(Loosely based on his autobiographical books)
Two different human challenges and a common human stain running through both of them.
The first challenge, with fifteen million people along a journey spanning three weeks, covering mountains and riding into the rain. A simple objective, to cover a distance three thousand miles distance as quickly as possible – and still be alive at the end. It is an event that has endured for about a hundred years now that was started by a crazy Frenchman trying to outsell his competitor’s newspaper circulation. A place where your current standing is measured by the color of your jersey. Yes, I am referring to the Tour de France and the name Lance Armstrong. The latter has also come to become very familiar in the renaissance villas of the French countryside.
The second challenge also has a human element but in a more tragic sort of a way. It is also about a competition, to outlive and to out manouevuer a very real human condition. It is the dreaded C word – CANCER and it now affects a few million lives every year. There is almost an uncanny similarly between the tour and the disease – you go through stages in both of these thinking that it might be your last. You see your fellow competitors and fellow patients that drop out of the race or the fight. Lance Armstrong features in this challenge too – and is also a very familiar name in the corridors of the cancer wards in hospitals across the country.
Growing up in a faraway land, one of the first Americans I had heard about was another Armstrong,the man from Ohio who conquered the moon. Cycling has never been my thing, so it was not until recently that I came across this other Armstrong,and started learning about the man. The more I learned, the more I marveled at his story.
One day in 1996, in the prime of his youth,he coughed up blood and was diagnosed with cancer. It was already in an advanced stage and had spread into other parts of his body including the lungs and the brains – the doctors gave him a 50-50 chance of survival. In a matter of days he was in a hospital bed getting brain surgery and starting with an aggressive chemotherapy regimen. He was to take four months of chemo causing him to lose weight, hair, eyelashes and eyebrows besides his strength. Within a matter of weeks, one of his biggest sponsors decided to terminate his contract as their brand would not have anything to do with sporting icon who could merely walk. His career appeared to have had ended. He was not a superstar anymore, he was merely one of many that fighting for life. Cycling would come later.
His memoirs say that he learned a few things about himself during the time. The importance of love, friends and family. The joy of having a good day where a good day is where you don’t want to vomit. Of learning about children and kids with no eyelashes and shaven heads, yet happy and oblivious to their dreaded affliction. Of learning that you could lose your ability to be parents by getting a single vial of drug in your bloodstream. Of having to deal with a body that appears to be giving up and fighting at the same time. The days you are feeling sick – you are actually getting better. Of the need to treasure every moment, every day that you are alive.
He completed treatment went home with a hope that his cancer would not return. Cycling was his life and he wanted to get back to it - however being able to cycle again in his condition was unheard of. He was still going through the pangs of surviving cancer – of deciding whether his priority was to spend the rest of his life on the wheels. So he set about rebuilding from scratch. He trained for a while and showed up in some races here and there in 1998. His race results were not initially promising and it was unclear whether he had in him. So he dropped out of the tour in 1998 and went back to train in the mountains, alone. The same mountains that he had led his peloton in his pre- cancer days, only that it was to very different this time. He had matured as a person in his sense of harmony with himself and his aggression was less overt. Sometimes it helps to be an underdog instead of the star. And one day, during one of those 7-hour training days, he felt his rhythm coming back.
There has been no looking back since. He then went on to win the Tour de France in 1999 as a part of the USPS team and went on to continue his winning spree without precedent. If scripted in Hollywood, the story would be dismissed as melodrama: a deadly disease affecting a promising athlete. Despite desperately thin odds, he manages not only to beat the illness but also to emerge more powerful and return to the sport to win the top prize. Unbelievable, except that in this case it was true. He says that cancer is the most important thing that happened to him.
It is in rising from the ashes that defines character. It is in being afraid and then conquering the fear that you get a footing. I have lost loved ones to cancer and look forward to the day when they will find a cure for this defining challenge of our times. Unfortunately, until that time – no matter how hard we try – we will have to deal with the C word in friends, family and people we love and care about. It will never be easy to deal with such scenarios, but if you ever need something to hold on to – remind yourself of the amazing story of this Texan who battled it out in the piercing cold rain of the grey French mountains. And how he defied the odds.
Take Courage and Take Care.
Related link:
http://www.livestrong.org
Friday, October 19, 2007
A time of celebration
(Originally written in the autumn of 2005)
Driving on Pacific Coast Highway–Route 1, the most scenic of roads in the United States, this time of the year – you are bound to notice the explosion of orange on the green farms. This, in preparation for the famous Half Moon bay Pumpkin festival. It is also the time that some residents of the Bay area, originally from half way around the world, look forward to a different kind of festival – Durga Puja. The quintessential Bengali obsession of celebrating the Puja is as strong here as any other place in the world.
The greater Bay area is where you would find the Golden Gate Bridge and Gay movement, the highest concentration of computer geeks anywhere in the world and the a treasured collection of Ray's original films at the University of California at Santa Cruz. A sizeable number of Bengalis call this place home, living out the American Dream in this hotbed of technology, freedom and creative thought.
At the time of writing, most resident Bengalis are likely to show up at one of the four Durga Pujas in the area. Four Pujas, you might wonder – and ascribe it to the infamous Bengali inability not to get along in a team. There is an upside to this apparent discord, in the options available to the pandal hoppers (and believe me, we do have the kind here too). So if you are booked with your daughter's soccer practice (all the girls appear to play soccer nowadays) on this Saturday and will not be able to make the anjali - try the one at Prabasi's next Saturday. And if you are musically inclined, and simply cannot take profusion of the Bangla band music that is taking over the scene – don’t go to the Chandrabindoo concert this Sunday and try the Bollywood night at Sanskrit’s next Sunday.
One of the contentious issues between the groups is the issue of timing - the "Panjees" were not really written keeping time zones and datelines in mind. So if "Shosti" happens to be at 4 PM Wednesday according to the Indian time – how do you do it living in the pacific time zone where it is 03:30 AM Tuesday night. Some have solved the problem by scheduling the Puja over the two days of that great American getaway - the "Weekend". Keep in mind that the great G.W Bush has not declared a "Dashami'r chooti" yet, but we are told that some enterprising ones are working on the maniac. Others claiming to be sticklers of tradition are actually accounting for the time differences and organizing their offerings on the actual calendar days prescribed by that great book (the Panjee - if you missed my train of thought).
Most other things though, remain the same.
You have the untiring organizers - putting in the hours to acquire the idols, stage decoration and management, sending the email invitations out, hounding the Indian grocers for sponsorship funds, and working up a grand crescendo of dhonoochi nach the end. The majority though are the numerous pandalhoppers – who show up on almost all days at all four locations hoping to catch a glimpse of the goddess, the gliteratti and the Junta. Some come for Anjali, some to support a friend that is performing – while some with the hope of to find friends that may be in the area. It is also the few times in the year when the women would show off their finest “Taant” – making sure that they are not seen to be wearing the same one at two different pandals. The metrosexual Bengali man has now taken after the Hrithik’s, or our own Rituporno – and is often seen sporting the long version of the Panjanbee with the “Chooni” thrown in. And in keeping with the other indomitable spirit of “adda” – continues to wax eloquence on the need to invest in the real estate in Rajarhat despite the fact that the only real estate the dude may have known is his inheritance in New Alipore.
Over the free khichuri for lunch, reminiscing with an old friend about how nice it was to drive through the VIP road before Salt Lake happened, slamming the leftist government back home, sitting through another rendition of “Chitrangada” and falling in love with Tagore all over again – Durga Puja continues to enthrall another generation of Bengalis far away from home.
Related Link:
http://prabasi.org/Main/www_prabasi_org.html
Driving on Pacific Coast Highway–Route 1, the most scenic of roads in the United States, this time of the year – you are bound to notice the explosion of orange on the green farms. This, in preparation for the famous Half Moon bay Pumpkin festival. It is also the time that some residents of the Bay area, originally from half way around the world, look forward to a different kind of festival – Durga Puja. The quintessential Bengali obsession of celebrating the Puja is as strong here as any other place in the world.
The greater Bay area is where you would find the Golden Gate Bridge and Gay movement, the highest concentration of computer geeks anywhere in the world and the a treasured collection of Ray's original films at the University of California at Santa Cruz. A sizeable number of Bengalis call this place home, living out the American Dream in this hotbed of technology, freedom and creative thought.
At the time of writing, most resident Bengalis are likely to show up at one of the four Durga Pujas in the area. Four Pujas, you might wonder – and ascribe it to the infamous Bengali inability not to get along in a team. There is an upside to this apparent discord, in the options available to the pandal hoppers (and believe me, we do have the kind here too). So if you are booked with your daughter's soccer practice (all the girls appear to play soccer nowadays) on this Saturday and will not be able to make the anjali - try the one at Prabasi's next Saturday. And if you are musically inclined, and simply cannot take profusion of the Bangla band music that is taking over the scene – don’t go to the Chandrabindoo concert this Sunday and try the Bollywood night at Sanskrit’s next Sunday.
One of the contentious issues between the groups is the issue of timing - the "Panjees" were not really written keeping time zones and datelines in mind. So if "Shosti" happens to be at 4 PM Wednesday according to the Indian time – how do you do it living in the pacific time zone where it is 03:30 AM Tuesday night. Some have solved the problem by scheduling the Puja over the two days of that great American getaway - the "Weekend". Keep in mind that the great G.W Bush has not declared a "Dashami'r chooti" yet, but we are told that some enterprising ones are working on the maniac. Others claiming to be sticklers of tradition are actually accounting for the time differences and organizing their offerings on the actual calendar days prescribed by that great book (the Panjee - if you missed my train of thought).
Most other things though, remain the same.
You have the untiring organizers - putting in the hours to acquire the idols, stage decoration and management, sending the email invitations out, hounding the Indian grocers for sponsorship funds, and working up a grand crescendo of dhonoochi nach the end. The majority though are the numerous pandalhoppers – who show up on almost all days at all four locations hoping to catch a glimpse of the goddess, the gliteratti and the Junta. Some come for Anjali, some to support a friend that is performing – while some with the hope of to find friends that may be in the area. It is also the few times in the year when the women would show off their finest “Taant” – making sure that they are not seen to be wearing the same one at two different pandals. The metrosexual Bengali man has now taken after the Hrithik’s, or our own Rituporno – and is often seen sporting the long version of the Panjanbee with the “Chooni” thrown in. And in keeping with the other indomitable spirit of “adda” – continues to wax eloquence on the need to invest in the real estate in Rajarhat despite the fact that the only real estate the dude may have known is his inheritance in New Alipore.
Over the free khichuri for lunch, reminiscing with an old friend about how nice it was to drive through the VIP road before Salt Lake happened, slamming the leftist government back home, sitting through another rendition of “Chitrangada” and falling in love with Tagore all over again – Durga Puja continues to enthrall another generation of Bengalis far away from home.
Related Link:
http://prabasi.org/Main/www_prabasi_org.html
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
The problem with Chicken Tikka Masala and Bollywood
The problem with Chicken Tikka Masala and Bollywood is they are doing a fine job of misrepresenting what Indians eat and how Indians live and love.
Silicon Valley,California has more Indian eateries per square mile than Calcutta,India. All of these serve up a standard fare of curries that are uniformly red, hot and spicy. Many of the customers at these places are of Indian origin, and many others who are not - are continuing their exploration of culinary delights of the subcontinent. The Tikka Masala, has come to represent Indian cuisine to a sizeable chunk of these customers. Bring up the subject of Indian food, they are quick to express their love for Tikka Masala and Tandoori. No wonder that Tandoori was tomtomed to be the national entree of the English people in a recent survey on the island.
Now i come from a part of the India where nobody was eating Chicken Tikka Masala until twenty years ago. Twenty years later, the only people partaking of its delights are still marginal in comparison to the folks that are not. My grandpa, and this is true, never picked up a CTM on his way back from work at his day job in the East India company.
Bengalis do not eat CTM at home. They do not sing and dance around trees either, as Bollywood would lead you to believe. Neither do Tamilians and Gujaratis and Telegus. I can vouch for that.
Curry was and is an integral part of the cuisine, but a mild and flat fish curry that was never as colourful. We would listen to music, but of the genre whose inflections did not require gyrations of the pelvis. I wrote my first love letter in english, and was reprimanded by the elders for the mere expression of love in the handwritten letter. I shudder to think what would have happened had i decided to employ my oustanding skills on tree-dancing. As a point of clarification - this particular dance form has no relation to pole dancing, tree dancing was entirely invented in Bollywood and involves lovelorn characters running around huge barks. Never in my travels through the country, have i seen young boys and girls dancing in,on or under trains, roads and waterfalls. While in almost every Bollywood movie with a Boy-meets-Girl storyline, this is a recurring visual - with the female curves accentuated by glamorous and ornate dresses.
The true window into a society is through its popular culture and cuisine. There truly isn't any one thing called the Indian cuisine (see map above). Note that the map shows state of Kashmir in its entirety, for i am patriotic beef eating Indian.
Maybe art is not supposed to reflect the realities of life, and since film is an art form, Bollywood is free to choose what it wants to depict. Its just that it creates the perception disconnect, popular culture and mood may not be the best face of a nation. The masses had also wanted a certain Adolf many years ago.
Meanwhile, i will continue to defend the position that the land of CTM and Bollywood is not the land you have come to love or hate as India. Er, what land .....?
Related Link
http://www.cafedhaka.com/
Democracy is puzzling
Now that does not boggle the mind, does it.
Hear me out, my drunken brother, and ignore the vagaries of the EVM malfunction or the exercise of suffrage for a second. Lets talk about where we are truly taking ourselves in the exercise of that sacred right of universal adult franchise.
Given that democracy is about the rule of the majority, its true resiliency is measure by the rights of the minority. Its hallowed pillars are further strenghthened when the majority elect a minority to represent their best interests. You know a Benazir Bhutto, a woman who was elected prime minister in a country that was largely on the Islamic right. You know a Manmohan Singh, a Sikh prime minister, in a society that is seeing a rejuvenation of Hindu jingoism. In the recent past, you have read about Yuliya Tymoshenko in Ukraine too. All minorities in their respective rights, being chosen to lead a larger majority. Fairly, unequivocally and without a call to any of primitive human urges to go to war or annihilate a common enemy.
America, on the other hand, continues to amaze. It has made tall claims to be the best democracy, and rightly so in almost all cases. But what about minority representation in political leadership. Why have we been unsucessful in choosing a president from one of the minority segments of colour, sex or race? Even more intriguing is the relative sucess of minorities business life, with women leading many in the Fortune 500 list. The effect has simply not percolated to the fabric of political life and psyche. We have had an occasional Rice or a Powell, but they were not elected positions.
If corporate america can choose to have minority leaders at the helm, making decisions about their lives, the EPS and what products they consume - whats different in the political spectrum?
Why has the presidency been an exclusive domain of the white man in the United States, and third world nations with closed and impoverished demographies continue to elect minority leaders in a whim. The brits put a Thatcher in residence at Downing street, the point is conceded with the tenant list in the White house. It would be rather naive to argue that competent leaders have failed to emerge from the minority.
Will it be different this time? Will America make a point just to dispel any doubts on the fundamentals of its institutions. Are we mature enough as a people to let go and let the weaker individual show the way?
Obama or Clinton, that don't matter. The politics is unimportant.
Related Link
http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/whatsdem/whatdm8.htm
Hear me out, my drunken brother, and ignore the vagaries of the EVM malfunction or the exercise of suffrage for a second. Lets talk about where we are truly taking ourselves in the exercise of that sacred right of universal adult franchise.
Given that democracy is about the rule of the majority, its true resiliency is measure by the rights of the minority. Its hallowed pillars are further strenghthened when the majority elect a minority to represent their best interests. You know a Benazir Bhutto, a woman who was elected prime minister in a country that was largely on the Islamic right. You know a Manmohan Singh, a Sikh prime minister, in a society that is seeing a rejuvenation of Hindu jingoism. In the recent past, you have read about Yuliya Tymoshenko in Ukraine too. All minorities in their respective rights, being chosen to lead a larger majority. Fairly, unequivocally and without a call to any of primitive human urges to go to war or annihilate a common enemy.
America, on the other hand, continues to amaze. It has made tall claims to be the best democracy, and rightly so in almost all cases. But what about minority representation in political leadership. Why have we been unsucessful in choosing a president from one of the minority segments of colour, sex or race? Even more intriguing is the relative sucess of minorities business life, with women leading many in the Fortune 500 list. The effect has simply not percolated to the fabric of political life and psyche. We have had an occasional Rice or a Powell, but they were not elected positions.
If corporate america can choose to have minority leaders at the helm, making decisions about their lives, the EPS and what products they consume - whats different in the political spectrum?
Why has the presidency been an exclusive domain of the white man in the United States, and third world nations with closed and impoverished demographies continue to elect minority leaders in a whim. The brits put a Thatcher in residence at Downing street, the point is conceded with the tenant list in the White house. It would be rather naive to argue that competent leaders have failed to emerge from the minority.
Will it be different this time? Will America make a point just to dispel any doubts on the fundamentals of its institutions. Are we mature enough as a people to let go and let the weaker individual show the way?
Obama or Clinton, that don't matter. The politics is unimportant.
Related Link
http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/whatsdem/whatdm8.htm
A Binary Life, or is it really ?
Many years ago, i created software code in assembly language. This is the language of the Computer, and has a dictionary of two words. Yes, two words exactly. Its either a zero or a one, you are either a High or a Low, you are ON or you are OFF - you, in short, ARE or you ARE NOT.
Very Black and White, you could say.
You could never be in-between or in the grey zone. The Computing machine resembles another institution of our time in that regard, the great George Dubya of the promised land. Oneday he ordained from the house of elected representatives, that the world was either with him or against him. I have often wondered if he was ever an assembly language programmer, and whether his code had subroutines and detailed comments, and was easily outsourceable. Turns out that he got quite a few run time errors. But i digress.
The question that i am seeking the answer for is this : What would the world be like if all answers to questions were a Yes or a NO? What if there were no grey? Would it be a better place after all?
After many years of deep thought employing the services of grey matter - i have come to conclude that grey is not a good thing. Greenspan-speak is confusing, period. The housing market is doomed, the bubble will burst and Feds will fudge with the financials - these are undeniable facts of modern life. The world is hurtling along the wrong freeway because we are finding too many shades of grey in the signposts. Men and women in power (i included the fairer sex not because i am a sexist, but a feminist in full measure) are providing too many ambiguous answers instead of zeros or ones. Their leadership is grey and not strong and reflective of their convictions, which as my psychonanalysts friends tell me - are almost unfailingly binary. They have concluded already, but the pronouncements are not conclusive. Life is truly a zero sum game, where the resources are limited and the wants aren't, and conflict resolves to a win for one side - no matter if you put a glossy shrink wrap on the consolation prize. Captilalism was not founded on symbiotic relationships, for Marx's sake.
You live(One or you don't live(Zero), philistines can claim you may simply exist(Grey). You are right or you are wrong, philistines can claim that you weren't entirely correct. True, the context can colour the size of the one or the zero, but after you have made adjustments for all things and considered all perspectives - you have to come to terms to what it really was. One or a Zero. If you can't read, or are not an assembly language programmer, it is still a One or a Zero.
Life would be monchromatic in black and white, your colourful side might argue. But you would have brightness and black holes - instead of a dull grey signposts. Its a different matter altogether that you, as I - in full control of our respective faculties would gravitate towards them black holes. That would be keeping in line with our exploratory instincts, and of choosing the road less travelled. As we perish in that black hole, we would atleast be happy in the knowledge of having made an informed choice.
The President was right. I am with Him. Are you NOT?
Related link:
http://www.arl.wustl.edu/~lockwood/class/cs306/books/artofasm/toc.html
http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/11/06/gen.attack.on.terror/
Very Black and White, you could say.
You could never be in-between or in the grey zone. The Computing machine resembles another institution of our time in that regard, the great George Dubya of the promised land. Oneday he ordained from the house of elected representatives, that the world was either with him or against him. I have often wondered if he was ever an assembly language programmer, and whether his code had subroutines and detailed comments, and was easily outsourceable. Turns out that he got quite a few run time errors. But i digress.
The question that i am seeking the answer for is this : What would the world be like if all answers to questions were a Yes or a NO? What if there were no grey? Would it be a better place after all?
After many years of deep thought employing the services of grey matter - i have come to conclude that grey is not a good thing. Greenspan-speak is confusing, period. The housing market is doomed, the bubble will burst and Feds will fudge with the financials - these are undeniable facts of modern life. The world is hurtling along the wrong freeway because we are finding too many shades of grey in the signposts. Men and women in power (i included the fairer sex not because i am a sexist, but a feminist in full measure) are providing too many ambiguous answers instead of zeros or ones. Their leadership is grey and not strong and reflective of their convictions, which as my psychonanalysts friends tell me - are almost unfailingly binary. They have concluded already, but the pronouncements are not conclusive. Life is truly a zero sum game, where the resources are limited and the wants aren't, and conflict resolves to a win for one side - no matter if you put a glossy shrink wrap on the consolation prize. Captilalism was not founded on symbiotic relationships, for Marx's sake.
You live(One or you don't live(Zero), philistines can claim you may simply exist(Grey). You are right or you are wrong, philistines can claim that you weren't entirely correct. True, the context can colour the size of the one or the zero, but after you have made adjustments for all things and considered all perspectives - you have to come to terms to what it really was. One or a Zero. If you can't read, or are not an assembly language programmer, it is still a One or a Zero.
Life would be monchromatic in black and white, your colourful side might argue. But you would have brightness and black holes - instead of a dull grey signposts. Its a different matter altogether that you, as I - in full control of our respective faculties would gravitate towards them black holes. That would be keeping in line with our exploratory instincts, and of choosing the road less travelled. As we perish in that black hole, we would atleast be happy in the knowledge of having made an informed choice.
The President was right. I am with Him. Are you NOT?
Related link:
http://www.arl.wustl.edu/~lockwood/class/cs306/books/artofasm/toc.html
http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/11/06/gen.attack.on.terror/
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