The part II of the film Che was released in Argentina on 18 June. I made a reservation quickly and reached the theatre ahead of time, anticipating big rush. Hmm...there were just only about ten people. I was surprisd and puzzled by the low turnout for the premier of this film about a great Argentine hero. Another one of those Argentine contradictions!
May be the Argentines do not consider Che Argentine enough! Che Guevara had left Argentina for good at the age of 25 and spent the rest of his adventure and ideology filled life in Cuba and other parts of Latin America. His life ended in Bolivia at the fairly young age of thirty nine. It is believed that Che,at the end, wanted to come home and bring about a revolution in Argentina itself. Prior to that he wanted to liberate the neighbouring Bolivia and establish a proletarian rule there. But his ill-fated revolutionary journey was put to an end before that.In any case, even if Che had tried revolution in Argentina at that time, he might have faced the same end as in Bolivia. However, Che was a source of inspiration for the leftist guerilla movement in Argentina which took off in Argentina and Latin America later.
Che had no chance in Bolivia, although he mistakenly believed that the peasants and miners of Bolivia would rise in support of his guerilla war to overthrow the government there. He blindly believed that the model of Cuban revolution was repeatable in countries like Bolivia. The first hurdle was that he and his band of Cubans were looked at as foreigners, with some skepticism and even suspicion by the Bolivians. The local communist party did not support him, based on their conclusion that Bolivians were not ready for an armed struggle. The government of Bolivia and the CIA were determined to crush leftist rebels to ensure that Cuba was not repeated. Che and his tiny band of guerillas were outnumbered and outgunned by the Bolivian armed forces. Ineveitably, Che was captured and executed in October 1967. This Bolivian adventure of Che and his end is the story in part II of the film.
In part I of the film which was screened a few months back,Che´s role in the Cuban revolution is shown. Che meets Fidel in 1955, at a gathering in Mexico City. He listens to Castro's plans and signs on as a member of the July 26th Movement. He leads the attack of one of the guerilla bands and marches into Havana celebrating the victory of the Cuban revolution. The film covers the role of Che as a minister in the cuban government and his speech at the UN.
Benicio del Toro has done justice in his role as Che. The director Steven Soderbergh has taken pains to narrate the story of Che naturally and true to the biography ,without Hollywooding the story. In the film, Che has come out as a revolutionary martyr. Part II of the film is more gripping than part I and leaves a more powerful impact.
Director Soderbergh has taken a bold gamble to stretch the film to two parts lasting for more than four hours to narrate the revolutionary character of Che. But even this was not enough to cover the fascinating life story of Che. In his relatively short life of 39 years, Che had a life filled with idealism, action and adventures. Although he spent his first 24 years in Argentina, he became thereafter a true latin American and a standard bearer of global revolution. He first went to Bolivia and from there to Peru and then to central America. In Guatemala,he joined the struggle to defend the leftist government of Arbenz, which was overthrown as part of the cold war politics. From Guatemala, he went to Mexico where he joined Fidel Castro´s movement.
The end of Che was predictable. As a pure and unchangeable revolutionary, Che could not have died a natural death at old age. The revolutionary fire in him was always burning and it would not have allowed him to settle into normal life. It was not the Bolivians who killed him. It was the fire within himself which burnt him to death. Position and power did not appeal to him. As a minister in the Cuban government,he was uncomfortable and wanted to get out for the next campaign. He felt that his karma was in fighting, liberation and revolution. He, therefore set off to Africa where he joined the Congolese guerillas.But the experience there was not to the satisfaction of the revolutionary. So he came back to Latin America and thought of the idea of a guerilla war in Bolivia. Fidel Castro, knowing that Che did not have a chance in Bolivia , let him go since he also felt that Che did not fit in the post- revolution Cuba. Part II of the film, in fact, starts with Fidel Castro on TV, reading a letter from Che Guevara.
While this is a serious biographical film on the revolutionary aspect of the personality of Che, there is the other delightful film ¨Diaries of a motorcyclist¨which is about Che´s journey through Latin America in his motorcycle.It depicts the character of the young Che in his formative years trying out unarmed adventures. This journey was the one which initiated Che´s understanding of the world outside Argentina and motivated him to fight against injustice.
Che, the film, succeeds in reminding the audience of the place of Che Guevara in the history of Latin America and that of the world. His name and image have inspired and romanticised revolution in the hearts and minds of generations after him.
I have seen criticism of the film as well as Che by the Commie baiters. But the fact is that Che´s dream has now been fulfilled by the contemporary Latin America. Che, in his grave, would be pleased with the reemergence of Left which has come to power in many countries of Latin America. But the Left has come to power peacefully through the ballot and not by the bullet believed and practised by Che and his companeros. The election of Left means empowerment of the masses who have started driving the political and economic agenda of the region. The abnormal gap between rich and poor, characteristic of Latin America, is now being filled and thereby socio political stabilty is being established. Latin America is now moving towards the next post-ideological stage with pragmatic leaders who are finding the balance with the right mix of pro-poor and pro-business policies. This is the basis for my optimism for a stable and prosperous Latin America in the long term.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Sunday, June 07, 2009
Queen of Curious Night..is... Divya, the Divine Light
Curiosa Noche ( curious night ) the nightly programme in Radio Vale 97.5 FM of Buenos Aires, made me more curious when I heard the word Namaste....
The programme starts with Namaste at 10 pm and ends at 1 AM Monday to Friday...with Namaste.
It is the voice of Daisy May Queen, the hostess of the show.
Queen, Curiosa Noche and Namaste.... The curiosity took me to a meeting with Daisy May Queen last week . She greeted me with Namaste. It struck me that Namaste is not just a word from her lips, but an expression from her soul. Daisy May Queen told me ¨It is the Divya in me which says Namaste ¨ She has assumed an Indian name Divya, which means Divine Brilliance or Light. She says she is more of a spiritual person than a physical one but living in a country which is more physical than spiritual. India is her spiritual home.
India is not just a passing fancy or fashion for her. When she went to India for the first time, she felt as though she was ¨returning to India¨. She feels at home in India and among the Indians. She has been to India three times, each time for a month. She is planning to buy a property and stay regularly in Siliguri and do some community work there. She became interested in India since her teenage. As soon as she earned and saved enough, the first thing she did was to buy a ticket to India.
She has learnt some Hindi and can read. She looks more beautiful when she says ¨ Bahut Sundar Hai¨ in her charming accent. She has read a lot of Indian authors. Gita Mehta ( especially the book River Sutra) is one of her favourites. She loves Bollywood films and songs. She has become a vegetarian now. She likes Indian food and makes Dal Makhani at home. Masala Dosai is her favourite.
Bahut Sunder Hai in saree and bindi:
Divine Brilliance....
The Curiosa Noche programme of Daisy May Queen is one of the best cultural experience of Buenos Aires. It is about people and society, feelings and frustrations, poetic dreams and prosaic life, encuentros and desencuentros ( meetings and nonmeetings) amor and desamor ( love and nonlove). I love the spanish expressions: desencuentro and desamor. She tells the romantic stories and experience of her listeners and asks always the three questions;
Que piensas, que sentís, que te preguntas ?
What do you think, what do you feel, what do you ask yourself ?
Gracias Divya. This time the Festival quote will be ... Noviembre con ti ( november with you ) !
The programme starts with Namaste at 10 pm and ends at 1 AM Monday to Friday...with Namaste.
It is the voice of Daisy May Queen, the hostess of the show.
Queen, Curiosa Noche and Namaste.... The curiosity took me to a meeting with Daisy May Queen last week . She greeted me with Namaste. It struck me that Namaste is not just a word from her lips, but an expression from her soul. Daisy May Queen told me ¨It is the Divya in me which says Namaste ¨ She has assumed an Indian name Divya, which means Divine Brilliance or Light. She says she is more of a spiritual person than a physical one but living in a country which is more physical than spiritual. India is her spiritual home.
India is not just a passing fancy or fashion for her. When she went to India for the first time, she felt as though she was ¨returning to India¨. She feels at home in India and among the Indians. She has been to India three times, each time for a month. She is planning to buy a property and stay regularly in Siliguri and do some community work there. She became interested in India since her teenage. As soon as she earned and saved enough, the first thing she did was to buy a ticket to India.
She has learnt some Hindi and can read. She looks more beautiful when she says ¨ Bahut Sundar Hai¨ in her charming accent. She has read a lot of Indian authors. Gita Mehta ( especially the book River Sutra) is one of her favourites. She loves Bollywood films and songs. She has become a vegetarian now. She likes Indian food and makes Dal Makhani at home. Masala Dosai is her favourite.
Bahut Sunder Hai in saree and bindi:
Divine Brilliance....
Even the stares and ogles of Indian men do not deter her from travelling alone to every nook and corner of India including Trichy and Kanyakumari. She laughs while telling how an Indian salesman in a saree shop was trying to touch her while teaching her how to wear a saree. The Indian men should be careful because she is a Kali worshipper !
See the image below to know what Kali means...
Divya has a Kali temple at home. She leads a prayer, yoga and meditation group. She hopes a Hindu temple will be built in Buenos Aires, where she can do puja and offer prayers as they do in India.
Despite their stares, Daisy has a soft corner for Indian men. She says Indian men like gorditas ( fleshy women). She was a little plump when she went to India but now she is flaquita ( thin).
In this video in spanish she talks about how she lost 36 kilos in seven months..
Perhaps the reason for her kindness to Indian men is the fact that she is a fan of Freddy Mercury, the singer and pianist of the British rock group Queen. Freddy Mercury´s original name was Farrokh Bulsara, a Parsi whose family came from Balsara in Gujrat. He was born in Zanzibar in Africa. He was sent to school in Mumbai where he had his formative years. He changed his name to Freddy Mercury, after he went to live in England. Daisy visited the place in Zanzibar where Freddy Mercury was born. She hopes to interview him in her next incarnation !
Now Daisy has a crush for Salman Khan !
Now Daisy has a crush for Salman Khan !
The Curiosa Noche programme of Daisy May Queen is one of the best cultural experience of Buenos Aires. It is about people and society, feelings and frustrations, poetic dreams and prosaic life, encuentros and desencuentros ( meetings and nonmeetings) amor and desamor ( love and nonlove). I love the spanish expressions: desencuentro and desamor. She tells the romantic stories and experience of her listeners and asks always the three questions;
Que piensas, que sentís, que te preguntas ?
What do you think, what do you feel, what do you ask yourself ?
She starts her programme at 10 pm saying ¨The night has arrived... No more running, no hurry. This is the intimate moment you can dedicate to yourself, your books and your radio. You can lower the light, have a glass of wine, a cup of coffee... but never alone... because i am here to accompany you in the radio ¨. Her voice is magical and mesmerising.
She keeps the Argentines ( and an incorrigible Indian romantic too ) sleepless till 1 am telling stories and asking the three questions in her sensual and seductive voice. She is poetic and provocative, creative and gifted. She makes the listeners curious and puzzled. She calms the disturbed minds and comforts broken hearts. She inspires dreams and incites imagination. She stirs emotions and soothes the soul.
Daisy plays the songs of all my Latino romantic favourites: Cristian Castro, Reik, Diego Torres, Selena, Axel, Luis Fonsi, Marco Antonio Solis, Chayanne, Juan Luis Guerra, Alex ubago… And, I love the slogan of the Radio Vale, when they say ¨No deja de soñar ¨which means Dont stop dreaming.
I was thrilled the other night when Daisy dedicated my favourite song ¨Noviembre Sin ti ¨ of Reik to the number one fan of Curiosa Noche…no prize for guessing the fan.
I was thrilled the other night when Daisy dedicated my favourite song ¨Noviembre Sin ti ¨ of Reik to the number one fan of Curiosa Noche…no prize for guessing the fan.
Noviembre sin ti ( november without you ) is the song I had quoted in my speech at the Gala of the Festival of India in November last year. Here is the song:
I invited Divya to be the hostess of this year´s Festival Gala on 5 November 2009. The Queen has agreed to wear a Saree and compere the programme. Divya, the Divine Light will light the lamp at the inaguration of the Festival.
Gracias Divya. This time the Festival quote will be ... Noviembre con ti ( november with you ) !
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Nicaragua... the land of poets and volcanos
On my recent ( 9-11 May 2009) visit to Nicaragua I took a travel companion with me. Guess.. a book on Nicaragua written by Salman Rushdie with the title¨The jaguar smile¨. Rushdie quoted someone´s saying that there are poets and writers in every street of Nicaragua and that everybody is considered to be a poet until proved to the contrary¨. Incidentally this was the first non-fiction written by Rushdie.
Daniel Ortega, the President himself writes poetry. When he was a political prisoner at the age of 23 from 1967 to 1974 , he wrote many poems, one of which is titled ¨I Never Saw Managua When Miniskirts Were in Fashion¨. While in jail he received visits from Rosario Murillo, a poet. The prisoner and visitor fell in love; Murillo became Ortega's wife. She has published several books of poems. One of them is called as ¨Amar es combatir ¨- to love is to combat. She is now the President of the Foundation for Promotion of Love (FUNDAMOR).
One of Daniel Ortega´s brothers Humborto Ortega was a published writer. Many ministers in his cabinet now and during his previous presidency and Sandinista leaders are poets and writers. Notable among these is Sergio Ramirez, Gioconda Belli and Ernesto Cardinal.The revolutionaries and common people found solace and expression in poetry for survival and inspiration during the volcanic eruptions of revolutions, war and struggles.
Ruben Dario, the poet and writer of Nicaragua is the most well-known in the world. He is considered as the father of the Modernist Movement in spanish literature in the twentieth century. His book Azul (1888) is said to be the inaugural book of Hispanic-American modernism. He was a precocious poet and published his poem in a newspaper at the age of thirteen. He was precocious in love too. He fell in love with a eleven year-old girl, when he was fifteen. Thereafter he fell in love frequently with different women in later life and married some of them. In San Salvador, he was married to Rafaela Contreras, daughter of a famous Honduran orator, Álvaro Contreras, on June 21, 1890. One day after the wedding there was a coup d'état in which his wife died. The coup was engineered by general Carlos Ezeta, who had been a guest at Dario's wedding.
Dario had lived in several central and south american countries and worked in the newspapers of these countries including the Argentine daily La Nacion for a long time. He wrote a book Canto a la Argentina. Interestingly he was appointed as the Colombian honorary consul in Buenos Aires by the Colombian president Miguel Antonio Caro in the period 1893 - 1895.
Dario is remembered for the following prophetic poem in which he anticipated US as a invader.
Eres los Estados Unidos,
eres el futuro invasor
You are the United States
you are the future invader
Nicaragua was one of the worst victims of American invasion and the infamous Contra war.
An American mercenary adventurer William Walker maneuvered to appoint himself as President of Nicaragua in 1856 and ruled for a year and even made English as the official language. Walker recruited about a thousand American and European mercenaries to invade the other four Central American nations: Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Costa Rica. This was supported by the American tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt who had business interests in the region. Fortunately the invasion failed and Walker was later executed.
Here is the iron plate statue (in Managua, the capital) of Sandino, the father of the nation who raised a rebellion against US presence in Nicaragua in the peiod 1927-33. He was assasinated by Somoza whose cruel dynastic dictatorship was brought down by Sandinistas in 1979.
I asked the boatman what did he know of India. He replied that he associated India with two things: motos and high economic growth. Nicaragua is full of Bajaj motorcycles and three wheelers. While the three wheelers are for the poor people, Bajaj Pulsar motorcycle has become a status symbol among the young Nicaraguans.
The landscape and people of Nicaragua reminded me of Kerala. The countryside of Nicaragua is like the Kerala villages with palm and banana trees, yukka and beans, mountains and waterbodies, literacy and marxism.
I wanted to play golf in Nicaragua. But I was not sure if golf courses existed in the land of Sandinistas. To my surprise, I found a world-class course called as Nejapa golf club. I played with India´s honorary consul Alejandro Lacaya, who is a golf fanatic with a handicap of nine. He told me that the original golf course in Managua was taken over by the first Sandinista government, which converted it into a housing colony for the poor. Later, the Chamorros government, paid a compensation to the golfers who supplemented it with their funds to acquire land and build the new Nejapa golf course, which is dotted with neem trees from India.
I found an interesting Indian business executive too in Managua. Mr Ashwani Dhingra, the Latin America regional head of Tablets India Ltd, Chennai ,runs his 6 million dollar business from his residence in Managua. He is at home there with his family and a passion for Latin America.
The government of Nicaragua, in an unusual but welcome move, have authorised their honorary consul in Mumbai Paresh Mehta tel 022-40479444 to issue visas.
Volcanoes are part of the geology of Nicaraguan land and they erupt from time to time , like the politics of the country. Here is a volcano poem of Gioconda Belli with the title,
Yo, la que te quiere - I am the Woman Who Loves You.
Yo caliento tus noches,
encendiendo volcanes en mis manos,
mojándote los ojos con el humo de mis
cráteres.
I warm your nights,
lighting volcanoes with my hands,
making you cry with the smoke from my
craters.
Here is the picture I took at the Masaya volcano, between Managua and Grenada
To me the whole country of Nicaragua looked like a political crater, having suffered so many eruptions of wars, invasion and violence in the past. I hope the country will erupt in the future with more poetry instead of volcanos and wars.
Here is the answer to the question in the previous blog on Costa Rica. Why did I choose to visit these two countries?
They were the only two countries missing from my Latin American curriculum. I can, now claim, that I have kissed the land and breathed the air of every Latin American country. My Latin American Karma is complete now...
Daniel Ortega, the President himself writes poetry. When he was a political prisoner at the age of 23 from 1967 to 1974 , he wrote many poems, one of which is titled ¨I Never Saw Managua When Miniskirts Were in Fashion¨. While in jail he received visits from Rosario Murillo, a poet. The prisoner and visitor fell in love; Murillo became Ortega's wife. She has published several books of poems. One of them is called as ¨Amar es combatir ¨- to love is to combat. She is now the President of the Foundation for Promotion of Love (FUNDAMOR).
One of Daniel Ortega´s brothers Humborto Ortega was a published writer. Many ministers in his cabinet now and during his previous presidency and Sandinista leaders are poets and writers. Notable among these is Sergio Ramirez, Gioconda Belli and Ernesto Cardinal.The revolutionaries and common people found solace and expression in poetry for survival and inspiration during the volcanic eruptions of revolutions, war and struggles.
Ruben Dario, the poet and writer of Nicaragua is the most well-known in the world. He is considered as the father of the Modernist Movement in spanish literature in the twentieth century. His book Azul (1888) is said to be the inaugural book of Hispanic-American modernism. He was a precocious poet and published his poem in a newspaper at the age of thirteen. He was precocious in love too. He fell in love with a eleven year-old girl, when he was fifteen. Thereafter he fell in love frequently with different women in later life and married some of them. In San Salvador, he was married to Rafaela Contreras, daughter of a famous Honduran orator, Álvaro Contreras, on June 21, 1890. One day after the wedding there was a coup d'état in which his wife died. The coup was engineered by general Carlos Ezeta, who had been a guest at Dario's wedding.
Dario had lived in several central and south american countries and worked in the newspapers of these countries including the Argentine daily La Nacion for a long time. He wrote a book Canto a la Argentina. Interestingly he was appointed as the Colombian honorary consul in Buenos Aires by the Colombian president Miguel Antonio Caro in the period 1893 - 1895.
Dario is remembered for the following prophetic poem in which he anticipated US as a invader.
Eres los Estados Unidos,
eres el futuro invasor
You are the United States
you are the future invader
Nicaragua was one of the worst victims of American invasion and the infamous Contra war.
An American mercenary adventurer William Walker maneuvered to appoint himself as President of Nicaragua in 1856 and ruled for a year and even made English as the official language. Walker recruited about a thousand American and European mercenaries to invade the other four Central American nations: Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Costa Rica. This was supported by the American tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt who had business interests in the region. Fortunately the invasion failed and Walker was later executed.
Here is the iron plate statue (in Managua, the capital) of Sandino, the father of the nation who raised a rebellion against US presence in Nicaragua in the peiod 1927-33. He was assasinated by Somoza whose cruel dynastic dictatorship was brought down by Sandinistas in 1979.
Nicaragua is a land of lakes too. May be it is Nature´s compensation to cool the volcanic heat. The largest, Lake Nicaragua is spread over 8000 sq kms. I visited Granada, the former capital and a picturesque city, on the shore of the lake and took a boat tour of the small islands called as islets. There are over 350 of them in varying sizes ranging from an acre to dozens of acres. These can be bought and used for private purposes. Rich people have built attractive holiday homes. The islets, although rocky, have dense vegetation and many of them have large and tall trees.
Here is an island house:
I asked the boatman what did he know of India. He replied that he associated India with two things: motos and high economic growth. Nicaragua is full of Bajaj motorcycles and three wheelers. While the three wheelers are for the poor people, Bajaj Pulsar motorcycle has become a status symbol among the young Nicaraguans.
The landscape and people of Nicaragua reminded me of Kerala. The countryside of Nicaragua is like the Kerala villages with palm and banana trees, yukka and beans, mountains and waterbodies, literacy and marxism.
I wanted to play golf in Nicaragua. But I was not sure if golf courses existed in the land of Sandinistas. To my surprise, I found a world-class course called as Nejapa golf club. I played with India´s honorary consul Alejandro Lacaya, who is a golf fanatic with a handicap of nine. He told me that the original golf course in Managua was taken over by the first Sandinista government, which converted it into a housing colony for the poor. Later, the Chamorros government, paid a compensation to the golfers who supplemented it with their funds to acquire land and build the new Nejapa golf course, which is dotted with neem trees from India.
I found an interesting Indian business executive too in Managua. Mr Ashwani Dhingra, the Latin America regional head of Tablets India Ltd, Chennai ,runs his 6 million dollar business from his residence in Managua. He is at home there with his family and a passion for Latin America.
The government of Nicaragua, in an unusual but welcome move, have authorised their honorary consul in Mumbai Paresh Mehta tel 022-40479444 to issue visas.
Volcanoes are part of the geology of Nicaraguan land and they erupt from time to time , like the politics of the country. Here is a volcano poem of Gioconda Belli with the title,
Yo, la que te quiere - I am the Woman Who Loves You.
Yo caliento tus noches,
encendiendo volcanes en mis manos,
mojándote los ojos con el humo de mis
cráteres.
I warm your nights,
lighting volcanoes with my hands,
making you cry with the smoke from my
craters.
Here is the picture I took at the Masaya volcano, between Managua and Grenada
To me the whole country of Nicaragua looked like a political crater, having suffered so many eruptions of wars, invasion and violence in the past. I hope the country will erupt in the future with more poetry instead of volcanos and wars.Here is the answer to the question in the previous blog on Costa Rica. Why did I choose to visit these two countries?
They were the only two countries missing from my Latin American curriculum. I can, now claim, that I have kissed the land and breathed the air of every Latin American country. My Latin American Karma is complete now...
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Costa Rica ..... ¨pura vida¨ country
Pura Vida.. is how the Costa Ricans respond cheerfully when you ask them , Como esta ( how are you ). Pura vida literally means pure life. But what the Costa Ricans mean is ¨full of life¨, ¨great¨. This makes them distinct among the Latin Americans who respond generally as Bien ( fine) or Muy Bien ( very well ). I had the opportunity to discover some more unique characteristics of this Pura Vida country during my visit there last week from 6 to 9 May.
The Ticos ( nick name of costa rican men ) or Ticas ( costa rican women) distingusih themselves from the other Central Americans and Latin Americans not just by the word Pura Vida. They have genuinely made themsleves distinct and succeeded in marketing their country as a business and tourist destination with a difference. Here are some facts substantiating their claim.
Costa Rica had abolished the armed forces in December 1948 and has been peacefully and democratically governed in the last fifty years. Unbelievabe... but true. This is their greatest distinction from the rest of Latin America which had suffered military dictatorships and the consequent miseries in this period. Mind you .. the Ticos are not living in a far away island. They live right in the middle of Central America which has gone through devastating civil wars, proxy wars, contra wars and even soccer wars. It is against this background that Costa Rica´s achivement looks even more admirable. From an intellectual, cultural and historic point view abolishment of army by Costa Rica is indeed a civilisational advance! As the first country to abolish armed forces, Costa Rica has set an example not only for Latin america but for the whole world. The neighbouring Panama has followed the example of the Ticos by abolishing their army in 1990.
The Ticos are not just content with passive peace within the frontiers of their chiquitico country of four million. They have established a University for Peace (UPEACE) in 1980 “to contribute to the great universal task of educating for peace by engaging in teaching, research, post-graduate training and dissemination of knowledge fundamental to the full development of the human person and societies through the interdisciplinary study of all matters related to peace”. At present, the UPEACE Costa Rica Campus has 170 students from 52 different countries, including India, making it one of the most diverse universities in the world for its size.
Oscar Arias, the president of Costa Rica successfully mediated to stop the central american wars and get the presidents of the region to sign a peace agreementin 1987. Peace has endured since then. He was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 1987. He used the monetary award from the Nobel Peace prize to establish the Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress. In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech he said ¨ We are a people without arms and we are fighting to continue to be a people without hunger. Our children walk with books under their arms rather than guns on their shoulders. We are a symbol of peace for America.¨ Not a rhetoric. Preaching based on practice.
In 1869, the country became one of the first in the world to make education both free and obligatory, funded by the state’s share of the great coffee wealth. The literacy rate of Costa Rica is one of the highest in Latin America.
With its high literacy rate, Costa Rica has positioned itself as the silicon valley of Latin America. Intel has a chip making plant employing 5000 Ticos. Hewlett Packard employs 7000 Ticos in its call centres and BPOs.
Costa Rica is not only a kind of silicon valley; it has made silicon mountains out of the breasts of Latino women. Read my blog story on this
http://latinamericanaffairs.blogspot.com/2008/09/indian-men-want-to-conquer-silicon.html#links
Costa Rica was the pioneer in introducing Canopy Tours. There are 190 of them in various parts of the rain forests of the country. It is an adrenaline rush soaring above the canopies of the forest and sliding down the steel ropes ( like monkeys ! ) through the branches and leaves of the trees. It gives an intimate feel of the forest. My own monkey trick on the rope was not a big deal. I used to climb palm trees in my village. I was scared for another reason. Behind me in the rope was a MacDonald-fed 400 pound Gringa. I was afraid that the rope would break and she would fall on me and crush me to a pulp. But the ropes were stronger and I survived. Here is a picture of the Canopy tour:
Costa Rica was the first country to start coffee plantations in Central America, in 1779. Again the Ticos have distinguished themselves from the other central americans. While in the other countries cafe oligarchy has caused political and social problems, in Costa Rica the coffee economy is more inclusive with the participation of a large number of small and medium coffee farmers. Whereas in other countries the Indios and tenant farmers were displaced from their communal lands, most Costa Ricans have benefited from Coffee. Of course, there are coffee barons in Costa Rica including the current president Oscar Arias. But they are the benevolent types.
Costa Rica has the best golf clubs in Central America with some fantastic world-class resort courses. I played in the Cariari country club, the one nearest to the city. It is one of the toughest courses I have ever played. It is narrow with hazards and out of bound scaring the hell out of the players. I survived without losing a ball or going out of bounds but with a poor score of 92! David, one of the foursome in which I played is a retiree from US, settled there for the last seven years. He comes to the club in his own golf cart from his house located inside the golf course. The snack and drinks cart moving around the golf course had many alcoholic drinks including black label whisky. Lou Aguillera, one of our foursome started playing better after a couple of glasses of rum...
Here is the signature hole ( par three hole number four )
Tourism is the largest source of foreign exchange for the country. About 2 million tourists visit the country every year. Ecotourism has been well developed. Many Ticos in the services sector such as Tourism and Hotels speak fluent English. The climate, political stability and friendly services has attracted a number of Americans who have settled down there permamnently.
The Ticos ( nick name of costa rican men ) or Ticas ( costa rican women) distingusih themselves from the other Central Americans and Latin Americans not just by the word Pura Vida. They have genuinely made themsleves distinct and succeeded in marketing their country as a business and tourist destination with a difference. Here are some facts substantiating their claim.
Costa Rica had abolished the armed forces in December 1948 and has been peacefully and democratically governed in the last fifty years. Unbelievabe... but true. This is their greatest distinction from the rest of Latin America which had suffered military dictatorships and the consequent miseries in this period. Mind you .. the Ticos are not living in a far away island. They live right in the middle of Central America which has gone through devastating civil wars, proxy wars, contra wars and even soccer wars. It is against this background that Costa Rica´s achivement looks even more admirable. From an intellectual, cultural and historic point view abolishment of army by Costa Rica is indeed a civilisational advance! As the first country to abolish armed forces, Costa Rica has set an example not only for Latin america but for the whole world. The neighbouring Panama has followed the example of the Ticos by abolishing their army in 1990.
The Ticos are not just content with passive peace within the frontiers of their chiquitico country of four million. They have established a University for Peace (UPEACE) in 1980 “to contribute to the great universal task of educating for peace by engaging in teaching, research, post-graduate training and dissemination of knowledge fundamental to the full development of the human person and societies through the interdisciplinary study of all matters related to peace”. At present, the UPEACE Costa Rica Campus has 170 students from 52 different countries, including India, making it one of the most diverse universities in the world for its size.
Oscar Arias, the president of Costa Rica successfully mediated to stop the central american wars and get the presidents of the region to sign a peace agreementin 1987. Peace has endured since then. He was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 1987. He used the monetary award from the Nobel Peace prize to establish the Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress. In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech he said ¨ We are a people without arms and we are fighting to continue to be a people without hunger. Our children walk with books under their arms rather than guns on their shoulders. We are a symbol of peace for America.¨ Not a rhetoric. Preaching based on practice.
In 1869, the country became one of the first in the world to make education both free and obligatory, funded by the state’s share of the great coffee wealth. The literacy rate of Costa Rica is one of the highest in Latin America.
With its high literacy rate, Costa Rica has positioned itself as the silicon valley of Latin America. Intel has a chip making plant employing 5000 Ticos. Hewlett Packard employs 7000 Ticos in its call centres and BPOs.
Costa Rica is not only a kind of silicon valley; it has made silicon mountains out of the breasts of Latino women. Read my blog story on this
http://latinamericanaffairs.blogspot.com/2008/09/indian-men-want-to-conquer-silicon.html#links
Costa Rica was the pioneer in introducing Canopy Tours. There are 190 of them in various parts of the rain forests of the country. It is an adrenaline rush soaring above the canopies of the forest and sliding down the steel ropes ( like monkeys ! ) through the branches and leaves of the trees. It gives an intimate feel of the forest. My own monkey trick on the rope was not a big deal. I used to climb palm trees in my village. I was scared for another reason. Behind me in the rope was a MacDonald-fed 400 pound Gringa. I was afraid that the rope would break and she would fall on me and crush me to a pulp. But the ropes were stronger and I survived. Here is a picture of the Canopy tour:
Costa Rica was the first country to start coffee plantations in Central America, in 1779. Again the Ticos have distinguished themselves from the other central americans. While in the other countries cafe oligarchy has caused political and social problems, in Costa Rica the coffee economy is more inclusive with the participation of a large number of small and medium coffee farmers. Whereas in other countries the Indios and tenant farmers were displaced from their communal lands, most Costa Ricans have benefited from Coffee. Of course, there are coffee barons in Costa Rica including the current president Oscar Arias. But they are the benevolent types.
Costa Rica has the best golf clubs in Central America with some fantastic world-class resort courses. I played in the Cariari country club, the one nearest to the city. It is one of the toughest courses I have ever played. It is narrow with hazards and out of bound scaring the hell out of the players. I survived without losing a ball or going out of bounds but with a poor score of 92! David, one of the foursome in which I played is a retiree from US, settled there for the last seven years. He comes to the club in his own golf cart from his house located inside the golf course. The snack and drinks cart moving around the golf course had many alcoholic drinks including black label whisky. Lou Aguillera, one of our foursome started playing better after a couple of glasses of rum...
Here is the signature hole ( par three hole number four )
Tourism is the largest source of foreign exchange for the country. About 2 million tourists visit the country every year. Ecotourism has been well developed. Many Ticos in the services sector such as Tourism and Hotels speak fluent English. The climate, political stability and friendly services has attracted a number of Americans who have settled down there permamnently.
I went in a tour group to see local folk dances at Pueblo Antigo. Two Ticas namely, Chavela and Consuelo gave a guided tour of the place and cultural event for two hours. They entertained us with jokes, stories, songs, dances and anecdotes explaining the history and culture of Costa Rica. They were like a two-person theatre. They were the best and the most impressive tourist guides I have ever met in my travels around the world. Chavela is on the right and Consuelo is on the left in the picture below:
Costa Rica has a distinction from the Indian point of view too. It is the Americas Headquarters of the Indian company Havells Sylvania, which has a global turnover of one billion dollars. Kapil Gulati, the bright young Indian is based in San Jose as the Director of Americas managing the 160 million dollar operations in the whole region of Americas including USA. This company has perhaps the largest volume of business in Latin America among the Indian companies operating in the region. It has business in ten countries and has production units in Costa Rica, Brazil and Colombia. The Indian company Havells ( sounds German..no.. it was founded by a Havelli Ram ) bought the lighting and fixtures business of the American company Sylavania worldwide including Latin America. Here is their website www.havells-sylvania.com
Gulati is in the process of consolidating and streamlining the business in the whole region, operating out of the chiquitico Costa Rica.
There are a few Indians there, the most notable being Dr Nandwani, who has been there for over thirty years and has earned the respect of the Ticos as a leading scientist and Head of the Solar Energy centre in the university. Tico Nandwani has become a Tio Indiano ( Indian Uncle) for the small Indian community there.
Two disclaimers...
-This is not marketing for Costa Rica... my genuine experience and feeling.
- Costa Ricans did not pay for my trip to write this story.. I was on a private tour paid by myself.
Why did I choose to go there?
Answer in the next blog story on Nicaragua to be published this week.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Book Time in Buenos Aires.......
It is Book Time in Buenos Aires...
Books, authors and literary activities have captured the headlines of newspapers as well as the heads of the Porteños- the inhabitants of Buenos Aires city, these days. The annual International Book Fair going on since 23 April till 11 May is more than just a trade fair. It is a Festival...a Fiesta... a Celebration ...of books and authors, poetry and thought. It is part of the city´s culture. The Porteños, who are perceived as flamboyant in the rest of the country and Latin America, go to this Fair not only for the show... they are ...hmmm...serious. They read, think, analyse and argue. The theme of this year´s Fair is Pensar con Libros which means Thinking with Books.
The Buenos Aires event is the largest book fair in Latin America and one of the top five in the world. It is also the largest spanish-language book fair in the world.
It is not only the long duration of the Fair (19 days) which is impressive; the number of activities during the Fair is even more interesting. There are book readings, poetry recitations, lectures, panel discussions, presentations, signings, workshops and children’s activities. There are also meetings and special events for publishers, editors, librarians and educators. The programme booklet containing the activities of the Book Fair runs into 70 pages. For example, on saturday 2 May,there are 35 activities packed within 1400 hours to 2130 hours. This annual Fair is an event avidly anticipated by the public who visit in large numbers. The number of visitors is 1.2 million . There are about 1500 exihibitors with stalls in the 50,000 sq m venue La Rural.
Buenos Aires is the publishing capital of Latin America. There are about 1000 publishing firms in the City and there are over 2000 in Argentina. They publish about 22.000 new titles every year and 85 million books in total. Two books for each of the 40 million population of Argentina ! Of course, part of the production is for export to the rest of Latin America and Spain.
The number of poetry books published in Argentina is around 1000 every year. In the Book Fair, there is an area called as Zona de Poesia- poetry zone.
Writers from Latin America, Europe and USA participate in the Book Fair which is a launchpad for regionwide publicity. Many Latin American writers have stayed in this vibrant city and written and published their books here. Gabriel Garcia marquez´s One hundred years of solitude was first published in Buenos Aires. Other Latin American writers such as Pablo Neruda of Chile, Carlos Fuentes of Mexico, Miguel Angel Asturias of Guatemala and Ruben Dario of Nicaragua had lived in this city and published their works. There is a book, called as ¨Buenos Aires- a cultural and literary history¨by Jason Wilson, which describes the literary links of the streets, cafes and bars of the city and the romance of the poets and writers with the city.
The Book Fair is not just a one-night stand for the Porteños. It is Amor Eterno. Books are part of the day to day life of Buneos Aires. There are bookshops in every nook and corner of the city. Many bookshops have cafe, bar and restaurants. They are the refuges and meeting points for the bohemians and the bourgeois. The most famous Argentine writers including Borges and Cortázar have frequented them to write and meet. The Porteños sit in these book cafes for hours together browsing books and discussing local and global issues till the end of the world.
Last time when I was invited to a poetry reading, I went a bit late assuming that the event might not start in time and in any case there might not be much of an audience for poetry. I was in a for a surprise. When I reached the venue, I found that it was not only full but was overflowing at the entrance and at the corridors. I could not get anywhere near the reading and had to come back.
Many of the book shops in Buenos Aires are more than just buildings. They are elegant and eclectic in architecture and interior decoration with attractive ambience. When you walk by, these bookshops provoke, invite and tease you with their style and appeal. There are some famous and traditional book shops and chains such as Ateneo and Cuspide. One of the landmark bookstores is called “Gandhi”, founded in 1984 with the same concept of book and coffee shop.
My favourite is the El Ateneo Bookshop in Avenida Santa Fe. It is the most beautiful bookshop I have ever seen. According to a survey by the London newspaper “ The Guardian” , El Ateneo ranked second in the list of ten most beautiful bookstores in the world, after the number one in Maastricht. El Ateneo was originally a theatre called as“Grand Splendid”, now converted into a bookshop. It is magnificent with high painted ceiling, curvaceous balconies and ornate carvings. The original stage with the crimson curtains has been made into a café bar. No wonder I felt there like a performer... after a few drinks ! El Ateneo receives 3000 visitors per day.
Here are the pictures of El Ateneo:
Books, authors and literary activities have captured the headlines of newspapers as well as the heads of the Porteños- the inhabitants of Buenos Aires city, these days. The annual International Book Fair going on since 23 April till 11 May is more than just a trade fair. It is a Festival...a Fiesta... a Celebration ...of books and authors, poetry and thought. It is part of the city´s culture. The Porteños, who are perceived as flamboyant in the rest of the country and Latin America, go to this Fair not only for the show... they are ...hmmm...serious. They read, think, analyse and argue. The theme of this year´s Fair is Pensar con Libros which means Thinking with Books.
The Buenos Aires event is the largest book fair in Latin America and one of the top five in the world. It is also the largest spanish-language book fair in the world.
It is not only the long duration of the Fair (19 days) which is impressive; the number of activities during the Fair is even more interesting. There are book readings, poetry recitations, lectures, panel discussions, presentations, signings, workshops and children’s activities. There are also meetings and special events for publishers, editors, librarians and educators. The programme booklet containing the activities of the Book Fair runs into 70 pages. For example, on saturday 2 May,there are 35 activities packed within 1400 hours to 2130 hours. This annual Fair is an event avidly anticipated by the public who visit in large numbers. The number of visitors is 1.2 million . There are about 1500 exihibitors with stalls in the 50,000 sq m venue La Rural.
An International Poetry Festival is held from 29 April to 2 May as part of the Book Fair. Thirty six poets from Argentina and around the world participated in this. Poetry at the Festival is not just for those in ivory towers or within airconditioned Salons. It literally goes to the street. Yes,the poets are going to recite in streets and subways. They go even beyond... to hospitals and jails. Incredible... During this year´s poetry festival, the poets are going to recite at the Hospital General de Agudos "Ignacio Pirovano" and the Cárcel de Ezeiza jail on 30 April. Could this be ....Poetrytherapy ...! An Argentine invention !!
Ah.. there is one more Argentine innovation. The city government of Buenos Aires organises every year a Noche de las Librerias- Bookstores Night. The last one was on 10 December. This is a kind of street fair of books in the famous Corrientes Avenue, the Broadway of Buenos Aires. This large and busy avenue is closed for traffic from 8.30 pm till midnight and the street is taken over by bookstalls and readers. People sit on the sofas and chairs placed in the Avenue browsing and reading in the middle of the avenue. There are also poetry recitations, workshops and cultural activities.
Here is a picture of the Noche de las Librerias:
Buenos Aires is the publishing capital of Latin America. There are about 1000 publishing firms in the City and there are over 2000 in Argentina. They publish about 22.000 new titles every year and 85 million books in total. Two books for each of the 40 million population of Argentina ! Of course, part of the production is for export to the rest of Latin America and Spain.
The number of poetry books published in Argentina is around 1000 every year. In the Book Fair, there is an area called as Zona de Poesia- poetry zone.
Writers from Latin America, Europe and USA participate in the Book Fair which is a launchpad for regionwide publicity. Many Latin American writers have stayed in this vibrant city and written and published their books here. Gabriel Garcia marquez´s One hundred years of solitude was first published in Buenos Aires. Other Latin American writers such as Pablo Neruda of Chile, Carlos Fuentes of Mexico, Miguel Angel Asturias of Guatemala and Ruben Dario of Nicaragua had lived in this city and published their works. There is a book, called as ¨Buenos Aires- a cultural and literary history¨by Jason Wilson, which describes the literary links of the streets, cafes and bars of the city and the romance of the poets and writers with the city.
The Book Fair is not just a one-night stand for the Porteños. It is Amor Eterno. Books are part of the day to day life of Buneos Aires. There are bookshops in every nook and corner of the city. Many bookshops have cafe, bar and restaurants. They are the refuges and meeting points for the bohemians and the bourgeois. The most famous Argentine writers including Borges and Cortázar have frequented them to write and meet. The Porteños sit in these book cafes for hours together browsing books and discussing local and global issues till the end of the world.
Last time when I was invited to a poetry reading, I went a bit late assuming that the event might not start in time and in any case there might not be much of an audience for poetry. I was in a for a surprise. When I reached the venue, I found that it was not only full but was overflowing at the entrance and at the corridors. I could not get anywhere near the reading and had to come back.
Many of the book shops in Buenos Aires are more than just buildings. They are elegant and eclectic in architecture and interior decoration with attractive ambience. When you walk by, these bookshops provoke, invite and tease you with their style and appeal. There are some famous and traditional book shops and chains such as Ateneo and Cuspide. One of the landmark bookstores is called “Gandhi”, founded in 1984 with the same concept of book and coffee shop.
My favourite is the El Ateneo Bookshop in Avenida Santa Fe. It is the most beautiful bookshop I have ever seen. According to a survey by the London newspaper “ The Guardian” , El Ateneo ranked second in the list of ten most beautiful bookstores in the world, after the number one in Maastricht. El Ateneo was originally a theatre called as“Grand Splendid”, now converted into a bookshop. It is magnificent with high painted ceiling, curvaceous balconies and ornate carvings. The original stage with the crimson curtains has been made into a café bar. No wonder I felt there like a performer... after a few drinks ! El Ateneo receives 3000 visitors per day.
Here are the pictures of El Ateneo:
After I left the venue of the poetry festival yesterday night, I found that a poem of Daniel Chirom would not leave me and got stuck in my heart....
Solo poseo el habla
solo poesia
mi lengua incierta
para buscarte
porque cantando
quede mudo
y solo puedo
revelarme
por señales
Here is the translation
I only possess speech
Only poetry
My tongue uncertain
To seek you.
Because singing
I went speechless
And I can only reveal myself
Through signs
Only poetry
My tongue uncertain
To seek you.
Because singing
I went speechless
And I can only reveal myself
Through signs
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Argentine Singhs
Dante Singh , Monica Singh, Jasbel Singh...
Adrian Singh, Alfredo Singh, Yeeta Singh.....
There are about three hundred such Argentine Singhs… mostly in Salta and other northern provinces of Argentina.
I met about seventy of them in the Gurudwara at Rosario de la Frontera, a small town of 35000 people in Salta province. I joined their Baishaki Day celebrations on 20 April. There were prayers and ceremonies conducted by a Granthi, who has been brought from India. There was a community lunch prepared by the ladies and was served by the men. The Gurudawara is clean, beautiful and inspires divine feelings. They have get togethers on Sundays and there are large gatherings on special religious occasions. Mr Charan Singh who came thirty years back from India is the president of the Gurudwara committee.This is the only Gurudwara in South America.
These Singhs had come in the thirties from India. Some of them came to work in the sugar mills owned by the British. Others got into the ships from Calcutta on hearing that they were going to America. They did not know that the destination was South America. Most of them originated from near Ludhiana. Dante Singh´s father was one of the earliest to come. He was also a political organiser. He collected money from other sikhs and sent it for the independence movement in India. The last batch of the immigrants came about ten years back. But no more are coming due to visa difficulties. Some of the Argentine Singhs have migrated to USA and Canada.
There are a few new Singhs who have come to other parts of Argentina. Lamba, with his flashy red turban, is a traffic stopper in Buenos Aires. He is settled here for over twenty years in handicrafts business. Simmarpal Singh is in Rio Cuarto near Cordoba city managing 15000 hectares of peanut farm for the Non-resident Indian company Olam.
President Zail Singh had visited Salta and met the community during his state visit to Argentina in 1984. Dante Singh was proud showing me fotos of this visit and also the fotos of his father meeting Zail Singh in Rashtrapathi Bhavan in Delhi.
Some of the first generation wear turbans. But when they travel outside the province, they put on caps to avoid curious looks and questions.
All the Singhs have become Argentine citizens and are well integrated into the local society. Among the first generation, some men married Indian women and brought them, while the others have married Argentines. The Singhs are in business or work as professionals. Many of them own supermarkets, corner stores and transport companies. Dante Singh and Adrian Singh are engineers. Jasbel Singh is studying international affairs and wants to become a diplomat. She recalls with pride her six months-stay in Noida studying television and broadcast journalism. One Mr Ruben Singh is there already in the Argentine Foreign Service. I hope an Argentine Singh will become Ambassador to India. Monika Singh is a software engineer working with Oracle in Buenos Aires. Yeetu Singh gives Indian dance classes and has done some Indo-Argentine fusion in dance. The second and third generation, which goes to school and college is keen to know more about India and talk about it proudly with their classmates.
Here is Dante Singh at the entrance of the Gurudwara:
Here I am, giving a speech holding the a microphone in hand, with my head covered. But a microscope is needed to recognise me....
In my speech, I spoke about how proud India is to see the Singhs speaking in Punjabi and worshipping in a Gurudwara in this part of the world. While recognising the suffering and sacrifice made by their parents and grand parents, I mentioned that in the India of today and tomorrow, there is no need for Indians to go out for a better life. Foreigners come to India for working in Bangalore.
Adrian Singh, Alfredo Singh, Yeeta Singh.....
There are about three hundred such Argentine Singhs… mostly in Salta and other northern provinces of Argentina.
I met about seventy of them in the Gurudwara at Rosario de la Frontera, a small town of 35000 people in Salta province. I joined their Baishaki Day celebrations on 20 April. There were prayers and ceremonies conducted by a Granthi, who has been brought from India. There was a community lunch prepared by the ladies and was served by the men. The Gurudawara is clean, beautiful and inspires divine feelings. They have get togethers on Sundays and there are large gatherings on special religious occasions. Mr Charan Singh who came thirty years back from India is the president of the Gurudwara committee.This is the only Gurudwara in South America.
These Singhs had come in the thirties from India. Some of them came to work in the sugar mills owned by the British. Others got into the ships from Calcutta on hearing that they were going to America. They did not know that the destination was South America. Most of them originated from near Ludhiana. Dante Singh´s father was one of the earliest to come. He was also a political organiser. He collected money from other sikhs and sent it for the independence movement in India. The last batch of the immigrants came about ten years back. But no more are coming due to visa difficulties. Some of the Argentine Singhs have migrated to USA and Canada.
There are a few new Singhs who have come to other parts of Argentina. Lamba, with his flashy red turban, is a traffic stopper in Buenos Aires. He is settled here for over twenty years in handicrafts business. Simmarpal Singh is in Rio Cuarto near Cordoba city managing 15000 hectares of peanut farm for the Non-resident Indian company Olam.
President Zail Singh had visited Salta and met the community during his state visit to Argentina in 1984. Dante Singh was proud showing me fotos of this visit and also the fotos of his father meeting Zail Singh in Rashtrapathi Bhavan in Delhi.
Some of the first generation wear turbans. But when they travel outside the province, they put on caps to avoid curious looks and questions.
All the Singhs have become Argentine citizens and are well integrated into the local society. Among the first generation, some men married Indian women and brought them, while the others have married Argentines. The Singhs are in business or work as professionals. Many of them own supermarkets, corner stores and transport companies. Dante Singh and Adrian Singh are engineers. Jasbel Singh is studying international affairs and wants to become a diplomat. She recalls with pride her six months-stay in Noida studying television and broadcast journalism. One Mr Ruben Singh is there already in the Argentine Foreign Service. I hope an Argentine Singh will become Ambassador to India. Monika Singh is a software engineer working with Oracle in Buenos Aires. Yeetu Singh gives Indian dance classes and has done some Indo-Argentine fusion in dance. The second and third generation, which goes to school and college is keen to know more about India and talk about it proudly with their classmates.
Here is Dante Singh at the entrance of the Gurudwara:
Here I am, giving a speech holding the a microphone in hand, with my head covered. But a microscope is needed to recognise me....
In my speech, I spoke about how proud India is to see the Singhs speaking in Punjabi and worshipping in a Gurudwara in this part of the world. While recognising the suffering and sacrifice made by their parents and grand parents, I mentioned that in the India of today and tomorrow, there is no need for Indians to go out for a better life. Foreigners come to India for working in Bangalore.
Here is Kanwaljeet Singh with his son Gurdeep, who has asked for an Indian flag for his school and books in spanish on India.
community lunch
All the Singhs in Salta region speak fluent Spanish. Besides the first generation, even some young people from the second generation speak Punjabi enthusiastically. Virtually no one speaks English. I had to give my speech in Spanish. Hmm....A Tamil from India communicating with the Punjabis in the Gurudwara in Argentina in Spanish !
Thursday, April 16, 2009
El Pato and El Gato
El Pato- the duck - is Angel Cabrera, the 2009 US Masters Champion and the 2007 US Open Champion
El Gato- the cat - is Eduardo Romero, the US Seniors Open champion 2008.
I was invited to play a ProAm with El Pato in the Cordoba Golf Club, Villa Allende, on 15 April as part of the Central Zone Championship of Argentina. But at the last minute, P was changed to G and I played with Gato instead of Pato.
Both El Pato and El Gato had started off as caddies in Villa Allende Cordoba Golf Club. Both are very modest and unpretentious, despite the incredible heights of their success. They display comradeship with their friends who continue as caddies in the club. El Pato, in fact was for sometime the caddy of El Gato, who became his mentor. Both live a few blocks from the Cordoba Golf Club.
Credit should be given to the Cordoba Golf club members who encouraged and supported the two caddies to become the Champions. The Club and the whole town cheered and celebrated the victory of El Pato, who had just returned on 14 April after receiving the Green Jacket. Villa Allende in Cordoba has now become the place of pilgrimage for golf tourists.
El Pato and El Gato are the pride of Argentina and Latin America. No golfer from the other Latin American countries have won any majors so far.
Of course, Roberto de Vicenzo of Argentina had won the British Open in 1967. He had a chance to win the US Masters in 1968. But a silly mistake in the score card and a sillier Golf rule deprived him of the honour. On the par 4 seventeenth hole, Roberto De Vicenzo made a birdie, but playing partner Tommy Aaron inadvertently entered a 4 instead of 3 on the scorecard. Roberto had signed the card without checking the score, and according to the Rules of Golf the higher score had to stand and be counted. If not for this mistake, Roberto would have tied for first place with Bob Goalby and the two would have met in an 18-hole playoff the next day. Golf rules could be worse than Government Rules !
El Pato Cabrera was born as the son of a handyman and a maid who split up when he was three or four, leaving him in the care of his paternal grandmother. He stayed with her until he was 16, when he moved in with his girlfriend, Silvia, 10 years his senior. When Cabrera was 10 he became a caddy at the Córdoba Country Club, which became his home. In sixth grade he quit school to take up the job full time. He learned golf playing against other caddies for money.
Cabrera used to smoke in the golf course and did so at the US Open in 2007. When he was asked about this by American journalists after he won the tournament, he responded ¨you guys go to the shrink but I take recourse to the cigarette.¨ He has now given up moking and has started chewing gum.
El Pato is here in this picture accepting my Taj Mahal gift and felicitations.
El Gato- the cat - is Eduardo Romero, the US Seniors Open champion 2008.
I was invited to play a ProAm with El Pato in the Cordoba Golf Club, Villa Allende, on 15 April as part of the Central Zone Championship of Argentina. But at the last minute, P was changed to G and I played with Gato instead of Pato.
Both El Pato and El Gato had started off as caddies in Villa Allende Cordoba Golf Club. Both are very modest and unpretentious, despite the incredible heights of their success. They display comradeship with their friends who continue as caddies in the club. El Pato, in fact was for sometime the caddy of El Gato, who became his mentor. Both live a few blocks from the Cordoba Golf Club.
Credit should be given to the Cordoba Golf club members who encouraged and supported the two caddies to become the Champions. The Club and the whole town cheered and celebrated the victory of El Pato, who had just returned on 14 April after receiving the Green Jacket. Villa Allende in Cordoba has now become the place of pilgrimage for golf tourists.
El Pato and El Gato are the pride of Argentina and Latin America. No golfer from the other Latin American countries have won any majors so far.
Of course, Roberto de Vicenzo of Argentina had won the British Open in 1967. He had a chance to win the US Masters in 1968. But a silly mistake in the score card and a sillier Golf rule deprived him of the honour. On the par 4 seventeenth hole, Roberto De Vicenzo made a birdie, but playing partner Tommy Aaron inadvertently entered a 4 instead of 3 on the scorecard. Roberto had signed the card without checking the score, and according to the Rules of Golf the higher score had to stand and be counted. If not for this mistake, Roberto would have tied for first place with Bob Goalby and the two would have met in an 18-hole playoff the next day. Golf rules could be worse than Government Rules !
El Pato Cabrera was born as the son of a handyman and a maid who split up when he was three or four, leaving him in the care of his paternal grandmother. He stayed with her until he was 16, when he moved in with his girlfriend, Silvia, 10 years his senior. When Cabrera was 10 he became a caddy at the Córdoba Country Club, which became his home. In sixth grade he quit school to take up the job full time. He learned golf playing against other caddies for money.
Cabrera used to smoke in the golf course and did so at the US Open in 2007. When he was asked about this by American journalists after he won the tournament, he responded ¨you guys go to the shrink but I take recourse to the cigarette.¨ He has now given up moking and has started chewing gum.
El Pato is here in this picture accepting my Taj Mahal gift and felicitations.
El Gato got his nickname from his grandmother when he was five because he was always climbing trees and sitting on roof tops. His father was the pro at the Cordoba Golf club. El Gato turned professional at a late age of 28 but has 77 career victories so far, from around the world.
El Gato is a lively person with a sense of humour. He has played in Calcutta and Delhi. He remembered the peacocks of Delhi Golf Club. He knows Jeev Milkha Singh, who was the playing partner of Tiger Woods on the first two days of Masters Open. El Gato practises yoga and is keen to visit India with his family.
I wanted to impress El Gato with my game. But I played like El Burro ( the donkey ). I had one of the worst rounds. Someone asked my score. I quoted to him from the book ¨the food of love¨ in which the Italian hero tells the American girl after seducing her with lot of wine ¨In Italy, we dont count three things: number of years of one´s age, number of glasses of wine imbibed and the number of lovers.¨
Saturday, March 28, 2009
From Faith to Fashion - the story of Monica Socolovsky
Last week I was invited to the Fashion Show of the famous Argentine designer Monica Socolovsky at Hotel Sheraton. I was impressed by her new styles and creations. Her designs are not just about novelty and innovation. She connects the dress to the body with an enchanting aesthetic taste based on a profound cultural and spiritual perspective. She combines the machine-made fabrics with the exquisite hand-made designs and embroideries of India. Her designs have won recognition and market in London, Paris and Milan among other fashion capitals of the world. She holds her Fashion Shows twice a year regularly in Buenos Aires and also holds shows in Europe.
I was fascinated by Monica´s blend of Indian culture with Argentine glamour. I was curious.
I asked her about her India connection and inquired how many times has she visited India. I was taken aback when she said ¨more than 80 times¨. She has been making, on an average, three trips every year for the last thirty years. She is going to India next week again.
I became more inquisitive. How was her experience with India? What took her to India in the first place? She said it was Faith. It was the call from Sai Baba.
Here is the story, as she described to me:
She started her career as a manager with Bloomingdales, NewYork. She used to get dreams of a Guru from India. The dreams recurred for as long as twelve years. But she could not figure it out since she had never been exposed to India or any Gurus. One day, when she was browsing in a bookshop in London, a book fell on her from the shelf accidentally. She took it up and there was the picture of Sai Baba. She realised instantly that it was the same image which she was seeing in her dreams.
So, she took the next step of setting out on a journey to India in 1979. At the Delhi airport, she was waitlisted for the Indian Airlines flight to Bangalore as 231st. But she was desperate to catch that flight for her meeting with Baba. She did not know what to do. She prayed to Baba. Miracle! Her number moved from 231 to number one and she got the flight !
Sai Baba blessed her and told her that she would do business with India. So, she started Sathya Fashion, the design company and started buying materials for her designs from India.
The birth of Sathya, the company, was followed by the birth of Sathya the new baby. This was another miracle.During one of her trips, Baba told her that she would get a baby. She could not believe. Her doctor had told her that she could never give birth to another baby because of some complications caused after she gave birth to her first child. When she reported Baba´s prediction to her doctor, he said let us see if Faith can overcome Science. Sure it did. She was blessed with a baby girl, whom she named as Sathya. Since the baby was born in Kodaikanal, India, she wanted an Indian passport. But she encountered the Indian bureaucracy which challenged her faith with all kinds of procedural problems. She prayed again to Baba. Another miracle! The owner of the hotel, where she was staying, happened to be a member of Indian parliament and on his recommendation Sathya got an Indian passport immediately. Of course, the Indian immigration officials, look puzzled every time Sathya visits India. They look at the blue Indian passport and the blonde Argentine face and shake their heads in disbelief , unable to comprehend the miracle behind Sathya. A boy child followed Sathya and he has also been given an Indian name, Prem.
Monica´s faith in Baba and her business with India has made her passionate about India. Her eyes sparkle whenever she talks about India. She is keen to promote collaboration and exchanges between the Indian and Argentine fashion institutes and designers.
Here is Monica, exuding Indian spirit and Argentine glamour:
Here are some photos of her Fashion Show:
I was fascinated by Monica´s blend of Indian culture with Argentine glamour. I was curious.
I asked her about her India connection and inquired how many times has she visited India. I was taken aback when she said ¨more than 80 times¨. She has been making, on an average, three trips every year for the last thirty years. She is going to India next week again.
I became more inquisitive. How was her experience with India? What took her to India in the first place? She said it was Faith. It was the call from Sai Baba.
Here is the story, as she described to me:
She started her career as a manager with Bloomingdales, NewYork. She used to get dreams of a Guru from India. The dreams recurred for as long as twelve years. But she could not figure it out since she had never been exposed to India or any Gurus. One day, when she was browsing in a bookshop in London, a book fell on her from the shelf accidentally. She took it up and there was the picture of Sai Baba. She realised instantly that it was the same image which she was seeing in her dreams.
So, she took the next step of setting out on a journey to India in 1979. At the Delhi airport, she was waitlisted for the Indian Airlines flight to Bangalore as 231st. But she was desperate to catch that flight for her meeting with Baba. She did not know what to do. She prayed to Baba. Miracle! Her number moved from 231 to number one and she got the flight !
Sai Baba blessed her and told her that she would do business with India. So, she started Sathya Fashion, the design company and started buying materials for her designs from India.
The birth of Sathya, the company, was followed by the birth of Sathya the new baby. This was another miracle.During one of her trips, Baba told her that she would get a baby. She could not believe. Her doctor had told her that she could never give birth to another baby because of some complications caused after she gave birth to her first child. When she reported Baba´s prediction to her doctor, he said let us see if Faith can overcome Science. Sure it did. She was blessed with a baby girl, whom she named as Sathya. Since the baby was born in Kodaikanal, India, she wanted an Indian passport. But she encountered the Indian bureaucracy which challenged her faith with all kinds of procedural problems. She prayed again to Baba. Another miracle! The owner of the hotel, where she was staying, happened to be a member of Indian parliament and on his recommendation Sathya got an Indian passport immediately. Of course, the Indian immigration officials, look puzzled every time Sathya visits India. They look at the blue Indian passport and the blonde Argentine face and shake their heads in disbelief , unable to comprehend the miracle behind Sathya. A boy child followed Sathya and he has also been given an Indian name, Prem.
Monica´s faith in Baba and her business with India has made her passionate about India. Her eyes sparkle whenever she talks about India. She is keen to promote collaboration and exchanges between the Indian and Argentine fashion institutes and designers.
Here is Monica, exuding Indian spirit and Argentine glamour:
Here are some photos of her Fashion Show:
Thursday, March 12, 2009
ice blue fiesta in Argentina Lake
I was treated to a fiesta of ice blue ( blue is the clour of my inspiration) by the icebergs and glaciers in the Patagonia region of Argentina during my visit there last month.
It was a full-blue experience. Glacial Blue of the huge glaciers, Prussian blue of the Argentine Lake, Crystal Blue of the icebergs. And all these covered by the sky in grey blue.
The blue colour emanating from the cleavages of icebergs and the crevices of the glaciers was breath taking. The density and shades of blue changes with the size of the icebergs; soft blue balls of baby icebergs floating and playing on the lake; the massive solid blue mountain-size icebergs sitting as though they are meditating; the medium size icebergs drifting around like the middle aged men; and the artistic ones like architectural beauties with sculpted shapes.
The large Argentine Lake itself is in a mystic and milky glacial blue colour, changing its hue with the sun. The lake is sixty kilometres long and has depth upto five hundred metres. The lake and the icebergs are set in the backdrop of the majestic mountains and the arid and barren Patagonian landscape.
I was fascinated agin by the bluish hue of the Perito Moreno Glacier during this visit, as I was during my visit last time in 2008. Here is what I wrote last time
http://latinamericanaffairs.blogspot.com/2008/01/perito-moreno-glacier-in-el-calafate-in.html#links
Here is a picture of the Glacial blue:
who did the sculpting?
oops .. still can´t the touch the clouds?
like a light blue island
massive like mountains
Argumentative Argentine icebergs?
The tour boat trying to listen in to the iceberg arguments?
It was a full-blue experience. Glacial Blue of the huge glaciers, Prussian blue of the Argentine Lake, Crystal Blue of the icebergs. And all these covered by the sky in grey blue.
The blue colour emanating from the cleavages of icebergs and the crevices of the glaciers was breath taking. The density and shades of blue changes with the size of the icebergs; soft blue balls of baby icebergs floating and playing on the lake; the massive solid blue mountain-size icebergs sitting as though they are meditating; the medium size icebergs drifting around like the middle aged men; and the artistic ones like architectural beauties with sculpted shapes.
The large Argentine Lake itself is in a mystic and milky glacial blue colour, changing its hue with the sun. The lake is sixty kilometres long and has depth upto five hundred metres. The lake and the icebergs are set in the backdrop of the majestic mountains and the arid and barren Patagonian landscape.
I was fascinated agin by the bluish hue of the Perito Moreno Glacier during this visit, as I was during my visit last time in 2008. Here is what I wrote last time
http://latinamericanaffairs.blogspot.com/2008/01/perito-moreno-glacier-in-el-calafate-in.html#links
Here is a picture of the Glacial blue:
Afterwards, I took the All Glacier tour in which they show three glaciers including Upsala, the largest one. More than the glaciers, what was even more interesting was the icebergs floating on the Argentina lake. It was an amazing experience to see so many icebergs in different shapes, sizes and blue colours in the backdrop of the mountains and glaciers. Here are some pictures of the icebergs:
getting up to see the mountain?
doing stretching exercise above the water?
who did the sculpting?
oops .. still can´t the touch the clouds?
like a light blue island
massive like mountains
Argumentative Argentine icebergs?
The tour boat trying to listen in to the iceberg arguments?
Monday, March 09, 2009
kissing queens and sipping wines in the Mendoza Festival
Yes.... this was one official duty I performed dutifully with the beautiful queens of Mendoza... with my heart, soul, mind and body and in the fullest spirit.
I was one of the Ambassadors invited last weekend by the Mendoza provincial government for their annual Fiesta Nacional de la Vendimia (The Grape Harvest Festival or Wine festival ) which is held in March. On friday evening, at a cocktail, we were introduced to all the 18 beauty queens from the various districts of the province of Mendoza. I had to kiss them one by one ...and by the time I reached the end of the lineup ... hmm I was drunk even before touching the wine. And I reached heaven after sipping the wines ..
And the the tall beauties made me remember what Economist wrote about former President Menem. It said¨Menem was fond of blondes twice his size and half his age¨. He married a taller Chilean blonde, Cecilia Bolocco , the 1987 Miss Universe. She was 36 while Menem was 71 at the time of their marriage in 2001. The marriage lasted till 2007.
No wonder some of the Ambassadors in Buenos Aires never miss the Miss Vendimia event and take the diplomatic job of promotion of cultural relations more seriously.
Las Reinas( the queens - in English) were there literally all over Mendoza; on the parade floats, on the TV, in the cocktail parties, at the theatres, in newspapers, in the banners and fliers and in the streets. The Mendocinos have the perfected the art of marketing of their wines with the beauty queens. Selection of the Vendimia Queen is the main event of the festival and all other activities are built around it.
Each of the 18 districts of the province elect their beauty queens and bring them to the provincial capital for the Vendimia. On saturday morning each queen gets on the float of her district and parade through the streets.
It is like a Carnival with music,dance and fireworks. But a Carnival with difference. It is sheer elegance, style and taste. No nudity, no freak out. But a delectable blend of queens and wines. While Carnival is an explosive blow out, Vendimia is an aethetic appreciation of beauties in the same way as one savours the aroma and taste of the wine suavely, smoothly and subtley.
The Mendozinos claim that Vendimia parade is the largest open-air festival in the world with 200,000 to 500,000 participants. The numbers and claim get exaggerated after each glass of wine !
The selection of the Vendimia queen is the central part of the show at the amphitheatre on saturday night in front of an audience of 40,000. This year it was Candela, the one from San Martin district who got selected. Famous bands and singers participate in the show before and after the queen selection.
Here are some pictures of the parades:
The Reinas throw grapes and other fruits including big melons at the audience on both sides of the street.
The wineries invite foreign importers to the festival and tour of their production units and vineyards.
The Argentine wine has been steadily gaining attention and space in world markets in recent years. Earlier, the argentines were content drinking all their production ( per capita consumption had reached as much as 90 litres per year, but has come down now) and did not bother to market abroad. Now they are investing in marketing and production of high quality wines. Their wine exports were 850 million dollars in 2008. Argentina is the fifth largest producer of wine in the world and has still untapped potential. Malbec is the signature wine of Argentina.
I was one of the Ambassadors invited last weekend by the Mendoza provincial government for their annual Fiesta Nacional de la Vendimia (The Grape Harvest Festival or Wine festival ) which is held in March. On friday evening, at a cocktail, we were introduced to all the 18 beauty queens from the various districts of the province of Mendoza. I had to kiss them one by one ...and by the time I reached the end of the lineup ... hmm I was drunk even before touching the wine. And I reached heaven after sipping the wines ..
And the the tall beauties made me remember what Economist wrote about former President Menem. It said¨Menem was fond of blondes twice his size and half his age¨. He married a taller Chilean blonde, Cecilia Bolocco , the 1987 Miss Universe. She was 36 while Menem was 71 at the time of their marriage in 2001. The marriage lasted till 2007.
No wonder some of the Ambassadors in Buenos Aires never miss the Miss Vendimia event and take the diplomatic job of promotion of cultural relations more seriously.
Las Reinas( the queens - in English) were there literally all over Mendoza; on the parade floats, on the TV, in the cocktail parties, at the theatres, in newspapers, in the banners and fliers and in the streets. The Mendocinos have the perfected the art of marketing of their wines with the beauty queens. Selection of the Vendimia Queen is the main event of the festival and all other activities are built around it.
Each of the 18 districts of the province elect their beauty queens and bring them to the provincial capital for the Vendimia. On saturday morning each queen gets on the float of her district and parade through the streets.
It is like a Carnival with music,dance and fireworks. But a Carnival with difference. It is sheer elegance, style and taste. No nudity, no freak out. But a delectable blend of queens and wines. While Carnival is an explosive blow out, Vendimia is an aethetic appreciation of beauties in the same way as one savours the aroma and taste of the wine suavely, smoothly and subtley.
The Mendozinos claim that Vendimia parade is the largest open-air festival in the world with 200,000 to 500,000 participants. The numbers and claim get exaggerated after each glass of wine !
The selection of the Vendimia queen is the central part of the show at the amphitheatre on saturday night in front of an audience of 40,000. This year it was Candela, the one from San Martin district who got selected. Famous bands and singers participate in the show before and after the queen selection.
Here are some pictures of the parades:
The Reinas throw grapes and other fruits including big melons at the audience on both sides of the street.
Cowboys and folk music and dance groups parade on saturday morning, along with the beauty queens. The tourists are joined by the governors of the neighbouring wine-growing provinces, national celbrities and the vote-seeking political leaders.
The wineries invite foreign importers to the festival and tour of their production units and vineyards.
The Argentine wine has been steadily gaining attention and space in world markets in recent years. Earlier, the argentines were content drinking all their production ( per capita consumption had reached as much as 90 litres per year, but has come down now) and did not bother to market abroad. Now they are investing in marketing and production of high quality wines. Their wine exports were 850 million dollars in 2008. Argentina is the fifth largest producer of wine in the world and has still untapped potential. Malbec is the signature wine of Argentina.
I visited some wineries and enjoyed the wine tastings. I was impressed by the Salenteine winery at Uco Valley, which is an architectural beauty. It is a masterpiece in the middle of the vineyards against the backdrop of the Andes mountain range. It has a restaurant for fine dining with some great wines including a Pinot Noir to go with the lamb and trout, the regional specialities of Mendoza. The Catena Zapata winery also stands out majestically with its Mayan architecture.
Behind the queens and wines, there is the Medozino character of hard work, determination, pragmatism and vision. They have converted the desert land into vineyards and fruit orchards with irrigation. They even irrigate the trees which cover every avenue and street of the city. Mendoza should have the maximum number of tress per every inhabitant of any city in the world. During the wine festival, the wine institute made a presentation of their strategic vision upto 2020.
Cheers !!!... to the Mendozinos, for their workculture which is a blend of hard work and vision !!!
Cheers !!!... to Mendoza for the delicious and aesthetic blend of queens and wines !!!
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