Post partition India

My father is a tyagi a person who fought to liberate India from British rule. After his stint in jail he applied for a job in the economics department of a government college in Jullunder.  He taught a class full of rowdies, eternally interested in creating a ruckus. Whatever he tried to say went over their heads.

“Hai Madarasi,” were words he frequently heard followed by choice and explicit words in Hindi, Punjabi and Jodhpuri. Only God knew why they attended class at all!

One day while walking to his room, he passed a bunch of them playing football. They laughed and joked and one of them said ,” Hey Madarasi do you play football?”

My father had been a forward  on the college foot ball team. Later he played for the university.

“Yes,” he said, “I play a little.”

They started a friendly match and he kicked in two goals. The six foot goal keeper (my father is 5 ft 5 ins) was left plucking straws in the air. There was a stunned silence after the second goal.

“ Professor,” said a huge player, (my father was just a lecturer) “ I am the captain of the foot ball team. Do you think you could find the time to coach us?”

My father agreed. “what is your name?”

“Just call me captain.”

The next day, as my father went to class, he found the captain standing outside. After my father entered, he followed.

“Professor Madarasi,” he announced, “is coaching  my foot ball team. I don’t want to hear any noise in his class.”

He attended three more classes.

There was pin drop silence and very polite and attentive students. No more problems!

My father became close friends with captain. It turned out that he had crossed over from what is now Pakistan with his family during partition.  One of the things  he told my father was that a number of the rapes,  riots and murders at that time, were, to his personal knowledge not due to “Hindu- Muslim “ enmity, but due to old quarrels, revenge, honour killings and  land grabbing.

He came to visit my father recently. He is a stooped old man but very alert mentally. He said, “you know this beef ban? It is not really religious. It is political. It is directed at the 33000 crore beef export industry and the leather industry. We  are one of the largest exporters of both.”

Food for thought?

banned sites

Porn sites recently came under government scrutiny and have been banned. There is a raging debate,

“Should only child porn sites be banned?

Should the government be allowed to act as moral police?”

One thing is abundantly clear. Blocking the sites in India is difficult. Where there is a will there is a way. People will find a way around the ban.

Even when I submit my writing on line, if the title contains key words like ”rape, sex or fertility” the article is blocked by something called a “filter.” Even technologically incompetent me found a way around it. I just label it “article for submission” with the date.

For years everyone downloaded music and movies illegally from torrent sites. The IP addresses were spread by word of mouth and many people had their own collection of downloaded movies and music. Recently, there was consternation all around. First people noticed that they were downloading viruses into their computers along with the music and movies. Next, the sites , (even those based in Mauritius or the Seychelles) mysteriously closed down. I heard that the propagators were arrested like the Bit Coin founder.

Shops that used to actually sell pirated music and movies went “mobile.” They no longer have a fixed location. By word of mouth and SMS, you contact a virtual shop and place your order. The movies and music are delivered with a few hours by motorbike at your doorstep.

I expect that all that will happen as a result of the ban is that the shady shops  selling “porn” cds and dvds will disappear like the websites. “Mobile operators” will replace them. Contacts, demand and supply strictly by word of mouth!

mannequins and more

In our little town of Vellore, around  10 years ago, Raymond’s opened a show room at one of the main junctions. It was respelent with a mezzanine floor. It was staffed by polite well dressed young men. It was an anomaly. It actually had readymade trousers (I am not calling them pants) and shirts.

Till then we had a few shops that sold “material.” The gent’s “shirting and suiting “ was upstairs. The ladies section below. The same salesman (often in a lungi) followed you to both sections. He did not have a clue about colour coordination, trends or fashion. There were no ties sold anywhere.

Raymond’s had large glass display windows in which they had male models. The men had enviable figures and their heads were adorned with luxuriant black wigs. They also had a half naked Roman warrior complete with sword and shield. (I don’t know why, He was not in a shirt and pant). Vellore had never seen anything like it.

On Friday mornings they changed the clothes on the models. A crowd invariably gathered to watch the proceedings. They  spilled out on to the main arterial road. Traffic got blocked and was reduced to a crawl. People on motor bikes craned their necks sideways to see what was happening as they drove forwards. Sundry pillion riders fell off. There were several accidents.

The police finally posted two extra men with lathis on Fridays. They chased away pedestrians and hit vehicles. Voyeurism was reduced and traffic moved smoothly.

To add to the excitement, a “ladies innerwear “ showroom was started on  the opposite side of the road. It had sundry mannequins in “innerwear” adorning the glass windows. They too received a change of attire of Fridays. It was interesting. The salesmen pulled off sundry arms and legs and sometimes even a whole head to get the innerwear on.(They looked like psychopaths).  In the process wigs (and sometimes whole heads  fell off) and bald headed or headless mannequins were exposed, much to the delight of the crowd. There were hoots, whistles and derisive laughter. A large number of the male school going population of the town seemed to congregate there.

Some one protested and two salesmen started holding up a bed sheet  in front of the mannequins as the change was affected. It did not deter the voyeurs.

 Between watching the Raymond’s showroom and the ladies’ shop opposite driving on was a real hazard on Fridays. There  was no way the road could be avoided without taking  a  long detour around the fort.

The shop was shifted recently. It went into one of the shopping complexes and is on the fourth floor. It  can no longer be seen from the road. The ladies show room went broke and had a distress “closing down sale.” (Wonder if they sold the mannequins also).

Means while the police have installed traffic lights, so  traffic and life is smooth and safe once again.

bribing india

Bribing India

My husband and I went to Delhi several years ago on some official MCI business. We had no clue about the place or how one negotiates the mammoth building. Upon entry the signs were bewildering – every second room had a name board a designation and then in brackets either “on leave” “on deputation” or “ on suspension.”

We spoke to the all knowing lift operator. He motioned us into the elevator. For each question he wanted a “mamool.” 100 rupee notes were passé. 250 was the minimum rate. “Why do you want to negotiate in the lifts?” I asked.

“Arre “ “he said, “THEY  are so suspicious, they have fixed CC cameras everywhere else.” I did not even want to ask who the THEY were.

Finally we found a doctor who had studied in our institution.

“Perhaps he will help,” said my husband, “ at least he might tell us who to meet.”

He really was kind. He invited us to his home. On the way we stopped at a tea shop. It was the first time I saw someone having “one by two” tea. He also ate some greasy snacks. Whenever the bill amount was announced he would drop his pen or wave to someone in the distance.

Once we reached his house ( a modest flat) we met his wife.

“Did you tell them I am in the jewellery business?” said the wife.

 “I design and sell jewellery. “ She elaborated.

“Do you have a shop?” I asked.

“Oh no she said “I keep it at home. “My clients come here.”

She looked at my glass bangles. “Do you not wear jewellery?”

“Not when I travel “I said. ”Can I see what you sell?’

She looked shifty and immediately changed the subject.

“I did not know guests were coming for dinner. Let us go out.” Since she was already dressed and respellent in a silk sari and jewellery, I suspect her husband had secretly informed her that we were coming.

As we were leaving a twelve –to thirteen year old boy appeared. 

“Is he coming too?” I asked.

“Oh no, he is our domestic.”

She pushed him into a room and locked the door from the outside. “Is there ventilation in there? How old is he?” I asked.

“Oh he is from the hills. They are very sturdy people.”

I protested, “he looks like a child.”

She ignored the question and my husband pinched me. (I used to do that to my children when they misbehaved in public). I shut up.

We went to a restaurant where they ate a lot of food . Then the husband said, ”Do you mind if we pack some food? Our children are coming from college tomorrow.”

A full tandoori chicken appeared along with the bill. He rolled his eyes at the waiter  in the direction of my husband.

We spent a lot of money and achieved nothing.

Years later when the then director of MCI  was caught with disproportionate assets and our contact was caught too. Apparently he spent 3 crores on his son’s wedding ( that is what tipped off the CBI) and also had mattresses in his house stuffed with money. He also had a room FULL of jewellery and gold biscuits.

I now think he was asking me for “cash or kind (jewellery)” for information and help. My husband and I did comprehend and so did not take the hint.

He protested when he was caught. ”My wife is in the jewellery business.”

The judge didn’t listen. There were no receipts, no bills no accounts no clients, just a huge pile of jewellery and gold.

The user of child labor was arrested. I hope the boy reached home. In the melee I hope he made off with his justified wages.

why para

Why Para?

The Vyapara scam made headlines because apparently hundreds perhaps even thousands of students had cheated abd obtained admission to various professional courses. Others had been recruited for jobs for which they were not qualified or had not made it through the selection process. In the fall out everywhere you looked there seemed to be someone not quite qualified to hold the post that they occupied. An incredible 30% of the lawyers are not  qualified. 1200 teachers resigned in Bihar as the government cracked the whip and announced that false degrees would result in a prison sentence. The furor is settling somewhat and the CBI is now on the cases.

Cheating is a very old, crafty and prevalent method of getting through life. I have a friend who has never appeared for an examination without acquiring the question paper before hand. His ingenuity knew no bounds. I suspect that if he had applied the same reasoning and effort to actually studying he would have passed with flying colours. When he was in school he hired a thief, (no mean feat for someone in 6^th grade ) to break into the principal’s cupboard, steal the question paper and then return it without it being obvious that the cupboard was broken into. He was meticulous about what he did. He only studied half the questions so that he could clear the exam with 50%. He never aspired to top the class, which he could have easily done. He continued this lifestyle through his college days as well. He used a great deal of ingenuity to find out in which state the question paper had been set and by whom. Money changed hands and voila! He got his 50%.

As a medical student we regularly received questions that were rumoured to be the actual paper. Some times it was but more important 50% of the time it wasn’t. The ones whose marks were consistent were the students who did not let this influence their frantic night before cramming.

Today with the electronic age, acquiring the question paper is not that much of a priority. Fancy in ear devices are used to transmit the answers. Candidates are paid to appear for the exam and then leave the hall in half an hour with the question paper. After they reach outside the answers are transmitted to those who paid. Some are paid to “proxy” appear instead of the actual candidate.

 Marks are interchanged. A failed candidate’s marks are altered with a successful candidate. Parents who do this have very good excuses.

“I need to get my daughter married—she needs to be a graduate.”

“Anyway my son is only joining the family business”.

“Why should my son/daughter not get admission? He/She is very intelligent.”

Eventually one boy had 22 arrears of of 24. The father was very annoyed. “They are demanding rs 1000 per mark. How can I pay so much?”

Perhaps if he invested the amount in tuitions the boy might actually clear the arrears.

This is not a problem of India alone. It definitely occurs in China as well. Some of the top US universities are not above allocating seats to the perhaps intellectually unfit children of people who have “donated” millions.

What happens to theses students? If they are stay at home moms, they are incapable of guiding their children or instilling in them values of right and wrong. The “failed “ candidates become professionals like  engineers and cut corners. They either don’t have a clue , or don’t care, and there are buildings and bridges collapsing.

The cheaters are small cogs but they play a part in the machinery that eventually turns the world.