Mr Mandela

Today, I finished reading Nelson Mandela's auto-bio – 'A long walk to freedom'. What a man! I felt obligated to purchase this book while I was staying in Johannesburg :)

I wonder what would have happened in South Africa if not for Mandela !! Just imagine India without Gandhi. I think Mandela has gone through more pains than Gandhi did for India. 27 years in jail is no joke. Just a curious observation – both Mandela and Gandhi were lawyers by profession. Lawyers have to fight by profession. They have no other choice. I think in a natural way they extend it outside their profession as well.

I still remember that as a kid, we were watching TV at home and saw a sudden text message on the screen that Mandela has been released after being in jail for 27 years. Dad told that he was a freedom fighter.

While working at Bank of Athens (a Greek Bank) in Johannesburg, There was a Management committee which I had to attend and suddenly an old man in suit entered into the board room. I dont know why, but by reflex I stood up as a matter of showing respect. This old man was George Bizos who served many times as a lawyer to Mandela. I am proud that I could atleast meet Mr. Bizos if not Mr. Mandela :) Mr. Bizos is on the board of Bank of Athens and is a Greek himself.

I think Mr. Mandela is a great negotiator and who had one and only goal - the freedom of South Africa from the shackles of Apartheid. He did acheive it in the end.

Where is the winning colour?

I was in Durban recently and met a lot of local Indian friends who have settled here since decades. Its an Irony, but they say that the situation has not changed much after SA got freedom from Apartheid. They say that 'they were not white enough during Apartheid and not black enough now'! Really stuck in between!

Canada Offers an Apology for Native Students’ Abuse - NYTimes.com

And these people talk about racism in South Africa!

Canada Offers an Apology for Native Students’ Abuse - NYTimes.com:

what you dont have is what you want!

I was returning back to India from SA after finishing my assignment. I met three different set people in the journey and they were quite interesting.

The first one is a family of Indian origin, now settled in SA. The guy said that they visit India every year. Last year they had been to north India and this time they were visiting the south. Pretty interesting stuff. Somehow they don't want to lose that connection with India. I wonder why people do that. They just don't want to lose their identity.

I met another lady who was going to London. She looked little tipsy. guess she had had couple of drinks before boarding. she said she was going to meet her son after 14 years. I was shocked. How can that be?! and i don't have to mention here that she was excited. she said she was going to bring back him to SA and look after him from now on. Must have been a divorce case.

The last set of them was an old couple. I was sitting next to the lady. She gave me good company all through the way. she was going to meet her daughter in london who was soon going to have a baby. she was so happy that she was going to be a grand-ma. This couple had fled Zimbabwe and settled in SA. I dont know when!

People are always after something. Something or the other. They always want to be doing something or the other. They just wanna be busy.

I think the only part of life which is good to live is one's childhood. i always remember the book 'To kill a mocking bird'. Such an amazing book, full of childhood and innocence. But when we are kids, we always want to be grown-ups and have a job and make money. but when you get there, you suddenly see that its all shit. you knew that you wanted all this. but you did not know how it will be. now you know! and you want go back from where you came from. Man, you aways want what you dont have at this point of time - something new or something old. But not the one that i have right now. Give me a break!

I think i wanna be a carpenter. I am tired of this software shit. :)

De Akker - The Oak tree

De Akker – This is the second oldest pub in South Africa and I have been there many times. It is very special because of its oldness. You may call it kind of mature pub.

You will meet a lot of peculiar people here, including me. Some people come to study the nature of other people. I find it interesting to be with these people and make them the subject of my study!

Many people who come there just to get drunk and to get hooked up with somebody. I go there for the same reason as well! ;)

People come with friends or meet friends there and have fun time. People come to listen to music. Men come to check women and vice-versa.

I go there because I don’t have much to do on weekends and the time ticks faster over there.

I can read books at home. But reading people is very nice and especially when they are under the influence of alcohol.

I have met Indians who have settled here long ago, Americans, Pakistanis, Swiss people on holiday, Germans, and yes, lot of local people - white, black, colored etc.

It is interesting. When I was in India I never used to go to a pub/bar alone. It was always with friends. And I had never experienced this sort of thing where you meet strangers.

There are many ways to get into conversations. Men will be waiting for some female to take out her cigarette, so that they can light the cigarette and strike a conversation as well. It is usually the fastest and the most alert who wins in the end. Darwin’s theory holds good here as well.

Or, if you have a cigarette you can go looking for a girl with a lighter!

Another thing to be taken care of when you are looking for men/women is to know your probability in the crowd and also to be able to estimate somebody else’s. If you know your probability, then its relatively easy, than shooting everywhere.

For ex, when I am in a white crowd, my probability will immediately go down when they see that I am an Indian. But it will shoot up if I go to some other pub where there are more colored people. Again it is Darwin’s natural selection.

Well, that will do for this post. I will come with more specific cases later!!

Attention!!

Its 3 AM. I woke up and I am unable to get back to sleep. One thought is going round and round in my head and I thought I should let it out and then get back to sleep. One of my friends had told me this long back and it has popped out now all of a sudden.

It is about our need for attention. Whatever we do, we do it so as to be noticed by others or we do so, to seek attention. Attention by others is the food for our ego. We need to sustain some level of ego in ourselves to do whatever we are doing. Otherwise we will become depressed. The engine will stop working. And spousal love is the peak of attention we get.

May be, most probably, I am writing this to seek attention and feed my ego!!

There is a pub called ‘The Forum’ here in Stellenbosch. They have an amazing menu with all kind of witty sayings. I borrowed one from them to take back to India. One of the sayings:

“Son, a woman is like a beer. They smell good, they look good, and you’d step over your own mother just to get one! But you can’t stop at one. You wanna drink another woman!” (Homer Simpson to Bart)

Some facts on South Aricans

Some interesting facts about South Africans:

1. If you tell them something/anything they will immediately acknowledge by saying "is it ?".
ex: Me - i went to a party yesterday
Y - is it ?
Me - (No, I am just kidding!! for god's sake!! )

Now, I have also picked up this habit of saying "is it ?". Friends back home will have a tough time when i go back next week.

2. Weird Afrikaans words and pronunciations.
They pronounce g as k. v as f.
ex: Federer can also be written as Vederer in Afrikaans.
King can be written as ging and it will sound the same.

Tjek is pronounced as cheque.

3. On the road:
- They will turn on their headlights when a single cloud blocks the sun or when the watch hits 6 O' clock in the evening, even though there is enough light to see the road.
- When you allow them to overtake you, they will say thanks by flashing the hazard light and you can say welcome by flashing your high beam.

4. They say it gets cold when there are no clouds because its more open and cold air comes in from the space or from wherever.

5. They think India is a very poor country and Indians don't know English.

6. They like to brai[put on some fire and cook meat] for no reason.

7. They cannot live without alcohol. its a sin not to drink.

8. They like rugby!

9. They love their beaches.

10. Usually when you enter office in the morning you will be greeted with a "Howzit?". Now howz what ?? and they don't expect any answer for this question.

11. They believe vegetarian people have a short life.

12. They love to keep tab on the weather forecasts. On an average they will know exactly how the next week is going to be. Rainy, sunny, hot, cloudy etc.

13. South African Indians have a taste for Tamil. Any songs from Hindi blockbusters will be immediately translated to Tamil. You can hear to Dhoom 2, Guru and all other hindi songs in tamil on the Durban FM - Lotus.

14. Suppose somebody wants a cigarette. He will come to me and ask it like this:
He - " May be you don't want to lend me a cigarette?"
Me - (Ya, May be i don't want to!!) sure!

I would have simply asked - 'can you please lend me a cigarette ?' . They make talking complicated.

15. Confessions. Suppose somebody tells you a wrong thing and later they realize that its wrong. They will come to you and say:
He - " I lied to you ".
Me - "(OK. thats 100 push ups ) its fine!"

Its OK. You did not do it intentionally! But its a terrible sin for them.

16. They are nice people! :)