As it happens, I am finally back in India after an arduous four-day journey It was entirely my fault I’m afraid. I missed a couple of provisions in the small print of my ticket contract. One said that getting stranded at exotic places like Minneapolis-St Paul and Schiphol (Amsterdam) airports at the passenger’s cost was one of the pleasures that came with the trip at no additional charge. The second was the provision that it takes screams, pleas, dogged persistence and threats of legal action for the airline to do simple things – like reroute passengers after flights are cancelled.

The airline I am referring to is KLM-Northwest. The ineptitude that they’ve shown the two times I have flown with them is beyond belief. My plane got turned back in mid-flight. That was not their fault. Apparently Amsterdam had suffered the worst snow in a generation. But surely it is not that difficult to reroute passengers? After much cajoling they send me off to Amsterdam the next day saying that I am on standby for the Amsterdam-Bombay leg. Once I get to Amsterdam, I find that folks over there have no way of checking if I am on the waitlist or not and no way of adding me to the waitlist. Apparently KLM and Northwest are still different companies – or something like that. So I spend one day at the Amsterdam airport not knowing if I am on the flight the next day or not. The next day I learn that I was confirmed all along.

And of course, I haven’t got my luggage yet. A good thing too. I’d have died of shock if I had found it on the carousel. It would be so unlike the KLM-NW that I’ve come to know and love.

Incidentally, Pradeep, sorry for not calling you up/meeting. I was just too busy this time. But I’ll be coming again any way next month.

Dilip D’Souza, who has been time and again trying to generate outrage among us apathetic middle class types by comparing the slum demolitions with the tsunami, makes this extraordinary assertion.

So because they are poor, it’s OK to pull down their homes. Why is it that not one middle-class block of flats has been brought down that I know of, even though so many of those are built flouting FSI and other building regulations, are built paying bribes, are paid for using illegal money, and often have illegal extensions?

Surely Dilip knows that this is wrong? Oh I am sure no “middle-class block of flats” has been brought down. But the demolitions have been reputed to be remarkably evenhanded. For example take this
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Folks, I deeply regret misspelling cappuccino a few posts down. I am normally careful about these things, but that is how Yazad spelt it and I didn’t realise that such an aficionado of cappuccino wouldn’t know how to spell it.

Yes, I am really bored.

I got my luggage within 24 hours, but Northwest is refusing to reimburse me the 35 odd dollars I had to spend on buying new clothes for the next day’s meeting because they claim that their rules say that I can claim only if the baggage is delayed beyond 24 hours. Can I sue?

Incidentally Ohio must be the most boring place in the US. It snowed before I came, then it rained and now it’s snowing again.

… and Northwest managed to lose my luggage.

Amit Varma gives his story of what happened on Sunday. I take exception to people saying that the Ethiopian Qahwah is no different from cappucino. There are two important differences. For one thing, it is Ethiopian. For another, it is Qahwah.

Greetings and Welcome to Blog Mela IV of 2005. A lot of you did write about Republic Day as I had hoped, but I won’t be able to fit all those nominations into the structure I had expected, but that’s okay because I believe that order should be discovered, not imposed. So ladies, gentlemen and others, I present to you the Blog Mela. Make sure that you set aside time for this, because there are more posts than it might seem at first glance.

Anya Mahajan wonders what exactly we are celebrating when we celebrate Republic Day. I’m afraid that’s a tough question as it would involve defining India, a job that may be beyond human capacity.

Ravages posts a picture that IMHO, captures the spirit of the Republic perfectly.

Prashant Kothari, our man in DC, posts on an article that surveys India’s and China’s economic progress.

Seven Times Six writes on ethical conceit.

Ashish Hanwadikar writes about the changes that he observed in India when he visited recently. Most of them are for the better.

Then there are the thoughts of Bhavya Khanna, on Republic Day – a must read.

Nilu writes about missionaries who take advantage of the Tsunami to convert victims to Christianity, and posts a personal recollection. JK too blogs on the same topic.

Some bloke called Sharafat Ali (is that your name or are you a big fan of Bade Miyan Chhote Miyan?) nominated the post announcing the results of the Indibloggies.

The perils of going to the loo in a paperless office. No “paperless” doesn’t mean what you think it does.

Patrix gets someone called Havoc to guestblog about a desperate date.

This would have gone into the “Vignettes” section of the Blog Mela if I had stuck to my original format. A Japanese writes about the Indian Railway experience, contrasts it with trains in Japan, in Hindi!

Chandoo takes the concept of Accounting and applies it to exams. Very interesting if you are an MBA.

Indra Sharma writes a rather fawning post about President A P J Abdul Kalam. Now I like him too, but I am seriously exasperated by our tendency to look upwards for change.

Kiran, the Brooding Dude updates us on the progress being made in infrastructure, and Dilip D’Souza reminds us of the cost and who is paying it.

The Lazy Geek posts a roundup of Sarang, IITM’s festival. But of course, it can never compare with Mood Indigo.

Anand of the now-misnamed MDEII Life posts in three parts (I, II, III) his analysis of the movie GodFather

Sandeep tears apart an article by Rajmohan in the Indian Express.

Gaurav Sabnis IMO, rather badly misunderstands the import of the Atlas Shrugged money speech as he attempts a defence of the Slimes of India.

Finally, we have Amit Varma, who tells a tale with a moral at the end, a moral you’ll have to figure out for yourself.

Well that’s all folks. I have accepted all nominations except one (I didn’t accept one because I guessed that the nominee would want me not to.) and I’ve scoured the net to find more than were nominated. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading the Mela as much as I enjoyed compiling it. I may not be able to post for the next few days till I get to Ohio and settle down, so I hope that this should suffice as reading material till then.

Amit and Yazad want to make the Bombay Bloggers meet a monthly event. I thought it would be a great idea to have the meet at various Coffee Day locations all over Bombay. If we make it a monthly event, they’ll probably give us a discount. I also thought of a theme song that can be the Bombay Bloggers’ anthem. It starts:

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Mandar, who, I must point out, did not imbibe the Ehiopian Qahwah, has an account of the Bombay Bloggers meet which must necessarily be more accurate.

The following account of the story has been written under the heavy influence of Ethiopian Qahwah. Hence it should be cross-checked against the accounts of other bloggers for veracity. But please note that Yazad and Amit partook of the same substance, hence their accounts too should be viewed with abundant caution.

Six of us Bombay Bloggers met yesterday at Chowpatty’s Coffee Day. We had a free and frank exchange of views, and we managed to find common ground on a lot of issues. In fact we decided that:

1) Motorcycle helmets should be banned for the greater common good. Wearing helmets gives riders an incentive to drive rashly, secure in the knowledge that their helmets protect them against head injuries.

2) For the same reason, car drivers should not be allowed to wear seatbelts. In fact, we should have spikes sticking out of steering wheels, as this will make drivers even more careful before they cause accidents.

I missed most of the proceedings as I had to drive a total of 120 kiometers to get to the place. (I lost the way and managed to reach Vasai). Other bloggers will be able fill in the missing details for you. They assured me that they spent the two hours I missed discussing Parsis, a subject I don’t have much of a view on. They will also be able to tell you about the mysterious person wearing dark glasses and claiming to be a New York times reporter who was watching the proceedings and taking notes. I suspect he was a CIA plant.

I had promised to put up the Blog Mela for this week by today unless the fates decreed otherwise. As it happens, the fates have decreed otherwise. Hence it shall be put up tomorrow. In the meantime, you can still send in your entries – and if your entries have to do with the Republic Day theme, then I shall relax the date criterion.

Aadisht’s brother Bhavya is only 17. But he shows so much promise that he’d probably be admitted without question if he ever wishes to join the Cartel.

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