Balaji’s Blog

A 1000 years of History – Barely remembered

Part of my 3 week trip to India earlier this year included a visit to a series of temples in Tamil Nadu – popularly known as the "Navgraha temples". I came away from that trip amazed at the enormous potential for tourism in Tamil Nadu and saddened by how much of it goes to waste due to frustratingly archaic customs.

Driving into a tiny village of 10 or 20 houses that holds at it’s centre an enormous temple complex that covers a square acre of land left me wondering what was this place like in it’s heyday. Or walking down a 500 foot hallway with curved archways soaring 50 feet into the air, you wonder whether the European architects of the Renaissance were really all that original. When one finishes praying at the Garbha graha of a temple and notices that every square inch of the rock is covered in gold leaf – it’s a glimpse into the enormous wealth of those Pandian kings that drove this building spree.

Astonishingly, almost none of these locations suffer from the typical infrastructure woes that plague most Indian tourist destinations. Reasonably good governance has been a hallmark of Tamil Nadu politics for decades now – translating into rail and air access to the major towns in this temple belt, 2-lane all weather roads to every village, and 5 bars of cell phone coverage wherever you go. And if you have to cross a dry riverbed on a rickety wooden bridge that creaks with every motorcycle that brushes past you – well that’s part of the adventure isn’t it? You also get reasonably decent accommodation (that can be booked on the Internet!) and great South Indian food in every restaurant. So why are these places unknown outside South India?

The first problem I believe is that annoying rule of "No photography allowed inside the temple premises". Whether it was due to Hindu priests believing that photographs stole the deity’s soul or the bureaucrats fearing thieves would use the photographs to decide which temple jewels were worth stealing, all you can get are photos of the temple entrance or it’s Gopuram. Which after the 50th such photo, tends to get really old. How do you promote a place when you can’t even show it to another person?

The other issue is with the Hindu customs – which barely tolerates Indians of other religions entering the temples and outright refuses to let foreigners in. I see the crowds of foreign tourists at the temples in Singapore’s Little India, which (no offence) have barely a fraction of the history of some of these "Navagraha temples" and wonder how much these tourists would be amazed seeing the crystal Lingam that the temple priests in one place claim was placed there by Lord Muruga himself. What would they make of the story of how the stone Lingam in one temple leant to one side to allow Lord Brahma, cursed to be born a human, garland the statue and thus attain Mukti? Every idol and nearly every tree in these temples has a fascinating, richly detailed history that could reward and entertain the patient traveller.  Yet thanks to concepts like "aacharam" and "madi", they remain out of bounds to any foreign tourist who might make it this far.

I want to wrap up this post with the incident that truly defined this trip for me. We arrived at one temple a little too early and one of the ubiquitous vendors suggests we take a walk "just a little while away" to a Lord Venkateshwara temple that had just re-opened. We walk barefoot down a stony path trying to avoid the goat dung underneath and the curious village dog around our ankles. Finally, we come to a red brick wall which opens up to reveal two "shelters" thrown together from wood planks hastily nailed together. We walk in and a temple priest informs us that the temple is probably over a 1000 years old and was hidden by the jungle till someone "discovered" it a few years back. He points out the single remaining Vimana of the original temple, stained dark green and with a single stubborn tree still growing out of a crack in the roof. I look at the serene face of Lord Venkateshwara, his features blurred by centuries of rain and neglect and wonder how many generations of people have walked by, not knowing they were being blessed by an almost-forgotten God.

India still has the power to surprise and move us – it’s cynical, careless children.

Notes From Moving House

Those of you who are kind enough to follow my ramblings on Twitter will know that I was offline for a few days moving house. Random thoughts/suggestions from the same to follow:

• If you are moving to an unfurnished/semi-furnished house, get yourself a tape measure. The number of additional trips I made to furniture shops because I did not have one was just dumb
• Also, get yourself magnetized screwdrivers. Hunting for tiny screws in the chaos from packing/unpacking just isn’t worth it
• We slapped labels on all our boxes identifying the room it had to go to and what was in the box. Makes unpacking a lot easier when you don’t have to rip through all the boxes to figure out what you need first
• The stuff that you box up first because you don’t need it? Yeah, you’re going to open that box half-a-dozen times before you move, having to shift 10 other boxes every time to get at it.
• If you don’t use this as an opportunity to throw out old crap you never will.
• Don’t even bother thinking you will be able to assemble Ikea furniture yourself – just pay the damn installation/delivery charge and save yourself the hassle. Even those guys wind up with extra screws that seem to do nothing!
• Keep your cellphone charger handy – moving/furnishing house tends to burn through battery life like crazy and being stuck in an empty house with a dead cellphone is no fun.
• Expect to blow your budget in unexpected ways and buffer accordingly. I had to pay for a technician to come out and fix my POTS line (yes i’m old fashioned)
• Remember that eventually it’ll be all done and it’ll all be worth it.

Now you can be racist without ever talking to your victim!

I currently live in a rented HDB apartment in Yishun. Soaring rentals forced my wife and I to move out of the (slightly-decrepit) condominium apartment that we had lived in for 2 years since moving to Singapore.

Despite the occasional sense of regret about the lack of facilities at your doorstep (swimming pools, gymnasium etc.), my wife and I settled in fairly quickly into the new HDB flat. We both agreed that atleast one thing was common between our old apartment and the new place – neighbors who stayed at the head-nodding stage when we passed by each other in the corridor.

That all changed this past Sunday evening. At around 4 PM, a series of knocks and insistent doorbells rings bring me to the door – to find 2 policemen standing outside, eyeing me suspiciously. They inform me that they have received complaints about a clothes-stand outside the apartment “blocking the corridor”. I apologize and tell them I will move it closer to the corridor walls. The policeman shuffles his feet and says something about “That’s upto you sir but… “. When I push him about what I should do – he says “Actually, they are saying because of your clothes-stand, they cannot open the windows in their apartment”.

I blank for a few seconds here – They? They who? And then suddenly it dawns – my neighbors! My head-nodding, never-disturbing, back-stabbing sons of bitches neighbors had gone to the police! Apparently, we were getting in the way of their million-dollar view of the identical windows of the HDB apartment block next-door. So instead of coming over, knocking on our door and asking us to remove the offending pieces of clothing – they got the Singapore police to their dirty work for them.

Just when the confusion and shock had passed and anger was beginning to set in, I see that one of the neighbors was talking to the police – “Why are you talking to them? He is a tenant! Call the landlord! Ask him for the landlord’s number!”. The anger disappeared and fear gripped me. It’s an open secret that most HDB flats rented out are not legally allowed to do so – hence the phenomenon of the “locked room“. My neighbor knew this and by trying to drag the dubious legality of my rental agreement into this, had just upped the stakes. I either acquiesced or faced scrutiny from 2 or even 3 other government departments.

I man-handled the offending clothes-stand into the apartment, then handed over my identity card to the police-officer for his records.

As I closed the apartment door, a bitter taste flooded my mouth – the acrid taste of racism. Sure, all of us have had chinese folks (typically ladies between the ages of 25 and oh, 100) remain standing on the MRT than sit next to us or even stand up and dash to the opposite side when a seat became available. We have heard the stories of cab-drivers refusing to stop for Indians waiting near popular watering-holes, as we don’t tip like the rich ang-mohs do. But these were stories of strangers – surely people who knew us, who saw us everyday could look past our skin colour?

I now know better – the chinese in Singapore, rather than have their sensibilities offended by having to talk to the “native” can get the Singapore police to do it for them. Even better, it appears the Singapore police have nothing better to do than resolve complaints of underwear fouling someone’s feng-shui.

The final bonus? I now have a police record for the first time in my life – Woo fucking hoo.

I fear my Government, anywhere

At this moment, there are two petitions sitting in my feed-reader/email asking me to do the right thing – Get the Singapore government to repeal a law against gays and another asking for action against Myanmar.

In my heart I know the right thing to do is to sign these petitions. I also know I should be brave and put my name where my opinions are. Another part of me “knows” that this not really going to change the Singapore government’s opinions or actions.

Yet, a tiny voice in me stops me from clicking that final submit button. The voice that reminds me of the horrors that have visited so many of my country-men in India when they have stood up against corrupt or unjust officials. Lives broken, careers ruined, families torn apart.

The voice reminds me that I am living in a strange country – my only right to living and working here a small plastic card. That card keeps my family fed, puts a roof over our heads and allows us to fulfill a dream of owning a house.

It asks “Are you really sure you are safe? Confident that this will not get your visa canceled and have you sent back to India in disgrace?”.

I listen to the voice and I am afraid. I am embarrassed to be afraid, but I cannot click that Submit button.

This is the real price of living under an unjust government – you are too afraid to protest anytime, anywhere.

Exactly like I remember it – and that’s a bad thing

As a kid, I was lucky to have had many oppurtunities to experience long road trips through the heart of southern india – the bustling commercialism of the Bangalore – Chennai route; the shimmering heat haze and inviting canals on the Coimbatore – Bangalore route; or the seemingly never-ending villages on a road journey through the length of Kerala.

In all these trips, certain things always seemed constant – weatherbeaten brick houses dwarfed by the big Indian sky; thier walls painted with fading advertisments for forgotten brands of cement and bicycles. Or fields of low bushes and trees, framed by low hills in the distance.

During this year’s annual vacation to India, I had the oppurtunity to relive one of of those road trips – on the new “Old Road” between Chennai and Bangalore.

So on a cool, overcast morning we set off from Chennai ; my dad and the family driver in the front seats of the family car and me in the backseat, staring out at the familiar yet different landscape. At first, it really did seem like everything had been transformed:

- The “Old Road”, once a bumpy two-lane blacktop, now a smooth four lane toll highway
- Sriperumbudur a sleepy little town more famous as the site of Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination; now bustling with activity as the site of large automobile factories
- Giant factories still under construction, hinting at even more astonishing development, slowly creeping out into the hinterland of Tamil Nadu.

It seemed like the quiet rural landscapes of my childhoold had disappeared. But as the hours ticked by, I began to see the familiar markers of my childhood:

It seems the ripples from India’s 15-odd years of liberalization has yet to spread beyond its cities – the rural landscapes of India remain much the way they were when Manmohan Singh first threw open the gates for FDI in India. The sentimental part of me takes comfort in the fact that the happy memories of my childhood are undiluted. Another part of me wonders when exactly will most of India actually feel the benefits of the “economic miracle” that educated, white collar India has ridden to new heights?

And another thing…

A follow-up from the previous post.

I have no idea if the sort of thing I am about to describe is common in other countries¹, but it’s another annoying trend.

I can fairly confidently predict in a very short while, a email will be forwarded to me pointing out all the amazing things that Indians have accomplished in recent years.. and Amit Singhal’s name will be added to that list.

Now, don’t get me wrong – I admire what the guy has helped build, but there is a deceptive logic in these sort of emails that bugs me – the philosophy goes “Look at the cool stuff that Indians are doing! So.. we don’t need to feel so bad about the state of our country”.

You know what? We do need to feel bad about the state of our country.

What these people have accomplished is testament to something else altogether – that in the current labour market, people with intelligence and ability are able to find jobs that would better utilize their talent that would have been possible 20 years ago.

But the endemic corruption that India suffers from isn’t improved one bit because of these accomplishments.

The atrocious state of the infrastructure in India doesn’t get any better.

The criminal amounts of money thrown away on incredibly inefficient state enterprises isn’t changed.

The lack of any social security in a country with a huge population of elderly and traditional social structures unravelling isn’t improved.

And let’s not get started on child mortality, infanticide, farmer suicides and education.

If any of these factors show any (and I do mean any) improvement, then that’s a list I will be happy to read.

Lists like these are just placebos – dulling the outrage that we should be feeling.

Okay it’s incredibly late at night… I’m tired and over-worked and this post is probably going to mortify me tomorrow.

So I’m gonna shut up now.

1. more specifically, asian countries with a history of colonial rule [↩]

I can’t rise above my racial imprinting!

So I was reading an article on the web and noticed that one of the “top guys” mentioned in the article was an Indian.

My first visceral reaction was “Oooo..”. And my second was “Goddamit! Why did I just do that?”

See, this is where I think the 150+ years of colonial rule still lurk in some reptilian corner of the Indian brain – we have extremely poor self-worth. All Indians love to hear/read about the Indian who made good in the burra sahib world.

Plus, I know that:

1. Indians rising to senior positions on the “back-end” side of things is old-hat by now. And in this case as well, the guy is really just a top “rocket-scientist”.

2. Despite that, the guy is probably never going to crack that final barrier – into the top management. The few guys who have (1,2,3) have had fairly ignominious ends – Under investigation for stock-fraud (1), fired (2) or even worse, in jail for fraud (3). Can’t say that they represent a shining example of Indians doing their country proud.

But did that stop that reaction – No. And I freaking hate myself for falling victim to it.

PS: The article that started this whole mess was this NYT article.

Real world and teh internets collide!

Result = del.icio.us (Yes I know bad pun, but I couldn’t resist!).

Old west Mythbusters | Ask MetaFilter

So Adam Savage (of Mythbusters fame – and one of my favourite shows on TV) is a longtime member of MetaFilter.

Running short of ideas for a new episode; he decided to post a question on Ask Metafilter and there was incredible flood of responses. Adam has promised to make a shout-out to Mefi during the filming of the episode as thanks for all the help¹.

This isn’t the first time this has happened on MeFi though – a question about Steve Wozniak on Ask Mefi, actually got Woz himself to register and add to the conversation.

1. He’s already started doing so, as pointed out by a commenter [↩]

Make a wish

*deep breath*, originally uploaded by JKonig.

I logged into Flickr this morning to discover this absolutely rotten piece of news – and if there is one person (who I have never met and lives half-way around the world from me) for whom I could make a wish that nothing bad ever happen to, it would be jkonig.

It’s not so much about her photographs, but her way of pulling in you right into the moment when that photograph was taken – letting you see for a minute what was in the photographer’s mind when the photo was taken is just a priceless gift.

So please if you have a minute – make a wish for jkonig. Thank you!

Sometimes it’s best to start small

A very long time back, I had hoped to get started on using GTD.

I’m sure you can guess that it hasn’t worked out. However, I have in my own way tried to start bringing some semblance of order to my life and have been surprised by just how much difference that has made.

My wife told me recently about having received an attractive leather day planner at work and having no use for it. I asked her to pass it on to me thinking I might have some use for it.

Surprising even myself, I’ve found myself using it religiously – updating all the little things I’ve needed to (mostly personal things) in this and sticking to that schedule, more or less.

I’m sure one part of it has to do with the look of the planner – a nice business-like cover with no tacky company branding. That compels me to use it, which in turn compels to actually complete things setting up a nice little loop.

I can only hope that this keeps going!