Double Take

Between the Lines

2010-06-12T22:21:00.003+02:00

In her recent outburst, Ms Arundhati Roy says, "I am on this side of line. I do not care...pick me up put me in jail". This lady has become larger than law itself. Even after making a complete mockery of Indian Justice system by defending a duly convicted terrorist Afzal Guru (http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?265790), the Indian Judiciary, Executive, Legislature and Media still treats her as a demi-goddess, outside the purview of law. They are all afraid of her, even the highest Judiciary, as was clear in their muted and guarded response to this lady's clear contempt of court earlier.

This lady knows that she has become almost unreachable. I quote - "Now that Operation Green Hunt has begun to knock on the doors of people like myself, imagine what’s happening to activists and political workers who are not well known". Our rotten system is always afraid of "well known" people and this lady is taking a great advantage of that, laughing at our faces (us, not well known people) who have more pressing matters to attend like providing for our family against all the odds.

I am sorry lady but I don't stand on your side of line. I also do not have the luxury to stand on Indian Gov side of line. I am the one who gets bulldozed in the middle. I am the one who dies in train attacks by Maoists, who dies in blasts by terrorists, who needs to earn and pay so that the Government can protect me (and often screw me). They are screwing me all over the place and yet, I work everyday with reinforced zeal so that my children have a better tomorrow. That's an idea worth living for, probably the only one!

India Pak Peace Process - Favourite Intellectual Masturbation

2010-03-04T18:55:00.002+01:00

There seems to be no end to reading and hearing so many mushy-mushy or 'intellectually stimulating' articles/talks on India Pak relationships. I view them now as nothing but intellectual masturbation. Authors and speakers get a high and think of themselves as great thought leaders. Frankly, all of this is essentially so stupid and so hopelessly naive that one has stopped responding to them or taking them seriously. Nobody says anything that has not been said before. There is the usual odd visit report by a columnist saying how hospitable the Pakistanis are, the usual speaker feeling nostalgic about their pre-partition days when they used to play in Lahore, the usual candle lighters... In short, too much of all the usual things. Not since last year but since the cows came home.

Reality is until Pakistan can get its act together, there is no hope for India to get out of this quagmire. Two neighbours, with a stake in development, can talk and come to conclusions. But if one of them is a scoundrel who has given hope on his/her life, then the second neighbour cannot hope to reach a settlement. This only results in blackmail, with no end.

Stop the talks. Do everything to seal your borders. Work hard like crazy to improve lot of Indians. Become rich and resourceful. Dictate or influence world opinion. These are the things India should spend energy on. Not utterly futile talks , going on since 1947, resulting in so many over and covert wars!

What do you stand for?

2009-11-26T16:05:00.004+01:00

Do you stand up for a cause, any cause?

Terrorists do - they want to disintegrate the society. And they die for it.

Maoists do - they want to disintegrate democracy. And they fight for it.

Religious fanatics do - they want to eradicate pluralism. And they preach hatred over and over again and are not afraid to blow themselves up.

Regionalists do - they want to drive away all outsiders. And they break bones of outsiders and glasses of media houses with equal panache.

Communists do - they want to remain powerful by keeping people poor. And they struggle for it continuously until the goal is reached.

What do you stand for? And what do you do about it? Here is a generalism - you (and I) stand for comfort. You study and work to be prosperous. Nothing wrong in that actually. But in a fight between the active seekers and passive observers, who is more like to win regardless of the numbers!

The joy of teaching

2009-09-04T16:07:00.004+02:00

Have been going to a voluntary coaching class engaged in providing free tuitions to children who basically cannot afford the paid services. This voluntary organization is being run by an old gentleman. He has managed to get a room at the backside of the local temple. He tells me that there are a few more people coming and taking tuitions for students (mostly class 9, some class 10) in various subjects. I try to teach English. The funny (and nice) part is that the students do not understand Hindi and I do not understand Kannada. So our progress in English has been good.

Teaching generally is considered a dull job but it does challenge you to think creatively. Getting your thoughts and ideas across to a group in a language that everybody understands is hard enough, having to do it in a language uncommon between you and the group is laborious, requires patience but is funny most of the time. I just spend 2 hours every Sunday interacting with the kids but that is something I look forward to every week.

Sometimes I teach Mathematics as well. Once I started teaching them how to take square-roots. Half through demostrating the process to take square-root of 2, I realized I had forgot the process! I made some excuses to look at their text books and understood where I was going wrong. I then explained the process to the students. I hoped that the students did not realize that I actually did not remember the process to take square roots. But I have feeling they realized it.

Anyway, they did come the next week and have been coming. And I do try to be better prepared in what I venture to teach now.

A small insignificant start

2009-04-05T12:28:00.003+02:00

After proposing the FMI idea (Fifty Meters Initiative), I nearly lost interest in blogging. It was as if everytime I came up with enough thoughts to write about something, my alter ego would come in front of me asking me to follow at least my own idea, if not somebody else's. Post the FMI blog, my only contribution to the blogging world has been to highlight an article on Macaulay which I chanced upon during my various reading excursions.

Well, as life would have it, I relocated back to India by the end of November 08 (the month I wrote on FMI). After getting the initial relocation hiccups out of the way, I finally settled in a Bangalore locality, not very far from my office (my number one criteria while looking for a house). Within a few weeks, I established good contact with the security guards of my apartment. Some verbal investigation gave me a fairly good picture of their background, their families and the nature of their jobs.

Then I threw a bouncer at them - were they interested in studying anything? Did they know anyone in their circle who were interested in studying anything? This was an unusual question for them. They are fairly used to questions about water, garbage disposal, power backup etc from the tenants but not on such lines. So, they (there are 2 of them) got a little confused, unsure of my motives they were shying away from any answer. After explaining that I could take weekend classes for anybody who may be interested pro bono, they promised to get back to me after checking with their friends/relatives.

Next week (or probably week after that), one of the guards rang our bell with three strangers. I tried to visually study them. 2 of them seemed quite shy and 1 fairly outspoken. I probed on their backgrounds and it turned out that 2 of them were security guards (for a different apartment) and 1 worked in a hotel. After some discussion, they all showed interest in learning English. I thought I could do it. So, we had a deal. We figured out a place in our apartment where we could sit together and start our journey.

Today, it has been around 10 weeks of our little experiment. We have classes every Saturday and Sunday in the forenoon. Initially, when we started, I had to talk most of the time in Hindi to explain the things. As Hindi is not their mother tongue (theirs is Oriyya), it used to get funny some times. But now, we have made enough progress to speak only English during our classes. I consider this as a good achievement for them. It has been very hard for my pupils - I have a short temper and am still trying improve my patience. But I am learning with them with every class. By the way, these days only 2 of them are coming. The third one realized that progress in our class was quite slow (he is a graduate) to suit his needs. He wants to prepare for some public sector exams and has asked for some help at the right time, to which I readily agreed.

Attending the weekly classes regularly is a challenge for these guards as they continually have night shits and sometimes 24 hour shifts so that the other can get a day-off (talk to a security guard to understand what I mean). But still, these students have been remarkably consistent. I hope all this toil to learn English helps them in some way. We are still a far off from our goal of being able to read an English newspaper easily but we are making steady progress. Probably in a few more months, we should be in some shape. I am eagerly looking forward to see how this journey unfolds.

Thanks but no thanks, Mr. Macaulay

2008-11-17T21:20:00.003+01:00

Letter from Mr. Macaulay (person responsible for bringing English education to India) to his father (12 October 1836)

_______________________________________________________________________________
My dear Father,

....In a few months, I hope indeed in a few weeks, we shall send up the penal code to government. We have got rid of the punishment of death except in cases of aggravated treason and wilful murder. We shall also get rid indirectly of everything that can properly be called slavery in India. There will remain civil claims on particular people for particular services, which claims may be enforced by civil action. But no person will be entitled, on the plea of being the master of another, to do anything to that other which it would be an offence to do to a freeman.

Our English schools are flourishing wonderfully. We find it difficult, indeed at some places impossible, to provide instruction for all who want it. At the single town of Hoogley fourteen hundred boys are learning English. The effect of this education on the Hindoos is prodigious. No Hindoo who has received an English education ever continues to be sincerely attached to his religion. Some continue to profess it as a matter of policy. But many profess themselves pure Deists, and some embrace Christianity. The case with Mahometans is very different. The best-educated Mahometan often continues to be a Mahometan still. The reason is plain. The Hindoo religion is so extravagantly absurd that it is impossible to teach a boy astronomy, geography, natural history, without completely destroying the hold which that religion has on his mind. But the Mahometan religion belongs to a better family. It has very much in common with Christianity; and even where it is most absurd, it is reasonable when compared with Hindooism. It is my firm belief that, if our plans of education are followed up, there will not be a single idolater among the respectable classes in Bengal thirty years hence. And this will be effected without any efforts to proselytise, without the smallest interference with religious liberty, merely by the natural operation of knowledge and reglection. I heartily rejoice in this prospect....

_______________________________________________________________________________

In retrospect, English education did serve its purpose of connecting Indian thoughts to the western world and vice versa. However, it seems it did not serve the stated ulterior purpose of Lord(?) Macaulay. I guess, somebody is still turning in his grave

Source - http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00generallinks/macaulay/txt_letters_later.html

50 Meter Initiative

2008-11-13T17:22:00.002+01:00

Every single day we get on with our lives making compromises and adjustments. We put up with unclean neighbourhoods, loitering poor children, corrupt public officials, rash drivers, nuisance beggars etc; trying hard to make our physical and moral senses immune to such picture-imperfect scenes. Over time, we develop a sense of detachment to these peripheral existentialities, focusing even harder on our professional & personal goals. For some, the liberation or 'moksha' comes either from 'moving abroad' or from moving to a well-kept 'gaited community' with minimal possibility of interaction with the system. Majority of us just learn to put up with the system, accepting it as it is. We damn the politicians for all the ills plaguing our society, engage in intellectual discussions (as I am doing now) and become arm-chair experts in how to solve the various problems facing our nation. The no-action-only-thinking paves the way for a nation sinking.

A lot of us want things to change around us, yet are unable to do anything about it. Deep inside us, we have developed a huge fear of the monstrous & gigantic system, ruling India at every level. All of us routinely agree that we would need active group participation to take on the system. A group participation requires leadership, which we have outsourced to the current politicians who are a part of the problems. Unable to break this vicious circle, we resign to our fate and close our doors (and minds).

No, this is not a rant against anyone. Leading a life with honest means in itself is a huge service to our corruption-ridden society. Yet, can you (or I) as an average person not do anything more for the society? Is it possible to do something absolutely alone, without the necessity of joining or forming a group? I believe so and that's what the 50-meter-initiative (FMI) is all about.

The idea is quite simple. Identify the area within a radius of 50 meters of your current place of residence. Take responsibility for at least one of the following issues listed below for that area -

1) Education - Weekend tuitions to poor children
2) Education - Ensuring that all children go to school by convincing them or their parents
3) Education - Weekend tuitions to the illiterate workers
4) Cleanliness - Interfacing with the local municipality office to ensure regular waste collection to keep your area clean.
5) Cleanliness - Talking to neighbours to ensure that they dispose their household waste at the proper place. Discouraging people to throw waste on roads
6) Healthcare - Ensuring access to the public health centers or the government hospitals to the needy
7) Healthcare - Educating the poor and illiterate people about family planning
8) Healthcare - Ensuring proper vaccinations for the new-born
9) RTI activism - Getting and spreading information about various developmental works done (or not done) by your local municipality
10) any more such little things that you can think of ...

Depending on time & energy, some of us may be able to take up more responsibilities, some of us may cover an area greater than 50 m (or less depending on the density). Covered area or number of responsibility does not form the heart of 50-m-initiative (FMI). The crucial thing is that an individual, all alone, must be able to take up a societal responsibility without waiting for a group to emerge. Additionally, if one is fortunate enough to live in a neighbourhood where there are absolutely no problems (an utopian world), one can always identify an appropriate area somewhere else.

To be clear, I am of course not against groups (or teams). Groups can achieve many things that may be difficult for an individual to achieve. But far too many of us just wait and have been waiting for a group to emerge before taking any action. With FMI, the intention is to do away with the waiting period, so that one can start from today (or this weekend).

Lastly, I may be accused of professing without practising currently. However, as mentioned before, FMI is an individual choice. Your choice to make a difference to your neighbourhood depends only on you, not on anybody else.

What do you think!

Don't think, just do!!

Being a Hindu

2008-10-26T15:03:00.004+01:00

Being a Hindu means realizing that there is no one single path leading to God and thus accepting that each and every individual has a right to practice and propagate their beliefs in his/her own way. That there are 330 million Gods & Deities (and counting) just go to underline the unparalleled acceptance of diversity in the traditional Hindu culture. Arguably, in pre-independent India, the divine figures exceeded the number of Hindus!

Being a Hindu does not, in any way, restrict any one to fold one's hands and pray at Ajmer Shariff with the same reverence as one would pray at Vaishno Devi. Believing in Jesus, Mohammad, Buddha & Krishna at the same time is not a scandal in this religion but a sign of maturity.

Being a Hindu means understanding that Agnostics & Atheists form an integral part of mankind and benefiting from them by reflecting upon their views of the world and its mechanics.

Being a Hindu means having the freedom to reject all established rituals & customs, yet respect the people who follow the same. There is no such apparent advantage in Hindu religion for priests following all the rituals vis-a-vis the 'grihasthya' (family person) busy in his/her daily chores with no time for God. Unlike some school teachers who give more marks to students excelling in buttering (chaplusi, makhanbazi), God is supposed to see right through such tantrums.

Being a Hindu means believing in the primacy of 'Karma', taking control of your destiny by action. Hinduism does not promise salvation by just believing and practising the religion. Salvation comes only through your actions. Apparently, nobody, not even Brahma (the creator God) has the power to change & rewrite your destiny. Its only you.

Being a Hindu does not necessitate having any intermediary between yourself and your God. As you can have your own God and you can be the first person believing in that God, you have to create your own path. Yet at the same time, you cannot judge other intermediaries nor the people following them. Commanding respect for one's own opinion starts with giving respect to others'.

Being a Hindu means appreciating that 'God exists in each one of us' and none of us can be designated as higher or lower by virtue of our births. It is for this reason that the caste system in its present form is totally antithetical to this religion and must be uprooted by all force by all people Hindu. The so-called Hindu organizations and Hindu mouthpieces would do a huge service to the religion and its followers if they were to work towards the obliteration of caste system.

Being a Hindu means having the freedom to question everything, from a written book to a priest's dictate. But it also implies responsibility to follow one's 'Dharma' as deemed right by oneself.

Hinduism is excruciatingly federal. There is no central authority, no designated custodian. It lives among the individuals and the families. It is this inherent federalism that enabled this ancient religion to stand the test of time through the thick and thin.

This religion has been put to test today by its lunatic fringe. This fringe kills people and rapes women. It does all this in the name of Hindus. Would the Hindus let this group have its say and make a mockery of whatever they believe in? I sincerely hope not.

A number of enlightened Hindus project themselves as secularists. This usually means turning a blind eye to the grievances of Hindus. This provides a ready made playing ground for the lunatic fringe. It is time the enlightened Hindus took the centre stage and asserted their Hindu identity, if only to save their own religion from the clutches of the lunatic fringe. It is time for Hinduism to produce the next Vivekananda.

Have a great and prosperous Dipawali!

In defence of Singur - The Black, The White and The Grey

2008-10-13T18:36:00.005+02:00

I am an ardent supporter of Capitalism even in these discrediting times. In fact, the litmus test of any faith is only when the going gets tough. And so I believe in capitalistic principles not only when it serves my purpose but also when it does not serve them.

Right to property is embedded to the concept of Capitalism. It forms the very basis of Capitalism. It is its most sacred cow, inalienable, inseparable, atomic. So why is it that the capitalist loving Indian middle class has nothing but derision for the 2000 odd farmers who said no to selling their lands for a project of 'national importance'. Shouldn't the farmers be the sole decision makers of whether they want to sell their land or not? Why is it that the ones who have the least sacrifice the most in the name of nation building?

Enough rhetoric! Lets confront the realities. Why do you think some farmers resisted selling their lands? We would like to believe that all of them were taken in by the rhetoric and vitriolic of Mamta Banerjee. Convenient to argue but untrue. What do you think happens in a farmer's families whose entire land has just been taken (bought) in lieu of a justified(?) price. The farmer, who for decades knew nothing but farming, is left with what seems like a lot of money. With no idea of what to do with that money, no skills to make use of that money to generate sustainable income, the farmer naively assumes that the money is going to last forever. For a few farmers, so much money in hand, suddenly make their occasional vices (like drinking, smoking etc) turn into regular habits with disastrous consequences. For others with more sense, even putting the money in bank does not generate enough interest for their families to feed themselves. Yes, a lucky few get jobs but we are out of our minds if we think that all displaced farmers (numbering more than 10000) are going to get jobs in the newly coming factory. And we are not even thinking about all the landless labourers who were, for ages, dependent on these farmers for their livelihood!

We all know how any industry creates lateral employment opportunities for the skilled & the unskilled. Every software engineer in Bangalore creating 6 support jobs has become sort of an urban legend now. So I have no doubt in my mind that the Nano plant in Singur would have uplifted the whole region from the clutches of abject poverty. Be that as it may, such futuristic stories do not hold water in the eyes of many West Bengal (and Maharashtra, Bihar...) farmers (and labourers) because their only concern is tomorrow (or the next harvest season). On the other hand, the same class in Gujrat (and Haryana) cheerfully offers their land to industries. Why is this so?

To answer the above why, lets take 'The White' CPI(M) in the Singur issue. Miffed by the loss of the project, CPM is all set to earn brownie points with the middle class of West Bengal by blaming 'The Black' Mamta and claiming moral high ground. However, had it not been for the momentous failure of State in the fields of education & social upliftment, these cursed farmers would have been just as willing to welcome industries as their counterparts elsewhere. For centuries, land has been the only security of livelihood for majority of farmers in India. The richer and better governed states have provided good education and opportunities to enable its citizens to look for alternative means of livelihood. But in BIMARU and a few other equally backward states, farmers and labourers live the same (or similar) life they used to live 60 years back. Land, then, is a highly emotive issue for them, valued differently than how it would get valued on a corporate balance sheet. Consequently, if a seller does not want to sell his land no matter how high the offered price is, nobody has any business forcing him to do so. If the buyer is still interested in the piece of land, the only way is offer something which is of equal or more value in the eyes of the seller. Thats what market driven economy is all about. Any deviation from this principle in the name of national interest, patriotism, development etc is opportunistic and dangerous. Today it is some farmers' land for an industry, tomorrow it could be your ancestral home for a road!

Now, it can very well be argued that farmers of Singur had already sold their land to the government. So they had no right after the sale. Right & wrong. The way the land was acquired in Singur (and Nandigram) is a classic example of how such things are handled in China. It seems, in their enthusiasm to copy their Chinese masters, the over zealous CPM motivated their cadres to acquire land by any and all means possible. Unfortunately for them, India still is a democracy and that includes West Bengal (much to their surprise as they have ruled for 3 decades there). The result was Singur as we see it today.

Ultimately, what happened in Singur. CPM just got a slap and a reminder that West Bengal is not their personal fiefdom. Mamta again showed that she is great in street fighting but poor in diplomacy. She turned a lost cause into a celebrated issue but failed to negotiate properly. Ultimately, she emerged as the pathetic winner of a battle whom everyone hates. But the biggest losers have been the farmers in Singur. Both, who gave and who did not give their lands.

None of this would have happened had land acquisition been left as a matter to be settled between the company (Tatas) and the sellers (farmers). Brilliant minds in the board room would have factored in the real price of the land acquisition and I am sure, they would have come up with innovative pricing techniques to value the land giving a more compelling offer (not necessarily higher price) to the farmers. There are enough ways to do that. A fair deal is one in which both the buyers and the sellers are happy. Capitalism is not to be espoused only while making money (by selling products & services). It is also to be remembered during land acquisitions. And as I said before, the ones who have the least must not be made the sacrificial goats for nation building.

Proud employee of a bankrupt firm

2008-09-23T18:49:00.004+02:00

I know these are terrible times for the US financial sector and other related sectors (like BFSI vertical dependent IT services firms). Yet I cannot wipe off the smirk on my face. How mean of me, isnt it. well, well, consider this.

After working for 3 years in the largest US automotive supplier company, I landed up in a B-school. The problem was my firm had just filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. Now you cannot start to imagine my predicament if you have not been to a B-school HR class. Every now and then, my batch-mates, suitably encouraged by the prof, were giving examples of one or the other HR practices of their previous companies. From the venerable Indian IT bellwether to the redoubtable Indian trusted conglomerate, it seemed to me that I was a nobody in this illustrious group. After all, what example could I quote about a company which had just now gone bankrupt! Attempting to explain the difference between a chapter 11 bankruptcy and chapter 7 bankruptcy made me look like a moron who was just trying to save face.

And now, after passively hiding my previous company's identity for almost 2 years, I get this news that one of the most respected names in Wall Street has gone bankrupt. yahooooooooo! What a relief. It is almost as if I have been given a badge of honour stating that I worked for a company which is in the league of Lehman brothers. Given the brand equity that Lehman enjoys(or enjoyed) in B-schools, I am sure every person including the prof, would shut up and listen now when I sing paeans praising the hr practices in my previous company. Long live bankruptcy.

Chrome - for a better browsing experience

2008-09-06T13:10:00.003+02:00

Much as I am surprised (confused!) with the name of this new browser from Google, I have to tell that so far, it has enabled me to have great browsing experience. The key difference is the browsing and page-loading speeds. It is perceptibly fast, compared to other alternatives, explorer and firefox (I have been using both). I watch a lot of videos and movies online and with Chrome, the download goes definitely fast (I have tested it). Similarly, there has been a remarkable reduction in my waiting time for a web page to open. Other time-saving and useful option is its integrated search feature with the address bar. The recently visited pages appear when you open the browser which again means less typing.

So much for the simple stuff. On a more techie note, I recommend everyone to go through the Chrome presentation (know more about Chrome) on its website. Its nicely done with use of sketches of real google developers. How every Chrome tab is not just a task but a process with its own memory convinced me of its better anti-crash features. No wonder, I have never experience a single crash so far.

Chrome does fail to load some web-pages, especially where pop-ups are intrinsic to their page contents. But they are minor nuisances compared with the overall great browsing experience it provides. It is elegant and simple, with a lot of technology in the background. Try Chrome and you will understand what I mean.

P.S. - In case you were wondering, I am neither anti-Microsoft nor anti-Google or anti-anything. I am just a simple user in the middle, trying to use the best products.

Kashmir - Independence not an option

2008-08-27T20:19:00.003+02:00

During the present crisis in Kashmir, surprisingly many public intellectuals have expressed forcefully their views on why Kashmir should be granted independence (or a plebiscite should be conducted, which in the current scenario, amounts to the same thing). From Swaminathan Aiyar to Arundhati Roy, from the logical to the hysterical, a lot of people seem to have given up on Kashmir. They try to present their analysis from different perspectives, some from the economic point of view (Vir Sanghvi), some from human rights (Aiyar) and some from no point of view (Arundhati Roy). Wow! As these redoubtable columnists must have reached these conclusions after due thought process, let me present what are the most likely outcomes if their wishes were to be granted (i.e. Independence to Kashmir or to any of its parts).

First major fallout would be that the sleeping separatist elements in India, the ULFA, the Maoists, the Bodos etc would all gain immense strength from such a division. Today Kashmir, tomorrow we may as well bid adieu to the India as we know of today.

Second, giving away Kashmir would, in no uncertain terms, increase the proximity of Pakistani threat to the rest of India. To understand this, one must appreciate that what is known as Kashmir valley is surrounded by rough terrain of mountains, valleys and jungles. This also makes the movement from the PoK to Kashmir dangerous for the miscreants. Giving Kashmir away or making it independent would be akin to Indian government building roads between the two Kashmirs, expressly for the terrorists. India would have a much more terrible time dealing with terrorism that it has now.

Third, there is a complete lack of any give n take option, when it comes to Kashmir. Suppose Pakistan had a piece of land in which India had some interest. Then, it might have made sense to barter one piece of land with another (quite common internationally for settling border disputes). But unfortunately or fortunately, there is no such situation here. So what exactly would be India's gains after giving in to the separatists demands. Nothing.

With all due respect to the intellectuals, they have got it completely wrong this time. Mood of people change and so will the mood in Kashmir. Separating Kashmir from India, because of any reason whatsoever, would be an extremely foolish step right now (I dont know how the situation unfolds in future).

Aiyar justifies giving independence to Kashmir on grounds of liberalism. This is an extremely narrow view. If being a liberal means giving people whatever they want, then anarchy would prevail in no time. Being a liberal only means respecting different opinions, debating about them but always, within the boundaries of law and the agreed constitution. Hoisting flags of Pakistan, degrading Indian constitution goes beyond the purview of liberalism. Yet, one can do all these things in India and get away. India has always been pluralistic. Lets stay that way.

Hai Kashmir!!!

2008-08-12T20:39:00.003+02:00

This is the cry of a desperate heart. Like the proverbial phoenix, the problems in Kashmir keep rising every time one seems to think that everything is getting better. The state government had almost completed its term this time and another fair election would have gone a long way in solidifying the democratic spirit. Alas! That was not to be. Who is to blame? Opportunisitc PDP and its leader, the state government, the governor or the sleeping and utterly incapable our home minister. May be all of them and may be all of us. Dont know. The damn problem of Kashmir has become too big and complex to be understood by professional security experts, leave aside amateurs like me. Like a cronic cancer in India's face (geographically), Kashmir makes a mockery of our democratic principles and institutions.

It was ok for India to have a problem like Kashmir when India was a nobody in the comity of nations. Today, we almost single-handedly turn the tables on the developed nations at forums like WTO. Today, we can negotiate an exception of monumental consequences (Nuclear deal). But still today, we can not or are unable to do anything about the problem named Kashmir. What a pity!

I wonder if Kashmir would still be a problem for us when my generation reaches the half century. For our generation, Kashmir was heaven in books and has always been hell in reality. A bomb blast in Kashmir (and Jammu) killing 10 people generates markedly less awe than a similar event in any other part of India. It is almost as if we expect nothing better from Kashmir. Heaven turned into inferno. What a shame!

Long before, I read Tavleen Singh (India Today) in an article where she argued that its only a pro-hindu party like BJP which can negotiate and solve the vexed issue. To her credit, Vajpayeeji did cover a lot of ground in solving this problem. However, the current BJP and its leadership behave like they are the agents of ISI - doing everything to polarize Indians along communal lines. It has been a really long time since its leader displayed original thought process. The current problem in Kashmir presented (and presents) a golden opportunity to display some leadership skills. He wants to be known as the new Sardaar (Patel). Then why not display some of Patel's thinking - judicious use of cajoling and coaxing to further national integration.

It is foolish to expect anything from our current home minister. Our Prime Minister has many qualities but handling a politically vexed problem like Kashmir is not one of them. Likewise for our finance minister who is anyway busy fighting bad economics right now. The one person who has the right political skills to set things right is Pranab Mukherji. He must lead the all party delegation to come to a temporary solution for now.

Permanent solution is and is likely to remain a dream for a long while in Kashmir.

Life with the rainbow of Songs

2008-07-02T20:51:00.004+02:00

I don't remember when I got hooked to this habit of listening to songs. But whenever it was, I am grateful for it. They always have such a soothing effect, it is almost miraculous. I have a bad day, I come home and put on the songs. Voila! I slowly start forgetting the real and get into the ethereal. It is as if when Rafi says 'Dil ka bhanwar kare pukar.. pyar ka raag suno', the mind actually starts listening to the internal 'pyar ka raag'. No matter how terrible the day has been, just listening to Ghulam Ali singing 'Kabhi aah lab par machal gaye...' or Asha crooning 'Dard jab teri ata hai...' make me forget everything and hang onto every single word of these songs. I wonder (always) how the writers of yore could come up with such beautiful compositions. What did they go through in life to write 'Jane kahan gaye woh din...'? Was it sheer artistry or expression of a rebellion when the write wrote 'Pyaar kiya to darna kya...'? You cannot feel dejected enough to listen to 'Yeh duniya, yeh mehfil' and still feel dejected afterwards.

I can see my life till present through the prism of songs. My earliest memories are of waiting for Wednesdays and Fridays for the Chitrahaar at Doordarshan. Oh, that half hour period used to be complete bliss, even though most of the songs broadcast were below average. Then, the Sunday Rangoli, which was the most important ingredient of Sunday breakfast. Of course, all this depended on the electricity god. Tuning to the radio for Aapki Farmaish was almost a regular event whenever I was in my village. Then, came the Sainik school period and 7 years of boarding education. Ragging was a way of life there, going on for 4 years (yes you read it right). Every year it just used to get worse, with more and more physical thrashing. The only solace was of course the Philips top 10. I still remember getting slapped left, right and centre with 'Aisi Deewangi, dekhi nahin kahin' playing in the background. 'Jadoo teri nazar...' and 'Ek ladki ko dekha to aisa laga...' were our mantras to escape the tough life emotionally. Vacations used to be the best time with songs like 'Pyar mein dil ka murga bole kukdukoon' playing full volume in my house, disturbing everybody all around. But who cared.

Then came engineering. The dreaded ragging was over for me before I could even completely enjoy 'Taal se taal mila'. Engineering ragging only lasted around 5 months and for a thoroughly 'ragged' person like me, it was more like honeymoon. Anyway, 'Taal se taal mila' gave way to 'usne bola kem chhe, kem chhe;maine bola aim chhe, aim chhe...' and life became completely rudderless. Engineering is the most chilled out period of an engineers' life, how much ever they fake it. I knew(did I?) that what I was studying was worthless from the point of view of getting a job which seemed to be the only goal of 4 years. So 'Dil Chahta hai...' was the daily prayer and Matrix the only reality. Then, after a short break (for job), came the B-School. And I have absolutely no idea what went on in those 2 years. I only remember clearly getting the admission offer (through email!) and then after that, everything went fast forward. Of course, the Wednesday breaks at KC, with heart singing 'ek taraf uska ghar, ek taraf mayqada...' were the periodical recharging stations. The second year was a lot better, with coming of age of 401 gang and feeling 'Dhoom machale...'.

I have noticed that good songs take their own sweet time to grow on you. First time I heard 'jiya beqaraar hai, aayi bahaar hai...', I was like what the hell! Same with 'man tadpat hari darshan ko aaj...' or 'mujhe tumse kuch bhi na chahiye...'. Now, I rate these songs as one of the best ever composed and sung. It is also the same case with most of the Rehmaan songs, be it 'tanha, tanha...' or 'kabhi neem neem kabhi shahad shahad', the songs always feel better the more I hear them. It is as if there are new emotions getting uncovered with every repeat recital.

Then there is the question of the favorite singer, favorite song etc. I have long given up on such things as it is too difficult for me to judge. Who is better - Lata singing 'aaj phir jeene ki tamanna hai' or rafi singing 'mera to jo bhi kadam hai...'. Mukesh with 'hothon pe sachhai rehti hai' is as outstanding as Mahendra Kapoor crooning 'tum agar saath dene ka waada karo'. Kishore da is obviously rated a master by many but is Manna Dey any less heart touching with 'Laga chunari mein daag'. On what parameters can you give any lesser point to Ghulam Ali when he cuts through your heart with 'Jinke hothon pe hasin...'. For me, the songs, their singers, writers and composers are all part of a great family, engaged in exploring the finer emotions of our heart and quite often, challenging our beliefs. Ending this with a line by Mukesh:
'Zaahid sharaab peene de masjid mein baith kar';
'ya woh jagah bata de, jahan par khuda na ho'

Is There Any Purpose?

2008-06-22T12:04:00.004+02:00

It’s very difficult to start. Anything. This comes from Newton’s first law. You want to be in the same state. Change, though inevitable, is not something that comes naturally. So you would assume that it is no different with, lets assume, writing an article. But you see, my problem is a little different. I do want to leave my inertia and want to write an article on a topic. The issue is that it is the topic itself which stares in my face and asks: “Why am I writing this article?” Interesting, you would say. There could be several answers – fame, money, self-education and so on. But this article concerns itself with raising a question and in my opinion, a very fundamentals one. The accepted trend in today’s literature is that if you raise some questions, you also try to answer them. I make no such claim for the simple reason that I feel myself totally incapable of even starting to think of an answer. Moreover, I want you to think without any biases. Coming back to the original question: “what is it that stops me from writing this article?” The answer is that I do not have or do not see any purpose in writing this article just as I do not see any purpose in anything that is going on in this world!

Cynical. Yes and it is much more that you can call me. Stop reading now. You don’t need to spend your time reading this kind of a trash, do you? But may I suggest something. Go and look yourself in a mirror and ask “What is it that you are doing in this world?” “Why are we doing what we are doing?” Most of us, after some deliberations, will think of one reason or the other why we are leading your lives the way you are doing now. Some of us would say to ourselves something like this:
1) I am leading my life because I have a family to support. I am taking care of my family.
2) I want to achieve something in my life and be well-known.
3) I want to contribute to the growth of mankind in my own humble way.
It seems that on an individual level, each one among us does seem to have some purpose. It is definitely a little easier to define purpose of existence at the individual level. But ask yourself one more time: “Does this whole scheme of things in your life make sense to you?” We go through so much pain and happiness. What is the point in all that? What do we get out of all that? Some would say, we learn new lessons about our lives. What lessons…and why? Normally speaking, we learn something so that we can apply the learnings later. Yes, during the course of our lives, we get some experience and we make use of them in the later course of life.

But what happens when we die? As an individual, we cease to exist. In my opinion, it is not as difficult as it has been made to be. Look around. Locate an object, say today's newspaper. It has a life. What happens to it once its life is over? It is thrown out, given away as scrap. Or the paper is put to some other use. Eventually, it gets burnt or gets decomposed, going back to the nature from where it originated. Is there any reason why nature should mete any different treatment to us? What happens to a piece of wood or an ant is exactly what will happen to us after we cease to exist. This is critical to understand because only when we get this straight can we start to think about the purpose of our lives or probably the pitiable lack of it. So, lets just pursue our happiness and make our miserable lives a little better while we are here. We all are just passing time. So we may as well pass it on our own terms.

Afterthought:
What is it that Buddha or Christ or Mohammad or Vivekananda came to know during their deliberations and meditations? Did they come to know anything at all?

Humble Rice and the Mighty Oil

2008-05-25T22:35:00.002+02:00

Lets start with the humble Rice. Being the staple food of a large part of India, it was indeed a matter of great concern for the government when Rice prices went up in the world markets. So, to stop domestic prices to go up, Indian government curbed exports of all Rice varieties, except of the high priced Basmati, which has a negligible market in India. Seems to be a perfect step, a logical one. There is only a small problem - India also is home to the largest farming community in the world, with the maximum number of farmers engaged in subsistence level farming. Majority of these farmers are rice producers, thus a rising rice prices in the world markets is nothing but a great boon for them. They have a god-given (or man-created) opportunity to sell their produce at higher prices, realise higher profits and get due returns on their investment (physical and financial). Unfortunately, before they could raise their glasses and say toast to higher prices, the all mighty pro-poor (and allegedly pro-farmer) government steps in ban exports. After all, how can the stupid illiterate farmers become the beneficiaries of the market forces? No, no, market forces are only for the high and mighty, the educated middle class, the companies (public and private), the planning commission economists but not for the wretched farmers. They must be kept dependent on the alms of the central government via policies like loan waivers, once in 20 years. This is the surest way our government can think of to get farmers' votes! To top it all, our PM will sent postcards to lakhs of farmers, reminding them of his kindness (to waive off their loan). He should also write in the postcard, how he and his government denied the rightful market governed prices to the farmers for their produce. Its a pity how even the lobbies, which consider themselves pro-farmer, dont raise any hue & cry over this blatantly unfair act of the so called pro-farmer government. If the government was afraid that rising rice prices would affect the poor (landless labourers), it always had the option to buy the rice and supply them to the poor through its public distribution system at the subsidised rates (which it anyway does now). Who were the real gainers of this act? It is the middle class, you and me, who have been spared the burden of rising rice prices at the cost of the farmers. The media speaks for the middle class today and the middle class trounces on the rights of the poors (including farmers) with contempt. We have a new caste system, with only 2 castes - the educated with a voice (access to media & information) and the voiceless. And people in the first category happily screw the people in the second, without knowing and without remorse.

The case of oil is also similar to the case of rice. The highly subsidised oil is, for the most part, benefitting the middle class India - people with 2 and 4 wheelers, office goers and the companies. The average consumption of fuel in rural India sucks when compared to the urban India. Rural India needs kerosene for the most part (for lighting and cooking) and a little bit of diesel (for water pumps running during agricultural seasons). The urban India needs Petrol & cooking gas every single day. Diesel is used mostly for goods transportation. So, it is clear whose interest the government is serving by stopping the petrol and cooking gas prices from rising. The irony is that it is being done in the name of the poor. Which poor? Is there any good pro-poor reason why the subsidies from Petrol & cooking gas should not be taken away? In fact, a large part of subsidies on diesel should also be done away with (the part which goes for private transportation).

I may seem anti-middle class - I am not. Like the 30% Indians, my family also belong to this group. All I want to point out is that the money going to subsidise the fuel and the rice, can very well be used to build new roads and better infrastructure. A small fraction of our oil subsidy can support many new educational institutions. Access to world commodity markets can make farming profitable and less risky, thus avoiding the need for half baked measures like loan waivers (which are dangerous for the rural banking system and thus for the farmers themselves in the end). What I fail to understand is that these measures are coming from someone as learned as our PM. Surely, he can not say "our farmers deserve our support" and then, bar them from getting better prices for their produce. That would be hypocracy - Mr. PM, you are too good and respectful to go to such lows.

Children of a lesser Country

2008-05-12T13:49:00.002+02:00

I am a voracious reader, of whatever is available on internet, which for the most part is trash. But it serves a very good purpose - it stops my mind from endlessly thinking about stupid questions like the purpose of life, about the universe's boundary and beyound etc etc. The sheer availability of so many articles on the net, on incredibly diverse topics sometimes make me think that writing, creative or factual, must be easy. Not surprisingly, I have been proven wrong yet again with no motivation or energy to write a post for the last 2 months or so.

One of the reason why this post is coming almost 2 months after my last post is the fact that I was born in a country which is still considered by most of the developed world as a third world. It is very simple to explain the seemingly innocuous connection. It starts with my marriage. Married to a beautiful girl of my choice, I was eagerly looking forward to those post-marital skirmishes which take one's relationship to the next higher level. I was all prepared, having read all the sane and insane advices online on how to tackle post-marriage blues and convert them into green. There was only one slight glitch - I am in Germany and my wife needed a visa to join me. No problem, we went to the visa office, with all necessary and unnecessary papers and were happily greeted by a helpful staff who informed us that it would take around 2 to 3 months for my wife to get the visa.

Hmmm! 3 months! OK, no problem. It just gives me 3 more months to prepare for the post-marital pillow fights. May be I missed on some rules and tricks. A revision always helps. So why not take this time in my stride and be 100% prepared. Looking at the positive side of things, we consoled ourselves and went back to our browsers to read even more about how to make our married lives successful. The problem was that all the tips and tricks started with the advice - "Spend more time together". And here we were separated by more than 8000 KMs, waiting for the 3 months to pass by.

That was Decemeber 07. And this is May 08. 5 months have passed. In between, there have been countless calls and runs to the consulates (both in India and Germany) from our side, with one standard answer - Your visa is under process and we will inform you once it is done. Can you please give any possible timeframe by which it would be processed? - No, sorry we cannot. You will be informed once it is processed. Hopeless and helpless, I went to the foreigner's office in Germany again with one of my colleagues who speaks fluent German (Yeah, people in the foreigner's office speak only German). I was cheekily informed that 5 months is not a large time and that I must be more patient. Sometimes, it takes 1 year to get visa for your spouse.

Dejected, I contacted my other Indian friends, living in Germany who had got married recently. I found 4 such cases. Of them, one waited for as long as 5 months before his wife could get visa. One was lucky to get after 3 months. 2 more were waiting like me, with one enduring more than 6 months of wait by now and still waiting. With nothing much to do but wait, I put my energy into the legalities and procedures of Germany to get your spouse here. It turns out that the basic problem why I must wait for so long is not because I have a criminal history (which I dont) but because long back in time, I was born in country whose legal documents are not even considered worth the paper they are written on by Germany and most mainland European nations. Thus, it turns out that even though I submitted a marriage certificate duly signed by the marriage registrar (an IAS or higher rank officer), such proof of marriage is considered of no use here because apparently India is still the land of dirty snake charmers and mystic sadhus with no idea of the suave and subtle Western democratic and ethical values. Being the illiterate cavemen (& women) that we still are, how can any certificate produced by us be taken at its face value. No, every document must be verified by independent agencies (which ironically are again Indian only) at our expense.

Hence, we were asked to submit a hefty amount of money, which was to go for hiring an Indian agency to do our marriage verification. Apparently, the word of this private agency carries more weight in the eyes of the German consulate than the word of a marriage registrar and the related Indian Judicial & Executive establishment supporting him/her. Having done that, we are waiting for the esteemed agency to submit its report and we do hope that they recognise our marriage held in front of hundreds of people, duly registered in an Indian court of law.

Its not that people of all nationalities have to go through this rigmarole. No, only the people of the so-called third world countries. Apparently all this hype and hoopla about India being the IT backoffice of the world, about being in the world's next superpower league is yet to reach the foreigner's offices in the mainlan European countries. They still think we are poor refugees, knocking at their doors to leave our wretched lives in India for the promise of a better life. In such conditions, I have no doubt about the veracity of articles talking about reverse brain-drain to India. And I mutter to myself - 'all in good time my dear'.

This article is written specifically for the knowledge of married Indians contemplating to come to Germany or any mainland European country for a brief career stint. Be warned that getting a work permit may not be a problem but getting a dependent visa for your spouse may become a huge problem. Most of the counsellates would tell you that it would take around 3 months for your wife to get visa and join you. Truth, in most cases, is otherwise. 5 months and still waiting is my experience and of a lot of other people. In any case, think hard if its worth to be separate from your spouse for 3 to 5 months. Best is if you are already married, get your work permit and your spouse visa processed simultaneously and NEVER COME TILL BOTH OF YOU HAVE VISA. For others who are already here and are planning to get married in India, explain this waiting-clause situation very clearly to your wife and in-laws. Oh, and one more thing, bringing your wife on a short term visa (for 3 months) is not possible if you have already applied for a long term dependent visa in Germany. So if you are going to stay here for a while, long term dependent visa is the only option with a waiting period of 5 months. And it sucks!!!

Death of a City

2008-03-01T22:37:00.003+01:00

My association with Mumbai has been only for 2 years. Yet, during those 2 years, I felt more at home away from home, than any other place in India. A few years back, I was in New York for just 2 days and surprisingly, I had the same feeling there of being at home. I was completely at ease, on its roads, in Central Park and on the subway.
Now, Mumbai is definitely not New York in so many respects, yet till very recently, its character had more in Common with New York than with New Delhi. Mumbai & New York, both are cities which speak the language of money. This, above all, has resulted in making them the financial nerve centres of their respective countries, despite being given a step-brotherly treatments with respect to their peers like New Delhi & Washington DC, both of which speak the language of politics. It is this preference of money over politics that has attracted so many migrants into these two cities, to earn a livelihood with respect, and in turn, add to the economy of these two cities. Unfortunately, it seems the dream city in India has started having nightmares now.

The whole controversy of migrants in Mumbai can be summed up as follows - A parochial politician, disowned by the parent party, raises regional issues to endear himself to a section of society, directly competing for the vote base of its parent party Shiv Sena. His goons go on threatening, maiming and killing migrants (and a local) in Mumbai, Thane & Nashik. Thousands of workers from these cities have no option but to forfeit their rights of livelihood and and are forced to return home. And nothing happen to the all mighty Raj Thakrey, despite there being a possibility of slapping several criminal cases against him for national disintegration. Not to forget, people like him are routinely termed as nationalists. What a shame!

The state government, run by a so-called national party, plays spectator, interested in seeing how the game plays out. Our learned PM considers it below his dignity to come to these hapless workers. The all-motherly, pro-poor Sonia Gandhi doesnt consider the issue important enough to show solidarity to the poor workers. No speeches, no tough actions, nothing. It seems that the gag order was not passed against Raj Thakrey but against Dr. Manmohan Singh and Mrs. Sonia Gandhi.

Our main opposition party and its national leaders are too busy endearing themselves to the Indian middle class and their shining India. That the shining India is made possible by these voiceless workers is fact, they seem comfortably oblivious to. Mr Advani does issue a statement condemning these attacks, but afterwards there is absolutely no activity from BJP to instill confidence among the workers. In fact, their poll partner Shiv Sena feels so threatened by the hijacking of their agenda by MNS that they start taking the chauvinism to another level by targeting Mumbai airport (and blackening the "Mumbai airport welcomes you" sign!).

The truth is in a democracy like India, there is absolutely no voice for the workers engaged in the unorganized sector. And in case you didnt know, such workers form more than 90% of the total working labour class. Less than 10% come under the organized sector and thus protected by the several unions. This might explain why the messiah of the poor like Sitaram Yechury, Somnath Chatterjee, Gurudas Dasgupta etc had absolutely nothing to say on the lot of migrant workers. Hats off to our pro-worker communist parties.

A small lunatic, but vicious fringe terrorises lives of people in the most accomodating city of India but nothing happens except a gag order. Thats real justice! And our President & Chief Justice argue over the cause of increasing public restlessness and public tendency to take the law into their own hands. I thought only justice was supposed to be blind. It seems our judges and Presidents blind too.

Tasleema Nasreen wrote articles expressing her misery & helplessness in getting an Indian visa. A lot of public intellectuals supported her. I have all the respect for her and am happy that she was granted the necessary visa. But she should know that in India, even Indians dont have right to live in their own country at their place of choice any longer. What to talk of a foreigner! India unfortunately does not seem like a country which was once a haven for the persecuted like the Jews and the Parsis.

In the end, my question to all those who support MNS & Shiv Sena is, where does it all stop? First, you classify us as Hindus & Muslims, them Maharashtrians and others. Pretty soon, you will have to go to the Panchayat level within Maharashtra and then at family level. And then, there will be nothing left to divide. This is the nemesis of the kind of hate politics the nationalist parties like BJP, Shiv Sena, MNS tend to follow. I am always surprised at the fact why even the educated people among us fail to see this simple truth. The fact that these parties follow such principles is sad enough, the fact that parties like Congress do not do any thing about the impending death of a city like Mumbai, and thus leave the parties like SP & RJD to further their regional agenda, is even sadder. Does Congress even remember that its greatest leader, the Mahatma, put up a fight in South Africa, against a similar experience of discrimination & injustice, to which the migrant labourers are subjected to today?

Democracy : Tyranny of Majority or Individual Liberty

2008-01-10T21:25:00.000+01:00

Democracy, as famously said, is a rule of the people, by the people, for the people. Though a very lucid definition, if interpreted narrowly, this can be used to justify the most heinous of crimes and can play havoc with our social fabric. Lets take some examples to understand this.
Case 1: Nazi Germany - A leader with a huge popular support puts Germany on fast track of development. However, a democracy where majority is everything, the minority (the Jews) suffers the most despicable and horrible extermination recorded in human history. Is this acceptable in democracy?

Case 2: Current Switzerland - A nation famous for its Direct Democracy model. However not many people around the world know the plight suffered by the silent minority of Switzerland - the Muslims. They are not allowed to make mosques, have no religious freedom and must lead a silent life without asserting their identity. Is this acceptable in democracy?

Case 3: Malaysia - The case of HINDRAF, the organisation of minority Hindus in Malaysia, is now well documented in newspapers. These people face a lifelong legal discrimination in their own country just because they are a minority in Muslim majority Malasia. Is this acceptable in democracy?

Case 4: New Delhi - The lieutinant general of Delhi asks for identity card to be carried by every one in Delhi. The due date for compliance was just 3 weeks after the announcement. Again, the majority regular educated Delhite has no trouble. It is the uneducated workers from Bihar & UP who feel the pain. These people, though a lot in quantitative numbers, have absolutely no voice in Delhi because most of them are not enrolled in Delhi voter list. So there is no Delhi politician to talk for them. Does democracy grant power to Delhites to make any law without keeping the lot of the daily wage labourers in consideration?

We see that if interpreted narrowly, democracy can turn out to be no better than communism - fear of an all powerful majority or state for every individual. Because everybody belongs to a minority community in one classification or the other. Imagine what would happen if all the illiterates in India unite and vote for an illiterate Prime Minister, who orders the next day for all schools, academic institutions, R&D establishments etc to be shut down. Do you believe in this kind of a democracy?

I hope not. And thats the reason why Democracy can not be interpreted merely as a rule of majority. An equally important aspect of Democracy is Individual Liberty & Rights. Freedom of an individual, regardless of sex, religion, beliefs, sexual orientation or education, to live life on his/her own terms. Freedom not to be afraid of majority. It is precisely this freedom that Jews under Hitler, Muslims in Switzerland, Hindus in Malaysia (and in Bangladesh & Pakistan), workers in Delhi lack. It is also this same freedom that West Bengal government took away from Tasleema Nasreen, that Indian government took away from M F Hussain, that Congress took away from Sikhs after Indira Gandhi assassination and now finally, that Modi had taken away from Muslims in Gujrat.

Decide for yourself what kind of democracy you want. Remember always, everyone belongs to one minority group or other, including you!

Nuclear Deal and Unclear ideology

2007-10-23T17:19:00.000+02:00

In the last weeks, there were 2 completely different developments, both completely uncalled for. The only common thread in these 2 incidents was the involvement of communists in India. I am ofcourse referring to the botched nuclear deal and the murder of the Calcutta youth who dared to marry a Hindu girl. Enough has already been written on these topics separately. However, the irony of these incidents becomes exposed when one puts these incidents together.

Lets take the nuclear deal first. Leftists opposed this deal tooth and nail. They raised concerns about how this deal would be a sell out of Indian sovereignty to the big bully US. Of course it is ingrained in their genes to oppose anything to do with US. Why? Because US is god damned capitalist - and is always reminding the communists in some way or the other that it defeated their dreamland USSR. And now they know that their closest friends, the Chinese are also going for free markets lock, stock and barrel. Such an ideological defeat for our comrades who devoted almost their entire life for a concept, which eventually turned out to be a disgrace for civilization.

But does it mean that Indian leftists abhor rich and the wealthy? Does that mean that the leftists would side by the poor when there is a fight between the poor and the rich? This is where I have to bring the shameful incident of Rizwanur, the youth killed in Kolkata. It was almost like a Bollywood script - poor young boy marries a girl from a rich family from a different religion. Rich father uses his money and muscle to threaten the man after marriage. The police in West Bengal, as is in the other states more or less, sides by the rich father. The highest police authority condones the actions of the rich father. Police threatens the man repeatedly. The man eventually gets killed under mysterious circumstances. And all this happens in the strongest communist state of India! If there was one party, who I would have expected to come to the man's rescue, I would have expected it from the communists. For they are always seemingly guarding the interests of poor against the rich, guarding the interests of minority against the majority and so on. But no, in a strange way, the best CM (Mr. Bhattacharjee) in India looks on, the flambuyont critic of Narendra Modi (Sitaram Yechury) looks on while these developments were taking place. A law fully wedded couple is separated by Police, the husband gets killed, the Police chief makes a mockery of civil liberties with his statements and the entire leftist government just looks on...

Such is the underlying irony in these 2 incidents that one fails to understand if there are still any idelogically driven people in leftist leadership. Kudos to the people of Calcutta for taking this matter in their hands and thus almost forcing the leftist political class to act. I am still waiting for an article from Ms. Arundhati Roy on this gross mis-handling of Rizwanur incident. Or on second thoughts, probably she writes only if it concerns US or BJP!

Democracy or Secularism

2007-08-30T14:19:00.000+02:00

This debate starts from the present scene in Turkey - what is better : A democratically elected non-secular president or a non-democratic intervention by its Army to maintain secularism.

Usually we tend to believe that both Democracy and Secularism go together. However, they are two totally different concepts. You can have a non-secular democracy like Pakistan (well, not now under Musharraf ofcourse) or a strictly secular non-democratic nation (Iran under Shah before the revolution). Democracy is, by definition, the rule of the majority. So it doesnt guarantee minority protection unless there are strong supporting institutions. Recent history is replete with examples where a democratically elected leader wreaked havoc on certain sections of population (Hitler on Jews, Modi on Muslims). And it still occurs to this day, even among mature democracies. On the other hand, we in India had an example of a monarch maintaining strict secular principles (Akbar - removed Jajia tax on hindus, respected talented Navratnas like Birbal, Tansen regardless of their religion).

But naturally, the best condition is to have a democratic secular republic. However, if I have to choose just one of these attributes, my vote goes for secularism. Let religion be totally separated from state and politics, no matter what.

Shame on you Mr. Sitaram Yechury

2007-08-27T13:19:00.000+02:00

With the limited English television access I have where I am, I was continuously searching for news on the cowardly Hyderabad blasts and the responses from Indian government and politicians. The Indian government has, as is usual, deplored the attacks, the BJP has called for stricter anti-terror laws (read POTA) but it was the response of Mr. Yechury from CPM that left me bewildered. Mr. Yechury has blamed the attack on the private security personnel incharge of guarding the Lumbini park. His comments went something like this "the attacks were a clear failure of intelligence and of the private securtiy agency, in charge of guarding the Lumbini park. As we have always been saying, we should not privatize security..."

Well said. So if I understand correctly, these ghastly attacks, where more than 40 people lost their lives, are nothing but an opportunity for CPM to underscore brownie points (with whom?). The attack is a happy coincidence for CPM to further its attacks against Manmohan Singh on issues of privatization though it happily does the same in its own states. But if Mr. Yechury really believes that privatizing the security is the main cause of intelligence failure then what about countless terrorism attacks in our country like on Parliament, in Bangalore, in Varanasi etc etc. After all, these places were not guarded by the inefficient private security agencies but efficient government security!

This is not to say that the private ones are better than the government ones. The point is CPM must stop furthering its own political agenda at times when terrorists are leaving no stone unturned to weaken India (India features the worst terrorist hit country after Iraq). Please Mr. Yechury, have some empathy for your own countrymen.

Increasing Gap between Rich and Poor

2007-08-13T18:15:00.000+02:00

There is more and more debate these days about how Capitalism and open markets is increasing the gap between rich and poor. How the big bad greedy capitalists are just nothing more than parasites, sucking the blood of the poor people and becoming richer and richer. Examples quoted are the farmer suicides in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, people living in Mumbai slums, pathetic condition of migrants (mostly from Bihar and UP) in Delhi and so and so. And regularly the reason for the unfortunate plight of these people is put on buzz words like globalization, capitalists etc . During the last few days of ourIndependence celebrations, this theme was repeated so many times and on so many programmes. The last straw for my patience came when I saw a persistent Stephen Sackur grilling Sunil Mittal on BBC Hardtalk on how Sunil Mittal made his billions while millions in India continue to live below the poverty line. As if it was all his fault to make money while a whole lot of others couldnt buy their bread. Phew!

Now, before I go on the schizophrenic histeria about India's developments, let me recount the facts. Today, around 25% Indians live on less than a dollar a day, we have huge child labour problems, girls are still unwelcome in our families. Yes, accepted and I also know about the persistent caste system, the all pervading loathing of the minority, the rising naxal problems, the endemic corruption and so on. If in 60 years of independence, we have not been able to do something to such gross problems, there must be something wrong in the way India is progressing right now. There must be something lacking, there must be some lesson on humanitarian development which we must learn from the west. Right. Wrong!

As a nation we may be 60 years independent. However, dont mistake political freedom with economic freedom. What happened in 1947, as far as economics is concerned, is just that the political power was transferred from the Gora Sahebs to the Brown Sahebs. Common Indians still had to fear the government and the bueaucracy. A license was needed for everything, from opening a business to obtaining sugar and kerosene for domestic consumption. Everything was as controlled, if not more, as during the British days. The result of such policies left a nation with around 800 million people totally bankrupt by 1991 and our finance minister was compelled to go begging to IMF for around 2.5 billion USD to avert a balance of payments crisis. And I thank my 330 million Gods for that crisis. Because with that crisis came an opportunity, of a magnitude unparalleled in modern world economic history- an opportunity to start lifting a fifth of the world population out of poverty slowly, steadily and "without saying bye to our cherished democracy" (quote added if you thought of China). Much reviled the IMF may be, it was to their dictats that we had to unshackle our economy and the fact that we had a highly educated finance minister(Manmohan Singh), backed by a highly learned prime minister (Narsimha Rao) helped enormously.

So really our India is just 16 years economically free. And look what has it achieved in the last 16 years. Around 300 million strong middle class population, which aspires to challenge and win over the world. In short, we have a whole USA within our borders demographically and more and more people are coming in the middle class bracket every single day. As the princess Raina of Jordan put it in one of her speeches in India Conclave, the difference between a child born in the west and a child born in sub-saharan africa is the Hope Gap (which basically means whether there is a possibility that a child will have a hope to leave the clutches of poverty during his/her life time). And I think that in the last 16 years, India deserves an A+ to fill the hope gap for so many families. It may take us another 60 years to fill the hope gap for the rest of India but I am certain we will do that nevertheless.

I am always worried that these debates on the increasing gap between rich and poor may lead India astray from the path of filling that hope gap. The socialistic policies we followed till 1991 resulted in a situation where a vast majority of Indians were equally poor and where the only hope of escaping poverty was to join a government job. Today, the situation is at least a lot better with the private sector becoming a leading provider of respectable jobs. What we must do is to unshackle our economy further from the clutches of government. Government's job is to regulate, to collect taxes and provide necessary assistance to the marginalized. Business is best left to the businessmen and economics to economists. And if that means that the gap between a Sunil Mittal and a migrant labour increases, we should not be questioning him as if it is all his fault. Neither should we start thinking about policies which would again make everybody equally poor!

War in Iraq - Not everything was lost!

2007-08-03T14:43:00.000+02:00

Yesterday somebody asked me if I was against the war in Iraq and though it is always politically correct to say "yes, I am against", I really couldnt bring myself to say it. Immediately, I was accused of being a Bush supporter, a hypocrite and what not. And I have been brooding since then : Can everybody who thinks differently on the Iraq and Afghanistan war be classified as a Bush supporter?
Lets see the Iraq war in hindsight. There is no denying the fact the reasons for which USA and UK attacked Iraq were proved to be fictitious, no more than a figment of CIA's imagination. So the reasons for going on war with Iraq were bad, no questions about them. US and UK should have never declared war on Iraq based on such lies.Period!
So lets reflect for a moment what the situations would have been without the war. Saddam would have continued with its dictatorial regime. Kurds, the unfortunate minority would have been continued to get slaughtered, Chemical Ali (the main chemical war expert with Saddam) would have continued with his experiments on Kurds. And the world would have kept a closed eye towards all that because of course, these are all internal affairs of a nation. Right! If you think so, you may as well remember that this is exactly what the world leaders did (leave German Jews on their own conditions while Hitler was obliterating them on mass-scale). And the entire world paid a heavy price a few years later in the form of a terrible war.
Similarly, this is again what world leaders did while hundreds of thousands of Tutsis were being killed by Hutu rebels in Rwanda. Just considered it as an internal affair of a country. This is exactly what countries have been doing in Darfur till the other day, just looking the other way when millions are dying, homeless, in need of food.
So here is what I have to say to the people who strongly believe that no nation should interfere in another country's affairs come what may - think about the minorities like Kurds, Tutsis and Darfurians before you say no to war of any kind. Because sometimes wars fought on pathetic grounds (like naked lies of Mr. Bush and Blair) are the only good news and hope for such people. I rest my case.

Asian Economies Financing the United States

2005-12-21T12:15:00.000+01:00

The idea is finicky. How can a poor country like India and other Asian countries, which are perenially short of cash to deal with their own problems, finance a rich country like United States. But a little common sense and a bit of economics will explain this fallacy. All we need to do is to take a look at the current accounts of US and other Asian countries. A current account, in simple terms, is just an account of money being spent and received by a country (which is basically the government of that country). As it stands, the Asian economies are running a current account surpluses since last few years. It means that the asian economies are earning more as compared to their expenses. The new export led growth policy being followed by the asian economies has contributed greatly to this current account surplus. Now, add this surplus with the huge capital inflow that is taking in Asian economies. These two things together imply that all the Asian central banks have a huge pile of dollar (more exports, less imports, increasing FDIs, all mostly in dollars). So what do the central banks do with this huge pile of dollars. They invest in US securities which are extremely low yield

Now lets have a look at US. The government under Bush has been on a spending spree. After all, the wars and the deep tax cuts given to the rich do not come free. These policies have ensured that the US government has a huge current account deficit, or in other words, the govt is spending far more than it is earning. But from where it is getting the dollars to spend? This is where the investments from the Asian countries come handy. The developing countries have been parking the excess dollars with them in US securities. This gives US easy access to a very inexpensive source of capital. So the govt there is hardly bothered about its current account deficit.

What does all this mean? There are quite a few implications. Firstly, this whole dependence on dollar, assigning it almost the status of an international currency means that while developing countries work hard to generate and save capital, United States can affort to spend it recklessly and inefficiently. Secondly, investing in US securities primarily means that the moment dollar collapses, all the US securities held by Asian banks loose value or become worthless depending upon how bad is the fall. Thirdly and most importantly, by treating US as a central bank of the world, the Asian countries ensure that they will do everything possible to avoid a default by this central bank as their economy's health becomes tightly coupled with that of US. Somebody who understands this and who is in a position of power in US (like the US president) can easily use this to bulldoze other countries to fall in line with its own agenda.

So what is the recourse? An idea would be for the Asian economies to invest forex reserves in different central banks to spread their risks. This is happening but on a very miniscule level. The other thing would be the idea of an international currency. An organization like World Bank, with the representation and voting power structure rationalized, can be the governing body for the international currency. In a truly globalized and connected world, there is no place for so many currencies. The world of finance needs to speak in one language.