Video Nights in Kathmandu

I finally got round to reading this book. Originally published in 1985, Mr Iyer travelled around Asia and examined Western influences in the region. Whilst some of his observations are somewhat puerile and subjective (most noticeably his views given on Hong Kong where he spends a few days with his la di da ex-patriot friends and comes away thinking he knows all there is to the Territory), and Thailand and The Philippines where he spends most of his time in girlie bars in Bangkok and Manila.

Yet in other areas he shows good perception drawing an interesting analogy between the Japan psyche and their love of baseball, as well as his time spent in Burma. He also shares some interesting facts, including the 1906 mass suicide of the Balinese royal family and one of my favourite anecdotes about Rudyard Kipling who was shaved every night in the tropics as he slept.

Whilst I´m sure not many travellers would be surprised in his “findings”, in the reprint for 2001 Iyer has added an “Afterword” recognising that there are probably more Eastern influences on Western life. There is a Thai restaurant in pretty much every city and town and US call centres out-sourced to India. Spot on!

Aub´s Verdict: A classic for its time, but well past it´s sell-by date.

Ed´s Note: Iyer has done some writings on time spent with His Holiness Dalai Lama, but haven´t got the time for such indulgences at the moment.

Restoration of Lhasa?

Scanned photo of Potala Palace taken in 2000


Associated Press announced this week the completion of seven years of renovation work of the magnificent Potala Palace at a cost of some US$43.9 million.

This follows hard on the heels of renovations to Samye monastery (US$13.9 million) and the Nor Bu Linka (Dalai Lama´s Summer Palace).

"The repairs to the three key cultural relics is an important part in the conservation of the Tibetan culture," said Liu Yandong, a member of the Communist Party's Politburo, who attended the ceremony.

More than 189,000 workers were involved in these three projects.
Xinhua quoted a former director of the Potala's administration office saying the palace could now accommodate 1,000 visitors a day.

The renovations are part of a 570 million yuan ($73 million) plan to promote tourism to Tibet, a mainstay of the region's economy, and include the repair to 22 cultural sites.

All that´s missing now is His Holiness Dalai Lama!

Despite the numerous tourist bans imposed on foreigners since the run-in to last year´s Olympic Games in Beijing, the Chinese government know it´s onto a gold-mine. Foreign tourists might be banned intermittently, but Han Chinese tourists are increasingly visiting for a touch of Winter Wonderland.

Chinese tourists in Lhasa

I haven´t stepped foot in Lhasa since 2000, and it was already in bad shape. The old town was restricted to a few roads coming off the Jokhang temple and around the kora, the cement houses that are inhabited by Chinese swamped the surrounding area - the Tibetans were already a minority in their own capital city.

Earlier this year China tightened restrictions on advertising and construction outside the palace, following calls from the United Nations to better preserve the UNESCO World Heritage Site's natural setting.

With the rail link in place Han Chinese tourist makers are arriving from across the country. On more than one occasion i have heard it compared to Disneyland with karaoke and prostitutes.

I´d still like to go back there – even as just an interim stop back to Kailash. I might just have to wait for the train line to get there though!


Lhasa station. Up to Kailash? I wish!

The End is in Sight - Studying for my Masters

The reason for returning to the UK this summer was to complete my MA in International Education which i´m doing through Oxford Brookes University. It has been a long struggle, but the end is well in sight.

It seems appropriate to be working on this in Dharamsala - after all, it´s very name nae translates as "the home of learning".

My Masters thesis looks at young students´ acquisition of reading and spelling skills. Yes..pretty worthwhile methinks!

It is a case study on an accelerated phonics programme – known as “synthetic phonics”. Original research was started in Scotland, and following it´s successes, has now been adopted in the English National Curriculum in the new Literacy Strategy.

I am looking for patterns in an International setting where students often have English as a Second or additional language. Indeed these Hong Kong-based students were in some cases being exposed to a romanised alphabetic system for the first time.

Initial analysis of the data show that these four and five year old International students were on average 13 months in advance of students in Australia in both reading and spelling. Interesting stuff indeed!

It does however encroach on what was labelled “The Great Debate” which has been raging for over 70 years - phonics or Whole-Language approach? The pendulum has swung slowly across the spectrum there and back again. Unfortunately I have no choice but confront this knot and strip it bare. Not so easy – who am I to settle this argument?

The Loch Ness Monster on Google Earth

The Sun reported an amazing sighting of the Loch Ness monster, thus putting to bed all the sceptics who claimed the surrounding villages that border this huge lake were just trying to rake in lots of tourist wealth.

Security guard Jason, 25, of Nottingham, said: "I couldn't believe it. It's just like the descriptions of Nessie."
Researcher Adrian Shine, of the Loch Ness Project, said: "This is really intriguing. It needs further study."

To see the object with your own eyes, enter co-ordinates Latitude 57°12'52.13"N, Longitude 4°34'14.16"W in Google Earth.

Nephews

One of the hardest parts of being away from home is missing my two nephews growing up. Although I see them a couple of times in each of my UK visits almost every year, a year is a long time in their lives. They possess all the toys young boys can dream of, a huge play-room and a garden that could host a pitch and putt course – seriously spoilt.

However they remain absolutely charming nonetheless.

David is eight, plays the piano and guitar, and has recently taken up golf! Pa started taking him to a few Watford FC matches last season.



Watch David perform on Dr. Gloves´ piano by clicking here.

Jonathan is six years old and my Godson. I take my role very seriously. In attendance for The Bub´s circumcision – traditionally the Jewish Godfather holds down the boy during the snip. Will he resent me forever? This time I had to have a few Man-to-Man chats to tackle a few non-major issues. Better than having to be pinned down for serious surgery.



I found out today that Boy and N. are expecting their own Bub. Apart from concerns that Marley (their Shetland sheepdog) will have his nose pushed out of joint, I am both delighted and excited by becoming an uncle for the third time in March 2010.

Boy will win valuable brownie points from Ma if he is able to produce a girl – a victim of four sons and two grandsons.

Ketchup from McLeod Ganj

All the difficulties have ensued since arriving back here in McLeod Ganj.

I survived a mildew attack, but it did mean hand-washing all the bedding and throwing out one of the pillows. My mobile had been cut-off and needed recharging, the promise of a faster Internet connection has failed to materialise and so I plod on with my slow, unreliable, over-priced Reliance dongle.

Worse still was to come as I was forced to open up the kitchen sink pipe to see what was causing a blockage. After 10 minutes of blowing, wiggling and water enema, I lobbed down an old shaver. Out dropped a small, dead rodent of mouse or vole-like appearance. I dry-gagged all the way to the balcony with the drowned rodent in a wrapped up tissue. It received a sky burial – of sorts.

The monsoon persists, although it is usually quite clear for a few hours each day and night. In other parts of India, water remains critically in short supply due to the water shortage, resulting in hunger and high suicide rates amongst despairing farmers. It is believed more than 1.5 million farmers have killed themselves since 1997.

An interesting article on farmer suicides from India Together can be found by clicking here.

It should be made a national priority and remain in the government´s domain rather than privatisation as the way forward. This seems considerably unlikely however, as the government are quick to pass the buck. The damage done by privatisation has been well documented by the political activist, writer and Chomskyite, Arundhati Roy.

A lot seems to have happened here in my absence. The McClo´s restaurant (as recommended by Lonely Planet and Pierce Bronson), a Dharamsala institution has changed ownership and now offers a much depleted menu, but at least it has kept on the same serving staff.

The public library has been turned into a new restaurant and relocated? I certainly can´t find it! As recipients of all books I finish reading here they have an awesome collection. I´ve already got a new pile waiting for them.

One person to ask would be Lobsang – my editor from Contact magazine, but worryingly he is currently in hospital “for tests”.

I have also yet to catch up with Panden, my English student, despite trying to leave messages oh his mobile. I miss our twice weekly classes.

Trying to settle into a proper routine has been challenging whilst my sleeping patterns remain erratic.

Having had a massive all-round scrub of the bed-sit, I have subsequently turned it into the Oxford Brookes library with papers and documents scattered about as endeavour to write a 2000 word (expanding to 6,000 words for the thesis) literary review. I´ll shortly put up a posting about the thesis I´m working on – it´s one of the most asked questions I receive from readers of Ketchup with Aubs.

The new banjo-playing neighbour is not helping matters.

Eye and Lens on the Village

playing in aggregates - near the new bus stand

Jackie, Badgers and Tennis

Jackie is an old flat-mate from my undergraduate days in Bristol. She is a local Bristolian who spent much mirth on ripping into students. Now in possession of an MA and settled in the sea-side residency of Hasting made famous by the battle of in 1066 and more recently for having one of the highest junkie rating in England.

It is still a beautiful town and I try and visit every couple of years – J. is much better at coming up to London. On this occasion I am invited to inspect her new electric fence with 30,000 volts pulsing through. Originally erected to deter the neighbours three cats, it also provides service to foxes and badgers. I´m promised endless amusing photographic opportunities of badgers getting zapped. Surely an opportunity to good to turn down?

Unfortunately my camera battery is dead from the dog agility session from the night before, so we crack open Dave´s old Canon A1 and takes me ages for us to remember how to operate a manual SLR. We quaff wine in the garden and talk in whispered voices waiting for action. It´s almost pitch black when J detects the tell-tale snuffles of badgers next door, but there is no action to see.

Undeterred by the lack of sizzling badger shots, J wants to get me on the tennis court. Now I haven´t stepped on one of these things for 10 years, but J is new to the sport (to add further fitness levels to her passion of marathon running) and wants me to provide her with a lesson or three. Ouch!

Fortunately, like riding a bicycle, it appears you never forget. Although my first serves are pretty ropey, we go through a few serve and volley scenarios and we spend a really pleasant couple of hours in the park.

Rumours quickly spread, and I am invited to further hone my skills with Boy, Pa, Pa´s “ladyfriends”, and my two nephews. Boy can play a bit and wipes me six love in the first, but I soon find my feet and win through 6 – 3, 7 – 5.

Pa who used to be a bit tasty in his day refuses to run and gets trounced. Pa plays with four ladies every Wednesday and invites me in to one of his weekly sessions with clear instructions not to wallop. It takes all my patience, especially with one of them who irritates everybody.

Tennis is good! Thanks Jackie – you got me hooked again.

Harry Patch - Last British WW1 soldier

Britain´s last surviving World War One soldier died this summer.

During the last years of his 111, Harry Patch urged all that would listen never to forget the 9.7 million young men who perished in The Great War (1914-18).

A few years back I found an interesting DVD which had colourised and digitally remastered World War One of original news-reel and despite all the original footage watched in O´Level History classes, it brought back all the true horrors these soldiers had to endure. Devastating would be an understatement.

So traumatised by the experience, Patch would hold an annual private vigil for the 70,000 who died at the battle of Passchendaele, and even in his later years, could get flashbacks when he saw the light go on when he opened the refrigerator door – a classic symptom of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

“War isn´t worth one life,” he was famously quoted.

Shy and retiring, Harry Patch only began talking about his appalling experiences after turning 100, and his autobiography The Last Fighting Tommy was published in 2007.

Fittingly, Patch´s funeral service was held on July 27th at Wells Cathedral with full military honours.

Which brings me in nicely to the current war in Afghanistan. Two more British soldiers died on Friday bringing the death-toll of 206 British army personnel. A tiny proportion of the number of Afghan civilians innocently killed and which nobody seems to be counting.

Since Alexander the Great invaded the area in 330BC, countless invaders have come and gone. Including two failed attempts by the British! What the hell are the British doing there again? When will they admit defeat? Do they know what victory will look like? Clueless and pointless.

Don´t get me started on the Americans...


Lambs to the slaughter? RAF personnel flying out of Luton to Afghanistan

A Saturday Ritual - Watford Football Club

For my sins, I´ve been visiting Vicarage Road – the home of Watford Football Club - since I was four years old, and I always try and pay homage every year.

Born in nearby Garston, no-one could accuse me of glory-hunting; jumping on the bandwagon with Manchester United or the relative closeness of Arsenal. After all, as Philip Larkin would say, Watford is where my childhood was unspent.

The football club´s claim to fame is through the flamboyant Elton John – another Watford supporter addicted from an early age. Indeed, my marriage to K. was the first wedding to be held in the stadium.

My earliest travel experiences date from the time i would travel to away matches across England as a young teenager.

This year, i´m first able to attend a friendly against the Italian Series A team, Parma and watch an entertaining five goal thriller with Watford coming out victors.

There was also a moving one minute´s applause for the late, great Sir Bobby Robson – a true gentleman of football – repeated again at the first league match – Doncaster Rovers.

So it is with some confidence I´m able to witness Watford´s first match of the 09/10 season.

Click here to savour the pre-match anticipation.

Ouch! This one – all bore draw is like watching a nail rust, and Boy has to dig me in the sides to keep me awake for the full ninety minutes

I´ll listen to the live games on the potentially excellent although often erratic Watford World Home site, but i´m secretly pleased that I won´t have to watch the drivel.

I did get an opportunity to witness high-definition premiership coverage for the first time - gob-smacking!

Watford Football Club currently sit in position 12 of the Championship (2nd division), but it is going to be a long season.