I just want a quick trim really, nothing special, nothing fancy. And I need to get in and out quickly. But the two young barbers are not going to let me off so easily. "Sir, will you have a shave?" asks one of the young men, pointing to my untidy stubble. "No. Just a hair-cut thank-you."
The young man looks disappointed.
"Sir, how about hair dyeing. You have much white hair. We will dye your hair. You will look very handsome."
There are days as a journalist when you realise you're not telling people the whole story. I have lots of days like that in regard to Burma. Who really knows what is going on in this secretive, isolated country?
Because foreign journalists are all but banned and the local media utterly suppressed, the picture we get from outside is patchy, inconclusive and often confused. Even when you're there, the best you can do is look and listen, try and discreetly speak to as people as possible and make an informed judgement.
A couple of weeks ago I was crossing the border to Pakistan bearing, as a gift for a friend, a bottle of vodka. I'd hate readers to think that us journalists have a thing for drinking, but I'd reckoned that with the bombs and violence becoming ever more commonplace in Pakistan, he might like to unwind with a drink. And it's not as though alcohol is banned in Pakistan; indeed the Muree Brewery, now headquartered in Rawalpindi, makes excellent beer and spirits for non-Muslims. (One of the great pleasures of staying in a swanky Pakistani hotel is, when you order a drink, signing a disclaimer that says you're not only a non-Muslim but that you take responsibility for any after-effects experienced.)
Today's posting about the escalators on the Delhi Metro is by guest blogger, Kate Sturla, the daughter of a friend of a friend and a student at the Univerity of California at Berkeley who is studying for a year in Delhi. It does, however, give me the chance to remind people that the Delhi Metro was included on my recent list of the top ten things about India. From those who wrote in with their own lists I've selected two winners who I'd like to take to lunch. I'd ask them to get in touch with me so that we can make arrangements. Anyway, with no further ado, here's Kate's piece:
The Delhi metro is an incongruous presence in the city for many reasons. Cleaner than the Paris metro, quieter than New York's subway and climate-controlled to boot, it runs with hyper-modern efficiency and is possessed of the only gleaming surfaces in Indiaoutside the Taj Mahal. It could make anyone forget they were in India -- except for one thing. Anyone accustomed to riding the rails at rush hour has experienced regular, seemingly incomprehensible delays at the foot of the escalator.
Many thanks indeed to everyone who bothered to participate in my recent challenge to name the ten best things about India. There was a pretty good feedback on this topic both from Indians and visitors to the country, and there were a surprising number of things which most people seemed to agree on.
The Delhi Metro, for instance, which was included on the lists of many readers, as was Bindeshwar Pathak and his NGO Sulabh International which works to provide much-needed toilets across the country.
I was not surprised that food often cropped up on people's lists of favourites: one poster, Jonathan Ridge, devoted three or four of his items to food, including India's wonderful samosas. (And who can blame him?!)
The members of the '88 Generation Student Group are some of the bravest men and women you're never likely meet. They take their name from Burma's failed democracy uprising in 1988, an uprising that was brutally put down by the regime with the loss of up to 6,000 lives. In the aftermath, many of them - including one of the leaders Min Ko Naing (pictured in 2007), whose name means "conqueror of kings" - were sentenced to long terms inside Rangoon's Insein Jail (Min Ko Naing was released in 2004).
Far from sating their appetite to challenge the authorities, their time in jail may have even hardened their determination to bring about change in their country.
Earlier this week, I wrote a story about the Dalai Lama's growing
impatience with the Chinese authorities in regard to his efforts to
secure autonomy for Tibet. I included a report of a speech he had given
over the weekend to an audience in Dharamsala in which he had said he
"had given up" trying. I made sure to include the comments of his chief
spokesman that made clear the Dalai Lama was not retiring and that he
was merely being realistic about his chances of success.
A couple of
people (including someone who was at the talk) wrote to me to say that
his Holiness had not used the phrase "given up". I was not at the
meeting and was relying on a report from a (reputable) news agency.
Anyway, it seems that officials are concerned not about the literal
translation of the DL's words but that that some reports (not mine, of
course!) did not put the Tibetan Buddhists' leaders comments in
context. Today, I received an email from the DL's office clarifying his
position. I am copying it here in its entirety.
"During the celebrations of the 48th founding anniversary of the
Tibetan Children’s Village on 25 October here in Dharamsala (India),
His Holiness the Dalai Lama made some remarks on the issue of Tibet
that are now being quoted out of context in some media reports.
Consequently, to clarify the situation we are issuing the gist of His
Holiness’ remarks below as well as a separate translation of a
transcript of what he really said."
At her house on Rangoon's University Avenue, Aung Sang Suu Kyi sits and waits. Imprisoned off and on for the best part of two decades, this weekend marked 13 years of accumulated time she has spent either in prison or else under house arrest. Remarkably it also marked the first time that Western and Asian leaders came together to demand the release of political prisoners such as her.
At the Asian-European summit in Beijing, a statement was released which said: "Leaders... encouraged the Myanmar government to engage all stakeholders in an inclusive political process in order to achieve national reconciliation and economic and social development. In this regard, they called for the lifting of restrictions placed on political parties and early further release of those under detention."
I was wandering around Delhi's famous Bengali Market today, located close to Connaught Circus and well known as the heart of the city's sweet shops. When people talk about sweets, or mithai, in India they are almost always talking about sweet, sticky deserts made from sugar, condensed millks and nuts.
They're fattening, unhealthy but often quite delicious and at no other time of the year are more eaten than during the festival of lights - Diwali - which is just days away. I'd not been to the Bengali market before and I'd been keen to go since reading a fascinating report about how tastes are changing and how the sweet makers offering sugar-free varieties to lure customers who are scared about their wasitlines expanding too much.
Last week, while questioning the utility of India's unmanned mission to the moon, I promised to write an unapologetically positive post about the country in which I live. That was not hard; while there are plenty of things about India that leave me despairing, there's lots that is beguiling, captivating and occasionally inspirational.
What was hard, however, was to finalise my top ten. I'd hurriedly scribbled out around 25 contenders and then starting paring them down. I make no apologies that this is an entirely personal list and it is a reflection of the things that enrich my life here rather than a record of India's more obvious triumphs.
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