Entry Number 100!
My final test is on Wednesday, the day I leave for India so it's now or possibli never, as far as driving is considered in Oman. Otherwise I've just been spending my time cutting out articles and pictures from local newspapers, working on my India Presentation and watching a bunch of Yes, Minister episodes with my Dad. That show never fails to bring a smile to my face. One of the greatest TV shows ever made, without a doubt!
My dad and I also watched Mr. & Mrs. Iyer on Friday night. It turned out to be a whole lot different and better than what I'd initially imagined. Good movie. It appears as though Star Movies will be showing a bunch of other Desi-based movies during the rest of the month which sux cuz I wish it had been May. I'm not quite sure how much access I will have to Satelitte Tele in India and whether I'll be able to watch them even if I did. We've got a busy itinerary.
As I understand it so far my dad and I arrive in Chennai on Thursday morning and spend the day there. Early Friday morning (6am) we're taking the Shatabdi (India's TGV :P) to Bangalore where we spend a day. Then the next few days we're going to be visiting a bunch of places near the West Coast of India like Sringeri, Udipi, Mangalore etc. I've not been to any of these places. After that mini-pilgrimage we'll be heading to the usual destinations of Salem and Erode where my mum and dad are from, respectively. They're less than an hours drive from each other, and roads are much better now than they've ever been before so it should be pretty cool.
In Erode there's a marriage to attend and anybody who's watched Monsoon Wedding or Bend it Like Beckham knows how colorful and festive an Indian wedding can be. Except this time it's a South Indian non-Brahmin wedding which means things are slightly different. Lots of good food which means I have NO chance of losing any weight before going back to Montreal. I think I am officially overweight, dammit!
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Then there's the opening of the new school building that was constructed on top of the school that my great-Grand father originally built in 1940. Imagine, thousands of students for decades had started learning in a little thatched hut, who for years didn't have paper or books and began writing on the sand. Doctors and engineers have 'graduated' from this place. So last year my dad decided enough was enough and donated 12+ Lakh Rupees ($27,000 US) for a modern building with space for a proper library, IT room etc.
The school is located in Vallipurathampalayam (or just V.P. Palayam :P) which is about 10kms away from Erode and my Ancestral Village. Every year I pay a visit to this place just to get a feel for my roots. There are still several of my distant relatives who make a living out of handlooms (i come from the weaving caste) and earn a pittance. Some have even committed suicide over the years because they couldn't keep up the debt and many of the old houses are in a dilapidated condition. My great-grandfather's house had broken down when I last checked it out. It was no bigger than 1.5m x 3m with a separate room for the kitchen.
In the days when he was living in it there would've just been enough space for a spinning wheel and himself to sleep in it. In later years when it was abandoned my grandfather as the Congress President in Erode brought a Postal Service to this town for the first time and since they didn't have any purpose-built offices, used the house as the village's first Post Office. Things have come a long way since...
This is just the story of one village. India is a land of 500,000 such places. If every Indian who has tasted the good life could go back to each of his/her ancestral villages and give back a token of appreciation in any form - school, hospital, post office, road, clean drinking water, sanitation facilities etc - it would be enough to set the ball rolling on the path of economic development for the masses.
India is Shining for the middle-and-upper classes. They represent a population larger than that of the USA but unfortunately the rest of India, the majority, is finding it difficult to play catch-up. Traditional trickle-down economics is not going to work. Several million don't even want a life of industrialization and westernization. Their concerns have to be taken into account. I look forward to the day when the late Ambani's words come true:
"Someone described to me India as a land of 1 billion problems. I say India is a land of 1 billion opportunities."
This posting ended up somewhat different than what I've initially intended or imagined. :) I wonder if anybody ended up reading it... hehe
My dad and I also watched Mr. & Mrs. Iyer on Friday night. It turned out to be a whole lot different and better than what I'd initially imagined. Good movie. It appears as though Star Movies will be showing a bunch of other Desi-based movies during the rest of the month which sux cuz I wish it had been May. I'm not quite sure how much access I will have to Satelitte Tele in India and whether I'll be able to watch them even if I did. We've got a busy itinerary.
As I understand it so far my dad and I arrive in Chennai on Thursday morning and spend the day there. Early Friday morning (6am) we're taking the Shatabdi (India's TGV :P) to Bangalore where we spend a day. Then the next few days we're going to be visiting a bunch of places near the West Coast of India like Sringeri, Udipi, Mangalore etc. I've not been to any of these places. After that mini-pilgrimage we'll be heading to the usual destinations of Salem and Erode where my mum and dad are from, respectively. They're less than an hours drive from each other, and roads are much better now than they've ever been before so it should be pretty cool.
In Erode there's a marriage to attend and anybody who's watched Monsoon Wedding or Bend it Like Beckham knows how colorful and festive an Indian wedding can be. Except this time it's a South Indian non-Brahmin wedding which means things are slightly different. Lots of good food which means I have NO chance of losing any weight before going back to Montreal. I think I am officially overweight, dammit!
----
Then there's the opening of the new school building that was constructed on top of the school that my great-Grand father originally built in 1940. Imagine, thousands of students for decades had started learning in a little thatched hut, who for years didn't have paper or books and began writing on the sand. Doctors and engineers have 'graduated' from this place. So last year my dad decided enough was enough and donated 12+ Lakh Rupees ($27,000 US) for a modern building with space for a proper library, IT room etc.
The school is located in Vallipurathampalayam (or just V.P. Palayam :P) which is about 10kms away from Erode and my Ancestral Village. Every year I pay a visit to this place just to get a feel for my roots. There are still several of my distant relatives who make a living out of handlooms (i come from the weaving caste) and earn a pittance. Some have even committed suicide over the years because they couldn't keep up the debt and many of the old houses are in a dilapidated condition. My great-grandfather's house had broken down when I last checked it out. It was no bigger than 1.5m x 3m with a separate room for the kitchen.
In the days when he was living in it there would've just been enough space for a spinning wheel and himself to sleep in it. In later years when it was abandoned my grandfather as the Congress President in Erode brought a Postal Service to this town for the first time and since they didn't have any purpose-built offices, used the house as the village's first Post Office. Things have come a long way since...
This is just the story of one village. India is a land of 500,000 such places. If every Indian who has tasted the good life could go back to each of his/her ancestral villages and give back a token of appreciation in any form - school, hospital, post office, road, clean drinking water, sanitation facilities etc - it would be enough to set the ball rolling on the path of economic development for the masses.
India is Shining for the middle-and-upper classes. They represent a population larger than that of the USA but unfortunately the rest of India, the majority, is finding it difficult to play catch-up. Traditional trickle-down economics is not going to work. Several million don't even want a life of industrialization and westernization. Their concerns have to be taken into account. I look forward to the day when the late Ambani's words come true:
"Someone described to me India as a land of 1 billion problems. I say India is a land of 1 billion opportunities."
This posting ended up somewhat different than what I've initially intended or imagined. :) I wonder if anybody ended up reading it... hehe