Holi

Saturday was Holi. The fun, colorful Indian festival. I kinda missed celebrating Holi. Which is a little weird because its not my most favorite of festivals. I think I know why; it was because when I was about 9 years old, my friends decided that it would be great to use paint! Not just kids, we had some adults going crazy with the paint. I think the paint removal process traumatized me!!
At that time, my dad was posted at this little army cantonment in Jammu and Kashmir. It was pretty much on the border of J&K and Punjab. I have the fondest memories of that place. Waking up early to fill a tub with water balloons and then go on the prowl. The only day when hitting an adult with a water balloon did not get you in trouble! We used to have huge parties in the Army Officers Mess. Holi would bring out rainbow colored people, who spent the morning wishing and coloring friends and then having brunch. Maybe I associate Holi with being a kid and that just calls me sometimes, you know going back in time, being a kid again.
Another holi memory is of the time when I was in the 10th Grade. I was taking my 10th board exams, which are a huge deal, and I think Holi was right before an exam. I was so distracted seeing kids running around. In a way I was happy that I did not have to go out a play holi. Those water balloons are not fun when you get hit, but fun to throw!
As every year passes in a far away country, every festival acutely focuses on how far away I am.

Indian Runner Fails Gender Test

This has been in the news for a few days now. Asian games are going on in Doha, Qatar. Indian runner Santhi Soundarajan won a silver medal in women's 800m event. She was stripped off her medal after she failed a "gender test".
I was not even aware that there was such a thing as a gender test in sports. I guess it makes sense considering that the events are broken down into women's and men's. The thing that bothers me most, is the insensitivity with which this was reported. Especially in a country like India, where questions like these can have a very negative effect on a person's life. Apparently

"Soundarajan appeared to have “abnormal chromosomes.” The official also said the test revealed more Y chromosomes than allowed."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16258993/

People are speculating if she had a sex-change procedure.

"Santhi, like many Indian track and field athletics, took up sport to find a secure job and escape grinding poverty.

One of five children of brick-kiln labourers in a rural village in southern Tamil Nadu state, she overcame malnutrition as a child to become a middle-distance runner.

Her family could not even afford a television and watched Santhi's Doha race at a neighbour's house."

To me that does not seem to be an environment where someone's focus was to get a gender-change procedure. She probably never went to a gynecologist or endocrinologist or even thought she had a problem.

Lakshadweep Islands

So here I was, sitting at my desk and dreaming of where I would want to go for a vacation if tickets to India were not so freakishly expensive in December. Nevertheless I decided to live vicariously thorough the all encompassing internet. Don't know why or how, but out of the blue I remembered these teeny islands off the western coast of India called Lakshadweep. So I trudge off to Wikipedia (ofcourse I don't "trudge" to wikipedia, but makes it sound more like an adventure!! Well.... this is as adventurous as I can be from the confines of this Herman Miller)
What do I find? Actually not much information, I mean after all this is one of the untouched places, like Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Unsullied beaches (unlike the rest of the coastal India), probably not teeming with tourists (no offense to Goa). Looks like most of the tourism is handled by the govt, which does not give me much confidence as to how easy it is to access the islands and how easy is it to go on vacation there. But the sheer gorgeousness of the place beckons me. Yeah one day.....