The Yo Yo phenomenon

Nowadays anyone can be a star. So many have their five minutes of fame. But the question arises, for how many, this 5 minutes last longer. Yesterday, I had been to a birthday party. It wasn't the usual birthday event. The birthday girl had invited her friends and family for the concert of the most recent phenomenon in the Indian music industry, Honey Singh, or should I add YO YO to his name as he is known among his fans. Wherever you go these days, to clubs, pubs, weddings, the event is not enough if they don't play Honey Singh's songs.

Personally, I had heard his name before and his songs too, but they never appealed to me. I was aware of his fame which in my opinion has been contributed majorly by the Punjabi crowd. His songs are mostly Punjabi songs. But it was only yesterday that I witnessed how popular a star he has become. The club which has never seen so many heads in the premises before, was flooded with people. Even if there was no space inside, people were ready to sneak their way in just to get a glimpse of the YO YO Honey Singh. Young girls, boys, kids, uncles and aunties were swooning to his numbers. Not to my surprise, all of them had learnt the songs by heart to sing along with their recently-got-popular star.  We waited outside the entrance since it was actually a herculean task to get in, I heard this girl who had convinced her friends ( who seemed disinterested in the star) to come with her so that she could have a glimpse of the revered YO YO. As soon he was on his way to enter the club ( and we were right there at the entrance with this girl) the girl could have almost fainted. Thanks to her friends who were with her while she was dazed. Nevertheless, she wasn't the only one, with her their were hundreds who were dazzled by the sight. 

The Yo Yo performed for an hour or so and left the crowd wanting for more. While many would have been disappointed but I had a sigh of relief as it started getting less suffocating. People scattered here and there, some left, some still danced on to the songs played by the DJ. This was my first Yo Yo experience, but I just wonder for how long can he retain his popularity, I guess at least till the time Punjabis are there, he would anyways have a following. 

Here's a piece from the rapper Yo Yo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqSL0QgfTQ0

So here I am in the middle of a conference. The prominent theme is Interculturalism. There are experts from all around the world who have come to participate in the sessions. What sews them together is the curiosity to know about the Other's culture and eventually to present theirs.The other link can be the French language too because it is in this language that the sessions are being presented. 

When one comes across the term French, he abounds himself with the images of Eiffel tower, french wines, croissants and crepes. In other words, someone who is ignorant enough allies himself to France the moment he hears french. 

However, the language has no more remained a sole property of the land of its origin. Ever since the French set upon the task of colonising other countries, they propagated their culture and language to these newly discovered lands. While they retreated to their nation during decolonisation, some of them stayed back and they left however an indelible trace, their language. From then on, many countries of the world lay claims to the language. 

French, eventually in all the francophone countries evolved and got mixed up with the local cultures and their native languages. French in Quebec in Canada, in Belgium, in Algeria and even I can proudly say in India ( though a minuscule percentage) has its own colours added to the original langauge. One thus finds out that one cannot ignore this phenomenon of inter/ pluri or multi culturalism which manifests also in the language that we speak. 

I happen to stumble on pleasant things all the time. Today on a poem written in french which very beautifully summarizes the idea of fraternity and says that even if we belong to different countries, we have different colours, races, but above all we are human beings, that's what makes us one. Here it goes

J'ai frappé à ta porte

J'ai frappé à ton coeur 

Pour avoir un bon lit

Pour avoir un bon feu

Pourquoi me repousser?

Ouvre moi, mon frère.

Pourquoi me demander

Si je suis d'Afrique

Si je suis d'Amérique

Si je suis d'Asie

Si je suis d'Europe?

Ouvre moi, mon frère.

Pourquoi me demander

La longeueur de mon nez

L'épaisseur de mes lèvres

La couleur de ma peau

Et le nom de mes Dieux?

Ouvre moi, mon frère.

Je ne suis pas un Noir

Je ne suis pas un Rouge

Je ne suis pas un Jaune

Je ne suis pas un Blanc

Mais je ne suis qu'un homme

Ouvre moi, mon frère.

Ouvre moi ta porte

Ouvre moi ton coeur

Car je suis un homme

L'homme de tous les temps

L'homme de tous les cieux

L'homme qui te ressemble.

                             René PHILOMBE

Post Cards and make people happy !!!!

Little things in our mundane lives can become source of immense joy. Each one of us derives pleasure from different things. For me it could be a simple receiving of a postcard from far off places. I love the whole concept of sending a postcard to a stranger and receiving one from them. Writing whatever you want to make them know about you, your country. The fact that it goes to someone never seen, never known, fascinates me all the more. 

It was some two years back that by sheer luck I got myself to the webpage of postcrossing.com. I always liked writing letters. When I was in school and my sister had joined university, we used to write elaborate letters to each other, sharing the happenings of daily lives, gossiping about people. It used to be almost like a diary maintained of a week, sent to her, with all the intonations intact. Excitement would drown me completely while waiting for her letters. Then came the age of emails and now we have social networking sites. Communication is done so much more faster, who has the time to wait for a letter? Whatsoever it may be but no emails, no text messages can replace the lovely feeling of receiving or sending a handwritten letter or a postcard. It implies that the sender has at least taken the pain to write it, which makes it so much personal, find an envelope and then get it stamped at the nearest post office. 

So I stumbled on this website where complete strangers exchanged postcards. Wow, I thought. I could send postcards to people from countries I have never visited and tell them about my story. I could not wait to get myself registered on it. I had much appreciation for the founder of this website. What a wonderful idea! It is not surprising to see that there are plenty of people who still believe in the traditional old ways of contacting people. This however doesn't mean I would not want to have postcards or letters from my near and dear ones. 

Yesterday while I was busy with my regular work, a postcard got slipped under my door. The swooshing sound of the card made me know instantly that someone in the world had addressed to me his/her postcard. And the yesterday's one was that from Russia, depicting the various types of Russian bread they eat. I was delighted by the new postcard in my collection. I am waiting for many more moments of happiness sent from around the world.

An evening in Paharganj

Having been stayed in Delhi for so long, I still haven't been able to discover and explore the whole city. Yesterday lady luck was on my side and it so happened that I discovered one of the most preferred locations by the tourists (for food and accommodation). And it had only been for our French friends that we stepped into the bylanes of Paharganj at the hour we generally prefer to avoid stepping out alone. It was so much fun. The whole alley bustling with life. Shops, small eateries by the sides, juice shops, the cafes and the people of course, had everything moving.

In the evening, I got a call from my friend to come to CP to hang out with her French friends. I agreed with the plan, thinking all this while that we would be frequenting a bar or a restaurant in CP. Well, I had been taken by surprise when I heard we were heading towards Paharganj. And what a pleasant one! Excitement rushed through me. I had heard so much about the place; both in negative and positive terms. 

Well, we got down at the metro station and walked through to reach our destination. As soon as I got into the area, vivid memories of my Chennai-Pondy-Mahabs trip came alive. It felt as if I was strolling through the  Triplicane High Road in Chennai which is also near the railway station. Or it could be identified with the Mahabs main street where we have all the hotels, restaurants. It all made me feel like a traveller in my very own city where I have been staying. I enjoyed the very feel of it. 

If you are a traveller, you happen to know more about the place than the residents of the city. We had an advantage of our French friends, who love exploring the city as it is without any prejudice or bias. As we were moving ahead, I still had no inkling where we were heading to. We finally stopped ourselves at Sam's Cafe, which it seems is quite popular among students and tourists. We climbed the stairs all the way to the fifth floor to make ourselves comfortable on the rooftop restaurant. This kind of arrangement is generally done in Indian cities to cater to the tastes of foreign travellers, but I would say it panders to every traveller's tastes be it from any region of the world or the country. 

Settling down comfortably in our chairs, we ordered food. In the meanwhile, chats, conversations, giggles ensued. The dinner cam after a very long time. Though we didn't mind that at all, having been engrossed in ourselves. From where I was sitting, I could see a not-so-full moon rising above in the sky. It seemed so beautiful. I savoured this sight along with the pizza I had ordered. After having finished our dinner, we then decided to head to a bar.

We descended back on to the street leaving Sam's Cafe behind. We walked a bit further ahead and I saw something I had never seen before. A shabby looking guy came up to the French guys asking them to get their shoes polished without anticipating any monetary returns. When he seemed to sense they were really not interested, he came downrightly to the point he had been wanting to make. He asked if they wanted to buy hash from him. Had I been alone, I would have got a bit nervous and scared to see these kinds of people. Since we were in a group, I was comfortable. After a bit of hassles with this guy, we finally decided to go to some place, I don't recall the name very well. We sat in front of the TV screen, football playing on it, Arsenal vs Swansea and the male friends automatically got glued to the screen for a while. We got our drinks , bouts of laughter came along. It was getting late for us ( my friend and i) so we decided to leave the French friends and get back to our place. 

What an evening it was! It brought my traveller's spirit alive. It felt so not the Delhi, I have experienced so far. A big thanks to the French group who made it possible for me. I am certainly going to Paharganj again with my group whenever I feel the lack of travelling in life. At least, it would boost up my spirits in a way.