Latin American Affairs

Myrta Barvie, Argentine icon of Indian dances

2011-12-23T15:25:00.000-08:00

Myrta Barvie believes in Karma. When I asked her what inspired her to the world of Indian classical dances, she took a deep breath and looked at me serenely- like the Gurus do when their disciples ask philosophical questions- and said, ¨ It is the Indian Karma. I was seventeen years old when I was introduced to the legendary Rukmini Devi who visited Argentina on a theosophical mission. I was inspired by her. I realised instantly that India was my Karma. I was so thrilled when Rukmini Devi offered me a scholarship to study in Kalakshetra. I jumped up at the offer and was on the next flight to Chennai. Oh how the time has passed.. It is fifty years¨

Myrta Barvie has dedicated five decades of her life to Indian dances and has become an icon. She has had an illustrious career as a dancer, teacher, choreographer and writer.

Here is Myrta compering the dance programmes at the IV Festival of India in Buenos Aires on 5 December 2011.

Myrta has not only mastered Indian dances but has also become an Indian in spirit and personal life. She says she had two dreams; first to become a dancer and second to know India, the land of ancient culture and spiritual wisdom. She is happy that both her dreams have come true together. She starts her book on Indian dances saying, ¨My relationship with India has always been special. My long stay in India had been beautiful, interesting and profound¨. She has learnt Sanskrit and has read the works of Vivekananda, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Ramana Maharishi and Yogananda, among others. She is a vegetarian and avoids alcohol. She leads a disciplined Indian life in Buenos Aires, the city of distractions. And she has been successful in enforcing with an iron hand a strict discipline on her young Argentine students too. She is very particular about maintaining the purity and sanctity of the traditions of the classical dances of India.

Myrta with her disciples, who tremble in her presence...

Myrta started learning ballet at the age of eight and became a professional dancer in the ballet group of the prestigious Colon Theater of Argentina. She trained in Bharatnatyam in Kalakshetra and did her Arangetram there. Later she learnt Odissi from Guru Keluchara Mohapatra and got a Nritya Visharad degree from Kala Vikash Kendra in Orissa. She went on to learn Kuchipudi at the Kuchipudi Art Academy in Chennai, from Master Vempati Chinnasatyam.

Myrta with Rukmini Devi in Kalakshetra

Myrta has performed Indian classical dances in Argentina and other countries of Latin America as well as in Europe, Asia, Middle East and USA. In India, she has performed, among other places, in the palace of Maharaja of Baroda and in the Rashtrapati Bhavan where she was received by Presidents Radhakrishnan, Zakir Hussain and Zail Singh ( photo below)

Besides introducing and popularising Indian classical dances in Argentina, Myrta has instituitionalised Indian dance tradition by training others. Her disciples Natalia, Silvia, Indira and Leonara have become teachers and established their own schools. They are also devoted and committed to Indian dances, culture and spirituality. There are over thirty Argentines learning Indian classical dances in Buenos Aires. Every month, there is atleast one programme in the city.

Myrta has written a book on Indian classical dances, in spanish language, published by the Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) in 1996. This is a kind of text book on Indian dances for spanish language speakers. In this, she has covered all the classical Indian dances with details of technical and aesthetic aspects.

Here is the cover of the book with her picture.

Myrta is visiting India, at the invitation of ICCR, to update her book with more research and information. She will be in Chennai for one month from 27 December and in New Delhi for the next two months. While leaving for India, she told me she was ¨going home¨. She was nostalgic about the aroma of jasmine flowers and south Indian filter coffee, the sound of sanskrit mantras and the sight of the big banyan tree of Adyar.

I got carried away in the long conversation with Myrta and made a faux pas when I commented, ¨ Sixty years of dance.. Myrta..you still look young..¨ She gave me a look.. like Durga..For a moment I thought I was going to be burnt and vapourised. But she regained her composure quickly and said with a disarming and charming smile ¨ yes you are right. The long and regular practice of dance has kept me fit and young¨. It reminded me of the reply of an Argentine friend when I asked him the reason for the crisis in Argentina from time to time. He said, ¨ In Argentina, the women do not admit their age and the men do not act their age¨.

IV Festival of India in Buenos Aires 3 – 13 December 2011

2011-12-17T10:24:00.000-08:00

Encouraged by the success of the three previous festivals in 2008, 2009 and 2010 and in response to the popular Argentine request for ¨Once More¨, the Embassy organised this Fourth Festival on a larger scale this year.

Handicrafts Exhibition

Forty Indian companies participated in the Exhibition, organized by the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH). The Exhibition was held at the Borges Cultural Centre, the prestigious venue at the heart of the Buenos Aires city. The Borges Centre looked like Chandni Chowk with thousands of Argentines shopping, trying out the Indian ethnic dress and accessories bargaining with the Indian exporters

Live Demonstration of Handicrafts

Eight artisans from India did live demonstration of handicrafts making in the Borges Centre with works such as textile and glass painting, wood, metal and stone crafts. There was even an Indian astrologer who was using a laptop for predictions.

Tagore´s 150^th Birth Anniversary Celebration on 10 December ( separate blog on this)

Rabindra Sangeet

The 4-member Rabindra Sangeet Group led by Ms. Sreyashi Mitra gave concerts at the Borges Centre as well as in other venues.

Bharatnatyam, Odissi and Kuchipudi dances

These dances were performed by Argentines.The performances were held in Borges Centre and other venues.

Open Air Cultural Programme on Sunday 4 December

In collaboration with the City Government of Buenos Aires, an open-air performance of Indian classical dances was held at the historic ´Avenida de Mayo´ (Avenue of May). The traffic at the Avenue was closed and an audience of several thousand attended the event.

The famous Argentine Yoga pop music group ¨Yoga Rave¨ gave a concert.One can see below the Argentines swaying to the music of Yoga Rave.

Open Air Yoga Show on Sunday 4 December at Palermo

A Yoga show was organized with a large group of five hundred at the Planetorium Park at 11 a.m. This was done in collaboration with the various Argentine Yoga Schools and the city government.

Bollywood Dance

This stole the show wherever it was held. This was performed by professional Argentine groups. Manisha Chouhan, one of the teachers is dancing in the picture below..

Manipuri Dance

The Manipuri dance group of Priti Patel performed at the Borges Centre as well as in other venues.

Seminars

Seminars on Indian culture, literature, Ayurveda and spiritualism were organized in the Borges Centre auditorium during the Festival period. The speakers were all Argentines.

Film Festival

Indian films with Spanish sub-titles was shown everyday during the Festival period in one of the auditoriums of the Borges Centre.

Food Festival

This was organized at the Hotel Sheraton, Buenos Aires. The Ministry of Tourism of India sent two Chefs.

Photo exhibition

Photos on India by five Argentine photographers were exhibited at the Recoleta Cultural Centre.

Golf Tournament on 12 December

There is a separate blog on this.

Copa de la India Golf Tournament in Buenos Aires

2011-12-13T16:39:00.000-08:00

This was the Fourth India Cup Golf tournament I had organised (12 December) in Buenos Aires at the prestigious Jockey Club which has two 18-hole courses: Red (Colorada) and Blue (Azul). We played in 9 holes of Red and nine holes of Blue. The Colorada is one of the top five golf courses in the country. The 2010 Argentine Open was held here. It was designed by Alistair Mackenzie, the same golf architect who designed Augusta National of USA, where the Masters is played.

The Golf Tournament was part of the IV Festival of India ( 3-13 December) which concluded yesterday. The India Festival has become a Brand in Buenos Aires. The Borges Cultural Centre where we had the handicrafts exihibition and sale by 40 Indian companies looked like Chandni Chowk of Delhi, with thousands of people bargaining with the smart Indian exporters who quoted prices ...looking at the eager eyes of the Argentines.

The winners were given hand-made trophies made in India by the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts( EPCH). The raffle winners loved the Bronze statues of Ganesh and Nataraja gifted by EPCH.

There were 30 items which were raffled including Dinner coupons at the Indian restaurants, Indian handicrafts and most importantly two return airtickets to India by Qatar Airways. Four more tickets of Qatar were raffled at the India- Latin America seminar and at the Festival Gala on 5 December.

In the cocktail, we served the Chateau Hana wine made by Aziz Abdul ( my blog on himhttp://latinamericanaffairs.blogspot.com/2011/09/aziz.html#links) and Biriyani and Indian snacks from Tandoor restaurant. Mahindra Tractors were prominently displayed (among other Indian products) to catch the attention of the club members some of whom own many thousands of hectares of farms. Godrej, which has bought two Argentine companies distributed cosmetic bags with sunscreen lotion and other products. Economic Diplomacy....

The players were wearing proudly the Incredible India caps made (in style) by the India Tourist Office in NewYork.

In my speech, I could not resist the practice of my usual Latino jokes..

There are three kinds of players of golf and sex..

amateurs play 3 times..a week

professionals play 7 times..a week

married guys play 12 times...a year

This is my last Copa de la India in Buenos Aires. The memories of my golf in 65 courses in Argentina and the moments I shared with the Argentine amigos on the fairways and the 19th hole will stay forever. Argentina is the best country for golf in Latin America. Besides having the largest number of golf courses ( about 300) there is an eco system in Argentina which makes the golf experience unique. Firstly there are a number of internationally successful professionals to inspire and lots of low handicap amateurs to compete with. Secondly, the quality of golf courses and the clubs are excellent and elegant. Within 70 km of Buenos Aires there are around 100 golf courses many of which are part of country clubs where the amigos have weekend homes. Thirdly, there are a number of golf companies which organise tournaments throughout the year. The Tuesday edition of La Nacion and Buenos Aires Herald publish a Golf Agenda with the list of tournaments for each week. I have a number of enthusiastic Argentine amigos who are ready to play on any day of the week ending with ¨Y¨.

celebration of 150th anniversary of Tagore in Buenos Aires

2011-12-10T16:52:00.000-08:00

Tagore would have been immensely pleased with the way he was remembered in Buenos Aires on 10 December. There was Rabindra Sangeet by Sreyashi Mishra from Kolkatta, talk on Tagore- Victoria Ocampo by Axel Maimone, the Argentine scholar and recitation of Gitanjali poems by Gustavo of Hastinapur Foundation, Argentina. The setting for the celebration was perfect. It was in the garden of Vila Ocampo, the historic residence of Victoria Ocampo, where Tagore had met her and stayed as her guest for two months in 1924. The magnificent mansion with its beautiful garden, majestic trees and exotic flowers was shining in the golden rays of the evening sun. Even the the birds and insects in the garden joined in the celebration with their excited chirpings and singing.

Gustavo reciting Gitanjali...

In my speech I quoted this Tagore's poem,

Exotic blossom

I whispered again in your ear

what is your language dear

you smiled and shook your head

and the leaves murmurred instead

The audience had the opportunity to listen to the murmurrings of the leaves of the garden to the music of Rabindra Sangeet and the poems of Gitanjali. This splendid house and the fantastic garden filled with flowers had inspired Tagore to write his Purabi poems. The Exotic Blossom which had inspired and rejuvenated Tagore was Victoria herself.

Axel Maimone talking about the romance between Tagore and Ocampo

Victoria had inspired Tagore not only to write the Purabi poems but had also encouraged him to paint. She organised the first exihibition of Tagore's paintings in Paris in 1930 using her own funds and contacts.

Rabindra Sangeet by Sreyashi Mishra.

After the visit in 1924, Tagore and Victoria had exchanged a number of letters. Tagore had addressed Victoria as Vijaya and called her as ¨my bhaloabasa¨. Victoria started her letters with ¨Dear Gurudev¨ and ended with ¨your Vijaya¨. The easy chair which she gifted to Tagore is still in the Shantiniketan museum.

The Tagore- Victoria encounter was not just personal between the great poet and his admirer. It was the beginning of the literary and cultural encounter between India and Latin America. .

Malu de bicicleta - Brazilian film

2011-11-25T04:00:00.000-08:00

I saw this delightful film ( Malu, the cyclist) at the Brazilian Film Festival in Buenos Aires yesterday. It is the story of Luis Mario of Sao Paulo who leads a merry Brazilian bachelor life with lots of affairs and no commitment. His lifestyle is changed when he is hit by a cycle in the Leblon beach in Rio. He falls in love with the Carioca ( inhabitant of Rio) cyclist Malu and wants to marry her. She comes to live with him in Sao Paulo but shuttles to Rio for her job. Malu is the female equivalent of Luis and is into her own adventures and tells him that while she loves him he should allow her privacy. But Luis is jealous and gets angry every time she introduces a handsome guy as her friend. His friends tell him, ¨those who are unfaithful should be prepared to face the same from others.¨ Unable to restrain Malu, Luis goes back to his old ways and casual affairs. He is caught by Malu when he has sex with her best friend. Malu gets back to Rio, only to find Luis on her cycling path again.

It is a typical love-lite Brazilian story reflecting the free spirit of the Brazilians. There is delicious romance and great humour in the backdrop of the spectacular Rio scenery.

Before this film, they showed a short Brazilian film ¨casa de horas ¨ which was also equally interesting. A old lady living alone is crying that her son forgot her birthday and cannot come to greet her. There is a phone call from a pharmacy chain salesman trying to sell her their Card. She tells him to call him the next day at 4 pm. When he calls, she starts telling him about her life. Then she starts calling him every day to talk to him, since no one else calls her and talks to her. When the salesman does not receive the call, she speaks to the other salespeople in the company telling her story. It becomes the talk of the sales team who become afraid of her calls. One day they call her house to be told by her son that she is dead. The sales team goes to the burial ground and cries. The son of the old lady is perplexed and dont know who they are. Cute little story.

I hear from my Brazilian friends that the Brazilian film industry is booming and the Brazilian audience for their films is increasing. Viva Brasil....

Un amor ( one love ) - Argentine film

2011-11-16T16:39:00.000-08:00

The film Un amor (one love) released this week, true to its name, is about one love - but involving three people. Lisa the daring adolescent girl initiates friendship with two boys Bruno and Lalo. Her preference is for Lalo but when he does not respond to her fully, she goes to Bruno and has sex with him. Then she resumes sex and deeper contact with Lalo causing heartburn for Bruno. But the two friends Lalo and Bruno do not fight over her and kill each other. They manage to contain their jealousy and get on with life. The three go out together and indulge in adolescent adventures and outings happily.

One day Lisa leaves Argentina with her parents and goes off to live in Brazil, Venezuela and USA. She returns to Buenos Aires for a conference after 30 years and as many lovers and boyfriends. She meets with the two ex-boyfriends, who are settled in life. The arrival of Lisa unsettles them and revives their memories. The three go back to the place where they had played together as adolescents and relive the nostalgic moments. After a few fun and emotion packed days of being together, the three go back to their lives.

It is a film for hopeless romantics.. like me. A simple and delightful two stage story of adolescent love and old age nostalgia. No drama, fights, tragedies or extreme emotions. No eternal love. No Romeo and Juliet. No dialogues of ¨I love you. I need you¨. It is just pragmatic life taking love as it comes along. The mutual feelings are sincere and genuine.

There are no shrinks or psychoanalysis in this story as happens in many Argentine films. The three characters try and adjust according to the circumstances without hurting each other too much, both during their adolscence and in old age. There is no clear line between love and friendship. An undefined love...

Orillas - Argentine film

2011-11-10T02:44:00.000-08:00

This new film Orillas (shores or borders) released yesterday was an eye opener for me and, I guess, for many Argentines and others too.

It connects the traditional culture of West Africa with the cults of modern Argentina. Benin, the west African country and Argentina, considered as the most European country of Latin America are worlds apart from each other. But the film brings out an incredible link between the two. There are two parallel stories of two boys, one in Benin and the other in Argentina. Babarimisa, the boy from the Yoruba community of Benin is sick and needs heart transplantation. Being unable to get proper medical treatment, the poor mother of the boy takes him to the local priest and subjects him to the traditional religious curative practices. In these scenes, there is vivid and fascinating description of the ceremonies and rituals practised in West Africa.

The Argentine boy Shantas lives in Villa Tranquila, a slum in the outskirts of Buenos Aires. He takes to crime, robbery and gangsterism. At the same time, he believes in the cult of a slum priest who practises a mixed worship of virgin and some local and African icons. It is a combination of elements from catholicism and other ideas of the delirious priest who is drunk most of the time. The priest brainwashes Shantas saying that he is a special immortal person chosen by god. After he witnesses the rape of Shanta's girlfriend the priest tells him that she has been punished by god and she has become dirty. The angry youth rejects the girlfriend when she comes crying to him. This enrages the girl who tells her uncle that it was Shantas who raped her. The uncle goes to the slum and shoots the boy. An Argentine voluntary organisation which helps with transplants in Africa gets the injured boy before his death and transports him to Africa and gets his heart transplated to the African boy. The grateful African mother wants to see the body of Argentine boy who has given his heart to her son. She screams in astonishment ¨Ssango¨seeing the tattoo on his chest. It is the figure of the god worshipped in her place. The film ends with this incredible coincidence between Africa and Argentina.

The Argentine boy's story brings out the degeneration of the slums which breed crime, drug addiction, mindless violence and gangsterism. It is similiar to the scenes I saw in the the famous Brazilian film City of God (cidade de deus). The action and style of life of the poor but violent slum kids is shocking but realistic. The scenes in the film are similiar to the real life images caught by police security cameras and shown in the TV channels.

Pablo Cesar, the Argentine Director has a message to convey through the film. He reminds the Argentines the forgotten story of the Africans who were brought to Argentina too as slaves. But the African population, small though, disappeared and their history forgotten. Of course, these were very insignificant in number compared to Brazil and the northern parts of South America.

Pablo Cesar, who worked on this film for three years with a shoestring budget has done a remarkable job in bringing out the amazing coincidence between the cults in modern Argentine slum life and the African traditional life. He has done it with extreme sensitivity respecting the feelings of Africans. For me, this was the first time I saw the West African ceremonies and practices which are so colourful and fascinating. The African characters speak in their own Yoruba language (these are subtitled in spanish)and this gives an authentic feel. It was interesting to see that the West Africans bow like the Japanese while interacting with each other. The African songs and music, especially when the mother is on a boat and in the hospital are so poignant. The African mother Morenike is an unforgettable character.

It is not only the cult which is common to the Argentine slum and the African country. The poor people in both countries share the same poverty, misery and suffering. If you are poor, it does not matter in which country you live. Pablo Cesar's theme transcends Argentina and Africa; It is universal.

Pablo has made an extraordinary film using ordinary people without any famous actors. Diana from the embassy too has appeared in the film as Teresa, the mother of the girlfriend of Shantas. I should also compliment Jeronino Toubes the script writer for some of the memorable dialogues in the film.

Argentines are certainly the leaders in Latin American cinema at this moment. I have seen a number of interesting Argentine films. It is remarkable that the Argentines are able to produce some great films despite their meagre budgets ( the government of Argentina provides subsidies to the film industry) and poor revenues. They have compensated for the lack of funds with admirable creativity. Un Cuento Chino ( a Chines tale) by the famous actor Ricardo Darin is one of my favourite Argentine films. His film ¨El secreto de sus ojos- the secret of your eyes¨won an Oscar last year. I hope Orillas will win the Oscar this year.

Orillas has been selected to be shown at the India International Film festival in Goa later this month. Pablo Cesar has been invited to present his film at this Festival. I am confident that it is going to be a hit there. I have not heard of any Indian films shot in West Africa. The Indian audience will find some of the rituals shown in the film as similiar to the ones practised in India too. As a child, I have seen and been part of such practices myself in my village in the interior of Tamilnadu.

The next project of Pablo Cesar is to make a film on Rabindranath Tagore's visit to Argentina in 1924 and his romance with Victoria Ocampo who took care of Tagore. He has already worked out a great story combining Tagore- Victoria encounter with a parallel story of the contemporary Argentina. I am confident that he will do justice to this film titled as ¨Thinking of him¨ with his exceptional talents and admiration for Indian culture.

Medianeras (sidewalls) - Argentine film

2011-11-02T04:09:00.000-07:00

I was one of the seven people in the village cinema of Buenos Aires on Monday to watch this film released last week.

It is about urban loneliness in an Argentine way. The film starts with the buildings of Buenos Aires; some Parisian and others ugly, some planned and others chaotic, some tall and others short, some with wires going all around and others with wireless connections, some with glass and steel and others with plants growing in the walls. It draws the conclusion that the Porteños ( inhabitants of Buenos Aires) are also like the buildings.

The hero Martin, a web designer spends most of his time confined to his apartment and doing everything through his computer; work, playing games, communication, purchases,dating and sex. The only company for him is the dog left by his ex-girlfriend. The heroine Mariana is a failed architect who dresses mannequins in store windows. She also spends most of the time inside her tiny apartment. She becomes so neurotic that she cannot get even orgasm. her mind goes into many things even during sex. Naturally both of them are eminent characters for psychoanalysis, which is the favourite theme of Argentine writers and film makers.

It is a delightful and typically Argentine film.

El Estudiante ( the student ) - Argentine film

2011-10-29T07:55:00.000-07:00

It was a new experience when I went yesterday to see this film which was released last week. In my four years of stay in Argentina, this was the first time I saw the cinema hall was full. What is even more interesting is that this is an independent production without any subsidy from the Argentine film institute.

As the title indicates it is about a student Roque Espinosa from the interior of Argentina who joins the Buenos Aires University. He has no particular trajectory to pursue and drifts around. The only thing he discovers and enjoys is the easy sex with girls from the campus. This changes when he falls in love with a teacher who is a hardcore ideologue. She introduces him to the student union politics. He discovers his political talents of campaigning, mobilising and leading others and becomes a leader in his own right.

The director of the film Santiago Mitre who is also the script writer, has given a vivid portrayal of the university life, youth and politics of Argentina. The hot debates, arguments and fights are realistic.

The success of the film is an inspiration to the other independent film makers of Argentina.

Lia Diskin, the Gandhian in Brazil

2011-09-25T05:33:00.001-07:00

Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary will be celebrated on 2 October this year for the 30th consecutive year by Lia Diskin and her organisation Palas Atena in Sao Paulo. This is a commemoration with a difference. It is not a one-day affair. It is called as Semana de Gandhi (Gandhi Week) and more often the celebrations go on for two weeks and some times a month. It is not a mere ritual or a show of garlanding the statue, paying eloquent homage in a comfortable hall and forgetting it till the next October. For Lia Diskin, Gandhism is a celebration and commitment throughout the year. It has become her mission in life. Gandhi is not history for Lia. She sees his message as relevant for the future. She believes that Gandhi's ideas and practice of non-violence are preventive remedies for the future of the Brazilian society which is facing serious problems of violence and crime. The criminalisation of young minds in the favelas (slums) is brought out vividly in the famous Brazilian film City of God (cidade de deus) which is based on real life stories. Lia Diskin has the firm conviction that sowing the seeds of Gandhian values among the children and youth will help to prevent the infection of their mind. The focus of the Semana de Gandhi is, therefore, children, youth and education. The venues of the events are schools, prisons, streets and public spaces. The events are organised in collaboration with educationists, intellectuals, government authorities, artists, civil society activists as well as with UNESCO.

Here are the list of their activities during the Gandhi week this year from 30 September to 27 October. ¨ The art of life consists in making of life an art ¨ is the Gandhian quote to inspire this year's celebrations and so there are more artistic activities this time.

- Drum Ensemble by the youth group Rede Beija Flor

-Words from Gandhi – talk by Hamilton Faria, poet and anthropologist

- Sketch: Gandhi receives Kasturbai’s letter in prison – actors Joao Signorelli and Meeta

- Indian Music – by Meeta Ravindra group

- Kathak Dance – by Meeta and Gyaneshree

- Play by actor Joao Signorelli who impersonates Gandhi and leads the audience through his life and ideas.

- Video-dialog by Luiz Goes who shows Gandhi videos and invites discussion

- Talking about Gandhi with mediator Joao Moris

- Poems of Rabindranath Tagore -reading by Joao Moris

- Instrumental and vocal music –by Krucis

- Culture of Peace in Education - Awareness Raising Walk

- Several sessions for treatment of delinquent youth

- Indian classical dance – Silvana Duarte

- Storytelling: An Indian Tale about Shiva – Tininha Calazans

- Sumi-e painting and crafts workshop

- Talk by Egberto de Almeida Penido, a judge

- Children’s Choir

- Floral offering to Gandhi statue. The public is being invited to come by cycle and avoid car.

Lia Diskin believes that non-violence is a practice and a constant educational process. She explains this to me, ¨ Within the culture of violence in which we are steeped, we hardly notice the abuses we commit on a daily basis. Violence is not a destiny. It is a choice. This is why it is important to add in the school curriculum itself Education for Non-Violence and Living Together in harmony with others¨. She is convinced that this education will bring about a change in the mindset of people in the same way as the education on environment has made us conscious of this theme starting especially with the Rio Earth Summit of 1992.

Lia Diskin and her educationist collaborators have devised special courses for the government schools and teachers on development of ethics in their curricula and daily routine. Under this project, named as “Priceless Values and Gandhi and Non-Violence” 40,000 teachers have been trained in the state of São Paulo. They have a programme of monthly seminars called as “Values for Coexistence”. Both the projects have institutional support from UNESCO. Palas Athena is also involved in the UN “Human Safety” programme through projects such as “Open Doors” and “Peace Wants Partners”. These have been held in favelas and prisons.

Palas Atena has established Culture of Peace Committees to pursue the goals of UNESCO’s Culture of Peace Decade. This inspired the creation of the Parliamentary Culture of Peace Advisory Boards, active in the São Paulo Assembly, and in several other Brazilian cities, such as Curitiba and Londrina. These boards include representatives of the civil society, religious institutions and non-governmental organizations besides the members of the state or municipal assemblies.

Palas Atena has taken initiatives to apply Gandhian ideas in the health sector too. In partnership with the Municipal Health Department, they have trained over 5000 health professionals of hospitals and basic health units.

More information on Palas Atena in their website: http://www.palasathena.org/

Lia Diskin with school children, in the picture below:

One of the most memorable projects of Palas Atena in which I had the opportunity (when I was the consul general in Sao Paulo 1996-2000) to collaborate, was with the military police of the state of Sao Paulo. We sent to every one of the 85,000 military police of the state a ten page write-up of Gandhi's message of non-violence in Portuguese. We organised seminars, workshops and essay and poetry competitions for the police personnel. The military police who faced violent criminals and dangerous situations in their daily job found the practice of non-violence by Gandhi as fascinating and inspiring. It provoked them into new ways of thinking and challenged their conventional wisdom. They started looking into the causes of the violence and minds of the criminals going beyond their professional instinct to catch and punish them. They saw possibilities of redemption for the criminal minds with a new Gandhian approach. They poured out their heart in the essays and talked about the difficult and painful situations they had faced in their work. Some of their poems were intensely emotional and moving. The Brazilian public was excited by the entry of Mahatma Gandhi in the mind space of military police. The police department was very happy with the project and its impact on the mindset of the police.

The second project in which I had the privilege to collaborate was the publication of the autobiography of Gandhi in portuguese. Lia had got the book translated in modern Brazilian portuguese by four eminent Brazilian scholars who divided the work among themselves. The SESC Pompeia auditorium, where the launching event was held, was overflowing with more than 400 people. A delegation of Indian Parliamentarians who were visiting Sao Paulo at that time was overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of the audience inspired by Lia Diskin. They could not believe that the book of Gandhi would attract so much serious interest in the distant land of Brazil. The book has been reprinted several times since then to meet the increase in demand.

The auditorium of Palas Atena is called as Mahatma Gandhi Auditorium, where I had made my first public speech in Portuguese language on Gandhi. Several Gandhian scholars of India have given talk there. The library of Palas Atena has the largest collection of books on Gandhi. They also have a publishing house, with many titles on Gandhi, non-violence,culture and peace. Palas Atena gives regular courses on philosophy and holds cultural and spiritual events, seminars and workshops. Education, art, human rights, environment, ethics and multicultural and religious exchanges are the principal themes of the activities. Yoga, meditation and Indian classical music and dance are also organised in the auditorium. Lia Diskin took the initiative in the establishment of Gandhi Square in Sao Paulo city with a garden and statue of Gandhi, seen in the picture below.

Lia is the author and co-author of many books on education, peace, ethics and culture. Her book, ¨Paz, como se faz? ¨( peace, how to make?) has been adopted by schools in six states of Brazil and has seen sale of 500,000 copies. Another book “Cultura de Paz – de reflexão à ação” (culture of peace- from reflection to action) was published by UNESCO and the Brazilian Ministry of Justice.

Lia Diskin is a true Gandhian in her public and personal life. She pracises what she preaches. Her favourite Gandhi quote is ¨ Happiness is when what you think, what you say and what you do are in harmony¨. She has devoted her life completely and selflessly to social service. Like Gandhi, her mind and heart are anchored in profound philosophy, ethics and morality. With an open mind, she has imbibed both western and eastern wisdom and is an admirer of Dalai Lama. At the same time, she applies her principles pragmatically to find practical solutions to social problems. Her child-like smile, kindness, enthusiasm, energy and optimism bring cheer and inspiration to street children, delinquent youth and prisoners.

Born in Argentina, Lia Diskin and her husband Basilio Pawlowicz moved to Sao Paulo in 1972 . They established Palas Atena for social service and study of philosophy. They run an orphanage in Sao Paulo called as Casa de Pandavas (House of Pandavas). The orphans are showered with affection and personal care by Lia and Basilio who do not have their own children. Lia lives a simple and modest life with a strict Gandhian discipline. She is a vegetarian. She is not in the cocktail circuit nor does she use her work for any personal publicity. Her interest in Gandhi started early as a child after she read books on Gandhi. She was inspired by the autobiography of Gandhi and was totally taken by the idea of a person with such commitment to truth. She told me, ¨I never found a philosopher with such earnest desire and serious sustained effort to translate truth into daily life¨.

Lia Diskin was an invitee at the Satyagraha centeneray celebrations in India in 2006. She was one of the dozen global personalities invited in 2007 by India to address the United Nations in New York which declared 2 October as the International Day of Non- Violence. She was given the Jamnalal Bajaj award in January 2011 for her service to people in the Gandhian way.

Here is Lia Diskin with her Jamnalal Bajaj award at the Consulate of India in Sao Paulo

Mahatma Gandhi developed his method of non-violence during his stay in South Africa. Then he took it to India and practised it successfully to get independence for the country and uplift the Indian society. Lia Diskin has brought the Gandhian message to Brazil and made it relevant for Brazilian situation. This triangular Gandhian connection adds another dimension to the IBSA (India- Brazil- South Africa) alliance of the three countries which share democratic values and developmental challenges as well as common agenda and aspirations.

Pondicherry Tamil from Paris, born in Vietnam, producing Argentine wine in Mendoza

2011-09-02T05:58:00.000-07:00

¨I am a foreigner in any country¨, This is how Aziz Abdul responded with a smile when I asked him to which country he belonged. ¨What is your mother tongue?¨. He smiled again, greeted me in Tamil, switched to English with heavy French accent and then completed the conversation in fluent Spanish. He was born in South Vietnam where he lived for the first fifteen years. He speaks Vietnamese like a native. His mother is half-Vietnamese and her mother local Vietnamese. His father, a Tamil from Pondicherry. When Saigon fell in 1975, his family lost everything. They went back to Pondicherry and started a new life running "Chez Aziz" a gourmet restaurant . Aziz went to the French school there and improved his Tamil language. He went to Paris for higher education. He studied mathematics and thereafter computer science at the University of Orsay. He fell in love with Najma from Madagascar who was studying Sanskrit in Paris. I raised my eyebrows … With his trade mark smile, he said Najma chose to learn Sanskrit since she wanted to get back to the root of her original country. She is an Ismaili muslim of Gujrati origin and speaks fluent Gujrati. They have two daughters. Aziz has named his wine Chateau Hana, a combination of the initials of his family- H- Hema his first daughter (his wife is a fan of Hemamalini), A- Anjuli, the second daughter, N- Najma, the wife and A for Aziz.

Aziz produces high-end wine which sells for 90 pesos ( 22 US $ ) in the wine shops of Argentina. His wine is served in the upscale hotels such as Park Hyatt and in exclusive restaurants and high-end wine shops in Buenos Aires, Bariloche, Mendoza, Mar del Plata, Cordoba and Rosario. Info on his wine http://www.chateauhana.com

He is planning to start exports soon. How about exporting to India?, I ask him and he beams with yet another smile. When we served his wine at our embassy receptions, the guests were ecstatic. We told our guests, it is an Argentine Wine made with Indian hands and spirit.

Picture: Aziz in El Paraiso ( paradise ), his house on the left, winery on the right and vineyard behind.

Aziz worked for 20 years in the IT department of the French multinational group Lagardere. But he did not want to end up life staring at the computer screens. He wanted to become his own boss and longed to have a quiet life in countryside. He was saving money to pursue his dream- to own a vineyard and make his own wine.

Aziz Abdul…drinking and making wine? I could not hide my puzzle. Aziz smiled again and started another story. It was his father, a Muslim who enjoyed alcohol and let his son also follow. He was liberal and cosmopolitan and inspired his son too. While studying in Paris, Aziz tried wine and liked it. He was a frequent visitor to the cellar of the home of one of his university friends. He was very excited to drink a 21- years old Morgon on the 21st birthday of his friend. The taste for wine lead him to explore the vineyards in France and beyond. He visited the wineries and got to meet wine makers such as Alexandre Thienpont and Denis Lurton. He studied viticulture and enology.The taste for wine became a passion. As soon as he had the minimum savings he started looking to buy a vineyard. The French and European ones being expensive, he tried India. He visited the wine growing areas of India hoping that he would be able reroot himself to his fatherland. But it did not work out.

Thereafter, Aziz came to Argentina, the fifth largest wine producer in the world. He bought a 15- hectare vineyard on the outskirts of San Rafael city in Mendoza province in 2008. He put up a brand new boutique winery, with a capacity of 85, 000 litres. He is into his fourth crop this year. He grows malbec, cabernet sauvignon and bonarda varietals. He manages the farm himself with the help of a local husband-wife pair who live in the farmhouse. During harvest season, he hires extra help. He takes the help of an Argentine enologist too. He uses certain French practices in the growing of grapes, pruning of the plant and in the making of wines, different from the the local Argentine way of doing things. He enjoys taking care of the plants and the processing with an eye for every detail. Aziz's favourite quotation ¨God had created water, men the wines- Victor Hugo¨.

Aziz has integrated well in the small town San Rafael society. He speaks fluent spanish and has made a number of friends. While he makes upscale wine he himself leads a simple life. He enjoys working with his own hands in the vineyard and the winery. He literally breathes the aroma of his wine every day and night since his house is full of wine cases all around. When he gets time, he plays tennis and goes for skiing in winter. He is connected to his family in Paris by skype. His wife shares her time between the husband in Argentina and the daughters who live in their apartment, a few blocks from Eiffel tower in Paris.

Like Aziz, many foreigners are investing in vineyards in Mendoza for the pleasure and pride of having their own vineyard and boutique winery. Of course, it is a solid investment too, given the constant appreciation of the price of the land and the profitability of wine business. Aziz had bought the vineyard from an American investor. A few retired people also settle down in the farm houses surrounded by their own vineyards or spend a few months every year. The Argentine prices are affordable and vineyards and land are available. There is no restriction on foreign investment. Aziz's own investment in the vineyard and winery is about 500,000 dollars. The cost of living in Mendoza is low while the quality of life is excellent with peaceful atmosphere and friendly local people. The climate is perfect for the grapes with warm days and cold nights and sunshine throughout the year.

The Argentines have started producing and exporting more wine in recent years. Their exports reached 864 million dollars in 2010. The Argentine wines are getting more recognition in international markets. It has overtaken the Chilean wines in the US market. Malbec has become famous around the world as the signature wine of Argentina.

I spent two days last month visiting his vineyard and listening to his stories over many glasses of Chateau Hana wine. After this, I have become an admirer and started calling him as Che Aziz. In Argentina, Che is a colloquial way of saying ¨friend¨, as Che Guevara.

Cheers…Che Aziz…

Global Brazil and U.S.-Brazil Relations

2011-08-16T04:42:00.001-07:00

¨Global Brazil and US-Brazil relations¨, the paper published by The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), New York in July this year, is one of the latest studies to reiterate and reconfirm the emergence of Brazil ¨as a significant power and presence on the world stage¨. The study has advised the US policy makers that the emergence of Brazil as a global power is an opportunity for US which should formulate policies to make use of the complementary role of Brazil in the pursuit of American strategic interests. The 85- page CFR report is the work of an Independent Task Force which consisted of 30 American academics, business leaders, experts and ex-policy makers.

The Council has highlighted the unique position of Brazil as a country with surplus food and energy in this time of growing global concern over food and energy security. Brazil is the fourth-largest exporter of food and leader in exports of staples like soy, sugarcane, coffee, orange juice and beef. It is a major producer of tobacco, cotton and cashews. The Report gives credit to Brazilian advances in agricultural technology and innovations which have made agriculture more efficient making Brazil as an agriculture powerhouse. Brazil has the potential to bring more land under cultivation than any other country in the world.

On energy, the report makes the following points:

-With as many as 50 billion barrels of oil beneath Brazilian waters, 167 million barrels of annual ethanol production (and plans to increase output to more than 400 million barrels by 2019), hydroelectric dams that supply as much as 75 percent of Brazilian electricity, and the world’s sixth-largest proven uranium reserves, Brazil is poised to become a significant exporter of diverse energy products.

-The Brazilian energy matrix is among the least carbon intensive of the major economies and has one of the highest shares of renewable energy in power generation in the world.

- The pre-salt reserves would place Brazil among the world’s ten largest oil reserve holders and a major global oil exporter. It may produce up to four million barrels of oil per day of which one million barrels could be exported. Brazil is one of just a few countries in the Western Hemisphere— Canada being another—that will significantly increase oil production over the next decade.

-Brazil is a major global ethanol producer, consumer, and exporter, and plans to double biofuels production over the next decade. Total ethanol production is now in excess of 430,000 barrels per day, roughly 80 percent of which is used by the Flexifuel vehicles which reached 94 percent of Brazil’s new car sales in August 2009. There are already more than ten million flexi-fuel vehicles on the road.

- Brazil holds 18 percent of the world’s available fresh water which is a valuable asset considering the fact that countries such as China and India face water shortages especially for agriculture.

- The Amazon rainforest is itself a precious resource, recycling carbon dioxide to produce more than 20 percent of the world’s oxygen.

Blessed with these God-given endowments, the Brazilians have started putting their act together to realise the potential of Brazil. The Brazilian government has lifted over thirty million of its citizens out of poverty and significantly expanded its middle class in the last two decades. They have achieved significant reductions in the levels of poverty, inequality, unemployment, and malnutrition with large-scale social programs such as Fome Zero (Zero Hunger) and Bolsa Família (Family Allowance). Brazil’s GDP per capita is now twice as high and poverty rate half of what it was ten years ago. The Brazilian economic fundamentals have become stronger and healthier which have helped the country to weather the storms of crisis coming from the northern hemisphere in recent years.

Riding on this new wave of domestic strength and confidence, the Brazilians have become increasingly active in multilateral institutions and international fora. They are reaching out to other parts of the world which were not in the radar of their foreign policy earlier. Look at their Africa initiative. President Lula made eleven official visits to Africa traveling to twenty-five countries—more than any other Brazilian president or BRIC head of state. In the last ten years, Brazil has doubled the number of its embassies in Africa to thirty four. Trade and investment are booming. The Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht is the largest private sector employer in Angola. Brazil has invested more than $4 billion in Africa’s agriculture sector over the past five years to develop production capacity. The Brazilian agri research agency Embrapa has opened a satellite regional office in Ghana to deepen research collaboration and strengthen its advisory role throughout the continent. Through the transfer of technology, skills training, research and development, and the infusion of capital, Brazil is breaking fresh ground in constructing a new development paradigm. For example, the Africa-Brazil Cooperation Programme on Social Protection, launched in 2009, creates a platform for Brazilian experts to work with their African counterparts in sharing their best practices in social development such as Bolsa Familia and HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment.

There is another example of how Brazil leverages its strength in building Development Partnership. It is helping countries such as El Salvador,Haiti, Dominican Republic, St. Kitts and Nevis, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Guinea-Bissau, and Senegal and Cuba to develop fuel ethanol programmes.

The CFR report has a clear message: Brazil is and will remain an integral force in the evolution of a multi- polar world. Its decisions and actions will affect the world’s economy, environment, and energy future as well as prospects for diplomacy and stability. Brazil is on the short list of countries that will most shape the twenty-first century.Brazil has transcended its status as the largest and most resource-rich country in Latin America to now be counted among the world’s pivotal powers. It ranks as the world’s fifth-largest landmass, fifth-largest population, and eighth-largest economy. Brazil matters not just regionally but globally.

CFR advises the US policy makers to recognize Brazil’s standing as a global actor, treat its emergence as an opportunity for the United States, and work with the Brazilians to to advance shared interests and common goals by reinvigorating and deepening their partnership through expanded governmental and economic ties. They recommend US to fully endorse Brazil as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.

CFR has cautioned the policy makers to recognize that independence will almost certainly remain a hallmark of Brazilian foreign policy, even as the two countries develop a closer relationship. It expects that Brazil will continue to define its national interest independently from the United States, and the United States cannot decide where and how Brazil will engage internationally. Brazilians will resist a tight U.S. embrace, and warming relations will not necessarily translate into Brazil’s standing in line behind the United States. The United States will need to adjust to a more assertive and independent Brazil.

CFR has, of course, tempered the positives with the challenges faced by Brazil such as favelas, urban violence, drugs, poor infrastructure, anachronistic tax and labour laws, corruption and governance issues. It has also pointed out the vulnerability of Brazil whose recent growth has got acceleration by the tailwind of high commodity demand and prices and its overdependence on exports of raw materials.

Let me add here two points which are missing in the CFR report. Brazil enjoys some critical advantages in comparison to the other members of the BRIC group as well as USA. Brazil does not face any problem of terrorism which is a threat faced by other major powers. It does not have any land or maritime border conflicts nor does it face inimical neighbours threatening its peaceful existence. On the other hand, Brazil has embraced regional integration through Mercosur and Unasur whose collective strength reinforces the profile of Brazil. Despite being a melting pot with immigrants from Europe, Africa, Middle east and Japan, the country is free from linguistic, religious, ethnic or ideological conflicts.

Secondly, Brazil has become a role model for Latin America with its balanced and pragmatic mix of Inclusive Development and market- friendly policies. This has become the new paradigm for the region which has, in the recent past, gone through costly leftist and neoliberalist experiments. The Latin Americans recall the price they had paid in following the Washington Consensus which triggered a turn to the extreme left which also inflicted its own damage. No more imports of external ideology.... Brasilia Consensus is home-made.

India has rightly chosen Brazil as a bilateral, trilateral (IBSA) and global strategic partner. India's trade with Brazil reached 7.7 billion dollars in 2010. Indian companies have made substantial investments in Brazil in sectors such as agribusiness, energy, pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals and IT. The latest big ticket investments in 2010-11 were by Renuka Sugar (400 million dollars in agribusiness) and United Phosphorous Limited ( 750 million dollars in agrochemicals). Rattan Tata announced this month that the famous Nano and other Tata vehicles might be assembled in Brazil.

Message of Gandhi in Medellin

2011-07-18T04:23:00.001-07:00

Be careful.. Friends advised me when I told them I was going to visit Medellin, notorious for kidnappings, murders and drug trafficking. Another set of friends also gave me the same advice but for a different reason. They were jealous...Medellin women, are reputed to be the most beautiful in Latin America. So you could imagine my accompanied baggage full of fears, expectations and fantasies with which I reached the city on 7 July. But I was in for a totally different surprise. I found a Mahatma Gandhi Foundation there celebrating Festival of Non- Violence, started by a Gujarati... Mr Harivardhan Shah.

So my first visit in the city was to the Gandhi Foundation. Shah described it as ¨an organisation that seeks to reclaim Life and to rebuild Hope in a city that no longer wants to see its children die in the street either by a bullet or at the hands of a murderer¨. The Foundation's objective is ¨to teach everyone that, it is indeed possible to restore the hope that violence has stolen from us. This begins only when each citizen consciously decides: not to contribute any more to the culture of violence that surrounds us and instead to do something to build a peaceful coexistence, not only with others, but also within oneself¨.

The Gandhi Foundation has an auditorium for meetings. There are two full time employees at the office of the Foundation, located on the top floor of the factory of Mr Shah.The local authorities, NGOs and some companies support the foundation and its activities with thirty percent of financing while the remaining seventy percent of the funds are from Mr Shah himself. The local media has given wide publicity praising the work of the Foundation.

The Foundation celebrates Gandhi Jayanti every year with seminars, workshops, candle-light marches and events in schools and colleges. They invite the people ¨to find solutions to the problem of violence in the city - initially in oneself and then to replicate those solutions with the people around them. The Foundation teaches yoga and meditation to help people to achieve inner peace and harmony.

The Foundation does not preach within the safety of four walls. They organise campaigns at the Metro stations and streets and even in dangerous neighbourhoods such as Comun Popular which is rife with crime and narcotrafficking. In Colombia they call the slums as Comuns. The Foundation holds solidarity meetings with the victims of violence. The volunteers of the Foundation work the Metros and streets with banners in spanish which say,

- If you are at peace with yourself, there is atleast one peaceful place in the world.

-There is no way to peace.. peace itself is the way.

-eye for an eye will make the world go blind.

The Foundation distributes Gandhi masks and spectacle frames to the marchers. Some Colombians dress up like Gandhi during the marches, as in the photo below.

Colombians with Gandhi masks, in the picture below.

Shah himself was a victim of the Medellin violence. Once, a gang of armed robbers attacked his factory at gun point and took away everything they could. Second time the robbers threatened to shoot him but he took a risk of diverting their attention and managed to escape. Then a criminal gang put his name among the list of people to be eliminated. At this time he thought of leaving Colombia. But his two daughters, who were born and brought up as Paisas ( inhabitants of Medellin) did not want to leave. They were firm and convinced Shah that they should live and die there itself.

In the picture above- Mr Shah.

The Gandhi Foundation focusses on the youth who are the potential recruits of criminal gangs. The Foundation works with schools and colleges and teach the students tolerance and compassion and the need to respect others with different beliefs. They tell the adolescents that they must change themselves first before expecting the world to change. Their most important programme is to develop, nurture and multiply young leaders. They select leaders from the schools through a series of interviews. The young leaders are given scholarships to pursue their higher education. These leaders carry out the campaign of non-violence and participate actively in all the Gandhi events. When these Medellin young leaders tell the other youth about non-violence it makes a greater impact than if Shah were to give lectures himself. The only condition the Foundation lays down for the leaders is that when they get jobs and settle down in life they must help at least two other deserving candidates and mentor them. One of the interview committee members had a doubt and asked Shah, what if they do not help others? what is the gurantee?. Shah , who is as much a pragmatist as an idealist replied, ¨Do we seek such a guarantee from our own children when we invest in their education that they would help the parents?¨.

Sara (in the picture below) is one of the Gandhi Foundation scholarship holders. She studies business management. To my question as to what kind of company she would like to work, she responded quickly and unhesitatingly, ¨I want to start my own business.¨ I asked her about the public response to the campaign for non-violence in which she takes part. She said that the kids in the slums were initially curious. Later some of them turned positive and wanted to know more about Gandhi. She told me that the non-violence campaign has made some of the young people to think about the situation in Medellin in a new light with a different approach.

Shah has been living in Medellin for the last 36 years. He went to work there as a chemical engineer in a local company after completing six years of University studies in Germany. He fell in love with the beautiful city, pleasant weather ( they call it as eternal spring since the average temperature is 21 degrees). After some years, he started his own factory to produce chemicals.

Shah and his Gujarati wife Hasita as well his two daughters speak to each other in spanish all the time. They have a creatively designed country house where they hold retreats for the Gandhi Foundation scholarship holders.

Shah is also the mentor, guardian and Guru for the 80 Indians most of whom have come to the city for IT projects. He and his wife are avid and competitive bridge players and participate in the national and regional tournaments. Shah dances Salsa and Tango, throws fiestas for the smallest excuse and lives upto the Latino philosophy, ¨We do not stop having fun when we are old. We become old only when we stop having fun¨.

With such a broad bandwidth of Gujrati mind and Latino heart Shah has made Mahatma Gandhi meaningful to Medellin in a practical and pragmatic way.

Here is Mr and Mrs Shah at the their country house..

More info on the Gandhi Foundation at http://www.edugandhi.org

They are in facebook too ...http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=152900591407225

Medellin is not alone in rediscovering Mahatma Gandhi. There is a resurgence of interest in Gandhi's concept and practice of non-violence across Latin America which is facing a growing challenge of urban crime and violence. Policy and opinion makers and intellectuals realise that policing could deal only with the surface part of the problem. They want to go to the roots and cultivate a new culture of non-violence in the hearts and minds of the young people. It is in this task that they find Mahatma Gandhi as an inspiration and his ideas relevant to the Latin American situation.

Hastinapur, the city of wisdom, in Argentina

2011-06-11T05:45:00.000-07:00

Hastinapur has a total area of twelve acres. Its population consists of a dozen Indian gods and an equal number of Argentine human beings. Some of the Indian gods reside in authentic temples filled with the scent of Indian agarbatties while others stay outdoor enjoying the fragrance of the flowers from the garden. Some are sitting or standing on the pedestals and others hang on the sides of walls and pillars. The gods who have their own temples include Ganesh, Krishna, Surya, Narayana and Siva. Since it is Hastinapur there is a temple for Pandavas too. Hastinapur is clearly a place fit for the gods ...who should be pleased with the cleanliness of the place, the serene surroundings and the green garden with Rosewood trees. The only noise comes from the hundreds of birds nesting in the trees. Then there is the soft music of the devotees who sing Bhajans. It is indeed a divine place which inspires sacred thoughts and holy spirit.

Ganesh is standing out in white against the greenery of the garden in the picture below.

The dozen Argentines who live there look after the gods and the place. During weekend, the human population increases to over one hundred. The Argentines do not go there seeking favours as many Indians do in Tirupathi. They go there for wisdom. This is why Hastinapur is called as the City of Wisdom (ciudad de la sabiduria). Saraswati, the Goddess of Learning blesses the students through the sculptures all around the compound. The Argentines learn philosophy, read in the library, practise yoga and meditation and sing Bhajans.

On the other side of the fence, there are cows grazing and occasionally staring at the Indian gods. The cows are relaxed and free from fear because they know that they will not become food at the dining table in Hastinapur, which is a vegetarian place. The inmates cook vegetarian food and share it with the children from poor families in the neighbourhood.

Hastinapur does not have any godmen seeking fame and fortune and flaunting wealthy followers. It is an instituition to pursue pure wisdom, peace and divinity. Neither in the city nor in the website names of those who run the place are given. The founders and directors of the Hastinapura Foundation do not seek publicity. They are humble but devoted people. They have their professions as company managers, engineers or professors. They volunteer their time and talents for the foundation.

Nor is Hastinapur the work of some overenthusiastic drum-beating Hare Krishna types or faith-lead Saibaba followers. Hastinapur respects all the religions and beliefs. Their ten temples include one for Buddha, one for Virgin Mary, one for the Greek god Demeter and another one called as the the Temple of All Faiths. Their library has books of all religions and schools of thought. Hastinapur seeks true wisdom, going beyond the boundaries of established religions. The City of Wisdom is not the ultimate destination. It does not prescribe wisdom doses. It simply helps people to seek, find and pursue their own path to wisdom. They give classes in yoga, meditation, philosophy, devotional singing and sacred drama. They organise workshops, seminars and retreats. They also provide community service. They celebrate festivals such as Ganesh Chathurthi and Baishaki. Their next project is to broadcast through radio.

Hastinapur temples do not have priests or other middlemen between the gods and worshippers. There is no money collection, like in Tirupathi. Worshippers pray, recite mantras and sing devotional songs individually or in groups.

Meditation Hall

Hastinapur has a post graduate course in yoga which takes three years to complete. The classes are held in the weekends only. There are 2500 students studying yoga and philosophy in the Hastinapur centres. The students are being taught by 100 teachers on philosophy and 120 teachers on yoga.

Many Argentines go to Hastinapur as a retreat from the hectic city of Buenos Aires which is just fifty kilometres away. They practise meditation in the quiet natural environment. They do yoga, read books from the library, discuss philosophy and join the singing of bhajans. Hastinapur is an authentic Ashram.

Hastinapur Foundation has published a number of books on Indian philosophy and translated Bhagwat Gita, Bhakti Sutras, Upanishads,Srimad Bhagwatam and Yoga Sutras. Their latest publication is Mahabharatha in Spanish. They have so far published three volumes and plan to do a total of twelve volumes in the coming years. Each volume is over 500 pages. The founder Alda Albrecht and other members of the Foundation have also written a number of books.

main entrance to the Hastinapur city

Hastinapura Foundation was established by Ada Albrecht in 1981. She introduced Indian philosophy and became a Guru for the Argentines seeking wisdom. She wrote a number of books such as ¨The Saints and teachings of India¨ and ¨The teachings of the monks from Himalayas¨.

Gustavo Canzobre was one of her students, who is now the Director of the Hastinapur college of professors. He was seventeen years old when he became interested in Indian wisdom. During the Third Festival of India organised by the embassy in Buenos Aires in November 2010, he gave a talk on the temple architecture of South India. He has agreed to give a talk on Indian philosophy in the forthcoming Fourth Festival of India in December 2011. He is a manager in a local company for living and dedicates rest of his time to Hastinapura Foundation. He is knowledgeable about Indian vedas and upanishads and is going to India on his second visit in August this year.

Gustavo Canzobre in the picture below:

The architectural and scuplting work of the Hastinapur complex has been done entirely by Argentines. The architects and sculptors have studied Indian temples and have done their work professionally and aesthetically. Even now they are constructing some more buildings with Indian sculptures and statues.

Pillars of the entrance to Ganesh temple below:

The pond in front of the temple has fresh water and fish:

A small outdoor Ganesh temple in the garden

Hastinapura Foundation has sixteen centres in Buenos Aires and three more in the rest of Argentina. They have also established centres in Uruguay, Bolivia and Colombia. Information on the Foundation and its activities can be seen at their website

http://en.hastinapura.org.ar

Lord Siva is sitting majestically in the large garden guarded by Ganesh on the four sides:

Latin Americans are, of course, known for fun and fiesta. At the same time, there are thousands of Latin Americans who take Mahabharatha and Meditation more seriously than many Indians....

Indian scientist receives Paraguayan honour

2011-05-19T11:32:00.001-07:00

Dr Mohan Kohli, an Indian agricultural scientist received Honorary Doctorate from the San Carlos University of Paraguay on 18 May in Asuncion. This is a recognition of the contribution of Dr Kohli in the last three decades to improvement of wheat cultivation and production. The Paraguayans expressed their gratitude to Dr Kohli who is credited with the transformation of Paraguay from a wheat importer till the eighties into a wheat exporter since 2004. The wheat production of Paraguay has increased from 30,000 tons in 1978 to 1.2 million tons now. In 2010 Paraguay earned 230 million dollars from wheat exports.

Dr Kohli is a wheat specialist and is a senior scientific consultant to the Paraguayan National Wheat Programme. He started off his career with the legendary Norman Borlaug ( Nobel prize winner who contributed to the Green revolution of India) in 1971 and worked with him for six years in Mexico. In 1978 he came to South America as a regional wheat breeder. Since then he has been working in the South American countries of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia and Chile. He has worked in collaboration with the governments as well as the private sector agricultural organisations and associations. He has been awarded many honours by the governments and universities of Latin American countries.

Dr Kohli has spent a total of 40 years in Latin America, of which he has lived in South America for 33 years. He is married to a Mexican. Currently he lives in Paraguay and is also working as senior technical consultant to the Argentine wheat project. Dr Kohli who speaks fluent spanish is admired and valued in the agricultural and scientific communities of Latin America. Besides developing new varieties of wheat to suit the different climates and soil conditions of South America, Dr Kohli has trained hundreds of scientists and contributed to human resource development. He has published over 150 papers and articles in USA and Latin America.

Dr Kohli did his B.Sc in agriculture from the Rajasthan Agricultural University and Masters and PhD at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute.He had done Post Doctoral work in the University of California and Oregon State University. The American Society of Agronomy honoured him with a ¨International Service Award ¨ in 2010.

Dr Kohli is not just another laboratory scientist confined to the four walls and surrounded by scientific papers. He is a practical scientist with a pragmatic approach. He is passionate about agriculture. He enjoys his research and putting the outcomes of his research into practical action. He spends as much time on the fields as he does in the laboratories. He loves the company of small farmers and shares coffee in their homes. During my tours with him, I have seen myself how he is admired as a hero by the farmers of Paraguay and Argentina. He has earned the respect and admiration of the Latin Americans with his Indian humility, sincerity, brilliance and hard work. He has stimulated interest and respect for India in the rural areas of Latin America. I call him as the Agricultural Ambassador of India. In my speech at the 18 May ceremony, I thanked him for raising the flag of India in places where Indian Ambassadors have never been.

Dr Kohli is not a ivory tower scientist. He has a global vision and is concerned with food security. He has the big picture and ideas for making the world a better place. He has a heart for the poor and hungry and is committed to do his part to solve the global problem of poverty.

Dr Kohli made an inspiring presentation to Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar when he was in Buenos Aires in September 2010. He advocated No-Till ( Direct Seeding) Method of cultivation for India and showed how this method has revolutionised the agriculture of South America, which is emerging as a superpower in agriculture. He has given an Action Plan to Minister Pawar for implementation of No-Till cultivation method and other measures to improve productivity and sustainable cultivation in India. He took me to the farms in Paraguay and showed me how the small farmers are successfully practising the No-Till cultivation using bullock carts and small tractors. He believes strongly that India can increase productivity, reduce soil degradation and practise sustainable farming, learning from the South American experience. He is willing to share his expertise and contribute to India.

Latin America has made use of Dr Kohli's expertise for the last 40 years....Will India take advantage of the expertise and willingness of Dr Kohli to contribute to the motherland ???

El olvido que seremos (We wil be…forgotten)- book by Hector Abad

2011-03-25T14:11:00.000-07:00

¨Inolvidable¨-unforgettable- is how I would describe this book by the Colombian author Hector Abad Faciolince. It is evident from the 25 editions of this book since its first edition in 2006.

Hector Abad is different from my other two favourite Colombian writers Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Laura Restrepo. While these two are the masters of magical realism, Hector Abad has moved the readers with his simple and plain realism. He does not take you through journeys of incredible imagination, flights of fantasies or magic carpets. He has just described the real life story of his father Hector Abad Gomez in a natural,clear and straightforward way. But the portrayal is poignant and powerful. This is because the fact is more striking than fiction; reality is more overpowering than the imagination.

Hector Abad has woven together three stories within this book: the story of Colombia; the relationship between an adoring and exemplary father and the pampered son ; and the story of the family.

Hector Abad Gomes, father of the author, taught medicine at the University of Antioquia in Medellin. But he went beyond the call of his profession and embarked on public health policy initiatives and campaigns. He established the faculty of public health in the University and connected the high brow medical students to the poor people in the slums. He was obsessed with the need for prevention of diseases through clean water, vaccination and other such measures. He wrote a number of books on public health besides his solid action on the ground. His compassion for the poor was misinterpreted as communism by his university colleagues and rightwing political elements who started persecuting him. He was caught in the ongoing violence unleashed against leftists all over Colombia by the security forces and militias, with the support of the oligarchy. Undaunted, he expanded his activism to defence of human rights and campaigns against violence. He wrote a book ¨Manual de tolerancia¨ and advocated the Gandhian method of non-violence and passive resistance. Many of his collaborators, liberals and leftists were systematically and ruthlessly killed and he was also marked in the death list. Inevitably, his day also came. He was gunned down when he went to pay homage to another colleague who was also assasinated. The son Hector Abad found in the trouser pocket of his dead father the list of people marked for death by the killers. The right wing bishop of Medellin did not allow funeral mass saying that Hector Gomes was a non believer and not a true christian. But lower level clergy defied the bishop and held a church ceremony. While browsing the papers left in his father´s office Hector came across the poem of Luis Borges, which starts with¨Ya somos el olvido que seremos¨. There is some controversy about the authorship of this poem. To me it does not matter. It is a beautiful line and fits in with the book.

The author has given a graphic description of the violence suffered by the Colombian society. The period 1948- 1960 is known as ¨Epoca de Violencia ¨– period of violence. The fight between the liberals and conservatives went beyond elections and power struggles and became bloody, leading to death and destruction. It engulfed the whole country with violence, terrorism and persecution. It drove writers and thinkers into exile. This got worse later with the rise of narcotrafficking and the war waged by left wing guerillas who controlled at one time half the territory of the country. The violence of the leftist guerillas were matched by the merciless killings by the paramilitaries on the other side. The innocent civilians were caught in the war between the two sides and the country paid a heavy price. It is now a great relief to see that Colombia is coming out of this terrible and unforgettable past.

The second thread in the story is about the extraordinary relationship between the father and the son. Hector Gomes showered his son with unconditional love and adoration. He always supported the son positively even when the son behaved in a cowardly way, did not live upto expectations and made mistakes. Hector Gomes let his son to be what he was and did not tell him what he should be. He introduced him to the world of poetry and literature and taught him lot of things through his long conversations and walks and travels together.

The other thread of the story is about the family. Hector Gomes lead a happy and contented middle class family of five daughters and a son with relatives and friends in many fields including in the church. He was an exemplary father, perfect husband and benefactor to others especially to the poor people. He was idealistic in his public life and was not practical in finance and other mundane family matters. This was taken care of by his level-headed and pragmatic wife who earned through her own business of management of buildings and ensured that there was no financial pressure on the idealistic husband. He confessed,¨I am a good father putting seeds of good ideas. But I am a bad mother because I do not have the patience to bear the seeds and nurture their growth¨. Everything went on smoothly and happily till Marta, the youngest, prettiest and the most gifted daughter who sang and played violin got cancer at the age of sixteen. She went through pain and died slowly with the whole family watching her deterioration day by day. The most poignant scene is the one in which she manages to sing and thereafter says that she might not sing again. She loses the voice and dies the next day. This unbearable death made Hector Gomes even more daring in courting his own death. He plunged himself into more activism with greater intensity risking his life willingly. He was not afraid of death after having lived ¨completely, intensly and suffciently¨.

By coincidence I finished this book on 24 March 2011, the Argentine National Day of Remembrance ( Dia Nacional de Memoria). It was on 24 march 1976 that the last time military came to power through a coup and took the country to hell with killings, tortures, disappearances and dropping of prisoners from the planes. Argentines cannot forget the famous reply of a general, ¨ They are not alive… nor dead… simply disappeared¨ when asked about people taken away for interrogation.

¨El Olvido ...no sera¨ is my conclusión. This book will not be forgotten. It will be catharsis for the Colombians for many years to come and also for other Latin Americans who have gone through similiar unforgettable sufferings.

The accidental President of Brazil- a memoir of Fernando Henrique Cardoso

2011-02-25T03:03:00.000-08:00

The credit for the transformation and current boom of Brazil goes to Fernando Henrique Cardoso (FHC) who as President in 1995-2002 laid the foundation for the New Brazil of the twentyfirst century. As Finance Minister in 1992-94 he introduced the new currency Real, arrested inflation and put the economy in shape with his Real Plan. This success opened the doors of the presidential palace for him when he stood for elections. In the book, FHC tells his ¨unlikely journey to the top, which was aided by good fortune, good friends, and yes, more than my share of lucky accidents along the way¨.

The title ¨Accidental President ¨ is not entirely correct. FHC came from a family of generals and politicians and claims historical descendancy from the time of independence of Brazil. His great grandfather was a Governor of Goias. His grandfather was a General who had helped found the Republic. His father was also a General. Several of his relatives were Generals, Ministers, Mayors and government officials. Politics and history were topics of conversation over dinners. FHC, unlike Lula, had the best education and spoke English and French. With this background and contacts it was not unimaginable for FHC to aspire to become President, unlike in the case of Lula.

FHC starts off his book with an incident in 1938 when he was six years old. When he was on vacation in the beach with his family, his father received a phone call to join the defence of President Getulio Vargas who was being attacked by rebel troops. He rushed out with a gun and returned the next day after putting down the rebellion and told the family that they could resume their vacation. He calls this incident as his political baptism. His father who was jailed twice for joining doomed rebellions, advised FHC, ¨Always try to make casual conversation with jail guards¨. This advice came in handy for FHC later.

What is remarkable is that despite his military-oligarchic background, FHC was centre-left and fought for democracy and social equity. He was fond of books and wanted to avoid the ¨family business¨ of politics. He deviated from the family tradition by studying sociology and becoming a professor in Sao Paulo University. He flirted with communism for a while. He got to know the favelas, poverty and disparity between rich and poor during his field visits and research. He had an opportunity to interpret in Portuguese the speech of the legendary Jean-Paul Sartre and later Simone de Beauvoir. As a liberal sociologist, he became a natural victim of the oppressive right-wing military dictatorship. He was exiled alongwith many other leftist and liberal academics and activists. He went to Argentina as a political refugee and then lived in Chile for four years. There he came into contact with Neruda and Allende and also his fellow Brazilian exiles. He worked in the ECLAC ( Economic Commission for Latin America and Caribbean) and published his famous book¨Dependency and Development in Latin America¨. Later he went on a teaching assignment in France. He had the opportunity to witness the 1968 spring revolution in France which added to his sociological education. His exile made him suffer the saudade ( nostalgia) for his home country. After the restoration of democracy in 1985, the new political leaders could not manage the democratic responsibility nor the economy. FHC was the third civilian President after the end of military dictatorship in 1985. One of his predecessors died before inaguration and the other was impeached for corruption. His sociology background, participation in the struggle for restoration of democracy, philosopher-king image, ideals and vision was like a breath of fresh air at that time when most politicians were seen as corrupt and crooked. This was important for the infant democracy which was struggling to take its roots and establish its credibility.

FHC´s most enduring achievement was in the stabilisation of the economy. When he became Finance Minister, the Inflation was raging at 2500 percent in 1993. There were seven different currencies in the previous eight years. The economy was in shambles undermining the political stability of the young democracy itself. It was at this critical moment that he was made as Finance Minister, a job for which there were not many takers. FHC rose upto the challenge. He introduced a new currency Real as part of his Real Plan. It worked, unexpectedly. This success stimulated his ambition and paved the way for him to become President. FHC carried out more reforms and stablised the politics and economy of the country during his Presidency. He initiated Inclusive Development schemes and at the same time followed pro-business policies opening up the market. He undertook bold land reforms and distributed 44.5 million acres of land to 588,000 landless families. He describes this, ¨I consider this as a testimony to my roots as a sociologist and one of the proudest achivements of my administration.¨ The other revolutionary achievement about which he is proud as a sociologist was his government´s initiative in passing a law to give free access to antiretroviral AIDS drugs. This was the first such move by a developing country which lead to confrontation with the multinational pharma companies and even the government of USA. Brazil managed to overcome the opposition and became a model for other developing countries on the issue of AIDS policies. These new enlightened, mature and pragmatic policies are the foundation of the New Brazil. President Lula, who criticised the policies of FHC and who fought and lost two elections against him, continued the pragmatic policies of FHC administration and added more social inclusion. President Dilma is commited to this policy of consensus, which is the reason for the new optimism about the future of Brazil.

FHC applied his sociology expertise to his work. He was bold enough to recognise and talk openly about the racial inequality of Brazil, although it is a topic of taboo even today. His frankness on this issue earned him the wrath of even fellow Brazilian sociologists. He admitted in his public statements that ¨black in Brazil had equalled poor for too long and that discrimination against blacks, both social and economic, has been one of the biggest problems we face.¨ He lamented that blacks were hardly ever seen among the country´s political, economic and media elite. He pointed out that although blacks constitute 40 percent of the population, there were only 9 black deputies among the 513 congressmen and that there was not a single black career ambassador at that time. FHC had got a survey conducted on the race issue in 1999. He initiated policies for affirmative action against the opposition of many in the Congress and bureaucracy. He succeeded in creating job quotas in some Ministries and awarded scholarships to blacks to train for joining the diplomatic corps.

In the final chapters, FHC talks about his foreign policy achievements. As an internationally recognised intellectual and sociologist combined with his success as a President, FHC certainly made other counries to take Brazil seriously and raised the profile of the country globally. He gave priority to relations with neighbours. In this context, FHC has shared an interesting information. He says that the one who gave a memorable push to this policy was Helmt Kohl, who told him that he hated the French when he was young but realised later that if his hatred continued, his children would go to war as well and the cycle would never end. Kohl told FHC that it was for this reason that he became a passionate proponent of European Union. Giving his example, Kohl had told FHC , ¨you Brazilians have historic responsibility to do the same with Argentina, put your past behind you and make a great Union in South America. ¨

FHC is candid and professional in his analysis of the Brazilian society and the politicians and military dictators who took Brazil up and down. He mentions that sometimes military was used as a tool by the business elite to grab power. He gives his comments on the Presidents and political leaders with whom he had interaction. This includes Lula who supported FHC´s senate campaign in 1978. He found Lula possessing a natural drive and instinctive political intelligence although he was uncomfortable around the academics and artists who collaborated with FHC in the campaign.

Some of the stories described by FHC are funny, as the following would illustrate:
- President Janio Quadros, an acquaintance of his father, banned bikini and miniskirt among his other eccentric policies. Hmmm.. Garotas of Ipanema…without the bikinis…. Impossible to imagine !!
- father of President Fernando Collor, who was a senator, shot dead a fellow legislator on the senate floor. He was acquitted on the ground of self-defence.
- the Brazilian banks profited during the hyperinflation and had a big stake in continuation of high inflation.
-The Brazilian newspapers published fotos of a carnival queen Lilian Ramos without her underwear when she was cozying upto President Itamar Franco at the VVIP balcony in Rio Sambadrome. Financial Times described it as ¨naked ambition¨.

Bill Clinton has written foreword to FHC´s memoirs calling him as ¨my friend¨. Unlike Clinton, FHC was not charismatic. His campaign managers had to work hard on his professorial manners and create a new image in the election campaigns. FHC confesses that his first political speech literally put the audience to sleep because he lectured like a sociology professor. When he used quotations in English and French he was considered as a snob. He confesses, ¨Sometimes I was so eager to see Brazil with a sociologist´s eye that I was shy with the use of power. This was surely one of the biggest flaws of my Presidency. On some occasions,when the country needed a President, I was still too much of a sociologist.¨

FHC ends his memoir with a modest but profound sociological comment, ¨as someone who arrived in the presidency thanks to no small amount of luck and circumstance, it would be arrogant for me to take all the credit. The Brazilian society which had the courage to elect an inexperienced , former university professor as President also deserves credit. In that sense, perhaps, I was not such an accident after all.¨

Tagore honoured with Uruguayan stamp

2011-02-16T11:54:00.000-08:00

The Uruguayan postal department has issued a stamp to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore. The stamp was released today by Vice President Danilo Astori along with Indian Ambassador R. Viswanathan in the presence of Foreign Minister Luis Almagro at a ceremony in the Foreign Ministry at Montevideo. Uruguay is the first country in Latin America to do so.

From right to left: Ambassador Viswanathan, VP Danilo Astori, FM Almagro, Directors of postal department.

Mr Danilo Astori, the Vice President of Uruguay is visiting India from 21 to 27 February. This is the most important bilateral visit in the last twelve years. He is accompanied by a 50-member delegation which includes 26 businessmen and 24 officials as well as by the Minister of Industries Mr Roberto Kreimerman.

Mr Astori will meet the Vice President of India and the Speaker of Lok Sabha and will have another meeting with Mr Anand Sharma Minister of Commerce and Industry. He will address the business seminars being organised by FICCI on 24 February and another one by CII on 25 February.

An Agreement for the avoidance of Double Taxation and another one for cooperation in New and Renewable Energy will be signed during the visit.

Mr Astori will inagurate the TCS building in Siruseri near Chennai on 23 February. This 250 million dollar building complex which will have 30000 staff working in it, has been designed by the famous Uruguayan architect Carlos Ott.

Mr Astori will have meetings with Indian business groups such as Tata, Essar, Birla as well as with EximBank of India in Mumbai on 21-22 February.

India´s exports to Uruguay in 2010 were 69 million dollars and imports 14 million. There is enormous potential for increasing the trade.

TCS has a Global Delivery Centre in Montevideo which employs 900 Uruguayan staff. This was the first centre of TCS in Latin America established in 2002. Another Indian IT company Geodesic has a software development centre with 40 Uruguayan programmers. More Indian companies have shown interest in investment in Uruguay in sectors such as agribusiness, mining and pharmaceuticals.

The Ministry of Commerce of India is considering a proposal to set up a bonded warehousing facility in Montevideo from where Indian goods such as handicrafts, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and engineering items could be distributed to other countries of South America.

Brazil on the rise – book by Larry Rohter

2011-01-13T02:25:00.000-08:00

Brazil on the rise- the story of a country transformed is a book which fills the need and curiosity of the world which has started taking note of the emergence of Brazil in the world stage. It is now Brazil’s turn to attract book writing after the boom in the business of books on the rise of China and India. While being smaller than these two giants, Brazil has its own distinct and enviable advantages in comparison to them. These include manageable population, large size beyond the need of its population, abundant water and natural and mineral resources, large fertile area, energy and food security and surplus for exports, absence of religious fundamentalism, terrorism and internal conflicts based on ethnicity, religion and other divisions in the society and absence of conflicts with neighbours and hostile and unstable neighbourhood.

Larry Rohter, the author of the book has an insider´s view of Brazil since he had lived in Brazil for fourteen years as the Newsweek corespondent in Rio de janeiro and later as bureau chief of New York Times .

He has explained the transformation of Brazil in the last four decades since 1972 and has commented that Brazil has experienced deeper and more profound changes in this period than it did in the previous centuries. But I would say that the paradigm shift took place only after the Real Plan of 1994 when Inflation was reined in irreversibly, economy was stabilised and democracy instituitionalised.

Rohter starts off by referring to a book ¨Brazil: country of the future¨, written seventy years back by Stefan Zweig, an Austrian writer. It was a global best seller at that time. Zweig had praised Brasil for creating a ¨quite a new kind of civilisation¨ and forecast that the country was ¨destined undoubtedly to play one of the most important parts in the future development of our world¨. Eversince, that slogan has been a cliché and the Brazilians, frustrated by their inability to live upto the expectations, considered it as much as a stigma as a prophecy. There was a counter cliché ¨Brazil is the country of the future and always will be.¨ Rohter has commented “ May be, just may be, the future has finally arrived” . I would go further and say a definite “ Yes. The future has arrived” .

I agree with Rohter’s analysis that Brazil’s rise is partly god’s work. Of course, the god’s blessings of resources were always there. Brazilians became too contented with the country´s good fortune and did not bother to work in any sustained or disciplined fashion to achieve greatness. At times the Brazilians succeeded only to fall thereafter. This boom and bust cycles of the past made them suspect their succeess stories as illusion. The country had suffered political instability and economic crises caused by the adventures and mismanagement by its military dictators and corrupt politicians. Military dictatorship continued till 1985. The first elected President after the restoration of democracy was impeached following a massive corruption scandal. Even as late as 1994 Brazil had an inflation of an astonishing 2076 percent. The country had gone through eight different currencies from 1940 to 1994. Brazil has now broken free from its past curses and conquered its demons. Democracy has taken strong roots, the economy is stable and there is a general consensus about the future direction of the country shared by political leaders, businessmen and other stake holders in the society.

Brazilians have clearly awakened from their comfortable slumber and has left the cradle behind as they stride with vigor toward full maturity. They have now come around to believing in the long term and success which comes with discipline. The vast majority of Brazilians have already reaped some of the benefits of the fruits of the discipline and sacrifice they made beginning in the 1990s and they realize that more benefits will be coming into reach in the future if they continue to stay the course.This is the beginning of the New Brazil.

Rohter has given a historical background to the political, economic and social issues of Brazil. He has given details of the boom and bust of Brazilian economy which surfed the waves of brazilwood, sugar, gold, coffee and rubber and crashed after brief prosperity and promise. But now Brazil has become one of the most balanced and diversified economies in the world. It has dramtically reduced its dependence on any single commodity and even on exports which constitute only 10 percent of the GDP. Its growth is driven mainly by domestic demand. Brazil has created world class companies which have become global leaders in the production of regional jets, beer, steel, iron ore,chicken and meat.

Rohter has quoted Colin Powell who described Brazil during his visit in 2004 as an “agricultural super power.” Brazil has diversified and modernised its agriculture increasing yields and introducing new varieties of seeds thanks to the cutting edge research work done by Embrapa the government agroresearch agency. This agricultural strength gives Brazil a clear competitive edge over heavily industrialised countries such as Japan and Germany and vis-a vis the other emerging powers India and China who face challenges of feeding their billion plus populations. Brazil’s resource base is strong and its trading partners diversified. Brazil has more options about which industries to develop, which crops to plant,which minerals and metals to mine and what energy sources to exploit than all but a handful of nations.

Embraer and Embrapa are examples of Brazil’s strategy to climb up the economic and technological ladder in niche areas in this globallised and competitive world.

Brazil has been successful in bringing millions of people out of poverty through innovative schemes like Bolsa familia. Its labour force is young and productive.
Brazil ranks second in the world in terms of spending on eduction as a percentage of GDP. The economy has become more stable,diversified and resilient than at anytime in the country’s history. Much of the hard work of adapting Brazil to a globalised economy has already been done and the political cost already paid.

Brazil is singularly more blessed and have more options than any country in the energy sector. It has discovered huge oil reserves of an estimated 80 billion barrels, besides gas and is becoming an important oil exporter. Petrobras has become the third largest publicly traded company in the western hemisphere and is a global leader in deep sea drilling. Brazil has the second largest deposits of oil shale which are yet to be exploited. Brazil generates 80 percent of power from hydroelectric sources. With its huge rivers, Brazil still has potential to produce more from this sustainable source which makes Brazil with more hydropower capacity than any other country. On top of that, the country has unlimited solar and wind power which is being developed now. It also has significant deposits of uranium for nuclear power. Brazil is a pioneer and global leader in fuel ethanol one of the cheapest and most promising source of renewable energy.

Of course, the Brazilians will continue with their mischievous spirits without which they will not be Brazilians.
- the sexual permissiveness and freeplay despite being the largest catholic country in the world
---beach is not just sand and water but a social laboratory reflecting their tropical body oriented culture.
- carnival, the Festival of Flesh and anything can happen if you come, see, let it happen,kiss…
- the Jeitinho culture according to which Brazilians ¨find a way around¨problems and barriers. Brazilians believe that everything is going to be all right in the end, and if everything is not yet all right, it is only because we have not reached the end¨.

Brazil’s challenges include corruption, bureaucracy, drug trafficking, urban crime and poverty specially among the blacks. The corruption is not just the privilege of politicians. While the Brazilian soccer players are known for their flair and supremacy on the field, there is stinking corruption and rot in the football business run by the clubs and federations of the country. There is uninstituitionalised, unspoken and subtle racial discrimination against the blacks despite the appearance of a rainbow nation. This is not just Rohter’s view but has been acknowledged by the former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso himslef.There is this popular men’s preference for a white woman to marry, a black to cook and a mulatta to screw. In Brazil there is no sharp divide between black and white but it is rather a continuum in which it is difficult to establish where white ends and black begins. The system of political representation has made it difficult for the presidents to get laws and reforms through the legislatures and the consequent practice of horse-trading. Getting any legislation passed requires constant negotiations to achieve the necessary majority, with shifting unstable alliances whose composition changes from one bill to the next.Brazil´s unsual system of proportional representation is flawed and allows defection of candidates from parties. In one notorius case, a congressional deputy changed parties eight times during a single legislative term including three brief returns to the same party.

Rohter places his bet on Aecio Neves, a senator from Minas Gerais state and member of PSDB party, as having a bright future to become President of the country. Aecio was earlier governor of the state and was also President of the chamber of deputies. He is the grandson of former President Tancredo Neves.

Rohter has praised the Brazilian diplomats for their skills and competence. But as an American, Rohter has exihibited predictable prejudices about Brazil´s foreign policy. He is critical of the independent foreign policies - which mean not following the American line- of Brazil. He calls the Brazilian sensitivity on the Amazon forest issue as paranoia. He has termed Brazil´s alignment with India and Japan for permanent membership of UN Security Council, as a mistake.

Rohter says, ¨I write with a deep and abiding affection and sense of admiration for Brazil and its people. Their society is one of the most richly humanized I have ever experienced, both in terms of its many flaws and equally plentiful virtues.¨ I agree with him. The Brazilians make you love them for their flaws as much as for their virtues.

Ricky Martin´s La Vida Loca (crazy life) - transformed by Yoga and Meditation

2011-01-01T07:16:00.000-08:00

Ricky Martin released his autobiography in November 2010 with the title ¨Yo ¨in Spanish and ¨Me¨in English. I have read the Spanish version.

I expected the ¨Livin la Vida Loca¨ singer to start his book saying how his life became ¨Loca¨ which in Spanish means crazy. Surprise… He starts with a quotation of Mahatma Gandhi. The superstar who got his fans crazy with his vida loca song talks about how yoga and meditation have helped him to stay apart from his crazy career and look within himself and to stay calm in crazy moments. The Latino singer who rocked the world discloses that India taught him to listen to his own silence. He says his Loca life got completely transformed after his visit to India which helped him to discover the three keys to life: serenity, simplicity and spirituality.

Ricky Martin begins the book with the following quotation from Gandhi:
¨Help me to say the truth while facing the strong and not say lies to gain the applause of the week. If you give me fortune, don’t take away my reason. If you give me success, don’t take away my humility. If you give me humility, do not take away my dignity…… Do not let me fall in vanity if I succeed or in desperation if I fail. …If you take away victory, give me the strength to learn from the failure¨.

The first subtitle of the book is ¨The words of Gandhi touched my heart¨. He begins by saying that all of us reach a point in our life looking back at how we have lived. He says he has reached this point and is ready to stand before others as he is with his heart open and with no more fears. He says he has gained the strength to live a life of love, peace and truth as advised by the master, Gandhi.

He was passionate about singing even as a child, holding a spoon in the hand pretending it to be a microfone. He said to himself that he would become an artiste. He was selected for TV advertisements at the age of nine and got inducted into the Latin American boy band ¨Menudo ¨ at the age of twelve. His life got dizzy as a star with fans and fame. After some years with them, he broke up and started on his own as a singer and actor. He got opportunities to sing and act in soap operas in Mexico where her fell in love with a woman and thereafter another one. He came back to USA and acted in Broadway including in Les Miserables. He returned to singing and got a big break after the ¨Livin la vida loca¨ which made him famous around the world. This was his pinnacle of fame, fortune and fulfillment.

Despite his achievement of all that he wanted, Ricky was troubled in his heart. He had not been able to come to terms with his homosexualiy. He was afraid that if he had admitted it might jeopardise his musical carreer since he was considered as a sex symbol and Latin lover. So he tried to hide, deny and lie. But he could not sustain this double life. Finally he decided in 2010 to announce the truth to the world. He is now at peace with himself.

He attributes his courage to face and admit the truth after what India and Gandhi taught him. He travelled to India and went to an Ashram in Puri which was run by Yogeshwarananda Giri. He studied Kriya yoga for four days and this had completely changed his life. The yoga helped him not only to discover his own inner self but also connected him to the universal energy. After his return to New York, he continued the practise of yoga and meditation and this became his sacred moment every day and helped him to stay calm in the middle of crazy moments. He says that India has taught him that the real fortune is not outside but is within oneself. He does not need to hide himself any longer with the things which caused him pain in the past. He is now able to face the world without any fear.

What is his position about homosexuality now? He says love has no sex and soul has no sex either. He was able to love a woman even when he was in love with a man. But his basic animal instinct in his moments of fantasies is to be with a man. He has accepted his homsexuality as life´s gift and says ¨I am feeling proud of who I am ¨.

Deepak Chopra’s commentary on the cover of the book says, ¨Ricky Martin´s story is the history of a tortured soul which has returned to innocence and authenticity. It is in a way a reflection of the history of humanity itself; caught between the profound and the profane, forbidden luxury and unconditional love¨

Mario Vargas Llosa - the Peruvian writer in the Language of Passion

2010-10-12T03:13:00.000-07:00

Great novels never actually seem to tell us anything; rather, they make us live it and share in it by virtue of their persuasive powers. This is what Mario Vargas Llosa advises to aspiring writers in his book ¨Letters to a young novelist¨. He has lived upto his advice in his novels. The proof is me. His novels, among other factors, have persuaded me to become ¨Passionate about Latin America¨. I have read most of his novels, essays and his autobiography. I have lived the lives of his characters and loved the virtual world created in his books. They have made a profound impact on me alongwith the works of other Latin American writers such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jorge Amado, Carlos Fuentes, Octavio Paz, Julia Alvarez, Alvaro Mutis and Isabel Allende. These authors have put their spell of magical realism on me and I am happy to continue as a willing victim of the charms of Latin America.

I had been telling friends that Llosa is my favourite Latin American author and advising them to read his novels. I had gifted his books to some friends including one to Jayakandan my favourite Tamil writer. I had used the stories of Llosa in my speeches to describe the fascinating Latin American culture and society. The latest use was in my speech at Noida on 30 August and in my speech ( http://www.youtube.com/IndembassyAR#p/u/8/aFZVu-J5hQo) on 17 August at the University Women´s Club in Buenos Aires. When I was in Delhi as Head of Latin America division in the Ministry of External Affairs, I had arranged an invitation for Llosa to visit India as the guest of Indian Council for Cultural Relations in 2006. He had accepted the invitation but could not give date since he was busy for the next several months.
Here are some of the blogs I had written on the novels of Llosa in my Latinamericanaffairs blog.
Captain Pantoja and the special service
http://latinamericanaffairs.blogspot.com/2009/11/captain-pantoja-and-special-service.html#links
Bad girl – novel by Mario Vargas Llosa
http://latinamericanaffairs.blogspot.com/2009/01/bad-girl-novel-by-mario-vargas-llosa.html#links
Conversation in the Cathedral
http://latinamericanaffairs.blogspot.com/2006/06/conversation-in-cathedral.html#links

"The way to Paradise" http://latinamericanaffairs.blogspot.com/2006/04/books-of-laura-restrepo-and-mario.html#links

In my January 2009 blog on ¨The Bad girl ¨, I wrote ¨It is a pity that Llosa has not yet been considered for Nobel prize¨. He was said to be not sufficiently leftist or liberal to qualify for the Nobel prize. Politically, Llosa is centre right and I differ with him on many Latin American political issues. His son Alvaro Vargas Llosa is even more right. He cowrote a book ¨Guide for a perfect Latin American idiot ¨ a satirical work on the Latin American left.

It is said that Borges of Argentina ( another great writer of Latin America and one of the best in the world ) has not got the Nobel prize because of his closeness to the rightist military dictatorship. But Poor Borges was driven to the right by the intolerant leftist Peronist authoritarinism.

My favourite novel of Llosa is ¨Aunt Julia and the script writer¨. In this novel, an adolescent boy falls in love with his middle-aged aunt. She tries to dissuade him saying that his infatuation would disappear later when he discovered young girls. But he persists with his declaration of true love and even proposes marriage. She again discourages him saying that such a marriage would not last given the prejudice against their age combination. When he insists, she asks him, ¨suppose we get married.. how long do you think that we would live happily?¨. The adoloscent boy replies without giving it any thought, ¨two years¨. She jumps up in excitement, ¨two years… 720 days.. great .. it is worthwhile to marry for two years of happiness¨ They get married and live together for over two years. Later I found out that this was the real life story of Llosa himself.

¨The storyteller¨ is another amazing novel which impacted me profundly. The story is about a university student who goes to the Amazon jungle and becomes head of a tribe and takes up the tradition of telling stories.

Llosa´s novels bring out the essence of Latin American way of life, love, sex, relationship and marriage realistically and magically. I say magically because he makes us love the Latino excesses and vices. Of course some of his themes are shocking to the conservative Indians. For example in the Diary of Don Rigoberto the husband lets his wife go on a trip with her boy friend and then discusses the trip with her. In the Bad Girl, the heroine lets herself go with all kinds of adventures crossing many boundaries. At the end, I found her adorable and could not contain my tears when she died….

Most of his novels are about his native country describing the life and society of Peruvians. A few of his novels have covered other countries. In ¨The war of the end of the world¨ the story takes place in Brazil. Llosa says that this was the best among all his novels, the most ambitious project he had ever undertaken and the book on which he worked the longest and with the most difficulty. He was inspired to write this after reading the book¨Os Sertaoes¨by the Brazilian writer Euclides da Cunha. Another of his novels ¨Feast of the goats¨ is about the Trujillo dictatorship in Dominican Republic.

Llosa is not just a writer. He is a writer´s writer. In his book ¨letters to a young novelist¨ he gives advice to aspiring writers how to write novels. A writer, in his view, is a being seized by an insatiable appetite for creation, a rebel and a dreamer. Questioning of real life is the secret raison détre of literature, according to Llosa. He gives a Latino definition of writing novels saying that it is the equivalent of reverse striptease.
In another book, A writer´s reality he explains what provoked or motivated him to write some of his novels. He describes in detail the process of his writing the novels and the influences and inspiration behind them.

In his autobiography A fish in the water written in 1993 he has given a glimpse of his evolution as a writer and an insight to the Peruvian society and politics.

Here I am with my collection of books of Mario Vargas Llosa....

Recently someone gave me a birthday gift. It was Llosa´s book ¨The language of passion ¨ .
Could there be any better gift for someone ¨Passionate about Latin America¨?

Indian TV film shooting in Rio de Janeiro

2010-08-11T16:50:00.000-07:00

An Indian TV production company is shooting Khatron ke Khiladi season 3 ( fear factor) in Rio from 17 August to 7 September. The hostess of this show is Priyanka Chopra.
Copacabana seems to have captured the imagination of Bollywood. Earlier in 2006 the Bollywood film Dhoom II was shot in Rio.
According to this Times of India report, Priyanka loves to break rules...
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/6274587.cms?frm=mailtofriend
ha..ha.. she has so much to learn from the Brasilians who have made an art out of breaking rules called as Jeitinho...
And of course, she will be floored by the jeitinho and jokes of Lakhi, my friend from Sao Paulo. His restaurant Tandoor is going to do the catering for the Indian crew in Rio. Lakhi..the Lucky Guy is to going to camp in Rio during the shooting !
His contact lakhi daswani
lakhidaswani@hotmail.com
I am sure Lakhi´s Latino jokes will inspire the crew to come again and send more Bollywood producers to Latin America.

Argentine Musician, Gustavo Santaolalla to compose music for Bollywood film

2010-07-18T17:32:00.000-07:00

Argentine musician, Gustavo Santaolalla is going to direct music for the new Indian film ¨Dhobi Ghat¨. Aamir Khan has contracted Gustavo for the film being directed by his wife Kiran Rao. Gustavo was in Mumbai for this recently.

The Golden Globe Award winner Gustavo is well known for scoring music for the films Brokeback Mountain, Babel and The Motorcycle Diaries. He had won Academy Awards in 2005 and 2006 for ‘Best Original Score’ in Brokeback Mountain and Babel respectively. His music also earned him the Grammy and BAFTA awards.

In the film Dhobi Ghat, Gustavo has tried to give the Indian feel by using instruments like sarangi, veena and the Carnatic flute. After watching the film, he said, “This movie is a reflection of the identity of Mumbai. I liked the way the characters are presented by Kiran in the film, I liked the story.”

Santaolalla was born in El Palomar in Argentina. His professional music career began in 1967, when he co-founded the group Arco Iris, an Argentine band that pioneered the fusion of rock and Latin American folk. Later, he assembled Soluna, in which he played alongside teenage pianist and singer Alejandro Lerner and his then-girlfriend Monica Campins. As a solo artist, he has recorded three albums. His first self-titled album, Santaolalla (1981), broke new ground by incorporating the "eighties" sound into rock in Argentina for the first time.

Santaolalla is based in California since 1978.

Magic has dropped from the Magical Realism of South America

2010-07-03T14:24:00.000-07:00

The South Americans were living in the world of magical realism for the last one year, dreaming and preparing for the world cup. In the last one month, they were talking and breathing football. They postponed meetings and projects to dates after the world cup. When all the four countries of Mercosur reached quarterfinals, there was euphoria. It was a Mercosur moment... of football power and pride. It was expected that 11 July would be a Intra-Mercosur affair.

The South Americans shopped on thursday and stocked their fridge with beer and barbecue meat. They took off from work on friday and prepared for a long weekend of football fiesta with friends and family.

On Friday morning, the Brasilians started in form with 1-0 over Holland. But after the Dutch equalised and made one more goal, the overconfident Brasilian players, who underestimated the Dutch, became nervous and lost out. The Brasilians who were watching in the big screen TV in the Copacabana beach were stunned and shocked.

This morning , the Argentines were humiliated by the Germans with a 4-0 . The Germans outsmarted and overpowered the Argentines who were running around like headless chicken. It seemed to be an unequal battle. The Argentine infantry against the supersonic Luftwaffe bombers. The Germans bombed at will and destroyed the impotent Argentine infantry.

In the afternoon, the Paraguayans fought a valiant battle against the odds and had a honourable and expected defeat. Now the Uruguyans, who won yesterday against Ghana with luck and the Hand of Suarez, are the only ones left to hold the flag in the semifinals. But their chance against Holland is not very bright. It appears that South America is out and Germany is unstoppable to win the 2010 cup.

The days of magical realism are over in South America. Today it is the day of realism without the magic. It is the realism of disbelief and disillusion... grief and gloom....anguish and agony... dejection and despair.

The Argentines have suffered the worst. They are perplexed and depressed. Even the normally talkative Maradona was lost for words and did not even attempt to give any explanation or excuse. The masses who watched in the big screens in public squares left in silence and sadness.

For Maradona, who was shouting all these days ¨ Vamos Argentina ¨ ( Argentina..Ahead ) the only option now is to sing ¨Dont cry for me Argentina ¨ as Madonna did in the movie Evita.

What is incredible is that the Argentine team had more star players than the Germans. The Argentine players are the pride of the European teams and their star performers. How could the star team let themselves be decimated so pathetically and inexplicably.

The other realism sans magic is the zero goal of Messi in the entire world cup.The best player of the world, the top scorer in Europe and the one who commanded the highest price did not get a single goal. The Argentines are at a complete loss to explain or understand this mysterious fate.

The Argentines have realised their mistaken belief in Messi as the Messiah. For those who worshipped in the Church of Maradona, today is the day of crucification.

The Argentine football stars failed to shine today. It is a dark sky over Argentina tonight. The Argentines are not going to dance Tango tonight. Instead, they will sing the sad Tango song of Carlos Gardel,

sola y triste en esta noche,
noche negra y sin estrellas.

Alone and sad this night
Dark night without stars.

2010-07-02T14:42:00.000-07:00

Maradona… oh… Maradona

¨Maradona…oh…Maradona… with the fire in your belly and strength in your nerves .. you will come back to succeed¨. This was the Bengali song of Mokam band with which Maradona was welcomed in Kolkata in December 2008. The god-denying ideologues and men of dialectical materialism of Kolkatta made exception and worshipped and treated him as a god. Overwhelmed by the ovation, Maradona said, ¨ I thought there were no more surprises left in my life but my visit to Kolkata has changed that".

Maradona is, of course, god to some diehard Argentine fans who have set up a Church of Maradona, with its own Ten Commandments and tens of thousands of international followers. He is worshipped as D10S, which combines his shirt number ten and Dios, which means God in Spanish. The autobiography of Maradona is the Bible. Those who helped him are apostles and his adversaries are heretics. Having gone through glorification, crucification and resurrection, Maradona´s story fits the legendary requirements for a new religion!

The Argentine team is packed with more stars than any other team. But it is a Maradona team. He is not just yet another coach. El Diego is the man in the spotlight. His leaps of joy and slumps of sadness like a Tango dancer outside the touch-line is as much watched as the game of the players.

While Maradona has the feet of magic and the ¨Hand of God¨, his mouth is known for verbal shots and colourful vocabulary. He said,¨ Only Dalma and Gianina are my legitimate children. The others are children born out of money or mistake¨. About the strikers who get the ball near the goal area but fail to put it in, he says it is like dancing with a sister.

His autobiography (published in 2004) is like a canvass of his emotion and passion. The book is like the history of Argentina itself. Both the man and the country had seen memorable days of glory and forgettable times of infamy. Boom and bust… ups and downs..

His story of rise from poverty to fame is like that of Evita, the goddess of Argentine masses. At the age of ten, he was spotted by a talent scout who got him into the junior team of Argentinos Juniors. As a twelve year old ball boy, he amused spectators by showing his wizardry with the ball during the halftime intermissions of first division games. From there he rose to become one of the greatest footballers.

Maradona´s moment of glory was the 1986 world cup and his Goal of the Century. From that peak, he plunged into ignominious bottom with drugs and scandals. He was banned from playing for fifteen months. He came back and joined the world cup team in 1994 and scored a great goal against Greece. But thereafter he was sent back in disgrace after failing the dope test. Then he got into serious problems of drug addiction, became massively overweight and suffered serious health problems. After near death scare, he was admitted to a rehabilitation centre in Cuba where he recovered. He came back and reinvented himself as a TV host and in 2008 became the coach of the Argentine team.

Will this man of miraculous resurrection inspire their team to overcome the supersonic Luftwaffe of the Germans on saturday and to win the world cup on 11 July? Asking such a question is heresy in the Church of Maradona.

Two wishes..only two wishes.. for the world cup

2010-06-29T11:07:00.000-07:00

My first wish has come true...
All the four countries of Mercosur (Brasil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay ) are now in the quarter finals. This is the first time ever, all the four have reached quarter finals together.

Mercosur is Mercado Comun de Sur which means Southern Common Market. It appears that the World cup is looking to the Sur, as a famous Tango song says,
El Corazon mirando al Sur ….. means …the heart is looking south.

All these days, I had been cheering and shouting,
¨Vamos Brasil, vamos Argentina, Vamos Uruguay and Vamos Paraguay¨
Now I say …
Parabens…Felicitaciones… Felicitaciones… Felicitaciones.
These mean congrats in Portuguese and Spanish.

Mercosur has now become a formidable football powerhouse….
Brazil has won the world cup five times..Argentina and Uruguay have won twice each.. Paraguay has reached Quarter finals for the first time.

My next wish.. … it should be a Mercosur final on 11 july…

I have only two wishes….only two...

Football fidelity: An Indian diplomat’s dilemma

2010-06-09T03:25:00.000-07:00

This article has been distributed by IANS newsservice and published in Indian media today.

Here it is

Football fidelity: An Indian diplomat’s dilemma (Special)
By R. Viswanathan, IANS
June 9th, 2010
I applauded and cheered when Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, the three countries of my accreditation as India’s ambassador, qualified for the World Cup in South Africa. But this diplomatic honour has now come under challenge from the football rivalry of the three countries.
The Argentines say that since I am resident in Buenos Aires I have no option but to cheer for the blue and white stripes. The Uruguayans tell me not to forget their country which won the first World Cup in 1930 beating Argentina. They went on to win a second cup in Rio de Janeiro in 1950, defeating the Brazilian team and shocking the 52 million noisy Brazilians into silence.
The Paraguayans say as an Indian diplomat I should show more solidarity with the underdog and should not be on the side of superpowers. Paraguay had beaten Brazil 2-0 and Argentina 1-0 in this World Cup qualifiers. While I face these three corner shots, there comes another one. ¨Don’t be a traitor,¨ shout my amigos from Brazil where I had spent four memorable years.

In this supercharged atmosphere of no-holds barred rivalry, I found the only way to survive is to practise the old-world diplomacy. In the olden days, much before people got into Twitter troubles, there was a saying, “a diplomat is someone who thinks twice before saying nothing”.
In the first few months of my arrival in Buenos Aires, the most important question I faced was not on the nuclear or climate change issue but, “Are you going to be a Boca or River?” The rivalry between Boca Juniors and Riverplate teams is one of the most intense in the world. Even marriages and friendships are built or broken on the issue of loyalty to the team which passes from generation to generation.

The match between the two teams in the Boca stadium La Bombonera is an unforgettable Argentine experience. I kept my neutrality until I fell into the trap of Francisco, the vice president of the Indo-Argentine chamber of commerce and a Boca fan. He offered to take me to La Bombonera and arranged the best seat. But when I was about to sit, he said very loudly, “This seat is only for the Boca fans who are ready to live and die for the team. Are you ready to take the oath of loyalty to Boca and be a fan through victories and defeats?” With hundreds of excited and fierce fans staring at me, I had no choice but to say “I do”. Then the ritual started.
I was made to jump up and down with Boca songs. I was indoctrinated with stories of the illegitimate ancestry of Riverplate players and the most appropriate words to describe them. They put a Boca shirt on me and said, “You can change wives but not this shirt!” In South America, marital infidelity is forgiven but not football disloyalty. So I am now stuck with the Boca shirt. My friends from River have vowed never to forgive me and are planning to petition the government of India to send a River fan as the next ambassador.

World Cup time in South America is low season for work and business. My Argentine colleagues in the embassy are converting the office into a sports bar stocking it with the essential liquid and solid necessities to last for a month. Conveniently for them, the game timings will be 8.30 a.m., 11 a.m. and 3.30 p.m. Argentine time. The game watching will be preceded by an hour of preparations and followed by two hours of analysis, celebration or singing of sad Tangos. The Argentines advise the Indian staff “In Argentina , do as the Argentines do.”

This is the time of “sonrisa de esperanza y sollozo de pasion” (smile of hope and cry of passion), as the Tango of Carlos Gardel says. It is an exciting and unique experience to be in this part of the world during the world cup. There is just no escape from the media frenzy and public fever with non-stop debates and analysis. The 40 million Argentines become judges, prosecutors, critics and umpires at the same time. The current topic of debate is on the freedom given to the Argentine team members to have sex during the World Cup, the only one among the 32 teams which has got this unique privilege.

One cannot talk about football without a reference to Maradona, who scored with the “Hand of God” and is now the irrepressible coach. Sociologists say the best way to understand Argentina is through an understanding of Maradona, who has gone through ups and downs like the country itself. When asked by the media, “what will you do if Argentina wins the World Cup?”, he said, “I will run naked around the Obelisk monument”.

It is not only the footballers who use provocative vocabulary. Even Argentine diplomacy sometimes adds colour to the drab world of the excellencies. In 1990, Guido di Tella, the Argentine foreign minister, said Argentina had “carnal relations” with the US…and the American diplomats did not know what to make of it!

(R. Viswanathan is Indian ambassador in Buenos Aires. The views expressed in this article, special to IANS, are personal. He can be contacted at ambassador@indembarg.org.ar)

Kerala soccer fan paints Argentine colours on his auto rickshaw

2010-06-02T05:35:00.000-07:00

Amigos Argentinos.... A fan from the backwaters of Kerala is cheering for Argentina in his humble but colourful way by painting his autorickshaw in Argentine colours.
Buena Suerte...

Here is the news published in India:
MALAPPURAM - A soccer fan from Kerala has painted his three-wheeled auto rickshaw in the blue and white stripes of the Argentina flag and offers free ride to those, who support the Latin American team. Parakan Nazeer supports Argentina because he believes its soccer stars are among the favourites to lift this year’s world cup that kicks off in South Africa next week. Nazeer, an auto rickshaw driver by profession, drives around in his colourful auto trying to garner support for his favourite team in the coconut-laden backwaters of Kerala. “Right now, I am quite anxious, there are many teams with a chance, who will be the lucky one, we don’t know. Argentina has a chance and I am supporting Argentina,” said Nazeer. He has spent around 5,000 rupees to convert the auto into the Argentinian flag colours. Nazeer travels to the nearby villages in a bid to increase the number of supporters and also explains about each players, their style and strong point of defense. “The Brazilian supporters have been telling me to convert my auto into the yellow colours of Brazil, but I am an Argentine supporter and sticking with my team,” Nazeer added. He plans to continue driving his vehicle in its current avatar until the world cup ends and Argentina lifts the trophy. Nazeer has also placed some heavy bets on Argentina and hopes that his team will repay his faith in them with a victory.

Kerala, one of the three three states in India where football is more popular, is preparing for the world cup with posters, debates and bettings. Below are two posters in a village, saying in Malayalam ¨Varunnu Argentina¨which means ¨vamos Argentina¨.

Latino Kiss in Bollywood film.....

2010-04-01T16:40:00.000-07:00

What is a Latino kiss? Latinos say it is the opposite of Australian kiss.....
Here is a demonstration of Latino kiss...

This is a scene from Kites, the first Bollywood film with a Latin American heroine. It is Barbara Mori, the Uruguyan-born Mexican actress. The Bollywood actor is Hrithik Roshan... wearing a Mexican sombrero in the picture below.....

The story is about an Indian man’s romantic affair with a Latina woman. Hrithik Roshan plays a salsa teacher who speaks only Hindi and English. Barbara Mori plays a Latina who speaks only Spanish. But they understand each other through the Latino language of love....

The Indian businessmen should now stop talking about the language barrier to do business with latin America...

There are some scenes shot in Mexico ....

The film is expected to be released in May in Hindi ,English and Spanish too....

A Brasilian garota Giselle Monteiro has also acted in a Bollywood film (Love aaj kal) but in a supporting role. Before becoming an actress in Bollywood, Giselle was a professional model. She came to Mumbai on a modelling assignment which opened the doors to Bollywood. Indians who watched the film did not know she was a Brazilian untill it was publicised...doesnt she look like a kaur from Jullunder.....?

Indian Fashion Show in Buenos Aires

2010-03-29T14:44:00.000-07:00

The first-ever Indian Fashion Show we organized on 24 March at Hotel Sheraton in Buenos Aires, was a spectacular success. It was attended by almost 1000 invitees including fashion designers, importers, textile industry representatives and media. The Indian designs, colours and creativity floored the Argentines and has opened the doors to the high-end textile market of Argentina. Since Buenos Aires is the fashion capital of Latin America, the impact of the show will be felt in the whole region.

Two Indian designers Nachiket Barve and Anita Dongre came from Mumbai for the show. We combined them with two Argentine designers Monica Socolovsky and Fabian Zita who use Indian materials and accessories. Monica has travelled to India 96 times and is an ardent devotee of Sai Baba. Her company is called “Satya Fashion”. Her clothes are sold in nearly 200 stores in the country and she also exports to Europe, USA and rest of Latin America.

Following the show, we organized a reception for 200 VIPs. The Show was telecast by Fashion TV and a number of local TV channels. Fashion magazines and newspapers have given wide coverage.
Bandana Tiwari, Editor of the Vogue magazine of India had come specially from Mumbai for our show. Her passage and local hospitality were given by the Argentine government export promotion agency. This was organized by Monica Socolosvky.

Our show was part of the week-long Buenos Aires ‘Alta Moda Fashion Week´ (22-28 March), which featured Argentine and foreign fashion designers. Since we plugged our show into this, we were able to reduce the expenditure on publicity and infrastructure as well as on the Argentine models who were hired for the Fashion Week.

Monica Socolovsky (in the picture baove) has popularized and enhanced the profile of Indian textiles for the last thirty years in Argentina through her “Satya Fashion” stores and franchise. She was the one behind the organization and success of our Fashion Show. She had taken the trouble of visiting our designers in India and coordinating the preparations.

We hope to repeat the Indian Fashion Show next year and the coming years too.. We are also planning to invite a delegation of six to ten Argentine designers for our Fashion shows in India and expose them to our traditions and variety and colours of our materials, embroideries and designs.

Fernandez - Argentine novel

2010-03-21T16:21:00.000-07:00

The author of this novel is Jorge Fernandez Diaz, the same who wrote La segunda vida de las Flores.

This is the story of Fernandez, the journalist and his exposure to political and social issues of Argentina. One day, Fernandez in his middle age, is at the waiting room of a dentist in Palermo in Buenos Aires. There appears Lili, his ex-girl friend from the school days. The unexpected meeting of the two after thirty years sets off both of them on a memory trip going over what happened in their lives in this period. They recall their friends and acquaintances, adventures and misadventures as well as amores y desamores.

Fernandez became a journalist and got a rich experience of dealing with political leaders and social issues. He was lured by the governor of a Patagonian province to edit a local newspaper. The governor used the newspaper to manipulate news and opinion in the region. Fernandez was unable to take beyond a point and returned to Buenos Aires. After his return, Fernandez started working in a magazine. Here he got a different experience of political manipulation by the media. Delia, the owner of the magazine used and misused political leaders for her profit. She tried to make Fernando write her biography with falsified information. During this period, he went to Punta del Este, where the rich and famous Argentines do wheeling and dealing while partying and vacationing.

Lili had her own adventures of romance and marriage. She was married to a rich man but it did not work out. Both Fernandez and Lili, in their formative years were influenced by Marxism and other leftist ideologies, as was fashionable in those days. But they moved on.

Ideas of love and romance are reawakened in the hearts of Fernandez and Lili in this meeting after such a long time. She looks radiant and well operated …from top to bottom !! He looks like he carried the wounds of a hundred battles of life. But as typical Porteños, they analyse and reanalyse every word and every gesture of each other… and walk away from the Second Opportunity life presented to them.

Jorge Fernandez Diaz, who is also a journalist, has given a vivid account of what goes on behind the news coverage and commentaries. He has brought out the nexus between political leaders and journalists and how the two try to take advantage of each other using their political and journalistic power. Diaz takes the readers around the cafes and bars of the neighbourhood of Palermo, as he had done in his previous novel. The middle age crisis of Fernandez and Lili has been used by Diaz for psychoanalysis, which is a trade mark of the Argentine authors. Diaz has cleverly woven the political crisis of the country with the middle age crisis of the two individuals.

I agree with Diaz´s political comment that Argentines sought Truth in the eighties but Truth did not matter in the nineties ¨. Now Argentina seems to have entered a post-truth era….

Costa Rica, the land of enlightened elite, elects Laura Chinchilla as the new President

2010-02-13T13:32:00.000-08:00

In the elections held on 7 February, Laura Chinchilla was elected as the first woman President of Costa Rica. She was a Minister of Justice and first Vice President in the administration of her predecessor, President Oscar Arias. She was leading in the opinion polls and her victory was predicted. It is this predictability and long democratic tradition which makes Costa Rica different from the rest of Latin America. The country has held regular elections every four years and peaceful transfer of power in the last sixty years. This is remarkable and distinct in the contemporary history of Latin America where many countries had suffered military dictatorships, civil wars and interruption of democracies.

What is the secret behind this unique achivement of Costa Rica which has managed to be an island of peace and democracy in the ocean of Latin American political instability and chaos in the post- Second World War era. In fact there are two secrets behind this.

Firstly, the country has no military. It abolished the armed forces voluntarily in 1948. The absence of armed forces meant that there were no cocky colonels or generals who thought they knew how to run governments better than the politicians. Ballots , not bullets , became the only route to power. Costa Rica boasts that they spend their money on teachers and schools instead of colonels and barracks. Costa Rica has set an example to Latin America and the world of a military-free society.

The second secret is the abiding commitment and consensus among the elite of Costa Rica to democracy and social equity. It is true that most of the political leaders come from the small number of oligarchic families in the country, as in many other countries in the region. This includes President Arias, a coffee baron and from the top three wealthiest families in the country. But the Costa Rican oligarchy is an enlightened one with a social conscience. The governments have pursued a policy of inclusive development, irrespective of whether they are conservatives or liberals. The four million citizens enjoy the benefits of a modern social welfare state including pensions, labour legislation, national health care and a life expectancy of 77. 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 over 95 percent is one of the highest in Latin America. Even the coffee growing land is distributed among 100,000 families and not monopolised by the oligarchy. Costa Rica was the first country in Central America to give voting rights to women and people of African origin in 1948. It is because of this equity in the society that there has been no revolutionary leftist outsider to challenge the status quo as it happened in some other countries in the region. Latin America has the highest disparity of income in the world. It is this factor which has been responsible for the polarisation of politics and societies and the consequent political instability. Costa Rica has succeeded in reducing the disparity through inclusive development and making all its citizens as stakeholders in democracy. The voter turn out in the elections is one of the highest in the region.

Costa Rica´s democracy which had taken strong roots since the very beginning of the twentieth century was interrupted once in February 1948. President Rafael Calderon annuled the 1948 elections after his handpicked successor candidate lost the elctions. A civil war followed claiming 2000 lives. Jose Figueres , the conservative leader lead a rebel army and toppled the government and took over power in May 1948. But Figueres promised that he would relinquish power in eighteen months after carrying out some reforms. He fulfilled both the promises. He handed over power promptly in November 1949 to the legally elected President in February 1948. His reforms included abolition of the army, decentralisation of power and extension of vote to women. Later he created his own National Liberation party and won the presidential elections in 1953 and in 1970. He handed over power gracefully when he lost the elections in 1958. His son became President in 1990. Ironically he took over from the son of Rafael Calderon against whom his father lead the armed rebellion in 1948. President–elect Chinchilla and President Arias are from the same National Liberation party founded by Figueres.

Costa Rica, known as the Switzerland of Latin America, is not a passively peaceful society blind to the problems around. The country has taken initiatives to help their neighbours. It was Costa Rica which brokered a peace agreement ending the civil war in the region for which President Oscar Arias was awarded Nobel Peace Prize in 1987. In June last year when the El Salvadorean democracy was interrupted, USA and OAS turned to President Arias for his help in resolving the issue.
Costa Rica is, of course, not free from challenges such as corruption, drug trafficking and crime. There have been corruption scandals involving ex-Presidents and Ministers. Chinchilla has promised in her election agenda to tackle these issues.

Costa Rica also stands out as a role model for Latin America in many other respects. With its high literacy rate and per capita computer penetration, the country has attracted Silicon Valley and silicon implants. Intel, HP and other computer companies, call centres and BPOs have a significant presence. Silicon implants for breast enlargement are major exports besides other medical equipments as well as some pharmaceuticals. The country has successfully diversified its economy which was dependent soley upon export of coffee in the past. Costa Rica has also pioneered Ecotourism in the region. The country attracts over two million tourists a year. The per capita income of Costa Rica at 11,000 US Dollars is three times higher than the other countries in Central America.

Costa Rica was one of the first in the world which combined its ministries of energy and the environment back in the 1970s and generates an impressive 99 per cent of its energy from renewable sources. In 1997, a carbon tax was introduced on emissions – with the funds gained being used to pay indigenous communities to protect their surrounding forests. Deforestation has been reversed, and forests cover twice as much land as 20 years ago. In 2007, the Costa Rican Government declared that it intended to become carbon neutral by 2021.

¨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¨. This makes them distinct among the Latin Americans who respond generally as Bien ( fine) or Muy Bien ( very well ). It is not surprising that Costa Ricans were classified as the happiest people in the world in the Happy Planet Index compiled by the British research group, the New Economics Foundation in their annual survey of 2009.

The Peron Novel – by Tomas Eloy Martinez

2010-02-08T04:42:00.000-08:00

This is the fictionalised versión of the life of Juan Domingo Peron who was President of Argentina 1946-55 and later in 1973-74. After overthrown by rightist military generals in 1955, Peron was in exile in Madrid for 18 years and returned in 1973 to become President of the country and died a year later. The story starts with Peron preparing to leave Madrid in 1973 and return to Buenos Aires and be reanointed as President of the country. But the 18 years of exile and 78 years of age had taken its toll on his body and mind. He is no longer sure about himself, his ideology, friends, followers and even about Argentina in general. He is in a progressive state of mental decay and is uncertain and confused in his understanding and decision making. At the same time, his followers are also equally confused since they had lost touch with the leader for a long period which was painful for the country and themselves . Even the mention of the word Peron, Eva or peronism was prohibited and was punishable with jail sentence in the anti-Peronist military rule. Understandly, the Peronists were clueless as to how Peron would relead the country which had undergone so much of traumatic changes.

Peron is manipulated by his fawning secretary Lopez who has a game plan for the post-Peron time. He is preparing Isabella the third wife of Peron to take over after the death of Peron. Knowing that he has very little life left in him, Peron is preparing his memoirs to claim his place in the history of Argentina. This exercise makes him recollect his past starting from his childhood. He recalls his career as an army officer, marriages and involvement in politics leading to his Presidency of the country. In the memoirs, Peron edits his life story with omissions and commissions to make him appear as heroic and admirable.

Peron was not just one of those Presidents of Argentina. He has left an indelible mark on Argentine politics and modern history. Peronism has become a force to reckon with in the politics of the country. Peron´s second wife Evita has also contributed to the mythology of Peronism. The current President Christina and her husband who was President from 2003 to 2007 as well as Menem who was President from 1989 to 1999 are Peronists. Peronism has come to stay as a leftist and populist ideology with belief in a strong government as protector of the masses and control of the market. While Peron was the undisputed supreme leader of Peronism at that time, Peronism has now broken into several factions and is divided.

One can see the origin and evolution of the Peronist ideology from Peron´s remiscenses. As an army officer, Peron believed in strong leadership leaning towards authoritarianism. He is influenced and inspired by Mussolini during his posting as military attache in Italy. He is impressed by Mussolini´s nationalism, populism and militarism which became ingredients of Peron´s brand of ideology later. Although his political ideolgy became controversial, Peron had
contributed to development of the country in industry, infrastructure and social justice.

Tomas Eloy Martinez, the Argentin author of this novel passed away last month. I have developed admiration for him after reading two of his other novels, Santa Evita and The Tango Singer. Martinez was also a victim of military dictatorship and was exiled to Venezuela from where he migrated to US and became a professor at Rutgers University. Before his exile, he had worked as a journalist and had interacted with and interviewed Peron. With his personal knowledge and experience, Martinez has given an accurate description of Peron highlighting the various facets of the personality of this enigmatic leader. Martinez has done extensive research on the life of Peron and has published two other books. He has cleverly mixed facts with fiction in the style of magical realism. It is difficult to know where reality ends and imagination starts. Combining his real-life knowledge with his magical realism skills, Martinez has made the novel more powerful, leaving a strong impact on the readers. The book is useful to understand not only Peron but also the contemporary politics and society of Argentina which are haunted by the past.

The News from Paraguay – novel by Lily Tuck

2010-02-06T03:19:00.000-08:00

The story starts with a feather. A bright blue parrot feather falls out of the hat of Ella while riding a horse in Paris. Francisco Lopez picks it up and gives it to her. And there starts a romance ... like in a Bollywood movie. Francisco has been sent to Paris by his father Carlos Antonio Lopez, the first constituitional President of Paraguay. Francisco lives an adventurous playboy life in Paris showing off his wealth and status. Alongwith his luggage from Paraguay he has even brought a native band to play at his parties. He falls in love with Ella, an equally adventurous and horse-riding Irish girl of nineteen, who has come to live the good life of Paris. She lives with a Russian count after having divorced a French man whom she married when she was fifteen. The Count leaves her to join the Russian war and Francisco enters her life at this opportune time. Francisco courts her in royal style and takes her back to Paraguay. But he cannot marry her since his father does not allow the marriage because she is a divorcee . He puts her up in a separate house and Ella puts up with her status as a mistress. She manages to survive in the midst of the hostile family members of Francisco and the hot, humid and backward life in Asuncion. She impresses the natives with her elegant Parisian dress, shoes and perfumes. She gives birth to seven children of whom the first one Pancho takes after his father in his adventurous and headstrong attitude. Franciso takes over from his father as the President of Paraguay and modernises the country with railways, telegraph, industries and even starts building a opera hall like the La Scala of Italy. But his overconfidence and megalomania lead him into a war against the combined forces of Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. He is killed in combat and Paraguay is ruined. Ella goes back to Paris but dies as a pauper, having lost everything.

This is a historical fiction based on the Paraguyan President (1862-70) Francisco Solano Lopez and his Irish mistress Ella Lynch. Many other characters in the novel are also real. Lopez started off his Presidency well with his modernisation programme. He built the first railways in South America, ahead of Brazil and Argentina. Paraguay at this time was more developed and industrialised than many countries in the region. But the war against the Triple Alliance of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay was foolish and catastrophic. Predictably, Paraguay was defeated. But more devastating was the fact that two thirds of the male population of the country was killed in the war. The impact of this is felt even now and there is shortage of men., who have taken advantage of this situation. There are lot of children in Paraguay who don’t know their fathers.

This book won the National Book Award in 2004. The author Lily Tuck is an American who was born in Paris. She had lived for sometime in Uruguay. She has given a flavour of Paraguay in the novel and has given a lively portrayal of the historical characters. She has blended and contrasted the high society Parisian lifestyle with the laid back life in backward Paraguay. These are brought out in the exchange of correspondence between Ella from Paraguay and her friend princess Mathilde who lives in Paris. Buenos Aires also figures in the novel since it is the transit point to enter the landlocked Paraguay through the Rio de la Plata river. The Paraguayans in those days as well as now come to enjoy the parties and fashions of Buenos Aires, the Paris of Latin America.

Combi – Argentine novel by Angela Pradelli

2010-01-31T04:54:00.000-08:00

The previous two Argentine novels I had read this month were about middle class and rich people. But Combi is about the poor and marginalised, who travel by Combi ( minibus) from their residences in the outskirts of Buenos Aires city for more than one hour for their work in the city. This novel is about the fifteen passengers who travel in one of the Combis regularly to the city.

The novel starts with the driver Esteban whose father was also a Combi driver. His father runs away with the wife and money of the owner of the minibus company, uses the money to buy a hotel in a southern town, loses the money with poor management and dies in misery. Esteban´s happiest memories were travelling with his father, talking to him and singing together when they went to a beach town when he was a kid. Esteban is content with his job and his modest life with limited ambitions. His wife asks him to buy diapers for the baby but he forgets it and remembers only the ample breasts pushing against the tight blouse of the receptionist in the minibus company office.
- Carolina, the receptionist in the minibus company had earlier worked in an icecream shop and had a fling with a college student during his summer vacation. She struggles to tolerate her boss who smokes all the time and the irate passengers who take it out on her when the minibus is delayed or when they could not get a seat.
-America Levano, the Peruvian woman, comes to find livelihood in Buenos Aires after her husband ran away with another woman leaving her with his daughter. She lives with other Peruvians and Bolivians in a ghetto which is raided periodically by the Argentine police. She finds work as a domestic help and later an Argentine man to live with. Discovering one day that the Argentine was abusing her daughter, She kills him with a kitchen knife. After her jail term ends she resumes her work and travel by the Combi.
-Olga makes a career out of giving bath to sick and handicapped people. Her job is disgusting when she has to touch and clean the bodies of people with infections and skin diseases. But she has got used to it and the money she earns is good compensation. Her job exposes her to all kinds of people including one who wants her to wash a mannequin.
-Megumi, a woman of Japanese descent enjoys her volunteer job as a reader to sick and handicapped people. Once she is asked to read to a person in coma on the belief that the person in coma might be hearing what is read. By a miracle, the person in coma wakes up one day and remembers the stories read out to him by Megumi. When she reads out in an old peoples´home, the history professor there notices her small feet which make him recall the Chinese tradition of forcefully making women´s feet small and the erotic connotations of small feet in China.
-Bruno is an anthropologist who works as a forensic expert to identify the persons who were tortured, killed and buried by the military dictatorship. He along with other experts analyse the bones and other remains from cemetries and make out who they were and how they died. His technical job gets complicated when he works with the sad and desperate families of those who lost their fathers, brothers and sons to military repression.
- Josef Wrobleswki, of Polish origin, has a habit of telling everyone the story of his family from Poland. But while narrating the sadder parts of the story he starts speaking in Polish and sobbing uncontrollably.
-Ivo mayer is a porno film director after hhaving failed in his ventures to make political films to convey his leftist message. He gets exiled for his political beliefs and on return from exile, he is unable to relaunch his political film project and is stuck in porno films.
The remaining occupants of the fifteen seats in the Combi include a pock marked young woman struggling with the disfiguring of her face by constant eruptions and acnes, a woman who writes astrological columns in a weekly, a man who does magic and tricks and Nacho the orphan kid who is obsessed with cemetries where he spends most of his time. The precariousness of the lives of these characters and the life stories of others with whom they interact in their daily lives are poignant and moving.

On this particular day of the journey, everyone is upset and anxious because the Combi is delayed because of a roadblock by piqueteros ( picketers) on the way. The reason for blocking the road on this day is to commemorate the third anniversary of the death of two of their comrades who were killed in one of the protest marches. The minibus gets stuck in the middle of the protest demonstration. One of the passengers remark,¨we are fucked ( jodido- in spanish) by the dead besides the living Argentines¨. Especially since 2001 (December 2001 saw the worst economic and political crisis in Argentina) the piqueteros have become one of the protagonists of the Argentine society. Day in and day out there are many protest marches in the city of Buenos Aires and traffic is disrupted along with the work and lives of people. Sometimes the piqueteros block the main highways connecting the cities causing traffic jam for miles together. The reasons for such protests could be local or national causes, serious or trivial. But they have become a force to reckon with and part of everyday life in Argentina to the chagrin of middle class and working people. Roadblocks and protests have become instituitionalised. There are many professional piqueteros who have become experts in organisation and media management. They are used by political parties too.

This is the third book I have read in the original Spanish. The author Angela Pradelli has given a vivid account of the lives of poor people who work as domestic help and bus drivers. She has captured their emotions and struggles and made a powerful impact on the readers. The novel is based on her personal experience of travel in Combis and her interaction with all kinds of fellow passengers. Angela works as a teacher

Combi is not a fiction. It is a reality of Argentina. It exists along with the elegant theaters, cafes, bars and restaurants of Buenos Aires and the Country Clubs which have high walls to block the unpleasant reality of slums around them. But the people who live in high-rise apartments and high-walled country clubs cannot avoid the piqueteros and the reality of Argentina....

Las Viudas de los jueves- Argentine novel by Claudia Piñeiro

2010-01-17T15:11:00.000-08:00

The novel Las Viudas de los jueves ( the Thursday widows ) takes the readers into the country clubs of Argentina and gives an insight into the lives of the rich Argentines who live in these exclusive places. Country clubs in Argentina ( called as Countries ) are gated residential communities with 100 to 1000 houses. There are around 200 Countries around Buenos Aires city. The main newspapers have weekly supplements on the countries with pictures of idyllic lives. These countries have large houses with spacious gardens, sports facilities such as polofields, golf courses, tennis courts and swimming pools. Most importantly the countries provide security with its own private security guards and systems. They have high walls around so that the poor people outside cannot see the affluence inside. Outsiders cannot enter the countries unless they are invited by a resident. The families and children can walk around and do cycling and skating and there is no need to lock the houses. Many of the Countries have golf courses which add to the greenery and scenery. While some people use their country houses for weekends, there are many who live there permanently and commute to work in the city. During weekends, everyone is out in the gardens, golf courses, tennis courts and pools. Even the kitchen goes outdoor for Asado ( barbecue ). Friends and families get together for barbecue lunch and wine.

I have played golf in dozens of these country clubs and been to the barbecue parties of friends living there. I have been impressed with the style of living, elegance of the houses and aesthetic taste with which the houses are furnished. The country club residences look like entries of architects and interior designers for a competition.

The principal characters in the novel are four couples in the country club called as Los Altos de Cascada. The four wives call themselves as Thursday Widows because their husbands get together on Thursday nights to play cards and have fun among themselves. The wives are excluded from this and they go out for movies or find other ways to occupy themselves. On one fatal Thursday, three of the husbands commit suicide by eloctrocutting in the swimming pool. The fourth guy does not agree to this collective suicide and escapes. The reason for the suicide is the fall in their income and loss of jobs and business which make it impossible for them to sustain the lifestyle they had maintained in the country club.

The novel portrays vividly the aspirations, ostentations, anxieties and insecurities within the high society of the countries. A house in a country is a statement by the social climbers. It is to get away from the city crowd and become part of an exclusive group. But after having moved into the country, they are under intense and constant pressure to keep up with the neighbours and keep up appearances. Clothes, cars, gardens and lives are compared all the time. The scrutiny is more intense than among those living in apartments. In the countries everything is open. There are no fences between houses and there is no place to hide. It is like living in glasshouses. Two teenagers in the novel spend the nights spying on the houses of other residents through binoculars watching from trees and bushes. They happen to see the suicide event and film it. Another kid makes sketches of what he sees through the windows. His sketch and diary description of the sexual activities of his neighbour becomes an issue in the school, who advise the parents to take the kid to a psychologist.

In the Argentine society, show is more important than content. This can be seen from the elaborate artistic façade of the buildings and the elegant dressing by old people who come to the neighbourhood cafes. In Brazil dress does not matter. Choli ke peeche kya hai .. is all that the Brasilians are interested.

The son of one of the principal characters in the novel does not know what to write when the teacher asks the children to write about what their fathers do. The father puts a Dr as prefix and pretend to be an advocate although he never went to a law college.

While the men go to work in the city and kids go to bilingual schools during the day, the housewives have plenty of time. Some of them find themselves trapped in the countries. They try to learn painting, tennis, card games and golf. Those who cannot find things to occupy themselves end up drinking. Carmen, one of the characters in the novel, asks her maid to bring a glass of Rutini ( upscale argentine brand) wine as soon as she gets up. She drinks it in the bathroom even before brushing her teeth. The kids take to drugs. They do it freely making use of the protected environment of the gated community which is off limit for police and law enforcement.

In the countries everyone talks only in US dollars even while buying and selling among themselves. A painting made by of one of the residents is sold to a neighbour in dollars.The prices of properties are, of course, quoted in dollars in Argentina in general.

The novel gives an account of what goes on in the golf courses. Golf is not only for fun and relaxation. The fairways of the course are the places where contacts are established and cultivated and business deals are made. Argentina is full of deal makers and contacts are vital for business and success.

When any Korean calls the golf club of Los Altos, the starter is under instructions from the committee to tell them that the course is full or quote very high green fees to deter them from coming. This is not just fiction. It is a fact in most golf clubs in Argentina and Latin America. Korean players are not welcome since they are perceived as rude, quarrelsome and discourteous to other players. The Koreans ahve found a solution to this problem. They have established their own golf courses in many countries of Latin America including in Argentina.

This is the first novel of Claudia Piñeiro I have read. She has impressed me as a talented writer with a sensitive understanding and perceptive analysis of the Argentine society. She has a keen eye for details and her commentaries are apt and sharp.

The Thursday widows was chosen for the award of the best novel of the year in 2005 by Clarin, the largest circulated newspaper of Argentina. A movie with the same title based on the book was released in 2009.

This is the second novel I have read fully in Spanish language and managed to finish the 318 pages in one week. Hmm.. it seems I might read more books in Spanish.

La segunda vida de las Flores- Argentine novel by Jorge Fernandez Diaz

2010-01-09T15:44:00.000-08:00

La segunda vida de las Flores- the second life of Flores - is a delightful novel which deals with love, affairs and emotions in a typical Porteño ( Buenos Aires city) way. It is about the conquests of Machos and the way they get it back from the Latino women who play their own games and how the two sides seek and elude each other.

The story starts with the character of Leno Frangolini who is a legendary seductor. He has affairs with dozens of women. He enjoys the chase and hunts them in cafes, bars and Milongas ( Tango parties) . He moves from one lover to the next smoothly and pleasantly without causing hurt to them. When he turns eighty, he goes for his last conquest ( reminds me of Gabriel Garcia Marquez´s last book ¨memory of my melancholy whores¨) to a Milonga and picks up a woman who had always wanted to dance with him but was never invited by him. She is thrilled when he takes her on the floor and leads with the touch of a maestro. But Leno´s body gives up. It is way behind his spirit and causes a sudden pain in the waist causing a minor disaster on the dance floor. He comes back home, shows his album of affairs to his disciple Fernandez, goes to sleep and dies....
Fernandez, the disciple of Leno, is a journalist. He falls in love with Milagros the Mexican girl who has come to Buenos Aires for a photo shoot of Palermo neighbourhood. Her real reason for coming to Buenos Aires is to look for her Argentine father Durmes , who abandoned his Mexican wife with four small kids including Milagros. She wants to take revenge on the irresponsible father. Fernandez helps her in locating him. Milagros runs the car over her father in the street, killing him. The next day she escapes to Mexico. Fernandes is unable to get over his love who has just disappeared without even a goodbye kiss. He goes to Mexico looking for her desperately. He tracks her down in a small town away from Mexico city. But he gets a shock when he discovers that Milagros is living with her Lesbian friend. Disillusioned, he gets back to Buenos Aires and publishes a novel on the story of Milagros. At the launching of the book many of the lovers of his guru Frangolini and another lover of Durmes turn up.

The novel is not just about the Macho affairs. Female characters such as Colorada, Nerina and Amapola have equally fascinating adventures and escapades. Colorada is bored with her married life with a successful husband, lovely kids and a perfect family in the eyes of the others. She goes for an online romance with a guy who turns out to be a complete liar. Mora is addicted to romance and conquers the conqueror Leno himself. But when the conqueror leaves her for other adventures and comes back later for a second time, she turns him down saying.. there is no more cooking in the kitchen... She philosophises ¨love is an energising driving force which makes one want to be with another person. When there is no drive, why keep a prisoner?¨She turns out to be a narcissist mother interfering with the life and love affairs of her daughter, trying to advise her to get the ideal husband, whom she could never find. Nerina is a puzzle to the conquerors and confuses even the Peronists with her ambivalent political inclinations. Prof Murena, who is hypnotised by her love goes round and round in his cyle around the pond in Palermo, seeing her ghost. Then there is Patricia the boss of Fernandez who is a practical no-nonsense woman. She takes care of Fernandez when he gets lost in love and frustrations. She understands the weaknesses of the romantic Fernandez and rescues him without judging him or manipulating him.

The story brings out the essence of the life and spirit of the inhabitants of Buenos Aires, called as Porteños. The locale of the story is Palermo , the upper middle class neighbourhood.

Montecarlo bar/cafe is the scene of conquests and seductions. This is the hunting ground of the Great seductor and his disciple. The cafes and bars play an important part not only in novels but in the real life of the Porteños. They sit there for hours together reading, thinking and fantasising when they are alone. Friends sit together talking, debating and arguing about every subject under the sun. Lovers exchange glances and endearments and are lost in long kisses, intoxicationed with the wines and the caffeine of the cafe cortado.

No porteño story wil be complete without therapy and psycho analysis. The Porteños are obesessed with the shrinks as much as they are attached to books, parks and cafes. The Great seductor holds forth on the psychology of women and the art of dealing with them. He classifies his women into two types; precious stones and semiprecious stones. As he grows older he settles for semiprecious ones which are less demanding. He sums up his philosophy with a typical Porteño remark, ¨each makes his or her own pelicula ( film ) .¨

This is the first novel I have read in the original Spanish language. I surprised myself finishing this 246 page book in one week. I had always preferred to read Latin American novels in English translation since I was afraid that it would take months for me to complete them in Spanish language. I am now encouraged to try more books in Spanish.

The author Jorge Fernandez Diaz works for La Nacion newspaper of Argentina. This is his latest novel published in October 2009. He has a bit of the touch of Mario Vargas Llosa, my favourite Latin American author.

Penguins in Punta Tombo, Argentina

2009-12-27T04:06:00.000-08:00

Last week I was in Punta Tombo ( near Puerto Madryn in Chubut province of Argentina),which has one of the largest colonies of Megallanic ( also called as Patagonic ) penguins, a kind of warm weather species, smaller than the Antarctic penguins. There are over two hundred thousand of them in an area of a few kilometres on the beaches of Punta Tombo. They are there during their breeding season from September to March. During the rest of the year, they move over 2000 kilometres to the ocean off Brazil. Punta Tombo penguin colony is accessible easily and one can walk around and observe the penguins closely.

It is amazing to see how the penguins walk like human babies in short steps slowly and awkwardly. They dive into the water and swim fast like fish. They stand upright like sentries for hours together while guarding their nests and chicks. The male and female do the guard duty in shifts. They look after the chicks with exemplary parental care, feeding them through the mouth. They move around in groups and are together in large colonies.
Here is how they walk...

In the picture below, the penguins are walking towards the sea....like pilgrims going for a holy dip..

The Magellanic Penguins live for about 25 years. They are monogamous and mate with the same partner year after year. Hmm... very unLatino in character....The male comes first in September and reclaims his burrow from the previous year and waits to reconnect with his female partner. The females are able to recognize their mates through their calls. They build their nests under bushes or in burrows. They lay only two eggs of which only one chick survives generally.
Here is a typical burrow of the penguins...

Here is how the penguins guard the nest, standing like a sentry...

Puerto Madryn is also the best place for whale watching. The Southern Right whales come here for their breeding season from June to December. Hmm..the whales were already gone by the time I got there...

Penguin colonies are also there in Valdez Peninsula, north of Puerto Madryn city. Besides penguins, one can see sea lions and elephant seals. During the journey through this patagonian windsewpt landscape of treeless rolling plains , one can see Guanacas ( looks like a combination of camel and sheep) and Ostrich-like Nandu birds.

At the entrance to the Valdez Peninsula there is a visitor centre, which is one of the best in the world. The bathrooms there are cleaner and shinier than the ones in Oberoi Hotel in Delhi. There are displays of information,maps and videos and friendly English-speaking guides. Punta Tumbo is also well organised with paths and facilities in an ecofriendly and efficient manner making the experience educative and pleasant for visitors. I have seen this kind of professionalism, and elegant visitor-friendly facilities maintained in other tourist places in Argentina.

Felicitaciones ... amigos Argentinos....

Polo.... born in India....perfected in Argentina

2009-12-12T16:52:00.000-08:00

The game between Dolfina and Ellerstina teams at the Argentine Polo Open yesterday was a Dream Game. The two teams had the perfect 40 handicaps each. It was a rare opportunity and incredible excitement to watch the masters play at the Palermo polo stadium in Buenos Aires considered as the cathedral of polo.

Here are the perfect handicappers and their age in brackets from left to right:
Dolfina team in white - Castagnola(39), Mariano Aguerre(40), Lucas Monteverde(32) and Adolfo Cambiaso(34)
Ellerstina team in black, left to right-Facundo Pires ( 23),Gonzalo Pires (26),Pablo Mac Donough(27), Juan Martin Nero(28)

Both the teams played an impressive and fast paced game and were neck to neck all the time. Adolfo Cambiaso of Dolfina and Facundo Pires of Ellerstina, the top players, displayed their magic with the ball while flying on the horses. The match ended as a draw with 16 goals each at the end of the eight chukers. They went for a sudden death play-off. Dolfina made the golden goal and became the winner of the Argentine Open 2009.

Ellerstina had earlier won in this season the Tortugas Open and the Hurlingham Open and was hoping to make it a grand slam with the Palermo Open, which is also called as the Argentine Open. But they were outplayed by Dolfina, who took revenge against Ellerstina who beat them in the 2008 Open. Dolfina has won the Argentine open four times in the last five years.

The game of yesterday was a reconfirmation of the fact that Argentina is the undisputed leader of polo in the world. Argentina has, at this moment, 11 ten handicap players out of the twelve in the world. Argentina has not only the best players in the world but also has the largest number of top ranked players. All the top 30 ranked players of the world are Argentines except for the sixth ranked Uruguyan David Stirling. There are over 1000 polo fields in Argentina which also has the best polo horses in the world.

Adolfo Cambiaso is the best polo player in the world. He was the youngest player to reach ten handicap, at the age of ninteen in 1994, when he won the Grandslam of Argentina. Since then he has been winning tournaments in Argentina and around the world.

While Argentina has perfected the game, it was born in India. The modern game of polo, formalized and popularized by the British , originates from Manipur in India. The first polo club was established in the town of Silchar in Assam in 1834. The second polo club came up in Calcutta in 1862. The British took the game from India to Britain, Europe and Americas and popularised them. While the glamour of polo was kept up by the royalty of Jaipur and Jodhpur, the level of the game in India has remained low. The highest handicap in India is said to be six. Since it is an expensive game it has been maintained mainly by the Indian army, which could afford horses. Now there is a boost to the game by the entry of Indian corporate chiefs who play and patronise the game. Even with this, India is likely to continue in the minor league while Argentina has taken the game to new levels of excellence. They say that there are two levels of polo: world class and Argentine class...

Felicitaciones Argentina...... Felicitaciones Cambiaso....

From the bottom of the well to the top of Executive Tower ..The story of Mujica

2009-12-05T07:25:00.000-08:00

From the bottom of the well to the top of Executive Tower – How Mujica, the guerilla fighter climbed out of his prison well to become President of Uruguay

Jose Mujica, the former leftist Tupamaro guerilla fighter who was elected as President of Uruguay on 29 November, was held in the bottom of a well for two years as part of his fourteen years of imprisonment. He learned to speak to the frogs and to hear the cry of the ants. He held dialogues with his inner self in order to avoid going mad in the well which was mercifully dry. He survived, abjured violence and embraced democratic ideals. He will now move into the Presidential office in the top floor of the Executive Tower building in Montevideo.

Mujica could not contain his tears at his emotional victory speech. Even the sky burst with rains and drenched him and his supporters with heavy downpour. It was a symbolic washing down of the past of Mujica, heralding a new era in the history of Uruguay and Latin America.

In the sixties and seventies, Latin America was filled with young idealist revolutionaries, who took up arms to change the staus quo and establish utopian socialist states. They assassinated, kidnapped and killed persons of authority and robbed banks for their ideology. Some of the revolutionaries were killed, thrown into sea from planes, jailed, tortured, exiled or simply made to ¨disappear¨, as an Argentine General put it in a kind of magical realism,¨They are not alive, nor dead… but have just diasppeared¨. The word ¨Desaparecido¨, still haunts the society, literature and arts of the region. Che Guevara, the revolutionary Icon, was killed by the Boilivian army. Few of the revolutionaries were lucky to survive the bullets and get a second chance to come to power through the ballot. Jose Mujica is one of them.

Mujica joined the Tupamaro armed militant group and participated in the brief takeover of Pando, a town close to the capital Montevideo in 1969. He was captured and jailed on four occasions and once managed to escape from the prison. He was eventually re-apprehended in 1972, shot by the police six times. After the military coup in 1973, he was held in a military prison for eleven years and tortured. In 1985, when democracy was restored, Mujica was freed under a general amnesty. Mujica, along with his comrades founded a new political party, Movement of Popular Participation. He won the 1994 elctions to become a deputy and later a senator and used to go to the Parliament in a motorbike. His party was the largest component of the centre-left Frente Amplio coalition, which won the election in 2004 and formed the first leftist government in Uruguay´s history. This government lead by President Tabare Vazquez was popular in the last five years with its Inclusive Development Agenda and at the same time being market-friendly. Mujica was Minister of Agriculture in Vazquez´s government. He gained nomination as the Coalition candidate in the 2009 elections and won with 53 percent votes.

Mujica has promised continuity of the pragmatic policies of the coalition government of the last five years. He has said that he would govern like President Lula, who has become the role model for the Latin American leftists. In one of his campaign speeches, Mujica vowed to distance the left from "the stupid ideologies that come from the 1970s — I refer to things like unconditional love of everything that is state-run, scorn for businessmen and intrinsic hate of the United States. He said, ¨I'll shout it if they want: Down with isms! Up with a left that is capable of thinking outside the box! In other words, I am more than completely cured of simplifications, of dividing the world into good and evil, of thinking in black and white. I have repented!"

In 2005, Mujica married Lucia Topolansky, a fellow Tupamaro fighter and current Senator, after many years of co-habitation. The presidential couple would continue to stay in their modest farm house in a working-class community with dirt roads and small plots on the edge of the capital.

The other guerilla leader who became President in Latin America was Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua. He was part of the Sandinista movement which waged an armed struggle and overthrew the Somoza dictatorship. He won the elections in 1984 and was President from 1985 to 1990. He was defeated in the elections in 1990, 1996 and 2000 but succeeded in 2006 and is the current President. His wife Rosario Murillo was also a guerilla fighter.

Alvaro Garcia Linera, the vice president of Bolivia was a cofounder the insurgent Tupak Katari Guerilla Army. He was arrested and charged with insurrection and terrorism. While imprisoned, he studied sociology and became a university professor, after his release from prison. He was elected vice president as the running mate to Evo Morales in the 2005 Presidential elections.

Ali Rodriguez Araque, the Finance Minister of Venezuela , was active in the Marxist guerilla movement and was known as "Commander Fausto", allegedly acting as an explosives expert. He was one of the last guerrilla fighters to put down arms. After the state pardon, he took to parliamentary politics. He has served as oil minister, foreign minister and Vice President of the country as well as OPEC secretary general.
Nilda Garre, the Defence Minister of Argentina was said to be part of the militant leftist movement of Montoneros, which fought against the military dictatorship. Her husband and brother in law were allegedly involved with the Montoneros. Her husband was exiled and her brother in law was killed in a shoot out. In an ironic justice, Nilda Garre is now the boss of the Generals who once considered her as public enemy of the state.

Dilma Rousseff , the chief of staff of President Lula and the candidate for the elections to be held in October 2010 was a member of a clandestine Brazilian guerilla group. She was thrown into jail between 1970 and 1972 and was tortured. After her release from jail, Dilma took to politics and started working with Lula in the Workers Party. Both her two ex-husbands were also part of the underground insurgent groups.

All the major armed guerilla groups of Latin America have now renounced arms and have taken the democratic route. The only major group still fighting is the FARC of Colombia, whose story needs a separate analysis.

The Latin American democracies, which were reborn in the eighties after the end of military dictatorships, do not any longer face the threat of anti-establishment armed guerilla groups. The region is also free from terrorism and religious fundamentalism which have become threats in all the other regions. There are, of course, crime, violence, kidnapping and drug trafficking. But these are law and order problems and do not pose a serious challenge to the new democratic paradigm of Latin America.

Captain Pantoja and the special service – novel by Mario Vargas Llosa

2009-11-01T01:49:00.000-07:00

I have just finished reading this yet another extraordinary novel by my favourite Latin American writer Mario Vargas Llosa from Peru. The story is unusual and provocative.

Captain Pantaleon Pantoja is a model officer in the Peruvian Army known for his discipline, seriousness , commitment, military pride and organisational skills. He does not smoke, drink, or give in to other temptations. He is a faithful husband devoted to his wife and a caring son looking after his mother. These traits make him as the ideal and foolproof candidate for a special and secret assignment. He is asked to raise a Special Force of Visitadoras ( sex visitors) to provide service to the garrisons in the remote parts of the Amazon. The objective of the special force is to quench the sexual thirst of the soldiers who become a menace to the women and animals in the Amazon region, stimulated by the local food and humidity. In the language of the report of Pantoja, this is to address the primary psychological and biological needs of the forces in isolated areas. To protect the honour of the army, Pantoja is asked to organise the service secretly and without his uniform and without any overt link with the armed forces. Pantoja applies his military skills and personal integrity to the new job with enthusiasm and enterprise. He plunges into the sordid world of brothels and pimps to get a first hand knowledge of the trade. He organises the special service methodically with proper military rules and systems. He recruits the service providers personally through a rigorous system of interview, physical examination and , of course, intercourse .... He does it in a detached professional manner without letting himself be emotional. He does it as a sacrifice and duty and as a not-for-pleasure professional obligation. He manages to discipline the bunch of wild and temperamental girls and makes them work under a set of military rules. The visitadoras are happy that Captain Pantoja has provided them with a regular income and working hours. They are thankful to him for freeing them from the risk and hazards of their vocations and cruelty of pimps. They are delighted with their new dignity as Armed Forces Specialists. Pantoja does a scientific survey of the sexual needs of the soldiers, does exhaustive research on the subject and evolves an effective logistical system for efficient delivery of services. He works out an optimal solution based on demand and supply with mathematical precision. Each visitadora provides pleasure to 20 soldiers a day and the timing of each service is limited to 20 minutes. To speed up the service, Pantoja arranges reading materials to the soldiers, while they are waiting, so that they are sufficiently stimulated and prepared. The service fees is deducted from the soldiers´s pay. Pantoja sends his special force through a boat and hydroplane to the utility centres, which are located in the remote areas of Amazon. The special service is run efficiently and methodically. Captain Pantoja is always devising new systems and improvisations to make optimal use of the limited resources to satisfy the unlimited demand of the soldiers and achieve the strategic objectives of the military. He sends regular reports of the functioning of the service with military jargon, precision and details to his superiors in top secret communications. The special service has even its own Hymn !!

Pantoja’s special service becomes a hit with the soldiers and achieves the objective of the project successfully. But then things go beyond his control. The special force becomes a special farce. Obviously, in such a small place, it cannot remain a secret. The local radio jockey, tries to blackmail the captain but when Pantoja refuses to give in, he publicises and starts a public campaign on moral grounds. The church and the society women are up in arms. The naive wife and mother of Pantoja are targets of ridicule. The officers of the army ask why only soldiers?..why not extend it to the higher echelons?. The civilian men in the towns too clamour for the special services. Even the senior citizens of the region ask ¨what about us ?¨. Things come to a head and Pantoja´s wife leaves him. The frustrated but still innocent and principled Pantoja becomes human. He falls in love with one of the service providers Olga, popularly known as the ¨Brazilian ¨, because she had returned from providing service in Manaus in Brazil. Olga is pretty, charming, mischievous and full of delightful tricks up her sleeve. Pantoja gives special privileges to the Brazilian and she takes care of him physically and emotionally. With her quick wit and street experience she provokes him to think beyond his narrow military framework. As a special favour, she is given reduced duty for servicing only ten soldiers while others do for twenty. But she complains that this has reduced her income. In the end, she gets killed in one of the attacks on the boat by a gang of men who want to rape the visitadoras. This is the turning point for Pantoja. He throws out the veil of secrecy, puts on his uniform and organises her burial with special military honours. He makes a formal and emotional memorial speech eulogising the patriotic service rendered by Olga to the nation, saying ¨we have worn our noble uniform of an officer in the Peruvian army to accompany you to your last dwelling place, with our head held high and with a full sense of responsibility to proclaim that you had fallen as a valiant soldier in the service of our beloved country Peru. You are an unfortunate martyr to the fulfilment of duty. Your spirit guides us daily and stimulates us to the completion of our duty with the selflessness and perfection with which you performed it¨. This hits the headlines of the national media and all hell breaks loose in the army headquarters. The army recalls Pantoja and disbands the special service. But Pantoja is unrepentent and stands by his decision to honour the specialist of the special service.

Alongwith this main plot, Llosa has woven a parallel story of a mad evangelist who excites the population of Amazon with his religious fanaticism. With his ¨Son of the Cross¨sermons, he makes the followers to sacrifice animals on a cross. This goes beyond control and human beings are crucified. The victims are worshipped as saints. This becomes a serious problem for the police and the army since even soldiers and the visitadoras become fanatic followers of this new sect. It ends with the priest putting himself on the cross and dying like Christ. This subplot is similar to the story in the other novel of Llosa ¨The war of the end of the world¨.

Llosa has interwoven the professions of sex, military and religion in an entertaining and provoactive way. It is a hilarious and thought provoking satire on the service providers of sex, defence and religion. Llosa has transformed the outrageous and absurd situations into readable and laughable stuff but within a cultural and intellectual framework. He has juxtaposed the profane with the profound and let the readers imagine and think.

Llosa brings out the flaw in the military system in which subordinates are required to blindly obey the orders, even when they do not agree with the judgement of the superiors. In the name of order and discipline, men and and women of the military are trained to do what they are told to do. Similiarly, the prophets and evangelists make their flock pursue the chosen and the only path blindly and without questioning. In both the military and religion, there is no option of free thinking. Individuality becomes a casualty to decision from the top and and wisdom from the chosen one. So long as these lead the individuals in a positive and constructive way there is no problem. But history, including the contemporary one, is filled with tragedies caused by wrong military ideas and false prophets.

In this novel, Mario Vargas Llosa has exceeded my expectations with his dextrous handling of this explosive theme. Llosa has handled it like an explosive expert, controlling the process of explosion and letting it explode like firecrackers, amusing and entertaining the readers from the beginning to the end.

Llosa has chosen many such unusual and provocative themes in his other novels and has handled them all with his characteristic satire, irony and humour.

This novel was made into a film in 2000 with the same title by the Peruvian director Francisco Lombardi. I saw it sometime back. It is also entertaining. But the book leaves a deeper impact.

In my view, Mario Vargas Llosa and Jorge Amado ( Brazil) are the only two great Latino geniuses who could transform sexual service to sublime and aesthetic levels of understanding and appreciation. I recall the novel ¨Eleven minutes¨in which the famous Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho has chosen theme of a call girl. But this theme stands out awkwardly unable to blend with the spritual flow of Coelho.

Mario Vargas Llosa is, in my view, the most talented and versatile contemporary Latin American novelist, in the same league as Gabriel Garcia Marquez. He should be next in the line for the Nobel prize for literature....

The Tango Singer –Novel by Tomas Eloy Martinez

2009-10-24T15:49:00.000-07:00

This is the second book of the Argentine writer Tomas Eloy Martinez, I have read.

Bruno Cadogan, a writer from New York arrives in Buenos Aires to interview and write a book on the elusive and legendary Tango singer Julio Martel and complete his dissertation on Jorge Luis Borges's essays on tango. Martel has a great voice like the famous Carlos Gardel and sings old tangos. Unlike the handsome and popular Gardel, Martel is physically deformed and suffers from diseases and constant pain. Martel never records his songs and so the only way to listen to him is to see his live performances. But he shuns theatres and public and performs in plazas, streets and in front of certain buildings and monuments. He appears in the venues without notice and starts singing heart rending tangos. Bruno tries to follow the trails of Martel and unravel the mystery behind the choice of venues, dates and lyrics for each performance. He discovers that there is a pattern to Martel´s choice of places and dates for his performances. These form a map of the darkest moments in the city’s past. They relate to historic events including massacres in such places as well as tragedies related to his personal life and that of his friends. One of Martel´s boyhood friends joins the Montoneros Guerilla group and is involved in the kidnapping of General Aramburu. The Group used him as hostage to ask for the return of the body of Evita which was secretly hidden by the military dictatorship. They kill Aramburu when the dictatorship refuses to give in. Later, the group kidnaps the body of Aramburu from the cemetry and uses it as hostage to ask for the return of Evita´s corpse. More on this in my previous blog http://latinamericanaffairs.blogspot.com/search?q=evita.

During one of the wanderings in the labyrinths of the city following Martel´s trails, Bruno comes across Alcira,the girlfriend of Martel. Alcira´s love for Martel is unrequited love. Martel does not treat her well and is cruel to her sometimes. But Alcira loves the voice of Martel and is unconditionally devoted to him and takes care of him till the end. She takes Bruno to the hospital where Martel is fighting for life. Martel picks up the strength to sing a last tango
¨Buenos Aires, cuando lejos de mi ¨– Buenos Aires , so far from me…
Martel dies, after singing this last tango. Bruno´s admiration for Martel is now transferred to Alcira with whom he falls in love. He wants to marry her and take her to New York. But she does not foresee herself to a life outside the Argentine labyrinth and disappears when he goes to use the toilet in the café.

The life of Martel is like the theme of a typical tango, evoking tragedies, frustrations, bitterness and pathos. But Martel lives through them with zest and passion.

Tomas gives a glimpse of the recent history of Argentina through the stay of Bruno when he is caught in the December 2001 financial collapse of Argentina followed by the historic economic and political crisis. The Argentine government declares the largest debt default in world history and devalues the currency by three times. His bank account is frozen and his movements in the city are disrupted by the public protests and traffic blocks. The hungry and angry mobs riot against the government, attack public properties and loot super markets.

Tomas portrays vividly the cafe culture of the elegant city of Buenos Aires . Bruno spends most of his days and nights in the cafes of the city. Cafes are not just for coffee. Like many Porteños ( inhabitants of the city of Buenos Aires) Bruno takes refuge in the cafes, where he reads, researches, reflects and people-watches in between cups of cafe. Argentines including writers such as Borges had used the cafes of the city for inspiration, writing, meetings, celebrations and rantings and ravings against governments, world and life.

Through a sub plot in the novel, Tomas recreates the famous Aleph story of Luis Borges, the Argentine genius and writer. In the building where Bruno stays there is a basement in which a mad and reclusive librarian lives. Bruno is convinced that this basement is the same as in the house of Beatriz in the Garay street mentioned in the short story of Luis Borges with the title Aleph. In his story Borges says he saw Aleph while lying down in the dark cellar and counting off nineteen steps. After the intial panic of darkness of space and fears, Borges says he saw Aleph, which he describes as

-a point in space that contains all other points
-the only place on earth where all places are, seen from every angle, each standing clear, without any confusion or blending
- a small iridescent sphere of almost unbearable brilliance.
-millions of acts both delightful and awful; not one of them occupied the same point in space, without overlapping or transparency. What my eyes beheld was simultaneous, but what I shall now write down will be successive, because language is successive
-daybreak and nightfall
-the multitudes of America
-all the mirrors on earth and none of them reflected him
Borges concludes ¨I saw the Aleph from every point and angle, and in the Aleph I saw the earth and in the earth the Aleph and in the Aleph the earth¨.

Bruno has been trying to go to the basement to experience and encounter Aleph. Finally when he goes there,the building is demolished and Aleph is gone.

Tomas has cleverly blended his fiction with the realities of Argentina and Buenos Aires creating a magical realism. It is difficult to know which is magic and which is reality. Argentine history and real life are merged with fantasy seamlessly. Tomas has used the name of Julio Martel, a Tango singer, who died in february 2009. But the story of the Martel in the book is totally different from the real life of Martel.

Tomas is perceptive in describing Buenos Aires and the Porteños. Here are some excerpts
- Buenos Aires city is so majestic from the second or third floor upwards and so dilapidated at street level, as if the splendour of the past had remained suspended in the heights and refused to descend or disappear.
-The true labyrinth of Buenos Aires is its people. So near and at the same time so distant. So similar on the outside and so diverse within. Such reserve, which Borges tried to assert as the essence of the Argentine, and at the same time such shamelessness.

-I thought the cafes were perfect for writing novels. Reality did not know what to do there and wandered around loose, hunting for authors who would dare to tell it. Everything seemed very real, perhaps too real..so intense you could feel it burning up and stinging the skin…

I like the hypnotic story telling of Tomas leading to delirium and suspension in magical realism. He helps the readers to understand and experience the authentic and labyrinthine Argentine spirit and psyche. I have already bought my third book of Tomas Eloy Martinez. The title is The Peron Novel. I am sure Peron would have given ample material and provocation for Tomas to dig deeper into the Aleph of Argentines.

The sum of our days – autobiography of Isabel Allende

2009-09-29T03:49:00.000-07:00

After having enjoyed Isabel Allende´s first autobiography ¨My invented country¨ in which she tells the story of her life in Chile, I was keen to read the ¨ The sum of our days¨ which covers her second life in USA, with her second husband.

Isable has narrated her real life like a fascinating fiction. The autobiography reads like a novel. She entertains and amuses the reader making fun of her life, her beliefs and idiosyncracies. She bares her soul and shares her thoughts on love, marriage and family. She pokes fun at her practice of going to astrologers to know about future. She is a member of the ¨Sisters of Disorder¨, who get together and pray for solutions to the problems of others. Her family members and friends are as colourful as the characters in her novels. Their eccentricities and eclectism are fodder for Isabel´s story telling. There are events and experience which make the readers laugh, cry and reflect.

Some of the events in her life are shocking. For example Celia , her daughter -in -law discovers she is a lesbian and moves away with Sally, the girlfriend of the son of her husband from previous marriage. Both Celia and Sally had lived in the same house of Isabel and Sally was in fact working as secretary to Isabel. Celia leaves her three children to be taken care of by Nico, the son of Isabel, who cannot get over the shock. But Isabel not only continues her friendship with Celia but she even takes the side of Celia and supports her to the annoyance of her son. Before this conversion, Celia was a gay-baiter with very strong views and prejudices. Afterwards, Celia not only practises lesbianism but actively preaches the advantages of gay love. She advocates that everyone should try it and says that it is much better than being heterosexual.

Isabel talks candidly about how desperately she was looking for a second husband afer her arrival in US. She found Willie, who had a dysfunctional family, and was the right fit for her. Still, the relationship goes through ups and downs, with the Chilean way of life and the American approach colliding inevitably. The couple have to go for therapies to save the marriage. But Isabel is content with her choice of husband and in any case it is too late in life for her to think of another one. Willie, who is a compassionate lawyer later becomes a writer and gets his books published. Isabel ends the book reaffirming her love for Willie, saying ¨the sum of our lives, our shared pains and joys, was now our destiny¨.

Willie has built a new house on a hill in San Francisco in the Chilean style and named it as ¨House of Spirits¨, the same name as her first novel which made her famous. Sure, the furniture moves at night and there are odd sounds confirming the spirits in the air ! Isabel describes the house as her Taj Mahal.

Willie´s daugter Jennifer becomes a drug addict and is abused by other drug addicts. Eventually she disappears from the hospital after giving birth to a child. She is believed to have died. Willie is devastated by this tragedy. Isabel takes on the responsibility of taking care of the child. Later, the child is adopted by a lesbian couple.

While Isabel is quick to come to the rescue of the victims of tragedies around her, she is unable to overcome the loss of her daughter Paula, who died suddenly of a disease, after her marriage. Isabel has written a separate book ¨Paula¨. The pain felt by the loss of her daughter is a recurring theme throughout the book and her life, of course.

Isabel implants in California her Chilean system of family by bringing in relatives to live with her. She calls them as her tribe. She goes out of her way to help them and at the same time freely interferes in the lives of the members of her tribe , like a typical Chilean matriarch. It is interesting that her mother who lives in Chile is her soulmate. She is in constant correspondence with Isabel, giving news of Chile and advising her even on the family issues of San Francisco.

The cosmoplitan and avante- garde San Franciso is perfect setting for Isabel´s life and the incredible adventures and misadventures of her extended family. Isabel gives a glimpse of the life in the city through the experience of her friends. She describes the Bohemian lifestyle and love affairs of Tabra, which are equally interesting. Tabra, who makes a living by making and selling artificial jewellery finds USA as an unsuitable place for her convictions and ideals and eventually moves away to Bali. She tries countless blind dates and courts disasters and disapoointment. She receives applications from young studs seeking to be kept by mature and moneyed women. Her Mexican boyfriend, whom Isabel describes as ¨Plumed Lizard¨pursues restoration of the throne of Montezuma, the last Aztec king.

The only disappointment for me as an Indian is Isabel´s superficial and silly dismissal of India in a couple of pages. Even before her travel , she says she would not be able to bear the legendary poverty of India. Her daughter Paula had visited India and told Isabel that India was the richest source of inspiration for a writer. But what Isabel experienced in India was just perspiration and saw it purely from a materialistic point of view and not at all as a writer. She enjoys, of course, shopping in Delhi and stay in a palace hotel in Jaipur. She tells a horrible story of how an Indian woman tried to give away her female baby to her, because female child is unwanted in India. This is not ony bullshit but it should be a plain lie and dishonesty of Isabel to concoct this story. No Indian woman will ever give away her baby to a foreigner passing by, as she has described. Isabel's India visit is cut short by the midnight telefone call from her daughter in law announcing her bisexuality. Thus,India falls in a few paras between the lie of an Indian woman trying to leave her child with Isabel and the truth of the bisexuality of her daughter in law.

Isabel Allende is not the first Chilean writer to look down on India. Pablo Neruda, in his autobiography, has also dismissed India in a few prejudiced Naipulistic words, after having visited India twice. It is a pity that both of them have been so materialistic and arrogant when it comes to India and blind to the culture and spirit of India. During the visit of Chilean President Lagos to India in 2005, I quoted a poem of Pablo Neruda in the draft banquet speech by Indian President. But Mr Natwar Singh , who was External Affairs Minister at that time cut out the quotation. He disliked Neruda, whom he had met and found his uncharitable view of India. Never mind ..... This should not diminish the greatness of the two Chilean writers, whose books I have enjoyed. I bought many books of these two authors in Bangalore and Chennai.

Victoria Ocampo – Argentine writer and feminist

2009-09-20T06:12:00.000-07:00

¨Victoria Ocampo – writer, feminist and woman of the world¨ is the book I have just finished reading. It is a 170 -page summary of the autobiography ( which runs into six volumes ) of Victoria, written and annotated in English by the American translator Patricia Owen Steiner.

Victoria wanted to be a writer in her youth. She sent her first writing to two authors for their comments. Both of them threw cold water and discouraged her. She found herself constrained by the censorship on her reading and writing imposed by the family and the society in the beginning of the twentieth century. Victoria was ahead of her times in the patriarchal society of Argentina. She rebelled against the restrictions and later flourished on her own when she got independence from her parents and husband. She became a writer and a patron of letters. Besides contributing to Argentine literature, She went beyond her country and built bridges with the cultural and literary world of Latin America, Europe, US and India. She became the first woman to be admitted to the Argentine Academy of Letters in 1977. This was a special satisfaction to this Queen of Letters, who had suffered discouragement from writing when she was a young woman.

Victoria founded, funded, published and edited a literary magazine ¨Sur¨ which had poems, stories, essays and social commentary of authors from around the world. Sur was the foremost literary and cultural journal of Latin America in the twentieth century. It gave voice to the Argentine and Latin American writers and exposed them to the outside world. It was also her revenge on men who stifled her writing aspiration in the early part of her life. She got the men to write for her magazine. It lasted for an impressive forty years from 1931.

Victoria established a publishing house ¨Sur¨, which published the works of eminent writers like Lorca, Borges, Bioy Casares, Sabato, Onetti, Octavio paz, Cortazar and Vargas Llosa. Sur also brought out spanish translations of North American and European writers. Victoria herself undertook translations of some books. She was more fluent in French than Spanish and she was proficient in English too.

Victoria became a grand patron of literature and culture in Argentina and even outside. She financed the trips of some European writers and artists to Argentina. She hosted the visits of foreign writers and organised literary gatherings. Her friends included Borges, Gabriela Mistral, Pablo Neruda, Jose Ortega y Gasset and Virginia Woolf.

Victoria wrote ten volumes of essays, several books of non-fiction, short stories and literary criticism. Her lengthy six-volume autobiography is useful to understand the Argentina of her times. She is candid and provocative in her commentaries.

She was a victim of the discrimination against women , as was the norm in the early part of the twentieth century. She rebelled against the oppressions of her family, the church and the society and became a feminist leader. She quit her unhappy marriage early on and lived independently for the rest of her life. She had many lovers, affairs and friends. She travelled around the world and moved in the artistic, literary and social circles of Europe especially in France.

Victoria was an iconoclast in a patriarchal society, a woman, who chose not to follow the easy path offered by her wealthy family. She used her money, charm and brain to do something extraordinary with her life from 1890 to 1979.

As happened to many other Argentine writers she also became a victim of politics. She was imprisoned for three weeks by the government of Peron for her criticism of his regime. Her passport was confiscated for two years untill the overthrow of Peron.

Two Indians had been inspiration to her; Gandhi and Tagore. Victoria was impressed by the idea of non-violence, spiritual energy and moral courage of Gandhi, who succeeded in translating his conviction into action. Gandhi became one of the most important influences on her thinking. She was moved after reading Gandhi´s biography in 1924 and her meeting with him in Paris in 1931. This is what she wrote after hearing Gandhi’s speech in Paris.
¨Gandhi spoke with extreme simplicity, without eloquence or tricks of an orator. His physical appearance seemed scarcely suited to impress anyone and especially a Parisian audience. But his spiritual energy dominated and galvanized the audience¨.
She wrote an essay on Gandhi in La Nacion newspaper in 1924 and later wrote a number of articles on him.

Victoria read Gitanjali in 1914 and said ¨it fell like a celestial dew on my anguishing twenty four year old heart¨. She described Tagore´s poetry as ¨magical mysticism¨. She felt powerful echoes in Tagore´s personal loving God, radiating happiness and serenity, unlike the demanding and vengeful God imposed on her in childhood. She was very excited when Tagore came to Buenos Aires in 1924. In her own words, it was one of the great events of her life. She wrote an article in La Nacion, welcoming Tagore. She hosted him for two months in Buenos Aires. There is talk of a platonic love between the sixty three year - old Tagore and the thirty four year- old Victoria. More on this in my earlier blog story http://latinamericanaffairs.blogspot.com/search?q=tagore

Tagore was rejuvenated by the beautiful Victoria on the flower-filled garden of the mansion overlooking the scenic bank of the immense Plata river. She was the muse of his Purabi poems in which she called her as Vijaya and dedicated the poems to her.

Victoria had a spiritual awakening from the encounter with Tagore. She was overawed by his intellect and serenity and she felt like a child before him. She listened to him mostly and did not dare to express herself as she would have liked to do.

The Tagore- Victoria encounter opened an intellectual, literary, cultural and spiritual bridge between India and Argentina. Since then, there has been a strong Argentine tradition of spiritual and cultural interest in India.

Nehru was one of the world leaders who appealed to the Argentine government to release her from jail.

Indira Gandhi was special for Victoria. She was the successful example of emancipation and fulfillment of the dreams of Victoria for women. Victoria received a honorary doctorate from Vishwabharathi University and this was personally handed over to her by Mrs Gandhi during her trip to Buenos Aires in 1968.

Ever since reading Gandhi´s biography in 1924, Victoria had a continuing interest in India. As a feminist she admired the participation of Indian women in the independence struggle under the leadership of Gandhi.

This short summary of the autobiography of Victoria and reproduction of some of her essays gives a glimpse of the cultural history of Argentina. Particia, the author of this book has been ¨reading, translating and thinking about Ocampo¨for almost twenty years. Patricia has interpreted the autobiography of Ocampo in an objective and balanced manner.
After reading this book, I am now inspired to read more about Ocampo. I have already started reading ¨In your blossoming flower garden¨ by Ketari Kushari Dyson.

The Tagore- Victoria story is fantastic material for a film. I am glad I have been able to interest Pablo Cesar, the Argentine director on this. I liked his preliminary script and the title ¨Thinking of Him¨, he has chosen for the film.

Indo-Latin American fusion restaurant in Manhattan

2009-07-15T16:37:00.000-07:00

Mixing Indian and Latino cuisines for an American audience struck as intellectually provocative - This is how the owner of the Vermilion restaurant, Rohini Dey described her venture to Financial Times of 12 July 2009.

The provocation in the restaurant starts with

Tamarind Margarita
Clove Tamarind Sour
Garam Masala Bloody Mary
Mojito
caipirinha
corona cerveza

In the wine section there are the famous Malbec and Torrentes from Argentina as well as Chilean wines along with Indian wines.

The Latino entrants in the menu include
caldeirada de peixe from Brasil
chimichurri new york stripred mexican arbol - kashmiri mirch chimichurri
duck vindaloo arepa
peruvian black ceviche

Rohini is an economist and had worked in World Bank and Mckinsey before entering the restaurant business. She first started a Vermilion in Chicago and following its sucess opened the second one in NewYork. Both the restaurants have now become fashionable. Rohini has roped in some Indian celebrites such as Rajat Gupta, Salman Rushdie and Sabeer Bhatia as investors in this venture.

Rohini says Indian and Latino cuisines use common ingredients such as beans, coriander, plantain and guava. Samosa and Latin American Empanada are similiar. Of course, there had been some historic exchanges between the two regions. Chillies went from Mexico to India while mangoes were brought to Latin America from India by the Portuguese.

http://www.thevermilionrestaurant.com/

Latin Americans are the happiest in the world...

2009-07-09T06:54:00.000-07:00

Nine of the world's ten happiest nations in the world are in Latin America, according to a recent study by a British research group, the New Economics Foundation, who compile every year a Happy Planet Index(HPI).

Here are the top ten countries in HPI
Costa Rica
Dominican Republic
Jamaica
Guatemala
Vietnam
Colombia
Cuba
El Salvador
Brazil
Honduras

Poor Honduras seems to be out of place at this moment with its ugly political crisis.

Costa Rica comes on top of the Happy Planet Index with the the highest life satisfaction in the world.This is not surprising to me since I had a personal experience of the Pura Vida attitude of Costa Ricans during my recent visit there. Here is my blog story on Pura Vida:
http://latinamericanaffairs.blogspot.com/2009/05/costa-rica-pura-vida-country.html#links

Costa Rica is unique in many respects apart from its Pura Vida atttitude to life. It was the first country in the history of the world to abolish armed forces, one of the first in the world which combined its ministries of energy and the environment back in the 1970s and generates an impressive 99 per cent of its energy from renewable sources. In 1997, a carbon tax was introduced on emissions – with the funds gained being used to pay indigenous communities to protect their surrounding forests. Deforestation has been reversed, and forests cover twice as much land as 20 years ago. In 2007, the Costa Rican Government declared that it intended to become carbon neutral by 2021.

There is one more unique thing about Costa Rica- It makes mountains out of the breasts of Latino women and silicon valley millionaires out of Indian men- by producing silicon implants and chips. See my blog,
http://latinamericanaffairs.blogspot.com/2008/09/indian-men-want-to-conquer-silicon.html#links

Second place in HPI goes to Dominican Republic, the land of
-Juan Luis Guerra, one of my favourite latino singers,
-one of my favourite golf courses ¨the teeth of the dog ¨course in la Romana
-and my favourite writer Julia Alvarez.

The third place goes to Jamaica, the land of Bob Marley. I am a bit skeptical about the ranking of Jamaica which has one of the highest murder rates in the world.

I am surpised that Brazil is in the ninth place. It should have been at the top. In my view, after the experience of having lived in Brazil for four years , Brazilians are the happiest people on the world. They enjoy life not only to the full but even excessively,as witnessed during Carnival. Here is a Brazilian song illustrative of their spirit:

hoje est sexta feira
pega uma cerveza
nada de tristeza

chega de aluguel
chega de patron
traga mais cerveza

today is friday
take a beer
no sadness

no rental
no boss
bring more beer

Here is the utube link to the song,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvjokOGY1qg

The Brazilians look for any excuse to convert any moment into a fiesta even when it is not a happy one. Here is an example.
Last year, when there there was a strike by Argentine Airlines it caused thousands of passengers stranded at the Buenos Aires airport, angry,shouting and breaking glass windows. But when I reached the waiting lounge for the flights to Brazil, there the Brazilians were singing,dancing and merry making although they had been waiting there for over 24 hours for a two hour flight to the city of Port Alegre. Their merry fiesta at that miserable time made even the the non-Brazilians to forget their misery and join the mirth. This is Brazilian spirit. It does not let adversity be an obstacle for happiness.
The people who had taken further this concept of mirth even during misery are the Cubans. They have developed this as an art. Life is tough there with shortage of essential items for day to day life and with the frustartions caused by the anachronic system there. But the Cubans keep singing and dancing even while waiting for hours for the uncertain arrival of a rickety bus.

The researchers of New Economics Foundation have noted a key feature of Latin American culture. It is the presence of relatively unmaterialistic aspirations and values, compared to countries with similar economic conditions. Latin Americans report being much less concerned with material issues than, for example, they are with their friends and family. They have plenty of social and cultural capital even if they dont have financial capital.

While I do not agree with the exact ranking and some other aspects of the Happy Planet Index report, I share the conclusion that Latin Americans are the happiest people in the world.

Che - the film on Che Guevara

2009-06-21T15:20:00.000-07:00

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.

Queen of Curious Night..is... Divya, the Divine Light

2009-06-07T16:25:00.000-07:00

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....

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..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry9tZ3QL1CQ

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 !

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.

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:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81ytAY-Z49o

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 ) !

Nicaragua... the land of poets and volcanos

2009-05-17T15:55:00.000-07:00

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.

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...

Costa Rica ..... ¨pura vida¨ country

2009-05-12T15:32:00.000-07:00

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.

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.

Book Time in Buenos Aires.......

2009-04-28T15:29:00.000-07:00

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.

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

Argentine Singhs

2009-04-21T15:12:00.000-07:00

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.

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 !

El Pato and El Gato

2009-04-16T13:46:00.000-07:00

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 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.¨

From Faith to Fashion - the story of Monica Socolovsky

2009-03-28T02:51:00.000-07:00

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:

ice blue fiesta in Argentina Lake

2009-03-12T08:14:00.000-07:00

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:

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?

kissing queens and sipping wines in the Mendoza Festival

2009-03-09T17:43:00.000-07:00

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.

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 !!!