Children of a Well-Connected God

We now know that a US immigration officer in Newark is as likely to have heard of SRK as an Indian fruit vendor is to identify Tim Robbins in a line-up of Caucasian men. What the hoopla over the "my name is Khan" incident revealed, apart from the immaturity of certain Indian politicians (read Ambika Soni), is the "VIP complex" in the Indian system, a long ingrained habit of trying not to inconvenience the rich and famous. This complex was evident in the way newspapers compared the SRK case to the time Abdul Kalam was "frisked like a commoner" at the New Delhi airport, 'in clear violation of protocol".
But the case that best demonstrates this preoccupation with pampering the privileged in recent times is that of Sanjeev Nanda. Nanda, the scion of an influential New Delhi family, was the prime accused in an infamous hit-and-run incident in January of 1999 when he rammed his BMW through a police checkpoint, killing six people and injuring one. He was initially acquitted of all charges for lack of reliable witnesses but after a lot of public outrage over the acquittal, he was retried and sentenced to five years in prison in September 2008, more than nine years after the crime.
But then last month a Delhi high court reduced his sentence from five years to two after downgrading his offence to a less serious one of causing death by rash or negligent act. The trial court where Nanda had previously been convicted had found him guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder since he was drunk and driving well beyond the speed limit. The Delhi high court disagreed. Here's why:
"[Though] the appellant caused the accident in which six persons died...., it was not a case where the appellant had any knowledge of the presence of these persons on the road..."
SAY WHAT???? You mow down six people without being aware of their presence on the road!!! What made the whole thing more convenient for Nanda was that he only had four or five months of the two year sentence left to serve since he had already put in some jail time during the protracted trial process. And the final cake, complete with icing, was delivered to him a few days ago when the Tihar Jail Superintendant let him out three months before his sentence was due to end as a reward for his "good conduct". Could they have fallen over themselves more in trying to smooth the guy's way to freedom? Why didn't they just dispense with the sham trials and let him walk a long time ago - slipping a few mints into his hand as he headed towards the door and expressing the hope that he had found the service satisfactory?

In Loving Memory of....

Terri, my sister-in-law's dog and faithful companion of thirteen years, succumbed to a stomach illness and passed away on August 13th. He had a full and eventful life starting from the time she picked him up as a pup from a Phoenix-area animal pound to his final months in Bangalore. After their move to India more than a year ago, he settled in happily, developing a keen appreciation for roadside delicacies of all kinds and showing no signs of missing the sterile environment he had left behind. For lifelong dog lovers like my sister-in-law, the loss of a canine friend comes with a lot of heartache. She would probably concur with the view of an anonymous person who said that "the problem with loving is that pets don't last long enough and people last too long". Apart from being the tail-wagging mood pick-me-upper of the family, Terri was also the irreverent voice behind his mistress' entertaining blog. Visit this to read the beautiful farewell tribute she has paid her beloved pet in it.

Hold the Hair (and other horrors)

It's always a little unsettling when a familiar or favorite food turns out to contain some inedible element, or at least inedible in your book. It's like having a cute family movie suddenly turn into a blood-curdling horror flick. It completely snuffs out the warm and fuzzy feeling that's kindling inside you and leaves you in this cold, dark place from where you emerge, shaken and disturbed. I know I felt that way about a decade ago back in California, the day I pulled back the plastic seal on a big container of Mountain High yogurt and picked up a spoon to delve into the creamy white stuff. Except that....it was neither creamy nor white! The top of the yogurt tub was covered with a layer of grayish-green mold! My dairy fix had been taken over by fungi from the dark side.
B. probably had a similar feeling when he ordered the one vegetarian dish on the menu in a restaurant in Brussels during a trip there a few years ago. It was gazpacho soup and it arrived at the table, steaming and smelling reasonably good. It wasn't the best soup he had ever had but at least it had recognizable ingredients. Or so he thought until he got to the end and saw, coiled up at the bottom, what he swears was a bundle of worms! It adds a whole new dimension to the dilemma of whether you wrap noodle-like food around your fork or chop it up before you eat it.
And I know Ramji (our neighborhood cook) had another such Stephen King moment the other day when he cut open the packet of Vijay Malai Paneer that I had left thawing on the countertop. He sharpened one of the knives in the knife block and lowered it into the white slab of cheese only to feel it crunch into something. What he saw next made his hair stand on end. Go ahead and supply the ending here. You can use the photo for inspiration if you like.