"The good and bad times of Hauz Khas Village"
Many years ago, all visiting friends were taken to the upmarket yet ethnic, rustic Hauz Khas market. It had everything. The cow dung everywhere which the foreigners looked at in fascination, stray dogs, the moongfali/chana walas and bad roads which had potholes and one had to literally jump, stumble and get up. It was fascinating. The look of pleasure on their faces said it all.
This was the India they had read about and come to see. In fact, there were the snake charmers coming out of streets and the look of awe on the visitor's face was a pleasure to see.
On the other hand, there were top boutiques and restaurants. The boutiques offered expensive western and Indian wear. The cuts were excellent and of course it was the favourite haunt of our now internationally known Indian designers. The restaurants had European and Indian cuisines. But suddenly no one went to Hauz Khas Village any more. It became dirty, unkept and as everything else, the peak time was over and the slump came. But once again, it's the favourite place of youngsters. There is a jazz club besides a great bakery. There are new furniture stores and new designers have opened their stores. A cute tiny restaurant serving Kerala food is a hit with youngsters. It has an art gallery and a shop where T-shirts are painted by rural artisans which is very popular with college-going students. The village is trying hard not to lose its character despite the razzmatazz. Most of the people as they walk through the rustic village lanes are spotted with digi-cams and Apple Macs. This is the Capital's new chic hangout zone but the 14th century village has been through some good and bad times.
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"Great believer in astrology"
Astrology is something that all the politicians usually believe in. Jayalalithaa is also, it seems, a great believer. The stellar position in her horoscope will tell her which day she should wear green, grey or blue. Maroon seems to be her lucky colour as the day she won her election she was wearing maroon. Even on the day of the swearing-in ceremony, she was wearing maroon though all her saris are plain with a small border on them.
A few years ago, she added an extra 'a' to her name, so her name changed from J.Jayalalitha to J.Jayalalithaa. Her birth date being 24th-2-1948 which comes to 24 and adding an extra 'a', the numerological value then became 24 to 23. As she has sworn in on 24 ministers, her lucky number seems to be 7 and she contested for 160 seats which also come to 7. There was a time when everybody believed her lucky number was 9 as all her cars added up to 9.
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"Phone lines are not trustworthy!"
Amar Singh tape, Radia tape and now the Bhushan's tape. It's getting a bit too much for everyone. Politicians and businessmen now only use the phone to fix an appointment and meet personally. Phone lines are not trustworthy any more. You never know who is taping you.
Recently the young Member of Parliament Varun Gandhi has issued orders to his guard that the phones of all the visitors should be confiscated at the gate.
The guard explained that a visitor had tried to tape Varun's conversation with him inside his house and was caught. So the phobia of phones in Varun's house is due to that incident. Not only are phones suspected, pens today have cameras and recorders and so have cufflinks and buttons.
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