My mobile

Mera Pyaar.. Samsung N500. It doesn’t rhyme. But it doesn’t matter. And the name does sounds like some medicine, Vicks action 500. But no, its my ex mobile phone.

I know it may sound crazy. With handsets like RAZR, N-series and the new in line, Apple i-phone in the market, who will care about Samsung N 500. I bet, even in jan 2008, when I change to a new plan, definitely I will go for some new and trendy one that time. But my first love will always be N500.

I don’t know, why people in India are so obsessed with Nokia, agreed its hardy. But then its keys are so different for each model. There is no unity. And looks, forget it, they are the worst looking handsets. Even when you press the green button, it just shows either last calls or missed calls or received calls and never all of these together. But still people like it. And I know why. Its hardy and it has strong signal. That’s why when mom asked me to get one for her; I too went in for a Nokia only.

But this time during my India trip, when my mom told “ei dekho tomar pocha cell”,(see your rotten cell) I really shouted at her. But alas, she was not alone. Many were laughing at my N500 and when I showed it to one of my dearest friends, and told, see the best cell ever created, I just got a pity smile in return.

Let me brag about N500 a bit. Consider only the non polyphonic, single colour display mobiles. I think there is nobody to beat it in that league. Even the color phones minus cameras. This phone has absolutely no sharp edge. Rather it doesn’t have an edge at all, and that gave it the winning edge which nobody except the users of N500 understood.

It has a multicolor keypad and will put even aurora boreal to shame when it glows in the dark. There is white light, blue light, green and red. To add to it, what they call the service color. Its an small LED in a corner just like the “Kahin nazar na lag jaye” tika. Only thing is that it’s not the black tika but it gives u a choice of 6 colors there also.

Believe me, it has got the lightest battery too.

And how can I forget the ocean blue background color of display? It’s the best blue possible. I remember once I had lost my cell (actually I had left it at a restaurant and Umesh took it without telling me). I was in tears for almost 5 hours after which when umesh gave it to me, and the blue color came up n the screen, it was a joy I can’t express in words.

The only close second in that range is Panasonic GD 92. It had the same great blue colors, the keys are just the same and it has unique 4 background color option which people can match with their moods. And it was long and has the smallest cross section and it shape resembles ….( ask the people who use it)

Now my N500 lies, in some tiny drawer in my Barasat house, covered with a coat of dirt. But I have still scratched it at places and brought out its true color. When you try to make a call from that, you have to hit it on its head. But still it’s the best and I will never ever loose it for anything.

India shining

Let me start this post with a big sorry. I can’t post the bro’s marriage details as promised. For two reasons. One is it’s taking too long to finish and second one is it’s getting either too personal or too superficial. So, let the memories stay with the happy couple and all those who witnessed.

Moving on to India shining. I was divided. The discussion had long started, way back in 2002, when me and my brother were discussing this and we had come to the conclusion that if Surathkal represents entire India, India is surely shining. Else not. It so turned out that Surathkal was an exception and public voted out the people who coined this term.

Well the mobile revolution came, people started talking about it again. Internet penetrated even deeper. The IT slowdown ended and the industries picked up again. All my friends, who were in IT, changed jobs and salaries made anybody wonder, India is really shining. But it was just one sector. They had terrible spending power and they did make it look like India is really going ahead. The papers were gaga over this, the rising living index and 8 percent GDP growth were everywhere. Most surprising for me was Govt of India coming p with quarterly results.

Then I came to US, for higher studies (ahem ahem). Initial days was really missing India and compared to the sleepy small town of College Station, surely the Indian cities were much better. But soon the comforts of life dawned upon me. How simple life is it here. Its not that it makes people lazy but its what one should have. I began to understand what we don’t get in India. And India lost its shine. Add to it the articles by all news channels. India doing this, doing that, Putin praising Infy campus, some Tom,Dick Harry firangi person saying India is the next big thing were always the headlines. I really got fed up.

Soon the Mumbai and Srinagar blasts happened, India started performing bad in cricket, the reservation row, Manmohan Singh lost his charm and became a puppet again,… Nothing was looking right. The only thing that was going good was Bollywood movies and I was taking full interest in that.

I went to India, nothing had changed. There was no improvement in the living condition of general people neither were the roads looking any wider or cleaner. To add to it, the pollution made me sneeze and cough all the time. I thought what’s wrong with my country.

But after coming back, I know I am feeling so very homesick, and I am missing India.

But all that apart, I really think there s a weather of change coming up there. Thanks to the giants moving in the retail sector. I have a feeling that the general condition of farmers will improve a lot. The middleman problem will be gone. And may be the middlemen will suffer. But I really don’t care for them. And for all that we need so much infrastructure. Houses, roads, rail tracks are being built. Cars are increasing on the roads. The metro cities are taking up big plans. Now the only hurdle that remains is the manufacturing group. Its good that they are coming up in large numbers and doing good business. But I feel they don’t pay the workers well. But with the wind of change in agro and service sector, can manufacturing be left far behind. May be the right word is not India shining, but as rightly said by ToI (for a change) INDIA POISED. Its getting ready for the big leap. But ya, it hasn’t taken the leap yet.

Concluding my views, here is the article that made me think again. And especially these lines by Mukesh Ambani:

“For employers to attract and retain talent, India has to be almost as attractive as the US. So I have to provide for the cost of living -- housing, shopping environment and everything else exactly like the US, but at an Indian cost.

We have a big talent pool in the US and they are coming back with huge enthusiasm. For our agri-business, we are now bringing back a lot of talented Indians from the US who have worked in Wholesale Foods, Kraft, etc.

We offer to protect their savings in a job here. If you earn $100,000 a year there, you also spend $80,000 and save $15,000-$20,000. We say, if you work for us in India, we will ensure you save $15,000 dollars a year and are part of something exciting without a loss to you.”

My Brother's Wedding- The preparations

Well the highlight of my India trip was my brother’s wedding. The preparations had started long back. When I went, the invitations had already started. Initially even I was a part of it, but then I moved out because of my hectic schedule of god knows what. But was damn busy throughout my stay. Mom and dad were very tired at the end of every day of invitations and especially by the amount of mithais u have to eat in each house. And this is one thing about marriage, which you can’t outsource. Rest everything you can.

Anyway another thing that bothered us till the last day was prawns in the menu. For those who don’t have any idea what this is, let’s say serving tiger prawn in marriages have become real rare coz of the whopping rate of Rs 500/kg. Here is more about how important food is in Bengali marriages. Guess you all know who Bankim Chandra Chattopaddhay is. May be you people also know his famous novel Devi Chowdhurani. It was far ahead of times. Imagine somebody discussing women dacoits in 18^th century. Well now do any of you who have read Devi Chowdhurani remember why she became a dacoit? Well it was because they were poor and so though they managed to feed the groom side guests properly, the neighbors were given just rice and curd. This angered the neighbors, who complained to the father-in-law, who angrily broke the marriage or something like that nd feeling sad devi becomes a dacoit when lost in jungle. The point is, shaadi ka food can even make dacoits. Back to our story, Mom didn’t mind the cost but wanted to have at least 1.5 times the quantity required. Dad won’t do that. The size matters a lot too. We wanted 18 pcs per kg; they said they may have to serve 22 pcs /kg ka size which were not what we wanted. Anyway, thankfully everything worked out in the end with loads extra much to my mom’s delight. But there were many sleepless nights with the prawn. My joke about how the marriage has shifted its importance from bride, groom, jewelries and invitees to prawns was enjoyed by many.

Well jewelries remind me of more stories. As it was quite obvious, jewels are a crucial part of the wedding. And this time I was involved. This is how. My mom wanted to give some of hers as it is, without remodeling. And then obviously she had to decide what to give my wife at the same time coz last mein kuch nahi baaki raha tho? I guess it was a crucial decision for her considering how finicky I am. But I salute her judgment. She did the right thing. Same thing happened in case of Nani. She wanted to give similar things, so had to buy at the same time. So I got to see my wife’s this jewel also. It was damn good. This paragraph has been specially written ki koi tho ladki yeh padhke mere nahi tho use milne wale jewels ke pyaar mein tho mere paas aa jaye :)

Ok moving to some serious things now. Everybody kept telling me, ki bhai ki shaadi hai, u will have load s of things to do. I denied saying that actually nothing much. Coz after all, I don’t know the local people, whom to call for catering, whom to call for decoration and lights, but I was wrong. The wedding days were really crucial.

Amidst all this, mom bought a whopping 36-40 sarees one day. For all the near and dear ones. That came as a shock to me. Anyway, work was nicely divided in the household. Jewels, dresses, puja ki rasm was to be taken care by the ladies, and decorations, lights, food was guys department as usual. But I was amazed to find mom keeping a careful watch on everything. I found that really cool. While all this was going on, as u can see, I kept a close watch on everything. One day while there was a discussion about increase in the flower decorations cost which mom thought was useless ( me too). I made this comment to dad. “ See there are only 2 important things in a shaadi. We all knows, rasams will be one ok. There are only 2 areas where people may complain. 1 is if food is less and the other is that if somebody is unhappy with her saari. Coz both is a matter of shame to us. So both are equally important. The women kind of work as well as the guy work.” I don’t know if I have explained the point correctly here but it’s a truth. After shaadi, nobody remembers whether all rasams were done or was there one flower or one light less in theh decorations. They all care is was the food good and was the return gift good. So then obviously these 2 things become the most crucial in marriage.

But I guess this didn’t go very well with my dad.

More about the marriage days in next blog!