idiadi

The nonsense that is Valentine's Day

2012-02-12T17:35:00.001+05:30

Okay, now that I have your attention (I hope) I shall proceed. This headline reminds me of the ad (allegedly) created for Subway. A hoarding screams "SEX" and then talks about Subway.

There must be a lot of single people out there in the world today who are sad that they have to "spend Valentine's Day (VD), (pun unintended but delighted at it all the same) alone". Greeting card and chocolate companies and florists must be waiting with bated breath to see if this year's sales will cross last year's. So now what is all the hullabaloo about? I turned to our ever-helpful guide, Wikipedia.

Apparently the legend that St. Valentine was a priest who used to get couples married secretly is hogwash. There is no historical basis to this legend. There would be people, so deeply affected by medieval and modern-day marketing that they would ask me if there was historical basis for God. To them I can only say, as the Telugu saying goes, evadi verri vaadiki aanandam (and no, I do not know if this verri is related to kolaveri, I will hunt down and kill the next person who talks to me about that song). The closest English equivalent would be "to each, his own". The Wikipedia article says that 1.3 billion pounds are spent in England in a year. There was an article in today's ToI which talked about Britons being angry at England still providing aid targeting poverty in India. I think the amount that the British Government spends is much less than what the Britons themselves blow.

So today the main beneficiaries of VD are greeting card companies, jewelry companies, florists and chocolate companies. Apparently till some time back emeralds and diamonds used to cost the same. Soon heavy marketing campaigns started driving up the prices of diamonds (does the phrase "diamonds are forever" ring a bell?), and this has persisted to this day. Today we see platinum being marketed similarly ("when is your platinum day of love?"). Also today everyone wants overt displays of well, love, whether it is PDA (public display of affection), greeting cards, jewelry or the likes. I would like to know the number of girls today who would willingly buy their boyfriends' argument that VD is hogwash and be content with the knowledge that they are loved rather than ask for (expensive) gifts to be bought for them.

When I was in BIT there was this practice of auctioning roses. The price of the last rose invariably used to be more than that of the previous ones. The club which was auctioning would be happy with the proceeds. The girlfriend of the guy who bought the rose would be "oh he loves me so much". The boyfriend would go, "see how much I care about my girlfriend". I would like to know how many of these couples are actually still together today.

So girls, please let your boyfriend/husbands be in peace. The famous ad-man David Ogilvy said, "The consumer isn't a moron; she is your wife. You insult her intelligence if you assume that a mere slogan and a few vapid adjectives will persuade her to buy anything.". Please try to prove him right. If you say you are persuaded after intense marketing campaigns only, I can only say to your BFs/husbands, guys, good luck!

Why I support Leno but not America - part 2

2012-02-07T19:40:00.000+05:30

In my previous post I had expressed my support for Jay Leno. In this post I want to write about America and Iran today.This has been in the news quite some of late. Granted, the current administration in Iran is not the ideal one a democracy would want in another. However what must be kept in mind (and which the US is wont to ignore) is that Iran is a sovereign state with its own democratically (even if the elections were questionable) elected government. How the US has supported autocratic regimes in the middle east while claiming to support democracy elsewhere must have been discussed ad nauseam. Hence I will not venture into that territory in this post.

Let us consider a few points. There seem to be multiple reasons why the US seem to be so antagonistic to Iran. For one, I believe the government before Iran was turned into an Islamic Republic was favourably disposed towards the US. The current regime is Islamic and this is something the US has a problem with (unless the regime is pro-US as in the case of other middle eastern countries like Saudi Arabia). Then Iran is a neighbour of Israel. The US has consistently been pro-Israel to my knowledge probably because of the large number of Jews in influential positions in the US. Thus when such a country as Iran aspires or shows aspirations to become a nuclear weapons state it must give sleepless nights to Israel and the US. Further Israel is sufficiently close to US strategic interests (read oil) in the middle east to affect them adversely in the event of a conflict.

The US is an existing nuclear weapons state. Israel is rumoured to have nuclear weapons. It has always maintained an ambiguous position with respect to its nuclear capability. Iran, in all probability has no nuclear weapons currently.
The US has in the recent past deposed regimes in Afghanistan and Iraq. I am not even taking into account conflicts like the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Iran does not seem to have done so. The last war Iran fought was with Iraq after being invaded by it.
The US has the world's largest military budget which is 4.7% of its GDP. Among all developed countries Israel has the highest defence spending as a percentage of GDP at 6.3%. Iran's spending as a percentage of its GDP stood at 1.8% in 2008. Refer to this and this.
Though Iran is an Islamic country it is predominantly Shia. Countries like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are predominantly Sunni. The Sunnis have no love lost for the Shias and some Sunnis even cosider the Shias to be heretics (one only needs to remember the sectarian violence that keeps popping up in Pakistan). Thus Iran can be said to be surrounded by hostile Muslim countries also.

There is talk of the US invading Iran if it continues its nuclear program. A few nuclear scientists have been killed in what seem to be targeted assassinations in the past few years. The EU is joining hands with the US to put pressure on Iran to drop its weapons program. Among the articles I read was an interesting point. A very important reason, if not the most important reason why countries go the nuclear way is deterrence. The US is today very worried about stability in Pakistan and North Korea precisely because they possess nuclear weapons. This in a way deters the aggressor from invading. Thus the current pressure on Iran can in fact drive to hasten its program so that it reaches a stronger bargaining position. Israel seems to have an intention of undertaking pre-emptive strikes to stop Iran from making nuclear weapons. Even taking into consideration the instinct of self preservation this can only be described as arrogant disregard for another country's sovereign status (similar to its ally, the US).

Countries like India are being pressurised not to purchase energy from Iran. Due to this, India is also facing problems in paying Iran for the oil it imports. Thus I believe it is high time for countries like us to stand up to US and European pressure while persuading Iran to get to the negotiating table. It is unfair to ask Iran to give up its defence programs when it perceives most if not all of its neighbouring or nearby countries to be hostile.

Why I support Jay Leno but not America - part 1

2012-01-25T18:38:00.001+05:30

I have divided this post into two parts as it promises to be a lengthy one.Let us start with Jay Leno. I love the guy's show. He is irreverent towards one and all. When he showed the Golden Temple as part of a parody on one of the presidential hopefuls it raised the hackles of some Sikhs and our politicians/bureaucrats. The US government has come to his defence defending his freedom of expression. Why are we as a race so thin-skinned? We pride ourselves on being a democracy but I time and again feel we are extremely hypocritical. Any time there seems to be even a hint of anything but respect towards a religion we start shouting. This is not a case of our gods being portrayed on underwear, it is not a case of a scripture being banned in a country. These were causes worth fighting for. But Leno's "transgression" is not.

Don't we parody our own gods? Frequently don't we find our gods portrayed in cartoons which comment on our social, political and economic happenings (especially around Ganesh Chaturthi)? Do we ban all these cartoonists? Where is the famous Punjabi sense of humour? Take Salman Rushdie's example also. Granted the guy seems to have written an extremely provocative and probably avoidable book (which I admit I have not read). However do we banish this guy from our country for this mistake(?)? He was not allowed to come to the Jaipur literary festival. He was not even allowed to address it via video conference! Why? Some Muslim groups raised a stink. The Congress governments at the centre and state (Rajasthan) do not want to give any ammunition to their political rivals in Uttar Pradesh where elections are due to happen shortly.

Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state is ruled by a party which heartily embraces Buddhism and Ambedkar. I will take a side track briefly. Now Ambedkar was a victim of our (sadly distorted) caste system and I believe this was the strongest reason why he converted to Buddhism. He must have had his justification, but first of all was this right? Gautama Buddha seems to be more of an agnostic than an atheist (the reader can to refer to this article for a more detailed reading). This means Ambedkar embraced a religion which did not denounce God. Thus he gave up one God for another. Did the "Hindu Gods" fail him or did Hindus fail him? This is a debatable issue.

Now coming back, I will narrate a story related to the Buddha (or was it Ramakrishna Paramahamsa?). I might be paraphrasing but the gist remains the same. One day the Buddha was begging and he reached a particular house. The man or woman of the house abused him profoundly for begging. The Buddha did not say anything and simply walked away. When another person asked him if he was not perturbed, he replied that the man had spouted a lot of rubbish. As the Buddha refused to accept it the rubbish was still with the person who had abused him. We rever Gandhi as a Mahatma and as the Father of the Nation. Did he not advise one to show the other cheek when slapped on one? Where is this spirit of tolerance today?

Indian self-congratulation about freedom of expression and democracy brings to my mind a joke I once read. Once a citizen of Soviet Russia and another from the US met and started boasting about their respective countries. The US citizen said, "Do you know how much freedom we have in our country? I can go in front of the White House and call our President an idiot!". The Soviet citizen replied, "I too have a lot of freedom in my country. I can happily go up to the Kremlin and shout that the American President is an idiot!". When will we come out of this mentality?

Whether it is a Salman Rushdie, an MF Hussain or anyone else, we should learn to look beyond whatever "transgressions" they have committed. We can censure them if we believe they are wrong, but who are we to take away their freedom and dignity?

I want to be a peon!

2012-01-20T23:31:00.002+05:30

In my school usage of the word "peon" was discouraged as this was believed to be a colonial term. We were instead asked to say "attender". Whatever may be the correct term when one thinks of a peon one does not exactly think of a person rolling in riches. However this article about peons in Madhya Pradesh seems to say otherwise. How is this possible? This, or for that matter most corruption in our country is probably because of our red tape. Also, corruption today seems to have become almost routine everywhere. Consider the following examples which I myself have faced or have heard about. These are true whether we are talking about the government, public sector or any private sector organization, whatever might be the image these organizations/companies publicly profess.

1. In a government office a certain document had to be given to a bureaucrat. The peon who worked in the office told me that he expected something for him reminding me that he was the person who had to actually hand it over physically to the babu.

2. Ask any person from the collections department of a company if it is possible to collect dues without greasing some palms. The logic seems to be, "I am releasing so much money for you, why should I not benefit?" The person does not seem to realize that it is not his money that is being released but that of the company he is working for.

The simplest solution for all of this seems to be to take things online and keep them open to the extent possible. Nothing is so simple, I confess, but a start has to be made somewhere. The citizens' charter proposed by Anna's team seems especially important in the context of all the red tape.

Moving on, it has been said that the verdict of the Supreme Court that Vodafone will not have to pay tax on its purchase of Hutchison's stake will encourage foreign investment in India. Whatever might be the logic behind this, in today's world where we are talking about cracking down on tax havens, I believe this is a retrograde step. When the deal involves India why can't the Indian government tax the transaction? At the same time, however, I do not like the government's argument that it has to earn money via such transactions. I am sure the government can explore more constructive ways and also reduce the colossal spend on inefficient schemes and facilities.

The Iran spy drone incident

2011-12-18T13:15:00.002+05:30

As per recent news reports a US RQ-170 drone was captured by Iran. Iran wants to put this along with some other captured drones on display. This brings to mind the Gary Powers U-2 incident. The Wikipedia article in fact mentions the RQ-170 below the main article. The Soviet Union is history today. American animosity of late has been focused on Iran. An interesting insight is that Iran seems to have been used by the US for military purposes. This was before the Iranian revolution where the Shah was removed and the current Islamic regime came into place.

Another thing that caught my attention was this article. Indian market faces "risk" of losing trillion dollar tag? I think we have much more important things to worry about than crossing a number, that too not in our own currency. We have inflation and corruption to begin with. Let these be addressed first. One thing which worries me is that no one (in the government) seems to be talking about long-term measures. When the issue is inflation the RBI is asked to tighten rates. What about supply-side measures? We are talking about the Food Security Bill. Where will we get the foodgrains (okay, these might be sufficient) and the funds to support this bill? The government seems to be going in for knee-jerk reactions. Will it address long-term issues also please?

Lokpal reservation and Bharat Ratna

2011-12-18T00:32:00.002+05:30

Trust the government to introduce some, well, politics into anything and everything. Just when the average citizen started hoping the Lokpal bill would be passed in this session of Parliament, there have been reports that the government wants to introduce reservation into the Lokpal. 50% of the seats would be reserved for people from the OBCs, and SC/ST. This is being done to placate the RJD and a few other parties. Is the government playing games? What does caste have to do with integrity? What is the need for this? Do the likes of the RJD believe that unless there is reservation "backward" classes would be targeted by the Lokpal? For all one should care the Lokpal can consist of only people from the backward castes, or none from these, the only criterion being that they should be people of integrity and capability. Why are extraneous considerations being brought in? The RJD is a non-entity today. It seems to be trying to come back into the limelight through measures like these.

Now I come to the topic of the Bharat Ratna. What I say now might be sacrilege to hundreds and thousands but I believe Sachin Tendulkar should not be awarded the Bharat Ratna, yet. This is an award, which I believe has already lost some of its value when it was awarded to Indira Gandhi (when she was still alive) and to Rajiv Gandhi. I am not sure how much these two deserved this award. Coming back to sports, the government has done the right thing by removing the ineligibility of sportspersons to receive this award. I believe any citizen of India (Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela are the only two non-Indian citizens to have received this award till date) should be eligible to receive the award. However I believe there are other sportspersons who have made great contribution to sports before Tendulkar. Dhyanchand, as the Sports Minister, Ajay Maken pointed out is a good candidate. Also, in cricket-crazy India it would be nice, for a change for a non-cricketer to receive the award first.

There has been much outrage against the reinstatement of SPS Rathore's pension. I believe this was suspended after he was convicted in a molestation case of Ruchika Girhotra. While what he has done cannot be condoned, I fail to see why his pension should be stopped. He did work for the government. If he is guilty he should be punished. But I do not see why the pension should be stopped. It is sad to see such a man let off with so little punishment, but this seems to be a shortcoming of our legal system.

Support FDI in retail!

2011-11-27T18:41:00.000+05:30

As some may ask, why am I blogging instead of looking after work related to the marriage? Well, we have a ceremony which in Telugu is called pellikodukuni cheyyadam. It literally means making/preparing/getting ready the groom. Post this apparently I am not allowed to step out of the house. The reaction from one of my friends, a girl, was "caged for life". Maybe this internment is meant to be a preview of married life ;-)

Now moving on, whatever may be its other faults or merits I like the present government for its initiatives like MGNREGS, RTI and the bills mentioned in the previous post. I commend Manmohan Singh's government for having guts, at least in some aspects. The decision to deregulate fuel prices, his firm stand against the Left with respect to the 123 Agreement with the US, and now the decision to allow FDI in the retail sector.

I have been disenchanted with the right wingers for having been very sore losers since the time of UPA 1. They are still intent on disrupting proceedings in the Parliament. One good thing wrt the FDI in retail decision has been that the FDI limit is 51%. Management control would be with the MNCs but Indian ownership would also be there. Now the government has to ensure this does not get diluted via things like cross holdings. For eg say Bharti has a tie up with Walmart. Now the government has to ensure that Walmart does not get any additional stake via a different company in the ownership structure. I do not know whether this is even possible, and if it is I am sure this is but one way of reducing Indian shareholding. Also another surprise has sprung up recently. Apparently there was a clause that 30% of sourcing has to be done from the SME segment. Many ministers in the central govt itself thought this referred to Indian SMEs. Now it has been clarified that these SMEs need not be Indian. I hope no further surprises like these spring up.

The Indian agricultural supply chain is in sore need of improvement. Every year huge quantities of produce go waste simply because there are not enough proper storage facilities available. In addition there are a large number of middle men between the producer and the consumer. Consider a very simplified illustration in the cases of pulses in a city like Kolkata. The produce is brought to a place (I think it is called Dal Patti) where some basic processing is involved (removing the husk, splitting the seed etc). Then this is sent to a wholesale market like Posta Bazaar. From here the pulses are bought by retailers who in turn sell them to the customers. In this simplified chain itself we see three layers between the producer and the consumer (processor, wholesaler and retailer). There are brokers at each level to facilitate meetings between the buyer and the seller. Granted there are some good aspects. For e.g. the broker in addition to acting as an all-important source of contacts also acts as a guarantor for the quality of the material. However imagine the increase the price by the time the item reaches the consumer. Mega institutions can help cut this number down or at least integrate them into a more efficient supply chain (consider ITC's e-choupal for instance). This is what India needs today. We have crossed the billion figure in our own country and this number is only going to increase in the near future. As lots of people George Bush Jr, Manmohan Singh et al) have pointed out Indians are demanding more nutritious items as part of their diet to our increased purchasing capacity. The government has to seriously think about how to feed this population. For how long can the RBI address the demand side without the government doing enough on the supply side? The agriculture minister needs to get cricket out of his head, at least for some time. Money attracts politicians like honey for flies but we must remember that flies can cause some serious diseases.

Also why are we so insecure about our domestic players? I believe there were similar fears when India was opened up in 1991. I don't think we are today anywhere close to annihilation as feared by the critics then. In contrast we are looked upon as an emerging economy (or as Obama said as an emerged economy) of great potential. The street-end kiranawalla has the advantages of proximity and familiarity which a modern retail outlet does not have. I am pretty sure that our mom and pop stores can take care of themselves. Anyway in the US I believe these hypermarkets are located in the suburbs and people simply drive down there. This kind of culture is not that prevalent in India, at least today. Imagine a middle class housewife taking a vehicle (bus, two-wheeler whatever) to a hypermarket which is 20 kms from her home, standing in queue and lugging the luggage back all that distance. I am pretty sure she would prefer the local grocery store any day. In India if the hypermarket is to be located in a more accessible location there are property rates to be considered. This might make sense for a clothing store, but would not exactly for a grocery store.

The problem in India has been and still is that our implementation leaves one wishing for much more. Many schemes might be well intentioned but the beneficiaries do end up getting a raw deal, and not rarely (leakage in MNNREGS and the PDS for instance). This has to be kept in mind wrt the FDI in retail decision also.

An obituary for Indian democracy?

2011-11-22T23:12:00.001+05:30

Just check the list below, this is with regard to the Indian Parliament

Bills slated for discussion in this session

1. Lokpal

2. Judicial Accountability

3. Food Security

4. Land Acquisition

5. Education

Sample what happened in the Lok Sabha today - the Rajya Sabha was adjourned after obituary references

1. Left - wants to corner the government over inflation

2. BJP/NDA - wants to corner the government on inflation, corruption (and black money)

3. TRS - raised the Telangana issue in Parliament today

4. Samajwadi Party - unhappy with the proposal to divide UP

5. Shiva Sena - trooped into the well, I don't know why

6. Team Anna - is prepared to re-start the agitation

This truly represents a government under siege from all directions. If the discussion entail voting the government is probably not sure whether or not it will win the motions. If I am not mistaken every hour of our legislature costs the government about INR (when will the Rupee symbol be incorporated into keyboards?) 2 lakhs. I am part of the hapless population that pays taxes. I don't want to finance these incidents (if I call them or especially the perpetrators anything rude, what I actually might want to, I might have a case against me, in spite of India being a country with "free speech").

The bills slated for discussion are historic to say the least. Corruption is a burning issue in India today. No one outside the judiciary probably completely knows how or why it functions the way it does. We are talking about providing subsidized food to a large part of our population (with money about which I have no idea as to where it is coming from). Vital projects have been stalled across the country due to land issues. Education is an urgent requirement of what is probably among the world's youngest nations. But are we doing anything useful? No! Why should we?

Our politicians' "appraisal" comes only once in five years. Sufficient time for (at least some of) them to have amassed fortunes which will comfortably last a few generations. Why the hell am I working my ass off in a private sector job?

When will our democracy rise from its ashes (make no mistake, I believe it keeps dying regular deaths)?

On the institution of marriage

2011-11-20T16:02:00.000+05:30

By now, I think I have told most if not all the people I know that I am getting married shortly. This topic was going through my mind and I decided to put pen on paper, or fingers on keyboard, to be more precise.

I happened to attend the wedding of two of my friends (as in the bride and groom both were my friends). This was a love marriage. On the day of the wedding the guy had a look of glee on his face while the bride had one of gloom. We (a few friends) who had attended were gesturing to the blue bride to smile! I unfortunately could not attend the wedding of another very good friend of mine, but she also told me that in the wedding her fiance was looking quite happy while she looked as if she could start bawling any moment. Both these couples were and are blissfully happy before and after their weddings (and may they continue to be that way). The gloomy expressions were reserved only for the day of the wedding. Going by conventional wisdom, I believe the situation should be the other way round! Sample these -

1. Aadmi shaadi ke baad sher ban jaata hain, durga ma ke paas jo hota hain, wo! (After marriage a man becomes a lion, the one that Goddess Durga rides on, the wife being Durga here :D) - this gem from a senior of mine at work.

2. Marriage is an institution when a man loses his bachelor's degree and a woman gains her master's!

3. Shaadi (or Delhi, I am not sure) ke laddu khaane se bhi pachtaaoge, nahi khaane se bhi pachtaaoge (I am not totally sure I have understood the meaning of this till date).

What might be the explanation? Does the woman suddenly realize the change that will take place in her life? But in that case the same is the situation in the case of the guy. In the olden days the bride used to accompany her husband to his parents' place. However often this is not the case today. Owing to work pressures many children, whether guys or girls are already staying away from their parents. Maybe guys are wired to handle (or suppress) their emotions better? Maybe this is at the root of the entire issue?

Then we come to the issue of love vs arranged marriages. As we all know there are love marriages which have gone bad and there are arranged marriages which have thrived and vice versa. There can be some debate on whether or not, and if yes, for how long, a guy and a girl should get to know each other before the wedding. In the olden days there have been many instances when the two did not even see each other before the wedding! Today's generation is different. There are many who want to know the guy/girl for at least a few months before they say yes. Even though this reduces the chance of friction what is the guarantee that the friction would not occur. I have had the luck (privilege or whatever) of seeing many happy marriages. I know of some unhappy ones too, but I still believe in the institution and sanctity of marriage. I met someone recently in the line of my work. We were unwinding after work and the topic moved to marriages. This person has had quite a colourful life and has also seen some weird relationships. This has led to a fear of marriages in him, though his parents are currently on the lookout for a suitable match.

Further education and financial independence have opened up entirely new scenarios today. I heard of a case where the guys' parents got him married as there would be somebody to take care of him and cook for him (I am sure this was only one of the considerations). The girl then told him that she could either do house work or be employed but could not do both. A second income is always helpful and the guy wanted her to work. He asked her to and the end result was that he started cooking for his wife also! Then there are guys/girls today who are very determined about what they want in a partner and would like to continue their search till they find someone fitting that description.

I am nobody to say one way is right or the other wrong. In my opinion all that matters and should matter is whether the constituents of the couple are happy with each other, whether they are willing to compromise (note, I do not say settle) and understand each other to live happily together. How often have we not heard the saying that the husband and the wife are like the wheels of a chariot. If either one does not function the way it should the chariot (or the marriage) cannot progress. That, in my opinion is the key to everything.

Born privileged, will blunder!

2011-11-15T22:37:00.000+05:30

Rahul Gandhi's advisors must surely be hoping they could turn back time. He launched his UP campaign on the birthday of his grandfather. However as has been highlighted by the media, two things have occurred which the Congress could have done without.

One was the kicking of the opposition workers who broke through Rahul's security cordon. Granted, he is under SPG protection and is a high profile target. However the intruders could have simply been pinned down and taken into custody. But we saw political leaders queuing up to kick the SP workers. Apparently an FIR has also been filed against these leaders.

The other was Rahul Gandhi's use of the term begging. Bihar and UP contribute a lot to the migrant labour force in the country. This is still no reason to call the people of UP beggars. There is such a thing called dignity of labour. The Congress might say the labourers would not be in that state if other opportunities were available. However is this true? Due to the MGNREGS there is a shortage of labour throughout the country. A farmer with small holdings might opt for menial work in construction, manufacturing etc during the off-season to sustain himself. However with the scheme in place he is assured of work for 100 days. If he is satisfied with his income there is no incentive for him to take up further work.

Both incidents show a certain arrogance in the young(?) leader. He did not stop his over zealous party people from indulging in violence. The beggar remark shows the political immaturity of the Congress leader even though he has such qualified mentors and has spent so much time in the public eye. One can only wonder if this person is suitable to be the leader of this country, for it is a granted thing that unless he sacrifices the PM's post a la his mother he will become the PM of this country one day. Coming back to the title of this post - only Rahul Gandhi can probably commit such blunders and still escape unscathed, for it is the sycophancy of his party members that will sustain him throughout his political life.

Apparently the Government can Bribe

2011-11-12T09:56:00.000+05:30

All of us have heard about police informers. I do not know whether these people can be considered to be "employed" by the police in the usual sense of the term. Apparently the income tax department also depends on informants to unearth information to conduct raids. Now this article says that some informants are disgruntled people. It clearly mentions that the funds used are secret and the IT department has to part with money to get information. Now the secrecy is justified. If I rat out a powerful real estate developer for tax evasion I do not want him to know that it was I who exposed him.

However to my mind this entire practice seems suspiciously close to bribery. So is it ok if the government bribes its own citizens for a "good" cause? The irony is that these bribes are used for unearthing black money! So if these funds are secret, what are they, black or white? I am not saying what the government is doing is wrong. It is being pragmatic. However I just want to point out the irony. Also, the government keeps spouting Mahatma Gandhi's name often. I wonder what his take would have been on this classic case of the ends justifying the means.

This is entirely(?) unrelated, but what is Robert Vadra's name doing on the list of people exempt from frisking at airports? Does anyone know the logic?

A Nation of Apathy

2011-11-09T22:50:00.000+05:30

Yet another incident shows how insensitive we are towards another man's suffering in our country. This comes after the Keenan-Reuben case where the two young men were killed because they came forward to protect their female friends from some inebriated goons. Related to this issue, the Supreme Court has also said that medical care is the first priority in an emergency. Till then there was a (justified?) fear that helping a person who was the victim of an accident or personal attack would lead to legal complications to the good samaritan. In spite of the Supreme Court's directive we see the situation continuing. In the article, the link of which is provided above we read that onlookers just well, looked on, as a man burnt, and that for quite some time.

We in India are taught from childhood to respect our elders. Probably as an extension to this and as an extension to our struggle under the Britishers we have come to fear powerful people and/or those in authority. In the cases mentioned above this would refer to the attacking goons. This and probably the fear of the legal process are what hold back people. I cannot think of any other logical reason. My mother was in fact rescued from such a situation via the kind act of a person, who alas I have not been able to meet. My mother met with an accident when I was in Intermediate. Till date, she does not know how that happened, and neither do we. We only know that luckily for her, a person who was working in a government hospital happened to pass by the crowd that had gathered after her accident and rushed her to the hospital. When asked, the crowd simply said it was a woman, and they did not want to get involved!

This probably is also an explanation of our tolerance for corruption or any other evils in our society today. We live under the impression that it has happened to "someone else" and not to us. Do I actually realize that to others, I am the "someone else"? One is reminded of the story where a person does not protest when Jews and people from other communities were targeted (it was either in Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia). He does not say anything as it was someone else being targeted. In the end the government comes for him and he finds no one left to defend him. I might be paraphrasing but this is the gist.

So I think first of all the Supreme Court's directive needs to be widely publicized to assure people that they will not get into legal tangles by helping others. Further probably because of our population there are not many resources to pass around, and we tend to get close-fisted. Ironically we are the country that produced the tales of Shibi, Karna and Bali. Also, remember the story of the mongoose with golden fur from the Mahabharata (this will be my next blog post). So there also seems to be a need to inculcate the quality of sharing and helping others in our children via their families and their formal education also, for it is today's children that we hope will become tomorrow's dutiful citizens.

Saddam Hussain and bin Laden deja vu!

2011-10-22T22:16:00.000+05:30

Muammar Gaddafi's death reminds of two deaths in the not-so-distant past - those of Saddam Hussain and Osama bin Laden. Why? Gaddafi was hounded by his own people the way Saddam was by the Americans. He fled the same way and was discovered in a similar way. Laden was alive when the Americans caught up with him. What ensued is probably not very clear. Now the US is demanding details of how Gaddafi died. I think it is a little too late in the day to take someone else to task over moral turpitude.

Now I come to the question, is this revenge? Does revenge truly bring happiness? I do not know, neither do I hope to find out. But now I come to the larger question. Can we kill a human being even if the, well, justification is to bring about justice? I was (probably) a supporter of the death penalty in the rarest of the rare cases. In fact I had written in one of my previous posts about the delay in Afzal Guru's hanging. However I also have to ask myself, life is not something that we have given to our fellow human beings, can we take it from someone? I believe this argument was in fact put forward by Gandhi. Why do we have laws? Because way back in antiquity man agreed to co-habit in society, and for this society to survive and flourish certain ground rules need to be followed. So anyone who lives in society and does not follow its rules should be punished. Now does this extend to taking a person's life also?

The anguish felt by a murdered person's dear ones can only be understood by them, but I would like to know, in cases where the killer has been hanged (or electrocuted or whatever) has the victim's family found peace? Do they believe this is the only way to obtain justice? There are occasional examples - Graham Staines' (the Christian missionary who was burnt alive in Odisha) wife forgave her husband's killers and did not want to see them hanged. Murugan and Nalini's daughter has asked for something similar from the Gandhi family. Obviously I am not saying that if the family okays it every murderer' sentence should also be commuted. I have the luxury right now of taking the middle path and leaving the question open, so I choose to do it. I just wish to raise a question which everyone should ask oneself.

Moving on, I loved Hillary Clinton's recent statement in Pakistan - you cannot raise snakes in your backyard and expect they will bite only your neighbours. Once again, I would like to say, look who's talking, but I still love the statement. The US is making some very angry noises publicly about Pakistan's continued support to Afghan extremists. It remains to be seen how much of this (and American benevolence to Pakistan) will remain once the US completes its pullout from Afghanistan. During the Cold War the US needed Pakistan. India was proclaimedly non-aligned, and was also close to the Soviet Union. Pakistan was closer to Afghanistan and not very friendly with India, to say the least. Thus the US needed Pakistan to counter Soviet influence in the region. Today however, the Soviet Union is no more and India is seen as a strategic ally on many fronts. China is seen as an emerging (some would say emerged) rival on the world stage, and Pakistan has been historically close to China. So the Americans might not see any compelling reason to placate Pakistan. Now that bin Laden is dead and due to the fact that he was found in Pakistan, the US can make all sorts of complaining noises against Pakistan.

So what emerges? US foreign policy is strictly dictated by self interest. Hence it would be in India's long-term interest to ensure that no country treats it as a friend in hyphenation with any other country, for as Pakistan is finding out the hard way today, such friends do not last.

The Ramayana will lead to communalism!

2011-10-19T22:42:00.001+05:30

I came across an article when I was browsing through Wikipedia. Apparently the hugely popular TV series, Ramayana was initially delayed because it was felt it would lead to communalism! Many a time one feels that the government or the powers-that-be are over cautious about people's reactions. We as a country seem to be very scared of ourselves. We pride ourselves on being a pluralistic society. However we reek of intolerance. The recent attack on Shanti Bhushan, after his Kashmir remarks are a case in point. I vehemently denounce his remarks, but after all, as a citizen of India, he is free to air his views. Remember the quote misattributed to Voltaire - "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." Secularism might be a term that is semantically new to India (considering its long history). However India has always been nothing but tolerant of other cultures and practices. The "religion" Hinduism itself gives everyone the choice to worship (or reject) a deity as s/he pleases. Where is this tolerance in India today? The right wing parties might be pilloried for intolerance, however the pillorying parties are guilty of appeasement themselves. Our culture of appeasement and our knowledge of our own intolerance are probably what prompt the authorities to ban what might be even slightly provocative.

There exists a "work of art" called Piss Christ. M F Hussain (intentionally or unintentionally) represented Bharat Mata and Sita in the nude and was hounded out of the country. I can only wonder what would have happened to the creator of the aforementioned photograph in India.

On the other hand, as I have argued before also, the hounded parties might not be totally innocent. M F Hussain used a term noor-un-ala-noor in a song (a beautiful qawwali by the way) in his film Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities. Following Muslim protests at apparent use of Quranic words in a song the artist withdrew the movie. I do not know if he has ever apologized to all the people whose sentiments might have been hurt because of his paintings. One is reminded of the following story. Once a woman was walking on a pavement, twirling an umbrella in her hand. A man walking behind her was finding it difficult to avoid her umbrella. He went up to her and said, "Madam, your freedom ends where my nose begins!"

Moving on, there has been a recent news article saying upper class fares might be increased. In India, as probably in most places, freight rates are a very important source of revenue and profit. Businesses suffer high freight rates which are kept high to minimize the increase in the passenger fares. The government probably feels raising sleeper and other lower class (to quote Shashi Tharoor, the cattle class, another incident which raised a huge hue and cry) fares might lead a to a wider outpouring of popular anger against the government. I would like to suggest a simple alternative - ensure people do buy tickets on all trains. I am very sure there are thousands of people who hitch a ride on local and route trains without a buying a ticket. In some places in Bihar and Jharkhand there are people who travel in reserved compartments without tickets. Probably policing these people will increase the railways' revenue and at least temporarily remove the need to increase any fares.

What's in a Number?

2011-10-03T18:55:00.000+05:30

The Planning Commission (PC) recently said that a family which spends more than 32 rupees per day cannot be said to be below the poverty line. There has been a huge furore after that. The Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia was forced to clarify his remarks today. Unfortunately I do not think he has done a good job. He says the intention is not to understate poverty.

There is one thing which has to be realized. Let us take an example in the film Peepli Live. The government officials supply a pump but do not allot the funds to install it, nor do they get that done. The definition raises that danger. A government employee might very well tell a genuine beneficiary tomorrow that he would not get any benefits as technically he is not below the poverty line. We have been told that people above this limit will also be covered under government schemes. This begs the question - what was the intention behind giving this number in the first place? If this point has not been clarified the "clarification" given today does not hold much water.

The argument in fact seems self defeating. Mr. Ahluwalia says that this is the poverty line. That also does not make sense. Are we trying to artificially reduce our poverty figures and move up in international rankings? Does the government want to artificially reduce poverty and claim victory against it when it is hard pressed for some positive news amidst the pandemonium in the country today? I am not more learned than the members of the Planning Commission or the National Advisory Council (NAC), but common sense would suggest that to solve a problem you have to first identify it. To remove poverty we have to identify the factors and symptoms properly before recommending solutions. If this first step itself is skipped, it would seem as if we were trying to wish away poverty. This is dangerous in a country such as ours.

Moving on, I am left wondering as to why the government is not imposing ESMA in Hyderabad. The city has been suffering for about three weeks now. The government has not resolved the issue till now. If it is unable to do that it should at least try to get things back to normalcy. There might be multiple reasons for this. The same party is in power as at the centre. Further the Congress has not been the epitome of tolerance as suggested by the Ramdev and Anna Hazare episodes. It probably also anticipates a further deterioration in law and order. However this kind of logic was given to the Supreme Court once. The court then had asked the state government to quit if it could not maintain law and order as this was its duty. Only time will tell how things will develop now onwards.

De-politicise Sports - A Few Measures

2011-09-13T20:00:00.000+05:30

I have written earlier about our politicians in sports, here, and here. My readers might have noticed that I rant a lot about our system. I realize that too. Hence from this post onwards I will also try to incorporate some suggestions instead of just complaining. It is always very easy to criticize, constructive work is difficult.

These are times Indian hockey fans will remember, for reasons good and bad. India beat Pakistan in China to clinch the Champions Trophy, while the International Hockey Federation (FIH) has chosen to move the 2011 Champions Trophy out of India to New Zealand owing to internal problems in India. We have two opposing bodies in India today for one hockey. This should come us a grim reminder for us to de-politicise sports and bring some rationality into our sports administration.

Another weird incident happened in London. At an ICC awards ceremony, where ironically Dhoni won an award for playing the game in its true spirit no one from the Indian cricket team attended. There are no prizes for guessing who did attend - Sharad Pawar and Rajiv Shukla - members of the BCCI and don't hold your breath, politicians. Our political class would do well to support Maken in his endeavour to de-politicise sports. But seeing that there is a conflict of interest in many politicians' cases, the question comes up, will this ever happen? Maken makes perfect sense.

1. Sports are played by young people, and for lack of a better word, by sportspersons. I believe one would be hard pressed to find many (active) sportspersons above the age of 40. Hence it makes no sense to have people who would very well fit the government's definition of senior citizens on our sports boards, both administering and selecting.

2. I believe the logic behind government servants getting transferred (frequently or occasionally) is that they do not develop any unwanted or unethical relationships with anybody by being posted in one location for a very long time. Further as time passes complacency creeps. This logic can be applied to sports boards also. So once again Maken's suggestion on the cap on the number of terms to two makes perfect sense.

3. Non-performing sportspersons are penalized by being dropped. One would like to know the measures applied to our boards in that sense also. There has been a huge hue and cry over selection proceedings being brought under the RTI Act. The way some governments declassify some files, is it not possible to make the meeting minutes public after some time elapses? Agreed, this gives people a chance to change the records, but at least this would probably be better than the current situation.

4. We occasionally hear people saying BCCI's funds should be used for other sports too. This is one option. There is another option. When boards like BCCI make hundreds of crores of revenue and profit how does it make sense to label them as charitable organizations? Bring it under the tax net, use that money for other sports. This way there is no charity involved. Obviously this would not be enough, this is where the government or the private sector can step in.

5. We are becoming a country of parrots today. We have students who get things by heart and spit them out in the exam. This is the definition of a good student. Many schools today do not have a proper playground. NDTV has a Marks for Sports Campaign. I am not saying that. But any new school that is set up today should mandatorily have a playground where children can play. Remember the saying, "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy".

Was Fareed Zakaria Right?

2011-09-11T15:54:00.001+05:30

Recently I saw an interview on CNN-IBN with Fareed Zakaria, the Editor-at-Large (funny name, generally I thought legal offenders were referred to be at large) of Time magazine. Fareed is in fact of Indian origin and is a naturalized US citizen. His credentials speak for themselves, both education and career-wise. He is today one of the most respected journalists in the world today. He was all praise for the way the US has dealt with terror, how al Qaeda has been dealt with. There were three points he mentioned (in response to the interview questions) as to how India can deal with terror. Unfortunately I do not remember them verbatim. But I remember the basic gist and would like to take a look at his points.

One was intelligence. In his opinion Indian agencies have never been famous for their efficiency. We in fact stand a better chance of infiltrating terror networks compared to the Americans due to similar looks and linguistic backgrounds and thus have an advantage in that aspect. This is definitely true. We had no idea when Kargil happened. 26/11 seems to show that might not have changed much.

A second point was the state of our police forces. In his opinion they are pathetic. Also unlike in the US where the police are in a way part of the community here that is not the case. One would be hard-pressed to disagree. Just look at the weapons our armed forces use. Most of the police forces uses ancient rifles if I am not mistaken. We hear of massacres of CRPF personnel in Maoist areas. The poor chaps (security personnel) stay miles away from civilization and live in deplorable conditions. These people might have to lay down their lives for our security then we (or more specifically the administration/government) treats them like this! There were some recent operations in Jharkhand where a large number of security personnel fell sick with malaria as the operations were held in the jungle in the monsoon. I heard recently that some boats which had been bought after 26/11 are lying unused as there is nobody trained to operate them. Also the munition and weapons used by our armed forces vary widely. There is no proper standardization. Where are bullet-proof vests for security personnel who operate on the frontlines (even if these frontlines are in the heart of our metropolises)? Also today unless I am wrong the police inspire fear more than the belief that they are there to help the citizens. One of our professors at IIFT used to poke fun at the Delhi Police slogan which translates to mean "with you, for you, always".

Another point was integration. External terror cannot find a firm foothold in India if there is no local support. He in fact pointed out that Gujarat is a sore point even today among Muslims. However I must point out, without trivializing the atrocities that happened, that Gujarat is today one of India's most progressive states, under the same Chief Minister. Further if the perpetrators of India's blasts are proved to be from Gujarat I think Zakaria's words would hold actual weight. That we have not been very successful at solving various terror-related cases and that communiques from terrorists regularly point to Gujarat are frank admissions that have to be made. Now Muslims in India are considered to be at a great disadvantage as far as development is concerned. India has generally been an inclusive society. So should we blame our rulers for the state Indian Muslims find themselves in today? Further integration is not as outright or a one-way street as Zakaria's statements might make it out to be. The government and people can reach out to Muslims and they have to. Muslims are as much a part of this country as a person from any other religion. However we must remember that for Muslims (in many cases) religion is a factor more important than nationality. Unrest in the global Muslim world at the way Palestinians are treated is a direct reminder. Further many of us must have heard of instances when celebrations erupted when Pakistan won a cricket match. So, integration is a two-way street. There will always be fringe elements. But Zakaria is right, we need to do more to integrate our Muslim brothers into our national fabric especially in terms of development.

Moving on, however, somehow Zakaria missed out mentioning Pakistan in his initial assessment of India's terror situation. The spark (may be Gujarat riots) might exist but there also has to be fuel to sustain the inferno. This is helpfully provided by our neighbour. Comparing India with US in anti-terror action is not justified. Why? The US is bordered by Canada (an extremely peaceful place) and Mexico. Now, Mexico has huge narcotics-related problems. However there are no governments or armies (official) actively opposed to the US in its vicinity. Further launching an attack on continental US has a lot of logistical complications. This is not the case with India. In the south till recently we had the LTTE who had assassinated our PM. In the west we obviously have Pakistan. Even if the borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh are fenced, our borders with Nepal and Bhutan are very porous. Further look at how the US addressed terror. It attacked Afghanistan and then Iraq (the latter on the basis of spurious allegations). It set up Camp X-ray at Guantanamo Bay so that US laws would not apply to detainees there. The captured fighters in the "War or Terror" are not brought under the Geneva Convention which deals with prisoners of war. It set up interrogation centres in foreign countries where coercive interrogation techniques and/or outright torture were applied. I am not saying India did not indulge in human rights violations. But to the US the ends definitely seem to justify the means. Imagine what would happen were India to launch a war against Pakistan. The US had the luxury of fighting opponents who were technologically greatly inferior and it still had a tough time. The number of people killed in the "War on Terror" is in large multiples of the 9/11 casualty number (about 3000). What does the US care as long as the casualties are non-US? For instance when a stray missile or bomb, or one guided by faulty intelligence kills civilians in Afghanistan the US just apologises and moves on. There is huge outcry however in the US when US soldier casualties mount.

Mr. Zakaria is in love with his adopted nation. He says that today, in spite of all restrictions (frisking at airports, laws) an arrested civilian has the greatest chance of getting justice in the US than anywhere else in the world. Maybe he is right. But he has to remember that his adopted country is a nation that condones killing thousands internationally to justify securing "American lives".

Omar's Dangerous Precedent

2011-09-03T23:52:00.000+05:30

The younger Abdullah is becoming quite well known for his tweets. However the latest one has caused quite some controversy, and justifiedly. I do not believe what the Tamil Nadu Assembly did in the first place was right. Requesting clemency for Tamilians in spite of their offence set the wrong precedent in the first place. Murugan's daughter might be justified in asking clemency for her father and mother, after all, she has never been able to enjoy her childhood fully.

Karunanidhi finds himself in a strange situation today. His daughter is in jail. So is the dalit face of his party. Remember that this is a state which has 70% reservation (if I am not mistaken). His family and party members have been hounded on the basis of various accusations like land grabbing. He has faced a whitewash in the last assembly elections. The senior citizen is grasping at straws to reclaim some political legitimacy in this situation. The political situation in Sri Lanka has always been an emotive issue in Sri Lanka due to their language affinity. It is sad that the government and in fact the entire state assembly decided to jump onto this populist bandwagon. Remember, whether or not the visionary or saint that he is made out to be by the Congress today, Rajiv Gandhi was in fact a former Prime Minister of our nation. So by supporting his killers is not a state government not going against the law of the land? Does this not show disrespect to the entire legal process and to the position of the President of the Union of India itself?

In Omar's case the situation is a little more complicated. He should remember that Sri Lanka as a nation was never anti-India (to my knowledge). However this seems to be the raison d'etre of Pakistan, or at least the military and/or political leadership. Note that I took the name of the military first. Why is this? Even when Nawaz Sharif was talking peace with A B Vajpayee his army chief, Musharraf was planning and conducting the Kargil war. Thus in Afzal Guru's case the issue is not about simply supporting a person of your religion, or your native land. It is about supporting a nation, an ideology that by its very essence is against our nation. It is sad that the Chief Minister of a state, and that too of a state that has been the bone of contention between India and Pakistan (irrespective of whatever our political class might admit publicly), says this. Apparently now the J & K Assembly will pass a resolution on Afzal Guru. Omar Abdullah and the entire state assembly should be ashamed of their conduct. Two wrongs do not make a right. We have a saying in Telugu - pulini choosi nakka vaatha pettukunnattu - which essentially means says that a fox wanted to look regal like a tiger, it wanted the stripes, so it ended up branding itself with a hot iron.

At the same time the entire issue brings into question the time our legal process of disseminating justice takes. Raiv Gandhi died in 1991. Twenty years later we have still not completed the process. I am not advocating that the condemned be hanged. I am just remarking about the time the process takes. The Bofors case which came out in the 80s was recently closed inconclusively. Afzal Guru was convicted in the Parliament attack case, the attack happened in 2001. The longer the legal process takes the greater is the chance for complications to arise.

I will tell Mommy!

2011-08-30T22:52:00.000+05:30

Ajay Maken, our Sports Minister had a good thought. A lot of sports bodies receive crores of rupees, so why not get them under greater public scrutiny? Even though the BCCI does not receive government funding directly, it deals with hundreds of crores and as reported on the NDTV website, it is under investigation for foreign exchange violations during the IPL. The BCCI is a private organization but claims to select India's "national" cricket team. So it makes perfect sense to bring it under public scrutiny. Further logically speaking if there are no skeletons to hide the organization then there should ideally be no panic reaction to Maken's proposal.

Did the cabinet agree to this proposal? Well, there are no prizes for guessing the answer. Farooq Abdullah among others opposed an upper age limit clause. He said by that yardstick he should not have been a cabinet minister too (hmm, is that such a bad idea?). If the esteemed minister uses his good judgement it would be perfectly obvious that for a minister's post age can actually be advantageous because of the experience carried with it. For sports on the other hand, I do not think most would agree that the younger the administrator and the more related to that sport the administrator is the better it is.

Another clause seeks to restricts terms to 2. For as long as I remember, Kalmadi has been the head of the IOA. See where he is today (and where for that matter our Olympic performance is). Apparently a very significant portion of sports bodies are headed by politicians. This is not restricted to any one party, but is common across the political spectrum.

Thus in my humble opinion it makes perfect sense to have some government oversight on our sports bodies and to bring all of them under the RTI. However if members of the cabinet already hold positions on sports bodies does it make sense to expect the cabinet to come to an impartial and objective conclusion? Sharad Pawar, our Agriculture Minister actually asked the Prime Minister to reduce his work load so that he could spend more time on cricket! Is it any wonder that food inflation is so high and Indian agriculture is said to have stagnated in its growth? Now coming to the title. Sharad Pawar is reported to have said in the cabinet discussion that if the bill was approved by the cabinet he would take up the issue with Sonia Gandhi, the chairperson of the UPA. Keeping aside the practicality of this when she is supposed to be recovering from surgery, doesn't this sound childish? It is like two kids fighting, one kids hits the other, and the hurt kid bawls, "I am going to tell mummy!"

Dear people, this is the Indian government!

On the Cash-for-votes Turnaround and "Girl Marks"

2011-08-25T06:12:00.004+05:30

The BJP which was trying to corner the government on the cash-for-votes scandal is in the dock now, a chargesheet having been filed against its own members. This decision by the Delhi Police however raises some questions.

First of all this chargesheet has been filed three years after the actual incident, and that too after the Supreme Court pulled up the DP for inaction. Further the government would like us to believe the DP is independent. This is evident from it trying to shift the blame onto DP for the recent arrest of Anna Hazare. Now the DP chargesheet does not name the Congress MPs. It is probably a classic case of the hunter becoming the hunted. Amar Singh has been named and the case against the BJP members seems to be one of entrapment. Now are we to believe that Amar Singh conspired with the BJP to discredit the Congress? If this is not true then what conceivable reason is there for Amar Singh to be a participant in this entire episode?

Moving on, the decision by the IIMs to award marks for being a girl are, in my humble opinion, blatantly unfair. Some of my closest friends are girls, however I'm sure they too would agree with me at least to some extent. Awarding extra marks to non-engineer candidates might still make some sense if it is restricted to the mathematical portion of evaluation. In today's world of equal rights this is a retrograde step. The combined faculty of these esteemed institutions could surely have come up with another solution to increase diversity. I'm pretty sure the male candidates are all for increased diversity, but not at their expense. This country seems to be increasingly becoming a difficult place for a "forward-category" male students.

2011-08-25T06:12:00.001+05:30

First they ignore you...

2011-08-22T23:38:00.001+05:30

How can I be the only one not to comment on the ongoing Lokpal agitation? :) So here's my two cents' worth.

There has been some discussion on the crowds that have been gathering at Ramlila Maidan (RM) with P K Bansal and Ashwani Kumar from the Congress commenting that anybody can draw large crowds. This has obviously led to some strong responses too. Now let us pause here for a moment.

When I saw a movie called Tagore in Telugu, starring Chiranjeevi, I was taken aback at the crowds that gathered towards the climax of the movie. Probably it was crowds like these that encouraged Chiranjeevi to set up his party and contest elections. But he ended up losing from one of the two constituencies he had stood for election from. So the crowds do not seem to have necessarily translated into votes.

So I think we can safely assume that the crowds that gather to see a filmstar politician are there more to see the filmstar than anything else. The non-beneficial crowd is especially true in political settings where people can be paid to attend. Another incident is the support that Jagan is garnering in Andhra Pradesh. This is somewhat surprising. Whether or not people believe he is corrupt I am sure many people would agree there is more than what meets the eye as far as Jagan's wealth is concerned. He has of late taken to sending bulk messages to Church Fathers asking them to pray on their behalf, pandering to the Christian community too. So is Jagan right as he draws such huge crowds (not to mention the margin by which he and his mother won their elections)?

Where the Jan Lokpal campaign is different, I would argue is with respect to the increasing and (inter)national participation it is drawing. Crowds for 1-2 days may have been dismissed. However the crowds are only increasing day-by-day. Further, people cutting across states (though I think the response has been quite muted in the south) and even continents are supporting the agitation. The response of the powers-that-be in a way betrays their panic at the response the movement has gathered. It is simply arrogant to dismiss the crowds that have gathered.

However the establishment is right to an extent in asking Anna's team to follow established democratic procedures. I say to an extent. This legislation has been pending for a very long time, further as everyone is aware new cases keep tumbling out on a regular basis today. So the citizens of the country cannot be blamed for a trust deficit. Anna's team has shown some flexibility during negotiations for the duration and venue of the present fast. If the same can be shown and if the government lets go of its arrogance we can hope for a better India.

To end, I quote a line attributed to Anna's idol - First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. Should the government note the pattern? Jai Hind!

Black Money at the Top?

2011-07-03T21:15:00.000+05:30

Everyone must have heard about the arguments happening with respect to including the PM in the ambit of the Lokpal Bill. I recently came across an interesting article. This was in German and seems to be an article from 1991. What it seems to say is that Rajiv Gandhi had CHF 2.5 billion (Swiss Francs) in secret accounts.

As per the current exchange rates this translates to more than INR 125 billion (12500 crores). Now I do not know if this is true or false. If it is true I wonder how Rajiv Gandhi was came to possess so much money. Rajiv Gandhi was our PM and hence this is about the prestige of the country too. If the report is untrue the Indian National Congress can probably think about filing a defamation case.

Anyway, politics does not seem to be a bad career option at all!

On the Bhushan tapes

2011-04-22T11:21:00.000+05:30

Shanti and Prashant Bhushan are in the news for the wrong reason of late. The elder Bhushan has been "caught" on tape saying his son can fix a case with a judge. Apparently different labs are giving conflicting reports. There are two questions that come to my mind.

1) The government was in the news, again for the wrong reason of tapping phones some time back. So does the CD contain voice samples that were somehow obtained by the government by surreptitious means?

2) I wonder if it is possible to fake the CD. First you splice the individual samples together giving the appearance of a continuous conversation. This can probably be detected by forensic labs. Now if you play this "conversation" via a high audio fidelity device and record it onto a different tape/CD can a forensic lab detect this?

The Moon and His Star

2011-03-01T22:50:00.002+05:30

Once upon a time long long ago
and trust me, it happened so
a lovely star the moon beheld,
and felt he like a big oak felled

the star too was smitten by love,
for at work was cupid's bow
many an hour, together they spent
on that lovely night, deep and silent

soon the star saw the morning glow
and she let the moon's hand go
his glare frightens me, she said
and though in love, she fled

every night, although in vain
the moon did tell her of his pain
of no avail was his pleading
though both their hearts were bleeding

the sun will be back, all fire and show
said the star and kept lying low
but so would the moon all cool and nice
little, this did the star realize

Religion and Real Estate

2011-01-16T13:43:00.000+05:30

Recently an apparently illegally constructed mosque was demolished in Delhi after which hundreds of people conducted prayers there led by the Shahi Imam of the Jama Masjid. There are multiple issues that came to my mind from this article.

The Shahi Imam says two things - that the land was actually owned by the Wakf Board and that he was promised the land would be purchased and given to the Wakf Board to reconstruct the mosque. Who will pay for the land to be given to the Wakf Board? The mosque was demolished on the orders of a court. Is the promise not in contempt of the orders of the court? This raises a larger question. Forget religion, will a place of worship be allowed to hijack public convenience? Obviously, a structure cannot be demolished purely on the basis of public convenience, but a line should be drawn somewhere. The general citizens should also realize when vested interests are at play and when there is a genuine case.

Asset Building

2010-12-11T10:05:00.000+05:30

The Government says that Nira Radia built up an empire of 900 crores in a short period of 9 years. Hence she was investigated.

As per a magazine article, Jagan Reddy has done a similar thing in probably an even shorter time. Raja's company has gone to become a 600 crore company from one crore I believe. What about them? Some time back, before the Karnataka Assembly elections, NDTV showed the rise in income of politicians over a few years. The appreciation of a few was over 1000%! Are they being investigated? Can you throw stones at somebody if you are living in a glass house?

India's Cash Economy?

2010-10-28T23:44:00.000+05:30

There was a quote in a recent edition of Business Today by Ajay Banga, Head of Mastercard in India. He says that Indians prefer dealing in cash. They do not like electronic money as it can mean monitoring by the IT people. Now, I think I have said this before also, but I will say it again. Probably everyone who pays tax grumbles about it. Add to that the misuse of the public's money and one's blood really boils.

Mayawati's statue-building spree immediately comes to mind. The CPM government in West Bengal has renamed the New Town area as Jyoti Basu Nagar. It is probably set to install a number of statues of him also. I would be happier if the government instead spent the money on hiring more people for the metro's construction and then named the metro after Jyoti Basu (I know, construction happens through tenders, blah blah, but I can hope). Also, every time I pay sales tax I am adding to the state government's kitty, so I should have a say in state finances also!

Today, I don't think there is a really effective way of registering protesting against misuse of public funds. One can always approach the courts, but what the outcome would be is something that is highly questionable. But sigh, what can be done?

The Innovative Nature of Miserliness

2010-10-18T10:03:00.000+05:30

I do not claim to be a miser, let this be my disclaimer. Yesterday I came back from Bengaluru to Kolkata and had to go home from the airport. It was around 10.30 PM. Owing to the long line (and possibly missing clerk) at the pre-paid taxi booth I decided to find my own way. I underestimated the distance from the airport to the main road and walked, but that is a separate story. The taxi fare from my place to the airport will hardly be 60 rupees. The rates I got quoted 250, 270 and 190!

Eventually I caught an auto (auto rickshaw to be more specific) and then a (cycle) rickshaw and reached home by spending 40 rupees. In the course of that journey I was reminded of a small joke I read.

There is a couple and both are misers. One day the husband comes home from work, panting and sweating. The wife asks him what happened. He proudly tells her, "Instead of catching my daily bus, today I ran after it and saved 8 rupees!" She glares at him angrily and retorts, "You are good for nothing! You should have run after an auto and saved 50 rupees!"

Vindicated?

2010-10-15T00:41:00.000+05:30

I wrote a post commenting upon the non-transparent funding of our political parties. Coincidentally, two Congress members have been caught on camera discussing funding for an upcoming rally. The CM has apparently given 2 crores for buses for the rally. From where is this money coming? The CM said there is nothing wrong in this as the ex-President of the BJP was caught on camera accepting money.

Does the guy realize what nonsense he is spouting? Do two wrongs make a right? Is he justifying his actions on the basis that someone else has done something similar? Is there no moral thought left in politics today?

No Army for the CWG Closing Ceremony

2010-10-12T20:44:00.000+05:30

NDTV reports that in spite of doing all it has done till now for the CWG the Army is not being allowed to attend the closing ceremony as there are no tickets available. Also Kalmadi was apparently heckled when he recently went out to have food. Apparently a few people surrounded him causing him to summon his security inside the restaurant. After that all the patrons apparently started abusing him following which he left the restaurant.

He is probably number one on India's most hated list along with the likes of Omar Abdullah, the Karnataka Governor et al.

Horse Trading and Political Funding

2010-10-10T22:31:00.000+05:30

The drama that is unfolding in Karnatka is interesting. It seems to prove why time and again people in India face a dilemma as to who to elect? It becomes difficult to decide who to sympathize with. On one hand there is a political party which came to power after being backstabbed by its partner in its alliance agreement. This government has been accused of helplessly standing by when two mining barons illegally mined tonnes and tonnes of iron ore as they wished. The Chief Minister has been accused of giving away prime property at throwaway rates. Do we pity the CM for his helplessness or revile him because of the property dealings? On the other hand we have a party which seems to want to ensure that the present government goes out of power and whose only objective is to grab power, everything else be damned.

The Congress has holed up its MLAs in a resort in Maharashtra to ensure that they are not won over by the BJP. The rebel BJP MLAs are holed up in Chennai. The Governor seems to be interested in the entire scene shooting off a letter to the Speaker who in turn is taking umbrage at the Governor's actions. This would not be the first time a Governor originally from the Congress takes actions that benefit the party at the state level.

Now the question that comes to mind is, how is the Congress funding its MLAs' stay? Where is it getting the money from? For that matter where do all political parties get their money from? I checked out the websites of the INC and the BJP. Neither seems to have given a clear list of the fund sources. This is one scenario. We also have people like Mayavati. The money that she is spending to build her own statues is from the taxpayers. The CPM government in West Bengal has renamed the New Town locality in Kolkata to Jyoti Basu Nagar and is also planning to install a number of statues of him. This is again from taxpayers' money. In the media there are advertisements which exhort taxpayers to pay their taxes and hold their head high, to contribute to the future of the country etc. Why should I spend my hard-earned money on taxes when I see all the kinds of people that I have just described and people like Kalmadi? When I know most of the money I pay will go into somebody's pocket illegally it just makes my blood boil. So why do we pay taxes? Willingly? No, we only pay them beacause it would be illegal if we did not.

Hobson's Choice

2010-09-11T13:41:00.000+05:30

This is a term I learnt during my Intermediate days in Visakhapatnam (for the uninitiated, that means classes 11 and 12). This is the Wiki link.

Look at this article. Can there be a more blatant example of trying to reach out to a votebank? Why did I use the term? Today voters in Bengal face that situation exactly. The CPM has been in power for too long, has taken some unpopular decisions and is not exactly the most popular formation today. The Congress and (especially) the NDA have not been very significant players anyway. So the only option for the voters is the Trinamool Congress.

Rahul Gandhi was in town recently. The arrangements made would have left one wondering if the PM or the President was visiting. For god's sake, he is a king-in-waiting, save us the inconvenience till he at least becomes king. His impact on the forthcoming state elections remains to be seen.

Elsewhere Telangana supporters are protesting against the use of the word Komaram in Pawan Kalyan's new movie. Chiranjeevi's Praja Rajyam Party was against a separate Telangana and the name is apparently someone associated with the Telangana region. There were protestors earlier against Junior NTR's Adhurs as he also did not support a separate Telangana apparently. I am currently reading the White Tiger by Aravind Adiga which I received as a gift. It's quite an interesting book. The term poverty porn comes to mind, but at the same time it is a thought-provoking book about India today, what we have done to our people, what has become of it. Well-to-do (middle class also for that matter) Indians and especially politicians should ideally read it. Combine my thoughts from the book and what I see happening daily and I cannot but feel a sense of disgust with the cesspool that is the Indian political sphere today. Will I step up and do something instead of just commenting? Let's see.

A Case of Mistaken Working Hours

2010-09-11T13:25:00.000+05:30

7.30 AM - Too early, so jaa

~8.10 AM - Too late, uth jaa

8.45 - I can't find a shuttle to go to office!

till 9.15 - Chatting with the driver, a Nepali who has been in Kolkata for the past 15 years, 6 years in Mumbai and 9 months in Visakhapatnam, at the end of which he charges me Rs 30 instead of Rs 20

9.20 - Call from colleague, he is alone in office, no one has turned up. I assure him the office is open today, in fact the HR has put a mail to that effect!

A few minutes later - The guy at the reception asks me why I have come to office. My colleague informs me, next Saturday is working in lieu of a bandh day this week.

Me - @%#&!%@&!*!%@!&@*#*#*#

Moral of the story - Read mails in their entirety, do not assume their contents.

Ravana 3

2010-08-18T22:05:00.000+05:30

I had said in the post before the last that I would narrate a story about Ravana. This is the sthalapuraanam of a place called Gokarna in Karnataka. A film called Bhookailas was made in Telugu starring N T Rama Rao, which forms the basis of my narration.

Ravana's mother Kaikasi used to make a linga out of sand and worship Siva. Indra was told this was the source of Ravana's power and hence he made the sea destroy the linga when she made it. Ravana was infuriated when he heard his mother's complaint and decided to get the aatmalinga which is said to be inside Siva himself. He went off to perform penance. However when Siva finally appeared in front of him Vishnu subjected Ravana to the effects of his maaya. In that state Ravana fell in love with Parvati and asked Siva to grant her to him. Siva agreed and Parvati had no other option but to follow him. Parvati came to know that it was because of Vishnu that she was separated from her Lord and cursed him to suffer the same fate (we see this happening once in the uttara kaanda of the Ramayana). Finally Ravana came to his senses after some time and resumed his penance. He finally appeased Siva who granted Ravana his aatmalinga.

Narada egged Vinayaka to take back the linga, who takes the form of a young boy grazing his cattle. Ravana was a brahmin. So he had to perform the sandhyaavandana ritual. When Siva gave Ravana the linga he had told him that under no circumstance was it to touch the ground. If it did, the earth would attract it with so great a force that nothing would be able to move it. Mindful of this, Ravana gave the linga to the disguised Vinayaka and told him not to let it touch the ground. Vinayaka agreed on the condition that if he found it difficult to hold he would call out for Ravana thrice and then put it down. As Ravana was performing his ritual VInayaka called out twice. Hearing that Ravan came running back but by the time he could come back, Vinayaka called out for the third time and kept it on the ground. Unable to move the linga Ravana decided to end his life there and started dashing his head against the linga. Finally Siva appeared in front of him and blessed him saying that this place would become famous as bhookailaas or Kailaasa on the earth.

Thus, even if it was unwittingly, Ravana was responsible for the establishment of a holy place of pilgrimage which is said to house Siva's aatmalinga itself.

To Own or to Create?

2010-08-18T00:05:00.000+05:30

The (weird) poet in me has once again awoken. My reader, I put this creation of mine in front of the eyes of thine :D

One day, when I sat tired of all the dissembling and debauchery,
There came along a whiff of fresh air, so sweet,
It rejuvenated my faith in the world,
But when I tried holding it in the palm of my hand,
For I wished not to be parted from the fragrance,
Away it slipped, reminding it belonged not to me but to the world,
Make your own fragrance, it said, for I only carry it,
Blessed I am that I spend some time in the maker's presence,
That is the only true way to possess me,
So my dear, yours is only to attract but not to capture me,
It is I who will come to you, but before that be worthy of me,
Since that day I have toiled, that I be worthy of judgement,
Woe is me, that dawn is yet to come....

The Expendables

2010-08-13T23:58:00.000+05:30

There are no spoilers here, so anyone who has to see the movie need not worry. I had to write this post. I decided that in the hall itself. I saw the first show on the first day of the movie. First of all a warning to the womenfolk - STAY AWAY. This is strictly a guy movie. There might have been around 30 people in the theatre, there were hardly 3 ladies in the audience.

First of all, why did Stallone make this movie? Was he bored of sitting at home and not killing people? I am sure the number of kills has surpassed that in the latest Rambo movie. Nothing to this effect has been said on Wikipedia yet but I am sure it is only a matter of time before this is affirmed. The sheer range of weaponry used to take human lives is staggering - right from knives to guns that blow up people. I was chuckling to myself, literally. After a point it becomes funny. Twards the end there is a scene where the bad guys are literally being blown away! The way people are killed in the movie is simply unbelievable. If a guy and a girl watch this movie, I am sure both will scream - the guy out of pleasure and the girl out of fear. The movie is an orgy of violence. There are plenty of explosions and gunfights to keep the guys happy.

The cast is also like a dream - Stallone, Statham, Jet Li. Bruce Willis ad Schwarzzenegger are also there, but they have a mere token presence. I don't think they were even credited in the beginning. Stallone and Arnold take potshots at each other which makes for some funny remarks. Remember Kambakkht Ishq (I don't know if I have the spelling right , blame the producers' faith in numerology, we have Kkusum, Kambakkht Ishq, Karzzzz etc)? The time Stallone spends on-screen in that movie must be similar to Arnold's (his surname is too confusing for me, so I use his first name) in this one (disclaimer - I have not seen KI, I saw a Youtube video).

So there are guns, explosion, gore and oh yes, some hot chicas. What more can a guy want out of a movie?

Ravana 2

2010-08-12T13:06:00.000+05:30

I come back to the story about Jaya and Vijaya. They opted for three births as enemies of Vishnu. They were born as Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu, Ravana and Kumbhakarna, and Sisupala and Dantavaktra. So Ravana was in a way looking for liberation from his birth so that he could progress to the next one and thus come closer to his Lord.

Now Ravana was a brahman by birth. If not for his lust for women and power Ravana was an eminent personality. He was a great devotee of Siva, an exponent of the Veena (which was in fact the symbol on his chariot's flag, the way Hanuman was on Arjuna's flag). Ashok Banker (who in my opinion has been seriously influenced by the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter) in his Ramayana series says that the meaning of Ravana is "he who makes the universe scream". In fact I believe it is the other way round. Once Ravana tried to lift the entire Kailasa mountain with Siva and his retinue on it. Siva pressed down his toe crushing Ravana's hands under the mountain. The roar of pain that Ravana let out was supposed to have been the reason why he was named so. He was probably born as Kaikasi Brahma (I am most probably wrong about the name, if anyone knows his birth name, please tell me).

As he was a brahman Rama incurred brahmahatyaapatakam and had to perform some ceremonies to compensate for the sin. Rama is said to have worshipped Siva and hence the term Ramalingeswara. The temple at Rameswaram is the place where Rama is said to have performed his pooja.

In the next post, I shall write about a story from Ravana's life. The source is a Telugu movie. By the way, Wikipedia has a nice article on Ravana.

Ravana 1

2010-08-12T09:32:00.000+05:30

A reader is apparently a fan of Ravana and has asked me to write something on him. So this post is an attempt in that direction. First of all, I wish to narrate a story about Ravana's origin. Most of you might know this already, but anyway...

Jaya and Vijaya are the gatekeepers of Vaikuntha, the abode of Vishnu. One day some sages came to visit the Lord when they were barred entrance. Angered they cursed the duo that they would lose their positions (I am not sure about the exact curse). When the duo approached Vishnu for deliverance he said that he could not go against the curse of the sages but then gave them two options. They could either be born as his devotees for a hundred births and then return to Vaikuntha at the end or they could be born as his enemies for three births and then return to him. As the duo could not bear to be separated from their Lord for a very long time they opted for the latter course. Here I shall narrate a different story (a story inside a story inside a story :)).

The story I am narrating now is from the Telugu movie Mayabazar. There is a magical chest in the story. When one opens it the chest is supposed to show the person who thinks of the person the most. When Krishna opens it against everybody's expectations Shakuni's face appears. Everyone is shocked. The explanation is that even though Shakuni keeps thinking of Krishna in order to plot ways to work against him, he is by that very act itself keeping the Lord continuously in his thoughts. Thus not only a devotee but an enemy (if one may use that word) of God also keeps Him in mind always. The rest of the narration shall continue in the next post(s).

A Tale about Shakuni

2010-08-10T11:14:00.001+05:30

Though this may not be directly related to Yuganta I was reminded of this and hence am posting it here. My sources are an old Telugu movie (I am not sure which one) and a Telugu Mahabharata.

When Gandhari was born astrologers had predicted that there was widowhood in her horoscope. As an alternative before her wedding with Dhritarashtra she was apparently married to an animal (a goat I believe) which was killed then. One day when the Pandavas and Dhaartarashtras were playing Duryodhana insulted Bhima by taunting him that he was not the son of his father. Bhima retorted by saying that Duryodhana was the son of a widow. Angered he went back to the palace and found out the truth. He imprisoned his grandfather (Gandhari's father) and all her brothers. Every day they used to get one grain of rice per person. Shakuni was the youngest of them all and so the grandfather and his sons decided that they would contribute their grains to feed Shakuni everyday. Ultimately all of them died of starvation except Shakuni. He made a set of dice from the bones (probably vertebrae) of his father. For some reason Duryodhana released him from prison and Shakuni remained at Hastinapura. But Shakuni did not forget the treatment meted out to him and his family and secretly plotted his vengeance. Thus all the time Shakuni was helping Duryodhana against the Pandavas he was in fact plotting the downfall of the Kuru dynasty itself. It was Shakuni who helped Duryodhana win the game of dice that sent the Pandavas into exile. This was the basis for the Kurukshetra war.

Yuganta - Bhishma

2010-08-08T23:12:00.000+05:30

On reading my earlier post a reader had suggested a book which I am assuming is Yuganta by Irawati Karwe. I found a version online and downloaded it and am reading it now. It is an analysis of the various characters in the Mahabharata. I have nothing against women per se, and I am all for equality between men and women. In fact I support women's empowerment (conditions apply). Somehow two articles on the epics I read, both by women, have raised my hackles. One was an extremely feminist view of the Ramayana where the author(ess?) lambasts the treatment meted out to Sita - how she went to the forest at such a tender age, her banishment to the forest etc). I wish to point out that Sita went willingly against all advice for her to stay back in Ayodhya. I cannot totally explain the banishment part but let me just say that I would probably like to have a discussion with that lady (the writer).

One of my colleagues is from IIMA's agri business program. Apparently Yuganta was recommended reading by their ethics faculty member. The writer raises some questions about Bhishma - did Bhishma accomplish anything via his vows consiering that a lot of strife happened anyway, why did he accept the general's position for the war etc. I am not a scholar of her level but I shall attempt to answer her questions on the various characters in my next few posts.

Krishna says in the Gita to do one's work because it has to be done, without expectation or concentrating on the results. I would answer her question about the utility of Bhishma's vows via this sloka. Tomorrow the Prime Minister can say that given our history with Pakistan the Kashmir issue will never be resolved and give up peace talks. Is that justified. Here I must confess that my argument can be given by some as an example of the concept called reductio ad absurdum introduced to me by Sheldon Cooper of the sitcom, The Big Bang Theory.

She asks why he was silent when Draupadi was being humiliated. There is a story I read in a Telugu children's magazine. I do not know whether it exists anywhere in Hindu literature or is a fabrication but it provides an answer. When after the war Bhishma tells the Pandavas some good practices to be followed an angered Draupadi questions him as to why he was silent when she was being humiliated and is spouting advice now. He answers her that as a subject of Duryodhana/Dhritarashtra he could not go against his liege. Why Bhishma took up the generalship can probably be answered by combining the logic of the present and the previous para.

I think I shall have quite a few bones to pick with the author.By the way, after reading Ashok Banker's version of the Ramayana I posted a comment on his site expressing my anguish. It does not seem to have been approved (will it be?) and is not visible now. I shall post a link to it if it does get approved.

Duality in a Sloka

2010-08-05T09:27:00.000+05:30

Most if not all have heard of the sloka asato maa sadgamaya. This is a sloka from the Brihadaaranyaka Upanishad. It goes as follows.

असतो मा सद्गमय

तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय

मृत्योर्मा अमृतं गमय

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः

Meaning - Lead/direct me from untruth to truth, from darkness to light, from death to immortality. Om peace, peace, peace.

Now this is what people know in general. I was thinking about this the other day when an interesting duality struck me. The word मा in the above sloka means 'me'. For those aware of shabdas in Sanksrit, it is the prathama purusha ekavachanam of the yushmad shabda. However, the word can mean something else also. It can also mean 'do not'. I will explain. The following lines are from the Bhaja Govindam written by Adi Sankaracharya.

मा कुरु धनजनयौवनगर्वम्

हरति निमेषात् कालः सर्वम्

मायमयमिदमखिलं हित्वा

ब्रह्मपदं त्वं प्रविश विदित्वा

Meaning - Do not pride yourself over wealth, friends (or people support) and youth. Time takes away all of them in an instant. Understand that all of this is maaya and attain the abode of Brahma (moksha actually, not literally the abode of Brahma).

The first word here mean 'do not'. If I extend this logic to the first sloka it will mean do not lead me from untruth to truth etc. So does this mean that man should strive to attain these for himself than be dependent on anybody, even God? Ramakrishna Paramahamsa talked about the concept of absolute surrender to God. My idea seems to be in direct contradiction to his viewpoint and I do not consider myself anywhere worthy enough to question his logic. So probably it means that man should work on his own after a point rather than be dependent on his guru or anyone else. Complicated thinking, eh?

Tax Havens

2010-07-31T12:30:00.000+05:30

India and Switzerland are negotiating a treaty whereby India can gain some access to details of the money deposited by its citizens in Swiss accounts. The question is, does the government have similar treaties in place or at least lined up with other countries also? Cayman Islands, Luxembourg and Lichtenstein are three countries I, a layman, can think of off the top of my head which can be alternatives to Switzerland. Those who stash the money away must surely be more aware than I am.So unless there are treaties with all these nations I cannot understand how the Swiss treaty can be affective.

Furthermore the treaty has to be approved by Parliament and when this will happen is a big question mark. Opposition parties have not been letting the Parliament function properly and surely there must be many politicians among those who have money abroad illegally. So the more the treaty's ratification is delayed the more time these people will have to look for alternative locations.

Another point of interest is the tax situation in our country. I do not have the exact figures but apparently about 1% or so of our population pays income tax. Somehow this seems unfair especially when we hear about various irregularities in spending the taxpayers' money. Agricultural income is not taxed at all. This can be brought into the tax ambit. Rates can be lowered and simultaneously penalties for evasion should be made very high to deter. In US courts defendants are occasionally slapped with very high damages. I believe the idea is to deter them from repeating the mistake/offence (the success of this is another question altogether). This is the concept I am talking about. The evasion penalties must be so high that people should think twice before planning tax evasion. However as I have said, the rates should also be brought down simultaneously, thus encouraging more people to honestly pay their taxes.

Man and Nature

2010-07-30T10:07:00.001+05:30

Yesterday I saw the 2008 film The Day the Earth Stood Still. This is a remake of a 1951 film that I had seen in my childhood on TV once. The new movie is about aliens wanting to remove the human race from the earth so that it can survive while I think the old one was based on some weaponisation plans humans had in mind. Keanu Reeves' character says that he had come to save the planet which Jennifer Connelly interprets as saving humans, then she realizes that he wanted to save the planet from humans. Remember Agent Smith's comments in one of the the Matrix movies where he likens humans to a virus? Well, both of them do not sound so out of place when we saw what we are doing to our planet today.

I was reading a forwarded Yahoo! article which says that microbes are busy cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. This once again illustrates how nature cleans up man's messes. Man is capable of great innovations but occasionally he needs that incentive to survive or flourish (something similar to a line from the 2008 film). I believe that one of the reasons why advancements in the renewable energy have not been as quick as is desirable is that we still have an abundant supply of fossil fuels. In spite of global warming, pollution, fluctuating crude prices and what not we still guzzle fossil fuels. If the present government takes a firm decision to increase the fuel prices in line with global prices for India's long-term economic health hypocritical and opportunistic political parties raise a hullabaloo. This can in fact force people to look at alternatives (the government unarguably also has a major role to fulfill here). India and China are the world's largest bicycle manufacturers, but is their usage being promoted as much in India as in China? We have a huge power shortage and the announcements I see in the paper are all thermal power plants (gas-based if not coal-based).

So, more incentives need to be given to the renewable energy sector even if that means taking resources away from the fossil fuel based sectors. Automotive companies should be given incentives to develop sustainable technology. I wonder when world leaders will really implement these measures and more in full spirit.

Pale Blue Dot

2010-07-29T12:22:00.000+05:30

The title of this post is a book by Carl Sagan. I was going through this article on Wikipedia when I felt I had to share it with others. The image below is that of the earth taken by the Voyager 1 spacecraft. Below that is the one which marks the earth in a circle.

I am directly pasting what is given on that page. The following words are by Carl Sagan himself.

"From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of particular interest. But for us, it's different. Consider again that dot. That's here, that's home, that's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."

Humbling, isn't it?

As You Sow...

2010-07-29T09:44:00.000+05:30

The British PM said in an interview to NDTV that Pakistan has to close terror camps on its soil to which Pakistan has reacted quite angrily saying its oft-repeated we-are-a-victim-too excuse.

It says it has done more than any nation has done. Question. Is it not in the present situation precisely because it has been a breeding ground for terrorism? There is an old saying that even if one takes care of a snake in its infancy it will grow up and bite its owner. This applies very well in this case also. Bush talked about the war on terror. What he did not mention was that this was something the US had created, this is a well known thing worldwide now. So lamenting that it is a victim when it has created the problem does not make sense.

The civilian government in Pakistan does not seem to have any control over either the ISI or the Army who actually have called the shots historically. Musharraf was busy with the Kargil invasion even as Nawaz Sharif was talking to AB Vajpayee. Till date to my knowledge nothing has happened to Musharraf for the coup against the civilian government too. That I believe was one of the conditions for him to cede power. Today he is apparently busy on the lecture circuit.

Apart from Kashmir and terrorism water has cropped up as an important issue today. Apparently Musharraf himself in a paper that he had submitted has predicted this would happen. Pakistan is blaming India for its water problems while it has been seen that it needs to manage its water properly before it can point a finger at India. It has also been blaming India for terror attacks on its soil. It has long maintained that insurgency in its Balochistan province is supported by India. There is prevailing denial mode where Pakistan refuses to accept responsibility for its problems and simply blames India for them. There has been a sense in India that Pakistan has always had to keep the Kashmir cauldron boiling so that its own domestic problems are not concentrated upon. I am sure the general, educated public in Pakistan (or at least some of them) understand the truth. But this will surely be a minority. And as they say, a good man's silence is worse than an evil person's activities.

Polished Externally, Filthy Internally?

2010-07-27T17:49:00.000+05:30

I once heard a story from a friend of an acquaintance (yes, long chain!). This guy used to sell software related to mobile phones. One day he went to a posh office in Gurgaon to meet the senior management. The office had a modern appearance, but the person he met gave him a shock. He was sitting in his chair with his legs propped up in the traditional village style. His take was that these were people who had come into money recently through selling their agricultural lands. The money changed their outer appearances but at heart they were what they were. My present narration is something on those lines and specifically has to do with the disgusting Indian habit of public spitting.

One case was of a person who I am assuming is an employee of a software company. I saw him in Salt Lake where a lot of software professionals stay, he was of the right age to fit the profile and had a bag which had the name of a software company on it. He had a polished appearance and had he put on any more deodorant I would probably have had breathing problems. Then he spit on the road from a moving auto. The other case was of a guy travelling by car. At a traffic signal he opened the door leaned out and spat onto the road. What is the use of external polish if the man does not change?

There is a sloka which goes like this(forgive me for any mistakes) -

कर्पूरधूली रचितालवालः कस्तूरिकापन्कनिमग्ननालः|

गङ्गाजलैः सिक्त समूलभालः स्वीयम् गुणं मुञ्चति किं पलाण्डुः ||

The meaning is something like this - Whether you use camphor, musk or water from the Ganges an onion will never change its true nature. Are some people like this only?

Note: The Sanskrit font and this post have been made via Epic browser.

How to Watch a Movie with Five People

2010-07-20T16:13:00.000+05:30

Date: 19th July 2010

Venue: City Centre 2, Kolkata

The movie bug bites me and I decide to go and watch The Sorcerer's Apprentice. My flatmate who also wanted to come to the movie has slept off. I doggedly go to the mall next door. I approach the ticket counter and I get to know that the show is not there as the hall needs at least 5 people for a movie to be screened (shocked, at the lack of footfalls).

I go down, buy an Amul sundae and come up again to try my luck. The seller says the same. Now I find a mother and son (Germans) who also want to watch the movie. They have seen the movie but want to watch it again (surprised internally). We wait for more people to come in. Another guy approaches, wants to watch Lamha (curse him) and is waiting for his friend. The mother is all charm and we convince him to watch our movie instead (bless us and him). Now we have four people. I suggest splitting the fifth ticket, the son is fine, the mother dithers (I thought expats were paid well!). We wait and wait. A couple comes, they want to watch some other movie (curse them). They are not willing to convert to our movie. Some random guy comes, the mother is all charm. He has someone else with him who has an exam the next day and hence cannot watch the movie. Someone from the theatre comes, sees our earnestness and asks us to buy the tickets (bless him). The random stranger buys a ticket so that we (mostly the foreigner) can see the movie (bless him anyway). Mother and son are shocked at his sweetness and comment on it. Said good guy buys ticket and leaves. We go watch the movie. Five people enter.

Interval time. The mother turns back and tells the projectionist to continue as no one was going anywhere. By the time we leave there are a few more in the hall leaving out the staff (surprised). The mother is no longer interested in any conversation and runs away. Overall, an interesting experience.

Ruminations on a Railway Trip

2010-07-19T14:23:00.001+05:30

There is a place called Burdwan about 100 km from Kolkata which is the district HQ of the district of the same name. This district is like the rice bowl of West Bengal. I went there on some official work and had these thoughts on the way back on a local train.

I was reading the Economic Times and noticed that there were three articles which had something or the other to do with LG. One article was an interview with someone from the company's senior management etc. There was this phenomenon of paid news that was well, in the news a little while back. When I saw this I began to wonder if companies actually pay newspapers to group articles about them together so as to improve recall in a reader's mind.

One of the best places to marvel at India's population is a railway station. Just stand inside the Howrah station when a local train comes in and try to walk against the flow. Those who have stayed in Mumbai must have experienced this to a much larger degree.

Railway officials stand at station exits to check whether people have bought tickets or not. This is fine as far as large stations are concerned, but what about the smaller ones? There are two kinds of people broadly that come to a railway station, passengers and those who accompany the passengers. While the former are expected to have train tickets the latter are expected to purchase platform tickets. The ticket counters are separate from the entrance possibly to reduce crowding at the entrances. But there can be many people, especially on local trains who do not purchase any kind of tickets. If the railways can allow entry only after a ticket is bought I am sure the revenue will go up compared to what it is. At the same time this should not lead to stampedes, so appropriate measures will have to be taken in that direction also.

Hawkers are not allowed onto trains as far as I understand, they still get on and I have nothing against that per se. An interesting innovation I saw was a hook from which packets were suspended. In local trains there are these hand supports that hang from above. The vendor had his stuff hanging from a metal construction which had a hook at the top. He could thus suspend it from the hand support. I found this pretty neat. There was a vendor who was selling rice papads which are like chips. I asked him for a packet and was surprised when he said it was for two rupees. I believe these chips and other eatables (like Kurkure) are made from broken rice which is very cheaply available. Granted a company like Lay's has other expenditure like distribution costs, endorsement costs etc, but I was left wondering what the profit margins on such products are like.

Industrialization at What Cost?

2010-07-14T15:39:00.000+05:30

Protests against protests seem to have become almost the norm in India today. Nandigram and Singur captured national attention some time back. Posco is facing opposition in Orissa and in the latest such occurrence police have lathicharged protestors in Andhra Pradesh.

The West Bengal Chief Minister has publicly spoken about the need to industrialize the state and one of his own ministers has publicly contradicted him. The minister in question has said that agriculture is the way forward for Bengal. Leaving out the rhetoric, we should consider if there is indeed truth in this. Mahatma Gandhi talked about revitalizing Indian villages. I believe this exlcusive focus on villages at the cost of industry has been criticized by the likes of Gurcharan Das. In my opinion industrialization is inevitable. How long can we sustain only on agriculture? Even in agriculture once machinery and extensive farming set in (like in the western world) the employment potential can actually come down (there is a lot of hidden unemployment in Indian agriculture).

At the same time India has been facing a crisis of sorts in food. Food inflation has been above the 10% mark for quite some time now. Tweaking the monetary policy is only a short term solution. If there is indeed a shortage of food supply for how long can restricting money supply control inflation? The government has recognized this to an extent and hence there is some movement on this front. But agriculture is a long-term game and nothing much can be done in the short term in terms of productivity or area. So in such a situation is giving away fertile land for SEZs and industries a wise move? Can we actually blame the protestors for their actions? I am not trying to do an Arundhati Roy here, I am just raising a question.

My Sanskrit sir in school used to say that a certain part of Andhra Pradesh (I forget whether it was the Konaseema part or West Godavari district or some other) can feed the entire country. While this might be a practical impossibility it suggests the fertile nature of the area. At the same time, this was not always so. Sir Arthur Cotton is one of the few Englishmen revered in India. He was the one responsible for bringing irrigation to the Konaseema area and making it the fertile area it is today. Thus the earth can provide. It is upto us how to utilize what she provides.

Diabetes Breakthrough in India

2010-07-13T15:04:00.000+05:30

My grandfather was a diabetic. I used to see him prepare in the afternoon for his dose of insulin. My grandmother used to boil the syringes and he used sit and inject himself. I used to wonder how he could do it. Now this could be a thing of the past. Indian scientists have created a form of insulin which needs to injected much less frequently, maybe as less as once a month. This is definitely a boon for diabetic patients.

An interesting point is that this breakthrough has been achieved by a government institution and not the private sector. So there is a greater scope for this to be put to common use and less emphasis on the commercialization of the product. A patent has been filed already. Now care has to be taken that this is not leaked to anybody and that the institute that has created this should be allowed to fully enjoy the benefits.

In other news Maharashtra has suspended bus services to Belgaum in Karnataka which has been a bone of contention between the two states. The centre has said that language cannot be the only criterion to decide the state. This has been met with opposition by some Maharashtrians. Their stand is akin to saying that Kashmir should go to Pakistan because the majority population is Muslim.

I am reminded of a joke I read somewhere once. When God created the world he called his wife and showed her his creation. She examined it and said, "You have loaded India with so many riches, is it not unfair to the rest of the world?" God gave a smile and said, "Wait till you see the kind of people I create in this country."

How do you fool an EVM?

2010-07-10T14:28:00.000+05:30

The recent movie Rajneeti has a climax scene where Manoj Bajpai is brought out of hiding by misinforming him that electronic voting machines (EVMs) were being tampered with remotely. Ajay Devgn (sic) says this is not possible and follows him. NDTV has a very interesting article on this issue. The Telangana Rashtra Samiti in Andhra Pradesh has fielded such a large number of candidates that it is not possible to accomodate them on an EVM. This is apparently to force the use of ballot paper. The paper system is easier to tamper with. Booth capturing is not an unknown practice in Indian democracy. The link says this is primarily an Indian practice. Is this our "contribution" to democracy?

This disturbingly reminds me of a Tantra tee shirt that I saw once. It says the Indians invented zero and then goes onto say that the speaker always knew that we were good for nothing!

The Common Man

2010-07-09T17:57:00.000+05:30

A kid's parents have blamed the PM's security for their son's death. VIP security has always been a headache for the common public. The road is cleared much before the cavalcade passes through and this turns into a nightmare for the 'aam aadmi' travelling on the road.

In this case the parents had apparently told the security personnel about the need for immediate medical attention, but to no avail. This is what makes this case particularly revolting. But is there a solution to this? The PM or CM can be asked to fly over short distances also. I admit this is not practical in all cases but this option still needs to be explored. There is also the risk that security forces will point out that someone can try and shoot down the vehicle. This also needs to be factored in. After all, those who are in power to 'serve' the public should not engage in actions that will kill this very public.

A Second Bhopal Tragedy

2010-06-10T18:27:00.000+05:30

History repeats itself. The Bhopal Tragedy has repeated itself. The first time it resulted in death and injury. This time round it has added insult to the injury. Obama was looking for someone "whose ass he could kick" after the Gulf spill incident. We have probably been trying to avoid that over the last so many years after that fateful night in 1984.

In my opinion Arjun Singh will earn his place as one of the most hated politicians in the country in the annals of history. He was in the thick of the reservation controversy some time back and earned the wrath of a not-inconsiderable chunk of India's population. Now he is again in the news and once again, it is for the wrong reasons. News reports indicate that he might have had a role in allowing Warren Anderson to leave the country in the wake of the Bhopal tragedy. Hopefully, the actually truth will emerge at least now. The Congress finds itself on the back foot with anger increasing day-by-day.

The Supreme Court was blamed for dilution of charges from culpable homicide to causing death by negligence (I think). The former Chief Justice Mr Ahmadi has said that this was only because of the existing laws and the court cannot be blamed for following the law. Thus in this case the laws seem inadequate. The nuclear liability bill under discussion in the government has come under renewed focus after the recent verdict. There seem to be attempts to dilute this bill to favour corporations. When will Indian lives be treated to be as important as any other?

Commercial Divinity

2010-06-01T18:30:00.000+05:30

I went to Tirupati a little while back. This is a place that seems to have perfected the art of commercializing devotion. The Sudarsan system of issuing tokens to devotees seems to be a nice way of reducing their hassles, but what about the rest of the things? Previously the famed Tirupati Laddoo could be bought at the counters according to the amount you paid. Now it is no longer that. I took a Rs 300 ticket (I think). At first glance this might seem a not-so-small amount. It took me three or so hours to have a fleeting darshan of the Lord, after I paid Rs 300.

I had a solid-looking ring on my finger and a gold chain because of which I was probably looking quite prosperous. One of the personnel there called me to a side, showed me what is called the Ranganathamandapam (or Rangamandapam, I am not sure). When Srirangam (Tamil Nadu) was attacked by some Muslim invaders the idol was moved here and worshipped, hence the name. I gave him some money, and he gave me a shocked expression at the amount. I escaped saying I was a student or something like that. I got a shortcut entry into the temple also. So I was lucky that day. Coming back to the laddoo, I was entitles to get two of them because of my ticket. I was sitting in the open arena outside the temple complex when a kid approached me muttering laddoo laddoo the way a guy selling black tickets approaches you. This is the state today. It is not possible to buy them legally. But if you pay an inflated price to the touts you can get as many as you want. Is this possible without any assistance from the temple authorities?

In another instance that I heard, apparently one guy has booked all available slots of a particular seva (a ritual) and is selling them in black. The cost of one seva recently ran into many thousands. Is this possible without the collusion of the authorities and the black marketers (for lack of a better word)? I was travelling in by taxi today when I passed in front of a small temple. A rich guy walking on the road, a pauper on the road, a middle class guy in a bus or an HNI in a Mercedes S-Class all bow to the same God. So is this separation and segregation on the basis of money paid fair? Would God want this?

Moving on, Amitabh Bachchan is not attending the IIFA function. Many if not all Tamil-industry people seem to have backed out. Is this the right thing to do? The country is coming out of civil war after 30 years and this is an important milestone in that direction. Do we really want to do this because of alleged genocide? Did we not have IIFA in Macau which is a Chinese territory? Is China famous for its spectacular human rights record? If genocide has indeed taken place, let the guilty be punished. I somehow do not feel what is happening is not proper. By the way, Raavan is supposed to be based on the Ramayana. The female lead is kidnapped by a tribal and from what I have read she starts responding to him! I believe many in Tamil Nadu worship Ravana. But what weird twist is this?

Also, the BCCI is not sending a team to the Asian Games as the team has "other commitments". I believe this is the first time that the sport is featuring in the Asian Games. It should well known how commercial minded the BCCI is. Can we have at least a token team please, for participation's sake? Asia's second most populous nation, and the world's most cricket-crazy nation is not sending a team?

500-year old Rajagopuram Collapses

2010-05-29T09:51:00.000+05:30

Srikaalahasti, also known as Dakshinakaasi is a very important Siva temple in Andhra Pradesh. Andhra is in fact Trilingadesam, which means the land of three lingas - Srisailam, Draakshaaraamam and Srikaalahasti.

The 500-year old rajagopuram of this temple, constructed by Sri Krishna Deva Raya collapsed recently. Why? A vertical crack appeared in it (a photo was published in The Hindu) apparently because of excessive drilling of borewells in the area. The authorities have said a new one will be constructed by 2012. Do they not get the point? I was outraged when I read the article. It is a part of our heritage and they calmly assure us that it will be reconstructed? Will they make it in the same shape and size? Will it be architecturally the same or as significant? What ever happened to the responsibility of these authorities to maintain the sanctity, devotional and physical, of such a place?

This is similar to authorities saying that there are digital copies of inscriptions that experts say will be harmed by the proposed gold plating of the sanctum sanctorum of the Venkateswara temple in Tirupati (refer to this and this.) When will we learn to truly respect our holy places and just let them be.

Phishing and Tabnapping

2010-05-29T09:35:00.000+05:30

Many of us have heard about phishing where a user is shown a web page that looks like a known/trusted one but is in fact not. Thus fraudsters can gain login information from unsuspecting users. Now there is an advancement (if I can say so) in the sophistication of such attacks. A researcher has recently done something called tabnapping where a malicious tab impersonates an open genuine tab (just in case there is someone not aware of what a tab is - today all browsers, I think, allow the user to open multiple web pages within one single window, each web page opens in a separate tab).

For more information refer to this.

My Hundredth Post - My First Post

2010-05-28T09:44:00.000+05:30

Namaskaaram.

Today I reached the 100 figure on this blog of mine. My first blog was labeled Souniteya. Today I present here the first ever blog I had written on January 27, 2006, a Friday. Do not judge me :) I am also including a link to my first post on this blog. The former was written in the final year of engineering and the latter in the first year of work.

==========

hello al u people out there! this is da first time im blogin and hence ask 4 ur suggestions and criticisms!!

btw, 4 those of u who r thinkin about da meanin of my id, it means da son of sunita in sanskrit. dats my mom.

wel, this blog is about college life. im in da final year in BIT Mesra, and being in an engineering coll, think dat seeing one, u hav seen al. those who r doin engineerin can understand wat campus life is like. no tensions about da exams til da moment they r upon u, starin at girls in da campus, cursin those guys who hav gfs, so on and so forth!! there r a few ETs who keep studyin al thru da sem and then u hav ur general geniuses. but wat R we learnin? does anybody think dat changin da way lessons r taught can make any diference in clas?

da general situation is like, da lecturer is teachin (or at least appears 2 b!!) and leavin out da first few unlucky benches nobody is payin any attention unles da lecturer is really draconian or gud!! then there r always da complaints about da sylabus bein out of date. so if the lecturer knows his subject wel and can convey da same thru effective examples, do u think v wil hav better clasrooms?

communication is no doubt very important bcos, even if da guy is an absolute genius, if he cannot communicate effectively he can seem an absolute imbecile.

so probably even in technical colleges wat v r really teachin our students is managemnt (how 2 'manage' 2 jst save ur skin in xams, how 2 'manage' ur attendance 4 example). wat say thou???

wil keep blogin with a die hard zeal dependin on da internet connection in my institute (ha! yet another area of curses and complaints)!!!

==========

For all those who have read my posts, and are reading them, dhanyavaadaalu :)

Of Remixes and Non-native Singers

2010-05-27T09:27:00.000+05:30

I come to/go from office via by either bus or by private vehicles/taxis which charge 10-15 rupees which are called shuttles here in Kolkata. So yesterday I was coming by one of these and the driver had some remix collection playing. I forgot the song that was playing but it was a pretty catchy number by itself. The remixer (whoever he was, curses be upon him) converted it into a trance track. Previously music directors used to produce songs, remixers used to remix them. Today the music director himself releases a remix version in the soundtrack. I sincerely hope that the song I heard yesterday was NOT remixed by the music director himself. He should NOT do that to his own songs!

Continuing on a similar vein I was humming some songs to myself today morning when I was reminded of non-native singers singing songs. This practice has been there for quite some time now. Lata Mangeshkar, S P Balasubrahmanyam, Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghoshal (to name a few) have sung in a number of languages. The question that came to my mind was, how sound a practice is this? The soundtrack gets a novelty factor and the singer makes money, so it seems a win-win situation for all. But what might lost in this situation is the effects on the language. This is especially true when a north Indian sings for a south Indian movie. I do not know why but women seem to have no issues even when language changes (Lata Mangeshkar and Shreya Ghoshal again, for instance).

Okay, as a side thought I WILL make a confession here. I request the Lata Mangeshkar fans not to kill me. She is no doubt one of the greatest voices this country has produced, but I feel she should have stopped singing quite some time back, her voice is no longer what it was, and this has been so for quite some time. Now, coming back to the point I was talking about, occasionally it sounds weird when a non-native singer sings a song. The pronunciation, the voice itself might be better suited for a certain language. But in all probability the practice will continue. By the way, just for your information, I believe Sonu Nigam is a rage in Karnataka (at least among the music directors).

Another interesting piece of trivia. M S Subbalakshmi sang a list of compositions by the Telugu devotee-composer Thaallapaaka Annamaachaarya in praise of Lord Venkateswara. She was supposedly in dire financial straits and some Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam official (I do not know who) wanted to help her. But being a person with a lot of self respect he knew she would not accept any offer of help just like that. Hence he wanted her to sing the compositions which would released as a series. Tamilians who learn Carnatic music will encounter Telugu as many (if not most) compositions have been made in the language. But not being a native speaker of Telugu she was not sure of her ability to sing properly and hence took coaching to ensure her pronunciation was correct. I believe I have heard of a similar practice by some singers today also, but is such dedication truly achievable today?

The Ways of This World

2010-05-26T18:49:00.000+05:30

A "jinxed" mobile number has been suspended in Bulgaria. I do not know anything about the number being jinxed but was is apparent from the article is that two of the three owners are not exactly what one would call law-abiding model citizens. So my take from this article is trade wars in Bulgaria are intense and there is a lot of organized crime. Is that reason enough to get superstitious and suspend the number?

In other "news" Shah Rukh Khan has more than 400,000 followers on Twitter. There was a time some time back when I thought there was an overload of this guy. After a point it gets boring and irritating. There is something called overselling oneself I believe.

The Delhi High Court has issued a stay order on the strike of Air India employees. So if the strike continues the employees can be held in contempt of court. In related news the SC has asked courts to exercise caution as far as contempt of court is concerned. It is difficult to digest the reason behind the strike - a gag order issued against speaking anything about the Mangalore crash. I am reminded of the UAW. The airline is already struggling. The unions protested vehemently against pay cuts some time back. Will Air India's unions be the cause for its downfall?

Maatrurunam and Pitrurunam

2010-05-15T12:00:00.000+05:30

Runam (rinam) means a debt. A human is said to have various debts - towards his parents, the gods etc. I called a number recently when I heard what seemed to be a bhajan as the caller tune. Intrigued I looked it up and found this. I am reproducing the lyrics of the bhajan here. The song beautifully summarizes the various 'pious' things man does. But at the end of the day what is important is also implementation and intention. I am typing all of this. I don't know how much I will finally implement! My father told me something once. Dhritarashtra tried to warn Duryodhana to mend his ways. Duryodhana's response was, "I know what is right and wrong, but I shall do this anyway." So today the world is full of such Duryodhanas! In case there is someone who does not understand Hindi there is an English translation at the end.

KABHI PYASE KO PANI PILAYA NAHI

BAAD AMRIT PILANE SE KYA FAIDA

KABHI GIRTE HUVE KO UTHAYA NAHI

BAAD AASU BAHANE SE KYA FAIDA

MEI TO MANDIR GAYA, PUJA AARTI KI

PUJA KARTE HUVE YE KHAYAL AA GAYA

KABHI MAA BAAP KI SEVA KI HI NAHI

SIRF PUJA KE KARNE SE KYA FAIDA

MEI TO SATSANG GAYA GURUVANI SUNI

GURUVANI KO SUNKAR KHAYAL AA GAYA

JANMA MANAV KA LEKE DAYA NA KARI

FIR MANAV KAHLANE SE KYA FAIDA

MAINE DAAN KIYA MAINE JAPTAP KIYA

DAAN KARTE HUVE YE KHAYAL AA GAYA

KABHI BHUKHE KO BHOJAN KHILAYA NAHI

DAAN LAKHO KA KARNE SE KYA FAIDA

GANGAA NAHANE HARIDVAR KASI GAYA

GANGAA NAHATE HI MANME KHAYAL AA GAYA

TAN KO DHOYA MAGAR MAN KO DHOYA NAHI

FIR GANGAA NAHANE SE KYA FAIDA

MAINE VED PADHE MAINE SHASHTRA PADHE

SHASHTRA PADHTE HUVE YE KHAYAL AA GAYA

MAINE GNAN HI KISI KO BATA NAHI

FIR GNANI KAHELANE SE KYA FAIDA

MAAT PITAA KE HI CHARNOME CHARO DHAM HE

AAJA AAJA YAHI MUKTI KA DHAM HE

PITAA MAATA KI SEVA KI HI NAHI

FIR TIRTHO ME JANE SE KYA FAIDA

Translation:

Never gave water to a thirst soul

What is gained by offering ambrosia afterwards?

Never propped up a fallen soul

What is gained by shedding tears afterwards?

I went to a temple, offered worship

While worshiping it occurred to me

Never served my mother and father

What is gained by only worship?

I went to a ministry, heard the words of my guru

By hearing them it occurred to me

Took the birth of a man, but never showed any mercy

So of what is calling myself human?

I have given to charity, I have prayed and meditated

When donating a thought occurred to me

Never fed a hungry man some food

Of what use are all the donations I made?

I went to Haridwar and Kasi to bathe in the Ganga

When bathing a thought occurred in my mind

I cleansed my body but not my mind

Then of what use is bathing in the Ganga?

I studied the Vedas and the scriptures

When studying them a thought occurred to me

I never spread knowledge to anybody

Then of what use is calling myself an enlightened one?

The four dhams can be found at the feet of parents

Come, come, this is the place for salvation

If you have never served your parents

Then of what use is going on a pilgrimage?

Caste Census

2010-05-13T09:41:00.000+05:30

Amitabh Bachchan does not believe in caste. This from a person who was under fire for certain ceremonies performed when his son was getting married. So he believes in Hindu rituals but not the concept of caste. I have nothing against the man for anything that he has said or done. But I do have something else to say.

It is an undoubted fact that caste is very important in India. The only way we can let go of it is to spread more education. Even then, I am doubtful whether it will completely go away. I personally do not have hangups. The same can be said of many people I know. But this is not the case with many others in India. Some stick to it so as to not displease their families. So whatever may be the reasons, it is a prominent thing. Something which started out just as a means of classification of employment has today become very rigid. Everyone remembers Arjun Singh and his reservation for OBCs which kicked up a huge storm in the not-so-distant past.

The reservation percentages were based on some estimates. By keeping reservation you are already discriminating between people on the basis of caste (though some may call it positive discrimination). So why not just go in for a census and decide once and for all what percentage of the population is exactly "backward"? If it is more than the estimated figure, well, the politicians have all the more reason to make merry by increasing reservation. If it is not, well, I still doubt that the percentage of reservation will ever go down. So my final point? Just do it.

"We did not play to our potential"

2010-05-12T09:19:00.000+05:30

MSD seems to be on his way to becoming a master at stating the obvious. I confess that I did not watch the T20 match, but I was expecting India to get knocked out. My doubt is whether we have been having too much cricket and endorsements for our players, and I mean both of them.

There was an article in The Hindu today on the Pakistani team (which I did not read once again, I very rarely read a sports article). In the same column there was an ad for Orient PSPO fans, endorsed by, who else but MSD? There is a mall right beside where I stay. One of the stores has a cutout of Dhoni posing and an expansion of MSD as My Style Destination. Is cricket being lost in all of this? Our endorsements are probably small compared to what sportsmen do/get abroad (which I still maintain is lunatic), but I think we pamper our cricketers too much.

Deferred Accelerated Revenue Receipt Every Year, are you kidding me?

2010-05-11T09:57:00.000+05:30

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has defended the telecom minister's actions in awarding 2G spectrum to operators in 2008 as per an article in the ET. I do not understand the term but I am assuming that it means increasing revenues that will accrue in the future. When awarding carbon credits there is something called a baseline criterion. Please correct me if I am wrong, but as far as I know this means that there should be emission reductions in excess of what would have been there anyway had the CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) or JI (Joint Implementation) project not been implemented. Only then are carbon credits given.

If I may take an analogue, revenue will accrue to the government irrespective of whether or not spectrum was auctioned. So the argument of the DoT does not seem to hold water. They also talk about India being a different market where profits in the telecom sector are of secondary concern. All of this is beside the point that giving away spectrum at such low prices was not something that should have been done. The DMK is steadfast in its defence of its MP. The point is whether or not he deserves to be.

Also, what is Jairam Ramesh thinking? Does he even remember 1962? I am not asking ourselves to be demonized by the past, but look at the situation! China is Pakistan's "all-weather friend". It ~~is developing~~ has developed a fighter in coordination with Pakistan. It is accused hacking into computers worldwide, with or without government approval. What was the minister thinking badmouthing his own government in a foreign nation? He says the Home and Defence ministries are being paranoid. These are the ones who are expected to know the security situation, not an environment minister. Does he know about Chinese listening posts on Myanmar's Coco Islands just off the Andamans? So will this turn out to be another Tharoor saga?

Politicians and Sports?

2010-05-06T09:28:00.003+05:30

Suresh Kalmadi says politicians should run sports. If I may be allowed to say so, seriously, you are joking, Mr Kalmadi! I mentioned this guy in a previous post also. I believe he has been around since the time I remember hearing about the Indian Olympics Association. How exactly has he achieved this? Is what he is doing a lifetime job?

Our sporting prowess is well known. There are occasional glimmers of hope who die down after some time. Some give shocks (at least till they clarify) like Sania Mirza. So would it not be a better to create a body of sportsmen with either a sportsman or an eminent person or a civil servant to take care of all our sports? Anyone but politicians!

In an interesting event an Indian American is heading the prosecution of Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistan-origin man who is accused of planting a bomb at Times Square in New York. Another India-Pakistan battle in the offing?

Evil Facebook?

2010-05-05T09:19:00.001+05:30

Facebook has been increasingly coming under criticism for user privacy or rather the lack of it. Read this for further details.

A Few Observations

2010-05-04T09:19:00.002+05:30

I was going through the matrimonial section of India Today. Before any conclusions are drawn let me clarify that I had time to kill and had read the rest of the magazine. So anyway, one thing that was clear was that the brides want professionally qualified grooms. One or two asked for post graduates specifically. Today there are many instances when a woman says no to a man (this is normal in a proposal but probably less so in an arranged setup :P). One of the reasons why people opt for a post graduate degree/diploma is that there are just too many graduates out there. Probably in the coming days it will also be to be able to marry the right girl!

The opposition in the Parliament is vociferously demanding that A Raja has to resign for his alleged role in the 2G spectrum allocation "scam". I am just curious to find out whether someone has asked for a legal investigation. If the minister has indeed received kickbacks he must pretty happy from a financial point of view. So he stands to lose more if there is a proper investigation than if he is just dismissed (please don't say duh!). If he is dismissed it will only be a matter of time before he is back. People and political parties especially have very short memories. Anybody remember the BJP asking for the removal of a certain "tainted" minister who they later joined hands with to come to power?

Patriotic Bookies!

2010-05-03T17:13:00.003+05:30

Betting is illegal in India. This does not people from indulging in it, whether in their own apartment complexes or in large scale betting rackets. However, Indian bookies have refused to place bets on Ajmal Kasab, y0u-know-who. Read this article for more. A Sanksrit sloka comes to mind.

yukti yuktam vacho graahyam baalaadapi sukaadapi
yukti heenam vachstyaajyam vruddhadapi sukaadapi

It basically means that something which is good can be learnt from a child or a parrot. But something which is not should not be learned even from an (experienced world-wise) old man or from Suka Maharshi himself.

A Tainted Cloth - A Continuation of the Previous Post

2010-04-06T12:25:00.004+05:30

There is another song similar to the one mentioned in the previous post. The song is laaga chunri main daag from Dil hi to hai. The song was sung by Manna Dey and picturized on Raj Kapoor.

The lyrics are as follows from here.

Laaga, chunari mein daag, chhupaau kaise
laaga, chunari mein daag
Chunari mein daag, chhupaau kaise
Ghar jaau kaise
Laaga, chunari mein daag

Ho gayi maili mori chunariya
Kore badan si kori chunariya
jaake baabul se
Nazarein milaau kaise, ghar jaau kaise
Laaga, chunari mein daag

Bhool gayi sab vachan bida ke
kho gayi main sasuraal mein aake
jaake baabul se
Nazre milaau kaise, ghar jaau kaise
Laaga, chunari mein daag

Kori chunariya aatma mori mail hai maaya jaal
Woh duniya more baabul ka ghar
Ye duniya sasuraal
Haan jaake, baabul se
Nazre milaau kaise, ghar jaau kaise
Laaga, chunari mein daag

I heard of this song first from my erstwhile office colleagues in Kolkata. When I first heard the song I was confused. The song talks about a chunri being stained. The woman is lamenting how she could go home with such a chunri. The meaning becomes clear only towards the end of the song.

She is initially anxious to hide the stain in her garment as she cannot face her father like that. She says she forgot what she has learnt in her parents' house and is totally lost in the place of her parents-in-law. The poet clarifies in the end that the garment is her soul and the stain is maya. This world is the place of her parents-in-law and the other world is her father's place. Another interesting point is that the lyricist was Sahir Ludhianvi. He was a Muslim while the concept pf maya is part of Hindu beliefs (I do not know if there are equivalent concepts in Sufism or Islam in general). We find other parallels also - Shakeel Badayuni in Baiju Bawra (man tarapat) and Javed Akhtar in Swades (pal pal hai bhaari).

A Soaked Cloth

2010-03-27T22:56:00.002+05:30

I was listening to a song by Indian Ocean called Jhini. The original song was written by Kabir. The analogy used in the song is wonderful. So I wanted to write about it. First of all the lyrics of the song (from here).

jhini re jhini re jhini chadariya, jhini re jhini re jhini
ram naam ras bhini chadariya, jhini re jhini re jhini

ashta kamal dal charkha doley, panch tatva, gun tini
saiin ko siyat mas dus lagey, thokey-thokey ke bini

so chadar sur nar muni odi, odi ke maili kini chadariya
das kabir jatan so odi, jyon ki tyon dhar deen chadariya

The translation from the same site verbatim

This is fine, this is fine cloth.
It is been dipped in the name of the lord
The spinning wheel, like an eight-petal lotus, spins,
With five tatvas and three gunas as the pattern.
The Lord stiched it in 10 months
The threads have been pressed to get a tight weave.
It has been worn by gods, people, and sages
They soiled it with use.
Kabir says, I have covered my self with this cloth with great care,
And eventually will leave it like it was.

Kabir was a weaver himself and this song compares the human body to cloth. He used an analogy taken from his profession to express his philosophy, that is the beauty of this song. I believe the five tattvas refer to the panchabhutas or the five elements. There is an interesting article I found on the pancha tattvas. However, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu himself was a younger contemporary of Kabir as apparent from the dates given in Wikipedia. So I think I can safely assume that Kabir talking about the elements here.

I do not know what he means by the eight petalled lotus. There is a concept called the nava randhras which talks about nine orifices in the body. Thus the body has been described as a city with nine gates. Also, there is the concept of the seven chakras. But this eight is between the seven and nine and I am not sure what he is talking about. Trigunas refers to the three kinds of qualities that exist in man - saatvika, rajasika and taamasika. I don't want to say I understand these, so I won't comment. The 10 months period must refer to the pregnancy period and the making dirty refers to the soul being tainted by karma probably. More on this in the next post.

RIP, House of Lords?

2010-03-15T14:34:00.003+05:30

Britain is planning to do away with the House of Lords in its Parliament as per a news report. I believe that our Parliament (among a lot of things) is based on the British system. Is it time we looked at doing away with our Rajya Sabha? There used to be two houses in the Andhra Pradesh legislature. When N T Rama Rao was the Chief Minister he did away with the upper house (the legislative council) and now there is only the legislative assembly. There are still legislative councils in a few other states in India today. The vallue that is added by the Parliament is suspect anyway :P It costs lakhs to run the Parliament for a day and everyone knows how well our Parliament (dis)functions.

An interesting point is that abuse of expenses has been given as a reason for the aforementioned decision. Will such accountability be present in India as far as our legislators are concerned? There have been news reports that the government's austerity drive might end soon. Should our "leaders" be circumspect about their expenses only when the going is tough? There were riots yesterday in Bengaluru about allocation of tickets for municipality elections. Imagine the amount of money that must be up for grabs through the posts of these "people's representatives". I am not foolish enough to say that we must do away with our legislature. I am just curious if it is feasible to do away with the Rajya Sabha.

UPDATE: My friend Sasanka tells me that AP still has a legislative council. He says that the current CM is a member of this and not of the assembly. I stand corrected. By the way I believe Rama Rao initially thought it was not useful and he also wanted money for his kilo-rice-for two-rupees scheme.

Suspension and the Aftermath

2010-03-10T19:00:00.002+05:30

The unruly MPs have been suspended from the Rajya Sabha. I saw some news item today which said the government was considering revoking this suspension. Lalu has desisted from withdrawing support with the government apparently showing some leniency with his disproportionate asses case. Convenient, isn't it? A shamefully excellent example of a quid pro quo situation!

There was some ruckus in the AP assembly where the speaker instructed some remarks to be struck off from the record. Why? There should be a record of shame where such activities should be mentioned with the names of the perpetrators in bold. Shame on such legislators!

BSNL launching a PE Division?

2010-03-10T08:40:00.002+05:30

BSNL has cash reserves of about Rs 35,000 crores and is hence planning to enter the PE business to focus on tech startups. The company seems to gets first preference when auctioning of spectrum and 3G services are concerned, which in my opinion is unfair in India's already cut-throat telecom market.

An interesting point in the news article was that in 2007-08 the profit was driven by interest income, yes, you read that right, interest income on its bank deposits. The profit was about Rs 300 crores and the interest income was about Rs 4000 crores! Thus there is also apprehension that if the reserves are used to set up a PE business the company will have to forego the interest it has been earning. Now should a telecom firm actually be earning its profits through interest? There used to be something called the Access Deficit Charge (ADC) that used to be levied on private telecom players in India. This I believe was replaced by the Universal Service Obligation (USO). From what I remember this was paid to the government in order to compensate BSNL for its non-profitable rural operations. It being a public sector company, BSNL had to provide telecom services in rural areas but was incurring losses on them.

I do not know what the current situation is or if this is indeed the major reason for the profits or losses BSNL shows. But I think the telco can try other avenues to make profits other than the interest route. Let us see what happens.

An Eventful Women's Day Indeed!

2010-03-08T16:10:00.004+05:30

I am back, courtesy of our politicians. The Congress is headed by a woman and she is adamant that the women's reservation bill should be passed today. Well, some men had differing views and what resulted was pandemonium.

Before we move on, let us look at the word pandemonium. It was coined by John Milton in Paradise Lost and was the capital of hell. It literally means a place full of demons. Look up this and this for more details.

Now let us come back to this issue. The Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Rashtriya Janata Dall (RJD) headed by Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad Yadav respectively have chosen to withdraw support to the government. A few MPs from these two parties and one from the Janata Dal (United) actually tore up copies of the bill in the Rajya Sabha and threw these at the Chairman. The video being shown on television makes for some interesting viewing. The Rajya Sabha has been postponed a couple of times and I do not know when the bill will be ultimately passed. My question is, why do we let such people get away with it? Plaster photos and posters and show videos of these 'people's representatives' in their constituencies and let the voters see for themselves who they have elected. Remove these people from Parliament. They disgrace not only themselves and their constituents but also the nation in front of the world. Some action has to be taken against such people. But when? And is this a quid pro quo situation? I disrupt, don't harm me, the next time you disrupt, I won't harm you. Is that it?

Now why might the two Yadavs be doing this? The most recognizable Thakur face, Amar Singh is no longer with the SP. The party has always 'positioned' itself as a representative of Muslims. So now there has to be an increased focus on this votebank. A similar story can be made of the RJD also. They want a quota inside a quota. They say the bill in its current form is anti-OBC. They want separate reservation for Muslim women I believe. Is it not wondrous, the number of ways we Indians can divide ourselves?

In other developments a woman has won the Best Director Oscar (The Hurt Locker) for the first time. I saw this movie recently and well, though it seems well made I still did not like it a lot. When I saw Avtaar (the other major contender), the 3D glasses were blocking a part of the view in front of me and the glass was tinted. I found this movie ok. But well, I am entitled to my personal opinions :)

So all in all, an eventful women's day. Now will the bill be passed today?

Hit Wicket?

2010-02-20T23:43:00.002+05:30

The union agriculture minister, Sharad Pawar has been under fire for not having done enough to control prices of food items. The centre and the states have been playing ping pong with each other over the responsibility for the rise in prices. Pawar has been accused of not having taken timely action to prevent the price rise, for instance, delaying the clearance for imports to tide over lower domestic production. He has stoutly denied this.

However, the PM himself has been talking about this. Now comes another indictment, this time from the PM's Economic Advisory Council. It conducted a review of the Indian economy. I mention two of the points mentioned here:

1) Timely release of food essential to curb price rise

2) Timely imports at early signals of shortfall in production also must

Is Mr Pawar listening?

A New Arms Race?

2010-01-22T20:42:00.002+05:30

The US is planning to sell surveillance drones to Pakistan. India wants an assurance that these will not be used against India. Are you kidding me? Does the Indian governemtn seriously believe the Pakistanis stick to their word? When Vajpayee rode the bus to Lahore the Pakistani Army was busy with Kargil operations.

Another interesting item that can be noted is the statement of the American Defence Secretary, Robert Gates. He says that India and Pakistan will be provided arms on an "equitable basis". Does this not seem suspiciously close to actively inducing an arms race between the two nations?

Looking at Pakistan I am reminded of the erstwhile Soviet Union. A very important reason was the financial ruin that the Soviet Union had found itself in. Way back when Dr. Strangelove was made, the Soviet ambassador in the movie says that Russia was finding it difficult to match all the races it had entered with the US and hence finally developed the Doomsday Device. Pakistan has been trying to match India in various aspects, at least wrt defence. I wonder if one day Pakistan will collapse one day because of this. This picture is all the more worrying for India as while a Pakistan in turmoil might be good for our domestic peace (it will be too busy dealing with internal conflict to bother about India), this is only okay as long as the disturbance and the involved elements do not spill over to the India.

Human Rights and Hypocrisy

2010-01-22T17:45:00.002+05:30

A 13-year old girl in Saudi Arabia has been sentenced to get 90 lashes and two months in prison for getting a camera phone to her class. This is America's friend and ally Saudi Arabia. One wonders if there will be even a murmur of protest from the Americans for this flagrant violation of human rights. China is said to have quite a notorious human rights record, yet the US is perfectly willing to do business with it and is in fact dependent on China for quite a few things, not the least being purchasing its treasury bills.

American hypocrisy is not something that is new to the world but still when reports like this come up one can only wonder. India is frequently commented upon about religious freedom issues by US reports. Has the US been able to fully secure human rights to its citizens, especially the minorities? There is a saying, when you point one finger at somebody remember that there are four fingers pointing back at you. Will the US ever learn this, and more importantly implement the learning?

Sympathy and Apathy

2010-01-20T02:24:00.003+05:30

I am watching Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 right now. In spite of this damning documentary Bush got reelected for a second time. One can only wonder if this probably shows the apathy of the American public to their own condition. It would be interesting to find out what Americans that the rest of the world should think about them. Many of them probably can't even point out 'the rest of the world' on a map. Their national sporting events are titled 'world series' if I am not mistaken. I am sadly reminded of the term koopastha mandookah - a frog in a well from that famous parable.

September 11 was undoubtedly a tragedy for the US and a lot of other countries who lost their citizens as well. But one reaction outside the US would definitely have been 'serves them right'. This would have been the case especially in India which has long been a victim of terrorism so conveniently ignored by the US in aid of its friend, Pakistan (probably not VERY different even now).

Another point shown in the documentary is how people from the undeveloped parts of the US were being recruited into the US armed forces. This is on the lines of a thought that I had myself when I was an NCC cadet. When I was at BIT Mesra we had to take a non-academic activity as part of the educational requirements. I had chosen the NCC as I was told it was an option that did not involve a whole lot of work. Well, it was true. I attended a camp once in Ranchi that was organized by the Air Force NCC company (I think that is the right word, I was in the Army wing). Many of the cadets I saw seemed to be from the lower strata of the society (economically or otherwise). When I wrote my B certificate exam (the details of which I do not want to reveal for reasons of my own) I had to attend an interview also. I was asked a question as to why there are not many south Indians in the armed forces. I gave them an answer I could think of at that point of time. When I later told this to a senior of mine he gave me a reason which seems the most logical. In south India there are a lot of job opportunities. Hence people need not look at the armed forces as career options. This is not true in the case of places like Bihar (at least erstwhile Bihar) where there were not many job options. The same can probably be said to be the reason for the proliferation of Biharis in the civil services.

So, is this the right thing to happen? Somehow this does not seem right. I talked about this some time back also. Even after the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai people in south Mumbai did not come out to vote (I myself have not voted till now to be honest, I can try and justify, though I probably should not). Does the upper class of the country (and to an extent the middle class) really care about it? The Fahrenheit 9/11 documentary showcases how the Bush family's business interests seem to take precedence over their responsibility towards US citizens. Even in case of the lower classes I am sure they vote because they WANT something, not because out a feeling of patriotic duty. In this light, probably making voting compulsory does not seem such a bad thing after all.

A Crisis of Names

2010-01-13T04:19:00.002+05:30

The Congress has been notorious for sycophancy - there was a Congress 'leader' who once delared "Indira is India" or the other way round. Now what is up with everything being named after Nehru, Indira Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi? Agreed, these were important political figures. What did Rajiv Gandhi do to confer upon him a Bharat Ratna? It was undoubtedly a tragedy for his family and a slap against India that he, a Prime Minister was assassinated. But that is it.

Whether a housing scheme, an employment scheme, a road, an airport or any thing on God's green earth, it is being named after these three erstwhile leaders. Does the Congress itself have no other leaders to speak of? Was it successful in producing only these three in the over 100 years of its existence? When will this sycophancy end?

Freedom of Speech

2010-01-10T18:27:00.004+05:30

Shashi Tharoor is in the eye of a storm again, this time for criticizing the foreign policy of Nehru. He seems to have backed down and in the time-honoured way of politicians has taken refuge behind the excuse of having been 'misquoted'.

In the first place, I agree that Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi etc are pivotal figures in India's history. This does not mean that they were perfect, they were after all human. So why are we so intolerant about any criticism against these people? The Congress keeps harping about being a 'secular' party and about the tolerance of India. Why is it so intolerant about comments against its top leadership (erstwhile or current)? Gautama Buddha is supposed to have told his disciples not to accept his teachings blindly but to question and find out the truth for themselves. Are today's politicians so great that they are beyond reproach?

The Constitution gives every Indian the right to freedom of speech. What is the use of this if it is not implemented in spirit? Remember Voltaire's saying to an adversary - "I may not agree with what you say but I will defend till my death your right to say it." Where is such spirit in 'the world's largest democracy'?

I was surprised when Tharoor joined the Congress. He does not seem to be a very big fan of Nehru and Indira Gandhi as such. Read his The Great Indian Novel (spoiler warning). It is a modern take on the Mahabharata with political figures taking on the roles of the Mahabharata characters. It is quite an interesting read. Indira Gandhi is in Duryodhana's role and Nehru is the blind king Dhritarashtra. So I was surprised when he joined the Congress. Being in the Congress and in the government he might be expected to show some restraint but no one can curtail his right to free speech.

Copycats

2009-12-31T22:22:00.006+05:30

I am writing this entry just as an observation. Remember the song tu hi meri shab hain from the Hindi movie Gangster? Well, that was sung by KK. There is a song called my heart is beating from the Telugu movie Jalsa. It is a song that one would say has been 'inspired' by the former. This song has also been sung by KK who in turn a Malayali. The music director might have thought that if he were copying the song, he might as well use the same singer :P It's a beautiful song though, both lyrics wise and tune wise (kinda different from the original, not a total ripoff :) )

This is the Telugu song.

This is the Hindi song.

This is an article on KK.

Update: From my cousin, Gayatri - this is the 'inspiration' for tu hi meri shab hain, Oliver Shanti & Friends - ‘Sacral Nirvana’.

Disrespect or Survival Requirement?

2009-12-30T18:17:00.003+05:30

I am writing this entry after seeing a Kellogg's ad on the TV. This company has been trying to change the breakfast habits of Indians for quite some time now, as per my knowledge quite unsuccessfully. As a South Indian I used to have rice for breakfast. South Indians also have items like idly and dosa for breakfast. A North Indian can have paranthas and the likes. This is quite a healthy breakfast and a filling one too. But the company is adamantly fixated upon trying to change the Indians' eating habits.

Does this indicate a disregard or disrespect towards the local culture? Is the company trying to impose American culture just so that it can make money? India is a huge market no doubt. I have nothing against a company entering the country. I do not buy the argument that what the company is doing is for its survival. There is this item called muesli, which is a mixture of quite a few things (cereal, oats, dry fruits etc depending on the combination, read this for more details). I discovered this while I was working in Kolkata in my old job. I liked it quite some. But I preferred to have this as a snack, and not necessarily for breakfast. Why does not the company explore options like this instead of trying to impose corn flakes as a breakfast option? It might also find more success.

WTF are they thinking?

2009-12-29T23:28:00.002+05:30

Pardon me for the language on a public forum. I cannot but say this as I see the things that are unfolding in Andhra Pradesh right now. Who does KCR think he is? Does he even have enough seats in either the Assembly or the Parliament to claim to be a representative of the Telangana people? I have heard a report which says that ancestrally he himself is from the Vijayanagaram district (coastal AP or the so-called Andhra).

Who the hell are these people to hold an entire state to ransom? Do they realize the toll the current situation is taking on the health and image of the state? The state road transport corporation was apparently just limping back to good health when this tragedy struck. Had it been a private company by now probably quite a few people would have lost their jobs. Fortunately or unfortunately this is not happening. I wonder what will happen if the RTC does stop paying salaries because of the current situation. Will there be public pressure on the RTC or on the protestors to give up their stand and let life return to normal?

It is easy to stoke the emotions of students. I am one, I can probably be depended upon to know this. Do they realize what they are doing? Every year in Osmania University, by this time the exams are over and some students are also placed. This time, the exams have been postponed twice already, and no company has yet come to recruit - it would be probably need to be stupid if it wanted to come. An NDTV reported asked a student about this. His reply was that there are jobs, but these are being occupied by people from outside. Does he realize the stupidity of what he is saying? If a person is not free to move around in his own state and in his own country, can the country said to be really free?

Telangana 'leaders' are saying that people from the other parts of Andhra Pradesh need not fear if Telanaga is formed. That however, does not seem to be the case. There are already demands for people to 'go back'. How can one expect a family that has settled there to simply pack up and move? Do they realize the kind of nonsense that they are talking?

There was some Congress guy who interacted with the media after talking to Sonia Gandhi. He expressed confidence that she would take the 'right' decision. If she decides that there will be no Telangana, will this person still be willing to take it lying down? There are calls for an indefinite bandh if the state is not formed soon. Did not the Supreme Court or some other court prohibit bandhs? Is the government wearing bangles and sitting in a corner (no offence to the fairer sex)?

For thebandh tomorrow 165 trains have been cancelled. One can only hope some sense prevails soon and that things return to normal.

A Coconut Shredder from Metal Junk

2009-12-28T21:30:00.004+05:30

Take a good look at these two pictures. At first look this is a coconut shredder. Now I will tell you about the interesting part as my dad pointed it out to me.

The shredder is made out of recycled engine parts, yes, you read that right. See the arch in the first photo at the bottom? Now look at the other arch in the handle in the second photo. These two form a circle in which the crankshaft fits. If this is not innovation, what is?

Is Andhra Burning?

2009-12-12T06:16:00.004+05:30

"Is Paris burning?" was a question Hitler had put to his chief of staff Alfred Jodl. He wanted Paris to be destroyed before it fell into the hands of the Allied Forces. Today the title of the post can be a question put to each other by anxious Telugus all over the world.

I am an Andhraite and I am fiercely proud of it. One very if not the most irritating questions that can be put to me is whether or not I am a Tamilian when I say I am a south Indian. And when I say Andhra I do not mean the coastal part that is referred to by that name by some people of Telangana and Rayalaseema. Instead I refer to a united Andhra Pradesh. I am from the city of Visakhapatnam. But I have also stayed in Hyderabad and to me, the city and region of Telangana is as much a part of the state of Andhra Pradesh as any other part of it.

Potti Sriramulu was a freedom fighter and Gandhian who gave up his life so that Andhra Pradesh could be formed. He went on a fast for the formation of a state for the Telugus, separate from the Madras Presidency that was in existence at the time of independence.

Nehru felt that the consolidation of an independent India was more important and he refused to accept the initial requests for the formation of a separate state. Even as Sriramulu's health was deteriorating he steadfastly refused to accept the demand for a new state. Finally after a long fast Sriramulu passed away and then all hell broke loose. A lot of public property was destroyed and quite a few people were killed in police firing. This was the background against which the state of Andhra was formed in 1953 much like India which had its independence marred by communal bloodshed. Later on Hyderabad was liberated from the Nizam's rule and thus in 1956 the present day Andhra Pradesh was formed.

Andhra Pradesh is divided into three broad regions - Telangana (north), Rayalaseema(south) and Kosta (coastal part). There has been some anger in the Telangana region that the region has been unfairly exploited and that people from otside the region have been coming in and taking away the jobs of the locals.

Now we come to the person at the centre of the whole issue, K Chandrasekhara Rao or KCR. He was part of the Telugu Desam Party or TDP, which was founded by N T Rama Rao. NTR is credited with giving the Andhraites a separate identity away from the Madrasi tag that is attached to all south Indians. KCR was part of the first government set up by Chandrababu Naidu. He was not given a ministerial berth in the second government, which was formed in 1999, but was made the Deputy Speaker. In 2001 he quit the party and set up the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS). So I now ask the question, where was Telangana when KCR was part of
the government?

There seemed to have been a broad consensus during the recent Andhra assembly and parliamentary elections about the formation of Telangana. The TRS performed quite badly and the Congress won pretty impressively. The late Chief Minister YSR was against the formation of a separate state. He in fact made a statement that was widely condemned saying that if the TDP-TRS combine came to power people from one part of the state would need a visa to visit another. Yet he was a person that was against the bifurcation of the state for whatever reasons he had. Today had he been present the situation might have been different.

So in my personal opinion the real reason behind the demand for a separate state is suspect. I have heard that if Telangana is formed it will not be KCR but his nephew or someone who will stand for the Chief Minister's post. But then, have we not heard about the concept of the power behind the throne? Also, how many times have puppet CMs not been put in place? The argument is that the region cannot develop as long as it is 'under' Andhra Pradesh and that it is being exploited. I am surprised by the student agitation to be honest. But is bifurcation the answer to all ills? Are there no other means to develop the region? Politicians generally go for solutions that pay immediate political dividends and may genuine interests be damned. Stoking student passions and demanding a separate state is an easy answer. Today there have been protests in Maharashtra about 'outsiders' encroaching on the jobs of the 'locals'. In AP these so-called outsiders are not even from outside the state. If the Maharashtra argument is stupid, the AP argument is beyond stupidity.

The Congress does not want to be seen as a party opposed to the formation of Telangana. In addition to this, fearing a law and order situtation the government has given in to KCR's demand, at least to an extent. If I remember right the Supreme Court had commented on a particular state government's inability to maintain law and order, saying that it was its responsibility and if it could not do so, it could very well resign. But the fact of the matter, do we have leaders who have such spunk in them today?

As I write this, 136 MLAs have resigned from the state legislature and protests have been going on in Rayalaseema and Kosta against the division of the state. The city of Hyderabad is another bone of contention. The argument to make it a UT or a joint capital does not exactly make sense as it is not practical to govern a state from a capital that is quite a distance from the state's border (which is what will happen if AP is bifurcated). The pro-Telangana camp is adamant that Hyderabad has to be part of Telangana. The brand equity of Hyderabad as a safe investment destination might actually come under a cloud now.Now the Congress is caught on two fronts. It cannot reject the demand outright. On the other hand its own MLAs are resigning in protest of the decision.

I personally do not want the division of a state that was meant to provide a separate identity for the Telugus for purely political reasons. The government can declare a special package for the region if it is indeed true that the region has been neglected. What is needed right now is effective leadership and a genuine concern to address the issues facing the region if not the state.
There was an article I once read which mentioned how the Andhraites were experts at dividing themselves into groups. In the US there two separate Telugu associations were formed - Telugu Association of North America (TANA) and American Telugu Association (ATA). The Telugus went all that distance away from their homeland and still found ways to divide themselves. I can but pray the state stays united peacefully and that better sense prevails among all sections of the society.

Death Knell to Mobile Banking?

2009-11-28T21:44:00.003+05:30

The Finance Ministry has shelved plans to introduce greater mobile banking facilities in the country. The Reserve Bank was opposed to greater freedom as it felt that funds flow would be outside the banking system where it cannot be monitored. The Home Ministry is against the measure due to security fears.

A lot of people cannot access banking facilities as they are simply not available. Mobile banking can actually improve things in this direction. Instead of a general ban on the practice, it would be much better if strict regulations and controls are put in place (and implemented). For how long can we postpone implementing forward-looking practices fearing for our security. I also wonder what impact this decision will have on Nokia and its plans to roll out its Money service in India.

Also, the telecom sector is seeing a price war right now. Mobile payments and similar value-added services can act as differentiating factors in such a scenario. What will happen to these?

Proliferation and China

2009-11-14T02:42:00.003+05:30

It has now emerged that the disgraced Pakistani scientist A Q Khan wrote in some notes that Pakistan was helped by China in its nuclear program. He has written that China had actually supplied that Uranium required. If that is not admission of China's help in nuclear proliferation, what is?

But now will the US do anything? At the most they might issue a statement saying that this is being investigated or they might condemn this. Beyond this they cannot do anything. China is too important for American survival today for them to even contemplate taking any action against it. President Obama seems to have cancelled his meeting with the Dalai Lama (George Bush, the earlier President had met him I believe) in order to avoid angering the Chinese.

Are we seeing the emergence of a new global superpower? Shall we have a new concentration of power in the near future? China has either already overtaken or will shortly overtake Japan to become the second largest economy in the world. China has been increasing its power through various means - diplomacy, economic means and military means also. A Chinese intellectual had recently written that India seems to have forgotten the "lessons of the 1962 war" when it allowed the Dalai lama to visit Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh. What should India do in such a scenario? What are the Indian leaders' reaction to this changing situation? One can only wonder.

Customer satisfaction in a networked world

2009-11-11T01:51:00.003+05:30

A batchmate of mine saw a movie recently. I had come to know that she was going to watch the movie and so I asked her how the movie was after she came back. She said that it was boring, only the songs were worth watching, and these too could be downloaded from the Internet. Hence there was no point in wasting my money.

This got me thinking. Both of us were in our respective rooms. Our conversation was via Gtalk. If I decide to take her advice and download the songs I can do that via YouTube or some mp3 download sites. The rate at which word-of-mouth reviews can travel now (and the ease with which I can pirate the songs) seem to put some kind of pressure on companies (film producers and directors in this case) to make products of better quality. Now whether or not this will actually happen is a different matter altogether. There are websites like mouthshut.com where prospective buyers can get feedback about products they wish to buy.

Companies also are trying to tap the benefits of social networking. There was one article I read some time back where an example was mentioned. A technology company can put up a forum where its customers can interact with one another to solve their issues. This actually reduces the costs incurred by the company in maintaining a customer service department. This is a double-edged sword though. If there is some problem the negative reviews can also spread quite easily.

To quote Douglas Adams, the author of the Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy, "Nothing travels faster than the speed of light with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws." (http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/33023.html)

If I come back to a simple issue, will Bollywood (or the Hindi film industry if I don't want to anger the purists) ever produce a consistent series of 'good' flicks or is there too wide a range of audience's tastes for films to be of uniform quality?

Synergy between Wikipedia and Google?

2009-11-09T23:48:00.004+05:30

I was sitting in class today when this thought suddenly occurred to me. Google is the phenomenon it is as it has been able to satisfy the need of people to search for information that they need. Probably very few people had anticipated the importance of search to the end users. Wikipedia allowed people to become part of the process. There are occasional goof-ups like this. But on the whole I can probably assert that Wikipedia has proved to be immensely popular.

Now I come to my actual point. Previously when I was required to do a project Google was probably invariably the first place I would go to. I still do that but now Wikipedia has reduced the amount of search required. Information from a number of sources (if occasionally the authenticity is suspect) is now present at a single location thus reducing the amount of work (sic) required. In a sense Wikipedia is complementing (even supplementing?) Google today. Now does Google look at Wikipedia as a threat? Wikipedia does not make the user pay anything. Take a look at the mission statements of Wikimedia Foundation (who runs Wikipedia) and Google.

WF - to empower and engage people around the world to collect and develop educational content under a free license or in the public domain, and to disseminate it effectively and globally

Google - to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful

Notice the similarity? If I can take some liberties in saying so, both primarily aim to make information that is useful to users available to them without charging them. Thus there seems to be a convergence of philosophies here. So is Google interested in Wikipedia? Are Larry and Sergey listening?

An Obsession with English?

2009-10-28T00:56:00.002+05:30

Students in Andhra Pradesh were punished in a bizarre manner for speaking Telugu in class. Read this.

A large English-speaking workforce is said to be a big reason for India to be an excellent outsourcing destination. There is also what is called Indian English. But one has to wonder if we have taken our obsession with the language to weird heights.

I have to confess that a person who speaks English better makes a much better impression than a person who can't. I myself seem to be an example for India's English obsession. This is a country which has 22 official languages and thousands of dialects. It seems unjustified that one language and that too what is essentially a foreign one should be given so much importance.

There are people on the other extreme also. I think there was a plan in Tamil Nadu a little time back to stop teaching English in school or something on those lines. That is plain stupid. You can maintain your self respect and identity without resorting to such extreme measures. The solution as always lies in finding a middle path, one of moderation.

India funds the Taliban!

2009-10-26T22:25:00.002+05:30

This really takes the cake. Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik has accused India of funding the Taliban. Read this.

These are the very people who have been helping the Taliban. I believe there was an Afghanistan minister who said that there was an ISI hand in the recent Indian embassy bombing there. Pakistan is a state where the intelligence agencies and armed forces which are supposed to function under the executive have been exerting undue influence historically. The situation now is no different. Our first PM died in office in his seventeenth year in office. The first Pakistani PM was removed in a military coup. These are the people who are accusing us of funding the Taliban.

Funding the Taliban to destabilize Pakistan is something that could actually be done. Of course the source of the funding would probably have to be disguised from the Taliban (note the italicization of probably, one has to wonder if trigger-happy bigots differentiate between sources). However we might be creating a situation like the US did. It is a strange twist of fate that the terrorists that US had to "fight" have actually been created by the US itself, directly or indirectly.

They had created and armed the Taliban to fight against the Soviets during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. They were the people who created Osama bin Laden! The US supported Saddam Hussain against Iran before they decided he had to go in their quest against "weapons of mass destruction". The US is not exactly pro-Iran to put it mildly. The Islamic Revolution was directed against the Shah of Iran. He was put in place after a democratically elected Prime Minister was ousted with the help of the CIA. So one hopes that India will not repeat such mistakes. Some mistakes have habit of coming back to haunt you. In ancient India there is the tale of man feeding and taking care of a snake to only end up being bitten by it.

karpoora dhooli rachitaalavaalah kastoorikaapanka nimagnanaalah
gangaajalaih sikta samoola bhaalah sweeyam gunam munchati kim palanduh

Unless I am mistaken the meaning goes something like this - Even if it is coated with camphor, even if it is immersed in musk, even if it is washed with the waters of the Ganga will an onion give up its natural quality? I rest my case.

Gender Empowerment

2009-10-23T00:20:00.003+05:30

We had a class today on the Indian economy. It was a pretty good lecture and the teacher, Dr Amir Ullah Khan seems to be a good one. There was one point where he mentioned that there has been seen to be some correlation between economic growth and gender empowerment, or something along those lines. He did not clarify.

I was reminded of a Sanksrit poem from school. So I am putting it down here.

yatra naaryastu poojyante ramante tatra devataah
yatraitaasu na poojyante sarvaah tatraaphalaah kriyaah

The basic meaning - Where women are worshipped (or honoured) there can be found the various gods. Where they are not worshipped, all works there are fruitless.

Probably an example of the regard in which women were held in India in the past, not a bad thing to emulate.

The Issue of Naxalism

2009-10-19T15:51:00.002+05:30

The Home Minister has been calling for some tough action towards the Naxals and one does feel it is warranted. The Lalgarh case is taken as an example for the kind of action needed - flush out the extremists by force and hold the area for some time. However some basic things also need to be looked at.

First of all, the Naxalite movement started out against the unjust land holding situation in the country and had its origins in a sound reason. Now the government needs to see if this issue has been addressed. The actions of the Naxalites can't be justified per se, but if the basic reason for their agitation is addressed one can hope that some kind of sense will prevail. A second issue is the question of funding. Where exactly are the Naxalites getting the money to do whatever they are doing? Some of the avenues could be kidnapping ransom and protection money. Thus this is another area that can be addressed. You can surround an enemy fort, but a very important action that is needed is to cut off the enemy's food supply. The weakened enemy HAS to surrender to avoid death from starvation.

What the government wants to address right now seem to be the symptoms not the cause of the disease. The local population is already fed up with Naxal violence. In Gadhchiroli where Naxals had surrounded a police station and killed a number of policemen a number of casualties were members of the weaker sections of the society, the very people the Naxals claim to represent. Public disenchantment is also evident from organizations like the Salwa Judum. Now the government needs to address the basic reasons for Naxalism to have arisen and the sources of financing to curb this menace.

Update to a previous post

2009-09-15T23:06:00.001+05:30

In my post Remixes and Ripoffs, Anyone I had wondered if the song dhan te nan from Kaminey was a ripoff. I have since learnt that the song was from a serial that was directed by Vishal Bharadwaj himself. Hence I don't think it is :)

Disclosure

2009-09-15T18:31:00.003+05:30

Pakistan is in a mood for confession? Some time back the President Asif Ali Zardari admitted that Pakistan has used proxy war against India as a state instrument. Now Musharraf has admitted that US aid has been diverted to be used against India? I think AQ Khan has also admitted that Pakistan has helped Iran in its nuclear ambitions.

Are these confessions aimed at hitting back at someone, are they aimed at projecting a changing face of Pakistan, or are they genuine confessions? I am confused

Yet Another Racist Attack

2009-09-15T18:14:00.004+05:30

In another attack that smacks of racism 3 Indians have been attacked in Australia and this time by a mob of 80 people, including women. These attacks have happened in spite of the assurances given to the External Affairs Minister, SM Krishna when he visited Australia after the last spate of attacks. What credibility has the Australian government left?

India has been protesting against these attacks. But there does not seem to be much changing on the ground if the latest attacks are any indication. The latest attack cannot be wished away as a random attack where Indians happened to be incidental victims, as some previous arson cases have been. This is a clear cut case of racism as the mob was actually asking the 3 to "go back to India".

Unless I am mistaken some of the first Westerners to live in Australia were English convicts. The country has come a long way from those days. But now it seems to be intent on reclaiming the 'heritage' of its ancestors! Imagine what would happen if we pelted Englishmen with stones asking them to go back for what they have done to our country. It would seem stupid, would it not? What has happened to the 'enlightened' Western mind? Is globalisation good only as far as they Westerners the benefits? Don't they understand that this is a world of give-and-take, and not simply take-and-take?

The reaction of the Indian government needs to be examined this time. It would be nice if India actually takes some strong action this time. Issuing demarches to the Australian High Commissioner is okay, but this time probably recalling the Indian High Commissioner from Australia would put a little more pressure on the Australians?

A Few Thoughts on Black Money and The Commonwealth Games

2009-09-14T01:24:00.006+05:30

The amount of money that Indians has allegedly stashed away in secret Swiss bank accounts was an important issue during the general elections. Advani had talked about this. Manmohan Singh has promised to bring back this money within hundred days if he was given a chance to form a government again.

For good or bad, the people of this country have brought back the UPA to power. Apart from occasional noises on this issue there does not seem to have been any concrete action on this issue. Does the Prime Minister accept the fact that he has been unable to deliver upon his promise? Was that simply a poll gimmick?

Now the Swiss banks have said that no data exists on Indian black money in Switzerland. In fact the country does not provide country level breakup of holdings in its banks. It has said that the article on which the entire debate was based was actually a fabrication and never was released officially. Is this the danger of trusting today's media blindly? So is there or is there not Indian black money stashed away in Switzerland? Will we ever know?

On a sidenote, probably based on media reports of unpreparedness the Chief of the Commonwealth Games Federation has written a letter asking for an audience with the PM. Mr Suresh Kalmadi is supposed to facilitate this meeting. I myself have seen a few sites for the games where no activity seems to be taking place. An added complication could be the occasional hiccups being faced by the Delhi Metro. This Mr Kalmadi has been in charge of our Olympics Association (and now the Commonwealth Games) for quite some time now. What has this guy been doing? I think it would be nice if we had a kind of performance appraisal for this chap!

Mr Manmohan Singh, get back all the black money immediately and spend it on the Commonwealth Games. We shall see how they will not start on time :P

By the way, the italicization of the word 'allegedly' in the first line is a take on the ToI's habit. This glorified tabloid which calls itself a newspaper has this habit of inserting this word in its articles. Very frankly I find this practice very irritating. This is a tribute to the paper and its editors.

Beware the Chinese Dragon

2009-09-11T03:12:00.005+05:30

I read an NDTV article where it is mentioned that China has plans to 'dominate' India. India was the country which negotiated the Panchsheel agreement with China only to be backstabbed by it shortly. We have a general policy of maintaining friendly relations with all countries. Some countries unfortunately do not seem to believe in the principle of peaceful coexistence.

China has been working with India at quite a few levels. Recently a Chinese company CNPC offered India's GAIL a stake in a gas pipeline that it is building from Myanmar. India and China have agreed to work together at international forums like the one on climate change so that their common interests are served. There has also been an interest expressed in settling the long-standing border dispute.

At the same there are worrying issues. China is arming and training militants in the nort-east, especially in Manipur and Nagaland, I think. China has been a supporter of Pakistan in various ways. The Chinese have been making incursions along the border with India. There is also China's interpretation of the Tawang area in Arunachal Pradesh as part of China.

Today India and China are emerging Asian economies and thus are also competitors for the world's natural resources. China has already made enormous strides in Africa in its efforts to secure raw materials. Probably because of the government structure and the pragmatism of its leaders China has stolen a significant march over India. It is time for us to awaken to this situation. China seems to be a country which will cooperate with India as long as it is to China's advantage and then fully intimidate/explot the country. This is a factor that has to be taken into account in any kind of negotiations/dealings where China is involved.

A Dysfunctional Government

2009-09-10T19:55:00.003+05:30

The government in Andhra Pradesh is literally at a standtill. Ministers, loyal to the erstwhile CM YSR and his son Jagan are refusing to work under the current CM Rosiah. Meetings called to discuss the flu situation and rising prices saw either muted or no participation from the ministers. The ministers' primary responsibility is towards the citizens of the state. Then come the loyalties to politicians. Sadly this is a forgotten issue. The Congress is notorious for its sycophancy. While this has been generally observed in favour of the Gandhi family this time it is being observed at the state level.

The Congress high command is a worried lot and has asked the chief supporter of the Jagan-for-CM campaign KVP Ramachandra Rao to stay put in Delhi. The fact of the matter is that quite a few of the ministers were chosen by YSR and hence their support for Jagan is a matter of survival as much as or more than their loyalty to YSR. However as usual the victim in this entire drama is the common man. Article 356 can be imposed if there is breakdown of Constitutional machinery in the state. I believe the current situation is a prime example for this, and for an internal emergency. But which party in power will use this power against its own government.

Also I think it is within the CM's power to recommend the removal of the non-functioning ministers to the Governor. But then again, who has the guts to do this? I don't think Rosiah can dare to do anything without the Congress high command's approval, for though he is a CM, he is but a member of a national party, where the major power is vested at the central level.

On a sidenote a recently released McKinsey report says that even if India maintains an expected 7.5% growth rate over the next two decades, it will still be among the most energy efficient economies of the world. On one side we have this kind of India just waiting to take its position among the great powers of the globe and on the other we have our politicians doing their every bit to further their self interests with no regard for the consequences of their practices.

Till when will this drama in Andhra continue? In a bigger sense till when will India be held hostage by politicians?

It is a Tragedy but...

2009-09-03T23:31:00.003+05:30

Andhra Pradesh is in mourning after having lost its Chief Minister in a helicopter crash. Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh will be attendees at the funeral. All of this is ok, but I was thinking of something.

YSR was a CM. P V Narasimha Rao was a Prime Minister. When he died a few years ago, I am sure there were no Congress heavyweights at his funeral. In fact he was not given a Delhi funeral and his body was brought to Hyderabad. Today there is probably one road in Hyderabad somewhere that is named after him. On the other hand everything else is named after either Rajiv Gandhi or Indira Gandhi - health missions, airport, housing schemes and what not.

So what are we to understand? Only a person who is close to the Gandhi family gets the affection and respect of the Congress? I am not trying to belittle YSR. PVNR was a scholar who knew 14 languages. He was the person who gave India its first stable government after Rajiv Gandhi died and was the person responsible for bringing Manmohan Singh onto the political arena. There was a huge controversy after photos of his incompletely cremated body were published in Eenadu the day after his funeral.

So my question stands, respect and affection for only those who are followers of Madam and her family?