Bollywood

You haven't lived until you have seen an Indian soap opera. Words may be entirely in Hindi, but the expressions and music so perfectly accentuate the melodrama that you understand every word spoken. As a big plot device builds to its crescendo, the filming slows down, facial shots increase, eyebrows raise, and sparkling, heavily made up eyes drip with emotion. Inevitably, the evil lady of the hour stands out as beautifully as the heroine, however an arched and perfectly plucked eyebrow lifts, the eyes squint, and music thunders with pounding warnings. I once watched this scene:

Good lady is ironing in her room as her toddler is in the crib next to her.
Phone rings in other room, good lady unplugs iron, puts it out of reach of the baby
Next shot is of bad lady putting her cell phone down
Bad lady enters room, plugs in iron, places it next to baby, leaves room.

This scene lasted over 15 minutes as the camera flipped from face to iron to face to wicked smile to innocent baby, back to face, etc. Unbelievable. So here the motto can be less plot, more emotion.

I can't wait to see a movie in the theater. I don't care that I won't understand it ... I just want to see the film!

Christmas Celebrations

Yesterday my daughter sang in the choir for an end of semester Christmas show. The lyrics my daughter has been practicing were for songs, written by the school music teachers. I was a bit grumpy about this, since a Christmas show for me should be traditional songs of the season. How wonderful a surprise to discover that the older children sang the same old good songs that I adore ... O Come All Ye Faithful, Silent Night, Frosty the Snowman, etc.

This is my big bugaboo about the schools in the US - our children are no longer able to celebrate Christmas at school like this - no more carols, no more nativity plays, nothing that hints at Christianity in any way. I am no believer in God, but even so I love the plays and songs and celebrations this time of year. What's more, the children love it! But no, we mustn't tread on some poor sensitive soul's toes so we remove the fun for 90% of the class in order that no one gets their feelings hurt. Because that's the way life really is, isn't it? When you are all grown up and on your own expect no challenges to your own ideas, expect no differences of opinion, expect everyone to think as one ... right?

By the way, my husband and I are obviously meant for each other --- in the Christmas plays at our respective schools we both played the ass.

Five days ago ...

Monday draws to a close and I reflect on all that has happened in the last 4 days. Five days ago I walked around heedless to my surroundings, today I hunch and look down at the ground, trying desperately to act inconspicuous. Five days ago I would run out to the little shop across the street to find my groceries, today I prefer to call down and have someone deliver them. Five days ago my daughter practiced singing her songs for the Christmas concert, today the concert is postponed indefinitely. Five days ago my daughter's friend enjoyed playing the guitar, today he and his 2 siblings mourn the loss of their parents. Five days ago my daughter didn't know what a terrorist was. Five days ago ...

I feel the same melancholy that strangled the US on September 11 ... the scale may be very different, but the emotions play the same - a sadness that colors everything shades of grey, an anger that rages scarlet in intensity, a yellow fear lurking beneath, and, of course, the deep blues.

I have no need to fear, no need to cancel the highlight of the month - my family's visit to Mumbai. What better way to overcome this than to have family nearby and a plan to visit the beauty of India? What better way to show defiance than to continue our enjoyment of life and appreciation of this great country? So I'll spare no more words on this but to quote the country's most amazing pacifist ...

You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.
- Mahatma Gandhi

We are safe

Just a quick blog to let everyone know that we are safe. The destruction and murders happened south of us in the more tourist-oriented areas of town. We live in Bandra which has, so far, remained free from strife.

I won't comment on all that has happened ... it's hard to say anything remotely interesting about something so devastating. Especially when I have a 6-yr old and a 1-yr old who have not been allowed outside for 2 days. Especially considering the 6-yr old was supposed to be in a beach resort right now, playing with one of her best friends. You can imagine the chaos of these little creatures trapped in a 1200 square foot apartment as their parents receive countless phonecalls about the situation and try to email family to let everyone know all are safe.

By canceling our flight and hiding inside, we let those bastards win.

Revitalisation

When you start to tire of the place you live, when you feel as though the blandness of identical days, seeing the same sights has left you blind to interesting observations, then invite someone to come and visit you. Like a jolt of electricity, the urge for visitors to have a fun time stimulates you to investigate all the exciting things to be done in your own locale. An excellent elixir to monotony.

My Dad and a close friend of the family (really, she's almost a sister) are coming to visit us in a few weeks. I've been plotting and planning and strategising and discovering. They will be here for almost three weeks, but it doesn't seem long enough to do everything I'd like to do. I'll have to cull the list, leave the merely "exciting" things in favor of the "once in a lifetime" things.

On the list ...
- visit to Elephanta island, carried on a palanquin up to the Buddhist caves while troupes of monkeys follow you
- Long weekend to Jaipur and Agra - Taj Mahal, Palace of the Winds, elephant ride up to the fort, and shopping for fabulous textiles, carvings, and furniture
- Long weekend to Goa - gorgeous beaches, tours to the old plantations where the Portuguese originally settled, dining on prawns the size of chihuahuas
- Visits to the art shops around town
- Museums filled with relics from a culture we know very little about
- Investigations at Chor Bazaar where you can find anything from a Victorian sextant to Buddhist carvings to brass sculptures of Vishnu
- Champagne brunches at the posh hotel
- Crawford market, a haggler's paradise
- Trip to the national park for tiger-spotting, 2 tiger cubs were born last month
- Ajanta caves - stunning paintings adorn the caves
...

The list goes on and on, and between all that I've got to let them recover from jet lag.

My goal: They leave India exhausted and ready for a vacation.

The one negative ... I have to work while they have all the fun.

A Day In Mumbai ...

A remarkable day in Mumbai - one that reminds me why I love political stability. One of the political leaders was arrested on charges of rioting and brought to court in Bandra - the suburb of Mumbai where we live. His followers protested the arrest by doing the only sane thing in their arsenal ... throwing rocks at cars, setting rickshaws on fire, attacking taxis, and causing panic. All day long the rumors escalated until some were told that we'd be spending the night near the office.

I spent a few frantic hours trying to find a ride for my daughter, all the while wondering if she was going to end up spending the night at the school.

So now I am driving home on the very same road that was in such turmoil earlier, but I see no sign of the events. The politician is in court right now so we are trying to get home before the verdict is pronounced, for if the verdict is bad, there will be yet more violence in the streets. I've never seen the streets so empty.

A plume of grey smoke rises over the shanty town - I'm wondering if it has anything to do with the day's activities.

Policemen are concentrated in little pockets - monitoring areas of high friction, I guess.

Home we arrive in record time and throughout we have seen nothing of note other than pleasantly empty streets.

At home people complain about the news - how all 700 channels will report on some event of great importance. They get irritated that they can not watch their favorite show because some reporter is keeping everyone up to date with latest events and providing information on what to be wary of. Having experienced a couple of incidents here and there, I'd much rather hear everything I can and plan rather than base my judgment on Chinese Whispers.

Faith ... or lack thereof

On Tuesday our office celebrated Dussehra - a day to celebrate the triumph of good over evil. The ritual required a priest, lots of marigolds, rice, paint, water, incense, and candy. The priest chanted while sitting cross legged by a carpet of marigold petals. The inch thick carpet, square shaped with a semi-circle at one end, underlay a portrait of the goddess Parvati / Durga / Shakti (i.e. Ganesh's Mom) and an offering of incense, an apple, coconuts, and little pots of marigolds. As the chanting continued, the priest would scatter rice over certain pots, then dip his finger in paint and decorate other pots, then sprinkle marigolds over something else. The ritual was incredibly elaborate, lasting about half an hour, after which onlookers would wave smoke from a small metal bowl over their heads. The grand finale was the handing out of little boxes of sweets for everyone.

I was very irritable after the ceremony - irritable because I wasn't really sure how I should have responded. I was there to see a cultural thing and ended up feeling obliged to wave a smoking bowl over my head thereby supporting a ritual that I had no belief in. It was expected of me so I did it. So where is the line between trying to immerse oneself in a cultural experience and treading hypocrisy in attending local religious ceremonies?

In contemplating the experience and figuring out why I was so angry ... I have questions that bother me ...

Why is the word "faith" lauded? Why should a "belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence" be treasured over logic and facts?

Why do many people automatically assume that if an individual does not believe in some form of God, then that individual is morally bankrupt?

Why do so many believe that morality can only be a result of religion?

And how did religious rituals ever get so convoluted?

I get depressed when religion so completely envelopes a soul that logic and reason suffer to "faith."