India as seen by some

The Saniyan has reinvented himself(for those who know me, I used to go by differently before :) )!

A friend of a friend of mine who is a caucasian American and is into East Indian Linguistic studies had recently gone to India and had posted something on facebook on all the little changes that she's had to make. This reminded me of something I had read on The New York Times some time back that had pissed me off a little. So I decided to post it here and decided to do some bashing of my own :). (Link).

Clearly there is something provocative about the author of the article. Consider this for instance where she mentions

"that many were already proficient in the language, less interested in their heritage and more interested in an easy A."

I disagree with this on a number of counts. You might be able to speak good Hindi but writing is an entirely different ball game. While there may be a few ABCDs(American Born Confused Desis. A mildly offensive term to refer to second generation Indian Americans) who are infact good at writing too, most people aren't. In fact they struggle with it because they expect it to be easy as they are "Indians" and they speak Hindi. And then there might be people like me who've spent most of their life in India and still dont know how to write and read Hindi. Most of the ABCD goshti I've spoken to in fact enrolled for Hindi classes not even for learning it but to suthify(roam around) with ABCD chicks!

Again

"Ms. Rich said. “I think to Indians, sometimes it feels like I’m eavesdropping on a private conversation, like I’m breaking the fourth wall.”

I was actually really happy to teach Tamil to an African guy and I felt I was doing something good. Ofcourse, I myself am not averse to learning something new. No French guy gets offended when we speak French with him. He infact looks at it with pride. This kind of generalization is offensive and wrong in my opinion.

But in the end she gets something right.

"The shock of a Westerner speaking Hindi is still bracing enough that Ms. Rich rarely jumps right into the language she has mastered. She usually politely asks first if she might, a courtesy she understands now as intuitively as she does the language itself."

Somehow, the attitude of this woman appears provocative as she assumes Indians are an insecure lot and then bases findings on that assumption (without ever being open to being proven wrong). On some levels, I am getting an impression that her whole point of going to Rajasthan was infact to gather information only to write a book and not to learn the language and culture itself.

On a slightly different note, I find it offensive when some of these East Indian studies in the US teach and propogate the idea that Hindi is the language that is representative of all of India. Having said that, I am not entirely surprised as this impression is infact held by a few Indians born and educated in India itself.

Moments of Magic

How often do we exceed our own expectations?

How often do we conjure up something really special?

How often do we dig in deep to do something really dear to us?

How often do we live for the moment?

All those moments of magic are what those keep us going. It is those precise moments in life when one is close to breaking point that the magic unfolds itself to keep us going.

Happy Birthday Sachin

My tribute to the man who has served as a role model to millions of Indians and one who has personified humility and modesty... Growing up as a poster boy in the eyes of the public into a superstar and the boy who inspired all the mothers and sisters to talk about cricket, the man who made cricket family entertainment-- My wishes to him for a truely "Happy Birthday" and thanx a lot for the fond memories... Cant imagine how growing up must have been without him.. Cant imagine how it must have been without cricket...........

Sachin stands rock solid in a world of vicissitudes
Rajdeep Sardesai
December 12, 2005

Where were you when Sachin Tendulkar made his test debut? I was at The Times of India in Mumbai, at a time when Girilal Jain had just retired as editor and when the marketing department had still not taken over the running of a newspaper. VP Singh had just become India's prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi was alive, the Babri Masjid was still in place, we relied on an MTNL lineman to provide us a decent phone connection, Infosys was still a start-up, Osama was a US ally, Shahrukh Khan was a struggling actor, Doordarshan was still the sole source of small screen entertainment and the concept of even one 24-hour news channel was an outrageous flight of fancy.

Sixteen years, 35 hundreds and 30 news channels later, the world has changed dramatically. What has remained remarkably constant is the presence of Sachin Tendulkar at the crease, blue helmet in place, the slight shuffle in the crease as the bowler approaches, the eyes unflinching in gaze, head firm, and the short backlift only a mask for the power that lies behind each stroke. Through all the upheavals of the last decade and a half - and the scale of change has been truly tectonic - Tendulkar has stood rock solid, a reassuring sign in an era where there are no guarantees what tomorrow will bring.

All that has changed is the boy with fluffy cheeks and curly locks who we watched excitedly on the maidans of Mumbai has become the man of India, his skills paraded in every major world stadium. Forget the fact that he hadn't had a proper shave when he hit Qadir for four sixes in an over in his first series, and that today he is a multi-crore match-winner…

For many of us, Sachin will always be the boy wonder, a rare symbol of national pride and excellence, someone whose achievements have become our badge of identity whenever we've felt down and out.

I still recall being caught in the middle of a terrible power cut in Delhi a few years ago, the summer heat virtually exhausting both body and soul. While we despaired over the state of infrastructure in the national capital, Tendulkar was in Sharjah playing an innings that would light up the night in a manner that no power supplier could. Instead of feeling depressed by the "we pay our taxes, but get no benefit" refrain, we rejoiced in the knowledge that Sachin had taken India to a famous victory.

Then, there was that momentous day against Pakistan in the World Cup two years ago. Billed as the "greatest contest on earth", this was Sachin versus Shoaib, the classic confrontation between an aggressive batsman and a tearaway fast bowler. The battle lasted just an over. With one slashed six over point - a shot which cricket historian Ramchandra Guha suggested had ended a decade of Indian inferiority against Pakistan - and a string of boundaries, Sachin established himself as the dominant force in the match.
It almost seemed as if all the national anger of an attack on Parliament, the war in Kargil, the death of innocents in Kashmir had been avenged with one single innings in this cricketing war without weapons.

Sometimes, one wonders whether we have placed too much hope and expectation on the shoulders of a single individual. Its almost as if we demand a century from Sachin every time he walks to the crease. What is even more astonishing is that Sachin has fulfilled all those expectations to score as many as 73 international centuries.
In England, they celebrate a Graeme Hick when he scores a hundred first class hundreds. Here, you have a cricketer who is poised to score a hundred international centuries, and there are still critics who wonder whether he has the motivation to stay on top of his game. It's a bit like seeing a Kohinoor in front of our eyes, and still wondering whether we should make a trip to the Tower of London. Pause for a moment to also think of Vinod Kambli, Sachin's school soul mate and batting partner. Kambli once spoke of how "Sachin had taken an elevator, while he had climbed the stairs to the top." But after one great series against England, Kambli found that it was even more difficult staying at the top than just getting there. Which is why Sachin is sui generis. In cricketing terms, only Sunil Gavaskar, the man whose record Tendulkar now owns, and Kapil Dev can be compared to him. The holy trinity of Indian cricket, you couldn't get three more different players: Gavaskar the architect, Kapil Dev the innovator and Tendulkar the artist. Obvious talent apart, what binds them together is their sheer determination and commitment, a glue which has laid the foundation of modern Indian cricket.

In a sense, Sachin is our link to an India that existed before page three invaded our homes, before instant celebrities were manufactured by the media even if their achievements are shorter than the length of their skirts.

This is not just some one film hit star, who dances his way to the box office. Sachin's achievements are based on solid performance, on rigour, on durability and, above all, genuine skill, qualities that have made him a national icon.

This is a moment to be not just proud of, but grateful for. Thank you for the memories Sachin, and making it a little easier to live and grow up in modern India.

New Blog

So i am creating another new blog.. hopefully i will keep updating this and will also copy some stuff (posts and links,articles et all) from my old blog(s) onto this one