ബിരിയാണി

അന്നു ആദ്യമായിട്ടാണു ഖത്തറില്‍ വരുന്നതു. ഇതിനു മുന്പുയ യു.എ.ഇ യിലു പൊയിട്ടുണ്ടു. ഇവിടെ എത്തിയപ്പോളു ഉച്ച കഴിഞ്ഞിരുന്നു. എന്റ്റെ കൂടെ റിസ്വാനും ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നു. നല്ല് വെശുപ്പ്. കൊണ്ടുവന്ന പെട്ടികളൊക്കെ ഒതുക്കിവച്ചിട്ടു ഞങളു പുറത്തേക്കിറങി. പരിചയമില്ലാത്ത സ്തലത്തു ഭക്ഷണം തേടി ഞങളു നടന്നു. അല്പ്പം് മുന്നോട്ടു പോയാല്‍ കുട്ടപ്പന് നായരുടെ ഹോട്ടലുണ്ടെന്നു ഗംഗാധര്‍ പറഞ്ഞിരുന്നു. ഹിന്ദിക്കാരനായ റിസ്വാനു നടക്കുന്നതിനിടയിലു ഞാന്‍ പണ്ടു ആംസ്ട്രോങ് ചന്ദ്രനിലു പോയപ്പോളു അവിടെ കുട്ടപ്പന്‍ നായരു ചായക്കട നടത്തുണ്ടായിരുനു എന്നുള്ള് മലയാളി പെരുമ പറഞ്ഞു കൊടുത്തു.

അല്പ്പംാ നടന്നപ്പോളു നല്ല പൊരിച്ച കോഴിയുടെ ചിത്രം ഉള്ള് ബോറ്ടു വച്ച ഒരു ഹോട്ടലു കണ്ടു. വെശുപ്പു കാരണം ആവാം പൊരിച്ച കോഴിയുടെ ചിത്രം മനസിലുണ്ടായിരുന്ന കുട്ടപ്പന് നാ‍യരെ മാച്ചുകളഞ്ഞു. ഞങള്‍ ആ ഹോട്ടലിനെ ലക്ഷ്യമാക്കി നടന്നു.

അകത്തു ഒരു ഭേതപ്പെട്ട അന്തരീക്ഷം. വ്രുത്തി ഉണ്ട്. ഹോട്ടലു ജീവനക്കാരെ ഒഴിച്ചാലു ഞാങളു മാത്രമേ ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നുള്ളു. നീണ്ടു വെളുത്ത വെയിറ്ററ് മെനു കാറ്ഡുമായി വന്നു. മെനു അറബിയിലാണു. വില വിവരവും അറബിയിലാണു. കുടുങ്ഗിയോ ഭ്ഗവാനെ? ഞാന്‍ അലോജിച്ചു.
വെയിറ്ററു ഞങളോടു എന്തോ ആരാഞ്ഞു…… ഒരു അക്ഷരം പോലും മനസിലായില്ല. എന്തു വേണം എന്നായിരിക്കും എന്നു യുക്തി ഉള്ളില്‍ നിന്നു പറഞ്ഞു. ഞങളു പറ്യുന്നതു അയാള്ക്കും മനസിലായില്ല. പിന്നെ ഭാഷയുടെ സഹായം കൂടാതെയുള്ള് ഒരു സംഭാഷണം ആയിരുന്നു. അവസാനം ഞങള്ക്കും അയാള്ക്കും തമ്മിലു സ്വരചേറ്ച്ച് ഉള്ള ഒരു വാക്കു വന്നു “ബിരിയാണി”. ഹാവു ഞാനും റിസ്വാനും ഏറ്റു പറഞ്ഞു. ഒരു ബിരിയാണി കഴിച്ച അശ്വാസം റിസ്വന്റ്റെ മുഖത്തു ഞാന്‍ കണ്ടു.
ബിരിയാണി കൊണ്ടു വരാനായി വെയിറ്റ്ര് അകത്തേക്കു കയറിപ്പോയി.
ഭക്ഷണം വയറു നിറച്ചു കഴിച്ചു. ഇനി കാശു കൊടുക്കണം. ഭാഷ് എന്ന ഭൂതം ഞങളെ നോക്കി ചിരിക്കുന്നതായി തോനി. വെയിറ്ററു തന്നെ ആണു കാശു മേടിക്കുന്നതു. അതു കൊണ്ടു എന്താണു കഴിച്ചതു എന്നു വിശദീകരിക്കണ്ടി വന്നില്ല. പേഴ്സ് ഒരു കയ്യിലു പിടിച്ചു കൊണ്ടു മറു കൈ കൊണ്ടു എത്രയായി എന്നു ആംഗ്യ ഭാഷയിലു അരാഞ്ഞു. ഉത്തരം കിട്ടിയതു അറബിയില്‍. അനജാണൊ അഞൂറാണൊ എന്നു മനസിലായില്ല. ബിരിയാന്ണിയുടെ കാര്യത്തിലുണ്ടായപോലെ ഒരു സ്വരചേറ്ച്ച് വിലയുടെ കാര്യത്തിലുണ്ടാവില്ല എന്നു മനസിലായി. എന്ത് ചെയ്യണം എന്നറിയാതെ ഞങ്ങള്‍ അറിയാവുന്ന ഭാഷ എല്ലാം പരീക്ഷിച്ചു കൊണ്ടിരിക്കുമ്പോള്‍ പുറകില്‍ നിന്നൊരു ശബ്ദം " എന്താ പ്രശ്നം?" ......... ദാ നില്കുന്നു ലുങ്ങ്കി ഉടുത്ത മീശയും താടിയും നല്ല തിളങ്ങുന്ന കഷണ്ടിയും ഉള്ള 'കുട്ടപ്പന്‍ നായര്‍' ... നടന്നു ഞങ്ങളുടെ അടുത്ത് വന്നിടു പറഞ്ഞു '12 ദിറഹം കൊടുതോള്'..... വേഗം എണ്ണി കൊടുത്തിട്ട് നിറഞ്ഞ മനസോടെ ആ അജ്ഞാത സുഹൃത്തിന് നന്ദി പറഞ്ഞുകൊണ്ടു ഞങ്ങള്‍ തിരിച്ചു റൂമിലേക്ക്‌ നടന്നു. അങോറ്ക്കു നന്ദി പറഞ്ഞുകൊണ്ടു ഞാനും റിസ്വാനും തിരിച്ചു റൂമിലേക്കു നടന്നു.

The weakest link in the largest democracy

The Mumbai terrorist attacks have left an entire nation shell shocked to realize the already doubted truth about our vulnerability to such attacks. With ease 10 or 15, still disputed, number of terrorists landed on the financial capital and held the city hostage for around 60 long hours. At the end of it, we have lot of innocent civilians dead, security forces martyrs and mammoth loss to the nations pride and economy.

Once again our bureaucracy along with politicians betrayed us by in acting on all the intelligence information that was available. Worst of all, today morning media was reporting that none of the bullet proof vests worn by the police forces were capable of protecting against even bullets from a normal pistol leave alone the automatic weapons used by the terrorists. Poor Karkhare (ATS chief), Kamte (ACP) and Salaskar (encounter splist) walked in to the mouth of death unknowing of how they were betrayed for their services to the nation.

The so called “Open” media in India rose to the occasion, and did what they do best, all of them competed with each other in “BREAKING NEWS” first with live coverage, panel discussion, sketches, eye witness narrations and as usual cooked up stories. In the beginning I observed media suddenly stopping the live coverage and highlighting that “we are not showing LIVE because it might cause difficulties to our security forces and help the terrorists”. However soon in another one hour or so the live coverage was back on air. I believe each media was under immense peer pressure assuming that maximum business goes to him who airs LIVE of the carnage ignoring the collective damage it could do. The freedom of speech was such that even the Govt could not restrict them from airing sensitive information.

The incident exposed the collective failure of the bureaucracy and politics in protecting the ordinary citizen. On the last day of the carnage, as a winding up note for highlighting the collective failure of the system, a saddened Barkha Dut of NDTV reminded the audience that each and every one of us is responsible for whom we chose to vote. Yes! I absolutely agree with her. But on second thought whom do I vote next time? None presently in the list appear to be competent. All of them had chances before to make the “change”, none of them had done anything that I could remember. Congress has failed, BJP- I don’t want to see Orissa repeating in entire nation, third front is nonexistent… so whom do I select? Who can make me feel safe? OR Shall I refuse to vote in protest to the existing bastard-ness?

I remember studying in my high school about democracy, as a system “for the people, by the people”, the lesson even highlighted that the citizen is most powerful in any democracy. In spite of belonging to the most powerful entity (citizen) in “for the people by the people” establishment, I feel powerless and insignificant, starring at the dark future waiting for the next “BREAKING NEWS” where I could be either the viewer or the victim……..

Delusional

Skimming through emails to delete all the spam, I noticed one email which looked like a spam but had a very familiar sender’s name. Something told me to open it before deleting. I opened it to realize that it was an old pal from my college days. Its been more than four long years since I heard from him last. And it was about one of my favorite topics of discussions “The quest for God”.

The sender of the email, my friend, was a firm Christian believer and used to be a member of student choir group. He is an excellent guitarist and singer…. Very jovial guy.

In the email, referring to a discussion that we had during last few days in college, he wrote “do you remember our discussion on religions as different paths to the same God? These days I am questioning the very existence of God!!.”

I could feel his deep concern about the atrocities caused in the name of religion. My friend said he has started doubting the existence of God since many problems are created in God’s name and he is not reacting (visibly!!!).

I recently read a book “Bhatathiya Chintha” (Indian thought) by Mr. Damodaran. The book very nicely and logically discusses Indian history starting from the pree epic period to the recent past. According to Damodaran in the beginning man did not know anything about God. He roamed in the jungles, ate when hungry, drank when thirsty, and mate out of natural instincts. With his limited knowledge about the world around, man couldn’t explain some of the natural phenomena like lightning, thunder and rain from the sky. He naturally believed in some super natural sitting up in the sky roaring and showering water. And this led to birth of God. He feared that if not obedient the supernatural might punish him with the ultimate weapon of fire (lightning).

Just like Ants live in a society and work together, man also started living together in a society. Initially they went for the hunt together and shared the kill. Growth of the society in size and growing needs led division of labor which eventually led to cast system. Man soon realized we need rules or ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’ for controlling the society. And rules are best practiced if it is said to be from the super natural up in the sky. The rules became the foundation of what is now called religion.

Does this logical explanation by Damodaran mean that God is man’s creation? No. Concept of God is fascinatingly illusive that it is as difficult to disprove him as is to prove him. Look around you, how beautiful the world around is. Below the visible layer of beauty there lies a very complex design and meticulous implementation which keeps the whole system running. I find it very difficult to believe that all these simply evolved based on Darwin’s theory.

Tata's Nano: A car and a Nation

Finally the much awaited car of the year Tata nano has come. I and my friend were eagerly waiting to see the fist photos of the car on 9^th Jan morning. We saw the pictures in CNN IBN website (www.ibnlive.com). On seeing the photo I felt like giving a kiss on the fore head of the car because it looked so cute. The reactions from my friend and my boss who was around were not very different. Tata has kept its word once again in time and pricing commitment it had given to Indian people.

The weeks before its release there were much debate about the ‘car’. Environmentalist like Sunita Narain argued that car is going to be environmental nightmare. Industrialists like MD of Maruti Suzuki expressed his concerns over safety and security aspects of the car since it is priced so low. Till its release Tata remained silent on all these arguments. Tata gave a fitting reply by claiming that it is the most fuel efficient and cleanest on the road as of now or rather it meets all emission, pollution control and safety norms of the present times.

I believe the concerns expressed by other players like Maruti Suzuki in the industry are due to the fear of threat the people’s car is going to pose to their product lineup. I strongly feel that Tata’s Nano is going to give Maruti 800 a run for its money. Tata priced the cars only 40% more costly that Indian favorite motorcycle “Bullet”. The intense competition in the banking and finance sector in Indian market would enable the normal motor cycle customers to go for Tata’s Nano.

The concerns raised by environmentalist are at least two

1. The car being cheap would not be able to meet environmental and pollution norms
2. The easy affordability of the car would mean more cars on roads leading to congestion and more emission.

Both these are very genuine concerns and need attention. As an industrialist Tata has done his duty by ensuring that his product meets the pollution norms (Euro IV). I feel it’s unfair to complain that Tata increased congestion and pollution by making a car affordable to common man. If industrialists were take up this responsibility we would soon end up in Stone Age. It’s the responsibility of the government to have infrastructure to meet the requirements of its tax payers.

The outcry by the people of Singur, West Bengal where Tata has made Nano’s factory is purely a political failure of the west Bengal government. A developing country like India cannot go back in industrialization. The government failed to rightly compensate the displaced people and showcase the benefit of the factory to the Singur people and the nation. On the other hand the opposition from within and outside the ruling party in West Bengal democratically succeeded in tarnishing the government image. In that attempt they more than managed to give a black mark on Tata’s image, who other wise is known to be man of ethics.

Another discussion that is going around after its release is its durability for a highway drive… This is rather a result of wrong expectation. From the day 1 when Tata announced a car for 1 Lac I have never expected it to be something like a BMW for that price and never I dreamed to drive down to Pune from Mumbai in a Nano. Nano is designed for a city only drive, till now you were riding ... now you can drive!!!!.

Now above all this discussions and debates the actual verdict will be out when the car is on road. But I feel it’s going to be a success for what it is meant to be.

I wish all the best to the ‘people’s car’.

The prayer

Here is my bold attempt to start a blog. Starting anything should be with a prayer. Thats what we learned from the day one. Here is my prayer

May God bless all
May God guide all
May happy remain happy
May sad find happiness


"Loka samastha sukhino bhavanthu"