One of the things that I have been doing after coming here is to start writing airmails to my Mashi (my mother’s only elder sister) and sometimes send postcards to people whom I love and they appreciate it. This gives me immense pleasure since to me, letters convey love as well care in much better way than emails can ever do. It is a pity that few people that I know write letters these days and that is why many of our post-offices carry a deserted look and customers get rude responses from the employees.

I wonder if the readers of this post can remember, when did they last write (or receive) a personal letter and from whom?

New Zealand Post Shop

Post offices here though never carry shabby look at all. In fact, the first place we went after reaching New Zealand, was to a post office. We went there to enquire whether they can help me with my foreign exchange which they did with a smile and also we bought an international calling card from them. The post offices here look much like a gift shop that not only offer the usual postal services but also sell greeting cards, stationeries etc. If you enter a post office you don’t actually feel that you have entered a mess. Normally, the customers are greeted with smile and oh yes; all your queries get answered. Also, you don’t get to hear the noise that is normally associated with any Indian post office. We were very impressed when we went to the post office on our first arrival day and we continue to happily utilise their service.

Letter writing undoubtedly a dying art but nevertheless, I believe post office all around the world have been doing their best to market it. More often than not, you would see new stamps being introduced, the look of the airmail may change and also post cards being issued sometimes for free so that one is encouraged to write letters.

I was always fond of writing letters. Of course, during my youth there were no computers and internet to write emails, so letters were the only option to be in touch. In fact, I pride myself being one of the very regular letter writers but somehow with time many people have either lost interest in writing letters to me or have gotten used to the easier option of emailing.

Through letters I have received very pleasing information over the years. I still remember when I used to write to my cousin who was growing up in UK. It made me know him much before we actually met. Then I used to write to my grandmother about my friends in school and how in her replies she would always wish well for my friends and some teachers too. Some of my teachers too wrote letters to me. Father Tottham of St. Lawrence High School, when got transferred to Basanti, in Sundarban Village used to write to me in Durgapur from there. Whenever I received his letters, I imagined he must be writing this letter, sitting under faded lights and hearing all kind of eerie sounds from the nearby Sundarban forests.

I even had some penfriends from Japan and Sweden who used to send me beautiful mementoes from their country.

My father still looks forward to new stamps being released by the Indian Postal service. In India, though the lower value stamps have remained the same for ages. The same Leopard Cat, Tiger, farmer and the cottage industry doll feature on those. I am sure some of the Rupee 3 or 5 ones undergo a bit of change from time to time.

As far as writing letters are concerned, I miss my grandmother a lot who always ensured that I get replies to my letters. My mother is still quite diligent too and so is my Mashi.

In fact, I would say after coming to New Zealand, I have developed a rejuvenated bond with my Mashi through our letters to each other.

We always loved each other; we were always in touch through my parents and like I normally become like a recluse with some of my relatives (after they expose their shallowness infront of me), I never became like that with her. Despite all that, when I was in Delhi, other than a very occasional phone call, I could never really communicate with her. She has had a very tough life for a long time now (for a various reasons) and though she is not the most uptown and reasonable person that one would come across but her love for me is beyond any doubt. I love her too and always did but somehow I could feel it and express it the most only when I came so far.

May be it is because of some insecurity that all the people who love me are getting old and ill or may be because I just needed someone to write letters to (a person who does not rely on a computer and would be eager to reply) but whatever be the reason, the postal system in both countries are doing a fine job in keeping my relationship with my elderly aunt going great.

We don’t write unusual stuff on our letters though. It is the same usual mundane stuff, occasional cribbing and complaints. However, the letters come with lot of love and concern for us. Further, I understand these days many Indian post offices don’t sell aerogramme and certainly not the post office in Sodepur that my Mashi uses. She is not the fittest person on earth too to beat the sun and go to the post office thus she is dependent on others to get her the pad, envelope and stamps. Despite all these, she replies to my letters on time. I feel lot of comfort in that and send her a reply virtually instantaneously upon receipt.

I hardly can do enough for my Mashi to be honest though many things could have been done. Even with tremendous intent, I have limited means. Having said that, if I can make her feel that I care through letters, I feel a little less guilt.

I wonder would letter writing become completely obsolete when the generation which are not familiar with internet fades away. There is a huge chance of that to happen, but then one can be a little optimistic when one sees print media has not been totally overshadowed by the internet thus far. Yes, the famous men have been known better through their letters but more than anything else, letters do and should form a part of our relationship in day to day life.

Doesn’t receiving a letter give you pleasure?

Therefore, this is to letter writing and the efficient post offices around the world.

Recently I watched the film Yes Man among many that I watch every week. I was pleased with the concept of saying ‘YES’ to life after watching the film ‘Yes Man’, but I wondered why doesn’t Jim Carey holds back his unique eccentricities in some of his roles like he successfully did in Eternal Sunshine of Spotless Mind or Truman Show. When I discussed watching the film with one of my British friends, she said though she has not watched the film but she has read the book and recommended me that I read the book too. Following that I borrowed the book from the library and I must say after I have read the book, I wish Hollywood did not make the film the way they did.

‘Yes Man’ by Danny Wallace is not a piece of literature that would be among your collectibles but nevertheless it is hilarious to read a normal man’s experiences when he decides, enough of negativity all around and he would say yes to everything that comes his way. The book is written like a Diary is written and is based on believable true events.

Danny, a radio producer with BBC during the time when he wrote this book, was losing most of his friends because he was negative. When his friends asked him to join them for a gathering, he would typically make excuses, when his boss in office asked him for taking up extra responsibility he would avoid, when a sales person would try and explain to him a new product he would refuse even looking at it, his entire day would be spent either cribbing about things or mocking the world at large. The things to which Danny regularly said ‘No’ to actually resemble many people’s life and perhaps to some extent mine too.

After realizing that this is perhaps not the best way to live life, Danny decides to do the extreme – say Yes to everything. Therefore, he starts from replying to spam emails ending up making new acquaintances, listening and then buying new things when marketers called his phone, meeting friends and going out and enjoying, donating money to every charity that asked for his help, trying food that he did not try before, watching plays which he never thought he would watch etc. Not all his experiences were good and rational but then he says he was happy since he thought saying Yes helped him to feel upbeat. In the book he explains his experiences in a humorous way and also narrates how he benefited in his life despite being close to trouble a number of times.

‘Yes Man’ is certainly not written as a management book and is not preachy at all. It is written in a narrative style to share a man’s experience with saying yes to everything. As I noted before, it is hilarious. Never does it ask the reader to ‘be positive’ or some such thing but it just narrates how Danny behaved when he was ‘doing positive’ rather than ‘thinking positive’. In fact, he also narrates what is frustrating about saying YES to every thing.

Purists may not like the book as Danny Wallace may appear to be a shallow humourist created by the new age media but I liked the book because after a long time something made me laugh without being crass.

Also, Danny’s experiences were not out of the world (as Jim’s characters were in the film and that is why the film fails miserably) and that is why one can easily relate to them.

I am posting this promotional video by Danny Wallace about this book. Look how he ends up buying the same magazine a number of times because someone asked him to buy it more than once. He could not avoid because he said ‘Yes’.

I would say try this book and you may like it.

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I also watched the film ‘Doubt’ recently starring Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and Viola Davis. Doubt is a film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize winning play by John Patrick Shanley and is directed by Shanley himself.

The story, performances and thought behind ‘Doubt’ simply bowled me over and I wondered despite being nominated for as many as five Academy Awards it did not win any. At least it should have won definitely for Best Supporting Actress.

Doubt is set in mid 60’s in a church and its adjoining catholic school. The school is managed by Sisters of Charity who are controlled by the Church. The film’s plot revolves around an incident that concerns a student in the school and the Church and how different characters react to that incident. It is a gripping drama and once you start watching it, you cannot stop. I don’t want to talk about the plot of the film that one can find here.

Why did Doubt appeal to me?

Firstly, in the most unlikely setting it is one of the most fast paced drama that I have seen in recent times. Secondly, it is neither a horror (murder) film nor it is a court room drama but it gets your adrenalin rushing the moment it takes pace. Thirdly, the dialogues in the films are powerful. Fourthly, as I said it is laced with outstanding performances. I have hardly ever seen a film in recent times where ALL the performers act so brilliantly. Fifthly, it educates a little about the internal conflicts between Sisters of Charity and Church (dominated mainly by male priests). After watching this film, I would certainly read much more about how these institutions operated.

I liked it more because I have mostly been educated in Christian missionary school and could see traces of people I have come across in the characters.

Doubt is certainly a must watch film.

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29/06/2009

While our friends and family are awaiting rain in most of India, last night we experienced a major storm in Auckland. In fact, it has been raining from Saturday night continuously and the kind of lightning we witnessed last night scared us a bit.

In India, we are used to thunderstorms but in coastal areas such as Auckland, I think it is a bit different.

Here are some of the pictures published in New Zealand Herald regarding yesterday’s strike. I was too scared to take pictures from my balcony.

To my mind, landlords in Delhi behave the way they do for various reasons.

First, it is typical of Delhi not to trust each other. This is for some reason a common tendency and this feeling is more in an environment where there is threat, one can have a terrorist as a tenant!

Secondly, Delhi is a city of bullies and you can sense it on the streets, shops and in daily life almost every day. An unusually ill mannered city that Delhi is recognizes what they call the street smarts. The street smart is the one who can abuse the other first after committing a mistake. Street smart is the one who can make an extra buck after cheating the other.

Thirdly, the oft-repeated theory of Delhi’s climate makes people unusually aggressive and loud perhaps hold true too. Delhi’s history show it was never a city which belonged to a certain section of people. It is a conglomeration of various cultures and has this weird culture of its own.

I know the reasons would not please the die-hard Delhi residents but then my experience has made me make these conclusions. I am perhaps to weak, silly to enjoy the gaudy, aggressive and loud Delhi life.

Landlord 4

Now, lets come back to Landlord 4. This was not the best house that we stayed in but it certainly had more space than the previous one. It was suited for the newly wed and despite not having enough windows we chose to stay. The landlord was an old Kashmiri Pundit who stayed with a huge family in the first and second floor of the house. There was a dog and a male child servant too who were part of his household.

Once we moved in the child servant started getting a bit friendly with us. He was the one who complained to us that how much he rued his fate to have been staying in this household. We felt sad considering the kid was young. He told us that how the landlord ensures that we get little water (by controlling the water supply) and how he has passed the burden of some of his own electricity and water bill onto us. We had little choice in doing anything about it. Sometimes we protested but we did not want to get into a fight because his nature (and also reputation among the locals) were enough to make us believe that we may lose those fights. Mind you, the landlord did not look scary at all. He was an old man who was tremendously sarcastic and ran an auto component store somewhere in Delhi. However, the way he shouted sometimes never gave us the feeling that we could have won against him.

Intimidation is an art that residents of Delhi know very well.

One fine day the kid servant was gone and we thought we might ask the landlord what happened. The landlord narrated the story to us and trust me we were scared.

I have heard only his version of the story so I would post that here.

He said that the kid had gone mad. One day when he asked the kid to serve some tea, he could not find him anywhere. After some search he found that kid was hiding under the bed. He asked the kid to come out. Finally, after many requests (!), the kid did come out and ran towards the roof. The kid climbed the overhead water tank and threatened to commit suicide if he is not sent back home to Nepal. The landlord was scared and wise (according to him), so he pursued the kid further and once he came down from the water tank, he was taken to a nearby police station. The police people kept the kid for a night, instructed the landlord to call up the kid’s family.

The kid was gone then. The landlord abused the kid while telling the story to us and we continued wondering what made the kid take up this extreme step.

The landlord was nasty towards his dog too. I have never heard a dog shout so badly. In fact in Delhi, people have a tremendous fascination towards pet dogs and I was surprised to hear this particular pet dog shout so badly occasionally. Once I asked the landlord what is the matter with the dog? To which he replied, sometimes he needs to teach a lesson to the dog so that he performs his duty to guard the house properly. Apparently the dog revolted too but the revolt was not successful. I hoped the dog was successful.

You can imagine by now what kind of trouble the landlord caused us. The trouble was mostly related to the water supply that he controlled. Whenever we complained he had his rude answers ready.

We were tired of his eccentricities every day. It felt as if when he has nothing to do, he would come down on a weekend and irritate us. Either he would complain to us about how we live or he would ask us to make tea for him. To be honest life was disgusting and was slowly turning out to be without water.

Finally, when we decided enough was enough and we should leave, he had problems with that too. He and his largely built son came down to actually have a fight (not arguments!) with us saying we would only be allowed to leave this house only when they get another tenant. We were terrified and were forced to settle the matter by paying him some money, which he claimed were his dues since we broke some contract.

I know I should have fought rather than give the money, but if I would have fought that day, I am sure I would have injured myself very badly.

As far as local police was concerned, they did not want to annoy him because he was the general secretary of the residents’ welfare society there.

What a big joke but that is India for you.

Landlord 5

He was the best of the lot and he stayed far away from the apartment that we rented. That was the best place we stayed in Delhi. Yes, he did not create much trouble for us though we paid an exorbitant amount of rent in order to buy that peace.

The day we were to vacate the house and leave for Kolkata (and eventually NZ), he and his wife came very early in the morning and literally forced us out of the house. When we were donating some additional stuff we had to the street children, the poor old night-guard, then even shamelessly asked us whether we have anything to donate to them. Weird that they could do that, because they have three houses in Delhi, their children stay abroad and every year without fail they make a foreign pleasure trip.

We could not have lunch in the house that day because they kept on sitting inside from early morning without allowing us a single moment of privacy. We reached airport very early and happily left for Kolkata.

I just realized that living in Delhi could be really miserable. More than the house I believe one should pray one has a decent landlord.

Again I repeat the tip – in Delhi always look for a house whose owner lives far away.

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I have always reckoned that Amul advertisement campaigns were the series of best advertisements that India had ever produced. For those who don’t know, Amul is a butter manufactured and marketed by Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd, which has an unique history in itself.

Amul’s advertisement campaigns were always interesting. The hoardings and the slogans were not only imaginative but they captured the latest cultural and political developments in India (and sometimes outside India). In fact, Amul hoardings have sometimes reflected current affairs in the most creative way.

I still remember while I used to go school in Kolkata, the bus used to pass the Horticultural Garden in Kolkata. There was a hoarding where Amul advertisements were put up.

I read this article on Amul advertisements recently and it seemed that I took the trip on a school bus just yesterday.

Here are the Amul advertisements for you to have a look.

Look back at some of the interesting ones, and you may like them. Most of the slogans have the context mentioned under them.

I hope Amul continues to grow like this.

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Further, came to know that the nice name for the Bengali Monkey cap is Balaclava and though I assumed that it was invented by Bengalis but no the Ukrainians invented it. No wonder we have such love for erstwhile Soviet countries.