A Time to Spain

I know I have not been doing this regularly enough. It's just that Inspiration is becoming a little hard to see in the mist out here.

But also, I am now travelling to Spain for the next 4 days. Hopefully this will be a good trip. I get to see something that I never would have really put on my things to do list - watch a bullfight.
(I dont know why, the only image that comes to my mind was this report on Sun TV I saw a long time ago about this competition of taming the bull somewhere in Madurai)

So am hoping to be back on Monday. Will put a post on the trip.:)

To leave or not to leave

As the Indian IT job market is booming, I can see more and more folks are relocating back to India from all of the developed countries. People who have lived for extensive periods of time abroad make this momentous decision to go back. As we bid farewell to one of our colleagues who was going back after 5 years in Germany, I started thinking about the nature of this decision

While living abroad, you tend to take for granted some conveniences and mode of operations. That train is expected to come in at 8.21 and it will. You go and dump the garbage in the right place (after separating out paper, bottles and other waste in 3 categories) [Sidenote: this is actually done in Germany. I cant think of any other group of people who will have the patience to do that]. You almost never honk your car horn. You give the pedestrians the right of way. You do not cross the road until the pedestrian light turns green. You almost never go to visit families without giving advance notice. The word 'please' is the one which is used the most.

I could go on.....

I wonder how much time it would take for people who go back to India to get used to the way of life there. I am sure the kids will be the first to adapt back to the Indian style of doing things. However, for the grown ups, it is probably a struggle at least for the initial months. People react in different ways to this. As I am seeing in the posts of at least one of the bloggers who seems to be struggling to come to terms with India while on his holiday from the US. (At least in this case, I sometimes feel, the guy either takes himself too seriously or he just doesnt get it)

So then why do people make the move back? I guess social networks would be the primary reason. I am sure that the situation of us vs them I mentioned in my previous post is true (albeit to a lesser extent) even in the US. You finally want to be be amongst your own class of people where you are most comfortable. There comes a stage in the family lifecycle when you need to provide the 'roots' to your kin. I guess that is the time when people really start contemplating a move back. Of course, with the number of opportunities that are now being seen in India, I guess the decision has become a little easier.

Bhai Bhai

Throughout my childhood, I have always heard and imbibed the feeling that 'Pakistan' was the enemy country who wouldnt hesitate to harm our nation at the drop of a hat. Of course, the multiple wars and the hype surrounding Indo-Pak cricket matches alongwith Kashmir and Kargil did not help either.

However, in a world so far away from our own, here in Europe, Pakistan and India go together. If we see a person who may be looking like a desi, the probability is almost 50% that rather than an Indian, he could be a Pakistani too. While I have always felt offended in a strange sort of way to be called a Pakistani, I now realise that for the local people here, there is nothing to differentiate between these 2 countries.

Yesterday, I am waiting at one of the bus stops. This guy comes along with another guy (my first impression is that he is a Turkish guy) and asks me 'aap hindustani ho?' Then he tells the other person...'maine bola na ki ye hindustani hai. Hum sab ek hi hai. Main Afghani, ye Nepali aur aap Hindustani'....I was like..'wow, never have I thought in such a manner'.

I guess in the European world, we would all be classified under 'brown skinned Asians' (if I want to take a racist overtone). In fact I am realizing that not just the South Asians (Pakis, Indians, Sri Lankans, Nepalis) it is also the Middle East folks (Iraqis, Turks etc) who are in some way clubbed together. There seems to be an almost unspoken word of solidarity. Of course the feeling is much stronger between Pakistanis and the other Muslim communities.

To me, it is interesting to note this 'we' vs 'them' undertones..(the 'them' being the whites). But the fact is that these are all unspoken. We can sense them in many places, the fact that we are not 'them'.

So that brings me to the question, if we are so closely linked to the Pakis in the rest of the world, is there any point in the quite explicit hate campaign that happens (or rather used to happen) in India or Pakistan against each other?

The marvels of nature!! I took this shot from my balcony. A beautiful rainbow 

More of the East Meets West

As part of my series of discovering India in a foreign shore, I went to this Prem Joshua concert in Munich. Prem Joshua is quite known in the fusion music scene in India but may not be very mainstream. His music would fall in the genre of Trance/World Music. I love his kind of music and therefore jumped at the opportunity to go listen to him.

The guy is quite talented. He was playing all sorts of instruments - flute, santoor, sax...It's always great to hear his kind of music.
So in this concert, I found that there was quite some interest amongst the Germans. The place was almost packed. But I am not sure if I should find it strange that I was probably the only Indian in the crowd. For the locals, it was more of a different way to spend a Friday with quite a number of people wearing Indian dresses to suit the Indian theme evening.

I wonder why no Indians really go for such events. Maybe because trance is not so big in India where we have so much other music to choose from. There was also this girl (cant be more than 16 or 17) who was dancing to Prem's music for some of the songs somewhat in a traditional Indian dance form. To me, it was clear that there was nothing great about her dancing style as I have seen much more graceful dancers in India. But of course for the locals, it was just good fun.

But then, the thing that struck me was using this as a marketing tool. If the Indian Tourism Department could conduct shows like this in some important cities and generate interest amongst the foreign community to try out India, it would be worth it. This show was organized by some small private organization and also probably because of the singer's German background. Some targetted marketing would, I am sure, reap rich dividends. The kind of clientele that come for these shows are not the college going kids who do not have money to blow on a trip to India. It is the working couples (30 or 40 somethings) who are richer and therefore probably are the best bet to think of a trip to India who come to these kind of shows.

Maybe I should go to work for the Government for sometime. It would be something different to do and who knows, I may be actually able to add value. :) But let's be realistic. I will probably be disillusioned faster than I can say 'Government' & of course the money is not good enough.....
(On a side note, I wonder if anyone would have thought like this about 20 years ago. I know working for the Govt. was such a prestigious thing to do sometime back....& now I say i should try it because I am bored of the corporate brigade...quite ironical..)

Chemistry

I havent blogged for a week now. I guess sometimes you need to earn your living and work. But it was more of having nothing to really say.

Anyway, I saw this movie 'Before Sunrise' which came out in 1995. The sequel 'Before Sunset' has just come out last month. This is about an American guy and a French girl who meet on a train in Europe. The guy is returning to the US the next day morning and he requests her to accompany him in Vienna for his last night in Europe. In the end, they promise to meet at the same platform after six months without exchanging numbers or addresses.

The thing about this movie was the chemistry between the actors. In some sense, this movie is almost like a documentary with most of the movie being dialogues between these 2 and almost no other characters. But the screenplay is so good that you can sense the romance growing as the night goes along.

I think creating such chemistry on screen is so difficult. I think it is becoming rare to see such sensitive movies be it Indian or Hollywood. They used to say that about Amitabh & Rekha.

Most movies today are a reflection of the society as it is today - fast, no time for anything. Even romance has become a fast moving one. The Karan Johar genre of movies reflects what I believe the situation in todays society...(as they say in Kal Ho Na Ho...che dhin mein ladki in....) It's finally SRK's charisma which wins. :)

The beauty of this movie lies in the leisured manner in which these 2 characters get to know each other. They touch upon so many different topics that it is so very believable.

I am now looking forward to see 'Before Sunset' (they are now meeting after 9 years)!! and another thing to my 43 things list - visit Vienna...

Rulers of the world

Ever wondered who decided things in the world? Is it President Bush given his status as head of the world's only superpower? Wrong!!

It is actually 'The Bilderberg Group' that rules the world. The first time I heard about this on CNN, I was amused. This group, I believe has been in existence for the last 50 or more years and they have been meeting every year. Membership to this group is only by 'invitation'. The 120 odd members who meet every year are usually the most powerful people from the US and Europe and has included Alan Greenspan, Henry Kissinger, Pres. Bush, Pres. Clinton, Tony Blair, Melinda Gates . They meet once a year and no one really knows when and where the meetings happen every year. The meeting is 'secured' tightly and no official response is ever made out.

There is already a Wiki entry for this group. This year, the conference is expected to happen in Munich this weekend. But then no one really knows.

It is interesting that such a powerful group of people are part of an organization like this and yet this has been kept down with such a low profile. That says a lot of the clout of the organization. I wouldnt be surprised if a lot of the important decisions impacting the world had their genesis here. By the way, no Asians or Africans allowed. It's only for the Western world.

Some interesting links about the Group are in this page:

Almost sounds like the 'Da Vinci Code' and its secret society...:-)

Energy

Every time we have been in school or college or in the office, we meet with so many different people. Once in a while, we feel that this person is really good. I have personally felt that about many a person, this person will probably go a long way. I have felt that about a few of my batchmates in IIM Bangalore.

So what are the symptoms of such a person? Is it intelligence? Is it self-confidence? I think it is a combination. Earlier I had this empirical formula:

Intelligence x Hard Work x Luck ~ Success

I had always believed if you are not as intelligent, a lot of hard work and some luck should see you through. But now I feel there is a 4th factor which is probably the most important actually. I call that 'Energy'. I am noticing more and more that it is very clearly people who show a lot of 'energy' in whatever thay are doing that finally end up being the 'success' other people aspire to. These people are usually the center of the conversation in most of the sessions and it is not because of their official position. They would rather do something wrong rather than do nothing at all. Also, they tend to transfer part of the energy to the people around them and galvanize them too.

I started off this post as I was watching a concert that was being shown on TV. To me, that was Energy personified. These rockstars really epitomise energy. It must be really something to galvanize thousands of people to a frenzy.

Well, let me wait a few years to see if my impressions of the folks in my batch were true!!

Doors of Wisdom

There are times when you want to kick yourself for doing stupid things. Yesterday was one of those days.

Here I was in a great Sunday leisurely mood going out into the night for taking a walk. I step out of the apartment and then I realize 'I hadnt taken the key'. For sure, I had been extra careful not to leave the balcony door open. Sunday 10pm. In a country where not a single store opens on Sundays, cant speak a word of the language and didnt even know my neighbours really...why wouldnt I want to kick myself?

So I go and wake up the Housekeeper who doesnt speak a word of English(still dont know what she thought of me...). She was a sweet enough lady that she woke up her husband to come and help me out. So we try our door for about 15 min with no luck. Finally my neighbour comes out (thankfully, he speaks English) and he says, why dont you go and sleep at a friend's place and arranges for a locksmith to come at 8 am the next day (Bless him). He also adds 'If you dont find your friend in or something, dont sleep on the streets. Give me a call'. What an exciting thought!

Thankfully my friend was in. It turned out it was not a good night to visit him as he was awake most of the night with a production support issue (didnt know people actually did work at crazy hours like this..well that's a different post altogether).

So finally I come back home at 8 the next day...the locksmith comes in...and he doesnt take more than 4 sec to open the door...that must be the fastest anyone earned 70 euros ever. I felt so foolish....maybe I should have tried fiddling with the door for some more time...maybe I shouldnt have been so stupid enough to put all my keys inside. I dont normally convert to rupees...but this one warranted that...what a way to burn 4000 Rs/-.

So some lessons for people going to a foreign unknown city:
1. Never keep all copies of your keys inside
2. Know thy neighbour
3. Speak the language
4. Always have a backup (a friend's place to crash) :)