The antelope's strategy

The antelope's strategy - Living in Rwanda after the Genocide
By Jean Hatzfeld.

The atmosphere:
I just finished reading this book. On a Sunday morning, quite cold by California standard, while sitting at Peet's coffee shop at 7:30 am i started reading it from 100 page or so and finished it at 11:30 am while sipping my coffee. Peet's coffee on Castro is a spacious coffee shop where you can see allkinds of people doing interesting things - some with their laptops open, some solving crosswords from today's paper, some forming business plans, some merely grouping with friends, old people just relaxing there and some like me are reading books - all while drinking good coffee.

The text:
The antelope's strategy is the third book by Jean Hatzfeld on Rwandan genocide. The first was an account of survivors in the book -Life laid bare, the second was an account of killers in Machete season. After 7 years Rwandan govt released the killers from prison and asked both the survivors and killers to live amongst each other, to reconcile differences and try to lead humane lives. In Antelope's strategy, Jean talks to people from both sides the killers (Hutus) and survivors (Tutsi) on what they feel about this govt's decision, how are they coping up, what happens when they see a person from other group. This book is account of actual people living there and through them Jean talks about justice, reconciliation, faith, God, past-present-future, motivations, guilt, shame and many deep ideas. In between these social discussions, Jean also gives a context on how people live there now, how they used to live before genocide and what happened during genocide. On one side there are survivors who expect atleast some apology from killers now they are set free, and there are some survivors who know that even if they apologize it wont make any difference. On the other side there are killers who think same, some dont apologize because they know that it wont make any difference and some who do. Jean also describes although not in complete detail about steps taken by Govt to promote reconciliation, how the prisoners were trained, how survivors were trained etc etc.


I have not read the first two books but after reading this one, i am definitely going to read them atleast the Machete season. Why Machete season? The idea that a normal farmer can become a mass murdered within a time span of 3-6 months, the idea that a normal man can murder his neighbors without blinking an eye, murder children etc is very strange to me. I hope to fund these answers in Machete season through their accounts.


Non-fiction writing comes in many forms, the one that i read i summer - Hamas vs fatah gave historical account of the two factions in 300 pages. This book, however, instead of talking about historical facts takes a social commentary type of position and explains the lives and times of suring genocide and its aftermath, something that i think is very difficult to record, something that is very difficult to put into words but it is of immense value both from historical stand point and to a reader who has no idea of what or how it was. Shaking hands with the devil - the journey of Romeo Dallaire was my first introduction to Rwandan genocide and that moved me deeply. This book gives a thousand time better picture and shows how different human see the same thing so differently. I highly recommend this book.

The contrast:
Such was the contrast that i was seeing between what i was reading, what i was seeing in the coffee shop and what i was imagining aka India. It could be very well the difference between underdeveloped nation, developed nation and a developing one. It shows how easily India could have been Rwanda (to some extent it already happened i think about Godhra) or how easily it can become a Rwanda (if i look at what is happening - MNS in Maharashtra, Manipur, Naxalites etc), so there are many lessons to learn here. Sitting at the coffee shop and looking at people around me, it just tells you how life should be, this is what meant by peace by civilization perhaps. And in the text it was antithesis, of humanity is capable of...etc etc.

I lost, gained and fought for hope several times in a matter of 4 hrs.

Children of the pyre

Imdb link - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1347314/
I saw children of the pyre today at San Francisco Castro theater as part of South Asian film festival organized by third I group.
Now a group with name like third I (aha - remembering the Spic logo) i had to watch one and Children of the pyre was an arbit selection.

Children of pyre is a story about 6 children who are working to cremate bodies in some holy village in Varnasi. The movie is an account of theiry work, the environment around them, why they are doing it, what do they think about it etc etc.

In the movie/book Blade runner, humans have devised a test to check whether the entity they are talking to is actually a human or an android. It is related to pupil dilation when some emotional questions were asked. The argument there was that accuracy of tests was questionable. But all they had to do was to make them watch this movie and observe reactions - only an android could not have been affected by such movie.

Children of pyre is a very well made documentary. With a subject that deals with child labour, human rights violation, cremation, poverty, drugs etc and that too it is a documentary, it is bound to be very very heavy. But the brilliance of this film comes from the 6 child actors who simplify everything for us and present their lives in such a candid manner that it is bound to make you laugh. The director's questions to these kids are also well chosen, not only he pokes around about what they think about it, he goes into their lives asking about their girlfriends, family etc. The very fact i was smiling in atleast some parts in the movie is a great achievement and it makes the movie watchable otherwise it would have been too heavy for people like us not used to such harsh realities of life. Another thing that i love about this movie is the camera work. The director has been very kind in omitting many brutal scenes of cremation, there are some but i am sure it could have been worse. There is a scene in which the camera is placed on the boat and you see it go up and down as the bloat floats from one side to another. There is a scene where the kids try to perform last rites on a stranger's body. There is a scene where there is a Navratri festival going on 10 metres away where bodies are getting burnt. The contrast was unbelievable. But most importantly, it is the kids, their lives, their tales that move you to the core and ask questions that no one knows. At one point in telling answers, one of the kid says - "If you feel so sympathetic to me, just send a check of 5000 Rs every month to my home, i will stop everything. If you can not do anything then do not question my actions, leave me to my own state"

The movie ends with "Udd jayega" sung by Pt. Kumar Gandharva , written by Kabir. The song fits into the ending perfectly and makes sense.

Fall Colors on the Georgia Tech Campus

Yes, the video is real - fall season is amazing at tech!

Also, thanks Vidya for this link - http://onlyattech.net/

Similar to FML.

Rennaisance fair

Since childhood, I love going to fairs. They are awesome!

3 weeks back, i went to Rennaisance fair with Court. Thanks to Court for giving me company and his camera :)

The official website is http://www.norcalrenfaire.org/. Rennaisance fair celebrates life and times of late Elizabethan period. Everyone working there is dressed in costume pertinent to that era. There are games, knights, jousting, plays (Shakespeare etc), arts (glass making, goblets), sports (fencing, swordplay), drinks etc.

Fortunately for me, i went on the last day of the fair. The setting of California Rennaisance fair is also great - at the foot of some hills with no building at sight, it looks like a proper Rennaisance period except for people like me who come dressed without any costume.

The pics can be found here -

Rennaisance fair

I highly recommend everyone to visit if they get a chance!

Hallowwen

I dressed up a Burglar, took a white shirt and PJ and made stripes with black duck tape. The number is a reference to Burgel Beagle from the Beagele Biys gang from Duck tales. Thanks to Dave for the idea! Had lots of fun making the costume and wearing it too. The two bags of cash are pillow covers with magazines stuffed in them.

The complete office pics can be seen here - http://picasaweb.google.com/arvindbatra/HalloweenKosmix#

Halloween - Kosmix

People were very creative and i was surprised by such a big turnout. Almost everyone came in a costume.

Awesome experience!

Belated Diwali

So, i didnt blog on Diwali this year. I wanted to but then blogging requires a frame of mind.

So what did i do this Diwali ?

Went shopping :) Sounds so fictitious. So i thought that i should buy an iphone on the special occasion of Diwali but apple and att go orthogonal to each other. So was unable to convert my t-mobile to att.

Ate lunch at Bhima;s - andhra style cuisine. Ate Thali. Remembered Blore days!

Watched Wake up Sid. Reviewes were posted before.

Went to potluck at Nikesh's house.
Here is how Nikesh invited me to Potluck
Wed ( 3 days before Diwali)
N - Hey Arvind, what are you doing on Diwali?
Me: (Thinks)Nothing.
N - I am organizing a potluck at my house. Would you like to come?
Me: (I am staring at him without giving an answer, this goes for 10 seconds)
N - You do not have to make anything.
Me: (Instantly) Ofcourse! Count me in!

So, good food, samose, gjams, mango lassi ...and many things. And then we played Mafia. A good game and Nikesh discovered that Arvind can talk and argue easily. I dont know why people get the wrong impression when they meet me for the first time.

The pics can be found here - http://picasaweb.google.com/garera/DiwaliPotluck2009?authkey=Gv1sRgCLja3rOKgorcBA&feat=email#

So, all in all a good Diwali as per US standards. Ofcourse Diwali in India takes a different meaning. Cant compare this with that.

Yosemite 2

8 people
6 guys 2 girls,
3 Chinese, 2 Brazilian, 1 Israeli, 1 Hungarian and 1 Indian
3 Math post-docs, 2 Math Phd students, 2 in CS and 1 undergrad

I can dissect the data, combinations in many ways but bottom line is that it was a unique set of people.

Friday night, we left Bay area for Yosemite. Stopped at In-n-Out for dinner ( good milk shakes). We camped outside Yosemite National park, my first camping experience. Tents, sleeping bags, fire, flashlights, marshmallows with crackers and the best - starting at stars. It was quite cold at night.

Next morning, we hiked up to Glacier point on the four mile trail which is of length 4.6 miles. My first strenuous trail, we climbed 900 meters on this trail. From Glacier Point, we took Panoramic trail ( 8 miles total), on which first we went down, 600 metres, then climbed up 500 metres and them came down. The trail covered Nevada falls, vernal falls, ending at Curry village. All in all total 12.6 miles (approx 20 kms). The hike from Glacier Point to Curry village was done in 4 hrs and at a good speed. It was getting quite darker and the trail was quite difficult too.

So what do i get in the end -
aching legs, badly aching legs, a blog post and a sense of achievement and great fun. I am ready for half dome (considered to be the most difficult hike in Yosemite) now!

Notes -
Camping is fun! Need to buy my own tent now!