Gods on Speed

Gods on Speed is a short thriller set during the last days of the Trojan War.

It's available on www.wattpad.com.

Here's the brief synopsis:

The Greeks are struggling after besieging the City-State of Troy for ten years. Achilles, the great warrior-king, has withdrawn from battle because of a tiff with Agamemnon King of Mycenae and leader of the Greek contingent. Abruptly Achilles returns, the Greeks regroup and, following the stratagem of the wooden horse, they finally breach Troy’s walls. But who or what made Achilles change his mind? And how did the war-weary Greeks think of deceiving the Trojans with a wooden horse?

Helen of Sparta is considered to be the most beautiful woman in the world. Her husband Menelaus is King. Her sister Clytemnestra is married to the ambitious Agamemnon, King of Mycenae and Menelaus’s brother. When the Trojan Princes Hector and Paris visit Sparta on a diplomatic mission, Paris seduces Helen and she elopes with him. An enraged Menelaus turns to Agamemnon for help and the latter sees this as an opportunity to unite and lead the various Greek Kings, notably Odysseus of Ithaca, who is renowned for his cunning and Achilles of Phthia, a feared warrior. After sacrificing his young daughter Iphigenia at the port of Aulis, Agamemnon leads the Greeks in a thousand ships across the Aegean Sea to attack the Kingdom of Troy, ostensibly to recover Helen and avenge the insult to Menelaus. But Troy’s walls have never been breached. King Priam and his sons, particularly Hector and Paris, are able commanders. Troy defies the Greek assault for ten long years.

Cracks develop in the Greeks’ unity during the long siege. Soldiers become homesick; the Kings 

begin bickering. Achilles, who leads a contingent of fearsome warriors called Myrmidons, clashes 

with Agamemnon when the latter deprives him of his favourite slave Briseis. In a fit of rage,

 Achilles withdraws his troops from battle. The Greeks begin to suffer terrible losses due to Prince

 Hector’s skills. Then they turn to Odysseus to break the impasse...

Gods on Speed relies on Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey and Virgil’s Aeneid (Book II) for the story outline. It’s a retelling of the Trojan War in a contemporary style, similar to the movie Troy, although many details differ. This is not unusual since there’s no ‘original’ story of the Trojan War. It was handed down orally over generations from the twelfth or thirteenth century B.C. until Homer gave it an epic form in the sixth or seventh century B.C. Its themes of love, honour and power struggles are eternal as is the mystique surrounding the central character Helen, who was described by Shakespeare as ‘the pearl whose price hath launched a thousand ships’ (Troilus and Cressida).

 Read and enjoy! Don't forget to leave a comment on the wattpad site.

Summer Getaways Part Deux

Can I interest you in a cosy home stay deep in the mountains that's accessible only by a pulley cart over a fast-flowing river?

Raju's Cottage in Tirthan Valley.

It's a lovely resort in Sarchi near the village Ghosaini, voted among the best home stays in the world! One has to book months in advance. It's been featured on TV and it's no longer obscure.The establishment comprises stone-wooden cabins and it’s nestled against a thickly wooded hill. The best part is the approach: one can access only by a pulley-cart across the Tirthan River! Quite an experience since the River is fast-flowing and you’re suspended halfway across in a small cart! Great fun, though. Once you reach the home stay, Raju Bharti and his family treat you to home cooked meals that include trout, fresh apple juice and produce from their garden. Although there’s no mall road or shopping centre nearby, the family ensures you’re never bored. They have bonfires in the evening and so much food that you really don’t miss the hustle-bustle of Shimla or Manali. One and a half kilometres away is the Great Himalayan National Park and Raju will organise a trek there if you so desire. Here are some pictures below:

                                                 The approach to  Raju's cottage! 

Go on, take a chance. Aim for roads less travelled and you’ll find the holidays more fun than you can ever imagine!

Summer Getaways

                                            Ladakh June 2014

Come summer and the travel bug strikes. It becomes the hottest topic of conversation: where should we go for our vacation? In a tropical country like ours I cannot identify with anyone heading for still hotter climes. I’d like to spend my holidays without being roasted, thank you, so the mountains it is for my family and I. We have the advantage of living in glorious Chandigarh, which is at the foothills of Shimla which, in turn, opens up a whole range of possibilities for wonderful travels. You can do Shimla, of course, and sometimes be fortunate to get some awesome views. Or, if you’re feeling adventurous, go to Ladakh like we did two years back. Fantastic experience but not for the faint-hearted. Although I did a whole item on the Leh road trip, I’m sharing some great pictures below again

                                     Approaching Zoji La enroute from Srinagar to Leh

                                               Ladakh, Baralacha La   June 2014

Manali is another lovely option. Here’s what Rohtang La looked like in June 2014

But how about some less known jewels? Narkanda, for instance, just a little beyond Shimla offers some wonderful views of snow- laden mountains and the HPTDC Hotel Hatu is a pleasant place to stay. Here are some pictures of it.

                                 Hotel Hatu, Narkanda. That's our Yeti parked outside

                                          View from Hotel Hatu

The two lesser known getaways I’m sharing are great options for vacations. Some of you might’ve even been there. Kalpa, in Kinnaur District (famous for apples) is a small town above Reckong Peo. Both places are must-sees. Reckong Peo is resembles many other Himachal towns but the view of the Kinnaur Kailash range is jaw-dropping. Sample these below. Our hotel Kinner Villa was a cheap and cosy place with yummy homemade food. What more can one ask for?

                                             Reckong Peo

                                                 Hotel Kinner Villa

The last place recommended is in the next post, since I've exhausted the space for photos with this one!

Working Woman's Wonders- Part Two

There’s an anomaly peculiar to our country regarding the use of language. English is the language of official use in the Central Government and one finds that most officials can write English but not speak it well. The reverse is true for Hindi. Majority of those working in North India speak Hindi; it’s their mother tongue. But they can’t really write it well. The lack of fluency in spoken English does not, however, hold them back and they use it with a laissez-faire attitude that can be hilarious at times.

Take, for instance, the strangely Indian quirk of referring to anything behind them as ‘at my backside’. During my early years in service when I was posted in Bangalore and given the charge of administration of a large office, I’d launched a cleanliness drive. A few hours into it, a junior official came into my chamber with a look of consternation on his face.

“You have to intervene, Madam,” he said.

“Yes? What’s the problem?”

“Well, I am cooperating with this drive but administration section is putting files at my backside and bad smell is coming.”

On any given day in my present posting I receive about forty to fifty files. I have to go through them diligently. Now and then I come across bloopers that send me into fits of laughter.

Consider this: ‘Why this proposal is coming peace meal?’ (a junior official to the one who put up the file)

‘...hence the two lowest bidders are fit for evolution’ (evaluation!)

‘...kindly tell me if this still holds goods.’ (complainant in a pension case)

They’re many, many more, which I shall duly note and pass on.

But the incident that takes the cake so far occurred during a meeting I attended during my previous posting in Delhi. It was a high level meeting with a Member of the Board, Mr. Mohanty (we shall call him), who was from the eastern part of the country and, thus, had a distinct accent. There were many of us Directors in the room and Mr. Mohanty was bemoaning the slow progress of a particular project.

“You fellows* jaast don’t adhere to time lines,” he complained. “I keep telling and telling baat you don’t leesan. Whaat I shood do weeth you all, huh?”

*(everybody was ‘fellows’ for him. A new take on equality of the sexes, I guess).

We held our peace collectively.

“After all,” he continued, “you can take a daug...”

He paused. Dog? I wondered.

“You can take a dauk to tha water baat you can’t make eet drink.”

Dauk? Duck! A rumble of laughter went through the room. In what universe would one need to take a duck to the water?

“Horse! Horse!” I whispered. My colleagues giggled and tried to shush me.

Too late. Mr. Mohanty’s ears had caught my voice.

“Yes, Meeses Gupta, you have saamtheeng to share weeth aas?”

“Er, no, Sir. Nothing.”

He fixed me with a hoary glare. “Please, I eenseest.”

I cleared my throat and said: “I think it’s a horse, Sir.”

He looked at me as if I was mad.

“You theenk a dauk ees a horse?”

                                                                 *

And, as always, here are two videos related to language faux pas. Enjoy them!

Working Woman's Wonders- Part One

                                                  Here's one of me at an office function

                                                                 Just a few images

One of the delights of getting dressed and going to work every morning is the interesting people I get to meet during the course of the day. For a writer, this is a gold mine for sourcing characters to depict in my novels. Many of the people I come across feature in my works without them knowing it. I’m going to share some of the jewels I come across but, since they exist and are very much part of my office, I’m compelled to change their names. So please bear with me.

At present one of the chief characters is someone I shall call ‘Jeevanji.’ He’s fifty-five, podgy, cantankerous and a Smart Alec. He also occupies a supervisory position in my office. One day not so long ago my PA Deepak (name changed, of course) announced that Jeevanji wanted to see me.

“Send him in,” I said, presuming he wanted some clarifications regarding a meeting we’d scheduled the following day outside Chandigarh.

He entered with a pained expression on his face and, after taking a seat across my desk, declared that he was forced to approach me because he was being mistreated in the office.

“Mistreated?” I said in surprise.

“Yes, Madam. As you know, I never trouble you unless it’s unavoidable* but I have to report that Gopichand is showing me disrespect.”

(*bull&@#?+)

Gopichand is Jeevan’s bugbear, a cocky but intelligent subordinate, and the one to whom I’d delegated the work of organizing the next day’s meeting.

“What happened?” I asked.

“Well, he’s preparing folders for the meeting and he’s given me...well...an ordinary pen.”

I stared. “Excuse me?”

“Yes,” Jeevan said with a snivel. “An ordinary pen. I should have a better pen since I’m senior to the rest of the officials attending the meeting.”

I’d set a limit of twenty rupees for pens that are put into files along with small notebooks at such conferences or meetings. Now, I could scarcely believe my ears.

“What kind of pen do you want, Jeevanji?”

“Well, it should be better than the others’, at least thirty or forty rupees.” He went on to explain that by the grace of God he was well- to- do and it wasn’t that he couldn’t afford to buy himself a pen but it was the principle of the thing.

“All right,” I conceded, “I’ll tell Gopi to put a better pen in your folder.”

“Thank you, Ma`am,” he said brightening, and left my chamber with a spring in his step.

The meeting went off well the next day. Jeevanji, Gopichand, and a few other officials from my office travelled an hour and a half out of Chandigarh to the venue and there didn’t seem to be any tension during the two hours we spent there. The day after, however, Jeevanji was back in my chamber red-faced and apparently on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

“What’s happened now?” I exclaimed.

“Madam, I am constrained to report a serious matter,” he said in a choked voice. “I was manhandled yesterday.”

“Manhandled?” I must admit I was worried.

“Well, not exactly,” he said, much to my relief. “But they...they treated me very badly while travelling to the meeting.” Jeevan, Gopichand and two other officials travelled together in a hired vehicle, a Tata Indica. He went on to explain they’d planned things in such a way that he was the last to be fetched (at his own request, I’m sure) and when he got into the car he found they’d all taken their seats. He was forced into the backseat between Gopichand and another chap. “And all through the journey, they squeezed me from both sides!” he said, gesturing with his elbows. “Each time the car turned a corner, they fell on top of me.”

I tried hard to maintain an impassive facade but I was nearly collapsing with laughter on the inside.

“You’re senior to them,” I said, “Why didn’t you insist on a window seat? You could’ve sat in front with the driver, too.”

“No, Ma`am, you don’t know what it was like. They were three against me.”

“If they were being rude you, as their senior, could’ve simply told the driver to stop the car and ordered them to get out. They could’ve taken a bus back to Chandigarh.”

“No, Madam, I am not such a harsh person.”

“Well, what is it you want me to do?”

“Nothing. I just wanted to bring this to your kind notice. For the future.”

I was perplexed but agreed to make a note of it- for future reference; won’t force him to travel in the same vehicle with Gopichand again.

“One more thing, Ma`am, since you’ve spared your valuable time...He took my file away.”

“Gopi? Which file?”

“The one...the one with my pen. He picked it up with the rest of the folders after the meeting.”

“But that was his job, Jeevanji. He collects the unused folders- or used ones and brings them back to Chandigarh. He picked mine up, too. I’m sure he’ll return yours. Do you want me to tell him?”

“Yes, Ma`am. With the pen, please.”

Every word of this is true. Watch this space for more such jewels.

And now for Dolly Parton's unforgettable '9 to 5'

Christmas Under the Konkan Sun: Our road trip from Chandigarh to Goa and Back

                                         One of the ferries that transported us over a river

                                           Candolim Beach, Christmas 2015

The sea along the Konkan Coast

The famed beauty of the Konkan coast lures many people to the region especially in December- January, since it’s the coolest time of the year. Many choose the Konkan railway and those living nearby might drive along but how many people decide to drive halfway across our vast country? To be precise: Chandigarh- Goa- Chandigarh? My guess is, not many.

We began our journey on the afternoon of December 18, 2015 and returned to Chandigarh on New Year’s Eve at a quarter to twelve. We travelled through Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka, covering over 5000 kilometres! Our vehicle: the Skoda Yeti, a beautiful, sturdy four-wheel drive. After a night halt at Delhi on the 18^th, we proceeded to Udaipur in Rajasthan, passed through Gujarat on the 19^th and landed up in Navi Mumbai on the 20^th of December. Rajasthan is not particularly traveller-friendly despite being on the tourist radar, since the roads are narrow and the marble industry brings trucks by the dozens all day long. Getting stuck behind one of these is miserable. However, the people are generally courteous and patient unlike our friends in Delhi or UP and Bihar or anywhere else in the East! NH 4 also lacks signboards and decent restaurants or dhabas. All we saw in profusion were truckers’ eateries without any ‘family’ cars parked outside. But the countryside is beautiful in a stark, expansive way. Shrubs and Eucalyptus trees line the hilly terrain and Bougainvillea in red and pink separate the single lane roads. The Rajput legacy lives on and most hotels and guesthouses have facades designed to resemble fortresses.

Upon entering Gujarat, the first thing that strikes you is the excellent roads and signboards that are displayed prominently. What a relief! To see the asphalt gleaming in the sunlight was a real pleasure. Everything perks up suddenly and this continues pretty much all through Maharashtra. Navi Mumbai was crazy. If you think Delhi is crowded, just visit Mumbai. Flyovers, high-rise buildings and horrendous traffic. Overwhelming. Or maybe we’re just spoilt in Chandigarh.

Further south of Mumbai, the pretty Maharashtra countryside greeted us and then came the Konkan coast. Lush, green, thickly wooded and undulating, the road follows the sea most of the way and it’s a feast for the eye. The Western Ghats have a steep gradient in some places. The weather was cool, the population sparse and everything was laced with a languid air. The houses had thatched roofs without exception because of heavy rains that come down all year round and many of them were painted in bright, pretty colours: Blue, Pink and Yellow.

We crossed the narrow rivers five times by ferry along with our vehicle and it was great fun. Bigger ferries transport upto eight vehicles plus motorcycles, the smaller ones only two or three SUVs. It was cheap (only two hundred rupees for the Yeti and four of us passengers), the people were polite and patient and the surroundings were spectacular.

A word about the cuisine: fantastic local dishes. We had prawns galore but there was also lots of Pomfret, Surmai, chicken and pork on offer.

We dropped in at two temples en route: Harihareshwar in Maharashtra, which is called Dakshin Kashi and Ganpatipule in Goa. Both are located on the beach and, unlike North Indian temples, they were clean and peaceful- no Pandas trying to extort money.

Delfino's, Candolim

Fisherman's Cove, Candolim

Lovely Portuguese style house, Panjim

We reached Goa on the 23^rd and- wow! It was lovely. Our rented Dupleix was in Candolim, which is perhaps the best beach since it’s clean and not too crowded. Baga and Calangute were crazy: crowded with barely enough standing space but lively, too. Candolim is peaceful even though it’s overrun with Russians. Restaurant menus are bilingual: English and Russian, shopkeepers speak Russian and every other person is White. I heard English and French accents but, surprisingly no Australian or American or German.

One’s spoilt for choice where food is concerned. There are restaurants every few feet on the main road in Candolim. Delfino’s supermarket dominates the market and in the same line there’s a bakery that goes by the delightful name, Butter Fingers. Yummy brownies there.

I wasn’t too impressed with the shops since T-shirts, flipflops, hats and key chains are about all one can buy but the market was lit up for Christmas so it was fun. Christmas music playing all over, Churches everywhere, the Christmas spirit was ubiquitous. The three beaches I mentioned are in North Goa. We travelled down to South Goa- Panjim and Fort Aguada. Panjim has an old world Portuguese feel with gorgeous houses and Churches, broad roads with shady trees Basilica of Bom Jesus  that houses the remains of St. Francis Xavier is a tourist hot spot but the crowds and commercial ambience there left me cold. In stark contrast is the Immaculate Conception Church, which is situated at a height, and its white radiance is breath-taking. We were fortunate to visit it on Christmas Day.

Our return journey wasn’t half as much fun, how could it be? We took the Murudeshwar- Pune- Surat- Jaipur route and, although the roads were good we were weighed down with a sense of ‘back to work’ (hubby and me) and ‘back to school’ (my son, who’s in Class Ten). We did 1100 kms the last day! Because it was New Year’s Eve and hotels would be exorbitant. And also because my son had to get back asap to make up for a week’s school he’d missed. It was back breaking but the joy of sleeping in one’s own bed made up for the rigours of the journey.

Ah, Home Sweet Home.

She's No Lady: Wicked Women in film/ fiction

(Glen Close as Cruella de Vil in 101 Dalmations, The Witch in Rapunzel, Judi Dench as Lady Macbeth)

She’s ruthless, cruel and, more often than not, beautiful. She wields great power over the people around her, a destructive kind of power that brings havoc in their lives. She’s the antagonist to whom we’re strangely drawn. Let me introduce you to some wicked women in films and fiction.

Many moons ago two German brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, better known as The Brothers Grimm, set about collecting folklore and gave the world some of the most memorable fairy tales. Cinderella, Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, Sleeping Beauty and Rapunzel, all come from the Brothers Grimm stable (19^th Century). What’s common among them all is the presence of evil female characters: stepmothers, queens, witches, who pretty much shade the good ones! (Wonder what their Mom was like). Take the Queen in Snow White, for instance. Isn’t she far more interesting than wimpy Snow?

Hansel and Gretel has not one but two powerful female antagonists: the children’s step mother, who persuades their cowardly father to abandon Hansel and Gretel in the forest, and the cannibalistic witch in the gingerbread house. Food for thought: the step mother dies when Gretel kills the witch. So were they the same person, metaphorically?

Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth is far more decisive and strong-willed than her better half. Even though he’s just vanquished enemies in a bloody battle and hailed as a hero, he comes home to meekly endure her taunts. She feels he’s too full of ‘the milk of human kindness’. When he asks nervously, ‘If we should fail?’ (to murder King Duncan), she admonishes him with: ‘We fail? But screw your courage to the sticking place/ and we’ll not fail.’ (Act I, scene vii). She’s the one that plans the murder. Later, when she’s driven insane with guilt and ends her life, we know Macbeth can’t last long without her.

In C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, it’s the White Witch Jadis who grabs eyeballs (in the movie adaptations thanks to the awesome Tilda Swinton) more than the rest of the cast. She’s frozen Narnia in a Hundred Years’ Winter and she has a wand that turns living creatures to stone. She kills, seduces and leads children astray. Gasp!

Cruella de Vil appeared first in Dodie Smith’s novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians (1956). Who can forget Glen Close’s brilliant turn as Cruella in the movie version? Her appearance on screen makes one shudder as she lusts after the innocent puppies for their soft fur. She wears claws on her gloves, teeth in her necklace, and nails in her heels. Wouldn’t like to meet her anytime soon.

(Tilda Swinton as the White Witch Jadis in The Chronicles of Narnia)

Quentin Tarantino’s blood fests Kill Bill (Vol. I & II) are stocked with strong female characters. Apart from the Bride (Uma Thurman), the gal that impresses most is Daryl Hannah’s portrayal of Elle Driver (or California Mountain Snake). Tall, lithe and blonde, Elle is an assassin on Bill’s payroll. She despises the Bride but also acknowledges her as a great warrior. With a black patch over her blinded right eye, she makes a sinister figure as she arrives at a hospital dressed as a nurse to inject comatose Bride with deadly poison, only to be told by Bill to abort the mission. I guarantee you’ll heave a sigh of relief.

Volumnia in Shakespeare’s Coriolanus is the epitome of a Tiger Mom. Like a good (?) Italian Mom she exercises a huge influence over her son, raising him to be a deadly warrior and to conquer the world. While other mothers beg their sons to stay home, she pushes him off to war. Check out her proud boast:

‘When yet he was but tender-bodied and the only son of/ my womb...(I) let him seek danger where he/ was like to find fame. To a cruel war, I sent him.’ (Act I, scene iii).

She also takes credit for her son’s achievements: ‘Thy valiantness was mine; thou suck’st it from me’. (Act III, scene ii). With a mom like that did the dude stand a chance of having a normal life?

                                           (Diane Kruger as Helen of Troy in the movie Troy)

A host of other women come to mind in the classical tradition, not least sisters Clytemenestra and Helen, both of whom bring their spouses (brothers Agamemnon and Menelaus, respectively) to grief. Helen ran off with Paris and caused poor, peaceful Troy to suffer a ten years’ war and final destruction. In the end she emerges unscathed. Not only does she marry Paris’s younger brother Deiphobus, after Paris’s death, she also reconciles with Menelaus when he slaughters Deiphobus during the sack of Troy and sails back to Sparta with him! Agamemnon returns to his kingdom Mycene after the war with Trojan Princess Cassandra as his concubine, only to be hacked to death in the bath with a double- headed axe by Clytemenestra. She doesn’t spare Cassandra, either.

These characters stand out because traditionally women are considered to be nurturers and life-givers. But why can’t a woman be as evil as a man? Every scheming, murdering, hateful man that ever lived was born of woman.

Mamas, teach your children well. The future of the world depends on you.