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Naga turned away from his sleek new iMac on hearing the door click, and noticed Maya emerging from her room. His study was just across the guest room.
He was stunned at the transformation. She looked different than in her travel clothes, actually exquisite, radiant in a red patterned short skirt and top. She wore hardly any makeup, except for a faint blush of lipstick, and her shiny smooth hair fell loosely on her shoulders. He had half a mind to squeeze her in his arms.
With a purse in the right hand, and a small package in her left, she walked up to him smiling. The familiar smell of ripe peach gently hit him.
‘That was fast. You took less than 2 hours,’ he quipped, staring at her.
‘Sorry, hope we are not late. I had to unpack and arrange my stuff. I got this for you,’ she said handing him the packet.
It was a leather wallet with the letters NP etched in the corner.
‘Thanks. How did you know I need a new wallet?’ he said, examining the insides.
‘Well, isn’t that the easiest practical gift to get a man?’
‘You look beautiful. Just give me a moment. Have to send an important email.’
‘Thanks. Work?’
‘No, it’s for you. Trying to setup some meetings with a few professors. We can meet them together and ask them some questions for a few story ideas, while you can do your research. There you go,’ he said, giving a final tap on the keyboard and getting up.
‘Why don’t you dress up, then we can go,’ she said.
‘What do you mean? I am dressed and ready!’
It looks so seventies.
‘Are you serious? Naga, before we go for my handphone, I think we should buy some clothes for you.’
‘What’s wrong with these clothes?’
‘Well, you look like an old Corean actor,’ she said laughing.
‘All right. All right. As you wish,’ he said, still not convinced that his clothes were old-fashioned.
‘Have you ever tried shaving your mustache?’
‘Why do you ask?’
‘You will look much younger, you should try it.’
‘Are you crazy? No one in Dravida shaves his mustache, it is a sign of manhood.’
‘You don’t need a mustache to prove your manhood, that is enough,’ she replied, looking down at the bulge in his pants.
Naga blushed and looked away.
She is flirting again.
Maya would not take no for an answer and kept pestering him until he finally relented.
A few minutes later, he came out of his room covering his lower face with his right palm.
‘Show me. Show me,’ she said, removing the palm. They were standing quite close to each other now, and she could almost feel his breath on her forehead.
‘It looks funny. People are going to laugh.’
‘It’s all in your head, you look handsome, it is also easier to kiss,’ she said.
Before he could think of an appropriate response, his mobile buzzed again. This time it was Mathew, calling to reconfirm the lunch appointment.
‘Let’s go’, he said, grabbing the car keys and switching on the security pod.
As the elevator descended, Maya once again looked transfixed at the scenery outside the glass enclosure. This time, the clear blue waters of the Bay of Bengal were swirling angrily in front. She could notice a few ships at a distance, and a lighthouse to her extreme right. Naga was standing behind her, stealing glances at her tight body.
‘Last night I saw buildings and lights here,’ she said.
‘That was the west wing, this is the east wing.’
‘Oh, so this building is on the beachfront.’
‘Sort of, we are in Royapuram, north Madras, it’s an older part of the city. The main beach is in central Madras, where that lighthouse is located. It is called Marina and is a distance away.’
‘I have heard of Marina Beach. Isn’t it the worlds second longest beach?’
‘Yes, it runs from near our Parliament to Besant Nagar in the south, a distance of 13 km. The average width of the beach is 300 m. It is also the most crowded beach in Dravida attracting about 30,000 daily visitors during weekdays and 50,000 during the weekends.’
‘Good, I hope to go swimming someday. I miss the sea, ever since my parents shifted to Pyongyang from Incheon’ she said.
‘If you want to swim I will have to take you to some other beach. Swimming is strictly forbidden on Marina. The sea is very rough.’
‘What’s the use of a beach if you cannot swim.’
‘We can’t help it, nature does not check for our convenience,’ he replied, clicking on the auto security key.
‘Mind your head, the car has a low roof.’
‘Which are the most popular cars in your country?’ he asked, putting the key in the ignition.
‘Pony, Tico and Pride,’ she said.
‘Sounds like a band. Never heard of them. Corean cars?’
‘Yes, Hyundai makes Pony. It is our first mass-produced car, now exported to Europe and South America. Tico is made by Daewoo and Pride by KIA, also Corean companies.’
‘So you don’t have any foreign cars?’
‘We do, but not everyone can afford them, very heavy import taxes.’
Import taxes? Every economics student knows it’s called customs duties.
‘I am sure, your fat politicians drive around in foreign cars, while the masses are stuck with Pony and Tico. So typical of socialist countries.’
Naga was right, she thought. But her ego was bruised, and she could not stand it.
‘For your information, we are a democracy. Have been since our country got united after war. So it is the people’s choice, and we don’t seem to mind. My country wants to be self-sufficient and develop local industries first.’
‘I have heard that before. You are just fooling yourself if you believe your mixed-economy system will help. Look at Dravida, we have always been an open economy, since independence, and see where we are.’
‘Every system has its own merits. I could argue that Dravida is just a lackey of USA. Your country is only a pawn in its larger imperialistic game. Moreover, if there is crisis in the US economy, your system will collapse. Too much interdependence is not always good. You saw what happened in 1997?’
‘Well, we have made systematic corrections now. It will not happen again. Moreover, the US had nothing to do with it,’ he said, referring the large-scale regulatory reforms that took place in the aftermath of the 1997 economic shock.
He vividly recalled, the ‘IMF Crisis’ that brought Dravida, at that time the world’s 11th largest economy, on the brink. He had just joined The Hindu newspaper as their staff correspondent.
Like other countries in the neighborhood, Dravida heavily relied on short-term foreign loans and was open to ‘hot money.’ When the private enterprises started struggling to meet their payment obligations, international currency markets panicked. Currency traders sought to convert their Dravidian rupees into dollars, and the currency plummeted. That made it harder for Dravida to pay its loans, and it made imports suddenly very expensive.
There were other underlying causes for the financial crisis, including over-investment in real estate and other speculative ventures. The IMF made loan arrangements to Dravida to meet its foreign debt payments on the condition that it adopts structural adjustment policies.
The danger of economic collapse forced it to swallow a tough bailout package that closed big banks and industrial companies and led millions of workers to be laid off.
As many as 125 large companies shut down, while unemployment skyrocketed from approximately 2 percent to over 10 percent.
‘IMF suicides’ became common among workers who lost their jobs and dignity. Desperate families in dire economic straits left their children at orphanages who were labeled‘IMF orphans.’ IMF in Dravida became a symbol of every malaise that the country was going through, and literally became a catchphrase ‘I’M Fired.’
Thanks to the single-minded determination of its politicians and public, Dravida managed to pay back its loan from IMF in 2001, three years ahead of schedule. Within four to five years since the bailout, the economy was back on track.
‘We learnt a very good lesson, and it will not happen again. The problem with communist countries is that they are ideologically rigid and refuse to learn from their past mistakes.’
‘I told you Corea is not a communist country. We are certainly close to China, but we have our own economic system, and we are an independent country.’
‘If I wanted to insult you, I could have called Corea as China’s lackey, just like you did earlier. You do realize that Dravida is also an independent democratic country?’
Oops!
She smiled and deftly changed the subject.
‘Your streets are very wide and clean. You should see Pyongyang and Seoul.’
‘Yeah, I saw some pictures on the Internet. That is because of unplanned development and corruption. Your government never gave priority to infrastructure, and only concentrates on land reforms. You know the place where I stay used to be a nightmare before our independence. It had very bad roads, poor sanitation, infrastructural problems, traffic and congestion,’ he said. ‘However, our first President MGR gave priority to infrastructure and all the old areas of our major cities were entirely redeveloped.’
‘Wasn’t MGR an actor? All your Presidents so far are from the movie industry, right?’
‘Well not entirely true, our first two Presidents were actors: MGR and NTR. Our third president was not an actor – Jayewardene. This was followed by two other actors RaajKumar and Jaylalitha who is our present president.’
‘You have had five Presidents so far?’
‘Yes. In Dravida no one can serve for more than 2 five-year terms. We have two main political parties, the conservative DPF- Dravida Progressive Front and liberal DDP- Dravida Democratic Party. Only MGR and NTR, from DPF, could complete 2 terms, although NTR was President for 11 years, because of the 1993 war with Hindustan. Jayewardene and Raajkumar from DDP, again from DPF, lost after one term each,’ he noted.
‘So do you think Jayalalitha will complete 2 terms?’ she asked, avoiding his question.
‘Hard to say, she is a liberal who wants peace with Hindustan, but the conservative opposition is very strong and has a majority in the national assembly. Their possible candidates for the next elections are another actor, Rajanikanth, and a journalist Narsimhan Ram, whose family owns my newspaper. Actually, I personally prefer DPF. Why should we make peace with Hindustan? It has to be destroyed.’
‘How come you guys are so hung up on movie stars? They are just actors, who imitate real life on screen. Most of them are hollow.’
‘Hey, why this bias against actors? All our Presidents have done exceedingly well, and brought glory to our country. In fact they were all extremely popular in all four provinces, and responsible for my country’s development. Why don’t you complain about the background of US Presidents? A majority of them were lawyers. Hey wait, they also had an actor President, Ronald Reagan.’
‘You are right, occupations should not matter, but seriously, actors?’ ‘Films have a large and deep influence in our society. You will realize it during your stay here. I will take you to a couple of movies, and then you will appreciate the reasons. There that is the Madras Port to our left, and straight ahead is India Bazaar and Parry’s Corner.’
‘India Bazaar?’
‘Yes. It was set up in 1969, to help refugees who ran away from Hindustan during our Civil war. It was originally for Burmese refugees, but was expanded after the war. You get all Hindustani products and food here. There is also a small lane where you have very old restaurants serving Burmese noodle soup.’
‘I heard the noodle soup is delicious.’
‘How do you know? Lonely Planet?’
‘No, my father told me, he was here for a couple of months during his masters.’
‘Did he tell you about Corea Town?’
‘No. Is there a Corea Town here?’
‘Oh yes, there is. I have never been there, but have heard that there are many Corean restaurants for all the workers who come here.’
‘Any idea how many Coreans work in Madras?’
‘I don’t know the exact number, but I can check and let you know. We have a permit system for workers from other countries who want to come here. I think Corea’s quota is 2,000. Most of them work in the factories at Ambattur.’
‘So Corea Town is located in Am-baa-toor?’
‘Yes. It is at some distance, but we can go on the weekend.’
‘Thanks. I want to buy some Korean food.’
‘Like kimchi?’
‘Yes, so you heard of kimchi.’
‘Look, there ahead is our Parliament building Sriramulu Sabha. It used to be called Fort St. George, and was renamed after our independence.’
‘You mean that used to be a fort?’
‘I’m sure you read about the East India Company and British rule in your history lessons at school. The Company built this fort in 1644, to secure its trade lines and commercial interests in the spice trade. It got its name because it was completed on St George’s Day. At that time there were just some fishing villages, but it soon became the hub of merchant activity and Madras developed around this fort.’
Maya hated history and did not recall anything about the East India Company or the British rule in India. Her history lessons only dwelt with Chinese and Japanese oppression of the Coreans.
Better pretend to know.
‘Who is it named after?’
‘Potti Sriramulu. When we were one country, he fought for the division of states on linguistic basis. He belongs to my province Andhra, where they speak Telugu. At that time, we were still a part of Madras, and he fasted until death demanding a separate state.’
‘So he actually died and there were problems between people of different provinces in Dravida.’
‘Yes, but the civil war brought everyone together, to fight the common enemy Hindustan.’
‘So, what happens if every province wants a separate country now?’
‘It won’t happen. That is why we have the language policy that I mentioned earlier. There is no discrimination based on language, because everyone knows all the official languages. Also we have an unwritten rule that if our President is from one province, the Vice President is from a different. All political power is equally divided between the provinces,’ he said, wiping the sweat that was pouring down his forehead.
Although Naga begged to switch on the air conditioner, she wanted to experience the ‘sights and smells’ of Madras, seated comfortably in the car.
‘I heard one part wants to separate. Tangana?’
‘Telengana. Yes, they do, but that is because they are encouraged and sponsored by the Hindustanis. The region was under Muslim rulers from the 14th century that is why Hindustanis consider them culturally closer, although they are genetically Dravidians. I personally feel they should be made a separate province within the country.’
‘I heard they want to join Hindustan.’
‘No that is just a minority, a few terrorists funded by our enemy. The majority speaks Telugu and want to remain in Dravida. We even had a referendum to prove it, just like in Sri Lanka, when they decided to join Dravida in 1980.Look at Hindustan, they are denying a referendum to Kashmiris,’ he said, referring to the border conflict with Pakistan.
Slightly confused, Maya nodded her head sideways.
‘So you don’t know about the conflict over Kashmir?’
‘I do. That is why I nodded my head.’
‘Ha. You got it wrong. Sideways nodding means no and vertical nodding means yes.’
She nodded her head up and down this time, laughing.
‘You know, head nodding is something that most Dravidians do. It is a sign of politeness, which is alien to the Hindustanis. They are crass with no original culture. I am s
ure, if we had not become an independent country, today the world would have considered their culture and food as representing all of us. No one would have heard of our rich heritage.’
‘What do you mean? I met a few Hindustani students at my university, they were loud but certainly not crass.’
‘Our culture is more authentic and was never corrupted by the invaders from Central Asia. Our music, dance, architecture and literature are pure, even our food and curries are original. If we had remained a part of India, our culture would have got contaminated. The outside world would never have known that we exist,’ he sighed and continued. ‘The world would have recognized their movies as ‘Indian movies’, maybe they would have called it Bollywood after Bombay. Their food would have been recognized as Indian food, their borrowed music would be known as Indian music. Tourists would have seen the Taj Mahal and returned in the belief that they have experienced true Indian culture. There is so much they would have missed.’
‘Of course not, if your culture were different, everyone would have appreciated it like they do today. Your carnatic music is a rage, so are Dollywood movies and the idli-dosa.’
‘You really think so? That is because our software engineers, financial experts and call centers are famous in all corners of the world. The Hindustanis would never have allowed that to happen, even though they now only export contract laborers to the rest of the world. If we were still one country, they would have been cultural imperialists. Just like how you communists accuse USA. Outsiders would have been clueless of the rich diversity. I really pity Bengal, Northeast, Orissa, Gujarat and Maharashtra for not joining Dravida, the Hindi imperialists have destroyed their culture.’
Maya let it go. Maybe he was right, maybe he was not, this was not the time to get into an argument, but Naga was in full flow and rambled on.
‘They have spent so much money trying to defend Kashmir, without even holding a referendum. Luckily, it is no longer our money that is being thrown down the drain. If we were one country, our region would have earned the majority revenues that the Hindi politicians use to line up their pockets, paying lip service to development.’
‘When will we reach Marina?’ she asked getting a whiff of sea breeze, and trying desperately to change course.
‘Nearly there, I will drop you off at the entrance and find a parking slot. Do not go far. Keep my mobile, just in case you get lost. I will take just ten minutes,’ he said, handing over his phone.