Tata Nano - safe to drive in developing countries

I happen to see this picture about the new released Tata nano. It was a little shocked to see "Plastic and adhesive replaces welding"... o.o., how can this pass the crash test for safety?

Then I did a little more research, and found out, this is only for the model sold in developing countries, in which people won't drive that fast to cause fatal crash. That explains. It is too cheap to believe: $2500. The good news is, it meets European emmission standars. Although the environmental activists protested for the pollution concern since this would allow a lot more Indians to own a car, to look at the bright side of the picture, it at least shows the manufacturer's respect on today's 'global warming' concern.

This reminds me the yellow taxi that had served many years in many cities in China in 1990s. I do not know which company produced it, we call it 'Mian di ()', or 'Huang Chong (yellow bug)'. We used to love it, since 10 yuan can take six persons go 10 kilometers. It was also big enough and convenient for moving. Just in Beijing, there were 100,000 of them for a period of time. I know the safety was a big issue for this car, people told me it was just like four wheels + an engine + a cardboard box on top.

Before the end of 1998, all these kind of taxi were removed from the Beijing's street. There were no more 1 yuan per km taxi any more on the streets. The main reason was pollution rather than safety. It is true that when driving speed is not high, the possibility of fatal auto crash is limited. Tata is wise in making a green car.

When Tata unveiled its nano and attracted the world's attention, it is my best wish to see that Chinese auto companies some day would also stand up proudly to show the world a total made in China model. It seems that most Chinese auto companies are copy cat, good at reverse engineering. Look at all these facts:

1. In 2003, Toyota Motor Corp. sued Hangzhou-based Geely Group Co. for copying the Japanese company's logo and slapping it on Geely models. Toyota lost the case.
2. Honda Motor Co. won a ruling that bars Chongqing Lifan Industrial from selling motorcycles under the "Hongda" brand.
3. Honda is also suing Shuanghuan Automobile Co., saying the Chinese company's Laibao SRV is a copy of the Honda CR-V sport-utility vehicle.
4. GM Daewoo filed suit in a Shanghai court alleging that Chery Automobile Co. stole its trade secrets to make the QQ.
... ...

Some new information: India has 8 per cent of the world’s vehicle fatalities and less than 1 per cent of its cars, with more than 90,000 people killed on the country’s roads every year. Introducing a million Nanos into the mix may bring more – and unwelcome – headlines.

What I would like to see, is Tata can somehow invest on public transportation. When people are densely populated, it really make more sense to take buses or trains than drive your own cars. Who can push this to happen in both China and India?

Durga Puja in Kolkata

In Bengali there is a saying that there are thirteen festivals in twelve months. Durga puja is definitely the star one of them. We consider Goddess Durga comes down from the heavenly abode to our dear earth at this time of the year as if a daughter visits her parent's house for four days. Perhaps our city Kolkata displays more frenzy at her approach.

Plans for the puja start months ahead of the event. Family pujas are observed in the traditional way where as collective pujas ,we call it 'baro-jary' Pujas. It is derived from baro (twelve), and jary (friends). Actually such venture was first kicked off on the decision of twelve friends who thought such pujas may be organized. With the passage of time such pujas have gained more strength. To provide competitive atmosphere some business houses are offering prizes for best idol, best decoration, best theme of pandal etc. etc.

On the other side , this is the most important time for the business groups. They keep their shops open for all the seven days of the week for about a month ahead of the event. Starting from dresses, jeweleries to food grains to sweetmeat dealers make most during this time. Discounts of special nature are offered for different household items. This gives a great boost to other sectors also. The idol makers,the pandal decorators, the lighting experts are all having a busy business time.

No festival is complete without special foods. Hotels & Restaurants prepare special dishes for the festive periods. Many people do enjoy foods outside their houses when they are busy in pandal hopping. The city does not sleep during these days. The puja has gradually become an international event. With more & more Bengali migrating to different countries of the worlds, it is observed as a point of get-together or reunion.

This is the biggest Bengali festival in a year that I have been wanting to be present once later. Every year around this time, we were asked to buy some good clothes for ourselves for this festival. We should also greet family members 'shubho bijoya'. If we are there, we should also touch the elders' feet to show respect. Senior Awaara wrote another piece for this, and I still feel that there were more interesting part. You might want to read some more from this New York Times article: A 10-Armed Goddess Charms a Frenetic Megalopolis .

What I was fascinated the most is that, during this festival for three days, the place where Mr. and Mrs. Senior Awaara live, hired cooks to cook for the whole community, both breakfast and lunch. Of course everyone donate some money to make this happen. Moreover, it is also a great community participation with their passion and effort. Mrs. Senior Awaara couldn't find time to talk with us, since she was running busy all the time from early morning till evening for the work involved in this celebration. She and some other ladies in the neighborhood, once got up in the morning at 3:00am, to make prassad, a kind of sweet, to be given to the God and Goddess.

PS. The photo was taken by Mr. Awaara's sister in a Bombay.

October 2 - Mahatma Gandhi's Birthday

October second is Gandhi's birthday, a day in India that has been celebrated as a national holiday. Every year on this day, Mr. Awaara remembers that the film Gandhi which has won nine Oscar award in 1982, is shown on TV.

Around a month ago a statue of former South African President Nelson Mandela has been unveiled in the Parliament Square in London. After that, London Mayor Ken Livingstone has said he would like to see a statue of Gandhi in the Square. In his words, "You get millions of people from all over the world who come to see Big Ben and see the statue of Churchill and so on, and here's someone they would understand. In a thousand years they'll still know who Mahatma Gandhi was, whereas if you wander round Trafalgar Square, the two generals there, you have to go and check the history books.

Mr. Awaara Senior was asked to write a little about Gandhi, and here is what he wrote:

I was born in the year 1946, India got independence in 1947 and Gandhi was assassinated in 1948.
So, I could not feel the presence of this great man during his lifetime. What I have experienced in the subsequent years is his sacrifice & influence of the power of non-violence that was practiced & preached by him throughout his life. Gandhiji* was great as a politician,as a leader of men ,as a reformer. He was greater than all these as a man.
Gandhiji is an icon to all classes of people in India. He is remembered ,referred & quoted for all purposes.
His B`days come & go every year ,celebrated with much fanfare & new statues of all shapes & sizes are unveiled by eminent peoples at different corners of the country as well as abroad. Still his principle of non-violence is being practiced whether in South Africa or Myanmer. His life has been a lesson for all ages to come.

* Gandhiji is a respected way of calling Gandhi. Adding ji after any name is showing your respect in Indian language.

Gandhi has his talisman to share with people. Talisman is something that produce apparently magical or miraculous effects. I think it is also meaningful to share with everyone here who happen to read this post. If you understand it and practice it, it is magic.

I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man [woman] whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him [her]. Will he [she] gain anything by it? Will it restore him [her] to a control over his [her] own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj [freedom] for the hungry and spiritually starving millions? Then you will find your doubts and your self melt away.

Indian idol - Meiyang Chang

I have been interested in the connections between India and China, because of the special knot tied with Mr. Awaara. This handsome ethnic Chinese boy, Meiyang Chang, in Indian news came into our attention because of his Chinese ethnic origin. He got into the fifth position in the Indian Idol!

His name has become a term in Wikipedia, the third generation Chinese living in India, originated from Hubei, China. He is 24 years old, a dentist. His name clearly shows his Chinese ethnic identity, the same as well as his look. There is a Chinatown in Kolkata, the only one in India. It started forming the community since late 1700s. Their main industry is in restaurants, shoemaking, beauty salon. Mr. Awaara's family dentist is a Chinese origin. The dental clinics are becoming dominated by Chinese in Kolkata. Chinese community has made most of the restaurant in Kolkata has both Indian and Chinese menus.

China in the history has experienced too much turmoils, so its population has continued emigrating to all over the world. I was surprised to find out that it was not until 1998 that ethnic Chinese were allowed naturalized Indian citizenship. I would imagine that in such a diverse and highly mixed country, living as a foreigner might not be as difficult as living as a minority. Meiyang is definitely a Chinese. There is no traits of India blood in his gene. However, he speaks the perfect Hindi, better than Mr. Awaara (he admitted to me). His soft voice singing Hindi songs, has won him lots of support. However, his not brown color has been highly stressed throughout the competition. And some have made it the reason why he could not go up further.

India Times says:
That fact shows how well the Chang family have assimilated themselves into the fabric of this nation they now call their very own. It is also a great tribute to the neighbors, the community, and the towns and cities that surrounded generations of Chang family without making them feel isolated and left out, and showered them with Indian hospitality. ... Meiyang Chang, an Chinese-Indian citizen, represents the modern India, the global version of Bharat, the multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-racial, multiply-talented generation of Indians who, it seems, are out to create a community that one day will make the world a better place.

However, some argue for his winning for other reasons:
... (his) achingly innocent voice and humble demeanor make him sound like a young Kumar Sanu I’m rooting for him to win Indian Idol, and not only because of his voice. Chang winning would throw a fag on the pyre of the idea of India as a nation state. He would throw in the BJP’s face the idea that the cow belt has a monopoly on who’s a true Indian. He would do it in the most patriotic way possible, singing the songs all of northern India knows.

It becomes an interesting debate within Indian communities about the way the media is placing on him, constant reminders on his ethnic Chinese identity (although he doesn't speak Chinese) rather than a brown Indian people. (See this.)

For me, watching his performance on Youtube, the attachment built because of commonly being Chinese crashed slowly. He speaks the language that I have no ideal of! I can't tell how well he was singing, since I don't know who Kumar Sanu is. He is totally an Indian for me.

Jumbo romance

There is an interesting news in India recently, about a huge tusker, a wild elephant, straight out of the jungle, raided a circus, freed a female elephant and eloped with her to make a cozy home by a pond in Raniganj, West Bengal.

It is such a familiar name of the city that many of Mr. Awaara's relatives living there. When he was little, circus always came to their town. He was once picked up by an elephant using its trunk, and then put him back on the ground. I somehow can picture the scene of a small boy was taken in elephant's big trunk. I still remember when we told this story to Jing and Liang, they were so surprised.

For me, circus was always the scene in the TV. That was changed in our last year's visit to Fort Worth, Texas. We saw many people were waiting in line to entering a stadium for a circus show, and I was very interested. Mr. Awaara was surprised that I had never been to one, so we bought the ticket. Yiling said maybe that was affordable (12 dollars each) because it was in Texas. Similar show in Boston cost a lot more. So I now know most of the circus programs are similar, and elephant are there important programs. At the end, all elephants, six of them, came to the center, and younger kids could go to the center and take an elephant ride.

Back to the romance story, there was a twist later. There were four female elephants were following the bull to run away, although it seems that he was only interested in the one called Savitri. Then the circus people managed to bring back three of them. Later, one of the female who were brought back started fasting, showing her grieve for leaving of her friend. The story sounds totally like a bollywood masala script, as the Times of Indian says.

It is the mating season for this male elephant, and he might desperately be looking for a mate. Savitri determined to leave with him. This might be called the love at first sight. This reminds me of Qiong. She told me once after she went for a matchmaking meeting. "I haven't experienced 'love at first sight', but I really know what is 'no love at first sight'".

An interesting study on fast dating revealed that men look for beauty, while women go for wealth when it comes to assessing future partners. This study of course doesn't apply to most of the couples in real life. Because the rising of the match making business, when "speed dating" becomes a way to look for a life long partner, it is possible to find out what is the factors people taking into account when they choose their partners. The news says women are more 'choosier' than men.

What do elephants look for when they are looking for partners? Are they sharing some human being's desire for beauty? There is no money in their society, then they should mutually looking for beauty?

Raksha Bandhan

Today is the Rakhi day in India, the full moon day of July (Shraavana), the day to celebrate the bond between brothers and sisters. Didi called early in the morning to wish Mr. Awaara. Every year before this day, we will receive a Rakhi in a card from her. Rakhi, is a holy thread with nice decorations to tie on the brother's wrist. Mr. Awaara must have had at least seven with him, during all these years he has been away.

The festival is marked by the tying of a rakhi, or holy thread by the sister on the wrist of her brother. The brother in return offers a gift to his sister and vows to look after her. It is not necessary that the rakhi can be given only to a brother by birth; any male can be "adopted" as a brother by tying a rakhi on the person, that is "blood brothers or sisters", whether they are cousins or a good friend.

This is what is written in Wikipedia. It is interesting festival and I couldn't find anything similar in Chinese culture. Chinese have festivals to celebrate the solidarity and kinship, but nothing specifically between brothers and sisters. Although Mr. Awaara received Rakhi every year from Didi, but I haven't seen a real Raksha Bandhan myself. I remember I once asked him whether I could tie the rakhi on his wrist, he refused since that was between brothers and sisters. I finally know that brothers should also send gifts back to their sisters. It seems that Mr. Awaara was not doing that at all. I don't know whether he has vowed to protect didi in their phone conversations.

There is another brother-sister festival that happened during the time I was there, 'Bhai Dooj'. It is interesting to see the bond between brothers and sisters were so much celebrated in the Indian culture. We heard from Didi this morning that Urmi was expecting a brother now, because then her kids will have a Mamu later. I am thinking of aother reason, she will have great festivals to celebrate every year.

Later today, there is a BBC news item, saying the Indian festival market is full of products coming from China. A lady who used to make Rahkri to support her family, can't compete with things from China any more. On the TV screen, she is very sad. Customers are split two sided. One said Chinese product might have used dangerous material and not safe, so she would buy indian made Rahkri. The other said made in China Rahkri is cheaper, and more to choose from.