The Soldier who Annexed 3 States for 3 Daughters

TheDivisionBell,

Thanks. I do think Bangalore is cosmopolitan alright. But it is a different kind, plus still evolving. I do think that as of now, Bombay is the most cosmopolitan city in India. One aspect is that Bombay`s cosmo sensibility cuts across the entire set of economic classes, and cuts through divides like education, language, etc. You can live in Bombay knowing just English or Hindi. The two non-native languages of the city. Even Gujarati, Marathi is enough. And if you travel in the local trains, you`ll probably hear every single Indian language, and some foreign too.

rozaiba,

I like that....the possibilities. Yes, in fact, one of the avowed purposes of this series. Exploring, or perhaps, showi9ng the possibilities in contemporary India. :)

jang,

I am not too sure about the Ramiah family liberalism being very common. Outwardly symptons exist. However, even now too many liberal families do not give a free hand to their boys and girls to find their own partners. A majority of them come to terms with it post facto. That, also is liberalism rubbing in I guess. But it still is rather rare to have families making it a policy to accept whoever their wards might be in love with, or choose to marry from beyond the pale of community, language, state, religion etc.

tobateksing,

Thanks for liking it. It is nice to know this series qualifies as a window into contemporary India in some eyes.

HN

Very very good writing.
Much impressed. Plus, you manage to stay honest even though it may be uncomfortable.
Great window into the country for me.

More pics of bangalore................


http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=140264&page=4


Visuals add more meaning to an essay such as this.Hope it helps.

i am kinda of with sstyamvada. i thing the insights about the mundane the author brings out about liberalism of rammiah family seem to be directed towards a specific audience. such ``liberalism`` is pretty much an ordinary norm...military family, bank karmachari family, or railway employee family.

muthaiah must have been an EME guy.

Some pictures of the Hare Krishna temple (Hope it is OK since others have posted Bangalore pictures)
http://temples.krishna.org/Articles/2001/02/00257.html
``The scale of the project is very difficult to explain... Even on a quiet weekday thousands of pilgrims visit and on weekends and holidays there are well over 20,000 pilgrims daily. On festivals it is more like 50,000 and on the Vaikuntha Ekadasi almost 100,000 pilgrims visited the temple in one day!``
...
``He (a pilgrim) was so impressed by the ISKCON Bangalore temple. He said he had visited so many Indian temples and they were all dirty and old, and he was not at all impressed. But here he saw a new clean temple full of ecstatic devotees and pilgrims... He said it was just like a first-class American standard building in the middle of India... ``

The following is a Macromedia flash page which shows the interior
http://iskconbangalore.org/contents/multimedia/index.html

Re: # 9
BTW is it really fashionable to be a christian in Bangalore?
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
You should see the crowds and parking problems near the Hare Krishna temple and the Hanuman temple near my house (my house is fortunately or unfortunately situated within 10 minutes walking distance from both temples as well as 4 other minor temples). In fact, on major festivals like Vaikuntha Ekadasi and Janmashthami, the parking easily spills over into all the streets within a radius of 1 km.

I think Maggie must have just shortened her name. Maggie is the logical short form of Maageshwari (the other alternative is Maagu - which sounds stupid; Magesh is a man`s name).

People always shorten their names if long. (Chandra, Chandu = Chandrashekhar, Venky = Venkat..., Bishu = Vishwanath, Ramaa = Ramaamani, HNLN = Holay Narsipura Laxmi Narasimha, Uday = Udayshankar, Siva = Sivashankar, Paro=Parvati...). Also names which could be embarassing; I knew somebody who was named Sundari but she was not particularly good looking so she insisted on being called Gowri.

In India there are a class of individuals, who take great pride
in superficialities, lack of knowledge of indic culture and traditions. He would be proud
that he can speak better english than any indian language. He will quote shakespeare
but be unable to quote bharthrhari. He will list 5 english poets, but be unable to name
5 poets in an indian language. He will think that one will not be ``scientific`` or ``modern``
if one uses indic languages. He will disparage festivals, iconic-worship, rituals - without
understanding or knowing anything about its significance. However, he will hold forth
in generalities and lecture people on understanding and peace. His lack of understanding
of India doesnt mean he knows much about other people either.
In short, such a person, lacks self-respect and esteem. All the bluster he manages
will be by aping supposedly ``cool`` people.


let us look at the nonsense - HN writes, each statement is dripping with
ignorant arrogance.

``And their parents were absolutely and resolutely behind their daughters’ chosen
ways of life. ``
huh ? What is great about this ? Would their parents back them resolutely
if each of the kids had taken to say selling drugs as a `way of life` ?

``The easy, natural liberalism in the Ramiah family is an astounding...``
What is so ``liberal`` here...and what is so astounding ? This is like a caucasian
traveller talking about India. Oh, these natives were so astounding !


``...such an attitude to the marriage of their daughters must rank among the most liberal....

``..to think this was a lower middle class.. in peninsular India is almost an aberration...``

``What made the Ramiahs so liberal?``

Hmm...good question,HN, you should go into the thinker position and start thinking.
How could these Indian neanderthals be so ``liberal``

HN doesnt even know the meaning of ``liberal`` but uses it liberally.

I wish the Indian customs officials had allowed me to take that large lamenated map of India (they didn`t for security reasons. I told them I had no intention of plotting anything significant. they weren`t entirely convinced). Anyhow, I could have accurately traced these motorbike journeys of yours and maybe future ones for myself...

These glimpses of individuals in your stories give valuable insight...of the realities, and more importantly of the possibilities of India.

Re: # 4

Link to pics of bangalore now........hope it works.....enjoy!!!

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=128430

HN,

That was a lovely account of Bangalore. I did my engineering in a town which was close to Bangalore, and have spent many drunken disorderly days there. It is the most cosmopolitan city India has. You could get by knowing, kannada, english, hindi and tamil.

#12

You are reading too much into it.

HN-bhai,

you think `maggie` is more contemporaray and international :)
Even the people who live in west-virginia would not want that name - it is so 1800`s
I wouldnt be surprised if you called yourself Harry

But there is a new word - called Namby Pamby - which i believe is popular.
You may look it up in the dictionary (www.m-w.com)

My friend, Go get some spine.

``It is just that a christian name seems more contemporary and international
than a rather archaic Hindu name. It is not really a loaded statement.``

Dude, you need to go get a `load` of self-esteem. Unfortunately you cant find
it in medical store.

And what`s with that ``...They were all exposed to a more secular, more varied life.``
huh ?
Do you even know the meaning of the word secular :)

You must be one of those RNI (Resident Non-Indian) types, with no particular
or indepth knowledge of anything, having low self-esteem and all pretense.

Farzana,

It is a rare pleasure to have a perceptive reader. I am amazed at how well you read. Though I have to confess, that Maggie`s father, much like her, were the ones I met not the one`s I conjured. So while I must reluctantly decline the choice of his rank, I must similarly not apologise for the man`s handlebar moustache!

Beejay,

Thanks for staying with me. And do not worry, if there is any fiction in these pieces they are all my observations. Even the spin I give to things and people. So in a manner of speaking, it probably reveals me as a boor and a man of poor taste than does my friends. ..:)

Feroz,

Thanks. Like I had stated in the introduction, a trifle loftily perhaps, what I sought to do was expose the readers to contemporary India by taking them into the lanes and bylanes of this fascinating country. Views and viewpoints are there to debate forever. I am glad that this series seems to have had some kind of success with some kind of people.

Nadeem,

bangalore still is India`s greenest city. But for a `85 tourist, what will be disorienting is the sheer amount of glass prisms that are floatglass building facades that dot the city now. These are the citadels of both IT glory and consumerist orgy. There is a rather ebullient green brigade in Bangalore ensuring the trees remain uncut, but the screams for infrastructure upgradation will take its toll.

t,

Thank you. Yes I am trying to do what I can to eliminate the formatting errors, but am about as skilful with IT as a carpenter with a spaceship! :)

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,

Err .. you make underscoring a point a rather challenging task! Like I did mention earlier, I have no fear or anxiety in making it clear that it is finally an impressionist, individual take. That said, yes, a peek into contemporary India is what i had hoped this series would be. I am glad you likied it. I do hope some publishers do too!

amrita,

I understand. I am belabouring a point by now...but it is my take. Very limited. That said, I am not sure if the desire to emulate services career of fathers is as strong today as even say....20-30 years back. There was once an excellent piece in the Indian Express about how a bunch of oddballs went into commando training, army, navy air force careers and then left after their short commission to be where they could make money. They delibeartely chose th career for the short term...as a thrill. I do not recollect patriotism had much to do with it...though they would not be found wanting, were the situation tyo demand that.

t,

????...:)


dost,

I doubt if being christina is fashionable in Bangalore. It is just that a christian name seems more contemporary and international than a rather archaic Hindu name. It is not really a loaded statement.

Harish:

Given my interests, I found this piece to be the most interesting. It provides a good study of the social change of a family from a lower to a lower-middle class. The characters are all so real. When I read about Maggie on her bike, I was reminded of my own visit to Bangalore two years ago. I believe that Banglaore has more women riding on their scooters and motorbikes than any other city in India, if not the world.
BTW is it really fashionable to be a christian in Bangalore?

thanks

(directed to chowkstaff;)

harish - this is more like it! :) that first line intrigued me and i think i spent most of my time on it, which is always a good thing.

as for the army brats thing - i disagree on the perception that they dont want to join back. what i found was that almost all of them would have liked to carry their hero-worship into their adult life and wanted to join the services but most of their parents wanted them to join civil life. but that`s my experience.

look forward to more.