A recent story in the Indian Express online edition caught my attention, the story about the lynching and subsequent death of one Stephen Bennett, in a remote village in the Roha district of Maharasthra. That, and the gruesome discovery of human remains in a drain in NOIDA, uncovering the sickening story of an alleged master and servant kidnap-rape-murder double team. While the latter story seems to be a clear case of apathy and corruption, it's the first that is more interesting.
The facts about the act of murder commited are clear, as the accused are already in custody, and have confessed. The real mystery lies in the circumstances that brought the unfortunate Mr. Bennett to Malsai village at 5 AM in the morning.

The facts, as presented by the media, are thus- Bennett was enroute to Mumbai from Goa on the train, when there was an unscheduled stop at Roha and Bennett disembarked from the train. For some unfathomable reason, he decided to walk some 5 kilometers into Malsai and into the arms of a lynch mob.

But wait, there's more- Bennett disembarked on the 7th, and he was found hanging from a tree on the 11th. What exactly he was doing there for three days is a mystery.

It could be expounded that the poor fellow just got off at the wrong station, but then why did he have to stick around for three days in the middle of nowhere? There is no word about his possessions, save his wallet, which was found on his person. Did he just get off the train to catch a breath of fresh air, only to have the train pull off, with his baggage still inside??

Obviously not. If this would have been the case, he could have informed the station staff about the situation, but that does not seem to be the case. It seems he just got off with all he had and decided to stay put. Why?
could it be, that he was so captivated by the scenes of the countryside, that he felt a tug on his heartstrings, or he had the desire to see an authentic Indian village or something, and get away from it all, expand his mind, go primitive and experience a down to earth life?
Having had his fill, he thought that it wasn't inappropriate to ask a lone woman at five in the morning how to get to the train station, only to be mistaken for an attacker?
Could it be that this guy was so addled with the various substances one can obtain under the table in places like Goa, and simply did not know what he was doing?

In any case, it was the wrong place at the wrong time. The poor villagers, some of them who may have never seen a white man, responded with the most basic emotion in our toolbox-fear. Fear always begets anger, and In the face of danger, mankind loses the ability to think as an individual and begins to act along a common mental streak- the ignition point of a mob. After the flame has been lit, a lone defenceless man has absolutely no chance of survival. The mob demands blood and flesh, since the ability to judge the crime and impart an equal punishment has evaporated long since.

It is unfortunate and unfair that Stephen Bennett had to pay the price.

Inane list no. 2

Things I used to hate, but miss terribly now-

1. That gang of stray dogs in Nizamuddin East (you know the ones, the canines who chase every moving object from the entry gate all the way to that little roundabout every single night...)
2. Stray dogs that howl all night long
3. Stray dogs and puppies plastered to the tarmac (all you see here is the odd semi-aquatic rodent...it just does not have the squishiness needed to spread evenly...)
4. Dust.
5. Three-wheelers.
6. Cowdung sticking to my shoes and tyres...
7. Power cuts...what is the point of having an entire section at Home Depot dedicated to flashlights in a country where the power never goes out?
8. TV channels such as Aastha, ETC punjabi and their ilk.
9. Ear-jarring Bollywood music.

10. Life.


Music- The Clash-Daddy was a Bankrobber, The Clash-I fought the law(and the law won)

Palm Beach, here I come!

This weekend will be spent in the company of my aunt, who owns a villa on a little isle off the West Palm beach coast. We'll be driving down in a rented car, as this will be a good practice run before I hopefully get my hands on the new Mazda...which reminds me, yeah, we're almost at the point of no longer being sans l'auto. Of course, the cost of the privilege of driving a car for me will be astronomical, in particular the insurance, that will cost me approximately one quarter of my income, or to put it in another perspective, fifty-something dollars more than the monthly payment of the car.

I know how much this is going to pinch, and I can see harder times ahead, but this is something that just has to be done. There is no alternative that can cost less. I will have to take the plunge and allow the hemorrhage of my earnings, and there's not a thing to be done about it. Like I said, the system forces you into choices you can somehow sustain, but cannot get beyond.

Music- Fryderyk Chopin- Waltz in A major, No.1 Op. 34

As the river flows to the sea...

It has been over three months since I have left the land I was born of, to arrive in a place that I cannot yet call my own. So much has happened to me and to others around me, I have never made an effort to take a step back and look at the grand totality of this adventure.

A famous scientist was right when he said that time was relative to the observer's point of view. that time, that now seems so distant and so long ago; when every day was one day less I had in my own country, seems to have been a mere interlude, a moment so brief that it could pass in the flap of a butterfly's wing, when matched to the slow grind of the wheels that I have experienced here.

Of late, as the horizon clears and the prize I sought is just in sight, time has begun to quicken its pace, buoying my sinking spirit and filling the sails that empower my soul throughout this journey. Soon enough, my time here will draw to a close, but like any adventure, this has already given rise to questions and thoughts that remain unanswered in my mind. Time will tell me where the answers lie.

Music- Baroque Favourites- Track 9

Inane lists

After someone I know began to publish 'inane lists' regularly on her blog, I decided that the time was ripe to steal a few ideas, and post my own. so here's my first list---

EXOTIC CARS I HAVE SEEN IN THE U.S.A-

1) Bentley Continental GT Flying Spur(including the one owned by AC/DC frontman Brian Jones, who resides in Sarasota)
2) Maserati Cambiocorsa
3) Maserati Quattroporte
4) Lamborghini Gallardo
5) Ferrari F430
6) Ferrari Enzo (seen at a distance, cannot confirm if it really was THE Enzo)
7) Ford GT500
8) Porsche 911 turbo (the Cayenne, Cayman and Boxster are small fry here)
9) An undetermined model of a pre-2000 era Rolls-Royce
10)And lastly, a Maybach 57

P.S- If any one of you is by chance considering the purchase of the Maybach, save yourself from what is essentially an overpriced S-class in drag, and invest intelligently in a Bentley or a RR...class and prestige come standard with these two.

A new low in culinary adventure

A recent feature in the local newspapers alerted me to the recent reinstatement of a withdrawn McDonald's product, the McRib; for a limited time, only available upto the 31st of december this year. Research on the internet aroused my curiosity and finally, today was the second-last day before the McRib goes to that big deep-fat fryer in the sky.

for these reasons, and against everything that I stand for, I found myself locking the bike in a McParking-lot, and walked into the jaws of the enemy.

The first thing I noticed was that the staff seemed to be composed from members of the same extended Hispanic family. I guess those guys were the franchisees too. After being handled in a very courteous manner by a slightly built lad of 17, who was being overseen by an aunt or sister or something, I was presented with a sort of lump wrapped in wax paper, which I quickly deduced was the infamous McRib itself(What, no oboes or trombones to announce its arrival??)

The McRib wasn't created as much as it was developed at the University of Nebraska, and has been sold in fits and starts over the past 15-20 years. The main ingredient is ground pork(what part of swine is used remains a mystery, but isn't that the fun thing about all ground meats?) that is compressed into the shape of a rack of spare-ribs and cooked under the same compression, ensuring that the proteins in the meat coagulate, and hold the patty in shape, eliminating the need for an additional binding agent. this component is then frozen and like every other McProduct, gets distributed to individual establishments, where it is re-heated and kept warm in a bath of tangy BBQ sauce, also used to coat the patty. Final assembly involves a soft white bun, a some slivered onions and gherkins.

After settling down and studying the decaying mass of fibre-less white bread, congealed and compressed by the heat from the mysterious meat patty, I closed my eyes and took my first bite...it tasted like (insert default McDonalds taste here) with spicy overtones provided by the BBQ sauce and gherkin pickle. Consuming the rest of the item with the same speed as the service in McDonalds, I reached for the napkin dispenser to wipe off the muck from my hands, and left the establishment.

On the way home, it felt like that I had accidentally swallowed a wine-cork, and it was stuck somewhere in my esophagus, and that wasn't surprising in the least, because that's what the sandwich tasted like - Cork.

God, I miss those kathi kababs...

When you're happy and you know it...

...clap your hands!
or so goes the slogan. but right now, I'm not quite overflowing with good cheer, since I have had to work a Sunday last week(a venture that cost me the same amount of money in taxi fares as I make in one day) and this week, I am working on a Saturday... well, that really does not explain my simmering discontent...after all, irregular work hours are the hallmark of the Hospitality Industry. I guess I need a little break. This may come through in the form of an open invitation to my bhuajee's vacation home in Palm Beach, where we may go to over the next weekend. Both of us are professionally quite satisfied with the progress of our jobs, but it's the absolute crashing boredom of doing nothing else except working, sleeping and eating that's beginning to get the best of us. There's only so much monotony one can stand before you blow a gasket.

In other news, I perchance happened to have an early day yesterday, so I jaunted into a Honda showroom to look at the new Honda FIT, a cute hatchback with a lot of bang for the buck. couldn't get a test drive though, since they were all sold out(these babies are going out the door as soon as the car-trailers pull in) but I'll get to drive one quite soon. I also went to the local Mazda dealer to drool over the Mazda3, and had a salesperson give me a complete financial breakup of a model that I don't particularly desire(Mazda3 i-Touring 2.0 4-speed automatic, Side Airbags and ABS option installed) instead of the model I really want(Mazda3 S-touring 2.3 5-speed automatic, ABS and 6 airbags standard), Because the former model makes more economic sense. we'll see how things work out soon enough....