US Elections: Five Takeaways!

The Leader of the Free World has been elected, and His election has shaken every single hitherto accepted political postulate that we have known. To say that the election has ‘ruffled feathers’ would be a gross understatement.

Here are the five major takeaways not only from this election, but also the global anti-establishment movement that brought Modi and Kejriwal to power in India, propelled Podemos into the Spanish parliament, removed Britain from the EU and ended Hillary Clinton’s career.

1.       A transformation of the current ruling class

In just 2014, the world had Manmohan Singh in India, David Cameron in the UK, Chancellor Merkel in Germany and most significantly President Obama in the White House, with numerous Cambridge, Oxford and Harvard degrees, Nobel prizes and accolades among themselves and perhaps every large corporation in the world financing them. This is now a thing of the past.

The establishment, or the status quo which ruled free democracies for the past few decades, will now undergo an open heart surgery. Dynasties such as the Nehru-Gandhi in India, Kennedy, Bush and Clinton clans in the US would disappear. With corporations funding them and party workers revering them, these elite, erudite, idealistic yet quixotic specimens, pandering to both the left and the right with fantastic political correctness, would soon be jobless. Power structures with new faces and new corporations holding the strings would emerge.

2.     Majority rule

Trump has reiterated what Modi proved in India in 2014. A majority does indeed exist and can be converted into a vote bank, to the point that the minorities can be completely overlooked (Modi’s BJP does not have a single non-Hindu MP in the Lok Sabha). Trump, however, went several steps further when he openly dehumanized Latinos and Muslims. His election has been heralded by white nationalists in the US. Brexit too, was achieved by glorifying the white British majority while discrediting the Polish immigrants and the Syrian refugees. ‘Mr Brexit’ Nigel Farage actively campaigned for Trump during the election season. Right wing fringe elements, whether or not they enjoy Trump’s support are truly having the time of their life.

3.     End of Left high handedness

It is not as if the people living in democracies have suddenly become communal. Neither do they hate socialist ideas. Subsidies in India, and Social Security and even Obamacare in the US, all socialist policies, have solid groundswell support. It is the arrogance of the establishment that proved to be its undoing. In India, the attitude with which the Congress handled the Anna-Kejriwal movement (the first important tremor in India before their 2014 apocalypse), or the gall of the Democratic Party in the US which fielded a candidate who was under trial in an ongoing FBI investigation, and had lied several times under oath among many other things, are examples of this arrogance. The electorate felt insulted and ‘threw in the cocktail’ at the polling booth, as Michael Moore would put it.

4.     Political correctness.

The establishment was politically correct to the point where many found it cringe worthy. A very recent example is Obama’s condolence message after the passing of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro: “His passing evokes powerful emotions both here in the US and in Cuba,” the statement read. One can easily see this deviousness as a ploy to dodge the two edged sword (which took the throat of Canadian PM Trudeau). If Castro’s death would have been lamented by the current President, then the massive Latino vote-bank in South Florida (which is currently celebrating on the streets the tyrant’s death), would have been offended. On the other hand, if Obama would have pandered to these Latinos, it would have cast a dark cloud on his ‘monumental’ visit to the diplomatically isolated island in 2014 and his so called legacy as a peacemaker.

Trump’s temperament needs no introduction and the fate of political correctness under his regime as the Leader of the Free World is anybody’s guess.

5.     Insulting the electorate’s intelligence

For the record, I do not think any electorate is ever intelligent. But nobody likes to be called stupid. And Obama, David Cameron, Hillary and the Gandhi family, with their overacting, did just that.

With their every generation attending Harvard, Oxford and St. Stephens, Eton and Doon School, they tried to compensate their disconnect with the real working class by heavily relying on their PR managers to do everything. Hillary with her sociopathic laughter right from the sight of balloons to the unveiling of the new Boeing aircraft, David Cameron in his ridiculous impersonation of a working class man riding the Underground, and Obama drinking beer mid campaign wearing a disgusting blue jacket. Who do these elites think the common people really are? The electorate knows exactly who the elites are, how much wealth they have and the aristocratic culture they belong to. 

Attention though. This is not a proletariat uprising. Trump never visited a train, bus or poor little factories for photo-ops. Forget declaring his taxes, he has repeatedly proclaimed how much wealth he has. Modi, too, spared no expense while jet-hopping across the nation in Gautam Adani’s private plane. The people know this. The electorate is just looking for better actors.

When the Marathas Belled a European Cat

Catholic church bell, marker of the fabulous Maratha victory over the Portuguese in 1739

Pune, with its enchanting weather, picturesque surroundings, and great cultural heritage, is home to several historic monuments in and around the city. It has seen several eras: from its inception during Shivaji Maharaj’s childhood, the Peshwa rule, the political base of famed anti-colonialists Tilak and Gokhale, and today as an IT hub. With every historic monument, there is always an interesting story intertwined. With the intention of reliving one such story, last month my friend Heramb and I went off on an escapade towards the east of Pune, to visit the Chintamani Ganesh temple at Theur. The Chintamani temple, having witnessed the many ups and downs of Pune ever since it became a city of prominence, has become part of the aura of the place, having been interwoven into it's history and culture.

From a religious standpoint, the Chintamani temple at Theur is said to house the Chintamani incarnation of the Hindu lord Ganesha, one among his eight manifestations, whose temples are scattered across Maharashtra, known as ‘Ashta-Vinayak’ or The Eight Ganeshas. 

Said to be built by the contemporary ascetic Morya Gosavi in the 16^th century, it wasn’t until the rise of the Chitpavan rulers of the Maratha Empire in the beginning of the 18^th century that this temple got its present importance. These rulers, appointed as ‘Peshwa’ ministers (Persian for Prime Minister), adopted the Chintamani Temple as a family deity, due to which the temple began to enjoy a special religious status. It is noteworthy that these rulers, who went on to control the dominion themselves, brought a third of present day India and parts of Pakistan under the realm of the Maratha Empire, until their expulsion in 1818 at the hands of the British. With the powerful Peshwa family having its seat of governance first at Saswad and then at Pune (both near Theur), this temple’s stature continued to rise.

We decided to visit Theur on a windy Saturday morning, with the quaint countryside punctuated by post-monsoon showers. The village, just like any pilgrimage town, is small and unclean, with hawkers peddling temple offerings such as flowers and coconuts right from the parking lot up to the entrance of the temple. We parked our car and zipped across this market to enter the Chintamani temple. When we entered the premises, the object which greeted us was one of the principal reasons why we chose to visit this place. Not a sword, not jewels, not sculptures, but a Catholic church bell!

This Catholic bell, now a part of the temple, is so indistinguishable from the remainder of the structure, that if it weren’t for the Greek markings on its hull, we would have easily ignored it too, as do all other normal pilgrims. This bell marks a watershed milestone in Maratha politics and tells a fascinating story about Indian and Maharashtrian history, which goes like this:

In 1737, a conflict ensued between the Marathas and the Portuguese Empire. Within the next two years, the Peshwa rulers, now with their second generation at the helm of Maratha affairs, had captured among others the strategic Thane Fort and Salsette Islands, isolating the Portuguese at Bassein (now Vasai, near present day Mumbai), their imperial capital. which enjoyed more power and prestige than their other colony at Panjim in Goa. In 1739, a member of the ruling Peshwa clan, Chimaji Appa, set out with an expeditionary force towards Bassein, unfolding a set of events which history would seldom permit happening again in the coming ages. Chimaji Appa emerged victorious, delivering such a decisive blow, that the Portuguese Empire in the Maharashtra region ceased to exist. Such was the rout that the Portuguese had to abandon their capital, and relocate to far off Goa and Diu (where they continued to rule until 1964). An Indian kingdom had humbled a superpower feared the world over. 

Bassein, which now lay ravaged, was earlier said to be a Portuguese colonial wonder, with several churches and an Iberian town layout. Chimaji Appa, himself fascinated with the spoils, carried some of the church bells back with him to Pune. As a memento celebrating the victory of natives over foreign aggressors, he then had them installed at Hindu temples having Peshwa patronage, one of them at the Chintamani temple at Theur.

We simply sat in the temple courtyard, trying to visualize events as they would have taken place at the very spot, some three centuries ago. As remarkable as this moment is in Maharashtrian history, equally appalling is the attitude of the temple authorities which have not deemed it fit to install even a single plaque commemorating the historical importance of the bell, the Maratha-Portuguese war, Chimaji Appa, or even the Peshwa family. Few decades after the victory over the Portuguese in 1739, the fourth generation Peshwa Madhav Rao I, under whose leadership the Maratha Empire revived its tenacity in North India after the disastrous Panipat campaign against the Afghan kingdom, made the Chintamani temple his home during his final days, and breathed his last here in 1772. There is no memorial in the temple dedicated to this great ruler either, and the only one there is stands in squalid conditions a five minutes’ walk away. 

It made me wonder: if Germany, which even maintains its World War era concentration camps with the same seriousness and dignity as it maintains its palaces and museums, in spite of them being reminders of one of the darkest periods in their history, can we as a future 'super power' not have the simple initiative of maintaining monuments that are markers of one of the most golden moments of our own?

Having done some more sightseeing in the vicinity, we drove back to Pune, having relived a golden chapter in this city’s history.

Nairobi Nagar

Share a Coke with Hezi, Raju, Hamisi, Kevo, Mato, Maiko, Hamed...

Often we find, that travelling is a process of unlearning and relearning several things about the places that we visit. During my time working as a sales representative, I got the chance to visit several corners of the country and the world which I had never seen before. I have been fortunate to have had the chance to see their cultures first hand. However, being the Indologist that I am, my interest often revolves around the Indian diaspora. With every visit to a different part of the world, the diaspora has awed me with its brilliance amidst diversity.

In July 2015, my work required me to travel to Nairobi, Kenya’s economic and political hub. Often, one identifies an international business visit (even a modest one like mine), with western food, monotonous hotels, an alien society and homesickness. Here’s my experience: a Masala Dosa or Upama for breakfast, occasionally a Missal for lunch, Punjabi dishes with warm Phulkas for dinner, weekend excursions where my colleagues took me to the local RSS Shakha, or the colossal ISKON temple, and several work days ending with a hard earned Kulfi ice cream or a Kalkatta Paan. My ears had never heard so much of ‘Kem chho’ or ‘Ki haal tussi’, until I set foot in East Africa.

‘Nairobbery’, as it is dubbed by the western media, is a bustling metropolis with a unique social fabric. The weather is immensely pleasant, as are the people. Soon after I left the airport, the sheer number of Indians there grabbed my attention. With two weeks in the country, hosted by a highly knowledgeable colleague and a wonderful friend, Bhavik Shah, who is also a sixth-generation Kenyan Indian, my visit was nothing less than a roller coaster ride.

The street is full of colorful advertisements like these.

There are several amazing things that I have seen in this country: their natural wealth, the unique tribal composition, their indigenous English dialect being a few. What captivated my attention as always, was the role that the Indian diaspora plays in the country.

Here’s a summary:  

Shah, Singh and Reddy  

Now Indians, the race that we are, have a proclivity to divide ourselves up on societal lines wherever we go, be it caste, religion, region, language, or any reason imaginable. No matter how homogenous our social group may be, we will still find ways and means to classify ourselves. This postulate also applies in the case of Kenya’s Indians, a seemingly uniform group, majority of which are comprised by Gujaratis of the Vaishya caste, along with large communities of Punjabis and Telugu speakers.

The Gujaratis have their own established hierarchy, with the powerful Nizari Shias (the Aga Khan Muslims) at the top of the economic ladder having stakes in every other major economic vertical, and the Aga Khan is known to have raised humongous donations from followers in this country. They are followed by the Oswal Jains who are a close second. The close-knit community, who have always been influential in Subcontinental history, be it financing the British in the Battle of Plassey, to deciding the rules of the game of the modern Indian stock market (Motilal Oswal), have their own Panchayat and a luxurious clubhouse in the heart of Nairobi, where they meet on weekends and festivals. After the Nizari and Oswal, are the Patels, along with other kinds of Gujarati people such as the Vaishnav and the Dawoodi Bohra ruling the roost. The Punjabis also enjoy a lion’s share in the power game here.

And a Chhaganlal Morarji.

A common sight on the street: shops having Indian names. Here's a Bachulal Popatlal.

The Gujaratis and the Punjabis being entrepreneurial in nature, have their muscle rivaled only by the rich and landowning Kikuyu tribe of the country. Such is their might, that when I visited remote Kisumu, a sleepy town of a few hundred thousand people on the banks of Lake Victoria, almost 400 kilometers away from Nairobi, I could only see shops and businesses with names such as Gulabchand, Popatlal, Harilal, along with an equal number of Singh & Co., Singh Brothers, Nanak Enterprises. During the day, the Gujarati and Punjabi communities call the shots in every notable sector of the economy of the country, while in the evening they unwind at the tranquil Nairobi Gymkhana in the plush City Park area of the city. The Nairobi Gymkhana is also, unsurprisingly, the abode of cricket in the country, being the home stadium of Kenya’s national cricket team and hosting several international matches.

After the Gujaratis and Punjabis, the large community of Telugu people also deserves a mention. Making up most of the white-collar workforce in the Gujarati and Punjabi businesses, they act as the managers and skilled labor in these firms, forming their backbone, and enjoy the trust and respect of their bosses. The Marathis, enjoying fame for several decades as able teachers and doctors in the country, are now fast disappearing, with the lone Maharashtra Mandal in the city often wearing a deserted look. The legendary Marathi actor, Dr. Shriram Lagoo, is known to have practiced as a physician for several years in Kenya.

There is a full fledged RSS Shakha, Hindu Sewa Committee, Gurudwara Committee, Indian Muslims organizations belonging the Nizari, the Bohra, etc.

RSS oldies getting older.

Lion Spotting!

Samosa and Paan

On several occasions, my colleague Bhavik had this to add, “Om, Kenya is a microcosm of India, only worse.” For the first few days, I admit that I thought this claim was exaggerated. But soon enough, I realized that this was uncannily true. Diverse tribal groups, a corrupt bureaucracy, opportunistic politicians, and yet a booming economy. Amazingly, the Kenyans have also learnt our ways and means. Samosas have become a staple snack, with the native population taking to it in style. There is a 24 hour Indian radio channel running the latest Indian songs, replete with Indian origin RJs. Two shopping malls selling exclusively Indian goods are always packed.

In spite of what we may think on the mainland, the Indian diaspora here, while having maintained their native Indian traditions, have completely assimilated in the Kenyan society, adding to its prosperity and diversity. In neighboring Uganda, which along with Kenya and Tanzania comprises the Swahili speaking East Africa, it is said, the Indians played an even bigger role. Explains Bhavik, “If that nutcase Idi Amin hadn’t thrown out our people back then, East Africa as a whole would have been one of the fastest developing regions of the world,”  referring to the forceful expulsion of Indians in 1972 by the unruly dictator.

Once while talking to a customer, Bhavik spells his name in the Swahili alphabet, to which the customer, startled, replies, “Ay Baba, your Swahili is better than mine, we rarely pronounce the alphabet right.” Smiling, Bhavik later says to me, “This is home. We belong here.”

Street food #2:
Ugali is the Kenyan staple: a sticky flour pudding.
The whole world gobbles it down in minutes.

Street food #1:
Fried food is a rage. But beware! 
Kenyans can also end up frying their food in motor oil.