Friday, May 12, 2006

elephant festival



i spent a whole day watching the elephant festival on kairali.

what a kick!

let me explain.

no no. i insist.

there are two rows of grandly dressed elephants. facing each other. across a good distance of course. each row outside a temple.

there are three men on top of each elephant. holding up umbrellas.

it be a competition. yes! a competition where each team (each row is a team) puts up new umbrellas. and the team with the most imaginative and wonderful umbrellas wins.

wins what i dont quite know. sorry

irrelevant question anyway. the excitement is what counts. and the brilliant umbrellas. shaped like Gods lamps trees and flowers.

they just keep putting them up. and the crowd goes wild.


this be the elephant festival. takes place in thrissur.

trust mallus to come up with something this random. man. elephants and umbrellas (ohh and music. crazy temple drums. wild rhythmic beating)

add a couple of Gods to it. its a festival!



life is beautiful yes?



Monday, May 01, 2006

why

Ive never been incredibly enthusiastic about going to america.

but then. my family went ahead and planned a nice trip. spent an amount of money.
got all excited.

I must admit.

got me all excited.

disneyland.

anyway. got all excited. booked everything. all that remained was the visa.
we were certain there could be no good reason for rejecting us. this time

first. long queue under chennai sun.
second. long queue in a small room with some hundred people. two fans. no water.
third. long queue to interview.

then Mr. Mark Fry walks in. looks around. asks everyone to sit down. started speaking

*onetightslap*

I wanted to give him.

he took on this condescending tone. went on to act like all of us were filthy black impoverished indians who were flocking to his beautiful perfect America out of desperation. salvation.

he then proceeded to teach us good manners. how to greet the interviewers. how to speak to them. how to smile the whole while. and if rejected to walk away calmly. no questions asked.

and then. adding insult to injury.
a guy stands up and starts praising him. he says "Mr. Mark Fry I love your attitude. I like you. I want to be like you. thank you enlightening us poor third world village bums."

ok he didnt quite put it that way. but you get the drift.

I felt humiliated.
cheap.

worst of all.

inferior.


I had to go through that. for what? nothing. all that was in store next was some american woman rejecting just my visa.

why?

she does not have to say. US immigration laws.

mysterious wonderful US immigration laws.

waste of money. waste of time. disappointment

fuck them