Age-old proverbs in new capsules (5)

In the course of this blog I have written only a couple of lines on each proverb – but, children have to write essays on them and when they grow up, they have to carry these thoughts to their work places in whatever field they may finally land up in. These and other similar proverbs would crop up in their speeches, in their interactions with subordinates, colleagues and even superiors. Therefore, with these last six samples, I would like to close this session of dissecting and analyzing our knowledge base –
Take care of the pennies; pounds will take care of themselves – pennies today have been regaled to the level of ‘installments’. Whatever is on offer is yours if you agree to repay the installments. Your financial loss is the financier’s gain. He is investing his pounds; you take care of his pennies.
The pen is mightier than the sword – journalism is not what it should be. The media, in whatever form, is controlled by people who have different reasons for promoting certain individuals or conglomerates. Anyone who works with him has to toe the line that he has drawn, overstepping is viewed seriously. Since you are pocketing his cheques on the first of every month, obviously you cannot revolt. Exceptions may result in unpleasantness. Your pen is in his control and it is the sword that rules supreme, the pen is just a showpiece.
There cannot be smoke without fire – science has given us the ability to generate smoke without fire. The ‘tear gas shells’ used by the Police to disperse crowds is an example. The ‘smoke screens’ regularly employed on the screens to camouflage film celebrities while they change dresses for the song and dance sequences is another example.
Rolling stone gathers no moss – this was meant to convey the philosophy that one has to pursue something with dedication because continuity spells success. One should not keep jumping from one subject to another. The Jack of all trades ultimately becomes master of none. But, today job hopping pays dividends, especially in the IT industry.
The morning shows the day – yeah, tune in to the morning TV shows to know what pitfalls are in store for you, which roads will be closed for passing through of dignitaries, hence need to be avoided, which trains are running late, which flights have been diverted etc. The forecasts may not be accurate but, who cares – the TV anchor has done her job, the forecast are not her creations.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating – when you do something, it should serve some sort of purpose. He, who produces something that is not saleable, loses out on competition. His well-wishers shy away from him. His patrons vanish. Obviously, he has to carry out preliminary surveys and study the market before launching his product.
United we stand, divided we fall – the gist of coalition Politics was thought of by our ancestors when the wise old man called his sons to his deathbed and explained this truth. This type of unity becomes stale once the novelty wears off. Problems with such forced unity are encountered when there is a conflict of interests and bargaining powers come into play. You cannot get something for nothing hence, always, the equations are to be solved to everyone’s satisfaction. Then only can there be happiness all around.
Where there is a will, there is a way – all young girls dream of becoming a model for some product or another. The will is very much present – what is required are opportunities. Revealing a bit more than one usually does can impress makers of music videos (popularly known as remixes) and open up doors one felt would never open up. It is up to the individual to find the way to glory.
When in Rome, do as Romans do – this is especially true in our food habits. When one ventures out of his mother’s apron strings, he is faced with a whole lot of problems, major ones being related to his culinary habits. Wada-pau culture of Mumbai needs to be accepted by the Bengali from Kolkata as the Sardarji of Patiala needs to accept that idli-dosa as menu for breakfast in Bangalore. This is probably the reason why packaged and precooked food and associated masalas, marketed as Mothers’ recipes, have captured the imagination of our younger generation. There are many more proverbs. I have selected only a few to highlight the fact that the proverbs that we, our fathers and our grandfathers grew up with have not lost their relevance. Otherwise they would not find mentions in the school curriculum of today.

Kolkata – the city of skyscrapers and slums

Kolkata is a city of many faces and, irrespective of which political party or a combination of parties is in charge, the city will continue to draw people from all walks of life. It is a city that is proud of its skyscrapers as well as its slums, it is a city where the prince and the pauper can co-exist.
The people of Kolkata may not be happy with the amount of problems that they have to face day in and day out, but these Kolkattans will never want to leave the city unless compelled to. The majestic Howrah Bridge and the second Hoogly Bridge stand tall amidst the confusion and act as the entry points of outsiders to Kolkata – of course, the airport is also there as an entry point for those who arrive by air.
The city has been called the City of Joy – this is because of a 1985 novel by Roland Joffé that was made into a movie by Dominique Lapierre. The movie starred Om Puri and Shabana Azmi, two of the most versatile actors of Bollywood.
I had left the city in 1962 and have visited it on a few occasions over the past fifty two years and have always wondered at the resilience of those who live in this overcrowded city. The roads are crowded as are the markets, shopping malls and different forms of slow moving transports like the buses, and trams and people have got used to it. Punctuality of buses is hardly there and quarrels over petty issues is a matter of routine. The reason for quarrels are immaterial, it is the opportunity to let off steam through quarrels that matters.
As is widely known, Bengalis love sweets and there is a shop selling sweets at practically every street corner just like the tea shops and cigarette shops. Cigarettes have gone out of fashion in many cities but Kolkata has not yet been able to give up smoking, allowing the thoughts to disappear in the smoke is one of their pastime. Many of them are day dreamers and love to build castles of fantasy till the world comes crashing around them.
Of late, due to the thrust for joining the IT industry with an eye on possible relocation to some foreign country, the youth of Kolkata are acquiring necessary training and experience to move out to the greater world devoid of the comforts of home. While a small percentage have moved out to other cities in India, cities like Hyderabad or Bangalore or Pune, the foreign trips, in comparison, are not very many.

Bangalore – the garden city of India

Bangalore today is a bustling metro with flyovers crisscrossing throughout the city and the Namma Metro, a metro rail, also added to reduce travel strains and sufferings of commuters.
My association with Bangalore, the garden city of India, dates back to 1975 when I had arrived in the city to attend an interview. In those days, even in Bangalore city proper, those who were not able to speak in the local dialect were viewed with suspicion. The sprawling bus terminus at Majestic that one can see today was not even on the drawing board of the city bigwigs – it was a huge enclosed area with buses parked all along its periphery.
Majestic area and Chikpet were also devoid of much hustle and bustle.
However, over the last forty odd years, the city has transformed dramatically because of an influx of outsiders who have been attracted by the IT revolution that has brought along with it hopes and aspirations of not just Bangaloreans but of India as a whole. Bangalore is affectionately called the Silicon Valley of India and it has attracted foreign investments unparalleled in recent times. Examples are evident all over the city in the form of shopping malls, multi storied buildings and thousands of four wheelers on the roads.
During this 40 year period, I have had several opportunities to visit this wonderful city. My family and I have fallen in love with it. Making Bangalore as the base, we have traveled to various Southern destinations like Mysore, Ooty and Sravanbelagola. And – of course – we have never missed the conducted tours of the city proper. Shopping in the Cauvery Emporium for genuine sandalwood products, or bargaining in Chikpet for Mysore silk saris, or strolling aimlessly on Brigade Road or getting an overview of Ulsoor Lake – the time flies.
It used to be a highly conservative city where non vegetarianism was taboo but, today it offers innumerable varieties of fish, chicken, mutton and egg dishes. Hindi and English are the link languages. The city of idli-dosa has embraced chana-bhatura with equal ease and aplomb. This, in itself speaks volumes for the people of the garden city.
When I came here in December 2002, a flower show was on in the glass house in Lalbagh. It was an unforgettable experience. The sheer variety of flowers and plants on display was mind blogging. The city really deserves its name - the Garden city.
Later, between 2009 and 2010 I visited the city a number of times because my son was employed there and have seen the changes even in areas like Tippasandra and Malleshpalya.

Indian fast foods and the North-South divide

During my first visit to Bangalore in the seventies, I was compelled to have curd rice packed in paper bags at the roadside eateries. In those days, non-vegetarian dishes were taboo in Bangalore and its surroundings. Today, it is not so - practically all hotels and restaurants in the Garden City cater to non-vegetarian customers.
One reason is believed to be the Karnataka Express train that started in 1987 and runs from New Delhi to Bangalore – by virtue of this northern connection, the entry of north Indian business and its cuisine into the garden city was a smooth and, practically, a silent un-noticed makeover.
Then came the IT industry and with it came hordes of young people from all corners of the country, some of them had come from the USA. Thus, Bangalore became known as the Silicon Valley of India and, once a pure vegetarian city, gradually transformed itself into a multi cuisine one with outlets of KFC, McDonald’s, and Dominos springing up overnight.
The southern versions of fast foods are idli, dosa, uthappam, urid wada and upma – these are just a few names that have become popular in practically every corner of India, Bengalis relish them as much as the Punjabis do. Cutting into a three inch diameter rawa idli with a generous topping of cashew nuts and a spoonful of pure ghee gradually vanishing into its innumerable pores is an experience by itself.
The urid wada (spongy, like the soya bean doughnuts I had once tasted in an American exhibition in Calcutta in the fifties) comes in two versions – one, the dry type and the other with an accompanying concoction called sambhar in which tiny bits of pumpkin, onion, tomato, drumstick and brinjal float in a gravy of pulse and tamarind juice garnished with ground coconut.
In the north, the vote invariably goes to chats, golguppas, moong-ki-halwa and different types of pakoras. I specially remember the pakoras made of cauliflower. Large chunks of cauliflower would be dipped in a batter of besan and deep fried in a really large container.
If you tasted one, you would certainly long for another – kya kare, control nehi hota!
Moong-ki-halwa is another favorite of the north – if prepared with an abundance of ghee and garnished with cashew nuts and kish-mish, it converts into a dish fit only for the Kings. I had the pleasure of tasting the delicacy in a roadside stall in Delhi in the seventies and the taste still lingers on in my palate. Similar is the case with the chana-batura – this is dish patronized by the north and I was pleasantly surprised to discover it on the menu-card of Kamat Hotel in Bangalore!
Unfortunately, when I was there in Bangalore in 2010, I discovered that the Kamat Hotel in the Majestic area has vanished and made way for an outlet of KFC.

Travel by MSRTC buses from Nashik to Pune

It takes roughly six hours to travel by bus from Nashik to Pune and, the prompt service of the MSRTC at half-hourly intervals have ensured that there are no hiccups. There are the semi-luxury buses as well as the air-conditioned Shivneri buses. During peak season or during festivals like Diwali or Dussera, passengers go in for online booking and those who do not do so get frustrated.
I had to wait in queue at Nashik for nearly two hours before I managed to get a seat to travel to Pune last week because it was ending of Diwali and the crowd comprised mostly of young men and women who were employed in IT firms in Pune and were going back to join duties.
The IT industry in Pune has resulted in hundreds of hotels and restaurants on the way – some of them like Daulat, Indraprastha, Kamats and Purohit are always busy and the cars in the parking lots bear testimony to the fact that for any place to prosper it is necessary to have good infrastructure that attracts investments.
As I waited at the Nashik bus stand I saw people ahead of me in queue getting their reservations for the 10am bus, then for the 10.30 am bus and by then, I was third in queue for the 11am bus. Unfortunately, when that bus arrived, there were only two vacant seats because all the remaining had been booked online!! I finally managed to get the 12am bus. Incidentally, the road for a major portion is through hills and the Ghat sections and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the huge mountains had been demolished in certain areas to eliminate curves and make the journey by road more pleasant. Moreover, elimination of frequent curves help to economize on fuel consumption and reduces fatigue for the drivers.
A proposal to have a railway route as an alternate means of communication failed to take off the ground.
As per the plans of the railways, the route between Nashik and Pune would be via Sinnar, Sangamner, Alephata, Manchar, Rajgurunagar, Chakan and Begadevadi on the Mumbai-Pune main line. This is the route that is flowed by the MSRTC buses. However, an alternate route has been proposed by an NGO named Rail Parishad – this is a route that will pass through Sinnar and then pass on through Akole, Kotul, Junnar, Ghodegaon before reaching Begadewadi. In the opinion of the NGO, this route would reduce the distance and also the cost of laying out railway lines.