Arthshastra

After the last elections, when it appeared that Sonia Gandhi might be the next Prime Minister of India, I went ballistic with anger. An immigrant in a foreign country who felt proud whenever a person of Indian origin was elected to an official position in countries like the US, Canada or UK, it was an obviously bigoted reaction. Part of it was because I was extremely fond of the grand old man of Indian politics, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and I felt that Sonia had dethroned him in a coup; part of it was a visceral reaction to the shenanigans of the Congress party in the past, but the rest of it was bigotry due to the sole reason of Sonia being born in a foreign country.

A couple of years down the line, I think I owe an apology to the lady. Much bandwidth, ink and paper has been consumed in the past few days over the recent events surrounding Mrs. Gandhi and overwhelmingly, the response of the Indian middle class and Indian intelligentsia has been cynical and negative. I know that the middle class and the upwardly mobile consider Congress party and specially the Nehru family to be the main reason for India’s economic stagnation (and so do I) but that is really no reason for them to not to see through their own demagoguery and ideological position in ignoring the facts staring in their face regarding Mrs Gandhi.

You could attribute any number of motives to Mrs. Gandhi’s actions. That she is playing a political game, that she is preparing the stage for her children but the only charge that sticks is that she inspires Congressmen to burst into wild bouts of sycophancy, which is a disgusting sight, but even that is not her fault - blame the Congress, nay Indian, political mindset for it. It is ironic that the biggest albatross that she seems to be carrying is her connection to the Nehru family, obviously ironic, because had it not been for that connection, she’d be somewhere in Europe, worried about the Muslim immigration issue.

During the past two years, Mrs. Gandhi has shown that all said and done, she really is different from the current breed of Indian politicians. Her willingness to be a fast learner, her aptitude in mastering foreign policy, her political intuition and just plain decency, everything sets her apart from the Mulayam Singhs, the Sitaram Yechuris, the Amar Singhs, the Rajnath Singhs of Indian politics. And yet, despite considering all these alternatives, people are not able to see anything good about her insisting that everything she does is attributable to her planning to further the Nehru raj. Well, I used to be terribly worried about the continuation of the Nehru raj as well, but honestly, the more I see of her, the less I am worried because if her actions are any indication, then she surely must have given a much better upbringing to her children than Indira ever did to her two brats.

In today’s political climate, where every party and politician seems to have put country’s interest aside, how can you not admire a leader who has the guts and understanding to write something like this?

To the person who gave India one of the best Prime Ministers, to the person who by the sheer decency of her behavior has highlighted the depravity of the rest of Indian politicians and to the person who has proved that I was utterly wrong in my analysis of hers, I owe an apology - I was wrong about you and I stand corrected!

I’d be hard pressed to give you the exact year and age when this life long love affair started, but sometime between the 9th and the 11th grade, I had my first sip of beer and to flog a dead cliché - it was love at first gulp. Like a lot of other youngsters in small town India at that time, I started with a Kingfisher but pretty soon, like Naipaul visiting the whores in his youth, we settled for beers that gave most bang for the buck. We were naive and still finding our way around beers so we’d buy the ones that offered the most alcohol for the least amount of money. Terms like malt, single batch, ale, lager, fermentation, yeast and microbrewery were way in the future; right now we settled for some of the favorite beers of truckers in North India - brands like Bullet, Godfather and Hayward 5000 were staples. A little while later, the Wal-Mart of Australian beers - Fosters (a fact that we obviously did not know at that time and the marketing machine of Fosters that worked overtime had no intention of letting us know) came along and we indulged in that luxury every once in a while, imagining it to be the best beer in the world. Oh the naiveté and exuberance of youth!

Neither Bombay, nor Chicago made me a beer sophisticate. In fact, in Chicago, I gulped down Budweisers by the six packs, again the marketing machine making me believe that I was having the “King of Beers.” It was not until I visited Belgium in the fall of 2002 and had my first gulp of a locally brewed Trappist beer that I fully realized what I had been missing all along. Trappist beers are brewed by Trappist monks who starting brewing these beers to fund their monasteries and their beer has a very distinctive taste compared to the mass produced beers. Of course, beer does not carry the romance and aura of wines, you don’t find any beer snobs ruining your evening by snickering at you when you cannot pronounce the name of that 1989 vintage from a godforsaken place in France. But luckily for me, I moved to Wisconsin - a state that has a proud tradition of micro-breweries and an equally passionate population who could not care less about wines and could not be any crazier about their six-pack. Wisconsin of course owes this tradition to its German roots from the 19th century.

Anyways, it was here that I was introduced to the tradition of micro-brewery and the brewpub, a small, locally owned brewery that brews beers in small batches and serves them fresh in the attached pub or restaurant. The first thing that you order when you go to a brewpub is their sampler.

The sampler, as the name indicates, includes small samples of all the different beer types (usually ranging from half a dozen to a dozen) that is available. You can then order regular sizes of the ones that you really liked. Nowadays, when we visit a small mid-west town, my mouth waters at the prospect of exploring their brewpubs and what they might be brewing at that time of the year. As Shahrukh Khan famously intoned in “Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge” - it is difficult to decide which girl to go for, some have great lips, some have great hair…..well for me, it is difficult to decide which beer to order on a particular day. Some are delicately spiced, some have heavenly aroma, some are delightfully bitter, while some are wonderfully sweet. But I am not complaining. So you can keep your Chardonnay, your Merlots and your Pinot Noirs; you can also keep your single malts aged in oak caskets for a dozen years. Bring me that perfectly brewed fresh this morning beer, poured lovingly and gently from the tap in my 20 Oz glass. And yes - I will take fried fish with that please. So here’s to beer!

(Picture courtsey - New York Times)

The Dutch Immigration authorities have come up with a new weapon in their ongoing struggle against intolerant immigrants (read Islamists) - a movie portraying naked woman and smooching gay men. As widely reported this week (in many media outlets including NY Times here ), potential immigrants to the Netherlands will be made to watch a DVD containing snippets from the permissible Dutch life as part of their study guide for the immigration guide.

At first blush, this seems like a great idea. If you are a European country known for its permissiveness you’d certainly want to ensure that your values are not diluted by a rapidly growing and strident immigrant population who seem to be ready to bite the very hand that feeds them.

On second thoughts though, this seems like the opening of Pandora’s Box. People from the United States and European Union are exempt from watching this DVD which seems strange to me. After all, there are any number of red state people in the United States who are prone to violent reactions against gays and who honestly could do with a little bit of tolerance as well. Or what about Islamists born and brought up in the European Union countries? These glaring loop holes have prompted allegations of discrimination against the Muslims (which is rich and a whole another story anyways considering what all restrictions you are subject to if you are a non-Muslim in a Muslim majority country).

One also has to ask if this is a new type of litmus test that people will be made to undergo as the cross borders. Are more and more countries, specially in the West going to resort to something similar to counter a rapidly growing immigrant population? Would each country become a zone of sharply defined cultural values and you’d have to confirm to them if you want to be able to live there? What about people who are born in that country and yet do not subscribe to its values? What about gays in the red state American? What about the Dutch or the French who are conservative and do not like the permissible values of their societies? Would they eventually want this DVD to be part of high school curriculum?

On further pondering though, this idea again starts looking appealing. After all, the Dutch are not telling the immigrants that they have to become gays or that their women might start roaming topless in the streets of Amsterdam. They are only telling them that it is permissible to behave this way in their society and that the immigrants have to respect it. If they don’t like the way the Dutch society operates, then they can stay wherever they are. I find this to be a fair proposition and I think that this is probably the most reasonable way in which the Dutch could ensure the sanity of their society which seems to have been shaken to its roots by the recent violent outbursts of the Islamists in the Netherlands.

With President Bush’s approval ratings in the dumps and the Republicans in Congress in serious danger of losing their majority - their could be a big change of direction in the US domestic and international policy post November mid-term elections. If the Republicans end up ceding their majority both in the House and the Senate, then there is a very real chance that the vindictive Democrats, who have been afraid to take any stance on major issues facing the US will seize on the opportunity and make the Bush administration go through a series of politically motivated hearings on the Hill - some of them deserved and some of them serving the twin demons of partisanship and demagoguery, which will cripple this administration for whatever its worth for its remaining two years.

Karl Rove wanted to create a long-term Republican majority but it seems to me that through his political chicanery and the ineptitude of this administration, the conservatives have ended up getting a black eye instead and their grand plans have evaporated in a flurry of scandals. Now there is a very real prospect of a Democartic President and a Democratic Congress looming in front of us which could be bad news on many issues.

It is not that I am a big fan of the Republican party, or that I feel that the Republicans are any less or more corrupt than their Democrat counterparts. Either party, when in power, tries to govern, at least to some extent on its founding principles and the basic conservative principles simply make more sense compared to the liberal ones. Of course, there are always aberrations like Bill Clinton who chalked out his own middle way but then exceptions only prove the rule. I am also not implying that I am a  fan of this administration, far from it. I am deeply disgusted by their politcal tactics, their handling of various issues, their under-the-table attempts to dilute environmental protections. I am also not a blind supporter of the conservative principles, specially their stance on scientific enquiry. But broadly speaking, let me elaborate on why the looming arrival of liberals is bad news.

It will be bad news for developing nations around the world because for all their talk of compassion and doing more for the third world countries, the Democrats really only believe in handing out aid to those countries. The only real way in which those countries can make progress is through developing bilateral trade with the West. But with leading Western countries insisting on continuing massive local subsidies and high import tariffs,  this issue has stagnated. President Bush tried eliminating some of those subsidies but could not get rid of all. Bono can sing and dance for all he wants, unless and until the West lets go of its shackles on the products that are the mainstay of developing countries, there cannot be a meaningful progress on elimination wretched poverty in parts of the world and the liberals with their panderings to the subsidies lobbies, cannot provide any meaningful leadership on this issue.

It will be bad news for the war on terrorism. For all their talk of winning the hearts of the Muslims and Muslim countries, the Democrats did not exactly send a Valentine to the Arab world when they indulged in political rhetoric and bombast over the Dubai ports deal. You can expect more of the same protectionism from them when they are in power.

The same strain of protectionism will also make globalization suffer. Countries like India, as in the last elections, will again face lots of political rhetoric during the campaign about outsourcing, but with Democrats in power, this time around that rhetoric might very well turn into reality. There could be measures to make outsourcing of business more difficult, to make immigration into the US an even more labyrinth process and to reduce the number of visas available to foreign workers. Remember, that these are the people who talk hyperbolically about making the world a better place and yet, when it comes to treaties like NAFTA and CAFTA, they start pandering to their trade union base.

So unless Republicans can turn something around in the next few months for the mid-terms and then for the Presidential elections, it seems like a free fall for them at the moment. They came in power riding on the coattails of some very sound conservative principles but it is disheartening that they could not hold onto them.

One of the many great things about Chicago is the eclectic selection of food available in downtown and near the downtown area. Unlike many other larger metropolitan cities in the US, walking around in downtown or taking the train at night as you explore the city is much safer (though one always has to be careful in some areas).

One such place to explore is Cafe Bolero - a little heaven of Cuban food on the far west side of Chicago. If you like your Tapas hot, your Mojitos cold and music boisterous, then Cafe Bolero is the place to be. The place is usually packed on the weekends with excellent live music and a lively crowd of people. If you go during the summers, you can opt to sit in the small porch. The interiors of the restaurant are divided into two distinct areas - a seating area next to the bar and then there is a small flight of stairs further down that leads to the second section. Live music usually plays in the second area and if you’d rather talk than listen to music, you’d be well advised to request a table in the first section as it can get rather loud inside with the band.

I always start my evening here by ordering Mojito, their signature drink made with mint, rum, soda and sugar and some Tapas from their extensive selection. Tapas are small Spanish appetizers and usually if you are in a group, you encourage everyone to order a different one and you share them and get a taste of everything. If you are not an appetizer person and like to concentrate all your attention on the entree, then I suggest having some of their warm, freshly baked bread with the butter (served free) as you sip (or gulp - I am not judging here) your drink. After all, with excellent food fragrances wafting about and the alcohol in the Mojito whetting your appetite, you do need something to keep you going as your food is prepared.

Selecting the entree is not an easy choice - regardless of whether you are vegetarian or a non-vegetarian, they offer ample choices for everyone. I have tried all their chicken dishes but the one I tend to favor over all others is Chicken Milanesa - a very well marinated and cooked breast of chicken topped with ham, cheese and tomato sauce. It is served with rice and black beans on the side. If your dish does not come with black beans and you have a taste for beans then please order some because they are really delicious.

If you like beef then Ropa Vieja is your best bet - my wife does not like beef dishes in the US, but she tells me that Ropa Vieja is the closest it comes to the Indian (or I should say Manglorean) way of making beef.

For vegetarians, I’d recommend the Combo Plate - I particularly like the fried sweet plantain that is included in that combo.

The place is rather skimpy on dessert choices, but you can always go for one of their Flans and excellent coffee.

As you might have noticed by now, there is no concept of light cooking at this restaurant and it is all for a good cause. Go there with a good appetite and after a light lunch and you shall be amply rewarded. You can get more details including their menu choices at Cafe Bolero’s website.

How do you get there? The restaurant is situated at 2252 N. Western Ave. Chicago. If you want to take the public transit then this area is served by the blue line trains going towards O’Hare. You can always get the exact details by planning your trip through Chicago Transit Authority’s website.
If you are driving and you are going in the evening hours then you can park free in the parking lot of a bank right next to the restaurant.