contents of the book - Business with Latin America

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Malgudi to Macondo
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Celebra la vida( celebrate life )
Bikini and Bindi
Lia Diskin, the Gandhian
Dear Vijaya... my Bhalobasa
Agriculture Process Outsourcing (APO) by an Argentine Patel
The risk of doing business with Colombia is …falling in love….
Message of Gandhi in Medellin
Silicon Valley for Indian men and Silicone Mountain for Latino women
Pura Vida (Pure Life)
Writer in the Language of Passion
The sum of our days
The land of poets and volcanos
From the bottom of the well to the top of the Executive Tower
The Sandal Revolution
Eat less, drink less and sleep alone
The labyrinth of solitude
Return to the sender
Hastinapur, the city of wisdom
Singh is King..in Argentina
From Faith to Fashion
Don´t cry for me Argentina
Book time in Buenos Aires
The Queen of Curious Night
Polo born in India..perfected in Argentina
Kissing queens and sipping wines in Mendoza
Pondicherry Tamil, born in Vietnam, making Argentine wine
Argentine Singhs
Orillas- Argentine connection to Africa
Myrta Barvie, Argentine icon of Indian dances
The accidental President of Brazil
Paraguayan honour for Indian scientist
La vida loca ( crazy life ) - Ricky Martin
Haveli Ram business in Latin America
Malli Mastan Babu, the Indian on top of the Andean peaks
One can change the spouse... but not one´s football club
Cafe con piernas ( coffee with legs )
La Vida es un Carnaval (life is a carnival)
Dejanos imaginar que no existe el pasado (let us imagine that there is no past)
Business with Latin America
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Celebra la vida( celebrate life)
Malgudi is the fictional town in the novels of R.K Narayan. It embodies the value system of simple
Indian folk from a small town, pursuing traditional life. Malgudi is similiar to Lalgudi, the nearest town
from Alangudi Mahajanam, my village in Tamilnadu.
Macondo is the mythical town in the novels of the Colombian Nobel-laureate Gabriel Garcia
Marquez. The spirit of Macondo is ‘Magical Realism’, the literary genre, popular in Latin America.
For the Latin Americans, life is a fiesta (party) and a carnival. It should be celebrated, as the Argentine
pop singer Axel sings:
Celebra la vida…Segundo a segundo
Nada se guarda…Todo se brinda
It means ¨celebrate life ..Second to Second… Hold out nothing… Give it everything¨.
In contrast, Malgudi culture is simple living and high thinking, sacrifice and self-denial of pleasure.
While the old Indian renounces life and wants to go to Varanasi or the Himalayas to meditate and live
as a saint before death, the Latin American does not give up. He says,
“We don’t stop having fun when we grow old. We become old only when we stop having fun.”
After having grown with the conservative values of Malgudi in my formative years, I was excited to
experience the free spirit of the Latin Americans. It was love at first when I saw Copacabana beach in
Rio in 1996. Initially it was a cultural shock and it took time for me to go beyond my Malgudi mindset
to accept, understand and appreciate the Latin American culture. In the second month of my arrival,
some Brazilian friends invited me for golf. I asked them for the tee time. Eleven in the night, they
responded. I looked at them puzzled. The Brazilians laughed and said it was Latino Golf. They
explained,¨In normal golf one uses clubs such as Callaway, Taylor made and Wilson. But in Latino Golf
we use Night Clubs¨! When I was preparing to give my first speech in Portuguese language, one of my
Brazilian friends advised me, ¨The speech should be like a mini skirt; short enough to arouse interest…
And just long enough to cover the area of interest! ¨. When I asked a Venezuelan friend if he was
married, he replied with a mischievous smile, ¨más o menos¨( more or less ). I asked a 72 year old
happy go lucky Argentine golfer what was the secret of his cheerfulness. He said his secret was a 27
year-old.
In Mario Vargas Llosa’s novel, ¨Aunt Julia and the script writer¨, an adolescent boy falls in love with
his middle-aged aunt. She tries to dissuade him saying that his infatuation would disappear later when
he discovered young girls. But he persists with his declaration of true love and even proposes
marriage. She again discourages him saying that such a marriage would not last given the social
prejudice against their age combination. When he insists, she asks him, ¨suppose we get
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married..how long do you think that we would live happily?¨. The adolescent boy replies without
giving it any thought, ¨two years¨. She jumps up in excitement, ¨two years… 720 days..great .. it is
worthwhile to marry for two years of happiness¨ They get married and live together for over two
years. Later I found out that this was the real life story of Llosa himself. You can imagine the cultural
shock of this story to a Malgudian.
My journey through Latin America has been both physical as well as virtual. I have visited every
country of the region. I have interacted with all sections of the society and have made lots of golf
buddies across the region. They are warm, friendly, lively, joyful and wonderful human beings.
I have been mesmerized by the Magical Realism of the Latin American literature. My romance with
the magical realism started with ¨Love at the time of Cholera¨ the novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
This was the book which inspired me to become ¨ Passionate about Latin America¨. When I first came
across this book in 1996, I was puzzled by the title. I thought why would someone be sick enough to
mix love with cholera. I started browsing and found that the book promised to be interesting. I bought
the book and started reading. I could not stop. Florentino Ariza, the hero falls in love with Fermina
Daza from a distance and sends her his love through letters. Fermina, who had an impulsive love for
Florentino in the beginning, changes her mind and marries Dr Juvenal Urbino. But Florentino does not
give up and waits as a bachelor for the next forty years till the death of Dr Urbino. Without even
waiting for the mourning period to be over, he hurries and goes to her and declares his love and
proposes marriage. This is the kind of romantic stories in which I was brought up in Tamilnadu where I
studied in Tamil medium in the school. Gabriel Garcia marquez´s novel revived my adolescent
infatuations and got me on fire. Then I read his other novel ¨One hundred years of solitude¨in which
Macondo is the fictional village where several generations of the Buendía family live through their
trials and tribulations. Macondo is said to reflect Aracataca, his native place. But Marquez himself
explains, ¨Macondo is not so much a place as a state of mind¨. My Malgudian heart found a new
home in Macondo.
Once I asked a Brazilian friend about magical realism. In a typical Brazilian way he explained to me.
A journalist is interviewing a Brazilian celebrity.
After finishing the professional part of the interview, the journalist goes on to ask a few personal
questions.
First question- do you smoke?
Answer of the celebrity- No
Second question- do you drink?
Answer- no
Third question- do you take drugs?
Answer- no
Fourth question- do you do etc?
Answer- no
The journalist says,¨come on. You are certainly not a saint. We all have our vices. What is yours?
Answer- sometimes I lie
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My Brazilian friend laughed and said, ¨welcome to our world of magical realism¨.
Marquez´s books have covered the whole gamut of the Latino world such as caudillos, politics,
violence, relationship, love, marriage, sex, fantasies and reality. I have read almost all the books of
Marquez including the latest one ¨memories of my meloncholoy whores¨. His autobiography ¨Living
to tell the tale¨ is as enchanting and fascinating as his novels of magical realism. His large family,
adventurous father,tolerant mother (who adopts the children of her husband from other women) his
native town of Aracata and journey by the River Magdalena are as interesting as his fictions. His
Bohemian life, struggles, and adventures are what I had imagined of his life from his fictional
characters.
After Marquez, I went on to read the novels and works of many other Latin American authors. I have
written reviews on some of the books in my Latin American Affairs blog. My favourite writers include
Mario Vargas Llosa from Peru, Isabel Allende from Chile, Octavio Paz and Carlos Fuentes from Mexico,
Laura Restrepo and Alvaro Mutis from Colombia, Tomas Eloy Martinez of Argentina, Jorge Amado of
Brazil, Julia Alvarez of Dominican Republic and Miguel Angel Asturias of Guatemala. I have also read
books on Latin American history, politics, economies and culture.
After books, I got addicted to Latino music. I have seen a number of Latin American films too. My
favourite singers and films are given in my rviswanathan.com website.
I have cheered and screamed in football matches. I am a fan of Boca Juniors of Argentina and
Corinthians of Brazil. I have played golf in many countries and got a lot of golf buddies in the region. I
enjoy tequila and caipirinha, malbec and tango, salsa and samba, bossa nova and bolero, merengue
and lambada, cafecito and cafezinho (little café in Spanish and Portuguese) , Copacabana and
Ipanema and other Latino offerings.
My Latino friends tell me that I have lost my Malgudian innocence. I defend myself, ¨I am a pobrecito
(poor) victim of the seductions of Latin America¨. A willing victim…
Professionally, I have enjoyed my eleven years of life in Latin America during my postings in Brazil,
Venezuela and Argentina. As Head of the Latin America division in the Ministry of External Affairs for
four years, I had the opportunity to deal with the region as a whole. I put my heart and soul into my
work …correction.. not work..pure passion. I have been specializing in this region consistently since
1996. I have been publishing articles in newspapers and magazines and giving speeches ( Portuguese
and Spanish) both in India and Latin America. My speeches, mostly in Spanish, are in
http://www.youtube.com/IndembassyAR
I wrote a book ¨Business with Latin America¨ whose second edition was published by the EximBank of
India and launched by them in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry on 26 August
2005, with a salsa party at the bar ¨Just my kind of place¨in Taj Palace Hotel in New Delhi. Later I
launched a website ¨businesswithlatinamerica.com¨ on 26 August 2005 with a bigger salsa party in FBar in New Delhi. My friends suspected that the launchings were just excuses for the salsa parties.
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There is a paradigm shift in the market of Latin America and the mindset of Latin Americans. No more
military dictatorships, hyper inflation, excessive external debt and boom and bust cycles. I bet on the
New Latin America, which has a stable foundation of political stability and macroeconomic
fundamentals and is poised to prosper. The region has become more resilient and less vulnerable to
external shocks. This was evident from the way the region has withstood the recent and ongoing
global crisis without serious setbacks.
The Latin American businessmen who were struggling to survive the day to day uncertainties in the
past have now become confident, optimistic and are developing long term perspectives. I tell Indian
businessmen not to read the history books and quote them a Brazilian saying, ¨If you are dating
someone, do not ask her or his ex for their opinion or experience¨. There is a Latino song,
¨No me preguntes más
Dejanos imaginar que no existe el pasado
Que nacimos en el mismo instante que nos conocimos¨
Means
Don’t ask me more..let us imagine that there is no past.. and that we were born when we met.
This New Latin America offers unprecedented opportunities for exports, imports, investment and
joint ventures for Indian business. Trade, investment and joint ventures are booming. Latin America is
becoming important for the food and energy security of India.
In the question-answer session after my lectures on Latin America in the nineties, the Indian
businessmen would invariably ask about the ¨ barriers of distance and language¨. Today, the Indian
BPO companies have converted these two barriers into advantages. They do 12 hours of work in the
Latin American time zone ( almost the same as North American time) and 12 hours of work in India.
They also leverage the linguistic skills of Latinos in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and other languages to
serve their clients in Europe. This is an example of what I call as the synergies between the markets of
the New Latin America and the New India.
There is also a cultural complementarity between the ¨work-worshipping Indians¨ and can’t -wait-for
the-weekend ¨ Latinos. I tell the visiting Indian businessmen that when they return from a Latin
America trip they go back not only with contracts and deals but also go back ¨happier and younger¨. I
tell them that Latin America has triple B rating… BBB..Business.. Beaches.. Beauties.
In India, salsa and tango classes are becoming popular. Spanish has replaced French as the most
popular foreign language among the young Indians and businessmen. On the other hand, many Latin
Americans admire Indian culture, religions and wisdom. There are thousands of followers of Indian
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Gurus such as Sai Baba and Ravi Shankar and millions who practice yoga and meditation. I tell my
Latino friends of the “complementaridad alimentaria” ( food complementarity). While they supply
food products to Indians, India nurtures their soul with spiritual food. In Brazil, there is a cosmetics
company called as Surya and in Argentina there is a fashion design firm known as Sathya. When I was
asked in a TV interview,¨what is your Karma? ¨. I replied, ¨Latin America¨. Brazilian Surya …
Argentine Sathya….Latin American Karma.
There are some Latin Americans who look like Indians with their café con leche( coffee with milk )
complexion. When the Brazilian model Giselle Monteiro acted in her first Bollywood film, many in
India mistook her as an Indian. There is a Colombian film ¨Embajador de la India¨( ambassador of
India ) in which a Colombian travelling in a rural part of the country pretends to be the Indian
ambassador. When the gullible villagers ask him how could the Indian ambassador travel in a bus, the
quick-witted crook responds, ¨Embajador Incognito¨ ( ambassador in disguise ) to observe and mix
with common people. The excited villagers host parties in honour of His Excellency and the daughter
of the Mayor falls in love with the exotic diplomat. When one of the accomplices of the fake
ambassador exposes him later, the whole village is shocked beyond belief. So what do they do? Beat
him up? Lynch him? Hand him over to the police? No. That’s what Indians would have done. But the
Colombians say, ¨what a royal ride this imposter has taken us for ? Let us have a fiesta ( party ) !!! .
This is the Latino spirit. Any excuse is good enough for a fiesta. Here is one more surprise for my
Indian friends. This film is based on a real life story. So, when I travel in Colombia, I tell them ¨soy
embajador verdadero¨ ( I am a real ambassador ).
Why this book? There are many books on Latin America written by European and North American
authors. But they tend to see the region through the prism of their own agenda and baggage. There is
need for the Indians to see the region with their own eyes and perspectives. But I have not come
across any Indian book on the Latin America of the present. This is the reason for my crazy venture.
Basically I have put together in this book my blogs and articles which give some flavour of Latin
America through the books I have read, films I have seen and the people I have met. I wanted to write
a hot and spicy book on the seductive aspects of Latino life. Hmmm… I have to wait till my retirement
and liberation from the world of ¨Excellencies who are supposed to think twice before saying
..nothing¨.
I hope that this book will tempt more Indians to embark on their own journeys to the magical world of
Macondo and learn and share the joys and spirit of my amigos Latin Americanos and sing with them,
Celebra la vida….
R. Viswanathan
……Passionate about Latin America…..
http://businesswithlatinamerica.com
http://businesswithlatinamerica.blogspot.com
http://www.latinamericanaffairs.blogspot.com
@AmbViswanathan
[email protected]
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Bikini and Bindi
A Brazilian firm with an Indian name ¨Surya¨ is marketing its henna products in India. Renuka, an
Indian company is a major producer of sugar in Brazil.
Clélia Cecilia Angelon, the president of Surya Brasil and Narendra Murkumbi, vice chairman of Renuka
Sugars are the trendsetters in the new paradigm of synergy between the New Brazil and the New
India. Economists of the old school used to consider Brazil and pre-reform India as more competitive
than complementary to each other.
Cecilia started off with a shop in Sao Paulo selling henna powder made with raw materials imported
from India. To make it look authentic she named her company Surya Henna. She had once invited me
to her stall in a Cosmetics Fair which drew large crowds attracted by the scantily clad Brazilian
beauties tattooed all over their bodies with henna. I realized then that India not only stirred the
Brazilian soul with spiritualism but also gave a touch to their bodies as well. This combination
convinced me that it was going to be a winner in business and win-win for India and Brazil. The
turnover of the company, which changed its name to Surya Henna, has now reached twenty million
dollars. They export to twenty countries including USA, Australia, UK and France. In an audacious
move, Cecilia decided to export her henna products to India. The marketing team of the company
thought this was like a Brazilian trying to teach an Indian Guru. How would the Indian consumers
living with a long tradition of henna accept a Brazilian henna product? How could a Brazilian company
find a place in the space crowded by so many Indian companies in their home market? Cecilia would
not take no for an answer. She opened an office in India in 2005 and sent a marketing executive
Fernanda Drumond who spent four years to study and understand the Indian market. She has
achieved sales of 1.5 million dollars in 2010 and plans to double it in 2011. She has placed the
products in beauty parlours and stores in shopping malls in the major cities. Now she is reaching out
to the smaller towns. Surya Brasil plans to open a production plant in India from which it will export to
Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Australia and other Asian countries. They also plan to open an organic SPA in
India like the one they have in Brazil. Besides henna, Surya uses in their cosmetic products other
Indian ingredients such as Amla.
Surya goes beyond henna in its India connection. The company´s website says ¨Surya is guided by
Ayurvedic principles: know and respect individuality; pursue well being with emotional and physical
balance¨. The website of Surya has a section, ¨moment of meditation ¨.
How does one explain the success of Surya in India and in the world? The answer lies in the fact that
the Brazilians, with their sensual expertise, understand and practice body care better than the Indians
whose focus is more on the spirit and the soul.
Cecilia’s interest in henna started with her love for an Indian Raj Malhotra who had employed her as a
salesperson in his shop in London. Raj could not resist the Brazilian charm and married her. She
became Cecilia Malhotra. They had a daughter Vandana. Raj lived for some time in Sao Paulo. After a
few years, Raj and Cecilia separated. Later, she had relationship with another Indian Kanwaljit Singh.
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When Murkumbi wanted to enter the Brazilian sugar sector, it was like Cecilia trying to penetrate the
Indian henna market. Sugar industry was the holy cow of Brazil. It was controlled by the sugar barons
and traditional families of Brazil. They were formidable as the global leaders in sugarcane farming,
sugar and ethanol production and the pioneers in the use of fuel ethanol and flexifuel vehicles. But
Murkumbi who believes in ¨Rewriting rules and Reinventing paradigms ¨ and ¨contrarian philosophy
in a conventional business¨ ventured boldly. He has acquired two Brazilian sugar groups with an
investment of 350 million dollars. Renuka is now the seventh largest producer of sugar in Brazil with a
cane-crushing capacity of 14 million tons a year in its four sugar mills. It is also a leading producer of
ethanol (one million litres) and co-generated power (221 MW). Renuka is investing 70 million dollars
in 2011-12 more to expand the capacity. The goal of Murkumbi is to take the company from seventh
to third rank in Brazil.
Murkumbi sees strategic synergy between India, the largest sugar consumer and Brazil, the largest
sugar producer in the world. He believes in the complementarity between India whose sugar
production faces increasing challenges of agricultural land and water scarcity and the advantage of
Brazil with ample land and water resources, conducive climate and efficient farming and
manufacturing, low operating cost and high scalability. Murkumbi has also become successful in
marketing the Brazilian sugar in many countries besides India.
From time to time Indian domestic production goes down due to weather and other cyclical
circumstances which make India import sugar. In 2009-10 India imported 2 billion dollars of sugar
from Brazil.
The success of Cecilia and Murkumbi have become inspiration for other Indian and Brazilian
entrepreneurs to seek such win-win opportunities.
India imported from Brazil soya oil worth 71 million dollars and pulses worth a few million dollars in
2010. These two imports are likely to increase in the coming years since India's production of these
two items are inadequate to cope with the growing demand.
There is an evolving agricultural complementarity between Brazil which is poised to become a global
agricultural powerhouse and India which is likely to face more challenges arising from increasing food
demand and decreasing agricultural land and depleting water resources. According to a statement in
March 2011 by the Brazilian Agriculture minister Wagner Rossi, Brazil has 120 million hectares of
degraded land that could be converted to agriculture, which would triple the total area under
cultivation.
In 2010, Reliance, the top Indian company accounted for about 38% of the Indo- Brazil trade. They
exported 1.7 billion dollars of diesel and imported 1.25 billon dollars of petroleum crude. While India
imports about 70 percent of its crude oil requirements, Brazil has become a net exporter. With the
recently discovered pre-salt reserves, Brazil is expected to produce 6 million barrels per day by 2020.
Given the need to fuel the projected high growth rate, India would import more Brazilian crude in the
future. Besides imports, Indian companies have invested in oil exploration and production in Brazil.
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Hopefully India will learn from Brazil's successful experience of fuel ethanol and flexifuel vehicles to
meet the rising need for fuels. Brazil is also a source of minerals and timber and manufactured
products as well as regional jets made by Embraer which are needed by the fast growing Indian
market.
Renuka and Reliance have positioned themselves in the middle of the complementary partnership
between India and Brazil in food and fuel. Brazil is becoming important for India's food and energy
security.
What does India contribute to Brazil? There are several Indian IT and BPO companies which operate in
Brazil employing 3000 Brazilians. This is more than employment. The Indian companies train and
prepare these young Brazilians for the new Age of Information and Knowledge society. The Brazilians
working in the Indian IT and BPO companies acquire multicultural skills through their interaction with
US and European clients besides Indians. Fabio from Curitiba has become the regional manager of
WIPRO for the whole of Latin America. Guess who is the new country manager of WIPRO in Argentina:
Another Brazilian, Valdo.
The Indian pharmaceutical companies have helped the government and people of Brazil to reduce
their cost of health care. In the nineties, Jose Serra, the Brazilian health minister invited the Indian
companies to enter the Brazilian market and facilitated registration of their products. Thanks to this
wise initiative, there are twenty Indian pharma companies which sell their products in Brazil through
local production and distribuition besides exports. The low cost generic medicines from India have put
pressure on the multinationals and local companies of Brazil to lower their prices and to increase the
volume of less expensive generic products. The success of the Indian companies have inspired the
Brazilian pharma companies which are aggressively expanding their domestic production and also
extending their presence in the rest of Latin America and Africa.
India supplies embryos to the Brazilian cattle industry. Brazil has a large stock of cattle developed as a
cross between Indian and European breeds. They had to do this cross breeding since the original
cattle brought from Europe could not survive the hot and tropical climate of Brazil. The Brazilians had
earlier imported cattle from Ongole, Gir and Nellore in India and named the cross breed as Nelore and
Indubrasil. About 90% of Brazilian cattle meat production comes from Nelore. The Brazilians have also
exported this Nelore breed to Paraguay, Argentina, Venezuela, Mexico, Central America and to USA.
The Indian manufacturers who make low cost products for the price sensitive Indian masses using
¨frugal engineering¨ (a term coined by Carlos Ghosn, the Brazil-born CEO of Renault and Nissan) and
¨reverse innovation¨ can supply such products to the Brazilians with low income. Micromax, a low
cost Indian cellphone maker has just started marketing its products in north eastern Brazil. Tata has
announced plans to assemble their Nano cars in Brazil.
The trade between India and Brazil have more than tripled in the last five years from 2.3 billion dollars
in 2005 to 7.7 billion in 2010. This is set to increase significantly given the complementarity in food
and energy security and the change in the mindset of Indian and Brazilian businessmen who have
started taking each other’s markets more seriously.
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Around 40 Indian companies have invested in Brazil in IT, BPO, pharmaceuticals, agribusiness,
agrochemicals, oil, mining and manufacturing. On the other hand, eight Brazilian companies have
invested in India in sectors such as assembly of buses, steel, electrical motors and shoes.
The 2014 World Cup, the 2016 Olympics, the 224 billion dollar investment plan of Petrobras in this
decade and the 270 bn $ investment planned in the mining sector in the next 20 years in Brazil offer
unprecedented opportunities for exports and contracts for Indian companies. The Brazilian companies
too can take advantage of the huge investment opportunities and the growing size of the large
consumer market of India.
The Indians admire and cheer the Brazilian football team during world cups. With more exchanges
with Brazilian clubs, training and getting more Brazilians to play in Indian teams, there is hope and
scope for Indian football which is becoming more popular.
The air-connectivity problem between the two countries has been partly solved with the flights of
Qatar Airways and Emirates Airlines who link Sao Paulo with Indian cities through Doha and Dubai.
Besides providing better service, these airlines have spared the Indians the need for transit visas at
European airports.
The academic world too is catching up and has started focusing on the evolving partnership between
the two countries. India has established a chair in Getulio Vargas Foundation, Sao Paulo and there is a
Brazilian professor in Jawaharlal Nehru University. Oliver Stuenkel, Professor in Getulio Vargas twits
on Indian politics and Bollywood.
The governments of India and Brazil have a number of programmes of bilateral cooperation. Faced
with similar developmental challenges such as poverty alleviation and improvement in education and
health care, the two governments could learn from the best practices of each other. A number of
Indian delegations have visited Curitiba city which is a role model for urban bus transportation
service. On the other hand Brazilian delegations visit Bangalore to get inspiration from the Indian IT
companies.
India and Brazil are part of the trilateral alliance of IBSA alongwith South Africa. They are members of
BRICS, G-20 and take common stand in a number of multilateral fora. The two countries work
together to realize their aspiration to become permanent members of the UN Security Council.
Some might say that India's trade with Brazil was just 13% of China's trade with Brazil which reached
56.6 billion dollars in 2010. Chinese companies have invested much more than Indian firms in Brazil.
But India is different. It is more than a commercial partner. India and Brazil share common values of
democracy, freedom and culture.
At the level of people, there is cultural complementarity between the two countries. The Brazilians
admire the culture and spirituality of India. There are thousands of Brazilian followers of Sai Baba and
other such Indian Gurus. Yoga and meditation are no longer passing fads. They have become part of
everyday life for several million Brazilians. While Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's Art of Living is popular in Brazil,
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the Indians admire the way the Brazilians have made enjoyment of life as an art. The new generation
of Indians are attracted to the Brazilian spirit of samba and carnival.
¨Camino das Indias¨, the Globo TV soap opera based on an Indian theme topped the viewer ratings in
2009 and has stimulated the interest of the Brazilian masses in India. This Indian story with Brazilian
actors had a profound impact. Indians are greeted with Namaste and are asked if they are Brahmins
or Dalits. Ganesh idols for good luck adorn the offices and homes of many Brazilians. Exports of Indian
ethnic dress and handicrafts have skyrocketed. The number of Brazilian tourists to India have gone up.
There are a number of Brazilians who perform Indian classical music and dances. One of them, called
as Juliana has even come to teach in Buenos Aires. Her interest in Indian dance was inspired by
Father Joachim Andrade, a catholic priest in Curitiba. Father Andrade himself had learnt classical
dances in India. In Brazil, he did his masters in Anthropology on the topic “Dance as a ritual: a case
study of Indian Dance”. For his doctorate, he chose the topic of “Bharatnatyam as the medium of
diffusion of Hinduism in Brazil ¨.
Brazilians are embracing the principles of Non-Violence of Mahatama Gandhi as a preventive remedy
for the young minds which are being infected by the serious crime and violence in their cities. Palas
Atena, a NGO from Sao Paulo is celebrating the birth anniversary of Gandhi every year for the last 30
years and is spreading Gandhi’s teachings on non-violence among children and youth in particular.
Romance is in the air between Bollywood and Brazil. The Indian film Dhoom II was shot in Rio de
Janeiro. Some Indian Reality TV shows were also filmed there. There is a Brazilian model Giselle
Monteiro who has taken new avatar as a Bollywood actress. She acted in two films ¨Love AajKal¨ and
¨Always Kabhi Kabhie¨. She has featured on the covers of Indian women's and fashion magazines and
is the Brand Ambassador for some Indian products including jewellery. Her success has inspired a
number of Brazilian girls and boys who are queuing up at the Indian consulate in Sao Paulo for visa to
go to Mumbai for modelling and to have a shot at Bollywood. One of the reasons for the acceptability
and success of the Brazilians in Bollywood is their café con leite (coffee with milk) complexion in
which they look like Indians with the same blend of coffee and milk colour in their skin. Many Indians
who saw Giselle in the Bollywood films mistook her as an Indian.
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Giselle is romancing an Indian in the Bollywood film in the picture below
Brazilians have taken to Indian fashion too. Indian ethnic dress, jewellery and accessories are popular
in Brazil. Girls from Ipanema are putting bindis in their foreheads matching with their bikinis. This
Bikini-Bindi combination is the symbol of the synergy between the sensual Brazil and the spiritual
India. This is more than synergy. Bindi is an auspicious sign of marriage.
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Lia Diskin, the Gandhian
Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary was celebrated on 2 October 2011 for the 30th consecutive year
by Lia Diskin and her organization Palas Atena in Sao Paulo. This is a commemoration with a
difference. It is not a one-day affair. It is called as Semana de Gandhi (Gandhi Week) and more often
the celebrations go on for two weeks and some times a month. It is not a mere ritual or a show of
garlanding the statue, paying eloquent homage in a comfortable hall and forgetting it till the next
October. For Lia Diskin, Gandhism is a celebration and commitment throughout the year. It has
become her mission in life. Gandhi is not history for Lia. She sees his message as relevant for the
future. She believes that Gandhi's ideas and practice of non-violence are preventive remedies for the
future of the Brazilian society which is facing serious problems of violence and crime. The
criminalisation of young minds in the favelas (slums) is brought out vividly in the famous Brazilian film
City of God (cidade de deus) which is based on real life stories. Lia Diskin has the firm conviction that
sowing the seeds of Gandhian values among the children and youth will help to prevent the infection
of their mind. The focus of the Semana de Gandhi is, therefore, children, youth and education. The
venues of the events are schools, prisons, streets and public spaces. The events are organised in
collaboration with educationists, intellectuals, government authorities, artists, civil society activists as
well as with UNESCO.
Here is the list of their activities during the Gandhi week this year from 30 September to 27 October
2011. ¨ The art of life consists in making of life an art ¨ is the Gandhian quote to inspire the 2011
celebrations and so there are more artistic activities this time.
- Drum Ensemble by the youth group Rede Beija Flor
-Words from Gandhi – talk by Hamilton Faria, poet and anthropologist
- Sketch: Gandhi receives Kasturbai’s letter in prison – actors Joao Signorelli and Meeta
- Indian Music – by Meeta Ravindra group
- Kathak Dance – by Meeta and Gyaneshree
- Play by actor Joao Signorelli who impersonates Gandhi and leads the audience through his life and
ideas.
- Video-dialogue by Luiz Goes who shows Gandhi videos and invites discussion
- Talking about Gandhi with mediator Joao Moris
- Poems of Rabindranath Tagore -reading by Joao Moris
- Instrumental and vocal music –by Krucis
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- Culture of Peace in Education - Awareness Raising Walk
- Several sessions for treatment of delinquent youth
- Indian classical dance – Silvana Duarte
- Storytelling: An Indian Tale about Shiva – Tininha Calazans
- Sumi-e painting and crafts workshop
- Talk by Egberto de Almeida Penido, a judge
- Children’s Choir
- Floral offering to Gandhi statue. The public was invited to come by cycle and avoid car.
Lia Diskin believes that non-violence is a practice and a constant educational process. She explains this
to me, ¨ Within the culture of violence in which we are steeped, we hardly notice the abuses we
commit on a daily basis. Violence is not a destiny. It is a choice. This is why it is important to add in the
school curriculum itself Education for Non-Violence and Living Together in harmony with others¨. She
is convinced that this education will bring about a change in the mindset of people in the same way as
the education on environment has made us conscious of this theme starting especially with the Rio
Earth Summit of 1992.
Lia Diskin and her educationist collaborators have devised special courses for the government schools
and teachers on development of ethics in their curricula and daily routine. Under this project, named
as “Priceless Values and Gandhi and Non-Violence” 40,000 teachers have been trained in the state of
São Paulo. They have a programme of monthly seminars called as “Values for Coexistence”. Both the
projects have institutional support from UNESCO. Palas Athena is also involved in the UN “Human
Safety” programme through projects such as “Open Doors” and “Peace Wants Partners”. These have
been held in favelas and prisons.
Palas Atena has established Culture of Peace Committees to pursue the goals of UNESCO’s Culture of
Peace Decade. This inspired the creation of the Parliamentary Culture of Peace Advisory Boards,
active in the São Paulo Assembly, and in several other Brazilian cities, such as Curitiba and Londrina.
These boards include representatives of the civil society, religious institutions and non-governmental
organizations besides the members of the state or municipal assemblies.
Palas Atena has taken initiatives to apply Gandhian ideas in the health sector too. In partnership with
the Municipal Health Department, they have trained over 5000 health professionals of hospitals and
basic health units.
More information on Palas Atena in their website: http://www.palasathena.org/
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Lia Diskin with school children, in the picture below:
One of the most memorable projects of Palas Atena in which I had the opportunity (when I was the
consul general in Sao Paulo 1996-2000) to collaborate, was with the military police of the state of Sao
Paulo. We sent to every one of the 85,000 military police of the state a ten page write-up of Gandhi's
message of non-violence in Portuguese. We organised seminars, workshops and essay and poetry
competitions for the police personnel. The military police who faced violent criminals and dangerous
situations in their daily job found the practice of non-violence by Gandhi as fascinating and inspiring.
It provoked them into new ways of thinking and challenged their conventional wisdom. They started
looking into the causes of the violence and minds of the criminals going beyond their professional
instinct to catch and punish them. They saw possibilities of redemption for the criminal minds with a
new Gandhian approach. They poured out their heart in the essays and talked about the difficult and
painful situations they had faced in their work. Some of their poems were intensely emotional and
moving. The Brazilian public was excited by the entry of Mahatma Gandhi in the mind space of
military police. The police department was very happy with the project and its impact on the mindset
of the police.
The second project in which I had the privilege to collaborate was the publication of the
autobiography of Gandhi in portuguese. Lia had got the book translated in modern Brazilian
portuguese by four eminent Brazilian scholars who divided the work among themselves. The SESC
Pompeia auditorium, where the launching event was held, was overflowing with more than 400
people. A delegation of Indian Parliamentarians who were visiting Sao Paulo at that time was
overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of the audience inspired by Lia Diskin. They could not believe that
the book of Gandhi would attract so much serious interest in the distant land of Brazil. The book has
been reprinted several times since then to meet the increase in demand.
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The auditorium of Palas Atena is called as Mahatma Gandhi Auditorium, where I had made my first
public speech in Portuguese language on Gandhi. Several Gandhian scholars of India have given talk
there. The library of Palas Atena has the largest collection of books on Gandhi. They also have a
publishing house, with many titles on Gandhi, non-violence,culture and peace. Palas Atena gives
regular courses on philosophy and holds cultural and spiritual events, seminars and workshops.
Education, art, human rights, environment, ethics and multicultural and religious exchanges are the
principal themes of the activities. Yoga, meditation and Indian classical music and dance are also
organized in the auditorium. Lia Diskin took the initiative in the establishment of the Gandhi Square in
Sao Paulo city with a garden and statue of Gandhi, seen in the picture below.
Lia is the author and co-author of many books on education, peace, ethics and culture. Her book,
¨Paz, como se faz? ¨( peace, how to make?) has been adopted by schools in six states of Brazil and has
seen sale of 500,000 copies. Another book “Cultura de Paz – de reflexão à ação” (culture of peacefrom reflection to action) was published by UNESCO and the Brazilian Ministry of Justice.
Lia Diskin is a true Gandhian in her public and personal life. She pracises what she preaches. Her
favourite Gandhi quote is ¨ Happiness is when what you think, what you say and what you do are in
harmony¨. She has devoted her life completely and selflessly to social service. Like Gandhi, her mind
and heart are anchored in profound philosophy, ethics and morality. With an open mind, she has
imbibed both western and eastern wisdom and is an admirer of Dalai Lama. At the same time, she
applies her principles pragmatically to find practical solutions to social problems. Her child-like smile,
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kindness, enthusiasm, energy and optimism bring cheer and inspiration to street children, delinquent
youth and prisoners.
Born in Argentina, Lia Diskin and her husband Basilio Pawlowicz moved to Sao Paulo in 1972 . They
established Palas Atena for social service and study of philosophy. They run an orphanage in Sao
Paulo called as Casa de Pandavas (House of Pandavas). The orphans are showered with affection and
personal care by Lia and Basilio who do not have their own children. Lia lives a simple and modest life
with a strict Gandhian discipline. She is a vegetarian. She is not in the cocktail circuit nor does she use
her work for any personal publicity. Her interest in Gandhi started early as a child after she read books
on Gandhi. She was inspired by the autobiography of Gandhi and was totally taken by the idea of a
person with such commitment to truth. She told me, ¨I never found a philosopher with such earnest
desire and serious sustained effort to translate truth into daily life¨.
Lia Diskin was an invitee at the Satyagraha centeneray celebrations in India in 2006. She was one of
the dozen global personalities invited in 2007 by India to address the United Nations in New York
which declared 2 October as the International Day of Non- Violence. She was given the Jamnalal Bajaj
award in January 2011 for her service to people in the Gandhian way.
Here is Lia Diskin with her Jamnalal Bajaj award at the Consulate of India in Sao Paulo
Mahatma Gandhi developed his method of non-violence during his stay in South Africa. Then he took
it to India and practiced it successfully to get independence for the country and uplift the Indian
society. Lia Diskin has brought the Gandhian message to Brazil and made it relevant for Brazilian
situation. This triangular Gandhian connection adds another dimension to the IBSA (India- BrazilSouth Africa) alliance of the three countries which share democratic values and developmental
challenges as well as common agenda and aspirations.
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Filhos de Gandhy
In Salvador, the capital of Bahia state of Brazil there is a carnival group called as Filhos de Gandhy
(children of Gandhi). This was founded in 1949 by port workers who were inspired by the Gandhian
ideals of peace and non violence. They deliberately spelled Gandhi’s name with a “y” since they were
afraid that the military dictators might create problems for the organization alleging that they were
promoting subversion using the tactics of a foreign leader. They participate in the annual Carnival
parade with simple white clothes (to reflect peace) adorned with strings of blue and white beads and
wearing turbans with a huge plastic sapphire in the centre of the forehead- the location of the third
eye. The Group was lead for many years (1976-2006) by a look-alike of Gandhi called as Raimundo
Queirósby. With his bald, skinny and brown appearance in wire-rimmed glasses and walking stick and
loin cloth, he looked exactly like Gandhi. He died in 2006. The group has about 10,000 followers who
participate in the annual carnival parade. One of the notable features of the carnival parade of Filhos
de Gandhy is that alcohol is prohibited during the parade participation. This is incredible. Carnival
without caipirinha (the typical Brazilian liquor). The music they play in the parade is mild unlike the
boisterous samba music of other groups. The head office of Filhos de Gandhy is located in Pelourinho,
the historic district of Salvador. The office has portraits of Gandhi along with the symbols of African
religions. The group gets invited for various cultural events in the city. The members participate in
such events with T-shirts printed with the image of Gandhi.
Gilberto Gil, the famous Brazilian singer who was also the Minister of Culture of Brazil, is one of the
notable supporters and active members of Filhos de Gandhy. He took a small group of the Filhos de
Gandhy to India with a documentary film crew. They went to a village near Udaipur and went on a
walk, singing Filhos de Gandhy songs along with Indian musicians. The group visited the Gandhi
memorial in Delhi. Gil has developed an interest in Indian spiritualism and began practicing yoga and
meditations when he was put in jail by the Brazilian military dictatorship. Many of his song lyrics
contain references to Indian philosophy and religion.
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Dear Vijaya... my Bhalobasa
When my Indian friends tease me about my passion for Latin America, I tell them that I am just a
victim of the charm of Latin America. I also tell them that I am not the first victim. It was no less than
Rabindranath Tagore who was the most illustrious victim before me. In November 1924 Tagore came
to Latin America at the invitation of the Peruvian government. But on the way he fell sick and so
decided to take rest for a few days in Buenos Aires when the ship stopped there. Victoria Ocampo, an
Argentine writer and literary personality offered hospitality. She put him up in a villa called as Miralrio
with a view of the Plata river, in San Isidro on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. She went out of her way
to ensure his comfort and rest and looked after him with devotion. Tagore stayed from 6 November
1924 to 3 January 1925 in Buenos Aires as the guest of Victoria. Tagore was rejuvenated by the
beautiful Victoria on the flower-filled garden of the mansion overlooking the scenic bank of the
immense Plata river. Eventually, he had to cancel his trip to Peru and return to India. When he left,
she gifted him the armchair in which he used to relax in the villa. The chair is exhibited in the
Shantiniketan museum even now. Tagore wrote a couple of poems on the chair too. Tagore and
Victoria met again in Paris in May 1930.
Victoria wrote an article welcoming Tagore in La Nacion, the prestigious Argentine newspaper on 9
November 1924 under the title ¨The joy of reading Rabindranath Tagore¨. She introduced him to
Argentine writers and artists. She arranged for publication of Tagore´s essays and stories in La Nacion
which paid for the writings even after Tagore returned to India. Victoria wrote a book "Tagore en las
barrancas de San Isidro" (Tagore on the ravines of San Isidro). She had encouraged him to sketch and
paint and Tagore started taking his painting work seriously thereafter. In 1930, Victoria organised the
first exihibition of Tagore´s paintings in Paris. She paid for the organisation of the exihibition and
arranged publicity through her high level contacts.
Victoria adored Tagore and wanted to spend the maximum time with him during his stay in Buenos
Aires. She was overawed by Tagore and unable to articulate herself in his presence. So she wrote
notes to him and Tagore replied to them. They continued the correspondence even after Tagore left
Argentina. An Indian author Ketaki Kushari Dyson has done extensive research on the encounter
between Tagore and Victoria and written a book, ¨In your blossoming garden¨. She has reproduced
the letters exchanged between Tagore and Victoria in the book.
Tagore´s letters started with ¨Dear Vijaya (literal translation of Victoria) and ended with ¨my
bhalobasa¨ (means love in Bengali). Victoria addressed Tagore as ¨dear Gurudev¨ and signed the
letters with ¨your Vijaya¨. Given below are some excerpts from their correspondence:
Tagore- It will be difficult for you fully to realise what an immense burden of loneliness I carry about
me, the burden that has specially been imposed upon my life by my sudden and extraordinary
fame….My market price has risen high and my personal value has been obscured. This value I seek to
realise with an aching desire which constantly pursues me. This can be had only from a woman´s love
and I have been hoping for a long time that I do deserve it. I feel today that this precious gift has come
to me from you and that you are able to prize me for what I am and not for what I contain.
This has made me so glad and yet I know that I have come to that period of my life when in my travel
across a desert I need my supply of water more than ever before but I neither have the means nor
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strength to carry it and therefore can only thank my good fortune when it is offered to me and then
take my leave.³
Victoria- It is not for you to thank me. You have given me so much, so much, without even knowing it,
that I will never be able to acquit myself. Nothing that is you can be lost for me. Nothing that is you
can be taken away from me. While you stay here, joy will be with me; when you´ll go, pain must
come. But at the very roots of my being nothing can be changed. Your staying or going can´t deprive
me of you.
Victoria- All I received from you has made me so rich in love that the more I spend, the more I have to
give.
Victoria- I never expected this happiness of having you here. This hapiness is so great that it keeps me
awake in the night, and dreaming in the day. My heart is so full that I must hold it with both hands,
because I am afraid something will come and spill its content….
…my love is too deep and full of understanding...
…But what can I do except loving you as I did before you came and as I´ll do after you are gone?
…Your mere presence disturbs me, because my shyness is paralysing. And I am so shy, with you,
because the idea of displeasing you freezes my thoughts; and thoughts can be only communicated
when liquid.
…Remember, Gurudev, you leave here someone that is trying to find expression for her love for you.
If you can help, do.
Tagore - For me the spirit of Latin America will ever dwell in my memory incarnated in your person.
Victoria - I cannot hear about India or meet Indian people without thinking of you because you are
and always will be India to me.
Tagore - When we were together we mostly played with words and tried to laugh away our best
opportunities to see each other clearly.
Tagore - I tell you all this because I know you love me. I trust my
Providence. I feel certain and I say this in all humility- that he has chosen me for some special mission
of his own and not merely for the purpose of linking the endless chain of generation. Therefore I
believe that your love may, in some way, help me in my fulfilment.
Your friendship has come to me unexpectedly. It will grow to its fulness of truth when you know and
accept my real being and see clearly the deeper meaning of my life. I have lost most of my friends
because they asked me for themselves, and when I said I was not free to offer away myself -they
thought I was proud. I have deeply suffered from this over and over again- and therefore I always feel
nervous whenever a new gift of friendship comes in my way. But I accept my destiny and if you also
have the courage fully to accept it we shall ever remain friends.
Victoria - I must admit that I miss you too much. It is becoming quite unconfortable, quite
inconvenient, because can´t think of anything else.
Victoria - Dear Gurudev, Days are endless since you went away.
Victoria - I miss you, Gurudev. Why did you go away so soon?²
Victoria - Dear Gurudev, I have been thinking so much about you, all these past months, and I have
been missing you so frightfully, that I had not the courage to write to you about it.
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Victoria - To have you living there, to see you every morning and every afternoon and every night; to
see you; to hear you... What an unforgotten delight! I loved you & love you very dearly. I hope you do
know it.
Based on the correspondence and interaction between the two, there are speculations and various
interpretations of their relationship. Some call it as an affair , others call it as a romance or platonic
love and some others call it as spiritual bonding.
Tagore was 63 years old and Victoria 34 years when they met in Buenos Aires. Ten years later, in a
letter to Victoria written in 1934, Tagore said,¨ we two were of unequal age, but I was not aware of
the difference for a moment, and our companionship was so utterly simple and intimate. I think you
are the only one who closely came to know me when I was young and old at the same time¨. When
they met in 1924, Victoria was coming out of her broken marriage and was in the process of resetting
her life. She had, of course, many men in her life including Argentines and Europeans. Victoria was
inspired by the sage from the East and treasured his presence and memories. He was more like a
prophet-teacher and spiritual father figure. The relationship was more like the one between Guru and
disciple. Victoria herself has described it in her autobiography as ¨a great love in the nature of
tenderness¨.
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Tagore got rejuvenated with the love and admiration showered on him by the attractive Argentine
beauty. He felt comfortable with her and opened his heart about his loneliness. He enjoyed her
company and after leaving Argentina felt nostalgic. She became his muse. Tagore wrote a series of
poems under the title ¨Purabi¨ and sent a copy to Victoria.
In these poems, he refers to Victoria as Vijaya. Here is a poem:
"Exotic blossom, I whispered again in your ear What is your language dear
you smiled and shook your head and the leaves murmurred instead "
The encounter was certainly a turning point in the lives of these two great people and it was the first
literary bridge between Latin America and India. Victoria had written extensively about Tagore and
also about Gandhi and Nehru in her magazine ¨Sur¨ (means south) which she published and edited
with writings from Latin American, North American and European writers and had circulation in both
the continents.
Victoria Ocampo was given a honorary doctorate by the Viswa Bharati University and this was handed
over by Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi during her visit to Argentina in 1968.
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Victoria Ocampo – Argentine writer and feminist
¨Victoria Ocampo – writer, feminist and woman of the world¨ is the summary of the autobiography of
Victoria, written and annotated in English by the American translator Patricia Owen Steiner.
Victoria wanted to be a writer in her youth. She sent her first writing to two authors for their
comments. Both of them threw cold water and discouraged her. She found herself constrained by the
censorship on her reading and writing imposed by the family and the society in the beginning of the
twentieth century. Victoria was ahead of her times in the patriarchal society of Argentina. She
rebelled against the restrictions and later flourished on her own when she got independence from her
parents and husband. She became a writer and a patron of letters. Besides contributing to Argentine
literature, she went beyond her country and built bridges with the cultural and literary world of Latin
America, Europe, US and India. She became the first woman to be admitted to the Argentine
Academy of Letters in 1977. This was a special satisfaction to this Queen of Letters, who had suffered
discouragement from writing when she was a young woman.
Victoria founded, funded, published and edited a literary magazine ¨Sur¨ which had poems, stories,
essays and social commentary of authors from around the world. Sur was the foremost literary and
cultural journal of Latin America in the twentieth century. It gave voice to the Argentine and Latin
American writers and exposed them to the outside world. It lasted for an impressive forty years from
1931.
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Victoria established a publishing house ¨Sur¨, which published the works of eminent writers like
Lorca, Borges, Bioy Casares, Sabato, Onetti, Octavio Paz, Cortazar and Vargas Llosa. Sur also brought
out spanish translations of North American and European writers. Victoria herself undertook
translations of some books. She was more fluent in French than Spanish and she was proficient in
English too.
Victoria became a grand patron of literature and culture in Argentina and even outside. She financed
the trips of some European writers and artists to Argentina. She hosted the visits of foreign writers
and organised literary gatherings. Her friends included Borges, Gabriela Mistral, Pablo Neruda, Jose
Ortega y Gasset and Virginia Woolf.
Victoria wrote ten volumes of essays, several books of non-fiction, short stories and literary criticism.
Her lengthy six-volume autobiography is useful to understand the Argentina of her times. She is
candid and provocative in her commentaries.
She was a victim of the discrimination against women , as was the norm in the early part of the
twentieth century. She rebelled against the oppressions of her family, the church and the society and
became a feminist leader. She quit her unhappy marriage early on and lived independently for the
rest of her life. She had many lovers, affairs and friends. She travelled around the world and moved in
the artistic, literary and social circles of Europe especially in France.
Victoria was an iconoclast in a patriarchal society, a woman, who chose not to follow the easy path
offered by her wealthy family. She used her money, charm and brain to do something extraordinary
with her life from 1890 to 1979.
As happened to many other Argentine writers she also became a victim of politics. She was
imprisoned for three weeks by the government of Peron for her criticism of his regime. Her passport
was confiscated for two years untill the overthrow of Peron.
Two Indians had been inspiration to her; Gandhi and Tagore. Victoria was inspired by the idea of nonviolence, spiritual energy and moral courage of Gandhi, who succeeded in translating his conviction
into action. Gandhi became one of the most important influences on her thinking. She was moved
after reading Gandhi´s biography in 1924 and her meeting with him in Paris in 1931. This is what she
wrote after hearing Gandhi’s speech in Paris.
¨Gandhi spoke with extreme simplicity, without eloquence or tricks of an orator. His physical
appearance seemed scarcely suited to impress anyone and especially a Parisian audience. But his
spiritual energy dominated and galvanized the audience¨.
She wrote an essay on Gandhi in La Nacion newspaper in 1924 and later wrote a number of articles on
him.
Victoria read Gitanjali in 1914 and said ¨it fell like a celestial dew on my anguishing twenty four year
old heart¨. She described Tagore´s poetry as ¨magical mysticism¨. She felt powerful echoes in
Tagore´s personal loving God, radiating happiness and serenity, unlike the demanding and vengeful
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God imposed on her in childhood. She was very excited when Tagore came to Buenos Aires in 1924. In
her own words, it was one of the greatest events of her life.
The Tagore- Victoria encounter opened an intellectual, literary, cultural and spiritual bridge between
India and Argentina. Since then, there has been a strong Argentine tradition of spiritual and cultural
interest in India.
Nehru was one of the world leaders who appealed to the Argentine government to release her from
jail.
Indira Gandhi was special for Victoria. She was the successful example of emancipation and fulfillment
of the dreams of Victoria for women. Victoria received a honorary doctorate from Vishwabharathi
University and this was personally handed over to her by Mrs Gandhi during her trip to Buenos Aires
in 1968.
Ever since reading Gandhi´s biography in 1924, Victoria had a continuing interest in India. As a
feminist she admired the participation of Indian women in the independence struggle under the
leadership of Gandhi.
The Tagore- Victoria story is fantastic material for a film. I am glad I have been able to interest Pablo
Cesar, the Argentine director on this. I liked his preliminary script and the title ¨Thinking of Him¨( by
Victoria who used these words in her message at the passing away of Tagore) , he has chosen for the
film.
Celebration of 150th anniversary of Tagore in Buenos Aires
Tagore would have been immensely pleased with the way he was remembered in Buenos Aires
on 10 December. There was Rabindra Sangeet by Sreyashi Mishra from Kolkatta, talk on TagoreVictoria Ocampo by Axel Maimone, the Argentine scholar and recitation of Gitanjali poems by
Gustavo of Hastinapur Foundation, Argentina. The setting for the celebration was perfect. It was
in the garden of Vila Ocampo, the historic residence of Victoria Ocampo, where Tagore had met
her and stayed as her guest for two months in 1924. The magnificent mansion with its beautiful
garden, majestic trees and exotic flowers was shining in the golden rays of the evening sun.
Even the birds and insects in the garden joined in the celebration with their excited chirpings
and singing.
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Gustavo reciting Gitanjali...
In my speech I quoted this Tagore's poem,
Exotic blossom
I whispered again in your ear
what is your language dear
you smiled and shook your head
and the leaves murmured instead
The audience had the opportunity to listen to the murmurings of the leaves of the garden to the
music of Rabindra Sangeet and the poems of Gitanjali. This splendid house and the fantastic
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garden filled with flowers had inspired Tagore to write his Purabi poems. The Exotic Blossom
which had inspired and rejuvenated Tagore was Victoria herself.
Axel Maimone talking about the romance between Tagore and Ocampo
Rabindra Sangeet by Sreyashi Mishra.
The Tagore- Victoria encounter was not just personal between the great poet and his admirer. It
was the beginning of the literary and cultural encounter between India and Latin America. .
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The Tagore celebration was part of the IV Festival of India 3-13 December 2011, organized by
the Embassy of India in Buenos Aires.
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Agriculture Process Outsourcing ( APO ) by and Argentine Patel
During my meeting with Gustavo Grobocopatel, the founder President of the Argentine farming
company Los Grobo which cultivates 270,000 hectares, I told him that I came from a small farming
family which owned just an acre of land. Gustavo responded, ¨Lucky you…. I am a landless farmer ¨.
He is right. He does not own a single hectare. It is all leased land.
Los Grobo does not own any tractor or harvester either. They outsource all the operations such as
planting, fertilizer spraying, weeding, harvesting, storage and transportation to contractors who own
the machineries. The firm has a system of technical leaders each of whom manage 7000 hectares.
They are not employees but are partners who share the profit and risk. Even the agronomists who
work with the company are contractors, who get a share of the crops they raise.
The 270, 000 hectares of land spread over Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay are managed by
the headquarters staff of about 100 people who are connected in a network with the land owners,
agronomists, the international traders and the 4000 service providers. Grobocopatel who believes in
social capital says, ¨We are not big… but many¨
Here is Mr Patel working on the fields with his laptop...
Grobocopatel´s Agriculture Process Outsourcing (APO) is similar to the BPO (Business Process
Outsourcing) and Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) operations of the Indian IT companies. Los
Grobo office looks like a BPO of Infosys with young people in casual dress glued to their computer
screens and working with their blackberries. The only difference with the Infosys office is that Los
Grobo is located in a remote rural area in the middle of soya and wheat fields near Carlos Casares, a
small village 300 km from Buenos Aires city.
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Los Grobo office ...like a BPO of Infosys...
Grobocopatel says he was inspired by ¨Information Age¨, the book of the Spanish sociologist Manuel
Castells which helped him to understand how networks could be used to generate wealth with the
least investment. Grobocopatel describes his new model of farming as ¨Agribusiness in the new era of
Knowledge Society¨. He points out at the young people behind the computers and says proudly that
the human resources are the main asset of his company. Training and empowerment of the
employees, the service providers and partners is an integral part of the value creation of the
company. Los Grobo has arrangements with universities to give courses in agribusiness and
management of small and medium family-owned companies at their headquarters in Carlos Casares.
Los Grobo encourages its employees to become entrepreneurs and even provides seed funding.
Through its Rural Entrepreneurship Foundation, the company participates in projects to improve the
standard of living in villages and small towns. Los Grobo, together with other partners, has created
Bioceres, a biotechnology research and development organization.
Los Grobo farms scientifically by satellite mapping of every hectare of the land using a vast database
of agricultural metrics. They do ¨Precision Farming¨ in which monitors are used to control input
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distribution of seeds and different fertilizers for each parcel of land on the basis of information
generated by software calculating the dosage needed, depending on satellite location of the seeding
and sprayer machines. The best practices of Los Grobo include ¨No-Till Farming ¨ (direct seeding) in
which the crop residues are left to decompose and enrich the organic matter and maintain soil
moisture. The land is always covered by straw and residues. There is no ploughing of the land and
exposing it to sun and wind and erosion and degradation. This method improves physical and
chemical soil structure, retains humidity, reduces carbon emission, cost of production and labour and
increases productivity and helps in the conservation of soil.
The innovative business model of Los Grobo has been studied and commended by Harvard University,
among others. Los Grobo has been sought out for consultancies by other countries. It is the first
company worldwide to obtain ISO 9001 certification on grain production processes. It is establishing
its APO business model in Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Other Argentine farming companies are
following the example of Los Grobo. This includes the company El Tejar which has emerged as the
largest farming company in the world with cultivation of one million hectares this year. Such scale
does not exist even in Brazil or USA. El Tejar´s goal is to reach two million hectares in the next five
years. Out of the one million, 800,000 hectares are leased and 200,000 owned. El Tejar operates in
Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia and Brazil where they cultivate 600,000 hectares. With such emerging
global pioneering leaders in farming, best practices, advanced technologies and abundance of water
and fertile land, Argentina is set to become a significant global player in the future when the world is
going to be more concerned about food security.
I call Grobocopatel as ¨Senor Patel¨. He has no connection to Gujrat. He is of East European origin and
his grandfather had immigrated to Argentina in 1912. Grobocopatel founded the company in 1984
and has achieved a turnover of 700 million dollars in 2009-10. His target is 1.5 billion dollars in the
next five years. Grobocopatel is an agronomist and had taught the subject in the Buenos Aires
University before becoming an entrepreneur. His agronomist wife is also a director in the company.
For them, farming is not just business. It is passion. Grobocopatel has admiration for Indian culture
and practices meditation and yoga. He visited India for a month in December. He is interested in
strategic partnership with Indian companies. In 2011, he has started a pilot project to grow pulses
with a view to export to India.
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The risk of doing business with Colombia is …falling in love….
The risk of visiting Colombia is that you might stay on… Says the Colombian tourism advertisement.
But there is also another greater risk … The risk of ...falling in love...
This is what happened to three Indian IT guys Mohan, Atul and Kaushik who went to Colombia for an
IT project. All three were captured, kidnapped ...and taken to the altar... The Indians were, of course,
not innocent. They were willing victims..and now lead happy married life with their Colombian wives.
The three went to Colombia as employees of an IT company. Soon, they quit their jobs and founded
their own company Sophos Banking Solutions. They will not tell me which came first - love or
entrepreneurship. It does not matter. They conquered the market but let themselves be conquered
by the Colombian women.
Colombian women are among the most beautiful in Latin America. Those from Medellin and Cali are
the prettiest in the region. When I was in Medellin in July this year, my eyes almost popped out while
sitting in the outdoor cafes and bars. The streets of Medellin are like catwalks. The women walk
...parade ..as though they are models. It was like watching Fashion TV - a non-stop out door fashion
show. It reminded me of the Brazilian composer Antonio Jobim and poet Vinicius de Moraes who
used to sit in a bar in Rio de Janeiro and watched a girl passing by often. This inspired them to
compose the famous song, ¨Garota de Ipanema- the girl from Ipanema¨. The bar is located near the
Ipanema beach and known as the Garota de Ipanema bar.
The Colombian women are like the emeralds of the country- exquisite and sparkling. They are
charming, sweet, elegant, graceful and intensely feminine. Besides their natural endowments, some
get cosmetic surgeries done to enhance their attractiveness. Cosmetic surgery is a thriving business in
Colombia.
Colombian women make good wives and partners with their commitment, loyalty and sincerity. They
are family oriented, affectionate and caring. I have a number of Indian and foreign friends who are
married to Colombian women happily for many years with more mature love, as described in the song
in the film ¨Love at the time of cholera¨ based on the novel of Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
Hay amores que se vuelven resistentes a los años,
como el vino que mejora con los años,
There are loves that come to be resistant to years
Like the wine becoming better with years.
Oops.. I got carried away…. I forgot to mention the fourth member of the Sophos team, Amitt. He is
the exception. His parents seemed to have had knowledge of Colombia. They were not taken in by the
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title of the book ¨One hundred years of solitude¨ by Marquez. They knew it was just magical realism.
They would not believe that there could be any solitude for bachelors in Colombia. So they made
Amitt marry an Indian girl Vidushree before he could also fall a victim to the Colombian magic. She
speaks fluent Spanish and has become almost a Colombian.
Sophos provides IT solutions for banks and financial institutions besides BPO and other services. They
work with partners such as Infosys and Oracle. They have 90 Colombian and 12 Indian employees and
are adding more.
I visited the Sophos office in Bogota. In the picture below you can see Amitt in the left and Mohan in
the right with their Colombian staff, whom they describe proudly as their extended family.
The office of Sophos is strategically located in the heart of the financial district of Bogota. They own
the office and recently bought an adjacent space also as part of their expansion. The company is
growing as the Colombian clients have gained more confidence in Sophos. Atul told me the secret…If
he and a Colombian were to compete for an IT contract from a Colombian client, he as an Indian, had
a better chance. Yes.. Indian name gives a competitive edge in the IT business in Colombia as in US.
Atul Malhotra is from Chandigarh, Mohanraj is from Coimbatore, Amitt is from Agra and Kaushal is
from Mumbai. All the four guys work like Indians and have fun like the Colombians. They work
typically an average of 13 hours a day. Every Sunday they have a video conference to review the past
week and plan the next one. Guess what time..At 0630 hrs. I am sure the video line will be absolutely
clear and uncongested at this ungodly time when the whole of Colombia will be enjoying their Sunday
morning sleep.
Atul who lives and works in Medellin is a connoisseur of the night life in Parque Lleras , where he took
me out for an incredible evening. Mohan, who has the typical conservative and quiet Coimbatore
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smile was transformed completely into a Colombian Fiestero (party man) after a couple of
aguardientes (local spirit) at the famous Andres DC Bar in the Zona Rosa of Bogota.
The Colombian wives have adapted well to their hard working husbands, confused in-laws and curious
Indian relatives. They have learnt Indian cooking and know how to make their Indian husbands cry
…with their hot Indian food.
I asked the Sophos guys about the experience of their Colombian employees. They are happy with the
quality of Colombian human resources and their commitment. The Colombians are willing to work
late in the evening or on a weekend whenever there is need. This has reconfirmed my own opinion
that the Colombians have the best work culture in the Andean Community region and among the best
in Latin America.
These days, Colombia is the hottest destination in Latin America for foreign investment with lots of
opportunities and investor-friendly government policies. President Santos surprised the Indian
Ambassador when he himself came forward to meet all the Indian participants in an Indian
engineering exhibition in 2010. The Colombian embassy is the only Latin American mission in India to
have an Investment Promotion Officer. With the third largest population (48 million) in Latin America,
Colombia is the third largest destination of Indian exports to the region. Reliance, ONGC, United
Phosphorous Ltd, and Havells Sylvania are the major Indian investors in Colombia.
So here is a strategy for Indian companies to conquer the Colombian market. Send the bachelors in
your export departments. They will have an extra motivation to establish long term exports and
business of your company with Colombia. They will be inspired by Shakira's song ¨Sale el sol¨
uno y uno no siempre son dos
Cuando menos piensas sale el sol
One plus one is not always two
The sun starts shining, when one least expects
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Message of Gandhi in Medellin
Be careful.. Friends advised me when I told them I was going to visit Medellin, notorious for
kidnappings, murders and drug trafficking. Another set of friends also gave me the same advice but
for a different reason. They were jealous...Medellin women, are reputed to be the most beautiful in
Latin America. So you could imagine my accompanied baggage full of fears, expectations and fantasies
with which I reached the city on 7 July 2011. But I was in for a totally different surprise. I found a
Mahatma Gandhi Foundation there celebrating Festival of Non- Violence, started by a Gujarati... Mr
Harivardhan Shah.
So my first visit in the city was to the Gandhi Foundation. Shah described it as ¨an organization that
seeks to reclaim Life and to rebuild Hope in a city that no longer wants to see its children die in the
street either by a bullet or at the hands of a murderer¨. The Foundation's objective is ¨to teach
everyone that, it is indeed possible to restore the hope that violence has stolen from us. This begins
only when each citizen consciously decides: not to contribute any more to the culture of violence that
surrounds us and instead to do something to build a peaceful coexistence, not only with others, but
also within oneself¨.
The Gandhi Foundation has an auditorium for meetings. There are two full time employees at the
office of the Foundation, located on the top floor of the factory of Mr Shah. The local authorities,
NGOs and some companies support the foundation and its activities with thirty percent of financing
while the remaining seventy percent of the funds are from Mr Shah himself. The local media has given
wide publicity praising the work of the Foundation.
The Foundation celebrates Gandhi Jayanti every year with seminars, workshops, candle-light marches
and events in schools and colleges. They invite the people ¨to find solutions to the problem of
violence in the city - initially in oneself and then to replicate those solutions with the people around
them. The Foundation teaches yoga and meditation to help people to achieve inner peace and
harmony.
The Foundation does not preach within the safety of four walls. They organize campaigns at the
Metro stations and streets and even in dangerous neighborhoods such as Comun Popular which is rife
with crime and narcotrafficking. In Colombia they call the slums as Comuns. The Foundation holds
solidarity meetings with the victims of violence. The volunteers of the Foundation work the Metros
and streets with banners in spanish which say,
- If you are at peace with yourself, there is at least one peaceful place in the world.
-There is no way to peace..peace itself is the way.
-eye for an eye will make the world go blind.
The Foundation distributes Gandhi masks and spectacle frames to the marchers. Some Colombians
dress up like Gandhi during the marches, as in the photo below.
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Colombians with Gandhi masks, in the picture below.
Shah himself was a victim of the Medellin violence. Once, a gang of armed robbers attacked his
factory at gun point and took away everything they could. Second time the robbers threatened to
shoot him but he took a risk of diverting their attention and managed to escape. Then a criminal gang
put his name among the list of people to be eliminated. At this time he thought of leaving Colombia.
But his two daughters, who were born and brought up as Paisas( inhabitants of Medellin) did not
want to leave. They were firm and convinced Shah that they should live and die there itself.
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In the picture above- Mr Shah.
The Gandhi Foundation focuses on the youth who are the potential recruits of criminal gangs. The
Foundation works with schools and colleges and teaches the students tolerance and compassion and
the need to respect others with different beliefs. They tell the adolescents that they must change
themselves first before expecting the world to change. Their most important programme is to
develop, nurture and multiply young leaders. They select leaders from the schools through a series of
interviews. The young leaders are given scholarships to pursue their higher education. These leaders
carry out the campaign of non-violence and participate actively in all the Gandhi events. When these
Medellin young leaders tell the other youth about non-violence it makes a greater impact than if Shah
were to give lectures himself. The only condition the Foundation lays down for the leaders is that
when they get jobs and settle down in life they must help at least two other deserving candidates and
mentor them. One of the interview committee members had a doubt and asked Shah, what if they do
not help others? What is the gurantee?. Shah , who is as much a pragmatist as an idealist replied, ¨Do
we seek such a guarantee from our own children when we invest in their education that they would
help the parents?¨.
Sara (in the picture below) is one of the Gandhi Foundation scholarship holders. She studies business
management. To my question as to what kind of company she would like to work, she responded
quickly and unhesitatingly, ¨I want to start my own business.¨ I asked her about the public response to
the campaign for non-violence in which she takes part. She said that the kids in the slums were
initially curious. Later some of them turned positive and wanted to know more about Gandhi. She told
me that the non-violence campaign has made some of the young people to think about the situation
in Medellin in a new light with a different approach.
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Shah has been living in Medellin for the last 36 years. He went to work there as a chemical engineer in
a local company after completing six years of University studies in Germany. He fell in love with the
beautiful city, pleasant weather ( they call it as eternal spring since the average temperature is 21
degrees). After some years, he started his own factory to produce chemicals.
Shah and his Gujarati wife Hasita as well his two daughters speak to each other in spanish all the time.
They have a creatively designed country house where they hold retreats for the Gandhi Foundation
scholarship holders.
Shah is also the mentor, guardian and Guru for the 80 Indians most of whom have come to the city for
IT projects. He and his wife are avid and competitive bridge players and participate in the national and
regional tournaments. Shah dances Salsa and Tango, throws fiestas (parties) for the smallest excuse
and lives up to the Latino philosophy, ¨We do not stop having fun when we are old. We become old
only when we stop having fun¨.
With such a broad bandwidth of Gujrati mind and Latino heart, Shah has made Mahatma Gandhi
meaningful to Medellin in a practical and pragmatic way.
Here is Mr and Mrs Shah at the their country house..
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More info on the Gandhi Foundation at http://www.edugandhi.org
They are in facebook too ...http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=152900591407225
Medellin is not alone in rediscovering Mahatma Gandhi. There is a resurgence of interest in Gandhi's
concept and practice of non-violence across Latin America which is facing serious challenges of urban
crime and violence. Policy and opinion makers and intellectuals realize that policing could deal only
with the surface part of the problem. They want to go to the roots and cultivate a new culture of nonviolence in the hearts and minds of the young people. It is in this task that they find Mahatma Gandhi
as an inspiration and his ideas relevant to the Latin American situation.
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Silicon Valley for Indian men and Silicone Mountain for Latino women
Young Indian men are excited by the ¨Intel inside¨ sign on the computers which have opened a new
window of opportunity for them to connect to, compete with and conquer the world.
The Latin American young women want to excite men with ¨Implant Inside¨to conquer the silly guys.
Costa Rica caters both to the ambitions of the up and coming young Indian men and the up and
booming bosoms of the Latino women.
Intel Corporation has two plants in Costa Rica and is responsible for a shift in the country's top
exports, from coffee and bananas to electric and electronic products. Electronics is now Costa Rica's
largest sector with Intel as the largest player. The industry employs 12,000 and exports US$1.65
billion in products a year. The local support industry for Intel alone reflects a base of 460 suppliers
and US$50-150 million in local purchases of goods and services per year. The relatively small size of
Costa Rica to receive an investment of the dimension of Intel's (US$300 million or equivalent to 2.1
percent of Costa Rican GDP), over two years in 1997 with a total committed investment of about
US$600 million, made Bob Perlman, one of Intel's vice presidents, declare that bringing his company
to Costa Rica was like "putting a whale in a swimming pool".
After the success of Intel Inside, the next slogan coming out of Costa Rica is Implant Inside. In the first
six months of 2010, the country exported 134 million dollars worth of silicon implants, seventy
percent of which are used to enlarge women´s breasts. Allergan, the silicon implant maker in Costa
Rica is the second largest exporter of the country.
The women of Colombia, Brazili, Venezuela and Argentina are in the vanguard of this silicone
revolution. According to a report, the average age of Argentine women seeking breast implant is 25.
In a night club called as Sunset in the Olivos suburb of Buenos Aires, they have raffles to choose the
winner who gets a free breast implant. Such raffles are becoming popular in other cities too. The
name of the Raffle is ¨Quiero más lolas¨ which means ¨want more bust¨. The original organizers of
the event has got this title even patented. Lola is the name of a popular Argentine soap opera in
which the heroine is endowed amply.
¨Sin tetas no hay paraiso¨( without tits there is no paradise ) is the title of a Colombian soap opera.
The heroine Catalina finds it necessary to increase the size of her breasts to capture the attention of
the men.
There is a debate on this subject in Argentina among plastic surgeons, psychologists and social
scientists. Some are against this practice of cheap raffles encouraging young women to go under the
knife to get men under their influence. But someone took the view that this is social justice, which
provide opportunities for the have-nots to ¨have more¨. Otherwise it was the haves who had the
means to have more. The entry fees, the women pay in these night clubs is between 4 and 10 dollars
while the cost of breast implant is between 2300 and 4000 dollars.
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The craze for silicon implants is the same story across the region, although Argentina is in the
forefront of social justice for the have-nots to have-more through cheap raffles. Latin America leads
the world in breast implants and cosmetic surgery. Even American and European women come to
Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela and Argentina for front enlargements.
So here is something common between India and Latin America... silicon.
Indian men seek faster chips to conquer the silicon valley while the Latino women ask for bigger
silicones to conquer the men.
Silicon has helped India succeed in the back-end work outsourcing, while it has made Latin America
leader in the front end operations.
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Pura Vida ( pure life )
Pura Vida..is how the Costa Ricans respond cheerfully when you ask them , Como esta ( how are you ).
Pura vida literally means pure life. But what the Costa Ricans mean is ¨full of life¨, ¨great¨. This makes
them distinct among the Latin Americans who respond generally as Bien ( fine) or Muy Bien ( very well
). I had the opportunity to discover some more unique characteristics of this Pura Vida country during
my visit there in 2009.
The Ticos( nick name of costa rican men ) or Ticas ( costa rican women) distinguish themselves from
the other Central Americans and Latin Americans not just by the word Pura Vida. They have genuinely
made themselves distinct and succeeded in marketing their country as a business and tourist
destination with a difference. Here are some facts substantiating their claim.
Costa Rica had abolished the armed forces in December 1948 and has been peacefully and
democratically governed since then. Unbelievable... but true. The absence of armed forces meant that
there were no cocky colonels or generals who thought they knew how to run governments better
than the politicians. Ballots , not bullets , became the only route to power. Costa Rica boasts that they
spend their money on teachers and schools instead of colonels and barracks.This is their greatest
distinction from the rest of Latin America which had suffered military dictatorships and the
consequent miseries in this period. Mind you ..the Ticos are not living in a far away island. They live
right in the middle of Central America which has gone through devastating civil wars, proxy wars,
contra wars and even soccer wars. It is against this background that Costa Rica´s achievement looks
even more admirable. From an intellectual, cultural and historic point of view, abolishment of army by
Costa Rica is indeed a civilizational advance! As the first country to abolish armed forces, Costa Rica
has set an example not only for Latin America but for the whole world. The neighboring Panama has
followed the example of the Ticos by abolishing their army in 1990.
The Ticos are not just content with passive peace within the frontiers of their chiquitico ( little)
country of four million. They have established a University for Peace (UPEACE) in 1980 “to contribute
to the great universal task of educating for peace by engaging in teaching, research, post-graduate
training and dissemination of knowledge fundamental to the full development of the human person
and societies through the interdisciplinary study of all matters related to peace”. At present, the
UPEACE Costa Rica Campus has 170 students from 52 different countries, including India, making it
one of the most diverse universities in the world for its size.
Oscar Arias, the president of Costa Rica successfully mediated to stop the central american wars and
get the presidents of the region to sign a peace agreement in 1987. Peace has endured since then. He
was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 1987. He used the monetary award from the Nobel Peace prize
to establish the Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress. In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech
he said ¨ We are a people without arms and we are fighting to continue to be a people without
hunger. Our children walk with books under their arms rather than guns on their shoulders. We are a
symbol of peace for America.¨ Not rhetoric. Preaching based on practice.
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Costa Rica´s democracy which had taken strong roots since the very beginning of the twentieth
century was interrupted once in February 1948. President Rafael Calderon annulled the 1948
elections after his handpicked successor candidate lost the elections. A civil war followed claiming
2000 lives. Jose Figueres , the conservative leader lead a rebel army and toppled the government and
took over power in May 1948. But Figueres promised that he would relinquish power in eighteen
months after carrying out some reforms. He fulfilled both the promises. He handed over power
promptly in November 1949 to the legally elected President in February 1948. His reforms included
abolition of the army, decentralization of power and extension of vote to women. Later he created his
own National Liberation party and won the presidential elections in 1953 and in 1970. He handed
over power gracefully when he lost the elections in 1958. His son became President in 1990. Ironically
he took over from the son of Rafael Calderon against whom his father led the armed rebellion in
1948. President Chinchilla and former President Arias are from the same National Liberation party
founded by Figueres.
There is a strong commitment and consensus among the elite of Costa Rica to democracy and social
equity. It is true that most of the political leaders come from the small number of oligarchic families in
the country, as in many other countries in the region. This includes President Arias, a coffee baron
and from the top three wealthiest families in the country. But the Costa Rican oligarchy is an
enlightened one with a social conscience. The governments have pursued a policy of inclusive
development, irrespective of whether they are conservatives or liberals. The four million citizens
enjoy the benefits of a modern social welfare state including pensions, labor legislation, national
health care and a life expectancy of 77. In 1869, the country became one of the first in the world to
make education both free and obligatory, funded by the state’s share of the great coffee wealth. The
literacy rate of over 95 percent is one of the highest in Latin America. Even the coffee growing land is
distributed among 100,000 families and not monopolized by the oligarchy. Costa Rica was the first
country in Central America to give voting rights to women and people of African origin in 1948. It is
because of this equity in the society that there has been no revolutionary leftist outsider to challenge
the status quo as it happened in some other countries in the region. Latin America has the highest
disparity of income in the world. It is this factor which has been responsible for the polarization of
politics and societies and the consequent political instability. Costa Rica has succeeded in reducing the
disparity through inclusive development and making all its citizens as stakeholders in democracy. The
voter turn out in the elections is one of the highest in the region.
With its high literacy rate, Costa Rica has positioned itself as the silicon valley of Latin America. The
country has successfully diversified its economy which was dependent soley upon export of coffee in
the past.
Costa Rica was one of the first in the world which combined its ministries of energy and the
environment back in the 1970s. It generates an impressive 99 per cent of its energy from renewable
sources. In 1997, a carbon tax was introduced on emissions – with the funds gained being used to pay
indigenous communities to protect their surrounding forests. Deforestation has been reversed, and
forests cover twice as much land as 20 years ago. In 2007, the Costa Rican Government declared that
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it intended to become carbon neutral by 2021.
Costa Rica was the pioneer in introducing Canopy Tours. There are 190 of them in various parts of the
rain forests of the country. It is an adrenaline rush soaring above the canopies of the forest and sliding
down the steel ropes ( like monkeys ! ) through the branches and leaves of the trees. It gives an
intimate feel of the forest. My own monkey trick on the rope was not a big deal. I used to climb palm
trees in my village.
Costa Rica was the first country to start coffee plantations in Central America, in 1779. Again the Ticos
have distinguished themselves from the other centralamericans. While in the other countries cafe
oligarchy has caused political and social problems, in Costa Rica the coffee economy is more inclusive
with the participation of a large number of small and medium coffee farmers. Whereas in other
countries the native Indians and tenant farmers were displaced from their communal lands, most
Costa Ricans have benefited from Coffee. Of course, there are coffee barons in Costa Rica including
the ex-president Oscar Arias. But they are the benevolent types.
Costa Rica has the best golf clubs in Central America with some fantastic world-class resort courses. I
played in the Cariari country club, the one nearest to the city. It is one of the toughest courses I have
ever played
Tourism is the largest source of foreign exchange for the country. About 2 million tourists visit the
country every year. Ecotourism has been well developed. Many Ticos in the services sector such as
Tourism and Hotels speak fluent English. The climate, political stability and friendly services has
attracted a number of Americans who have settled down there permanently.
I went in a tour group to see local folk dances at Pueblo Antigo. Two Ticas namely, Chavela and
Consuelo gave a guided tour of the place and cultural event for two hours. They entertained us with
jokes, stories, songs, dances and anecdotes explaining the history and culture of Costa Rica. They
were like a two-person theatre. They were the best and the most impressive tourist guides I have ever
met in my travels around the world.
Costa Rica has a distinction from the Indian point of view too. It is the Americas Headquarters of the
Indian company Havells Sylvania, an Indian company with the widest presence in Latin America,
employing 850 Latin Americans. It is managed by a single Indian Kapil Gulati, from his office in Costa
Rica. The company has a business of 160 million dollars in ten countries and has production units in
Costa Rica and Colombia.
Havells Sylvania is the market leader in Colombia with 30% market share and 40% market
share in Costa Rica. In Argentina it is 35% and in Brazil 14%. In the region as a whole, Havells Sylvania
is just behind Philips the market leader.
Kapil has a simple target… To increase his turnover to one dollar for each Latin American in the next
three years. This means 556 million dollars for the population of 556 million of Latin America.
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The name of the company got me curious. It does not sound Indian!. The original name of the
company was “ Haveli’s “ of ‘Haveli Ram Gandhi'. Mr. Qimat Rai Gupta – Chairman, who is now 73
years old, acquired this brand in the early seventies. He was a teacher who became a trader in wires
and cables in 1958 in Bhagirath Place, Delhi's electrical market. As the business grew, the name
became “Havells”. When Havells bought the global assets of Sylvania in 2007 for 230 million Euros,
the company became Havells Sylvania. The global assets of Sylvania included those in Latin America.
There are a few Indians in Costa Rica, the most notable being Dr Nandwani, who has been there for
over thirty years and has earned the respect of the Ticos as a leading scientist and Head of the Solar
Energy centre in the university. Tico Nandwani has become a Tio Indiano( Indian Uncle) for the small
Indian community there.
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Writer in the language of passion
Great novels never actually seem to tell us anything; rather, they make us live it and share in it by
virtue of their persuasive powers. This is what Mario Vargas Llosa advises to aspiring writers in his
book ¨Letters to a young novelist¨. He has lived up to his advice in his novels. The proof is me. His
novels, among other factors, have persuaded me to become ¨Passionate about Latin America¨. I have
read most of his novels, essays and his autobiography. I have lived the lives of his characters and
loved the virtual world created in his books.
In my January 2009 blog on ¨The Bad girl ¨, I wrote ¨It is a pity that Llosa has not yet been considered
for Nobel prize¨. He was said to be not sufficiently leftist or liberal to qualify for the Nobel Prize. So I
was happy to see him finally getting the Nobel Prize in 2010.
Politically, Llosa is centre right and I differ with him on many Latin American political issues. His son
Alvaro Vargas Llosa is even more right. He cowrote a book ¨Guide for a perfect Latin American idiot ¨
a satirical work on the Latin American left.
It is said that Borges of Argentina ( another great writer of Latin America and one of the best in the
world ) did not get the Nobel prize because of his closeness to the rightist military dictatorship. But
Poor Borges was driven to the right by the intolerant leftist Peronist authoritarianism.
My favourite novel of Llosa is ¨Aunt Julia and the script writer¨. In this novel, an adolescent boy falls
in love with his middle-aged aunt. She tries to dissuade him saying that his infatuation would
disappear later when he discovered young girls. But he persists with his declaration of true love and
even proposes marriage. She again discourages him saying that such a marriage would not last given
the social prejudice against their age combination. When he insists, she asks him, ¨suppose we get
married..how long do you think that we would live happily?¨. The adolescent boy replies without
giving it any thought, ¨two years¨. She jumps up in excitement, ¨two years… 720 days..great .. it is
worthwhile to marry for two years of happiness¨ They get married and live together for over two
years. Later I found out that this was the real life story of Llosa himself.
¨The storyteller¨ is another amazing novel which impacted me profoundly. The story is about a
university student who goes to the Amazon jungle and becomes head of a tribe and takes up the
tradition of telling stories.
Llosa´s novels bring out the essence of Latin American way of life, love, sex, relationship and marriage
realistically and magically. I say magically because he makes us love the Latino excesses and vices. Of
course some of his themes are shocking to the conservative Indians. For example in the Diary of Don
Rigoberto the husband lets his wife go on a trip with her boy friend and then discusses the trip with
her. In the Bad Girl, the heroine lets herself go with all kinds of adventures crossing many boundaries.
At the end, I found her adorable and could not contain my tears when she died….
Most of his novels are about his native country describing the life and society of Peruvians. A few of
his novels have covered other countries. In ¨The war of the end of the world¨ the story takes place in
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Brazil. Llosa says that this was the best among all his novels, the most ambitious project he had ever
undertaken and the book on which he worked the longest and with the most difficulty. He was
inspired to write this after reading the book ¨Os Sertaoes¨ by the Brazilian writer Euclides da Cunha.
Another of his novels ¨Feast of the goats¨ is about the Trujillo dictatorship in Dominican Republic.
Llosa is not just a writer. He is a writer´s writer. In his book ¨letters to a young novelist¨ he gives
advice to aspiring writers how to write novels. A writer, in his view, is a being seized by an insatiable
appetite for creation, a rebel and a dreamer. Questioning of real life is the secret raison détre of
literature, according to Llosa. He gives a Latino definition of writing novels saying that it is the
equivalent of reverse striptease.
In another book, A writer´s reality he explains what provoked or motivated him to write some of his
novels. He describes in detail the process of his writing the novels and the influences and inspiration
behind them.
In his autobiography A fish in the water written in 1993 he has given a glimpse of his evolution as a
writer and an insight to the Peruvian society and politics.
Captain Pantoja and the special service – novel by Mario Vargas Llosa
The story is unusual and provocative.
Captain Pantaleon Pantoja is a model officer in the Peruvian Army known for his discipline,
seriousness , commitment, military pride and organizational skills. He does not smoke, drink, or give
in to other temptations. He is a faithful husband devoted to his wife and a caring son looking after his
mother. These traits make him as the ideal and foolproof candidate for a special and secret
assignment. He is asked to raise a Special Force of Visitadoras( sex visitors) to provide service to the
garrisons in the remote parts of the Amazon. The objective of the special force is to quench the sexual
thirst of the soldiers who become a menace to the women and animals in the Amazon region,
stimulated by the local food and humidity. In the language of the report of Pantoja, this is to address
the primary psychological and biological needs of the forces in isolated areas. To protect the honour
of the army, Pantoja is asked to organize the service secretly and without his uniform and without any
overt link with the armed forces. Pantoja applies his military skills and personal integrity to the new
job with enthusiasm and enterprise. He plunges into the sordid world of brothels and pimps to get a
first hand knowledge of the trade. He organizes the special service methodically with proper military
rules and systems. He recruits the service providers personally through a rigorous system of interview,
physical examination and, of course, intercourse .... He does it in a detached professional manner
without letting himself be emotional. He does it as a sacrifice and duty and as a not-for-pleasure
professional obligation. He manages to discipline the bunch of wild and temperamental girls and
makes them work under a set of military rules. The visitadoras are happy that Captain Pantoja has
provided them with a regular income and working hours. They are thankful to him for freeing them
from the risk and hazards of their vocations and cruelty of pimps. They are delighted with their new
dignity as Armed Forces Specialists. Pantoja does a scientific survey of the sexual needs of the
soldiers, does exhaustive research on the subject and evolves an effective logistical system for
efficient delivery of services. He works out an optimal solution based on demand and supply with
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mathematical precision. Each visitadora provides pleasure to 20 soldiers a day and the timing of each
service is limited to 20 minutes. To speed up the service, Pantoja arranges reading materials to the
soldiers, while they are waiting, so that they are sufficiently stimulated and prepared. The service fees
is deducted from the soldiers´s pay. Pantoja sends his special force through a boat and hydroplane to
the utility centers, which are located in the remote areas of Amazon. The special service is run
efficiently and methodically. Captain Pantoja is always devising new systems and improvisations to
make optimal use of the limited resources to satisfy the unlimited demand of the soldiers and achieve
the strategic objectives of the military. He sends regular reports of the functioning of the service with
military jargon, precision and details to his superiors in top secret communications. The special
service has even its own Hymn!!
Pantoja’s special service becomes a hit with the soldiers and achieves the objective of the project
successfully. But then things go beyond his control. The special force becomes a special farce.
Obviously, in such a small place, it cannot remain a secret. The local radio jockey, tries to blackmail
the captain but when Pantoja refuses to give in, he publicizes and starts a public campaign on moral
grounds. The church and the society women are up in arms. The naive wife and mother of Pantoja are
targets of ridicule. The officers of the army ask why only soldiers?..why not extend it to the higher
echelons?. The civilian men in the towns too clamour for the special services. Even the senior citizens
of the region ask ¨what about us ?¨. Things come to a head and Pantoja´s wife leaves him. The
frustrated but still innocent and principled Pantoja becomes human. He falls in love with one of the
service providers Olga, popularly known as the ¨Brazilian ¨, because she had returned from providing
service in Manaus in Brazil. Olga is pretty, charming, mischievous and full of delightful tricks up her
sleeve. Pantoja gives special privileges to the Brazilian and she takes care of him physically and
emotionally. With her quick wit and street experience she provokes him to think beyond his narrow
military framework. As a special favor, she is given reduced duty for servicing only ten soldiers while
others do for twenty. But she complains that this has reduced her income. In the end, she gets killed
in one of the attacks on the boat by a gang of men who want to rape the visitadoras. This is the
turning point for Pantoja. He throws out the veil of secrecy, puts on his uniform and organizes her
burial with special military honours. He makes a formal and emotional memorial speech eulogising
the patriotic service rendered by Olga to the nation, saying ¨we have worn our noble uniform of an
officer in the Peruvian army to accompany you to your last dwelling place, with our head held high
and with a full sense of responsibility to proclaim that you had fallen as a valiant soldier in the service
of our beloved country Peru. You are an unfortunate martyr to the fulfillment of duty. Your spirit
guides us daily and stimulates us to the completion of our duty with the selflessness and perfection
with which you performed it¨. This hits the headlines of the national media and all hell breaks loose in
the army headquarters. The army recalls Pantoja and disbands the special service. But Pantoja is
unrepentant and stands by his decision to honour the specialist of the special service.
Along with this main plot, Llosa has woven a parallel story of a mad evangelist who excites the
population of Amazon with his religious fanaticism. With his ¨Son of the Cross¨ sermons, he makes
the followers to sacrifice animals on a cross. This goes beyond control and human beings are crucified.
The victims are worshipped as saints. This becomes a serious problem for the police and the army
since even soldiers and the visitadoras become fanatic followers of this new sect. It ends with the
priest putting himself on the cross and dying like Christ. This subplot is similar to the story in the other
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novel of Llosa ¨The war of the end of the world¨.
Llosa has interwoven the professions of sex, military and religion in an entertaining and provocative
way. It is a hilarious and thought provoking satire on the service providers of sex, defense and
religion. Llosa has transformed the outrageous and absurd situations into readable and laughable
stuff but within a cultural and intellectual framework. He has juxtaposed the profane with the
profound and let the readers imagine and think.
Llosa brings out the flaw in the military system in which subordinates are required to blindly obey the
orders, even when they do not agree with the judgment of the superiors. In the name of order and
discipline, men and women of the military are trained to do what they are told to do. Similarly, the
prophets and evangelists make their flock pursue the chosen and the only path blindly and without
questioning. In both the military and religion, there is no option of free thinking. Individuality
becomes a casualty to decision from the top and wisdom from the chosen one. So long as these lead
the individuals in a positive and constructive way there is no problem. But history, including the
contemporary one, is filled with tragedies caused by wrong military ideas and false prophets.
In this novel, Mario Vargas Llosa has exceeded my expectations with his dextrous handling of this
explosive theme. Llosa has handled it like an explosive expert, controlling the process of explosion
and letting it explode like firecrackers, amusing and entertaining the readers from the beginning to
the end.
Llosa has chosen many such unusual and provocative themes in his other novels and has handled
them all with his characteristic satire, irony and humour.
This novel was made into a film in 2000 with the same title by the Peruvian director Francisco
Lombardi. I saw it sometime back. It is also entertaining. But the book leaves a deeper impact.
In my view, Mario Vargas Llosa and Jorge Amado ( Brazil) are the only two great Latino geniuses who
could transform sexual service to sublime and aesthetic levels of understanding and appreciation. I
recall the novel ¨Eleven minutes¨ in which the famous Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho has chosen theme
of a call girl. But this theme stands out awkwardly unable to blend with the spiritual flow of Coelho.
Bad girl – novel by Mario Vargas Llosa
Ricardo Slim Somocurcio, the adolescent Peruvian hero falls in love with a a 14-year-old girl Lily, who
comes to join his neighborhood school in Miraflores, Lima. She has the look, talk and dance steps but
is mysterious about her family. She masquerades as a wealthy, liberated Chilean girl to disguise her
slum origins. She is soon exposed by a jealous schoolmate after which she disappears, but Ricardo is
smitten.
Ricardo realizes his dream of living in Paris by getting a translator job in UNESCO. There he meets Lily,
who is on transit to Cuba for revolutionary training. Ricardo reiterates his love and they have sex for
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the first time. After some years, she reappears in Paris as the wife of a French diplomat whom she
married in Cuba. Ricardo falls again and becomes her lover. Then she disappears and turns up in
London as the mistress of a horse race owner. Ricardo follows her there and resumes the affair.
Her next adventure takes her to Tokyo where she becomes the slave mistress of a Japanese mafia
boss. She willingly undergoes the sexual and other tortures of her boss including smuggling to Nigeria.
But she is under the total spell of the Japanese, the only man who could command her and make her
do things even when she did not like them. She escapes from there and comes to the Good Boy
Ricardo, who marries her partly to regularize her stay in France. She gets bored by the life of a
housewife and runs off with the husband of her therapist. Ricardo had enough. He leaves his beloved
Paris for Madrid where he finds tentative love in a Bohemian woman. The Bad Girl reappears and
challenges Ricardo again teasing him that she is still the owner of his heart. The Bohemian woman
goes away with another guy and Ricardo, the ever-faithful gets back to the Bad Girl only to find that
she is in the last stage of her cancer. She dies in his arms.
The Bad Girl lies, pretends, deceives and is always aiming for the next conquest. The Bad Girl whose
original name is Otilia starts her first pretention as a Chilean Girl and then goes on to assume different
names, identities and titles as Comrade Arlette, Madam Robert Arnoux, Mrs Richardson and Kuriko
and finally Madam Ricardo Somocurcio. She teases Ricardo that she cannot settle down to his way of
petit bourgeoise life. But he cannot get over her and is always ready to receive her back with enduring
love and adoration. He always calls her as the Bad Girl and she greets him as the Good Boy. He does
not trust her ever but in her presence he melts down completely and physically in her sex and in
eternal romance. The Bad Girl never says she loves him. She calls his romantic declaration of love as
¨cheap sentimental things¨. But after coming back from her adventures she asks him to repeat those
cheap sentimental words. But she also has her human side. She helps a mute adopted Vietnamese
child of her neighbor with affection and makes him open up and speak again, causing a miracle.
Ricardo has chosen for himself an anonymous, modest, non-descript and unambitious quiet life. He is
content with his job of a translator, dealing with what others say. At times, he virtually revels in his
anonymity, as if his profession absolves him of responsibility for committing or acting when so many
of his friends and acquaintances are involved in political action. But he likes the indomitable and
unpredictable aspects of the Bad Girl’s personality, in contrast to his dull and uneventful life. He calls
her as his liar and torturer but his love of life. He is not a saint but rather a bit of an addict, an
emotional masochist who simultaneously desires and resents his abasement by the bad girl.
Whenever he proposed marriage, she rejects it saying ¨I will never be your wife. I always want to be
your lover. This way, I will always keep you crazy about me¨.
Mario Vargas Llosa has wonderfully contrasted the self- effacing and simple Good Boy with the
adventurous Bad Girl, making it as a great romantic story. The Good Boy´s infatuation at the age of
fifteen, developing into a lifelong obsession and his story of how the Bad Girl dominates all aspects of
his romantic life for more than forty years is the story of unconditional love.
This reminds me of Florentino Ariza's fifty-year obsession for Fermina Daza in Gabriel García
Márquez's Love at the time of Cholera. The main difference is that in Llosa´s book the woman is crazy
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while in Marquez´s book it is man who is crazy. The common thing is in both cases (one normal, the
other one crazy), the men are prepared to wait for 40-50 years with enduring love ... the women
don’t wait....
The Bad Girl is one of the remarkable and memorable characters created by Llosa similar to his other
characters such as Aunt Julia and Don Rigoberto.
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The sum of our days
After having enjoyed Isabel Allende´s first autobiography ¨My invented country¨ in which she tells the
story of her life in Chile, I was keen to read the ¨ The sum of our days¨ which covers her second life in
USA, with her second husband.
The autobiography reads like a novel. She entertains and amuses the reader making fun of her own
life, her beliefs and idiosyncrasies. She bares her soul and shares her thoughts on love, marriage and
family. She pokes fun at her practice of going to astrologers to know about future. She is a member of
the ¨Sisters of Disorder¨, who get together and pray for solutions to the problems of others. Her
family members and friends are as colorful as the characters in her novels. Their eccentricities and
eclectism are fodder for Isabel´s story telling. There are events and experience which make the
readers laugh, cry and reflect.
Some of the events in her life are shocking. For example Celia , her daughter -in -law discovers she is a
lesbian and moves away with Sally, the girlfriend of the son of her husband from previous marriage.
Both Celia and Sally had lived in the same house of Isabel and Sally was in fact working as secretary to
Isabel. Celia leaves her three children to be taken care of by Nico, the son of Isabel, who cannot get
over the shock. But Isabel not only continues her friendship with Celia but she even takes the side of
Celia and supports her to the annoyance of her son. Before this conversion, Celia was a gay-baiter
with very strong views and prejudice. Afterwards, Celia not only practices lesbianism but actively
preaches the advantages of gay love. She advocates that everyone should try it and says that it is
much better than being heterosexual.
Isabel talks candidly about how desperately she was looking for a second husband afer her arrival in
US. She found Willie, who had a dysfunctional family, and was the right fit for her. Still, the
relationship goes through ups and downs, with the Chilean way of life and the American approach
colliding inevitably. The couple has to go for therapies to save the marriage. But Isabel is content with
her choice of husband and in any case it is too late in life for her to think of another one. Willie, who is
a compassionate lawyer later becomes a writer and gets his books published. Isabel ends the book
reaffirming her love for Willie, saying ¨the sum of our lives, our shared pains and joys, was now our
destiny¨.
Willie has built a new house on a hill in San Francisco in the Chilean style and named it as ¨House of
Spirits¨, the same name as the first novel of Isabel Allende which made her famous. Sure, the
furniture moves at night and there are odd sounds confirming the spirits in the air ! Isabel describes
the house as her Taj Mahal.
Willie´s daughter Jennifer becomes a drug addict and is abused by other drug addicts. Eventually she
disappears from the hospital after giving birth to a child. She is believed to have died. Willie is
devastated by this tragedy. Isabel takes on the responsibility of taking care of the child. Later, the
child is adopted by a lesbian couple.
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While Isabel is quick to come to the rescue of the victims of tragedies around her, she is unable to
overcome the loss of her daughter Paula, who died suddenly of a disease, after her marriage. Isabel
has written a separate book ¨Paula¨. The pain felt by the loss of her daughter is a recurring theme
throughout the book and her life, of course.
Isabel implants in California her Chilean system of family by bringing in relatives to live with her. She
calls them as her tribe. She goes out of her way to help them and at the same time freely interferes in
the lives of the members of her tribe, like a typical Chilean matriarch. It is interesting that her mother
who lives in Chile is her soul mate. She is in constant correspondence with Isabel, giving news of Chile
and advising her even on the family issues in San Francisco.
The cosmopolitan and avante- garde San Francisco is perfect setting for Isabel´s life and the incredible
adventures and misadventures of her extended family. Isabel gives a glimpse of the life in the city
through the experience of her friends. She describes the Bohemian lifestyle and love affairs of Tabra,
which are equally interesting. Tabra, who makes a living by making and selling artificial jewellery finds
USA as an unsuitable place for her convictions and ideals and eventually moves away to Bali. She tries
countless blind dates and courts disasters and disappointment. She receives applications from young
studs seeking to be kept by mature and moneyed women. Her Mexican boyfriend, whom Isabel
describes as ¨Plumed Lizard¨pursues restoration of the throne of Montezuma, the last Aztec king.
The only disappointment for me as an Indian is Isabel´s superficial dismissal of India in a couple of
pages. Even before her travel, she says she would not be able to bear the legendary poverty of India.
Her daughter Paula had visited India and told Isabel that India was the richest source of inspiration for
a writer. But what Isabel experienced in India was just perspiration and saw it purely from a
materialistic point of view and not at all as a writer. She enjoys, of course, shopping in Delhi and stay
in a palace hotel in Jaipur. She tells a horrible story of how an Indian woman tried to give away her
female baby to her, because female child is unwanted in India. I guess this is one of her literary
inventions. No Indian woman will ever give away her baby to a visiting foreigner, as she has described.
Isabel's India visit is cut short by a midnight telephone call from her daughter in law announcing her
bisexuality. Thus, India falls in a few paras between the fiction of an Indian woman trying to leave her
child with Isabel and the truth of the bisexuality of her daughter in law.
Isabel Allende is not the first Chilean writer with a negative view on India. Pablo Neruda, in his
autobiography, has also dismissed India in a few prejudiced Naipulistic words, after having visited
India twice. It is a pity that both of them have failed to connect to the culture and spirit of India.
Never mind..... This should not diminish the greatness of the two Chilean writers, whose books I have
enjoyed.
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The land of poets and volcanos
During my visit to Nicaragua in 2009, I took a travel companion with me. Guess..a book on Nicaragua
written by Salman Rushdie with the title¨The jaguar smile¨. Rushdie quoted someone´s saying that
there are poets and writers in every street of Nicaragua and that everybody is considered to be a poet
unless proved to the contrary¨.
Daniel Ortega, the President himself writes poetry. When he was a political prisoner at the age of 23
from 1967 to 1974 , he wrote many poems, one of which is titled ¨I Never Saw Managua When Mini
skirts were in Fashion¨. While in jail he received visits from Rosario Murillo, a poet. The prisoner and
visitor fell in love; Murillo became Ortega's wife. She has published several books of poems. One of
them is called as ¨Amar es combatir ¨- to love is to combat. She is now the President of the
Foundation for Promotion of Love (FUNDAMOR).
One of Daniel Ortega´s brothers Humberto Ortega was a published writer. Many ministers in his
cabinet now and during his previous presidency and Sandinista leaders are poets and writers. Notable
among these is Sergio Ramirez, Gioconda Belli and Ernesto Cardinal. The revolutionaries and common
people found solace and expression in poetry for survival and inspiration during the volcanic
eruptions of revolutions, war and struggles.
Ruben Dario, the poet and writer of Nicaragua is the most well-known. He is considered as the father
of the Modernist Movement in spanish literature in the twentieth century. His book Azul (1888) is said
to be the inaugural book of Hispanic-American modernism. He was a precocious poet and published
his poem in a newspaper at the age of thirteen. He was precocious in love too. He fell in love with a
eleven year-old girl, when he was fifteen. Thereafter he fell in love frequently with different women in
later life and married some of them. In San Salvador, he was married to Rafaela Contreras, daughter
of a famous Honduran orator, Álvaro Contreras, on June 21, 1890. One day after the wedding there
was a coup d'état in which his wife died. The coup was engineered by general Carlos Ezeta, who had
been a guest at Dario's wedding.
Dario had lived in several central and south american countries and worked in the newspapers of
these countries including the Argentine daily La Nacion for a long time. He wrote a book Canto a la
Argentina. Interestingly he was appointed as the Colombian honorary consul in Buenos Aires by the
Colombian president Miguel Antonio Caro in the period 1893 - 1895.
Dario is remembered for the following prophetic poem in which he anticipated US as a invader.
Eres los EstadosUnidos,
eres el future invasor
You are the United States
you are the future invader
Nicaraguans had suffered American invasion and the infamous Contra war.
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An American mercenary adventurer William Walker maneuvered to appoint himself as President of
Nicaragua in 1856 and ruled for a year and even made English as the official language. Walker
recruited about a thousand American and European mercenaries to invade the other four Central
American nations: Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Costa Rica. This was supported by the
American tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt who had business interests in the region. Fortunately the
invasion failed and Walker was later executed.
Here is the iron plate statue (in Managua, the capital) of Sandino, the father of the nation who raised
a rebellion against US presence in Nicaragua in the period 1927-33. He was assassinated by Somoza
whose cruel dynastic dictatorship was brought down by Sandinistas in 1979.
Nicaragua is a land of lakes too. May be it is Nature´s compensation to cool the volcanic heat. The
largest, Lake Nicaragua is spread over 8000 sq kms. I visited Granada, the former capital and a
picturesque city, on the shore of the lake and took a boat tour of the small islands called as islets.
There are over 350 of them in varying sizes ranging from an acre to dozens of acres. These can be
bought and used for private purposes. Rich people have built attractive holiday homes. The islets,
although rocky, have dense vegetation and many of them have large and tall trees.
Here is an island house:
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I asked the boatman what did he know of India. He replied that he associated India with two things:
motos and high economic growth. Nicaragua is full of Bajaj motorcycles and three wheelers. While
the three wheelers are for the poor people, Bajaj Pulsar motorcycle has become a status symbol
among the young Nicaraguans.
The landscape and people of Nicaragua reminded me of Kerala. The countryside of Nicaragua is like
the Kerala villages with palm and banana trees, yukka and beans, mountains and waterbodies, literacy
and Marxism.
I wanted to play golf in Nicaragua. But I was not sure if golf courses existed in the land of Sandinistas.
To my surprise, I found a world-class course called as Nejapa golf club. I played with India´s honorary
consul Alejandro Lacaya, who is a golf fanatic with a handicap of nine. He told me that the original golf
course in Managua was taken over by the first Sandinista government, which converted it into a
housing colony for the poor. Later, the Chamorros government paid compensation to the golf club.
The golfers supplemented it with their funds to acquire land and build the new Nejapa golf course,
which is dotted with neem trees from India.
Volcanoes are part of the geology of Nicaraguan land and they erupt from time to time , like the
politics of the country. Here is a volcano poem of Gioconda Belli with the title,
Yo, la que te quiere - I am the Woman Who Loves You.
Yo caliento tus noches,
encendiendo volcanes en mis manos,
mojándote los ojos con el humo de mis
cráteres.
I warm your nights,
lighting volcanoes with my hands,
making you cry with the smoke from my
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craters.
Here is the picture I took at the Masaya volcano, between Managua and Grenada
To me the whole country of Nicaragua looked like a political crater, having suffered so many eruptions
of wars, invasion and violence in the past. I hope the country will erupt in the future with more poetry
instead of volcanos and wars.
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From the bottom of the well to the top of the Executive Tower
Jose Mujica, the former leftist Tupamaro guerilla fighter who was elected as President of Uruguay in
November 2010, was held in the bottom of a well for two years as part of his fourteen years of
imprisonment. He learned to speak to the frogs and to hear the cry of the ants. He held dialogues
with his inner self in order to avoid going mad in the well which was mercifully dry. He survived,
abjured violence and embraced democratic ideals. He moved into the Presidential office in the top
floor of the Executive Tower building in Montevideo.
Mujica could not contain his tears at his emotional victory speech. Even the sky burst with rains and
drenched him and his supporters with heavy downpour. It was a symbolic washing down of the past
of Mujica, heralding a new era in the history of Uruguay and Latin America.
Mujica is governing Uruguay in a pragmatic and visionary way like his role model Lula of Brazil. He
gives priority to poverty alleviation, health and education of the masses while at the same time giving
space for the business sector to grow.
With the example set by Mujica, Uruguay has done away with ideological polarization. There is a
general consensus among all the political parties about the need for a balanced and pragmatic policy.
This is becoming the new trend in the rest of the Latin America too, although there are a few
exceptions.
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In his personal life, Mujica continues with his simple life. He refused to move into the Presidential
residence. He lives in his own farm house on the outskirts of Montevideo. He avoids, to the extent
possible, wearing suit and tie. His wife Lucia Topolansky is also an ex-guerilla fighter and has spent
many years in jail. She is now a Senator and active political leader.
In the sixties and seventies, Latin America was filled with young idealist revolutionaries, who took up
arms to change the status quo and establish utopian socialist states. They assassinated, kidnapped
and killed persons of authority and robbed banks for their ideology. Some of the revolutionaries were
killed, thrown into sea from planes, jailed, tortured, exiled or simply made to ¨disappear¨, as an
Argentine General put it in a kind of magical realism, ¨They are not alive, nor dead… but have just
disappeared¨. The word ¨Desaparecido¨, still haunts the society, literature and arts of the region. Che
Guevara, the revolutionary Icon, was killed by the Bolivian army. Few of the revolutionaries were
lucky to survive the bullets and get a second chance to come to power through the ballot. Jose Mujica
is one of them.
Mujica joined the Tupamaro armed militant group and participated in the brief takeover of Pando, a
town close to the capital Montevideo in 1969. He was captured and jailed on four occasions and once
managed to escape from the prison. He was eventually re-apprehended in 1972, shot by the police six
times. After the military coup in 1973, he was held in a military prison for eleven years and tortured.
In 1985, when democracy was restored, Mujica was freed under a general amnesty. Mujica, along
with his comrades founded a new political party, Movement of Popular Participation. He won the
1994 elections to become a deputy and later a senator and used to go to the Parliament in a
motorbike. His party was the largest component of the centre-left Frente Amplio coalition, which won
the election in 2004 and formed the first leftist government in Uruguay´s history. This government
lead by President Tabare Vazquez was popular in its five year term( 2004-9) with its Inclusive
Development Agenda and at the same time being market-friendly. Mujica was Minister of Agriculture
in Vazquez´s government. He gained nomination as the Coalition candidate in the 2009 elections and
won with 53 percent votes.
Mujica has promised continuity of the pragmatic policies of the coalition government of the last five
years. He has said that he would govern like President Lula, who has become the role model for the
Latin American leftists. In one of his campaign speeches, Mujica vowed to distance the left from "the
stupid ideologies that come from the 1970s — I refer to things like unconditional love of everything
that is state-run, scorn for businessmen and intrinsic hate of the United States. He said, ¨I'll shout it if
they want: Down with isms! Up with a left that is capable of thinking outside the box! In other words,
I am more than completely cured of simplifications, of dividing the world into good and evil, of
thinking in black and white. I have repented!"
The other guerilla leader who became President in Latin America was Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua. He
was part of the Sandinista movement which waged an armed struggle and overthrew the Somoza
dictatorship. He won the elections in 1984 and was President from 1985 to 1990. He was defeated in
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the elections in 1990, 1996 and 2000 but succeeded in 2006 and is the current President. His wife
Rosario Murillo was also a guerilla fighter.
Alvaro Garcia Linera, the vice president of Bolivia was a cofounder the insurgent Tupak Katari Guerilla
Army. He was arrested and charged with insurrection and terrorism. While imprisoned, he studied
sociology and became a university professor, after his release from prison. He was elected vice
president as the running mate to Evo Morales in the 2005 Presidential elections.
Ali Rodriguez Araque, the Finance Minister of Venezuela, was active in the Marxist guerilla movement
and was known as "Commander Fausto", allegedly acting as an explosives expert. He was one of the
last guerrilla fighters to put down arms. After the state pardon, he took to parliamentary politics. He
has served as oil minister, foreign minister and Vice President of the country as well as OPEC secretary
general. He is one of the most respected political leader and administrator in Venezuela and also in
the region.
Nilda Garre, the Security Minister of Argentina was part of the militant leftist movement of
Montoneros, which fought against the military dictatorship. Her husband and brother in law were also
involved with the Montoneros. Her husband was exiled and her brother in law was killed in a shoot
out. In an ironic justice, Nilda Garre became the boss of the Generals who once considered her as
public enemy of the state.
Dilma Rousseff , the President of Brazil, was a member of a clandestine Brazilian guerilla group. She
was thrown into jail between 1970 and 1972 and was tortured. After her release from jail, Dilma took
to politics and started working with Lula in the Workers Party. Both her two ex-husbands were also
part of the underground insurgent groups.
All the major armed guerilla groups of Latin America have now renounced arms and have taken the
democratic route. The only major group still fighting is the FARC of Colombia, whose story needs a
separate analysis.
The Latin American democracies, which were reborn in the eighties after the end of military
dictatorships, do not any longer face the threat of anti-establishment armed guerilla groups. The
region is also free from terrorism and religious fundamentalism which have become threats in all the
other regions. There are, of course, crime, violence, kidnapping and drug trafficking. But these are law
and order problems and do not pose a serious challenge to the new democratic paradigm of Latin
America.
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The Sandal Revolution
Fernando Lugo wore sandals and a simple white shirt and trouser for the ceremony of his
inauguration as President of Paraguay on 15 August 2008, His supporters called it as Revolucion
Sandalia- Sandal Revolution !
Lugo said he would forego the presidential salary of 40,000 dollars per year. He continued to live in
his own modest house during his presidential tenure. His sister is the official hostess in his household.
Lugo, popularly called as the Bishop of the Poor, was born in family known for politics than religion.
His father had never set foot in a church but was imprisoned a number of times for his political
activities. Against his father’s wish that he should become a lawyer, Lugo decided to join a seminary
at the age of nineteen and was ordained as a priest at 26. He was sent to work in Ecuador for five
years. During these years he embraced Liberation Theology of the Latin American clergy which has
fought on the side of the poor against repressive regimes and sacrificed their lives in some cases. So
when Lugo returned with this new revolutionary ideas, the military regime of Paraguay advised the
church to send him outside the country again. He was sent to Vatcian for another five years. He came
back in 1987 and was made a bishop in 1994. He had worked in the poorer parts of Paraguay and
wanted to do something for the poor people. Realising that he was limited by his position as a Bishop,
he moved into politics. He sought permission to resign from the church to enter politics in 2005. But
the Vatican refused. Later after seeing the growing popularity and determination of Lugo, the church
relented and let him go.
Many priests in Latin America had embraced Liberation Theology and had fought political battles for
the poor. Lugo is the first priest to carry the fight to its logical conclusion and serve the poor as
President of the country.
Lugo has created history in Paraguay by singlehandedly defeating the Colorado party which had ruled
the country for sixty years! He managed to do this without any political organization or base.
However he got the support of the leftist and liberal parties.
In his emotional inaugural address, he outlined his Agenda for Change. He promised to change not
only the politics of the country but also the culture of the society. ¨Change is not going to be
easy...but it is not impossible¨, he said. This was reflected in the song of the Sembrador group, which
followed the oath-taking ceremony. Here is part of the lyric.
la lluvia y el viento
me llaman amigo
la noche y la luna
me quiren besar
Despiertate hermano
ya llega la aurora
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(the rain and the wind
call me as friend
the night and the moon
want to kiss me
wake up my brother
the dawn has come)
Poverty alleviation, land reforms, education and health would be his priorities. He made part of his
speech in Guarani, the native tongue of the indigenous people and paid tribute to them. Paraguay is
the only Latin American country where the indigenous language is spoken by the whole population.
While the world media was obsessed with labelling him and making comparisons with others, Lugo
said that he would evolve his own pragmatic way. He had no revolution to export nor agenda to
change the world. He has a limited domestic agenda to change the lives of the poor and the excluded.
This is obvious from the fact that he did not make any reference to foreign policy or regional affairs in
his hour-long speech.
It is not only the politics of Latin America which is changing..the Presidential attire too is undergoing a
revolution. While Lugo is on the top of this change with his sandals and white shirt, the presidents of
Bolivia and Ecuador have discarded suits and tie. Both were wearing colorful traditional shirts without
tie during their inaugurations. While Correa had put on a jacket over his shirt, Evo Morales had his
trade-mark casual jacket .
During my call on Lugo, I gifted him Mahatma Gandhi´s autobiography in Spanish. And Gandhi too
wore sandals....Gandhi went further by foregoing even the shirt...and achieving independence for
India. Lugo´s assumption of power on 15 August coincided with the Independence Day of India on the
same day.
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Eat less, Drink less and Sleep alone
¨Hermano… Yo tambien soy Indio ¨– Brother ...I am also an Indian. This is how President Evo Morales
greeted Naveen Jindal, Managing Director of Jindal Group when they met first time in 2006. Naveen
responded ¨Your Excellency , We from India believe in Karma. It is the Karma which has brought
together the brothers from India and Bolivia ¨. Evo asked, ¨ how long are you here?¨. Naveen replied,
¨for the next seven reincarnations¨. Evo burst out laughing and gave a 40 year lease of the El Mutun
iron ore mine which has one of the largest reserves in the world with an estimated 40 billion tons.
The Jindal investment of 2.1 billion dollars is significant for Bolivia whose GDP is just 18 billion dollars
and population 10 million. It is the biggest investment Bolivia has ever received. The steel plant to be
set up by Jindal is the first- ever in the country. The Jindal Project will contribute to the industry,
economy and export earnings of Bolivia besides to the exchequer by way of taxes and royalty. They
will provide jobs and training to thousands of Bolivians. It is, therefore, no surprise that Jindal steel is
the talk of the town all over Bolivia from El Mutun where the mine is located to Santa Cruz the
provincial capital and to La Paz the capital of Bolivia. At the Santa Cruz airport, you can just tell the
taxi driver to take you to Jindal office and need not worry about the address. They all know it. The
only thing is you have to say Hindal since J is pronounced as H in Spanish.
The Jindal investment is not just another project. It is a civilizational encounter between the millennial
India and the native Indians of Bolivia. Evo Morales is the first native Indian to be elected as president
of Bolivia which has sixty percent Indians in the total population. In fact, he is the first native Indian
President to be elected in Latin America. This historic empowerment is a celebration for the 40 million
indigenous Indians of Latin America spread from Chile to Mexico.
The indigenous population of Bolivia and the region were also called (mistakenly) as Indians by the
Spanish colonizers. Besides being called as Indians, the people of India and Bolivia have many
similarities. Many gods and goddesses bless the indigenous people of Bolivia as in India. Evo went to
thank the native God in the mountains and had a special religious ceremony before assuming office
like the Indian politicians go to Tirupati temple. The indigenous communities of Bolivia offer Coca
leaves as part of the worship to their gods and also chew coca leaves as people do in south India with
betel leaves. The Bolivians garland their VIPs just as the Tamils do. Bolivia has many indigenous
groups speaking different languages. Evo belongs to the Aymara group which he calls as Aymara
nation. He has even changed the official name of the country as Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia –
Plurinational State of Bolivia. It is in the context of these common rich traditions that the Mutun
project assumes importance as a historic link between the civilizations of India and Bolivia.
Here are the brothers Evo Morales and Naveen Jindal in the picture below:
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The Jindal project has the following components:
-production of 25 million tons of iron ore a year
-a pellet plant with capacity of 10 m tons
-Sponge Iron Plant: 6 m tons
-Steel Plant: 1.7 m tons
-Power Plant: 450 MW
Part of the production of iron ore and steel will be exported. The ore will be transported by trucks to
Puerto Busch 100 km away from El Mutun. From there, barges will be used on the Paraguay-Parana
rivers for about 1800 kms to an Argentine river port near Rosario. Each barge will carry 2500 tons and
16 barges will go together in a convoy. From the Argentine port there will be transshipment on ships
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with capacity of around 45,000 tons. These ships will go through the river for another 400 kms
through Buenos Aires to reach the Atlantic ocean and then on to China and other countries. The steel
to be produced will be supplied mostly to the domestic market as well as to the neighboring
countries.
Vikrant Gujral, President of Jindal Bolivia is the one who manages the project. He is a veteran with 48
years in the Indian steel industry. He rose from a management trainee of the Indian Iron and Steel
Company (IISCO) in 1963 to become the Chairman of IISCO as well as Managing Director of Bhilai steel
plant and a senior director in SAIL. He is passionate about steel and motivates and entertains his team
with stories and anecdotes over Argentine and Chilean wines at the dinner table. He has a team of
about 20 hard working and innovative Indian engineers and experts who interact with the Bolivians
enthusiastically in their broken Spanish. They have spanish classes in the evenings. The Bolivians
working in the project greet the Indians with Namaste and keep saying Achha hai. They enjoy the
chappatis, basmati rice, dals and even the pickles at the Jindal guest house.
Gujral has found out another cultural similarity of Bolivia with India but an uncomfortable one.
Bolivians queue up in front of his offices in Puerto Suarez and Santa Cruz for jobs and contracts. He
receives numerous calls from political leaders seeking favours. He has delegated this job of dealing
with political leaders to his Director Arvind Sharma who flies the Indian flag as the Honorary Consul of
India in Santa Cruz. He is a permanent resident of Santa Cruz since 1990. Both are conscious of the
high expectations of the Bolivians and corporate social responsibility. They work with the local
communities contributing to the socioeconomic development of the region. They have donated
medical equipments worth 300,000 dollars to local hospitals and ambulances to villages. They are
building roads and renovating public plazas and schools. Jindal has started a vocational training centre
in Puerto Suarez to train the Bolivians. They are leading a campaign to plant trees in collaboration
with local schools and NGOs as part of their commitment to preservation of environment. Naveen
Jindal is literally raising the Bolivian flag, as he has done with Indian flags in India. He has put up a
huge Bolivian flag on a 100 feet tall steel pole in Puerto Suarez which can be seen even from across
the border in Brazil. He is going to put up another one in La Paz too. Jindal banners are all over the
roadsides proclaiming their commitment to partner with Bolivia to make steel.
Vikrant Gujral, the President of Jindal Bolivia in front of his office in Puerto Suarez, the nearest town
40 km from Mutun:
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Puerto Suarez where Jindal has their operational headquarters is a quiet town with a population of
25,000 people, who are all excited about the transformation in their lives to be brought about by the
steel project. The owner of a local restaurant has got a large and lucrative contract to feed the people
at work in the mine and had to abandon his restaurant in the town. Traffic in the small and charming
airport of Puerto Suarez has increased. This should be the most civilized airport in the world. The
passengers can walk from the check in counter to the plane without the botheration of X Rays, metal
detectors, baggage check and groping. The airline operating from Puerto Suarez is called as TAM...
Not the Brazilian one. It is Transport Aereo Militar.
While the Jindal is proceeding with the project seriously, they face some challenges. These are
technological, logistic, infrastructural, administrative and political challenges too. But the Indian team,
with its innovative skills is overcoming them. The most formidable challenge is, of course, political.
There are some vested interests who do not want to see the success of this project and progress of
Bolivia. These were the same forces that had ruthlessly kept the indigenous people of Bolivia
backward and excluded them from political power and economic opportunities for the last several
centuries. They spread misinformation about the Jindal project and poison the minds of policy makers
and put obstacles at every possible opportunity. But these vested interests underestimate Naveen
Jindal who himself is a politician and a champion shooter. And then there is Vikrant Gujral, the Iron
Man who has dealt with mafias and corrupt politicians in the interior of India and succeeded in
making the public sector steel plants profitable. He is optimistic that the dark forces cannot stop the
project which is so important for the Bolivian economy and society. Gujral faced his first challenge
while bidding for the project. He had difficulty in breathing when he went for the first time to meet
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the Bolivian authorities at La Paz which is at an altitude of 3100 metres. He was aware that Bolivian
football teams had beaten Brazil and Argentina using their altitude advantage. In the world cup
qualifying match on 1 April 2009 Bolivia beat Argentina 6-1, the worst defeat Argentina had suffered.
The Bolivians trounced the Brazilians 2-1 on 11 October 2009.
Vikrant Gujral was given the following advice to survive the altitude problem in La Paz:
Come poquito
Bebe poquito
Duerme solito
Eat less
Drink less
Sleep alone....
Gujral followed this advice, survived the altitude and succeeded in winning the contract ...and now he
has decided to continue to sleep alone till he completes the project......
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The labyrinth of solitude
I was invited to talk about business in a meeting with the Mexican Minister of Small Scale Industries
and his business delegation in New Delhi in 2006. As usual, I strayed into business plus and talked
about love and labyrinth in the relations between the two countries. I said,
-Octavio Paz 's first experience in India was a cultural shock. After landing in Bombay in 1951 he
walked around in Bombay streets and was overwhelmed by the crowd, color, noise and smell. He
wrote " The excess of reality in India ...made it appear unreal" .
-He came back and stayed in India as Ambassador from 1961 to 68. He travelled extensively in India
and wrote poems on Kanyakumari, Madurai and Lodhi gardens. His poetic work "tale of two gardens"
compares India and Mexico as two gardens. In this, he concludes " the strangeness of India reminded
me of the other strangeness of Mexico"
His book, The labyrinth of solitude " is about mexican character and identity. I got lost in the Mexican
labyrinth, confused as to which labyrinth is more complex , Indian or Mexican?
- But despite the labyrinth, confusion and excess reality, Octavio Paz found one thing in India..love. He
fell in love with Marie Jose and married her under the neem tree in his Prithviraj road residence in
Delhi. She became his second wife.
- There is a latino saying, " wife brings success ....and success brings other women " That is how
Octavio Paz got his second wife... and so did Vicente Fox, the President of Mexico !!
Where the air is clear - novel by Carlos Fuentes - Mexican writer
This is the first-ever novel of Fuentes, written in 1958.
In this book, the main character is the Mexico city itself. Fuentes takes the readers through the streets
of Mexico and pages of history. He does his typical incisive analysis of the inhabitants of the city. He
has chosen a banker ( Federico Robles ), a society lady (Norma), a rich family impoverished after the
revolution (Ovando family ), Rodrigo Pola, a writer whose father was executed during the revolution
and Ixca Cienfuegos an observer and critic of the system.
Fuentes takes the readers through the labyrinth of the Mexican solitude and identity. In no other latin
american country, there is this obsessive search for identity, going back and forth in history and
caught between the mother continent and the adopted one. Almost every character makes a
reference to Mexican history, revolution and politics. Fuentes asks, "does such a thing as original
blood exist?" and answers "no; every pure element grows and is consumed in its own purity,does not
develop; the original is the impure, the mixed, the mulatto and the mestizo, as i am, as all Mexico is.
Which is to say originality supposes a mixing, a creation, not a purity previous to our experience.
Rather than born original , we come to be original; origin is creation. Mexico must find her origin by
looking ahead, not behind". This passage reminded me of Octavio Paz's analysis in his " labyrinth of
solitude"
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I liked these pearls of wisdom:
- It is all a question of wings, my love. With wings, a butterfly. Without wings, a caterpillar.
- All depends on the state of the soul and that depends upon external impulses. It is enough to control
the external impulses to arrive at the state of the soul and personality which are desired.
I was moved and absorbed by the powerful and memorable characters in this book and the profound
intellectual debate about identity.
The Eagle's Throne- novel by Carlos Fuentes
This is a political novel about the six-year cycle of Mexican politics, starting with the assumption of
power by the new president who gets one single non-reelectable six year term. As soon as the
President is elected the conspiracies start for getting into his shoes for the next term. King makers,
cabinet ministers and officials start the game of promoting and spoiling the chances of potential
candidates by resorting to any means including sex,money, defamation,flattery and blackmail. For
anyone who wants to understand Mexican politics, this book is the perfect guide.
Carlos Fuentes has brought out the character of Mexican politicians so vividly with biting sarcasm and
striking punch lines. Fuentes has filled the novel with a complete cast of characters including
congressmen and druglords, lovers and mistresses, noble minded statesmen and corrupt politicians
and senators and lowly clerks. He has included historical details and characters.
Fuentes has told the whole story in the form of letters from one character to another.
It starts with the letter of Maria del Rosario Galvan, the queen of politics, who starts grooming the
young Nicolas Valdivia as the next President and succeeds in achieving her goal. She uses sex,
seduction and blackmail so matter of factly, dispassionately and is candid about this with her
adversaries and admirers. She weaves a series of schemes including sending Valdivia to get lessons
and secrets from an ex-president spending his retirement in playing dominoes in Veracruz city. Tacito
de canal, the chief of staff of the president controls access to the President and implements his orders
even before the boss issues them..anticipatory compliance.
It is an extraordinary novel with suspense and thrill added to spice up the real life Mexican political
story.
Rojo Amanecer - Mexican movie
I have not got over the shocking impact of this film ¨Rojo Amanaecer¨- means red dawn- about the
student uprising in Mexico in october 1968. A middle class family is caught in the tragedy of the brutal
suppression of the student unrest. The family lives in Tlateloloco in Mexico City and witnesses the
tragic clampdown on student protests in the Plaza de tres culturas. The two college going boys of the
family are idealistic and passionate about the struggle for justice and jump into the student
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movement. The father, a civil servant and the housewife- mother try to calm them down, while the
grandfather, a retired military officer takes care of the smaller children. The government anxious to
prevent the unpleasantness of student protest on the eve of the olympics to be hosted by mexico, is
determined to put an end to the student stir. The military and police get into brutal action shooting at
the student crowd and killing and injuring many. They follow it up with breaking into houses and
arresting and beating up students and teachers. They break into the house of this particular family
and discover students hiding there. They kill the whole family and the students ruthlessly.
The movie flows naturally without hype or drama, like a documentary but with a powerful impact.
The movie is said to be accurate about what happened.
The film brings back vividly the memory of Tlatelolco Massacre of 2 October 1968, one of the saddest
days in Mexican history. This is what actually happened. The Mexican students joined the worldwide
protests and the political unrest in 1968. After nine weeks of protests, the students took out a march
on 2 October, ten days before the Mexican Olympics. The security forces killed and wounded
hundreds of students on that fateful day. In june 2006, Echeverria, who was president in 1968 was
charged for genocide, but nothing came of it.
Of course, worse things happened in other Latin American countries under military dictatorship. Still it
is a scar and a stain in recent Mexican history. Octavio Paz , who was ambassador in India at that time
resigned in protest.
The director of the film Jorge Fans has shown courage besides artistic talents in making this film which
was released in 1989. I also liked his other film " Midaq Alley", which also takes up a similiar bold
theme.
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Return to the sender – novel by Julia Alvarez
Undocumented Mexicans in US are sent back to Mexico like the post office does ¨Return to the
sender¨.
The story is about the Mexican girl Maria whose family migrates illegally to US in search of work and
the American boy Taylor, whose family employs Maria´s father to work in their farm in Vermont.
Tyler´s family is unable to work the farm by themselves, especially after his father meets with an
accident. They hire Cruz, the father of Maria, an undocumented Mexican, and puts him up with his
family in a trailer in their backyard. Maria and her two sisters go to the same school as that of Tyler.
But the Mexican girls are teased and mocked as illegals by the American kids. They also provoke Tyler
accusing his family of violating American law by employing illegal immigrants. Both Tyler and Maria
are angry, confused and unable to comprehend the complexities of the immigration realities and
government rules. Maria´s grief is compounded by the disappearance of her mother while crossing
the border with Coyotes. This makes her as the little mother to her two younger sisters. This is in
addition to her role as an interpreter for her father who does not speak English. She finds solace in
the friendship of Tyler. But Tyler´s friendship is tested by his realization and guilt that his family is
violating the law by employing Maria´s father. The story comes to an end with the Immigration
authorities catching the Cruz family and deporting them to Mexico.
The confusion and torment of Tyler and Maria brings out the magical realism of the Mexican
immigrant situation in United States. The book highlights the American stereotyping and prejudice
about Mexicans. At the same time it shows the way how the gap is bridged by understanding,
empathy and appreciation between the families of Tyler and Maria. The parents and relatives of Tyler
educate him about the need to understand and respect other cultures. The book should be made as a
text book in American schools to educate the kids about the need for understanding and appreciating
other cultures. Whether they like it or not, the Americans have to live with the 50 million Hispanics
who have become the largest minority.
The Mexican immigration should be seen in the historical perspective. Many parts of the southern
and western USA were originally Mexican territories which were annexed by USA in 1848 through war
and other means. If it was not for this annexation, California, Texas,Utah and Nevada states as well as
parts of other states would have been part of Mexico and the Bush family would have been Mexicans.
This reminds me of the story of a Mexican, who was stopped while crossing the border by the US
Guard. The Mexican responds ¨señor, I did not cross the border. It was the border which crossed me¨.
I love the way Julia Alvarez inserts spanish words into english conversations. Maria, for example
always says por favor after please and amigo after friend. The spanish words add more emotion and
feeling than the sometimes wooden English words. The Latin American spanish is especially more
expressive. Abrazo and beso are more than hug and kiss. These are said and done with a Latino touch.
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Julia Alvarez compares the Mexican immigrants in the US with golondrinas... swallows, the migratory
birds which travel across countries without visa. She recalls the song La Golondrina by the Mexican
composer Narciso Serradel Sevilla. It is a popular song of farewell and a favorite of expatriate
Mexicans. It is often requested at the funerals of Mexican-Americans
A donde irá veloz y fatigada
La golondrina que de aquí se va
O si en el viento se hallará extraviada
Buscando abrigo y no lo encontrará.
Where are you going , swift and weary
Swallow, why are you leaving here?
Oh, what if you lose your way in the wind
Looking for a home you will never find
Julia Alvarez from Dominican Republic(DR) is one of my favourite writers. She has poignantly
portrayed the traumas of the country under the Trujillo dictatorship in a number of novels. Her
novels bring out vividly the culture of the happy islanders of Dominican Republic. Her philosophy
sums up the DR way of life: "You go where your life takes you and the song comes out of that
adventure".
DR is where Merengue music and dance, a vigorous variation of Salsa, was born. The Dominicans drop
everything and start dancing when they hear this lively and joyful music. Juan Luis Guerra and Mily
Quezada are famous Merengue singers.
Golf is the biggest attraction. Some of the golf courses in the country are among the best in the world.
For instance, the `Teeth of the Dog' golf course at the La Romana resort is among the top 50 in the
world. Six fairways curve into the Caribbean Sea with the greens guarded by waves, wind and rocks.
The other three top courses are the Dye Fore, Capcana and Playa Grande, considered the Pebble
Beach of the Caribbean.
La Romana, Punta Cana and Puerto Plata are the popular beach resorts. Also on the islands, there are
holiday homes of celebrities such as Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Shakira. Another luxury resort for
the rich and famous is being developed by Donald Trump.
DR is a favourite destination for honeymooners, who are drawn by the romantic and invigorating
ambience of shining silver beaches, greenish blue Caribbean waters, lush tropical greenery, delicious
sea-food and the hospitality of the local people.
The Dominican Republic was one of the countries where Columbus landed on his first voyage in 1492.
He christened it Hispaniola and promptly claimed it for the Spanish crown. He returned to the island
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the following year and established a European settlement, the first-ever in the Americas. Hispaniola
became the springboard for the subsequent Spanish conquest of Caribbean and the Americas.
For the Indian business, DR is the biggest market in the central American and Caribbean region with a
GDP of 52 billion dollars and trade of 24 billion dollars in 2010. DR is offering attractive incentives
especially for Indian IT companies.
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Hastinapur, the city of wisdom
Hastinapur has a total area of twelve acres. Its population consists of a dozen Indian gods and an
equal number of Argentine human beings. Some of the Indian gods reside in authentic temples filled
with the scent of Indian agarbatties while others stay outdoor enjoying the fragrance of the flowers
from the garden. Some are sitting or standing on the pedestals and others hang on the sides of walls
and pillars. The gods who have their own temples include Ganesh, Krishna, Surya, Narayana and Siva.
Since it is Hastinapur there is a temple for Pandavas too. Hastinapur is clearly a place fit for the gods
...who should be pleased with the cleanliness of the place, the serene surroundings and the green
garden with Rosewood trees. The only noise comes from the hundreds of birds nesting in the trees.
Then there is the soft music of the devotees who sing Bhajans. It is indeed a divine place which
inspires sacred thoughts and holy spirit.
Ganesh is standing out in white against the greenery of the garden in the picture below.
The dozen Argentines who live there look after the gods and the place. During weekend, the human
population increases to over one hundred. The Argentines do not go there seeking favors as many
Indians do in Tirupathi. They go there for wisdom. This is why Hastinapur is called as the City of
Wisdom (ciudad de la sabiduria). Saraswati, the Goddess of Learning blesses the students through the
sculptures all around the compound. The Argentines learn philosophy, read in the library, practice
yoga and meditation and sing Bhajans.
On the other side of the fence, there are cows grazing and occasionally staring at the Indian gods. The
cows are relaxed and free from fear because they know that they will not become food at the dining
table in Hastinapur, which is a vegetarian place. The inmates cook vegetarian food and share it with
the children from poor families in the neighborhood.
Hastinapur does not have any godmen seeking fame and fortune and flaunting wealthy followers. It is
an instituition to pursue pure wisdom, peace and divinity. Neither in the city nor in the website names
of those who run the place are given. The founders and directors of the Hastinapura Foundation do
not seek publicity. They are humble but devoted people. They have their professions as company
managers, engineers or professors. They volunteer their time and talents for the foundation.
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Nor is Hastinapur the work of some overenthusiastic drum-beating Hare Krishna types or faithlead Saibaba followers. Hastinapur respects all the religions and beliefs. Their ten temples include one
for Buddha, one for Virgin Mary, one for the Greek god Demeter and another one called as the
Temple of All Faiths. Their library has books of all religions and schools of thought. Hastinapur seeks
true wisdom, going beyond the boundaries of established religions. The City of Wisdom is not the
ultimate destination. It does not prescribe wisdom doses. It simply helps people to seek, find and
pursue their own path to wisdom. They give classes in yoga, meditation, philosophy, devotional
singing and sacred drama. They organize workshops, seminars and retreats. They also provide
community service. They celebrate festivals such as Ganesh Chathurthi and Baishaki. Their next
project is to broadcast through radio.
Hastinapur temples do not have priests or other middlemen between the gods and worshippers.
There is no money collection, like in Tirupathi. Worshippers pray, recite mantras and sing devotional
songs individually or in groups.
Meditation Hall
Hastinapur has a post graduate course in yoga which takes three years to complete. The classes are
held in the weekends only. There are 2500 students studying yoga and philosophy in the Hastinapur
centres. The students are being taught by 100 teachers on philosophy and 120 teachers on yoga.
Many Argentines go to Hastinapur as a retreat from the hectic city of Buenos Aires which is just fifty
kilometers away. They practice meditation in the quiet natural environment. They do yoga, read
books from the library, discuss philosophy and join the singing of bhajans. Hastinapur is an authentic
Ashram.
Hastinapur Foundation has published a number of books on Indian philosophy and translated
Bhagwat Gita, Bhakti Sutras, Upanishads, Srimad Bhagwatam and Yoga Sutras. Their latest publication
is Mahabharatha in Spanish. They have so far published three volumes and plan to do a total of
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twelve volumes in the coming years. Each volume is over 500 pages. The founder Alda Albrecht and
other members of the Foundation have also written a number of books.
Main entrance to the Hastinapur city
Hastinapura Foundation was established by Ada Albrecht in 1981. She introduced Indian philosophy
and became a Guru for the Argentines seeking wisdom. She wrote a number of books such as ¨The
Saints and teachings of India¨ and ¨The teachings of the monks from Himalayas¨.
Gustavo Canzobre was one of her students, who is now the Director of the Hastinapur college of
professors. He was seventeen years old when he became interested in Indian wisdom. During the
Third Festival of India organized by the embassy in Buenos Aires in November 2010, he gave a talk on
the temple architecture of South India. He is a manager in a local company for living and dedicates
rest of his time to Hastinapura Foundation.
Gustavo Canzobre in the picture below:
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The architectural and scuplting work of the Hastinapur complex has been done entirely by Argentines.
The architects and sculptors have studied Indian temples and have done their work professionally and
aesthetically. Even now they are constructing some more buildings with Indian sculptures and statues.
Pillars of the entrance to Ganesh temple below:
The pond in front of the temple has fresh water and fish:
A small outdoor Ganesh temple in the garden
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Hastinapura Foundation has sixteen centers in Buenos Aires and three more in the rest of Argentina.
They have also established centers in Uruguay, Bolivia and Colombia. Information on the Foundation
and its activities can be seen at their website
http://en.hastinapura.org.ar
Lord Siva is sitting majestically in the large garden guarded by Ganesh on the four sides:
Latin Americans are, of course, known for fun and fiesta. At the same time, there are thousands of
Latin Americans who take Mahabharata and Meditation more seriously than many Indians....
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Singh is King ....in Argentina
During my golf game at the Rio Cuarto Country Club in 2009, the Argentine players asked me where
they could buy a Turban and how to wear it. I asked them the reason for this special interest. They
showed me a villa within the country club complex and said ¨Here lives an Indian Maharaja. He looks
handsome with his Turban. When he goes to the night clubs, he gets premium service and gets it free
because he is a Maharaja¨. The Argentines wanted to wear Turbans and get the same special
treatment at the night clubs.
The envy of the Argentines is Simmar Pal Singh, a Sikh from India. I clarified to the Argentines that
Turbans do not mean Maharajas. They asked me to shut up and not to reveal this secret at the night
clubs! I told them that Simmar Pal is not a Maharaja by birth but has become a Peanut Prince of
Argentina.
Here is Simmar Pal
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Simmar Pal Singh cultivates peanut in 20,000 hectares in Rio Cuarto area in Cordoba province, about
one thousand kms from Buenos Aires. His target is to take his company Olam among Argentina´s top
three peanut players in the next few years. When he came to Argentina in 2005, his company was
28th in ranking in peanuts and he has already made it as sixth in 2010. Argentina is the second largest
exporter of peanuts after China, accounting for 25% of the world trade in kernels. Rio Cuarto region
produces high-quality peanuts with its ideal soil and agroclimatic conditions.
During the dinner at his home, Simmar Pal's wife Harpreet Kaur, an architect with an M.Tech from IIT
Delhi, laughed when I told her about the Argentine interest in Turbans. She said that Simmar Pal
might have gone to the night club to check the peanuts his company had supplied to the club to serve
with the drinks. I believe her. Simmar Pal works sixteen hours a day and has no time for nightclubs.
This modest young man from Amritsar has fiery ambitions and exceptional talents. Simmar Pal did his
B.Sc. Honours in Agriculture from Guru Nanak Dev University and Masters degree in Rural
Management from IRMA, Anand. He has worked in Mozambique, Ivory Coast and Ghana before
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coming to Argentina. He speaks Spanish fluently and his wife and two children have adopted to the
life in Rio Cuarto, a small city of 140,000 people.
Simmar Pal works for Olam, the ten billion dollar company with headquarters in Singapore. It is a
leading global supply chain manager of agricultural products and food ingredients. Their 9000
employees worldwide operate an integrated supply chain for 20 products in 60 countries. It is a leader
in many of these businesses including Cocoa, Coffee, Cashew, Sesame, Rice, Cotton and Teak Wood.
Olam has a turnover of 700 million dollars in Brazil and employs 930 Brazilians. In their operations in
Colombia and Peru they have sixty employees.
Simmar Pal came to Argentina in 2005 to buy peanuts for the company. When he went around in his
elegant turban, the children of the small town of Rio Cuarto mistook him for a magician. The women
looked at him as a maharaja. The men thought that he was a Guru. In any case, the farmers preferred
to sell their products to established companies and were hesitant to deal with a turbaned man from a
new company. So Simmar proposed to his company that they should go into farming themselves. This
was something new for the company which had been operating only in the field of trading and
processing. Seeing the fire in Simmar pal´s belly and shine in his eyes, they wanted to give him a
chance. He started off with leasing of 700 hectares of land and grew peanuts. It was a success. He has
increased the area to 20,000 hectares.
Olam has acquired two peanut processing plants. When I went to visit one of the plants, the mayor of
the village Dalmacio Velez, of 2000 people, was there. He made a speech expressing his happiness
with Olam which has turned around the factory and has given jobs to his village people.
Simmar Pal employs 140 Argentines, most of them in the processing plants. In the farm, he has very
few people since the farming in Argentina is mechanized and everything is outsourced. Simmar pal
contracts other companies for seeding, spraying, harvesting and other operations. He employs four
agronomists and pays them 45,000 dollars each per year. He uses the consultancy services of four
more agronomists. The Argentine agronomists are well known for their competence,innovation and
passion similar to the reputation gained by Indians in Information Technology.
The prince has now become a king. He has a kingdom of over 30,000 hectares of land. He grows
peanuts in 20,000 hectares and soya and corn in 10,000 hectares. He is now into rice. In 2011, he has
leased 1700 hectares of land in Concordia in the Entre Rios province for rice cultivation. His target for
farming in Argentina is at least 100,000 hectares. He is planning to extend his farming to Brazil,
Uruguay and Paraguay too.
I visited his rice farms in November 2011 near Concordia in the Entre Rios province. I saw the process
of planting of rice. As in the case of other crops, the Argentines use the No-Till method, also called as
Direct Seeding. The seeds are directly planted in the land with the direct seeding machines. The
fertilizer containing nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous is also added into the same hole where rice
is put. They do not follow the Indian practice of ploughing the land nor the method of developing a
nursery first and then transplanting the rice plant. They spray glyphosate herbicide to kill the weeds
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before planting rice. The spraying is done from an aircraft. They prepare a kind of embankment after
every three meters to hold the water evenly in the parcel of the land which comes in very large pieces
of flat land. They use a special equipment for making the embankment of mudwalls. Then they start
watering the rice field with ground water pumped by a motor. The water pump works almost nonstop for 90 days till the rice seeds ripen. They have water pumps for every 70 hectares and there is a
person to take care of the watering for every 140 hectares.
But the watering of the fields is expensive, costing almost 500 dollars per hectare due to the high cost
of diesel. There is a proposal to electrify the motors with a World Bank loan. When this is done the
cost will come down. At present the total cost of rice cultivation is 1800 dollars per hectare.
After the harvest, the paddy is dried and stored in the huge silos of a rice mill. The paddy is milled into
rice and packed in 100 kilo bags for exports.
Coming from a small farming family, the Argentine cultivation appeared to me more like a civil
engineering project with heavy machines, huge land parcel and high cost.
Here is a field with 25-days old rice plants
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This is a direct seeding machine which plants 12 rows at a time
The Argentine yield per hectare is 7 tons, which is double that of India. Argentina produces about 1.5
million tons of rice of which one million is exported. Simmarpal's objective is to export the rice. His
company Olam is one of the major rice traders of the world.
The farming in Argentina is done in large scale, technology-driven and is globally competitive. It is
done commercially, scientifically and professionally. The farmers consider 2000 hectares as the
minimum land holding necessary to do cultivation on their own. When they have less, or when they
don’t want to dirty their hands, they rent out their land to companies and individuals who do
professional cultivation in large scale. Seventy percent of the cultivation in Argentina is on rented
land.
What Simmar Pal Singh is doing in Argentina has a lesson for India, which is going to face in the long
term shortage of agricultural land and water for irrigation. But Argentina, which has almost the same
area as that of India has a small population of 40 million and plenty of land and water. Argentina is an
agricultural power house. It exports 50% of its agricultural production of 100 million tons. It is the
world’s largest exporter of soy oil and sunflower oil, the second largest exporter of corn, third largest
producer of beef , soya beans and biodiesel and fourth largest of wheat. Argentina is the fifth largest
producer of wine in the world. It has significant potential to increase its area under cultivation and
production.
In India, we have irrigation canals, dams, ground water pumps and issues of water table going down
and free electricity for farmers. Argentines are free from these issues since their agriculture is almost
entirely rain-fed. There is irrigation only for a few specialist farms and some vineyards. Indra, the Rain
God takes care of the rest!
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Argentina has developed an efficient infrastructure, logistics and network for transportation and
shipping. The food processing industries of Argentina are one of the most advanced in the world and
globally competitive. For example, the oil crushing capacity of Argentina is the third highest in the
world- even ahead of Brazil- with the latest technology and plants.
The Argentines have innovated a new system of storage of grains in bags in open air instead of
expensive concrete and steel silos. They have developed polythene silo bags which can store about
200 tons on the field itself. The grains are pumped into the bag by a machine and can be stored for up
to 15 months. The bag is ripped open at the time of transfer to the trucks. The Argentines have
exported this new technology and bags to a number of countries and want to export to India too. Cost
of the Silo bag storage is four dollars per ton.
Argentina could be a long-term source of supply of grains, oil seeds and pulses to India. The Indians
could go beyond imports and invest in Agribusiness in Argentina. The Argentine yield per hectare is
about three times higher than that of India in soya, peanuts and some other crops.
Simmarpal has now gained sufficient expertise and confidence in farming in Argentina. His company
Olam has recognized this and is encouraging him to go for more acreage and scale up the operations.
This objective coincides with that of the Argentine government which wants to increase the
agricultural area and production. The government sees value addition to the country by Olam which
contributes to production, exports, employment and human resource development. Argentina has
large uncultivated tracts of fertile land with plenty of water.
I discovered one of the secrets of success of Simmarpal but at a high cost to my comfort. He made me
leave Buenos Aires by car at 6 am in order to reach Concordia by 1030 am and join a conference call
with his colleagues at 11 am. He inflicted the same pain on return too. We left Concordia at 6 am to
enable him to attend a meeting at 11 am in Buenos Aires. I wanted a short break after the long four
hour journey but he did not need and plunged straight into work.
Simmar had himself driven 36,000 kms during his first six months of his arrival in 2005 in Argentina to
look for farms, recruit people and supervise the operations. Now with the luxury of a chauffeur-driven
vehicle, he works in his blackberry, iPad and laptop non-stop.
I was impressed by this Indian-style hard work and also the pleasant Latino way in which he manages
his Argentine employees. He has cultivated commendable rapport with the Argentines in the same
efficient way with which he cultivates the land. The Argentines admire this young Indian's dynamism
and adore his turban, believing that he is a Maharaja.
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From Faith to Fashion
Monica Socolovsky is a famous Argentine designer. Her designs are not just about novelty and
innovation. She connects the dress to the body with an enchanting aesthetic taste based on a
profound cultural and spiritual perspective. She combines the machine-made fabrics with the
exquisite hand-made designs and embroideries of India. Her designs have won recognition and
market in London, Paris and Milan and other fashion capitals of the world. She holds her Fashion
Shows twice a year regularly in Buenos Aires and also holds shows in Europe.
I was fascinated by Monica´s blend of Indian culture with Argentine glamour. I was curious.
I asked her about her India connection and inquired how many times has she visited India. I was taken
aback when she said ¨more than 90 times¨. She has been making, on an average, three trips every
year for the last thirty years.
I became more inquisitive. How was her experience with India? What took her to India in the first
place? She said it was Faith. It was the call from Sai Baba.
Here is the story, as she described to me:
She started her career as a manager with Bloomingdales, New York. She used to get dreams of a Guru
from India. The dreams recurred for as long as twelve years. But she could not figure it out since she
had never been exposed to India or any Gurus. One day, when she was browsing in a bookshop in
London, a book fell on her from the shelf accidentally. She took it up and there was the picture of Sai
Baba. She realized instantly that it was the same image which she was seeing in her dreams.
So, she took the next step of setting out on a journey to India in 1979. At the Delhi airport, she was
waitlisted for the Indian Airlines flight to Bangalore as 231st. But she was desperate to catch that
flight for her meeting with Baba. She did not know what to do. She prayed to Baba. Miracle! Her
number moved from 231 to number one and she got the flight !
Sai Baba blessed her and told her that she would do business with India. So, she started Sathya
Fashion, the design company and started buying materials for her designs from India.
The birth of Sathya, the company, was followed by the birth of Sathya the new baby. This was another
miracle. During one of her trips, Baba told her that she would get a baby. She could not believe. Her
doctor had told her that she could never give birth to another baby because of some complications
caused after she gave birth to her first child. When she reported Baba´s prediction to her doctor, he
said let us see if Faith can overcome Science. Sure it did. She was blessed with a baby girl, whom she
named as Sathya. Since the baby was born in Kodaikanal, India, she wanted an Indian passport. But
she encountered the Indian bureaucracy which challenged her faith with all kinds of procedural
problems. She prayed again to Baba. Another miracle! The owner of the hotel, where she was staying,
happened to be a member of Indian parliament and on his recommendation Sathya got an Indian
passport immediately. Of course, the Indian immigration officials look puzzled every time Sathya visits
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India. They look at the blue Indian passport and the blonde Argentine face and shake their heads in
disbelief, unable to comprehend the miracle behind Sathya. A boy child followed Sathya and he has
also been given an Indian name, Prem.
Monica´s faith in Baba and her business with India has made her passionate about India. Her eyes
sparkle whenever she talks about India. She is keen to promote collaboration and exchanges between
the Indian and Argentine fashion institutes and designers.
Here is Monica, exuding Indian spirit and Argentine glamour:
More on Monica...
.http://www.sathyanet.com.ar
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Don´t cry for me Argentina
Madonna´s song ¨Don’t cry for me Argentina¨ in the musical film of 1996 is an apt line to understand
Argentina which is different from the rest of Latin America in many ways. The period of Evita and
Peron marked a watershed in the recent history of Argentina. Evita continues to haunt the Argentine
society while Peronism has remained even now as the most potent political force of the country.
The book " Evita- the real life of Eva Peron" written by Nicholas Fraser and Marysa Navarro helps one
to understand the puzzle of Argentina. More than what she said or did, what is significant is what did
the Argentines do in her name or against her name. They did not confine it to her life. Their pursuit
would follow even after her death. They had created as much drama, myth and controversy over her
dead body as much they had done during her short public life. For twelve years after her death there
was secrecy and mystery about the whereabouts of the body... thriller like the Da Vince code. Here is
a brief history of the body of Evita:
- Her body was kept for public homage for fifteen days after her death on 26 July 1952.
- The timing of evening news broadcast was changed from 8.30 pm to 8.25 pm, the exact time when
she passed into "immortality"
-Primary school children recited prayer songs from their text books "Evita, I promise to be as good as
you wish me to be"
-For three years, the body was kept, waiting for the construction of a monument which did not
materialize.
-The military regime, which overthrew Peron in September 1955 was afraid of the subversive
influence of the body and they sent it secretly to be buried in a cemetery in Italy. The whereabouts of
the body were written and put in sealed envelope by president Aramburu who gave it to his lawyer
with instructions that it should be opened only after his death. To confuse investigators, many
dummy coffins were sent to Argentine embassies in other European countries to be buried.
-The military regime which replaced Peron made "possession of photos of Evita or Peron or use of the
expressions Peronism or Peronist" a punishable offence with imprisonment. Sure... many went to jail.
-Montoneros, the left wing guerillas kidnapped Aramburu in 1970, tried to get the information on
Evita's body unsuccessfully and executed him. In 1974 the same group kidnapped the cadaver of
Aramburu from his family's vault, held it as ransom and demanded the return of Evita's body.
- In November 1974 the body was brought back to Argentina and buried in the Recoleta cemetery in
Buenos Aires. The coffin was put behind two trap doors with the only key given to Evita's sister.
Evita's short life of 31 years was eventful. It is the story of a girl born outside marriage from a poor
village family, running away to the city and making it big. Thereafter her story became the story of
Argentina. The legacy of Peronism continues to be a vital political and polarizing force even today.
Her critics called her as a whore, failed actress and worse. One of the jokes about her is about her trip
to Madrid where she walks with Gen Franco during the official welcome parade. Some in the crowd
shout Puta..Puta (bitch). When Evita cries, Franco consoles her, ¨Don’t worry. I retired from the army
long back, but they still call me as General¨.
Evita empowered the Descamisados (shirtless- meaning lumpen workers) and helped thousands of
poor people genuinely. She received lepers and diseased, showed affection and kissed them without
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batting an eyelid. She gave money for weddings, children’s education and medical treatment. Poor
people queued up in front of her residence every day seeking her help. She met them, listened to
their problems, comforted them and helped them. This is the reason the poor people have canonized
her as a saint.
Borges – a life, biography by Edwin Williamson
This is the biography of Jorge Luis Borges, the iconic writer of Argentina and one of the preeminent
Latin American authors whose works have intrigued me. I had tried reading some of his fictions,
essays and poems in the past but did not manage to reach the same wavelength of the author. But I
found the lifestory of Borges more interesting than his fictions.
Borges´s writings and life were influenced by three things; the sword, the dagger and the third
one..even more deadly.. women.
His mother Doña Leonor, a strong-willed woman had burdened him with the ¨sword of honour¨. She
brainwashed him with the historic and heroic tales of the family ancestors who fought against the
Argentine dictator Rosas in the beginning of the ninetieth century. He was under pressure to live up
to the expectations of this noble and historical legacy. His mother had interfered in his love life too.
She would approve girl friends for him only those from the high society and would wreck his
relationship with women from lesser class. Borges lived with his mother even until his sixties.
The dagger was a contribution from his father, who kept advising the Bohemian, timid and shy young
boy to be a ¨man¨ and take the dagger to stand up to those who challenged him. The father, who
himself wanted to be a writer but never made it, also instilled this fear of failure in the son.
The women … inspired and frustrated him throughout his long life. His writings and life were
influenced by the bloomings of love and the doomed affairs, by his ¨anxiety to find love¨ and his
eternal search for a Beatrice from the Divine Comedy of Dante. Nora Lange, Haydee Lange, Maria
Esther Vasquez, Margot Guerrero, Ëstela Canto and finally Maria Kodama were some of the women
who made his story. Norah Lange, the red-haired Scandinavian- origin beauty was the one who
inspired his defining writings and tormented him the most. After initial interest in him, she chose to
become the lover and later wife of Oliverio Girondo, his rival also in the literary movement of
Argentina in that era. She went beyond Girondo when she published a book ¨45 days and 30 sailors¨.
During the launching celebration in 1933, she was dressed like a mermaid surrounded by other
writers including Girondo in sailor´s costumes.
Then there is Estela Cantes, who plays games with Borges. After several months of courting in the
parks, streets and cinema halls, when Borges proposes timidly to her, she says ¨Jorgie, don’t forget
that I am a disciple of Bernard Shaw. We cannot get married without first going to bed with each
other.¨ Borges mother wrecks this relationship by banning the entry of Estela in her house.
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Borges ends up with an Indian-style arranged marriage to Elsa Astete, chosen by his mother when he
was at the age of 68. But the marriage did not last and the couple separated in a few years.
Towards the end of his journey of frustrated love life, Maria Kodama, junior to him by several
decades, fulfills his life by reciprocating love unconditionally. She rekindles love and romance and new
creativity in him. She felt attracted to him when she was twelve years old as a student when he was in
his fifties. While being fond of Borges, she valued her own independence and resisted being tied in
marriage when Borges proposed. Eventually she relented and agreed to marry him at his ripe age of
87 and when she was 41. Maria Kodama, born to a Japanese father and Argentine- German mother,
gave to Borges fulfillment of love, which eluded him in his whole life.
The end of the life of Borges was like a typical Borgesian fiction. He left Buenos Aires in November
1985, somewhat secretly without telling anyone that he would never return. He settled down in
Geneva and married Maria Kodama. Since Argentine law did not allow him to divorce his former wife,
he got the marriage papers done in a Paraguayan court. His marriage was on 26 April 1986 and he
died within two months on 14 June 1986. He was buried in Geneva itself.
Borges ended his life outside Argentina, like the other Argentine iconic figures. Exile, asylum and sad
ending seem to be part of the history of Argentine heroes. The liberator of Argentina and the founder
and Father of nation San Martin ended his life as an exile in Europe. Che Guevara, the other icon of
Argentina was killed in the jungles of Bolivia. Peron, who left Peronism as a heritage which continues
to influence the politics of the country even now, spent two decades in exile in Europe. Even Evita´s
corpse was on exile incognito in a cemetery in Milan for two decades. And Carlos Gardel, the Tango
idol died in a plane crash in Colombia.
Borges deserved Nobel Prize but his political alignment and pronouncements came in the way. He
hated Peronism, after the Peron administration humiliated him by transferring from his library
assistantship to the post of Inspector of Poultry and Rabbits in the Public Markets of the Municipality.
Blinded by his hatred of Peronism, he went overboard in supporting the Argentine military
dictatorship which overthrew Peron and he also supported the Chilean military regime of Pinochet.
This political indiscretion cost him dearly and deprived him of the Nobel prize..
Borges had a seminal influence on the up and coming Latin American writers of his era and inspired
the movement of ¨Magical Realism¨ which is a contribution of the region to world literature. Borges
was an intellectual giant and was one of the most cosmopolitan personalities. He spoke and wrote in
English fluently and had read a lot of European and American literature, although he never had any
collegiate education.
Borges left behind a Borgesian genre of writing….inventive and intriguing, fabulous and fantastic,
labyrinthine and puzzling, speculative and metaphysical, weird and witty… Some of his writings are
like the pronouncement of wisdom by Indian sages..never direct. The Argentine judges who denied a
literary prize to him in 1941 called his work ¨obscure and arbitrary cerebral game¨.
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The author of the biography, Edwin Williamson (Spanish professor from Oxford) has done justice in
this book (published in 2002) to the greatness of Borges with his vast knowledge of Latin American
literature and his objective observations of the politics and society of Argentina during Borges´s life
time.
Here is my favourite line from Borges´s poem ¨El amenazado¨
..Being with you, or not with you, is the measure of my time..
Borges defied age and blindness. He got married for the first time at the age of 68. Later, he married
Maria Kodama when he was 87. Borges became blind in his fifties and needed help for reading among
other things. When he became the Director of Buenos Aires Public Library after his blindness, he
wrote ¨I speak of God’s splendid irony in granting me at one time 800,000 books and darkness.” It is
extraordinary that Borges not only overcame the handicap after losing his eyesight but in fact he
flourished and bloomed with his writings, giving lectures, international travel and even fell in love!!
Did someone say Love is Blind….
Che - the film on Che Guevara
I was surprised and puzzled by the low turnout for the premier of this film about a great Argentine
hero. Another one of those Argentine contradictions?
May be the Argentines do not consider Che Argentine enough! Che Guevara had left Argentina for
good at the age of 25 and spent the rest of his adventure and ideology filled life in Cuba and other
parts of Latin America. His life ended in Bolivia at the fairly young age of thirty nine. It is believed that
Che, at the end, wanted to come home and bring about a revolution in Argentina itself. Prior to that
he wanted to liberate the neighboring Bolivia and establish a proletarian rule there. But his ill-fated
revolutionary journey was put to an end before that. In any case, even if Che had tried revolution in
Argentina at that time, he might have faced the same end as in Bolivia. However, Che was a source of
inspiration for the leftist guerilla movement in Argentina besides for those from the rest of Latin
America.
Che had no chance in Bolivia, although he mistakenly believed that the peasants and miners of Bolivia
would rise in support of his guerilla war to overthrow the government there. He blindly believed that
the model of Cuban revolution was repeatable in countries like Bolivia. The first hurdle was that he
and his band of Cubans were looked at as foreigners, with some skepticism and even suspicion by the
Bolivians. The local communist party did not support him, based on their conclusion that Bolivians
were not ready for an armed struggle. The government of Bolivia and the CIA were determined to
crush leftist rebels to ensure that Cuba was not repeated. Che and his tiny band of guerillas were
outnumbered and outgunned by the Bolivian armed forces. Inevitably, Che was captured and
executed in October 1967. This Bolivian adventure of Che and his end is the story in part II of the film.
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In part I of the film, Che´s role in the Cuban revolution is shown. Che meets Fidel in 1955, at a
gathering in Mexico City. He listens to Castro's plans and signs on as a member of the July 26th
Movement. He leads the attack of one of the guerilla bands and marches into Havana celebrating the
victory of the Cuban revolution. The film covers the role of Che as a minister in the cuban government
and his speech at the UN.
Benicio del Toro has done justice in his role as Che. The director Steven Soderbergh has taken pains to
narrate the story of Che naturally and true to the biography ,without much dramatization. In the film,
Che has come out as an authentic revolutionary martyr. Part II of the film is more gripping than part I
and leaves a more powerful impact.
Director Soderbergh has taken a bold gamble to stretch the film to two parts lasting for more than
four hours to narrate the revolutionary character of Che. But even this was not enough to cover the
fascinating life story of Che. In his relatively short life of 39 years, Che had a life filled with idealism,
action and adventures. Although he spent his first 24 years in Argentina, he became thereafter a true
Latin American and a standard bearer of global revolution. He first went to Bolivia and from there to
Peru and then to central America. In Guatemala, he joined the struggle to defend the leftist
government of Arbenz, which was overthrown as part of the cold war politics. From Guatemala, he
went to Mexico where he joined Fidel Castro´s movement.
The end of Che was predictable. As a pure and unchangeable revolutionary, Che could not have died a
natural death at old age. The revolutionary fire in him was always burning and it would not have
allowed him to settle into normal life. It was not the Bolivians who killed him. It was the fire within
himself which burnt him to death. Position and power did not appeal to him. As a minister in the
Cuban government, he was uncomfortable and wanted to get out for the next campaign. He felt that
his karma was in fighting, liberation and revolution. He, therefore set off to Africa where he joined the
Congolese guerillas. But the experience there was not to the satisfaction of the revolutionary. So he
came back to Latin America and plunged into an ill-planned guerilla war in Bolivia. Fidel Castro,
knowing that Che did not have a chance in Bolivia , let him go since he also felt that Che did not fit in
the post- revolution Cuba. Part II of the film, in fact, starts with Fidel Castro on TV, reading a letter
from Che Guevara.
While this is a serious biographical film on the revolutionary aspect of the personality of Che, there is
the other delightful film ¨Diaries of a motorcyclist ¨which is about Che´s journey through Latin
America in his motorcycle. It depicts the character of the young Che in his formative years trying out
unarmed adventures. This journey was the one which initiated Che´s understanding of the world
outside Argentina and motivated him to fight against injustice.
Che, the film, succeeds in reminding the audience of the place of Che Guevara in the history of Latin
America and that of the world. His name and image have inspired and romanticized revolution in the
hearts and minds of generations after him.
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Book Time in Buenos Aires
Books, authors and literary activities capture the headlines of newspapers as well as the heads of the
Porteños- the inhabitants of Buenos Aires city – every year in, April- May during the annual
International Book Fair.It is more than just a fair. It is a Festival...a Fiesta... a Celebration ...of books
and authors, poetry and thought. It is part of the city´s culture. The Porteños, who are perceived as
flamboyant in the rest of the country and Latin America, go to this Fair not only for the show... they
are ...hmmm...serious. They read, think, analyze and argue. The theme of the 2011 Fair was ¨Pensar
con Libros¨ which means Thinking with Books.
The Buenos Aires event is the largest book fair in Latin America and one of the top five in the world. It
is also the largest spanish-language book fair in the world.
It is not only the long duration of the Fair (20 days) which is impressive; the number of activities
during the Fair is even more interesting. There are book readings, poetry recitations, lectures, panel
discussions, presentations, signings, workshops and children’s activities. There are also meetings and
special events for publishers, editors, librarians and educators. The programme booklet containing
the activities of the Book Fair runs into 70 pages. For example, on saturday 2 May 2011, there were 35
activities packed between 1400 hours and 2130 hours. This annual Fair is an event avidly anticipated
by the public who visit in large numbers. The number of visitors is 1.2 million . There are about 1500
exhibitors with stalls in the 50,000 sq m venue La Rural, the venue of the Fair.
An International Poetry Festival is also part of the Book Fair. Poets from Argentina and around the
world participate in this. Poetry at the Festival is not just for those in ivory towers or within airconditioned Salons. It literally goes to the street. Yes, the poets recite in streets and subways. They go
even beyond... to hospitals and jails. Incredible... During the 2011 poetry festival, the poets recited at
the Hospital General de Agudos "Ignacio Pirovano" and the Cárcel de Ezeiza jail on 30 April. Could this
be ....Poetry therapy ...! An Argentine invention !!
Ah..there is one more Argentine innovation. The city government of Buenos Aires organizes every
December a Noche de las Librerias- Bookstores Night. This is a kind of street fair of books in the
famous Corrientes Avenue, the Broadway of Buenos Aires. This large and busy avenue is closed for
traffic from 8.30 pm till midnight and the street is taken over by bookstalls and readers. People sit on
the sofas and chairs placed in the Avenue browsing and reading in the middle of the avenue. There
are also poetry recitations, workshops and cultural activities.
Here is a picture of the Noche de las Librerias:
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Buenos Aires is the publishing capital of Latin America. There are about 1000 publishing firms in the
City . They publish about 22.000 new titles every year and 85 million books in total. Two books for
each of the 40 million population of Argentina ! Of course, part of the production is for export to the
rest of Latin America and Spain.
The number of poetry books published in Argentina is around 1000 every year. In the Book Fair, there
is an area called as Zona de Poesia- poetry zone.
Writers from Latin America, Europe and USA participate in the Book Fair which is a launch pad for
region wide publicity. Many Latin American writers have stayed in this vibrant city and written and
published their books here. Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s ¨ One hundred years of solitude¨ was first
published in Buenos Aires. Other Latin American writers such as Pablo Neruda of Chile, Carlos Fuentes
of Mexico, Miguel Angel Asturias of Guatemala and Ruben Dario of Nicaragua had lived in this city and
published their works. There is a book, called as ¨Buenos Aires- a cultural and literary history¨by Jason
Wilson, which describes the literary links of the streets, cafes and bars of the city and the romance of
the poets and writers with the city.
The Book Fair is not just a one-night stand for the Porteños. It is Amor Eterno( eternal love). Books are
part of the day to day life of Buenos Aires. There are bookshops in every nook and corner of the city.
Many bookshops have cafe, bar and restaurants. They are the refuges and meeting points for the
bohemians and the bourgeois. The most famous Argentine writers including Borges and Cortázar have
frequented them to write and meet. The Porteños sit in these book cafes for hours together browsing
books and discussing local and global issues till the end of the world.
Last time when I was invited to a poetry reading, I went a bit late assuming that the event might not
start in time and in any case there might not be much of an audience for poetry. I was in a for a
surprise. When I reached the venue, I found that it was not only full but was overflowing at the
entrance and at the corridors.
Many of the book shops in Buenos Aires are more than just buildings. They are elegant and eclectic in
architecture and interior decoration with attractive ambience. When you walk by, these bookshops
provoke, invite and tease you with their style and appeal. There are some famous and traditional
book shops and chains such as Ateneo and Cuspide. One of the landmark bookstores is called
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“Gandhi”, founded in 1984 with the same concept of book and coffee shop.
My favourite is the El Ateneo Bookshop in Avenida Santa Fe. It is the most beautiful bookshop I have
ever seen. According to a survey by the London newspaper “ The Guardian” , El Ateneo ranked second
in the list of ten most beautiful bookstores in the world, after the number one in Maastricht. El
Ateneo was originally a theatre called as“Grand Splendid”, now converted into a bookshop. It is
magnificent with high painted ceiling, curvaceous balconies and ornate carvings. The original stage
with the crimson curtains has been made into a café bar. No wonder I felt there like a performer...
after a few drinks! El Ateneo receives 3000 visitors per day.
Here are the pictures of El Ateneo:
During the last poetry festival I was struck by a poem of Daniel Chirom
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Solo poseo el habla
solo poesia
mi lengua incierta
para buscarte
porque cantando
quede mudo
y solo puedo
revelarme
por señales
Here is the translation
I only possess speech
Only poetry
My tongue uncertain
To seek you.
Because singing
I went speechless
And I can only reveal myself
Through signs
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The Queen of Curious Night
It was 10 pm on a quiet Monday night. I was browsing through the radio channels of Buenos Aires. I
heard ¨Namaste¨. I stayed with the channel and listened. The female voice continued, ¨The night has
arrived... No more running, no hurry. This is the intimate moment you can dedicate to yourself, your
books and your radio. You can lower the light, have a glass of wine, a cup of coffee... but never
alone... because I am here to accompany you in the radio ¨. The voice was magical and mesmerizing. I
fell for it. I took a glass of Argentine Malbec wine and started listening to the programme called as
¨Curiosa Noche¨ ( curious night ) in Radio Vale 97.5 FM. The programme went on till 1 AM and ended
with the hostess Daisy May Queen saying Namaste again.
So, you can understand my curiosity caused by the Curious Night programme and Namaste. The
curiosity took me to a meeting with Daisy May Queen. She greeted me with Namaste. It struck me
that Namaste is not just a word from her lips, but an expression from her soul. Daisy told me ¨It is the
Divya in me which says Namaste ¨ She has assumed an Indian name Divya, which means Divine
Brilliance or Light. She says she is more of a spiritual person than a physical one but living in a country
which is more physical than spiritual. India is her spiritual home.
India is not just a passing fancy or fashion for her. When she went to India for the first time, she felt as
though she was ¨returning to India¨. She feels at home in India and among the Indians. She has been
to India four times. She became interested in India since her teenage. As soon as she earned and
saved enough, the first thing she did was to buy a ticket to India.
She has learnt some Hindi and can read. She looks more beautiful when she says ¨ Bahut Sundar Hai¨
in her charming accent. She has read a lot of Indian authors. Gita Mehta (especially the book River
Sutra) is one of her favourites. She loves Bollywood films and songs. She has become a vegetarian and
teetotaler. She likes Indian food and makes Dal Makhani at home. Masala Dosai is her favourite.
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Bahut Sunder Hai in saree and bindi:
Divine Brilliance....
Even the stares and ogles of Indian men do not deter her from travelling alone to every nook and
corner of India including Trichy and Kanyakumari. She laughs while telling how an Indian salesman in a
saree shop was trying to grope her while teaching her how to wear a saree. The Indian men should be
careful because she is a Kali worshipper ! Divya has a Kali temple at home. She leads a prayer, yoga
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and meditation group. She hopes a Hindu temple will be built in Buenos Aires, where she can do puja
and offer prayers. Despite their stares, Daisy has a soft corner for Indian men. She says Indian men
like gorditas ( fleshy women). She was a little plump when she went to India but now she is flaquita (
thin).
Perhaps the reason for her kindness to Indian men is the fact that she is a diehard fan of Freddy
Mercury, the singer and pianist of the British rock group Queen. Freddy Mercury´s original name was
Farrokh Bulsara, a Parsi whose family came from Balsara in Gujrat. He was born in Zanzibar in Africa.
He was sent to school in Mumbai where he had his formative years. He changed his name to Freddy
Mercury, after he went to live in England. Daisy visited the place in Zanzibar where Freddy Mercury
was born. She hopes to interview him in her next incarnation! Now Daisy has a crush for Salman Khan
! She keeps collecting Salman Khan's films, photos and follows his career and life closely.
The Curiosa Noche programme of Daisy May Queen is one of the best cultural experiences of Buenos
Aires. It is about people and society, feelings and frustrations, poetic dreams and prosaic life,
encuentros and desencuentros (meetings and nonmeetings) amor and desamor ( love and nonlove). I
love the spanish expressions: desencuentro and desamor. She tells the romantic stories and
experience of her listeners and asks always the three questions;
¿Que piensas, que sentís, que te preguntas ?
What do you think, what do you feel, what do you ask yourself ?
She keeps the Argentines (and an incorrigible Indian romantic too) sleepless till 1 am telling stories
and asking the three questions in her sensual and seductive voice. She is poetic and provocative,
creative and exciting. She makes the listeners curious and puzzled. She calms the disturbed minds and
comforts broken hearts. She inspires dreams and incites imagination. She stirs emotions and soothes
the soul. The refrain of her Radio Vale programme is ¨No dejes de soñar ¨which means Don’t stop
dreaming.
Divya is the hostess in the annual Festival of India Gala, the embassy organizes in Buenos Aires every
year. She wears a Saree and entertains the Argentine audience with her Argentine wit and Indian
wisdom.
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Polo born in India....perfected in Argentina
The game between Dolfina and Ellerstina teams at the Argentine Polo Open tournament in December
2009 was a Dream Game. The two teams had the perfect 40 handicaps each. It was a rare opportunity
and incredible excitement to watch the masters of the game play at the Palermo polo stadium in
Buenos Aires considered as the cathedral of polo.
Here are the perfect handicappers and their age in brackets from left to right:
Dolfina team in white - Castagnola(39), Mariano Aguerre(40), Lucas Monteverde(32) and Adolfo
Cambiaso(34)
Ellerstina team in black, left to right-Facundo Pieres ( 23),Gonzalo Pieres (26),Pablo Mac Donough(27),
Juan Martin Nero(28)
Both the teams played an impressive and fast paced game and were neck to neck all the time. Adolfo
Cambiaso of Dolfina and Facundo Pires of Ellerstina, the top players, displayed their magic touch with
the ball while flying on the horses. The match ended as a draw with 16 goals each at the end of the
eight chukers. They went for a sudden death play-off. Dolfina made the golden goal and became the
winner of the Argentine Open 2009. Dolfina has won the Palermo open three more times before
2009. Ellerstina won in 2010.
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The game of 80 handicap was a reconfirmation of the supremacy of Argentina as the undisputed
leader of polo in the world. Argentina has, at this moment, 11 ten handicap players out of the twelve
in the world. All the top 30 ranked players of the world are Argentines except for the sixth ranked
Uruguyan David Stirling.
Adolfo Cambiaso is the best polo player in the world. He was the youngest player to reach ten
handicap, at the age of nineteen in 1994, when he won the Grandslam of Argentina. Since then he has
been winning tournaments in Argentina and around the world.
The Argentine Open tournament in December second week is preceded by the Tortugas Open in
October and Hurlingham Open in November. Together these three tournaments are known as Triple
Crown.
There are over 2000 polo fields in Argentina and over 150 polo clubs. The Argentine players are
sought after by the polo patrons in Europe, US, Middle East and Asia and are paid handsomely. One of
the patrons of Cambiaso is the ruler of Dubai.
Argentina has the best polo horses in the world. This is logical given the large number of polo players
and the tradition. Players from around the world come to Argentina to buy horses. India too has
imported Argentine polo horses. The best horses used by Cambiaso sell for over hundred thousand
dollars.
During the peak polo season in November- December polo players and patrons from around the
world camp in Buenos Aires watching the games, visiting the stud farms and practicing with Argentine
players. International celebrities and jet-set also descend upon Buenos Aires to watch the King of the
Games ( as polo is known) and indulge in partying and celebrating fiestas.
The modern game of polo, formalized and popularized by the British , originates from Manipur in
India. The first polo club was established in the town of Silchar in Assam in 1834. The second polo club
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came up in Calcutta in 1862. The British took the game from India to Britain, Europe and Americas and
popularized them.
While the glamour of polo has been kept up by the royalty of Jaipur and Jodhpur, the army and some
corporate chiefs, the level of the game in India has remained low. The Indian with the highest
handicap of six is Shamsheer Ali. He and his 5-handicap brother Basheer Ali live in Argentina and they
have a stable in Buenos Aires. Another Indian player Satinder Singh Garcha, based in Singapore, hires
Argentine players to play in his team Elevation. Satinder spends about three months every year in
Argentina practising with the Argentine players and participating in local tournaments. He has a stable
in Buenos Aires as well as in Jaipur. He is the captain of the Singapore polo team.
While polo was born in India, the Argentines have perfected the game. They say that there are two
levels of polo: World class and Argentine class...
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Kissing queens and sipping wines in Mendoza
Yes.... this was one official duty I performed dutifully with the beautiful queens of Mendoza... with my
heart, soul, mind and body and in the fullest spirit.
I was one of the Ambassadors invited by the Mendoza provincial government for their annual Fiesta
Nacional de la Vendimia (The Grape Harvest Festival or Wine festival) which is held in March. On
friday evening, at a cocktail, we were introduced to all the 18 beauty queens from the various districts
of the province of Mendoza. I had to kiss them one by one ...and by the time I reached the end of the
lineup ... hmm I was drunk even before touching the wine. And I reached heaven after sipping the
wines ..
No wonder some of the Ambassadors in Buenos Aires never miss the Miss Vendimia event and take
the diplomatic job of promotion of cultural relations more seriously.
And the tall blonde beauties of Mendoza made me remember what Economist wrote about former
President Menem. It said ¨Menem was fond of blondes twice his size and half his age¨. He married a
taller Chilean blonde, Cecilia Bolocco , the 1987 Miss Universe. She was 36 while Menem was 71 at
the time of their marriage in 2001. The marriage lasted till 2007.
Las Reinas ( the queens - in English) were there literally all over Mendoza; on the parade floats, on the
TV, in the cocktail parties, at the theatres, in newspapers, in the banners and fliers and in the streets.
Selection of the Vendimia Queen is the main event of the festival and all the other activities are built
around it.
Each of the 18 districts of the province elects their beauty queens and bring them to the provincial
capital for the Vendimia. On saturday morning each queen gets on the float of her district and parade
through the streets.
It is like a Carnival with music, dance and fireworks. But a Carnival with difference. It is sheer
elegance, style and taste. No nudity, no freak out. But a delectable blend of queens and wines. While
Carnival is an explosive blow out, Vendimia is an aethetic appreciation of beauties in the same way as
one savours the aroma and taste of the wine suavely, smoothly and subtley.
The Mendozinos claim that Vendimia parade is the largest open-air festival in the world with 200,000
to 500,000 participants. The numbers and claim get exaggerated after each glass of wine !
The selection of the Vendimia queen is the central part of the show at the amphitheatre on saturday
night in front of an audience of 40,000. Famous bands and singers of Argentina and Latin America
participate in the show before and after the queen selection.
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Here are some pictures of the parades:
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The Reinas throw grapes and other fruits including big melons at the audience on both sides of the
street.
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Cowboys and folk music and dance groups parade on saturday morning, along with the beauty
queens. The tourists are joined by the governors of the neighboring wine-growing provinces, national
celebrities and political leaders.
The wineries invite foreign importers to the festival and tour of their production units and vineyards.
The Argentine wine has been steadily gaining attention and space in world markets in recent years.
Earlier, the Argentines were content drinking all their production ( per capita consumption had
reached as much as 90 litres per year, but has come down now) and did not bother to market abroad.
Now they are investing in marketing and production of high quality wines. Their wine exports were
close to a billion dollars in 2010. Argentina is the fifth largest producer of wine in the world and has
still untapped potential. Malbec is the signature wine of Argentina. It is a medium bodied red wine
which goes with the delicious and famous Argentine meat. Argentina accounts for 70 percent of the
global production of malbec. In recent years a white wine called as Torrontes is emerging as another
emblematic wine of Argentina.
Mendoza is the wine capital the main destination of wine tourism in Latin America. There are
hundreds of wineries in the region. I visited some wineries and enjoyed the wine tastings. I was
impressed by the Salenteine winery at Uco Valley, which is an architectural beauty. It is a masterpiece
in the middle of the vineyards against the backdrop of the Andes mountain range. It has a restaurant
for fine dining with some great wines including a Pinot Noir to go with the lamb and trout, the
regional specialties of Mendoza. The Catena Zapata winery also stands out majestically with its Mayan
architecture.
Behind the queens and wines, there is the Medozino character of hard work, determination,
pragmatism and vision. They have converted the desert land into vineyards and fruit orchards with
irrigation. They even irrigate the trees which cover every avenue and street of the city. Mendoza
should have the maximum number of tress per every inhabitant of any city in the world. During the
wine festival, the wine institute made a presentation of their strategic vision up to 2020.
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Cheers !!!... to the Mendozinos, for their work culture which is a blend of hard work and vision !!!
Cheers !!!... to Mendoza for the delicious and aesthetic blend of queens and wines !!!
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Pondicherry Tamil, born in Vietnam, making Argentine wine
¨I am a foreigner in any country¨, This is how Aziz Abdul responded with a smile when I asked him to
which country he belonged. ¨What is your mother tongue?¨. He smiled again, greeted me in Tamil,
switched to English with heavy French accent and then completed the conversation in fluent Spanish.
He was born in South Vietnam where he lived for the first fifteen years. He speaks Vietnamese like a
native. His mother is half-Vietnamese and grandmother local Vietnamese. His father, a Tamil from
Pondicherry. When Saigon fell in 1975, his family lost everything. They went back to Pondicherry and
started a new life running "Chez Aziz" a gourmet restaurant. Aziz went to the French school there and
improved his Tamil language. He went to Paris for higher education. He studied mathematics and
thereafter computer science at the University of Orsay. He fell in love with Najma from Madagascar
who was studying Sanskrit in Paris. I raised my eyebrows … With his trade mark smile, he said Najma
chose to learn Sanskrit since she wanted to get back to the root of her original country. She is an
Ismaili muslim of Gujrati origin and speaks fluent Gujrati. They have two daughters. Aziz has named
his wine Chateau Hana, a combination of the initials of his family- H- Hema his first daughter (his wife
is a fan of Hemamalini), A- Anjuli, the second daughter, N- Najma, the wife and A for Aziz.
Aziz produces high-end wine which sells in the wine shops of Argentina. His wine is served in the
upscale hotels such as Park Hyatt and in exclusive restaurants and high-end wine shops in Buenos
Aires, Bariloche, Mendoza, Mar del Plata, Cordoba and Rosario.
He is planning to start exports soon. How about exporting to India?, I ask him and he beams with yet
another smile. When we served his wine at our embassy receptions, the guests were ecstatic. We told
our guests, it is an Argentine Wine made with Indian hands and spirit.
Picture: Aziz in El Paraiso (paradise ), his house on the left, winery on the right and vineyard behind.
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Aziz worked for 20 years in the IT department of the French multinational group Lagardere. But he did
not want to end up life staring at the computer screens. He wanted to become his own boss and
longed to have a quiet life in countryside. He was saving money to pursue his dream- to own a
vineyard and make his own wine.
Aziz Abdul…drinking and making wine? I could not hide my puzzle. Aziz smiled again and started
another story. It was his father, a Muslim who enjoyed alcohol and let his son also follow. He was
liberal and cosmopolitan and inspired his son too. While studying in Paris, Aziz tried wine and liked it.
He was a frequent visitor to the cellar of the home of one of his university friends. He was very
excited to drink a 21- years old Morgon on the 21st birthday of his friend. The taste for wine lead him
to explore the vineyards in France and beyond. He visited the wineries and got to meet wine makers
such as Alexandre Thienpont and Denis Lurton. He studied viticulture and enology.The taste for wine
became a passion. As soon as he had the minimum savings he started looking to buy a vineyard. The
French and European ones being expensive, he tried India. He visited the wine growing areas of India
hoping that he would be able reroot himself to his fatherland. But it did not work out.
Thereafter, Aziz came to Argentina, the fifth largest wine producer in the world. He bought a 15hectare vineyard on the outskirts of San Rafael city in Mendoza province in 2008. He put up a brand
new boutique winery, with a capacity of 85, 000 litres. He is into his fourth crop in 2011. He grows
malbec, cabernet sauvignon and bonarda varietals. He manages the farm himself with the help of a
local husband-wife pair who live in the farmhouse. During harvest season, he hires extra help. He
takes the help of an Argentine enologist too. He uses certain French practices in the growing of
grapes, pruning of the plant and in the making of wines, different from the the local Argentine way of
doing things. He enjoys taking care of the plants and the processing with an eye for every detail. Aziz's
favourite quotation ¨God had created water, men the wines- Victor Hugo¨.
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Aziz has integrated well in the small town San Rafael society. He speaks fluent spanish and has made a
number of friends. While he makes upscale wine he himself leads a simple life. He enjoys working
with his own hands in the vineyard and the winery. He literally breathes the aroma of his wine every
day and night since his house is full of wine cases all around. When he gets time, he plays tennis and
goes for skiing in winter. He is connected to his family in Paris by skype. His wife shares her time
between the husband in Argentina and the daughters who live in their apartment, a few blocks from
the Eiffel tower in Paris.
Like Aziz, many foreigners are investing in vineyards in Mendoza for the pleasure and pride of having
their own vineyard and boutique winery. Of course, it is a solid investment too, given the constant
appreciation of the price of the land and the profitability of wine business. Aziz had bought the
vineyard from an American investor. A few retired people also settle down in the farm houses
surrounded by their own vineyards or spend a few months every year. The Argentine prices are
affordable and vineyards and land are available. There is no restriction on foreign investment. Aziz's
own investment in the vineyard and winery is about 500,000 dollars. The cost of living in Mendoza is
low while the quality of life is excellent with peaceful atmosphere and friendly local people. The
climate is perfect for the grapes with warm days and cold nights and sunshine throughout the year.
The Argentines have started producing and exporting more wine in recent years. Their exports
reached 864 million dollars in 2010. The Argentine wines are getting more recognition in international
markets. It has overtaken the Chilean wines in the US market. Malbec has become famous around the
world as the signature wine of Argentina.
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I visited his vineyard and listened to his stories over many glasses of Chateau Hana wine. After this, I
have become an admirer and started calling him as Che Aziz. In Argentina, Che is a colloquial way of
saying ¨friend¨, as Che Guevara.
Cheers…Che Aziz…
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Argentine Singhs
Dante Singh, Monica Singh, Jasbel Singh...
Adrian Singh, Alfredo Singh, Yeeta Singh.....
There are about three hundred such Argentine Singhs… mostly in Salta and other northern provinces
of Argentina.
I met about seventy of them in the Gurudwara at Rosario de la Frontera, a small town of 35000
people in Salta province. I joined their Baishaki Day celebrations on 20 April 2009. There were prayers
and ceremonies conducted by a Granthi, who has been brought from India. There was a community
lunch prepared by the ladies and was served by the men. The Gurudawara is clean, beautiful and
inspires divine feelings. The members of the Sikh community get together on Sundays and there are
large gatherings on special religious occasions. Mr Charan Singh who came thirty years back from
India is the president of the Gurudwara committee. This is the only Gurudwara in South America.
These Singhs had come in the thirties from India. Some of them came to work in the sugar mills
owned by the British. Others got into the ships from Calcutta on hearing that they were going to
America. They did not know that the destination was South America. Most of them originated from
near Ludhiana. Dante Singh´s father was one of the earliest to come. He was also a political organiser.
He collected money from other sikhs and sent it for the independence movement in India. The last
batch of the immigrants came in the ninties. But no more are coming due to visa difficulties. Some of
the Argentine Singhs have migrated to USA and Canada.
President Zail Singh had visited Salta and met the community during his state visit to Argentina in
1984. Dante Singh was proud showing me photos of this visit and also the photos of his father
meeting Zail Singh in Rashtrapathi Bhavan in Delhi.
Some of the first generation Sikhs wear turbans. But when they travel , they put on caps to avoid
curious looks and questions.
All the Singhs have become Argentine citizens and are well integrated into the local society. Among
the first generation, some men married Indian women and brought them, while the others have
married Argentines. The Singhs are in business and agriculture or work as professionals. Many of
them own supermarkets, corner stores and transport companies. Dante Singh and Adrian Singh are
engineers. Jasbel Singh is studying international affairs and wants to become a diplomat. To follow
another Sikh Ruben Singh who is in the Argentine Foreign Service. I hope an Argentine Singh will
become Ambassador to India. Monika Singh is a software engineer working with Oracle in Buenos
Aires. Yeetu Singh gives Indian dance classes and has done some Indo-Argentine fusion in dance. The
second and third generation, which goes to school and college is keen to know more about India and
talk about it proudly with their classmates.
Here is Dante Singh at the entrance of the Gurudwara:
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Here is Kanwaljeet Singh with his son Gurdeep, who has asked for an Indian flag for his school and
books in spanish on India.
community lunch
All the Singhs in Salta region speak fluent Spanish. Besides the first generation, even some young
people from the second generation speak broken Punjabi and are learning. Virtually no one speaks
English. I had to give my speech in Spanish. Hmm....A Tamil from India communicating with the
Punjabis in the Gurudwara in Argentina in Spanish !
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Orillas - Argentine connection to Africa
This new film Orillas (shores or borders) released in November 2011 was an eye opener for me and, I
guess, for many Argentines and others too.
It connects the traditional culture of West Africa with the cults of modern Argentina. Benin, the West
African country and Argentina, considered as the most European country of Latin America are worlds
apart from each other. But the film brings out an incredible link between the two. There are two
parallel stories of two boys, one in Benin and the other in Argentina. Babarimisa, the boy from the
Yoruba community of Benin is sick and needs heart transplantation. Being unable to get proper
medical treatment, the poor mother of the boy takes him to the local priest and subjects him to the
traditional religious curative practices. In these scenes, there is vivid and fascinating description of the
ceremonies and rituals practiced in West Africa.
The Argentine boy Shantas lives in Villa Tranquila, a slum in the outskirts of Buenos Aires. He takes to
crime, robbery and gangsterism. At the same time, he believes in the cult of a slum priest who
practices a mixed worship of virgin and some local and African icons. It is a combination of elements
from catholicism and other ideas of the delirious priest who is drunk most of the time. The priest
brainwashes Shantas saying that he is a special immortal person chosen by god. After he witnesses
the rape of Shanta's girlfriend the priest tells him that she has been punished by god and she has
become dirty. The angry youth rejects the girlfriend when she comes crying to him. This enrages the
girl who tells her uncle that it was Shantas who raped her. The uncle goes to the slum and shoots the
boy. An Argentine voluntary organization which helps with transplants in Africa gets the injured boy
before his death and transports him to Africa and gets his heart transplanted to the African boy. The
grateful African mother wants to see the body of Argentine boy who has given his heart to her son.
She screams in astonishment ¨Ssango¨ seeing the tattoo on his chest. It is the figure of the god
worshipped in her place. The film ends with this incredible coincidence between Africa and Argentina.
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The Argentine boy's story brings out the degeneration of the slums which breed crime, drug
addiction, mindless violence and gangsterism. It is similar to the scenes I saw in the famous Brazilian
film City of God (cidade de deus). The action and style of life of the poor but violent slum kids is
shocking but realistic. The scenes in the film are similar to the real life images caught by police
security cameras and shown in the TV channels.
Pablo Cesar, the Argentine Director has a message to convey through the film. He reminds the
Argentines the forgotten story of the Africans who were brought to Argentina too as slaves. But the
African population, small though, disappeared and their history forgotten. Of course, these were very
insignificant in number compared to Brazil and the northern parts of South America.
Pablo Cesar, who worked on this film for three years with a shoestring budget has done a remarkable
job in bringing out the amazing coincidence between the cults in modern Argentine slum life and the
African traditional life. He has done it with extreme sensitivity respecting the feelings of Africans. For
me, this was the first time I saw the West African ceremonies and practices which are so colourful and
fascinating. The African characters speak in their own Yoruba language (these are subtitled in spanish)
and this gives an authentic feel. It was interesting to see that the West Africans bow like the Japanese
while interacting with each other. The African songs and music, especially when the mother is on a
boat and in the hospital are so poignant. The African mother Morenike is an unforgettable character.
It is not only the cult which is common to the Argentine slum and the African country. The poor
people in both countries share the same poverty, misery and suffering. If you are poor, it does not
matter in which country you live. Pablo Cesar's theme transcends Argentina and Africa; It is universal.
Pablo has made an extraordinary film using ordinary people without any famous actors. Diana from
the embassy too has appeared in the film as Teresa, the mother of the girlfriend of Shantas. I should
also compliment Jeronino Toubes the script writer for some of the memorable dialogues in the film.
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Argentines are certainly the leaders in Latin American cinema at this moment. I have seen a number
of interesting Argentine films. It is remarkable that the Argentines are able to produce some great
films despite their meagre budgets ( the government of Argentina provides subsidies to the film
industry) and poor revenues. They have compensated for the lack of funds with admirable creativity.
Un Cuento Chino ( a Chinese tale) by the famous actor Ricardo Darin is one of my favourite Argentine
films. His film ¨El secreto de sus ojos- the secret of your eyes¨won an Oscar in 2010. I hope Orillas will
win the Oscar in 2011.
Orillas has been selected to be shown at the India International Film festival in Goa in November
2011. Pablo Cesar has been invited to present his film at this Festival. I have not heard of any Indian
films shot in West Africa. The Indian audience will find some of the rituals shown in the film as similar
to the ones practiced in India too. As a child, I have seen and been part of such practices myself in my
village in the interior of Tamilnadu.
The next project of Pablo Cesar is to make a film on Rabindranath Tagore's visit to Argentina in 1924
and his romance with Victoria Ocampo who took care of Tagore. He has already worked out a great
story combining Tagore- Victoria encounter with a parallel story of the contemporary Argentina. I am
confident that he will do justice to this film titled as ¨Thinking of him¨ with his exceptional talents and
admiration for Indian culture.
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Myrta Barvie, Argentine icon of Indian dances
Myrta Barvie believes in Karma. When I asked her what inspired her to the world of Indian classical
dances, she took a deep breath and looked at me serenely- like the Gurus do when their disciples ask
philosophical questions- and said, ¨ It is the Indian Karma. I was seventeen years old when I was
introduced to the legendary Rukmini Devi who visited Argentina on a theosophical mission. I was
inspired by her. I realized instantly that India was my Karma. I was so thrilled when Rukmini Devi
offered me a scholarship to study in Kalakshetra. I jumped up at the offer and was on the next flight
to Chennai. Oh how the time has passed.. It is fifty years¨
Myrta Barvie has dedicated five decades of her life to Indian dances and has become an icon. She has
had an illustrious career as a dancer, teacher, choreographer and writer.
Here is Myrta compering the dance programmes at the IV Festival of India in Buenos Aires on 5
December 2011.
Myrta has not only mastered Indian dances but has also become an Indian in spirit and personal life.
She says she had two dreams; first to become a dancer and second to know India, the land of ancient
culture and spiritual wisdom. She is happy that both her dreams have come true together. She starts
her book on Indian dances saying, ¨My relationship with India has always been special. My long stay
in India had been beautiful, interesting and profound¨. She has learnt Sanskrit and has read the works
of Vivekananda, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Ramana Maharishi and Yogananda, among others. She
is a vegetarian and avoids alcohol. She leads a disciplined Indian life in Buenos Aires, the city of
distractions. And she has been successful in enforcing with an iron hand a strict discipline on her
young Argentine students too. She is very particular about maintaining the purity and sanctity of the
traditions of the classical dances of India.
Myrta with her disciples, who tremble in her presence...
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Myrta started learning ballet at the age of eight and became a professional dancer in the ballet group
of the prestigious Colon Theater of Argentina. She trained in Bharatnatyam in Kalakshetra and did her
Arangetram there. Later she learnt Odissi from Guru Keluchara Mohapatra and got a Nritya Visharad
degree from Kala Vikash Kendra in Orissa. She went on to learn Kuchipudi at the Kuchipudi Art
Academy in Chennai, from Master Vempati Chinnasatyam.
Myrta with Rukmini Devi in Kalakshetra
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Myrta has performed Indian classical dances in Argentina and other countries of Latin America as well
as in Europe, Asia, Middle East and USA. In India, she has performed, among other places, in the
palace of Maharaja of Baroda and in the Rashtrapati Bhavan where she was received by Presidents
Radhakrishnan, Zakir Hussain and Zail Singh ( photo below)
Besides introducing and popularizing Indian classical dances in Argentina, Myrta has institutionalized
Indian dance tradition by training others. Her disciples Natalia, Silvia, Indira and Leonara have
become teachers and established their own schools. They are also devoted and committed to Indian
dances, culture and spirituality. There are over thirty Argentines learning Indian classical dances in
Buenos Aires. Every month, there is at least one programme in the city.
Myrta has written a book on Indian classical dances, in spanish language, published by the Indian
Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) in 1996. This is a kind of text book on Indian dances for spanish
language speakers. In this, she has covered all the classical Indian dances with details of technical and
aesthetic aspects.
Here is the cover of the book with her picture.
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Myrta is visiting India in December 2011-march 2012, at the invitation of ICCR, to update her book
with more research and information. She will be in Chennai and New Delhi. While leaving for India,
she told me she was ¨going home¨. She was nostalgic about the aroma of jasmine flowers and south
Indian filter coffee, the sound of sanskrit mantras and the sight of the big banyan tree of Adyar.
I got carried away in the long conversation with Myrta and made a faux pas when I commented, ¨
Sixty years of dance.. Myrta..you still look young..¨ She gave me a look.. like Durga..For a moment I
thought I was going to be burnt and vapourised. But she regained her composure quickly and said
with a disarming and charming smile ¨ yes you are right. The long and regular practice of dance has
kept me fit and young¨. It reminded me of the reply of an Argentine friend when I asked him the
reason for the crisis in Argentina from time to time. He said, ¨ In Argentina, the women do not admit
their age and the men do not act their age¨.
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The accidental President of Brazil
The credit for the transformation and current boom of Brazil goes to Fernando Henrique Cardoso
(FHC) who as President in 1995-2002 laid the foundation for the New Brazil of the twenty-first
century. As Finance Minister in 1992-94 he introduced the new currency Real, arrested inflation and
put the economy in shape with his Real Plan. This success opened the doors of the presidential palace
for him when he stood for elections. In the book, FHC tells his ¨unlikely journey to the top, which was
aided by good fortune, good friends, and yes, more than my share of lucky accidents along the way¨.
The title ¨Accidental President ¨ is not entirely correct. FHC came from a family of generals and
politicians and claims historical descendancy from the time of independence of Brazil. His great
grandfather was a Governor of the state of Goias. His grandfather was a General who had helped
found the Republic. His father was also a General. Several of his relatives were Generals, Ministers,
Mayors and government officials. Politics and history were topics of dinner conversation and family
gatherings. FHC, unlike Lula, had the best education and spoke English and French. With this
background and contacts it was not unimaginable for FHC to aspire to become President, unlike in the
case of Lula.
FHC starts off his book with an incident in 1938 when he was six years old. When he was on vacation
in the beach with his family, his father received a phone call to join the defence of President Getulio
Vargas who was being attacked by rebel troops. He rushed out with a gun and returned the next day
after putting down the rebellion and told the family that they could resume their vacation. He calls
this incident as his political baptism. His father who was jailed twice for joining doomed rebellions,
advised FHC, ¨Always try to make casual conversation with jail guards¨. This advice came in handy for
FHC later when he himself was put in jail.
What is remarkable is that despite his military-oligarchic background, FHC was centre-left and fought
for social equity. He was fond of books and wanted to avoid the ¨family business¨ of politics. He
deviated from the family tradition by studying sociology and becoming a professor in Sao Paulo
University. He flirted with communism for a while. He got to know the favelas(slums), poverty and
disparity between rich and poor during his field visits and research. He had an opportunity to
interpret in Portuguese the speech of the legendary Jean-Paul Sartre and later Simone de Beauvoir. As
a leftist sociologist, he became a natural victim of the oppressive right-wing military dictatorship. He
was exiled along with many other leftist and liberal academics and activists. He went to Argentina as a
political refugee and then lived in Chile for four years. There he came into contact with Neruda and
Allende and also his fellow Brazilian exiles. He worked in the ECLAC ( Economic Commission for Latin
America and Caribbean) and published his famous book ¨Dependency and Development in Latin
America¨. Later he went on a teaching assignment in France. He had the opportunity to witness the
1968 spring revolution in France which added to his sociological education. His exile made him suffer
the saudade ( nostalgia) for his home country. After the restoration of democracy in 1985, the new
political leaders could not manage the democratic responsibility nor the economy. FHC was the third
civilian President after the end of military dictatorship in 1985. One of his predecessors died before
inauguration and the other was impeached for corruption. His sociology background, participation in
the struggle for restoration of democracy, philosopher-king image, ideals and vision was like a breath
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of fresh air at that time when most politicians were seen as corrupt and crooked. This was important
for the infant democracy which was struggling to take its roots and establish its credibility.
FHC´s most enduring achievement was in the stabilization of the economy. When he became Finance
Minister, the Inflation was raging at 2500 percent in 1993. There were seven different currencies in
the previous eight years. The economy was in shambles undermining the political stability of the
young democracy itself. It was at this critical moment that he was made as Finance Minister, a job for
which there were not many takers. FHC rose up to the challenge. He introduced a new currency Real
as part of his Real Plan. It worked, unexpectedly. This success stimulated his ambition and paved the
way for him to become President. FHC carried out more reforms and stabilized the politics and
economy of the country during his Presidency. He initiated Inclusive Development schemes and at the
same time followed pro-business policies opening up the market. He undertook bold land reforms
and distributed 44.5 million acres of land to 588,000 landless families. He describes this, ¨I consider
this as a testimony to my roots as a sociologist and one of the proudest achievements of my
administration.¨ The other revolutionary achievement about which he is proud as a sociologist was his
government´s initiative in passing a law to give free access to antiretroviral AIDS drugs. This was the
first such move by a developing country which lead to confrontation with the multinational pharma
companies and even the government of USA. Brazil managed to overcome the opposition and
became a model for other developing countries on the issue of AIDS policies. Brazil spends about 400
million dollars in free AIDS treatment. These new enlightened, mature and pragmatic policies are the
foundation of the New Brazil. President Lula, who criticized the policies of FHC and who fought and
lost two elections against him, continued the pragmatic policies of FHC administration and added
more social inclusion. President Dilma is committed to this policy of consensus and is building on the
successful model of her two illustrious predecessors.
FHC applied his sociology expertise to his work. He was bold enough to recognize and talk openly
about the racial inequality of Brazil, although it is a topic of taboo even today. His frankness on this
issue earned him the wrath of even fellow Brazilian sociologists. He admitted in his public statements
that ¨black in Brazil had equaled poor for too long and that discrimination against blacks, both social
and economic, has been one of the biggest problems we face.¨ He lamented that blacks were hardly
ever seen among the country´s political, economic and media elite. He pointed out that although
blacks constitute 40 percent of the population, there were only 9 black deputies among the 513
congressmen and that there was not a single black career ambassador at that time. FHC had got a
survey conducted on the race issue in 1999. He initiated policies for affirmative action for the balcks
despite the opposition of many in the Congress and bureaucracy. He succeeded in creating job quotas
in some Ministries and awarded scholarships to blacks to train for joining the diplomatic corps.
In the final chapters, FHC talks about his foreign policy achievements. As an internationally recognized
intellectual and sociologist combined with his success as a President, FHC certainly made other
countries to take Brazil seriously and raised the profile of the country globally. He gave priority to
improving relations with neighbors. In this context, FHC has shared an interesting information. He
says that the one who gave a memorable push to this policy was Helmt Kohl, who told him that he
hated the French when he was young but realized later that if his hatred continued, his children
would go to war as well and the cycle would never end. Kohl told FHC that it was for this reason that
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he became a passionate proponent of European Union. Giving his example, Kohl had told FHC , ¨you
Brazilians have historic responsibility to do the same with Argentina, put your past behind you and
make a great Union in South America. ¨
FHC is candid and professional in his analysis of the Brazilian society and the politicians and military
dictators who took Brazil up and down. He mentions that sometimes military was used as a tool by
the business elite to grab power. He gives his comments on the Presidents and political leaders with
whom he had interaction. This includes Lula who supported FHC´s senate campaign in 1978. He found
Lula possessing a natural drive and instinctive political intelligence although he was uncomfortable
around the academics and artists who collaborated with FHC in the campaign.
Some of the stories described by FHC are funny, as the following would illustrate:
- President Janio Quadros, an acquaintance of his father, banned bikini and miniskirt among his other
eccentric policies. Hmmm.. Garotas of Ipanema…without the bikinis…. Impossible to imagine !!
- father of President Fernando Collor, who was a senator, shot dead a fellow legislator on the senate
floor. He was acquitted on the ground of self-defence.
- the Brazilian banks profited during the hyperinflation and had a big stake in continuation of high
inflation.
-The Brazilian newspapers published photos of a carnival queen Lilian Ramos without her underwear
when she was cozying up to President Itamar Franco at the VVIP balcony in Rio Sambadrome.
Financial Times described it as ¨naked ambition¨.
Bill Clinton has written foreword to FHC´s memoirs calling him as ¨my friend¨. Unlike Clinton, FHC was
not charismatic. His campaign managers had to work hard on his professorial manners and create a
new image in the election campaigns. FHC confesses that his first political speech literally put the
audience to sleep because he lectured like a sociology professor. When he used quotations in English
and French he was considered as a snob. He confesses, ¨Sometimes I was so eager to see Brazil with a
sociologist´s eye that I was shy with the use of power. This was surely one of the biggest flaws of my
Presidency. On some occasions, when the country needed a President, I was still too much of a
sociologist.¨
FHC ends his memoir with a modest but profound sociological comment, ¨as someone who arrived in
the presidency thanks to no small amount of luck and circumstance, it would be arrogant for me to
take all the credit. The Brazilian society which had the courage to elect an inexperienced, former
university professor as President also deserves credit. In that sense, perhaps, I was not such an
accident after all.¨ After this professor, the Brazilians elected as President, a lathe worker who was
too poor to go to college ( Lula) and an ex-guerilla fighter ( Dilma Rousseff). This speaks for the
democratic maturity of Brazil.
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Paraguayan honour for Indian scientist
Dr Mohan Kohli, an Indian agricultural scientist received Honorary Doctorate from the San Carlos
University of Paraguay on 18 May 2011 in Asuncion. This is a recognition of the contribution of Dr
Kohli in the last three decades to improvement of wheat cultivation and production. The Paraguayans
expressed their gratitude to Dr Kohli who is credited with the transformation of Paraguay from a
wheat importer till the eighties into a wheat exporter since 2004. The wheat production of Paraguay
has increased from 30,000 tons in 1978 to 1.2 million tons now. In 2010 Paraguay earned 230 million
dollars from wheat exports.
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Dr Kohli is a wheat specialist and is a senior scientific consultant to the Paraguayan National Wheat
Programme. He started off his career with the legendary Norman Borlaug ( Nobel prize winner who
contributed to the Green revolution of India) in 1971 and worked with him for six years in Mexico. In
1978 he came to South America as a regional wheat breeder. Since then he has been working in the
South American countries of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia and Chile. He has worked in
collaboration with the governments as well as the private sector agricultural organizations and
associations. He has been awarded many honours by the governments and universities of Latin
American countries.
Dr Kohli has spent a total of 40 years in Latin America, of which he has lived in South America for 33
years and Mexico for seven years. He is married to a Mexican. Currently he lives in Paraguay and is
also working as senior technical consultant to the Argentine wheat project. Dr Kohli who speaks fluent
spanish is admired and valued in the agricultural and scientific communities of Latin America. Besides
developing new varieties of wheat to suit the different climates and soil conditions of South America,
Dr Kohli has trained hundreds of scientists and contributed to human resource development. He has
published over 150 papers and articles in USA and Latin America.
Dr Kohli did his B.Sc in agriculture from the Rajasthan Agricultural University and Masters and PhD at
the Indian Agricultural Research Institute. He had done Post Doctoral work in the University of
California and Oregon State University. The American Society of Agronomy honored him with a
¨International Service Award ¨ in 2010.
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Dr Kohli is not just another laboratory scientist confined to the four walls and surrounded by scientific
papers. He is a practical scientist with a pragmatic approach. He is passionate about agriculture. He
enjoys his research and putting the outcome of his research into practical action. He spends as much
time on the fields as he does in the laboratories. He loves the company of small farmers and shares
coffee in their homes. During my tours with him, I have seen myself how he is admired as a hero by
the farmers of Paraguay and Argentina. He has earned the respect and admiration of the Latin
Americans with his Indian humility, sincerity, brilliance and hard work. He has stimulated interest and
respect for India in the rural areas of Latin America. I call him as the Agricultural Ambassador of India.
In my speech at the 18 May ceremony, I thanked him for raising the flag of India in places where
Indian Ambassadors have never been.
Dr Kohli is not a ivory tower scientist. He has a global vision and is concerned with food security. He
has the big picture and ideas for making the world a better place. He has a heart for the poor and
hungry and is committed to do his part to solve the global problem of poverty.
Dr Kohli made an inspiring presentation to Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar when he was in Buenos
Aires in September 2010. He advocated No-Till ( Direct Seeding) Method of cultivation for India and
showed how this method has revolutionized the agriculture of South America, which is emerging as a
superpower in agriculture. He has given an Action Plan to the government of India for implementation
of No-Till cultivation method and other measures to improve productivity and sustainable cultivation
in India. He took me to the farms in Paraguay and showed me how the small farmers are successfully
practicing the No-Till cultivation using bullock carts and small tractors. He believes strongly that India
can increase productivity, reduce soil degradation and practice sustainable farming, learning from the
South American experience. He is willing to share his expertise and contribute to India.
Latin America has made use of Dr Kohli's expertise for the last 40 years....Will India take advantage of
the expertise and willingness of Dr Kohli to contribute to the motherland ???
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La Vida Loca (crazy life) - Ricky Martin
Ricky Martin released his autobiography in November 2010 with the title ¨Yo ¨in Spanish and ¨Me¨ in
English. I have read the Spanish version.
I expected the ¨Livin la Vida Loca¨ singer to start his book saying how his life became ¨Loca¨ which in
Spanish means crazy. Surprise… He starts with a quotation of Mahatma Gandhi. The superstar who
got his fans crazy with his vida loca song talks about how yoga and meditation have helped him to
keep his balance in his crazy career and look within himself and to stay calm in difficult moments. The
Latino singer who rocks the world wit his Latino music, discloses that India taught him to listen to his
own silence. He says his Loca life got completely transformed after his visit to India which helped him
to discover the three keys to life: serenity, simplicity and spirituality.
Ricky Martin begins the book with the following quotation from Gandhi:
¨Help me to say the truth while facing the strong and not say lies to gain the applause of the week. If
you give me fortune, don’t take away my reason. If you give me success, don’t take away my humility.
If you give me humility, do not take away my dignity…… Do not let me fall in vanity if I succeed or in
desperation if I fail. …If you take away victory, give me the strength to learn from the failure¨.
The first subtitle of the book is ¨The words of Gandhi touched my heart¨. He begins by saying that all
of us reach a point in our life looking back at how we have lived. He says he has reached this point and
is ready to stand before others as he is with his heart open and with no more fears. He says he has
gained the strength to live a life of love, peace and truth as advised by the master, Gandhi.
He was passionate about singing even as a child, holding a spoon in the hand pretending it to be a
microfone. He said to himself that he would become an artiste. He was selected for TV
advertisements at the age of nine and got inducted into the Latin American boy band ¨Menudo ¨ at
the age of twelve. His life got dizzy as a star with fans and fame. After some years with them, he broke
up and started on his own as a singer and actor. He got opportunities to sing and act in soap operas in
Mexico where he fell in love with a woman and thereafter another one. He came back to USA and
acted in Broadway including in Les Miserables. He returned to singing and got a big break after the
¨Livin la vida loca¨ which made him famous around the world. This was his pinnacle of fame, fortune
and fulfillment.
Despite his achievement of all that he wanted, Ricky was troubled in his heart. He had not been able
to come to terms with his homosexualiy. He was afraid that if he had admitted it might jeopardize his
musical career since he was considered as a sex symbol and Latin lover. So he tried to hide, deny and
lie. But he could not sustain this double life. Finally he decided in 2010 to announce the truth to the
world. He is now at peace with himself.
He attributes his courage to face and admit the truth after what India and Gandhi taught him. He
travelled to India and went to an Ashram in Puri run by Yogeshwarananda Giri. He studied Kriya yoga
for four days and this had completely changed his life. The yoga helped him not only to discover his
own inner self but also connected him to the universal energy. After his return to New York, he
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continued the practice of yoga and meditation and this became his sacred moment every day and
helped him to stay calm in the middle of crazy moments. He says that India has taught him that the
real fortune is not outside but is within oneself. He does not need to hide himself any longer with the
things which caused him pain in the past. He is now able to face the world without any fear.
What is his position about homosexuality now? He says love has no sex and soul has no sex either. He
was able to love a woman even when he was in love with a man. But his basic animal instinct in his
moments of fantasies is to be with a man. He has accepted his homosexuality as life´s gift and says ¨I
am feeling proud of who I am ¨.
Deepak Chopra’s commentary on the cover of the book says, ¨Ricky Martin´s story is the history of a
tortured soul which has returned to innocence and authenticity. It is in a way a reflection of the
history of humanity itself; caught between the profound and the profane, forbidden luxury and
unconditional love¨
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Haveli Ram business in Latin America
Havells Sylvania, the Indian company has the widest presence in Latin America. They have operations
in 13 out of the 19 Latin American countries: Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela,
Ecuador, Bolivia, Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Dominican Republic and Mexico. They
are planning to add Uruguay and Cuba shortly. No other Indian company is spread out so much in
Latin America. The other Indian company which has the second widest presence in the region is TCS
which has operations in eight Latin American countries. Havells employs 850 Latin Americans and is
managed by a single Indian staying in Costa Rica.
The name of the company got me curious. It does not sound Indian!. The original name of the
company was “ Haveli’s “ of ‘Haveli Ram Gandhi'. Mr. Qimat Rai Gupta – Chairman, who is now 73
years old, acquired this brand in early seventies. He was a teacher who became a trader in wires and
cables in 1958 in Bhagirath Place, Delhi's electrical market. As the business grew, the name became
“Havells”. When Havells bought the global assets of Sylvania in 2007 for 230 million Euros, the
company became Havells Sylvania. The global assets of Sylvania included those in Latin America.
The total turnover of Havells Sylvania is 1.2 billion dollars of which 55% is in India. The remaining 45%
of income is generated in 50 countries around the world. The global headcount of the company is
8000 and it has 18 manufacturing plants in India, Europe, Latin America and Africa.
Kapil Gulati (in the picture above- in his Costa Rica plant) is the Head of the Latin American
operations. Of their 850 Latin American employees 400 are Colombians and 200 Costa Ricans (some
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of them in the picture below). This includes 13 country managers besides sub regional managers for
Southern Cone, Andean and Central American. This reconfirms the confidence of Indian companies in
the human resources of Latin America. Indian companies do not bring hundreds and thousands of
expatriates as some other country does. The Indian companies not only employ Latin Americans but
also give training and help them to grow as leaders.
Kapil does not say hello when I call him on the phone. He says ¨Pura Vida¨… And he uses this word as
part of his signature in emails too. Pura Vida (full of life) is a typical salutation in Costa Rica where he
lives since August 2007. The Ticos, as the Costa Ricans are nicknamed, are one of the happiest people
on the earth. They have reached the next level of civilization by having abolished armed forces in
1948. Costa Rica generates ninety percent of its energy through renewable sources and their
government declared in 2007 that it intended to become carbon neutral by 2021. It has the highest
literacy rate in Central America and is known as the Silicon Valley of Latin America with its IT
leadership in the region. It also gives happiness to women who want enlargement of busts. Yes, it is a
large exporter of silicones.
Kapil and his family have become true Ticos and have adapted perfectly to Pura Vida. His two
daughters, aged 13 and 7 speak fluent Spanish and help the parents with interpretation. Kapil is
fascinated with the Latin American culture and admires the way the Latinos enjoy life. He himself
looks much happier and younger now than when he came to the region in 2007. He believes that both
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Indians and Latinos can enrich each other with their distinct culture and ways of living. It is with this
belief that he sent 75 Latin American distributors to India on a business cum tourist trip recently. They
have come back thrilled with their discoveries and experience. Kapil plans to send more such groups
to India.
Oops.. I forgot to explain the enlightening part. Havells Sylvania is in lighting business. They are a full
spectrum provider of lighting solutions. They manufacture lights, fixtures, ballasts, switchgear for
houses, commercial and public buildings and spaces. They have a plant in Colombia and another one
in Costa Rica. They do research in India, UK and Belgium to develop new energy saving devices and
solutions. The company works with the governments of Argentina, Costa Rica and Ecuador in Latin
America to execute their Energy Saving Programmes.
Havells Sylvania is the market leader in Colombia with 30% market share and 40% market share in
Costa Rica. In Argentina it is 35% and in Brazil 14%. In the region as a whole, Havells Sylvania is just
behind Philips the market leader.
Kapil has a simple target… To increase his turnover to one dollar for each Latin American by 2014. This
means 556 million dollars for the population of 556 million of Latin America. His 2010 turnover was
200 million dollars. One billion dollars is his ultimate goal by 2018. The growth will be both organic
and inorganic.
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Malli Mastan Babu, the Indian on top of the Andean peaks
Despite my twelve years of living in South America and so-called expertise on the region I looked
blank and perplexed when Malli Mastan Babu rattled off the names of the places he has visited in this
region. In fact, no Indian has ever been to most of the places where he has gone. The reason is that
these places are at altitudes of over 6000 metres. They are the tallest mountain peaks in the region.To
reach those places one has to be an expert mountain climber.
Babu has climbed the famous Aconcagua peak in the Argentine side of the Andean range three times.
At 6962 metres height it is the tallest peak outside the Himalayas. Aconcagua is challenging because
of windy conditions and unpredictable weather. He has climbed Huascaran ( 6768 m) peak in Peru,
Sajama peak ( 6542 m ) in Bolivia and Chimborazo ( 6310) in Ecuador and Ojos del Salado ( 6800 m ) in
Chile.
When Babu went to climb the Cristobal Colon peak in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of Colombia,
the local Indians would not allow him to go up. They consider the mountain as sacred and would not
let outsiders on top of it. But Babu did not give up. He stayed on there and established dialogue with
them over several local drinks. He told them that he is also an Indian and that the people from India
too worship many mountain gods. This made the Colombian Indians to relent. They have asked him to
come again and would send one of their tribes to accompany him to go up the mountain.
Babu's plan in the current trip ( He is here since december 2011) is to reach the top points of all the
twelve countries of South America including Paraguay and Uruguay whose highest points are just 814
m and 514 m. To reach Pico Neblina , the highest peak in Brazil ( 3007 m) he has to travel by boat in
the Amazon river from Manaus to reach the base of the mountain.
In his next trip, he wants to climb all the fourteen peaks above 6000 m in Argentina. He will undertake
this with his new Argentine friends and spend six months from October 2012.
Babu has spent about nine months in South America in his four trips since 2005. I asked him how he
managed the language problem. He smiled and said, " Mountains all over the world speak the same
language". They speak to him one to one when he reaches their summits. They welcome and cheer
him up and open out their hearts and soul to him. The peaks, which feel lonely and cold on top, are
thrilled with his company. That is why Babu prefers to go " solo" in climbing. He likes the privacy of his
one-to one dialogue with the summits and treasures this intimate conversation. It is pure ecstasy for
Babu who struggles for words to describe his feelings, emotions and joy. He experiences an incredible
sense of liberation and consummation.
In the picture below, he is on the Acancagua peak
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Babu does more than mountain talk. He also does management talk. He is a management graduate
from the Indian Institute of Management, Kolkatta. He has given lectures on leadership and
management at companies ( GE, Intel, John Deere ), professional, cultural and social organizations
and management schools In US, Dubai, Kenya and India. He was one of the speakers in the Second
International Conference on " Igniting the Genius within" organized by the Indian School of Business,
Hyderabad in 2009. The title of his talk was " Dare to live the dream". He motivates and inspires
students and managers with his impressive achievements. He tells the managers that a CEO is like the
man on the top of the mountain peak. It is lonely out there. The CEO and the climber must have the
personal courage, take the risk and stretch themselves to achieve things on their own. Business
managers can learn from the mountain climber's rational planning and risk analysis and the passion
which overrides reason and carries them beyond the perceived physical limit. Managers can plan and
reach the base camp but it is the leaders who make the ascent to the summit. A bit of craziness is
needed from the last base camp to the peak.
Babu has a solid technological background too. He has got a BE in Electrical Engineering from NIT
Jamshedpur and a MTech in Electronics from IIT Kharagpur. He had worked as a software engineer
with Satyam for three years.
Babu should be one of the most highly qualified mountain climbers in the world. With his tech and
management skills, Babu has added a new mental dimension to the physical world of mountain
climbing. His perspectives and expressions are obviously different from those of the normal climbers.
It is with this special combination that Babu is going to make a difference in his books, which he will
publish soon.
Babu has climbed mountains in other parts of the world and has in fact a Guinness record for having
climbed the seven summits of the world in 172 days in 2006. This included the Vinson Massif peak (
4887 m) in Antarctica. This was one of the toughest challenges for him due to the extreme cold. But
he enjoyed the view from the top savoring the unforgettable view of the immense white snow and ice
touching the clear blue sky all around.
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In the picture below Babu is on the precarious slope of Sajamas peak in Bolivia
Babu's achievement of conquest of the highest peaks of the world is commendable considering the
fact that he comes from a humble farming family in the rice belt of Nellore in Andhra Pradesh. He
could have climbed the corporate ladders with his management and tech degrees and personal drive
and energy. But he opted to climb the mountains and pursue his passion for adventure.
Babu's website http://www.1stindian7summits.com
Babu has taken to photography too. Here is his foto of the magical Titicaca lake of Bolivia with its
floating reed islands. This is the world's highest altitude lake.
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Babu's mountain venture into South America is going beyond the peaks. He has found more than
mountains here. He has started liking the region and the people. He is fascinated by the diverse
geography, landscape, scenaries and climates. He likes specially Argentina, which has mountains,
snow, plains and beaches. He finds the Latinos warm, hospitable, charming and friendly. He feels at
home and happier in their company and admires their free spirit. He has already made many friends
here. He has learnt Spanish and enjoys the long conversations with the talkative Latinos. He does not
eat red meat but enjoys the red malbec wine of Argentina. Latino music and dance fascinate him.
Babu is planning to make several visits to the region and have a longer association.
Aha...another innocent Indian victim of the seductive Latin America...
and another one adding to his signature...passionate about Latin America....
I asked Babu, an eligible bachelor of 37 years, how he has managed not to be captured by the
enchanting Latino girls. He smiled again but this time it was mischievous with a glint in his eyes. He
took a deep breath and said, " Hmmm... You are right. The Latinas are irresistible. It requires a
mountain of determination to resist their spell ". Then the smile vanished. His look became intense
and distant. His voice became serious when he said, " The mountains do not let me. I have still more
to climb". He stopped talking. His gaze went up. It looked as though he was in a trance. He was
already climbing the mountain, in his mind.
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One can change the spouse... but not one´s football club
These were the words used by my Argentine friends when they baptized me as the Fan of Boca
Juniors team.
In the first few months of my arrival in Buenos Aires, the most important question I faced was not on
the nuclear or climate change issue but, “Are you going to be a Boca or River?” The rivalry between
Boca Juniors and Riverplate teams is one of the most intense in the world. Even marriages and
friendships are built or broken on the issue of loyalty to the team which passes from generation to
generation.
The match between the two teams in the Boca stadium La Bombonera is an unforgettable Argentine
experience. I kept my neutrality until I fell into the trap of Francisco, the vice president of the IndoArgentine chamber of commerce and a Boca fan. He offered to take me to La Bombonera and
arranged the best seat. But when I was about to sit, he said very loudly, “This seat is only for the Boca
fans who are ready to live and die for the team. Are you ready to take the oath of loyalty to Boca and
be a fan through victories and defeats?” With hundreds of excited and fierce fans staring at me, I had
no choice but to say “I do”. Then the ritual started. I was made to jump up and down with Boca songs.
I was indoctrinated with stories of the illegitimate ancestry of Riverplate players and the most
appropriate ( really inappropriate..) words to describe them. They put a Boca shirt on me and said,
“You can change wives but not this shirt!” In South America, marital infidelity is forgiven but not
football disloyalty. So I am now with the Boca shirt. My friends from River have vowed never to
forgive me and are planning to petition the government of India to send a River fan as the next
ambassador.
Boca vs River super classic
According to the Observer newspaper of UK, one of the fifty sport events one should watch in life is a
super classic game between Boca Juniors and Riverplate teams of Argentina. In fact, this event is the
top in the list of fifty. I have watched this twice at the stadium of Boca called as La Bombonera.
More than the game, the most exciting thing to watch is the Boca fans. The stadium, packed with
61,000 spectators, is a riot of colour, noise and energy. There is almost non-stop singing, drum
beating, throwing of paper rolls and insults hurled at River. The Boca fans call themselves as the
number 12 (La doce), which means they are the twelfth player.
La Bombonera vibrates when the fans start to jump in rhythm..They say "La Bombonera no tiembla.
Late" ("the Bombonera does not tremble. It beats.")
The fans, irrespective of their ages get into a frenzy and are transformed into totally different
creatures inside the stadium. Grandmother, father and kids together shout the most abusive and
colourful words together against River players and the coach. It might be more appropriate to call it
as a game of "Putas" (bitch), since it is the word most used with many prefixes and suffixes. There are
so many songs praising Boca and damning River.
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The rivalry between Boca and River Plate is the most intense in Argentine football and, perhaps, in the
whole of Latin America. There is no equivalent even in Brazil, where the rivalry is dispersed among
many teams unlike the intense bipolar rivalry between Boca and River which divides the whole
country vertically.
La Bombonera (means chocolate box) stadium in La Boca area of Buenos Aires is like chocolate boxes
stacked up together.
Boca fans are more from the working class while River has an affluent fanbase, hence their nickname,
Los Millionarios (millionaires). Boca Juniors claims to be the club of "half plus one" ("la mitad mas
uno") of Argentina's population, but a 2006 survey placed its following at 40% of the population, still
the largest share.
Maradona, who had played for Boca has a special balcony in the stadium and whenever he is there, a
banner says " El Juancitoestapresente".
Boca and River have played 184 games so far. Boca has won 68times, River 61 times and rest were
draws.
Football fidelity: An Indian diplomat’s dilemma
I applauded and cheered when Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, the three countries of my
accreditation as India’s ambassador, qualified for the World Cup quarter finalsin South Africa. But this
diplomatic honour had come under challenge from the football rivalry of the three countries.
The Argentines said that since I was resident in Buenos Aires I had no option but to cheer for the blue
and white stripes. The Uruguayans told me not to forget their country which won the first World Cup
in 1930 beating Argentina. They went on to win a second cup in Rio de Janeiro in 1950, defeating the
Brazilian team and shocking the 52 million noisy Brazilians into silence.
The Paraguayans said that as an Indian diplomat I should show more solidarity with the underdog and
should not be on the side of superpowers. Paraguay had beaten Brazil 2-0 and Argentina 1-0 in this
World Cup qualifiers. While I faced these three corner shots, there comes another one. ¨Don’t be a
traitor,¨ shouted my amigos from Brazil where I had spent four memorable years.
In this supercharged atmosphere of no-holds barred rivalry, I found the only way to survive was to
practice the old-world diplomacy. In the olden days, much before people got into Twitter troubles,
there was a saying, “a diplomat is someone who thinks twice before saying nothing”.
World Cup time in South America is low season for work and business. My Argentine colleagues in the
embassy had converted the office into a sports bar stocking it with the essential liquid and solid
necessities to last for a month. Conveniently for them, the game timings were 8.30 a.m., 11 a.m. and
3.30 p.m. Argentine time. The game watching was preceded by an hour of preparations and followed
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by two hours of analysis, celebration or singing of sad Tangos. The Argentines advised the Indian staff
“In Argentina, do as the Argentines do.”
This was the time of “sonrisa de esperanza y sollozo de pasion” (smile of hope and cry of passion), as
the Tango of Carlos Gardel says. It was an exciting and unique experience to be in this part of the
world during the world cup. There was just no escape from the media frenzy and public fever with
non-stop debates and analysis. The 40 million Argentines become judges, prosecutors, critics and
umpires at the same time. One of the hot topics of debate was on the freedom given to the Argentine
team members to have sex during the World Cup, the only one among the 32 teams which had got
this unique privilege.
One cannot talk about football without a reference to Maradona, who scored with the “Hand of God”
and was the irrepressible coachfor the 2010 world cup. Sociologists say the best way to understand
Argentina is through an understanding of Maradona, who has gone through ups and downs like the
country itself. When asked by the media, “what will you do if Argentina wins the World Cup?”, he
said, “I will run naked around the Obelisk monument”.
It is not only the footballers who use provocative vocabulary. Even Argentine diplomacy sometimes
adds colour to the drab world of the excellencies. In 1990, Guido di Tella, the Argentine foreign
minister, said Argentina had “carnal relations” with the US…and the American diplomats did not know
what to make of it!
Maradona… oh… Maradona
¨Maradona…oh…Maradona… with the fire in your belly and strength in your nerves..you will come
back to succeed¨. This was the Bengali song of Mokam band with which Maradona was welcomed in
Kolkata in December 2008. The god-denying ideologues and men of dialectical materialism of Kolkatta
made exception and worshipped and treated him as a god. Overwhelmed by the ovation, Maradona
said, ¨ I thought there were no more surprises left in my life but my visit to Kolkata has changed that".
Maradona is, of course, god to some diehard Argentine fans who have set up a Church of Maradona,
with its own Ten Commandments and tens of thousands of international followers. He is worshipped
as D10S, which combines his shirt number ten and Dios, which means God in Spanish. The
autobiography of Maradona is the Bible. Those who helped him are apostles and his adversaries are
heretics. Having gone through glorification, crucification and resurrection, Maradona´s story fits the
legendary requirements for a new religion!
While Maradona has the feet of magic and the ¨Hand of God¨, his mouth is known for verbal shots
and colourful vocabulary. He said,¨ Only Dalma and Gianina are my legitimate children. The others are
children born out of money or mistake¨. About the strikers who get the ball near the goal area but fail
to put it in, he says it is like dancing with a sister.
His autobiography (published in 2004) is like a canvas of his emotion and passion. The book is like the
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history of Argentina itself. Both the man and the country had seen memorable days of glory and
forgettable times of infamy. Boom and bust… ups and downs..
His story of rise from poverty to fame is like that of Evita, the goddess of Argentine masses. At the age
of ten, he was spotted by a talent scout who got him into the junior team of Argentinos Juniors. As a
twelve year old ball boy, he amused spectators by showing his wizardry with the ball during the
halftime intermissions of first division games. From there he rose to become one of the greatest
footballers.
Maradona´s moment of glory was the 1986 world cup and his Goal of the Century. From that peak, he
plunged into ignominious bottom with drugs and scandals. He was banned from playing for fifteen
months. He came back and joined the world cup team in 1994 and scored a great goal against Greece.
But thereafter he was sent back in disgrace after failing the dope test. Then he got into serious
problems of drug addiction, became massively overweight and suffered serious health problems.
After near death scare, he was admitted to a rehabilitation centre in Cuba where he recovered. He
came back and reinvented himself as a TV host and in 2008 became the coach of the Argentine team.
He was fired after the poor performance of the Argentine team in the 2010 World Cup-
Football is more than a game
Football is not just a game in Latin America. It is a passion… a religion… and a faith. It is the common
language of the region. Most weekends there is football to go with friends, watch on the TV and rest
of the time get into or watch on TV the eternal debate about the players, coaches and their
performances and failures.
Brazil has won the World Cup five times and has played in every world cup. Pele is considered as the
all-time best in football history although the Argentines dispute this angrily. Brazil has got over
thousand teams spread over its 27 provinces. But Rio and Sao Paulo teams are the wealthiest and
attract national attention. Flamengo from Rio has the largest number of fans.
Argentina has won the world cup twice. The Argentines consider Maradona as the greatest player of
the world.
An interesting fact is that Uruguay, the small country sandwiched between the two giant neighbours
has won two Wold Cups first by beating Brazil and the second by beating Argentina in the finals. In the
very first World Cup held in 1930, Uruguay won by beating Argentina in the finals 4–2 in front of a
crowd of 93,000 people in Montevideo and in doing so became the first nation to win the World Cup.
In the 1950 World Cup held in Rio de Janeiro Uruguay pulled off a surprise win beating Brazil 2-1 in
the finals and breaking the heart of all the Brasilians who were so confident of the victory of their
team. It was even sadder for the Brazilians because this was the first World Cup held in the brand new
Maracana stadium. The Brazilians still remember this as a national tragedy and call it as
¨Maracanazo¨. Uruguay also won in two of the Olympics. was considered as the best team in the
world in the 1920s. Uruguay has the distinction of having had the first black man as captain of its
team in 1948.
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In the 2010 World Cup all the four countries of Mercosur namely Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and
Paraguay had qualifed for the quarter finals.
The fierce rivalry between Argentina and Brazil is legendary. It is somewhat similar to the India vs
Pakistan in cricket. The game between the two countries is a thrilling event to watch. The two
countries have played 67 times against each other. Argentina has won 34 times and Brazil 33 times.
They drew in 23 games.
Football in Latin America has also lead to what is called as the ¨Soccer War¨ between Honduras and El
Salvador in 1969. The two countries met in a series of qualifying matches for the 1970 FIFA World Cup
that June. The first game was played on June 6 in Tegucigalpa and resulted in a 1-0 Honduran victory.
This was followed on June 15 by a game in San Salvador which El Salvador won 3-0. Both games were
surrounded by riot conditions and open displays of extreme national pride. The actions of the fans at
the matches ultimately gave name to the conflict that would occur in July. On June 26, the day before
the deciding match was played in Mexico (won 3-2 by El Salvador), El Salvador announced that it was
severing diplomatic relations with Honduras and declared war. The war lasted from 14 to 18 July
when a ceasefire was arranged by the Organization of American States.During the conflict,
approximately 250 Honduran soldiers were killed as well as around 2,000 civilians. Combined
Salvadoran casualties numbered around 2,000.
Football was also used as part of the leftist guerilla tactic once. In 1980 sixteen armed M-19 guerillas
seized the embassy of Dominican Republic in Bogota and held a number of foreign diplomats hostage
for a month: They released them later after a million dollar ransom. The guerillas had gained entry
into the embassy through football. They played football in the street in front of the embassy and
kicked the ball inside the embassy compound. When the gate was opened to give the ball back, they
quickly ran inside the embassy with guns and took everyone inside the embassy as hostages.
There was another incident when football passion of the guerillas lead to their death. This happened
in 1997 when Tupac Amaru guerillas held diplomats hostage for 126 days in the residence of the
Japanese ambassador in Lima in 1997. In the course of the long drawn holding of hostages the
guerillas started playing football inside the compound. This was a fatal let up. One day when the
guerillas were playing football, obviously leaving their weapons outside the pitch, the commandos
burst in and killed all of them at one go.
President Evo Morales of Bolivia is an avid football player and continues to play even as President. He
plays at least once a week. When he went for the inaugural ceremony of the new President of Chile in
March 2010 he played a friendly match against the Chileans.
La Paz, the capital of Bolivia at an altitude of 3600 meters is where the Bolivians take delight in
beating the Latin American champions such as Argentina and Brazil. In the last World Cup qualifying
match they beat Argentina 6-1 in April 2009 and beat Brazil 2-1 in October 2009.
Sometimes the players are attacked for non-performance. In the 1994 World Cup Colombia lost to
USA 1-2 thanks to a self goal by Andres Escobar. He was gunned down after his return from the
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tournament in Medellin. In the court it was said that the killer fired six shots, shouting ¨Goal¨
between each shot.
The only pity of Latin American football is that all the best players go off to play in the lucrative
European clubs. One gets to see in Latin America only those players who are aspiring to go to Europe,
those who have retired from European football and the mediocre ones. Brazil and Argentina are the
top exporters of football players. In 2010 Argentina exported 2204 players who got 425 million Euros
while Brazil exported 1674 players for 326 million Euros. The average age of the exported players are
14-19. Italy and Spain are the main destination of exports. It is easier in the case of these two
countries which allow dual nationality. These two countries along with Holland, France, Germany and
England account for 82 percent of the exports.
Each football club has its loyal fans. It is said that one can change the spouse but not the football
team. The Latin Americans turn into totally different creatures in the stadium. They curse the
opponents with the choicest abuses. I have seen grandmothers, sons and grand children using the
same abusive language freely without any restraint. They celebrate the victories with unlimited
exuberance. The fans of the teams are separated in the stadium and are escorted by police in many
cases while going to the stadium and leaving. Some of the fan clubs have organized themselves as
spectacles rather than spectators. They play drums and put up all kinds of shows in the stadium.
Sometimes they get into fights with fans of other clubs. They are feared by their own teams as much
as the rivals. When their team does not perform well, they march into dressing rooms and shout and
intimidate the players. The Corinthian fans called as Gavioes de Fiels (faithful of the Hawks) of Sao
Paulo once ambushed and attacked the bus in which their team was returning after a defeat.
Given the amount of money, large number of fans and the public profile, the football clubs have been
politicized inevitably. The elections to the Presidency of the clubs are fought fiercely. Some such as
Mauricio Macri, the mayor of Buenos Aires city and a Presidential candidate, had used the position of
presidency of clubs to get public profile and enter into politics. Macri was the President of Boca
Juniors.
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Cafe con piernas ( coffee with legs )
While walking around in the centre of the city of Santiago, capital of Chile, one can see a pair of sexy
legs through the glass windows of some cafes. Man cannot resist. You walk in. oops! What do you
see... more than legs…pretty young chicas (girls in spanish) dressed 0.1 percent. They smile, welcome
you and take you to your seat. They ask what coffee you will have. They mean strong or weak. The
coffee comes in. But the man takes about an hour to finish it. He is not in a hurry. He feasts his eyes
seeing the legs. He listens to the soft music and relaxes. But it is just coffee. Nothing more. No
alcohol..no nothing. These cafes are called as "cafe con piernas" meaning "coffee with legs ". These
are proper, decent places and not something seedy. This is a Chilean invention and is not found in
other Latin American countries. Perhaps they have invented this to refute the general criticism that
Chileans are less Latinos in spirit. They are more European and do not fit in the typical Latino
characteristics. The official explanation is that these cafes animate the tired and exhausted men who
come there for a break and send them back to work or home in better spirit. There are several dozens
of Café con Piernas in downtown Santiago. Café Baron Rojo claims to be a leader among cafes con
piernas and a place of encounter for business executives and artists. It has become an obligatory
tourist stop in Santiago.
In Sao Paulo, there is a famous cafe called as "cafe foto". Don’t get dressed up for the photos while
taking coffee. There is neither coffee nor photo there. It is the best night club of Brasil with 50-60
gorgeous garotas (girls - in portuguese). There are a few such other cafes in the city which are more
intoxicating and addictive than coffee. There are a number of customers in these cafes with special
cards like the frequent flier miles cards.
Coffee is used to describe the colour of the skin of people in Latin America
coffee colour means blacks
milkcolour is whites
coffee with milk is mixture of whites, blacks and browns
so we from India come under the category of "cafe con leche" (coffee with milk) colour.
There are many Latin Americans who are café con leche in colour.
Coffee is the drink of all classes of people of Latin America, unlike in India where coffee is the drink of
the rich people. In many offices, shops and businesses, coffee is kept for free self service.
In cafes, when you order coffee, the waiter will ask you..what coffee? Negro, marron oscuro, marron
claro, cafe con leche, cortado, carioca or lagrima. So many varieties depending on the strength,
proportion of milk and colour. Negro is black coffee. In fact in most places including after dinner at
parties they serve black coffee. Marron is stronger than coffee with milk. Cortado, popular in
Argentina is expresso cut with steamed milk and this is my favourite. Lagrima is just a spot of coffee in
lot of milk.
In Sao Paulo "cafe carioca" means weak coffee. It is the way of paulistas (people of Sao Paulo) making
fun of the easygoing people of Rio de Janeiro who are called as Cariocas. The other comment about
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Cariocas is that their week starts on Tuesday and ends on Thursday. Do you know what paulistas say
that the Christ in Corcovado is stretching his arms for? He´s waiting for any carioca to do any kind of
work, so that he can clap...
After you tell what kind of coffee you want, the waiter will ask what size? Small, medium or large?.
They have a beautiful way of saying small coffee in Brazil as Cafezinho. It means little coffee. In the
Spanish speaking latin America they say, ¨Cafecito¨ - which also means little coffee. One of my
favourite books is called as " A cafecito story " written by Julia Alvarez from Dominican Republic. It is
based on the real life story of her husband, an American who developed an organic coffee plantation
and helped the small coffee farmers of Dominican Republic. Juan Luis Guerra the famous salsa singer
from Dominica Republic has a song called as ¨ojala que llouve café..¨ - means ¨hopefully there will be
a rain of coffee.
Cafés are more than coffee shops in Buenos Aires. They are part of the cultural and social tradition of
this elegant city. There are many cafes which are legendary. There are famous cafes frequented by
Borges, Cortazar and other poets and writers of Argentina. Borges was known as a Man of Cafes. Even
other Latin American and European writers when they came to stay in Buenos Aires used to meet and
write in these cafes. In these cafes, they have plaques which say that so and so used to sit in this chair
and use the table for writings. Some of the cafes in Buenos Aires are featured in the poems and
novels of Argentine and Latin American writers. Some cafes of Buenos Aires hold Tango shows, poetry
readings and meetings with authors. Some old cafes have bookshops and of course, some of the new
bookshops have cafes.
The Buenos Aires cafes have combined the Parisian café culture with the Spanish tradition of Tertulia
where men talk, play cards and hold literary gatherings. In Buenos Aires the coffee is served with a
separate glass of sparkling water and a small piece of cake.
Café is as much for social interaction as for those who seek refuge there alone. People sit in the cafes
day and night reading books, newspapers and magazines or writing books.
Café Tortoni in Avenida Mayo is a famous Café where eminent literary personalities used to meet and
hold events. This was founded in 1858. Now it has become a tourist destination. Tourists queue up to
have a café there even now. This was frequented by the Nicaraguan poet Ruben Dario among others.
Besides hosting literary meetings and tango shows the Café also holds painting exhibitions and has
billiard games. The Mexican poet Octavio Paz described it as a place ¨famous for its mirrors, its gilded
fittings, its enormous cups of chocolate and its literary ghosts.¨
Café La Biela is the most fashionable café in recent years. Racing car enthusiasts used to frequent this
in the forties. Now it is the haunt of celebrities, actors, models and wealthy divorcees. Borges and
Bioy Casares used to sit in this café and wrote a joint detective novel. The café was bombed by leftist
guerilla groups in the seventies.
Some of the other famous cafes are: Café Tabac, Café La Paz and La Antigua Perla del Once. Café de
Los Angelitos was the haunt of Carlos Gardel, the famous Argentine singer.
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In Brasil, breakfast is called as " Cafe de da Manha " which literally means morning coffee. Many
people have just coffee and pao de queijo (cheese bread which comes in the form of small balls in
Brazil). In Argentina many people have just coffee with a couple of croissants for breakfast.
The politics of Sao Paulo state of Brasil in the eighteenth century was described as "cafe con leite"
(coffee with milk) politics. It was a period of struggle for power between the rural landlords who
owned thousands of acres of lands of coffee and sugar plantations and cattle ranches who produced
coffee and milk and the emerging urban industrial and business class who processed, traded and
exported and made more money than the producers.
It was the coffee export economy that created the deep divisions between the privileged elite and
impoverished rural masses and caused revolutions in central America even as late as the 1980s.The
Coffee dynasties of Costa Rica, El Salvador and Nicaragua held political power during much of the
nineteenth and twentieth century’s. The period from 1880 to 1930 was the golden age of the coffee
elite in central america. In 1895 majority of the national legislators of of El Salvador were coffee
growers. At the turn of twentieth century, coffee was the primary export, the foundation of wealth,
the determinant of social status and the arbiter of political power in most of central america.
Guatemala was known as the "Coffee Republic" as it depended upon coffee exports as the main
source of foreign exchange. These days the emigrants bring more dollars than coffee.
Coffee is the most important cash crop of Latin America which produced 70 million bags (60 kgs) out
of the world production of 120 million bags in 2009. The region accounts for 60 percent of the world
trade in coffee. Brazil is the largest producer in the world accounting for 39.5 million bags. No
wonder, Frank Sinatra sang
Way down among Brazilians
Coffee beans grow by the billions
So they've got to find those extra cups to fill
They've got an awful lot of coffee in Brazil
Colombia is the second largest producer with 8.5 million bags. The Colombians have done a good job
of global marketing of their coffee and established their brand Juan Valdez. Coffee with the aroma of
woman (Café, con aroma de mujer) was a Colombian soap opera popular in the nineties. It is the story
of women who work in coffee plantations.
Brazil and Colombia account for 39 percent of the world trade in coffee. In the case of Colombia,
coffee was the main export commodity in the past but now petroleum and manufactures have
overtaken coffee which accounts for just 5 percent of total exports. Coffee is an important source of
foreign exchange for El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Honduras.
In tune with the café culture of Latin America I introduced "Cafe con Visa" (coffee with visa) in the
Indian embassies in Venezuela and Argentina. The visa applicants are invited for coffee and by the
time they finish the coffee, visa is made ready. I have named the visasection of the embassy in Buenos
Aires as ¨café con visa¨ and this can be seen in the website of the embassy www.indembarg.org.ar
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El ultimo café (the last coffee) is a famous Argentine poem the ending of which reads as..
Llovia, te ofreci, el último café
Means
It was raining… and I offered you the last café.
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La vida es un carnaval ( life is a carnival )
La vida es un carnaval is a famous song by Celia Cruz, the Cuban American salsa singer
The song goes like this:
¨La vida es un carnaval… es más bello vivir cantando….¨.
(life is a carnaval… it is beautiful to live singing)
But Carnaval is life for some people in Rio de Janeiro and Salvador where people work the whole year
to make a show every year around february-march.
Carnival celebrations in Rio de Janeiro are not just mere parades or pageants. It is the time when the
Cariocas — as the locals are called — let their hair down and abandon themselves to unrestrained
hedonism. Rhythm and lyrics of Samba take possession of bodies and souls; excitement and
intoxication overtake inhibition and temperance; fantasies embolden the faint-hearted; and
adventure and audacity drive the spirit of even the mild and modest. The women participants
compete with each other in wearing the minimum. When this competition lead to complete nuditiy,
there was backlash and a ban on complete nudity. Valeria Vanessa a model who used to parade naked
later got converted to an evangelical protestant and became a fierce critic of carnival itself calling it as
a sin.
Given the excitement which leads to casual sex the government distributes millions of condoms freely
to the crowds during the carnaval. The Indian companies get a good share of the contracts for the
supply.
Rich and poor, blacks and blondes, celebrities and street kids and young and old come together in the
collective carnival delirium. The poor man is king. The rich mingle with the servants. Men dress as
women and vice versa. Racial, class, gender and other barriers come down in the collective delirium.
While Carnival is celebrated all over Brazil, it is the Rio carnival that has fired the imagination of the
world with television images of the explosion of colour and costumes and fiesta and frolic. It is
undoubtedly the biggest show on earth and the most elaborate extravaganza.
The scale and lavishness of the parades are unmatched elsewhere in the world. About 70,000
costumed people march, sing and dance in parade for about 20 hours on Sunday and Monday nights
of the Carnival week.
While the official carnival calendar is for four days, the Cariocas stretch the celebrations to a whole
fortnight.
The carnival comes in February-March each year and the preparations and rehearsals start from
November itself. The main parades take place in the specially built stadium called as Sambadrome
which has 65,000 seats. It was designed by the famous Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer.
The top 14 Samba clubs compete over two days (Sunday and Monday) of the carnival. There are
about 70 samba clubs in Rio of which only the top ones get to perform at the main parades. Their
league ranking and rivalries are like those of football clubs with premier and second divisions. Each
club has a contingent ranging from 3,000 to 5,000 participants — the parade singing, dancing to the
theme song and choreography in coordinated fancy costumes form a fabulous human tapestry of
colours and movements. Professionals known as Carnavalescos organize, design and direct the
performances of each samba school.
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Each year the schools choose a theme and a song, based on which they design the costumes and
floats. There are six to eight huge floats in the contingent of each club. Each school takes 80 minutes
to march from one end of the Sambadrome to the other. Prizes are awarded to the best group and
there is a winner's parade on the following Saturday. Besides members and fans of the clubs,
celebrities and models join the parade, adding glamour to the parade and publicity to themselves.
The parade starts at 8 p.m. and continues all night till about 6 am. Spectators join in the singing and
dancing. Beer flows freely along with Caipirinha, the Brazilian cocktail made from sugarcane liquor,
which keep the spirits high. Brahma also inspires the spiritual part of Carnival. Not the Indian god. It is
the name of a Brazilian beer.
Each samba school spends about $200,000 to $1 million in putting together the floats and the parade.
The money is raised through corporate sponsorship and sale of costumes to the participants. Each
costume can cost as much as $300. Ticket prices for the Sambadrome event range from $60 for a
simple bench seat to $600 for a box seat in exclusive cabins. Over 300,000 foreign tourists, besides
Brazilians from other cities, visit Rio during Carnival. The hotels hike their prices at this time and offer
packages of minimum four nights. While the celebrities stay in the legendary Copacabana Palace
hotel, there are plenty of hotels for different budgets, as well as apartments available on rent.
The old timers complain, justifiably, that the carnival celebration has been commercialized too much
and hijacked by financial sponsors and especially by the beer companies. They feel that the structured
and packaged sambadrome show has taken away the element of spontaneity and popular
participation. However, during the carnival fortnight, there are street parades in the different
neighborhoods in which thousands assemble and take out processions, wearing costumes and
dancing to the music of local orchestra. Visitors can join in these revelries and share the Carioca fun.
There are also small but noisy parades of gays, drag queens and other fringe groups. For high society,
there are exclusive Carnival Balls organized by hotels and clubs with champagne and caviar.
Sao Paulo city, which is three times bigger than Rio, also has impressive parades at its own
Sambadrome. The competition among its samba schools is also intensive but the Paulistas are no
match for the Cariocas in the fun and celebrations. One of the Samba groups in Sao Paulo called as
Gavioes de Fiel (faithful of the eagle) consists of the fans of Corinthians, a popular football club of the
city.
The Carnival festival in Salvador, capital of Bahia state, is considered original, authentic and
traditional. The parades are on the streets and open to participation by the public, unlike the ticketed
show at the Rio Sambadrome. Salvador, with predominantly people of African descent, is the fount of
Brazilian music and culture.
Gualeguaychu carnival
Carnival in Argentina? When I heard about it, I thought it might be an Argentine joke to make fun of
the Brazilians. When I was told that the carnival is being held in Gualeguaychu, my suspicion
deepened. May be it is a joke on native Indians as well.
But I was in for a surprise at the Gualeguaychu Carnival of 2010. I found it colourful, joyful and
impressive.
It started at 11 pm and went on till 3 pm with three groups parading in the Corsodrome (like the
150
Sambadrome in Rio) The audience joined the Carnival dancers in singing and dancing from their seats.
Champagne, wine and beer kept the spirits high and wild. The floats were big and the feathers were
colorful and the fantasy costumes were imaginative. The number of people in each parading group
was about 200, and each group paraded for about an hour.
Gualeguaychu is a small town of 100,000 people and is 300 km from Buenos Aires. The city is well
organized to hold the carnival and provide accommodation for the tourists who come from all over
Argentina besides Paraguay, Uruguay and Brazil. As in Rio, here also one cannot get hotel for onenight stay. It comes with a package of minimum 3 nights. Many camp outside the city and there are
thermal water resorts. The Carnival is held every saturday from January first week to March first
week. They have made it into a tourist industry and money maker. The Corsodrome accommodates
40,000 people and the entry tickets cost from 5 dollars to 100 dollars. They give awards to the best
group every year, like in Rio.
One group chose an Asian theme. It included chinese, indonesian and japanese floats and an Indian
one too. There was Lord Krishna, in his bluish splendor, mischievously happy in the company of the
pretty Argentine blondes dancing around the float. Ganesh and Hanuman were also there.
And now comes the inevitable question. How does it compare with the Rio Carnival, which I have seen
twice. The difference is a few millimeters. Oops..yes the dress the Argentine dancers wear is a few
millimeters bigger than those worn in Rio!!. Of course, the dress in Rio should be measured in nano
millimeters and in many cases there is nothing to measure. So the Argentine carnival can be described
as less undressed, in contrast to what the puritans call the one in Rio as...you guessed it. While the
Argentine men and women wiggled their bums vigorously, they could not match the incredible
movements of the mulattas of Brazil. The last difference is in music and dance. In Brazil it is Samba.
But in Argentina it is a mixture of pop and folk songs imitating the Samba rhythm and beat.
But what is interesting from a cultural perspective is that the Carnival brings out in Argentines joy,
gaiety and ecstasy in contrast to the sad mood evoked by Tango which is about broken heart, anguish
and melancholy. Some other cities of Argentina also have small carnival parades and celebrations.
Uruguay Carnival..for the vegetarians
Vegetarian Carnival... This is how I would describe the carnival parade I saw in Montevideo. No legs,
no breasts, no meat. It is sober, subdued and serious. Dressed and disciplined people. The show is
limited from 9 pm to 1 am.
It is in total contrast to the all-night, all-displayed, all-out and unlimited, uninhibited and undressed
exuberance and excesses of the Rio carnival.
No surprise if you know Uruguay. The Uruguayans are serious and sober people. The country was in
fact created as a buffer between the beach-loving Brazil and adventurist Argentina in the early
nineteenth century. Uruguay is moderation and modesty between the two large neighbors who are
given to extremes.
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But there is one similarity with the Brazilian carnival.There are a few people of African origin who lend
their grace and skills at the Uruguayan carnival. There was no African presence in the Gualeguachu
Carnival. It was a blonde and bland show without the people of colour. But in Uruguay there are a few
thousand Africans who stayed behind, while transiting through the Montevideo port during the days
of slave trade. One does not see them in business or government circles, since they are a tiny
minority. But they are in the forefront of the carnival. It is their show. It is they who add colour to the
festival. It is their spirit, rhythm and drums which make the carnival vibrant. Most of the parade
groups have African names such as Yambo, Sarabanda, Candongafricana, CandombeAduana,
CandomboZambo, Kindu, Curumbe and La Mazumba.
The Brazilian carnival is intense exhibition and enjoyment for one week. But in Uruguay it is an
extended leisurely get together and celebration spread over a whole month in February. Not
continuously but twice a week. The parades are called as Llamadas- meaning calls. This name comes
from the old tradition of the families calling each other to join the celebrations with singing and drum
playing.
The main parades are held in one of the streets where makeshift sitting arrangements are made on
both sides. Since it is a regular residential street, lot of people watch from their balconies and
windows. Ticket prices for the benches are nominal costing between 5 and 10 dollars. Besides the
parades there are Murgha events in which humour and satire sessions are held in theatres and streets
New year party in the Copacabana beach of Rio
The Brazilians celebrate the new year in their own unique, vibrant and colourful way. They do it at the
famous Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro.
The Copacabana New Year's Eve party is the biggest in the world, with about a million people or more
in some years..The crowd is bigger than in Sydney, New York or London.
The setting for the party is the most spectacular in the world. The four-km stretch of the copacabana
beach has the bluish Guanabara Bay on one side and the mountains rising steeply just a few hundred
metres on the other side. On top of the Corcovado Mountain on the left, the 30-metre-high Jesus
Christ opens his huge hands to embrace the people below. The majestic Sugarloaf Mountain stands as
a breathtaking backdrop on the right side. The lights from the yachts anchored in the bay and the
illumination of the sea-front buildings form a diamond necklace around the beach.
The crowd looks like a white sea as most Brazilians wear white T-shirts and dress for good luck in the
new year. Even the flowers exchanged on that day are mostly white.
The party picks up rhythm around seven in the evening when live bands start playing Samba, rock and
pop music from the four special stages set on different parts of the beach. Dancing is more vigorous
around the stages.
The sky over the beach turns stunning and dazzling with the fireworks at midnight. About 20 tonnes of
material is fired from the boats in the bay. This is echoed by the cascade fireworks from the
Copacabana Fort on one side and the Meridian Hotel, the tallest building in the beach, on the other
side.
The New Year party is different from the Carnival celebrations, which are on the wilder side. The
venue of the main Carnival parades is the Sambadrome, a special stadium built for the purpose.
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People need to buy tickets, costing around $75, to watch the parades. But the Copacabana beach
party on New Year is open and free, and people join spontaneously. More than 100,000 foreign
tourists join the celebrations.
A religious dimension is added to the celebrations by the Afro-Brazilians who assemble in the beach
early in the evening to pray to their patron saint and Goddess of Sea — Eemanja, for her blessings for
the new year. They get together in small groups and offer flowers, fruits, liquor and sweets to the
statues of saints placed in the sand altars inside small horseshoe-shaped trenches, surrounded by
lighted candles. After the ceremony, they put the flowers and other offerings as well as lighted
candles in miniature blue sailboats and let them float on the sea. If the sailboat floats out to sea, it is
believed that Eemanjá has accepted the offerings and you will be granted protection and good
fortune in the new year. It is not a good sign if the boat returns to shore.
Brazilians eat lentil and rice on January 1, as they believe this brings good fortune in the year ahead.
Besides the big party on the beach, there are private parties in the elegant apartments facing the
beach and also in the luxurious yachts anchored in the bay. Beer flows like water at the party in the
beach. Most Brazilians prefer drinking draught beer called "Choppe". Some drink the typical Brazilian
cocktail "Caipirinha" made with cane liquor, lemon and sugar. Food and drinks are sold by vendors
present all across the beach. There are plenty of hotels on the Copacabana beach for tourists. The
hotels organize parties and serve champagne breakfast starting from 3 a.m. Tariffs, however, hit the
roof during this time as they do during the Carnival. Besides the high tariff, the hotels only sell
packages of a minimum of three nights. Among the hotels, the place of pride goes to the legendary
Copacabana Palace Hotel, which hosts Hollywood stars and the jet set.
What about the crime and violence one hears about in Rio city? Not to worry. Even the muggers and
criminals take a break and join the celebrations! After all, they are also Cariocas (the nickname given
to people of Rio de Janeiro city), for whom partying comes first, ahead of work. If you seek a business
or official appointment in December, the Cariocas will say, "let us meet after the carnival".
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Dejanos imaginar que no existe el pasado
( let us imagine that the past did not exist)
When I talk about the New Latin American market to the Indian businessmen, I quote this Latin
American song,
Déjanos imaginar
Que no existe el pasado
Y que nacimos, el mismo instante
En que nos conocimos
Lets us imagine that the past does not exist
And that we were born, when we encountered each other.
I use the word ¨New¨ to distinguish the current Latin America from the past one which was known
for military dictatorships, hyper inflation, volatile currencies and excessive external debt . Latin
America has come out of the past curses of instability, unpredictability and cycles of booms and
busts. The Indian businessmen need not waste time reading the history of the region. As a Brazilian
friend put it,¨Do not ask the Ex of your potential spouse¨. The past is no guide to the future. The
region has undergone a profound paradigm shift politically, economically and culturally. There is a
fundamental change in the markets of the countries and the mindsets the Latin Americans. The
Indian business should look at the emerging New Latin America which is stable, growing and
becoming prosperous.
The most critical change that has occurred in the region is political. Democracy has irreversibly
replaced military dictatorship in the region. The political power has shifted from the barracks and the
mansions to the streets. The masses who have become empowered elect the Presidents and
Parliaments in regular free and fair elections. Democratic institutions have taken solid roots. Policies
are no longer cooked up in the drawing rooms and implemented top-down. They are being driven by
the bottom of the pyramid. The masses, with their new-found voting power elect those who promise
to make a change in their lives, through Inclusive Development Agenda. And when the elected
Presidents do not deliver on their promises, they are removed in the next elections or even before
the end of their term in exceptional cases by mass protests. The people have become the controlling
stake- holders in democracies and this is the best insurance for the long term democratic stability of
the region.
Latin America has tamed inflation decisively and has kept it in single digit since 2003. The average
rate of inflation of the region was 6.9 % in 2011. The inflation was in four digits in some countries (
over 3000% in Argentina in 1989) even as late as the late eighties. In those days there were jokes like
the following:
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¨You can never be accurate about Latino inflation or Indian population…By the time you finish the
sentence, both would have gone up¨.
¨ On entering the bar, the Latin Americans would order three beers. They were afraid that the price
of the next beer might go up by the time they finished the last one ¨
But now the inflation is under control and predictable.
The total external debt as a percentage of GDP has declined to 19.2% in 2011 from 39.9 % in
2004. Since 2010, the bulk of the debt of the government across most of the region has been
domestic, in clear contrast to the situation in the past when external debt was more. In the case of
Brazil, the ratio of external debt to GDP in 2011 was just 12.8% while for Mexico it was 18.3%,
Colombia-21.3%, Peru-23.8%, Venezuela- 28.6%, Argentina- 31.5%, and Chile- 40.9%. The highest is in
the case of Nicaragua, which is 56.7% but even this is very low in comparison to that of USA and
many European countries. The total external debt of Latin American and Caribbean stood at 1.03
trillion dollars in July 2011. Brazil's debt was 291 bn $, Mexico-206 bn, Argentina-133 bn and Chile- 98
bn.
The governments have paid off their major external debts and there are no more¨ IMF-cases¨ in the
region. Brazil and Argentina paid their debts to IMF ahead of schedule in 2005. Brazil has become a
creditor to IMF now! In the olden days Latin American governments used to tremble when even
junior officials of IMF visited their countries. Now it is the reverse. When the Executive Director of
IMF Christine Lagarde visited Brasilia in December 2011, it was she who was trembling and not
President Dilma. It was the IMF which requested Brazil to lend funds for the rescue of Europe. While
considering this request, the Brazilian government put two conditions: IMF should reform itself and
the Europeans should be advised to exercise fiscal discipline. What an irony! In the past it was IMF
which used to put conditionalities while lending to Brazil. These days the governments and
companies of Latin America have been successfully raising resources through issue of bonds in local
currencies. Domestic saving rates in the region have started going up and there is a conscious
determination to avoid reliance on external resources.
The currencies and exchange rates have become more stable and predictable. Many currencies
including Brazilian Real and Chilean Peso have been appreciating in recent years.
Foreign Exchange Reserves of the region have been steadily increasing from 163 billion dollars in
2001 to 761 billion in October 2011.Brazil's forex reserves were the highest with 353 billion dollars
followed by Mexico-141 bn, Peru- 49 bn, Argentina-48 bn, Chile- 39 bn and Colombia-33 bn.
The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) reached a record level of 130 billion dollars in 2011 jumping
from 75 billion in 2010. Brazil attracted 81 billion dollars in 2011 from 37 billion dollars in 2010. FDI
in Mexico reached 9.8 billion dollars in 2011 from 6.2 billion dollars in 2010. Peru was the third
largest destination of FDI with 7.3 billion dollars in 2011. Chile received 5.9 billion dollars, Argentina 3.9 billion, Venezuela -3.6 billion dollars and Colombia 2.6 bn. It is noteworthy that Costa Rica had
attracted 1.76 billion dollars of FDI in 2011 and had consistently been receiving over one billion
dollars of annual FDI since 2006. Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Panama are the other small
countries which have also been receiving over one billion dollars of annual FDI in recent years.
155
Companies from Brazil, Mexico, Chile and Argentina are also investing in other countries of the region
as well as outside the region. Chilean firms invested over 6 billion $ abroad in 2010. Cumulative total
foreign investment of Brazilian companies is about 87 billion dollars. JBS and Brazil foods of Brazil
have become global leaders in meat and chicken industries.
Another notable feature of the Latin American growth story is the large young population of the
region. This is being leveraged by IT and BPO sectors which are growing rapidly.
The Latin American policy makers have become more prudent and disciplined and do not indulge in
adventurism and experiments as they used to do in the past. A clear evidence of this is the fact that
the fiscal accounts of Latin America will close 2011 with a primary surplus of 0.3%. Last year they had
a deficit of 0.3%. The overall deficit has declined from 2.9 % of GDP in 2003 to 1.5% in 2011. Most
countries have reduced their deficits, transformed them into surpluses, or expanded existing
surpluses.
Five countries namely Chile, Mexico, Brazil, Peru and Panama have been upgraded in recent years to
investment grade by the Sovereign Rating Agencies. Uruguay and Colombia are the next candidates
for Investment Grading.
Latin America and the Caribbean in the period 2003 -2011( source- ECLAC )
2003 2004
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
2011
GDP growth
1.8
5.8
4.6
5.6
5.6
4
-2
5.9
4.3
Inflation
8.5
7.4
6.1
5
6.5
8.2
4.6
6.2
6.9
Gross External Debt as % of
GDP
39.8
39.9
34.4
25.1
19.7
17.5 20.3
20
Forex reserves bn$
FDI in bn $
Exports in bn $
Imports in bn $
198
40
392
354
226
51
484
430
262
57
583
510
319
32
698
608
459
94
785
723
512
100
906
866
655
75
891
846
567
70
702
652
19.2
761
130
1097
1038
With this strong foundation of macroeconomic fundamentals, the Latin American and Caribbean GDP
has been growing since 2003. The region is projected to grow by 3.7% in 2012 despite the ongoing
crisis in Europe, uncertain outlook in US and the slow down of Asia. South America is expected to
grow by 3.9% and Central America by 3.5%.The highest growth is projected for Panama (6.5%)
followed by Peru and Ecuador at 5% each. Brazil is expected to grow by 3.5%, Mexico by 3.3%,
Argentina by 4.8%, Colombia by 4.5%, Chile by 4.2% and Venezuela by 3%. El Salvador has the lowest
growth projection of 2%.
The provisional GDP growth of LAC in 2011 is estimated to be 4.3%. South America had grown
by 4.6% and Central America by 4.1%. Panama had the highest growth of 10.5%. Argentina grew at
a Chinese rate of 9%, in 2011 after its impressive 9.2% growth in 2010. Brazil, the largest Latin
American market grew by 2.9% while the second largest market, Mexico grew by 4%. Colombia had
156
increased its growth to 5.5% in 2011 from 4.3% in 2010. Peru had grown by 7% in 2011, down from
8.8% in 2010. Chile had increased its growth to 6.3% in 2011 from 5.2% in 2010. Venezuela
recovered from its recession in 2009 and 2010 and showed positive growth of 4.2% in 2011.
The main driver for the growth is the domestic demand from the upwardly mobile masses. Ten
percent of the population of Latin America have been pulled out from below the poverty line in the
last decade. Given the pro-poor policies of the governments across the region, more poor people are
joining the middle class. The high global demand and prices of commodities is also an important
component for the region’s growth.
The economies of the region have become more resilient and less vulnerable to external shocks. This
was evident from the way in which the region withstood the global crisis of 2008-9 with only
moderate adverse impact. The region did not face any financial crisis following the global financial
meltdown. There was not a single case of banks or financial institutions going bust in the region,
unlike what happened in US and Europe. The governments are now better prepared to face external
shocks. This has been noted by IMF, World Bank and other international institutions who have
praised the new discipline and prudence of policy makers in the region.
South America sees a promising future for itself as a supplier of energy and food to the world which is
increasingly concerned with energy and food security. The discoveries of large reserves of off-shore
oil in Brazil, shale gas reserves in Argentina and increase in the exploration and production of oil and
gas as well as biofuels has given South America a bigger role in the global energy scenario. South
America is increasing the area and production of food grains to meet the increasing global demand.
The region has lot of surplus arable land, abundant water resources and has the technological and
commercial ecosystem to be an Agricultural Powerhouse.
The stability of the economies of individual countries has been reinforced by the regional integration
through Mercosur, Andean Community, UNASUR and SICA. Through these groups, barriers have been
removed for free movement of goods, services, capital and people and there is growing intraregional
trade and investment. Latin America is the destination of 20% of the exports of the region in
comparison to European Union which accounts only for 14 % of the Latin American exports. For
example, Argentina exports 40 percent of its products to other countries of Latin America while USA
and Europe together account only for 24% of their exports. Latin America is the destination of 62% of
the exports of Bolivia. Even in the case of Mexico, their exports to Latin America is more than their
exports to European Union.
Latin America, with its 20 countries is a market of 4.8 trillion dollars of GDP, population of 556 million
and per capita income of 8600 US Dollars. To this, one must add the 40- million strong Hispanic
communities in USA which has more economic power than Argentina, the third largest market of
Latin America.
Brazil has become the fifth largest economy in 2011. With GDP of 2.1 trillion dollars, Brazil has
overtaken Britain and France earlier than predicted by Goldman Sachs.
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The following table gives an overview of the markets of Latin American countries:
Grouping
Country
Population
(millions)
Mercosur
Argentina
Brazil
Paraguay
Uruguay
Special member
Andean Community
Venezuela
Bolivia
Colombia
Ecuador
Peru
Chile
Costa Rica
Guatemala
Honduras
Nicaragua
El Salvador
Panama
Belize
Dominican
Republic
Mexico
Associate
Central
American
Integration
System
(SICA)
NAFTA
Others
Total
Cuba
40
189
6
3.4
GDP
(bn. $)
2011
386
2060
12
42
Total Imports
(bn. $)
2011
71.1
228.4
12.2
10.5
Total exports
(bn $)
2011
85.4
256
10.5
9.8
28
10
48
14
29
17
4
14
7
6
7
3
0.3
9.5
357
20
298
60
164
202
36
25
16
7.5
22
29
1.4
51
47.1
7.6
53
23.8
37.4
69.5
15.3
15.9
10.6
5.9
9.6
22.9
0.7
17.7
90
8.3
56.9
21.8
45.3
81.6
10.1
10.7
7.5
3.7
5.4
16.1
0.6
8.2
110
1067
352.5
349.3
11
556.2
7.5
4834.4
1011.7
1077.2
Latin America is expected to be more stable and maintain the growth trajectory in the coming years.
This might be the ¨Lost Decade¨ for Europe but it is likely to be a ¨Growth Decade for Latin America.
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Resurgent Latin America swims against the current of Recurring Global crisis
¨This is the second time crisis affects the world, and for the second time Brazil is not trembling¨,
declared Brazilian President Dilma Roussef in August 2011.
“This is our time and we must help them (EU and US) solve their problems. Because when Brazil,
Paraguay and Bolivia were in trouble a group of ‘gringos’ landed every time to tell us what to do..now
it’s their turn to listen to us.. North-American and European leaders should know that a politician
should have character, I think they are lacking political initiative¨, thundered former President Lula.
"When did the American dream become a nightmare? When will USA learn to control financial
speculation, which has brought ruin on the world?¨, asked Argentine President Cristina Fernandez in
a speech at the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange in September 2011. She said, ¨The Americans thought
that money just reproduces by itself, and only in the financial sector, without having to produce any
goods or services". In 2002, the US Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill had mocked Argentina saying ,
"They like it that way. Nobody forced them to be what they are." The Argentines ask who forced USA
now?
The Latin American Schadenfreude is understandable. They used to be on the receiving end of
lectures and taunts by the Europeans and Americans in the past. They are now in a position to return
the favour.
Crisis, Debt, Default, Deficit – the bad news from US and Europe since September 2008 does not
seem to stop…. The prospects for them in the near future are not bright either. Contrast this with the
Latin American bullishness.
¨Will 2011 be the dawn of the Latin American decade?¨ is the title of the webcast by Standard and
Poors in January 2011.
¨Laying the foundation for a Latin American Decade¨, was the theme of the World Economic Forum
on Latin America held in Rio de Janeiro in April 2011.
“The decade of Latin America and the Caribbean- a real opportunity¨ is the title of the new book of
Luis Alberto Moreno, President of the Inter American Development Bank launched in July.
"This can and should be the decade for Latin America," declared Colombian President Juan Manuel
Santos during his speech on 17 August 2011 at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the
Caribbean (ECLAC) headquarters in Santiago, Chile.
¨Nuestra Hora (our time) ¨is the title of a new book by Raul Rivera who talks about the new Latin
American mindset of the Twenty First century.
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In November 2011 Brazil achieved a historic record of 5.2 % unemployment, the lowest level ever
since the Brazilian government started keeping record. The timing is ironic given the contrasting high
unemployment rates in Europe and US.
In the olden days, if US and Europe caught cold, Latin America would sneeze. Not any longer. During
the global financial meltdown of 2008-9 not a single bank or financial institution collapsed in Latin
America. The region weathered the storm without any serious damage and bounced back quickly
with an impressive GDP growth of 5.9 % in 2010.
In September 2011, the World Bank's chief economist for Latin America and the Caribbean, De la
Torre, remarked, “ Latin American economies have developed strong immune systems against global
contagion. Over the last 20 years the region has experienced a silent economic revolution that has
provided a shield against external shocks, as we have witnessed in the previous crisis and those
reforms are still in place. Latin America could absorb the financial shocks from the global turmoil
through greater exchange rate flexibility, maintaining reasonable growth rates.” The Latin American
economies have become more resilient and less vulnerable to external shocks. The policy makers are
better prepared now, after having gone through hell in the past. According to the 13 August 2011
issue of Economist, ¨they have more policy weapons available than most rich-world economies¨.
Some economists have suggested that US and Europe could learn from the experience of Latin
America which has successfully resolved their debt crisis. The title of a blog of the Washington DCbased Council on Hemispheric Affairs on 18 August is ¨Mounting Debt: the U.S. could learn from Latin
America¨. The US public debt to GDP ratio has increased from 60% in 2003 to 96%in 2010 while in the
case of Latin America the ratio of external debt to GDP has decreased from 39.9% in 2003 to 19.2% in
2011.
Of course, the region has its own challenges such as poverty, education, infrastructure, corruption,
urban crime, drug trafficking. The Latin American economies need to go further down the road of
structural reforms.
The Argentines say that they ended up in a mess after implementing the IMF prescriptions in the
eighties. After 2002, they refused to listen to IMF advice and did exactly the opposite of what they
were told. The result speaks for itself. Argentina came out of its historic crisis of 2001-2 remarkably
and has shown consistent growth since 2003 and is flourishing. The Latin Americans who transitioned
from dictatorship to democracies in the eighties were advised to follow neoliberal policies by the
Washington Consensus at that time. As a consequence, the Latin American situation became worse
and the eighties came to be known as the Lost Decade for Latin America. This triggered an anti-neo
liberal reaction and turn to the Left. Now the dominant trend is the movement towards the centre
and pragmatism shedding ideological baggages and polarization of the past. There are, of course, a
few obvious deviations.
Having seen and suffered the consequences of the prescriptions of US and Europe, the Latin
Americans no longer look up to them as role models. They are now diversifying their economic
relations and reaching out to new markets. They are inspired by the success stories of India and
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China. They want to learn from the value system of these new Gurus. In his latest book ¨Basta de
historias (enough of the past)¨, launched in Buenos Aires on 16 August 2011 in Buenos Aires, Andres
Oppenheimer, the popular columnist of Miami Herald has advised the Latin Americans to focus on
education which has unlocked the potential of countries such as India
The Latin Americans have now found their own home-made solution and their own path to
development based on their experience. They are moving towards the centre with polices of Inclusive
Development along with market-friendly approach. It is a pragmatic balance of pro-Favela (slum) and
pro-Wall Street policies as practiced by the former Brazilian president Lula. Lulaism, as some
describe, has become not only the new long term trend but also a vote winner. Ollanta Humala, the
radical leftist won the Presidential elections in Peru in June this year because of the promise that he
would follow Lulaism. In 2009, the Mujica, the ex-guerilla fighter of Uruguay won the elections by
assuring the voters that he would govern like Lula. Lulaism is also called as ¨Brasilia Consensus ¨ as
against the externally imposed ¨Washington Consensus¨.
Encouraged by the growing new strength of the Latin American economies , the leaders of the region
have become more assertive and independent. This is evident from the formation of the new
regional entity called as Community of Latin American and Caribbean States ( CELAC ) in December
2011. This consists of all the 33 countries of the region and excludes the United States and Canada.
Unlike the Washington-based Organization of American States, CELAC has Cuba as a member. This is
a historic beginning for the New Latin America which is marching to the drum beats of its own song
and to the destiny chosen by itself with confidence, vision and optimism.
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Business with Latin America
Trade
India’s trade with Latin America has gone up to US $ 25 billion in 2010 from US $ 2.6 billion in 2001.
Indian exports to the region increased from 1.5 billion dollars in 2001 to 11.6 billion in 2011 and
imports went up to US $ 13.5 billion in 2011 from 1.1 billion in 2001.
India’s trade with Latin America in billion US $.
Year
2011 2010 2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004 2003 2002 2001
India’s Exports
11.6
9
7.5
8
5
4
3.2
2
1.7
1.7
1.5
India’s Imports
13.5
14
9.7
11
6
5.2
3.1
2.3
1.9
1.7
1.1
TOTAL
25.1
23
17.2
19
11
9.2
6.3
4.3
3.6
3.4
2.6
India accounts for a small portion of the Latin American trade which was 2 trillion dollars in 2011.
Latin America exported 1097 billion dollars worth of goods and imported 1011 billion in 2010.
India – Latin American countries trade 2007-2011 in million US dollars
Year
1) Brazil
2 Venezuela
3) Mexico
4) Chile
5) Argentina
6) Colombia
7) Peru
8) Ecuador
9) Paraguay
10) Uruguay
11) Costa Rica
12) Panama
13) Honduras
14)Dominican Rep.
15)Cuba
16) Guatemala
17) El Salvador
2011
2010
2009
2008
9200
5580
3250
2180
1770
1480
750
184
7700
5400
2600
1950
2500
1070
700
212
5400
2620
2350
1320
1318
510
438
170
5700
3900
2968
2222
1328
780
550
270
152
124
109
106
64
53
52
40
34
137
83
69
68
48
43
41
29
25
107
60
58
54
40
38
30
25
22
97
84
62
45
41
36
32
27
23
2007
3300
2410
1240
2000
585
620
470
128
69
57
43
39
32
29
26
23
20
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18) Bolivia
19) Nicaragua
32
27
29
22
17
16
19
17
15
12
The Chinese trade with Latin America was 234.6 billion dollars in 2011. Chinese exports were 116.2
billion and imports were 118.4 billion.
Leading trade partners of India
Brazil is the leading trading partner of India, followed by Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Colombia.
India´s exports to Latin America
India’s exports to Latin American countries 2007-2011 in million US dollars
India exported to
1) Brazil
2 Mexico
3) Colombia
4) Argentina
5) Peru
6) Chile
7) Venezuela
8) Ecuador
9) Paraguay
10) Uruguay
11) Costa Rica
12) Panama
13) Honduras
14)Dominican Rep.
15)Cuba
16) Guatemala
17) Nicaragua
18) El Salvador
19) Bolivia
2008
2009
2010
2011
2200
1130
530
380
250
210
95
120
3600
1360
530
492
500
478
200
160
2700
1250
510
342
310
400
320
160
4240
1600
700
496
470
350
400
200
6000
2000
880
560
510
400
580
160
49
46
32
35
30
26
23
18
14
11
3
59
75
47
40
38
32
27
21
17
16
4
51
48
47
45
36
34
25
20
16
15
3
65
69
57
51
45
36
35
26
20
23
4
78
86
95
96
62
42
46
37
25
32
4
2007
Chemicals, bulk drugs, pharmaceuticals, diesel oil, automobiles, tractors, auto parts, two and three
wheelers, equipments and machinery, medical and scientific instruments, hand tools, machine tools,
163
optic fibers, blank CDs amd DVDs, tyres, electrical items, leather products, plastic products, sports
items, spices, ayurvedic and herbal products, textiles, handicrafts and incense sticks.
Chemicals including bulk drugs form the largest part of India´s exports.
The main export to Brazil is diesel oil by Reliance. In 2010 the export was 1.7 billion dollars accounting
for 40 percent of India´s total exports to Brazil.
Indian imports from Latin America:
India´s imports from Latin American countries 2007-2011 in million US dollars
India imported from
1) Brazil
2 Venezuela
3) Chile
4) Mexico
5) Argentina
6) Peru
7) Colombia
8) Paraguay
9) Bolivia
10) Costa Rica
11) Uruguay
12) Ecuador
13) Panama
14)Dominican Rep.
15) Honduras
16)Cuba
17) Guatemala
18) Nicaragua
19) El Salvador
2008
2009
2010
2011
1100
490
2200
870
860
220
90
23
2100
3700
1744
1600
836
280
20
38
2700
2300
920
1100
876
120
460
56
3500
5000
1600
1000
2030
230
370
72
3200
5000
1780
1250
1210
240
600
74
20
11
8
8
4
3
2
3
2
1
1
24
15
9
10
5
4
3
5
2
2
1
22
11
12
10
8
4
4
5
2
1
1
25
12
14
12
7
7
3
6
3
2
2
28
14
20
24
28
11
2
6
3
2
2
2007
Petroleum crude, copper, soy oil, sunflower oil, minerals, sugar, ethanol, precious and semi precious
stones, agro products, leather, wool, metal scrap, wood, equipment and machinery, aircrafts (from
Brazil), wine and fresh fruits.
Petroleum crude, edible oil and copper are the top three items accounting for over three fourths of
the total imports from Latin America. Imports of these three items are expected to increase in the
coming years in view of the growing gap between demand and domestic production in India.
164
Latin America has become a new regular source for India´s crude oil imports in the last ten years and
crude oil is the leading item of India´s imports from the region. Venezuela has become the eighth
largest supplier of crude oil to India. The crude oil imports of Reliance accounts for over fifty percent
of India´s total imports from Latin America. Reliance has been importing crude oil from Mexico,
Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador. About two-thirds of Reliance’s imports from Latin America
came from Venezuela which accounted for 59 percent, Mexico 21 percent and Brazil 14 percent.
Reliance imported about 300,000 barrels a day of crude on average from Latin America in 2010. This
accounted for about a quarter of the company’s total imports during the period, compared with 13
percent in the same period of 2009. Essar has also started imports of crude oil from Venezuela.
Given the discovery of large new reserves in Brazil, the growing investment of Indian companies in the
region and the increasing domestic demand , Indian imports are set to increase in the future.
Argentina is the major source of edible oil and it is followed by Brazil and Paraguay. Wheat is
occasionally imported from Argentina while sugar is sourced from Brazil, whenever there is shortfall
in India. In 2010, India imported 1.8 billion dollars worth of soy oil from Argentina. There is scope to
source pulses, ethanol and biodiesel from Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.
Copper is the predominant item of India´s mineral imports from Latin America. Most of it comes from
Chile in the form of copper concentrates. Imports from Chile were 1.5 billion in 2010. The other
sources are Brazil, Argentina and Peru.
Preferential trade agreements of India:
Chile: India signed a PTA with Chile in 2006. This has become effective from 2007. Under this India
gives preferential duties to 276 Chilean export items while Chile reciprocates for 296 Indian items.
Negotiations have been started to deepen and widen the PTA.
Mercosur: The India-Mercosur PTA which was signed in 2005 came into effect in June 2009.
Duty discounts offered for 452 Indian exports: For 394 products: 10%, for 45 products: 20 %, for 13
products: 100%. Duty discounts offered on 450 Mercosur exports: For 93 products: 10%, for 336
products: 20%, for 21 products: 100%.
India and Mercosur have decided to expand and deepen the PTA. In the first round of talks held in
Delhi in April 2010 the two sides exchanged lists of new products to be covered under the PTA.
PTA/FTA with Mexico, Colombia and Peru Exports of India are at a disadvantage in these markets
since the products of a large number of countries with whom these countries have signed FTA enter
duty-free. Since these three are among the major destinations of India´s exports in the region, it is
important to remove the tariff disadvantage by concluding PTAs or even FTAs with them too.
Indian investment and joint ventures in Latin America
Indian companies including NRI firms have invested about 12 billion dollars in the region in IT,
pharmaceuticals, agro-chemicals, steel, mining, agribusiness and other sectors. More investment is
165
expected to flow in the coming years as a number of Indian companies have shown interest in
entering the region.
Information Technology
Indian IT companies have established software development centres, BPOs, KPOs and Call Centres in
14 countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Costa
Rica, Panama, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Guatemala) of the region employing 20,000 Latin
Americans. The Indian companies have developed a new near-shore business model of 12/12 in which
they service their North American clients for 12 hours from the same time zone operations in Latin
America and the remaining 12 hours from India. The Indian companies leverage the multilingual skills
of Latin Americans who speak Spanish, Portuguese and Italian to service European clients. They use
the Latin Americans to reach out to the 40 million strong Hispanic market of US. The Indian
companies have also got contracts from local Latin American companies.
TCS is the pioneer and has the largest presence in the region with Global Delivery Centres in eight
Latin American countries employing 7000 local staff.
Aegis, which is part of Essar Group, has acquired an Argentine BPO ¨Action Line¨ in 2010 with 5000
staff. This is the largest Indian BPO in Latin America. It has centres in Buenos Aires, Cordoba,
Tucuman and Bahia Blanca. They have another centre in Costa Rica.
The other Indian IT and BPO companies with operations in Latin America are: Infosys, Wipro,
Mahindra Satyam, HCL, Patni Computer, Cognizant, 24/7, IREVNA, Copal Partners, E-Valueserve,
Sasken Communications, Geodesic Ltd, Hexaware Technologies, Polaris software and Manthan
Systems.
Pharmaceuticals
Indian companies have established manufacturing units in Brazil, Mexico and Argentina and have
marketing offices in other countries. These are: Ranbaxy, Dr.Reddy's Labs, Torrent, Zydus Cadila,
Glenmark, Cellofarm, Manish Pharma, Cipla, IPCA Labs, Aurobindo, Unichem, Strides Arcolab,
Sunpharma and Lupin.
Agribusiness
Shree Renuka Sugars Ltd has invested 350 million dollars in the acquisition of two Brazilian sugar
groups. Renuka has become the seventh largest sugar producer in Brazil.
Agrochemicals
United Phosphorus Ltd (UPL) of Mumbai has invested 300 million dollars in Argentina, Brazil and
Colombia. They have plants producing agrochemicals and seeds.
Punjab Chemicals and Crop Protection Ltd (PCCPL) has invested in an Argentine company “Sintesis
quimica”, which has 2 agrochemical factories.
166
IFFCO has invested 25 million dollars in Americas Petrogas, a Canadian company, which has oil and
gas projects in Argentina and a potash mine in Peru. IFFCO is working on the potash project in Peru, as
part of their global fertiliser production strategy.
Energy
OVL (ONGC Videsh Ltd) has acquired oil fields in Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia and Cuba. Reliance, OVL,
Bharat Petro Resources, Assam company and Jindal have also got oil and gas fileds in Colombia, Brazil,
Bolivia and Peru.
Suzlon Energy Ltd of India has set up wind energy projects in Brazil. They are establishing a plant in
Brazil to produce 2 MW turbines with an annual capacity of 400 MW.
Mining
Jindal Group is the first one to enter this sector through their 2.3 billion dollars investment in the El
Mutun iron ore project in Bolivia.
Aditya Birla Group has acquired three aluminium plants in Pindamonhangaba, Ouro Preto and Aratu
in Brazil. The group has also got a carbon black plant in Brazil.
Essar group has an iron ore concession in Amapa, in northern Brazil. They will supply the iron ore to
their proposed steel plant in Trinidad and Tobago.
Automobiles
The following Indian companies have entered Latin America with production and marketing of their
vehicles and two-wheelers : Mahindra, Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, Sonalika Tractors, Bajaj, TVS, and
Hero.
Other areas
Havells, the Indian lighting and fixtures firm has acquired the assets and business of Sylavania of US in
Latin America worth 200 million dollars. They have plants in Colombia and Costa Rica. The chief of
operations of the Americas Mr Kapil Gulati manages the regional business from Costa Rica.
The other Indian companies with operations and plants in Latin America are Godrej, Videocon, BEML,
Essel Propack, Pidilite, Vijay Electricals, Elgi Group, DS Constructions Ltd and Megatherm.
Entertainment Business
Toonz Animation Ltd of Trivandrum in collaboration with Illusion Studios of Buenos Aires coproduced
a cartoon film ¨Gaturro¨. It is based on a cartoon character created by Argentine Cartoonist Nik. The
film released in September 2010 was a box-office hit
An Argentine director Pablo Cesar made a feature film ¨Unicorn-the garden of fruits¨ in 1996 as a
coproduction with India. He is now looking for an Indian coproducer for a new film ¨Thinking of Him¨
based on the romantic story of meeting of Tagore with Victoria O´campo in Buenos Aires.
A Bollywood film Dhoom II was shot in Rio de Janeiro and a Rajnikant film in Machu Pichu in Peru.
167
The Argentine musician, Gustavo Santaolalla composed music for the Amir Khan film ¨Dhobi Ghat¨
directed by Kiran Rao. This was released in January 2011.
Endemol India shot a TV serial ´Jor Ka Jhatka´ in Buenos Aires in December 2010 – January 2011 with
28 Indian actors who stayed here for 40 days. This show was hosted by Shahrukh Khan in Imagine
channel in February 2011.
Globo TV of Brazil produced and telecast a soap opera ¨Camino das Indias – Passage to India¨ in 2009.
It was partly shot in India and there were Indian characters and Indian costumes. It got the highest
ratings during the eight months of its telecast and stimulated Brazilian interest in India. It has been
dubbed in Spanish and telecast in other Latin American countries.
Mexican actress Barbara Mori acted as heroine in the Bollywood film ¨Kites¨ released in 2010. A
Brazilian actress Giselle Monteiro has also acted in two Bollywood films.
Indian TV channels have shown Latin American soap operas such as Ugly Betty and Second Chance.
Latin American investment and ventures in India
Brazilian companies
These are Marcopolo (buses), Sunley Fashion (shoes), Weg (electrical machinery), Stefanini (IT),
Gerdau (steel), Dedini (ethanol) COFAP ( autoparts) and Perto (ATM machines).
Mexican companies
Cineopolis is investing 160 million dollars in multiplexes in various cities in India. The company started
operations in India in 2009 and is planning to operate 500 screens in 40 cities in the next five years in
cities like Jaipur, Pune, Thane, Amritsar, Bangalore, Thane, Patna, Bhopal, Surat and Ahmedabad.
Homex is in a joint venture with Daksh Builders to construct low-cost houses in India.
Peru
Aje, the Peruvian company has a bottling plant in Maharashtra to market its Big Cola brand of soft
drinks competing with Pepsi and Coke.
Colombia
FANALCA has got a contract for collection and processing of solid waste in the city of Chennai
employing 2600 Indian workers.
Cuba
Biocon has a joint venture with Cuban companies for manufacture of vaccines in India with Cuban
technology.
Guatemala
¨Pollo Campero¨ - a Guatemalan chicken fast food chain has franchises in India.
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Suggested focus areas for Indian investors and exporters
• Indian companies should target Brazil for projects and supply of materials for the projects related to
the World Cup 2014 and the Olympics 2016. They should also focus on the opportunities in the five
year plan to spend 220 billion dollars by Petrobras (This is the largest corporate investment plan in the
world at this moment) in petroleum exploration and production.
• The Minister of Mines and Energy of Brazil announced on 8 february 2011 that Brazil would invest 270
billion dollars in the next two decades in the mining sector and triple the production of gold, iron and
copper by 2030. This offers opportunities for investment as well as exports of mining machinery and
materials.
• Investment in commercial forestry and paper pulp in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Chile and take back
timber and paper pulp.
• Indian companies could invest in agribusiness in the region to grow soy, sunflower, pulses and
sugarcane to source edible oil, pulses, sugar and biofuels.
• The Colombian Minister of Energy and Mining announced on 15 August 2010 that he expected
investment of 28 billion dollars in oil exploration and production in the next four years and increase
the oil production to 1.4 million bpd by 2014 from 963,000 bpd in 2010. Colombia is emerging as
South America's third-largest oil producer behind Brazil and Venezuela. This opens up opportunities
for Indian investors and exporters.
• Mining investment in Peru amounted to US$4.02 billion in 2010 and this is expected to increase in the
coming years. Analysts predict that in 2011 and 2012 alone, at least USD 29 billion of mining
investment will go into Peru and Colombia.
• Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay are expanding the area of agriculture and increasing their
output, encouraged by the high prices and demand as well as by the longterm concern of global food
and energy security. This is good news for Indian exporters of agrochemicals and equipments and
machinery such as tractors.
Change in the mindset of Latin Americans
The global crisis has triggered a fundamental change in the mindset of Latin Americans towards India.
They have started diversifying away from their traditional US-Europe orientation and are focussing on
new markets such as India. They are attracted by the new paradigm of high growth and the emerging
economic profile of India. They see the growing population and consumption of India as a new
opportunity for their exports. They are dazzled by the IT power surge of India. They have started
taking India seriously as a large, growing and long term market and a global economic power.
The Latin Americans are fascinated by the Indian acquisition of western crown jewels such as Jaguar
of UK and Hotel Pierre of New York. They are impressed by the twelve billion dollar Indian investment
in Latin America, which contribute to their employment, exports and industry. The Latin American
169
governments are happy that the Indian IT companies employ 20,000 Latin American youth and train
and prepare them for the new Information Society. Most of the Indian operations are headed by Latin
American country managers. This is more than employment. It is contribution to human resource
development of Latin America.
The Latin Americans who work with Indian colleagues and bosses admire the serious work
commitment and simple life style of Indians. At the same time, the Indians learn from their Latino
colleagues work-life balance and how to get more fun out of life. During the weekdays, the Latinos
listen to their Indian colleagues but become their Gurus during weekend. Perfect complementarity.
India is ¨comfort zone¨ in the cultural sense for the Latin Americans. They are familiar with yoga and
meditation. There are thousands of followers of Sai Baba and Ravi Shankar. They read Deepak Chopra
and J Krishnamoorthy.
The Latinos take Indian culture even to new levels. For example, an Argentine band ¨Yoga Rave¨ has
taken meditation and mantras to the pop scene. They sing mantras in pop music style and do yogastyle dance. They say, ¨we work with mantras, aiming to expand their cleansing and energizing
potential by combining them with electronic music, rock, pop and other styles. The combination of
music, meditation and yoga is very powerful. Those who experience it go home feeling completely
energized and with genuine smiles on their faces¨. The Yoga Rave concerts are free from smoking,
alcohol and drugs.
This has caught the fancy of the youth who attend the Yoga Rave concerts in thousands. Yoga Rave is
extending its presence to other countries and performed in the world cultural festival in Berlin in July
2011.
The Latin Americans admire the vibrant and large Indian democracy flourishing amidst serious
challenges arising from diversity and underdevelopment. They see this as a role model for their young
democracies which have come out of dictatorship not very long ago. The India Story resonates with
them since it is relevant for their circumstances. Their dream is to follow the example of high growth
with democracy. India does not puzzle or frighten them. They see it as open and transparent,
understandable and likeable.
The synergy and complementarity between the Latin American and Indian markets and minds gives a
solid foundation for a win-win long term partnership.
170