Hyderabad Supplanted

A visitor happened to be in my living room on my recent visit to the city of my birth. In the conversation that ensued he mentioned that at a new real estate development in his city, after the land was leveled and apartments were built, non-native trees were planted for the purpose of landscaping and beautification. The birds of the neighborhood stopped perching on the trees that did not belong. I cannot confirm whether this is true, but this much I can see. Once my backyard used to be noisy with sparrows. Now you would be hard pressed to find even a single one anywhere in the city. No one can explain with certainty, what happened to them.

This is a perfect allegory for what is happening in urban India, where cities have been spreading at an alarming rate, under the pretext of an economic boom. 

In the pursuit of massive development and impressive growth, India seems to have forgotten or has laid to waste all that makes it precious. It feels like urban India is being supplanted much like the rejected trees.

Every time I return, I am appalled at the rate at which cities are expanding and the clamoring that is only intensifying. The destiny of Hyderabad began to transform when American tech companies decided to set up shop to serve their growing need for cheap labor. From Microsoft and Accenture to Amazon and Google, today have massive office complexes stretching across the new parts of the city, which were once green and rocky. Areas that were once considered distant and rural are now prime land and have been so for a while. A network of highways and tollbooths, help transport people to these mega buildings at all hours of the day and night causing traffic jams at unearthly hours. More and more ancient rocks and native trees are torn down to make room for residential towers and mansions, to house the people serving America. The city I once knew is no longer the city of today. I often feel lost and disoriented at times, as a result.

Those who are benefiting from this massive expansion and growth see no problem in how its being done. Its business as usual for many and from the chauffeur to the CEO, all want in on the money to be made from land deals.

There is also money to be made in the service sector up and down the chain. IKEA opened its only outlet in Hyderabad to serve this burgeoning market. Hoards lined up to get in the door the day it opened bringing traffic to a grinding halt. High-end furnishing, bathroom, gadgetry and appliance stores have all opened showrooms to cater to the desires of the upwardly mobile. While driving down a congested and clogged inner road, I saw a Ferrari trying to stay unscratched. Schools with fancy western names advertise on huge hoardings, offering air-conditioned class rooms and courses in French, while keeping a dose of Indian just to feel rooted. Today there is nothing money cannot buy in India, and therefore a hybrid nation is being supplanted driven by unabashed consumerism.

Probably many of my friends reading this would say, there he goes criticizing our happiness, while he lives in New York enjoying the very amenities we crave. What a hypocrite. I have now lived as many years in Brooklyn, as I did in India as a young man. I often wonder, if I had never left would I be seeing all of this from a different lens? Would I be a part of this system that devours without pause?

Since India liberalized its economy and opened the floodgates to foreign investment, allowing the tech revolution sweeping the globe to take root, many have transformed their lives. And this is a commendable feat. Many have risen out of poverty just for being able to speak English and acquire some basic software skills. Many of my peers have seen tremendous success in their professional lives. Some like me have gotten an education abroad and have become CEOs of companies. Others stayed pouncing on the opportunities growth and liberalization offered and built empires and have enjoyed a lifestyle which when I was growing up was a distant dream and still is, even in the west.

There is no question the growth India has seen over a mere two decades has been meteoric. But it has come at a great cost, a tremendous environmental reckoning.

On this visit I happened to have dinner with a Member of the State Legislative Assembly. A powerful man, he had been a successful politician for almost two decades and in many ways had overseen the expansion of the city. He told me that in a few years Hyderabad would become a world-class city. I could not fathom what he meant by that.

After a great deal of pain to the public and endless delays, Hyderabad  launched its overhead rail system connecting large sections of the city with affordable public transport. But the traffic congestion below only seems to had gotten worse. Many more shiny five star hotels had opened since my last visit. The airport was under expansion and countless office buildings and apartment blocks were on the rise along the outskirts of the city. But better air quality and the stability of potable water supply was still far from being certain for many.

India is a vast and diverse country. At more than a billion strong and growing, it stresses on all its resources by its sheer size. It is commendable though that despite these challenges it keeps growing and setting lofty goals for its people. While it has allowed people to amass wealth to buy a Ferrari it often fails to provide the basic necessities of life for many. The Prime Minister launched a cleanliness and personal hygiene campaign called “Swach Bharat” (clean India), which seems to be on everyone’s lips and mind from its effective messaging. How successful it is in realty in changing habits and social behavior, is yet to be seen in any concrete terms. Many NGOs fill in where the government fails, doing commendable work. Many of them feel under attack these days for accepting foreign funding.

When one arrives in any part of urban India, things seem chaotic. The urban landscape is ugly, the streets are congested, the air is dusty and dense, the sheer numbers of its people are in your face the moment you enter its streets. If you are not from here it could be overwhelming and exciting at the same time. But behind all that chaos, things do work. People are helpful, and the hospitality you get is unsurpassed. The cultural creativity and ingenuity of its people is extraordinary.

The politician said to me in blatant terms “In India, you have respect, only if you have money”. Often how people treat you is measured by how much money you carry in your wallet and how you look. Indians are insidiously obsessed with fair skin. Overwhelmingly Indian cinema, television and advertising cast people with fair skin, while most Indians are of darker complexion. Casual comment about one's complexion without much thought is common social behavior. Other refined forms of racism still run deep.

I was in Hyderabad this time to screen my film “Salam”. After screening it at almost twenty cities around the world I was eager to share it with the people of my city. The Hyderabad Film Club graciously invited me to host the screening. And then a bomb went off in Kashmir killing almost fifty soldiers. A terrorist from across the border claimed responsibility. The nation went into a jingoistic frenzy calling for blood. Bollywood immediately responded by banning Pakistani artists from being part of their fraternity. And since my film is about a Pakistani scientist, and the word “Pakistan” had suddenly become more potent than it normally is, fearing a possible mob attack, the screening was cancelled.

I was dejected and disappointed. The decision was made without a review of my film. For a nation and a city that wants to be world-class, from my perspective, it was a sad day. A nation can only be world-class, when it can have total unhindered freedom of speech, with out fear. Many disturbing events over the past few years have shown, that India is far from reaching that status. Films and artists are routinely harassed and censored. Journalists have been killed. And this notion that “you are with us or against us” is peddled as a statement for patriotism and religious nationalism.

My film exposes how Pakistan had come to become infected by militancy, bigotry and religious intolerance. From my perspective it was the perfect film to show at a time when people's loyalties to their motherland were being called into question based on their religion. But unfortunately my city failed me by showing that it was not bigger and better than its proclaimed “enemy state”.

The great American writer and thinker James Baldwin famously said “I love America more than any other country in the world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.” I love the city of my birth and the land that still inhabits my dreams, and therefore I choose to criticize it with pride. From a vantage point of being both an outsider and an insider I can see it for what it is and what it is becoming. 

While I pine for the city of my youth, which is long gone, I am acutely aware it is an unreasonable expectation to aspire. I know there is still beauty left in the city. There are lakes and rocks that can still be saved and salvaged. There is exquisite beauty in its ancient monuments that need to be preserved for future generations. The sunsets over Tank Bund are still breathtaking. 

Even though climate change will wreak havoc, with hotter summers, droughts and aquifer depletion, the need for clean air and water outside of a plastic bottle is a basic human right. And if that cannot be awarded to every citizen with certainty, rich or poor, then India would have failed miserably and Hyderabad can never be a world-class city, no matter the wealth it is able to generate.

  
It is what it is.

SHUTDOWN

Long lines at airports. A threat of airplanes falling out of the sky. National parks and monuments shuttered with overflowing garbage and filthy toilets. Federal employees driving taxis to make ends meet. Go Fund Me pages set up to raise funds for coast guard families. People lining up at soup kitchens. These were just a few effects of a partial government shutdown that crippled America as the president threw a tantrum and stopped paying almost a million government employees. All to force congress to support a dubious campaign promise he made. 

As the Democrats, Republicans and the President got down to the muddy business of working out a deal to open the government, the rabid bipartisanship was stark and unabashed. The Democrats insisted that they would only negotiate on the condition of the government being open. The Republican senators would not accept any bill unless they had a guarantee that the president would sign it. And the president would not budge unless he was handed a $5.7 billion check to build his grotesque monument to discrimination and bigotry.

After thirty eight days of brinkmanship and shameful display of incivility, the president relented. It was not the pain and anguish of the people that were suffering that made him change his mind. Being denied the opportunity to address the nation from the pulpit of the house, seemed to have irked the bully president to reconsider his position.

He decided to open the government for three weeks

As the world looked to America and saw the gridlock and the dysfunction, they were appalled at how a developed nation could operate in such a manner. As the United Kingdom was in chaos trying to workout a Brexit deal, America’s dysfunction was quickly compared and a parallel was drawn as both nations dealt with uncertainty, artificially created by a political circus. Probably authoritarian regimes like Russia and China were having a laugh at the theatrics being displayed openly in the media. 

But there is a silver lining to it all. The American system of government, even though being less democratic in its choice, is equipped with checks and balances that were masterfully devised to keep power constrained. At its core, the idea is to draw and push opposing sides to find middle ground and compromise for the betterment of the people and the nation. Even though the assumption is that reasonable patriotic people would rise to the office and put the interest of the nation before politics, the drafters of the system foresaw in their wisdom, that probably there would be times of exception. So they separated power between the legislative, executive and judicial branches to keep an autocratic leader under check.

The mid-term elections resoundingly put the Democrats in charge of the House of Representatives, effectively putting the brakes on the president’s agenda of trash and burn. The Democratic speaker of the house became the second most powerful person as a result and showed decisively to the president that he could not railroad his agenda.

The American system of government is in no means perfect. It is a work in progress and was always meant to be so, to help the nation adapt to changing times. It is this very nature that allowed the emancipation proclamation, civil rights, social security, women’s rights and other countless reforms to be enacted and rolled out through the land. 

It is the same system that has sent countless Americans to their death in wars and invasions across the globe and allowed the nation to be infested with guns. 

It is also the same system that elected Abraham Lincoln, Barack Obama and Donald Trump to the highest office of the land.

It is what it is.

As the Mud Ball turns

As humanity commemorates the completion of another earth's cycle around the sun, it dawned on me that I would be marking half a century of my own existence on this mud ball. So I revisited something I wrote ten years ago and found that not much had changed mother-ship's trajectory. I realized, while I had largely led a rather comfortable life, taking on the challenges of domesticity and a career, the existential questions facing us all still hung in the balance.

A decade ago the human population had not surpassed seven billion. But the nature of its survival was less dismal than it is today. We have burnt carbon and discarded plastic like an alcoholic and now earth's veins are clogging and a cardiac arrest is imminent. But there is one thing that keeps the human spirit alive, the indomitable trust in the idea of "hope".

Hope that it can change the orbit of things to come with ingenious technology and innovation. No matter the odds, the confidence that it can win back time by challenging nature itself. And then there is the arrogance that not much has changed and life will go on as it has for centuries and we shall adapt. The planet is resilient and infinite and there is enough room for it to swallow all our refuse no matter what, is still a popular myth bought and peddled by many in power and their "blind leading the blind" entourage.

Humanity is no monolith. It is but a sum of diverse flawed individuals. A smorgasbord of folly, fortitude and formidable tenacity. And so 2018 was not that much different from years past. Natural and man made calamities, war, terrorism and other earth shattering phenomena made their mark like clockwork. Hunger, poverty, migration, rape and mass murder reminded us yet again of humanity's capacity for evil.

An argument is often made that writers, thinkers, scientists and artists often focus disproportionately on what's wrong with the world. The cynic trumps the pragmatist and the optimist.

Especially at years end, one should focus on the strides humanity has made in tackling some of the colossal challenges that it faces and not just on the devastation its actions cause.

Yes, humanity has conquered many diseases, the Internet is changing the very fabric of society in many positive ways, space exploration is advancing science, rich people are pledging more of their money to do good on a global scale, some nations are taking climate change seriously, some rain forests are being conserved and some endangered species are returning from the brink. And despite all that the media tends to magnify, more people are living in relative peace and security around the planet in a century. Probably this is why the human population rapidly grows, forecasted to reach 9 billion in the next few decades.

While there is relative peace, authoritarianism, fascism and right-wing politics are on the march once again. Democracy which seemed like a system that would readily take hold around the globe, especially after the end of the cold war and a collapse of communism, is again under threat. Identity politics, populism and religious tribalism are dividing people. Social media and the immediacy of the internet are helping disseminate these divisions with scathing effect.

The desire to believe in mythology with resolve and less in evidence, continues to grow. Society is created and crafted when people share stories. The fantastical ones and not the factual ones, continue to be the glue that bind. Hollowed by consumerism, in search of spiritual solace, many are adrift finding meaning in archaic practices, decrepit soothsayers and dubious leaders.

Humanity's penchant for greed and corruption always looms large, and gets larger as some nations experience an uneven and artificial phenomenon known as an "economic boom". The seduction of affluence can blind even the most informed. Consumption and the aspiration to live like the west, is reaching new highs, hoodwinking nations and peoples to gamble their future.

For nations that have always taken tomorrow's sunrise for granted, things seem uncertain. The less fortunate amassing at their borders, suck compassion out of even the most generous of them all.
Governments looking to get reelected pass policies and spend their way to the hilt, offering and deluding their citizens that the glory days will return or are yet to come .

But what they do not seem to understand is that resources are finite, and capitalism in its present form is unsustainable. If economic growth is the only benchmark for success, the roller coaster fluctuations of the stock market will be the new normal. Even the knee jerk experiment of capitalism inside communism, is fundamentally flawed and impractical in the long run. Every year is a litmus test, making certain that the fountain of endless affluence and growth is but an illusion.

So when, where and how do we begin to appreciate the future from the present and reverse course? When do we begin to look at ourselves beyond the trappings of power, politics, greed, religion, dogma and division and think of ourselves as the one ocean rising. When do we begin to accept that our progress and problems are interconnected and that nations and people are all essentially the same, sharing the same destiny. When do we recognize that no nation is immune to the ebb and flow of economic and social upheaval, despite their historical make up. And when do we wake up to the realization that walls do not work.

And so heading into another year of unknowns, instead of making new resolutions, if we as a species can acknowledge the mistakes we have made in the past, that would be a huge step in the right direction.

It is what it is.

Looming Crisis

A decaying dead sperm whale washed ashore at a national park in Indonesia this month. Inside its belly were found, 19 pieces of hard plastic, 4 plastic bottles, 24 plastic bags, 2 flip-flops, 3.26 kilograms of string and 115 plastic cups.

145 long finned pilot whales were found stranded on a remote beach in New Zealand. By the time rescuers reached the struggling whales, nearly half were already dead. The other half were in such pain that they needed to be euthanized. The hiker who spotted them and alerted the authorities said, their screams were unbearable.

The Great Barrier Reef is rapidly losing its coral glory. Rising ocean temperatures are said to be the cause. Scientists are desperately trying to artificially fertilize and regenerate new life on the reef. But if temperatures keep rising, even a fraction change will spell death to one of the great wonders of the planet.

The white marble on Taj Mahal's dome is cracking and its sheen is being dulled beyond repair. Sustained industrial pollution over decades is said to be the cause. The river Yamuna that hugs its banks is a cesspool of filth and disease.

2018 has seen the worst forest fires ravage California on record. 1,667,855 acres have burned, the largest amount recorded in any any given year. A fire this month claimed 88 people and almost 25  are still unaccounted for. It destroyed more than 18,000 structures, becoming both California's deadliest and most destructive wildfire on record.

This month, the US government released its Fourth National Climate Assessment report. 13 federal agencies presented the starkest warnings to date of the consequences of climate change for the United States. The report predicted that if significant steps are not taken to rein in global warming, the damage will knock as much as 10 percent off the size of the American economy by century’s end.

According to the World Meteorological Organization, The year 2018 is on course to be the fourth warmest on record. It says that the global average temperature for the first 10 months of the year was nearly 1C above the levels between 1850-1900. The State of the Climate report says that the 20 warmest years on record have been in the past 22 years, with the 2015-2018 making up the top four. If the trend continues, the WMO says temperatures may rise by 3-5C by 2100.

Americans celebrated Thanksgiving on November 22nd. At the stroke of midnight stores across the nation and online, opened their doors to hordes of shoppers. The Black Friday sale as its called, has become as much a symbol of Thanksgiving as the oversized shiny dead Turkey on the dinner table. As Americans indulged in this excess, buying things they do not need, and as a consequence producing more trash, the state of the environment was farthest from their minds.

And the president of the United States, blatantly ignored his own government's climate report, and refused to act, thus neglecting his prime directive: to protect all Americans from harm.

Alarm bells are ringing all around the planet. The looming crisis is real. Irrefutable scientific data shows over and over again that humans are causing catastrophic harm to the fragile ecosystem. And yet people in power refuse to act decisively, too afraid and corrupted by oil and big business. In their pigheadedness they choose to defy overwhelming consensus, and deliberately endanger the planet and its inhabitants by continuing to resist change. Economic growth and a hunger for more and more material conveniences seems to be the only benchmark to achieve. Most of the nations who signed on to the Paris Accords, are behind in meeting their targets. America is the only nation that is no longer a signatory.

So what does one do when a problem is of planetary proportion?

Mahatma Gandhi, famously said "Be the change you want to see in the world". I think it is too late for that. There is little time to educate the young about what this exactly means. Transformative people who can embody change and influence people en-mass are few. In an era of glamor worship, movie stars and pop stars are more influential, and a use and throw culture of conspicuous consumption is a driving force. Respect for the environment is only an after thought. The toxic nature of humanity is so far reaching, it feels impossible to pull back from the brink. Even the last remaining havens harboring tribes untouched by the toxicity of modernity, are being tested by overzealous encroachment.

This month, another NASA rover successfully landed on the surface of Mars, sending back images of a barren planet, covered in rock and dust. While the images of Mars are breathtaking and the human effort to be able to capture them commendable, the stark contrast is inescapable. The blue spec humanity calls home is infinitely more beautiful and fascinating. And yet it seems we are willing to squander it all away blinded by our contemptible shortsightedness.

It is what it is.

Human Hubris

In the new documentary film on climate change "Living in the Future's Past", the actor Jeff Bridges narrates, "Although we are part of the web of life, because we see it, we think we stand above it". This singular distinguishing factor defines our species, and has made us all powerful and dominating. And as we begin to realize, it may also become the reason for our demise. 

But on the other hand, it may also save us.

When Homo sapiens began their evolutionary journey on this planet as foragers, they were very much a part of the web of life. As they grew in numbers and transitioned to hunter-gatherers and  discovered the art of agriculture they began to separate from that web. 

Agriculture started the process of domestication and civilization as we know it began in earnest. Then came ideas of god and religion placing humans at the apex of the living order. 

Tribalism began to take root, leading to conflict and war. Land became the most valuable of all currency and so began the formation of tribal enclaves, which  lead to the creation of borders and the nation state.

Domestication brought about the enslavement of animals on a mammoth scale. Chickens, pigs, goats and cows became the beasts of burden and their abuse became emblematic of the human race.

As the human population grew, so started the rapid decline of biodiversity on the planet. Forests began to shrink as the need for arable land grew. As soon as the balance of nature began to shift, probably the first measurable impact of human existence on the planet began to be felt. 

Industrialization which was fueled by the discovery and use of oil, made the ramifications of the human race on the environment even more pronounced.

Today, 90% of all large animals (weighing more than a few pounds) on the planet are either human or domesticated. Since the appearance of life on the planet, some 4 billion years ago, never has a single species changed the ecology of the planet all by itself in such an indelible way. The complete and utter domination of the human species is so absolute, to say that we are not having an impact on the planet and its climate, is akin to believing the earth is flat. Which to my surprise many do, as they fear what faces humanity.

One thing is certain, with the world living in relative peace, devoid of any major war and famine, and with medicine halting almost all premature death, the human population is only guaranteed to spread and grow even more. Today it stands at about 7 billion. By 2050 it is predicted to reach 9 billion. Humans with ingenuity can figure out ways to feed themselves. With innovative methods of farming enough food can be generated with less arable land. But the enslavement and slaughter of livestock will have to increase as human addiction to meat and dairy will not stem easily. And therefore the chances of preventing greenhouse gasses from reaching the atmosphere seems less tenable.

Early this month, I visited Paris to screen my film Salam at the Pariscience Film Festival. Many films shown at this festival dealt with the subject of climate change and global warming. One particular film, Bill Nye: Science Guy, focused on the anti-science atmosphere that has gripped America, causing people to denounce evolution and adopt creationism with fervor. In America today, we have a president and an administration that openly believes climate change is a hoax. We have a TV channel dedicated and determined to discredit any scientific data, that proves humans are altering the climate. Their listeners and believers are large in number and are determined to take America on a regressive path. America does not stand alone in this matter. Many nations around the world are doing little to rise to the challenge. China and India, the world's two most populous nations continue to choke breathing poisonous air unable, incapable and refusing to take drastic measures. All not willing to hurt the bottom line of their industrial class, to whom growth and accumulation of wealth trumps survival.

A recent report from the IPCC  has revealed that the world's oceans have absorbed more heat than previously thought. This means the oceans are warming more rapidly than predicted. Warmer oceans translate to more severe weather patterns. Warmer air leads to rapid glacial ice melt leading to sea level rise.

At present the alarms being raised are dire. We are heading towards a catastrophe and there is no unified attempt to confront the approaching storm in any meaningful and urgent way. Humans from their limited earthbound view, still believe there are real borders on the ground. Even though images of the blue marble from space show there are none.

We who stand apart and above the web of nature are in a unique position to save ourselves or watch our growth bring it all to an end. As the saying goes, everything that has a beginning must also have an end.

Two things that separates humans from the other species that inhabit the earth are Hubris and Greed. Two characteristics that lead us down the path of self destruction. But on the other hand hubris has also helped humanity achieve the impossible. So maybe we will dig our self out of this hole we are so rapidly digging. 

In the words of the comedic genius philosopher George Carlin "The planet is fine. The people are fucked. Its been here four and half billion years. The planet isn't going anywhere. We are. The planet will shake us off like a bad case of fleas."

It is what it is.

Lurid Discourse

It all started when Donald Trump entered the national consciousness. All notions of etiquette and decency were discarded and a new era in American political discourse was ushered in. When we heard the now jarring infamous phrase, "Grab'em by the pussy" uttered by the would be president of the United States, the rapid corrosion of American politics had begun. And that which once was unacceptable had now begun to be brushed aside as "locker room" banter, something men have always engaged in, and not to be seen as a blemish on their character. As character was no longer consequential.

The ascent of Donald Trump, unabashedly brought to the fore the grotesque patterns of male sexual behavior. Nineteen women accused Donald Trump of inappropriate sexual behavior. They were all ignored and Donald Trump was voted in as the president of the United States and still enjoys significant support. He certainly was not the first candidate with a checkered past to rise to power. But his rise was a stark reflection of the moral and cultural decline that had taken place within America, which would begin to dictate the course of events of come.

For a nation addicted to social media and individuals defining their self worth more and more by their digital interactions, facts have become secondary. People choose to believe what they hear in their echo chambers, which are strewn with conspiracy theories and lies.

As a response to a toxic culture in flux, was born the #metoo movement which sought to destroy the long standing careers of powerful men across all spheres. Men finally began to be held accountable for sexual impropriety. Men with power, wealth and stature were eviscerated by the gathering storm, as evidence and allegations began to pile up from decades ago. It seemed the time when improper sexual behavior was considered entitled and passable, had come to a grinding halt.

So when Donald Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, a man whose conservative views on issues affecting women were deeply divisive and controversial, it was inevitable that he would become a lightning rod for the #metoo movement sweeping the nation. Even though he took extraordinary measures to present himself as a model father to his daughters, a caring husband and god fearing compassionate constitutional judge, many did not find him worthy of a life time position on the highest court.

On the other side the Republicans saw him as their chance in a generation to turn the Supreme Court decidedly conservative for decades to come. Knowing they had the votes to accomplish this, they wanted to hurry through the formalities and send him on to the vacant bench as soon as possible. The previous Donald Trump nominee, Niel Gorsuch, was confirmed strictly along party lines without a hitch. With the mid-term elections around the corner, the need for a hurried confirmation seemed even more urgent.

Despite the Democratic party senators unanimous disapproval of him, he was close to being confirmed, when allegations of sexual misconduct emerged. As a teenager and a Yale law student, it seemed Brett Kavanaugh was not your model citizen, he would otherwise like you to believe. According to his accusers, he seemed to have had a drinking problem and a pattern of behaving badly with women. Growing up in the 80s in an all boys and probably all white prep school, Kavanaugh was being the teenager we saw portrayed in the movies of the time, such as Animal House and Revenge of the Nerds. 

While he claimed he spent most of his time studying and lifting weights at the gym, the calendar he presented as evidence seemed to reveal an active social life. Should what he did as a teenager and young student be a deciding factor in his nomination? Some say "yes", as it fundamentally says something about his character. Others felt his behavior as a young man had no baring, as he had done enough to compensate and be held in high regard as a judge.

But in the era of Donald Trump and in the shadow of the #metoo movement, it clearly was not enough. A seat at the United States Supreme Court is a lifetime appointment, therefore the stakes are high and therefore there is a valuable argument to be made that the person who fills this position, not just have a stellar judicial record but also be of immaculate personal character.

As Brett Kavanaugh mounted an angry and belligerent defense at the senate hearing, accusing the Democrats and the media of launching a smear campaign hell bent on destroying his family and his reputation, he was off kilter, and vociferously used his personal pain to proclaim himself innocent. As a result he showed a temperament that was deeply unsettling, revealing his own biases and stark political leanings, which did not bode well for someone wanting to become - at least in appearance - a nonpartisan judge-in-chief of the land.

While he was successful in coming across as convincing and credible to the people on his side, he ended up alienating his detractors even more than before. While he was sympathetic to his accuser, as she came across as credible to everyone who watched her, he categorically proclaimed she suffered from a case of "mistaken identity".

In the end the disgusting, deplorable but riveting drama that unfolded, was a sad display of where America has arrived as a nation. Reality-TV had now reached the Senate, under the watchful eye of a Reality-TV president. The shocking and unsettling nature of the details that emerged and how nonchalantly they were spoken about in the media and in the Senate was appalling. All filters were off, supposedly in an attempt to get to the sordid truth, as dirty laundry was aired to an unfazed glued nation.

In the end the Republicans had to relent as one of their own would not play along. The FBI investigation that was being asked for all along by the Democrats was granted under duress. The nomination was put on hold for a week for the FBI to investigate the allegations. The scope of the FBI investigation will be narrow as the Republicans are still committed to get Brett Kavanaugh confirmed as soon as possible. If it is determined that he lied under oath, only then will his nomination be suspended, otherwise the Republicans are on track to achieving their goal with a minor hiccup.

The lurid discourse around Brett Kavanaugh and his accusers, once again exposed how divided America has become. Some say it has not been this divided since the civil war. From late night talk show hosts to blaring news media pundits and talk-radio, there is a complete contrast in how the discourse is reported and presented and how people perceive what is transpiring.

Alternate realities that disregard all facts, and the constant barrage of harsh words only make people more hardened about how they view the political landscape. As the salaciousness intensifies and all the filters are discarded, it is unnerving to fathom the impact this lurid discourse is having on the younger generation. A cancer is slowly metastasizing as a result of normalizing the abnormal.

It is what it is.

60 Years of a Revolution

“We don’t have much, but we have security here” said my taxi driver Julio, as we sped down the Malecon, with the brilliant blue Atlantic on one side and the ornate imposing dilapidated buildings on the other. Even in an authoritarian nation there is something to be said about this sentiment. Coming from a land where violence has been and has become a way of life, where the murder of children in schools is shrugged off as just another dreadful day, it was a jarring and refreshing pronouncement to hear.

Walking through its narrow lanes at all hours of the night, I felt safe in La Habana. People congregating on corners and rickshaw pullers accosting you in polite Spanish seemed least bit threatening.

While people took respite from the heat in their quaint balconies and doorways, men without shirts and women fanning themselves in spare clothing, everyone seemed curious and eager to help. They would endearingly start an inquisitive conversation, which would often end with a smile and a welcome. When I bought a Cuban Fedora from a souvenir shop and later realized from the tag it was made in China, she took it back, no questions asked.

Like any big city, I was told there are neighborhoods you would not want to venture into at night. But poverty for some reason had not driven people to begging and crime at the level you would expect. For the largest city in Cuba, at two million strong, crime is said to be a rarity in Havana.

Next July, it will be 60 years since Fidel Castro Ruz along with Ernesto “Che” Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos over threw the corrupt US supported Fulgencio Batista government. Every where you travel across this land, banners, stencils on walls and murals remind you of that day and the anniversary coming up.

The communist regime that was setup after Fidel Castro assumed power is still intact and in control. The faces of Fidel, Che and Camilo are ubiquitous, reminding you at every turn, of their heroism and sacrifice. Not a day goes by on state sanctioned television where the accomplishments of the revolution are not eulogized. There are bookshops in every corner of the country dedicated to the revolution; where one can find the charismatic cigar puffing iconic images of Che and Fidel in all sizes. In the 60s the black and white images of the young valiant revolutionaries captivated the world. It was a master PR campaign, staged and planned by Fidel and his photographer Alberto Korda.

Every school has a little alcove at the entrance where some of these iconic photographs are displayed with slogans of national pride and the flag. School children in Cuba begin their day with the pledge “We will be like Che”.

Che’s face is emblazoned on T-shirts, buttons, bandanas, wallets, restaurant signs and on the walls of the remotest pueblos (villages) of this land. The commodification of his image and myth is so pervasive, that Fidel upon his death insisted, that he should not be immortalized and sold in this way. It is rare to find his likeness anywhere close to Che, but he does show up on TV and in museums as a larger than life figure.

Cuba’s defiance of America, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Bay of Pigs invasion the continuing embargo and the numerous plots to overthrow the regime are celebrated as the greatest accomplishment of the revolution. There is a whole museum in Havana dedicated to the revolution called the Museo De La Revolucion. It tells the story of the struggle in massive displays of faded photographs and artifacts. It also spins a narrative of how the CIA plotted to subjugate its people by poisoning their livestock, infecting their tobacco fields, murdering Che, downing one of their airplanes in 1976 and plotting to assassinate Fidel Castro 600 times.

There is no doubt that successive American governments since Castro took power have tried to dislodge him and failed time after time. Therefore the Cuban people do feel a sense of pride in standing tall, even though deep down many know, that the reason for some of their misery is not America alone.

As you would expect, the museum conveniently omits that which does not serve the myth that bolsters the regime.

It is quite otherworldly to imagine that a three-hour flight from New York can land you in a place so alien. Florida is just 103 miles of the coast of Cuba, but the only thing you will find American here are some TV shows and the cars from the 1950s, which have become emblematic of this city and country. They are the Gondolas of Havana and are used as taxis for the public and pleasure rides for the tourists. Some have Russian Lada and Toyota engines in them and others original parts, gushing clouds of black smoke as they cruise down the boulevard. You also see newer Chinese and Russian cars and buses, capitalizing on the absence of American made.

Cubans love their old cars. It is common to see them tinkering with them for hours with their heads under the hood and shining their beautiful curves. It is quite an anachronistic sight to see them in large numbers all spruced up and driving around even in remote parts of the country on empty highways.

While Cubans have resigned to a meager existence with grace, humility and a smile, there is a beaten down sadness you cannot touch but see from a distance. With a determination on their face and music in their soul, Cubans go around their business of living with little protest. Waiting for hours at bus stops, getting in line early morning outside banks, going to a public park to access internet, shopping at scarce markets, unreliable cellphone networks and trying to find cover from the afternoon sun and thundershowers when umbrellas are a thing of luxury, are just a few discomforts Cubans contend with.

La Habana has rich history, restaurants, art-galleries, museums, music, plazas, architecture everything a great tourist city needs to be successful. As mammoth cruise ships dock and luxurious hotels are built, increasing tourism will no doubt offer employment to scores and improve the lives of many, if the regime allows. But at what cost, is anyone’s guess. Already bottled water is a reality and the transportation infrastructure is badly in need of an upgrade and repair. While the public beaches here are exquisite, they are littered with plastic and soda cans, a symptom of progress and a lack of services, resources and education. It is hard not to compare old Havana to Venice as they both have a similar vibe of being architecturally unique. While tourists are overrunning Venice, and there is an outcry to control their flow, Havana is just opening up to welcome the hoards to boost its economy.

For all its beauty and vitality, Cuba is not a free society in any stretch of the imagination. People are free spirited here no doubt. They smile, dance and play drums like nowhere else in the world; their culture is an exquisite amalgamation of European and African influences and their history is older than that of North America as Columbus landed here first.

At the nightclubs people party late into the night, but Cubans are not free to speak their mind. Politics is something they are not allowed to engage in and therefore is a subject that is taboo. Dissidents are jailed and there are limits to what you can and cannot say. There is no free press. The state controls every aspect of one’s life. While some private ownership has been allowed in the recent past, the regime’s hold on everything is as firm as ever. The Internet is regulated by the state by allowing access an hour at a time via scratch cards that allow Wifi access only at hotspots in public parks, upscale hotels and some houses. The eight channels of commercial free TV, only show what the regime wants you to see. As to be expected, the extreme state control has spawned a black market for everything.

Centro Habana, is where the poor live and where the homes are crumbling. Here I visited Demaris, a musician I got to know through a friend in New York. She invited us to her home with warmth and grace. Her posture and perfume was immaculate, as she welcomed my family with a hug and a kiss.

As I stepped inside, I could not tell if this was her house or a ruin left behind by a bombing raid. There were Yoruba shrines in the verandah and congas, bongos and other instruments dominated the front rooms. The back room had a plain bed and a small gangway to the side was her kitchen and bathroom. A pedestal fan with naked blades whirled providing some relief from the heat.

Her home was severely damaged by Hurricane Irma a year ago and the high roof seemed like it could give in any minute. The wooden beams were sagging, shredded and barely holding at the edges. She had inherited this derelict from her father, who was awarded the property for his contribution to the revolution.

Demaris’ home was a ruin, but clean and welcoming. While she had a phone and an old TV, her existence was clearly meager. She had no means of repairing her home. She barely made enough to feed and clothe herself. Building materials and labor are prohibitively expensive in Cuba. The government has no subsidies or assistance to offer. I later found out that her situation was not unique. Many in Centro Habana, had gotten used to living in dilapidated homes.

Watching Venezuela, a close economic and political ally of Cuba descend into chaos and mass social upheaval, I wondered if that could happen here some day. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Cuba was in free fall, as it was completely reliant on Russia for its entire economy. Fidel Castro declared that Cuba was entering a “Special period in the time of peace” or known as Periodo Especial. Drastic austerity measures were put into place. It is said people lost a third of their body weight during this time, which lasted four years. Julio did not want to be reminded of this time. Cuba prevailed.

Soon after the Periodo Especial to stem a parallel economy in US dollars and inflation the Cuban government introduced a currency called the CUC or Cuban Convertibles. This currency pegged to the dollar has a one to one exchange rate to the US dollar, but a 10% penalty is imposed if you were to convert within the country, a surcharge for the embargo. Euros, Pounds and Canadian dollars are not subject to this penalty.

The locals use a currency called CUP or Cuban Pesos, which converts to 25CUP to 1CUC. This causes a huge confusion while transacting business within the country.

The government employees are paid in CUP and almost all employees are severely underpaid. Julio, my taxi driver, used to be a radiologist in a cancer hospital. He was paid 30CUC a month. Despite having no rent or mortgage to pay, a subsidized ration of food supplies provided by the government via under stocked outlets, free health care and education for his children, he could not make ends meet. A round trip from my apartment to downtown Havana costed about 30CUC. He said he missed working at the hospital.

On the last day of my trip, Julio drove us to Plaza De La Revolucion (Revolution Plaza). An imposing grand tower stood on one side of an open paved field. On the other side were two buildings with the giant faces of Che and Comilo sculpted on to the façades This is where Fidel made his annual animated speeches glorifying the revolution while thousands cheered.

When I asked Julio what people make of the daily dose of nationalist propaganda, especially the younger generation, he replied, “No one cares. Everyone just survives here. We live under the boot of the regime. They decide when to press hard or when to release”. When I asked what his young adult boys felt, he responded, “Given a chance they would leave Cuba”. He followed that sentiment by saying that “but things are going to change very soon. They have to. And the young people will have many opportunities, if only they could see it coming, rather than give up.”

As a tourist most places seem more romantic than they are. As the struggle of daily life is not your concern, you only focus on that which is quaint and beautiful. Meeting people, you barely scratch the surface of what daily life is truly like. But you do get a sense of the possibilities and an understanding of that which is alive and that which has been lost. Being in Havana at a time when it is beginning to open up to the world, it is possible to forecast where it will be and what it can become.

Much like his many friends Julio probably had a chance to leave Cuba, but decided to stay. I could not tell if he regretted that decision, but he never expressed any deep resentment, just a resignation that is all too familiar here.

It is what it is.