An Equal Reaction

re: semipreciousme # 358

Broccoli is ok. It`s good. But celery?! Is that thing edible? May be if one ate enough Pringles to go with it...

`` our bigotry comes from our religion and our casteism. in baroda, as in all other gujarat cities, try finding accommodation at private hostels unless you are a patel.``

Brings back bad memories :-( I once tried to live at a Kapol hostel in Bombay. I was made to grovel and beg because I am a Bengali. They were worried that I might ``corrupt`` their ``pure-vegetarian`` residents. Their parochialism and small-mindedness was to be seen to be believed. Bloody b___ds.

Anyone see a resemblance between Ali2, Audio-Video-Ratio and the Chowk Uni Bomber/impersonator?

These are worth reading:

`Delhi dressing-down for Modi` at http://in.news.yahoo.com/020327/58/1jwc0.html

`Patel to keep Gujarat balance` at http://in.news.yahoo.com/020327/58/1jwbz.html

anNy:

“semi, whats that you were saying about brocolli or celery being good for diets?”

…..not good…..very good….and thou shall stay away from those pringles…..

It appears that Vajpayee is moving to redress the situation in Gujarat, and is fulfilling some of the conditions that I had laid down in my post #302.

a) Vajpayee will be visiting the victims of the riots, and has indicated that he will not have any other engagements during this visit

b) The Union government has announced that it will match the Gujarat Govt. contribution and increase compensation to the victims of the `retaliatory` violence, thus making the compensation the same as that of the train victims

e) Vajpayee has taken steps to reduce Modi`s influence in the Gujarat cabinet by bringing in Modi`s rival as a cabinet member.

hi anoop

``Having lived through the horror of Mumbai ‘92-93 and then reading the Ramkrishna Report much later: it’s not inconceivable that under duress, men in uniform can be as partisan as the rioters themselves.``

are you sure you`ve read it? it`s actually the srikrishna commission report. incidentally, the sena is opposed to justice srikrishna`s nomination to the supreme court. more in mid day.

``the BJP represented a bunch of respectable elder statesmen who promised a cleaner, better society.``

you should go out a little and see what the bjp distributes as its literature. you can pick it up in the lane before mahalaxmi mandir. i suggest three books: `we or our nationhood defined` by guru m s golwalkar, `bunch of thoughts` by guru golwalkar and `concept of rashtra` by pandit deen dayal upadhyaya.

``Thackeray has some good ideas: his views on how Mumbai must be administered to prevent it from slipping into becoming another Calcutta for example, must be heard to be believed.``

ooh, i love this one. tell me more about his good ideas for mumbai. we held a seminar last month where pramod navalkar said migrants should be stopped from entering mumbai. gerson d`cunha immediately pulled out figures that showed that mumbai`s rate of growth is in fact slower than the rest of maharashtra`s and demanded to know under what law you could prevent a citizen of india from doing so. thackeray`s other great idea is the slum rehab scheme. the sena`s policy on anything can be approximated to adda conversation.

also, as somebody who is married to a bengali, what`s wrong with calcutta?

lastly, as somebody from surat i can report that gujaratis do not need to be trained by the vhp or anybody else in the art of butchering muslims: our bigotry comes from our religion and our casteism. in baroda, as in all other gujarat cities, try finding accommodation at private hostels unless you are a patel.

we dislike everybody and our timidity and our apathy, as ambedkar pointed out, is mistaken for our tolerance.

aakar patel

Reply t:

`Tis a very strange thing, this city-loyalty. Seemingly dormant most of the time, it suddenly erupts in a passionate flow of eloquence when challenged.

My ``defence`` of Mumbai doesn`t arise from any romanticised notion of ``how things were``, which is the case with most people, esp. parents who yearn for the verdant towns they grew up in, or worse still, desis in Toronto and Queens who in their homesickness and guilt convert ``back home`` into some sort of fairytale Valhalla which they are inevitably disillusioned with on their eventual triumphant return! :))

Nope...mine is a more pragmatic approach...I still live here, as I have done for years and years...and the facts are exactly as I have put them: this town continues to grow in every conceivable way and as one who contributes actively to this growth I am a proud Mumbaikar who shall Inshallah never lose the old flame burning within. And I resent the fact that you didn`t drag ``my`` Thackrey into the discussion coz that would have really spiced things up! But I appreciate your neeyat :))

Cheers and bye for now,

AB

Reply Ashok:

``Do you have the TUBE in Bombay ?,more clean than london ,& faster,cheaper & safer than N.Y.C.....you havent ``tasted`` Calcutta b/c you dont know bengali .``

Kee korcheesh dada... I HAVE tasted the mishti doi that is Kolkata OK? Admittedly, Mumbai has no tube, that is hardly a shame considering our local train network covers every possible place in the vicinity of the city. Not to mention the BEST which gets bettah and bettah coverage wise. Are you seriously comparing that to your precious metro which hardly covers a quarter of the city and is used by even less proportion of the population than that?

``Yes Calcuttan are `commie` but air conditioned mall & buses is part of giving luxuiry to ppl. other than who drive beemer & Benz in bourgeoise `Chor`Minister town Delhi & Bollywood dons town Mumbai .WE are proud to be Calcatian & it shows``

By all means take pride in your city. Calcutta has a ``kaalchaar`` that is lacking in even our nation`s capital (sorry Veeresh). But denying the obvious, i.e. that 30 years of commie rule in WB has killed whatever hope that Cal can ever be a booming prosperous metropolis, is not going to help. And if you think AC buses serve people who drive Bimmers and Benzes you are sadly mistaken. The mistake commies make (dunno if you are one) is that you make suffering into an artform. Not acceptable to us cheesy bombay slumlords :)

No, seriously... it`ll be great if you can post some of the positive moves that Cal (or should I say Kol?) has seen in the past few years? T uncle`s advice is well-taken, we need to look beyond being all parochial about where we live and do something constructive to improve its lot.

But having said that... our bhais are better than your dadas :p

Noops

Samina,

How was the orgy.. whoops party. Hope it was not like that party I went to , where the desi strippers took off their clothes and everybody yelled `` put em on ..put em on``

Cheers!

anNy,

Can`t WAIT to read about your trip to Londontown!

Anoop, Rsax,

What`s the deal with the indigent Indian famillies who are being thrown off their land and being pushed out towards the sea?

Etymology of a riot( in this case prevented):
http://www.indian-express.com/ie20020328/top4.html
Bhavnagar SP: Advani praised, Modi disposed
JANYALA SREENIVAS

AHMEDABAD, MARCH 27: Even high praise from L K Advani couldn’t shield Bhavnagar Superintendent of Police Rahul Sharma from Narendra Modi’s displeasure. Advani’s good words for Sharma’s good work didn’t prevent the transfer orders from travelling to his desk on Sunday. Sharma has now been moved to the Police Control Room in Ahmedabad as deputy commissioner — a post which was till now held by a promotee officer of the Gujarat Police Service.

Bhavnagar city has never had a history of communal riots — and post-Godhra, Sharma ensured it stayed that way. On March 1, the 1992 batch officer broke up a rally led by a Shiv Sena leader and Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists. For 25 days, like former Kutch SP Vivek Srivastav, he held his ground, resisting pressure from BJP MLAs, Minister of State for Home Gordhan Zadaphiya and others.

When Union Home Minister L K Advani visited the city, he praised Sharma and his men for saving 400 children in a hostel from a mob and rescuing three foreigners from a burning hotel. Advani, in fact, had turned around to local journalists to tell them, see, the police are doing a good job here.

‘‘When leaders in the rally raised inflammatory slogans, the SP asked us to arrest Shiv Sena leader Kishore Bhatt and 21 VHP activists. Without lobbing teargas shells or firing even one round, the situation was immediately brought under control,’’ sources in Bhavnagar police said.

On the evening of March 1, when mobs were prowling the streets, the Bhavnagar police, who had never faced a riot before, momentarily seemed to lose confidence. ‘‘Sensing that my men were hesitating, I got out and fired the first round and they immediately joined me. We managed to disperse the mob and did not allow them to regroup,’’ Sharma told The Indian Express.

That’s when the telephone started jangling. Sources in Bhavangar police said BJP MLA Sunil Oza called up Sharma, accusing him of stirring up trouble by arresting Sena and VHP leaders. ‘‘The MLA, in fact, threatened the police that if they were not released, it would cause a serious law and order problem. We not only didn’t release them, but made it clear that throwing their weight around was not going to help,’’ police sources said.

Oza then reportedly exerted pressure on the Director General of Police’s office, but after considering the case, the DG office did not pressurise Sharma.

‘‘As soon as they realised that it was not working, they started a hide and seek game. They instigated small incidents which kept the tension alive. Overnight, 220 such small incidents were reported. That’s when I called my men and asked them to use force,’’ Sharma said.

The Bhavnagar police were on their toes, opening fire wherever and whenever necessary. By March 2, the number of incidents had trickled down to 30; by March 3, there was nothing to report. When the Army eventually reached Bhavnagar, it had little to do.

‘‘I think the way we came down heavily on the mobs was not liked by many people. Other than controlling the riots, I didn’t do any mischief,’’ remarks Sharma.

There was more pressure on its way. According to sources, Zadaphiya called up Bhavnagar city police and told them not to register cases against those injured in police firing. ‘‘If we didn’t do so, the policemen would have been held for attempt to murder. We refused pointblank,’’ an official said.

Zadaphiya denied having made calls. ‘‘I didn’t call anyone and ask them not to register cases. They are free to do whatever they want.’’

At any rate, Sharma has just been transferred, by his own admission, for the third time in five-and-a-half years. ‘‘I am used to it. I was initially worried, but when I heard that a competent officer will take charge, I was relieved,’’ he told The Indian Express.

Anoop Bhat #344:

…so you are a mumbaikar!…check these poems out…
http://www.chowk.com/bin/showa.cgi?hnambiar_sep2600

…it is the same with any other city and its resident…the city we knew of old grows…changes…mostly for the worse…population grows…infrastructure lags in keeping pace…bursts at the seams…seemingly…but in the absence of alternatives everything is tolerated…people grow old…and attached…and beware our wrath should anyone attack ‘our’ city:)…

…feelings of attachment and affection are showered by us and we come to the defence of our city …almost without fail…

…like a rocky relationship/marriage/friendship…we can’t bail out and don’t see stability over the horizon either!…our feelings for some cities acquire a lethal and mortal dependency…
…am prone to digressions…so let me proceed in the same vein…

…so far have been examining our relationship with some cities and …by implication some relationships…think if we enlarge the scope we can launch into an enquiry of our attitudes vis a vis our personal beliefs too…

…like the cities of recent past…religions of distant past…become rigid…and unless we apply sensible radical surgery to redeem we become hopeless outcasts…in our immediate neighbourhood…and in our global community…but to do so we have to scale the citadel walls…that seem to be continuously fortified and reinforced by the jealous guards…who have staked a claim of vested interest…resulting in simmering rages that burst out every so often…

…was going to bring in your bal thackeray and our altaf hussain…but have said enough already…

rgds,

t

tvarad:

“Every year, thousands of Muslims are slaughtered in Pakistan in the name of religion.”

…..no one’s denying that the sunnis and shias have been slaughtering each other, but to say that it’s in the thousands is stretching it a bit…

stuka:

“methinks you have not heard of Indira Gandhi!!! or if you have, you are probably unaware of her gender!! :)”

…..a mutation here and there is only the natural course of things….:)

The press coverage of the Gujarat riots has been exemplary -- the press broke many taboos, including the one that previously prevented calling communities by name:

`For the first time (in India), the cameras didn`t blink`

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11819-2002Mar24.html

Reply Rsaxena:

``i love bombay, but its infrastructure is rotting at the core...it is becoming filthier each day...what are the maharashtrians doing about it?....actually, what CAN they can do about it?...bombay draws india`s poorest in search of jobs that don`t exist...but they settle into the squalor anyway...and unlike in china where even citizens need permits to move about in the country, in india we cannot stop people from moving to bombay...it is their country, and they can go wherever they hell they want to go...``

Sax, I dunno if you are one of one-time ``Mumbai residents`` who live here physically no doubt but never really assimilate --people who`ve never hopped on a local train and never eaten vada pav, if you know what I mean :). But as an out-and-out Mumbaikar, let me tell you that there has certainly been a lot of progress infrastructure wise in the last decade or so. Especially on the road transport front. The new flyovers that have mushroomed may be flayed by environmentalists and residents of posh areas (with reason??) but the amount of relief that it has provided in terms of unsnarling those monster traffic jams has been immense. Bombay is the only city in India where the public transport system caters to all segments of society (e.g. airconditioned buses -- can you imagine that in a place like Cal? most likely the commies burn them all down). We have practically zero powercuts. Water supply remains iffy, but compared to how pathetic it used to be esp. in the distant suburbs, things are looking up. MTNL continues to improve servicewise by leaps and bounds, telecom has gotten much cheaper over the years in real terms. Mobile networks have the highest penetration compared to anywhere else in the country. Internet access is cheap and easily available. Housing still remains the major grouse of every middle-to-upper-middle class Bombayite but finance options are now available like never before. Retail is booming. Consumerism is up. Service mentality is far more evolved here than anywhere else.

Having said that, I do agree with your point about uncontrolled migration to this ``city of dreams``. Even if you analyse it at a micro-level, I have numerous friends and relatives who have migrated here for employment opportunities not available in their own home towns. That is the reality. It`s a free country, and any restrictions on movement must necessarily be construed as draconian. I am sure there are several constructive suggestions on how to stem this flow, but eventually they are rather toothless. You can`t stop humans from dreaming, and, while things don`t work out for a lot of those starry-eyed bumpkins who invade our shores and end up adding to the Dharavi bodycount, there are more than enough success stories to warm your heart. In a quaint way, Mumbai is India`s microcosm of America: it is a city that was created by migrants, that has welcomed the teeming millions and continues to do so.

Believe me, there are enough times when the squalour, the stench, the pollution that assaults your senses, makes you want to throw up your hands in disgust and run away. Only to return, chastened by the knowledge(?) that things are much worse off elsewhere. To use an old cliche, you can take a person out of Mumbai but you can`t take Mumbai out of a person.

Sometimes, people -- usually expat Dilliwalas--ask me why Bombaywalas defend their ``superslum`` so much. I guess I`m still trying to answer that question myself. In the meantime, will this do?

Regards,

Anoop.