No More Wars- The Kidki Solution

I have heard that in Chetan Bhagat’s new book a Tamil girl is paired with a Punjabi boy! If that is an odd enough pair here’s what I saw today in a mall in Bengaluru.

An African American dude hanging out with his North Indian girlfriend, a Tamil/Mallu looking guy who was flaunting his hot Chinese girlfriend, a Gora Brit with his not so Gori but very pretty looking South Indian wife and a Japanese lady with a desi husband. This Indo-Japanese couple had two kids, one of whom looked totally Japanese and the other totally Indian! Too many ‘mix ups’ for one day? :-)

My solution for world peace, get married to someone outside your state, community and country. There will never be a war again, outside your home that is!

Kodaikanal- New Revelations

If you want to experience bumper to bumper traffic, blaring sounds of vehicles honking and general chaos, I have a new destination to recommend, go to Kodaikanal during the May 1st holiday season, especially if it falls on a weekend. I did just that last week and was shocked by the experience, to say the least. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that I used to walk on the Kodai streets with both my hands in the ears trying desperately to cut out the noise from the honking vehicles.

Day 1 of my trip to Kodai was a nightmare to say the least. The bus from Palani didn’t turn up, the cab that we hired got stuck in long queues of vehicles at the ghat section and when we entered Kodai town it was raining and we were at the very end of a 1 km long traffic pile up. God, the punishing heat of Tiruppur from where I headed to Kodai was so much better. Anyways, we managed to somehow get in and checked into the hotel. Fortunately the hotel that we had booked (Apple Valley) was like an oasis in a desert. The place had fresh, clean and comfortable rooms and has a bright look to it although it’s bang on Anna Salai/PT Road, close to the bus stand.

Day 2 we got up nice and early in the morning and had a sumptuous South Indian breakfast at the hotel and I thought to myself, ‘not bad, promising start for the day’. Was I mistaken or what? We headed to Coakers walk which is like ½ a km from the hotel and was again met with a sea of humanity, all of whom were trying desperately to catch a glimpse of the gorgeous views. I was thinking to myself, ‘thank God, Mr. Coaker (whoever that gentleman was) is not around to witness this’ We finished that and headed to Bryant Park and the Lake which are all within walking distances. Again the same story, hoards of people, traffic and blaring sounds from vehicles. Unfortunately I don’t have anything good to report yet! Oh sorry, one great thing did happen on Day 2. I had heard about this restaurant called Tava and many people had recommended it online. Being a foodie of sorts I was keen to try it out and accidentally when we were walking back to the hotel in the evening we saw it tucked away in the basement of a non-descript building. Nothing impressive about the place itself but the food does deserve much praise. Basic and simple, home style North Indian food, prepared fresh and served hot. Try the humble Bhindi fry and you won’t be disappointed. I was feeling extremely happy about finding Tava and the food there turning out to be better than what I had expected. I must also make a mention about the owner of that place. A hands on middle aged chap, who does everything from cleaning the table to taking orders and keeping the entire show under control. No nonsense and straight forward character. I liked his strict yet courteous way of dealing with customers. Anyways that was day 2 and thankfully had a much better end than the previous nights due to the Tava experience.

Day 3, first thing we decided in the morning was to get out of the town. Fortunately by then the weekend crowd had left and it looked as tough 3/4ths of the people had suddenly disappeared from Kodaikanal. We hired a taxi and went on a forest tour which took us to the silent valley and a few places around. Kodai is so much better when you get out of the town and get into the wilderness. We trekked for 3-4 hours and took in as much fresh air as our lungs could hold. It was bit sad when we had to go back to the town. I don’t know if it is a result of meditation or me growing older but nowadays I just can’t stand noise of any kind. I had in fact written to the United Nations and had appealed to Mr. Shashi Tharoor on Twitter to institute an ‘International day of Silence’, a day when the whole world just shuts up! Unfortunately but not surprisingly I didn’t get a response from both sources. If you are a person with some clout and if you happen to be reading this blog post (which is unlikely) please do consider my idea of a day of silence across the world and help me take it to a logical conclusion. Coming back to Kodai, Day 3 went of peacefully in the forest reserve areas of Kodai and we were much glad about being in Kodai than the previous days.

Overall the trip was fine but I only wish that our hill stations, in general, were managed better. It’s painful to see a beautiful and pristine place like Kodai turning into an urban jungle. If you are going to Kodai just to beat the heat it’s ok to go during the peak summer season otherwise I recommend that you plan your trip during off season, especially around Nov time and don't be in the town except for night stay (and may be for Tava)! You are likely to have a much better time.

Little known facts about Dharavi

Dharavi in Mumbai is the Asia's biggest slum. The living conditions in Dharavi are poor, to put it mildly (avg size of a house is 300 sq ft and it's not uncommon to see 10-15 people staying in one house). There is no sanitation to talk about (1 toilet per 15,000 people). These are the usually known facts about Dharavi and these are real fact. Now here's something that you may not know.

• Dharavi has an annual economy of over USD 650 million
• It has a population of around 600,000 people
• 60% of the families have lived there since 60yrs
• Many businesses in Dharavi generate million dollar incomes
• Products made in Dharavi are sourced and sold globally (NY, Europe, SE Asia etc)
• Dharavi is a major tourism and cine location in Mumbai and a big chunk of junior film artists come from Dharavi

I thought these facts were interesting; we have certain single stories of people and places etched in our minds because of the information that we are constantly fed with. But thankfully in some cases reality is not all that is told or shown in the single story.

Image Courtesy: National Geographic

The Etymology of India

What is common between Bharata, Tenjiku and Jambudvipa? Though one, isn't it? Let’s save you the trouble of Googling. Believe it or not these are actually alternate names of India, historical and mostly referring to the pre-modern India. Allow me to start this blog at the very starting point, the etymology of the words associated with India. Here’s how the names came about,

INDIA

The English term is from Greek Indía, via Latin India. Iindía in Byzantine (Koine Greek) ethnography denotes the region beyond the Indus. The name is derived ultimately from Sindhu, the Sanskrit name of the river, but also meaning "river" generically. The name India was known in Old English, and was used in King Alfred's translation of Orosius. In Middle English, the name was, under French influence, replaced by Ynde or Inde, which entered Early Modern English as Indie. The name India then came back to English usage from the 17th century onwards, and may be due to the influence of Latin, or Spanish or Portuguese.

BHARATA

The name is used for the Republic of India. Bhārata is the official Sanskrit name of the country, Bhārata Gaṇarājya, and the name is derived from the ancient Indian texts, the Puranas, which refers to the land that comprises India as Bharata vasam, and uses this term to distinguish it from other varsas or continents. According to the puranas, this country is known as Bharatavasha after the Jain king Bharat Chakravarti. This has been mentioned in Vishnu Purana, Vayu Purana, Linga Purana, Brahmanda Purana, Agni Purana, Skanda Purana ,Khanda and Markandaya Purana.

HINDUSTAN and HIND

The name Hind is derived from the Iranian equivalent of Indo-Aryan Sindh. The Avestan -stān means country or land (cognate to Sanskrit sthāna "place, land"). India was called Hindustan in Persian although the term Hind is in current use. It also occurs intermittently in usage within India, such as in the phrase Jai Hind. Hindustān, as is the term Hindu itself, entered the English language in the 17th century. In the 19th century, the term as used in English referred to the northern region of India between the Indus and Brahmaputra rivers and between the Himalayas and the Vindhyas in particular, hence the term Hindustani for the Hindi-Urdu language. Hindustan was in use synonymously with India during the British Raj.Hind (Hindi: हिन्द) remains in use in Hindi-Urdu. In contemporary Persian language, the term Hindustan has come to mean the Indian subcontinent, and the modern Indian Union is called Hind. The same is the case with Arabic language, where al-Hind is the name of the Republic of India.

TENJIKU

Tenjiku is the Japanese word commonly used in reference to pre-modern India. Tian, the root word for the Japanese kanji means, heaven, while, jiku, means: 'the center of'. Therefore the word is known to mean: 'the heavenly center of the world" or "the spiritual axis (center)", a reference to the Indian origins of Buddhism.

JAMBUDVIPA

There is a story in Jain mythology and in Hindu and Buddhist texts as well that describe Jambudvipa being one of the seven islands/continents of the world. It is possible that perhaps "island" is used to refer to India because India in one time was a separate Indian Plate. Perhaps the phrase is used in the manner that the land of India is still an island in between the Indus River and the rest of the Asian Plate.

Hoddu in Hebrew and Aryavarta in Sanskrit also refer to India, but the origins of these names is not clear.

Information Credit: Wikipedia