Local – Jaideep Varma
"Six years of my life were spent travelling in the Mumbai locals and not a day went by when I did not discover a new type of a person or see somethings that would change the way I lived. There were times when I could barely get in and then there were others when I preferred to hang from the running train with the cool breeze running right into my face. The breeze carried with it all that was and still is Bombay. Very often I get into an argument with myself about whether I am attached to my home city beyond reasoning, but there are always incidents and people who corroborate my attachment to the city.
So a month back when I was browsing the Indian writing section at a popular book-store Landmark in Chennai, I saw this book with the cover that looked strangely familiar. Strange because it was something I never expected to see in this part of the country and certainly not in a bookstore. I saw a book which had the photograph of a local train gathering speed. I picked up the book and saw that its by an author I had never heard of and rightly so it turned out to be his first book called ""Local"". Instinctively I picked it up and spent the night reading it. The very first thing that you see when you open the book is a map of the train route from Churchgate to Virar. The familiar 59.82 kilometres thats Bombay. I had a huge smile on my face when I saw that map, after which I looked up to see the perplexed faces of those standing nearby.
Local is about a man who goes by the name of Akash Bhasin who is trying to make it big in the city of dreams while working in an ad-agency. While that is his face to the world, he leads an almost double life by morphing into a commuter at night. He lives on the train. The very same Bombay local that has never ceased to enthrall many while displeasing a few. At the same time the world of advertising and its small traits have been described with great subtlety.
The simplicity in the writing style is what is quite notable. Jaideep Varma has done a marvellous job of delineating the whole experience that one gets while travelling on the local. Many might disagree but then opinions are like a kaleidoscope. You see a new design everytime you look at it from a different angle. The story is interspersed with short stories about the characters that Akash meets along the way. Every story is independent of the flow of the actual story. I read this kind of a novel for the first time and loved the writing style.
The book took me back to those marvellous days I spent in Bombay while travelling on the local trains. Each and every station had a speciality of its own. The masala soda at Andheri station while coming back from the drumming lessons, the Tibb's frankie at Churchgate station while returning home from my junior college, the body wrenching crowds at Dadar station after long hours of study and the long walk back home at Borivli station are some of the things that had become routine but some that I always liked. I still would give anything to return back to those days not just for the experience called the Bombay local but for all those friends who have gone far away.
In the small niggling disorders lie the exciting elements of life. We crib about them and want the authorities to improve them, but wouldn't life become that much more monotonous? I, for one, certainly think it would. I love the way Bombay is and always would remain of proponent of the city of Bombay as it was a few years back. Never under-developed but not too developed to disengage that down to earth feeling.
- Jaideep Varma - Local: The Blog
- Jaideep Varma contributed a short story from Local for Motif Magazine which can be found here: Quote Unquote by Jaideep Varma
Technorati Tags: Jaideep Varma Mumbai Bombay Mumbai Local"
The American Way?
"It gets me thinking every time a dear friend of mine who has gone to the US to pursue further studies tells me that he is going to settle there for good. They go on to add that they feel its the best place on earth and that even I should go and settle there. So much so that some of them find it derogatory that someone calls them Indian anymore.
So I always try to delve deeper into the American way. What is it? And why is everyone in the world attracted to it? Well, I for one am surely not attracted to it and would never want to settle in such a country which has had presidents who attack at will and consider the world to be their dumping ground.
While reading a few articles I came across this article in the Hindustan Times: Click here to read the article
If this is what the American Way is then all I can say is it's a highway to hell. The recent spate of natural disasters striking all around the world are an indication enough of the impending doom that nature is going to unleash someday. I am not indicating that everyone should become a saint and stop using cars and stop partying. But moderation is something that becomes an important aspect of everything you do. Consider the fact that Americans who form 5% of the world's population consume 50% of the world's resources. Now they would go ahead and argue that its a clear case of sour grapes but my friends do not misconstrue my point here.
Environmental Conservation has become one of the greatest myths of our time. I wonder how far will we go. Read the following excerpt from the same article:
Under Dubya, the violence has intensified. His `Clear Skies' initiative, which purports to slash mercury emissions, in fact permits a full 10 tons more per factory than was allowed by the existing Clean Air Act. His `Healthy Forests' initiative will effectively allow loggers back into 10 million acres of woods they have been locked out of by three decades of regulations.
One of the biggest surprises for me was the re-election of Dubya, even after all that happened (Iraq War). The americans were either too considerate or way too oblivious of the world around them. The clear intentions of controlling the Oil Wells were well disguised behind the veil of the 9/11 attacks and thousands of innocent people were killed in the process.
Once again, I wonder, is this the american way? If yes, then my friends, thanks, but no thanks!
Technorati Tags: Dubyaman America Iraq"
What a fiasco!
"I was away for a good 10 days attending a CII Conference. I came back only to be greeted by (arguably) one of the most humorous incidents in the lawsuit-o-sphere. Its a known fact that lawsuits are filed by the drop of a hat in some countries. Little did I know that a similar culture is permeating the most laggard legal by-lanes of India too.
In an apalling incident IIPM sent out of a legal notice to two bloggers: Varna and Gaurav Sabnis. My heart goes out to them (Varna and Gaurav). There has been no support from the media big-wigs who, I am sure, have a fair idea of what the truth is. I am doing my MBA myself currently (I shall not state my institute for the fear of it being dragged into this) and let me tell you something. Most of these B-School rankings are rigged. I may not have the facts with me right now, but take a survey of b-school students and you will get a nearly unanimous opinion about the rankings being rigged. (NO, I am not taking any names right now).
The most hilarious thing in the whole episode was their threat to IBM. I have absolutely no clue how IBM came into the picture. Do they not know the difference between personal and professional space? Anyway, so coming back to the threat, it was this, that they would burn IBM ThinkPads in front of their office...!! Wow!
Its high time that we stop toying around with education and innocent students' futures. One such incident would mean the whole of Indian media and B-School fraternity will be put to shame. Just imagine the kind of picture this would delineate for someone who is not from this country but a potential recruiter for students from one of the Indian B-Schools. Well, I would say it puts the credibility of the entire MSM (Main Stream Media) at stake.
In this credibility issue, which has now been translated into an IIPM v/s Bloggers war, I completely support Gaurav and Varna. Not just because I am a blogger too, but because I am first a B-School Student doing my MBA from an extremely reputed institute. I stressed on extremely reputed here, because thats how we all know the way in which rankings are rigged.
I strongly believe that IIPM owes an apology to everyone concerned. And I sure hope I am not slapped with another legal notice."