A Place Beyond Belief... Part I

The rain trapped us at Damme's Cafe de Katte for over 45 minutes screwing our plans to visit the museums and cathedrals in Bruges.

When the rain did subside a bit, we took a chance to head back and cycled along the canal. We would have cycled just a few hundred metres when there was a sudden an heavy downpour. We had to take refuge under a tree, which also started dripping in sometime drenching us to the bone! As they say in Hindi, सिर मुंडाते ही ओले पडे,  that really happened with us...

We had no choice but to cycle back to Bruges in the rain and looked like zombies when we reached our hotel.

It took us a while to dry ourselves and change into warmer attire before we could head out again, losing precious time in the process. When we were done, it was quite late and drizzling a bit. Undaunted by the elements we decided to go for a bike ride around Bruges.

A candy store...

The cobbled streets...

At the Burg...

Right in the middle of the frame is the Stadhuis or the City Hall. Built in 1376, the Stadhuis is one of the oldest in the Low Countries. It is from here that the city has been governed for more than 600 years...

The Brugse Vrije or the Liberty of Bruges...

This mansion was constructed between 1722 and 1727, It was from here that Bruges’ rural surroundings were governed... 

The building functioned as a court of justice between 1795 and 1984. Today the city archives are stored here...

An extension of the Brugse Vrije...

As this display says, Bruges is indeed this is a place beyond belief...

The illuminated display was the brainchild of Scottish artist Nathan Coley and seeks to convey the wealth of heritage that Bruges has...

The first in the series of these displays was installed in New York in the aftermath of September 11, 2001 attacks, conveying that the spirit of the city was alive and thriving...

The small building with the small gilded statues towards the centre-right of the frame is the Heilig-Bloedbasiliek or the Basilica of the Holy Blood. This church, built between 1134 and 1157, is believed to house a venerated relic of the Holy Blood allegedly brought here by the Count of Flanders, during the Crusades...

After crossing the Burg, we came across a small quayside on the canal from where canal tours are conducted. On the spur of the moment we decided to go for it. We parked our bikes at a secure location, bought the tickets and boarded the boat...

The starting point for the tour boat...

The boat operator turned out to be a Bollywood enthusiast. He looked at us intently and then asked if we were from India. We nodded in the affirmative mentioning we were from Mumbai. "Ah, Bollywood. Indian music very good. Nice dances too!"

Of all places, Bollywood has made a mark in Bruges as well. The Bollywood hit, PK was shot here and that is probably why locals seemed to be aware of Bollywood. But this is more than just awareness, it is enthusiasm and probably much more. And that again brings me to my favourite topic of how India can literally "capture" the world through the brahmastras of soft-power - Bollywood, yoga and Indian cuisine...

Imagine the history of the place, it seems each building has a story to tell...

Waiting for the boat to start...

The drizzle is back...

The canal has been an integral part of life in Bruges...

The Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk or the Church of Our Lady, built in the 13th century, with its 122 metre tall brick tower makes it an unmissable feature in the skyline of Bruges. The church houses the world famous marble sculpture by Michelangelo, the Madonna of Bruges. The rain played spoilsport and we could not visit this place...

Passing under the bridge...

There is something magical about Bruges...

Passing by the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk...

All geared up...

Little ducky...

And the swan...

And our camera gets wet...

Everyone on the boat was feeling very cold as continue on the boat ride...

Did this Advertisement Foretell 9/11?

A few days back, my sister, Neelima, sent me an email forward which had a copy of an old advertisement, of Pakistan's flag carrier, PIA, from the 1970s.
The commercial advertised the shortest flight time to New York as 16 hours 30 minutes, via Orly, Paris. The advertisement showed the World Trade Center Twin Towers and the shadow of a distinguishable Boeing 747. Evidently, the Jumbo Jet was flying in to World Trade Center.
The email forward described the PIA advertisement as "visionary advertisement".
The email froward also quoted a media visionary, Marshall McLuhan, who apparently described advertising as the greatest art form of the 20th century. Though this is the first time I heard of Marshall McLuhan, I agree with him. Some advertising campaigns do fit that bill - the Amul Butter campaigns, since the mid-1970s, featuring the lovable Amul girl is a notable one.

Another notable campaign was Bobby Kooka's Air India Maharajah - a lovable, pot-bellied character with a handlebar moustache and a round turbaned head. The Maharajah defined Air India for decades with tongue in cheek campaigns showcasing their various destinations.
The email further went on to say that art at its most significant is a Distant Early Warning System that can always be relied on to tell the old culture what is beginning to happen to it. That is a bit debatable.

Let's take the example of Bollywood. In the 1980s and till the mid-1990s, Bollywood was all blood and gore. But our society did not degenerate to those lows.
But for sure, the PIA advertisement did in a very significant way, foretell the future.

9/11 - Eight Years On - Lessons for America

Today, is a significant day. It's the 8th anniversary of horrific bombings and catastrophic airstrikes into the Twin Towers.

Sad but true, the world has indeed changed in these 8 years.

America's reaction, or as some may say over-reaction, post 9/11 has resulted in America's popularity plummeting the world over, except for a handful of countries.

Was Bush wrong? I really don't think he had a choice. He had to act, act really fast. The war in Afghanistan was largely justified, though I did have reservations on Iraq. Afghanistan was a global nuisance, but Iraq was a fairly safe and secular state under Saddam (though he wasn't quite a saint either).

America's plunging popularity has been evident in Pew Research Center's Pew Global Attitudes Project. America's "Favourability Rating" as Pew calls it has gone down considerably from 2000 to 2009. It is obvious that the decline would be substantial in the Islamic world, the Pew report confirms that. But what is surprising is the decline in the likes of Canada and Britain.

Something surely went wrong.

But on the other hand, America's popularity in India gives us some clues, some learning's. America has seen a steady but increasing popularity here.

The lesson is obvious. It is an issue of brute force vs. soft power.

The Islamic world thinks that it has been at the "receiving end" for long now. American allies like Canada and Britain which had supported the American brute force saw their economy falter. Their people saw their governments fighting America's war, under coercion etc. etc. which led to the decline in popularity.

On the other hand, in India, America exercised a kind of soft power. The American dream is something that India understands very well because we ourselves share similar dreams and aspirations. Outsourcing from America, H1B, etc. gave the Indian dream its wings. Hollywood has made significant inroads in India, not only through cable and satellite, but also through piracy - it is not uncommon to find peddlers selling Hollywood releases all over the country for a mere Rs. 50 - 100. Piracy in software also contributed to the growth and enhancement of IT skills in India - tell which small town computer institute here doesn't use pirated software? This in turn, opened a whole new world of economic possibilities. It may sound trivial, but American brands like Coke, Pepsi, McDonald's, etc. were the best ambassadors of America's soft power here.

America's soft power worked in India. Pew's numbers show that.

And that is a lesson for America. Influencing the world through soft power doesn't make enemies , brute force does, creating a spiral of war and destruction, as we have seen. Soft power, on the other hand, can prevent a 9/11-like situation.

Obama is perhaps trying to reorient the brute force into soft power. But I fear, he might swing to the other end of the spectrum and become completely soft and pliable. Closure of Guantanamo is one such example, which was covered in my earlier blog, Old Wine, New Bottle...

So time will tell whether America learns its lessons or not.....

Old Wine, New Bottle...

I have never been a fan of Obama.
My status messages on Facebook during the US elections, a couple of months where I had expressed my concerns on Obama and his policies attracted a lot of attention, and of course angry criticism from friends.
I had often argued, with these people that Obama is too much of an idealist. He seems to to be far detached from reality. He is undoubtedly a great orator, but there's more it than making good speeches.
He started off by projecting that America under him will be different for the rest of the world. but he's falling into a trap that the United States has been falling into for the last 2-3 odd decades. Pakistan continues to blackmail and coax the United States in funding their nefarious and sinister activities.
Obama started off on a "moral" high-ground by wowing to shut down Guantamano Bay, or Gitmo as it is often called, where suspected 9/11 detainees and other hard-core Islamic terrorists had been held. If hard-core terrorists are to be released, isn't the United States shooting itself in the foot? It was also reported that a released Gitmo detainee found his way back to Pakistan, preaching militant Jihad.
Obama also proposed to shift these detainees to high security prisons within the United States which led to a virulent reaction within the country. Quite a few states refused to accept these detainees. There was nasty debate within the political system, between Dick Cheney on the Republican side and the democrats on the other.
And now, in an article titled "Palau to Take Chinese Guantánamo Detainees", The New York Times reports that a Pacific island archipelago nation, Palau has agreed to accept the Gitmo detainees. Who is going to guarantee the security of these prisons? Does Palau have the wherewithal to do that? What prevents al-Qaeda from getting these detainees freed? If that happens, who'll suffer?
The obvious answer is the United States.
Obama has long advocated transparency in methods adopted to deal with terror suspects. He declassified CIA documents but then turned around and refused release photographic evidence of abuse. So much for transparency, Obama has also been called President Flip-Flop by, again, The New York Times. Other examples of his flip-flop on gay rights, abortion, etc. have also been well documented.




Obama reached out to Iran, in a speech on Navroze. Obama reached out to the Muslim world in Cairo a few days ago. But he has to understand that symbolism of beginning speeches with Asalaam Waleikum and talking of his Muslim heritage is not good enough. He has to understand that well-researched speeches are not good enough. He has to understand Hot-Dog Diplomacy is not enough.
Obama needs to go high on substance. He needs to go high on action. He needs to separate the wheat from the chaff in Muslim world. he needs to know whom to back in the military world. Is he doing a great job by backing despots in Pakistan, Iraq, etc.?




North Korea tested a nuclear warhead a few days back. That was met by muted, whimper of reaction from the United States. Why? Wasn't Obama supposed to take a stand from a morally high ground? The answer is simple. A reaction against North Korea would have invited a swift and brutal reaction from the Chinese. Wasn't Obama scared of that?
Obama's weaknesses and abilities have been very well understood by the Americans in general. No wonder, the Wall Street Journal has been talking of Obama's plummeting popularity ratings, which is regarded as measure of the Administration's success.
As far as India is concerned, Obama is yet to find the true co-ordinates. By the time, he figures out what India is, a good 2-3 years of Administration would have gone by. By then, Obama would have lost considerable leverage in India.
Obama promised America, and the world, a whiff of fresh air, but sadly, what we've got is stale Old Wine in a New Bottle...

Haven't we learnt any lessons?

Every time terror strikes, we claim that we have learnt what we need to do and we pretend to do it for some time - albeit a very short period of time. And then, guess what, we conveniently forget.....

We proudly say life goes on and has to go on.... and that we as a nation have to ability to bounce back.... And then it happens all over again.

Couple of incidents that I have seen have make me feel particularly vulnerable.... make me shit bricks....

Not very long ago, we had the 11/7 blasts on the Bombay local trains in 2006. In a panic reaction, metal detectors had been installed at Churchgate station. Cops were deployed and CCTVs installed to monitor the crowd movement. But I don't think, or dare I say, I am convinced that these detectors never work - they barely squeal when pass through them with a metal object - it could be a goddamn bomb. Cops, on the other hand, instead of keeping a hawk's eye on suspicious movement, either prefer ogling pretty girls or just don't care. I have myself walked through Churchgate carrying big bulky carrybags several times, without being questioned a single time.

You may blame that on indifferent attitude of Government staff.....

Now sample this.....

Yesterday, I flew on India's "finest international airline" (am trying to be politically correct here) from Bombay to Ahmedabad. Anticipating a stringent security check at the airport, I reach well in advance - a good 90 minutes before the scheduled departure. Sample this - the CISF at the entrance to the terminal barely at e-ticket printout and my id proof and waves me in. You need to be a tech-geek to forge an e-ticket, do you? It's a five minute job on MS Outlook, right?

Then, why don't we have a bag screening process prior to entering the terminal - the CISF cop at the terminal entrance, just checks the e-ticket and the id proof, without having any clue of what lies in your bag - it could theoretically have kilos of explosives and weaponry, which could wreck havoc in the terminal. Possible? Yes, very much.....

The newspapers yesterday spoke of ladder point checks and zero tolerance towards laxity in security checks. But, my friend, there was no ladder point check at all....

The story doesn't end there. I was assigned row 22 - common sense is that one should board from the rear ladder. But yesterday, the "finest international airline" had boarding pass checks only at the forward ladder point and not at the rear, which was being used by the janitors. Respecting the logic of safety and given that checks were taking place at the forward ladder point, all passengers moved towards there. However, when my turn came, the lady tore the stub of my boarding pass and smilingly asked me to use the rear ladder as it would be kind closer to my assigned row.

I did just that - but..... there was no one to check my boarding when climbed up the rear ladder, neither cabin crew at the rear find anything unusual. It is well known that Bombay airport has porous peripheries. Theoretically, anyone could have sneaked with a cache of arms and handed it over right? Now dare think of what could happen next.....

Landing at Bombay is a nightmare - given the proliferation of slums around, imagine how easy for a rogue to target a landing aircraft with a shoulder-based mini-Anti Aircraft missile - need I say, these are wholesaled in our neighbourhood - the famed arms markets of Peshawar! But the slums, they've got to stay, for Madam says so.... Great, right, what a free for all!!!!

7/11 was just last week, but have we forgotten it so soon? I must say this amnesia so damn shameful....

Let's look at the post 9/11 US on the other hand. No exceptions are made, no compromises are made. I still recall when George Fernandes, our then minister, who enjoyed diplomatic immunity, was stripped to the bone..... Moral of the story - giving up a few liberties is a small price to pay for national security.

There are two problems with us - one we start security initiatives with great fanfare, but lose it somewhere, two, we Indians don't like being checked. Voila, this results in a deadly cocktail.....

Bottomline, neither do we learn nor do we want to learn.....