We raise our hat to our father Vinayak Baxi MBE (Member of the Baxi Empire) on his birthday! An absolute privilege to be your offspring (though we shall never be able to match your felicity with crosswords!) and we hope this day is full of joy. Thank you for the wisdom, counsel and a house full of books! Tally ho and lots of love
Saturday, November 09, 2013
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
goofing off [aka eid mubarak!]
the last three days have been very zen-like! especially since we rejoined our reading library and the pretty lass behind the counter separated us from 200 camels with a charming smile and some strategic corporeal display! but we now have stuff to read and pass the time. not the usual high-brow stuff but material that entertains!
this was interspersed with much needed sleep periods. necessary and essential in today's stressed times, to recharge batteries [that old saw!] and so on. we are amazed at our ability to sleep at the drop of a pillow. truly.
then of course there was the degustation. regular food intake is important for sound sleep and we adhered to tried and tested principles to aid digestion.
all this because 'twas eid here and we had a 3-day holiday. bad time to be a goat but otherwise quite bracing! and now the weekend is nigh so we shall do more of the same!
this was interspersed with much needed sleep periods. necessary and essential in today's stressed times, to recharge batteries [that old saw!] and so on. we are amazed at our ability to sleep at the drop of a pillow. truly.
then of course there was the degustation. regular food intake is important for sound sleep and we adhered to tried and tested principles to aid digestion.
all this because 'twas eid here and we had a 3-day holiday. bad time to be a goat but otherwise quite bracing! and now the weekend is nigh so we shall do more of the same!
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
a burnt roti and memories of a gorkha
tonight's dinner - dal chawal and a roti - took me back 30 years to my first meal with a fine body of men: the 3/11 Gorkha Rifles.
i was a mere beardless youth at the time with pretensions of serving the country. and the gurkha regiment seemed to be the best place from which to do so.
i distinctly remember grumbling about the quality of the meal - the 1st day of a training camp under the benign gaze of a [surprisingly for a gorkha] 6 ft tall subedar - bhim bahadur chhetri. known as BBC behind his back [never in front of him for he had a habit of pulling out his kukhri and running his thumb along the leading edge with a rather menacing glint in his eyes]. he had seen combat in 1971 so a burnt roti was a mere bagatelle for him. besides he was the mess chief so we couldn't mess with him. BBC was the man responsible for the few times i almost stopped eating. but he had a fund of stories and late at night when i was part of the quarterguard for some misdeameanour or the other and he was suitably primed with rum he told us of gurkha traditions, of battles inner and real, won and lost. but for all his story telling he was a terror on the field and struck the fear of god in us ungodly youth.
move forward 17 years and i was in darjeeling. i went to ghoom loop to pay homage at the gorkha war memorial and came across a man on a wheelchair who looked strangely familiar. i did the homage thing and was walking out when the man in the wheelchair called out "baxi". in a voice that was disconcertingly familiar, loud and authoritative. the shoulders straightened automatically and i turned back. straight to a dusty field near deolali. it was BBC. but a BBC who seemed to have shrunk. was this the same BBC who had kept me up for 3 nights for not polishing my boots? i walked up to the wheelchair and knelt besides the man who had demolished a bunker single handedly in 1971. took his hand and felt his thumb. serrated and full of the power of a gorkha. he had retired and returned to his home. he still remembered my grumblings about those meals in that dusty field near deolali. and i was grateful that of all the men he had commanded or trained he remembered me. all because of a burnt roti.
i distinctly remember grumbling about the quality of the meal - the 1st day of a training camp under the benign gaze of a [surprisingly for a gorkha] 6 ft tall subedar - bhim bahadur chhetri. known as BBC behind his back [never in front of him for he had a habit of pulling out his kukhri and running his thumb along the leading edge with a rather menacing glint in his eyes]. he had seen combat in 1971 so a burnt roti was a mere bagatelle for him. besides he was the mess chief so we couldn't mess with him. BBC was the man responsible for the few times i almost stopped eating. but he had a fund of stories and late at night when i was part of the quarterguard for some misdeameanour or the other and he was suitably primed with rum he told us of gurkha traditions, of battles inner and real, won and lost. but for all his story telling he was a terror on the field and struck the fear of god in us ungodly youth.
move forward 17 years and i was in darjeeling. i went to ghoom loop to pay homage at the gorkha war memorial and came across a man on a wheelchair who looked strangely familiar. i did the homage thing and was walking out when the man in the wheelchair called out "baxi". in a voice that was disconcertingly familiar, loud and authoritative. the shoulders straightened automatically and i turned back. straight to a dusty field near deolali. it was BBC. but a BBC who seemed to have shrunk. was this the same BBC who had kept me up for 3 nights for not polishing my boots? i walked up to the wheelchair and knelt besides the man who had demolished a bunker single handedly in 1971. took his hand and felt his thumb. serrated and full of the power of a gorkha. he had retired and returned to his home. he still remembered my grumblings about those meals in that dusty field near deolali. and i was grateful that of all the men he had commanded or trained he remembered me. all because of a burnt roti.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
death can be a breath-taking experience...
i do not normally write about the dark side. however recent developments have led me to ponder on the suddenness with which death visits!
one moment life is going on as usual, the world is a pleasant place and all is well. the next moment everything has changed. new status labels are in place. a wife has become a "widow", children are "orphans", in-laws are no more parents-in-law and the person becomes a past tense!
the process of death begins at birth and we are all geared to the eventuality in some way or the other. but it is the suddenness of the event that leaves me wondering "why". coping with such suddenness is not easy. nor does it happen overnight - to me the coping process is a lifelong process! avoiding the voids, filling the emptiness and erasure [ok, fading] of a person from our collective memories is perhaps part of the process but does it work?
longevity is something that we all look forward to and hope to achieve. but we have not yet developed the ability to look at the possibility of death squarely in the face and still live life on our terms, not overshadowed by the worry and fear of one day not being there!
one moment life is going on as usual, the world is a pleasant place and all is well. the next moment everything has changed. new status labels are in place. a wife has become a "widow", children are "orphans", in-laws are no more parents-in-law and the person becomes a past tense!
the process of death begins at birth and we are all geared to the eventuality in some way or the other. but it is the suddenness of the event that leaves me wondering "why". coping with such suddenness is not easy. nor does it happen overnight - to me the coping process is a lifelong process! avoiding the voids, filling the emptiness and erasure [ok, fading] of a person from our collective memories is perhaps part of the process but does it work?
longevity is something that we all look forward to and hope to achieve. but we have not yet developed the ability to look at the possibility of death squarely in the face and still live life on our terms, not overshadowed by the worry and fear of one day not being there!
Sunday, March 31, 2013
take the long way home
with apologies to supertramp...we like to believe that we generally have the placid outlook of a monk but 4 days at home after 18 months is NOT enough!! and when the 4 days are granted 3 hours before departure the matter turns grey enough to be a human rights issue!
be that as it may we were home last week and gladdened some hearts [we hope]. the parentage of course took the whole whizz-by in their stride - in fact they even asked us if we wanted to get a bride while we were around - while 3-decade old friends refused to believe till we landed up in front of them. the siblings were busy but managed to make the come over for a wee and for that we are grateful.
home food, warmth of home, the times of india with the first cup of the day. simple pleasures. worth more than many treasures. for once we did not look forward to returning to the sands.
be that as it may we were home last week and gladdened some hearts [we hope]. the parentage of course took the whole whizz-by in their stride - in fact they even asked us if we wanted to get a bride while we were around - while 3-decade old friends refused to believe till we landed up in front of them. the siblings were busy but managed to make the come over for a wee and for that we are grateful.
home food, warmth of home, the times of india with the first cup of the day. simple pleasures. worth more than many treasures. for once we did not look forward to returning to the sands.
Monday, February 18, 2013
the grandmother of all grandmothers!
today we celebrate the 100th birth anniversary of my nanima [maternal grandmom]. to me she was always "batiben". and she could make maggie thatcher look rusted!
i was perhaps more fortunate than her other grandchildren in that i grew up round the corner from her massive house [where my mother and aunts grew up]. so a daily round to check on her and on her kitchen was the norm. her kitchen was of especial importance to a growing lad like me as she would always have something or the other sizzling. her fondness for sprinkling liberal handfuls of red chillies in her food was something that literally and figuratively afire! mondays were important for thats when she made "sabudana vada". she sure knew how to speak to a guy's heart! my nana was sure a lucky guy!
i sadly did not know my dadi [paternal grandmom] too well as she passed on when i was just 10. so batiben was to me the epitome of all things "grandmother" - the love, affection, care, occasional raised voice [she could be heard down the street] and general being around for all the sundry dilemmas that a lad could have. some of my fondest memories are of sitting on her swing and chatting away with her. this was a lady who had a string of stories to tell [i have a photo of her somewhere on a beach in france way back in the 50s- perhaps thats how the french bug hit me?]. she was not given much to drama and emotion - stoicism was built into her. but when i went to france she came home and wept. and i could have just cancelled the whole thing and gone over to her place to check out the kitchen.
ah i could go on and on. but the best memories are always savoured in privacy. she passed away in typical style: no fuss, brave till the end. and i will always regret that i was not with her in her last moments.
batiben, you live on in our hearts. thank you for all the grace and wisdom and fun! thank you also for your progeny - my mother and my aunts [fine women all]. and today is monday so i hope that that sabudana wadas are sizzling up there :) happy birthday!
i was perhaps more fortunate than her other grandchildren in that i grew up round the corner from her massive house [where my mother and aunts grew up]. so a daily round to check on her and on her kitchen was the norm. her kitchen was of especial importance to a growing lad like me as she would always have something or the other sizzling. her fondness for sprinkling liberal handfuls of red chillies in her food was something that literally and figuratively afire! mondays were important for thats when she made "sabudana vada". she sure knew how to speak to a guy's heart! my nana was sure a lucky guy!
i sadly did not know my dadi [paternal grandmom] too well as she passed on when i was just 10. so batiben was to me the epitome of all things "grandmother" - the love, affection, care, occasional raised voice [she could be heard down the street] and general being around for all the sundry dilemmas that a lad could have. some of my fondest memories are of sitting on her swing and chatting away with her. this was a lady who had a string of stories to tell [i have a photo of her somewhere on a beach in france way back in the 50s- perhaps thats how the french bug hit me?]. she was not given much to drama and emotion - stoicism was built into her. but when i went to france she came home and wept. and i could have just cancelled the whole thing and gone over to her place to check out the kitchen.
ah i could go on and on. but the best memories are always savoured in privacy. she passed away in typical style: no fuss, brave till the end. and i will always regret that i was not with her in her last moments.
batiben, you live on in our hearts. thank you for all the grace and wisdom and fun! thank you also for your progeny - my mother and my aunts [fine women all]. and today is monday so i hope that that sabudana wadas are sizzling up there :) happy birthday!
Saturday, February 09, 2013
uncorking champagne: art or science??
came across this slightly dated but still relevant article from the telegraph:
with the
festive season going on people have lots of reasons to pop that bottle of
bubbly and now scientists at Coventry University have developed a mathematical
formula which enables people to uncork the bottle without wasting even a single
drop of champagne.
The
formula, which has been named "Smith's Law" after its founder, Dr.
Steve Smith, is P = T / 4.5 + 1, where P stands for pressure and T indicates
the temperature.
It
is based on the well-known fact that the pressure in a typical bottle of
champagne at room temperature is equivalent to the pressure of a double -
decker bus tyre.
As
per the formula to stop the cork from flying off, the temperature of the liquid
should be between 5C and 7C, which means that the pressure will be 2 to 2.5
atmospheres, a third lower than when the bottle is at room temperature.
The
researcher says that keeping the temperature right is the most important thing
as if you get the temperature right, the pressure will be right and you will be
able to enjoy the champagne at its best.
we get confused by so many numbers. for us the hold and twist method of uncorking has always worked - not for us the "pop" which sounds quite vulgaire. we prefer the soft, gentle sigh of the music being released and the golden drops staying in the bottle rather than being sprayed all over the folks gathered for a fluteworth of the liquid!
a tale of two cities
two crimes against women - one in india and one in pakistan - are poised to be a tipping point in the way women are treated in these countries. both malala in pakistan and the unnamed one in india [we have some rather quaint rape laws that prevent naming of rape victims] have engaged public opinion like no other incident involving women. malala is likely to be nominated for the nobel peace prize. the unnamed one has got her peace, having lost her battle for life.
both cases have reinforced the inherent "unmanliness" of man - malala's case because one cannot imagine a frail, 15-year old being a threat to large, bearded, machine-gun wielding gentlemen [who probably smell], and the unnamed one because how "manly" can 6 men be against a puny 21-year old girl?
two cities, mingora in the swat valley and new delhi, could just turn out to be the fulcrums of women's fight for justice, emancipation from "manly behaviour" and access to simple and basic freedoms: the freedom to learn, the freedom to be happy, the freedom to live.
both cases have reinforced the inherent "unmanliness" of man - malala's case because one cannot imagine a frail, 15-year old being a threat to large, bearded, machine-gun wielding gentlemen [who probably smell], and the unnamed one because how "manly" can 6 men be against a puny 21-year old girl?
two cities, mingora in the swat valley and new delhi, could just turn out to be the fulcrums of women's fight for justice, emancipation from "manly behaviour" and access to simple and basic freedoms: the freedom to learn, the freedom to be happy, the freedom to live.
Monday, December 31, 2012
Dragons and Snakes
ah weel and one more of them years comes to an end. and another one starts. all part of the great chakra as buddha or one of his contemporaries put it...do we feel like contemplating highs and lows of the year past? do we feel like previewing the upsides of the year to come? or do we just feel like letting it go and letting it come. without a titter.
be that as it may, we bid adieu to the dragon and welcome the snake, and hope and pray that the year will be a fun one for all. we will enter our 7th year in dobuy and hopefully that augurs well for both dobuy and us!
we look forward to wine classes, a whiff of la belle france, a langourous vac at home and a slightly V-er shape than the one we currently have!
and as you uncork the red, spare a thought for those unfortunate enough to subside on water, milk and similar. or
Thursday, December 27, 2012
rape: repressed libido or heightened testoterone?
we find the act of rape rather unfathomable. copulation at best is supposed to be blissful, wonderful, rejuvenating etc etc etc [we have not indulged in it so far but have read up extensively]. at worst it is a mechanical act resembling pistons moving in rhythm. several psychological aberrations are attributed to lack of or excess of the act. of course for wannabe monks like ourself such aberrations are not applicable.
but given that is a natural urge and a requirement for the continued wellbeing of the human race, we would have expected it to be as natural as, well, breathing. but alas that is not so. in our native land the act of copulation is considered to be terribly unclean and impious. funny coming from a country of over a billion but there you go. the topic is taboo, it cannot be verbalised, drawn, picturised, caricatured, written about or otherwise brought up to the public eye. for we are indian!
hence the average indian man is an extremely repressed individual with little or no recourse to physiological relief. he starts to resemble a bubbling volcano and break out in spots or pimples due to the excess glandular heat generated. while the hideous practise of marrying off the boy at 21 helps mitigate this matter to some extent the vast majority of the men in the country have to practise manually or raid the cattle shed if available. this also is due to the fact that there just arent enough girls to marry off to all the men around. which in turn can be attributed to female infanticide in some areas, deffered motherhood in others, etc etc. which in turn can be attributed to socio-economic dysfunctionalities, engendered by skewed development rations.
the point we are trying to make is that rape is not a single solution problem, like mathematics or nuclear physics. it is an outcome of a complex set of factors that lead to one cataclysmic moment when lust overtakes prudence or manners. we submit that is is not enough to change laws and make rape punishable by death, etc. those are post-facto reactions. we do not have solutions at hand of course, but we can start by demystifying sex and treating it as just another bodily function. and stop hidebound morons from making a song and dance about the insolence of using "radha" in a "provocative dance". or morones, since this particular incident was by a lady. who has a child. no doubt generated through a tube, given her attitudes towards the act!
however, changing the great indian attitude is another matter. perhaps a book can be hacked out of it. we can only pray that one great indian attitude - that of respecting women - comes back to the fore.
but given that is a natural urge and a requirement for the continued wellbeing of the human race, we would have expected it to be as natural as, well, breathing. but alas that is not so. in our native land the act of copulation is considered to be terribly unclean and impious. funny coming from a country of over a billion but there you go. the topic is taboo, it cannot be verbalised, drawn, picturised, caricatured, written about or otherwise brought up to the public eye. for we are indian!
hence the average indian man is an extremely repressed individual with little or no recourse to physiological relief. he starts to resemble a bubbling volcano and break out in spots or pimples due to the excess glandular heat generated. while the hideous practise of marrying off the boy at 21 helps mitigate this matter to some extent the vast majority of the men in the country have to practise manually or raid the cattle shed if available. this also is due to the fact that there just arent enough girls to marry off to all the men around. which in turn can be attributed to female infanticide in some areas, deffered motherhood in others, etc etc. which in turn can be attributed to socio-economic dysfunctionalities, engendered by skewed development rations.
the point we are trying to make is that rape is not a single solution problem, like mathematics or nuclear physics. it is an outcome of a complex set of factors that lead to one cataclysmic moment when lust overtakes prudence or manners. we submit that is is not enough to change laws and make rape punishable by death, etc. those are post-facto reactions. we do not have solutions at hand of course, but we can start by demystifying sex and treating it as just another bodily function. and stop hidebound morons from making a song and dance about the insolence of using "radha" in a "provocative dance". or morones, since this particular incident was by a lady. who has a child. no doubt generated through a tube, given her attitudes towards the act!
however, changing the great indian attitude is another matter. perhaps a book can be hacked out of it. we can only pray that one great indian attitude - that of respecting women - comes back to the fore.
herbie's l'il cousin!
tell us what you think of her!
herbie is missed of course, but then the differential doesnt always run true with the gear!
we are going global
heck! we have just learnt that we have several readers. 25 nos in all! comprising of:
we have absolutely no idea how we appeal to folks along the dneiper but who are we to crib about readership! all we can say is welcome! and we hope you continue to enjoy what we put forth!
we are also amused that we have readers in the US. thought they only read gun manuals...
we are encouraged by these findings to give more of our best so stand by!
we have absolutely no idea how we appeal to folks along the dneiper but who are we to crib about readership! all we can say is welcome! and we hope you continue to enjoy what we put forth!
we are also amused that we have readers in the US. thought they only read gun manuals...
we are encouraged by these findings to give more of our best so stand by!
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
'car'ried away
we arent known for being one of those emotional "SNAG" [sensitive new age guy] types. truth be told we tend to model our outlook on life along the lines popularised by monsieur bond or jeeves - maintain the impassivity of a sphinx.
however a recent development has left us rather heartbroken [not to put it too mildly]. we had to put herbie1 out to pasture for reasons of cold economics - the cost benefit analysis had gone haywire and we were obliged to fork out increasing amounts out of the treasury to maintain her in the style to which she was accustomed. so one grey saturday evening last week we went online and she was given away to another man in under 60 seconds [we kid you not]. the man came, he saw and he went with her that same evening, leaving us to trudge back home alone in the chilly evensong.
3 years, 100,000 kms, a few dents and loads of happy memories, including herbie meeting herbie [see above] made our first car a treasure and a pleasure to own and ride.
two days ago we saw herbie parked by the roadside and we fought down a lump or two. she had always been sheltered in a garage and to see her in the open like this was wrenching.
herbie shall always be around - just the shape and make will change. and herbie1 will be the benchmark.
however a recent development has left us rather heartbroken [not to put it too mildly]. we had to put herbie1 out to pasture for reasons of cold economics - the cost benefit analysis had gone haywire and we were obliged to fork out increasing amounts out of the treasury to maintain her in the style to which she was accustomed. so one grey saturday evening last week we went online and she was given away to another man in under 60 seconds [we kid you not]. the man came, he saw and he went with her that same evening, leaving us to trudge back home alone in the chilly evensong.
two days ago we saw herbie parked by the roadside and we fought down a lump or two. she had always been sheltered in a garage and to see her in the open like this was wrenching.
herbie shall always be around - just the shape and make will change. and herbie1 will be the benchmark.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
and a new baxi has arrived!
since our writings are partly to celebrate life we are quite thrilled to announce the landing of the latest baxi lass - the wee myla. ok so she's my nephew's gal but we dont bother with such segmentation! take a look:
this wee gal comes with a strong heritage - the female of the baxi species is quite a specimen. full of beans, chutzpah and a very no-nonsense outlook on life. they tend to light up whichever homes they go to, and we are privileged to be part of the lineage too! [mebbe thats why we prefer bachelorhood - difficult to find women who would match this lineage!]
so we wish myla a jolly, rocking life [her parents are quite cool] and we shall no doubt be seeing her soon, wind and weather permitting.
this wee gal comes with a strong heritage - the female of the baxi species is quite a specimen. full of beans, chutzpah and a very no-nonsense outlook on life. they tend to light up whichever homes they go to, and we are privileged to be part of the lineage too! [mebbe thats why we prefer bachelorhood - difficult to find women who would match this lineage!]
so we wish myla a jolly, rocking life [her parents are quite cool] and we shall no doubt be seeing her soon, wind and weather permitting.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
from the royal to the individual
i have always posted on this blog in the 1st person plural mainly i guess as a means of 'walling' my identity for some yet-to-be-defined reason. some might attribute this to a contrived sense of brown-sahibism for which i make no apologies. but heck let me see what transpires. i can always switch back to us.
121212
we always look for propitious dates for new beginnings. as an india born and bred mammal we live[d] surrounded by the weighty preponderance of the DATE. said noun used in the temporal context not in the edible or amatory context.
re-starting our blog is not a new beginning. however we cannot deny the fact of lassitude when it came to writing here. but the chance of posterising this post on a date which occurs only once in a millennium was too attractive to drop. hence, having writ, we write again.
a lot of people did "special things" today - marriage, births, feasts, so on. for us this is special.
now the serious stuff: should we use this moment for intense introspection / explicit externalisations? we are not really equipped for such soulitary pursuits [being an air sign we flit here and there]. but the time has come for some streamlining. time to take charge of our direction.
stand by for more.
re-starting our blog is not a new beginning. however we cannot deny the fact of lassitude when it came to writing here. but the chance of posterising this post on a date which occurs only once in a millennium was too attractive to drop. hence, having writ, we write again.
a lot of people did "special things" today - marriage, births, feasts, so on. for us this is special.
now the serious stuff: should we use this moment for intense introspection / explicit externalisations? we are not really equipped for such soulitary pursuits [being an air sign we flit here and there]. but the time has come for some streamlining. time to take charge of our direction.
stand by for more.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
like revenge, procrastination is best served cold...
we tend to NOT believe in the "do it now" principle popularised by bush snr, malcolm gladwell et al. while unkind people label such habits as "sloth" we prefer the word "caution". "look before you leap" may not work for the athletically inclined but it works for us.
however of late we tend to be turning this principle on its head. for no particular reason. we are rather perplexed at this turn of events. is it to do with age? is it to do with seeing the light? or is just boredom with the status quo [a hallmark of a good gemini, which we are]?
be that as it may, we will henceforth procrastinate later.
however of late we tend to be turning this principle on its head. for no particular reason. we are rather perplexed at this turn of events. is it to do with age? is it to do with seeing the light? or is just boredom with the status quo [a hallmark of a good gemini, which we are]?
be that as it may, we will henceforth procrastinate later.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
we are not amused
the queen celebrates her birthday this month and we are not invited! what price our fealty and inherent WOG-gishness??
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