charukesi October 25th, 2007
Time has this interesting article - India’s Call-Center Jobs Go Begging - about how young graduates are no longer interested in these once-attractive high-paying jobs.
Young people say it is no longer worthwhile going through sleepless nights serving customers halfway around the world. They have better job opportunities in other fields. Kiran Karnik, president of NASSCOM attributes it to opportunities in other service fields like retail and airlines and hospitality and also more sophisticated outsources jobs in areas like financial analysis.
So is it that young people are rejecting call center jobs are are they merely seeking a better profile of call center jobs? Either ways, Bangalored could easily be New-Yorked and Londoned soon.
charukesi October 20th, 2007
It is that time of the year when festivities are in the air - some of us more cribby types might say, traffic jams are on the road. Thanks to those huge puja pandals everywhere - one larger and grander than the other. Our local pandal at Vashi is modeled on Angkor Vat - says the large notice board just outside - and then of course, there is the one that got Rowling and her publishers frothing at the mouth.
What is with these pandals, I can never understand? It is not Durga Puja alone - Ganpati in Bombay is just as bad - that huge Lalbaug cha Raja that duly takes on the flavor of the season each year - from the WTC bombings to World Cup cricket, and Taj Mahal, if nothing else is exciting enough. And it not just the look but the background noise too that is strictly according to market demands - if it was Kajra re two years ago, it is Dard-e-disco that Devi suffers from this year.
*end of rant* (it is festival time, after all)
So, have a happy Navratri. Presenting our local Vashi Devi - the one inside Angkor Vat.
Ya Devi Sarva Bhuteshu Shakti Roopena Samsthitha…
Namasthasyai Namasthasyai Namasthasyai Namo Namah
[I do like the idea of Devi as Shakti]
And this today - on Navami - at the evening aarti…
***
R. K. Narayan in his Gods, Demons and Others describes her thus : they prayed intensely to the Highest Source for help; and Grace descended in the form of emanations from the face of each God : from Brahma’s face a blood-red one, from Shiva’s a dazzling whiteness, from Vishnu’s a dark one. All these combined to form an effulgent female personality, the three colours sparkling as through as prism….
More from an earlier post on Navratri - read On nine nights
charukesi October 11th, 2007
Today’s Hindustan Times has this piece on the front page - Sherlock Holmes has a dandiya job - which means ‘parents hire sleuths to stalk flirty youngsters’ as they go around whirling and twirling to Phalguni Pathak’s dandiya music this Navratri.
“They want to know who their girl is with, whether she is having sex,” said Rahul Nanda, CMD of Tops Security. A mother of a sixteen year old is worried because a gynecologist friend told her about abortions rising after Navratri. Also, the report says, parents approach detective agencies - who then send detectives dressed as dandiya dancers - when children start behaving differently. Go figure that out.
Now you may naively ask, but why watch her and report if she is having sex? I mean, just what does that achieve except to keep your score card updated. Why not just talk to her - ask her questions, give her answers, advice, even warning. Elementary, my dear Watson. We are Indians, we do not talk about sex, not even to our partners, forget children. Heck, we do not even have sex. It is God’s Will that we are a nation of a billion plus people - all born as Divine Blessing.
charukesi September 26th, 2007
With every year, the number and visibility of sponsors increases. The paints on the idols are brighter, the crowds louder, the competition fiercer, the frenzy scarier… There is something touching about the way the emotions of an entire city (much of it at least) ride the streets along with Ganpati headed to the sea.
The big G!
The family god
On the band-wagon
Back home, Ganesh Chaturti in Chennai was a small mann pillayar - a mud Ganesha fashioned roughly with the hands - and a small idol bought for the occasion - no toxic paints, no chemical processes. And the naivedyam of kozhukattai and sundal as opposed to catered food!
I came across a couple of photographs on flickr that made me all nostalgic… (I am not able to blog directly from flickr for some reason, so am linking to them here) - naivaidya (Shubhangi Athalye) and making of the Ganesha (Chitra Aiyer)
I guess the large garish idols are something I can never get used to - I had written about it earlier in Ganpati rides again. I do wish people go back to a smaller, nicer and eco-friendlier Ganesha. or was that never the way it was in Bombay?
charukesi September 21st, 2007
This happens everyday on the train between Vashi and VT - school kids, none of them over 12 get on to the ladies first class compartment somewhere near Kurla (or Wadala on the way back) - and one or more of the woman start shouting at them to get off - hey, don’t you know this is ladies? first class? (yeah, right - what are boys of 8 and 10 doing with ladies anyway? and what are they doing traveling in first class? gasp!). I watched for a couple of days (very new to the train business having been out of touch for some years, not wanting to get pushed off or something) and then started protesting. What do you lose if they travel for few stations in this coach? Let them stay.
But they don’t have first class passes, pat comes the answer.
So what? Let them travel. What do you lose? (aapka kya jaata hai).
Then this gem - par aap jaante nahi hain - yeh loge chori karte hain (oh you don’ know - these kids steal) - heard more commonly than I would have believed. School kids in uniform, who can hardly stand straight up, their backs bent under the weight of their bags and books and lunch boxes.
Why? Why are people so petty? I know just how much my pass is subsidized by the poor government - why should school kids be made to pay anything at all to travel to school by the local train? And why is it that anyone who cannot actually afford the pass suspect?
charukesi September 18th, 2007
When we went on our holiday, we had no idea it would turn out to be a pilgrimage of sorts… first a too-short day at Amritsar, a few days at Mcleodganj and then a weekend in Delhi, time divided between a hasty visit to the Ganpati temple and a more leisurely hour at Juma Masjid. And we came away surprisingly refreshed, mind more peaceful than it had been just a week ago, from each of these places - not something I ever expect from religion. And then looking at the photographs, I think I saw the reason, faith and not religion. Inward looking, introspective, peaceful and soothing - not violent, agenda-driven, aggressive or loud. Not driven by the idol or the even the physical presence of the place of worship itself but the spirit that seems to envelop everyone inside. (I am not expressing myself well here, but see these photographs to know what I mean…). I could have sat at any of these places for hours on end (and actually did), never wanting to let go of that buzz.
At Amritsar…
At Mcleodganj…
At Juma Masjid…
charukesi August 17th, 2007
Patriotism takes on a different dimension in small town India - while we jaded urbanites sigh in delight over a midweek holiday (or if lucky, the prospect of a long weekend), real India brings out the tricolor and all the colors of patriotism. My fondest memory is of an Independence day procession on the road, early morning, in a village en route Mangalore from Bangalore, a hundred tiny tots moving their hands up and down, fists closed, in rehearsed frenzy, shouting Van-de Mata-lam,. And a tiny tot Bharat Mata in the middle of the group, trying to wave with one hand and trying to hold the escaping white-with-orange-border sari with the other. Loved it.
This is from Hampi, where I saw young India celebrate Independence day this year in many many ways :
Independence day at the local school
The colors of freedom
Patriotism written all over the face
Flag-waving future generations
Keeping the tricolor flying
charukesi July 8th, 2007
Mumbai Mirror carried this brief piece yesterday under ‘Fashion’ - South Mumbai salon opens exclusively for kids (will post link when I find it). Starting with - kids really have it good these days, the article goes on to describe Tears to Cheers, a salon launched in Mumbai to cater to the beauty and grooming needs of children from age 1 to 16. It is never too early to begin the grooming process, I understand. But a one year old in a beauty salon? Can you imagine a one year old going in bawling and walking out all smiles, utterly satisfied with the shape of her eyebrows?
Among the services offered, besides hair-cuts, are manicures, pedicures, shampoo, blow dry, oil massage and basic hair-setting. it’s good to be little right now. This sounds to me the 2.0 version of ‘go out and play dear (and let me take a break while you are at it)’
Does anyone else immediately remember the Friends episode in which Rachel’s sister baby-sits? And her chosen career path - being a baby-stylist… And while on this, does anyone else know that wikipedia has a page devoted to every single episode of Friends with detailed plot description and comments? Wikipedia never ceases to surprise - man, this is going to be one long day.
charukesi May 24th, 2007
First they drank milk, then they turned sea water sweet. Now they want to eat fruit - at the local Foodland store.
Glory to the gods.
charukesi April 14th, 2007
Alistair gets 6 months for killing 7 people - front page - Times of India (link when it gets uploded on their website - for now, log into their e-paper).
Dilip in country you know - But please do not worry particularly about public reaction to this sentence. Because — so lucky! — it came down when people are occupied with a far more vital discussion in the same country: about patriotism that may or may not flow from cakes and instrumental versions.
Come now, Dilip the TOI does ask for reader responses - do you believe justice has been done? - in mytimesmyvoice, no less…
So what if they expect readers to express their reaction under the subject : World Cup - surely supporting the country’s cricket team is patriotic too? I guess this is just ToI’s way of showing what they have learnt over years and years - there are some subjects which are sure to gain public attention and some which never do. Insults to national honor and a losing sports team belong to the former.