After the World Cup of Field Hockey in which Pakistan's team finished last, they unanimously and uniformly resigned from the team. This had come on the heals of big talk and bigger expectations for the nation that had won the 1994 competition.
I was shocked to read in the paper that Pakistan's ENTIRE team had resigned from the national team. They had said that their performance was unacceptable and had brought shame to their country. I don't know about you, but when I think of things that are shameful about Pakistan... Well, let's just say, not being good at MEN'S FIELD HOCKEY, ain't one of 'em... Call me an asshole, but give me a freaking break.
Anyway, back from my miniature rant.
In some sense, I understand that these men were trying to do the honorable thing, but perhaps the only resignation that is required it the coach's. Perhaps also the team captain if he really takes his leadership so personally, but the whole team. Basically, there are some young and really talented players who are also young and impressionable. There is no need for them to resign. I guess they wanted to their commitment to their country as a team and in some way that's a nice gesture, but on the other hand, to leave your country without a national team at all... Well, that's just silly. It takes a few years to prepare a team for an international competition and recruiting is a much longer process. Leaving your home country without a team at all is just backwards.
Well, in the end, Pakistan's hockey organization couldn't possibly accept the resignation of the WHOLE team, so they made the team withdraw their resignations. Maybe the team knew that would happen. Perhaps, they expected it and knew that Pakistan's governing body of hockey couldn't just throw out one resignation, it was all or nothing. Maybe Pakistan's hockey team did this to SAVE all their jobs. It's hard to say, but either way, it was a bizarre piece of news to hear in India.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
World Cup of Hockey
I mentioned that while we were in Delhi, the World Cup of FIELD HOCKEY was taking place. It is entirely fair to mention that India isn't quite a world contender in ICE HOCKEY. As far as I can tell, the vast majority of all Indians have never left India, and therefore have never seen snow, and never been ice skating. Well, field hockey it is then. I was shocked to find that men play this game. In the United States this is only a women's game, at least at the collegiate level. So while the world cup was on, and especially while India was playing, you couldn't get anything in any store or restaurant. Indians are definitely crazy for their team. So, I got to watch several of the games. I gotta say, I learned the rules of field hockey while in graduate school. I used to go watch Northwestern's team play and just realized that field hockey is sort of a silly game. I mean no offense to anyone who really lives the game, but it's weird.
Quick disclaimer: It would also be fair to say that most, if not all, sports are completely ridiculous and absurd, but in my mind field hockey is much higher on the list than most!
So here we are, in India, world cup of hockey taking place, Indians completely crazy for their team, watching every minute of every India match intently. I noticed some other strange things. The teams playing included Australia (champion), Germany, Netherlands, England, South Africa, Pakistan, India, Spain, and a couple others I can't remember now. For the most part, the teams look identical, clean cut white guys running around with sticks. The peculiar thing was that the Pakistani team (largely full of muslims) looked like this as well. In cricket for example, Pakistan's team looks like a group of muslim athletes, long beards, religious wear when appropriate, and a general appearance of a religious group of people, playing a sport. In hockey, Pakistan's team doesn't give this appearance. The strangest thing to me, was the appearance of India's team.
India's team really looks like a bunch of rag tags. There are all manner of religious hairdos, and unkempt looking individuals running around together. I have to say, while the appearance of EVERY OTHER TEAM IN THE TOURNAMENT was clean cut and mildly appealing, the appearance of India's team was quite slovenly. It's funny to me because in cricket it's different. India's cricket team generally looks well kept and appears on the pitch well. As it turns out, India placed 8th of 12 (I think) and so their appearance didn't matter much, but I had a hard time watching them play as a team, because they didn't appear to be one. As it is Pakistan finished at the bottom of the tournament, so their appearance didn't matter much either.
Quick disclaimer: It would also be fair to say that most, if not all, sports are completely ridiculous and absurd, but in my mind field hockey is much higher on the list than most!
So here we are, in India, world cup of hockey taking place, Indians completely crazy for their team, watching every minute of every India match intently. I noticed some other strange things. The teams playing included Australia (champion), Germany, Netherlands, England, South Africa, Pakistan, India, Spain, and a couple others I can't remember now. For the most part, the teams look identical, clean cut white guys running around with sticks. The peculiar thing was that the Pakistani team (largely full of muslims) looked like this as well. In cricket for example, Pakistan's team looks like a group of muslim athletes, long beards, religious wear when appropriate, and a general appearance of a religious group of people, playing a sport. In hockey, Pakistan's team doesn't give this appearance. The strangest thing to me, was the appearance of India's team.
India's team really looks like a bunch of rag tags. There are all manner of religious hairdos, and unkempt looking individuals running around together. I have to say, while the appearance of EVERY OTHER TEAM IN THE TOURNAMENT was clean cut and mildly appealing, the appearance of India's team was quite slovenly. It's funny to me because in cricket it's different. India's cricket team generally looks well kept and appears on the pitch well. As it turns out, India placed 8th of 12 (I think) and so their appearance didn't matter much, but I had a hard time watching them play as a team, because they didn't appear to be one. As it is Pakistan finished at the bottom of the tournament, so their appearance didn't matter much either.
Connaught Place and New Delhi
Delhi is a weird city. I don't necessarily mean that in a bad way, but it is really strange. On the one hand you have the really old city that is Old Delhi. I've not yet in my life seen a more crowded place than the area around Jama Masjid (India's largest mosque). It does well to be compared with a beehive. There are children there who can do nothing less than break your heart. They are beggars, persistent beggars and they can be no more than 6 years old. They sit around the steps of the mosque, a clever move if you ask me since Muslims are required to give alms to the poor (one of the 5 pillars of Islam). Moreoever, Old Delhi is filthy, really filthy, the kind of filth you can't imagine unless you see it. But even with all that, Old Delhi is alive. It's buzzing from 4 AM and buzzes until long after midnight. I think it's a 21 or 22 hour city. There are shops selling any manner of things you can imagine, fast talkers, food sellers (delicious food!), rickshaws (actual rickshaws, not autorickshaws), drug dealers, pickpockets, fixers, you name it, it's probably in Old Delhi.
Contrast that with NEW Delhi. New Delhi, is clean, relatively speaking. It was a planned city, and designed by a French architect. There are large sweeping motorways, broad sidewalks, organized neighborhoods, beautiful parks, museums, and fabulous structures. The most striking example of this runs right through an area of town called Connaught Place. There is an enormous structure which to the untrained eye looks identical to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, Parliament, the President's Palace, and the National Stadium. The most surprising thing however, may be the fact that these four structures are in a straight line. Being the mathematician I am, I can't help but wonder exactly how straight that line is... Perhaps it just follows a geodesic on the surface of the Earth, or maybe it's a straight line within the universe. Either way, when you're there, it really looks impressive. Take a look for yourself:
It is worth noting that this last structure was made for the English Queen. It is next to the Arc de Triomphe (de Delhi) and when standing at Parliament looking toward the Arc de Triomphe de Delhi you can see this structure through the arc. The pictures of the other structures are missing for a couple reasons. Yvonne and I were walking that night with my friend, his brother, and his cousin. During our stroll all the people were moved out of the street (perhaps we shouldn't all be in the street anyway) and were kept there for some time by the police. Soon, a bus full of athletes rolled by. The reason for this was that the World Cup of hockey (field hockey) was taking place in Delhi while we were there. There was no way we could get to the national stadium that night. In addition, after dark, people are not allowed to go up to Parliament or the President's Palace.
Near the Arc de Triomphe de Delhi is a large mall, very similar to the national mall in Washington, D.C. So New Delhi is something like Washington, DC + Paris + London. Old Delhi is like no other city I know (but that's simply because I haven't traveled enough to make an accurate comparison).
Contrast that with NEW Delhi. New Delhi, is clean, relatively speaking. It was a planned city, and designed by a French architect. There are large sweeping motorways, broad sidewalks, organized neighborhoods, beautiful parks, museums, and fabulous structures. The most striking example of this runs right through an area of town called Connaught Place. There is an enormous structure which to the untrained eye looks identical to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, Parliament, the President's Palace, and the National Stadium. The most surprising thing however, may be the fact that these four structures are in a straight line. Being the mathematician I am, I can't help but wonder exactly how straight that line is... Perhaps it just follows a geodesic on the surface of the Earth, or maybe it's a straight line within the universe. Either way, when you're there, it really looks impressive. Take a look for yourself:
It is worth noting that this last structure was made for the English Queen. It is next to the Arc de Triomphe (de Delhi) and when standing at Parliament looking toward the Arc de Triomphe de Delhi you can see this structure through the arc. The pictures of the other structures are missing for a couple reasons. Yvonne and I were walking that night with my friend, his brother, and his cousin. During our stroll all the people were moved out of the street (perhaps we shouldn't all be in the street anyway) and were kept there for some time by the police. Soon, a bus full of athletes rolled by. The reason for this was that the World Cup of hockey (field hockey) was taking place in Delhi while we were there. There was no way we could get to the national stadium that night. In addition, after dark, people are not allowed to go up to Parliament or the President's Palace.
Near the Arc de Triomphe de Delhi is a large mall, very similar to the national mall in Washington, D.C. So New Delhi is something like Washington, DC + Paris + London. Old Delhi is like no other city I know (but that's simply because I haven't traveled enough to make an accurate comparison).
Qutub Minar
I hadn't really heard of the Qutub Minar before I went. I got some idea about it in one of those hotel tourist type booklets. Yvonne pointed it out to me and we decided we might as well go see it while we were in Delhi. The fun thing about Delhi as opposed to some of India's other major cities is that it has a boatload of historical places. Another thing that is funny is that all the really amazing historical places around north India tend to be Islamic. What that means is that generally the "really old" stuff is actually only a few hundred years old. Most of the ruins found in Europe are far older. Of course, once you get a little bit outside the major islamic reach from a few hundred years back you can see much older Hindu temples. All that aside, the Qutub Minar is a really beautiful sight (and site). The main minar is a 24 sided tower, which from far off looks strikingly like a phallus. I had to walk around the main tower to count how many sides it had. The architecture was shocking. It was square sides interlaced with rounded "sides" all the way around on the bottom level. The bottom level rises up several meters (maybe 10-15) then there is another level, and yet another. I forget the actual height of the minar, but it's pretty alright. Also on the grounds are a mosque, a mausoleum and some other buildings. We decided not to rent the audio guide, but rather just look around and see it for ourselves. It's quite interesting.
Perhaps another interesting thing that the Qutub Minar provided for me is the idea that India is just not very subtle about it's (dis)like of tourists. The entrance fee for Indians is Rs 10, while the entrance price for foreigners is Rs 250. In case you're playing along at home that's 25 times the price for foreigners as for Indians. And despite my Indian salary, guess which price I had to pay...
I wish I had thought to carry my registration papers with me. This proved to be useful in jaipur, but before that, I got swindled, and swindled pretty badly.
Perhaps another interesting thing that the Qutub Minar provided for me is the idea that India is just not very subtle about it's (dis)like of tourists. The entrance fee for Indians is Rs 10, while the entrance price for foreigners is Rs 250. In case you're playing along at home that's 25 times the price for foreigners as for Indians. And despite my Indian salary, guess which price I had to pay...
I wish I had thought to carry my registration papers with me. This proved to be useful in jaipur, but before that, I got swindled, and swindled pretty badly.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Almost getting arrested
This is way out of sequence with the rest of the blog, but I figured I should write it down before I forget about it. Last night I stayed at my institute for a long time being an internet fiend. Chatting away with people, trying to stay up to catch the score of the Tennessee-Michigan State game. Well, I got heading home about 1:30 AM here. It takes me a while to walk home. Sadly, I couldn't catch a rickshaw. The only one that stopped for me asked for 4 times the price I was willing to pay. When he finally came down to twice the price I was more than halfway home. I hate those little yellow mosuito taxi drivers! So I finally made it back home about 2:45 AM. In front of my house, the gate is locked at night, and it's usually too dark to see the lock on the gate. For this reason, sometimes I just hop over the fence, and open the main door to my second floor apartment. Wouldn't you know it, for the first time in nearly 5 months of being abroad I saw a police officer in my neighborhood. He saw me hopping the fence and rode up on his motorcycle to harass me.
Are you kidding me!? I've never seen a PoPo in my neighborhood, not once. The first time I see you he harasses me for potential breaking and entering. Basically I had to show him and demonstrate for him that I actually had the correct keys to open the locks I claimed I had.
Once that happened, I told the piggy sorry and thanked him. Luckily, I didn't have to pay him off, I didn't have to wake up my landlords, I didn't have to worry about a police raid or any of the other threats that generally go with this sort of accused activity. Ugh! India, give me a break. Throw me a freaking bone.
Are you kidding me!? I've never seen a PoPo in my neighborhood, not once. The first time I see you he harasses me for potential breaking and entering. Basically I had to show him and demonstrate for him that I actually had the correct keys to open the locks I claimed I had.
Once that happened, I told the piggy sorry and thanked him. Luckily, I didn't have to pay him off, I didn't have to wake up my landlords, I didn't have to worry about a police raid or any of the other threats that generally go with this sort of accused activity. Ugh! India, give me a break. Throw me a freaking bone.
Delhi Haat
I had real trouble finding this place. The big problem is the name. I kept thinking it was Delhi Heart. That's just not it. Until I saw it in print I didn't realize that I was saying it totally incorrectly. I think the real trouble is that I've gotten accustomed to people saying the English "r" as "ah". In any case, I think the name of this thing might not even be Delhi Haat, but perhaps Dilli Haat. I saw Dilli written a few times and I could've sworn people were saying "Delhi." Anyway, none of this is the point. The real point is that it's a big shopping center. The shopping to be done here, however, is not mall, shopping, but clothing and art. It reminded me greatly of the Pongal Bazaar that took place at Kalakshetra here in Chennai earlier in January. My friend told me that there are handicrafts from all parts of India available there. He was saying this from experience about 10-15 years ago. Now, there is food from all parts of India which is cool, but the VAST majority of shops are Kashmiris. Somehow, I'm not surprised. Those Kashmiris somehow end up everywhere there are shops in India. I think I finally offended one. I was busting his chops for trying to sell me something I didn't want at a price I wasn't willing to pay. What happened was I started making fun of him a little bit because he tried to tell me that he was rare as a kashmiri for having left. So I told him, everywhere I've been in India all the shops were run by Kashmiris and therefore I thought that very few people actually lived there.
Funny enough, over the rest of the course of the trip, I saw ever more Kashmiris. It turns out that there are lots of Tibetans around India too, but they are generally ONLY in touristy places, and kashmiris are everywhere.
Nonetheless, Delhi Haat was kind of fun. I bought a long Indian shirt. Not sure what I'm going to do with it in this heat, but it stills looks cool. Here are some fun pics.
Funny enough, over the rest of the course of the trip, I saw ever more Kashmiris. It turns out that there are lots of Tibetans around India too, but they are generally ONLY in touristy places, and kashmiris are everywhere.
Nonetheless, Delhi Haat was kind of fun. I bought a long Indian shirt. Not sure what I'm going to do with it in this heat, but it stills looks cool. Here are some fun pics.
Lodhi Gardens in the springtime
This time visiting Delhi, I repeated a few visits from the first time. My friend lives close by to Lodhi Gardens, and so the three of us took a stroll in the nice springtime afternoon. We bought some beers from the local liquor store and sat outside, had a "picnic" of beer and roasted chick peas. Yvonne jumped out while my friend and I were hiding away our picnic from "authorities." So without further ado, here are some nice pics from Lodhi Gardens in the springtime (not so much fog this go around).
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