The six degrees

-
This is not the average winter temperature in Ol’ Blighty that I refer to. It is the much studied ‘six degrees of separation’ theory. And the kick I got at chopping 3 degrees off it this morning.

It all started with the daily chit-chat with my ‘kaamwaali bai’ or cleaning lady. Her friend is the ‘koodewaali bai’ or house-garbage collector. And this 2nd bai picks up rubbish daily at Shahrukh’s house. Oh yeah I totally call him by first name now that I’m technically a neighbour on Mount Mary Road in Bandra ;-) That's Shahrukh Khan- King of Bollywood for those who still haven’t heard of him. So essentially that’s 3 degrees of separation with Mr Khan. Jai Ho to the world of bais! Now getting to 2 degrees will be dead easy, all I have to do is befriend the koodewaali bai directly. But one degree… hmmm….. no I’m not planning to disguise myself as her and pick up his rubbish. Really there have to be some limits to celebrity-voyeurism. I've never been a groupie of any sort but this city is is bringing out a new side to me!

The other day this small bit of random info got me thinking a bit more. Who all do I know within this three degree separation? Of course I’m ignoring 6 degrees as everyone can do it in 6, so surely the challenge has to be to get it to 3 or lower.

The first thing was to get back to Shahrukh. I discovered I know him through two other 4 and 3 degree separations. I didn’t even have to come as far as Bandra in Mumbai for this. Many many years ago, when he was fresh faced actor from the popular TV soap opera ‘Fauiji’, I used to be a young school girl in Delhi. One day, my classmate Chaitali joined an excited conversation and said- "Oh Shahrukh- I know him well ...." (Open mouths here among all school girls!) More explanations followed : "He used to play in Safdarjung Development Area just behind our school." Chaitali’s sister knew Shahrukh’s sister who used to reprimand him for being naughty on the playfield! That was my 4th degree separation then. The other 3 degree one was more recent- my nephew is a classmate of Shahrukh’s nephew.

Crossing overseas onto other ‘famous’ people, I also thought of my friend Ms V in UK who knows the PM’s advisor and the advisor reports directly to Gordon Brown. So that’s a cool 3 degree separation to Gordon Brown the current Prime Minister of UK- wow! Closer home I know a certain Mr M who will soon become a close associate of a Cabinet Minister who will in turn report to the PM of India. Another 3 degrees to the PM of India. And as my friend Sof just reminded me a while ago, her Uncle Spiros is an MP who reports directly to the Greek PM. Couldn’t work out the Obama one yet but I’m sure my friends in US will help me work it out.

I do wonder how the definition of the ‘degree’ works. I mean if you met someone once in your life for 30 seconds, is that one degree or is it if you meet someone every month or every day? If the first one holds true then I can add to my growing list E Sreedharan, the person credited with Delhi Metro’s success story, whom I spoke to for about 35 seconds at social event.(This tidbit suitably impressed my friend's young daughter who is a big fan of the 'metro-man'. Happy to oblige you anytime Aadira!)

So you might well ask- why this sudden obsession with the degrees of separation. Well dudes and dudelettes, that is because this is Indiaaaaaa. In no other place in the world does it matter so much WHO you know and HOW you know them. We have within us an inbuilt social networking tool- covering several generations of families and clans, identifying regional and sub-regional ties, so the next step to business networking is just a small extension of this mammoth Grid-of-Relationships. Well here is my plan then, let us see how soon I can get an unlikely degree of separation down from 6 to 1. 
Azerbaijan – here I come.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bangkok Chronicles: Walking with the Buddha

-
Image
It is a strange feeling indeed to be an Indian (of sorts) in Southeast Asia. Years ago, in smoke-filled pubs of London, it felt perfectly logical to have the Goodness Gracious Me -inspired argument that only one outcome was acceptable: ‘We did it first in India’. Fortunately, the pubs became smoke-free, and I could spend an evening without needing an instant dry-clean for my coat or a deep-cleansing hair wash after each visit. I digress, as usual. This time, as I traverse around Bangkok, I have been filled a growing realisation that indeed, many ideas, beliefs and practices did emerge first in India. Equal is the wonder at how delicately they got assimilated in the local culture and acquired a uniqueness that can only be described in this trite but useful phrase- same same but different . Lest you await the hackneyed confession ‘I truly found myself’ (and there are many ways of finding oneself in Bangkok!), let me assure you there has been no such miraculous moment of discovery for me....
Read more

Bangkok Chronicles: The river

-
Image
On a cold January morning, by the foothills of the Himalayas in northern India, I ushered in 2024 with my family. Back in Delhi, the smog showed little sign of receding. Through the smoky and dust-hued sky, we occasionally witnessed shards of sunlight, a reminder that our planet's bright star has not abandoned us just yet. Fortunately for me, a new adventure awaited. Before the month was over, I had landed about 3000 km east of India in Thailand. Upon alighting from the plane, my jacket was promptly stuffed at the bottom of the suitcase. Within 24 hours I was hitting the shops to buy t-shirts. Because, as everyone knows, you can never have enough t-shirts in a hot and humid country. Over the last few months I have been serenading my social circle with a Whats App-based photo journal. It is finally time to do the proper thing, which is to pen down my experiences for immortality (or till robots take over the earth). I had been to Bangkok several times before as a tourist. H...
Read more

Bangkok Chronicles: 'Veggie Delight' gets a new meaning

-
Image
In the early days, just like the fruits, the vegetable section of supermarkets continued to fill me with more questions than answers. The translation software on my phone was of little use, as many of these were labelled 'native vegetable'.  Eventually, I decided to chuck a new veggie in my basket each week and work out later what it was, and how best to cook it. Here is a small selection of the more unusual and the interesting ones. There are several I had seen before but never tried. Others, as I discovered in my online searches, were well-known in parts of India. I just hadn't come across them while growing up in Delhi, or my family had not experimented enough - an oversight they are now addressing as they regularly share their own funky recipes. Winged beans This is undoubtedly one of my favourite finds. I first tasted these in a delectable salad at an upmarket hotel in Bangkok. It was absolutely scrumptious and I confess, I have never been able to replicate that exact ...
Read more