Chez Moi

Read the Mad Momma’s post on others’ take on the changing face of India. Made me feel something indescribable. Cos I have been guilty of some of the things listed there, especially the ones about the treatment meted out to people in a lower station of life. Whilst most people I know label the house help as “servant”, my family always made sure none of us used it. They were always “the helpers”. They were never treated like dirt, as they were elsewhere. I have always heard them speak to the older maid we had at our place using the respectful “neega” rather than “nee”, in deference to the old ayah’s age. 

But I have also seen that few of the maids appreciate the difference. I have often seen the guy who has his mobile ironing station outside our house treat my folks with contempt, though he comes to them palms outstretched for handouts, loans etc while being deferential to those who barely even glance at him and boss him around. Go figure! 

Anyways, the point of this post is something the mater said to me on the phone today. She was telling me about the new dog walker they’ve got, one who arrives in a gleaming Yamaha motorbike, with the ubiquitous cell phone clipped to the waistband of his bermuda shorts. He parks it outside the walls, calls out a cheery “hello aunty” to my mum, takes Robin for his walk and on his return, hops onto his bike and disappears in a trail of dust. He hardly looks any different to my brother, save for the sunnier disposition! 

Likewise, the two men from the Blue Cross clinic that come to bathe the dogs every fortnight. Smartly dressed, they finish their jobs professionally, are courteous, polite and well-mannered, provide value-added services like checking the dogs’ coat for any signs of fleas etc and holding off an outbreak at the start by coming armed with a ready supply of basic creams and lotions. And yes, they are of the motorbike-cell phones group too. 

That might not seem too much to you but it gladdened my heart to hear these. Especially after reading about the gated communities in Gurgaon and the shantytown outside and the disparity of the situation, these little things like the dog walker looking no different to any other person gives me hope that him and others like him will not be left out in these boom times. 

Small steps? Maybe. Too little too late? Possibly. But a positive, nonetheless. 

Edited to add: A chance comment by Mallika of Eve’s Lungs reminded me of two ‘cases’ similar to the ones she listed. One is that of an auto wallah near my parents’, who sends his kiddies to a regular CBSE school - not the corporation school but a proper English medium one, so they can have a shot at the good things in life. The Indians among us know what a massive deal that is! And how did I forget the leather / shoe repair guy up the road who put both his boys through Engineering college! I was gobsmacked when I took my leather jacket to the guy to repair the faulty zipper and learnt the chap who fixed it has a BTech and was due to start a job with Infy a fortnight later!! 

… Kodi’s little brother, Plane Paapa. Congrats Kodi’s mum, the first of us MTBs to give birth!! Who’s up next? Lavs? Planethalder? Their babies are due this weekend. After that, it is Maggie and STS’ turns on June 21st.The lineup has started MTBs - get ready for the ride! 

 

A few weeks back, a top television presenter was caught on camera doing 70 mph on a busy motorway - chatting on his mobile phone. Jeremy Clarkson is well known to Britons and to see him chatting away whilst driving his Merc was too much for the public to bear. A vigilant passerby took a picture of him gabbing away and passed it on to the Daily Mirror. The papers took him to task royally and furious members of the public wrote on public forums everywhere, asking for a serious reprimand.

When I read the article the following day, a few words stuck in my mind.

And a police insider warned that if guilty, the popular Top Gear presenter could expect the same treatment as the thousands of other road users nabbed for the same offence.

The source said: “At a time when the Government and police are clamping down on motorists putting safety at risk by using mobiles at the wheel, it’s vital that police are seen to be taking action against all alleged offenders, no matter who they are.”

Fast forward to this morning, when I came across this article on Chennai Metblogs. I mean, what do you say to this respectable member of the press, who uses his press credentials to get away scot-free and then say, ‘Some police!’! There is no point blaming the traffic cops for their ineptitude if every Johnny carries some form of a ‘Get out of jail FREE!’ card or the other. Granted, I am no major fan of the said police, after the shabby way they treated my scared brother after a drunken bastard crashed his car into my hapless brother’s but this time, I am forced to question what choice do we leave them with, if we tie their hands so, for every pitiable reason?

We constantly say ‘we are like this wonly’ when quizzed about the lax Indian attitude to most things under the sun. Are we like this wonly or are we making sure we are like this wonly?

As you can see from the above vid, there were cars, autos and other vehicles patiently waiting for the road to clear. The decibel level is pretty high too. This was taken at around 9 am in the morning. The same event occurred at 3.00 am that morning (or night - whichever way you look at it!). Understandably, I shot out of bed wondering what the racket was about.

Through bleary eyes, I noticed the devoted mass dancing in the streets. Whilst I do give it to them that they have every right to show their devotion in every which way that pleases them, should it encroach on others’ lives? At 3.00 am, is it too much to expect to get some undisturbed sleep?

Or is it blasphemy?

[Guest post by Ranju]

For the kick-starter, Rowing is a sport which is highly catching up in the city of Madras, thanks to Madras Boat Club. A membership here costs 50k for a year where in you will have put in 300 hours of rowing. As an annual event, the MBC conducts a Corporate Regatta which is aimed to bring in more people into this sport. In this regard, my friend’s mom, Neela, who has a production house of her own called Madras Houz, decided that it would be great for us to participate. I have done some music – related work such as jingles, sound edits/recording for the company and hence qualify as a part time employee there. Apart from Neela, there are 2 other women working in the company, Uma and Sharmishta (my friend, Neela’s daughter). So the four of us decided that it would be fun and fitness combined for us if we signed up for this year’s Regatta. So that’s exactly what we did. Little did we realize how serious we were becoming about this event. Every morning, 5 hours past midnight saw us standing in Boat Club waiting for boats to be pulled out! Initially, it was quite hard, considering a) I NEED my sleep! b) The inviting(?) smell of the “koovam”. But as the sport got exciting, it didn’t matter. I got over my sleep issue and I just got used to the smell (Honestly, it isn’t that bad, considering they take special care of the course where we row!).

We practiced for 2 long months, almost everyday! The one hour in the morning with extensive coaching by the Club coaches did us real good. We got better by the week and we realized how strong we were becoming and how a sport changes the way you look at your day/week/life. We rowed as 4 on a boat and also took part as two entries (MH A & MH B) in the pairs contest, with two each on one boat.

As race day got closer, we started practicing in the evenings after work as well. Only then did we realize how excited we were about winning the race. Even though the buzz around the club was that 4 of us were going to be a tough team, we still wanted to make sure that we live upto that. There were many teams from all over the city, with 7 women’s only teams, from companies like Sify, Element K, Lion Bridge, JWT, O&M and of course, Madras Houz.

The heats began 3 days before the final race. A race is 750 meters and only two teams can race at a time. Each team had 2 entries for the pairs and we did too! So we got cracking down to the first race. This was easily the scariest part for me as Sharmishta and I were a team and we were to take on corporate oarspersons (not rowers ;)) who have had experience for about 5-6 years, in our FIRST EVER race!! Quite tense, we sat on the boat and till the second we heard the “Are you ready on the inside? Are you ready on the outside? Are you ready? ROW!” we didn’t realize the amount of energy in us! No more thinking after that and we took her home to the finish in style and won our first race!!! YAYY!

After that, there were 3 more races that we had to clear to reach the finals and we did so quite well! And guess who we met at the finals?? MH B! So us Madras Houz girls won both the first AND second place in our first ever Regatta! Result! Element K won the over all championship as they had a guys team as well. But we were more than delighted with our loot! Huge trophies are always a high! If only we were given a free membership to go with it Even the press paid us a visit on the day of the finals.

A little background on Regatta: this event has been held for the past 80 years and has been successful in churning out few on India’s best oarspersons. The excitement, the festive air, the spirit, the fights, the shrug offs, the pre and post dinners, the beer, which sure excites all the men and everything else that comes along with the package, it sure is a delight to be part of the entire extravaganza.

At the end of the day, all that effort did pay off and I loved the entire experience. Sometimes, even today, I almost stumble out of my sleep at 5 AM in the morning to look for my sneakers to hit the club, and before I realize I still have the Regatta – Hangover, I head back to sleep