The Chenchu Country

Nalamalla Hills are home to the Chenchu tribe. They have been its guardians since time immemorial and it has sustained them to this day. But the romanticism associated with the notion of a simple life sits in stark contrast to the harsh realities of grinding poverty and destitution that form the daily experience of the Chenchus. Today the Chenchus are a shadow of their former selves.

During the last week of November our team of wildlife photographers, outdoor enthusiasts along with a small documentary crew ventured on a journey into the northern tracts of the Nalamalla forests past Mannanur in Mahbubnagar district (140 kms from Hyderabad). In our quest to reach a Chenchu settlement, we ended up hiking deep inside the Farahabad Tiger Reserve - home to panthers, monkeys, bears and of course tigers.

After a 12 km jeep ride inside the reserve, we were informed of a settlement that can only be reached by foot. The hilly path leading to the settlement was littered by pug marks and droppings of carnivores and pits dug by sloth bears - the group decided then and there to stick together. The end of the 6 km march through the deciduous jungle was marked by the menacing howls of the semi-wild dogs that signals the proximity of a Chenchu village. We had reached Bhiarapur Penta.

Bhiarapur Penta is situated next to an ancient temple on the banks of a small man-made lake. Katraju, the Chenchu ‘pedda manishi’ or headman of the village tells us that their village lies on the old forest pilgrim path to Srisailam used before the time of roads. This also signifies constant contact with the wider society explaining the prevalence of Shaivism in the area.



The village itself was spread over a wide area with the huts spaced out - apparently to avoid brawling after drinking. On visiting individual huts, we inevitably find someone ill. Fevers are a running theme here and the frail bodies of the Chenchus do not offer much resistance. Slowly the hardships of the Chenchus unravel before our eyes - they do not practice agriculture and are not allowed to hunt, their kids have to walk for miles through the forest to get to and from school, they depend on the government for food-grain and pulses. The threat of being relocated from their home plays on their mind and they do not believe they can survive outside their forests.

We left Bhairapur Penta after a day spent among the Chenchus - all the while reminded of contrasts and commonalities that we held with them. On the jeep ride out of the reserve, we met a Chenchu man employed by the forest department as a wildlife spotter. After the spotter had shown us his skills with his bow and arrows, one of our group members struck a conversation with the spotter, cheekily asking the him if it would be alright if one of us were to marry a Chenchu girl. The spotter instantly got annoyed and retorted “evari kulam lo valu undali” (“a person should stay within his community”) before curtly parting with us. We had finally met the Chenchu.


(Written for University Monthly - Osmania Courier and therefore the content & tone)

Not Willing

This photograph of is from a Pune-Hyderabad flight from yesterday. Generally airlines won't ask passengers to open doors, but when they do (especially emergency doors) - it may not be the best time to express reservations.


(Closer Look)

Still, the third category of ineligibles for filling a particular seat next to the exit is baffling -

"Persons who are not willing to open the Exit"

Some common problems with such instructions:

• How does one identify such an individual, does the cabin-crew ask?

• Is previous experience in such door-opening activities necessary?

• Does such a passenger get compensation/air-miles for his emergency-doorman duties?

• What if the plane is full and no one is willing?

• What if the only "willing" passenger wants an isle seat?

• What happens if the passenger changes his mind after initially consenting?

• What if the passenger is "willing" but not able to figure it out?

• On what cue does the passenger open the exit? For eg: When he hears a Doorbell perhaps?

• What if the exit is opened but there is no emergency? Does the passenger retain his seat?

• What if the passenger is overly enthusiastic about opening the exit - is that a cause for concern?

and so on.

(Photography: Dr. Vijay)

Energetic Panel

This morning moving solely on an impulse for Ghee Idlis served at Purna Tiffins in Krishna Nagar, we started from my place at 10 and made our way through Film Nagar. There we were hit in the face by a colossal hoarding placed strategically on the foot-overbridge opposite the Film Nagar Cultural Centre/Club (FNCC). It was a campaign billboard for the upcoming elections to the FNCC. If ever there was a way to make sure your constituents memorized your face (and the faces of everyone of your proposed "energetic panel" in the order of their importance/portrait size), this was it.



After getting our quota of idlis, we headed back to base. But the traffic began to clog at Jubilee Hills Checkpost and sure enough it was because of the most common cause of traffic jams in Hyderabad - one Mr. Harish Rao. The protesters were fired up and we were filled up - no contest. So we took detour after detour and in due time got back.

I guess the common thread between the two experiences was politics. The Film Nagar Society membership costs upwards of Rs. 25 Lakh and has a waiting period of over 10 years and therefore their members-only annual elections are literally and allegorically "above the road" on which common people commute. The street protests by the Telangana activists on the other hand was very much "on the road".

Though the real common thread of it all is my undying affection for good food. Again, both literally and allegorically.

Duplicate Police

In Secunderabad today on the tiny traffic island between MG Road and RP Road, I came across a hoarding that stood out. There were around 50 faces neatly packed into tiny cells each looking stoically into the camera. The title at the top read -

WANTED
NAKILI / DUPLICATE POLICE

Looking at all those men holding black slates with illegible chalk marks, it could only mean that they were either failed Zilla Parishad school students or hardened criminals. And the message was from the police. So putting two and two together, we can deduce that the Secunderabad Police is looking to hire school dropouts into their "Nakili/Duplicate Police" force. Or their desperation to recruit has reached a stage where they are compelled to reach out to ordinary commuters stuck in the middle of traffic clogs to fill these vacancies.

On the other hand, it may simply be the case that the police can't handle the competition from petty criminals. Meanwhile the "real" police (traffic) continued to "serve" the citizens down the road by making the load in the commuters' pockets a little lighter.

Lighting Up The Lives

Hyderabad based Thrive Energy Technologies sells and distributes this LED portable home light, which has been one of the more visible LED lighting products around. To complete the brand building exercise they gave their product a fancy sounding name - "Accendo". And finally the great minds at Thrive came up with this disturbingly arsonist tagline -

LIGHTING UP THE LIVES
in Villages, Forests & Towns"

I own one of their lights (in photo), luckily though I escaped their pyromaniacal designs by simply living in a city.

Link:
http://www.thrive.in/led_lighting/led_home_lighting.htm

Xtra

ESPN is showing reruns of the American National Spelling Bee contest where kids have to spell some really tough words to win. This year for the nth time for whatever reason, it's yet another Indian-origin girl who won.

How is spelling a sport? What sort of a kid craves to participate in such a contest? Why does the judge ring a bell for each wrong spelling, instead of, say, whistle? - I do not know. But I do remember seeing a promo for an Indian version a few months ago on a sports channel. I guess the idea is that with such great spelling ability, these kids are set for big things in life. Not so, not in India.

India is really the only country in the world where people actually make good money for spelling/not spelling words (excluding Quentin Tarantino for 'Inglourious Basterds'). And they call themselves 'numerologists' here. These select individuals ply their trade by spelling simple words wrong. Initially it was limited to the vernacular language words written in Roman script, but now our specialists have gone international, by acquiring (read shedding) enough skills to go after English.

Our guys are the Picassos and MF Hussains of spelling, because if all you do is spell things correct then you are just not doing justice to your creative talent. Those spelling kids though still do have one advantage - they know the correct spellings and consequently are an authority on all the wrong ways to spell. This crucial knowledge could be their meal ticket.

Therefore here we have yet another exhibit of absolute genius from 'Eat Hyderabadi' in Himayatnagar. Notice how they carefully chose the letter X for repetition to give the customer that reassuring feeling of being really, really alone while performing "tiffin self-service".

Disclosure: Spell Check Used

Arbitrary Powers

Today there were two interesting bits of news that were reported from Kolkata and London which focused on negligence in the health and social services and corrective executive action. The first article was about a visit by the new Chief Minister of West Bengal, Ms. Mamata Banerjee to a hospital as an inspection tour and her confrontation with the hospital director who did not take kindly to the unannounced visit. Then the second article was about Ed Balls (the then Health Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families in the UK) sacking the local head of Child Services publicly in 2008 over the death of a 17 month old boy. Subsequently, the court has agreed that the action was unlawful.

Although the Bengal story may not have ended, it seems to be on the same path as the British incident. The two stories converge in the fact that the top political executives view the bureaucrats as guilty parties straight away and by exorcising these personnel from the system, they hope to make things right. And in a naive sense, they do establish their authority and potency but fail to really create a tangible difference. In the British case, there is talk of suing for damages which will act as a deterrent to the government. But in Bengal, on the back of a game changing election, there is little to check the actions of the executive.

After the Left government was defeated in West Bengal, Ms. Banerjee has taken over the reigns and is learning the ropes of direct power. And she started out by doing what Mr. Chandrababu in Andhra Pradesh and Ms. Jayalalitha in Tamil Nadu did when they were previously Chief Ministers. She is hitting on the obvious targets first by launching an inquisition against the people manning the system. That move, although popular, may not be the best advised route since both Babu and Jayalalitha lost in the subsequent elections from a government employee-led backlash. But more than just the political fallout of finding fault with the system, the chief executives have to realize the value in being correct in what they do, both popularly and legally or risk the non-cooperation of their subordinates who will throw the book at new initiatives.

Links:
1. http://www.mumbaimirror.com/article/3/20110527201105270336326472fc7cba1/Didi%E2%80%99s-hospital-visit-sparks-%E2%80%98sick%E2%80%99-wordy-duel-with-boss.html
2. http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/may/27/sharon-shoesmith-court-win-baby-p

Threat Perception

Today, on the roads I came across this evangelist's vehicle with a "for any prayer request" call sticker on its rear window. It also featured the following eerie verse from the bible (in upper case,bold and underlined in red!) :

"PREPARE TO MEET THY GOD"

With this disconcerting message stickered on the burly vehicle, it sort of felt like a direct threat to the safety and well being of fellow motorists and pedestrians who were to get in its way. And in the context, the prayer call request made more sense as one final opportunity to beg for mercy!

Thankfully I kept my distance and we parted ways without incident. Praise the Lord.

"Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. "
-Amos 4:12, Bible

Road Movie Links:
Duel: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duel_%281971_film%29
Death Proof: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Proof
Joy Ride: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joy_Ride_%282001_film%29

Doggone Strikes Back

Puppy (aka Canny) is back, at least in spirit. It has been a year since the last obituary and like clockwork the insert on page 10 of the Times of India (Hyderabad Edition) today again has the same eulogy, photo, contact details, breed, DoB and ofcourse the same DoD.

Not Wealth Or Power

In his speech today, announcing the death of Osama Bin Laden, US President Barack Obama said something that was cut from most of the news broadcasts. It came right at the fag end of the 9 minute speech and as such has little significance in relation to the gravity of situation. Taken by itself, it may seem like just another platitude. But these messages within messages are put out there for a purpose, they serve to reaffirm the tenets of a nation (highlighted in red below). They are meant to convey, in this case, a sense of consistency and justice and thus their righteousness.

Excerpt:

"The cause of securing our country is not complete. But tonight, we are once again reminded that America can do whatever we set our mind to. That is the story of our history, whether it's the pursuit of prosperity for our people, or the struggle for equality for all our citizens; our commitment to stand up for our values abroad, and our sacrifices to make the world a safer place.

Let us remember that we can do these things not just because of wealth or power, but because of who we are: one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Link:
Text of the Speech: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/8487354/Osama-bin-Laden-killed-Barack-Obamas-speech-in-full.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_character_studies

A Fire Today...

Rajahmundry airport observed fire service week this past week. The passengers were informed the same through this note. But the note itself seemed more directed toward the staff and their concern of holding down a job after a fire accident. Mundane side-stories such as typing errors, safety or survival were avoided in this crisp circular as it dealt directly with the heart of the matter - no one can work in a blazing inferno.

They don't like me happy

I was one of the guys out and about on the midnight of April 2nd, hugging strangers, shouting ridiculous slogans, clapping, punching the air and scaring dogs. India had won the world cup, and my buddies and me were determined to join the street party. It was more about not missing a significant expression public joy than being huge cricket fans. So we drove all around the city to witness the hooligan shenanigans in full show. There were bike and car stunts for us to see, the police were happy but weary. It was an experience which was scary but exciting.

But what actually took place at the world cup, what it means for 70 million viewers to watch a single event on TV in India and what the events means in the long run are three very different things. First, what happened was the Indian cricket team winning an event it was tipped to win. Second, it was the biggest viewership by far for any event or show in the history of Indian television, this therefore will be the touchstone in the future whenever the Indian viewers' attention is needed. Third, the longer term meanings though are hard to get now. Sports events have a euphoric galvanizing effect on the supporters or at least 70 million of them in this case, but how does that effect the larger population of 1210 million Indians remains a question.

In all this there have been voices of dissent. The opposition steadily comes from sources that see the event as a drain on the collective attention of the public. This attention, they say, would otherwise focus on issues that are more relevant to their own lives. During the coverage of the world cup, the media pushed a number of pressing issues to the fringes. There was a certain sense of abandonment of daily responsibility of their reporting duty. And the public did need constant reminders to not indulge themselves too much in the building those floating castles.

This being the case, there has to be a sense of proportion even in those high moral ground arguments. A case in point: The Hindu today carried an Open Page section by Narendra Shekhawat which linked the farmer suicides and the world cup coverage. This is a case of confusing the the profound with the ephemeral. If an argument can be made that the world cup has hijacked other news, then by the same logic it can be argued that these conscience-keepers are piggybacking on the excessive coverage to sell something unrelated. If there is a middle class guilt complex, it has to be channeled better. Rubbing guilt onto people for simply being happy seems cruel.

Links:
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/open-page/article1761700.ece
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/article1597522.ece

Consolation Capital

A couple of days ago at RTC X roads, I saw this vehicle with cutouts draping its exterior campaigning for Hyderabad to be made the "2nd capital", what that means is beyond me. Apparently this "movement to make Hyderabad the second capital of India" has been around for a while. I vaguely recounts someone saying Ambedkar supported it.

Will they then have the losers' parliament here? Think the logic here was straight forward: since Hyderabad's Charminar (Char =4, as we well know) has 3 more minars than Delhi's Qutub minar (Singular used here to signify the solitary minar) therefore it follows that...

J for Learner

Driving through Filmnagar this evening, found this brand new Tata Nano (dyslexic owner perhaps?) parked on the curb.

Now I know why they call it a Driving 'School'.

Mirage of Destiny

If something was thought to be destined, it is only because we don’t really look at all the possibilities. As these possibilities start taking shape, they alter the mirage of destiny. It is truly sad when one’s idea of destiny is shattered, it is a source of fear that in reality anything can happen with or without notice. It is tough to see that one is in fact blind and all the plans one makes are directed towards events that are wished. The manner in which we deal with change therefore defines us, it is the realization of the absence of destiny that shapes one’s character.

- 14/01/09, 9:38 PM

This Too Shall Pass

Stock photo agencies such as Getty Images supply advertisers with the images they need to get their message across. A few advertisers don't bother with either buying stock photographs or sending out their own photographers to do the job and use pictures off the internet which may well be unlicensed. All this is fine as long as the piece of communication does its job. Sometimes though, while the message may be clear enough, the images used can hijack the whole communication's intent.

This was the case last January when India's Ministry of Women and Child Development published an ad on the occasion of 'National Girl Child Day' . It carried a Pakistani Air Force Chief's image as purportedly being a 'son of an Indian mother'. This led to hue and cry in the media which left the government embarrassed not because it had used an image without proper permissions but because it didn't check if that particular image can damage and undermine the objective of the communication exercise. The damage was done because that one image went completely against the grain of the message - projecting images of successful Indian male icons and their obvious debt to their mothers.

The latest Frontline magazine's back cover (above) carried an advertisement for the magazine 'Competition Success Review' and informs of some attractive subscription offers. Right at the bottom they have this image of a well groomed man giving the reader a thumbs-up and a raised eye brow - an anthropomorphic representation of 'success' I presume. The communication does work at the basic level, except the man's face seemed familiar. His name is Stephen Colbert - an American satirist who does a killer impression of the over-confident, self-indulgent, conceited right-wing politician on Comedy Central's show 'The Colbert Report' - a character that is enormously funny but not one to emulate. In the Indian marketplace though, where he is a non-entity - this advert will pass under the radar as have many others before it.



Links:
http://www.colbertnation.com/home
http://www.exchange4media.com/e4m/news/fullstory.asp?news_id=39575&section_id=1&tag=6400