India is an odd country. Cattle run riot on roads. (Elephants have stopped doing that since too many IT people started driving too many cars on the narrow roads.) Babas and gooroos are found droning in every street corner. Most dogs are homeless (like most people) and roam the streets nakes in the sun and the rains. And customer support is available 24 X 7.

There's hardly anything peculiar about the US. It's only the peculiar people like I that find some of the things peculiar. All services such as the Internet, cable etc. are organized, are run by corporations, have customer support centres, websites, and the works. And it takes only a few weeks to get anything done despite that. Nothing odd really, except that I am used to thinking how much time it takes in India to catch hold of the neighbourhood cable guy, who doesn't even have a fixed office, yell a bit, and fix the damned thing. May be 3-4 days.

Let's say you come across the following instruction outside banks and other such places: "Shirt and shoes required. Pets not allowed." Should you find it funny? Of course, not. I somehow find it funny though. Would you be envious of dogs with colourful sweaters and caps barking at you from inside luxury cars? No. I am not either. But I keep wondering. Had dogs evolved to grow better brains than those of humans, would they have treated me as well? Odd question, isn't it?

Punjabi-isation of India? Not really.

Vir Sanghvi writes about "Punjabi-isation of India". He's partly right, but generally wrong. His premisses that Hindi cinema is influencing pop culture in a significant way, and that Hindi cinema by and large depicts Punjabi stereotypes, are valid. But his conclusion that India has become "Punjabi-ised" (as a result), does not hold. Naturally, there's nothing right or wrong about the said Punjabi (or any other) melting pot, (though I do have my personal views about such a thing). Except that it does not exist.

Interim Thoughts has a good post on this which makes some of the points I had in mind. For example, the pervasiveness of Idli and Uddina Vade. Further, although it's true that Punjabi food has made a major impact in big cities in the South, more in dinner than in lunch, Andhra meals is also quite formidable. Even if we give it to Punjabi food, it is not clear to me how much it has got to do with movies or TV. I would imagine drinking espresso based coffees or eating pizza to be more direct effects of movies or TV.

The prevalence of Punjabi food in tourist locations in Kerala or anywhere else can be explained without the so called Punjabi-isation. It is not significantly different from the non-usage of coconut oil for cooking in those places.

Hindi movies are terribly popular, but that's not all. It's amazing how popular Telugu movies are in a place like Dharwad. Telugu movies run for 100s of days regularly. Even in Belgaum, the bigger Telugu hits run for a long time!

Karva chauth or whatever it is called might be the most brilliant motif in Hindi cinema since "duniya ki koyi bhi taaqat use nahi bacha sakta", but unlike Sanghvi, I am not sure if women everywhere have started observing it suddenly. Moreover, I know of at least one ritual -- Bheemana amavaasye -- which is quite similar to Karva chauth, observed in Karnataka. Similar rituals might exist elsewhere. With respect to other festivals also, I don't think there's any significant change due either to Punjabi culture and/or movies. Probably indoor rituals and customs have reduced a bit, and outdoor activities have increased, due to the changing times.

Salwar kameez is probably the most popular dress, but saris do return during ceremonies. On the other hand, trousers stay.

All that aside, one of the more direct influences of Hindi movies that I have seen in (some parts of) the South is the taking in of Hindi words for relationships. The increasing usage of funny words such as "bhabhi", "devar", "jeeju" etc. in lieu of age old local equivalents is definitely a direct effect of Hindi movies. However, this is more likely a 'Barajatya effect' than a 'Johar-Chopra' Punjabi effect. This is significant because this has extended beyond big cities, and it has invaded households. This is unlike most other effects which can be seen mostly in big cities and outside of the family. You can find young men and women in a place like Gokak inserting these terms quite naturally in their otherwise unadulterated Kannada.

The point is that memes are running along in all directions. Even the trivial, and pretty annoying ones like the Kannada verb maaDi, (ex: enjoy maaDi, relax maaDi), being used by Hindi speaking folks all over Bangalore.

While it is quite annoying to see the Raj Malhotras and the Rahul Singhanias of the world singing, dancing, oye-hoying and generally making merry all the time, I am sure there is much more to Punjabi pop culture than that, let alone Indian pop culture.

Of academic dreams

Increasingly I am dreaming dreams that are "academic", for want of a better word. The motifs are: research group meetings, meetings with adviser and informal (research kind of) discussions with fellow research students; "developing" algorithms or "finding answers"/ "convincing arguments" to research questions. Once in a while, I am not a part of of the cast, but a remote spectator to a small set of people (I think only two) engaged in a dialectic on a variety of topics. Sometimes in English, sometimes in Kannada. To be sure, in a conscious state I have none of the range, depth, vocabulary or fluency that characterise these dreams.

What is startling is not just the frequency, but also the lucidity of these dreamy or dream-like states. Unlike the other (non-academic) dreams, I can remember at least the broader details for a long time. A few weeks ago, I had a discussion, not with one of the usual suspects, but a close cousin of mine, about my thesis work! Specifically, about a paper which deals with work similar to mine; he was giving me advice based on the details in that paper. Alas! I only remember to the extent of the name of the paper, and not the advice :) Another time I had "figured out" that the results that I have got in a experiment are the best for the model that I am using. Again, while both the results and the model are real, the link has gone missing. More than a few times I leave the bed trying hard to remember the algorithm/model that I had "developed" for a problem I am working on.

Why, even this morning I broke away from an interesting discussion on publications etc. with two of my labmates (in Bangalore) ;) We were discussing how there are not enough conferences in a particular field of research, and how a lot of important work in that area is published in a seemingly unrelated (but important) journal. Anyway, these dreams constantly leave a nagging feeling behind -- "Did we actually discuss something substantive?", "Did I actually develop some useful ideas?" Though all this must be illusory, the possibility, however narrow, of making progress by sheer fluke is too attractive to completely rule out!

I have a few reasons that possibly explain why this happens: (1) I always start working late in the day, and most of (the very little) focussed work that I do, occurs during the wee hours. There is no gap between stopping working and hitting the bed. So, when I go to bed eventually, the work "continues" in the subconscious. (2) I spend a lot more time thinking about doing the work (and imagining how I am going to do it and the consequence of its completion) than actually doing the work! (3) I almost never complete things. Not on time, anyway. So, I never go to bed with a relaxed feeling; I sleep on the incomplete things. Probably, the subconscious projects a temporary illusion of having achieved something through the medium of dreams, thus putting the mind to rest. (4) This is especially true on days when I don't do much work (and there are more than a few). On those days, the guilty mind starts "doing research" and produces such a dream, just to make sure I can sleep a bit. ;)

Lest anyone misconstrue, let me make it clear again that none of this implies that I do a lot of research work. Quite on the contrary, they indicate that I need to (1) do a lot more work, than thinking about doing it, (2) regularly, and at regular hours, (3) towards completing things on time. This problem is fairly well defined. Now, I should see if I can actually solve it in reality.

Zen and the Art of Doing Nothing

Long ago when we were in Madikeri, there was this friend of mine, whose house I used to frequent to play shuttle badminton. Soon after the exchange of pleasantries, he used to ask me the dreaded question, "What were you doing?" My answer, as always, would be, "Nothing." This puzzled him endlessly.
"What do you mean 'nothing'. You must have been doing something!"
"No, nothing really. Nothing in particular."
"Were you studying? Or helping your Mom?"
"No."
"Playing?"
"No, I just came here to play. Didn't I?"
"Watching TV, then!"
"No, I hardly watch TV."
"Well, what were you doing?"
"Nothing, I told you."
"How can anyone not be doing anything!?"

Yes, I had mastered the art of doing nothing at an early age. I generally did not have anything exciting to offer to people. No doubt why I've hardly retained old friends. Or new friends. Although, instances of the above conversation hardly take place these days, it is still a difficult question for me. Or rather, the question is not difficult for me at all, it is my answer that others find difficult.

With the diffusion of the Internet, this has become the central inquiry of mankind, what with people over emails, IMs, numerous social networking tools, buzzing constantly, demanding to know what one is doing, one did during the week, or one plans to do over the weekend. As if everyone has to be doing something at all times. Some of the newer tools press the issue further: what are you doing right now?

Why not spend part of your time doing nothing? I am sure it will not matter too much. In fact, most of you might cause less harm to yourself and the world by doing nothing than you might by doing anything else that you plan to do. If you think how can anyone survive by not doing anything at all, think again. I have. I am even doing mildly well.