London Memories - Impact of Terrorism & Bombs

Came back yesterday evening from London. I was curious to see if the bombs have changed the city. Yes, almost everyone I asked, agreed that the city has changed, but I couldn't see the changes.

They said, there is no night life, nobody goes out in central London. Perhaps, Hammersmith is too far away from the centre but at 10 PM the restaurants seemed full, people were there in the bar in spite of the typical mild English rain. Even the tube was full as usual. But the train and tube services seemed to have worsened.

 

For example, the Stansted express, which connects Stansted airport to London, was a scandal. The publicity is hyperbolic as usual but the train seemed like a local train in Mumbai. It stopped every five minutes. The whole tube system seems to be coming apart at the seams. Bomb scares, lack of maintenance, staff shortage, all the possible problems seem to plague it.

Yet outside on the streets, people were rushing around as usual. Tourists speaking different languages with their cameras clicking furiously seemed unchanged. I walked in the Banks area, and it seemed much nicer than when I was there around 10 years ago. There were flowers every where and sparkling new buildings with strange shapes, futuristic pubs in glass-walled structures - London looked wonderful.

I always stay in the same place near Hammersmith tube station. I must have stayed in that hotel for fifty times at least, over the past decades. The old staff knows me very well. It seems to have worsened too. They must be cutting costs. The breakfast is a pale shadow of its past and its timings are restricted. In the room, the hair dryer and pants-pressing machine were both out of order. The telephone did not work. May be someone else has bought that hotel but does not know how to run it? Every few years, it changes names and owners, the prices increase and services improve, then slowly, every thing comes down. Perhaps, its location is not good so that it does not get enough clients, even if Hammersmith is a good central location?

I remember the time some years ago, when they had found an IRA terrorist staying in that hotel. I had woken up during the night after some noise and switching on the light, I had looked out of the window. The hotel was surrounded by police with guns in their hands. They must have looked at me with amazement, nude with just wearing my undies, standing near the window, lighted from behind! My heart thumping with fear, I had switched off the light and crawled back into the bed, waiting for the guns to start shooting.

Or the time when a car alarm had gone off around 11 PM and gone on and on for about 4 hours, probably till its battery had exhausted. Couldn't believe that in London, there was no police or someone to trace the owner of a car to make it shut up and it had continued to make terrible noise in a thickly populated residential area for four head-aching hours. I swear that it was worse than all the night-long jagratas combined in Delhi.

This time also I had two of those memorable moments. First, there was a fight. It must have been from one of the houses at the back of the hotel. I had gone to sleep with my window partially open and woken up in the morning listening to a women shouting, "Leave the house, leave, ....leave". It seemed like an old record stuck on the word "leave". At first I couldn't hear the man. Then slowly the fight heated. 'Fuck offs' and 'sons of bitches' flew around till the woman started shouting, "Get off me, let me go. I don't want you. Leave me. Let me go now." Then suddenly there was silence. Probably he had strangled her. Or may be, he had picked his things and left. Who knows. Or, may be she had hit his head with a broom. I hope they don't call me as a witness.

 

My second memorable moment this time was at the Buckingham Palace. I was at the palace gate clicking pictures, when I saw a policeman pointing straight at me. Then one of those palace guards wearing the bear-caps came towards me. I wanted to run away, but I forced myself to stay. Perhaps I have taken some picture which I was not supposed to take, I thought. However, the guard was interested in a guy standing next to me and gave him a folded paper, perhaps some kind of message. "Whew" I broke out in relief after he walked away.

My last image of London is that of a banner at the airport. It was the publicity of a bank. "24 hours service. Real people from UK answer you." Means, no Indian call centre here!

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Sterlising Our Homes & Bodies

Growing up in India, you automatically learn that you are a small part of a large world, where all beings have a place.

Jain munis with clothe on their mouths, women giving food to the ants, Nandi bull sitting in front of the temple and the cows sitting in the middle of the road, all give you that same message that this world belongs to all of us - humans, animals, plants ... everyone.

 

Perhaps that is why, I get disturbed when I see publicity that seems to imply that if you really want your home to be clean or if you really care about your child, buy this detergent powder or this floor cleaning liquid, because these will kill the bacteria.

I can't understand, why do we need to kill bacteria? Don't bacteria live inside our own bodies and are necessary for life since they produce important vitamins through our microbiomes? Don't bacteria surround us every where and can they be actually killed just by washing your clothes or cleaning the kitchen floor with antiseptic lotions? Perhaps, I should not worry since these are only publicity gimmicks?

I think that this kind of publicity gives a wrong message. Improper use of antibiotics, has given rise to resistant bacteria, and there are some that can't be killed by any thing. But worse than that, this kind of publicity gives the message that it is all right to manipulate the nature because somehow we would be better off in an artificial world, controlled temperatures, controlled environment, artificial every thing.

I would say that we need to boycott these - not to buy products that say they kill bacteria. Sales and profits is the only language companies and marketing experts understand.

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Four years ago

Yesterday, I didn't even remember that it was 11 September, anniversary of the New York terrorist attacks.

 

I had a board meeting yesterday morning and I was thinking about that. It was also a friend's birthday, so I was reminding myself to send her greetings. And I was thinking about the annual peace march that covers 28 kms from the city of Perugia to Assisi in Italy, that takes place on this day.

It was only after the meeting, after lunch and after the afternnon nap, that Nadia told me that they were showing a Chinese film on the TV. I love Chinese films. She said that it was about children living near a brick kiln.

I had immediately hoped that it was the film where Gong Li plays the mother of a deaf child. I had seen it on TV in China but since it was in Chinese, I hadn't followed it properly.

 

But the film on the TV was about a teacher wearing a chador, trying to explain to nursery kids about bombings in New York and when children could not understand the meaning of "tower", she took them out to look at the chimney of the brick kiln. (The picture taken from the top of the twin-towers is from 1996)

It was that film where different directors have made short films on the theme of 11 September. The Israeli film was about a suicide bomber and a journalist who wants her story.

Mira Nair's film was about Salim, an American born in Pakistan, and the film was called "Terrorist".

"The exiled man" from Chile, was bitter about the American double standards.

The director from Lebanon has made his film about a dead American marine, his lebanese girl friend and a Palestinian suicide bomber.

The dream of boys in the film from Burkina Faso is to catch Osama Bin Laden and get 24 million dollars' award.

But my favorite film-episode in this anthology film was the one about the deaf French girl, who has a fight with her boyfriend in New York, and is hoping for a miracle.

My own memories of that 11 September 4 years ago, seem an episode from this same film. 

 

I was flying to Beirut on that day. I remember, the waiting at Milan airport, shopkeepers suddenly closing their shops and running away, the unbelievable images on the TV in the bar, my cancelled flight and the journey back to Bologna and all the while, thinking about my mother who was travelling to Washington DC that morning.

 

Her flight was diverted to somewhere in Canada and for few days, no body could tell where she was. It was a nightmare. Just thinking about it makes me feel terrified.

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John Grisham in Bologna

The well known American writer, known mainly for his legal thrillers, John Grisham was in Bologna yesterday, to receive a special award from the mayor of the city. The function was organised in Santa Lucia hall of the Bologna university. The more than a thousand years old hall, that looks like the dining hall from the Harry Potter films, was an ex-old church.

 

It must have been a rare experience for Grisham to be surrounded by academics, including the dean of the Bologna university and a professor of American literature, talking about his "writings". Even if his books have sold 200 million copies around the world, including 10 million books in Italy, no one pretends that he writes "literature". I don't think that people take his name often next to Mark Twain or Charles Dickens like it happened in Bologna!

His new book, "The Broker" is based in Bologna. It is the first time Grisham has come out of the American counties, placing his book outside America. He explained that he needed a small, not too touristy town, where his spy-hero could hide and the decision to place him in Bologna happened by chance. He came to Bologna for the first time in July 2004 to look for places where his novel will be based, and fell in love with the city, its people and the food.

It must be admitted though that Grisham was suitably modest and ironical in a self-deprecating manner. "I was the best selling author in the world", he said, "till Harry Potter came along." He was asked if the fact that most of his books are turned into films, has affected the way he writes his novels now, he answered, "My writing was always simple, straight forward, one scene leading to next, no complexity, that is very similar to films. I haven't changed that. When I start writing, I already know what is going to happen in my book, from beginning to the end."

About the movies based on his books he said that not all the movies are good and he can't have the control over those movies, at least not as much as he would like. He also mentioned about the screenplay he had written about a minor league of baseball (he is passionate about baseball) and when he did not find any producer, he produced it himself. "This film was never released properly in USA nor in the world, no body ever saw it", he said, "it came out in DVD and no body is buying the DVDs. It was a foolish decision to make that film."

He did not seem very enthusiastic about Mr. Bush and lamented the increasingly shrinking space for freedom of expression in America. While he was speaking, thunder broke out and he gave a start and then laughed saying that ever since Katerina in New Orleans, he is worried about thunderstorms.

In the pictures below, you can also see the Mayor of Bologna, Mr. Cofferati, giving the special recognition award to John Grishem for basing his new book, "The Broker" in Bologna.

 

 

Unfortunately, most of the photographs I clicked that night are blurred because of low lighting in the room.

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Buskers Festival of Ferrara

I like buskers, the street artists. While sitting in the train or in the metro and having someone play music, I love it, and sometimes they do play wonderfully.

Growing up in India with the hierarchies and classist mentality does not help us to relate with persons easily and I think that, to appreciate street artists, we need to get over our classist way of looking down at persons. I don't like it when people are rude to them or when they treat them as beggers.

My favorite town for the way buskers are treated, as almost "official musicians", is London that has areas marked for them at some underground stations, (though with the bombs and terrorists, perhaps that won't last very long!).

Last night we went to buskers festival in a city not very far from Bologna. My favourites among all the buskers were these young women from Spain, singing and dancing on the fammenco beats.

 

 

 

This annual festival is held in Ferrara, about 50 km from Bologna, and it brings street artists from all over Europe and sometimes from beyond, to be treated as artists and not just as persons trying to earn a living. Ferrara is a beautiful city and the Estense castle in the city centre is a jewel. The whole central part of Ferrara has been declared a world heritage site by UNESCO.

 

For four hours we went around the city centre. Every ten meters, there was a different artist playing music and the city was teeming with tourists. A mother and daughter duo from France, a group of Spanish girls singing and dancing flammenco, magicians and clowns, dancers from Brazil, trios playing classical music, jazz artists, tarroc card readers, and even a girl who claimed to tell your future by looking in your eyes and had a long queue of persons waiting for her to look in their eyes - there were so many street artists. It was impossible to see all of them, there were so many!

The pictures below are from Ferrara visit yesterday. You can click on the images for a bigger view.

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Another Rakhi - Indians in Bologna

Two days ago, it was rakhi. Like every thing else, only emails and e-cards remind me of things like the Indian festivals that are no longer alive for me. Rakhi is just another memory with a vague sense of what it is supposed to mean.

 

This is inevitable for those of us who leave homes to live in another country, especially when there are few persons from your country living there. In Bologna, we get a lot of Indian students, but they are here for a few months or at the most for a couple of years, they are not suffering from nostalgia for the lost homeland. People living here with their families are few.

 

Anyway, the few of us who live here, we do try to organise something for Holi and Deewali.

Marco wants to send a rakhi to his girl friend. I explained to him that it wouldn't be right. No, he said, it won't be a normal rakhi that a boy gets from his sister, it will be something else, something very special.

Shweta telephoned and said that I will get my rakhi next time we meet. Perhaps, this is good, not just celebrating a festival but accepting the spirit behind it, and it does not really matter when we actually do it.

In our Indian association of Bologna, we are already used to this. Holi and Deewali are celebrated according to the availability of the hall, possibly around the actual dates that these festivals are being celebrated in India, but if that is not possible, we are not unduly bothered!

Manish, Sonia's husband, will be coming here on 24 September. Cynthia and Aniket (Mithoo) say that they might plan a holiday in Italy. Recently Riju had come to visit us and I had taken him to Venice.

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A Cold Rainy Morning for Relaxation

It is a cold rainy autumn morning in Bologna. Sky is covered with dark clouds, crossed by thunder and lightening. I wonder if Delhi's sky is full of colourful kites! When I was young, 15 August was the day of kite flying in Delhi but perhaps, now children are not so interested in kites?

It is already two weeks since Riju came. From his computer, I took some pictures of Vidhu dada, Preeta bhabhi and Srishti. I have never met Preeta bhabhi and Srishti and this is the first time I saw them in pictures properly.

There is another news. Bukul, who is now living in Australia, is planning to get married to Toni in March 2006 and settle down in Bangalore.

This has been a long weekend for me since 15 August is a national holiday in Italy (it is some religious festivity linked to Madonna).

On Saturday, I was in Rimini with my friend Mariangela. Yesterday, our friends in Bologna, Rajesh and Shweta, came for lunch.

Finally today I am alone. It should be a day of complete relaxation and I am going to watch "Parineeta". I am alone at home, and there is no need even to cook since there is enough food leftover from yesterday for today's lunch and dinner.

Tomorrow, Marco and Nadia will be back. They had gone to Bibione for a week.

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