India and Russia- Ties that still bind

It would take sheer ingenuity on part of a person to venture into finding similarities between the cities of Raipur and Moscow. What could possibly link these two disparate lands? Boasting of different languages, different demography and geography, relative importance in political circles of the country, they are possibly as different as chalk and cheese. However, the past month, they have been witness to two farcical trials, where verdicts delivered by kangaroo courts held to hostage the very ideals of freedom which the nations of India and Russia claim to practice and promote.



The first case being refereed to is the one of Binayak Sen who was charged with sedition against the Indian State under the draconian Public Security Act by the Raipur district court and sentenced to a life term. The other is the conviction of Mikhail Khodorkovsky in Moscow on charges of fresh embezzlement and fraud, in spite of his conviction on similar charges in 2003. Despite stark differences in their personal characters, Binayak Sen was a respected human rights activist whereas Mikhail Khodorkovsky was a billionaire oligarch having major stakes in Russian Economy (legal and illegal), today they stand on the cusp of being coroneted as symbols of victimization for human rights activists in both the countries.

The trials show a systematic subversion of doctrine of justice by the state in collusion with the judiciary. It raises serious questions about the nature of freedom these two rapidly growing nations postulate and guarantee their citizens. Not many consider Russia a serious democracy. Mr. Vladimir Putin has been the cornerstone of Russian politics since the turn of the millennium and shows no sign of giving up his grip on power. After the USSR crumbled, there was hope of a democratic change. However, Russia has been reduced to a land of extreme corruption where cohorts of those in power, patronized by the wealthy oligarchs call the shots. In such a scenario, many human rights activists claim that Mr. Khodorkovsky real crime was to have posed a threat to Vladimir Putin, by acting as an independent property-owner rather than a servile manager of Russia's natural resources, and by funding opposition parties and using his influence to lobby against Mr. Putin's aim of building an oil-fuelled authoritarian regime. Thus in spite of many Russians reviling him for his behavior during the turbulent decade of 1990’s, today, ironically he stands defeated by the same system he once perpetuated. Mr. Binayak Sen on the other hand was pediatrician and a highly respected human rights activist who served as the Vice President of People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL). He was charged on the filmiest of circumstantial evidence as being a courier for a Maoist leader Narayan Sanyal and after a Kafkaesque trial, he has been pronounced guilty. This travesty of justices, say human rights activists, has been motivated by Dr. Sen’s constant stand against Salwa Judum, the state sponsored civil militia meant to fight the naxals (seen as largely responsible for grave human rights abuses across the tribal areas) and his constant support to the adivasis and opposition to the military approach used by the Indian Government to tackle the ‘problem’ of Naxalism. Last heard, both Mr. Khodorkovsky and Dr. Sen were filing an appeal to higher courts.

Recent trip by the President of United States of America would have made many believe in the future of ‘Indo-US friendship,’ and similarities between the ‘glorious democracies’ of these two nations. However such politically motivated convictions, a cabal of oligarchs and funded politicians calling the shots (Nira Radia tapes prove that in ample measure), chronic corruption marked by inequalities of wealth, scant respect for human rights are all indicators of the fact that India might just have a lot more in common with political systems prevalent in Russia than it ever imagined.

That kind act

A turbo charged day was finally coming to its sane end. After a rather well organized second day of YAF which included great performances, a good turnout and even better food it was time to go back to the comfortable interiors of my home and crash on the couch.

Remembering all the mad amount of scurrying around to placate frayed nerves, soothing jangling tempers, wars over food (a quintessential hallmark of the group), i had a smile on my face. A smile of satisfaction, a job well done and amends made especially after a disappointing first day. As i strutted back with a swagger and a smile with carnival of rust providing sweet solace to my tired soul, i spotted him.

An man, aged 50's sitting on the pavement behind the pile of papers of all languages, catering to all types of classes, which he hoped to sell. His henna dyed beard, missing canines, balding grey white hairline concealed by a circular Mohammedan cap and a dirty kurta of a fading colour, all conveyed that life had been harsh on him. No doubt his haggard face did point out to the fact that he was aged much beyond his years.

It was a saturday and the new TOI crest issue was on stands. Having recently acquired a rather discerning interest, i do like to read this special edition regularly. My hand reached for my wallet as i approached him and searched in the corner pockets to eek out the six rupees needed to buy the newspaper. As luck would have it, there was absolutely no small change in the wallet. Grimacing i told him about my inability to buy the newspaper and apologized. He just asked me 'kya hua beta? Crest chahiye, arre le lo, 6 ruapi ki hi toh baat hai.' (What happened son? Want Crest? Just take it, it just a question of six rupees) and like that he simply handed over the paper to me.
I tried to tell him and convince him that ill come and give him the money on monday and would he be here but it was so obvious that he didn't expect any of it and he was absolutely not hoping for anything in return for having done that.

It surprised me to no end to see a man, who hadn't sold so many of newspapers at 9 in the night and was going to suffer heavy losses anyway on his meagre source of income instead of being frustrated and cranky would voluntarily hand over a newspaper to a decked up boy carrying gadgets in his hand with headphones plucked in his ears leading a quintessentially what might be referred to as a good life. It almost made me cringe that level to which people including people very close to me distrust this particular community, ostracize them for a behavior of few black sheep, generalize their habits and blame half the problems of the country on them. If this wasn't bad enough the government had perpetuated a policy of exclusion against them, systematically eroding their representation in the mainstream while a many right wingers spew venom on them. This was the community which recently one of the CM aspirant of saffron party which he incidentally heads in Maharashtra told to go back to Pakistan if they couldn't song vande mataram accusing them of being traitors and anti- nationals.

THe man on the street didn't look at my religion, he didn't even care to which class i belonged to. All he saw was that i needed a newspaper and didn't have the requisite change so he just handed it over to me. Small action, great thought. In that moment of pure gesture, he showed so much what can be done to ease the pain of exclusion. A small act of kindness, a simple healing touch unmindful of 'barriers' which more often than not exist solely in our minds, a basic semblance of trust, maybe all that is needed to erase deep dark memories entrenched across the history and the future of the nation.

With my thoughts about my own life reaffirmed, the path i hope to take, the choices i wish to make, i carried on after uttering a grateful thank you, half embarrassed trying to figure out the right way to respond to such a humbling gesture. Till then it had been a satisfying day, after that it became a truly profound day, a day which actually inspired hope and trust and a smile to warm one's heart. And yes...i will meet him and repay all that is due...to how many people, thats something i need to figure out...

The Red Revolution

A cursory glance would suffice. There is no public place which is quite immune to its effects. It has slowly penetrated right down to the basic soul of the nation, touching and coloring places, things, objects with its gelatinous red effects.
The Naxals may be fighting for a red revolution in India since those romantically turbulent era of the 60's but truth to be told, India has been gripped by the red revolution since time immemorial. It enjoys mass popular support by the burgeoning population of the nation, so much so that it has almost added an Indian chutzpah to even those symbols of magnificence of our colonial masters. This red revolution being referred to here is the ubiquitous Indian practice of rechristening the 'bland' places with red stains of paan, that holy mother of all Indian gastronomic inventions which has transformed the stomachs of Indians and face of India in more ways than one.
The corners of lifts, shady portions of buildings, white colored 'Stick no Bills' papers, corners of roads, electric poles, brand new german manufactured SIEMENS coaches of local trains promising an unheralded era of comfort travel and the authors shirt among a million other things and places have born brunt of this generous act of Indian art. It has reached levels that a pot bellied middle aged man with a thick mustache chewing has proven enough a sight to inspire dread of the aftermaths of this oral exercise among the innocent hearts of living and due to the ferocity of the brunt, probably the non living as well. It is not unheard of in parts of town for people to get nightmares about the act since its inception which includes contractions of facial muscles and distortions of perfectly ugly round faces in order to give the accumulated liquid inside enough velocity to come out in the form of a barrage hurtling towards its chosen target with impunity and getting splashed all over it, leaving the hallmark of the great Indian art by this artist all over it until it is re chosen as an intended target and the same treatment is meted out to it all over again.
With the civic bodies bereft of any sort of ideas to come up with more publicly engaging forms of street art to effectively cover a blank space and to add that spice to things mundane, the practice looks all set to continue and thus becoming a part of the Indian folklore. Cheers to a colorful India!!

Flashbacks galore...contd

As days pass, words are forgottem, sights fade away, contacts might get broken but memories never leave...
Here are some of my most cherished moments spent in West Africa over these summers.





Adorable. Initially they were scared of a 'fair skinned' guy. In the end we became great friends though!


A completely unexplored beach at Cape 3 pts which was not mentioned in any tourist books. An undiscovered heaven (which is not necessarily a bad thing)



Accra...with its crazy hustle and bustle. This is West Africa at its chaotic and vibrant best.



At Cape 3 pts, the southernmost point of Ghana. Was the last stop during the roadtrip. I was feeling half dead anyway due to extreme exhaustion but was glad that i made it as this was one of the prettiest sights i have ever seen



Wli Waterfalls. At 200 mts they were the highest in West Africa. Yes we actually stood under them.



THe sight which defines the roadtrip across Ghana for me. Over 3000 kms in under 4 days, north, east and west of the country. Slept in buses all 4 nights. Trying to reach Mt. Afdjado- highest pt of Ghana after checking out Wli waterfalls. This was the way...
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Larabanga mosque...north of Ghana, travelled over 2000 kms throughout the day and the night to reach here. Was it worth it? You bet!!



View from the Elmina Castle, Cape Coast, Ghana. A living hell for slaves amongst the most heavenly surroundings...

Flashbacks galore...

West Africa Rewind...

A flashback into the most beautiful phase of my life...

Togolais Diaries: Ghana and back!

Le 21st Mai, 2009

Bonjour mes amis

Long time since I put up a post but this post just kept on getting delayed due to various factors.
The last few days have been particularly difficult to deal with but at the same time have been greatly rewarding. I have forged new bonds, met some great people, travelled around Ghana and Togo and met up people I really wanted to meet yet had to deal with some tough farewells and had to say goodbye to people I had absolutely come to admire and adore.
After an absolutely heady trip to the village where people lived in hell amidst the most heavenly surroundings one could possibly imagine, the days were used up in planning the trip to Ghana as well as meeting up with a great guy who works in the Ministry of Finance and Economics, Togo. Just the two days in that office uncovered some extremely shocking facts and figures about the country, which obviously I am not going to disclose on a public platform, like this but lets just say that it would make any person cringe if one had the luck to go through some of the documents. It was a grand building; made me really wish that the government would also show the same enthusiasm in formulating grand schemes of developing negligible existent public infrastructure for the benefit of the people of the country.
After haggling which each and every bank and paying a commission of a whopping 20 euros on my TC, I was finally prepared to go to Ghana, my mum’s homeland for a good 8 years. Crossing the border yet again, this is a thing, which I really like to do, imagine an invisible line separating air, land, people, culture, policies, nationalities, and languages. Kiddish as it may sound but just the feeling of walking over into a new territory denoted by all the things which I mentioned above really fascinates and at the same time, perplexes me. Unlike the last time when due to confusion regarding the visa, Dorienke and me ended up visiting Kpalime (not that I regret it of course, because it is stunning and had the good fortune to meet Amanda there), this time the visas were stamped on the passport and in no time we were across.
I have travelled a bit in West Africa and seen a few cities but Accra is extremely different from all of them. It almost feels like Europe if one visits it after going to cities like Lome, Cotonou, Porto Novo, Abomey and others. Everyone seems to have a car in Accra and the roads are in state of perpetual jam. There is crazy rush everywhere. Unlike Togo and Benin, motorbikes are hardly seen and mototaxis as a concept doesn’t exist.
This was the city where my mum stayed for most part of her teenage years so I had decided that I will find the place where she stayed but to my extreme disappointment, I found out that the place where my granddad had worked was sold out and the place which my mum had described over the phone had undergone sea of change. So no luck there.
Apart from this the stay was just fine. Met up with Amanda again, it was great to see her and being the one of the smartest girls I have met in a long time, it was an absolute joy to talk to her. The next day we left fro Cape Coast where all the Europeans had indulged in slave trade. Could only gape and stare in extreme horror as the guide told us stories of the torture inflicted upon the locales by the Europeans as he showed us around Elmina Castle. There we also paid a visit to the Kakum national Park, the major highlight there was a canopy walk which was suspended through ropes and overlooked dense vegetation 40 to 50 meters down. When a person walks on it, it creeks and shakes rather vigorously. It was great fun and unlike all the other people who were petrified while walking on it, the 4 of us were having races across the walkway by timing individual score. With great pride i have to say that i won that race and beat a local Ghanian boy in it as well!! But my joy was not shared by the others who were in the group and the tour guide who i suspect got cheesed off by this immaturity and they literally abandoned and left us in the middle of the forest and went ahead on their guide through the forest without us. What the heck man! Why do want us kids to grow up!! The innocence of childhood is seriously no longer appreciated in this world!
Amanda was leaving the next day for home, so went to see her off back to Accra and again, it was really tough to see her go after all the fun which we had in Accra, Kpalime. On this trip she has been one person who has really really inspired me by her beliefs and just her extremely easygoing nature and as such it’s an extreme delight to be around her. Going to miss her a lot. Trip to the States lined up as well. Period.

Went back that night to Kumasi, reached there at 1 in the night all alone, with a little cash and a phone battery about to die in a strange new country. I really don’t know how I pulled it off but I have to add that I was extremely lucky not to get into trouble. If the phone battery had died off on the way to Kumasi, I would have been probably sleeping on the street that night. : P
It was crazy and being a lil neurotic as I am, I LOVED it. Thrilling would be the word! Kumasi, which is the capital of Ashanti Kingdom in Ghana, too was a great city. Checked out the National Cultural Centre with its museum, which gave a good insight into the culture of Ashanti Kingdom. Apparently the king can never be found bare feet and if he is then from that moment on he is no longer the king. Also the current queen of the kingdom is not the wife instead the mother of the King!! Beat that! Doesn’t mean that they have a scandalous relationship or something but just that the wives of the King are just normal women and not the Queen. Cool concept.

That evening we were back in Accra and the next day I capped off my trip by visiting my mums school in the city. It was just fascinating to be there, see young girls in their uniforms and then trying to imagine my mum in that uniform as a young girl. I really hope that she does like the pictures.
Back in Lome, Babs had only two days so we decided to make the best use of the time by going to Brochette de la Capital, the legendary Lome institution which serves lip smacking African cuisine, partying across at Metro till wee hours of the morning. The next night, it was time for another farewell and this time it was the turn of Babs. By now I was prepared to see her go especially after seeing Dorienke and Amanda go as well and then in no time she was gone as well leaving behind only the funniest and the most adorable memories I have ever had with a person.
These past two weeks have been particularly tough with everyone whom I was close to, leaving around me, going back home and when I was just thinking about it in AIESEC office, I came across this list which was put up which specified the date and the timings of all the new interns who would be coming. There are like 8 of them all coming in end May and June. It was then that it just struck me that my time here was over as well. In a matter of 12 days Ill be back home and all the people whom I had met here, had the fortune to share my ideas with, had come to absolutely admire, forged lifelong bonds with would be only in my memories and new ‘Yovos’ would be here figuring out the country, continent, forming their own opinion about the people, culture, discover the African way of life, get their own ideas, just the way me, Dorienke and Babs had done here. Essentially our time here was over. Dodo and Babs were two people in Togo I was extremely close to, they had left, I would be leaving in some days as well and new people would come, forge new bonds and chart their own way and so the circle of life moves on. Time waits for none and it flies especially through the moments you want to hold on to and cherish forever.
It has been a long time since I got this philosophical but then Africa does to a person, or at least has done to me. Made me fall in love…. with the chaos, mayhem, culture, music, food, indefatigable spirit of people and above all life itself, it has pretty much changed the way I perceive things and some of the people I have met here have left a lasting impression on me.
Honestly when Ruhi called me today, it felt so good to hear the voice of my friend again and it made me miss my home, city and friends but still I am just not prepared or ready to go back. There is so much which needs to be done here, so much needs to be built here and above all people need to be taught to hope here, if I had my way I would have stayed on, don’t know for how long but would have stayed on and would have continued working. The fact that apart from family, friends and city, I return to those silly college jokes, extremely irritating Malhar discussions and its brain-dead events , inconclusive political discussions leading to nowhere and just general lack of depth in things back home also contributes to a large extent to my general hesitance to return but of course they cannot be avoided and I do have to go back.

P.S. After coming back, checked out Togoville, which is situated across the lake Togo. Did you know that Togo literally means On the other side of the river and this was the first town of Togo developed by the Germans who named in Togoville which meant, town on the other side of the river and then the entire country was named Togo. Like all Europeans in Africa, they came here for slave trade and then were pretty much successful till French wrested control of the place and then they pretty much ruined the place. It hasn’t still recovered. I hope it does, the people here deserve better and mankind deserves better!

Togolais Diaries: Dodo and the village!

Maison de Adebayor!




The village! Stunning isn't it??




Le 9th Mai 2009
Dusk envelopes the azure blue sky and the splatter of rain falling on the lush green leaves and trees with some smatterings of thunder providing an ominous warning for the time about to come is all I can hear as I write this somewhere in the middle of the way to reach the peak of Mt. Agu, Togo’s highest point at 949 mts inside a makeshift open hut of thatched bamboos and hay surrounded by the greenest setting one could possible imagine. Lush green vegetation, red parched earth now smelling of sweet rain with hazy mist gently enveloping the place almost makes me wonder that if there is actually heaven could it be possible better than this?

I am at Kpalime to work in a village to develop tourism in that place by conceptualizing and building the necessary supporting infrastructure for the same. For the past day I have stayed in a village based on this hill and the experience has been to put it rather crudely has been magical. Mud houses, red bricked houses with tin sheds, upheaval stone stairs meant to traverse the rocky terrain on the place which overlooks the greenest valley surrounded by hills. This is the setting of the one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen in my life and I count myself lucky for this opportunity. Due to the often-false existing prejudices in the minds of most people, not a lot of people would visit this place in their lifetime anyway and it is a real pity because they would certainly miss a part of the world completely unexplored but which at the same time is enchantingly beautiful.

For the past two days I have been here, just soaking in the beauty of the place and on the few occasions when I am not overwhelmed I visit the sites of the village in order to understand the social conditions prevalent here and to visit various locations in order to see which of the could be possibly developed in order to ensure that few other lucky souls who come here have the requisite infrastructure to fully soak in the beauty of this place. I have had varied experiences in the past two days like staying in the village, experiencing their life, meeting the chief of the village who very kindly welcomed us with a bottle of his prized Gin (by the way he had Martini as well!), eating at his house, seeing the festivities of the village by night like playing with fire accompanied by typical rhythmic African chants, seeing first hand a general body meeting of the village which was frequently interrupted by songs and dance in which the women like everywhere else in Togo shook their bottoms rather vigorously. The place too has a rather upheaval terrain thus its pretty exhausting to go up and down to visit various places in the village but it is really rewarding with extremely beautiful sights greeting you wherever you may go.

The last few days have been a roller coaster ride with the extreme fun, which I have had while visiting the Voodoo fetish market in Lome, which was run by Beninese people as Voodoo originally is from Benin. The market was one of the most mind numbingly chilling/ disgusting which I have been to EVER. It had the skulls of every animal possibly imaginable like crocs, dogs, hyenas, leopard, antelope etc. etc., skins of snake, leopards, horns of antelopes, buffaloes, dead lizards, rotting mice, all for ‘medicinal’ purpose of course as claimed by our over enthusiastic guide who kept on claiming that we should listen to him because it was ‘very interesting’ to listen to him. After that he took us to visit the room of the Voodoo chief who turned out to be a guy in his late 20’s clad in a tee and jeans. We were told later that he was the ‘son’ of the Voodoo chief as the chief was very famous and was away on an assignment to Benin. We were introduced to small objects which bring luck and protection in various places like travelling (phone fetish), love (he claimed that we could land up with more than 300 people at the same time with it, the potentially scary thought didn’t tempt me much and the fetish object was way to small and obscure anyway), teak wood which he called ‘natural Viagra’ and would give a man ‘buffalo power’ to make love (Yes, he thought that this would induce me to buy it! Yes, me because I was the only man as the others were Dorienke, Babs and her mom who had come the night before). Refusing to give into this pretty pathetic sales pitch and also very well aware of the fact that this place was a perfect tourist trap, I refused to buy anything. This kind of cheesed off the guy who expected everyone to pick up stuff so he very bluntly told me to get out of the place as the room was a ‘holy place’, fit enough for only those who wanted to buy things. I gladly obliged. This gave me the opportunity to check out the compound while the other three tried their luck. The place as I described earlier was extremely disgusting and a good half an hour later, we finally left. Even though the place was anything but appealing, it did give an insight into a new culture albeit in a highly commercialized way. Still was good to check it out.

After this we went to another mind numbing place, the grand market of Lome. This place is always an exhausting destination, simply because one has to bargain for each and everything and every shopkeeper personally wants to be your friend and then he’ll show his ‘own work’ in his shop and will very innocently whisper in the ear that since he was a friend, he would give a very good price which would be pretty exorbitant anyway and you are supposed to bargain at 1/3rd of that price. So much for friendship! This story is repeated in shop after shop and lane after lane. To emerge from the market after buying what you intended to/ or did not even dream in your wildest dreams is like emerging from a battlefield, exhausted, irritated, drained out and frustrated. Anyway this day was special, apart from the fact that Dorienke was leaving, we bought two jerseys of god of Togo, Emmanuel Adebayor, one national and one Arsenal and in the most touristy decision ever, went to check and gape at his house in the town. In no time we were there and a grand house under construction with a circular top floor, with a white statue of liberty on top of it with a football on top of the torch greeted us. Ridiculous as it might sound, we put on the jerseys of Adebayor turn-by-turn and shouted out his name and posed for pictures against the backdrop of his house. No surprises then that in no time we were the ones who became the ‘attraction’ as the people around had a good laugh at this extremely immature behaviour by 4 ‘Yovos’ but what the heck, it was awesome fun and something I am going to remember for a long time to come.

After this it was time for Dorienke to pack up finally and catch her flight which was due in 4 hours so after changing the 4 of us met for our last evening together, very fittingly at bar ‘3K’ which has been my favourite hangout joint here with the spaghetti salad to kill for. It was pretty emotional to just sit there and reflect on all the great times that we had and in a few hours the 4 of us would never ever come back together again and in a few days Babs was leaving as well. The occasion made me extremely sad to be honest but a man must do what he gotta do so that was to keep his chin up in such times to pretend that everything is normal and fine and smile even though nothing is. Sometimes really tough to be a guy, that was one such occasion. As it happens the time one dreads always comes way sooner than one expects and in no time it was time for Dorienke to leave and this time it was really tough to hold my emotions as I saw her leave through the glass pane when she waved at the three of us. All the memories just came flashing by, Benin, graduation party, Kpalime, Porn motel, Pool, NLDS, cooking spaghetti, Indian food and so many others. Don’t know when was the last time I felt this emotional. I do sincerely hope that I do get to meet her again. Some bonds just overgrow the actual time spent together and maybe this was just was one of them for me. Looking forward to meet her and Babs at some point in my life again.

P.S. Applied for the visa of Ghana so should be there next week, though I do have to overcome some challenges there and I am also confused about which place to visit but I am sure that it will get sorted out.
The work too looks promising after a lull in between. I have completed my policy document, which appears to be promising according to the initial feedback and now I am waiting for a meeting to be granted with my N.G.O. so that I can duly present it to them. The meetings with prospective partners should follow soon.
Also ate at the Lebanese rip off of McDonalds here in Lome, the place was called ALDONALDS!The name was accompanied by half the signature M of Mac! Though my burger had no meat as i am a vegetarian, it had only omlette with extra cheese and mayo and salad. It was pure gastronomic pleasure to get American junk after ages! mouth smacking delicious!!
26 days left and I almost don’t feel like returning just because of the sheer amount which I have learned here, the absolutely wonderful people I have met, the love which I have received from people, the beautiful places I have visited and so many more which I still want to visit but all good things must come to an end and as my other friends leave I do realize that my time here is coming to an end as well. One thing is definitely for sure that this is not my first and last trip to West Africa, the visit to Mali is due, right Do? :)

Togolais Diaries...fear gripping the town

Le 16th Avril, 2009

Bonjour

THe last few days have been a little scary due to the possibility of civil unrest which might grip the nation. In continuing with the true spirit of disrespecting democracy however flawed it might be in the continent, the brother of the current President whose father was the longest serving dictator in the history of Africa (he ruled Togo for 38 yrs!!), apparently hatched a conspiracy to assassinate his President brother who was 'democratically' elected in a flawed, violent and an oppressive election (any local will vouch for that) in the year 2005 after the death of this dictator father. As a result of his extreme audacity, there were stuff like gunshots not far away from where i live and his brother went and hid inside the US embassy for 2 days and was arrested yesterday morning as he was trying to escape. As to how did he reach the US embassy and how was he allowed to get inside, ask the air headed Americans themselves because nobody seems to know.

Due to this my hosts mother has been unusually scared about me and Sam, returning home late at night, also there has been a general increase in the presence of military around the city.
This coincided with another scary incident after Babs birthday celebrations. It was around 12 at night and i was with all the guys and of course Babs unaware of these scary developments which had taken place a day before. As me and SAM went away, we got the news that Babs who was going home with another boy were stopped by the police in the middle of the night because that boys bike did not have the necessary papers. They were apparently surrounded by 8 policemen who later we came to know were not on duty but merely wanted some bribe. So we decided to go and see what was happening, on the way we saw them coming and we too started following them, then from nowhere two police bikes speeded up from behind us and it almost looked like a chase, what was the reason i still do not know but my heart was in my mouth for sure!! Phew and then they sped past us and disappeared into the darkness of the night.
So the incidents of the past two days have been scary and would freak anyone out so it came as a huge relief that we finally decided to go to Benin with my host and the two dutch girls, i was anyway glad to be out of the city for some time till the mess gets hopefully sorted.
So today evening, at around 4 after receiving the visa, i would be leaving for Benin which i have heard from Babs who has been there before that its a beautiful country!

P.S. Since i only have single entry visa with me for Togo, ill need to buy the visa for Togo at the border of Benin again and i hope that it does not turn out to be a problem because then otherwise ill be in soup and may even get deported once my visa of Benin expires. Though i have heard and assured by many people that its never a problem to buy a visa at the border. ALso i hope that the political situation sorts itself out because for the sake of my own safety and for the sake of this country itself, it cannot afford to get itself into another political mess especially after it has been coming out of political wilderness throughout the 90's decade! Another political setback would effectively signal death knell for the development of the country and its people for many more years to come. The world survives on hope and i hope that this country never has to experience what it has done in the past and that normalcy returns as soon as possible!

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSLD623140?rpc=60

Togolais Diaries...an update

Le 14th Avril 2009

Bonjour

Apologies for this major delay in posting, my lethargic attitude accentuated bu the lethargic attitude of the people who run the computer lab in general has resulted in this delay. Sample this, the lab is open only on weekdays that is Monday to Friday from 8 in the morning to 4 in the evening, out of which its closed on Wednesday after 12 in the noon due to some godforsaken reason which im still to comprehend and last Friday when i came here at 12, there were tables with food kept inside the computer lab, apparently because there was some sort of lunch which was going to happen inside the computer lab!! Ridiculous as it might sound, this kind of unprofessional ism can be called one of the banes plaguing an otherwise beautiful land. The question to ponder still would be that why is it that poorer the country is more unprofessional it is? Many of us think this about India and pray that it would become more professional in its approach as well as the 'chalta hai' attitude which plagues our system would disappear. Slowly though surely, we find winds of change blowing across our own country. Increased competition, more corporatization has had its effects and its becoming more and more professional. This makes me conclude that in essence its the lack of any perceived loss which makes an organization less accountable and more unprofessional. This can certainly be held true in case of Togo. Due to extreme powers which certain privileges bring here, people tend to exploit it. For example, this is the only university of the country and this is the only computer lab in the university so they know that students have nowhere else to go and they have to adapt to the whims and fancies of the authorities here because of due to lack of general wellbeing they would not afford going outside to a computer cafe so the authorities can grandly decide to hold lunch parties in the only computer lab of only university of the country because people have no other option. Adam Smith would have surely cringed to see this lack of competition and the lack of free market structure operating in the country.

Anyway the last few days have been productive, not as much in terms of work as i would have ideally liked but in other terms, definitely yes! I paid a visit to the Indian consulate here in Lome and unlike the consulates of USA or embassies of Benin an other godforsaken countries, our great nation does not even have a building! Believe it or not, its situated inside a hotel. This hotel is Indian and serves some pretty pathetic and exorbitantly priced food in its restaurant. So i went to the consulate with hopes of meeting some Indian officials but all i do after entering this hotel is that i go to small cramped room where a Togolaise woman is sitting and after waiting for like half an hour, she calls some Indian official who in a rather uninterested and cold voice tells me that if i want to get myself registered i need to bring like some hundreds of documents and photos and thats it!! Yes, thats it!! No meeting, nothing. Talk about hospitality of India! The locales here appear to be much more interested in meeting me than the people from my own consulate!

The next day we went there for dinner and were served stale lassi which both the dutch girls really loved back in Netherlands really wanted to have. So they were really disappointed with it, then came the food which was at best eatable and we ran up a bill of like 2000 Indian rupees for having practically nothing. So as a result, im not too fond of things Indian here in Togo, would rather prefer local stuff!

Another of the highlights has been that, it was my hosts birthday last Sunday and we had an absolute ball the whole day, going to the beach where the waves were the strongest i have ever experienced. They really really pulled us in. After that it was time for party at our house and a lot of people came over. It was great fun dancing to AIESEC songs and yes especially tunak tunak by sada Daler paaji! He truly rocks, never knew that his appeal is so global!! For dinner we had a Togolese dish which is made out of mashed yams and then everyone eats it in one plate with their hands dipping it in some fish curry. You really have to overlook the fact that everyone is licking their hands and then putting it in the same plate from which everyone is eating. Once this 'small' factor is overlooked, one might as well enjoy the dish as everyone was doing at the party!

Another major highlight this past week has been that, we cooked some Dutch food at Babs place and yes this was the first time that i actually entered a kitchen with a view of not passing expert comments and actually cooking. SO however incredulous that sounds i actually cut the cabbage, mashed potatoes, helped in boiling water and other painful stuff. Proud of being a boy since i believe and very rightfully so that men have a natural thing for cooking, i was utterly traumatized by this event and have from henceforth taken a resolution of appreciating every woman who ever cooks for me! The dish was made out of potatoes, purple cabbages, cinnamon, butter and beef and stuff and was pretty delectable though its pretty funny that the other Dutch girl Dodo fell ill after eating Dutch food and i didn't, i really hope it had nothing to do with me or my extra sincere efforts to do something productive in the kitchen apart from grabbing midnight snacks while watching friends!
Today is also Babs birthday so on Friday me and Dodo paid a visit to the market with extremely pushy shopkeepers who are ever so keen to sell you everything under the sun from porn moviers to Adebayors jerseys, to Togo belts to handicrafts and needless to say we were completely ripped off!! The worst feeling is when you know that you are a foreigner and you are being absolutely ripped off at the local market by the local people and you try your best to bargain but they know that you need this stuff and have nowhere else to go! Then you become a person walking into a booby trap knowing rather well of your extremely stupid actions and the resultant pain which will follow. Also this pain was even more accentuated because being an Indian, i have seen so many foreigners getting ripped off back home, trust me its painful to be on the receiving end of it. Anyways we hope that she likes what we got and if she doesn't at least she doesn't tell us! Phew

As of this weekend, planning to visit the neighboring countries, Benin or Ghana though visa could be a lil problematic because like a complete fool i have taken only the Single entry visa with me, ill have to buy the Togolese visa at the border of Benin; though for some reason if they refuse, i guess ill be trapped there!! lol

P.S. In spite of the extreme confidence shown by my host's mother that after 2 months ill eat, sleep, breathe and even talk French, i need to do something more to get the hang of this goddamn language! Seriously god was not being serious when he allowed these obnoxious french people to spread this language!! Help me!!!

Togolais Diaries....contd

Le 4th Avril 2009

Bonjour

After a late night, I had a headache and due to lack of eating much last night, was extremely hungry and after sleeping in a wrong position, had pulled the muscles of my neck this I woke up at 7:30 after just 4 and a half hours of sleep to not a very pleasant morning. Though the prospect of discussing work with Ismael did excite me and I had a meeting with him at 9 for which I did make it on time inspite of my moto taxi breaking down in the middle of the road. After some fruitful discussion with Ismael and lounging about for an hour and a half, it was time to visit the market along with Babs and Dorienke to buy a present for Samuel. There was a minor mishap on the way as Babs’ moto taxi banged against a guy as a result, she fell of her moto taxi, injuring her legs in the process. Thankfully it was not very serious though and we did manage to reach the market soon enough. The market of Lome is an assault on one’s senses not in a positive nor in negative way but for the want of a better word, lets just say in a ‘different’ way and the definition of this different I guess will be fully framed after a couple of more visit’s to the place. Narrow, intersecting one-lane streets and even mud lanes swarmed by stalls covered by colourful umbrellas or having a tin roof over them, selling everything under the sun, from African handicrafts (presumably rather over priced for foreigners like us), to movies (from hindi, to English to porn), clothes (football jerseys were clearly the ones dominating among those in men and among women as usual I wasn’t much interested: D), run over by vehicles and motorcycles and people in an indistinguishable mix, dotted with rather pursuant shopkeepers and mobile vendors (on foot) and even theatres showing porn movies in good measure.

Finally due to the lack of any feasible option, we finally resorted to buying him a shirt from Wrangler. After finishing this off, we grabbed some drinks at the same boulevard which we visited last night, of course there were no 'anti-social' elements in the evening. Also met up with Dorienla's host family whom we commonly joke is stricter than Adolf Hitler's regime in Germany coz she has all kinds of restrictions and rules to follow! As usual, they were extremely extremely sweet and greeted all of us very nicely! So finally after a quick dinner, i headed home, for the first time alone at night and t'was no problem as such. Tired after an extremely exhausting day, as usual i crashed!!!

Togolaise Diaries...contd

Le 3th Avril 2009

Bonjour

The day began with me hearing the strains of Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy with Farhan Akhtar crooning Sindbad the Sailor. That was certainly a pleasant beginning to the day. At the campus, after researching for some time with no real work to do, me, Samuel, Bans et Dorienks (Dodo) took off for the piscine (swimming pool) en face de university. Apres taking membership pour une mois, I had a great time swimming after ages! Even though I lost in all races to Babs and Dorienka who I must admit were rather good, it was great fun to finally get back in the water. Lunch was some bread avec frmage, which we picked up at the Indian supermart where everone who remembered from yesterday greeted me, rather warmly.
After resting at our homes for some time, me, Samuel, Alain, Dodo et babs were ready to hit the streets to discover the shady/fun life at night. It was truly shady to say the least, open air cafes lined up on the streets, full of people with some peppy hip-hop music in the background with a DJ and bouncers standing on the road, drinking and drinking and drinking some more and the place was completely swarmed with prostitutes in all shapes and sizes and I mean that literally! Though difficult to not see them as they were everywhere, it was great time with drinks (Red bull for me as usual, I m definitely a red bullholic!!) and some nice conversations. Then it was time to hit the floor and I have to say that I had this much fun dancing after ages!! Alain and me get along like a house on fire on the dance floor and apparently according to Babs and Dorienke, its just too amazing to watch both of us coz its as if both of us are in competition with each other with our moves and its great fun. I agree with them, it is actually great fun dancing avec Alain pare que il est tres bien belly dancer! :DD
We were there till nearly 2 in the morning and finally went home exhausted still after completely enjoying myself! Great stuff.

Togolais Diaries...contd

Le 2nd Avril 2009

Bonjour!

The last day basically involved attending a lecture by a professor from the university of Lome who had studied at Harvard and had taught at Princeton. The topic was ‘History of West Africa and origins of Togo.’ Though pretty informative, some extremely outlandish statements were made by him like these,
All the religions of the world have been invented in Africa and yes even Christianity as Palestine is like down the road from Egypt!!
The biggest fear of the Queen of England was that one day Prince Charles would have a black child at she was related to some Ethiopian queen
And this one was the mother of all statements,
USA is getting into satanic things such as homosexuality, that’s why as punishment god was sending stuff such as Hurricanes, fires and murders there!!(NO, im not kidding at all!!) but God is great, now he has sent our own man Barack Obama there to correct things out! A conversation followed later with him and turned out that like others in Togo he too really appreciated India’s ascent to power and wished me luck!
Rest of the day involved, researching over the internet and seeing off Floor, the Dutch intern here since 3 months and also meeting the new Dutch intern, Dorienka who had arrived a day before. Floor had been rather friendly so was Babs and to continue this Dutch tradition if it can be called that, Dorienka too was extremely friendly and easy to get along with. It was her first time outside Europe and so like me she was in for a bug shock when she arrived in the country, I guess the shock would have been far greater than my own though. Finally Floor left and then everyone called it a night.

The next day was mostly about India, the day was spent researching in the computer lab and in the evening I chanced to come across a huge supermart and guess what it was Indian!! So the customary greetings followed and I must add the conversations were only in Hindi. Its pretty funny that back home to prove the decency of the education one has received the person tries to speak only in English, avoiding Hindi on purpose but then here one longs to speak in his own mother tongue and suddenly the thought off showing off one’s command over English doesn’t even occur. I guess that’s what is meant by love of your motherland. Its too powerful to deny as hard as you may want to try.
Also at night when Alain, Dorienka and me were just chatting, we chanced to meet Sammuel and Babs who had just come after swimming. Then suddenly out of a brainwave I invited all of them for an Indian dinner. Anyways I had so much food which I just don’t eat so I guess that would have been a good start to attain the purpose of finishing the suitcase full of food so that I can throw in my clothes there. So me and Sammuel laid out a spread of Indian namkeen, pickles, khakras, Dal makhani, bhaji, alu mutar, paneer matar. Everyone seemed to love the food though they did find it very spicy which was no surprise as Indian food is famous or notorious (depends whether one likes spices or not) for being spicy. To go along with it, we even played Indian songs and the 1st song which was played was none other than Sutta!! Yes, its not exactly an Indian song but so what Pakistan is our brother nation too, followed by the likes of Sindbad the Sailor (which Sam particularly loves), Bachnaa e Haseeno ( which had everyone grooving, especially Alain who by the way is amazing at belly dance) and even Emossanal Atyachar. It was a lot of fun explaining the meanings of the songs as everyone was pretty amused as to how every Indian song talks about love. So this party was a lotta fun with some great cross continental and cultural understanding. Thus now we have planned a Dutch party too and then maybe a dutch and an Indian party toether as anyway there is so much food that al these parties would be required to finish the thing off.

So great fun and tomorrow we plan to see the city by night, check out its sounds and smell and also maybe go clubbing on Saturday. On Sunday it is my host’s Sam’s birthday so that promises to be another rather hectic day with the day at the beach and at night a party at our house so great fin and with such friendly people around it even better. Though im missing India a lot and especially my sis, parents and my friends. But hopefully I shall make great friends here too!!

An ode to Indian democracy

As the elections dawn upon the vibrant democracy of India and as the battle for votes reaches its feverish pitch, I found myself thinking, where are the people worth being given chair of the Highest post of our country? As parties attack each other over each other records by pulling out petty stats, I found myself thinking where are the ideologies to vote for? As the world's largest democracy goes to vote, i found myself thinking where are the leaders worth voting for?

For far too long, elections in India have been characterized by throwing out incumbents rather than voting fro concrete manifestoes, ideologies, or sheer vision. NDA was famously ousted by the UPA on the basis of high onion prices and if the NDA had their house in order, it would have been very likely that UPA too could have been thrown out on the basis oh high food prices (CPI still stands at 9% as against the WPI which is a measly 0.44% for the week ended), this is a different issue that it would have given rise to a scary prospect of a communalist like L K Advani becoming the PM. Agenda's are commonly attacked rather than the vision of each of the party. The UPA and the NDA haven’t even bothered to release their manifestoes till date and the Third Front the touted 'alternate secular front which released one of its own, has things like scrapping the nuclear deal with the U.S.A.

The elite class has often been condemned for behaving in a chauvinist manner by not even turning up to vote during the elections and often treating elections dates as an extended weekend and thus due to this reason they have not turned into an effective votebank for political parties to pursue. But this behaviours needs to be inspected before dismissing the elitist sections of the society as snobs.

During the American elections this time around, people genuinely wanted a change, a change, which would blow across the battered, sails of America and undo the wrongs done and lead it towards reclaiming their former glory. Barack Husein Obama provided that change, here was a person who was of African origin, was into drugs at one point of time but had the courage to pursue his dream to reach the most important post in the world with dogged determination. Students came out to vote, the rich and affluent turned out too, no wonder that at his induction ceremony a record 2 million people were present.

India too faces a crisis today, the numbing and chilling terrorist attacks have not only jeopardized the security of the nation but also its image. Isn't is shameful that a mega event like the IPL which would have been a great source of revenue for our service sector such as hotel industry, airline industry, tourism in such recession fuelled times had to be shifted because of dangers of security? Apart from this the naxal menace goes on unchecked, the Salwa Judum has only resulted in increased human rights violations, J & K continues to witness excesses by the Indian army, the sporting infrastructure has been a mess forever and the work for the Commonwealth nations 2010 is progressing at a snail's pace hence posing a serious threat to the credibility of India as a rising soft power along with China, there are increasing regional interests dominating the national scene and the rise of these hooligan regional factions seriously undermine the validity of the concept of India, the vision itself for which India was created.

In face of such crisis I found myself thinking that is their absolutely any leader in this country who inspires an iota of hope in our minds? Is there even a single leader who can be trusted by the Indian electorate to guide India towards Kalam's vision 2020?
An unfortunate answer, which stared back at me, was a deafening NO. A look at our prime ministerial candidates proves this point.
The main opposition front NDA has nominated LK Advani for the top post, a communalist who blatantly supported the demolition of Babri Masjid, the pain of which still resonated in the heart of every Indian Muslim and creating a rift not only between Hindu's and Muslims but also leading to disastrous consequences for the nation as a whole (think 1992 blasts, 93 riots, 2002 riots). Can we ever trust a non-secular terrorist like him to be a Prime Minister of our country? The Hindutva forces for long now have pursued a fundamentalist agenda buoyed by the blessings of the NDA forces present in the Government be it in the case of Orissa, or Gujrat or Karnataka. Thus as a force which has to lead India through this tumultuous and yet crucial stage the NDA definitely is a very unattractive option.

Mayawati has thrown her hat in the ring too and it is common knowledge that she has her eyes well set on the high post at Delhi. As a leader, she has been praised to her social engineering gambit and the way she has got the support of the lower as well as the upper castes. But rank corruption and a complete authoritarian style of governance has marred her image in the eyes of the intellectuals and the general perception of people educated and with a keen sense of politics has been negative. Instances of her rather grand birthday celebrations where she is literally worshipped by her followers, her collectors who in the past have actually murdered some people in UP for failing to pay up for her birthday celebrations and her rather disproportionate assets which she has attributed to gifts from her followers have evoked distrust from the intelligentsia which might be against the perception held by the common man.

And finally the role of Dr. Manmohan Singh too needs to be discussed. The affable and the highly astute man has often been called a politician by accident. His squeaky-clean image and gentle demeanour have led to these claims. What no one doubts though is the credibility of this economist. Highly learned and respected, Dr. Singh evoked through respect but sadly only as a person and not as a PM. Unfortunately he just doesn’t possess the firmness and charisma needed for a job of this stature and complexity. Though best among all the bets his party just doesn’t seem to have any sort of an ideology or a political alignment. That does go against Dr. Singh claims at leading India for the second term.

And there lies the malaise gripping the politics in India today. Dynastic successions in undemocratic parties has given rise to a generation of young politicians like, Rahul Gandhi, Milind Deora, Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Vasundra Raje, Omar Abdullah whose sole qualifications are being a part of political lineage. One might argue that it’s a common practise for sons following their father’s footsteps and continue the family practise or business. But the problem is that politics in principle not a business, it impacts billions across the lengths and breadths of the country, define the image which a country has among the world; shape the future of the living as well as the unborn. Thus I run scared to see absolutely no change at sight in the horizon. Politics will continue to be a family ‘business’, people who had the spark in them to prove effective administrators like Meena Sayal, Shashi Tharoor, Kapil Sibal will lose out in the long run to the pseudo youth representatives such as Rahul, Omar and the likes. Political manifestoes will continue to be recycled and then thrown away simply because nobody reads them and nobody cares. Votebank politics will dominate the national scene, the intellectuals will be disillusioned still not being able to come together as a votebank and the power of youth will be spoken about pseudos. For all practical purposes Indian democracy is dead; long live India!!