
<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">Conditions
in Syria seem to have escalated from horrific to barbaric and the world
still stands by wringing its hands in helplessness. How can this
butchery be allowed to go on?</span><br />
<br />
(August 28)<br />
<br />
<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">The
world's conscience is finally forcing a move on Syria. But things will
likely get much worse before they get even a little bit better. If an
attack is opened, the prospect of civilian casualties fills me with
dread. But is there any other way to dethrone that madman Assad?</span><br />
<br />
<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">(August 29)</span><br />
<br />
<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">How
deep runs the devastating legacy of the Iraq misadventure! All the
leading military powers that feel intervention in Syria is becoming
essential are continually second guessing themselves and each other.
Britain's Labour Party, which under Blair made the UK blindly follow
Bush into Iraq, is now espousing extreme caution, calling for "evidence"
before action. Every power is praying that clinical strikes launched
offshore will be enough to cower Assad, praying a solution can be found
without deploying boots on the ground. What a difference a decade makes.</span> </span></div>
Rupa Chatterjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09738904836859776006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5863719673114081595.post-86117487967094996062013-08-29T08:57:00.002-07:002013-08-29T08:57:51.746-07:00Jai Hind<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
(August 15 Facebook status)<br />
<br />
<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">Sending
my love to India on Independence Day. Ours is an astounding land of
over a billion people, over a billion opinions (generally loudly
expressed), and over a billion gripes. A place where there is so much
wrong, yet so much right. Mumbai's local trains are a perfect microcosm,
don't you think? The hordes rush to board. There is some gentle
elbowing, some aggressive pushing. Yet in the end we make room for
everyone, we "adjust". It may be a little bit uncomfortable at times,
but it'll get you where you need to go. Vande Mataram, and Jai Hind all.</span></div>
Rupa Chatterjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09738904836859776006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5863719673114081595.post-80751434255410473512013-08-29T08:55:00.000-07:002013-08-29T08:55:55.892-07:00Secularism defamed<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="_1x1">
<div class="userContentWrapper">
<div class="_wk">
<div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_521f6e4102a976578883028">
<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"> (July 30, 2013, Facebook status)</span></div>
<div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_521f6e4102a976578883028">
<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><br /></span></div>
<div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_521f6e4102a976578883028">
<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">We
grew up learning that secularism is a virtue when it comes to
governance. The idea that personal faith shouldn't dictate government
functioning and policy to me, even today, sounds like a very sane
principle to follow. Religion and governance should never mix in an
ideal world. After moving to this part of the world I was shocked to
learn that "secular" can be construed as a bad thing. I am spe<span class="text_exposed_show">aking
of the conservative political forces in the West to whom "secular" and
"liberal" are terrible, dangerous words. Now I hear that back home BJP's
Rajnath Singh has launched a broadside on what he reportedly calls
"secularitis". The BJP's religious leanings are no secret. But when its
leader openly launches an attack on one of the ideals enshrined in the
preamble of the Indian Constitution, it doesn't bode well for the
country.</span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<span class="UFIBlingBoxTimeline"><span data-reactid=".r[42oss]"><a class="mls UFIBlingBoxTimelineItem" data-ft="{"tn":"O"}" data-hover="tooltip" data-reactid=".r[42oss].[2]" data-tooltip-alignh="right" href="https://www.facebook.com/shares/view?id=10151590395332613" rel="async"><span data-reactid=".r[42oss].[2].[0]"><span class="UFIBlingBoxText" data-reactid=".r[42oss].[2].[0].[1]"></span></span></a></span></span><span class="UIActionLinks UIActionLinks_bottom" data-ft="{"tn":"=","type":20}"><span></span></span></div>
Rupa Chatterjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09738904836859776006noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5863719673114081595.post-4060259115422298902012-02-16T16:22:00.000-08:002012-02-16T16:46:20.534-08:00PornucopiaCan people please get back to being perverts on their own private time. Are men so hard up (pun unintended) for sex that they have to watch pornography at work? And what does it say of them if the workplace happens to be a legislative body or a police department?<br /><br />First we hear of a few lawmakers in the southern Indian state of Karnataka watching porn on a mobile phone while attending a legislative assembly session. And now we hear that police in Vancouver are taking disciplinary action against 14 officers and a civilian employee for e-mailing porn on the department's computers.<br /><br />Jeez! A little self-restraint, please. Watch all the smut you want at home. There's no place for pornucopia in public life. Having to mind the minders is a disgraceful waste of resources. So grow up and rein in the inner sicko.Rupa Chatterjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09738904836859776006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5863719673114081595.post-10285123058413786542011-06-21T09:44:00.000-07:002011-06-21T10:37:14.065-07:00Parents say the darndest thingsA couple of nights ago, as we were making our usual torturous, slow march towards the kids' bedtime, I suddenly found myself hollering: "And remember you have to brush every one of your teeth. Not just the ones in front".<br /><br />As soon as the words escaped my mouth, I realised I had never in my life thought I'd ever need to say anything quite like that. An exchange of this kind would sound so very peculiar to someone who has never been a parent. But to any mother of typical, scraggly pre-teen boys, that sentence is nothing out of the ordinary.<br /><br />Every time my father overhears me saying something that bizarre to my kids, he guffaws and refers to the 1960 Doris Day classic <span style="font-style: italic;">Please Don't Eat the Daisies</span>. Now that movie title would flummox most, but never a parent of young children. To a mum or dad it sounds like a completely sane and reasonable request to the imps.<br /><br />As a parent, you do honestly catch yourself saying the strangest things every once in a while. Like I distinctly remember telling one of my boys once not to lick the banister. And another time to kindly not try to stuff his head into a dog's mouth. And to please not press the elevator buttons with the nose. And to please not use his teeth to pick litter off the carpet. And to please not leave shoe prints on the ceiling by tossing footwear up every night. And to please not chuck the school uniform out of the sixth floor window when changing. And to please learn to ignore the monster he imagines is standing behind him when he is in the shower (this at lunch today).<br /><br />If you're not a parent, yes, our breed does say the darndest things. If you are a parent, please share some of the gems in your "things you never thought you'd say" collection.Rupa Chatterjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09738904836859776006noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5863719673114081595.post-21696329975282311292011-06-01T18:16:00.000-07:002011-06-01T18:56:44.633-07:00Nightgowns kill taste-of-home glowIt felt very much like being home this Wednesday; like being in faraway India. A hot (albeit comparatively benevolent) sun had been beating down all day. The asphalt glittered in the glare. A strong warm breeze raced through leafy avenues, knocking planters over and blowing the lids off litter bins lined up along the kerbs for garbage collection day. The wind wrestled stray bits of garbage out of the bins, dry leaves and clumps of mowed grass out of yard waste bags and tossed them around the streets.<br /><br />Coming after a long stretch of a gray, wet spring, this was all very welcome. Smiles were back on the faces of passers-by, as was a leisurely gait, replacing the tight, crumpled expressions and urgent pace of walking through frigid air. Ah, it was nice. And it reminded me so much of home.<br /><br />The icing on the cake of the uninterrupted Indian experience was dinner at China Cottage. Don't be misled by the name. China Cottage is as Chinese as <span style="font-style: italic;">paneer pakora</span>. This is a Hakka Chinese chain of restaurants, as far removed from authentic Chinese cuisine as India's ubiquitous chicken manchurian. The pictures on the walls include the Taj Mahal. Hindi film songs from the 1950s and 1960s waft through the air. The clientele is almost entirely South Asian. And sickly-sweet, congealed sweet-and-sour dishes fly out of the kitchen faster than you can say <span style="font-style: italic;">bhel puri</span>.<br /><br />So there we were sitting back, letting this overwhelming feel and taste of home wash over us when in walked another Indian family and immediately our nostalgic trip came to a dramatic screeching halt, wheels throwing off sparks. The party in question consisted of a baby in a portable car seat, her mother, her father and the two grand moms. It was all very casual. The young couple wore tees and slacks, and their moms nightgowns. Yes, NIGHTGOWNS. For dinner at a restaurant.<br /><br />The vision transported us right back to middle class New Delhi where <span style="font-style: italic;">auntyjis</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">matajis</span> come out for their evening strolls in their billowing cotton nightgowns in gawdy prints. The only difference was the <span style="font-style: italic;">matajis</span> at China Cottage in Toronto had shed the sheath of modesty that is the <span style="font-style: italic;">dupatta</span>, casually draped over ample, sagging bosoms in New Delhi.<br /><br />The spectacle immediately pushed our Indian high from a healthy dose to a potentially lethal overdose. We'd had enough of a taste of home. Thanks, <span style="font-style: italic;">matajis</span>, for killing the afterglow.Rupa Chatterjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09738904836859776006noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5863719673114081595.post-8011273950650965292011-04-12T18:00:00.000-07:002011-04-13T05:21:42.796-07:00A pointless, premature ritual?Popularised in Thatcher-era Britain and enthusiastically embraced in Indian polity, "TINA", it appears, is coming home to roost in Canada. So far it seems there is no alternative (TINA) to ousted prime minister Stephen Harper. Canadian voters will most likely wake up on May 3 to see they've gone through another premature and expensive election the previous day just to return Harper to office.<br /><br />This is the first time I'm in the midst of an election without feeling an emotional tug towards any side. This cold objectivity is actually quite refreshing. As a non-Canadian in Canada I am sort of on the outside looking in, though I am in the general vicinity. It sure is fun.<br /><br />I just watched the first televised debate between the leaders of the four major parties - Harper representing his Conservative Party, Michael Ignatieff of the Liberal Party, Jack Layton of the New Democratic Party (NDP) and Gilles Duceppe of the Bloc Quebecois. To be brutally honest, the debate was a little dull. There were no fireworks. There was very little charisma. And there wasn't much conviction.<br /><br />You see, I am used to the very shrill, colourful and chaotic Indian general election. Now that is electrifying and extremely entertaining. There are scores of parties, thousands of candidates. There is high drama at every turn. There is no possibility of a televised debate. Imagine if a representative of every party with an MP in the outgoing Parliament was allowed to participate (that's the criterion for the Canadian TV debate). For the current Lok Sabha (lower house of Indian Parliament), that would be 38 debaters! In contrast, this was a very Canadian affair - restrained, polite and, er, dull.<br /><br />Going by the Liberal Party's past record, Ignatieff is the challenger with the best shot at knocking Harper off the throne. But it's hard to take the man seriously. Even if you don't let Harper's vilification campaign through TV ads sway you, it is impossible to completely trust Ignatieff. The man seems like an ageing party boy. And I don't know why, each time he took the floor during the debate I kept seeing Dubya Bush! No, Ignatieff isn't as thick. But there's just something about the man that is so much like W. And it came as no surprise to me when NDP's Layton pointed out that the Liberal leader had played hooky through most sessions of the just dissolved Parliament. (See, there's the party boy).<br /><br />To me, Layton came across as the most credible and sincere of the lot. Now I don't know much about the man. This is my outsider's perspective, judging just by his debate performance. But his NDP just doesn't have enough following to propel him to office.<br /><br />As for Duceppe, he needn't have been there at all. It was Quebec vs Canada all the way. Harper was the only debater who mentioned on a few occasions that Duceppe's Bloc hopes to break the country. It reminded me of Kashmir and India, seeing how Quebec is treated with kid gloves; how Quebec doesn't agree with the rest of Canada's belief in celebrating multiculturalism; how it keeps telling Ottawa to back off or else....<br /><br />Now for Harper. It is ironic that this much reviled man completely lacking in people skills still has the best chance of returning to the prime minister's office. Harper's is the first government to be held in contempt by Canadian Parliament for allegedly misleading the legislature on government expenditure. The Liberals moved the no-confidence motion, specifically over federal spending on fighter jets and construction of mammoth prisons.<br /><br />When I came to this country in May last year and spoke to people about the government, not one person had anything nice to say about Harper. So I asked how on earth he got elected to the highest political office in the land. "There was no one else," was the unanimous response.<br /><br />TINA favoured Harper in 2008. Looks like it might do so again in May 2011. That's how I call it. If I'm wrong, at least this election will become a little more entertaining.Rupa Chatterjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09738904836859776006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5863719673114081595.post-2312029344988397552011-01-21T07:34:00.000-08:002011-01-21T08:35:20.685-08:00No news, good news for a nationComing from a crowded, disparate, chaotic nation like India where there's always something sensational going on and whose broadsheets don't have enough column inches to accommodate all the screaming headlines, it is taking me the longest time to adjust to bland Canadian newspapers. I still open the paper every morning and wonder "where's the news?".<br /><br />In the eight months I've been in this country, there has been little of consequence to report. The biggest story was the police excesses on demonstrators during the G-20 summit in Toronto last year. Before the summit there were daily reports on just how much money the government was spending on the affair. In the past week it's been all about the shocking death of a policeman mowed down by a crazed man who stole a snow plow. Once in a while you hear of some corruption scandal. Reports appear now and then about tragic Canadian casualties in Afghanistan. And there was the Toronto mayoral election in October. That's it - since May of 2010.<br /><br />These were all on exceptional, heavy news days. On an average day, it's quite amusing to see what the front pages here are filled with. There are gripes in bold print about a likely hike of $20-30 in an annual utility bill. In the summer there were a slew of reports on how the city wasn't allowing people to make money off golfers parking in their driveways during a golf tournament at a course that couldn't accommodate too many cars. Once there was something about a woman getting into trouble with the city over widening her driveway. Transit issues, understandably, make frequent appearances. And then there's hockey.<br /><br />Hardly any national politics from Ottawa makes its way into front pages in Toronto. The most frequent (and I use the term "frequent" loosely here) issue raised is Canadians' concern over Prime Minister Stephen Harper's foreign policies alienating the country further from the rest of the world.<br /><br />For actual news, you have to turn to the world pages.<br /><br />Things are the same with television news. One morning a livestock truck overturned on a ramp coming off a busy highway and spilled its load of pigs. There were long discussions on breakfast news programmes about the incident and the conversation then led to the psyche of pigs! The anchors discussed how the pigs would be too traumatised to be herded in a hurry into another truck that had arrived on the scene. Apart from weather and traffic, breaking news here is generally about crime - both petty and serious.<br /><br />While it's all slightly amusing to the erstwhile journalist in me, it got me thinking that this lack of news is definitely very news good for Canada. It means there is no serious malaise plaguing the country. If you can go on for hours, even days, discussing a rare power outage, the country must be in fairly good shape. There is no strife being reported, so all the diverse communities that make up this nation must be getting along reasonably well. Reports of serious corruption aren't common, so people in public service must be doing their jobs fairly sincerely. There aren't daily gripes and protests about things affecting everyday life, so infrastructure and basic services must be fairly well organised.<br /><br />Wouldn't it be great if Indian papers and TV news bulletins also became as bland some day? Wouldn't it feel good not to wake up to reports of another politician shamelessly abusing power, or one community attacking another over a trivial matter? Wouldn't it be nice to surmise from the absence of "news" that our country is, for the most part, functioning as it should - efficiently, honestly, peacefully?Rupa Chatterjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09738904836859776006noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5863719673114081595.post-25325439352161037132011-01-04T14:03:00.000-08:002011-01-04T15:00:14.502-08:00Cherry and the blinding technicolour dreamcoatsAs Indians we've grown up gossiping about Bappi Lahiri and his dazzling, if aesthetically challenged, wardrobe. If ever India could nominate someone for the popular television series <span style="font-style: italic;">What Not to Wear</span>, Bappi da would probably top the list of possible candidates for the makeover show. I thought a man's wardrobe couldn't get much more shocking. Boy, was I wrong!<br /><br />Thousands of miles away, halfway around the world, there is an iconic man who could potentially make Bappi da appear conservative in his sartorial choices. It's Canadian hockey legend Don Cherry, a commentator with big attitude and blinding blazers. The first time I saw him on television, Halloween was around the corner and I thought he'd worn his dazzling plaid jacket in the spirit of the outlandish season. Not quite, I was informed. He always dresses like that when appearing on the sports channels for hockey games.<br /><br />I'm surprised Cherry's vision hasn't failed him after years of facing his blinding closet day after day. Among other gems he possesses is a plaid blazer in all the colours of the rainbow, and every hue in between. Plaid is clearly his favourite. He has plaid jackets in every colour imaginable. Cherry also loves going floral. The most memorable specimen from the floral collection are a white jacket with carnations all over, a blue one with daisies and another with gerbera. (You can see a few of them here - http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0805/don.cherry.fashion.statements/content.1.html). On days when he chooses a fairly conservative suit or jacket, he embellishes with elaborate headgear.<br /><br />Here's what inspired this blog post. I was watching a comedy show this afternoon when on came Bowser & Blue. Catch their act here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOuO2S5MjyE&feature=BF&list=UL4Jn87NUmHl0&index=20<br /><br />So the song got me curious about the man behind the bedazzling blazers. And while I was reading up, there was a big "awwwwww" moment. You will never catch Cherry without a rose on his lapel every time he's on air. I'd wondered about that. Apparently the floral tribute is to his wife Rose, who passed away in 1997.<br /><br />Anyway, how do you think Cherry rates against Bappi da, or Austin Powers?Rupa Chatterjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09738904836859776006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5863719673114081595.post-46990858536242644162010-12-09T14:51:00.000-08:002010-12-09T15:30:07.039-08:00Out in the coldThere was once a woman who lived in the Indian capital. Every year as the leaves began to fall, as the days grew shorter and a chill permeated the air, she felt an inexplicable gloom descend on her. When winter set in in earnest, she hated that her hands, feet and the tip of her nose were always cold. She detested putting on layer after layer of clothing. She abhorred shivering inside her home even after bolting the doors and windows shut.<br /><br />There were good winter moments too. Like sitting in the garden on a sunny afternoon, munching on roasted peanuts and sesame brittle (til patti). Rushing to the college cafeteria for a cup of sickeningly sweet tea, not to drink the brew but to clutch the hot cup in the hope of thawing the numb hands out after a freezing hour-long bus ride to the university. And year-end parties around bonfires.<br /><br />But the good moments weren't enough to make her enjoy the north Indian winter. Her winter aversion was a standing joke in her family. Her father claimed that the woman in question put her woollies on in September and didn't shed them until March. I'd like to clarify here that he tends to exaggerate a bit for effect.<br /><br />Then this woman (am sure you've figured by now that I'm speaking of myself) moved to one of the coldest regions in the world. Her family couldn't stop laughing (especially her brother)! The prospect of Rupa braving a frigid Canadian winter was just too amusing. It didn't matter that the move was to Toronto, which is one of the warmest places in this country any given time of year. I have to admit that the thought of winter did scare me. Acclimating to the cold was always going to be the single biggest challenge for me.<br /><br />But here I am, making my way into my maiden Canadian winter, and quite enjoying it. Yes, you read it correctly the first time. Temperatures are already struggling to stay on the positive side of the Celsius scale. The lows have been dropping to -9 now and again. Next week they'll probably touch -12. And wind chill has been holding steady at -13 and will soon be -20. Frightening, if you just look at the figures.<br /><br />But the fact is bearing the cold is so much easier in this part of the world. You are never, ever uncomfortable while indoors. And that makes all the difference. When you step out, you bundle up. You wear the right shoes, the right headgear and the right outerwear. And unless you're out for a day of winter sports, it's unlikely you will be exposed to the elements for prolonged periods. So you don't feel like a taxidermist's creation all the time, which is a big plus in my book. I absolutely despise being bundled up constantly. I feel constricted, stifled.<br /><br />The few times you do step out here, you quite enjoy the crispness of the fresh, cold air. And because I'm obsessed with airing out the house, I open the door to the backyard for a few minutes most mornings when there's no one but me at home. It feels really good. And the house doesn't feel stifling and stale after that blast of freshness.<br /><br />So I've realised that being out in this cold isn't as frightening as I'd feared. And that's certainly a very pleasant surprise.Rupa Chatterjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09738904836859776006noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5863719673114081595.post-63039288680057408382010-11-24T06:13:00.000-08:002010-11-24T06:40:18.520-08:00A childhood without Aunt Enid?The other day a friend and neighbour asked me at a kiddie party whether I had ever heard of Enid Blyton. Of course, I responded, finding the question a little peculiar. Her excitement at my response threw me completely. "Wow!" she gushed. "Finally someone who knows Enid Blyton!"<br /><br />I was flummoxed. "Who doesn't know of Enid Blyton?" I asked. Mostly everyone in Canada, she responded. I refused to believe her. After all this country is very much part of the Commonwealth, which is the strongest market for Blyton's delightful children's books. So my friend called out to a young mother of 25 at the party and asked if she'd ever heard of Enid Blyton. No, never, came the reply. My jaw dropped. My friend then asked a couple of teenagers. The response was the same. I couldn't believe my ears.<br /><br />I cannot envision a Blyton-less childhood. It couldn't be as magical. The world has produced few authors as prolific as Enid Blyton, who penned more than 600 books for kids and young adults in her four-decade career. Wikipedia tells me she is the fifth most translated author of all time, ranking just behind the legendary William Shakespeare. I believe her books have sold over 600 million copies worldwide. And they're still strong sellers more than four decades after her death.<br /><br />Blyton gifted us some of our dearest childhood friends, including <span style="font-style: italic;">Noddy</span> and his adorable gang. She made life in residential schools so very alluring with the <span style="font-style: italic;">Mallory Towers</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">St. Clare</span> series. She brought adventure into our lives with <span style="font-style: italic;">Famous Five</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Secret Seven</span> and the <span style="font-style: italic;">Five Find-Outers</span>. And she took our breath away with the <span style="font-style: italic;">Magic Faraway Tree</span> and many other tales full of delightful characters.<br /><br />The friend I refer to grew up in Guyana and moved to Canada about two decades ago. Her childhood, quite like mine, was punctuated with frequent Blyton moments. And she naturally wants to share that with her daughters. But it is apparently difficult to do so in this country because Enid Blyton books aren't readily available. That's something I haven't noticed. I suppose I took it for granted that all kids sections in all bookstores have shelves packed with Blyton's works. Apparently you have to place special orders for Blyton books here, and you don't always get what you ask for.<br /><br />So perhaps I should make this a mission. Introduce at least a small section of kids to the treasure trove that is Enid Blyton's legacy. Indian city kids are definitely more fortunate on this count. Their parents grew up on Blyton and have made sure the kids haven't missed out on the magic of Aunt Enid.Rupa Chatterjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09738904836859776006noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5863719673114081595.post-55892190805853585672010-09-10T09:56:00.000-07:002010-09-10T10:40:29.217-07:00Finally, social responsibility with social networkingEven though Facebook has always suggested that those signing up be at least 13 years of age, I know for a fact that a lot of kids much younger than that are on the social networking giant. So my older son, who is 10, has quite a few friends on FB and has often asked me to sign him up. I had been putting it off so far, telling him we'd take a decision on that after seeing how things were among his peers in Canada, where we recently moved.<br /><br />Yesterday my first-born told me at least 15 of his classmates were on FB. Even if I made some room for exaggeration there, I suppose a few of the kids might just be. So I tried to sign him up. The last category on the sign-up form was the complete date of birth, with the year. When I entered the information, FB very clearly said "you are ineligible". I made sure my son saw it. He was crestfallen, but I was very relieved. And also pleasantly surprised, given all the flak FB has been taking lately over its privacy policy and other issues of security. I don't know if this is a new, stricter sign-up policy or just enforced in this part of the world. Whatever the case, it made me happy.<br /><br />I guess I fall into the category of more conservative parents who believe in limiting their kids' access to the great beyond of information and networking till they're more capable of handling it. I feel that too much access too soon can be detrimental. Kids are always in a hurry to grow up. We were too at that age, but it was a time when it was possible to remain innocent and child-like for longer. Now with so much information out there, kids are graduating from childhood much too soon. Before they're actually ready for it. I don't think children in their pre-teens or early teens are emotionally equipped to deal with a lot of the stuff that being socially active online might potentially bring their way.<br /><br />Let me clarify here that my kids do not live a cocoon. They are very aware of the world around them. They have had questions about drugs, rape, incest and homosexuality after reading of these issues, and we have answered them in the simplest possible way. Our boys have email accounts and use them often to stay in touch with family. They browse the Internet almost every day. But I take every opportunity to remind them to carefully choose what they read, especially while using a search engine. They have been advised to consult us if they're not sure of the source of information, and so far they do that. I suppose I hover a bit when they're online, but I think this is one area in which you can't be too careful. There are a lot of freaks, pests and perverts out there. And I believe my primary responsibility is to make sure my children are safe, in the real or virtual world.<br /><br />There's plenty of time for online social networking, or whatever else replaces it in the future. That day too shall come. In three short years. Right now my older son is still a kid, and I feel he should stay that way at least for a while longer. Thanks FB, for declaring my 10-year-old ineligible.Rupa Chatterjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09738904836859776006noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5863719673114081595.post-54849637789077171442010-08-27T14:49:00.000-07:002010-08-27T15:25:42.803-07:00Indian BPOs, accent training isn't enoughI'm an outsourcing industry wife. For about a decade in India I have heard several conversations about the many things that go into making a business process outsourcing (BPO) firm tick. While all the technical stuff was wasted on me much like Latin, I followed with interest stories about accent training for Indian kids barely out of their teens so they could masquerade as Americans or Canadians over the phone. It was pretty phenomenal what India had pulled off in a fairly short period of time. In less than two decades our country was serving as back office and troubleshooter for a lot of the Western world.<br /><br />But now that we're on the other side of the globe I'm seeing things with different eyes. Or, to be more precise, hearing things with different ears.<br /><br />This afternoon the phone rang and some young man with an extremely peculiar accent asked to speak to my husband and then began a fairly long and clearly rehearsed greeting/small talk routine. I asked where he was calling from and what the call was about. He launched into a long speech that was hard to follow. The twangs and lilts of the American/Canadian speech pattern were all misplaced.<br /><br />Anyway, I politely pointed out that he hadn't answered either of my questions. So he went through the whole thing again, emphasizing a few words here and there for effect. I still had no answers. Finally I lost my patience and told him my husband wasn't available and he should try calling tomorrow. The caller asked when he'd be back home today. I told him not before 6.00 p.m. He went into an involuntary "so that would be.....okay", which was a dead giveaway. It was so very obvious that he was calculating what the local time would be when it was 6.00 p.m. in Toronto. Again I asked where he was calling from, I confess entirely for my amusement this time. He said, "Toronto, the same place you are." Yeah, right buddy.<br /><br />Now here's what the Indian BPO industry should take note of. First, the accent training is not cutting it. People in this hemisphere realise pretty quickly that they're not speaking to a local. Besides, I found it very hard to understand what the caller was saying. I have no such problems of comprehension when conversing with Canadians or Americans. The caller's accent was unnatural, forced and really quite annoying. So, is it unnecessary? Or do you need to do a better job on accent training?<br /><br />Second, people in this part of the world value their time. Legitimate callers with real business open a telephone conversation with pleasantries and then immediately get to the point. There's nothing vague about the call. It is polite, crisp and as short as possible. These callers know they will lose customer/potential customer goodwill by wasting the other person's time. So please, train these kids to get to the point a lot sooner in the conversation. Especially if the call is being made to fish for business. And equip them with the information they need to give straight answers.<br /><br />If the Indian BPO industry wants to stay ahead of the game, it should perhaps consider these suggestions from this insider/outsider.Rupa Chatterjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09738904836859776006noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5863719673114081595.post-70657423457950522822010-08-16T14:46:00.000-07:002010-08-16T15:23:08.094-07:00Lardy-daI'd heard of them, but never seen them in the flesh. When I spotted them first I suppose I stared a bit. Even though my brain kept telling me to look away and stop being rude, I couldn't immediately avert my gaze. I noticed that they jiggled when they moved. The only form of vegetable they ate was deep fried and quite often dunked in a viscous cheese dip before being shoved into the mouth. They consumed unimaginable amounts of meat. And when they walked, it was always with a gigantic tumbler of some form of aerated beverage firmly clasped in a forelimb. They came in all colours, but the racial differences were neutralised by the body mass.<br /><br />I am speaking of the gigantic blobs of lard that had come to Niagara Falls, Ontario, from south of the Canadian border. I got a chance to observe them last weekend. The Canadian part of the Falls is apparently considered more of a tourist haven than its counterpart in New York state, which is why most weekends Americans drive north of the border and inundate the town.<br /><br />No matter how much you hear about the obese American, nothing really prepares you for the first sighting. It's hard to explain. Every visitor to the U.S. has told me that the vastness of its people matches that of the nation. Even though you now see a lot of obese Indians back home, especially in the big cities, they aren't yet in the same league as the true-blue large American. And Canadians often discuss the growing incidence obesity among their people. But at least in Toronto and surrounding areas, people are by and large fit and healthy in appearance.<br /><br />I'm a big Jay Leno fan and try to catch his show whenever possible. Practically every evening he'd have a "now how fat are we getting as a nation...." segment. I'd laugh at the jokes but think to myself, surely he's exaggerating. Now I realise that he is most certainly not. These people are HUGE. They probably haven't seen their own feet or genitals in many years!<br /><br />I understand now why the restaurant we ate dinner at on our first night at Niagara had "deep fried cheesecake" on its dessert menu. I checked with the waitress if that was correct. Yes, she said. It is really deep fried. And comes wrapped in a tortilla. But of course. Surely a simple cheesecake - made with cream cheese, butter, flour, sugar, eggs and cracker crumbs - isn't decadent enough for these people? I was dying to see a serving of this monstrous dessert but was too chicken to order it. Maybe next time.Rupa Chatterjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09738904836859776006noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5863719673114081595.post-51894404305836124622010-08-16T04:54:00.000-07:002010-08-16T08:55:43.053-07:00Hygiene vs ConservationI'm all for personal hygiene. My kids might tell you I am fanatical about it. They'd be exaggerating. Like all moms, I insist they wash their hands periodically, brush their teeth twice a day, do a thorough job when bathing and hound them a little about being clean after using the washroom for a do-do.<br /><br />If there was a scale to measure hygiene fanaticism - with 0 being a complete slop covered in layers of germ-infested slime and 10 being an unnaturally sanitised being in danger of scrubbing away skin and flesh in the quest for personal cleanliness - I think my score would be somewhere in the middle.<br /><br />Germophobes who'd rank top on that scale amuse me a little. You can spot them from the way they wash their hands in public restrooms (if at all they use those). There is a normal hand-washing that most people do, and then there's the germophobe hand-washing which lasts a lot longer. I don't think surgeons going into the operation theatre do quite as thorough a job.<br /><br />Anyway, I came across one of those at a restroom at Niagara on the Lake on Sunday. She made quite a production of cleaning her hands. Then she used the middle digits of her clenched fingers to yank some towels out of the dispenser. The elbows, feet and knees were then very creatively employed to dispose of the used paper towel, open the door and leave the washroom without contaminating her freshly washed hands by touching any surface whatsoever.<br /><br />When she'd left I noticed the tap she had used was still gushing. That's when I got angry. She was so obsessed with hygiene that she didn't care she was wasting so much water! If I hadn't been in the restroom to turn that tap off, heaven knows how long it would have been left running. Hygiene is essential, but is it okay to seek it at the cost of such a precious resource?<br /><br />Then there's the other extreme - conservation over hygiene. Singer Sheryl Crow has been the butt of quite a few jokes for suggesting that we all use just one square of toilet paper per bathroom visit. One stand-up comedian said he had immediately added her to the list of celebrities he'd never shake hands with. I agree. That's a tad too much, don't you think?Rupa Chatterjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09738904836859776006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5863719673114081595.post-46785124361056842962010-08-11T08:42:00.000-07:002010-08-11T09:14:20.879-07:00Hindi-Chini, more alike than we thinkWe've moved into a predominantly Chinese neighbourhood on the eastern fringes of Toronto. You'll see a few brown or white faces on our street, but most residents are Chinese. And the more I observe them the more it strikes me that the middle class Chinese person is so very similar to the middle class Indian.<br /><br />This morning I was watering the lawn in our backyard. Now ours is a corner lot and the street side hasn't been fenced, which means we have little privacy in the outdoors. So while I was in the garden, one of our Chinese neighbours from across the street walked up to say hello for the first time. "So you bought this house?" he asked. No, I said, we're tenants. His eyebrows went up a bit. "Very good tenants," he said, pointing at the hose pipe and then rotating his finger to cover the general spread of the lawn. Because we have a corner plot, we have one of the largest patches of grass in the area.<br /><br />So similarity number one - if you're a tenant, you aren't really expected to take an interest in the appearance and upkeep of the property.<br /><br />"How much you pay?" came the next question. I was a little taken aback. I haven't heard that one hurled at me quite so casually for a few months now. And I have never been comfortable with questions of this nature - how much rent do you pay; how much did you buy the house for; how much do you earn etc. I was instantly transported back home. Anyway, I mumbled a ballpark number which seemed to impress him.<br /><br />So similarity number two - you can be asked the most intrusive and personal questions in the most casual manner. And you're expected to answer, pal.<br /><br />It wasn't over yet. "For whole house?" he asked. I nodded. "You sublet?" he pressed on. Now I have heard this is fairly common practice among Asians in this part of the world. One couple or family rents a home and then two or three other families move in as well, splitting the rent. The property, naturally, goes to seed pretty quickly. Despite being aware of this, the question threw me a bit. And I was a little offended. But I managed to shake my head to convey that that wasn't going to happen.<br /><br />Similarity number three - (and we faced this more in Mumbai than in Delhi) just four people living in a big house is considered a waste of space and money. I remember when we bought our four-bedroom apartment in Thane, many asked us if our parents would be moving in. When we said no I could see their brains trying to comprehend why these strange people need such a big home for a small family.<br /><br />A couple of weeks ago a white lady from across the street asked me if we were home in the afternoon. We'd been out at the time she was speaking of. I asked why. She said she had seen three of four Chinese men walk right up to our kitchen and living room windows. press their noses to the glass and peer in. I had forgotten to close the blinds. "You definitely need a fence," my white neighbour said. I agree. The fence will hopefully be up within the next fortnight and we'll get a shield against prying eyes.<br /><br />Similarity number four among the Hindi and Chini - curiosity about how others live will often get the better of you. My parents back home once had visitors going into the bedrooms and opening up closets!Rupa Chatterjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09738904836859776006noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5863719673114081595.post-92228249550190427532010-07-25T14:08:00.000-07:002010-07-25T14:23:55.608-07:00Cockroaches - the latest political weaponAmong the hardiest creatures to crawl the Earth, the humble cockroach can survive adversities most other species can't. Maybe that's why it has become the latest weapon in the arsenal of a political group that is all but dying out across the world. At least, that is, if the Indian Marxists' ace opponent is to be believed.<br /><br />Indian Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee has reportedly accused the Communist Party of India (Marxist) of sneaking cockroaches into meals served on trains in the hope of denting the image of the mammoth state-run railroad and her credibility.<br /><br />"They have been planning sabotage. They are trying to ruin (the reputation of) the Railways by letting cockroaches into food," <span style="font-style: italic;">The Times of India</span> quoted the notoriously melodramatic Banerjee as saying during an address to her Trinamool Congress party in Kolkata. She also accused the Marxists of engineering a train accident last week that claimed nearly 70 lives.<br /><br />Cockroaches? How much more ridiculous can Indian political discourse get? Mamata di seems to have hit an all-time high note of absurdity. Get serious people.Rupa Chatterjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09738904836859776006noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5863719673114081595.post-9869777132557710622010-07-23T20:45:00.000-07:002010-07-23T21:26:54.429-07:00Census idiocyI've spent the past seven years fooling myself into believing I've made the righteous choice by giving up my career and choosing to stay home for the kids. I even gave up dabbling in freelance writing because it was interfering with my family's happiness and taking time away from my children. I felt I was doing the right thing by focusing on home and hearth. What a fool I am. Not until this evening did I realise that my contribution to my country was as worthless as that of a convict, a bum or a whore. But wait. Don't those people make some money? So I guess we homemakers are even less productive and consequential to our great nation.<br /><br />India's decennial census reportedly clubs housewives with non-productive groups like beggars, prisoners and prostitutes. I'm not judging these other groups of people. My objection is to homemakers being labeled non-productive. Just how much more chauvinistic and blinkered can our vaunted mandarins get?<br /><br />A former colleague told me today that a research group had assessed housewives' worth to the nation some two decades ago and come up with the figure of 10,000 crore rupees. I agree with his view that it was an extremely conservative estimate. But even if you keep to the conservative scale, how much do you think our contribution is worth now?<br /><br />I understand it's hard to put a price on the things a housewife does. But let's break it down to basics. Add up the incomes of a caregiver for children, a cook, a cleaner, a nurse, a housekeeper. That's something, isn't it? Please take into consideration that we're on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year. That necessitates higher remuneration. Then compensate those of us who have given up jobs for the voluntary early retirement from the workforce. There are many other intangibles, but even if we leave those out the sum can't be small.<br /><br />So what the heck are these idiots at the Census department talking about? Thankfully the Supreme Court has stepped in and I hope the judges will give these morons a well-deserved kick in the pants. But the very fact that there is a group of people who think this was is extremely disheartening. If they're right and we're of no consequence, let's strike work my sisters. Bet your ass they'll notice our worth and productivity very quickly then.Rupa Chatterjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09738904836859776006noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5863719673114081595.post-9790178138683161862010-07-22T06:54:00.000-07:002010-07-22T07:21:34.812-07:00Settling in my simple, upside down new worldAfter two months of upheaval, my life is finally falling into a familiar and comforting routine. Having moved into the rental, found a place for everything and put everything in its place, we can finally begin to explore and enjoy the city we now call home.<br /><br />I've found that life in the West is very uncomplicated. That is, of course, if you are willing to put in some hard labour and not whine and complain about all the work that needs to be done around the house. If you keep on top of the chores, there's enough time to relax and unwind. Besides, you're not tense about whether or not help will show up. You're not losing your sanity trying to keep the peace between your driver, maid, cook, gardener and car cleaner. You know you'll get hot water when you turn the tap to the left. You know the light will come on when you flip the switch. You're not left guessing when the gas cylinder will show up at your door. Things are simple that way.<br /><br />They're also upside down or (to me) the wrong way around. Literally. And that takes some getting used to. Keys go into locks upside down here. Light switches and electrical sockets are all upside down. Some taps move in the opposite direction to the way we've been used to turning them. And because traffic moves on the right side of the road, you're expected to follow the pattern when you're walking. So you take the right escalator instead of the left or keep to the right side of the stairs. I still haven't managed to reorient my instincts of 36 years.Rupa Chatterjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09738904836859776006noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5863719673114081595.post-37948198218070671422010-06-16T11:23:00.000-07:002010-06-16T12:43:02.285-07:00Whose bad?Users of correct English will quite naturally assume I've made a grammatical mistake in the heading. Isn't that supposed to be "Who's bad?". Haven't I mistakenly used a possessive where I should have used the contraction of "who is"? Not in today's world apparently. This is the age of "my bad", "your bad", "his bad", "her bad" and "their bad". The "bad" in those sentences - if you can call them that - means mistake. Every time I hear these expressions, I get very distressed. I don't know why that should be, but I invariably do.<br /><br />The first time I came across the term was while watching an American programme on television. It took me a while to understand what was said. Now the usage has become quite common, so much so that these expressions are commonly heard even in children's television. So it was just a matter of time before my older son, whose brain is like a sponge, picked it up and used "my bad" after doing something wrong. My insides churned in revulsion when I heard that coming out of his mouth. I explained to him patiently that wasn't the correct way to say what he was trying to. But I really wanted to scream "Nooooooooooooooooo"!<br /><br />I also get inexplicably peeved when someone mixes up "its" and "it's". I found out really early on that it's completely lost on them that the former is a possessive pronoun and the latter a contraction of "it is". They just don't get it. I also get peeved with the Indian tendency to generously scatter apostrophes around, but always in places they don't belong. Like when naming a family. "The Singh's came to visit", they'll write, instead of "the Singhs came to visit". Why? Why can't they understand that the former denotes possession, for instance "this is Mr. Singh's son"? And if you want to denote possession for the entire family, it'll be Singhs'. For instance, "This is the Singhs' home" and not "this is the Singh's home".<br /><br />Knowing about this deep aversion I have to poor punctuation, a friend of mine gifted me a wonderful book called <span style="font-style: italic;">Eats, Shoots & Leaves</span> by Lynne Truss. The title is derived from a joke that amply demonstrates how a misplaced punctuation mark can at times completely change the meaning. Here's the joke from the book:<br /><br />A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and proceeds to fire it at the other patrons. 'Why?' asks the confused surviving waiter amidst the carnage, as the panda makes for the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder. 'Well, I'm a panda,' he says, at the door. 'Look it up.' The waiter turns to the relevant entry in the manual and, sure enough, finds an explanation. 'Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.' Get it? The addition of a comma in the final sentence makes all the difference. 'Eats shoots and leaves' would have meant something entirely different, wouldn't it?<br /><br />Anyway, I'm digressing. The point is language - and not just English - is evolving in a not altogether nice way. The result is an exponentially larger proportion of each successive generation is less articulate. More and more kids and young adults find it hard to verbally convey their thoughts and feelings. I'd hoped the "like,.....like,....you know" syndrome would die out with the coming of age of my generation, but that hasn't happened. People young and middle-aged still suffer from it. If video killed the radio star four decades ago, text messaging is killing language and spelling today. The abbreviations and contractions used in text messaging are alarmingly spilling over into other domains. I am one of very few people I know who doesn't ruthlessly abbreviate every word in a text message.<br /><br />I suppose in a world that's perpetually in a hurry, "my bad" is more economical on effort and time than saying "sorry, that was my mistake". But I'm not ready for a world like that. I don't think I will ever be. And that's not "my bad".Rupa Chatterjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09738904836859776006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5863719673114081595.post-56532635393386795802010-06-14T18:38:00.000-07:002010-06-14T19:02:37.667-07:00Subway parodyMy kids love riding the Toronto subway. And the whole time they're on the tube they keep coming up with explanations of or puns on station names, especially my little one. This afternoon we travelled on the subway from Finch to Yorkdale, which is one of the longest circuits you can do on the network. And so it began again.<br /><br />Finch feels a pinch. Sheppard has a lot of farmers living there. Rosedale has a big flower garden. Eglinton sells eggs. The station after College should be named School. People in Dundas have a lot of sticks (play on the Hindi word <span style="font-style: italic;">danda</span> for stick). King and Queen are where the palaces are. Union is where you can smell onions!! The opposite of Osgoode is os-bad. St. Patrick always provokes peals of laughter. "They should also have stations called St. Spongebob and St. Squidward" (from the <span style="font-style: italic;">Spongebob</span> animation series). That last one is always from the older one.<br /><br />On the other lines you have Dufferin, which must be full of duffers. Bathurst is where people keep bathing and feeling thirsty. Broadview is where you get to see a long way around. People in Chester have big chests. Greenwood has green trees. And Coxwell is full of roosters.Rupa Chatterjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09738904836859776006noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5863719673114081595.post-89717529393222108462010-06-06T19:14:00.000-07:002010-06-06T19:34:38.168-07:00Is this news?One of the newspaper headlines highlighted on a major Indian news portal on Sunday states "US says India destined to be a nation of global influence". Now my question is what makes this headline news? Haven't we heard such platitudes enough times? Do we need to keep flashing these in a vain attempt to massage our national ego even though we know our country hasn't really gained in influence or earned much leverage over other nations in the past few years? Why do we need these patronising pats on the head from the superpower? To me it's disgraceful that we feel these comments significant enough to flash as a headline. And the fact that such articles continue to appear is also proof of the lack of initiative and imagination in Indian journalism today. Actually it reads like something regurgitated from a press handout.<br /><br />Just a few days ago we were speaking to an Indian friend who has been living in Canada for the past few years. He was telling us about how angry the Indian community here was after the terror attacks on Mumbai in 2008. He said Indians here couldn't understand why New Delhi didn't use its influence to aggressively pursue those responsible for the strikes. I asked him what influence he was talking about. That's when it became clear that we Indians seem to credit our nation with more leverage than it actually enjoys on the world stage. Other nations might hear us out patiently, but it's clear that they don't take us seriously enough to do our bidding.<br /><br />Anyway, news items such as the one I've referred to might make our foreign office mandarins feel they've accomplished something. But I don't think they're fooling thinking Indians into believing that their nation has actually gained in influence. If anything, such patronising remarks should make us feel slighted. After all, we've been hearing them for decades.Rupa Chatterjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09738904836859776006noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5863719673114081595.post-34660596933773884972010-05-31T07:12:00.000-07:002010-05-31T10:05:48.491-07:00No refills pleaseSo we're out to lunch at a restaurant called Swiss Chalet on Saturday. The server was happy enough with us at the start of the meal because we'd ordered what he felt was a fair amount of mains and sides. The first round of incredulity hit when I declined his offer of a refill for my lemonade. "But it's free!" he said. I know, I replied, but thanks anyway. He stood there gaping at me for a few seconds and then dashed off in the direction of the kitchen. Out he came a couple of minutes later bearing a huge glass of water with slices of lemon and plonked it in front of me. Just in case you regret your decision of not ordering a refill, was the unspoken message.<br /><br />When we were done, having, to our minds, eaten a little more than was necessary, we asked for the cheque. The server came running towards us looking extremely troubled. "But you haven't ordered desserts!" he exclaimed. We said we'd eaten too much already. He blinked rapidly for a seconds, looking from one to the next in our group. Then he walked off mumbling, "I'll give you Skittles and M&Ms anyway. They come with the meal." And the cheque didn't make an appearance until the candy packets were duly handed over.<br /><br />In this land of bottomless drinks and huge portions, we new settlers with relatively smaller appetites seem quite a rarity. And this is just Canada, which by most accounts is slightly better than the US when it comes to portion size. We'd had a similar experience at a Red Lobster downtown the weekend before. The charming server there started laughing when we voiced a collective and vehement "No" to her offer of desserts. A Red Lobster main comes with a choice of not one, not two but three whole side dishes!! All of us chose not to have a third side. That had surprised our server a little, but she was more sophisticated than the man at the Swiss Chalet and didn't let her incredulity show on the face quite as plainly.<br /><br />Last week on the local news I saw a report about what's being touted as the world's worst drink. It's a peanut butter and chocolate smoothie that carries a whopping 2000 calories per serving in the US and a much healthier 1700 calories in Canada! Can you imagine exceeding your entire daily calorie intake with one drink?!!!<br /><br />Yesterday we went out for a Chinese lunch and Arvind and I ordered a small soup each. Our eyeballs nearly popped out when the soup arrived. The serving concept here is different. You order one soup and then share it with others at the table. Each small soup was enough for four people! So doing the meal justice was a struggle indeed.<br /><br />Such lavish portions, to me, are a waste. There are other forms of excess one witnesses here. Canada is supposed to be one of the most environmentally conscious nations on earth, which is why the level of waste of electricity surprises me. The corridor our suite is in has in excess of 60 very powerful light bulbs on 24 hours a day. The space is just too brightly lit. They could easily put half the lights off and still have more than enough illumination. And this is just one corridor that doesn't even span the entire width of the building. It's a 26-storey structure with a twin that stands a couple of floors taller. Then there are other common areas that are equally brightly lit, not to mention the apartments themselves. Having just come from power-starved Gurgaon, this amount of waste of electricity is extremely troubling to me.<br /><br />There's a lot one can learn from this nation in terms of caring for the environment and maintaining high standards of health and hygiene. But there is also a lot that Canada could learn from nations that have fewer resources at their disposal about plugging wastage. Turn a few lights out and don't serve quite so much food. You'll be surprised at how much energy and money can be saved.Rupa Chatterjeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09738904836859776006noreply@blogger.com6