The Last Day of the Year

There are three hours left before this year ends in my time zone. It's been an interesting year for me - I think I grew a lot this year - even more so than in other years. I think I matured, so to speak.

Did anything profound and uplifting happen? Well, it did, but not suddenly. I was lolling along, trying to meet deadlines in a year of falling advance tax collections, reading about the saddening state of the economy when transfer orders were announced and I was sent back near my home station. All in all, quite bright and cheery.

I managed to go to Rishikesh and go white water rafting on the Ganga, spent a couple of nights on the beaches of the Ganga - all very awesome experiences. I went trekking in Chakrata - a place which is infinitely beautiful. I floated a wish on the Ganga at Haridwar and listened to the evening aarti - which is also very beautiful.

I got to see one of the remaining tigers on the face of the Earth at Ranthambore and did all this and the above with friends and loved ones. I went and visiting my parents in the Caribbean and my sister in the US, saw New York City and fell in love with it and with art all over again. So much so that I've made some resolutions that I plan to keep appointments with next year.

I've carried out assignments which I thought were impossible and I've made intuitive leaps which turned out to be accurate. I think professionally as well, it has been a good year!

So how did I spend the last day of the year? I spent part of it with one of my oldest friends who was here in Delhi meeting family. And ofcourse, I'm spending it with family as we speak. Though we're all curled up in our respective beds sheltering ourselves from the Delhi winter in our cool apartment (constructed more to withstand the sweltering heat), I know that at New Year's we'll all huddle together and give eachother a quick hug before we settle back down again!!

Good times! I think NO ONE was in the mood for going out this year.

And right now I've just finished getting off the phone with a friend and we're planning on the treks we'll be going on in the Himalayas this year. All very good times ahead!!

Momos and McLeodganj

When I was working in NCAER I took a trip to McLeodganj with a few friends of mine. We went on the birthday weekend of the Dalai Lama which falls on 6 July. I think the year we went it was 2003. I remember that the weather was beautiful and so was the ride up to Dharamshala and further up to McLeodganj.

Dharamshala is located in the Kangra valley in Himachal Pradesh, and is divided into two parts - Upper and Lower Dharamshala. Lower Dharamshala is the bustling busy township complete with your post office and local bus station. Upper Dharamshala has the more touristy areas like McLeodganj. Dharamshala is also the capital of Kangra district.

We went by one of those tourist buses where you pay Rs 500 and with an overnight journey, you'll wake up in McLeodganj. It's amazing just how many foreigners took the bus up - a sign of just how popular McLeodganj is with foreign tourists. We spent a long time at the Tibetan colony outside Delhi before we were on our way.

McLeodganj, like all hill stations, has only one main street and everything revolves around this street. All the shops hug the pathway and so do the motels that dot the landscape. We had a early shower before we hit the streets to see what McLeodganj had to offer.

One of our friends had a classmate in McLeodganj who was Tibetan - and he showed us McLeodganj. We saw the parallel government that the Tibetans have set up in exile, the refugee centre where refugees gather for food and aid, the school set up for Tibetans further up in McLeodganj and a documentary on the Tibetan spirtual movement. He was very insightful and extremely interesting.

Tibetan culture is extremely different from what one normally encounters. Tibetans are by nature, peace loving and don't lay much importance on material possessions. I loved their prayer flags that they hang across - almost every hillside has a few.

On the Dalai Lama's birthday, the Dalai Lama stays inside and spends time with his family. All other Tibetans however celebrate his birthday with festivities which include dances in colourful costumes, singing, dancing and playing music. It's a very interesting experience and no one minds that non-Tibetans have crowded all over to watch.

The momos in McLeodganj were excellent - and so was the Thupka (a soup with loadsa noodles in it - yummy!!!). We went on long walks and explored the town.

Early one morning I set off for Kangra to see the Kangra fort, which had been built by the Sikhs but later on improved under the Great Mughals. Earthquakes have weakened the fort and a lot of structures have been destroyed, but the fort remains an interesting place to visit. Further, the valley it overlooks is awesome. It is a desolate place though and swarming with monkeys - so do carry a big stick to beat the monkeys away!!

I liked Himachal Pradesh. I've always found the people very friendly and helpful, and even public transport there is very easy to use. It's a state that I would later visit three years later for my annual trek - but that's another story.

Origins

Did you know how the term "cafe mocha" originated?

Well, neither did I. (I figure you didn't know either).

When I started this blog I added a National Geographic gadget - which gives me a picture a day. I like photographs - I myself am a keen photographer/sketch artist/painter. I think that a picture can really tell a story.

Anyhow - coming back to mocha - there was a picture today which showed a fisherman on the beach in Mocha, Yemen. And it got me thinking - could this be the same mocha?

So I did a google and guess what? Mocha is a port city located on the Red Sea in Yemen. In the old days it was a major trading centre and was the origin of the mocha variety of arabica bean - which is the bean with a chocolatey taste.

Interesting oui? That's why you read my blog!! Anyhow - the next time you drink a cafe mocha at Cafe Coffee Day or Barista - think about Yemen and the Red Sea and just how far that coffee bean has come!!

There's something very interesting when one goes back to the roots of things. One of my batchmates is an avid fan of the History Channel and National Geographic. He was telling me about how many many many years ago there was actually only one man and one woman - and we all actually originated from them. Over time people migrated to different climatic conditions and then colour came into being.

I can't imagine how long this was, but I would think it would be good reading. If anyone knows about any book that discusses this, I would be glad to read it!!

The power of a message and a smile

I subscribe to a daily quote off the Internet. There are many websites that give this free service, and I like to start my day with an inspirational quote.

Now I'm not a psychologist - more of an economist... but the power of a few succinct words can really change your mood. I guess it's a way of boosting one's spirits as well.

Stress busters come in all sorts of shapes and sizes though. Whether it be the few words that lift your day, or cuter ones, like little kids.

Spending some time with a little kid will put your whole life in perspective again. I often used to play with my downstairs' neighbours kids - they were so cute and adorable - in small doses ofcourse and when they weren't crying and needed a change. Then they'd be dumped back on their parents. But kids are really cute - the way they fight for their little toys, the way they hit the wall when they accidentally bump into it, the way they cry when they don't get their way. For little kids, the worst thing would be not getting to watch their cartoons, or fighting over a pencil at school.

This weekend I spent some time with my batchmate's family and their adorable little baby boy. He is so cute - He calls me Massi and has the cutest little lisp for everything he says. Massi becomes Mathii. He refers to himself as "Baby" and loves to play cricket. He's very brave as well - doesn't cry at all if he falls. And if he does fall, he just hits the ground as hard as he can and is up and running again. He wakes up smiling and sleeps smiling. All in all a very happy little baby.

You just feel like smiling when he smiles at you. He's just adorable that way.

Living History

What is it about mummies that mystify us?

I’ve always wanted to go to Egypt and see the Pyramids. It is one of my life long dreams. That and seeing the Great Rift Valley – is what I plan to do in North Africa.

But coming back to mummies – there is something about them that captures our imagination – more so than anything else. I remember playing Tomb Raider when I was in University (Yes, I and my brother who is 7 years younger than me are BIG fans of Lara Croft – We’ve even seen a documentary on her on BBC). Many sequences in the game are based in Egypt and the clues and puzzles all centre around some macabre crypt.

Recently at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, I saw the Temple of Dendur – a Nubian temple built by the Roman governor Petronius in 1st century BC. This temple had been transported to the US after the construction of the Aswan dam in Egypt to prevent its destruction. It is an awesome structure and inarguably one of the best exhibits in the world. I spent around half an hour there in the Dendur Exhibit. The Met also has one of the largest collection of items from Egyptology.

In contrast though, the India section at the museum is less populated and most of the items there you can find anywhere in India. I thought a lot about why this is and have come to the following conclusion. While a lot has changed from the past in India, a lot has not changed. Sure, we don’t have Harappan seals anymore and Asoka’s rock edicts no longer are read – but we have a lot of living history. Our Gods and Goddesses have remained unchanged for centuries. The same mother goddess who was there in the Harappan civilization still exists today – in a varied form. We have been under Muslim rule for over 800 years but Hindu identity remained intact. Islamic art and architecture flourished with infusions from the Indian subcontinent – and we see this today alive in our monuments like the Taj Mahal, the city of Fateh pur Sikri and many more. The vast city of Delhi once had seven cities… and they all still exist. The Jama Masjid is the largest mosque in India and is still in use. The city of Tughlaqabad still has a large population living in the common area. (Tip though: Do watch out for the monkeys though if you’re planning to visit Ghiassudin Tughlaq’s tomb.)

Coming back to the issue of Pyramids – new pharaonic tombs are still being discovered in Egypt. Two were discovered recently in the area of Saqqara which is south of the capital, Cairo. Saqqara is a necropolis – a royal cemetery, and till recently archaeologists had thought that nothing more could possibly be found there. But they were proved wrong.

Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra lent a certain aura to the Egyptian civilization. Movies are still being made on what lies beyond the sands of the Sahara. In The Bucket List – which had a list of all the things you should do before you kick the bucket, seeing the Pyramids ranked on the “To Do” list, along with a visit to The Taj Mahal. Climbing Mount Everest was another one, as was driving a F-1 race car (what an awesome thing to do) and a visit to Italy (always recommended – it is a beautiful country and so are its neighbors Spain and France).

Now not everyone can be an archaeologist or an anthropologist – but one can spread the message of the beauty that surrounds us. Some organizations are doing this in India – like INTACH. Some organizations even take you on walks around the city. When I was in college, my society, Dhyana, organized a tour of the seven cities of Delhi and we would spend our weekends going around the city with a well informed individual who knew about the place. They were very interesting times. My sister, who was in school, once accompanied me to the Tuglaqabad fort (loadsa monkeys). We were told about the fort’s defensive structures, the layers and their significance and even visited deep wells around the exterior.

An experienced historian, even an amateur one, can ignite your imagination by introducing you to the possibilities that the space around you provides. They can help you picture Metcalf sitting sipping tea near the Qutub Minar, or Emperor Humayun climbing the steps towards his library in an opium-dazed state.

History can still come alive, even if it’s not living history.

Too many books to read, such little time

I often marvel at how I can pick up two to three books simultaneously and start reading them. I love fiction. So I start a novel. But I'll always be reading some non-fiction as well. Forget the compulsory newspaper and magazine. It'll be some new non-fiction novel about economics that I just pick up and start to read.

Granta magazine is one that I've just started to read. I picked up an old copy in New York but I thought that the issue they were covering was interesting. It was on how America sees the world. Not on how the world sees America - they covered that post 9/11. But on how America, that megalithic empire, views the rest of us.

I think that our viewpoint of America was covered best in the introduction. A quote from Graham Greene sums it up well, when talking about Pyle, the supposedly benevolent American in The Quiet American - "I never knew a man who had better motives for all the trouble he caused." Sums up the American Foreign policy to a T don't you think?

I've also decided to start another Dan Brown type novel - called The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury. What is the secret of the Templars is what prompted me to buy this book at the Delhi Book Fair - which I just happened to stumble upon on one of my sojourns to Delhi. The Knights of the Templar were a military order of the Roman Catholic church and existed more than 700 years ago. They were originally formed to fight in the Holy Crusades and to protect Christians during the Holy War. Interestingly, they were supposed to protect the Holy Grail as well.

Books transfer you to another time and place. Whether it be Thomas Friedman's analysis of globalization or Milan Kundera's listlessness... books always give you something to think about.

I have one more Kathy Reichs to finish. Bones to Ashes promises to be quite a good read. I do love a good mystery.

As time goes by

Think about how your priorities change as time goes by. When I was a kid, all that mattered was playing Barbie with my little sister and constructing the doll house (which was made out of a cardboard box with floors put up sealed with cellotape). My brother would occassionally come by and be the tornado - literally ploughing through the house and upsetting his elder sisters. Nothing would give him more pleasure.

Now we've all grown up. And what are the things that concern us?

Do I have a good healthcare package? Do I get enough leave? Do I have enough money for my loan installments?

Not that worry is the only thing attached with adulthood. I often say that adults are children who pay taxes (under duress). We have a great time as well. We go off on holidays, trek, we are up and away whenever we want to have dinner out, we can buy chocolate whenever we want, we can watch whatever we want.

Ofcourse all this is subject to your purse strings. Now my job don't pay me that well. But I have the most awesome leave scenario. Not that I can take all the leave I want, but if I do all my work on time and keep my nose clean, I will be able to enjoy what I like doing best - read, travel and trek.

Thankfully at least in India, these things don't require too much money. I do like going out to eat occassionally, but after a while you do crave for ghar ka khana.

Plus, things have changed so much since a decade back. I think I thought it was best reflected in a movie I saw called The Pink Panther movie when Steve Martin is asked if he gets bored living alone; Steve Martin's reply was "Not since the Internet" (in a French accent ofcourse).

The world has become flat - or hot, flat and crowded as Friedman would say. Communications are now so damn simple that it's difficult to explain to your 80 year old grandfather how you can speak to your sister whose in the United States for free through google talk for over an hour and how you can hear her just by looking at the laptop. Even I can't explain it. But technology is phenomenal.

I'm sure someone somewhere has composed a song "As time goes by". I hope I get to hear it. :) But one thing my Mom keeps telling me - you never really grow up. You're still the same kid at heart.