PEACEFUL DAYS IN HAVANA...EN MI BARRIO VEDADO

PREPARING FOR HANUKKAH HAVANA STYLE

HANUKKAH   HAVANA STYLE 
WINE BOTTLES MOSTLY FROM SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE
ARGENTINA CHILE AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND 
HAPPY HANUKKAH 

FLYING AMERICAN AIRLINES : LOYALTY STILL MATTERS

I used to be a loyal Delta Airlines flier and when they changed their Frequent Flier programme, I switched to United Airlines and when they devalued their programme switched to American Airlines. Now every one has devalued their Frequent Flier programmes and you choose your airline for the Alliance and the privileges one gets being a top tier frequent flier.
I am Executive Platinum in the American Airlines AAdvantage Frequent flier programme. On a short flight from Havana to Miami, I received this note from the Flight Attendant on my section of the plane (seat 3 B with no one sitting in seat 3A)

I usually like to chat with the Flight Attendants and as an anthropologist enjoy this short interaction of people who make my flying experience enjoyable.
I also hold the highest Frequent Flier tier in Qatar Airways which is without doubt my favourite airline and the Crew the best in the business. I do not hide my admiration for them. The reason I do not talk to many American Airlines FAs is that they do not seem receptive, far more interested in their wifi , sudoku and reading matters and greying hairs (grandmas, another CEO had called them). On one of my CDG-MIA flight, the attendants were barely friendly, service was without a smile and within a hour, they had hurried through the lunch service and then disappeared until just before the plane landed in Miami.
I fondly think in those moments about the lovely people who staff the QR Qatar Airways Cabin, how lovely are their presence and the hours I have spent on conversations with them: from various countries in Asia and some from Africa and Europe.. Some stand out in my memory:  south korea  Japan Romania ..they are ever present in the cabin and you are served food and drink whenever you want, whatever you want. My last QR flight was Miami to Doha to Cochin and I purposely took a long break of 6 hours at Doha airport so that I can enjoy their lounge, Al Mourjan, for which there is no competition in the USA.. even the newer American Airlines Flagship lounge to which I have access can hold a candle to Al Mourjan.
On this flight from Havana to Miami, the reception was the usual okay, you are here, what do you need with a have a nice day kind of smile on the face of the FAs except one who seemed genuinely interested in a conversation, about AA of course and Doug Parker their CEO (none of the airlines CEO are looked up in respect by USA Public, much on par with Used Car salesmen) and the routes and rules and desires to discover the world.
The QR FAs are so eager to discover the world and of course they have a chance to, QR flies to 150 different destinations all around the world, whereas AA is pretty restricted to the Americas and some ports in Europe, small foot print in couple of cities in China and Tokyo and Seoul in their itinerary. The QR FAs are very grateful for their jobs, their chance to see the world, a chance to save money to start businesses in their far flung homes. I continue to enjoy their company on my long haul flights to Asia.
So I was very pleasantly surprised when i received the above unexpected note from the FA on my section. Thank you and certainly such a genuine gesture makes you feel warm about the airline you are loyal to.

My next adventure (which are monthly occurrences)  Miami to Brussels to Tel Aviv to Cochin to Siem Reap to Kuala Lumpur to USA via Narita starts in a few days time...
I would be flying 
American Airlines
Finnair
Brussels Airlines
Egyptair
Air India 
Malaysian Airlines
Japan Airlines
I look forward to them all..

and to welcome the New Year in Siem Reap Cambodia ..

PAYING RESPECTS TO THE LAST JEW OF COCHIN ELIAS JOSEPHAI BABU

ELIAS JOSEPHAI, currently the best known COCHINI JEW in the world (check for him in Google, Youtube, BBC etc) is based in Ernakulam near his beloved synagogue which had been shuttered now for decades.

Single handedly he began the restoration of the synagogue to the splendour it has reached today that on the 6th December 2018, a Torah arrives from Israel and in many decades, Jews are able to pray and attend services here under his caring eyes.

Kadavumbagam synagogue getting ready to welcome Torah from Israel on December 6 The renovated Kadavumbagam synagogue on Market Road in Ernakulam will wake up to welcome the Torah from Israel on December 6 evening, thanks to the unflinching efforts of Elias Josephai, Babu to friends, who’s gone the whole hog to see the beautiful synagogue of his childhood back in shape. The Consul General of Israel in Bengaluru is expected to arrive for the event, which will also see opening of a photo exhibition by Meydad Eliyahu, an Israeli artist who traces his ancestry to Ernakulam. Like several others, his grandparents had migrated to Israel. Eliyahu had exhibited in a collateral show held as part of the last Kochi Muziris Biennale. While the renovation of the 818-year-old synagogue is only half way through, the ceremony is a dream come true for Mr. Josephai. “Yossi Orel, who had gone to Israel from Chennamangalam, made arrangements for the Torah to be sent from Moshav Taoz on the outskirts of Jerusalem,” says Mr. Josephai. It was in June 1969 that Mr. Josephai visited the Paradesi Synagogue at Mattancherry as a 14-yearold with his father. “It was for the 400 anniversary of the synagogue. I realized that except for its brilliant tiles, it was no match to the splendour of our [Kadavumbagam] synagogue. The Aron Kodesh [Torah Ark] of Kadavumbagam is a marvel,” he says. The synagogue closed for worship in 1972, with the members leaving for Israel, and the Torah scrolls were transported two years later. “I remember seeing a beautiful hand-painted Japanese tile that my father had shown me at its strong room. The plan was to pave the floor with those, but that never happened. “In 1977, after thieves vandalized it, the synagogue passed into a state of disrepair and disuse. Mr. Josephai says there was a social boycott of sorts that he faced from the ‘white Jews’ of the Jew Town after his brother got married to a Christian. “This added to my desire to bring our synagogue back to its glory. It was an arduous task, but divine blessings made things happen,” he says. In 2014, three members of the Orthodox Union Group came to meet him. This also occasioned his meeting with a man named Samuel Daivasahayam, from Erode, who sent the labourers to work at the synagogue. The first donation of ₹20,000 came from his wife’s cousin. Subsequently, university students from Australia and New Zealand and Swami Hariprasad of Vishnu Mohan Foundation like many others chipped in to support. Subsequently, he got the floor concreted and paved with Chettinad tiles, the walls were painted, the pews got a coat of polish and chandeliers came thanks to Swami Hariprasad. Mr. Josephai also got 16 lamps, each with 12 legs, at a reasonable rate. “At every critical juncture, someone came to my rescue,” he says

The restoration of this synagogue, which is somewhat unique in the history of jewish communities which migrated to Israel (I sadly think of the neglected synagogues of Morocco, fo example). A vibrant Jewish community was reduced to Elias and his family (He is truly the LAST JEW OF COCHIN), now has a chance to show the world the splendour that was.

This is the legacy of this Jew in this isolated corner of the Jewish world, Elias has contributed to the Jewish history by restoring the splendour and memory of this vibrant Jewish community. 

Also this restoration as detailed in the HINDU article above shows the cooperation between Hindus, Christians and Jews, along with other people who live peacefully together in Cochin.

CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU, ELIAS JOSEPHAI BABU. 

As we pray, may your good name be inscribed in the book and remembered for ever..

I am proud of my friendship with him, In the last 40 years, he has done more for COCHIN JEWRY more than any other single person. 
He deserves our respect and admiration. He is a true son of the people of Israel.

READING PADURA IN LA HABANA

Then he drew back his arm to gain momentum and flung the bottle out to sea. The epistolary container, heavy with the nostalgia of those three shipwrecked men, remained floating near the coast, shining like a priceless diamond, until a wave engulfed it and took it out to the dark one where it’s only possible to see things through the eyes of memory and desire…

Thus ends the book

Adios, Hemingway  by Leonardo Padura

Reading Padura in la Habana

It seems so appropriate to read Padura on this visit..

I was sitting indulging in a Crepe made by locals who claim to have eaten them since antiquity, filled with salmon and crème fraiche, when the gentleman opposite said to me

Do you know Leonardo Padura, the Cuban writer? We have just finished one of his books, in French translation.

It was about 830 pm in Brittany and it would be 2 30 pm in La Habana and I sent an email to my Cuban mother, enquiring  about Leonardo Padura. Within five minutes, I received an email from my mother, informing me that while he is a busy traveller, if we coincide in La Habana she would try to arrange a reunion!

I was excited about it.

Looking through Amazon.com, I was able to find some of his books and the title Havana Fever attracted me and I was reading it on my next visit to Cuba and it was absolutely charming, and from Padura’s books one could learn about the intricacies of this society at a greater depth, even if you are living here.

On this visit, I was reading Adios, Hemingway and it seemed so apt. Cuba while people think that is stuck in the 50s, because of the antique cars still plying full throttle, is an incredibly dynamic society. Nothing stands still here, let alone time, which by the way does not  have the same significance elsewhere.

We are in a liminal period, one president is gone and another one is in its place, so this liminality has affected some people, especially those who cannot deal well with ambiguity. The new president is trying to put his own stamp on the Cuban mind and life and people feel an exaggerated sense of change, which is only illusionary. But the stoic ones who have seen it all is less perturbed but the cunning ones looking for a dollar in the change (so to speak) send out alarming signals.

Reading Padura makes me realize that in Cuba, there are things you have and there are things you are given the illusion of having.

THERE ARE THINGS THAT SHOULDN’T BE LOST, PADURA’S CHARACTER CONDE WRITES, IF THEY DO GET LOST WE ARE IN A F...G MESS.

Friendship has a certain strength here but one has to be aware of the fact that the surrealist sense of the present and the greed amidst the ever present lack of goods, has given rise to an opportunistic attachments, usually embellished with wonderful words and affection. One has to be a little wary of this.

As my psychologist friends said to me: it is not incongruous that you find there are changes and then you feel so much peace in La Habana, mainly because you have put things in the right place.

In this society, reality and magic are ever present. It is the only society where the European descendants have taken on the religion of African descendants. My own immersion with the Indians makes sense of some of the Cuban magical belief systems.

When bad people or in Cuban context people who are your friends because what they can get out of you, come your way, say the Indians, just walk around them, don’t confront them.

And of course perhaps the peace comes from that:

The lady who used to cook for me and to whom and the family I used to supply plenty of food  began demanding money and her friendship turned into a prism of the colourful dollar notes of the Cuban tourists.

American Indians also say, if you do it with a sense of purity in the heart, those who try to defraud you would be the ones to suffer.

Another friend in whose success I took great  joy with bounding  innocence had forgotten to mention some pertinent facts.

It is good to keep these people away from you for a while. A visitor from Africa turned out to be no less cunning than the goal oriented Cuban friendship of some,

As the Indians say, just go around them.

Reading Padura in La Habana

Looking at sunset, chatting with good friends with whom I have no commercial relationships, trying to understand this complex society with warmth and affection perhaps gives me this sense of peace in my heart.

Gracias, Leonardo Padura..