अतिथी देवो भव-commercial edition

 

The idea of going to Turkey struck many people in more than one ways. They said it was out of the box, hippie and cool. The actual trip to Turkey struck me in more than one ways as well. There are just many things to write about, which I hope to formulate and write in coming pages, though this one was one of the most striking ones. 

You find Turkish people to be extremely hospitable. At least, those who are in business of hospitality. We just met Turks who were hotel managers,waiters,guides,shopkeepers,street vendors, immigration officers and so on. I do not know about normal Turks,who are not in the business of travel and tourism, but I will give them benefit of doubt and not talk about them. But you simple can not look over the fact that all the hospitality professionals are living by the name of that sector. And they are doing this in their own unique way. 

Nilay,My tour guide at cappadocia, was one wonderful person. About same as my age, stout, with a striking mixture of asian and europian features, spoke English in her funny accent. We just instantly clicked. She gave us information as it was expected. But she did not stop at that. she initiated discussions within the passengers, spoke personally with me for a long time, we chatted about religion,national spirit,staying away from your parents,university education and what not. She has done her graduation in tour guiding, which I found to be cool. 

Raedire, the cute receptionist at the Gamirasu cave hotel,cappadocia was so hospitable that we almost felt obliged. She would personally come to every table when we had dinner, ask us how our day was, Every time we came back from sightseeing, she would chat with us for 5 minutes. The hotel manager would say Namaste, and also knew the word 'chalo'! Everywhere we went, Apple teas was given to us for free- that's a welcome drink. And apple teas could well be replaced by wine,or Raki- the local beer! 

to top the list, the immigration officer at Istanbul airport saw my passport and asked me if I can speak Hindu!(meant Hindi).The knack to make people felt included, to make them feel comfortable was seen in all these cases, and that definitely means a lot.

The point is that you realize after a while that it is all a part of professionalism. They are being hospitable as a part of profession, as a service that you paid for.  But not once did we feel that this is a paid hospitality. We kept on believing that this behavior is real, genuine and to an extent of it being special favor to us. Of course we knew that  all tourists will be greeted with same hospitality and would encounter same experiences, still the feeling stayed. And after a while that feeling started causing pain to me, made me feel hurt, to realize that this is all paid service, and might be-might not be real, and its definitely non-exclusive. It is a weird feeling where you really appreciate something nice, and realize that you can not get too attached to it!

I really felt that our countrymen who scream ATITHI DEVO BHAV at every occasion, (and still need Amir khan to advertise against troubling the tourists) could take some inspiration. we can not be the professional hospitable gang the next day. But hospitable enough to serve what people paid for. With these thoughts I landed in Mumbai only to be greeted by a half-asleep losy faced woman at immigration counter, who did not bother to check our immigration forms and was pretty foul mouthed with a firang behind me. 

Atithi devo bhav- the invisible edition.

संस्कृती वगैरे..

 

माझा मराठीतला पहिला ब्लॉग :)

चेन्नईला  येउन मला आता चार आठवडे होतील.. अर्थात कुठल्याही शहराबद्दल वक्तव्य करण्यासाठी, किंवा मत बनवण्यासाठी म्हणू हवं तर,  चार आठवडे  हा काही फार काळ नाही. पण कसं आहे, की तुमचा मेंदू ताजा असताना, कुठल्याही प्रकारचे संस्कार त्यावर झालेले नसताना, जे ठसे  त्यावर उमटतात, ते  तुम्ही जुने झाल्यावर उमटत नाहीत. नवीन शहरात गेल्यावर तुम्हाला जर लगेच नोकरी धंदा असेल, तर मग तुम्ही खूपच लवकर जुने होता, आणि रहाट गाडग्याला  स्वतःला जुंपून घेता. मी सध्या सुशिक्षित बेकार या गटातली असल्याने, मला तसा स्वतःला नवं ठेवण्यासाठी पुष्कळच स्कोप आहे. :)
चेन्नईच  नाव ऐकल्यावर नाकं न मुरडणारे लोक मला फार कमी सापडले. आणि केवळ महाराष्ट्रीय नव्हे तर अगदी मूळ तमिळ लोक सुद्धा. ते घाण आहे, गरम आहे, अतिभयानक उन तिथे असतं, तिथे रस्त्यावर अस्वच्छता आहे, लोक हिंदी मुळीच बोलत नाहीत, तमिळ शिवाय पर्याय नाही, त्या शहराला असा एक मेट्रो चा फील नाही, डास तुम्हाला फाडून खातील, इ इ अनेक गोष्टी मी ऐकल्या. यातल्या अनेक गोष्टी अंशतः का होईना खऱ्या आहेत देखील, पण तरीही चेन्नईला स्वतःचं म्हणून एक व्यक्तिमत्व  अर्थातच आहे, आणि ते व्यक्तिमत्व शोधण्यासाठी चार आठवडे हा कमी काळ असला, तरी काही ठसे, किंवा खुणा उमटवायला तसा पुष्कळ काळ आहे.  त्यातली एक सतत जाणवत राहणारी खूण इथे लिहावी  यासाठी हा ब्लॉग प्रपंच!

चेन्नईत, दैनंदिन आयुष्यावर स्थानिक संस्कृतीचा जाणवेल इतका प्रभाव आहे. मला कल्पना आहे, हे वाक्य अगदीच जनरल आहे, मात्र  ज्या विविध गोष्टी पहिल्या, त्याच्या सगळ्याच्या मुळाशी हे एक समान सूत्र आहे,असं जाणवतं. 
तमिळला पर्याय नाही वगैरे उक्त्या काही अंशी खऱ्या आहेत. बहुसंख्यांना इंग्लिश येतं हे ही तितकाच खरं आहे. मात्र : तुम्ही कुठेही जा, समोरचा माणूस तुमच्याशी बोलताना तमिळ मध्ये बोलायला सुरु करतो. तो रिक्षा वाला असेल, बस कंडक्टर असेल, भाजीवाला असेल, डॉक्टर असेल, दुकानदार असेल, रस्त्यावर पत्ता विचारणारा माणूस असेल, वेटर असेल, किंवा अन्य कोणी. तमिळ इल्ले हे एकदा तुम्ही सांगितलत किंवा तुमच्या मक्ख चेहऱ्याने त्याच्या लक्षात आलं, कि तो इंग्लिश मध्ये बोलेल किंवा बोलण्याचा प्रयत्न करेल. (रिक्षावाला असेल तर तुम्हाला आणखी लुबाडेल!) पण सुरुवात तमिळ मध्येच. अर्थात दक्षिणेकडली राज्यं भाषेबाबत कट्टर आहेत, हे आपण ऐकून आहोत. पण बंगलोर मध्ये तरी हिंदी बोलणं बरंच सापडतं. इथे मात्र, "तुम्ही आमच्या राजधानीत आहात, आमच्या भाषेला प्राधान्य आहे", हे कोणी काही न बोलता जाणवतं. भाषा हा शेवटी अभिव्यक्तीचा मार्ग असला, तरी भाषेतून संस्कृती कितपत हाडीमाशी रुजलीय याचं दर्शन होतं. सगळ्यात आश्चर्य कुठे वाटतं, तर मेनलेंड चायना सारख्या उच्चभ्रू ठिकाणी सुद्धा, मला अभिवादन तमिळ मध्ये केलं गेलं!
हॉटेल वरून एक वेगळा मुद्दा आठवला. इडली, डोसा, पोंगल ह्या सगळ्या मूळ इथल्याच गोष्टी. त्या लोकांनी इथे खाणे यात काहीच आश्चर्य नाही. (महाराष्ट्रात किती हॉटेल्स तुम्हाला पोहे आणि मिसळ देतात? पण ते जाऊ दे ) केळीच्या पानावर हे पदार्थ अनेक ठिकाणी तुम्हाला वाढलेले पाहायला मिळतात. मुद्दा तो देखील नाही. खाऊन झालं, की हे पान दुमडतात. ते खालून वर अश्या विशिष्ट पद्धतीनेच दुमडायचं असतं,कारण श्राद्ध वगैरे गोष्टींना ते उलटं दुमडल जातं! आणि हि गोष्ट मोठ्यापासून लहानांना माहीत असते! पाहून खूप आश्चर्य वाटलं, की ही तशी सो कॉल्ड धार्मिक/सांस्कृतिक गोष्ट रोज अवलंबली जाते. आणि त्याचं कारण असं की तिच्याकडे धार्मिक गोष्ट म्हणून न बघता रोजच्या आयुष्याचा एक साधा भाग म्हणून बघितलं जातं. भातासोबत वरण खाण्या इतका साधा !

एका  बाबतीत माझ्याशी बरेच लोक सहमत होतील, ते म्हणजे इंग्रजी वर्तमानपत्रं, आणि त्यातही टाइम्स, हे स्थानिक संस्कृतीला धार्जिणे कधीच नव्हते आणि नसतात. पुणे टाइम्स मध्ये तुमचा वेडिंग ड्रेस पांढरा शुभ्र कसा ठेवावा याबद्दलचे लेख, किंवा (तुरळक अपवाद वगळता), साहित्य-कला-संगीत  म्हणून मराठी गोष्टींना खिजगणतीतही न घेणं हे अतिशय कॉमन आहे. मी चेन्नईला आले, तेव्हा पोंगलला १० दिवस होते, आणि मार्गळी (मार्गशीर्ष महिना) साजरा करणं जोरात चालू होतं. अनेक सुंदर शास्त्रीय गायन, अभिजात नृत्याचे कार्यक्रम, रांगोळी स्पर्धा, साड्यांचे सेल, गजरे आणि फुलांची सजावट, पोंगलच्या नवनवीन रेसिपी, दीपमाळा उजळलेली मंदिर, तमिळ फिल्म स्टार्सच्या शुभेच्छा देणं,हे सगळं चालू होतं, आणि मला हे समजण्याचा एकमेव स्रोत म्हणजे चेन्नई टाइम्स! आपण तमिळ पेपरच वाचतोय असं वाटावं इतका 'तमिळ'पणाने तो ओसंडून वाहात होता! सार्वत्रिक उत्साहाच्या बाबतीत आपल्या गणपतीशी याची तुलना करता येईल, पण ते १० दिवस सुद्धा पुणे टाइम्स इतका मराठीपणाने ओसंडून वाहताना मला कधीच दिसलेला नाही. वाचकांच्या मनात संस्कृतीच इतकं प्रेम असल्याशिवाय, भलेही ते अव्यक्त का असेना, हा पेपर नक्की हे करणार नाही याबद्दल  मला खात्री आहे!
सगळ्याच  गोष्टी स्तुतीजन्य आहेत असं नाही. केवळ मुलांची किंवा मुलींची शाळा कॉलेज इथे सर्वत्र आहेत. को-एड फार कमी. झालंच तर बस मध्ये पुरुषाच्या शेजारी जागा रिकामी असली तरी बाईने तिथे न बसणं हे देखील सर्वत्र! (मुंबईत राहिल्यावर हा महामूर्खपणा आहे असं वाटतं) पण हे देखील त्यांच्या संस्कृतीतल्या कर्मठ पणाला धरून आहे.
भाषा, सणवार,परंपरा आणि धर्म म्हणजे केवळ संस्कृती नाही. मग नेमकं काय?संस्कृतीच्या अनेक व्याख्या आहेत. समाजशास्त्रानुसार माणसाने निर्माण केलेलं काहीही म्हणजे संस्कृती. प्रत्येक समूहाने आपापली संस्कृती निर्माण केली. जागतिकीकरणाने कदाचित सगळ्याच संस्कृती लयाला जाताहेत. पण त्यात काही थोडं आपलं जपलं जावं अशी इच्छा असेल, तर ते दैनंदिन जीवनात आणावं लागतं. पुस्तकात ठेवून ते आणखी लवकर लयाला जातं. त्यात काही बाबतीत तमिळ लोक यशस्वी झालेत. अर्थात सगळ्याच एतद्देशीय लोकांसारखी आमची संस्कृती बुडाली अशी त्यांची ओरड असेलच, पण मुंबईसारख्या संस्कृतीशून्य शहरात राहिल्यावर मला इथे जरा बरं वाटलं. माझे निष्कर्ष चुकीचे असतीलही. किंवा अपुरे देखील असतील. पण मी आधी म्हटल्याप्रमाणे, ही फर्स्ट इम्प्रेशन्स आहेत. चेन्नईच व्यक्तिमत्व ओळख्ल्यानंतर ती बदलतीलही. तोवर यावर विचार करायला काय हरकत आहे?
काही नाही तरी विचार करणं ही मराठी संस्कृती नक्की आहे! :D







 

Murugan ke gun gao!

 

               Contrary to popular belief, I do cook at home :) It's been couple of weeks since I have started my housewifing in Chennai and large part of it involves cooking. Of course, my husband and more importantly my father in law are my great helps there. but we do go to these nice restaurants in Chennai, visited four until now :P

So  Murugan idli ,  one of the most popular eateries in the whole Tamilnadu, has a branch that is in the vicinity, and we go there. In fact, I have been there twice in just two weeks. Murugan has a decent amount of space, which can accommodate about 25-30 people, not to big and flashy, but the taste of food will make up for any lacunae this place might otherwise have.OK, so let us start over. 

Murugan serves only south Indian food. All you can get to eat is variety of Idlis, Dosa, uttampam, and white Paniyaram (which we call appe back in Maharashtra) In drinks, it serves tea, coffee, milk, mineral water and their own product, Jigarthanda. That's all. No Menu card is served, of course because the choice is so limited. Murugan seems to be following the principle of serve little, serve the best.

You can swear by the quality of Idli here. well, people expect that while you are in Chennai, idli is one food which ought to be served best. It is not true. It is like saying whenever you are in Maharashtra, you ought to have Pohe and Misal served best. It is a local cuisine, and a staple to most of the people here, still there are places where Idlis are rice stones, and not cakes! Murugan serves Idlis which are an epitome of being idlis. Snow-white, extra soft, fresh and hot from the cooker direct to your plate. oh no, on your leaf.

Other aspect of Murugan being a Southie hotel is emphasized by it's absence of serving plates. There are banana leaves,  one for each, laid out on the table by the waiter here. the customer is supposed to take some water, and wash the banana leaf with your own hands. Then There will be boys roaming around with bowls of different kind of chutneys (or Podi). And as soon as you are given a table and banana leaf is cleaned, samples of different Podis will appear on your leaf. your order is brought to you within 5-7 minutes, and as those super soft Idlis or other stuff appears, another waiter comes and your meal is made complete with Sambar and the normal white coconut chutney.

oh and most importantly, Whatever you might have ordered, just mix everything together, most presumably, make balls and start throwing them in your mouth. This is not a place to be sophisticated and eat your idli with a fork and get a taste of sambar with a spoon. This is a place to be totally Southie, eat that oh-so-tasty food with a typical south Indian fervor, and then, if you please, complete it with a filter kaapi :). Burrrp! 

more on idlis and other stuff later. till then, sing my version of the song-

Idli dosa appam khao

tum bhi murugan ke gun gao!
mind it mind it! :)

Gym pori Gym! :D

one of the main attractions of my current Chennai life is by the name of pink- the 'wonnly ladies' gym which I have recently joined. It's my third gym in last 4 years, but that is because it is the third city that I am leaving in, in last four years. the previous one, named cloud nine was in Mumbai, and it was my first experience of an AC gym, operating in confined spaces. Chennai is no better with respect to AC gyms, (well, AC is the basic necessity for any gym in cities like Mumbai or Chennai!) but it fares better in lot of other areas, and it fares super amusing in couple of other things too.
To start with, it is only ladies gym. you know, it was kind of a necessary thing, or lets say it was 'in' to go to a women's gym (or health club, precisely) in the days of my mom. She herself went to one of such aerobic classes for some years. But my generation, who usually does not believe in this kind of separation of the sexes, is used to unisex gyms, with probably reserved timings for ladies. Both my earlier gyms were unisex, and hence there was a lot of population sweating around, trying to build six packs, showing their biceps in extra tight T shirts and smelling a bit like pigs! Pink is totally different. women do not do heavy machine crunching and bicep building, do not make funny sounds while lifting super heavy weights, and certainly do not smell like pigs, they go for fancy De-os and perfumes instead.

as it suggests from the name, it is an out and out female gym, with instructors wearing pink T shirts, and nicely supervising the clients, and instructing the extra heavy aunties. Oh yes, the percentage of extra heavy aunties is much more over here. and that's not a very good point so to say. I guess the aunties are probably too shy to go to a unisex gym in a unisex timing, and hence i never spotted so many of the lot in both my previous gyms.here they move around freely, have a nice conversation with the fellow dieters and also, share an elderly advice with the young instructors!

there are so many colors in the whole gym environment, with lot of pictures on the walls, the colorful charts decked in front of our treadmills, nicely patterned curtains,  the pink instructors, and the multicolor costumes that clients themselves were. and you have to give it to me. how often would you find gym clients,particularly the bicep building lot,  dressed in anything from florescent blue to bright golden?! women do it, and it adds to the overall brightness of the gym, resulting in probably the brighter mood of clients during and post workouts. And to top it all, probably because its a women's gym, there is also a winner recipe of the week, this weeks being batataa poha :)

of course, this gym has certain things which I am finding super amusing. (It seems that Chennai has a thing for gyms named after colors. there is a gym in the next lane which is named purple :D) well, to start with, the instructors all wear bindi( tikli), and have long locks. No offense, but i think it does not go with the track pants and bright pink t shirts that they wear. but it being in Chennai, I will probably give it to them. more interestingly, all the instructors and most of the gym clients look at me with utmost disbelief/ disapproval/anger that I do not wear a bindi, earrings, bangles, bracelet, long locks, flowers in my hair, necklace,chain or even Mangalsutra, ever. that's quite a crime in their books, but so be it. I guess they still have tough time getting used to public like me. ( i was happy when I saw a young lady, exactly like me in the gym, wearing tracks and T shirts and totally ornament less :P)
Also, they, as a rule, play only Tamil songs. the songs being played are very hip, modern and popular in the crowd. but I usually get a couple of word out of the 500 being played. the only song which I knew in one hour was kolaveri Di, and that had some Tamil words, so it qualified. I felt so  soup! sigh sigh!
 well, just wrote about the early days. the grass might not be so green,( and as i start understanding Tamil, the yellowness of grass will reduce! :p) but picture to abhi baki hai mere dost! Gym pori gym till then!

citee sun of shennay :D

ahoy! so here I appear again after a long long gap, which was there because of lotsa things.
I have moved to chennai, as you can guess from the title above, (if you are able to make sense of it!) and will be blogging from here.
so happy new year to all, and I promise, you will read posts more often now :)

the phoren days

written on 30th Oct- when I was still working :)


I miss my childhood today. And no, it’s not the gone are the days, or life was beautiful back then kind of episode. Do you remember those days when anything associated with other country used to be extremely special and very difficult to get access to? The word abroad or foreign had an extra special connotation. The land which are miles and oceans across had a mystique about itself. And all that is gone today, at least for somebody like me.


Almost everybody in my generation, when we grew up, had a relative abroad. They used to come yearly or bi- yearly and that used to be a major source of joy. They used to bring chocolates, all those marsh mellows, snickers, Toblerones and ferrero Rochers. This was something unheard of for somebody who has seen only dairy milks and kitkats. They used to get electronic goods, which ranged from electric shaver to a classic wrist watch to even early cell phone handsets. The crazy for football kids used to get a man U jersey sometimes. The cool kids got T shirts, or other goodies which had the name of the country printed on it. I remember, I had a pencil set and an eraser in shape of Australia, sent by a family friend who stayed in Brisbane. The relatives used to get battery-operated games, LEGO sets, and Barbie dolls. And well, the super fascinated ladies also asked the relatives to get foreign chi Saree!

I think telecommunication was undergoing that gradual changing process. First came the internet, then came the emails, the chats became routine (I remember ferociously typing lots of things to couple of cousins in the UK). Slowly the international calls became more of a routine (that means they did not cost much as a bomb it used to cost) then came blogs, the orkut and Skype. And it became very instrumental in reducing that whole aura of ‘foreign’. Just the other day I was remembering, my uncle who stayed in Singapore for quite a long time visited India very often. Often he would send some pictures of my cousin who was a baby then, or when he was traveling, he would get them along. That’s how we got to know how much has she grown up. And now the family in any other country happily sits in front of the PC and Skype chats with the family in India. You can have a daily dose of how much have your grand kids or cousins grown up!



And well, how good is everything in other countries and how bad things here are was a pretty common topic for discussion in the gentlemen of the house. Any topic from the government there to the discipline there to the lack of governance here to the economic polices, to the malls, to the grandeur of building in these, especially America or European countries…any topic would suffice for a discussion of couple of hours! Tyanchyakade na… or you see, the European countries would... Was a common line with which sentences would start. Well, as most of the junta had never been to a foreign country, they had a bleak knowledge of the realities, and mostly, had big attractive bubbles of notion of how a foreign country was.



Things do not hold good any more. The telecommunication revolution has changed our life as never before. It majorly brought down the Indian obsession of ‘abroad or foreign’, giving lot of access and opportunity to the layman. Foreign is still a buzzword, but whatever fantastic notions people had in the name of foreign, are pretty diluted now. Foreign, as a generic term is not much used, instead fine details are known to people. Many boys and girls go abroad due to work, education, and well, the new generation of DINKs also takes a mini vacation in these countries. Globalization has taken on modern India like never before. Thanks to liberalization, excellent quality products are available at all major cities in India. And talking about skyped communication, you get marriages fixed on Skype, and you even have Skype boyfriends. :D



I had a relatively free Sunday at work and hence was revisiting the old days. Just a thought , I can think about an entirely different time era, a huge technological change and it’s reflection onto us. – does that mean that I am getting older? :D

the dream seller

And the fight/andolan/uposhan/people against govt/ drama/attention seeking behavior - whatever you want to say- continues. For last 3 days, Anna has been rocking. There is no other word. He is rocking the nation, and well, the govt hits the rock bottom. There are so many people out on the streets protesting, that it makes a really great sight to watch. Photogenic- camera-genic, for one. But no no, I am not sarcastic. So many people coming out to fight for or against something is really a wonderful thing. That too in today’s apathetic set up, great. And now, if we are done celebrating/ crying our feelings out with a great fervor, can we flip the coin?

Last three days showed us the dearth of sensible people who have their heads on their shoulders.  Before the fast and the drama began, initially I thought Anna and the team was stretching in, then I thought people are blindly following it, and now I am firm that the Govt of India has lost all it’s sense and its balanced heads. It seems that the govt is not at all clear about the way they want to deal with Anna and the team. Initially, the govt is hellbent on imposing regulations on team anna, then they capture and arrest them, then the home minister justifies the act, then suddenly anna is released from jail, then our PM can’t defend the act, and now probably they all are waiting for Rahul Gandhi to rack his brains and find some solution. Well, Probably they were not expecting that it would turn into such a mass movement, probably they never paid so much of importance to Anna, probably they were too sure that nobody will challenge the way they deal with a situation. But they failed. Nobody could foresee the way common man reacted to Anna’s appeal.   And now government is dumbfounded at the public hue and cry, and is wondering about a suitable way to deal with the situation. Trapped between a rock and a hard place, poor they!

But the greater and the hidden problem is different. What exactly is it that people want? What are people protesting for? Name a goal that all these protesters want to attain. Can we? Is there a single, tangible goal? People want to get rid of corruption. People want to have the jan lokpal bill. People want to have right to protest. People want to show that they love anna. People want to show that they love country. People want to die for the country. People want to become martyrs. WHAT????  What is it that you want to achieve and want govt to grant you? Unless you can name the objectives, it is very unlikely that you can act as to meet them. I understand that there is a great fervor for supporting Anna, and I also understand that mass protests always have a high emotional quotient. In fact, mass movements cannot function unless there is an emotional base attached to it. This works all over the world, and can be seen repeated oft in history.  The emotional appeal ensures that people turn to it in huge numbers. The emotional appeal is what brings common man to the streets, and it is seen in this case also.

More often than not, that only defies the logical base of a movement. As I have stated, people tend to forget the aim of this movement in all the emotional outburst. If we think carefully, we have to admit that PM and the team has got the point. Please understand that passing any bill is a parliamentary process, and does not depend upon somebody’s whims and fancies. You have to carefully draft a bill after a thorough discussion, it has to be accepted and validated in the parliament and then it could be put into use. ALSO, the parliament can make amendments to the bill later on. The bill does not necessarily remain constant. Now, being adamant on your own draft of the bill, saying that it has to be accepted without making any changes whatsoever and fasting if it is not done, makes Anna look a dull boy. I accept that it is high time that govt has ruled like a dictator and is not responsible for anybody, so its time to teach them couple of things. They have to realize that it’s people’s government and people have to have a say in whatever ways possible. When the traditional ways do not work, or got is too blind to see them, the protests happen and they are justified. But protesting so that all your demands are met, I expected better, Anna!

Moreover, team Anna has two ex- civil service officers. Kiran Bedi and Arvind kejriwal used to be in civil services. It is surprising that even they continue with this weirdly adamant stand. They perfectly know how the govt set up works, they have been part of it. I respect both of them, in fact I am quite in awe of both, but this adamancy coming from people who have been a part of govt is weird. Or is it that they are so fed up with the govt that even they want to discard that set up?

I have a feeling that this all is getting converted into a dream selling machinery. It is, in fact. Why has the common man come on roads? It is because he is shown the dream that the protests can change the system. Why have so many, across classes, have joined the movement with such fervor? What does all this extra enthusiasm of people show?  They have a dream, and they say it too. That it is our dream to have a corruption free country. And it is one of the nicest dreams, but still. The base of the mass movement becomes emotional, they operate on the dreams that are neing shown to them, and there we see the romanticism. The same romanticism that was present in 1950’s in India. The more you involve the commoners, the lesser is your protest logically driven. It has to have a huge emotional component. And now, doesn’t Anna come across as a dream seller, although in a different sense of the word? Well, India has had many of them. Raj kapoor, and Anna hazare, dream sellers to commoners. Although in different ways, both appreciated by common man, and both had media going crazy after them.

Happy protests anyways!