Don't get Distracted

Recently, I saw a movie named Kill The Messenger. It is the story of Gary Webb, an honest journalist who came upon a story involving the Central Intelligence Agency’s involvement in widespread distribution of drugs sourced from Nicaragua. These drugs were traded for arms and weapons that the US Government was sending in order to fuel a civil war. The drugs were in turn, being sold to certain sections of the public. Webb’s story shook the CIA’s very foundations. Despite, threats to his family, coercion and blackmail, Webb went ahead and published his article which quite obviously took the entire United States of America by storm. But the pressure that was put on his employer by the CIA and various Government officials meant that there was an apology issued by the Newspaper that he worked for apologizing for the factual inaccuracies in Webb’s report. After he resigned from his job, not surprisingly, nobody offered him employment. The worst part in all of this is that Webb was found dead in his apartment with two bullet shots in his head. The police ruled it as suicide. Funny, isn’t it? How can a man shoot himself once and in the head and survive to shoot himself again?

Webb’s story wasn’t the end of this. It resulted in widespread demand for answers and even for the CIA’s main man to step down. Further investigation confirmed that the CIA was indeed responsible for the distribution and the sale of narcotics in the state of California. The entire investigative report was published for the public to read BUT, guess what happened. The report was given scant importance. Do you know why??? Because, the entire nation was lapping up juicy details of the Clinton-Lewinsky affair. The entire 51 states of the USA were busy reading about Clinton’s semen staining the sheets. The entire country was keen on knowing where Lewinsky is at the moment. And were gushing about how well Hillary Clinton took this so called ‘tragedy’. Was it really so important that a major racket involving the Country’s foremost Intelligence Agency being busted was given a small column in the 4^th or 5^th page of every daily???

This is exactly what is happening in our country too. The media is screaming their throats hoarse that India is becoming an intolerant country but not focusing on other more important issues. One or two stray incidents are given so much national coverage that issues that need Public attention get sidelined and sometimes even dismissed. We are a nation of 1.3 billion people. That’s 1/6^th of the world’s population. Much as this may sound harsh, stray incidents will happen. But to create and paint a nation-wide picture that we are an intolerant country seems like something is amiss. And do these victims need justice? Of course they do. If the media is going to help them get the justice they deserve, then great. But that’s not what the media does. Let me ask you a question. How does one rape make it to the news and another doesn’t? How does one hate crime make it while another doesn’t? Because, that’s what the media really does. It identifies and selects which incidents will capture public attention and TRP ratings and focus only on those and side-by-side, which incidents will take the nation’s attention away from more important events. By sensationalizing such stories, isn’t it obvious that something big is escaping our much-needed attention??? We need to wake up and really read the smaller articles that get covered. There is always a hidden agenda when minor incidents get covered and sensationalized. Read that newspaper more carefully for clues. Today, the ‘trending’ topic is intolerance. Just like after the Nirbhaya Incident, the trending word was rape. A few months ago it was about Religious Conversion. A few years ago it was hate crimes against lovers and the Khap Panchayats. Neither of these issues has gone away. They remain as much rampant as they always were. They are not trendy enough at the moment and hence don’t get covered as much. Heinous crimes are not to be trivialized but neither are they to be sensationalized to the extent where it threatens to cause deep-rooted hatred between us. Collectively, we need to take a rational stand against criminals. If we can, we should use our strength of numbers to show our unity to our so called leaders, and not to destroy one another.

My honest submission to you is this. Don’t get distracted. Don’t feed thoughts of mistrust and negativity against one community or another based on what you see or hear. If they say half-baked information is dangerous, then manipulative misinformation is nothing short of suicide. It is the collective suicide of intellect, compassion, tolerance and intelligence. 

Palmgrove and it's timelessness

It had been more than a year now. Considering that this place was frequented by me as much as twice or thrice a week, one year can feel like a lifetime. Besides, the last chat I had with my brother wasn’t a very good one. ‘Rubbish!!! Highly disappointing!!! Not going back there again!!’ were his exact words. ‘No way!!!’. I retorted stoically, ‘Palmgrove can’t disappoint’, I reiterated. He didn’t budge. But then my brother is like that- quick to disassociate himself and write-off places or people irrespective of how long or deep an association may run. My bonds, however, run very deep with Palmgrove. In fact, they run so deep that I do not remember the first time I visited the place. Must’ve been in the very early Eighties, and although I may not remember that first experience, it doesn’t really matter because every time we either visited the place or packed food from there, my expression remained the same- sheer delight.

Think about it for a second and let’s assume my first visit to Palmgrove in the year 1983.Now come all the way to 2009 (which was the year I left Chennai). That’s a sum total of 26 years. Now let’s translate that into weeks. 26 times 52 is 1000 plus weeks. 1352 weeks to be exact. Even if I were to remove  100 weeks of non-attendance that still leaves me with 1252 weeks. That’s 1252 visits to Palmgrove!!!  And mind you, I’m not the only one. Although since 2009, my visits to Palmgrove were reduced to 3-4 times a year because they were dependent on my visits to Chennai., I know of families who still indulge in the fine art of gluttony week upon week, month on month, year on year. It is also not uncommon to experience a noisy bunch of oldies thoroughly indulging in a medley of dosas, idlies and vadas after their morning walk. After all, they’ve earned it.

Back to the present. An opportunity presented itself to make a short trip to Chennai (which is always welcome) and predictably so, I rubbed my hands in glee. Not only did it give me a chance to get some important work done, it also gave me with a chance to visit Palmgrove once again. This time, however, the reason to visit wasn’t to relive the experiences of the past. This visit was to check if the place still had it in itself to recreate the magic. There is a big difference between the two. As I walked into the timeless Menaka Restaurant, I was greeted enthusiastically by a familiar set of faces. They’ve seen me grow up here, of course, they’d be happy to see me again. But that moment was enough for me to conclude that this place cannot be affected by change. It was , indeed, timeless.  My old favourite waiter Ajay, hobbled to my table. As usual, he knew my order. One ‘plate’ idlies with one vada and at least 3-4 bowls of sambhar. Extra ghee on the side, please. Followed by a Ghee Roast.  Waiting, waiting, waiting. About 10 minutes later, I was served two steaming hot idlies and a crunchy vada. Perfect!!! Wonder what my brother was complaining about?? Tradition demands that Palmgrove idlies be eaten the way I’ve always eaten them- mashed finely along with chutney and loads of sambhar. The resultant combination appears more like a porridge than idlies. Now add some hot ghee on top and you are on your way to culinary nirvana. To further accentuate the taste, add a bite of the crunchy vada to each morsel of the mashed idli porridge. For me, this was a redefining moment. Palmgrove had not changed. Not one bit.

Next up was the ghee roast. Plated in the shape of a cone, the dosa was simply outstanding. Now here’s a dosa which can be eaten plain. And it had it’s own unique flavouring and right ‘bite’ to it. Dunking the dosa in sambhar was the best way to savour it and that’s exactly what I did. The dosa absorbs the sambhar rather carelessly leaving certain portions still crisp while other parts soak in its unique flavor. Bravo, bravo!!! Bliss!!! Time now for the final act .  A strong filter coffee served fresh and consumed in a leisure manner. There, you are set to face anything that the world throws at you.

As a token of gratitude, I gave them all movie ticket vouchers that I had won the previous night at an event. I was tickled to see animated discussions among the old, greying and balding waiters as to which film they should watch. I smiled to myself and continued to enjoy my coffee entertaining a rather pleasing thought -  It’s quite comforting to know no matter how good or bad things get, there is always that one place in our lives that we can go to time and again to experience gratification. In my life, that place is Palmgrove. No question about it :)

The Four Candles

A Tender Moment- When Chuppy met Mom

A hospital discharge is always testing. In Mom’s case, recovery still remained largely uncertain. It was as though one battle had been won but the war was still imminent. There was still a lot of fighting to be done. There was still a lot more to overcome and a lot more to endure. The big difference was that the turf had changed. She was now home. How that will change the equation remains to be seen but what is known is that she will have her favourite team of warriors by her side. This team is quite similar to the one that has been with her all along in the hospital i.e My brother and I coupled with the love and support of all our family, friends and well-wishers but there was one little warrior who’s absence was always notable.

As we settled mom into her room, which now looked more like a hospital room than her bedroom, we ran through the list of all the equipment/medicines as well as disposables. Everything seemed to be in place so it was time now. I took the stairs down to my friend’s place and rang the bell. The sniffs and snorts began to get louder as the maid came closer towards the door. By the time she had reached the door, the snorts had turned into an all-familiar squeal. But this time, it almost seemed like she knew that there was something different. As the door opened, there she was prancing around, expressing her excitement in a way that only she could. ‘Yay, you’ve come to take me home. Woo hooo’ would be my guess as to what she was implying.  This time, however, Chuppy’s greeting was different. It was accompanied by an unusual sense of urgency to go home. Could she sense that mom was home? After nearly four months? If her non-stop plea to get home as fast as we could was any indication, the answer would be a resounding YES. She knew. Somehow, she knew that she was going to see Mom when she went home.

Despite all the love and affection that we have for her, letting her go to Mom was a catch-22 situation. ‘Keep her away from possible sources of infection’ was the clear instruction given unanimously by all the Doctors. And quite obviously, that was the way to go. But, what about Chuppy? Should we prevent her from being with mom? Is it even fair? After all, Chuppy’s connection with Mom is beyond explanation. Predicaments such as these tend to evoke strong opinions that sometimes lead to difficult decisions. But none of that would be so in this case. As I let her loose when we entered the house, she went straight into mom’s room and stopped in her tracks. Mom’s severe health condition meant that she cannot react or respond to most things around her and Chuppy entering the room was no exception. Disappointingly, there were no Bollywood moments where someone magically gets better upon seeing a dearly loved one. That was reserved strictly for the Yash Raj Films I guess.

What I did, however, witness, was something else altogether. This is normally the kind of stuff you see on Facebook ,courtesy videos that are shared by various people titled ‘What this dog did next will blow your mind’.

Very slowly, Chuppy made her way to mom’s bed. Uncertain about what to do next she turned around to look at me. I didn’t say a word. She continued to go around Mom’s bed slowly inspecting as it were some type of cage that was preventing her from reaching out to Mom. She then put her two feet on the bed and sniffed around a little and again looked at me. I remained silent. As did the Nurse and the housemaid. This was Chuppy’s moment with Mom and none of us were going to interfere. She slowly moved away from the bed and sat down beside it. Quiet, sober and yet it was a statement made by her- “I am here by your side, I won’t let you go this time” Mom could not react but I know deep down inside she was delighted to have her little Direwolf right beside her. That in itself is one more battle won thanks to her composure. It was a tender moment yet it showed just how strong the bonds of love are between two beings. And it was cherished by all who were present J J J