Mayank Chhaya Daily

Of eclipse and Sachin Tendulkar

I think it is just about time for the world to stop getting so excited over eclipses -- solar, lunar, whatever. An eclipse is an entirely routine phenomenon with very little, peripheral scientific significance.

It is about as significant as you and I casting a shadow on Earth. I don’t know of anyone who gets excited over one’s own shadow. Do you? It means nothing other than the fact that an object is blocking a source of light. It is true that the temporary obscuring of the sun caused by a solar eclipse can help solar scientists study the outer edges of the star more easily, but that’s about all.

Last night was supposed to be a “rare” lunar eclipse, occurring for the first time in 372 years, in that it marked the beginning of the winter solstice. You might ask why is this so significant ?  Well, It is not. In a universe which offers infinitely more bewitching spectacles and phenomena on a daily basis, it is ridiculous to record celestial shadows in our immediate neighborhood as rare events. If there is light, there are bound to be shadows.

So that’s that about eclipses.

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Speaking of eclipses, here is a bit about Sachin Tendulkar who has just scored his 50th test hundred and yet again eclipsed the rest of the Indian cricket team. I think he should be the sole member of the Indian team. The rest should just wear their flannels, stand on the sidelines and applaud as and when called upon to do so.

I am beginning to suspect that Sachin is an alien life form which regenerates every year with a new set of muscles, brain, reflexes and enthusiasm. At this rate be prepared to see him play when he is 64. It is almost obscene how brilliantly he can still play after 20 years in the game. My advice to him, “Ata bas jhala. Kai tari navin kara. (That’s quite enough. Do something new.)”

In case it does not come through, let me just say that I have run out of praise.

OMG, PM says CAG on 2G being examined by PAC

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

Once you cut through all the abstruse acronyms and abbreviations you could actually feel Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s anguish and anger during his speech to the 83rd plenary session of the Congress Party. Dr. Singh, who is joined at the hip with President Barack Obama when it comes to his inability/reluctance to show emotions other than inscrutable equanimity, also needs to carry virtual subtexts and thought balloons below and above him to indicate how is actually feeling. His face does not betray what is going on inside his mind. May be they both should have a mime accompany them.

The unusually lengthy elaboration over the 2G spectrum scandal and insinuations of his complicity by inaction proved that Dr. Singh is clearly stung by the goings on. This is perhaps the first scandal of his career where some people have actually felt prompted to wonder whether he aided it by not being decisive. Even now there is nothing to suggest of his personal involvement of any kind at all, but it is clear that Dr. Singh is upset that the muck is threatening to soil his toes at the very least.

His explanation/defense at the plenary carried enough conviction to suggest that he is not going to accept any blemish on his stellar personal integrity, something he has guarded with impressive effectiveness all these decades. It is good to see someone at that level of public scrutiny is willing to appear before the Parliamentary Action Committee (PAC). I think he did very well to assert his own personal integrity.

Now to a more flippant observation. While Dr. Singh’s speech had all his trademark monotone, it was also loaded with acronyms and abbreviations that we Indians seem to love so much. I think there is immense comical possibilities in writing an entire speech using only acronyms and abbreviations. I shall do that some day. In the mean time, here are some samples from the PM’s speech.

“Friends you know that the CAG report on 2G spectrum is being examined by the PAC... the PAC has all the powers that can be given to a JPC… the BJP has been falsely propagating that the UPA government is against the JPC.”

OMG, PM says CAG report on 2G being examined by PAC!!! WTF….WTF.

Father and son sound alike a quarter century apart

Rahul Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi

 

At the the centennial celebrations of the Congress Party twenty five years ago the somewhat callow 41-year-old Rajiv Gandhi gave a speech that many at the event believed had the potential to fundamentally transform India’s polity.

A quarter century later the somewhat callow 40-year-old Rahul Gandhi has just given a speech that many in the party believe could fundamentally transform India’s polity.

I was there in Bombay at the centennial celebrations reporting for the Associated Press (AP). The centerpiece of Gandhi’s speech was his refreshingly candid admission that powerbrokers had taken over India’s politics and his own party. Gandhi spoke of the need to eliminate those powerbrokers if, not just the party, but the country had to progress along a path that included everyone. It is eerie to hear a similar sentiment expressed by his son who defines the average, ordinary Indian as anyone with no “connection to the system.” The system being the power structure in Delhi and state capitals.

Rahul makes a compelling point about the urgent need to ensure that the “system” is connected with the people it seeks and is designed to serve. Not very different than what his father said equally compellingly about powerbrokers. What is dismaying though is the obvious fact that in a quarter century, if anything, those powerbrokers have become way more entrenched, sophisticated and expensive and the access to the the powers that be has become even more restricted.

The point is it is not enough to be rhetorically heroic at symbolic events such as the centennial or quasquicentennial celebrations. It is ironic to hear those in power decry that there is no access to those in power. They all talk as if they are talking about someone else. If it is Rahul’s genuine conviction to connect the “aam admi” (an expression I detest) with the system, what could be easier than starting with himself? Have you ever tried meeting him or, for that matter, his mother Sonia Gandhi who is the party president? Of course, the individual, in this case Rahul or Sonia, is not the system but the way the Indian system is designed they do embody the most consequential parts of that system.

However, Rahul’s broader philosophical point is well taken. It is reassuring to hear that Rahul, who could some day in the near future become India’s prime minister, is at least thinking of issues such as access to those who run the country. The danger here is that people confuse merely saying something noble with actually doing something noble. Being aware is a great attribute. However, what eventually matters is to be able act on that awareness.

Life as a real spy thriller

The MQ 9 Reaper U.S. Air Force photo by Paul Ridgeway

Hour: Unspecified  Date: Unspecified but sometime in December, 2009

Location: Creech Air Force base, at the edge of the Mojave desert, Nevada,

Target: Mir Ali, North Waziristan, 7500 miles away from the air force base

An air force colonel, sitting inside a cramped trailer, rubs his hands off of imaginary sweat as he prepares to take control of an 11 million dollar unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), more popularly known as the predator drone, which has just taken off from a US base near Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

The video screen casts a bluish glow on the anxious colonel’s face as he sees tiny squares resolve into homes of Mir Ali. As the “eye in the sky” acquires its target, a particular house, intelligence analysts animatedly chat on their headphones. The colonel awaits as a crew member adjusts the drone’s million dollar camera.

The image may have appeared somewhat like this one. It is taken from that general area in North Waziristan using Google Earth 6. The image is dated June, 2009, six months before the strike.

 

An intelligence analyst tells the colonel in a matter of fact tone, “It’s a go.”

The colonel pushes a couple of buttons on his remote control. The drone, which is a MQ9 Reaper, fires a Hellfire missile. A few seconds later the house in the camera viewfinder explodes into a cloud of dirty brown smoke.

The smoke resolves on the face of a turbaned and bearded man outside a police station in Islamabad. It is November 29, 2010. The man has just emerged after filing an application to prevent the CIA station chief in Pakistan from leaving the country. He says he has also sued the US for $500 million in damages for the drone strike that killed his brother and son, both “innocent victims” of a strike meant for a senior Taliban commander.

Twenty years ago this could have been the opening of a Tom Clancy novel. Today it is a reality. And the case filed by Karim Khan, the journalist, is threatening to seriously upend relations between America and Pakistan, its most important ally in its campaign against the Taliban-Al Qaeda combine.

The New York Times reported yesterday that the CIA station chief had to be moved out of Pakistan urgently in the face of mounting threats to his life after he was outed. Washington suspects strongly that his cover was deliberately blown by Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).

The motivation for blowing the cover? A civil lawsuit pending in Brooklyn, New York, which implicates the ISI chief, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, in the November, 2008, Mumbai terror attacks. It has been filed by the relatives of the American victims of the attacks.

Now picture this map from Mojave to Mir Ali to Brooklyn and then add Chicago to it because that is where I am and that is where David Coleman Headley, a key plotter of the Mumbai attacks, is incarcerated.

This is a real life thriller in which I have a miniscule part (not even of the duration blink and you miss it) as a journalist who covered the Headley trial and who is now doing early work on a possible book.

It is remarkable how connected and disconnected we all are at once.

Reframing Tibet as an environmental concern

The Dalai Lama (Pic: www.dalailama.com)

One of the more constructive global policy formulations that WikiLeaks has revealed is what the Dalai Lama reportedly told the US Ambassador to India, Timothy Roemer last year. He suggested that Tibet be reframed as an environmental concern rather than treating it as just a political one.

A cable quoted by The Guardian newspaper shows Roemer making this comment: “The Dalai Lama's message to the Ambassador may signal a broader shift in strategy to reframe the Tibet issue as an environmental concern. When Ambassador Roemer discussed the importance of climate change issues and mentioned bilateral projects between the U.S. and India, the Dalai Lama said that there were "three poles" in danger of melting: the north pole, the south pole, and the glaciers at the pole of Tibet. Tibetans have watched closely as the United States launched the new Strategic and Economic Dialogue with China, with climate change as a main focus, as well as the Secretary's emphasis on climate change during her July visit to India. In this new context, the Dalai Lama appears intent on leveraging closer U.S.-China relations to address the pressing environmental challenges and problems in Tibet.”

The Dalai Lama said, "Melting glaciers, deforestation and increasingly polluted water from mining projects were problems that 'cannot wait', but the Tibetans could wait five to 10 years for a political solution."  He also said that "political agenda should be sidelined for five to 10 years and the international community should shift its focus to climate change.”

The reframing of Tibet as an environmental concern is a potentially smart shift as it casts the problem in a more global context rather than continuing to treat it only as a political problem which only serves the purpose of annoying China without yielding any solution.

As part of my update of Man Monk Mystic the Dalai Lama told me an interesting story about the Tibetan nomads and how all the development is affecting their pastures. I am not going to tell you what that story is for obvious reasons but it has an environmental aspect to it. (As you can see I have given up all shame while plugging my book.)

Rahman riding high again

James Franco in ‘127 Hours’

Allah Rakha Rahman is riding high again with a Golden Globe nomination for Danny Boyle’s ‘127 hours.’ Rahman has composed seven pieces for the movie about a mountaineer named Aron Ralston whose hand was trapped under a boulder in Utah. He had to cut his own hand to free himself. The mountain climber is played by James Franco.

I went through some of the pieces which carry titles such as ‘Touch of the Sun’, ‘Acid Darbari’ and ‘The Canyon’. They all have the familiar Rahman touch where it takes a while to get into the mood of the compositions. It is possible that many Rahman admirers might feel perplexed by the compositions but they will do well to remember that a background score is entirely dictated by the mood of the film and not necessarily by the composer’s whim. Sure, the composer always brings his or her own distinct style but when the last violin is returned to its case the score has to be in keeping with the film’s mood.

The purpose of the background score is to help move the particular visual and situation that it is accompanying. And yet, the job offers great possibilities as the grand history of background scores over the decades show.  I have not seen the film which has got some rave reviews. As a standalone work minus the visuals, the compositions do take some getting used to. Since it involves Utah’s mountains it is only natural that the score uses a lot of the flute and the violin. These two instruments produce sounds that somehow seem to underscore the real and ethereal grandeur of mountains and canyons.

‘The Canyon’ track rises like the the aromatic smoke from an incense stick and permeates the air ever so gently. ‘Acid Darbari’ is reminiscent of Rahman’s work in India, particularly his ‘Bombay Theme’ from ‘Bombay’. ‘Touch of the Sun’ has the feel of both the creative and destructive energies of the sun. (Note to self: Man, you can spin it.)

It seems after hearing the score the real Ralston sent this note to Rahman: “For A.R, Thank you for bringing your amazing music to my story - if only I had your soundtrack in the canyon, I could've lasted another 127 hours. Best Wishes, A.R. (Aron Ralston).”

American Veda

Philip Goldberg and the jacket of American Veda

I have just received ‘American Veda- From Emerson and the Beatles to Meditation How Indian Spirituality Changed the West’ by Philip Goldberg. The title of the book is self-explanatory. There is no ambiguity in it. It says upfront that the the author is going to tell you how Indian spirituality changed the West.

“In February 1968 the Beatles went to India for an extended stay with their new guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. It may have been the most momentous spiritual retreat since Jesus spent those forty days in the wilderness. The media frenzy over the Fab Four made known to the sleek, sophisticated West that meek, mysterious India had something of value. Our understanding and practice of spirituality would never be the same,” is how Philip begins the first chapter of the book.

Quite apart from the fact that the beginning is an attention grabber, it is obviously the author’s considered conclusion drawn from long and comprehensive involvement in the subject. There are many aspects to Philip but I think the most important from the standpoint of this book is that he is someone who has internalized India.

He points out that translated Hindu texts were very much a part of the libraries of John Adams and Ralph Waldo Emerson. From their those ideas permeated to Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman among others. The timing of the book could not be more opportune in America when religious lines are getting very sharply defined and in turn even influencing its politics.

I will write a longer post once I have read the book.

Read excerpts from the book here. 

Larry the cable guy

Larry King (Pic: http://www.cnn.com/CNN/anchors_reporters/king.larry.html)

Derision is easy. It requires no talent. It also requires no writing talent to deride someone whom you do not know and are never likely to know or meet.  For instance, as Larry King retires this week a lot of uncharitable things can be said about him as an interviewer. Let me just give you a taste of it.

Guests who appeared on Larry King Live would be greeted by the host warmly and then told by him, “Here take this microphone. I will see you in an hour.” He would then go into suspended animation as his guests talked whatever it is that they wanted to talk. CNN could have just as easily hired a cutout.

As insults go I think this one coined by me is a fairly effective one; but not only it is lacking in manners, it is also egregiously inaccurate. As King steps down after 25 years in the CNN seat and 53 years as a broadcaster he can justifiably look at his life and say, “Wow!” At a time when broadcasters have become radioactive jackasses, I think King valiantly remained an exception. He stuck to the fundamental rule of the art of interviewing—let the guest talk and listen to them intently. Guests did not have to come to his show with their abdominal guards and body armor on. They knew that they were among friends. There is something about a host who wears suspenders that makes you go, “This I can handle.”

King also gave the impression that the host was actually someone else and he was a just fan who had strayed into the studio unchallenged by the security. It may not have seemed like it but I think King’s approach of least resistance did produce some wonderful moments of candor. The best guests are those who step on their own dicks without any help from the host. The weakness with King’s style is that it depends too much on any guest’s irresistible urge to walk into a heap of dung rather than deftly guiding them into it.

I do not blame you if you cannot decide whether I am praising Larry King or mocking him because I too cannot decide. On balance I think King has been a very effective broadcaster, probably even one of a kind, who did not feel the need to lure his guests into a dark and wet alley and then jump them. He understood that Larry King Live is not about him in a way that he has to preen himself every evening so that his guests can come and applaud him. On his show it was about the guest.

It is entirely possible that many guests saw in Larry King Live a golden opportunity to spin but I think in the end spin always makes itself felt. People can see through it. If broadcast journalism is like a boxing ring, then Larry King Live had only one boxer and a referee. If there were any knockouts at all, they were a result of the boxer’s exhaustion at having to punch the air. Try punching air some day. It is so damn tiring. Air is a great adversary.

As King leaves his throne I am not sure if he would be missed. But then that was precisely the point. It was not about him.

P.S.: This post took me about eight minutes off the cuff.

Save the tiger, now

A resting yet alert Big Cat at the Ranthambore National Forest in Rajasthan.
Photo:-Jay Mandal/On Assignment

I am as concerned about the survival, preservation and eventual regeneration of the fabulously gorgeous tiger as some of the luminaries who appeared on NDTV’s 12-hour telethon. It is very commendable that the telethon, broadcast from the glorious Pench National Forest, raised about fifty million rupees (a little over a million dollars) for the Save the Tiger project.

It is amazing that even after an opening like that you can tell that there is a caveat that is scraping the road behind it. Well, there is. Is it just me or are there others who also wonder why the 12 hours of telethon headlined by the redoubtable Amitabh Bachchan on a channel claiming to be India’s number one raised only that much?  To put it in perspective, fifty million is Mukesh Ambani’s half yearly electricity bill.

The low figure may have to do with the fact that tigers have no obvious relevance to the oppressive daily routines of the hundreds of millions people in the country. People do not wake up in the morning, fix a cup of tea and say, “Well, let’s see now. How do I save more tigers today?” A lot of them wake up and wonder why they did.

In a way the tiger’s rarity has pushed the animal into a self-perpetuating cycle of extinction. Since it is not seen that much, it is not part of the people’s consciousness even though it is India’s national animal. There are about 1400 tigers left in India, according to a 2008 census. That number constitutes about 40 percent of the world tiger population. To think that there are only 3000 or so tigers left on the planet is to understand how we humans have so radically altered the ecological balance.

There were more than 40,000 tigers in India a century ago and a large number of them were hunted by a bunch of rajas for nothing more than a photo-op. A lot of those who survived the royal predators were taken care of by the poachers selling every part of the animal’s body to China and elsewhere to men looking for male enhancements of different kinds.

There is a serious question mark over whether the 1400 in India and about 3000 total in the world is even a big enough number that can help reverse the trend of extinction. There are those who believe that it may already be too late.

Here, meet Habib Koité

Habib Koite

More often than not this blog strays into subjects which are not South Asian. But I do try and look for some notional or nebulous South Asian link to what I write. It is possible today’s post may just turn out to be one of those. I concede that at times this effort to create a South Asian context comes across as too labored and often downright ridiculous. Well, that’s that.

I discovered Habib Koité over five years ago while browsing through the world music section at a Borders’ store. I apologize if it sounds as if this wicked West African guitarist who is an outstanding singer and composer to boot was waiting to be brought before the world by me. The Malian musician was one of Africa’s most popular artists two decades before I heard him on a whim. I have since been on a Habib Koité ride.

In recent times Koité’s is probably the warmest voice I have heard. It is the kind of voice that is quietly reassuring. Not that they are even remotely similar but for me the amiability of Koité’s voice is reminiscent of Kundan Lal Saigal’s. While Saigal’s voice tended to be melancholic, Koité has innate joy in his voice. Before you nitpick I think it is possible for warmth to reside both in melancholy and joy.

I know nothing about the techniques of guitar playing or the technical language to describe it. But here is how Koité’s website describes his style: “He tunes his instrument to the pentatonic scale and plays on open strings as one would on a kamale n'goni. At other times Habib plays music that sounds closer to the blues or flamenco, two styles he studied under Khalilou Traoré a veteran of the legendary Afro-Cuban band Maravillas du Mali.” Pentatonic or not, at times his guitar play makes me feel catatonic. And I mean it in the best possible way.

One striking aspect of Koité’s music is that his language lends itself so well to Indianization. Its cadence is so very similar to many Indian languages. I have this terrible habit of substituting his lyrics with similar sounding Hindi words/expressions only to find out if they work.They generally do. I hope the Hindi cinema composer Pritam is not reading this post.

There are songs in Koité’s popular album Baro where entire sentences sound as if they could have been from some Indian language. “Si la mafi laker dook le”, “Wachintare gano Takamba gano”, “Albilaley stun” are a few examples I would cite. I must warn you though that these are by no means precisely what Koité is saying but they sound like that to me since I do not know the language. This is merely phonetic transliteration.

Check out the two videos. It would be best to hear them with your headphones on.