In a recent comment on Canada’s National Post newspaper, James C. Hathaway writes about the common confusion between the terms of smuggling and trafficking — two terms which have been very commonly referred to in the backdrop of the arrival of 492 Tamil asylum seekers aboard a ship to Canada.
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2010/09/13/james-c-hathaway-why-human-smuggling-is-vital/
Senthil Ratnasabapathy
Many, many years ago, I met a young and aspiring British journalist and ended up in a conversation about the pros and cons of the proportional representation (PR) system vs. the so-called first-past-the post system.
He said the Britons would be against the PR system because of the instability it could bring to governing. He meant the PR system that was practised by all European countries and where, particularly in Italy, no one party gains the majority, and major parties are forced to cobble up coalitions which then disintegrate away as soon as possible.
Paul Theroux’s Ghost Train to the Eastern Star is in a way a sequel to his first book, The Great Railway Bazaar, which was published in 1975. For the second book, which is made up of 496 pages, he takes almost the same route. He starts off in the UK, travels up to Japan then takes a different route on his way back. He skips Iran and Afghanistan this time but travels through the various ‘stans’ in Central Asia before landing in India. And when he cannot take the train, he travels by car or flies.
Theroux is not a tourist, but a traveller who loves trains. I could not fathom from his book how long he spent travelling but it must have been a long time and there were days at a stretch when spent 24/7 on a train. Some of these are not the comfortable trains that one sees in parts of North America or western Europe, but really run-down carriages with rough seats and cafeteria selling greasy food prepared by men wearing thick glasses made thicker with layers of grease.
But Theroux seems to love them, just as he seem to love the solitude of the rolling stock. In fact, it even appears that he does not like changes. There are times he finds a strange sense of comfort when things have remained the same way – particularly if it is very rudimentary and even ugly. It is as if he fears changes.
Theroux loves east Asia – in fact there are times one gets the feeling this was after all a trip to Asia, particularly to south east Asian countries such as Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia – where even beggars have a beauty and dignity – and Japan. He spends pages and pages describing his experiences while most of the European countries get but a passing glance – because he just travels through them.
One of the happiest moments for a writer is when someone recognises his or her name when introduced, or even better, when the writer sees someone reading his or her piece of work.
And Theroux witnesses both.
In Myanmar (Burma) he is given a special treat in a hotel by its Indian managers when they realised he had brought much fame to their hotel when he wrote about them in his first book. And he also sees a woman reading his book while he was on a train.
All in all, a great read, if you have the patience and you can overlook some of his rather partial or errenous statements on the politics of countries he visits.
Just finished Aravind Adiga’s latest book, Between the Assassinations.
Adiga was a former Time correspondent in India and rose to fame with his first book, The White Tiger, which won the Man Booker Prize last year.
The Assassinations is an interesting book for its settings: set between the assassinations of two of India’s prime ministers, Indira Gandhi in 1984 and her son Rajiv in 1991, it narrates the life and times of a south Indian village.
It revolves around a short period of time, but within that period, the collection of short stories brings to us India with all its diversity and contradictions – here you find a church, a temple and a mosque with all the followers of the religions, the different castes the classes etc etc.
A quick googling determined that Kittur, the village around which the book is centred, does exist.
(Originally written in May 2008)
Finally, I am on the plane to India. It is a long-time dream come true, and I have managed to tame my desire to visit the whole of India within the three weeks I have.
One of the biggest issues to consider when planning for such a trip is the choice of carrier. I was very tempted to either Emirates or Ethihad, as it would allow me to fly via the Gulf. I had heard they were using the new A380 and I wanted to try that out. But I wanted to fly into Mumbai and fly out of Chennai, and the easiest was Jet Airways. And it was the cheapest too.
But I had my misgivings. Jet Airways is a relatively new privately-owned airlines from India, without the benefit of a long history and government money.
I booked the flight through them anyway, and soon my first doubt arose – when I saw the ticket: I had assumed they would be using the wide-bodied 747 for the Brussels-Mumbai flight. But they were using a smaller aircraft. It is going to be a long flight.
However, once I took my seat inside the plane, I was a little relieved a little bit. It was a newer Airbus with each seat having its own mini-TV screen. And then they gave a ‘little gift’ – a mini tooth brush with a toothpaste tube and an eye-cover, all encased in quite an elegant plastic case.
Once the aircraft started, we were given the usual dinner, and I could not suppress my surprise when I saw they were dishing out real napkins, followed by ‘real’ cutlery. I mean real, not paper napkins and plastic cutlery. And the choice of entertainment was huge – from Hindi and other Indian language movies to Hollywood movies and documentaries.
The Brussels-Mumbai leg of the tour was also done in a fairly new aircraft with even more leg room. And I realized that with the flying time almost same as Toronto-Brussels, there was really no need for a 747.
The flight turned a little sour when I was cheated of my non-veg lunch as they had run out of it, and instead got a vegetarian dish. It did taste well, but not quite like the unsavoured non-veg dish. And I was given Stella while I had asked for Tiger Beer.
From Mumbai I flew on a turbo-prop to Ahmedabad. It was also a new plane and believe me, we were given a snack, which consisted of almost fresh-tasting lime juice, sandwich, bun and a delicious potato curry. At four in the morning!
Throughout the flights, I should say the service was excellent.
And I am really impressed that a relatively new kid on the block could create such a vast system to implement their global ambitions. Kudos to them.
And now to the mystery: on the Toronto-Brussels flight the cutlery was metal while on the Brussels-Mumbai flight it was plastic (and paper napkins). I thought that may be because the first flight was a code-share with Air Canada, Jet Airways wanted to impress. But the Mumbai-Ahmedabad flight had metal cutlery.
May be Jet Airways could explain the reason for this seemingly confusing display of service.
I have decided to add a blog to my site.
My old articles and all other stuff available here.
Keep tuned for newer stuff.
Thanks and good luck.
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