Monthly Archives: August 2013

Shoe-shine days

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bahrain65Children in Bahrain are going back to school. Many are back on Monday with many more starting to attend classes in a week’s time.traffic
This means traffic is back on the roads, bringing with it snarls and bottlenecks.
It also means stores and supermarkets are on “back to school” promotions and it’s that time of the year when parents have to get their act in order and organise bags, books, notepads etc for their ever-demanding children.
It’s once again that time of the year when incoming flights to Bahrain are jam-packed while outgoing flights are going cheap. This is also the time when many of the “bachelors” plan their annual leave, knowing they can take advantage of the low fares.
It’s once again time for people to say, “It’s still so hot, my God, it’s so humid”, as if it is for the first time they have experienced such weather.
It’s also that time of the year when there will no longer be proper parking space available at work because all of those who have been on summer leave will return.
But for us, personally, it will mean something entirely different because Asveen, who had honed her culinary skills for the last eighth weeks and presenting us with the choicest meals, will no longer do so, being engaged with more pressing matters of tackling her Grade 12 studies.
Oh, well, it’s all in the game. Or the kitchen!

Rape of the Law

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So now we know why female infanticide is so common in some parts of India. Despicable act and the sentence one again proves that the law is, indeed, an ass – a four-legged one at that!

Sindhu S.'s avatarsindhuspace

Two rape cases in India made headlines this morning, one committed by an “underage” criminal and another by a senior citizen “spiritual guru”.Image

In the first case, a teenager (six months short of turnign 18 years) found guilty of a brutal gang rape of a young woman on a Delhi bus last year was sentenced to three years in a reform facility, the maximum term possible for a juvenile.

The mother of the victim, in tears, said the court should rather set him free right away if that was all the country’s law had for punishment. She had been demanding a death penalty for all the five accused.

The father of the girl said it appeared that being born in India as a girl child was a crime. He said, after hearing the judgement he even felt female infanticide should be legalised if the country could not provide security and justice to its women…

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End-Game?

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A haggard-looking Asa Ram threatens journalists

So, Asa Ram “jee” has not been arrested! The “godman” has also not presented himself to the police as he had been directed to.
Not only that, now we have a senior police official saying the “saint” will first be questioned and then arrested, “if we think it is appropriate.”
Wasn’t this expected? When the country’s Home Minister refers to him as “jee” in Parliament, what else are officials expected to do. After all, they will be vary of annoying their political bosses.
A friend who had once attended an Asa Ram gathering a few years ago said yesterday he was witness to an European-looking woman telling the old man he was “hot” and he, in turn, opened his arms wide for the women to melt into them.
All in full public view.
What can we expect from such a character?
The sad part is that there are thousands of Asa Ram’s all over India, with a following of millions. What do these followers see that they throng to their gatherings?
Punjab, where I come from, is notorious for such godmen with religious “deras” (places) spread in their hundreds all over the state. They regularly collect “daswanth” (a tenth) of every disciples earnings telling hapless people this is the only way to be “delivered.”
Drugs, alcohol, sex and sleaze are common and so is the involvement of senior police and administrative officials. It’s a big rigmarole where the common “you scratch my back I scratch yours” adage holds true.
As I said earlier, I have very little hope for the India I knew of. I have said I wanted “My India”.
But will I ever get it?
Looks unlikely.

Flab to Fab

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20130829_173949It has finally happened! I have joined a gym. And the first assessment report has encouraged me. I am only three kilos overweight, and a few weeks of regular exercise should solve that problem, so said my personal trainer.
The extra kilos are on the belly, which had started to look somewhat like a very small inverted pot over the last few months.
Two days so far and I am already looking forward to the workout for the next few days and beyond.
The best part is the gym, located in Bahrain’s most upmarket locations, gives a feeling of being in a fitness freak’s paradise and inviting.Functional_012
Another incentive is that there are so many other like you – ordinary people who are there to exercise, just to keep fit, stay or become agile or to cut a few inches off the tummy. That makes you feel “not alone”.
Nearly three months out of my old job and two months into the new, I am finally making the most of the extra time at my disposal. Enough of coming home in the afternoon and sleeping it off or lazing around. The time is suddenly productive. And what better way to spend it than getting rid of the unwanted flab?
Here’s to a fitter tomorrow!

Top View

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Bahrain’s most-famous landmark, the Bahrain Financial Harbour towers,  photographed from another equally famous structure, the World Trade Centre, this evening. The view, which I saw for the first time, is a photographer’s delight at any time, especially at night. It presents a remarkable view of the Manama skyline as well as the busy King Faisal Highway, Bahrain’s lifeline and the centre of the country’s financial district. I am sure this picture, taken with a mobile phone and with a rooftop swimming pool in the foreground, is just the first among a few score I will snap in the coming few weeks and months, especially in the winter.