Hunabku - New Argentine film

Last week I was invited to the premier of this film at the Recolecta Village cinema. The film is being released in theatres in Argentina on 29 November 2007.

The movie is directed by Pablo Cesar, the famous Argentine director. He is at the moment in India as a jury in the international film festival in Goa. He has earlier directed a Indo- Argentine joint production called as " Unicorn- the garden of fruits" released in 1996. The cast of this film has both Argentines and Indians.

Hunabku has been shot in the glaciers region of Patagonia in the south of Argentina close to the city of Calafate. The glacier scenes are spectacular.

The story is about Lucas a 13 - year old boy who shifts to Patagonia, with his father who is posted there to develop a tourism project. The boy is fascinated and mesmerised by the glaciers, mountains, sea and the fantastic bounties of nature. His wanderings in the magical Patagonian landscape triggers new emotions, imaginations, fears and curiosities. He decides to study anthropology. His father, immersed in his own project, thinks that the son has gone crazy. Luca's mother becomes depressed by the isolation in the desolated patagonian emptiness. Finally, the anthropology teacher Nicolas helps the whole family to come to terms with the nature and with each other.

Pablo has used sitar and santoor music from India to add to the mystery of the mountains. In fact, the theme of the movie is like an Indian one. Nicolas the anthropologist is like a Guru in the Himalayan mountain unveiling the mysteries of life in simple terms while using riddles to mystify simple things.

Indian Culinary Engineers in Buenos Aires

Sharukh Merchant ( extreme left) and Belliappa ( on the right) are the Culinary engineers in Buenos Aires.

Sharukh has done masters from MIT in telecom engineering. Belliappa has studied electronics engineering in USA. Both have left their engineering vocations and are in restaurant business which has become their passion. Both love Buenos Aires. They have opened an Indian restaurant " Tandoor" in Buenos Aires, since June 2007.

I had dinner in Tandoor yesterday with my Argentine friends. The food was delicious. The ambience elegant. The building in which the restaurant is located is historic. We visited the kitchen which is clean. My Argentine friends saw for the first time tandoor cooking of India.

I had pre and after dinner drinks and conversations with Sharukh and Belliappa. I found their passion for Buenos Aires as profound and infectious as mine. They speak fluent spanish.

Shahrukh has another passion- Tango. He learnt tango in Boston, formed a Tango society there and became a Tango teacher ! He does Salsa too.

By night in Chile - novel by Roberto Bolano

This is the story of a boy who wanted to be a poet but ended up as a Opus Dei priest Father Sebastian Urrutia. But he continues his literarary pursuits as a successful critic, although he writes poems occasionally and unsatisfactorily. He is sent to europe to study the challenges for preservation of churches. He encounters priests who consider pigeon shit as the most challenging. They keep falcons to drive away the pigeons. But then one of the priests confesses that falconry is destruction of the very symbol of the Holy Spirit.
Father Urrutia gets an assignment to teach Marxism in ten lessons to General Pinochet and his Junta secretly. He frequents the house of a literary lady Maria Canales who hosts all-night parties for the authors and artists while the city is clamped in night curfew. Later they discover that the American husband of the hostess colludes with the Chilean secret service to detain, interrogate and kill those suspected as subversives, in the basement of the house where his Chilean wife had literary soirees. This last part is based on the realife story of Mariana Callejas, a Chilean who was married to Michael Townley an American involved in the repression in Chile.

Father Urrutia describes the dilemma/excuse/explanation/ justification of those who went along with the dictatorship in these words:
"At the end of the day, we were all reasonable ,we were all Chileans, we were all normal, discreet, logical, balanced, careful, sensible people, we all knew that something had to be done, that certain things were necessary, there's a time for sacrifice and a time for thinking reasonably."Father Urrutia confesses that he has spent his entire life fleeing from the wizened youth.

The novel brings out the creative and destructive forces which had shaken and shaped the Chilean politics, literature and society in the last thirty years. The author uses magical realism to take the readers between reality and imagination; between Neruda and Pinochet; between Chile and Europe; and between the church and the state. He relishes sarcasm and satire in his powerful imageries and graphic style of writing.

Bolano himself was a victim of the military dictatorship. He was imprisoned. Later he went into exile in mexico and Europe. he died at the age of fifty in 2003.

This is the second book of Bolano for me. I have already read his other novel "Distant Star", which was also about literature caught in Chilean dictatorship.

Argentine Polo tournament

I was invited to the semifinals of Hurlingham open at the Hurlingham club today. La Dolfina beat Chapa Uno by 17-15. It was not surprising since the world number one Adolfo Cambaiazo played for El Dolfino. He is the Tiger Woods of polo. His game was indeed very impressive. He is fast on the horse and is an artist with the polo ball. He was the youngest player to win a 10 goal handicap at the age of 19. He has won every medal and tournament in polo.

This is the polo season in argentina. They have three majors: Tortuga open, Hurlingham Open, and Palermo Open.

The number of ten handicappers in the world is eleven, all of them from Argentina.
There are 2000 polo grounds in Argentina. many of them private in farm estates. Hurlingham itself has 5 polo grounds. The number of polo clubs affiliated to the Argentine Polo Association is over 150.

Pepe, the Argentine friend and player who was explaining to me the finer details of the game has two children who have been on the horse since the age of two. They have been playing polo since six years of age. Pepe's grand father was a polo champ. Like him there are many families with polo tradition.

Argentina is on top of the games

Yesterday, Angel Cabrera of Argentina won the Singapore Open Golf. This is his his fourth international victory this year. He had won the US Open earlier this year. He is the second Latin American to win a major, after Roberto Vincezo ( another Argentine) won the British open in the sixties.Andres Romero another Argentine, almost won the British Open this summer. He made ten birdies on the sunday and was leading untill the disastrous double bogies.

Yesterday marked another Argentine victory in Tennis. David Nalbandian won the ATP Masters after beating Federer and Nadal, the number one and two.Argentina has produced some great tennis stars in the past.

Last month Argentina came in the third place in World Rugby Championship.

In Footbal,Argentina is among the top. After the El Dies ( number ten) Maradona, now there is Lionel Messi capturing the imagination of the world footbal fans.
The rivalry between Boca and Riverplate is the most ferocious. There is also a class division here. Boca supporters are the masses while the Riverplate supporters are from the upper classes in general. This year Riverplate has won the semifinal of the World club championship and is now going to Tokyo for the finals.

Yesterday I saw a few buses full of screaming and shouting youth escorted by several police cars. They were fans of Independiente club, one among the top. They needed protection from their rival club fans! I had not seen this even in Brazil.

In Polo, Argentina is the best. They have the best nine players in the world of the top ten. There are so many polo grounds here. The horses and the game are not expensive. Kids learn horse riding during summer vacation in their farm estates.

Guess what is the national sport of Argentina.. it is Pato.. a polo game in which they used duck( pato in spanish means duck) instead of ball. The player hooks the duck from the ground and carries while the others try to stop. But these days they use a leather ball with a handle to hook and carry.

Nueve Reinas - Argentine Film

Nueve Reinas- (nine queens) is the first Argentine film I have seen after my arrival here.
The story is about two conmen, one a pro Marcos ( role played by Ricardo Darin, a popular Argentine actor) and an amateur, Juan ( Gaston Pauls - another Argentine actor) who is the son of another conman. The two join together and pull off tricks on people stealing money and cheating them. One day a friend of Marcos comes up with a scheme to sell a set of forged rare German stamps called as nueva reinas. They see an opportunity here to make big bucks but then they are taken for a ride by many other intermediates who try to cut deals and seek commissions. The conmen get conned.

It is a delightful crime comedy. Ricardo Darin and Gaston Pauls have acted well. The movie was directed by Fabian Bielinsky. The movie has been shot in Buenos Aires. Released in 2000, it is said to be one of the best Argentine films and it has won many awards.

Hotel, Soccer and Tango for gays in Buenos Aires

An exclusive hotel for gays, Axel Hotel opened today in Buenos Aires, the first of its kind in a country famed more for machismo and Catholicism than overt homosexuality.

Male tango dancers and drag queens will perform at an inauguration party tonight to which 1,000 people have been invited.

The hotel, aimed squarely at gay men, not women, is the second opened by the Axel group, a Spanish company which started its maiden one in Barcelona in 2003. Named after a former boyfriend of the founder, Juan Julia Blanch, the group plans rapid expansion.

The move to Latin America is a sign that a continent once marked by conservatism and homophobia is liberalising, albeit slowly and unevenly. Colombia has recognised gay rights and Venezuela has outlawed discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Argentina blazed the way with a law allowing civil unions among homosexuals which has helped make Buenos Aires Latin America's gay capital. Some 300,000 gay visitors are estimated to spend £300m here each year in the city.

Last month the city hosted the 10th Gay World Cup soccer tournament, a first for South America, and next month it will host the first gay tango festival, Tango Queer.

Ines of my soul - novel of Isabel Allende

It is after a long gap that I had a chance to read Isabel Allende again. In this book " Ines of my soul" Isabel has chosen a historical theme and has recreated the time of conquest and colonisation of Chile. The novel is based on a real-life Ines Suarez, who was one of the rare women who accompanied 110 conquistadores who founded Chile.

Ines is a not-so pretty daughter born in a lower middle class family. She falls in love with Juan de Malaga who teaches her the art of love-making. But Juan is given to gambling and womanising and is not meant for a quiet family life like the many characters of Jorge Amado of Brazil. He abandons Ines and goes away to the New World in search of fortune and adventure. Ines goes after him to the Americas and lands in Panama and later in Peru. The real reason is her quest for adventure rather than find the husband. Here she falls in love with Pedro de Valdivia, a war hero,who has a vision to conquer Chile and seek glory. Ines follows his expedition over the Andes and desert. Since both are already married, they live as lovers although he makes her as the Gobernadora of Chile. She gives crucial support for the expedition and later for establishing a settlement in Chile with her medical and other skills. When Pedro abandons her in order to comply with a judicial ruling, she marries Rodrigo, the loyal captain of Pedro who had been silently in love with her for several years. The story ends with the killing of Pedro by the Mapuche Indians of Chile in a battle.

Isabel has give a flavour of conquistadores, clergy, Indians and the Spanish royalty and the role they played in the conquest of Latin America. She has given fair space to the native Indians who fought against the Spanish conquerors unsuccessfully. Isabel says she did four years of research for this novel. One could see the fruits of that by the vivid accounts of the campaigns, the struggle between the Indians and the Spanish and the courage and adventurous spirit of the Spanish adventurers,who braved so much misery and suffering.

Ines has become yet another memorable adventurous and passionate latina character in my soul too. Ines says " a man does what he can; a woman does what a man cannot"... I have nothing to say....

Rosario Tijeras - Colombian film

I saw this film, with a hesitation that this might be yet another exaggerated drama on drug trafficking in Colombia with predictable scenes of crime and violence. But I found it different. The difference was made by the electifying performance of the charming and seductive Flora Martinez perfect in her role as the "femme fatale". She is a Canadian of Colombian origin and has acted in other films and soap operas.

Rosario Tijeras, the heroine ( Flora Martinez) is a hit-woman for the drug world of Medellin. She kisses her victims before shooting them to death. She is a merciless killer and a drug addict but has a tenderness and sentimental side. She has affairs with many men but eventually falls in love with Emilio. She has had a tormented childhood and filled with internal pain and insecurity. In the end she pays for her criminal career with her life.

The Spanish actor Unax Ugalde and Colombian actor Manolo Cardona have complimented the superb acting of Flora Martinez.The Mexican director Emilio Maillé has done a good job by portraying the reality of drugs, crime, love and death in Medellin.The film, released in 2005, is based on the novel of the same name by Jorge Franco.

my first speech in Spanish in Buenos Aires, 25 October

I was invited today to give a talk at the Tourism workshop on India at the Marriot Hotel in Buenos Aires. It was my maiden speech in spanish here. I spoke about the emergence of India as a an economic and IT power and the growing business between India and Latin America. This has opened up Business Travel, offering opportunites for the tour opeartors. I managed to make the Argentine audience laugh a bit with my ususal jokes such as the one comparing Indian population with Latin American inflation.

There were about 60 tour operators in the audience. The event was organised by Piamonte,the wholesale tourism agency ( http://www.piamonte.com/) who have been sending tourist groups to india regularly.

A presentation on tourism to India was made by Vijay Raghavan from the Indian travel agency Amazing India Holidays Pvt Ltd, http://www.amazingindiaholidays.com/

New Delhi. Raghavan is a veteran in Argentine tourism to india for the last 15 years and has been visiting Argentina and Soth America twice a year.

Next month in November, there is going to be an International Travel Fair in Buenos Aires in which Indian travel agencies will participate in collaboration with the Embassy and the tourism department.

I am encouraged by the interest and enthusiasm of Argentines for India.

Book on the currency board of Argentina

"Hyperinflation, currency board and bust- the case of Argentina"
book by Jutta Maute

This was the book I completed in the long flights from India to Argentina. It was like a thriller fiction.

Jutta Maute analyses in this book (published in 2006) , the Argentine experiment of the Currency Board System to rein in hyperinflation and stabilise the economy. According to the author, the currency board, an exchange rate-based stabilisation programme, is meant for buying short term stability against probable future instability. In the case of Argentina, while it achieved the twin objectives for a few years, it became unsustainable and contributed to the collapse of the economy in 2001. There was nothing wrong with the Currency Board as a short term solution. The Argentine government should have had an exit strategy and phased it out which they did not do and eventually paid a high price for the mistake.

Some of the facts highlighted in the book:

-in the period 1980-90 there were 11 finance ministers and 10 central bank governors. There were 40 finance ministers and 40 central bank governors in the period 1945-90. This is perhaps one of the main causes for the economic crises!

-the average inflation in the period 1980-89 was 750%. This was preceded by average inflation of 133% in 1970-79 period. It was 23% in 1960-69 and 30% in 1950-59. No wonder, the system burst in 2001. It was a tragedy waiting to happen.

- since 1820 Argentina had defaulted on its debt repayment five times. So, the default in 2001 was not new and the foreigners who lent money to Argentina did not read history.

- In the period july 89- dec 93, the government issued 12000 executive decrees and 308 " decrees of necessity and urgency". This exceeded the total no of decrees issued in the 130 years before. This means, the executive bypassed the legislative authorites so often by resorting to such rule by decree.

- In 2002, 56% people went below poverty line after the crisis.

The book is a clinical and objective anaysis and in the style of a research paper. Not surprising..the author is a German.

The case of creation of poverty from riches and chronic instabilty in Argentina lends itself as an interesting subject for research.

Argentina has impressed me in the last one week with its elegant buildings, stylish houses, numorous polo grounds and golf courses and world-class excellence in polo, golf, tennis, rugby and football. The country has been blessed with oil and gas, large area of fertile land, mineral and natural resources. All this.. for a small population of 40 million who speak one language, belong to one religion and one ethnic stock. Argentina was among the top ten richest countries around 1920.

The contradiction of Argentina is amazing even for an Indian used to the infinite contradictions of the large and diverse India.

Interview published by Business Line on 10 October

‘Great potential to leverage synergies between India and Latin America’
We have two areas of serious interest with Latin America — energy security and food security. We have started investing in the oil and gas sector in the region. There is also a lot of potential in non-conventional fuels.

R. VISWANATHAN, INDIAN AMBASSADOR TO ARGENTINA
M. Ramesh
‘Passionate about Latin America’ is how his calling card describes him. After five years as Consul-General in Sao Paulo, Brazil, three years as India’s Ambassador in Venezuela, and three more as Joint Secretary, Latin American Countries, in the Ministry of External Affairs,
Mr R. Viswanathan, is perhaps the country’s best resource-person for anything relating to the landmass south of Texas and down to the South pole.
Mr Viswanathan, once an ambitious village lad who had to scrounge for school textbooks as his family could not afford to buy them, and who could not understand a word of English until he was in college, today knows Latin America like the back of his hand. He combines this knowledge with his fluency in Portuguese and Spanish that he expects will help him in his mission to bridge the distance between India and Latin America. Before he left to take up his new assignment as India’s Ambassador in Argentina on October 10, Mr Viswanathan spoke to Business Line about his first love — Latin America.
Excerpts from the interview:
You were Joint Secretary-Latin American Countries in the last three years. What changed during these three years?
I was probably the only Joint Secretary in the Ministry who was desperate to become JS-LAC. Normally, people seek high-profile jobs….
Is JS-LAC not high-profile?
It was not. I made it one. I was desperate for the job and, at the end of three years, I find it has been rewarding and fulfilling. There has been a tremendous surge of interest within India in Latin America, and vice-versa. In the last three years, the number of visits of foreign ministers from Latin America to India was more than in the previous 20 years.
From India we have taken delegations to countries never visited before, like Guatemala, Bolivia and Ecuador. We have established a strategic partnership with Brazil, with which country we have many common interests, both at bilateral and multilateral levels. These include co-operation for permanent membership on the UN Security Council, the WTO and the G-20. Brazil is regional leader, it has a voice. It also finds alliance with India useful. So, the partnership has flourished.
Today, there is a realisation across the spectrum — from political parties to business leaders, and think-tanks to chambers of commerce — that Brazil is important. Similarly, with Mexico, which we count among the ‘privileged partners’. We may not see eye to eye with it on all issues, as we do with Brazil, but trade is booming and it is the second most important country.
Argentina is the third largest. It has received less attention from both sides, because the country has gone through a nerve-wracking financial crisis in 2002. Now it has stabilised. Also, as the Argentine government was preoccupied with domestic affairs rather than foreign policy, it did not reach out to us.
Now there are going to be Presidential elections, the next President is expected to be more reaching-out, paying more attention to foreign policy. We are looking forward to that change. We can expect a lot to happen with Argentina in the next three years.
In the last few years, we have seen Left-of-Centre leaders elected to head governments in the region — like President Lula of Brazil, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Eva Morales of Bolivia. What does this trend mean for India?
I look at the election of Left-of-Centre Presidents as empowerment of the masses, who were excluded, neglected and marginalised by the military dictatorships and the transitional powers (that prevailed until about a decade ago.) Now people have the power to elect the person they want. They obviously go for the candidates with a clear agenda for the poor, for inclusive growth. The majority of voters are middle-class or lower-middle-class people.
Yes, but can you give examples of where this ‘empowerment of masses’ has helped Indian businesses?
There are many examples. But, first, let’s see what is happening. In the olden days, Argentina would import only from Europe and the US — it was just not interested in looking at a country like India, because the importer did not care for the masses. Now the economic agenda of Argentina is driven by the lower-middle-class people. And what do they want? They want a $10 shirt, not a $50 shirt. Where do they get it from? Not from the US or Europe, but India.
Perhaps the best example of the way empowerment of masses has opened up markets to India is in pharmaceuticals. In the past, Latin America had not heard of generic medicines.
Prices were very high, five to 50 times costlier than in India. That is why they invited Indian pharmaceutical companies to introduce generic medicines and to put pressure on MNCs and reduce the cost of medicines. Today, we do about $ 500 million of pharma exports to the region. Everyone has realised the benefits of buying from India.
What are the relative complementarities between India and Latin America?
As I said, in healthcare, Indian pharma companies are providing good value. Our IT companies add value to their human resource development.
When TCS employs 3,500 people in Latin America — the number of Indians may not be more than 35 — it provides jobs for people, but something more fundamental than that. It stimulates the imagination of the younger generation and introduces them to the age of information and the knowledge society. That is why TCS’ IT centre in Guadalajara was inaugurated personally by the President of Mexico.
What do we expect from the region?
We have two areas of serious interest with Latin America — energy security and food security. We have started investing in the oil and gas sector in the region — ONGC Videsh has already invested a billion dollars in Brazil and Colombia; it will invest another billion dollars in Venezuela and Cuba. Reliance, Videocon and Essar are also looking for opportunities there.
There is also a lot of potential in non-conventional fuels. The region has a lot of arable land, where one can grow sugarcane, jatropha and other plants. We can make bio-fuels and bring them here.
The second area is food security. In India we have a growing population and not enough land for agriculture.
So Latin America is attractive for us because it has large land area, less population and there is no restriction on foreign investments. Indian companies can invest in Latin America in agriculture and commercial forestry and bring the products back home.
Are Indian companies interested?
Many have expressed interest, have earmarked funds — like Bajaj Hindusthan, which has earmarked $500 million to buy land and sugar mills and ethanol plants in Brazil. It has already established a subsidiary there. Other companies are looking at Brazil, Argentina and even Surinam. A company from Pondicherry is looking at the possibility of acquiring 100,000 acres in Surinam to grow jatropha to make bio-diesel there.
I mentioned two areas of interest — energy security and food security. Energy and food imports are India’s two largest imports. Last year, our biggest import bill was crude oil — $55 billion — and our second largest import bill was of edible oils — $12 billion. We are already importing edible oils from Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay.
More of our companies can go there, buy farms and bring oil-seeds into India. This is likely to be done by the Solvent Extractors Association of India, whose delegation went to Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina recently. Now the Association is sending a special team to do a due diligence exercise for the purchase of 12,000 hectares of soya farm in Paraguay. The deal is likely to be concluded by the end of the year. There is plenty of scope for similar ventures.
In the race to engage with Latin America, who’s winning — India or China?
Well, China is ahead of us; it has invested far more than us, but gone mostly into extractive industries — crude oil and mining, and a bit of manufacturing. It is also a market for Latin American countries, for primary commodities. So, that is a definitely valuable partnership for both the sides.
But although we are not as big as China, the Latin Americans have a cultural empathy for India. They don’t look at India with suspicion, whereas they are worried about the competition of Chinese goods. They feel more comfortable with India.
What is your agenda for Argentina?
Economic diplomacy is my priority. Our exports last year were $290 million, I want to see that it goes up to $600 million in the next three years. Our imports are about $940 million.
I want to see that trade between two countries goes to $3 billion in the next three years.
The embassy is organising an exclusive Indian trade fair in Buenos Aires between March 26 and 29 next year. This will be the largest exclusive Indian trade fair to be organised in Argentina.
We expect over 200 Indian companies to participate. We want to send the message to the Argentines that we are not just interested in selling to you, we are keen on imports, acquisitions, joint ventures, etc., to synergise our complementarities.

Buenos Aires donde el tango nacio

Buenos Aires, donde el tango nacio
tierra mia querida
quisera poderte ofrender
todo el alma en mi cantar
( Buenos Aires, where the tango was born, dear land, i offer the whole of my soul in my song).

I have been posted as Ambassador to Argentina. I will reach Buenos Aires on 10 oct. I will also be accredited to urguay and paraguay.

This is a dream come true. Another fantastic opportunity to pursue my passion for latin america! This will complement my experience in Brazil and Venezuela.

Hmm...Tango and Football, Patagonia and Pampas, Evita and Che Guevara, Borges and Cortazar, ski resorts of bariloche and vineyards of Mendoza, cafes and bars of Recoleta...and more..

Argentina has the largest number of golf courses in Latin America. Having played in almost all the courses in Brazil and Venezuela, it is going to be challenging to repeat it in Argentina !

Affair with an Argentine

'Dear Gurudev, days are endless since you went away" - she wrote...

" when we were together we mostlly played with words and tried to laugh away our best opportunities. Whenever there is the least sign of the nest becoming a jealous rival of the sky .. my mind, like a migrant bird, tries to take ... flight to a distant shore." - he wrote.

She - Victoria Ocampo, the ardent Argentine admirer.

He - Rabindranath Tagore, the Indian poet

she -34 year old

he - 63 year old

It was a subtle affair, a platonic love, born on the banks of the river Plata.They spent together two unforgettable months in 1924 at the villa Miralrio of Victoria with a view of the river,in San Isidro on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. The river Plata was flowing quietly overhearing their light conversation and heavy breathing. The famous Tipa tree in the garden of the house was bending and crouching ...listening to the silence of the couple who used to sit under its shade.

He called his muse Bijaya ( victoria ).
One third of his Purabi poems are said to be inspired by this Argentine angel.

Here is a 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 "

She wrote an essay " Tagore on the banks of the river Plata" and a book "Tagore en las barrancas de San Isidro"( Tagore on the ravines of San Isidro)

She gifted him the armchair in which he used to sit in her house. The chair is sitting now in the Shantiniketan museum even now cherishing and guarding the secrets of the poet and his muse. Tagore wrote a couple of poems on the chair too..

El Cantante - movie on Salsa singer

I saw this this Hollywood film ( 2006 release) El Cantante ( means the singer) yesterday. It is based on the real life story of Puerto Rican singer Hector Lavoe, who came to New York in 1975 and became a mega star of Salsa .The singer starts his career as a vocalist in Willie Colon's band and then becomes a successful soloist. He was part of the salsa revolution of the seventies in New York. In his personal life, Hector gets addicted to drugs and gets AIDS. His father disowns him, his son dies and his relations with his wife breaks down. He tries to commit suicide by jumping off the balcony but survives to cut one more disc and dies later in 1993.

Marc Anthony plays Hector and Jenifer Lopez his wife—Puchi. The story is told as a narrative by JLo as Puchi , the wife. She has acted brilliantly and her husband Marc Anthony's performance is also impressive.

There are lots and lots of salsa music all through the film. There are dialogues in spanish in many parts of the film. I love the English spoken by the characters particularly JLo with a Latino accent.

The salsa song El cantante, which comes many times through the film is poignant.

Yo, soy el cantante
Que hoy han venido a escuchar
Lo mejor, del repertorio
A ustedes voy a brindar

Y canto a la vida
De risas y penas
De Momentos malos
Y de cosas buenas

Yo, soy el cantante
Muy popular donde quiera
Pero cuando el show se acaba
Soy otro humano cualquiera

Y sigo mi vida
Con risas y penas
Con ratos amargos
Y con cosas buenas

The fans of the real Hector Lavoe have complained that the film has inaccuracies and focusses more on the negative side such as his drug addiction at the expense of the greatness of Hector as an artist.

But the film is a treat for the fans of JLo and Salsa.

Brazilian Churrascaria restaurant in New Delhi

The new Hotel Crown Plaza in Gurgaon has opened a Brazilian churrascaria restaurant called as Wildfire. This is the first churrascaria in India. phone-124-2383401.
someone told me that they bring meat from Argentina. I have not been to the restaurant yet.

Churrascaria is a typical brazilian barbecue restaurant, where meats are served in sword-like skewers. The waiters keep bringing the skewers with different meats and cuts to each table untill the client is "fed up". Yes ..it is unlimited serving of meats at a fixed price. In some churrascarias in Brazil, there is a small wooden block with red and green colours at the top and bottom. When you want a break in eating, you need to put the red on top and the service stops. If you keep the green top, the meat keeps coming. In some places they have three colours including amber for slow service !
There is also a large spread of self-service salad buffet. the price is fixed ( ranging from 10 dollars to 40 dollars) and it includes both the meat and salad but does not include drinks. The Brazilian drink which goes with the meat eating fiesta is caipirinha, which is made of cachaza( cane liquor) and frsh lime juice and sugar... deadly!
Churrascaria is one of my favourites. I used to eat so much of meat and become vegetarian for the next one week.
Sao Paulo has the largest number of Churrascarias and best ones. Surprisingly, Rio does not have many. It is more popular in the sothern Brazilian cities like porto alegre. Brazilian churrascarias are there in many cities around the world such as NewYork and Tokyo. In NewYork there are two, of which one is in Little Brazil ( near 47th street ) and another called as Greenfield in Queens.

More than the meat, Churrascaraia is a typical Brazilian experience ! Even my vegetarian friends have been fascinated by the Churrascarias!

La Ley de Herodes - Mexican film

I saw La ley de Herodes ( Herod's law) , yesterday. It is one of the best Mexican films I have seen. It is a political comedy about the Mexican way , the Instituional Revolutionary Party(PRI) and the political system which corrupts the rest of the society.

It is the story of Vargas ( played by Damian Alcazar), a small time municipal worker and PRI party member, who is made as the Mayor of a small, isolated, desert town of San Pedro de los Saguaros whose main inhabitants are native Indians. PRI sends him to implement the President's programme of Modernisation and Social Justice. Vargas starts his job as an idealist, resisting attempts by others to corrupt him. But there is no money in the treasury since his predecessors had stolen all the money and sold off even the doors and windos of the local school. Vargas becomes a laughing stock with his innocent crusading spirit against corruption. Vargas goes back to his superior seeking resources and advice. The boss gives him a gun and a copy of the constituition and says that Vargas should use/misuse these to manage. The boss tells Vargas the Herode's law- "fuck or get fucked." Vargas tries and becomes corrupt and then corruption takes him over completely. He becomes a ruthless political animal, misusing his authority, extorting money from every one and killing those opposed to him. In the end, he becomes a congress deputy and gives a lofty address to the Congress.

For those following mexican politics, this is real life story, although exaggerated and comical. It brings out the corruption, crude manipulations, paternalism and impunity. When the film was about to be released in 1999, the government of Mexico ( under PRI rule) was said to have tried to stop the film unsuccessfully. It is a coincidence that PRI lost the elections in 2000 for the first time since 1930.

Luis Estrada, the Director has a political message in this film in this satirical. hilarious but powerful film. He has used all the Mexican and Latin American ingredients: tequila, puteria ( brothel), gringo ( American ) who tries to take the mexican for a ride ( and the mexican's wife also for a real ride !), corrupt priest, native Indians who do not speak Spanish and are on the margins of the society and the complex bureaucratic system.

farewell to Ambassador Jorge Heine of Chile

These days there are lunches, dinners and cocktails almost every day to bid farewell to the most visible, read and heard foreign Ambassador in India, Mr Jorge Heine of Chile, who is leaving on 31 July.
Amb Heine has given more lectures in universities, think tanks, chambers of commerce and published more articles in Indian newspapers than any other Ambassador in India. He has written and talked about latin america, politics,economics and globalisation.
He and his charming economist wife Norma have hosted so many parties and networked with many indian intellectuals, journalists and socialites.
During his time, there have been many visits between the two countries including ministers, chiefs of armed forces, businessmen and the high point was the visit of chilean President Ricardo Lagos in march 2005. Thanks to him, Chile has emerged as the largest source of India's imports from latin America. 1.7 billion dollars was India's imports from Chile in 2006 and is growing.

Ambassador Heine is going back to his first passion.. academics. He will become from 1 August, CIGI Professor of Global Governance at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario. This will be a joint appointment with the Centre for International Governance Innovation, Canada' s premier think tank on international relations. He will be teaching in a PhD program in Global Governance, within the newly established Jim Balsillie School of International Affairs, that has been established with a US 100 million endowment, of which half has come from. Mr Balsillie, co-chairman of Research in Motion (RIM), the company that invented the Blackberry.
Hmm .. there is a coincidence here. I call him as the Blackberry Ambassador, because he would instantly reply to my mails from his blackberry from any part of the world.

Amb Heine is a multidimensional personality. He is a diplomat, academic, writer, consultant, election observer and he had also served as Minister in the Chilean government. He is the Vice-President of the International Political Science Association (IPSA). He was professor in Stanford and Heidelburg universities, besides Chilean and Puerto Rican universities. He has authored/ coauthored eight books on international affairs.

Amb Heine and I had a competition as to who would write more articles in Indian papers. While the competition in India will continue, he has overtaken me in the global stage. He has been writing and lecturing in all the continents of the world and has established a larger international network. He has been a source of inspiration to me in the last three years.

Adios Ambassador Jorge Heine...

Brazilian cultural Festival in Mumbai 19-20 July.. and more to come

This is being organised by the Brazilian consulate in Mumbai in collaboration with St. Xavier’s college, Mumbai.

It includes a photographic exhibition and workshops on Afro-Brazilian and traditional Indian dances, Bead Making and Painting.

Venue: College Hall, St. Xavier’s college.

The initiative for this has come from Mr Paulo Pinto , the proactive and dynamic consul general of Brazil.

A full-fledged Brazilian cultural festival will be held in India in January- March 2008

An IBSA cultural festival is going to be held in Salvador, capital of Bahia in october this year.
Another bigger festival will follow in India during the next IBSA summit.

Clara - novel by Luisa Valenzuela

Luisa Valenzuela is the third Argentinian author for me.
First I tried Luis Borges but I found his books too heavy. I put him in my list for later reading.
Second I tried Julio Cortazar. His novels " Hopscotch " and " the winners" were interesting but I took lot of time to finish. I did not find Latino element in them except for reference to the cafe culture of Buenos Aires.

After these, I found Luis Valenzuela as a simple story teller, giving a flavour of the Argentine society, tango, parque retiro and pampas. The story is about Clara, a naive and innocent country girl who comes to Buenos Aires for a living. Her aspirations are very simple and her dream is to see the sea. Eva also came from the country side to Buenos Aires in search of a new life. But she was lucky to become Eva Peron rising to power and fame.

But Clara is not lucky. She becomes a prostitute and her life changes with the men who manage to take her out of her profession for some time. After having lived with a hotel manager and a tango singer, she falls for a Indian Swami who predicts fortunes. Later she finds out that he is Alejandro, an Argentine who does fortune-telling for a profession, pretending to be from India. He marries her on a whim and tortures her mentally taking out his frustrations of poverty and misery. She is excited when Alejandro makes her as an Aztec Flower in a circus. But unable to tolerate his mental torture, she decides to kill him while sleeping with a knife. But when she wakes up she finds him with the knife ready to sever her head like a real Aztec flower.

This is Valenzuela's first novel. She says in the preface that although Luis Borges was fond of her, he described this novel as pornographic. There is nothing of that sort.
Luisa is said to be a writer of magical realism. But she did not use this in this first novel.