Bangalore Visit

I spent four eventful days in probably one of the most happening places in India, Bangalore. This city has been branded as Silicon Valley of India with unmatchable growth in IT sector. Numerous call centers and offshore software development centers have sprung up creating thousands of jobs. Omnipresent Telugu IT workers, aromatic south Indian food and IBM sign board in Kannada were some of the highlights of my trip.

Dubai Trip

Day 1
UAE, there are hardly any Arabs here. It’s more like land where Indians and Pakistanis live without fighting and more importantly abiding by most of the government regulations and laws. They are everywhere, airport security, driving cabs, waiting tables and filling gas.

Day 2
Trip to American embassy wasn’t an easy one. I was dropped right at the door of world trade center but it wasn’t as easy as taking an elevator to the American owned 21st floor. There was a hot and humid detour with numerous security checks. I was directed through the ‘White Cabin’, a 20X30 unit constructed behind the trade center.

Day 3
Two Taiwanese ladies for the day shift, couple of Malbari (Keralite) guys for the night. UAE service industry has found an incessant source of manpower from eastern Asia. They are utilizing it as its best for their advantages. You walk around UAE and realize that social and economic boundaries have deeper and more substantial roots. Immigrants have developed narrower mindsets and their energy is (somewhat intentionally) channeled to achieve limited objectives. Constant influx of foreign workers keeps them on their toes and capitalistic business houses can use it to maintain lower labor costs . Over a million East Asians dominate the demographic charts here and are dominated by wealthy and socially distant Arab community. Perhaps my idea of equality is defined by unreasonable measures and exaggerated under western illusions of freedom, however the poor status that East Asians have in Arab world had more then enough anomalies to go unnoticed.

11/29/2006

My double standards have been bothering me for past few days.
It’s weird how I don’t stand up for things I believe in so strongly. Objection towards child labor, stereotyping and discrimination, all seem to parch off as soon as I land here in India. They say charity starts from home and my own house employs a fifteen year old for house work. Why do I overlook things that are outright wrong? Why do I lead an ordinary life hiding from the unjust around me? Kindness is the best religion, and suddenly it’s missing from all over my world.



12/16/2006

I am still thinking about the child labor. Visited a primary school this afternoon. There were a lot of children playing around, seeing them reminded me of the fifteen year old working at my place. Why does she have to work 9 to 4, while these kids go through 8 of their lectures, learning new things every hour of their lives. God must be very unhappy that we are letting a child work everyday, when she is supposed to learn and have fun. For little comfort, we compromise on a lot of our preaching. Every child is entitled to get basic education and a chance to traverse through the barriers. And there is no excuse for not letting that happen.
I tried to talk to people who are supposed to be compassionate and considerate around me. They tried to simplify it for me, the child is better off working at our place than begging on the streets and being knocked around by strangers. I try to justify their stand, but I can’t. It’s just doesn’t seem fair. I am no foreign to the depressing realities of the third world. I lived here for 21 years. I guess, I had conveniently forgotten the miserable conditions that most people live through here in India.

Ahmadabad


In haze of evening smoke, non stop mobile rings and familiar roads with strange buildings, people of Ahmadabad or one would call them Amdavadis, seem to have stepped up in most areas of lifestyle. However, east Ahmadabad poses numerous contradictions to the pompous growth of west Ahmadabad. Buildings in east Ahmadabad seem to have aged drastically in last four years. Ruined textile industry and continuous loss of jobs has left the east Ahmadabad limping in last decade or so. Haunting Textile Campuses are up for grabs, attracting the developers to build slum like apartment complexes and strip malls. In contrast, west Ahmadabad boasts a number of new developments in form of fancy malls and multiplexes.

Ahmadabad has been quaked, flooded and traumatized in last few years. Of all tragedies, 2002 communal frenzy was the worst. February Riots left Ahmadabad limping and bedazzled, full of deep-rooted hatred and distrust all over. Every other day English dailies print hellish accounts of victims and sidelined police officers, in turn increasing popularity of those who committed heinous crimes during the deadly 2002 spring.

Blaming one community for the loss of lives and destruction could only worsen communal predicament. However, unfortunate outcomes of these events might give us some glimpse as to what can be done to prevent such communal disasters from happening again.

First thing that is immediately noticeable among other Ahmadabad’s riot scares, is the accelerated polarization. Thousands of people, who were looking for cover during the unrest, were forced into minority dominated areas, one of them being Juhapura. According to some statistics, Juhapura’s population has been increased three times in last four of years whereas the public facilities remain insufficient as ever. With so much dissatisfaction and concentrated anger, it becomes fairly easy to misdirect the youth in such localities. These slum-like neighborhoods can turn into recruiting grounds for destruction oriented organizations. It is imperative that the people of Gujarat disallow and reject the government and political parties that are using the state to play communal games that not only cause immediate damage to the well being of a society but also root a number of long term issues.