RAKSHA BANDHAN - Reflecting on Protection

SPEAKING TREE, TOI, 05.08.2012


A young boy of a middle class family, all of 5yrs, is sitting on a chair in the drawing room of his parents’ modest apartment. He’s wearing a crisp and well fitting pyjama-kurta bought specially for the occasion of Raksha Bandhan. In the pocket of his kurta he safeguards an envelope with some content of cash. Proudly sporting a ‘tilak’ on his forehead, just under the Anna cap, he waits impatiently for his mother and elder sister, aged 12yrs, to get the pooja thali ready. After all today is the day his sister and he had been waiting for.


This perhaps is quite a familiar situation that we can visualize in millions of households across socio-economic sections of India. Perhaps among NRI’s too. Chances are that we may have even gone through these situations in our growing years, whether or not we had a sibling; cousins and neighbours’ ‘bhaiyya’ or ‘didi’ happily filling in.


The pooja thali arrives. The older sister goes through the rituals of lighting the lamp, moving the thali clockwise around the innocent face of her brother and showering him with coloured rice. The boy places the envelope on the pooja thali, as a gift for his sister, which she eyes expectantly. The ritual ends with the sister tying a rakhi or sacred thread of protection around her brother’s right wrist, signifying the assurance of protection the brother heaps upon his sister as commitment.


Wait a minute. It’s not over yet.


The boy innocently asks his sister “Akka, every morning when we walk to the bus-stop to go to school, it is you who holds my hand while crossing the road.”
“Yes, so?” enquires the sister with a tinge of irritation.
“It is you who takes care to ensure whether i’ve eaten my dabba or not, right?”
“Yes, baba! So what?” the girl looks at her mother with a quiz on her face.
“And it is you, who ensures that i have got everything back from school”.
“And continues sheepishly “it is also you who speaks to the supervisor in my defence when i’m pulled up for mischief!”
“Yes, yes...now you better tell me what you’re getting at else i’m going. I don’t have time for such kid stuff”, the sister sounds an ultimatum.
“If all the time it is you who are protecting me, then why should i also not tie a rakhi to you?”


The household is stunned into silence.


Each looks at the other with no real answers. The parents’ eyes turn moist. The sister laughs it off as some childish gibberish and chides him “Stupid, it is meant to be so. Now go.”


In walks grandma. “Wait a minute, Akka. Putta has raised a question for all of us to reflect upon.”


Her wisdom tumbles out. And everybody listens in rapt attention.


Grandma continues: “It was okay in yesteryears when it was just men who had to earn and provide for the family. It was they who had to fight wars and battles and so it was their duty to protect the family. Women largely stayed at home, seldom ventured out and engaged mostly in household chores. Even i did it. So by that logic it was fine that sisters tied the thread of protection and took a vow from the brother to protect her from all harm. But now, times have changed and so should traditions that have outlived their time. The ‘wars’ to be fought are those of self and social responsibility, of economic and emotional challenges, those of equality and self-respect. Gone are the days of physical wars and masculine domination and male one-upmanship. Today, as parents you are educating your daughter as passionately so that she grows up to be self-sufficient and independent. You are empowering her into emancipation so that she will look after herself and her family - where she gets married into - with compassion, self-dignity and as much responsibility as her husband would. While the brother is certainly expected to come to his sister’s aid, it could well be that in times of difficulty for Putta, it would be Akka who will come to his rescue. It would be a situation of mutual protection. Then what is wrong in what Putta has asked? He should certainly be allowed to tie the rakhi – the thread of everlasting protection – on Akka’s wrist too!”


Friends, give this a good and honest thought. On Raksha Bandhan day this year, i have decided to also tie rakhi to my sister. And you?

WHAT ABOUT PURGINGS OF THE MIND?

SPEAKING TREE, TOI, PICK OF THE WEEK!


Recently i was watching a popular cinema star anchoring a show wherein the suffering and humiliation of night soil carriers and sewage cleaners were depicted. It was really heart rending to see that. Surely, the nation cringed at the visuals they saw of those workers doing that wretched kind of work; of having to clear up the mess other people have left behind. Some may have also directed their disappointment and anger at the government for not being able to bring an end to such miserable work after sixty years of attaining sovereign status. We thought: Why should others do the dirty job of clearing the mess we leave behind?


It got me thinking.


Although the body is important to us, acting as the support for our mind, it is the lowest form of our being if we were to consider the body, intellect and mind combination of existence. This can be understood by considering this fact. The world has so many different kinds of cuisines. Almost each one of them has its own charm in terms of aromatic flavours, visual appeal, touch and ofcourse taste. But when the food gets digested, it is expelled out in such an impure, foul smelling and repulsive looking form. Even the insides of our body, when we see it under an X-ray is full of blood, bones and flesh in one mass of something that is not really appealing. And we cannot improve this condition whatever we may try to do. On the other hand, we can develop our intelligence and train our minds to the best possible level we want. We expel impurities from our body day after day. We tend to accept this condition and situation and seem to get on with life, considering it to be a matter of fact situation.


But what about the purgings of our mind?


Quite ironical, i thought. On one hand we dont want others to clear the ‘visible’ mess we have created, yet we have no shame, no remorse when we it came to more intense sort of things we easily inflict upon people day in and out! For the latter, however, we urge our buddha or god to clear the mess. This seemed so hypocritical. Every day, almost all the time we are generating all kinds of garbage from our mind in the form of negative emotions, impure thoughts, destructive habits and non-virtuous actions. Unmindfully we expel these negativities and heap them upon others in the form of body, speech and mind actions. And most of the times we donot seem to have any remorse for these actions. We also try and justify them! I have even witnessed on many occasions people who are publicly corrupt, most uncivilized and insensitive going to a place of worship an beseeching their gods to rid them of their negativities! If it were to end here, it would be fine. But the same person would step out of the place of worship and the very next moment indulge in all his/her old ways.


While in the case of the night soil carriers, atleast an external mechanism like a government or laws and regulations that can be put in place to end the practice. But who can we turn to to rid ourselves of the horrendous things we excrete through our mind? Things which are far more harmful to the wellness of society. Things which are far more dangerous to our own selves than to others for the baggage of karma they create for us. Things which will certainly come back to haunt us in this or next lives, depending on the ripening of causes and conditions.


We can at best only take support of the teachings of our faith and our diligent practice to rid ourselves of these negativities. We can only wish for the blessings of our guru and god to rid us of these delusions. However, all the work for actually getting rid of the poisons such as anger, greed, envy, wrong views, desire and ego - the very basis of our wandering in samsara for many lifetimes - we have to work upon them ourselves. No buddha or god is going to do it for us. We have to endeavour hard at overcoming them ourselves. In effect, we have to clear up our own mess. We have to lift our own load.


So, one one had it is really very fine to feel sorry for the headload carriers and work for their benefit too, but it would do us and all those around us more good if we began by feeling sorry for ourselves and aimed at improving our own condition. As HH Dalai Lama says “Let us be wisely selfish."

AN INSULATED COOKER, A NON-STICK PAN AND NIRVANA!

(The Speaking Tree, 17.06.2012, ToI)


Just the other day i was invited to the launch of restaurant by an old B-School friend. The concept was new, a micro beer brewery cum resto-bar. The brunch spread was indeed elaborate. But what particularly caught my attention was that the food warmers were a departure from the conventional and a series of induction cookers with compatible pots and pans were used instead. Finding the idea novel, i chose to contemplate on the merits of their use.


Besides the fact that heat load from induction heating devices over conventional food warmers would reduce the need for additional air-conditioning in the restaurant, saving precious energy bills, what occurred to me actually corroborated with the process we undertake to discover nirvana!


Nirvana in Buddhism is defined as release of suffering. Gyatrul Rinpoche’s commentary describes it more precisely as like this: ‘Nir’ means suffering and ‘vana’ is beyond. So nirvana means to go beyond suffering of samsara or cyclic existence. All teachings and practices in various religions and in particular Buddhist tradition are aimed in training the mind towards this singular objective.


So, what’s this got to do with an induction cooker? Two specific and very important approaches towards discovering what practitioners set out to do. Release from the grasping nature of our ordinary mind and insulating the mind. Please note that words such as ‘attaining’ or ‘achieving’ are not used as there is nothing really of this kind to do, but merely to unearth or re-discover what has always been within us. The seed of buddhahood or ‘tathagathagarbha’ in Sanskrit.


The root cause of our continuing to remain in cyclic existence is the ability of the mind to get distracted easily. Now, this is not some simple distraction that we’re talking of but something that gives rise to causes and conditions for more severe impact. This is the grasper and the grasped; the subject-object dual imposters that have been responsible for our endless misery and endless re-birth in samsara. Grasping does not mean attachment to things which we like. It is to do with the very concept of judging an arising thought, emotion or phenomenon with the intent of categorizing it in terms of attraction or aversion, like or dislike and so on. As practitioners develop awareness through meditative practices, both these gradually get reduced. Repeatedly and single-pointedly observing the arising thoughts and emotions not just during meditation but all the time – with special treatment to the non-virtuous and destructive ones - their tendency to stick reduces. This happens not because the nature of afflictive thoughts and emotions reduce in stickiness but because of the ‘non-stickiness’ that we come to develop in our mind from practices. Much like the same non-stick pan in which food was being heated.


How often we have blamed circumstances, people, situations and everything external to us for our misery. It is utterly foolish to even think, much less believe, that something external can cause us to be in a situation that is bad or good. If we were for even a moment think in this way, we have no idea of karma and its forces. All these situations have been totally self-created. This is the very basis of the law of karma. So then, if this is so, what do we insulate ourselves from? Clearly we need to insulate ourselves from creating those causes and conditions that will come around and bear upon us harmful effects including unpleasant situations ahead in this life or even poor quality of re-birth and greater suffering therein. These are elaborated in Buddhism as the ten negative actions, five poisons and five aggregates. There are thousands of external influences and internal arisings that compel us into negative actions and it is hardly possible to stop them from coming on to us. However, what is definitely possible is to insulate our minds from their sinister plans taking shape. As the Buddha said “If you want to walk the earth without getting your feet dirty there are two ways of doing it. Either you can cover the whole earth with cloth or you can wear a pair of sandals”. Insulating our minds is like wearing a pair of sandals. Very much the same as the well-insulated induction cooker which was safe even with kids around the restaurant.


By generating awareness through simply watching one’s mind in meditation it is possible to release our minds from grasping and insulating it from influences. And this is really what nirvana is all about!


It is really amazing how simple situations around us can provide us with profound teachings that lead us to nirvana. Only if we cared to contemplate!

RECOGNIZE THAT MOMENT!

Speaking Tree, Sunday, 20.01.2013


A group of monks were going about their daily chores at the outskirts of Rajgir, where Siddhartha had camped. Some brahmanas were passing by of which one of them sneered “All that these monks ever do is sit and meditate. There is nothing worthwhile they do”. One of the monks heard it and said “No, we don’t even do that”. Taken aback the brahmana retorted “Oh, so you useless one’s don’t even do that?” “No”, replied the monk, “what is there to get distracted about?"


Have you ever observed a flea? It does not stay still even for a few moments. It is constantly moving around in a random path hopping from one point to the other. Or have you ever sensed the wind? It is constantly shifting and drifting. So also is the case with our mind. It does not seem to stay still. Our inability to really understand the true nature of our mind or even if we do understand it and get glimpses of it in our meditative practices, its ability to get easily distracted is the very basis of our suffering.



Even in meditative practices, given the tiniest distraction our mind sometimes deserts us. At one moment we might be resting peacefully in abiding calmness and in the next moment just as a thought casually arises, we tend to chase it and soon we find ourselves playing a football match or in romantic conversation with our heart throb! And then we sheepishly realize this drifting and try and ‘come back’. This cycle continues and is really amazingly as it tends to frustrate our efforts. But yet we must endure this slimy creature called mind and device means by which it remains faithful to us at all times.



In our meditative session this sort of desertion may not give rise to immediate harm, but imagine if this were to happen in our daily routine! At one moment we are all fine and in peaceful conversation and just as someone distracts us with a rude remark or a desireable person walks up to us, our mind just leaves us. Before we realize it, we’ve reacted and have landed ourselves into a position of guilt, embarrassment by having said, thought or done something stupid.



The sessions of meditation are our laboratory. Our mind is what we are trying to tinker with. What we experience and realize in these sessions, however insignificant it might be, is what we must integrate into our day to day living.


Here’s one way that might offer some assistance whilst ‘working’ in our laboratory in preventin our minds from slipping away.



Sitting still, when we try to focus inward into our mind and bring it to some stillness or calmness, we come to a point wherein we are resting in our base mind. This is also called resting in the nature of our ordinary mind. Thoughts and emotions seem to go through a slow motion of naturally arising and fading. Soon they settle down too. Although we may be mindful of our breathing – breath as we know is the prana ("lung" in Tibetan)on which mind rides - and we are aware of this mindfulness, there occurs a particular moment. A thought arises and like a juvenile in love, our mind chases after it.



Recognize this moment! It is this moment which is the reason of our endless torment.

This is the moment that must be identified and dealt with. Dealing with it means just being able to identify it. Pin-pointedly identify the very moment our mind strays. With sustained practice this ‘moment of desertion’ needs to be routinely caught, recognized as the harbinger of suffering and eventually purged. Yes, it is true that initially it might require dedicated and perhaps an artificially generated effort in creating this identification tool. However, as we become more and more used to it in our meditative sessions – in our laboratory - catching the moment goes on to become as natural as swallowing or smiling. Soon we arrive at a point where our mind becomes a vajra (diamond) and nothing really distracts it. Much like the monks in the story.



Remember, the highest Lamas or the most accomplished of gurus are just like us. They have same arisings of emotions and thoughts. They have similar perceptions, mental constructions and formations like you and me. The only difference is that as they do not allow any grasping to enter any of these arisings, there is no internal grasping of them nor any external manifestation of it in terms of body, speech nor mental actions.



And we can quite easily be the same only if we are dedicated in our laboratory work! You wouldn’t want a life with self-created and self-inflicted suffering, would you?


Enlightenment be yours.

FOUR THOUGHTS: TURNING THE MIND INWARDS

SAKAAL TIMES (ENGLISH), 29.07.2012


How often have we ever wondered if we had any specific advantages over other beings with a human birth? Or whether, we and everything around us, is subject to transitioning by the very nature of being impermanent? Or that situations within and around us are constantly subject to causes and conditions that come to fruition sooner or later? And how do we look at the existence of all kinds of suffering in this world and handle it? While the Four Thoughts may sound coming from Buddhist philosophy, the fact is that they are not confined to any particular religion or tradition but are the very nature of the reality we live and work in. It may just be that Buddhists have had a better recognition of it, have organized its component aspects and have perfected means and ways to actualize these four thoughts. And have found a definitive path to liberate themselves and others from it.


The human birth as we can see is possible and possessible. That everything around us is not permanent has enough evidence through death, destruction and falling apart (including the cosmos where stars explode and recreate themselves all the time). To a person with average intelligence the law of karma (cause and effect) is not difficult to understand either; if we sow wheat, it will be wheat we will reap given the favourable conditions. And the sufferings of sickness, old age and death are prevalent in all life forms.


The above are termed as ‘Four Thoughts’, also referred as outer practices or common preliminaries taught under the profound Nam Choe (meaning Space Dharma or Mind Treasures) tradition of Vajrayana as ‘Ngondro’ teachings (Ngondro means ‘moving forward’). It has been comprehensively established that these teachings came from the Buddha of Infinite Compassion, Avalokiteshvara’s own mind and mouth. So, to follow them, the purest motivation, faith, confidence and intention is required from the teacher and student alike.


Here, briefly we will explore the Four Thoughts.


1. Precious Human Re-birth: Whether we like it or not, whether we believe in it or not, whether we accept it or not the fact is that we all have re-births. The causes for all kinds of forms we may take depends on ripening of the causes and conditions. Therefore, it is clear that since we in our past lifetime created virtuous causes and conditions of morality, we have been bestowed upon a human life. However again, we are also very fortunate that not only do we have the human form but we are born with our sense faculties in place, born in an era and place where Buddha’s teachings are easily accessible and imparted by compassionate teachers and can generate faith and intention to receive the teaching. All these fortunate occurances are classified as five individual advantages, five circumstantial advantages and eight ‘free’ states, giving us the status of precious human rebirth. It has been adequately established that rebirth as human being is not possible unless we have created causes of morality in our previous lifetimes. Using metaphors, the Buddha said to his brother Nanda: ‘It is very difficult to balance sesame seeds on the tip of a needle. It is very difficult for peas to stick to a wall when they are being thrown at it. In the same way, obtaining human birth is very difficult’. Therefore, without squandering away these advantages, without exhausting the good done over previous lives, it would be wise, bold and sensible of us to practice the dharma, to be able to discover enlightenment in one life and one body.


2. Impermanence of this life: However rich we may be, however good-looking or gifted we may be the fact is that we will die someday. The fact is that we are born from causes and conditions, called ‘conditioned phenomena’, and that by very nature conditioned phenomena are impermanent. Every day we move closer to death. The options before us therefore are: whether we meet death totally unprepared and uncertain of what will happen to us at that moment or try and understand the prospect of death through dharma and be reasonably assured of it when it comes. In either case, we cannot avoid it nor can we say when death will befall upon us. The dharma teachings specify 404 causes of death, 80000 types of forces that harm our life and the body that consists of 36 different types of impurities that cause us to die. Therefore the need to contemplate on this is very important and there is no time to waste. An old Tibetan saying goes ‘our next day or next life, which comes first we never know’. And the masters say, if there is one thing to meditate upon for enlightenment, it would be to meditate on impermanence.


3. The law of cause and effect: The law of karma is central to Buddhist teachings. That we have created causes to get human rebirth should be very satisfying for us. But, what we do in and with this life will determine what rebirth we will take ahead. The Buddha says ‘what we are is what we have done and what we will be is what we do today’. So it is evident that we need to create virtuous conditions in this life to enable a better rebirth. The fact, with enough examples to back it as proof, is that our consciousness doesn’t just fade away like a burnt out candle but is carried forward. At rebirth it is our past karma that propels this consciousness into next rebirth. Anger causes rebirth in hot and cold hell realm, greed and avarice is responsible for rebirth in hungry and thirsty spirit realm. Ignorance and delusion are causes for rebirth in animal realm. Rebirth in jealous gods realm is a result of envy and likewise longlife gods are born due to extreme pride. It is important to mention here that even rebirth in god realm means suffering of age and rebirth is lower realm subsequently. Unfortunately, as human beings we are born in the desire realm, whose predominant tendency is to produce non-virtuous karma! So in order to find an anti-dote to this, to counter this situation we need to practice dharma.


4. Defects of cyclic existence (samsara): The defects mentioned here refer to the sufferings beings have to undergo in the realm they are born in. There are three fundamental types of suffering. Suffering of change, suffering upon suffering and all pervasive suffering. While the commentary on suffering of change is one the human, demi god and god realms wherein all beings born in these realms experience suffering. Humans experience the sufferings of birth, old age, sickness and death. Demi gods suffer from constant fights and quarrels and gods suffer from fall (from their present situation) and change (rebirth in lower realm). Suffering upon suffering refers to those of beings in the three lower realms. Beings born in hell reals suffer from intense heat and cold, those born in hungry spirit realm are constantly tormented by hunger and thirst, while the animal reals suffer from stupidity, being killed, being forced into excessive work etc. All pervasive suffering is this body consisting of five aggregates ( form, feeling, mental formation, perception and consciousness) with which we experience suffering. Such suffering is not easily recognized by ordinary beings but by exalted ones, much the same way as one does not feel the pain of a strand of hair on a palm of our hand but the same strand of hair in our eye makes us feel the discomfort and suffering.


While this ends the teachings on the outer preliminaries, there are four extra-ordinary or inner practices of taking Refuge (in the Three Supreme Jewels of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha) & arousing our Bodhichitta that transforms every virtuous action to the path of enlightenment, Mandala offerings for swift accomplishments of merit & wisdom, Vajrasattva practice to purify all our accumulated bad karma and obscurations and finally the Guru Yoga practice to receive blessings. Choed (Body offering thru visualizations) and Phowa (Transfer of consciousness), also covered in Ngondro teachings, are branch practices. However, these require detailed commentary and extensive descriptions of visualizations to dedicated practitioners and hence are not covered here.


This year, during the month i attended and received the profound Ngondro teachings and empowerments under the most enlightened and purest masters of the tradition (called Khenpo’s or learned professors of Buddhism, on par with Rinpoche’s). It also coincided with the third Mahaparinirvana anniversary (22-24th March) of HH Padma Norbu Rinpoche (Penor Rinpoche as he is fondly called), not only a great master of the Nyingma Tradition but also the founder of Namdroling Monastery and Ngagyur Nyingma Institute for teaching and practice near Mysore. Followers in the form of practitioners, sponsors and laity arrived from countries such as China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore amongst others over the three days of extensive and elaborate prayer sessions conducted by high lamas (or heart essences) of the tradition and attended by thousands of monks and nuns for the swift re-birth of His Holiness.


Ngondro teachings and practices alongwith advanced practices of Tsalung (understanding body channels and winds) and Dzogchen (Great Perfection) teachings are held over four weeks at Ngagyur Nyingma Institute, Namdroling Monastery, South India every year. Sessions are well structured and extensive often stretching 14hrs each day, 7days a week and include: chanting, studying, praying, meditating, practicing, receiving teachings, transmission and empowerments . All three sessions begin simultaneously on the eighteenth day of the first month of the Tibetan calendar and are open to monks and lay people alike. Teachings are imparted in Tibetan and English. Although no fees are expected, one needs to make own arrangements for accommodation and food. Willful donations are welcome.

WHY kirana STORES WILL NOT AFFECT FDI? A Counter Point

It sometimes amazes me how routine chores have the ability to bestow upon us profound insights to larger economic questions of international importance.

With the battered and blood nosed government merely trying to stay afloat on the benevolence of its allies throwing in much needed life-jackets to it, the issue of FDI in retail has been given an un-ceremonial burial for now. However, it is likely to be exhumed sooner or later as this is high on priority of the government. The US government, i mean.

A large number of opinions have been made on whether this economic step will mean loss of business to the friendly neighbourhood kiranawala. I began contemplating over it in a manner, my wife later described to be “as intelligent looking as a ruminating buffalo would be”. But what startled me was this find. Infact i harboured a fear for them malls!

Indian urban demography can broadly be divided into three economic classes: less well off class (50%), the middle class (35%) and the rich class (15%). These figures are studied approximations in the city of Pune where i have lived most of my fifty years. It is from amongst these classes that mega multi-brand retail outlets will expect sales to happen.

The less well off are simply too intimidated to enter mega marts. Let’s be fair in saying that some kind of fear of the unknown seems to be keeping this class away from massive swish buildings with gleaming glass facades and mean looking security guys. C’mon, how many times have we seen a lady or man from the labour class walk into a super mart to pick up essentials to cook the evening meal with? Or buy a saree or shirt or undee from one of them? Frankly, i haven’t seen it ever. Although not a regular, i do visit these places, irrespective of how intimidating they come to be for me too.

For the other two classes, we need to delve in a bit of historical legacy left behind for us by our ancestors and an art fine-tuned by the ‘gora sahib’, which simply stated is the concept of servants.

So, while the rich urban Indian might visit the super malls as a newness of experience in her own country (what with having done it all in the many jaunts abroad), it would be difficult to believe the desi memsahib do the rounds here for months on end - forfeiting social events, running NGO’s and attending kitty parties – and getting monthly grocery, undees or crockery instead. While for the former they would have trained their driver or governess to it in a couple of visits, how could s/he be seen buying underpants from a mall! How tacky? Haven’t you heard of any couture stores around for them nowadays? And isn’t the designer crockery, duly personalized, supposed to comes straight out of designer studios?

That leaves us with people like me forming the bulk buyer segment.

Mostly this class comprises double income couples - what with EMI’s to pay, kids to educate and ends to meet. A bit of leftover moolah would either be spent on bribing officials for routine stuff such as a gas cylinder or fuel price rise. This blessed breed usually does a five day week unlike others like us who must suffer six. While a segment of the more youthful ones in the 25-35yrs age band, is likely to visit these mega marts over weekend retail therapy to retain their sanity, the older ones are likely to stay clear and opt for the local mom-pop store.

Reason? The down-handed legacy again! This time around though, it is less about servants and more about the royalty of being served.

This is where the recent personal experience i was talking about kicks in.

With the wife away on a business tour, i had atta, aloo-pyaaz, eau de cologne, oranges, naptha balls, fevicol, clothes line clips and a score of other similar oddities from diverse backgrounds on a ‘to do’ list thrust upon me by her. Thankfully it was upon me to choose the domain of purchase. And i was confronted with two options. The local kirana wala or the obnoxiously large supermarket that has recently come up in our backyard. I opted for both!

At the superstore the hardships began early. The hassle of asking if a parking slot was available, was the beginning of it. Then, i was to endure the criminal like treatment of being sniffed up by mean looking dogs - with meaner looking handlers running their hands and hand held machines carelessly over me. Next up was the encounter with security men at the parking gate with mirrors on wheels trying to figure out wisely the difference between a possibly hidden bomb and the oil filter. Then to pullout exact change to buy a ticket to park my car. Gymnastic turns and twists of the steering and my torso to get the car parked soon followed. Queues in the basement outside the lift had to be negotiated to get from the basement parking to the required floor. Ofcourse, for a list as diverse as the one the wife had armed me with, i could have begun on any floor, but that’s another matter. Then there was the patience test of trying to find the right things amongst other things on racks. Requesting bored looking staff where one could find them dint help much. And the tiresome task of traversing floor after floor trying to locate stuff on my list, some of which i couldn’t. Carting the purchases all the way back to the car and loading it in. Keeping the trolley safely away. All of that done, ninety minutes later, i was exhausted and barely had the enthusiasm to drive back home.

The next day it was to the local grocer with an identical list. What a paradox! Much to my belief in the supernatural, this is what actually happened. Believe me or get lost. Sample this: I pull over the car to the side of the road bang in front of my intended destination, “Ishwar Mini Market”. Trot up a few easy steps. Exchange warm pleasantries with no less than the owner himself. Take out my list. I only utter the item on my wish list much the same way as Alladdin, and the genie embodied in the baniya would miraculously produce it instantly from the innards of his ‘few bricks that made a wall’ store. And this happened again and yet again until we ran through the entire list. All of this was done with a smile of true home-hearted service. The longest search- which really had me annoyed - was for a particular brand of mosquito repellent, took impatiently long. A large part of sixty seconds! I dint have to lug a basket or a trolley around. Dint have to do tiring and repetitive start-stop-search walks. No fuss. No nothing. Everything just came to me. And even found its way to the boot of the car. I was being served. I dint feel like a king here. I was king. I was enjoying the addiction of being served ever in wonder of how our ancestors or the ‘gora sahib’ would have felt back then. While it lasted it seemed royalty was being relived. I was out in 15minutes flat with a 100% strike rate. And not without a complimentary toffee and an ‘do come again’ smile from the grocer’s wife!

No matter what the big daddies of retail might think of strategy, buyer psychology, market segmentation, target customers and such jargon in their upcoming mega business models, for me the middle class, moderate, responsible and time conscious consumer, the kirana wala rocks big time. FDI beware!

dictionary:
kirana wala: local grocer. (such a mom-pop store)
memsahib: upwardly mobile, mid-aged, loaded, yuppie Indian woman
aloo-pyaz: potatoes-onions

ARM WRESTLING A CHINESE ARMY OFFICER

DNA National Edition, 08.01.2012






The road to Tawang, we were to realize later, was not much of a road, but just long winding uphill switchbacks of inedible chocolate slurry held intermittently together by patches of tar and boulders. But further on, until we reached Bum La (not to be confused with Bomdila, a mountain pass in the same reason which lies at a lower altitude about mid-way between Tezpur and Tawang) there was just no road! And the earlier stretch suddenly seemed a freeway.

The LTT-Guwahati Express chugged lazily into Guwahati station a good 12 hours late. Confined into the packed coach for 65 hours from the time we boarded in Mumbai, rigor mortis had almost set in. If it hadn’t fully debilitated us (i was with a same gender travel partner), it was perhaps thanks to the periodic swigs of Single Malt from the hip flask.

Reaching Phulbari camp site, set in a pristine tea estate, a short drive from Tezpur, it was the impeccable hospitality of the army that quickly infused life into us again. With the Commanding Officer of the unit a friend, things had to be better than just perfect. Contrary to popular belief, it was here we learnt that tea estates donot necessarily have to be located on hill slopes. This one, alongwith several other sprawling acres were on sheer plains, with deep ruts in between rows of tea bush to prevent bush roots from rotting from stagnating rain water.

The town of Tawang has a single approach road from Tezpur, passing through the valley through the better known towns of Bhalukpong (with its quaint nursery of delicate orchids), Bomdila (a hill feature at 8000ft) and the picturesque town of Dhirang in the West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh. A number of army units dot the landscape enroute, with gurgling streams rushing to meet the impressive Kameng river, faithfully keeping company all along. Across the Sela Pass at 13000ft one enters the district of Tawang. The Pass with a pristine lake alongside has its own story of utmost bravado displayed by the Indian Army, especially Subedar Major Jaswant Singh, during the Chinese invasion of 1962.

We’re informed it was he who single handedly held back the advancing enemy’s onslaught famously termed ‘the human wave’ for three days and three nights before he fell to the enemy but not before he had taken two hundred of them with him! A Chinese graveyard bears testimony to this ultimate call of duty. Story has it that, not only did that act help his fellow soldiers to retreat to safer locales, the enemy was forced to take stock of their massive losses and slowed down their battle advance in this sector. Such is the respect Jaswant Singh commands at Jaswant Garh even today that each evening, the regiment commander reports the day’s proceedings in the presence of the regiment soldiers, with Jaswant Singh’s bust ‘presiding’ over the briefing.

We finally completed the rough and tumble drive, 274kms in all, over two days of long hour drives through mind-numbing landscape and arrived at Tawang(12000ft). Putting behind us an early morning prayer session for all things good at the massive Tawang monastery (see pic), which dwarfs the town, we quickly completed formalities with the authorities for a pass to visit Bom La. The Inner Line Permit (ILP), mandatory to be obtained at Guwahati, is valid only until Tawang. Beyond this point the army calls all the shots, quite literally, and additional paper work is required to move any further.

Bum La, at 15000ft above sea, is home to the last Indian Army check-post on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in this sector. LAC, also called the McMohan Line, is an imaginary and often disputed border between India and China. The surface connectivity (as it cannot be called a road by any definiton) from Tawang to Bum La, all of 30kms, takes only(!) two hours to complete. Two hours for 30kms? Yes, longer if you have had a spliced vertebra or a ruptured spinal disc. Both, quite distinct possibilities, given the terrain.

Greeted by the effervescent Subedar Sohan Singh, we were immediately put at ease by the unit and taken to the ‘Friendship Point’ where one is supposed to offer a small rock onto a pile as a mark of Indo-Sino friendship.

For some strange reason a truckload of Chinese soldiers led by their officer (who later identified himself as Captain Fem Lai) were spotted on the other side of the LAC. Enquiries revealed that some preparations were on for the National Day which falls on 1st Oct each year. (The PRC was founded on October 1, 1949).

What shocked us beyond belief was the smooth black top road right after the Indian territory ended and theirs began! One could cruise a vehicle at 60kmph or more on those roads. And what’s more, this road quality stretched right until the eyes could see. And here we were on our side coming agonizingly to terms with a ridiculously rough ride quality at 20kmph! In the distance was also visible the Chinese radar tower powered by windmills, all weather brick and mortar barracks for atleast a hundred soldiers and solar panels to power them. In comparison, we yet had to commission our diesel run generator sets and had dodgy arrangements for our jawans. Why so? I began to ponder.

In the midst of this thought, Chinese soldiers enthusiastically huddled around us civilian visitors with boisterous calls of ‘Money. Money, change?’ Five Rupees to a Yuan is the going rate which is all done in the spirit of friendliness. So we did some small exchange just when Captain Lai offered us a smoke, which we both politely refused being non-smokers. I began with how smoking may be a health hazard at such altitudes and clearly I could sense that the last thing the soldier had in mind was to listen to an Indian's sermon. I backed off.

And suddenly he challenged me to a game of ‘panja’ (arm wrestling). College years flashed back and pushed the adrenalin in me and I found myself immediately taking him on. Although inclined into fitness routines, I was totally oblivious to the fact that it had been almost 50 years since i had been a burden on earth. Not just that, he would be a lot younger and professionally trained to fight in mountain terrain, unlike me who was yet struggling to get acclimatized! Too late. I had committed. Bitten the bullet, so to say. Somehow, I had confused myself into believing that a victory here would be a win for the nation! So we set ourselves up. Each gauging the strength of the other whilst locking our palms together. We were eyeball to eyeball close as we crouched into position. Our elbows rested on a rock nearby that served as a table. Sinews went taut as we strained against each other. Someone called “Go” and we both went for it. For what seemed eternity the forearms dint budge. Each matched the other ounce to ounce of force. With both sides cheering, we continued giving it all we had. For the tiny frame the officer carried, he was mighty strong. And the groan and grunt went on. As I heaved with all I could, I began to get a sense of advantage. By now, a good minute into the ‘duel’, my heart was pumping crazily. Lungs protested. I couldn’t quit now. With one final inhalation of whatever oxygen I could get from the thin mountain air, I yanked. This got my opponent in a hopeless position from where he could never have won. But I was wary of him, much the same way as the world is of the Chinese! This is all I could give. I just had enough calories to hang in few more seconds. Thankfully and much to my relief, at the same time, he began to realize, that victory wasn’t his to be, he pulled away. Our camp was ecstatic. I had won! India had won, or so it felt. I was over many moons. My arm, it felt, had left me. I managed to mumble some consolations and amidst much display of bonhomie from both sides, we parted ways.

Once back in the camp tent, Sohan Singh, with a smile befitting a victorious troop commander, offered me a plate of steaming hot suji-ka-halwa saying in typical Punjabi accented Hindi “Ji, aap ne toh dat kar jawab diya”. ( You gave him a befitting reply). And thinking of the feats our men at the borders accomplish, mine was not even comparable, much less praise-worthy. I felt humbled. Yet, I soaked in the moment. Bidding goodbye, we began our roller coaster ride back to Tawang, making it past the last check post barely within stipulated time.

It is a great story to tell friends and my kids back home, I mused. I arm-wrestled a Chinese army officer. And won.