The Soldier who Annexed 3 States for 3 Daughters

Harish:

I am glad you chose a hawaldaar instead of a higher-ranking soldier. I would have liked you to have gone more into his mind, but then Maggie was on yours! Or, perhaps, very likely, you are trying to use her - independent yet not forthcoming enough, rooted in her ethos yet wanting another identity -- as a passage towards a continuum of sorts...the postings being in effect intellectual/emotional milestones.

The 3 daughters, 3 states `annexation` imagery is potent in its guilelessness. A simple soldier doing big things. You have also taken the Ramiah family away from the cantonment carousel. (Did he need to have that handlebar moustache?!)

A few superficial observations...
1. Did you ask Raaji how much she weighed? (60 kgs) Not done...besides, did her falling on you ``displease`` her family?
2. Why did you use Rodin`s Thinker as a simile for a rock? Why would anyone ride on a scupture?
3. Why is plastic ``pretentious``? I thought it is openly, brazenly, unapologetically just that - plastic...

This piece really was (besides the things I mentioned) a great diversion for me:)

Harish:

I am glad you chose a hawaldaar instead of a higher-ranking soldier. I would have liked you to have gone more into his mind, but then Maggie was on yours! Or, perhaps, very likely, you are trying to use her - independent yet not forthcoming enough, rooted in her ethos yet wanting another identity -- as a passage towards a continuum of sorts...the postings being in effect intellectual/emotional milestones.

The 3 daughters, 3 states `annexation` imagery is potent in its guilelessness. A simple soldier doing big things. You have also taken the Ramiah family away from the cantonment carousel. (Did he need to have that handlebar moustache?!)

A few superficial observations...
1. Did you ask Raaji how much she weighed? (60 kgs) Not done...besides, did her falling on you ``displease`` her family?
2. Why did you use Rodin`s Thinker as a simile for a rock? Why would anyone ride on a scupture?
3. Why is plastic ``pretentious``? I thought it is openly, brazenly, unapologetically just that - plastic...

This piece really was (besides the things I mentioned) a great diversion for me:)

Well written, Harish! I like the Chutzpah of Rohan. (So which one is it? Birds of a feather hanging together, or opposites attracting?)

Minor notes:
[He was not a man to hide his pride over the masculine tendencies of the bike he considered his son.]
Should we feel sorry for the motherless son?

[But they all have a good education. And often, the right accent. That helps them get glamorous jobs. And these jobs they project as both the evidence of their individual merit as assessed by an outside non-services world, as well as substantiation of their total and complete disdain for the overly glorified and severely underpaid hierarchy of the much hyped business of defending the national borders.]
I would be scared to be one of your friends, the way you take them apart!

[Nationalism hardly sells among the English speaking youth of India.]
I personally think that nationalism has never been a marketable commodity except among the group that does all its fighting from the armchair.

Harish:

This has been an excellent series of articles and I look forward to the next ones!

Ciao

Tell me Harish, the last time I visited Banglore (back in May 1985), I found it to be lush green, clean and rather lovely compared to Mumbai (then called Bombay) and Karachi. Today`s Lahore reminds me of the Banglore I saw as a hippie student drifter now almost twenty years ago. Someone was telling me Banglore is now as bad as Karachi and Bombay. Well? I ask this because I`ve always wanted to go back for a spin.

rgds,
NfP

harish:

good storytelling:)

some repetition needs to be eliminated...formatting!...oh well... rest others have covered already...will just add this...you must have been made to ride stone lions as a child...

:)....riding rodin!

nadeem:

re: banglore then and now...like any other town it has changed too...more people...more...

rgds

t

Harish - there are a few times I am glad I look up FP. And these days it si the case that i am looking forward to your series. A few misgivings (who doesnt) but over all excellent. Story telling is cool. I am sure you have, but to me I seem to get the smell of India - whether its the corect one or the right one I cannot say.

So a neat collection of stories ..... how many more in the set...and have youfound a pulisher for them (as in a collection of short stories)

harish - this is more like it! :) that first line intrigued me and i think i spent most of my time on it, which is always a good thing.

as for the army brats thing - i disagree on the perception that they dont want to join back. what i found was that almost all of them would have liked to carry their hero-worship into their adult life and wanted to join the services but most of their parents wanted them to join civil life. but that`s my experience.

look forward to more.

thanks

(directed to chowkstaff;)

Harish:

Given my interests, I found this piece to be the most interesting. It provides a good study of the social change of a family from a lower to a lower-middle class. The characters are all so real. When I read about Maggie on her bike, I was reminded of my own visit to Bangalore two years ago. I believe that Banglaore has more women riding on their scooters and motorbikes than any other city in India, if not the world.
BTW is it really fashionable to be a christian in Bangalore?

Farzana,

It is a rare pleasure to have a perceptive reader. I am amazed at how well you read. Though I have to confess, that Maggie`s father, much like her, were the ones I met not the one`s I conjured. So while I must reluctantly decline the choice of his rank, I must similarly not apologise for the man`s handlebar moustache!

Beejay,

Thanks for staying with me. And do not worry, if there is any fiction in these pieces they are all my observations. Even the spin I give to things and people. So in a manner of speaking, it probably reveals me as a boor and a man of poor taste than does my friends. ..:)

Feroz,

Thanks. Like I had stated in the introduction, a trifle loftily perhaps, what I sought to do was expose the readers to contemporary India by taking them into the lanes and bylanes of this fascinating country. Views and viewpoints are there to debate forever. I am glad that this series seems to have had some kind of success with some kind of people.

Nadeem,

bangalore still is India`s greenest city. But for a `85 tourist, what will be disorienting is the sheer amount of glass prisms that are floatglass building facades that dot the city now. These are the citadels of both IT glory and consumerist orgy. There is a rather ebullient green brigade in Bangalore ensuring the trees remain uncut, but the screams for infrastructure upgradation will take its toll.

t,

Thank you. Yes I am trying to do what I can to eliminate the formatting errors, but am about as skilful with IT as a carpenter with a spaceship! :)

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,

Err .. you make underscoring a point a rather challenging task! Like I did mention earlier, I have no fear or anxiety in making it clear that it is finally an impressionist, individual take. That said, yes, a peek into contemporary India is what i had hoped this series would be. I am glad you likied it. I do hope some publishers do too!

amrita,

I understand. I am belabouring a point by now...but it is my take. Very limited. That said, I am not sure if the desire to emulate services career of fathers is as strong today as even say....20-30 years back. There was once an excellent piece in the Indian Express about how a bunch of oddballs went into commando training, army, navy air force careers and then left after their short commission to be where they could make money. They delibeartely chose th career for the short term...as a thrill. I do not recollect patriotism had much to do with it...though they would not be found wanting, were the situation tyo demand that.

t,

????...:)


dost,

I doubt if being christina is fashionable in Bangalore. It is just that a christian name seems more contemporary and international than a rather archaic Hindu name. It is not really a loaded statement.

``It is just that a christian name seems more contemporary and international
than a rather archaic Hindu name. It is not really a loaded statement.``

Dude, you need to go get a `load` of self-esteem. Unfortunately you cant find
it in medical store.

And what`s with that ``...They were all exposed to a more secular, more varied life.``
huh ?
Do you even know the meaning of the word secular :)

You must be one of those RNI (Resident Non-Indian) types, with no particular
or indepth knowledge of anything, having low self-esteem and all pretense.

HN-bhai,

you think `maggie` is more contemporaray and international :)
Even the people who live in west-virginia would not want that name - it is so 1800`s
I wouldnt be surprised if you called yourself Harry

But there is a new word - called Namby Pamby - which i believe is popular.
You may look it up in the dictionary (www.m-w.com)

My friend, Go get some spine.

HN,

That was a lovely account of Bangalore. I did my engineering in a town which was close to Bangalore, and have spent many drunken disorderly days there. It is the most cosmopolitan city India has. You could get by knowing, kannada, english, hindi and tamil.

#12

You are reading too much into it.

Re: # 4

Link to pics of bangalore now........hope it works.....enjoy!!!

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=128430

I wish the Indian customs officials had allowed me to take that large lamenated map of India (they didn`t for security reasons. I told them I had no intention of plotting anything significant. they weren`t entirely convinced). Anyhow, I could have accurately traced these motorbike journeys of yours and maybe future ones for myself...

These glimpses of individuals in your stories give valuable insight...of the realities, and more importantly of the possibilities of India.