Monday 23 June 2014

Mango Republic



In this land of scorching and punishing summers (enhanced by global warming) people look upon me for solace. Not that I offer any cooling effect, but for my taste. Though we are grown in Thailand, Indonesia and Brazil my cousins there do not command the kind of yum factor which we desis enjoy. Sweet, tangy, succulent are some of the adjectives bandied about to describe the taste and we always occupy prime position on shop shelves.

The obsession with mango truly lives up to the credo of unity in diversity as it cuts across all class and regional barriers in the country. While my most famous version the Alphonso charms Maharashtra and Goa, it is the sweet Himshagor that has Kolkata residents salivating. For UP and the denizens of cow belt the fragrant Langda holds them in thrall, while the whole of South India goes ga ga over luscious Mallika and Neelam.

Even my unripe versions are in great demand for pickles and also eaten raw with salt, chilli powder and other masalas. In fact among most Indian women I am the prime object of desire during pregnancy cravings. For teenager boys growing up in small towns there is no greater thrill than surreptitiously plucking mangoes from a tree in neighbour's property.

However, now I am caught in an messy controversy which has more to do with craving for quick bucks than taste. The European Union banned the import of all mangoes from India, because last year pests were discovered in some consignments. It is a loss of face for the country, but as a positive fallout prices have fallen in India and some of the pricey varieties are within striking distance of aam janta's reach.

But sadly on the domestic front also I am under a cloud over the use of harmful chemicals like calcium carbide for early ripening. It makes me acquire a misleading ripe look with uniformly yellow skin, though discerning buyers can find that the aroma is missing. After cutting one may realise that I am lacking in juice compared with naturally ripened ones as the latter would have sucked more water from the tree. The ill effects include mouth ulcers, gastric problems, diarrhoea and skin rashes. In one incident it even caused death to hundreds of fish in a lake after rotten mangoes, that were artificially ripened, were dumped into it.

However the root cause of all this boils down to a malaise that plagues our agricultural sector across the board - lack of good post harvest management, including a proper storage system. Hence farmers and traders resort to early harvesting to avoid a glut, which leads to a decline in prices. It is the same story for all agricultural produces and the consumers bear the brunt.

Also Read: Bangalore Beat

Monday 16 June 2014

Chinks In Spanish Armada



I am not one of those football fans who give their Circadian rhythm a miss to see their favorite stars in action at the other end of the globe. However I decided to make an exception for Holland's clash with Spain. Somehow Spain's victory last World Cup had not got down well with me - after all how can a team that had scored only eight goals (five of them by David Villa) in the whole tournament be considered a champion! And I could never forgive them for beating Germany in semi-finals.

The game began with the Spaniards dominating with their tiki taka brand of football, while the Dutch appeared to be  still carrying the ghost of last World Cup defeat in final on the back of their minds. The latter were playing a very aggressive physical soccer (remember Nigel de Jong landing his boot on the chest of Xabi Alonso in 2010 World Cup) with frequent fouls and acrimonious run ins with the referee, and one of those instances cost them dear as the Spaniards were rewarded a penalty. Veteran Xabi Alonso made no mistake, despite Dutch goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen's valiant attempt.

With Spain up 1-0 a sense of deja vu dawned upon me, I thought now they will while away rest of the time by keeping  possession of the ball and use all out efforts prevent opponents from scoring. That has been their game plan and they have been pretty successful in it. But they couldn't hold the Dutch for long. Just before half time captain Robin van Persie went airborne to score a header that is already being touted as the best goal of the world cup.

With their advantage frittered away the Spaniards looked beaten and hardly looked threatening for the rest of game. The team’s dearth of finishers was sorely exposed. On the other hand the spectacular equaliser acted like a tonic for the Dutch. They regained their poise and began playing their natural game and the number of fouls came down drastically.

Dutch winger Arjen Robben who had a score to settle for not being able to get past Iker Casillas' adept hands in the previous World Cup made merry by scoring a brace. His first goal during which he had Casillas on all fours and in near tears, is considered the fastest sprint recorded in World Cup.  

For the Spaniards this was a sledgehammer awakening. Last year too they had a jittery start with 0-1 loss to Switzerland. But the Swiss win seemed more like a fluke, whereas the Dutch hammering was very clinical and emphatic. The fading prowess of ageing stars like Xavi Hernandez and Iniesta stood exposed and they need to do some drastic regrouping to stay anywhere in the reckoning.

Also Read: Bangalore Beat

Tuesday 3 June 2014

Badaun: Nirbhaya Redux



It is turning out to be Nirbhaya redux with Bharatiya characteristics. When Nirbhaya happened in Delhi there were some who said rape was a city phenomenon, it had to do with displacement of population, loose morals, short skirts and even Chinese food and rural India was an idyll insulated from such crimes. For them the verdant fields, cow dung plastered houses were repositories of all that was good with Bharatiya sanskriti (culture) and it blinded them from all the atrocities happening there. But the recent grisly footages of two Dalit women hung to a mango tree in a village in Uttar Pradesh's Badaun district comes as a chilling reminder.

Most parts of rural India are no strangers to these kinds of ghastly crimes against women, done more out of sense of entitlement or to show someone their place than to satisfy lust. But the exploiter-exploited caste matrix seems to have changed. Earlier the oppressors used to be Thakurs and other upper castes, but now it is increasingly Yadavs, who figure among OBCs, thanks to the upward mobility and political clout acquired over the years. With it has come a sense of entitlement to oppress those in the lower rungs of caste hierarchy.

The flippant patriarchal mindset among our politicians which was on display during Nirbhaya tragedy is very much intact. In post-Nirbhaya days when laws on eve teasing were being tightened, Sharad Yadav wondered how will youths indulge in 'mohabattein'. Recently Mulayam Singh Yadav said boys make 'mistakes' and should not be hanged for crime like rape.

For Akhilesh Yadav under whom the state's crime graph has docked into an orbit unheard of even by UP standards, this is time for cheap retorts, with no room for remorse or sensitivity. His snide remark to a scribe asking whether she faced any danger was reminiscent of 'painted and dented' remarks by Pranab Mukherjee's son and Sanjay Nirupam's 'thumka' remark against Smriti Irani. But being a Chief Minister and responsible for the state's law and order this remark scores much higher in terms of crassness quotient.

For opposition parties, with next election in their minds, Badaun has now become a new 'rape tourism' destination. Long motorcades of red beacon Ambassadors and high-end SUVs on dusty roads, hurriedly constructed helipads and hordes of TV crew, it is indeed a mela time for all except for the bereaved girls' family.

One positive fallout of this incident is that the issue of toilets and sanitation have come to the fore with an added dimension of women's safety, as open defecation leaves them vulnerable to attacks. The issue had somehow tapered off after former minister Jairam Ramesh had triggered a national debate over it.

Also Read: Bangalore Beat