All rise.

Sonu and I went to watch Alice In Wonderland in 3D today. It was good. I didn't think it was BRILLIANT but then that might have something to do with the fact that the theatre that we went to (Movietime Hub, Goregaon. Be warned!) was really bad! The sound was terrible and the picture was dark so in revenge, Sonu and I messed up the theatre really nicely by dropping our caramel popcorn all over the floor!!! No, I'm kidding that was totally an accident but that's also the theatre's fault. Dude, make proper holder-thingies for the drinks and popcorn otherwise everything is just a tricky balancing act and things will go wrong!

Anyway, so funny thing happened. In India (okay, not sure if this is in every city??) at the movies, we stand up for the national anthem before the film begins. It's a bizarro-cool custom and every theatre has a different video playing with the national anthem. So today, there was something wrong with the theatre and before the film started, the national anthem started playing and we promptly stood up and there was nothing but static on the screen. And then it stopped. So we all waited. And then it started again. And stopped... and then... everybody actually started singing!! Like they continued singing the national anthem because there was something wrong with the theatre's video. And it was so... strange! I mean, we're all there about to watch Alice In Wonderland with our 3D glasses and everybody randomly breaks into Jana Gana Mana...

Anyway, so that ended and some lady actually said, "Bharath Mata ki... Jai!" at the end! And we all sat down and then... it started again!! Like the theatre finally found the right tape or whatever and they played it and so we all stood... again. Such good patriotic people?

So you know... I don't know if we're good at ever bothering to stand up for anything else worthwhile in India, but we sure do know how to stand up for the National Anthem!

What Will We Leave Behind?

When this whole study leave thing began, I told Antu and Sonu that I would try not to blog until the prelims were over. To that Sonu said, "you'd probably spend more time agonizing over not blogging than the time it would take you to blog."

And so I had to test out this theory and... it's been ten days! I think that might be a record for Compelle Intrare and well honestly... I actually haven't "agonized" over not blogging. Sure, sometimes when my mind wanders, possible blog posts sort of float around in my brain and it would have been especially nice to have come over here last night and vent about the horrible feeling of coming home tired and sleepy after your second exam (a bad one at that!) in a row only to get ready for the third one in a row. Ugh. Horrible feeling.

Anyway, right now I can't remember a single one of those things that I wanted to blog about (and the prelims aren't over btw but I have five days off!) but there is one thing that I've been thinking about (and being kinda sad about...) and I figured I haven't had one of my "save the environment" blog posts in a while so bear with me while I roar a little...

Well basically, here's a fact that they're flashing around everywhere in, I guess, what is one last desperate measure to save our national animal. The tiger. There's only 1411 left in India.

Anyway, I don't really know what we can do. Honestly. It's not like Global Warming where the problem is huge but there are still tiny steps (use public transport, switch off the lights when you're not using them, etc...) that you can take as an individual in your everyday life and somehow, it counts. But I guess it's just something to think about. 1411.

If we keep going at this rate, by the time I have grandkids the national animal of India will be the stray dog and the national bird - the black crow.

Just think about it.

Child

What will you live to do?

What have I left for you?

What will we leave behind?

-- Brooke Fraser (Seeds)

More (Flower) Power to us.

Looking to for the future...

These are sad days because they're the last few days of classes. As in, after Thursday I'm never going to sit through another class at Sophia's! :( SAD!

Anyway, so to cushion the blow, one fine day in the canteen Astrid and I thought, "let's have a dress code for each day of the last week. It'll be fun!!" And of course I was totally excited because I remember doing this in school too! The next day Astrid (who is our class rep) announced it to the rest of the class and so the Socio single major students and even our teachers (!!) are having a lot of fun this week ;)

Today was Flower Power/Hippy/Bohemian day...On Thursday we're going on a field trip (apparently) and then maybe lunch (?) with the class. Friday's a public holiday for some reason.. Never been so sad about a public holiday - this means one less day of college!! Tragic.

Today on the train ride back home, one of our teachers was on the same train and she asked us how we were coping up with "the end of college" and I said, "it comes and goes" and well, it hadn't come all day and then it came with an added realisation.. So far, I've been sad about leaving and saying goodbye to friends and going to college everyday and then it hit me that I'm going to miss the teachers too! And it's been such a blessing that we actually have a pretty awesome rapport with our teachers! And I am going to miss them! Ack!

Also I've been thinking about how I've made it through three years of being in an all-girls institute for the first time in my life. And let me tell you, it's been AWESOME. To be honest when I started off, I was a little like "ummmmmmm" just because I've always been in co-ed... but I haven't had a single day of thinking "I wish Sophia was co-ed." Not that I don't like boys, it's just that people often have this notion (like I did!) about all-girls being "boring" but trust me, I've had the most fun three years ever. And being in India, it's even more special because let's face it, we still have this socially backward notion that "boys are better than girls". Families still rejoice when a BOY is born. No fire crackers are burst on the birth of a GIRL, in fact sometimes we do everything we can to get rid of the girl! It's sad but it's true (don't argue with me, I studied 'Gender and Society' :P). So to be in a girls college like Sophia which is one of the best colleges in Bombay and especially being a part of one of Bombay's biggest college festivals (Kaleidoscope)... it's been an honour. And I am glad that Sophia has not and hopefully will not (ever) give in to the pressure of going co-ed. And one day girls will be celebrated as much as boys are in our country!

More power to us! :)

Celebrating Light!

Light the fire

In my soul.

Fan the flame,

Make me whole.

HAPPY DIWALI!

To the future,

So India's decision will be known today after millions [India has 714 million eligible voters; turnout was about 57%] went to the polls over the past month. And I'm not going to say much because well, I really am not the person to comment on politics! In a nutshell though, looks like we're going to be led by the Congress-led UPA for another five years...

If you want to know more go here or here.

And pray for peace and wisdom for INDIA and her leaders!

To the future! :D

Tina VOTES!

I saw Bangalore sunrise today. Usually, no matter how hard I try, holiday time I cannot wake up early because I invariably end up sleeping late but anyway today was different. Today is Voting Day!I voted for the first time in my life today. The very evening I reached Bangalore this holiday I went to the electoral office and registered. They told me I wouldn't be able to get my voter's ID but as long as my name came on the electoral list, I would be able to vote - I just had to show some identity. Okay. I took it with a pinch of salt, prayed that this would in fact happen and then life went on...My parents, who lived in Africa for almost twenty years also had to get theirs done and went through a lot of hell to make it happen. In fact, till yesterday my dad wasn't sure if his name was on the list even though he has a Voter's ID card! Anyway, you can read more about that over at his blog.
So this morning, we woke up bright and early to head to the polls. My dad and I wore our "Lead India '09" t-shirts which is a Times Of India initiative. He won a quiz over at their website and so they sent him a nifty t-shirt a few weeks ago and then yesterday for some odd reason they sent another one, a size smaller so I got it!I knew that voting was important for a long time but when it really kicked in was after 26/11 in Mumbai. That disaster of a terrorist attack that will remain etched in my mind forever. Suddenly the Big City was ebbing with anger, finger-pointing, protests, endless debates and discussions and then one of our professors put us all to shame one day. It went something like this...

Prof: "So let me ask you, how many of you are registered voters?"

A few scattered hands go up in class.

Prof: "Sorry to be blunt, but you shouldn't even be talking about this incident. You have no right to complain."

And then she gives you that look that makes you feel like the smallest thing on earth.

I'm not going to lie to you. Although I felt good about the fact that I actually got off my ass and took a little responsibility for my country and casted my vote today, I still don't feel completely optimistic about the fact that my vote actually counts for much. Why? Because it's a mess. Absolute mess. The whole freaking system is a mess. We have an age-old system of government given to us by the British that doesn't work for us anymore. And no, don't start pointing the finger at the British for this as well because come on, we've had more than sixty years of independence, can you really tell me that nobody has realised that we need a change yet!?!

Our polling station was at a govt. school about a 10 minute walk away from home. We reached there before much of the crowd but it still took us much more time than it really should have taken. Why? Because the booths are manned by illiterate fools. Sorry to be harsh, but it's the truth. I'm pretty sure that the man who was checking for our names on the list did not know how to read anything beyond numbers. He looked at me and asked me if the name written in my passport was in fact PRIYANKA NANDI! Room for rigging? Oh there's a-plenty!

Secondly, they had absolutely no IDEA what they were doing. You'd think that since now India is growing at 9%blahblahblah, and we have Electronic Voting Systemsblahblahblah, they'd atleast have LAPTOPS to deal with 700million eligible voters?! Oh nooooooooo, that's too much to ask. Instead they were writing things down on a million scrap pieces of paper. Okay, fine. How hard can it be to cross off numbers and keep a tally of the numbers of males and females coming to vote, right? You'd be surprised.

Thirdly, NOBODY there is willing to take responsibility for the obvious mistakes and nobody does anything to correct their mistakes either. They just smile, pretend that they're listening, tell you to keep calm, ask you if you were able to vote and then look at you like, "So what are you complaining about?? If you got your vote, move on!"

Fourthly, there are OBVIOUS dubious practices going on around the place, and the police (see picture below, need I say more?!?)... There was this one man outside the polling booth who kept stopping people, smiling at them and giving them instructions what to do inside. I stood there giving him the stink-eye for a while and made sure that he saw me doing that and then I shook my head in disgust and started walking away. Now, I was wearing my nifty "Lead India" t-shirt and so I think the guy got a little scared that I was from the press or some official or something as small as I may be so he came over to me to try and convince me that his intentions were not wrong and he blabbered some things like, "Madam, please don't misunderstand me, I am giving breakfast coupons to my workers..."

(Yeah sure, you corrupt idiot. I know exactly what that means!!)

He actually had a piece of paper on which he was showing people which button exactly to press when they went into to the polling booths. I'm telling you, DO NOT VOTE FOR PEOPLE WHO TRY TO BUY YOUR VOTE!!

ARRRGH.

So if you're an Indian and you're above 18 and you live in India and you're registered. The experience is not great but YOU HAVE TO VOTE. Why? Because it sure as hell will make LESS of a difference if you DON'T! Atleast let these assholes know that you're smarter than them and that you CANNOT BE BOUGHT by their petty games. It's a whisper in the darkness I know, but why keep your mouth shut!?

Here are a few voter tips:

1. You CAN still VOTE even if you don't have your voter's ID. Just make sure your name is on the electoral list and take some photo identity (passport, driver's licence, PAN card, etc...) with you when you go to the polls.

2. BE PREPARED. You have to do all the work. Do not rely on the idiots at the polling centres. Go on the electoral websites/go to the electoral offices/check the papers/call them and find out ALL THE DETAILS like your "Part Number", "Serial Number", etc. It makes the whole process much faster.

3. Go EARLY. Booths opened here at 7am and I'm guessing it will be similar in all places. Like I keep saying, the people manning these booths are idiots, so the later you go, the more confused they will be and the slower the process will get so go early, get out early.

4. Stand your ground. If you've checked that your name is on the list but they can't find it, don't give up! They couldn't find mine the first time... Just take as much information with you and dig in and look through the papers with the guy behind the desk searching for your name. Also, decide who you're going to vote for before hand and don't let anyone sway your decision.

5. Don't get your mark on the hand that you eat with! :D

6. BLOG about it! :D

p.s. If you see DUBIOUS BUSINESS, give them the stink-eye :D and ask them what they're doing. Chances are they'll continue whatever they're doing but atleast give them a little run for their money.

Ooty, how I love thee (Pt. 2) and the bus disaster!

Blogger now has mobile posting. How crazy is that?

It's HOT! But I shouldn't really complain cause apparently they're hitting the 40s in Mumbai? Yikes!

Anyway, so this is Ooty Day Two (Saturday, 11th April, 2009)...After I showed D around Selborne we headed down the hill to The Dhaba Express which used to be one of the really good restaurants in Ooty but it was quite a disappointment this time - the food I mean, the company was excellent! There was Miss Smith (top left corner) who is a maths teacher and a fascinating woman :) The Georges -Mr and Mrs and their son, Stephen and his Mrs., Nisha! (You can see Mr. George vaguely in the other picture on the top. He's the one a little blinded by the sun! And Mrs. George, Stephen and Nisha in the second row.) Then there was me and Dinah (surely you know us?!), John Vaz or I should say DR. John Vaz (bottom left corner) who is also an ex-Hebron student whose parents live in Ooty and he is doing medicine stuff in the US. He got a very short break for two weeks and it was nice to bump into him again in Ooty. We never actually were in school at the same time, he's from the class of '99 and I'm '06 so I kinda missed him by a couple of years but I met him first in school when he'd come to visit and then again in Bangalore once through some other friends and then again last year while I did a short stint volunteering at Mizpah Home and he was IG-ing at Hebron. John's parents also joined us for lunch (you can see his dad next to Mr. George). Miss Mangaldoss (next to John), who used to teach us chemistry is another amazing woman who now lives in Pune. Niru and I had stayed at her place in Pune when she came to visit me in 2008. And Miss Morris who was also a staff-member at Hebron for a long time.

Phew! Sorry if that was a little confusing!

After lunch we parted ways and D and I headed to the Bee Museum which was just brilliant. The tickets are a measly 20 bucks and they show you a 40 minute documentary which was very tastefully made about the Kurumbas who are a tribe of people in the Nilgiris whose main and daring occupation is honey-gathering. I say daring because these people do not use protective gear and hang precariously from cliffs to do their stuff and it was really quite fascinating!

After that we went to Ooty lake which was horribly crowded and messy. We checked out the thread garden.

And then walked walked walked walked to find an auto. I actually enjoyed that but it would have been a good idea not to be wearing non-grip chappals!

On the way we met these three charming little girls who enthusiastically ran up to us to say hello and asked us to take a photo of them and then they just got back to their playing! So sweet.

Anyway, we finally did find an auto but we decided that they'd really taken us for ride for the past day and a half and that we wouldn't cave until they agreed to our price (they don't have fixed prices for autos in Ooty) but they didn't cave! So we had to keep walking... Eventually we did find an auto and we headed to Coffee Day to put back on all the calories we lost in all the walking :)

The next morning we left for the bus stand by around 9:15am and waited for our bus to take us back to Bangalore. The journey was going pretty okay although it seemed much longer than the ride up... Little did we know that that was not even close to the worst part!

About 10-15kms from Bangalore city our bus came to a jerking halt and there was utter confusion. Eventually we figured out that we had actually been in an accident. Our bus driver had hit down a motorcyclist and... he RAN AWAY. Yes, our bus drivers just abandoned a bus-full of people, a half-dying man on the road that HE had hit down and ran to save his own life.

Anyway, thankfully the man wasn't dead on the spot and the ambulances arrived surprisingly fast by India's sorry standards in such things and also the police managed to keep the mob violence-free. After more confusion, we finally all got our luggage and off the bus and stood on the side of road trying to figure out what to do. Obviously no help would come for us (this is India!) and the useless cops tried and failed to stop a couple of local buses to take us the rest of the way. They even failed to stop a bus driver to stop and move OUR bus off the road so that the traffic could continue flowing.

Well, we did finally get on a local bus which took us to the city where we got off and hopped onto an auto to take us home.

That was, needless to say, quite a night! I went from utter confusion to ANGER to sorrow to gratefulness and just utter lethargy in those few hours. What else can I say?

Riding the gentle giant!

One of the highlights of our trip to Thekkady was the elephant ride! I've been on a camel in Rajasthan and on a horse a few times, so I just had to do this!
I was going to do it alone but then we got to buying the tickets and it turned out to be a better bargain for your money if the three of us went (but it was still PRETTY expensive - Rs. 750 for 3 of us). So we bought our tickets and waited for our ride...

To be honest, I was a little worried about getting on the elephant before we got there because in Rajasthan we had to climb on the camel while it was sitting down and then hold on for dear life while the camel got onto its feet. Now a camel with its dandy looooong legs leans backwards and forwards and threatens to throw you off while it's trying to get up and you don't exactly have seatbelts or anything to hold on to except the little hairs on its back so it's pretty scary. So I was hoping we wouldn't have to do the same sort of thing on the elephant which is CONSIDERABLY bigger!!
Anyway, all my fears were for naught. They had this high platform and a stool to climb onto the elephant's back so it was all good.
It was so amazing to watch the guy guiding the elephant talking away with the elephant in Malayalam and she (the elephant who's name was Chandramukhi) understood everything!
There was also this other guy who was the "photographer" and took all these photos of us with my camera - I didn't even have to tell him how to operate it or anything and Chandramukhi even posed for the photos by putting her trunk up!
The ride lasted for about half an hour around this little spice garden where we saw pepper plants, coffee plants and some other spices... (and also a LOT of elephant poop!)
After the ride was over we even got a little photo session with the elephant and I put 10 bucks in her trunk and she "blessed" me!
Seriously awesome - what a gentle giant!

Back from Kerala!

Back from our trip to Thekkady. About 2000ft above sea level in a Tiger Reserve on the border between Kerala and Tamil Nadu. It was a long journey by train to Madurai then by car for 3 hours to Tusker Trails, our hotel in Thekkady.
We went elephant- riding, we watched a riveting show of Kalaripayatu - a local form of martial art and ate - a LOT.
It was a relaxing trip and I got to splash around in the swimming pool and get out of the city - just what I wanted. The place was gorgeous and GREEN and the people were really nice and friendly and there were lots of tourists - mostly Europeans.
Here are some randoms... I'll think about posting more later! :)

little girl staring out the train window

my dad on the Tuticorin Express - our train to Madurai

night lightshaati mere saathi!on the way back to our room one night I noticed this little spider sitting like a King right in the middle of its masterpiece web...
the Periyar lake where we went for a boat ride... we saw a few animals - deer, wild pigs, blah blah... After many years in Africa and a good number of African safaris, we're a little hard to please! Wish we could've seen a Tiger!

banana chips galore!

Commute with me!

I've wanted to do this post for a looooong time (inspired by this) but just never got around to take enough photos. Anyway, so when Grace came to visit she took a lot of photos while we travelled around the city so I stole some of them and added a few others, did a little photoshopping (my newest obsession!) and ta-da! Here's what my daily commute in Bombay looks like with some added bits...

walk to the station......or on lazy days take a rickshaw or an auto which is a three-wheeled vehicle and is only found in the suburbs of Mumbai (till Bandra). No rickshaws allowed in the city. The minimum cost is Rs. 9. ...buy your train ticket. The counter is almost perpetually crowded with HUGE lines. To avoid the crowd you can get a pass (which is what I do) or buy coupons or get an ATVM (??) card which is a fancy shmancy thing that you put in a machine to buy your ticket... You can either get a first class or a second class ticket. First class is much more expensive and they have cushioned seats rather than wooden ones! Oh, and it's generally much less crowded too... The minimum cost for a IInd class ticket is 4 bucks. There are three main local train lines in Mumbai - Harbour, Central and Western and they are the most efficient form of local transport in Mumbai - you avoid the maddening traffic and there's a train about every 3 minutes. Let's just say the city would fall apart without the local trains.

but of course it has its limitations ...yeah, that's not even peak-hour crowd at my station (Andheri)!and often the trains are not running on schedule...

...this is a relatively un-crowded IInd class compartment. You just have to find a bit of space and squeeze in. On the local trains, there are special compartments reserved ONLY for women. This is a relief because you don't really want to be rubbing up against stranger-men on overtly crowded trains on your daily commute!...a daily sight. This poor old blind man drums his heart out every day for a few coins from generous travellers on the over-bridge at Andheri station.

...beggars on the street. Taxis/Cabs are much more expensive than autos, but if you're in a hurry and you're in the city - this is your best option. At some places you can also get share taxis. We often share a taxi with other to College from Grant Rd. Station. The minimum fare is Rs.13.
...or bus it! Buses are fantabulous and cheap - problem is you have to sit through a lot of traffic and pollution on the roads. Oh yeah, and CROWDS! Sometimes you may have to stand the whole way and if you're not holding on tight, watch out! This picture doesn't show a local bus, but that's what the crowd looks like usually - pushing, shoving et. al! The minimum is only Rs.3 and they're very well connected to pretty much all parts of the city.yes... you do sometimes see cows on the streets!...and other creatures; pigeons, crows and rats are the most populous. Stray dogs and cats come in second. You might also see a horse carriage. Haven't spotted any elephants yet! ;)

...roadside food! Sugarcane juice is the most refreshing on a hot day (which is pretty much everyday in Bombay!) But watch out if you have a weak stomach! They probably score negative on hygienic standards but that just adds to the flavour and oh-so-cheap! :D A "half-glass" (which is pretty big) of sugarcane juice is just Rs.3!