The Argumentative Indian's Crotchet

Jokaoed...

2009-07-04T05:10:00.000-07:00

One clarification before the post, Calcutta is by far the worst city and the people are the laziest I have seen in my short life so far. But, besides this obvious downer, life is not all bad actually...

The institution in itself is good and the faculty is quite chilled out (so far...). The subjects are diverse and the most positive development on the personal front is that I have a new laptop ... :) (No more of the Acer crap...)

This place has an amazing student culture - something which has eluded me for the past 9 years (ever since I left Campion). As much as the infrastructure and the people of this city disappoint me; I am still positive about my decision to come here, seeing the way the students stand for each other and the 'Joka spirit'. The ingenious orientation had left me awe-struck for a couple of days, and I commend the senior batch for all their efforts and their spirit.

Ever since I left school 9 years back I have longed to go back - I miss the institutional pride and the sense of school spirit which was drilled so deep in us. In that sense, I feel like I am in school again and it is an amazing feeling. l admire how this place is carried forward just by the students alone right from student placements to the student exchange program. Just like the country in some ways, this institute works despite all the administrative/infra shortcomings because of the people in it. So there are many learning points in all this mess, and I am beginning to realise that.

People often ask, why I came here... and I still am quite positive despite all the harrowing calcutta experiences (as explained in the post before). I now am trying to see all the crap as something which I have to get used to, having made the choice to come back to India and settle here (clarification - though in Bombay we have none of this crap! but I realise Rest of India-ROI and Bombay cannot be compared).

My favourite subjects are quite surely Indian Economic and Political History and Finance Accounting. Both of which remind me so much about my school life, doing History and Accounting. How I wish there were no exams and we would just learn without being assessed in the Índian way'. But then again, it is India and you have to learn to deal with the crap in the system if you have to survive here.

I have got a second chance to re-live the student life and experience the joys of over-sleeping on a weekday and endless project-related creative brainstorming sessions. I feel young again, and there is that hope in me again that anything is possible. This is the beautiful thing about student life, that you start to believe sky is the limit and there is so much positivity for the future.

I am grateful for that...

Heaven to Hell in 30 days...

2009-06-30T12:32:00.000-07:00

Life has come a full circle. I am back to living a student life, something which I was craving for since the past 1.5 years. I have recently moved to 'Kolkata - the City of Joy' to pursue my MBA in the country's premier management institution.

I apologize in advance for this rant of a post... But, I needed to release somewhere...

A few things I will miss about my time in heaven....

1. My car : My beautiful Black Magic Woman, how I wish I didn't have to let you go...

2. Weather : Where the gentle breeze would add a spring to my step and the soft morning light would gently wake me up

3. My meal cuisine : Right from Thai to Tapas to the different flavours of pasta right to the rich desserts, I relished each meal like there was no tomorrow.

4. The people : Culture, politeness, honesty and professionalism were all four things which I admire about the people. I truly feel that it is the closest to a perfect society.

5. Relaxing weekends : Breakfast by the hills or a drive to luzern lake or just a walk into the woods was just the right potion for a taxing week.

6. A Second home : Though 8000 km away, monthly trips to India were made and home never felt as far.

7. Free phone calls to Singapore : Thanks to the company, right from friends in US to the fiance in Singapore - everyone was just a dial away...

8. Clean and respectful nature : Nature at its best and yet with creatures who kept to themselves.

9. Respectable existence : Living life the way it should be lived and gearing up to be domesticated.

10. Money has Power : Life could be improved with money, and any complaint could be done away with if you were ready to pay.

The place where I am today has taken away those very things from me, and life has thrown a new 'challenge' in my face... (I will be kind and not put any graphics for the hell)

1. The only available transport to civilization is a stinky cab ride of an hour. Which too needs to be planned well in advance, and the the one hour could very well shoot up to two hours, if it rains or you're crazy enough to travel during the evenings.

2. The humidity and heat is such that it wakes even the laziest of people in the middle of the night. Even a bath before bed, just results in more sweat through the night.

3. Daily Mess food at fixed times and the same masala, and the only variation is the masala maggi...

4. The laziest bunch of people I have ever encountered in my life... and yes, If you don't yell, it will NOT be done... it seems like no amount of money can make their laziness go away.

5. The Single Weekend agenda is, as Robin from HIMYM put it so eloquently, "Lets go to the mall...". In this case, there is just one choice... the world-famous South City Mall

6. The way this place is setup with the schedule, I think Bombay seems like a distant dream
,even though I happen to be living in the same country.

7. No call is free, and the pre-paid messages after every international sms or call ensures I never forget that.

8. Crow-droppings welcome you as you walk anywhere in this place (A victim 4 times already in the past 2 weeks). Lizards seem to be in some sort of competition with the humans in re-producing in mass. Mosquitoes have super-powers of going through multi-layer nets.

9. Even bathing here is a task, and I wonder that come winter, how will I manage without any warm water. The Sulabh Shauchalaya (public toilets) cleaners would shy away if they were to see the state of the WCs here. The fact that I use a harpic to clean a common floor toilet everyday before and after my use, should be a good indicator.

10. No amount of money I can pay, can ensure that my life can be made better here . The most I could do is for some trivial retail therapy like buying myself 24 bottles of Thums Up...

Pearls of Wisdom : If Life is good and you still have some stupid notion of a thirst for a new challenge.... just go play with a Rubik's cube instead!

26/11 - My first thoughts

2009-02-10T03:43:00.000-08:00

Anger & rage is something which comes to me quite often... But it was more helplessness as an emotion which I felt as I sat glued to the television for those 60 odd hours... I did not want cynicsm to get the better of me and I did not want to forget.... So I wrote my thoughts down then, and even put a time stamp saying that I should come back to it so I can remind myself how I felt at the time it happened... What struck me when I read was that at no point was there any feeling of revenge....and I realised that I still feel all the things I wrote then. I feel relieved ....

Lest We forget - 28 November 2008

Though the idiocy and arrogance of Bush's administration has cost the world a lot, there are still a few things our administration must learn from his ... For Indians like us, its common to classify something as black or white, and we are more concerned with political correctness and community appeasement rather than learning from our mistakes and working pragmatically ... The one key undeniable fact is that the US Govt learnt from 9/11 and 7 years hence, there has not been one major attack in the US.

As if our privacy and rights are not violated, and trust me I am not a crazy liberatarian that I value it more than national security - the difference between our Government and the US is that they learnt from the mistakes and rose above politics... we are very far from that…

What the Bloody hell is the point of repealing POTA when you have a similar draconian law for Maharashtra (MCOCA)??? The Vote Bank politics of this Government has them more into minority appeasement . Not one change has been made after more than 30 blasts / attacks just in the last one year alone... As for this attack, and some sectors blaming the Navy... just heard that a proposal for Automatic Identification System (AIS) is pending with the government for the last two years. If you don't equip your security infrastructure or investigation tools (laws), how do you keep ranting that you are doing all you can to protect India Mr. Shivraj Patil...?

C'mon man, I don't start calling all my Muslim friends as terrorists just because the ones who attack us are from the same religion. We are not as dumb as the Americans. Move over the political correctness and minority appeasement and give us a bloody solution Ms. Italian Lady and secretary (PM Singh). Most Muslims too see through this and are sick of their games and false promises.

Now the youth issue: we have a relatively young MP from south Mumbai (Son of Oil minister and US Returned Milind Deora)... What has he done in the last 4 years for Bombay?? Has he put the Bombayite's frustration to lack of infrastructure development and security as a critical issue to the parliament?? I don't really see as yet any difference between him and his predecessor (the 'old' Jayawantiben Mehta).

Though, Obama has yet to prove himself. I believe he is not just 'THE' obama because he is young, he is so because he has challenged conventions and leaders and offered a vision. That could very well be done by any politician, not necessarily young by age but more by thought. I don't think the very children of these crooks taking over the reins of leadership are the hope of India. Rahul Gandhi is not my idea of an Obama, just because he looks 'decent', is young and is born in royalty... The point is we need young leaders from among normal people like us - who 'get it', and not just young sons of leaders ...

BJP as an alternative, is even worse now than it ever was... they have self-destructed with their clear lack of leadership besides just a single force in Gujarat. PM hopeful, Advani appears as a kid dillying and dallying from Jinnah praise to the Sadhvi's defence. So Modi??.... leader maybe, but a bigger risk to the divide between Hindus and Muslims of India.

Also, another important point is that besides the leaders the people / electorate too needs to be 'new-age' for the new kind of leaders to be elected. Look beyond the cities and 'urbanised pop.' - Caste / Religion politics, naxalism are still very much the harsh realities of our country. The Government is not formed by just the 50-70 odd-seats found in the major cities... not just among the NDTV and IBNlive watchers, but even among those whose outlook hasn't grown as fast as maybe ours. So its all great for all of us to want 'change', but all signs tell us it doesn't look anywhere near in sight...

Summing it up, for us to elect a 'new-age' person, we must really have one to do so... Unfortunately, there is also no impetus from people like us to provide this alternative...We need to bring all our regions together to align on this hope for 'change'. For a start, I think its time we come together as civilians and drive a radical change for our Mumbai politically...

P.S. - For all the true Mumbai lovers, watch Shobhaa De's interview on NDTV from 27th Nov night... I am sure all of us would have said the same thing at that stage....

Loose Talk

2008-08-22T04:25:00.000-07:00

This is just why I cannot tolerate these pseudo-secularists and filmy people in politics (i.e. Mahesh Bhatt, Shabana Azmi...)

The findings speak for both the city's character as well as the frivolousness of this 'opinionated' woman.

Courtesy - Times of India

Actor Shabana Azmi has sparked off a huge controversy by alleging that Muslims cannot buy flats in Mumbai and that the community was discriminated against. TOI decided to do a reality check. Its reporters posed as Muslim flat-buyers-Mohammed Hanif and Abdul Rashid-and called up several builders' offices and real estate agents at random, inquiring about the availability of flats. The results were by and large contrary to what Azmi alleged. Here's what we did:

We dialled K Raheja builder (26005269) and inquired about his project on Link Road, behind D Mart, in Malad (West). An executive said booking was open and possession would be available by Diwali. Asked if they had any objection to selling flats to Muslims he replied: "Absolutely no problem sir. We don't bother about the religion of buyers. Anyone willing to pay our price is welcome.''

RNA builders (28975659) have a project at NG Park on Shiv Vallabh Road, Rawalpada, Borivli (West). A staffer said an 850 sq ft (built-up area) flat can be had at Rs 4,800 per sq ft. He categorically stated that being a Muslim did not matter to his company. "You can come anytime to have a look at the flats,'' he added cheerfully. ..... (catch the rest on the website of TOI)

Weak PM - That Legacy is gone...

2008-07-27T11:54:00.000-07:00

Singh is King : Cliche tagline by now

In what would seem like a scene out of a true Madhur Bhandarkar movie, on 22 July amidst highly dramatic speeches and bundles of cash, the UPA delivered a final blow to the Left-Right combine....

I have no words for the NDA... often even at work place I see that people get so lost in operational brilliance that they no longer have their vision on the strategic direction. This is what seems to be happening with the NDA; where they are able to come out with clever, operationally planned small victories in state elections like Karnataka (where even though they did not have the popular vote, with smart operational planning they were still able to get a majority of seats), but lacking in their agenda/propaganda. Be it Advani sympathizing with Jinnah out of the blue, or the Ayodhya issue they are trying to pursue half-heartedly since the 90s, or now for that matter they opposing the very same deal which they had initiated (without giving clarity to the nation on what is their true reservation on the deal- especially when Brajesh Mishra and Abdul Kalam have come out in open support of the deal).

Dalal No.1

Rahul Gandhi, smartly stepped out in the parliament to acknowledge Vajpayee for having the strategic sense of going forward on this deal in his tenure. This was not a noble action, as much as a move to show to the public the frailty of the NDA's position on the issue.

Power Broker - Amar Singh would go down in history as the man who should be given credit for saving this deal. This victory would not have happened without his purchase of MP votes. Who would have thought that the future of a whole country would be written by a 'Dalal'. Such is the nature of Indian politics. Unlike the US, where the Republicans and Democrats have come together on a number of instances for the greater good, our political parties are just concerned with petty politics and mud-slinging, and we rely on this kind of crap to run the country; our leaders are still far from that stage of maturity.

The victory for the UPA has more or less wiped out the lame duck image of the PM from the pages of history, as history would no longer see him as the one who licked Karat's shoes but he would now be seen as the man who dared his chair for the future of our nation; and once again after the great 'Sacrifices' of Sonia (the PM seat for the foreign origin issue and the parliament seat for the office of profit issue), the UPA has come out of this messy situation as the moral victor.

Is the Lotus Dying?

I am not as amazed by the fact that the Left voted on the same side as the Right, as much as on the fact on how the Right could even think of having the same point of view in an politico-economic decision as the Left.

My next post I will speak about the 'supposed' co-incidence of the fact that all the recent bomb blasts have taken place in BJP ruled states...

No Left Turn - II

2008-06-20T12:05:00.000-07:00

Apologies for abruptly coming up with this topic, before the Noida double murder part II.But, this was one of those sensational sudden developments on the national front.

For those who don't remember, kindly scroll down and see the earlier post of the same name or click on http://shadythings.blogspot.com/2007/08/no-left-turn-allowed.html.

Its interesting on how things are shaping up quite similar to what was deduced more than 10 months back in the earlier post. I suggest all to go back and read the earlier post.

After successive losses for the ruling Congress in state elections, its quite interesting that they realised they needed a brand new strategy if they were to have any chance back to power at the centre. Hence, they have gone for the 'sympathetic and idealogical' approach, where our otherwise cowardly PM, will put his foot down to do what is best for India by going ahead with the Nuclear deal with the US; and in that process, call upon early elections as the Left would withdraw and make the Government fall.

Even if the elections do not happen, this is still an excellent attention diverting act to divert public attention from rising prices (11.8% inflation as of today!) and security lapses (FYI Chinese Army have infiltrated a record 65 times in the last 6 months into Sikkim, as if it were there backside park). It is just to be seen now how 10 Janpath would move forward now;

The fact that Mayawati has withdrawn support for the UPA just today, though would not have any tangible impact on the government; but, it would definetly impact on how they approach the Left situation. The numbers are as follows:

UPA + Allies : 225
SP : 39
BSP : 17
Left : 59

Now, had Mayawati's BSP stayed in the alliance; the government's strength would be 281(assuming SP too joins the coalition), if Left were to withdraw their support. They could have still managed a slim majority. But now, the Left's position in the standoff is even stronger, as the government will definetly fall if they are to withdraw.

Mayawati : King breaker ?

But, my money is on the fact that the Left and UPA would wrestle publicly on this for some time while the UPA will buy time to try and divert people's minds, as the Congress will not risk elections immediately especially after their election debacles in Karnataka, Gujurat, HP etc. Then, there will be elections in about 6-7 months where Congress would try and project itself as the pragmatic party which pushed the deal forward for the country, and was ready to/or did 'sacrifice' power yet again for the betterment of the country (earlier the sacrificing was done by Sonia Behn when she didn't become the PM).

Sonia Behn : As Mr. Modi so eloquently refers to her

What is interesting though is that, it was actually the BJP who were the architects of this proposal during their term. The only reason why they oppose it now is because endorsing it would be giving Congress the credit for this. Anyways, the BJP still is ready to support the deal if the implicit curb on our future tests is clearly removed from the deal. I believe that if the Congress were to engage the Opposition more pro-actively there would be a chance of saving the deal. However, having said that I doubt that after 4 years of aggressive standoffs and un-statesmen-like mongering between the opposition and the government there will be any move on that front.

BJP - Will the lotus bloom again?

As for the Noida double murder case - the comments have been quite diverse and 'unique'. Will be back on that soon enough.

The Mystery of the Swords

2008-06-13T10:30:00.000-07:00

A Double murder in Noida, India not a month ago, and how it happened unfolds what exactly is wrong with the 'new' Indian society. Lets summarize this chronologically as it unfolded before us:

Event 1 - A 14-year old girl's throat is slit and is killed in the darkness of the night, while her parents(The Talwars - Translation: The Swords) sleep soundly in the adjacent room. Parents call in the police, and the domestic is the prime suspect as he is untraceable.

Event 2 - The 'distraught' parents are in a hurry to cremate and finish the last rites of the body . The crime scene is cleaned by the father's compounder, the following day even while investigation is underway.

Event 3 - The prime suspect's (domestic) body is found on the terrace after 2 full days of the investigation on the terrace of the Talwars, by an ex-policeman who happened to see a blood trail leading up to the terrace; which went unnoticed by the 3 sets of police teams(Meerut Police, Delhi Police and Noida Police) working on the case.

Event 4 - After hours of questioning the father, one of the police teams reveal that this was the work of an insider, was the work of a butcher or a doctor and some talk on 'honour killing', saying the domestic was killed before the girl. While the other police team quoted the opposite sequence of events; leaving everyone clueless on the real sequence of the murders. However, Police still say, "Case will be cracked in 24 hours..."

Event 5 - The police finally arrest the father, saying he killed his daughter enraged by the fact that she knew of his wife's and his orgy sessions. He also found his daughter in an 'objectionable, but not compromising position'(this phrase repeated a record of 5 times in the press-conference in an 'attempt' to not look insensitive to the dead) with the domestic when he entered home that night; which they sa probably triggered it off. They highlight the email correspondence of the girl's to show the detoriating relationship with the father, which turns out to be as later discovered by the media - 1 year old...

Event 6 - The mother of the victim comes out and pleads innocence for her husband to the media. She came out in the open to give an interview to the media, to give their side of the story; what we took back from the interview was the image of a cold mother whose response to the question "How did you not hear anything, while your daughter was murdered in the adjacent room?" was "We are working professionals, who work like crazy people throughout the day and we too need our sleep". She didn't even deny the reports on their 'lifestyle' implying orgies.

Event 7 - After a couple of narco tests, the previously solid case against the father too turns out to be a dud; as the only thing against him is the inconsistencies in his story and his supposed confession to the police, which obviously was denied by him saying he was pressured to confess. So all the supposed forensic investigations is unable to implicate the father. All senior officials of the police teams are transferred for their brilliant Public Relations and use of tactful language with the media.

Event 8 - The Talwars demand a CBI(Central Bureau of Investigation) probe, while the centre is weary of picking up the case and this becomes a political fiasco as all can see this case ain't that easy to 'crack' and noone would not want to take on a losing battle.

Event 9 - Finally, the CBI accepts it and they too make some 24 hour tall claims soon after; The police try and use the compounder as an approver but land up arresting him on the grounds of him failing his narco test; 3 officials of the CBI too are transferred from the case due to involvement in leaks to the media. However, the case still remains far from solved even after a week.

Cursed Yamuna

There is a saying in Hindu mythology, that the river Yamuna is a river of sorrow and tears; formed by the tears of a sister, Yamini who weeps for her brother, Yama who she would never see as he became the Lord of the Dead (both are incidentally the children of the Sun God Surya). The sorrow was always represented by the river's dull colour, but now it is also with the curse it brings around itself wherever it flows.

This post is just as a statement of facts of the whole Talwar saga, and I would like to see what others make of this before I post my next entry where we will look at the meaning of each of these events and what I believe could be the truth...

P.S. - Yamuna flows through the NCR (Delhi, Noida etc.) Region.

The Great Indian Migrant

2008-06-12T10:35:00.000-07:00

After a 10 month break from blogging, the shadyness is back... All thanks to the hundred job applications, the FYP (Feared Year Project), the exams, five jobs offers and then two returns, a 4 month stint doing an 'interesting' job and now, settled in Schweiz (sometime around yesterday); Well that's summarizing the last 10 months :P.

This one should be kept light, and I will talk about all the things I will most miss about my time in Singapore (in no particular order):

1. 16A-05-05 - my hostel room (This is def. in top 3)

2. Food (which includes but not only Drunken Fire Noodles with Chiang Mei Mango Blend @ Thai Express; Muddy Mud-Pie @ Coffee Club; Subway; Cheesy Fries @ KFC; including my 24-hr Food Solution : McDelivery)

3. All the people in Sing who made my time there so much more liveable - Quite a few to list but they know who they are :)

4. The fact that people there were naturally so incompetent that most sub-standard Indians like me in Singapore felt we were so great.

5. Cabs were so cheap... its CHF50 (SGD 65 approx) for a 8km journey in this place!

6. Jade Cinema and my weekly dose of horrible hindi movies.

7. My great colleagues @ Bloomberg - the company with the most unique and brilliant business model

8. The ability to know almost every brown face on the road, through someone or the other.

9. The Card Sessions especially Chinese Poker

10. Lastly, SK - (This is def the top one :) )

Will post again soon, too much seems to be happening in the world now...

No Left Turn Allowed...

2007-08-20T12:24:00.000-07:00

Before anything is said about the current Left-Government crisis in India, it is important to take a look back briefly at some key historical histronics of the Indian Left.

Till late LEFT did not consider India as a Country. They considered us a Union of nations.

For them their party interest is supreme. They will sacrifice any number of countries with out a blink if it can Help the cause of their party. It is not coincidence that they sided with British during Quit India movement, with Chinese during 1962 agression of China. Its their Misfortune(Good fortune of this nation) that they betted on the wrong horse.

The party and their leaders like P. C. Joshi, Basavapunniah, Jyoti Basu, and Harkishan Singh Surjeet were among those who supported China. The party's official stance was pro-China in the 1962 war of India and China. In an act of aggression by a 'fellow' Communist country these ridiculous people chose to be traitors while our soldiers died defending us. Unlike their rubbish reason that the war was between a Socialist and Capitalist ideology, it was about territorial acquisition and political bullying. These people would not think twice to even go against their own country, for the survival of their obsolete and flawed ideologies.

At one level they say they are secular but have no shame in taking the support of Abdul Nasser Madhani who was prime accused in Coimbatore Serial Bomb Blast and Jamaat e Islam(mother of SIMI, who are declared as an illegal outfit by Government of India for its role in terrorist activities).

They claim as Non Corrupt but supported the worst corrupt regime of Laloo Prasad Yadav in the name of 'secularism'.

They Support the Communist Principles in Centre but in West bengal they have one of the most agressive Capitalist Policies

Prakash Karat & Sitaram Yechury

Perhaps, the Left still carries the ideological baggage of history, which has allowed the Indian Left to remain frozen in time. As gurus of the party at the central level, leaders like Mr Karat and Sitaram Yechury did not have to contest an election every five years and make any adjustments in their political style or beliefs to suit the electorate. There has never been a persistent demand to look beyond the Left's immediate political goals in Bengal and Kerala.

The Bengal communists, and to a lesser extent, their Kerala bretheren, adjusted to coalition politics because they needed to. A Buddhadev Bhattacharjee, the Left Chief Minister of West Bengal needed foreign direct investment because he was in a competitive environment. The CPI-M central leadership had no such compulsions. So much easier to write stirring editorials in Peoples Democracy and dismiss foreign investment as neo-colonialism. An elitist debating society in New Delhi versus a pragmatic government in Kolkata: the Left appears comfortable with the dichotomy of the situation.

2004 made things even more spectacular. In a remarkable accident, the left found itself in the vantage position of being able to shape the contours of the new government, despite having got barely five per cent of the popular vote. A hung parliament gave the left the opportunity to play a decisive role in government by sitting on the political high table.

Three years later, it is apparent that the Left saw the split verdict as an opportunity to exercise virtual veto power on the UPA government. They were very wise about joining the government: why not exercise power without carrying the odour of responsibility? Then, whether it be public sector disinvestment, insurance and pension reform, banking or labour reform or civil aviation restructuring, the Left has sought to dictate terms to the central government (while their government in West Bengal was doing just the same thing in the state, they chose to ignore those capitalist moves).

Karan Singh

Though the fact that the Left would push its economic agenda was to be expected: opposition to market economics has been fundamental to the Left identity. But now, the shift that has taken place is that the Left's opposition has now moved from the economic to the political. The presidential election provided the clearest example of just how much three years of pussyfooting by the UPA had emboldened the Left. Virtually every candidate of the UPA was vetoed by the left, further undermining the authority of the ruling arrangement. If a Shivraj Patil could be rejected because of his proximity to Sathya Sai Baba and a Karan Singh because he headed a spiritual "Hindu" body, then it was apparent that the Left was determined to leave its ideological imprint on all levels of governance.

Shivraj Patil

The Left opposition to the Indo-US nuclear deal must again be seen as part of its attempt to impose its ideology on the country's political agenda. This is not about the details of the 123 agreement any longer, not even about a robust discussion on the country's energy needs, this is simply now about the unseen "dangers" of forging a closer strategic relationship with the "Evil Empire" in Washington.

For those Left ideologues who have spent a lifetime seeing the world through the prism of the Cold War, the collapse of the Soviet Union has not meant the end of ideology. If anything, it has reinforced their belief that the Indian communists remain the last bastion against the "Americanisation" of the world. While the ideological debate might make interesting listening at a late night meeting in an academic debate, its relevance in the contemporary political context is less appetizing. It reflects an unwillingness to grow up, to recognize that while one has the legitimate right to oppose, the nature of the opposition cannot be such that it begins to resemble a spoilt brat who is being denied the entire cake of power.

The Left is now faced with a stark choice:either it learns to co-exist in coalitional politics through a process of give and take. Or withdraws support, brings down the government and is reduced to a member of a third front rump. It is very obvious that the topplers have got their timing hopelessly wrong. And it is only going to get worse in any mid-term election which could be held.
The third front(which the Left could have seen to consolidate with) today has only 50 members in Lok Sabha. Out of these, 38 come from Samajwadi Party of which four are rebels. There is no way Mulayam(its Chief) will retain even half if the numbers of his state assembly elections are replicated. Jayalalithaa(Chief of AIADMK) may get a couple more, and surely Naidu may improve some from four in Andhra. But overall, the pack of 50 may only end up diminishing further.

As for the Left, there is no way Kerala and West Bengal (the only 2 states with their presence) will repeat the windfall of 2004 and win even the same 60 odd seats. The Mayawatis, who seem to be growing in popularity and strength could be the King makers next time around and might be the deciding factor for a Congress government to come back.

The Kingmaker : Mayawati

Its another ideological and sympathetic victory which the Congress might see go in its favour, even though they might not be able to get absolute majority on their own, but gains are definetly on the cards, had the elections to take place now; who would not sympathize with an academic PM, trying to push for fuel sufficiency of our country given the high demand of fuel growth needed to maintain the current growth. Its another thing that the even if the 123 Agreement does go ahead; it would contribute less than 10% to our energy needs by 2020. But, this deal means much more; a start for things to come as US and India become strategic partners, and a growing youth population who see this as a start for the rise in opportunities for them.

But, what can a party who is trying to battle even the survival of their identity through this 'Anti-Americanism' drive, do but oppose this?

Having said all this, it isn't that socialism as a whole is an evil thing, it is just that socialism seems to have lost its reputation because of the Left's histronics. Otherwise, socialism does have a role to play even in a capitalist and free-market country, just not in the same way as these hypocrites will have you believe.

Will be tracking the developments keenly, as its still quite uncertain what will happen. With the Left you never know, which side of the bed their leaders got up from.

Pakistani Dictatorship - A Lowdown...

2007-08-12T13:20:00.000-07:00

Similar in some respect : Wagah Border

Despite having been under military dictatorship for more than three decades, Pakistan has been as imperfect a dictatorial system just as India has been an imperfect democracy. The people of Pakistan have not been totally denied democratic freedoms as the case would have been in any classical military dictatorship, just as all the people of India are not always able to enjoy all the freedoms their quality of constitutional democracy promises them.

As a consequence, even under dictators tougher than Musharraf, like Zia, Pakistan has had a bull-dog media, and a judiciary which, though often helpful, has never been a total pushover. A judge, for example, had even dissented when Bhutto (the then ousted PM and father of Benazir) was hanged.

In spite of the stereotypes we have lived on in India, the country has always had a democratic yearning, and, more importantly, its people do have a spine for democracy.

History Lesson which Musharraf missed : General Zia-ul-Haq

The last time this was very clearly evident before the Justice Chaudhary mass-revolution which clearly goes to show their yearning, was when Pakistan had a dictatorship under General Zia.

In the summer of 1986 when Benazir Bhutto returned from exile to a Pakistan firmly under Zia’s control. She had shown more courage then than she has shown lately, in landing in Lahore and challenging the strongest Pakistani dictatorship ever. She showed courage, because she had no idea what kind of reception she would get, either from Zia or her own then dead party.

The procession began with a few trucks and then grew endlessly as lakhs of people came out spontaneously, some shouting Pakistan Peoples Party slogans, but most just out walking, clapping, smiling, celebrating. It was a stirring expression of mass catharsis, a democratic outburst after nearly seven years under military rule.

A point to note: this is about as long as Musharraf has been in control, so probably the Pakistani dictators have to watch out for what most political analysts refer to as the 'seven-year itch'.

Walking to his doom : General Musharraf

General Pervez Musharraf, like his predecessors has arm-twisted his political class, by exiling some and beating others into king’s party kind of alliances while fixing a non-contest election for himself. He subverted his constitution and then promulgated one so arbitrarily that he carried out amendments while announcing it at a press conference. He set up a rootless, pointless parliament and then went after his judiciary, after just one adverse verdict. This, after his judiciary has been so wonderfully compliant for so long. Which probably initiated the start of his own downfall.

Musharraf’s problems are mostly because of his lack of understanding — as well as respect — for either the principles or institutions of democracy. He is paying for lacking the intellect to understand a fundamental contradiction in Pakistan’s society.

On the one hand, though Pakistan's democratic impulse is still relatively weak. It has very little patience for the mess, the clumsiness, corruption and chaos of day-to-day democratic politics, particularly as it is practised in the subcontinent. But on the other hand, it is not entirely devoid of a democratic yearning. A clever Pakistani dictator would need to understand this and then steer his politics accordingly.

Unfortunately, or rather fortunately, dictators as a class, even when smart, are far too arrogant to figure this.

So he thought that the initial Pakistani welcome for the return of the military with discipline and focus would last for ever. He did not know when to cut his losses.

If Musharraf was as smart as he sounds, and as he thinks he is, he should have known where to draw the line. Even more important, he should have known that his long-term survival lay in morphing into a politician, and then, hopefully, into a statesman. That would have implied shedding the uniform, facing a fair election, which he would have won at least until a couple of years ago.

But true to his type, he did not see that wisdom when time had not run out for him. If one looks back on the history of Pakistan, there is only one of two ways a Pakistani dictator goes: fight an unsuccessful war with India, and go in disgrace and, second, be jailed or killed. Musharraf was given an opportunity to defy that script by 9/11.

Mush-in-a-box

If you ask me, his days are numbered, he is like a box being pushed from all sides .

As with the extremists he is being viewed at the same gun-point as the US, for the actions on them as well as his support to US; the Pakistani political class seem to be getting more united as each day goes by to oust him, and with the re-instated Chief Justice things are not going to be as easy; the common man, who seemed to like him before, are now getting more and more united against him; the US being more demanding day-by-day, with threats from the Presidential hopefuls of 2008 are not a good PR measure with his people as well for his support to the US, like Barack Obama on proposing disregarding of Pakistani sovereignity, if needed to hunt down terrorists within Pakistan.

Just a matter of time before the box snaps.

US Elections 2008 Update - Unbiased Media Reporting ?

2007-08-07T03:17:00.000-07:00

Ron Paul won the first debate, and what was reported: silence. Ron Paul arguably won the second debate (polls by ABC and MSNBC show he won, while a poll on Fox news reports he came in second) either way, what was reported: silence. Ron Paul won the third debate and again silence.

Now, for any respectable, non-corrupt news outlet, this would be news. Big news. A long shot out of nowhere seems to have captured the hearts and minds of America. One would expect lots of speculation as to why. However, nothing was printed in the print media or reported anywhere on television. Most likely, Ron Paul scared them and they did not know what to do. If they report about him, he may gain ground, so they kept silent.

Well, the silence had its own blowback. People began to write to their newspapers and online news outlets demanding to know where was all the news about the new Internet Phenomenon - Ron Paul. People wrote that they could no longer trust their usual news sources. It became clear just how biased the mainstream news really is and how they were holding back stories on Ron Paul.

During the second debate, Ron Paul was asked a question about his non-interventionist foreign policy. He explained that he held his policy because interfering in another country's business tends to have unintended consequences. He discussed the motivations behind the terrorist attacks and talked about how the terrorists have stated they attacked us because the US is occupying their country or meddling, not because the US is a free country and they envy our 'way of life'.

Invitation to Attacks ? : No Doubt in my mind atleast

He was then asked (by an 'unbiased & balanced' moderator): Are you saying that America invited the 9/11 attacks?

Well, anyone with half a brain could see that was not what he said at all. It is as if the media is following the lead of the current administration and thinks it can do anything and the US people will follow like sheep. Ron Paul is not a traitor and never once said that the victims invited or deserved their fate. But, boy, did the news do its best to spin it that way. There are still articles that are trying to pin that on Ron Paul.

How desperately the media is trying to paint him as a kook, when Ron Paul is perhaps the only non-hypocritical candidate currently running. Ron Paul wants to end the war now, and bring all soldiers home now. Well, so does most of America, so how does that make him a kook?

Most importantly, he also does not want to drop nuclear weapons on innocent civilians unlike most other Republican candidates. And they call that kooky? (Most of the other Rep. candidates are for pre-emptive nuclear strikes).

Libertarian or Republican ? : Both I suppose

This brings me to today. The latest tactic seems to state that Ron Paul, while he may not be a kook, (or put another way, "please don't send us hate email") he has absolutely no chance of winning. But it appears that all the talking heads have gotten together for this latest attack on Ron Paul. Which is exactly why I say that he is gaining ground. If he were fading into the hoped for obscurity, they would continue to stay silent. Though, this new tactic can be rather effective if people are not paying attention.

In general people do not like to "waste a vote" for a candidate they think will not win. So they vote for the people they think have a chance. This is a ridiculous idea when you think about it, because how can you ever have a chance at getting what you want if you do not vote for it. Nevertheless, the idea persists. So, all this talk about how Ron Paul does not have a chance of winning the nomination is simply another attempt to steer the US public away from Ron Paul.

His popularity, especially in the people's domain of the internet continues to grow exponentially. The media attacks are continuing. My conclusion: he can still win. It make take a little while, but it is possible. Most people who hear him, or read about him become instant converts (me included, despite having been a Hillary supporter since years). It is hard to argue with a man who wants peace, prosperity, liberty, and freedom for ALL (not only Americans). Besides, who in America wouldn't want to keep their whole paycheck? (Ron Paul is against the Income Tax and wants to repeal it.)

I hope the Americans 'smart up' and avoid subjecting themselves to the mainstream news manipulation forum. In future, to remember the silence, the lies, the spins and the attacks just like it has been for Ron Paul. To think long and hard about where the information comes from and make these elections there own rather than being manipulated by lobbyists and media alike.

These elections would have an impact on billions of people worldwide, and like it or not these Americans have a responsibility to all of them as well; I just hope they realise how much that vote affects the thousands who die every year because of their Government decisions.

Pratibha Patil - The Silent Stranger

2007-08-03T19:17:00.000-07:00

Commander-in-Chief : Pratibha Patil

Below is all the controversies and incidents of financial mis-management which seem to have been pushed on the poor lady, supposedly for no fault of hers...

Operation Cover-Up : It is alleged that, by a certain Rajni Patil that Pratibha Patil had used her political influence to protect her brother who allegedly got Rajni's husband murdered. Rajni Patil's petition to the Bombay High Court requested that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which was directed by the Bombay High Court to probe the case in February, must question Pratibha before she becomes President. The lawyer said that two CDs have surfaced which contain incriminating material against Patil's brother.

Financial Fraud I : A cooperative bank set up by Pratibha Patil in 1973 in her name, to empower women, had its license revoked in 2003 by the RBI for alleged financial irregularities. Among the reasons listed by the RBI for cancellation of the license was the faulty loan policy of the bank and loan interest waivers given, among others, to Pratibha Patil’s relatives. Pratibha Patil was one of the chairperson of the Bank and along with a number of her relatives, was one of its Directors. She is currently one of the 34 respondents in an ongoing case in the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court on the subject of mismanagement of the bank and misappropriation of funds by its Managing Directors.

Financial Fraud II : A cooperative sugar factory of which Pratibha is a founder member, was declared a defaulter for failing to repay a Rs 17.5 crore bank loan. Pratibha Patil had been its chairwoman and director till she became the Governor of Rajasthan in 2004. The loan was taken in 1994 when Pratibha was its chairwoman, but the factory has failed to repay the full amount. The bank sealed the factory on January 23, 2007 after issuing many reminders.

Financial Fraud III : The Shrama Sadhna Trust, a charitable trust in Mumbai of which Ms Patil is the managing trustee, is alleged to have siphoned funds totaling Rs 4.16 crore between 2001 and 2003 from an engineering polytechnic run by it in Jalgaon.

Financial Fraud IV : As Member of Parliament between 1991 and 1996 Pratibha Patil had diverted Rs 36 lakh from her MPLADS fund to a trust run by her husband. This was in violation of Government rules which barred MPs from providing funds to organisation run by their kin.

Scientist President to Ghost-Whisperer President : Patil claims to have spoken to the spirit of the deceased leader in Mount Abu, Rajasthan. The 'Baba' seemed to have entered 'Devi’s' body and he communicated to Patil through the 'Devi'.

The WTF Controversy : In 1975, when she was the Health Minister of Maharashtra, Pratibha Patil advocated in Maharashtra Assembly that people with hereditary diseases should be compulsorily sterilised.

All these allegations, are in no way doctored by me or anyone but derived from records available in the public domain - past and present media reports, statements of employees union, bank statements, RBI notices, payment notices from lenders, police and court enquiries etc.

Guess who will get Presidential immunity now, even if any of the cases above would actually reach judgement stage... (not that any judge would dare to even reach such a point).

Competition for Bush?

For a moment, even if I were to consider that she is clean; and just that this poor woman seems to be at the wrong place and time with everything she is involved in. What amazes me then is how capable and insightful she is, that all these things happened under her nose and she was as clueless as a cow and couldn't do anything in any of these matters. And the reigns of our country is in the hands of this lady now. Looks like Bush has some kick-ass competition for the most incompetent President of the World tag.

The question is why was this woman chosen by the 'meritocratic' UPA. A lot of debate seems to be raging on whether, was it cuz she was a woman, and do women really need this? The thought which comes to my head is, "3 Bullseye by one arrow" :P... (Ek teer se teen nishaan).

Kalam had become unfavorable to the UPA, especially since the dissolution of Bihar assembly issue and the return of the Office of Profit bill. He needed to be removed, without hurting the sentiments of the muslims. Considering he was a popular president and he had given no publicly justifiable reason for him to be ousted so they needed a justification which would ensure no communal sort of propaganda could in any ways be spread by their act. So they get a woman, and say, women need emancipation in this country just like the other minorities, so lets give them a chance.

Now that they say, they want to do their bit in the emancipation, why would the 'feminists' not support them in their noble initiative which it seemed was going to change the position of women in society now on. And which woman do they get? A complying demure woman who would be a rubber stamp President to the Congress Government, like the other Presidents they have elected in the past.

To be honest, of course emancipation of women is needed in the Indian society, but not for the Presidency. Such a narrow top-down approach for a single post would most likely not show any trickling down to the ordinary woman.

Tiger of no jungle : Bal Thackeray

And the dying Shiv Sena, backstabbed the NDA and in-turn its future, to go ahead and support her candidature. And, why? Cuz she is a 'Marathi' woman, in their bid to try and strengthen their Maratha image.

Its almost like, next time onwards we should have a rotation amongst the states as well now, along with the different minorities in deciding who should be the next President. I know there are allegations that I am an AAA :P , but not to this extent, especially when it promotes further divisions against different groups.

UPA Vice-President Nominee : Hamid Ansari

Muslims too, will be given their carrot soon, cuz as justifiable this reason was for there not to be any communal-driven outcry for Kalam, they yet quickly came out with an announcement that they will have a muslim Vice-President. Hmmmm... brilliant stuff ... Hats Off...

The Dynasty... Part I

2007-08-01T21:22:00.000-07:00

We seem to keep going back to the monarchy mindset(rife with nepotism). How does being from a particular family make you capable of ruling the country; as if your 'ancestors' havn't screwed us over enough....

Lets go one at a time :

1. Jawaharlal Nehru :

Nehru and his illicit love affair with Lady Mountbatten which got us into the whole Kashmir mess, as her husband, Lord Mountbatten very cleverly used her to convince Nehru, to approach the United Nations, which was itself at a nascent stage, for resolving the tribal invasion of Kashmir in 1949. And see, where it has led us to. Kashmir is a violence-torn state, with most of it not in our occupation any more.

Too close for comfort? : Nehru with the Mountbattens

And who can forget the 'Hindi-chinii' bhai-bhai (*coughs*) slogan which had been glorified during his time. A naive PM, who couldn't see it coming that the country he was trying to make his 'Rakhi-brother', attacked us in 1961, thousands dying in the process and now occupies over thousands of Sq. km of Indian territory

Pakistan, which has a turbulent relationship with India after the Indian Partition, improved its relations with China after our war with China. Prior to the war, Pakistan also shared a disputed boundary with China, and had proposed to India that the two countries adopt a common defense against "northern" enemies (i.e. China), which was rejected by India. However, China and Pakistan took steps to peacefully negotiate their shared boundaries with Pakistan, beginning autumn 1962, and concluding in December of that year. Ever since, Pakistan and China have been united in their Cold War against India.

I think I would be disagreeing with most people, when I would say that even without Nehru we would have gotten our freedom. And probably would have been better off, with say a Sardar Patel as our PM then. Had Gandhi not pushed the post for his student (Nehru), Patel would have been the appropriate choice for the post.

Mentor & Mentee : Gandhi with Nehru

Being fair to Nehru though, his intentions were alright and he was an honorable man like the thousands of others who died for our freedom, but his governance was at best a train-wreck. Most of the International and security problems we face even today, can be put on the decisions and mismanagement done at that time by Nehru. His statesman like charm could not compensate for the lack of foresight and inability to control things; many believe that is the cause of the start of corruption and mishandling by the Government at that nascent stage itself.

2. Indira Gandhi :

A woman power-hungry and rife with corruption; would have been unmatched in both these traits, had Jayalalitha and Mayawati not come along. Her transformation of India into an almost autocratic governance, was something which would have made even her father turn in his grave.

The Jan Sangh movement, followed by the Emergency declaration, and finally Operation Blue Star, is what comes to my mind first when I think of her time.

In 1975, the High Court of Allahabad declared Gandhi's election invalid on the grounds of corrupt practices. Technically, this constituted election fraud, and the court thus ordered her to be removed from her seat in Parliament and banned from running in elections for six years. This decision had the effect of removing her from office. Gandhi appealed the decision; the opposition parties rallied en masse, calling for her resignation. Strikes by unions and protest rallies paralyzed life in many states. A huge rally surrounded the Parliament building and Gandhi's residence in Delhi, demanding her to behave responsibly and resign.

Gandhi advised the then President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed to declare a state of emergency, claiming that the strikes and rallies were creating a state of 'internal disturbance'. Ahmed being a longtime political ally, gladly obliged. Even before the Emergency Proclamation was ratified by Parliament, Gandhi on the night of June 26, 1975 moved to put an end to any and all opposition to order the arrest of all her principal opposition, including those within the Congress Parliamentary Party. Many of these were men who had first been jailed by the British in the 1930s and 1940s.

Within a few months, President's Rule was imposed on the two non-Congress (party)-ruled states of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu thereby bringing the entire country under direct dictatorial rule from Delhi. Police were granted powers to impose curfews and infinitely detain citizens, while all publications were subjected to substantial censorship by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Before the imposition of the emergency, it is believed that the Gandhi asked for the Army's support in the venture, but General Raina(Chief of Army) bluntly told the Prime Minister that the army would not be used to 'further her ends' but obey only those orders of a 'legally construed government.' . This was considered a crucial moment that kept the Indian Army out of politics at a critical juncture; a key difference between India and Pakistan.

At the peak of the Khalistan movement, the leader of the Sikh religious group, was arrested in Amritsar, but was released twenty-five days later due to lack of evidence. After his release, he relocated himself from his headquarters within the Golden Temple precincts. Gandhi and president Zail Singh ordered the Army to the Golden Temple to remove the militants. In response to the alleged desecration of the Golden Temple, two of Indira Gandhi's own Sikh bodyguards, assassinated her with machine guns in the garden of the Prime Minister's Residence at No. 1, Safdarjung Road in New Delhi.

Smiling Buddha : Indira at Pokhran Nuclear Test site

Though, on the other hand, she was one of the few strong PMs we have had (atleast pre-1977), and she did lead us to a convincing victory in 1971 and made us a nuclear-weapon nation. The initial success of Green Revolution too could be attributed to her. But, the internal harms she caused has ever since, still remains a dark chapter in our country's post-independence history.

3. Sanjay Gandhi

In 1971, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's Cabinet proposed the production of a "people's car" - a cheap, affordable and efficient indigenous machine that middle-class citizens could afford. While Sanjay had no experience, design proposal or tie-ins with any corporation, he was awarded the contract and the exclusive production license. Maruti Udyog, today India's premier automobile manufacturing corporation, was founded by Sanjay Gandhi. Public perception turned against Sanjay, and the government to be perceived as full of corruption.

He seemed to have been the real PM for Indira Gandhi from around 1974 onwards, and one of the biggest influence on her for implementing the Emergency. Rife with corruption himself, he seemed to have inherited the power-craze from his mother; calling all the shots in the Government and abusing all of them as well.

In 1976, Sanjay Gandhi launched a drive to cleanse the city of slums and force their residents to leave the capital. Sanjay reportedly ordered officials of the Delhi Development Authority, headed by his associate Jagmohan, to clear the heavily populated, mostly Muslim slum, near the Turkmen Gate and Jama Masjid in Delhi, forcibly destroying thousands of ramshackle ugly huts, which left hundreds of thousands of people homeless and thousands killed, and led to the permanent ghettoization of the nation's capital.

Sanjay also publicly initiated a widespread family planning program, his "vision" for a contained population growth and a nation without crowding. But this resulted in government officials and police officers forcibly performing vasectomies and in some cases, sterilizing women as well. Officially, men with two children or more had to voluntarily submit to this, but many unmarried young men, political opponents and ignorant, poor men were also believed to have been sterilized. This program is still remembered and criticized in India, and is blamed for creating a public aversion to family planning, which hampered Government programmes for decades.

Sanjay's stunning wife(Maneka - a model; actually came dressed in a Bombay-Dyeing towel in an Ad in those days) and mother-in-law, like leeches sucking off the royalty name, were despised by Indira.

Some blame Sanjay for the kind of negative and destructive effect he had on his mother, and how he used his emotional control for getting things done, often not in the best interest of the country. She was obviously unhappy with the state of things happening around her, both personally and professionally as her power slipped out, but had no choice.

Then, Sanjay Gandhi died in a freak plane crash at his flying club (soft death for someone so notorious, I believe). Though, her reaction was astonishing when she didn't even think twice before throwing out her son's widow and her grandson(Varun Gandhi), barely a week after the death of her son.

Maneka, Varun and Maneka Gandhi at Sanjay's funeral

More on this great family will continue, with her son Rajiv and daughter-in-law.

Women 'Disempowerment' - Kiran Bedi

2007-07-26T20:59:00.000-07:00

India's first woman IPS Officer

Women empowerment - the agenda endorsed and publicised as the 'key' reason behind Pratibha Patil's appointment as India's first woman president - lost the little merit it had gained in some pockets, when it came to giving India's first woman IPS officer the post of the Delhi police commissioner. India's first woman IPS officer Kiran Bedi lost the Delhi police chief's post to a junior male colleague.

Women officials in the civil services are in fact very small in number-as less as just 15 per cent. It's a strange coincidence that such a thing has happened three times over in the Civil Services just in the recent future at the top level alone.

It happened in the Indian Administrative Service when a lady was in the race for the post of Cabinet Secretary. It's happened with the Indian Foreign Services officer Veena Sikri who was in the race for the post of foreign secretary (losing out to Shiv Shankar Menon). And now it has happened to Kiran Bedi, an IPS officer. Three women who were making it in terms of seniority have all lost out.

While there seems to be no specified report on the basis of the decision and why it was justified to exclude Bedi, rumors from the home ministry suggests Kiran Bedi was barred from the post because she is seen as 'anti-establishment' person-someone above the system who symbolizes the middle-class hero. Some sources in the Home Ministry say that it was her non-involvement in active policing that has acted as a deterrent.

Lets review her inexperience in Active Policing :

Handled the narcotics control bureau. Has done four-years of proactive police training. Trained seventy percent of the force, has done 16 different countries of the world in peace-keeping which meant totally reviving police systems in these broken down countries. Handled Mizoram and by the time she finished her tenure of two-and-half-years of hard area posting, she achieved considerable progress as the insurgent groups signed surrender and put cessation of arms. Traffic assignments-one during Asian games, and then commonwealth heads of governments in Goa.

Well, its clear what's not the reason for her exclusion, now.

Complying figurehead : Pratibha Patil

All the incidents, including this is an apt reflection of India’s patriarchal society, indicating only certain “type” of women would be allowed to rise in corridors of power (so much for having a Western woman and a certain Sheila Dikshit at the helm of things for the country and the city-state respectively).

Hence a demure, non-threatening complying figurehead Pratibha Patil - who keeps her head covered with her sari pallu - makes an ideal President for UPA, while the short-haired, no-nonsense cop Kiran Bedi - who matches her male counterparts talent-for-talent - is seen a misfit for another top position.

The broader issue here is the need for transparency. I think this applies across the board to all the services. We need an independent bureaucracy as that is one of the key elements of good governance. Again.... Long shot... but achievable

The Tamilian, the Punjabi and the Muslim - An evening at a Makan place

2007-07-25T05:43:00.000-07:00

Today's post will be slightly different, an account of three very different personalities I met today. A Tamilian, a Punjabi and a Muslim all living in Singapore.

Story of the Tamilian - An Odd job man living here for the last 40 years, who on probing knew all about the Xingyi (Inner Strength) martial arts amongst many others. He even gave us a brief overview and demonstrations on it; as one of my friends prepared to take on a Chinese fellow in some spar-turned-fight-turned-dead or alive battle thanks to some great flakyness. The man when he approached us, I thought he was some drug peddler coming to meet one of my notorious friends, but turns out he was just another odd job man who had probably the most planned time-table I have ever heard, where even the exact timing of his 5 hours daily chilling at the coffee shop was scheduled.

Xingyi : Inner Strength???

His insights on how 'China-boys' don't have any balls to fight alone, and would be kicked by any Indian brawn were rather offensive but none the less interesting to note. He was also of the belief that the reason he lost his job, was because his Chinese employers had plotted against him by alleging that he was late often for his job (which was alarming as even his coffee and walk time seemed to be so strictly scheduled everyday). Just when I was beginning to appreciate the lack of racism amongst the Singaporeans; his interesting insights were stopped when our next feature arrived. The Punjabi...

Dharmendra : Trend setter for Punjabis

Story of the Punjabi - 'Claims' to be Dharmendra's (that's right the Bollywood star) cousin and was a Police Officer here for the last 35 years. Further revealed, that he has a new girlfriend every month; and guess what he has two grown kids with a living wife. This liberalism, I thought was some sort of similarity and proof of his lineage to Dharmendra - who incidentally has two wives and even converted to Islam to make it possible. But as it turns out, as learnt from a trusted Punjabi Singaporean source, this is a very acceptable trend amongst most middle-aged Punjabis here; Gosh, never knew being a Punjabi had perks like these... since I was unfortunate enough not to be born as one I think its time I found a Punjabi girl so I could atleast try and become one now ;) .

Story of the Muslim - Save the best for last - By far the most interesting one; Originally from the capital of India, came here a few years back - now working here after having studied in Singapore's finest 'Temasek Polytechnic' - with an accent that even I could not contain my laughter(p.s. - I have quite an Indian accent) - 'teddy bear (said rhyming with dear)'. His allegiance to a certain Dawood Ibrahim (for the ignorant, he is India's most wanted and currently in Karachi), his family relations with a senior Muslim politician, a great gun collection back home and being from one of my favorite cities; all these things made him one of the people I would have liked to spend time with listening to on a free Wednesday evening (i.e a person full of crap).

Dawood Ibrahim : The Great Allegiance

Then he began to tell great tales of his valour, with some what seemed like justifications on his not so big size : "What is the point of wasting time in the Gym, when you can have a gun instead..?". Haa haa, that would be the best way to have justified such a thing; why didn't I think of that. darn!

Then came a very interesting story,
"We were all at my cousin's marriage last year, and someone from the crowd came and bit me; That pissed me off, so I just threw a punch in the crowd" Huh! ok...

"I think I punched the wrong person, so that person punched me back and 12 of my cousins drew out their pistols and rifles, and the other guys party drew it out as well,"

and when it already wasn't weird enough he said " this was all happening at the mandap(altar) during the ceremony, while I was rolling with laughter, because of what I had caused.". WHAT!!! wow, if some lay man heard this story he would think a usual Muslim family back in India would be pretty much like this.

Then came his supposed great taunts/jokes (don't know what else to call them :S), "My religion is at war, and with my people we can make any place a war zone, if we want to " haa haa...???

"I talk not with my fist, but with my bullets." - James Bond, aren't we?

Considering he is about 23, and you need to be atleast 25(with a government job) to get a gun; I pretty much would assume he was referring to his family arms arsenal of illegal guns.

Turns out this dude, had also got a bunch of Smugglers to this place, and had even introduced them to one of my friends sometime back, as they wanted to invest here. Thank God, my friend had the brains to back off, but I believe that those guys did manage to invest here and probably made good returns.

What people don't realise is that, such smugglers use this kind of money to further fund attacks and terrorist activities. It is proved that terrorists are using real-estate and commodities markets in Asia even in places like Mumbai to further raise money. It is a serious matter, but our friend here doesn't need to care, does he?

Wow, such people get work visas here, and who said Singapore is not diverse; I no longer think so especially after seeing such cases lol....

Moral of the stories : Wherever Indians go, they are bound to take with them diversity (along with absolute freakiness ofcourse).

Women in Indian Politics

2007-07-24T19:14:00.000-07:00

Long debate over whether women in India are a political under-class or not. Women, though I still believe are a political minority by every definition in the book, but it seems like (though in quite a few years) things may start to look good for them.

If you would see with regards to numerical minority, they comprise just under 8%(or 40 of the 543) of the parliament today; and comprise totally just under 10% of all state assemblies.

Sonia Gandhi & Sheila Dikshit

Most women who are considered the for-bearers of the torch of women liberation at the higher positions even amongst these few a number are all at their postion thanks to nepotism(Sonia Gandhi, Sheila Dikshit, Rabri Devi, Vasundhara Raje etc) or by virtue of having been a male politician's mistress(Mayawati, Jayalalitha).

Most of them belong to an elite class, which does in no way reflect how women have it up there. They alone (even if we assume most tried) have not been able to change too much for the ordinary women's path upward.

Its been over 14 years since such 'strong' women supposedly started pushing for the Women Reservation Bill; but are yet to achieve any headway. What does that mean?

They are a minority even in respect to the amount of clout or influence they hold for basic women political rights.

Khaleda Zia & Sheikh Hasina

Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia, both stalwart women politicians and daughters of the founding fathers of Bangladesh, did in no ways depict the real condition of women in Bangladesh, or their social/political rights. Women till today are considered 2nd class citizens there, and forget their election to public office even a girl's birth is yet not looked as a happy affair; as it is one of the criteria which allows a man to remarry.

Thank God, India is much better off in the status of women than them, but what the above example clearly shows is that by just having some elitist strong women at the top, does in no way show the strength of ordinary women in politics or that they are not a political minority. Women have it much tougher up the political chain even today, than a man ever could.

The fact is that being a social minority, automatically entails you to be a political minority. The two are not as unrelated as it may seem; the same principle applies here what applies for being a social minority, where men do all they can to not let women up on an equal platform even on the political sphere (like in social sphere). Which is what we witness whenever the Women Reservation Bill has been blocked dozens of times(with all sorts of excuses) after being introduced in the last 14 years.

Sushma Swaraj

Having said that there are some women who have come up the chain without the support of nepotism like Sushma Swaraj, Renuka Chowdhay. But they are too few a number to really show any sort of progress of women equality in politics.

There also are a few women politicians who are doing all they can for women empowerment even with all these obstacles, and there seems to be some ray of hope and future looks kind of bright as the social status of women also gets uplifted, Swaraj during her time did manage through the NDA a reservation of 33 per cent of the seats atleast in panchayats for women.

Gathering of Panchayat women leaders

Before this policy, they did not even have women prepared or ready for leadership positions; but now as a result of the policy, political parties have to search for women. Most men did not want women to come forward, so they have put forward their wives, sisters-in-law and mothers(just as we had seen sometimes even in national politics). But talented, educated women though not a large number, also have came forward.

Because now the women who would eventually serve as mayors and as chairmen of the municipal committees will be groomed as prospective candidates for legislative assemblies and eventually the parliament. Long shot... but, it is very much achievable.

There is still some time before women truly are able to consolidate themselves in the State and country assemblies, as a force to reckon with. Until then the ordinary woman would unfortunately continue to remain an under-class in politics.

Indian Stereotype for Americans... Absolutely Hilarious

2007-07-23T21:25:00.000-07:00

The Minority Report... continues

2007-07-23T18:16:00.004-07:00

We also are a socialist country, and capitalism and free markets(i.e. in this case following meritocracy) do well, but not at the cost of leaving a major section of people behind. That was why the word 'Socialist' was included in our Preamble in 1974.

Free markets, absolute meritocracy and capitalism is beneficial to the whole country, only when all citizens can boast of equal opportunity. Otherwise, it just does the contrary by making the rich richer and the poor poorer, and as in this case leaving the disadvantaged/poor in a vicious cycle. In the hype of globalisation, what people fail to look at is the inequality between the rich and the poor which is on the rise.

Socialism (not to be confused with Communism) implies economic equality (amongst other things) which means that the government will endeavor to make the distribution of wealth more equal and provide a decent standard of living for all. None would disagree that its better done by ensuring equal opportunity for all, rather than distribution of actual wealth like Robin Hood.

So it would be shying away from our responsibility to leave a major chunk of our population to fend for themselves, when clearly they are disadvantaged by economic background and lack of opportunities.

To assume that meritocracy and meritocratic scholarships (which exist a plenty in India) would solve this issue for the millions, is I would say a bit selfish on our part. Because, the point is already most of them are disadvantaged on account of things like coaching, guidance, training, lack of food, family survival etc (amongst others). To think, how many would really come up battling through all such hardships and even make it to the scholarships. a 100? What about the rest?

A kid studying in a village or municipal school does not enjoy the same status in society as another who has studied in an elite public school, caste notwithstanding. A better system of Affirmative Action(AA) would be one which seeks to address the main factor of exclusion at work and education in society which restrict a person's competitive abilities(primarily stemming from economic background). Such a system was even in place in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) till a few decades back and is used by both Universities and the industry in the USA.

The Black Robe

Affirmative Action schemes are in place in many countries including USA. Affirmative Action programmes are beneficial to the under-privileged, and have done a lot for the emancipation of blacks. There have been studies showing that Blacks who enter elite institutions with lower test scores and grades than those of whites achieve notable success after graduation. They earn advanced degrees at rates identical to those of their white classmates. They are even slightly more likely than whites from the same institutions to obtain professional degrees .

Maybe, it did not solve every black man's problem, but it has done much more good than what just leaving them to meritocratic scholarships would have done.

The reason why it did do good and we do see positive trends is because USA recognized the factors of exclusion and discrimination which people face working in society (such as race, economic factors etc) and implemented it based on that, while caste-based reservations focus only on caste only for the sake of narrow political ends. So we too need to peep into our basket and look at the factors of exclusion for certain people in our society; from what seems to have been gathered, it is primarily economic conditions and if there seems to be more like gender, we should take it into consideration for our reservations as well.

Having said that, scholarships and highly subsidized fees for the under-privileged should obviously be given, just as it is offered to all the reservation people of today. But as said before, I believe that this measure alone would not be enough in helping the poor class.

There is no denying that most of us are fed up with even the idea of quotas, justifiably so since it is being misused, and normal people are losing out; but there is still a need for it amongst millions of people to better their lives; just that it needs to be approached differently to cater to them. And, I do not believe it would be such a big issue for us if real disadvantaged people would be using this stepping stone.

Having said that, I also don't think it is appropriate to have a reservation for an indefinite period, and it should be reviewed from time to time, to assess its efficiency and think of improvements for the betterment of our poor.

The steepest and most slippery slope

Things like slippery slope, can hardly be spoken about in this context; because there cannot be a steeper slope than the one we are at today, with regards to reservations; where people are growing to demand it for an increasing number of groups everyday. This is because of the politicization of this quota system, which the reservation based on castes induced(one of the most critical reasons why caste politics even exist till today in India).The divisional forces which seem to exist amongst people today, thanks to each group demanding for their inclusion. Caste Based Reservation only perpetuate the notion of caste in society, rather than weakening it as a factor of social consideration, as envisaged by the constitution.

Caste-Wars : Gujjar Violence in Rajasthan

An example is the recent riots in Rajasthan, where the whole state was at standstill when the Gujjars were up at arms against the Meenas(belong to Scheduled Tribes), after the Gujjars demanded reservations for their groups as well. A blanket economic system,would reduce one of the divisive factors within the people, where no group alone felt alienated or biased against (or had an excuse for it).

The point which is attempting to be made is about principle, rather than the operational efficiency of it. Though its important to see that too; as Rules are never enough. Whether a quota system reaches its objective depends largely on the process of implementation.

But even if you consider that, implementing reservation based on economic background will have far way lesser loop holes than the present system, and hence, will do far more good than what the present one is doing.To determine the economic standing would obviously take in account factors like annual income, assets owned (in case of businesses), expenses per annum.

If the fear is that of richer people(ineligible people) taking advantage of it, then what we forget is that we have income tax and salary records which would be needed to show eligibility (which is surprisingly available as e-records now for all tax payers), as compared to a false caste certificate from some God-farsaken District Magistrate or a caste certificate for someone who is privileged and shouldn't be availing of this quota.

People who are tax payers or children of tax payers should not be eligible for reservation. This is will ensure that benefits reach poorest of the poor.

Needless to say there will be cracks as there are quite a few who do not declare their income, but I would say far lesser than present; as we already seem to have a relatively more efficient way of determining at least whether a person is 'poor' or not. If he pays any amount of tax, means he isn't eligible (Annual income of Rs. 1 Lakh is a good enough means to determine if someone is well-off).

As a Government while deciding, it is important to contrast the benefits and the disadvantages of this, while not losing focus on the Greater Good (too much of harry potter :P). Wishful thinking... maybe....

The Minority Report...

2007-07-21T08:05:00.000-07:00

Our founding fathers while writing the constitution, wrote the Caste/Tribal Reservation provision and rightfully so, as under those times there was a sociological disadvantage for most of these groups. They did not give it for it to be used as a political tool, which now doesn't even solve anything for these groups. The people who do avail of this reservation today are mainly two kinds.

People whose parents too had used this same flawed system and became successful (i.e. the last people who this was meant for or who even need it)

People from higher castes who vie for this easy-entry by getting fake/doctored low caste certificates (you will be surprised on how big this number is). In my engineering days in India, there were 7 non-SC/ST people in my class of 60 alone, who were proud of their smart easy-entry by getting fake SC/ST certificates.

So, who is the loser from all this? The 6-year old tribal boy in the Chaibasa village of Jharkhand; who still is left out from this help. The sociological demographics of the country has changed in the last 60 years. People are no longer disadvantaged only because of caste system but mainly due to their economic shortcomings, which probably doesn't permit them to even send their children to school, and they get caught in a vicious cycle as all these avenues spoken of above are hogged by people who don't deserve to get it.

What we need to do, is see the issues with current status quo and make this reservation useful for who it is meant for. A benchmark economic status is crucial to ensure the right people avail of this, i.e. only people below, say annual income of Rs. 60,000, can avail of this benefit.

But, the problem is that the topic of reservation is such a taboo, that no political party dares to even bring up anything which could be perceived as an anti-SC/ST move, for fear of losing their market share to the rival party.

All-time favorite : Laloo Yadav and me

The sum total reservation percentage for Indian college admissions is close to 66-75% now, just leaving a measly 25% for the general public.With Muslim reservation and OOBC (Other Other Backward classes lol) also being discussed, though what caught my eye was this one from the great Laloo 'Harvard-renowned' Yadav who wanted to push for this in the next session of parliament. What is the answer to help higher castes who are disadvantaged by the enormous reservations for lower castes? ....... more reservations, now for higher castes! Whoa! did I hear that right?

So all we get now is more and more, moving us to a reservation-driven society instead of moving to a meritocratic one. With indication from the 'Economist' PM and the UPA, who seem to be trying to introduce reservation even into the private sector; that is probably the scariest things of them all. The sector which is driving our country today, being plagued by the same disease which the Government has, would be the end of all the great dreams we seem to be harnessing for the country. Which party would even think of opposing such a bill; to each their chair is dear.

At times, I believe that we need a Presidential kind of democracy, where hard decisions like these could be made without getting entrapped in a circle of political nonsense such as these.

But, then I recall Indira Gandhi and George Bush, and realize the harms of giving so much of power to one individual, even in a democracy can be catastrophic beyond even the harms which come about by a slow system such as ours(i.e thousands died in Operation Bluestar , millions in Iraq to just name a few of their great deeds).

So for now, lets just go on with, "Bhagwaan Bharose India chal rahaa hai..." lol... please refer to Bhargava's Hindi dictionary for the meaning of that. And while you're at it, do look up the meaning of 'Dhoom-Dham'. Trust me its worth finding out, what the Hrithik movie was implying.

Adieu Kalam...

2007-07-20T13:26:00.000-07:00

I would not be exaggerating if I called Indian President Abdul Kalam, one of the most popular Presidents India has ever had. This post is dedicated to him, on the last day of his presidency.

The Rashtrapati Bhavan(President's house) had over 350 rooms, and 100s of employees. The President is given the treatment that a Viceroy would get pre-1947. But, it is this President who still refused to have a 7 course meal prepared everyday, payed for his meals, and refused any gifts which are conferred to him even as a President.

According to the Chief of Staff there, even the employees were ashamed to be a part of any corrupt practices in the presence of such a man. They felt cheap to even organize dinners and use government resources for their personal benefits when the President himself doesn't (especially when it is his entitlement to do so).

In his time, besides being a youth icon and an inspiration to all, he did a lot to reach out to children trying his best to motivate them with his ideas and enthusiasm. One of the most learned people to ever take the post, I believe his tenure made the Indian Presidency relevant again, and kids even knew who the President was (when probably they had no clue about our PM).

I believe that even if rumours of him, being instrumental in getting the nuclear secrets from France / US, were true; the point is he did it to make our country self-reliant and secure, and the rumour becomes irrelevant atleast in my eyes. I'd much rather have him do it for his own country than leaking it to Iran and a bunch of other fanatic countries.

He joins a handful bunch of Presidents who tried to protect people's interests by the limited powers they have . In mid-2006, President Abdul Kalam sent back a controversial bill regarding enlarging the scope of the offices of profit, which disqualify a person from being a member of parliament. Though, obviously the Congress just resent it to him, forcing him to sign. (since the President has the authority to send back a bill only once)

Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam initially said that he would be fighting for the top post only if his win was certain, but later wisely walked out of the race. It is true that Kalam was deeply hurt by the foul language used by some Congress men, who would much rather have a nobody politician than him (her great accomplishments will be discussed soon).

I would just hope that he continues to remain an inspiration for the whole country, even after his tenure.

Vote Ron Paul 2008 - oh wait, I'm not American.. thank God for that

2007-07-17T13:26:00.001-07:00

Following the US Presidential debates, and eating is all what I seem to have been doing last few days.

The 2 people who impress me are, Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul.The former a democrat and the latter, a Republican. Their stances are quite different on everything except foreign policy and personal liberty. While one seems inclined to free market principle for everything including postal services, the other is tilting to the 'sicko'-glorified socialized health-care. But, what amazes me most about these 2, and especially Ron Paul, is their integrity and consistency. Something which is amiss in most politicians today.

Both voted against the Patriot Act and the Iraq war, citing it as irrelevant to the war against terror. Both were labelled as Anti-American by the great US media. Only these 2 can proudly stand by what they believed in, now that it has been proven they were right all along.

(Ron Paul also did win brownie points in my eyes for making it very clear that US supporting a military dictatorship like Pakistan is stupidity and saying that Osama is hiding in Pakistan - the only one with any guts to admit it.)

The people I thought I would support are the ones now I believe, actually full of crap i.e. Clinton, John Edwards, Obama. Clinton and the rest of the Democrats, really seem to be looking like a bunch of clueless idiots, to be seen especially when asked, how can the people support your judgment as President when you too voted for the war? Its ridiculous, you can see even they don't believe in their own answers to the above question.

Smart Alec Edwards can come out and apologize on the vote, but that doesn't change anything, even George Bush may be thinking the same thing that had he known how the war will turn out, he wouldn't have gone in. Its just that Dubya doesn't have the liberty to admit to his mistakes, as he is still the President and it wouldn't exactly be the best morale booster for the troops.

Republicans are 2 steps ahead, all of them save Ron Paul still feel that the war was bloody justified, they only have a problem with how it was 'managed'. Ahem... so what was the mismanagement? No word on that... Republicans love Rhetoric, they are the epitome of a true politician - all applause-patriotic lines, no rationality.

Ron Paul is the most popular candidate on the internet, I just hope it translates into some real votes for him becoming the Republican candidate. As of now though, Giuliani seems to be the favourite, if he does land up winning, he deals with the Presidency better than how he deals with his personal life (3 divorces).

Its kinda amazing how I, being a foreign national am so concerned about what is going to happen in the US elections, more than this year's Indian President elections.

Answer is very clear: Unlike the US President, the Indian President is a titular/ceremonial position, which is just a cool avenue for most political parties to play to the minorities by putting someone from their group on the throne. (KR Narayanan - SC/ST, Kalam - Muslims, and now Pratibha Patil - Women). The US President is a post which probably affects my life and my world, much more than my own President's elections would.

Do visit www.ronpaul2008.com and see what the guy is all about,