A heavy dry smoke rises up from slowly burning cotton waste. As it catches my eyes it stings and I squint in an attempt to see beyond the screen of smoke. Befoe me an open kiln is layered in mud, soft clay posts and cotton waste has been set on fire. As the soft clay slowly hardens, the narrow by-lanes of Kumbharwada outside are piqued with activity. Inside, the light from the door leads me to a dimly lit room where a middle-aged Rajabhai is sitting intently fashioning a garden pot on a slow moving potter’s wheel from a lump of blackish clay. From day break to sunset he works continuously rarely stopping for a break. At his feet, a young boy stamps on moist clay, preparing it for Rajabhai and other Kumbhars.
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Two friends – Bombaywallah & Mumbaikar – discuss whether the bomb blasts in Malegaon on Friday are linked to the Bombay train blasts.

Mumbaikar: There was a bomb blast in Malegaon yesterday. The bombs were rigged to bicycles near a burial ground, where Muslims had aggregated for the festival of Shab-e-Baraat. 37 people are dead and 200 injured so far.

Bombaywallah: That’s really sad. Where is Malegaon?

Mumbaikar: Malegaon is a Muslim dominated town near Nasik, 160 km north of Mumbai, known for its communal tension.

Bombaywallah: Ah! I have been thinking of visiting the vineyards at Nasik. But you have relatives in Nasik, don’t you? Is everything OK in Nasik? Is everything OK in Bombay?

Mumbaikar: Yes, things seem to be under control. The government has put the entire state on high alert. They imposed a curfew in Malegaon yesterday, but have lifted in today. In Mumbai, there were rumors of rioting in Mahim last night, but the police have been deployed on the streets and no significant disturbances have happened. Also, Muslim religious leaders have urged people to maintain calm and communal harmony.

Bombaywallah: It’s obvious, isn’t it, that the blasts have been masterminded to increase the communal divide, especially since they have happened so soon after the Bombay train blasts. I’m happy, though, that everybody has behaved sensibly so far.

Mumbaikar: I’m keeping my fingers crossed, if you ask me.

I overheard them outside the domestic airport, as Mumbaikar picked up Bombaywallah from the arrival terminal. I have never seen them so subdued, these two.

For more details see: India Uncut, Sepia Mutiny (here & here), Desicritics, BBC (here and here), Yahoo (here and here) and Rediff (here and here).

Read the other entries in the series here: (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9).
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So I just had a minor arhthroscopic knee procedure at Lilavati, one of the better hospitals in the city – but I need some help from the community to understand their business model. This is how it works:

First, depending on the type of surgery, it will fall into a specific price tier – tier 1 being of the most simple procedures, and tier 5 being your kidney transplants, spinal surgeries, etc. Once it is determined what surgery tier your procedure falls in, the prices for everything involved in your procedure will change (drastically!) depending on what room type you choose.

Example: I did not want to share space with other patients, so the lowest category single room was categorized as “Special.” My tier 2 knee procedure in a “Special” room would cost me Rs. 40,000. I was upgraded to a “Super Deluxe” room (one below the HIGHEST category single room, termed “Executive Suite”) for the price of a Special room because of availability issues. Great, I was getting a good deal here. When all was said and done, of course the billing department fucked up the total and charged me as per Super Deluxe. What was the final tally for the EXACT same procedure for this room? Rs. 87,000! The procedure did not change, I was given the same care, the same drugs, the same food, the same basic services, but because I was in a higher tier room, the price for everything had stepped up. I looked carefully at the line-item breakdown of the invoice. What would have made sense was if the entire delta between the Special room and the Super Deluxe room was allocated to the room costs, but that wasn’t so. The surgeons fees went up, the anasthesia fees went up, the drug costs went up, food costs went up – it just didn’t make much sense to me. Basically, Lilavati “penalizes” people for being rich.

Is this right? Maybe it is, but can someone help me get my arms around this one?

… and i’m back :D
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No, they were not.

I’m referring to the group of Mumbai-local Muslim men that were detained on a Northwest flight bound for Mumbai from Amsterdam after certain passengers (yes, even Indian ones) and crew noticed “suspicious behavior.” The press has been up in arms about the alleged maltreatment and clear religious insensitivity towards the group – but I believe what Northwest did was justified. Here is why.

First, we must try our best to separate two completely distinct issues here, two issues which beg to be combined, but for all logical purposes, cannot be. The first: is religious profiling an effective means of preventing certain acts of “terrorism” today; and the second: if there is a religious pattern amongst certain groups that are lashing out, why is that so?

The second question here is a complex undertaking, but it basically boils down to politics, imperialism (or, the money culture, as I like to call it), clashing idealogies, and a struggle over natural resources. These elements shape foreign policies around the world, and whether its the West’s pursuit of fossil fuels to feed their economic engines, America’s support of Israel, anyone’s support of America, or India and Pakistan fighting over a piece of land, certain injustices are undoubtedly done. In today’s world, it just so happens that those injustices are being disporportionately suffered by Islamic countries.

Now back to our first question. Did Northwest religiously profile those men? Of course they did. Is that wrong? Not today. Maybe tomorrow, next month, or next year, but today, it is a ground reality that there is a pattern amongst those who commit localized terrorist attacks (I say localized because I’m almost sure I will get a comment pointing out that countries like America and Israel are large “terrorist” organizations themselves – again, I believe that argument is more appropriate to bring up with respects to the first question above). If the last dozen major localized terror attacks were committed by one-eyed teenage albinos, my guess is any slightly suspicious behavior on any flight would garner the same reaction. This wasn’t a personal attack against the Muslim faith – it was simply an acknowledgement and recognition of an established pattern (of course, there are those that take advantage of this to demonize the entire faith, which is nothing short of sickening).

The Mumbai press should have focused their energy on helping us understand the issues behind the first question I have posted here, and not waste time triviliazing and sensationalizing issues which do not help us with a long-term solution.