Yaadhum Oorae (All Towns are One!)

9:55 PM Shanky 3 Comments


During my short tour to Bangkok over the past weeks and relentless wikitravel browsing I found striking similarities that Thailand shows vis-a-vis my mother land, India. I am definitely not comparing, merely contemplating about what brought about these similarities. Some of these similarities can be explained while others can be viewed as logical extensions and few others may be just stretching the fact (Globe or Gas, as we call it in B-school lingo). Here are a few observations from my side:

Ramayana
One of two great epics in India which enunciates how to rule a country through the portrayal of its protagonist - Lord Ram. The same exists here in Thailand in the name of Ramakian (Glory of Rama) and paintings of scenes from Ramakian adore the temple walls of Wat Phra Kew. Wiki says the following about Ramakien, "While the main story is identical to that of the Ramayana, many other aspects were transposed into a Thai context, such as the clothes, weapons, topography, and elements of nature, which are described as being Thai in style."



Karthigai
Wikipedia says, "Karthikai Deepam is a festival of lights celebrated by Tamil Hindus on the full moon day of Karthikai month (November/December), which is observed in every home and in every temple. This occurs on the day when the moon is in conjunction with the constellation Karthigai (Pleiades) and purnima." The Thais also have a similar custom during the same time of the year called Loy Krathong -"Loi Krathong takes place on the evening of the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar. In the western calendar this usually falls in November." It also says this about the origin of the Loi Krathong - "...the originally Brahmanical festival was adapted by Buddhists in Thailand as a ceremony to honour the original Buddha, Siddhartha Guatama." 

Mythology
There are some awesome mythological creatures in Hindu religion. Candidates worth being depicted in badassoftheweek.com. One such noteworthy creature is Garuda - The eagle/Kite incarnation of devas with intelligence that equals humans. As you might have guessed by now, Garuda is present in the Buddhist mythology as well and like in Indian mythology they have an eternal conflict with the Nagas! Thailand has gone one up on India on this one and have made Garuda their national symbol! 

Garuda might be an awesome creature, but the most loved and revered mythological god in Hindu scene is Lord Ganesh - the elephant god! Elephant is the national animal of Thailand. Keeping aside the commercial exploitation of elephants, Thai people love elephants. In fact a lot of temples have Ganesha at their entrance (just as they are depicted in India). However, as some of the atheists in India claim, Ganesha was not part of the mythological scene in many of our ancient scriptures and they renounced Ganesha as an Indian god. This claim makes me think that may be Ganesha was an import from Thailand to India :)

The Connection
So these are some of the dots that I found in the first one month in Thailand. How do they connect? I did some more digging and found that Indian religion and culture has had far reaching influence than what we think today it has. A line from wikipedia about Thailand's history reads thus:
 "Similar to other regions in Southeast Asia, it was heavily influenced by the culture and religions of India, starting with the kingdom of Funan around the 1st century CE." 

There is more to it. The direct references of Ramayana (not just in Thailand but also in Indonesia and Cambodia) is a great trail to follow and I found that the ancient kingdom of Cholas from Tamilnadu spread across the modern day SE Asia.Though the heart of the Cholas were the immensely fertile basin of river Kaveri, they had reached as far as Cambodia while they were in their peak of influence. Wikipedia claims "The Chola dynasty was at the peak of its influence and power during the medieval period...  Rajaraja Chola I and Rajendra Chola I extended the Chola kingdom beyond the traditional limits of a Tamil kingdom. At its peak, the Chola Empire stretched from the island of Sri Lanka in the south to the Godavari-Krishna basin in the north, up to the Konkan coast in Bhatkal, the entire Malabar Coast in addition to Lakshadweep, Maldives and vast areas of Chera country.  In addition Rajendra's territories included the area falling on the Ganges-Hooghly-Damodar basin, large parts of Burma, Thailand, Indo-China Laos, Kambodia, the Malay peninsula and Indonesia."

Hence my dear friends, the relationship between us and the SE Asia nations extends beyond the noodles, rice and cooking! Apart from the dots mentioned here there are many similarities in the day-today practices as well. For example, Like in India, Thai people also consider their feet to be dirtier than other parts and hence it is disrespectful to point your feet at someone or even point it at a thing. If only we can understand the golden words of Kaniyan Poongunranar better - "Yaadhum oorae yaavarum kelir" (To us all towns are one, all men our kin), we wont be calling them Chinkis and they wont be calling as Farangs. 

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Interesting Journey

6:01 PM Shanky 1 Comments


The real driver

On my first visit to Bangkok, I met with a 50 year old taxi driver who claimed to be an ex-Muay Thai boxer. I have my own reservations about how much I should believe him. But this is not about his integrity or even ethics. He was a friendly taxi driver I hailed to take me to Mo Chit BTS station (commonly known as Mo Chit 2) from Mo Chit bus terminal. He was chatting away from the beginning in his broken English like many other taxi drivers. I usually feel sad for old men to go work in jobs like these, I don’t know why. I want them to sit back in a rocking chair and while their time away adoring their grand children. Working as a taxi driver or a table cleaner in a restaurant where grumpy jackass customers scold you or scowl at you is not how I like the elders to spend their old age. Especially the nice ones must be endowed with a beach bungalow where they can sip on some lemon ice tea, listen to Bob Marley or some music like that and just stare at the horizon. Whatever I may wish for them, the reality is that this gentleman is still working in one of the ugliest professions where every driver is abused by the commuters for cheating them. This thought of compassion (I don’t know how else to put this feeling) made me listen to him rather than just ask him to shut up!

He started with his work profile and started asking about what I do etc. Apparently he was a chauffeur for wealthy financial services managers in Bangkok. His previous employers were working in Standard Chartered and Deutsch bank and both were farangs (read: Expats/foreigners). He has also travelled the world as a boxer including a trip to Pakistan, he claimed. Then he said he does not smoke or drink but admitted he has a sweet tooth and even showed me the assortment of sweet buns and cookies he had stashed away in the glove compartment. I was smiling all the while, nodding at the right places and even acted surprised when he showed me the cookies. That was the least I could do for this jolly old man; give some time and attention during the travel. But all the travel guides that I had read and all the advise that I had listened to, from colleagues, pointed to one rule - always be wary of people who are friendlier than required. But that day I was to learn that there are exceptions to every rule!

He was fascinated that I work in Ang Thong province and told me his native is in that province as well. Apparently he is fed up with Bangkok and wanted to move closer home. The fast life and the traffic is not what he can take at this stage in life. I can completely understand what he meant though the language he spoke was not spot-on. This is when he asked me if I had a car in Ang Thong. I told him that I was new (and immediately regretted it . I had made a mistake; now he will take me via a longer route and ask more money!) and that I cannot afford one now. He then said something that really moved me, "Sir whenever you buy car please call me. I am a good driver! I no drink. I no smoke. Give little money. I want to go country side. Bangkok - too much traffic, not good." His voice radiated sincerity and earnestness which made me feel sad. I told him I will be buying a car sometime in my life. This somehow brightened him up. He then gave me his number and took mine as well and said, "Please call me sir. I good driver" Pangs of guilt immediately started pricking me. I know I am going to be here for 3 months only and I have kindled a ray of hope in this poor fellow. A hope that I know will be put off sooner than later. I felt really bad for doing this to the guy. 

While we were crawling through the Bangkok traffic he was repeating his plea to employ him as my driver. He did not have a resume or talk about his achievements but just the way he was persistent about his ability to drive well and the sincerity with which he said those words will make anyone give him a job. And I knew I won’t be able to live with the guilt that I gave him hope and then crushed it. I have done that enough number of times in my life to many people who I know, I loved and have regretted later for giving them the hope. So, I gathered some courage and told him that I am not here for long and that I will be leaving. I guess he wanted the job very badly, even this admittance did not deter him. He then asked me "When you come back?" I replied that I might not come back at all but still he persisted "OK. U come back and buy car. Then call me sir. I good driver" I said "Ok, I will" He then said "Thank you sir, Mr. San" (I had shortened my name for him so that he can say it easily)

Finally the taxi reached the station gates and it was time to pay up. Panic struck again inside me and I was thinking he will demand more money now. According to the rule he was too earnest and more than friendly, so he must fleece me. Half expecting him to raise the fare, I gave him the fare that the meter showed. He took the money and said "Thank you sir. Thank you Mr. San. You call me, OK." Another pang and I feel a heavy stomach, dry throat and awe at the optimism this old man was showing. Like they say, the journey is more important than the destination. A petty commute from bus station to BTS station and this will definitely be in my memory forever. I sincerely pray that the guy get a better job than this and live his life in peace. Amen!

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