Incredible India; Malaysia: Truly Asia

A thin line divides Southeast Asia and South Asia in terms of geography, but other differences are many. While Southeast Asia can boast of several "developed" countries, South Asia, especially India, is still striving for that status, and has not even reach a second world status as of now, if progress is measured by general wellbeing of the populace and not soaring gross domestic product growth figures.

There are many differences between South and Southeast Asia. The latter has better infrastructure, the social structure is quite favorable for women, and poverty is not as severe as many areas in South Asia, barring places like Cambodia and Laos.

India has a long way to go to reach the likes of Singapore and Malaysia as far as infrastructure development goes. Agreed, we have a population problem and a huge country, but if there is money to set up hundreds of statues in Uttar Pradesh for no good reason, spending more than 1,000 crore rupees, then there surely is money to improve the sorry infrastructure of the country, which would in turn better the living conditions of the population of the country.

A country where people are forced to take a bath and defecate in the same river should take immediate and large-scale steps to address the situation. The lack of education in the lower economic classes, which prevents them from demanding and indeed knowing their rights, also needs to be addressed more effectively.

These things are taken care of remarkably in most Southeast Asian countries. Even in rural parts of Malaysia infrastructure is better than the best cities of India. If a fellow tropical country, which has been independent for nearly the same time as India, can have excellent drainage systems for the rains, beautiful roads and highways and full stomachs, one wonders where India went wrong.

It is not that there is no corruption in Southeast Asia. In fact, the locals there are as dismissive of bribes in society as are Indians. In spite of that there is much more development.

The one area where India soars above Southeast Asia, however, is press freedom. Nearly all countries in Southeast Asia, with the exception of Indonesia, have severe constraints on what can be reported and how much the press can criticize that powers that be. This is enforced by draconian laws such as the Internal Security Act in Malaysia where anyone who speaks out against the government can be detained under the pretext of being a threat to national security by stoking disturbance.

It is a tribute to India's plurality that the press here is very free and one can write without fear of retribution.

No country is perfect and neither is ours, but we can definitely make it better by using whatever means available to us. Now if we could only refrain from putting up those statues!

Swine bleh

India wants US to check outgoing passengers as it is the main source of swine flu infections in India. Yet another classic case of passing the buck.

"Heck, it isn't our fault swine flu infections are on the rise in India, its American inefficiency."

Why should Americans care if there are more cases in India? This is like asking Afghanistan or Pakistan to check travellers to see if there are terrorists coming into India. Only God can help us from these kind of people who just cannot handle anything out of the ordinary and shrug off responsibility at every step.

Potty over Phelps

Quick post to express my sublime wonder at Michael Phelps' admonishment by the US sports authorities and sponsors. Even Dubya did pot, for heavens sake. It didn't get him booted out of the friggin' Presidency! Now I am no fan of Phelps even though he won tons of medals, but seriously, give the poor guy a break. In these times of financial crises I'd think this is the last thing anyone would care about but apparently not!

SPGs, Nasi Lemak, and all that

Yes, I know, I have been absent for quite a while. I wonder if anyone will even read this post, because for that they would have to know I still exist in the blogging world!

Late last year I decided to shift base to Malaysia, and although there are tons of things to write about, I just haven't gotten round to it. So this post will attempt to fill in the gap.

My initial reaction when I landed in KL was one of horror. There were just too many obviously-wanting-to-be-picked-up chinky (apols for the stereotype) girls with too many fat, white, i-have-the-money-to-screw-around guys here! It appeared quite sleazy at first, as I was put up in the heart of the city, where all these nefarious activities apparently take place. It took some adjusting to get used to that, and to realise that, really, it was quite avoidable if so desired.

(Btw, I heard these kind of girls, who hang around these local bars waiting to be picked up by whiteys (as the Caucasians are called) are also known as SPGs, aka Sarong Party Girls. Don't ask me what that means.)

So we're past that hurdle. Now, the one thing that Malaysia should be applauded for is the food, glorious food. Lots of cuisine from all over the world, and pretty good stuff. I just love my daily lunch of chicken noodle soup or roti canai or chinese... But the culprit here is Nasi Lemak, the main breakfast dish, which has made me sooper fat (ok, the frequent binges do that too). Nasi Lemak (dreamy eyes) is a sinful concoction that is made up of rice cooked in coconut milk (!!!), served with a kind of anchovies chutney, a fried egg, some veggies and another kind of chutney called sambal. If you are feeling generous why not throw in a piece of amazing redang chicken in there. Droooool. But VERY unhealthy.

Some of my generous colleagues get this breakfast for me and I happy drown in it...

Anyway, to go back to the subject of sleaze, I went out to this club the other day with my girl-friend, and felt that I had never been hit on so freaking many times by such ugly men. Clearly, 30 is fast approaching. So Hello Malaysia, good to meet you! If you want me I'll be drowning my sorrows in strawberry vodka. 

Bangalore can't dance, saala! Or can it?

Many of you may know about the weird, not to mention draconian, law in Bangalore that prohibits dancing -- any kind of dancing, even casual, personal, for fun, whatchamacallit -- in most bars, pubs and nightclubs.

Well guess what? Not all nightclubs enforce it. Yours truly was at a pub recently, and put her "reportergiri" (as a friend calls it) skills to the test.

My eagle eyes saw a bare dance floor initially, and then a brave female started dancing alone. It looked so pathetic. Anyway, I guess booze and frustration spurred others to this brave act, and in no time I could see a packed dance floor with Bangalore folks dancing their guts out.

So later, even in my sufficiently inebriated state, I chatted with the floor manager of that posh nightclub. The afore mentioned manager was asking us to quit the place as it was 11:30 pm. I replied that when dancing isn't allowed, and happens, why was he shooing us out?

"No madam, the cops will come. Even if we bribe them they shut us down because they do that to all the places," he said. I didn't catch his name and even if I had, I wouldn't publish it for fear of certain retribution, ethical journo that I am etc etc. And I didn't ask him why they allowed dancing even with the fear of cop-abuse.

I was just happy to dance, saala.

Bomb-blast Buddies

It's funny how it takes something like a bomb blast to make some people, who have seemingly forgotten your existence, suddenly stir from their stupor and send you a panicky SMS asking if you are okay. I call these people "bomb-blast buddies" and was quite amused when I received many such texts in the aftermath of the multiple Bangalore bombings.

Can we call such people friends? After all, a friend would want to know about you and you life even in non life-threatening conditions, is it not? But bomb-blast buddies only want to know if you are dead or alive. I really fail to see the point of such purported concern or affection.

Brave New World

It's 2008. It's a new world. It is a world made worse as we grapple with murder and mayhem in Goa, economic turmoil and a general blahness in the lives of 25-35 year olds going nowhere.

Yes, I know I am back after a long hiatus, and I am still spewing the post-modern shpeil. Pathetic, isn't it? Not anymore than you, buddy.

It seems as if everything that was once cherished is lashing out with a vengeance. Take Goa for instance. I used to love this seaside region, where one could be herself, let her hair down and go wild. No one would bother you. Now, things have totally changed. Men may be thinking, "ah these poor, naked, frightened women, let's go intimidate them!" and viola - hell on earth.

"How are you, honey?" in the sleaziest of manners. Makes me ashamed of being associated with Goa.

Nothing changes for the better, its all becoming worse. Need to be brave in this crazy new world.