They began very similarly: Story of two classmates

How often has it happened to you that the newspaper you are reading carries a piece on a person you are acquainted with? Rarely, I would imagine, if you are not part of some celebrity circle. I , however, experienced it twice over the past month. Two primary school classmates of mine were in the news--one for a good reason and the other for a crime. My mind went back to those days. Jay and Kay (not their real names!) had a very similar life back then: Families struggling to make ends meet and similar influences around in the society. But they ended up choosing totally different paths. I don't know enough details to exactly reason about why that happened. Instead, I will just give an account from my viewpoint and leave the judgement up to you.

I changed school in my 5th grade. The new school was the only option for kids in the village and used to attract a huge number every year. It was so big that all the fifth graders were divided in 11 classes: class A to class L, each with 60-70 kids. Early applicants and pupils of influential people (yes, politics is introduced very early in India!) were put in first few classes and the rest were allotted classes at the back end. I found myself in class L, the very last one. 

Our class was ill-reputed for mischievous kids who stopped at nothing in causing troubles to students and teachers alike. Our class-teacher used to carry a look of complete surrender in the classroom. I, being not so much of a troublemaker perhaps, was chosen to be the class monitor. One of my primary duties was to report kids making noise during the periods not monitored by any teacher. Jay was one person who constantly featured on my blacklist as he was the leader of a little mafia gang of our class.

Jay used to live in a ghetto. Young men in the area would engage in small fights all the time. Breaking laws was not a big deal for them and the district police used to keep a vigilant eye on them. Naturally, Jay had picked up a thing or two from them.

One day in the class, Jay and his buddies came with a bagful of Ashoka tree seeds which they had gathered from a school garden. During a recess, they started pelting the seeds at other kids in class. Very few reacted and hit back. Most others were too afraid of the gang to do anything. As I was noting down the incident in my little class monitor notebook, Jay came to me and warned against reporting to the class-teacher. He said he would hurt me badly if I did. However, I did not take him seriously and reported him the next day. Jay and his friends were beaten severely with a wand as a punishment. Jay did not take this punishment lightly and told me to stay prepared for a royal beating once the school ends. This time, I was really scared and could not focus on the remaining periods during the day. As soon as we finished singing Vande Mataram to end the day, I ran for the fear of my life straight to home. Sobbingly, I reported what had happened to my mom. It took some consoling from her to make me relaxed again. It became the routine from the next day. Jay would constantly threaten me and I would try to run away from him. He never actually beat me though. I found out the reason years later from mom. Apparently, she had talked to an elderly person related to Jay who in turn had given a stern warning to Jay against harming me. Phew! Never-the-less, my parents at that time thought I should be better off in a different class and asked me to request class-teacher for a class change. He sanctioned and promoted me to class G. I did not have any trouble from my new classmates. Jay kept giving looks whenever we confronted each other occasionally but things stayed at that. I forgot about him after that year. Perhaps, he dropped out of the school somewhere down the line.

After all these years, that news article brought back all the memories: A high school student was murdered in broad daylight by a mob. Jay was one of the culprits and was duly arrested. Apparently, the reason was that the victim loved a girl who another guy from Jay's ghetto had also fallen for. They repeatedly threatened the poor guy to stay away from the girl but he didn't listen. Sigh!

So did nothing change in all these years with Jay? Was the company he kept at fault entirely for making him a criminal or could he, perhaps, have chosen better friends?

Somewhere in the same class L was Kay, an average student just going through the rigors of the curriculum. Kay used to live in the same neighborhood as me and was my best buddy back then. He didn't have it easy growing up either. He was the youngest of three siblings. The family was raised on a small income his father brought home by working in a factory. But he would spend a large chunk of the money on alcohol and constant fights between the husband and wife would transpire as a result. Kay's mother would frequently fall victim to physical assault. It reached to a point where Kay's eldest sister, who was a quite girl growing up, started fighting her dad whenever he came home drunk. One fine day, she decided she had had enough of it and ran away from home.

Kay was a normal kid despite all this going around him. He was more into Arts and Crafts than Science and Math. Post high school, he opted for a short technical diploma and started working in a small factory to support the family. Around the same time, he got influenced by a right wing political party. This party is ill-reputed for targeting certain minorities and using violence as a weapon to prove their point. I was not happy with Kay's decision but instead of talking him out of it decided to distance myself from him. I had moved out of the village by that time as well and lost touch with him completely. I was convinced that Kay would become a white collar criminal because that's what most folks involved in politics turned into.

But I was proved wrong by that news article. Kay had won an award at a short film festival. He had produced and directed a short documentary on a social issue. Kay--a film maker? How did this happen? I caught up with Kay to find an answer. When he was working in the factory, he wasn't enjoying the job. So he decided to enroll in an Arts college. Arts, as I mentioned earlier, was his passion. Once there, he got fascinated by the art of filmmaking and decided to pursue it further. As for being a political activist, he soon realized that that was not the right direction for him and slowly pulled out of it. In future, Kay wants to be a writer as well. He sent me passages from a fiction he is working on and I must say, it's a top-notch work. Now the next question I have for Kay is how he ventured into writing as I am completely unaware of this passion of his.

Same questions again. Do the surrounding influences alone shape one's life? Or can one choose the right influences?

PhD Life in Pictures: Part I

After several short bursts of work interspersed between long bouts of depression, I managed to clear a preliminary exam for PhD. This basically ensures that I can't be kicked out from the university until I get the damn degree. So post my exam talk, I am reflecting upon what keeps me motivated to carry on doing research despite long periods of cluelessness. A major contributor I realize are the places in and around Duke campus. Although I do not have a photo collection that could do any justice to the vibrant campus of Duke and the beauty of the town of Durham, sharing a short album of the places that rejuvenate me time and again. Hope you like it!


I will try to add pictures of more animate things who have influenced and evolved me in so many ways. That will be later in the series. Keep visiting! :)

Around the world sitting at home: Following Indian Expats

Link to Part 1

The radio transistor was my constant companion for more than eight years, until I joined my first day job. Taking the transistor to the workplace would not have been appropriate, so I had to look for another option. In keeping with the great technological advancements of our times, I summoned Google for online radio streams and stumbled upon a radio station from the UAE airing popular Hindi songs. Although great for entertainment, this was no different than any other popular Indian channels as its listeners were mostly young Indians (South Asians) emigrated on a temporary work permit. However, it still is one of my favorite radio stations whenever I am in mood for some Bollywood gap-shap.

The Caribbean

My love for cricket, which accidentally took me to Russia once, opened up more exciting doors. There was a game being played in Guyana and I was in a mood to listen some radio commentary. I searched for online commentary feed, and Voila! Guyanese national radio was broadcasting it. The game finished, and all of a sudden a Hindi song started playing. I curiously stayed tuned. There was another following that, and another... they just kept playing Hindi songs. I started listening to the station more often, and observed that they largely played Indian music. There is a large population of Indian origin in parts of the Caribbean, Guyana hosting a significant number. Although they have migrated more than a century ago, their taste in music, seemingly, remains unchanged. 

With my curiosity piqued, I explored stations in Trinidad & Tobago next. There were many available online, a significant number dedicated to religious content. Yes, they discuss Hindu mythology, spirituality and so on. It was a shock because I had never come across such dedicated channels in India. It's even surprising considering the fact that the people have migrated way back in the Colonial era from the states such as UP and Bihar and have long forgotten Indian languages. Their new found interest in Hindu scriptures or Indian music perhaps has to do with India's rise in global standing. That's a topic for another discussion though. Indo-Trinidadians are also taking a keen interest in learning Hindi and Sanskrit. It's quite funny to listen to RJs from popular music channels trying to translate lyrics of Hindi songs in their undulating Caribbean accents.

Another peculiar observation I had with Trinidadian radio was that they gave a lot of air-time to the regional politics. On one instance, there was a by-election in a city and almost every channel covered all election rallies and reactions of the people in the days leading to the poll. I can't imagine music channels in India talking politics at all.

There is a very popular form of music, called Chutney music, where artists from the Caribbean either create songs with Indian beats or just re-record popular Bollywood songs in their vocals. I found this music a bit awkward though, maybe because my ears were more tuned to Indian accents. I observed that the folks in the region totally adore the likes of Kumar Sanu and Udit Narayan. One was so inspired by Kunal Ganjawala (yes the artiste who never was a big star in India) that he made a complete song as a tribute to him. While listening to radio in the Caribbean, I got exposed to new forms of music such as Calypso and Soca. More than the music, which undoubtedly was great, I was really moved by lyrics of some of the songs. They talk of issues such as national integration while keeping the mood upbeat throughout. Sample the following number: my favorite! Among other things, they are predicting, in 2000, a black president for America.

Fiji

Before I explored Fiji radio, I knew that a minority in Fiji still spoke Hindi. What I realized after listening that it was almost 50% who spoke it fluently and maybe more people understood it. Their dialect, however, is another matter. If I have to describe it, it would be some combination of Hyderabadi, Bhojpuri, and Gujarati. It's altogether different, in short! Indian culture has a big influence, and a station I frequently listen largely covers Bollywood gossip, Indian TV, and Indian fashion. To see the influence of Bollywood, check the following amusing video.

Indian soap operas are very popular in Fijian households. I remember how they gave a huge coverage to a visit by few TV actors from an old Indian soap that was being re-run on Fijian television.

Hourly news on Fijian radio reminds me of their Indian counterpart because of the broadcasters' style of delivery. It feels odd, however, when it comes to sports coverage. Because Cricket is never mentioned in Fiji, instead they cover Rugby, the most popular sports there by far. Being an Indian, it's really strange to hear Rugby commentary in Hindi.

Other notable mentions

Similar to the Caribbean islands and Fiji, a huge number of Indian sugar plantation workers were shipped to Mauritius by the British rulers in the nineteenth century. These people dominate the population of the island nation. Bollywood music is a big seller here as well. Interestingly, the voices on the radio, be it the RJs or the people calling in, all seem to be multi-lingual and well-versed in all as well. They all seamlessly transition among Creole -- their native language --, English, French, and to some extent, Hindi. Whatever little Hindi I heard was, unlike in the Caribbean, fluent. Both Hindu and Islamic religious content finds a significant presence on the Mauritian radio.

The UK was an interesting experience. There are no dedicated Indian channels, they are all South Asian over there. You see. Most of the radio hosts are fluent speakers of Hindi, Urdu, and Punjabi. It's mostly because they cater to a large community migrated from the Punjab region of British India. The best part about radio in this part of the world to me was listening to some fascinating debates. For instance, there was a call-in show organized to discuss implications of a peace treaty India and Pakistan were discussing. Most of the callers sounded very intelligent and very up-to-date with the political scenario in the South Asia. I had similar experiences with the callers in music-related programs. There were people, for instance, who had connections with Bollywood legends calling in to share their experiences with the host.

Quite contrary to my experience of the stations in the UK, my impression of the Indian (yes, not South Asian) stations in the US is not that of thought-provoking or insightful. For instance, a station in the bay area of California largely catering to young software professionals produces a number of sponsored programs on mortgage, finance, medical consultation, and so on. This, however, is not the reason for my perception. It is the other shows -- again sponsored -- on astrology, numerology, vaastu-shastra and several such pseudo-sciences; it is astonishing to see a large participation of the so-called "best brains" of India on these shows.

I am currently traveling to Africa, of course by the means of radio. As the exploration continues, I will keep posting to this blog. Thanks for tuning in. :-)

Addendum: Adding a map of the places I have travelled so far.