Sahib's voice....

English seems to be the universal language the world speaks in.Sure there are many pockets of the world where its not the first choice but more or less its appeal is indeed universal.I'm often intrigued by the path taken by this language in my own homeland-india.You need not be a historian to guess that the British brought English to our shores.The language of the sahibs soon spread amongst few natives who must have considered themselves superior in some sense at being able to read and write the sahibs's literals.Many decades passed,the British eventually left India but the English language continued to thrive. I feel we were pretty fortunate in that sense.Without English there was no way India would have connected to the world.But what was happening inside our society?I think that initial sense of false superiority that the natives felt when they first took command of the language somewhere continued to seep down the decades.While in most of the English speaking western world English is nothing more than language,in India it is a complex thing empowering people who speak it with often exalted and false opinion of themselves. I remember back in school folks from convent and missionary schools seem to put themselves higher in the pecking order as they somehow felt that the gift of the gab was with them.I think many of us when we meet or hear someone for the first time tend to record first impressions as the manner in which the person speaks and if the person speaks incorrect english either grammatically or phonetically its occasion enough to mock him if not directly then behind his back.No wonder we make fun of a 'south indian' english, a 'Bengali' english and 'Bihari' english. I have found this particularly gross and unfair.Its another matter that which part of India you come from or what flavor of English you speak is hardly indicative of your worth as a person. I have known enough fools who spoke the queens's language in all its splendour.Well as the saying goes "you can study at Harvard and still be an idiot"!. While at college I found another class of language imperialists this time from the opposite end of the spectrum.To them speaking good english was a matter of being equivalent to a snob.Discussing literature,pulp fiction or Hollywood movies was taken as a sign of belonging to the snobbish upperclass.While using deranged,abusive,badly tattered colloquial mother tongue was somehow considered cool.So if you mentioned an article you read in the Readers Digest or discussed a hollywood flick you got labeled "sophisticated"!. Come to think of it....English is nothing more than a language- a powerful one at that since its spoken so universally.How does it matter the way you speak it.It only represents an exterior expression.Surely,if I was born speaking French I would still be as bad following directions as I am knowing and speaking English!.But alas we continue to judge people on the way they speak a certain language.

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Looking back....

If I look back a decade or so -we had no internet,satellite TV was a recent phenomena..mobile phones were unheard of...it makes me wonder how things have changed in the interim. When I get a chance to talk to school kids these days I really marvel at their knowledge of what's in vogue!.They seem to know the happening internet sites,the cool games,new age music and the works.My generation specially those who spent their childhoods in small sleepy towns in india,are kind of danglers-having seen the pre and post gizmo life.

When I look back,I feel we had our own forms of entertainment-street cricket,comics,DD movies!.Those days DD would have excellent sitcoms like Malgudi Days,Mungerilal ke haseen sapne,Nukkad,Karamchand to name a few.Today's soap operas dont even compare-the same trash splashed across multiple channels.No wonder dvd's of these old hits are still so much in demand.

Cricket was another big pastime.There are few things we would do as seriously as "matches" against rival teams.Those tennis ball matches stretching well into the late evening(almost dark many times) were so much fun.We would discuss our favourite players in school and someone would invariably slip a small transistor set in the class during India matches.Suddenly by mistake(or by design)the volume would go up crazily leading the whole class to giggle.The culprit would thus be caught and the transistor confiscated.I have a strong suspicion that our teachers used it to check on the scores in the staff rooms!.

Comics were such a hit amongst us children.We would devour the Tinkles,Chacha Chaudhary,Pinki,Biloo,Mama Bhanja and the works.On many occasions my friends have gifted me comics(of their choice!) on my Birthday which would be borrowed by them the same day!!.
Its been ages since I have laid my hands down on a hindi comic.You dont seem to find them these days.No bookstore in Bangalore sells hindi or even english versions of diamond comics.Couple of years ago while on a long train journey,I spotted a "chacha chaudhary" digest at the wheeler's book stall.Even though it was the english version I had great fun reading it.I'm not sure if the original creator-Pran of the diamond comic series is still alive.

Exams were the worst times.I think somehow this phenomena is same for whatever generation you are born.I remember we would have 2 "monthly" tests and 2 "terminal" exams follwed by the holy grail-"The Finals".I'm really not sure if whatever I learnt at school could qualify for "Education".If I have to give an honest opinion I would say all we learnt were some fancy rules to solve problems(read math and science) and lots of unwanted information which had to be memorised and outputted in good handwriting at the exams to go to the next class.Strangely enough this pattern remained the same even in Engineering school which makes me wonder and somewhat scared as I really cannot recall anything I learnt.Anyway,I had lot of fun learning "nothing" and do not regret being uneducated that much!.

In essence though the times have changed the social structure has not changed that much.I guess parents are still anxious about their children taking 'safe' careers(read engineering,medicine..).Though with the growing opportunities in other fields like law,design,commerce and even sports this trend is changing somewhat for the positive.

To think of it, I dont really remember what I wanted to take up as a profession when I was a child.I dont remember anyone asking me that question and I feel like having progressed from one stage to another without much thought to the destination.So I kind of reached where I had to as a 'matter-of-fact'...which is not such a bad thing if you think about it.

Care for your eyes!

Couple of weeks back I realized that I needed to replace my contact lenses.Luckily my insurance covers the cost of an eye exam and the contacts.Back home in India,its a relatively cheap bargain.You can get a 'once a year replace' lenses for about 1200 rs( $27).The eye exam is generally a freebie if you order new contacts or spectacles.However here in the US of A,the eye exam turned out to be a long winded elaborative procedure.I walked into a local 'Lenscrafter' and got an appointment for the following week.

On my scheduled day I arrived at the Doctor's office which was right inside the Lenscrafter showroom.I had to wait quite a bit and I was somewhat in a quandry as to what could be taking so long.When my turn came I was motioned to a room with number of monitors and a huge screen which was to be used for "opto scan"-the latest technology which enables the doctor to look at a scan of the complete eye ball including the back of the eye and adjoining blood vessels.Pretty impressive i thought.But before I could peer into the scanner,I was administered some more tests-the rudimentary reading test then some test which seemed to measure how the eyes blink to flashes...atleast that's what I made of it. The opto scan was simple..all I had to do was peer into a round hole one eye at a time and bingo its done.

Next stop was into the doctor's room and I sat in the high chair with all the measuring instruments around me.The doctor came in after some minutes...a good natured grey haired guy.He showed me the opto scan results and said it was in excellent shape so no worries.He then did a few more tests asking me to read from a box with different numbered lenses.Then he proceeded to tell me that I would need lenses with a small astigmatism correction. I made the mistake of asking him what astigmatism means in layman terms. The good doctor gave me a verbatim lecture on the basics of astigmatism.He even opened an old dusty book and used a plastic eyeball for example.Then he looked at his watch and remarked "see you got me going on a pet topic"!.

Next I was handed a pair of trial lenses and asked to take a follow-up appointment in a week's time to see how I was doing with the lenses.

I turned up after a week and reported excellent results.I was told my vision was now enhanced better than 20/20!.The eye exam cost $157 and a year's supply of lenses cost a whopping $340!.Needless to say I immediately sent off my claim to my health insurance company.While I was surely impressed by the detailed care and tests I really wonder how a person without vision benefits can even afford lenses for the total bill comes to about $500!!...that already blurs my vision a bit albeit my new lenses.My only grudge-I forgot to ask the good doctor what he thought of "x-ray" vision...I will leave that thought till my next eye-care appointment.

Sania in Cincinnati

Every summer Cincinnati plays host to the "Western and Southern Financial" Tennis tournamnet where top 50 players are invited to participate.This month they are hosting the ladies matches and in August will be the Men's tournament.

Sania won her first two games to enter the quarterfinals which was played yesterday.It being Friday 7PM start,the game was a big draw with local indians turning out in large numbers.I reached the stadium a bit early and saw her practicing on the center court with her hitting partner.When the match started the crowd support for her was remarkable and she didnt dissapoint by handsomely winning the first game against last years champ Patty Schnyder.

During the course of the match she hit some unbelivable winners and absolutely thundering serves(highest was 110 mph!)....however when you play top seeded players you cant afford to make too many mistakes and Sania made plenty.Couple of double faults and bad returns saw her lose the first set in the tie break.The game was interrupted twice by rain and when it resumed Sania seemed to fight back well in the second set only to make too many unforced errors resulting in gifting a match she could have won.In the end the crowd were treated to high class tennis.Sania has all the big shots but what see seems to lack is the big match experience. With little more focus and right training she definitely has the ability and the talent to break into the top 20.

As we were coming out I saw a little crowd waiting in front of the players lounge.Patty schnyder came out first and she was wonderfully gracious and charming with the crowd.Heck even I got an autograph on back of my visting card!!.Sania made the crowd wait a little bit more and was virtually mobbed when she came out.She looked a little dissapointed and understandably so.She signed the autographs without smiling.The crowd's behavior was dissapointing..nobody clapped and none said a word or two commending her performance.People were just too busy getting autographs...I also managed one...a raucous scrawl!!....

Here are some pics I took at the game:

Swami Revisited....

The other day I discovered a community on the web dedicated to RK Narayan's "Swami & Friends".The book is a classic and like all great works of art remains timeless.The essence of the book is the simplicity of the character and an almost poignant innocense which seems lost in the fast paced world of today.Anyone who has grown up with Shankar Nag's wonderful series "Malgudi Days" cant disassociate Swami from Manjunath-the child actor who played the lead role in the series.Swami and his chums remind us of our long lost childhoods.Swami detests homework,loves cricket and cant seem to understand for the life of him why his father keeps meddling in his affairs.On monday mornings,Swami prays that an earthquake would drown "Albert Mission"-his school for in the revelery of the weekend he has forgotten his homework!. Swami's pal Mani is a boisterous character who brags of fighting ghosts with his cricket bat.There is something splendidly original and moving with the stories of swami's exploits that never ceases to inspire me.I would rate this work higher than Harry Potters of this world.Its ironic that RK Narayan for all his wizardry never achieved the cult following which he richly deserved.Nevertheless,Swami continues to live in the countless of people who at some point in their lives were swami themselves!.

Visit to Cincinnati Museum......

On 4th of July with nothing much to do,we went visting the Cincinnati Museum and Arts Center.The center boasts of an impressive facade-a semicircular dome at the backdrop of a bubbly fountain and lush greens all around.We were greeted by a smiling and courteous parking attendant who announced "Parking $4.50"....I gingerly rummaged through my wallet and came up with the requisite change.It was already late in the afternoon and we had just under a couple of hours at our disposal.Once inside the museum I marvelled at the grand lobby with a beautiful dome.We decided on a combo deal of a wade through the Natural History Museum and a movie at the Museum's widely acclaimed Omnimax theatre.The Natural History section was interesting as expected and we checked out the portals on Ice age,the dinasours and the works.I spent quite some time looking at exquisite pollen shapes under a user friendly microscope(reminded me of Biology lab back in school!!).There was even a sample from Pune,Mahrashtra India.I felt a little proud and smiled to myself.

What I found most interesting was the section on Apollo Missions.The 'piece-de-resistance' was a rock sample collected during the historic Apollo's lunar mission in 1969.A couple of months back Niel Armstrong was in Cincinnati to present the rock sample to the museum. I was intrigued to discover that Armstrong is almost a local boy and he used to teach Areaunautical enginnering at the University of Cincinnati in the late seventies.He also delivered a lecture at the Museum during the presentation.I got to know about this event a little late and will always rue the chance of seeing in person one of the personlaities I really admire.

After an hour at the Natural History museum it was time for the omnimax show.The theatre was astounding with the circular dome and the walls serving for the gigantic screen.The documentary was "Greece-Secrets of the past".The view was almost 360 degrees and it was truly an incredible experience.Though I have seen couple of Imax shows including one at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC,this was an absolutely rivetting experince.The documentary itself was fabulous with fantastic commentary and soothing music.It was close to being in Greece for that matter.

It had started to drizzle lightly by the time we came out but that didnt deter me from clicking a couple of grand pictures on my camera.

In the end it was a day well spent and I'm sure what we saw was hardly a quarter of what is there to explore in the museum.But I leave that quest for another day.