National unity A gift from the British

The language issue is again being raised in Maharastra. Vande Mataram is again a subject of debate. The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh first says that Biharis and UP citizens are not welcome in Madhya Pradesh and then retracts his statement under pressure. We then talk of national unity, patriotism, communal harmony, and yet religion, caste, languages and social status continue to divide us. Some groups keep harping about Hindutva and each rightist organization depending on the level of extremism it practices gives a different meaning to Hindutva. A moderate has his view and an extremist his. Nobody has yet been able to give a unanimous view or opinion on this subject.

History being my favourite subject since school days, an interesting thought crossed my mind a few days ago. Having read Indian history from ancient times, I realised that India had never been united from the times of the Indus valley civilization until the British arrived at our shores. We have had dynasties ruling the sub continent like the Mauryas, Kushans, Guptas followed by the Khiljis, Tughlaq’s and the Moghuls, just to name a few. But at no time in history was our country one in terms of territory. Even rulers like Shivaji whom many look as the symbol of unity ruled a small portion of the subcontinent. The entire subcontinent consisted of various kingdoms ruled by different rulers who spent most of their time fighting against each other in trying their increase their land area, and no dynasty however powerful lasted more than a couple of hundred years.

Things only changed since the British arrived at our shores. It is they who began annexing territory after territory vanquishing the local kings and lords and uniting the entire land mass from Afghanistan to Burma and beyond and from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, except for a few enclaves that were held by the French and the Portuguese. They streamlined the administrative and the taxation system, built roads and railways, improved connectivity and thereby united the entire sub continent into one India.

I definitely will not say that this unity was brought about by the British out of love for India. They did it out of their own self interests and for better administrative purposes. Yet this arrangement sowed the seeds of unity and helped our leaders of the freedom movement take forward their resistance towards foreign rule. It united the people of the entire sub continent as one to fight for independence. The very instruments of state which were created by the British helped our leaders intensify and finally win the struggle for independence. The British who were always known for their policy of divide and rule, unwittingly unified a nation and invited defeat upon themselves in the end. Just imagine what it would have been today, had the British sat back as overseers, just collecting dues and royalties and had left the administration and rule to the hundreds of Kings and Nawabs in the subcontinent. Some of us would still have been under british rule and others would have been part of a nation called a Tamil Nadu, a Bengal, a Mysore, a Maharastra, a Punjab and so on. Would that have been better? Would we still have our communal divisions? Would we be having frequent wars with each other?. Very difficult to say, but very easy to assume, with our inborn skills of fighting with each other for no rhyme nor reason at times.

The present scenario too does not give out any positive vibes. Each day we hear stories of more divisions. None of us think about the nation, nor do we care. We follow our respective religions like fanatics, trying to impose our wills on the next person and branding any person who does not follow our practices as a fanatic and an enemy and not as a fellow Indian. Each of us thinks of our own local language is superior than that of others, and beat up the guy next to us if he happens to speak in another language. We equate patriotism and nationalism simply to singing a song and call a few others who don’t happen to like that song as traitors. Some of our elected leaders who happened to be children of sweepers just five years ago, seem to possess wealth worth Millions of Dollars in foreign banks today. Nothing wrong in being a sweeper’s son, nor in becoming rich, but it is the way in which this wealth has been acquired We do not ask them from where all of it came from. Just a few people with political connections loot our mineral and forest resources with blanket permissions from our governments. We do nothing, but simply sit back and watch all this happen. For politicians or a party, only the number of votes they can secure in the next elections matters and towards this end religion, caste, languages etc are used as weapons to divide and polarize people. Our enemies from across our borders need to hardly invest any time or money is destroying us. We ourselves are very busy doing that.

For how long will our nation be united? It is very difficult to say, but our collective and over zealous efforts seem to be hastening that possibility. But there is no need to worry. The British or the Americans can once again be called back to re-unite us. Has not history proved that?

Air India : The pride of India, Or is it shame?

Over the past month one has been reading stories about the pilots strike in Air India and the drama being witnessed each evening on all national news channels with both the Management and the pilots talking tough and finally the Prime Minister and the civil aviation ministry intervening to sort out the problem. All the while the losses were piling up and the staff did not seem to have a care in the world.

This is not the first strike and will not be the last. We have had the cabin crew, ground staff and the other Air India staff going on strikes at the drop of a hat in the past, with little care or consideration for the millions of flyers who opt to fly this airline. No staff is ever allowed to be disciplined by the Management for any misconduct. They seem to think that they are above the law and keeping going around doing whatever they please. Since it is a public corporation the people working here take their jobs for granted. Not even a single employee cares for the welfare of its flyers. They think that by working for Air India they are doing a service to the nation and do not hesitate for a moment to blackmail the Management and the public as per their whims and fancies. All the while from within they try every possible means to suck the airline dry. Their families fly for free everywhere and see that they get upgrades while flying at the cost of other paying passengers.

The attitude of the cabin crew and the ground staff at airports makes you feel sick. You don’t see any welcoming smiles, but scowls and sulking when you draw their attention.

In January this year while flying from Mangalore to Dubai, I swore to myself that even if Air India remains the last and only airline in this world I would rather walk or swim, than fly this good for nothing airline again. The reason for my anger is this. My wife and I were flying and we had 20 kilograms check in baggage each and a little above 14 kgs, but less than 15 kgs of the allowable hand baggage. I pulled out two novels from my bag and showed them to the check in clerk. He refused to let me take these 2 books and instead asked me to pay for 1 kg of excess baggage. When I requested him again, he called in his supervisor who had a nasty and unpleasant scowl on his face and he looked at me as if I was some kind of rabid and stray dog and did not even bother to listen to me insisting that I pay one kg excess baggage. I pulled out the books and handed them over to my brother who had come to the airport to see me off, because I was in no mood to pay a single nickel in excess baggage. I informed the check in clerk that the day was not far away when this airline would close down and that I was eagerly waiting to see the 32,000 miserable employees of Air India walking on the streets with begging bowls, and they could expect no sympathy at all from the Indian public at the mess that they had created for themselves and other honest tax payers..

He did not seem to bother with what I said as he seemed to think that he was a government employee with a permanent job which nobody could take away from him and that he and his fellow staff could continue holding the entire nation at ransom whenever they pleased. I waited for a while and saw people who were friends of this supervisor carrying excess baggage and being checked in without any problem. I was very keen in creating a scene then and there, but I was pulled away by my wife, who said that I would be only ruining my mood and health by taking on people who were simply thick skinned and beyond reason. They have one set of rules for their friends and relatives and another set of them for the rest. I would have been extremely happy if no exceptions were made and all treated equally as Air Arabia and Jazeera do.

Another instance was when I travelled with my 2 years old nephew about 8 years ago from Dubai to Bombay. The poor boy was hungry and wanted food. Even after many requests the crew took their own sweet time and when they did finally come up with the food, the boy had gone to sleep, just eating the biscuits that I had with me. The coffee served after meals was cold and when my colleague requested for some hot coffee he was rudely asked to sit down and take what was offered. He being one of a mild nature just let it go, while I was simply boiling inside.

I remember a couple of years ago when all the social organizations in Dubai were working overtime to persuade the civil aviation ministry to start flight services between the Gulf countries and Mangalore. Even today organizations in Saudi Arabia are working on introducing flights between Saudi Arabia and Mangalore. The people from Mangalore working in the GCC and already thoroughly disappointed with the service and the fares and how badly they are swindled by the airline during the last 2 years. When you call yourself a budget airline, you only charge budget fares which are same as other budget carriers like Air Arabia and Al Jazeera. In case of Air India express the fares charged are that of a regular full fledged airline, but the service provided is that of a low class budget airline. Even basic snacks are either not provided and when provided even a hungry dog on the streets would not bother to touch them. Again the passengers are not given baggage allowances as other airlines and even when some consideration can be shown the staff simply wait to pounce on helpless people and empty their wallets.

Today everybody is eagerly waiting for the new terminal to be inaugurated so that other airlines can begin to fly Mangalore and the people are released from the clutches of swindlers from Air India once and for all. The Mangalore route is a cash cow for the airline and therefore they are trying their best to delay this. Once other airlines begin operations, I don’t think they could find any flyers, because there has been no goodwill created by the airline and one only feels a deep hatred towards Air India and its entire staff.

I was keenly following the newspaper articles and the news on the strike. I was very happy when the CEO was planning to declare a lock out. I wanted this airline to simply close down and put an end to our national shame once and for all. The people working here have not learnt anything over the years. The recession and the woes of the industry mean nothing to them. They are so self centred and selfish that they seem to care only about themselves and their families. As far as they are concerned the rest of the world can go to hell and that includes the millions of Indians who used to once think that the airline to be the pride of India.

As I am writing this piece, I read in today’s papers of another shameful episode which occurred 30,000ft in the air while overflying the territory of Pakistan on a Lucknow bound flight from Sharjah. Throwing safety to the winds the pilots and the cabin crew went is for a free for all sessions beating up each other while all that the shocked passengers could do was sit back and watch in horror. Is this not another feather of shame added on to a long list by our illustrious servants of Air India. They may demand an extra bonus from the Management for this act.

Everything about this airline stinks. Whenever I fly Jet Airways or Kingfisher my heart swells with pride at the class we get on offer. This really makes me proud to be an Indian. I see fellow passengers of other nationalities looking on with unbelievable wonder in their eyes at the service, courtesy, professionalism that they witness and experience while flying on these private Indian airlines. I also heard that there are other carriers like Indigo and Go-Air too are equally good. And when we have such wonderful choice who needs this stink called Air India, to shame us Indians the world over. But the fattened staff of Air India will fight on a dirty fight and put many a hurdle before the private airlines, to see that they incur losses and they have their supporters inside the government too, to help them continue with the con act.

Away for a while

Friends, I have been away for a while and have resumed work today. Will try to be regular from now on with new postings

Sambhar - For bachelors

Ingredients

2 – 3 drumsticks
50 grams toor dal
50 grams masoor dal
One large onion
3 green chillies
One inch ginger
2 medium sized tomatoes
20 – 25 curry leaves
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
3-4 teaspoons sambhar powder
1 teaspoon Rasam powder
Half teaspoon bafat masala powder*
One table spoon oil
Salt to taste
Vinegar – 1 teaspoon
Half bunch coriander leaves, chopped fine ( optional)

Method :

Wash the toor and masoor dal, add two cups of water and pressure cook for 5 minutes ( after the first whistle).

Clean and cut the drumsticks into one inch pieces and keep aside
Finely slice the onions, slit the green chillies and finely cut the ginger and keep aside
Cut the tomatoes into large pieces and keep aside.

In a vessel heat the oil on medium fire and add the mustard seeds. Once the seeds start sputtering add the curry leaves, then the sliced onions, ginger and green chillies and fry for one minute. Next add the drumsticks, sambhar powder, rasam powder and the bafat masala powder and cook for 2 minutes. Stir all the while so that the masala does not catch the bottom and burn. Then add the pressure cooked dal, 3 cups of water, salt to taste and vinegar. Cook for about 20 minutes until the drumsticks become soft. You may keep adding water if required or leave it as it is if you want the sambhar to be thick.. Once the drum sticks are cooked add the tomatoes and cook for 2- 3 more minutes. You may now add the chopped coriander leaves, but this is optional. Check the salt and vinegar and add more to suit your taste if required.

Enjoy the sambhar.

* Bafat powder is popular with the Mangalorean community. This gives the sambhar a better taste. If not available where you are, you may do without it.

Grilled chicken

Ingredients

a) 6 – 8 whole chicken legs or 10-12 chicken drumsticks

b) One and a half teaspoon whole black pepper
c) 1 teaspoon cumin powder
d) 8-10 cloves
e) One inch cinnamon stick
f) Pinch of turmeric powder

g) juice of 4 small limes
h) 4 green chillies
i) One small onion
j) half bunch coriander leaves
k) 12 mint leaves
m) half inch ginger
n) 6 flakes of garlic
o) salt to taste

p) two tablespoons butter ( melted)


Method

Pull out the skin of the chicken, wash apply a few cuts with a knife and keep aside.

Grinding :

Powder items B to F in a mixer / grinder

Add items from G to O and grind them all together into a thick paste. Add water while grinding only if required. Apply this paste well to the chicken legs / drumsticks and keep the vessel inside a refrigerator for marinating for about 6 – 8 hours.

Grilling :

Before beginning the grilling process in your electric or gas grill, please microwave the chicken for 2 minutes (This is required because during grilling the meat on the outside of the chicken tends to get cooked, while the meat close to the bones remains uncooked and raw. Microwaving for 2 minutes before grilling ensures that the chicken is evenly cooked).

Once the gas/electric oven is hot, place the chicken legs / drumsticks evenly on the grilling tray, and apply the melted butter on to the chicken with a brush and begin grilling. Keep turning sides and keep brushing the chicken with butter.

Depending upon the oven the grilling process will take up to 20 minutes. Keep watch so that you don’t burn the chicken. Remove once done and serve. You may squeeze some limes juice if required while serving

Why Pillar of Hercules?

Many of my friends have been asking me about the name Pillar of Hercules. No specific meaning or reason should be attached here. As i was growing up i had taken a liking for Greek and Roman mythologies and would always look for stories to read on these two great mythologies. Later on in college i opted for English literature as my major, and had to study the Iliad and Odyssey as my major subjects. Hercules / Heracles was my first hero while i was a kid and that is why i opted for this name for the blog.

The two mountains at the entrance of modern day Gibraltar are named as the Pillars of Hercules and they were created by Hercules to guard the straits of Gibraltar from the monsters who would have otherwise entered the Mediteranean. These pillars were also used to indicate the entrance to the rest of the world by the Spanish, as a gateway to the new Spanish overseas colonies in the Americas. It seems that the Spanish coat of arms also bore the images of the Pillars of Hercules. Additionally the cover page of Sir Francis Bacon's Instauratio Magna ( Great renewal) bears the image of the Pillars of Hercules and the motto at the bottom of the page when translated into english means MANY WILL PASS THROUGH, AND KNOWLEDGE WILL BE THE GREATER.

Pillars of Hercules denotes both the entrance and the exit..........Therefore what i write here could be an entry for new thoughts, or an exit for old and outdated ones.........You readers and visitors please decide and let me know through your comments.