What happened to Indian journalism?

This is a question that I have been asking myself SEVERAL times over. Each time I read any Indian magazine or newspaper in fact. But this glaring example of  biased and shoddy journalism is just too hard for me to not rant about.

So the big news of today is how these poor Indian parents are being victimized by the US government by placing their child in Child Protective Services (CPS).  Many news articles are clearly taking this stance. IBNLive goes one step ahead by even making the headline biased, "US denies Indian parents access to their child". The back story: a child fell from the bed (according to the parents) and they took him to the hospital. Upon examination, the doctors believed that the child also has injuries that are consistent with excessive and intentional shaking of the child. So they reported the parents to CPS. 

WHY IS THE CPS WRONG IN TAKING THE CHILD AWAY??

Indian culture as a whole has two traits that I don't agree with:

1) Ghar ki baat ghar main rehne do (family affairs should be dealt within the family):

While diminishing, this attitude is still largely prevalent. If the examination happened in India, it would be very normal for the doctors to sweep the matter under the rug because it is "a family matter". While I have no actual research or numbers to support this claim, I am strongly believe that this is a huge factor for many family-abuse related cases going unreported. 

2) Excessive Melodrama

Ekta Kapoor's whole life success is based upon tapping this trait of ours. We don't need a valid reason to create unnecessary hype and melodrama. This whole episode has become a gut-wrenching tale of a poor hapless child being separated from his devastated parents. It's not. It's a story of two parents who may not have met the standards of parenting required by the country that they live in. If the child was being shaken, the government is not at fault for giving the child a safer environment. But no, we as a country love to dramatize everything. The Indian government is involved for god's sake. According to the opinion of my friends living in Australia, the whole Australian racial attacks started off as a few random muggings. Once the second Indian got mugged, we raised hell about a pattern and made it worldwide news. This prompted actual racial attacks cos apparently WE made it a thing! 

Now, I know the pitfalls of the foster system and how the child may have better off with the Indian parents. This debate is not about that. It's about the attitude of the Indian media towards reporting an event in a clearly biased manner instead of merely reporting the facts. I also know that comparison to the Norway incident will be made. But that was a totally different incident. Some news channel (that I have never heard of before) called newsx reports, "In a shocking virtual replay of the Norway custody case..". Seriously guys? That kid was eating with his hands. This kid had internal damage to his body. And in both situations, we Indians are the victims because that's a role we freaking love to play. 

P.S. To give credit where it is due, The Hindu's report was unbiased and kept up to the standards that it is known for. 

Tough love

So my whole drama with Rob might finally have come to a conclusion. We are not talking anymore. It's tearing me apart to lose my best friend. For the first time, I ignored some 50 of his calls, his texts, and shut him out. It hurts me as much as it's hurting him but I can't tell him that. I can't tell him that it means everything in the world to me to see him happy. I want to tell him he has been my family, my friend, my confidante, my support-system and I wish now he wasn't this stranger that I don't know. But I can't tell him all this. Every time I tried to help him move on, he took it as a sign that there is still hope for him and took advantage of it.

Rob, this is what I want to tell you knowing that you wouldn't listen. I love you as my best friend. As the guy that I shared most of my past 2.5 years with. I hate you as my ex-boyfriend that won't let me move on. I will miss you from the bottom of my heart. I will miss the queso at Don Pablos, the long drives in the Z, I will miss the Pizza Hut buffet and the obsessive couponing. I will miss going to Payless at 3 am in the night. I'll miss dancing in Cactus with you and you carrying me piggyback cos my feet hurt. I'll miss the road trips and the movie nights. However, I won't miss the fights and the tears. I won't miss you getting drunk and punching holes in the wall and your ibuprofen projectiles on my face :) I won't miss the feeling of helplessness as I beg you to let me get over you. There are some good memories. Let's cherish them and move on positively. Be happy. I am doing this because I care for you and I care about myself too. I will always think of time good times and miss you as my best friend.

This too shall pass


The doors seem shut,

The sky seems grey,

You feel like you can’t

Get through today

Hold on a little stronger

It’s not that much longer

Guess all I’m trying to say,

It’s all gonna be okay



Your friends are there

You just need to look

The answers you seek

Are not in any book

Don’t be ruled by fear

In my thoughts you're near

What I’m trying to tell you,

You’re gonna stop being blue



Just step out the door

Look all around

Your life is beautiful

Joys waiting to be found

Stand brave, stand tall

may stumble won’t fall

The message that I convey,

There will be better days.



I know it’s hard

I’ve been there too

But I can’t be of help

It has to be you

You’re almost there now

Find the will somehow

Trust me, soon you’ll laugh

Rob, this too shall pass.

Epilogue: We started talking again two weeks later.. he promises to be a good friend. Dec, 2012 and it's mostly holding true.

Indonesia trip

This is specially for Vlad. I am so sorry it took so long. 

So I know I promised a whole bunch of you that I'll give you the details of my Indonesia trip. I wish I can pretend that I was too busy to write it but the truth is that I was just too lazy :( But here goes.

Broadly, this was my itinerary: 

Singapore --> Jakarta --> Jogja --> Surabaya --> Singapore. (all tickets cost around 200 USD totally).

Pro tip: It was much cheaper to fly to Jakarta and then fly to Jogja, instead of flying to Jogja directly. Also, a common approach is to take a 7 hour bus from Jogja to Surabaya but because we were trying to squeeze everything in a long weekend, we preferred to fly. 

Day 1: So Cherlyn and I reach Jakarta around 9 pm and the plan was to explore the city by night. But we met a lot of shady characters at the airport and we had some interesting (ahem!) experiences at Jakarta airport so we just stayed at the airport and then left for Jogja the next morning. The airport is clean/comfortable and very modern.

Day 2: We reach Jogja around 8 am and we checked into this AWESOME hostel. (I don't remember the exact name but I can look it up whenever someone plans the trip). The hostel was like a 5-star hostel with a nice lounge, tv room, computers with internet and awesome breakfast. LOVED it! So you can rent a car specifying that you need to go to Borubudur, and Prambanan and the guy will take you for a fixed price. Again, I forget how much it exactly was but Teann and Cherlyn can perhaps help with those details. The ride from Jogja to Borubudur is around an hour and another hour and a half from Borubudur to Prambanan. Both temples are absolutely breathtaking. All of you are travellers so I know I don't need to tell you guys the feeling of standing in ancient temples so many centuries old. We stopped at a place for lunch between Borubudur and Prambanan. I would think that one day is enough to visit the temples but if you wanna spend some time around Jogja, you could make it two. 

Walking to the temple. Notice jeans in boiling weather (looking at you Cherlyn :P) and they give you those sarongs. No they are NOT souvenirs as one might imagine. 

Unbelievable view from temples. Each of those stupas holds a statue of Buddha.

Pro tip: While we were all wearing fully covered clothes thanks to Cherlyn doing her homework (which I am very thankful for :P ), I think anything normal is alright. You won't see local girls wearing shorts but there are so many tourists around in shorts that you won't draw too much attention. Also VERY VERY IMPORTANT: STUDENT IDS!!! The temples each cost around 20 USD without student ID and 10 bucks with it. So carry it!! Also, don't worry, this was the only big ticket expense. 

With food, the drivers get commission to take you to super overpriced places, so don't let them decide. Tell them you want to eat "cheap cheap" or that you want to eat on the roadside which is called a warang. A local must-do seems to be to eat at "lehesans" which are places where you sit on the floor and eat almost Japanese style.This is assuming you wanna go dirt cheap. I was aiming for an average of 10,000 rupiyah for my meals (which is around 1.5 SGD or 1 USD). 

Prambanan Temples

Lunch in the day. I had funny happenings with my stomach so I didn't eat anything :(

This is where we stopped for lunch. Adorable.

Yummy dinner. Also I can't believe that those portion sizes were enough. 

Day 3:

We spent half of the next day exploring Jogja which is so quaint and gorgeous. We walked amidst old buildings, one "palace" where the king's ceremonies happen (called the sultan's palace) and another "water palace" which was like a big tank of water but very nice architecture. This is called the Taman Sari. We mostly walked among these places and we also used the local "becaks" or rickshaws just for fun. At the king's palace, a tour guide is assigned to you and it wasn't voluntary. He then insisted that he'll show us how Batik is made. LAME. He took us to a house with tons of paintings and one lady in the corner doing some batik work. It was mainly to sell us the paintings which I guess we didn't wanna buy. Two things that I didn't do and apparently you should is to try this local delicacy called the "gudeg" and to explore the street art around Jogja.

Sultan's Palaces

Old and quaint Jogja

Sultan's Palace inside

Taman Sari

We spent the evening just getting our asses to Surabaya. We reached around midnight and took a cab from the airport. We took a prepaid cab which I generally recommend even if it's more expensive. So the highlight of my trip to Surabaya was this adorable hostel we stayed at. The owner was this unbelievably nice lady. She offered me mosquito repellent, guide books, organized a driver for us, and cooked for us every time we were around! And what was so unbelievably nice was that this was during Ramadan so her son and she couldn't even eat the meals that she cooked. So the hostel we stayed was just a home converted into a hostel so nothing fancy but comfortable enough. Clean bathrooms, hot water. 

Day 4: We spent most of today just exploring nearby, went out for food and then decided to nap in the evening cos we had to set out at midnight. The hostel aunty got us in touch with a driver who would drive us to Mount Bromo. The way it works is that you leave around midnight in a hired car (which was a nice, fancy, comfortable SUV). It's a 4 hour drive to this "meeting point" where you need to hire a jeep. Also you can rent winter jackets for around 1 USD. YOU NEED WINTER JACKETS. I live in bitter cold Indiana (it's snowing as we speak) and I had a jacket that is almost enough here. It wasn't enough. Not by a long shot. All of us who thought we were prepared ended up renting jackets. So definitely be very very prepared. After we took the jeep, we drove through some of the most winding roads and most amazingly weird landscapes to climb this really high mountain that gives a great view of Mount Bromo. The jeep ride was awesome. It's unbelieveably shaky and you can see out far and wide to pitch black plains. We were heading to see Mount Bromo at sunrise. BE EARLY!! I can't emphasize how important it was that we were early enough to catch a great spot. It'll be bloody freezing but go there as early as 5ish and snag a great spot. There is a nice coffee shop just next to the view point, so grab a quick coffee n then snag your spot. Once it's close to sunrise, everyone will be vying for a place on a very tight area so your whole Bromo experience might be ruined by your lack of a spot. 

Jeep to Mt. Bromo

Breathtaking view.

Walking towards the crater of Bromo

Love the bromo landscape. All ash.

Once you see the gorgeous view, and take a million pictures, then the jeep guy will drive you to the base of Mount Bromo. From here you can either trek up the volcano to see the crater or you can even rent a horse. We all decided to trek and what a trek it was. There is sand blowing everywhere and you can see all these sandy mountains around you, it's amazing. It was very challenging but in a fun way. Coming down is equally fun cos you need to hold this rope and slowly move down. It will be very very sandy and dusty. I tied my scarf around my nose which was a huge help. All your clothes will have sand in them by the end of this trek. 

After we came down from Bromo, the jeep took us back to our own car (parked at that meeting point) and we headed off to this waterfall called Medikeri. The waterfall is around 3-4 kms inside a forest. You will find a guide in the parking lot and yes you need the guide. There is also a small food stall in the parking lot where we grabbed a quick lunch. The trek in the forest is absolutely delightful. We had to cross shallow streams, walk on logs, climb through rocks, it was awesome!! The waterfall itself is fucking magnificient. You can rent an umbrella if you don't wanna get wet but I recommend that you are mentally ready to get very wet. It was one of the most beautiful waterfalls ever and the water was crystal clear. We jumped into the icy pool at the bottom of the waterfall and what an amazing feeling it was. For me, even though mostly unknown, the waterfall was as amazing as the bromo experience. 

Best waterfall ever.

We reached the hostel back around 5 pm and I decided to go explore the city a little bit. So public transport in Surabaya is for the very brave. You have this small mini van looking things that you need to hail. So I just asked a local where you go, he waited with me and stuff me in a van filled with indonesian men. Thankfully, I reached the mall safely and shopped for shoes :) My personal experience shopping for shoes in a very very fancy looking mall in Surabaya was that the quality was shit. The practically came apart in few months and the same thing happened to both pairs I bought. 

Day 5: So one thing that someone told me and I completely ignored was that there is nothing to see in Surabaya. I can't agree more. Surabaya is a gateway to Bromo and there is absolutely nothing else to see in the city. I spent the day doing some "sight-seeing" but it was really pointless with absolutely nothing worth seeing or recommending. So yep, that was the ending of our awesome trip :)

Sampoerna House (famous Indonesia handrolled cigarettes are supposedly made but mostly marketed here)

Only evidence that we were in "Chinatown"

Robotic Hand-Rolling in progress

Local street art

Local church

TL;DR: 

Day 1: Jakarta

Day 2,3 : Jogja, travel to Surabaya

Day 3,4,5: Surabaya, back to Singapore

(I would recommend spending one day lesser in Surabaya)

1) Tickets: 200 usd

2) hostel: around 25 USD totally (around 10 sgd per night)

3) food: between 5 USD per day approx.

4) Driver/car rental: 20 USD (guessing)

5) Temple tickets: 20 USD

6) VISA: 25 USD

7) Departure tax : 50,000 rupiyah or around 9 SGD

I know I spent exactly 150 SGD on the trip and around 200 USD on the flight tickets, and 25 USD on the visa. This is all the money I carried. 

I kinda went on a ramble here, but hope it helps you guys plan your future trip. I'll re-read it and edit it tomorrow.