Getting a FIR registered- How I spent my Sunday

 Two days back a colleague of ours was involved in a horrific incident. Coming back home late at night, his car was hit and then he was surrounded by a bunch of goons who kidnapped him, beat him up,  and extorted money.  Two hours later he was let go.  Yesterday and today he spent trying to get a First Information Report (FIR) registered with the police.  Today I along with three other colleagues went with him as he is in no condition to deal with the Delhi Police all by himself.  

I just hope I never have to go through this ever again and I do not know how the victim took all the nonsense meted out to him without losing his temper.  

Yesterday he (with few other colleagues) spent time with the police trying to fix the jurisdiction.  The place from where he has kidnapped has two red lights.  Depending upon where he stopped his car, the jurisdiction changes.  Finally at 1.00 am today morning, the jurisdication was finalized and he was told that the FIR would be lodged later in the morning.

Later today morning instead of FIR, he was questioned again and again: Where did the accident (the car being hit) happen?  Which area was it?  How did it happen?  Did he feel anything? 

Again and again he repeated that he felt the car being hit but he did not stop because he was scared. He had to finally stop at the red light when the goons caught him. 

But the SHO and another police personnel were not satisfied. He was hiding something.  Finally, we asked them: How does the accident matter?  Is the kidnapping and the extortion justified if my colleague had caused the accident?

They said that they are police officers and that they have to get to the truth. Anyway, we finally got them to register the FIR after five hours.  It still needs to be signed but that is the story for another day.

Dos Amigos- Korean Restaurant in Munirka

Korea is the flavor of the season where India is concerned.

A class 9 examination paper had a comprehension passage on BTS, the K-pop sensation.  The ARMY (as the BTS fans call themselves) does exist in India and are looking forward to BTS concert this year.

The stores are now carrying Kimchi Ramyeon as well as Red chilli paste, a specialty of Korea.  To serve the Indian palate, there are vegetarian versions available.

And my brother tells me that there are Korean restaurants.

So it should not have come as a surprise when I saw Dos Amigos- The Korean Restaurant.  Only it was in Munirka, a village just next to JNU. Part of it was acquired by Delhi Development Authority for building residential flats.  Part of it remains as Village and a more dingy place would be hard to find. There are galis (narrow street) that never see the sunlight.

Of course, there are many students from Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, and Mizoram living in Munirka and there are restaurants specializing in the cuisine of these places.  But Korea?

Dos Amigos advertises itself as a restaurant serving Korean Food but all I saw was Indo Chinese items including Singaporean Hakka Noodles, which I am sure will not be recognized in Singapore.  On the other hand, if we can successfully Indianize Chinese and Italian food, why leave Korea out?  So I am sure we will soon have Indian versions of Bibimbap, ramyeon, and Tteokbokki.

P.S.  I continue to be enamored with Korean Dramas. My current favorite is A Business Proposal which is as tropey as it can be.  But when it features a Grandfather (Harabeoji in Korean) who loves kdramas, how can I miss it?  A Business Proposal is being aired on Netflix.

Hanuman Janmabhoomi: A new controversy

 One thing is absolutely sure: We do not lack materials for controversies.  If it is not mosque versus temple, it is birth place versus birthplace.  

This time it is about Hanuman's birthplace.  Is it in Andhra Pradesh or is it in Karnataka?  Was it Anjanadri, now known as Tirupati, in Andhra or is it Anjanahalli in Karnataka.  Both sides are armed with compelling evidence- Puranic sources, copperplate inscriptions, and other religious textbooks. 

Long time ago, when I visited Hampi, I crossed the Tungabhadra River and went up the Anjanahalli Mountain.  The climb was marred by a bunch of monkeys.  There is a cave on the way to the top. I was told that Hanuman was born there. Up on the summit is a temple and a saffron clad baba was present.  I politely listened to his diatribe and returned back.  He gave me the creeps but all religious people send a shiver down my spine.

I did not know there was a rival claim to Hanuman's birthplace.  Thinking over, I realize, of course I am stupid.  In our country there are multiple claims to the same thing.  Other than to Rama and Krishna's birthplace, there are multiple claimants to the all events described in Mahabharata and Ramayana.

The matter has now reached the Supreme Court who will decide on this very important issue. Now Andhra and Karnataka have one more issue to fight over. What fun!

Return of Air India- back to the Tatas

Once upon a time Air India was one of the best airlines in the world.  It was established by JRD Tata and as long he was around maintained it.

The Government of India acquired it and then...

As long as I remember, Government officials could travel only by Air India/Indian Airlines.  Before the two wings merged, Air India was for International trips and Indian Airlines was for travel within the country.  Of course, being the government managed meant that neither of the two airlines were, well, quite reliable.  Appa was once stuck in Amsterdam because the Air India flight was diverted for Rajiv Gandhi who was at that time Prime Minister of India.  Government officials went out of their way to avoid traveling by Air India.  They would organize their trips/conferences in such a way that Air India was not available on that day.  It meant seeking approval but I do like to think there was a lot of nudge-nudge, wink-wink involved on the part of officials in charge of giving approvals.

Indian Airlines was the de facto airline to travel within the country.  Before the liberalization, there was no choice.  After liberalization, well, government officials had to travel by Indian Airlines.  

It applied to us also for we are employees of Government of India.  I remember we had a meeting in Kolkata.  There was only one flight to Kolkata from Delhi.  So all of us who were attending the meeting from Delhi booked that flight.  I need to point out that we could book tickets only from government approved travel agents or from Air India directly.  If we used Make my Trip or any such website, then we would not be reimbursed.  Government rules are really lovely.

So we all gathered at Delhi Airport for the flight.  Only to realize that it was late.  It was late.  And late.  The airlines did not think it deem to inform us why it was late.  Finally we boarded the flight at 8 pm in the night and landed in Kolkata at 10 pm.  Fortunately, I had so many colleagues with me so traveling to the hotel late at night in a city I had never been to.

Four years back, before the pandemic, I attended a meeting in Mumbai.  Coming back to Delhi, I was stuck in the Mumbai Airport for 6 hours because the flight was late.  One again the airlines did not think it appropriate to tell us what the problem was.  As a sop, they arranged for a meal.  That was it.

As the years went by and debts mounted, Air India simply stopped upgrading its flights. The interiors were in a mess, seats were torn, and the service personnel stopped caring (not that they cared before but it just went up to another level of not caring).  The only good thing about the flight was that there was more leg room even in economy section and they provided good meal in all their flights.

The Airlines has now been sold back to Tatas.

Once the sale became finalized, we had few anxious moments.  How will the government officials travel?  Will we be free to choose what we wanted?

We got the notification few days back.  Yes, we are free to choose but the tickets must be L1 (lowest cost).  It must be purchased only through Government approved travel agent.  But as a friend of mine who travels to meetings from Bubneshwar put it: At least now she is sure of reaching to her destination at a reasonable hour without delays. 

 

Rebel Sultans by Manu S Pillai

There is only one silver lining in the otherwise dismal Chennai Airport- Higginbothams book store.

Whenever I am in Chennai Airport (after dodging the falling ceiling and window panes) I make a beeline to the book store.  It is a tiny store and does not have a very wide collection.  Occasionally I am lucky.  This is where I picked up Tales of Old and New Madras by S. Muthiah and The Courtesan, The Mahatama and the Italian Brahmin by Manu S. Pillai.  I enjoyed both the books tremendously.  One for the rich history of Madras and the other for the quirky tales from the past.

This time when I saw that Higginbothams had Rebel Sultans by Manu S. Pillai I just had to purchase it.

The book paints a very vivid picture of the  Deccan Sultans- the time between Malik Kafur and Malik Ambar.  This was when Bijapur, Golconda, Vijayanagara flourished.  Hyderabad was built. The fanciful might think Vijayanagara was a Hindu kingdom surrounded by Muslim regimes but the truth, as Manu Pillai, points out was far from it.  It was all about politics.  Religion just happened to be there.  So there were Muslim soldiers in the Vijayanagara army and there were Hindus in the administration of the Sultans.  Everything was mixed up and the only thing that mattered was the kingdom. 

Many of the sultans were "characters".  Ibrahim Adil Shah thought of himself as Saraswati's son and tried to rename Bijapur as Vidyapur (distinctly Sanskrit name "City of Learning).  I chuckled my way through the book reading about the idiosyncrasies of many of the Sultans.

At a time when powers to be are trying to polarize India along the lines of religious identities, the book was a balm.  To read about a time when all religions flourished without the menace of long arching hatred. It is not to say that it was wonderful time but it is to say that the present times leave a bitter taste.

Chocolate brownie- forays into gluten free baking

This year it finally hit me that I am gluten intolerant.  Maybe it was the stress of the past few years that led to this.  Maybe it is age-related.  Who knows?  All I know is that if I take any gluten containing food I am plagued by headache, nausea and other symptoms. 

It is a bummer for I had to give up everything I love- cakes, pastries, pies, pasta, bread, roti, sooji (semolina) upma...the list is simply endless. Everything had to be re-jiged.  Of course, being South Indian, our main staple is rice.  So it was not too much of a problem.  But I also now include lots millets, ragi, jowar (sorgum), and bajra in my diet.  Wheat rotis have been replaced by ragi/bajra/sorghum roti.

For the past several months I simply gave up on baking.  Slowly I am picking it up now by experimenting with gluten free flours.

Yesterday I was simply craving for brownies.  I used this recipe, doubling everything so that I can bake in a 8 x 8 inch pan.  I ground up oats and almonds in my blender for oats flour and almond powder that the recipe called for.  Instead of 4 eggs, I used 2 eggs and 1/2 cup of yogurt.  I added only about 1/4 cup of melted chocolate.  I like walnuts in my brownies so I  added walnuts and broken up bits of Cadbury's chocolate for chocolate chips.

The trick is to refrigerate the brownies after they have cooled down before cutting them into pieces.

So here it is:

 

This batch of brownies is for my students.

The bureaucracy never fails to amuse me and amaze me

So I misplaced my ATM card.  I searched for it everywhere.  Drawers, bags, and then in desperation between pages of books and finally, the fridge.  No doubt it will resurface some day but for the time being it is misplaced or lost.  To be on safe side, I blocked the card and then today made my way to the State Bank of India in the 40oC heat to get a new ATM card.  

Thus, began the saga.

There are multiple forms for applying for anything.  I picked one of the forms and filled it up.  The person at the counter told that it was a wrong form. I have to fill a form that has blocks.  I went back and searched for the form with blocks.  I filled it up.  Then as appa has been badgering me for a long time, I also filled up the form for the internet banking.  (I have the perfect excuse- I never remember the userid and password but appa refuses to accept it as valid argument).

I took it back to the counter.  The person took the forms.  He gave back the internet banking form.  Another person deals with it.  Not him.  He will do the ATM form.  Then he looked up my relevant details in the computer.  He looked up puzzled. 

"Your address is showing as C.P. Ramaswamy Road, Chennai."

"But my account is here."

"Madam, you have to get your internet banking approved.  Then change your address using the internet banking.  Then only your ATM card can be processed."

So I took the internet banking form to the relevant person.

He asked for my mobile number.  I gave it to him.

"Ah," he said, "You mobile number is not registered with the bank.  You have to fill up Know Your Customer form, register your mobile number with us, and then only the Internet banking can be activated."

"Where is the Know Your Customer form?"

It turns out that there are two forms that I have to fill.  Form A and Form B.  I also need a photo (it is there in one of the drawers at home) and a copy of my PAN card and my Aadhaar card.  

It was at this point I gave up.  I got the forms and now I have to fill them up.  I have to get a copy of the PAN and Aadhaar card (why do we need two cards for identification?), give everything to the bank, get the mobile number registered, get internet account, change my address, and then get a new ATM .

Whew!

As I was mulling on the process, it finally dawned on me as to why my address is shown as C.P. Ramaswamy Road, Chennai.

When the parents purchased a flat in Chennai to settle down after retirement, I lived with them for couple of years.  At that point, amma and I opened a joint account in the State Bank of Mysore, C. P. Ramaswamy Road Branch.  Everything was perfect as long State Bank of Mysore and State Bank of India were two separate entities.  Few years back, the two banks were merged into one.  As the State Bank of Mysore was the older account, on merging, it became the parent account, and C.P. Ramaswamy Road became the default address.  Of course, neither of the banks thought of asking me or informing me.  So there it is.  A perfect mess.