Land of Lime

A 117 year old Hindu temple in Malaysia has gotten ISO certification for its quality in religious, cultural, and social services to Hindus. The Kland Sri Sundararaja Perumal Temple, widely known as the Tirupati of South East Asia, is believed to be the first Hindu temple to achieve such quality certification.

The temple President Anandakrishnan says their goal was to standardize operating procedures with regard to booking of the wedding hall or do’s and don’ts for priests.

I guess this had to have happened only outside of India, and in a country where Hindus have forgotten their caste, ethnic and linguistic affiliations.

Ambedkar would have been proud.

This from a report in The Guardian on the Private jet set:

The 767 appears to be the monster private jet of choice for billionaires - the founders of Google have also bought one. Meanwhile, they give their employees a $5,000 bonus if they buy a low-emission hybrid car.

Nice going kids! Now you have joined the ranks of Roman Abramovich (Guardian profile), who made his billions by fleecing poor Russians.

Sadly, I missed Da Game. But when Miami called, Bears answered.

Let us have one helluva Superbowl party.

Time to write a proper Land of Lime Makara Sankranti post. If I feel inspired by this afternoon’s trip to Kyatanahalli, in lush green Mandya district, then I will write an entry on how farmers in southern Karnataka celebrate the harvest festival.

In the meanwhile, greetings to all. Sankranti Subhashayagalu.

Good day. A man, who was in construction, last year ‘kicks‘ our Chicago Bears to NFC championship game. One game away from Superbowl. Good job, Robbie Gould.

Is David Beckham the smartest athlete the world has seen since um Michael Jordan?

It was inevitable that Becks n Posh would end up in Hollywood eventually but Becks chose the right time too. He is still capable of being a top performer at the MLS level and well, two hundred and fifty million dollars also help, not to speak of the vast commercial opportunities to expand David Beckham Inc.

It’s also alluring to do what Pele couldn’t: to make soccer popular in US. I guess that would be a more fitting legacy for David Beckham. Read Simon Talbot and Richard Williams in the Guardian. As Williams says, this is one smart dude:

For this most Hollywood of footballers, Los Angeles is the logical place to end up. The weather is lovely, the light is gorgeous, the fans will adore him, the beach is a free-kick away, the shopping is terrific, he and Victoria already speak the language, and the kids can keep up their Spanish with the pool guy. Together they can sit of an evening, watching the sun sink into the Pacific and imagining the end titles rolling on the final reel of a spectacular career.

On being declared (non) Indian
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For some years now, Archaelogical Survey of India has been charging higher entry fees to foreigners, to enter monuments under ASI control. Since most of the tourist attractions are managed by the ASI, foreign tourists sometimes pay as much as thirty to forty times more than Indian nationals.

Until this past weekend, we always wondered how the ASI gatekeepers would determine the nationality of visitors and assumed that color would be an obvious marker. But at the Taj, I was suspected to be a non-Indian / outsider and challenged to produce an Indian identity. I wasn’t carrying my passport (who would on a day trip to Agra) and my driver’s license was being renewed in Mysore. So bereft of all Indian identity, I was declared equal to thirty seven and half Indians and made to buy a Rs 750 ticket to enter the Taj.

But the explanation the ticket checker at the gate offered was interesting. He apparently challenges those whom he suspects of being outsiders. He wouldn’t elaborate on how he would make that judgment but simply asserted he knows. A few yards away, at the security gate, the policeman too took one look at my wallet and asked me to show my NRI ticket. My two companions were highly amused and couldn’t stop teasing me about my non-Indian status.

Taj is a postcard.

From every angle.

Delhi in Winter
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I love Delhi in winter months. One could be outside and walk everywhere, sip endless cups of chai and eat enormous quantities of food. Me and my friends know where to eat and what to do, which makes visiting a city truly fun. A light jacket or a sweater are adequate for survival, although some South Indians Delhi-ites might disagree.

I spent much of my time on the road, visiting neighborhoods and markets, bus and train stations. My new project is to build a photo archive of unusual sights in Delhi, which I want to use in a ‘Biography of a City’ course that I teach on Delhi. Unlike in Agra, this time, my companion wasn’t amused at being taken to the Interstate Bus Terminus (ISBT) and the Sabzi Mandi at Azadpur. Well, they aren’t on anybody’s tourist map. Our cab driver desperately tried to put us back into the tourist circuit and take us to Lal Qila. But the call of Sabzi Mandi was too powerful in the end.

Oxford and Oxford
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Oxford Bookstore is a superbly designed bookstore on Barakamba road in Delhi. Different sections and subjects are located in neatly divided superbly lit circular spaces. Bookshelves are cool and it’s fun to just sit around. Oxford University Press showrooms aren’t. At least the one in Bangalore isn’t. People struggle to find books and staff have no clue about catalogues. Some book sellers seems to be intent on killing the fun in buying books.

Agamben in Delhi
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Yesterday, Italian philosopher Giorgia Agamben delivered the B.N.Ganguly Memorial Lecture at the Center for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS). I missed the talk since I had to return to Bangalore yesterday morning. Hoping to catch a report on it in the blogosphere but none seem to have surfaced so far.