Silly Nationalism

So, here is the story of another Indian (by birth) winning a world acclaim and the media and a section of the Indian masses trying to latch on to any iota of 'Indianess' that might exist in Venki Ramakrishnan, to be part of that hard-earned accomplishment of the noble prize winner. Are we in such a drought of an Indian exploit, which makes us cling on to any Indianess in individual achievers across the globe?

Other than the scientific fraternity, who has had the privilege to work with the professor, how many on earth would have really known this individual till the day he won this accolade? Even by the scientist’s own claim, he had visited India very few times in the last 3 decades and that is how much amount of Indianess left in him, after having relocated to the lands of opportunity in pursuit of his dream.

May be as an individual who knows the professor or who has been associated with him or his work in some way, I would celebrate his success. How can the country take credit and be part of the success?

As the scientist himself has said it many times, let us not judge accomplishments by mere awards, for there are hundreds of other scientists who toil under the limited infrastructure at our disposal in our country and who every day wrack their brains to fight the bureaucratic and political tangles within our scientific establishments.

Given that, let us celebrate the individual's Nobel on the merits of his accomplishment as a member of the scientific fraternity and not as an 'Indian'. May be India provided the genes or the few fortunate teachers sowed the seeds of wisdom on Venki Ramakrishnan in his early school days. But, we lost that and continue to lose that privilege with the brain drain of so many individuals who migrated to greener pastures – more rightly so.

For a nation of more than a billion, there is no dearth of silly controversies and I cannot but admire the scientist’s response on nationalistic jingoism - one of the Best I have read to reinforce simple common sense!

What ...?

This has been the reaction of majority of the people across the globe on hearing about Obama winning the Nobel Peace prize. First time when this news item popped-out in Google, I thought it is the bookies at play and it took me a while to realize what I am reading is in fact true.

Obama himself had to play it down, equating it to a prank played by his daughters. Just few days back his celebrity status was put to reality by the first round elimination of his hometown Chicago for the 2016 Olympics race and now he has to accept, rather embarrassingly, this global celebrity status.

So, what would have made the prize award committee to this decision? Sometimes we do attribute people, for who they are not than who they really are. Perhaps the ghosts of George Bush is still helping Obama, in the fact that the world feels so relieved and celebrating the absence of a Bush and his hawkish coterie to decide the fate of the world!

The conservatives within the US could see this as a conspiracy by the Europeans to weaken the American strategy on the ongoing war and the possible toughening of stand against Iran. Is this prize going to take the commander of the American force more on the path of dialogue than blazing missiles?

Has this landed Mr. Obama with yet another monkey on his back, to engage the world in dialogue than missiles?

What effect this would have on the individual, who is also the supreme commander of a force that is engaged in at least 2 full-blown wars, which are in no sight of end in the foreseeable future. Especially at a time when he is in the midst of a serious deliberation to increase the head count in Afghanistan by nearly 40,000 additional men.

Then there is Iran, the Pak-Afghan border that is increasingly becoming the nerve center of global terror, the missile-shield tussle with the Russians - that seems to have simmered down a bit for now, the ever boiling Netanyahu and a world that is ever turning hostile on nuclear armaments.

Though Obama inherited this foreign policy mess, as an American, the same pair of hands that is going to receive this Peace prize, is not without any stains of blood.

It sure is quite intriguing that the Nobel committee that could not find a merit to award the peace prize to Mahatma Gandhi on 5 different occasions when he was nominated, found a compelling case for Obama, when he hardly had been in the office for two weeks, since his nomination!

There are human rights activists, all across the globe, fighting their life out for causes so close to their heart, while a simple reach out to the Muslim community and much other mere rhetoric by Obama, appears to have convinced the prize committee.

Oh, does this world make sense to anyone?

Anyway, Mr. Obama, for whatever you have done or not done, Good Luck and Yes, you can!

C'mon, cut the ...

You could not ask for a better juicy spice to add to the headlines on an Independence Day, other than to talk about your civil liberties and freedom being compromised over the incident of how our own SRK was detained and questioned upon his entry into the United States.

What is wrong?

The point is not about the paranoia that has gripped the US since the aftermath of 9/11 and just having a last name that is synonymous with a specific religion drives them to into this extra mode of caution. Perhaps, as it does on some cases, the xenophobia potentially could drive few people go over-board. That is a different issue, altogether.

The point is not that SRK was questioned for 2 hours; our concern was more that he was questioned just like any other normal citizens and treated un-fairly!

It is high time we get over this regal shame of giving this VIP treatment to individuals, even in areas that matter the most, like Security. If the US reserves the right of a harsh preferential treatment on the basis of a last name, so do we. We have an institutionalized preferential treatment based on societal standing that goes too soft on few people. This is going to cause us more damage than we could ever understand.

Seldom we, Indians, like to be frisked or even stopped at the gate by the duty bound security guards. At work places, I have seen the frown on the faces of people walking or driving past the security gate, when the security guard asks them to display their id cards.

Why? Because of the simple indifferent attitude that ‘Who is he to question or stop me?’ But, we do want the Best of protection and security and always look at it as the other people's responsibility. It’s not me; it’s him! Hello! The other fellow is just doing his job and how on earth is he going to know that Your Majesty is above the law - though none of us is not – and you should not be touched?

What puts me off at airports or the work place is not I being checked, but the lackadaisical way in which it is being done, under the guise of preferential treatment to the elite few. I have seen many instances at work places where, just to keep the visiting white skinned babu happy, our people taking the short cuts of skipping or rushing the mandatory security checks on the individual and his physical belongings like the laptop, which he carries.

Added to the SRK incident is the comedy of one of the minister’s comment – “we should do tit for tat”. Please do. Not doing that is the issue and don't spare anyone. There will be tons of people who would be more than happy to be strip-searched, if that can only give them the comfort feeling of being secure.

Who are we to decide who is an icon and who is not? In the absence of it, let us all be equally treated as law abiding citizens.

Treat no one as a ‘Global Icon’ and get over the colonial hangover of being sycophantic.

Swine Contd.

When I was trying to explain the swine flu basics to my 6 year old son, he immediately asked, ‘Pa, I thought only the big bad wolf is bad and the 3 little pigs are good?’ Yes, may be that could be the reason why we call this as a Swine Flu and not a Pig flu – to spare the poor 3 little pigs!

Though the media appears to have moved away from the swine flue scare and other issues have started appearing in the headlines over the last few days, but the effects of paranoia is still a scare. Fortunately, the good thing I am observing in the media’s stance over the past few days, is one of education and awareness along with the deathometer, they track every minute. But, credit sure goes to them for some of the most informative discussions with people from the medical fraternity from across the globe.

That, I think, is the fundamental issue in the way this crisis was managed by the civic administration. One of the parodies of this information age is our disability to sift out the right information – perhaps the semantic web would fix that. While googling, gives me every bit of information, it does not help me in deciding what is right for me. Perhaps you would soon see information about swine flu awareness appear first in the page rank than the horror stories of the epidemic.

Creating the right public awareness was the most missed-out portion in managing this crisis. The moment, this pandemic showed its color, the government or even any socially inclined pharmaceutical corporate could have launched

a) Full-page advertisement to educate the masses on the basic hygiene steps to be followed

b) Distribute pamphlets to the masses

c) Use the government owned TV channels to communicate, rather than showing the pathetic state of the people queuing up at the despicably few testing centers at our disposal

Sounds too common-sensical?

Swine Panic

Thanks to the 24×7 vigil and panic show orchestrated by the media, H1N1 is the talk of the town. The whole nation, at least in the metros, is running helter-skelter hunting for a place to take cover from this deadly virus.

Though the government – under the disguise of the feel-good statistics comparing the fatalities of ours to the developed nations – is taking credit for the job done or not done so far, god forbid, think for a moment the reality of our health infrastructure, if at all there is one, if this pandemic is to hit us with little more vigor. I was reminded of the movie Outbreak, where the administration decides to annihilate an entire town, while Dustin Hoffman goes is in hunt of the host. Unlike the Bird Flu, where millions of the poor birds were culled, we cannot cull the humans here when it is proven that the original carrier of this deadly virus, the swine is not the cause now!

For a nation of more than a billion, centers equipped to test this deadly virus is few little, and even there, it is the pitiful state of limited workforce working overtime. Think about their motivation levels! For a city of the size of Chennai, there are just two centers, which can test this virus, and not surprisingly one ran out of the testing kits within hours, on the first day. The government prescribed hospitals is places I pray to God, not visit in my lifetime, or wish even for my worst foes, given the sorry state in which they are.

It is a pitiable site to see patients who are already suffering the viral attack, standing in long beelines. Leave alone availability of proper testing kits, there is no one to offer the commonsensical shelter or a place to sit for those patients waiting in the line. Keeps me wonder what does our civic administration really do?

As we put forth our claim to be on the map of the developed nations and vie for our rightful place among the global leaders or a UNSC seat, it is these calamities that either put us in the right perspective or showcase our ability or inability to manage a catastrophe of this magnitude and scale.

Thank heavens; this epidemic has not spread its wings across our poor villages, which invariably happen to be the chosen one to bear the brunt of any unfortunate calamity, be it drought or floods.

Though it was heartening to know that 3 of our own testing centers are spearheading the global effort to create a vaccine for the H1N1, it might either be too late before the crisis worsens or the deadly virus might have mutated into a more potent form.

N95 was the most searched item in Google by the Indians and when I heard it first, I thought it was one of the recent Nokia mobile phone. This again is a product from one of the most innovative firms in the globe – 3M. Why isn’t there a simple testing kit available for our own citizens? Where are the Indian players and the private enterprise, other than the few pharmaceutical companies? Why don’t we have an Indian version of the mask or Purel to suit the wallets of the Indian consumers?

Are the Indian corporate giants like Reliance, Tata, Birlas, Bharti or L&T driven only by market based economics and focus on myopic business viability in their ventures? How many firms that art part of the Sensex or Nifty could contribute to this nation in a moment of crisis like this? That would be a huge moment of truth for the government to contemplate in their policy decisions, especially at a time when the sit on the table on talks to bailout the sick airlines.

Paying your taxes alone does not exempt you from national duties. It would be interesting to constitute an index based on contribution to nation building and the difference the business enterprises bring to human lives.

Gangaikonda Cholapuram

Thanks to my recent allure to my camera, recently, I did happen to visit this ancient, but spectacular temple of Gangaikonda Cholapuram. I have been to Thanjavur many times, but seldom did I care to visit this historical site, which I have read about a lot in my school history lessons.

Just a couple of hours drive from Thiruvaiyaru on the way to Chidambaram, right on the highway, you have Gangaikonda Cholapuram. Today, this historical place is nothing but a small hamlet by the roadside. Except for the majestic temple, you get to see few petty shops and tiny houses spread across the village.

Thanks to the UNESCO and the Archaeological Survey of India, this temple is now one of the protected heritage sites. The temple premises are so darn tidy with lush green lawns sprawling across the few acres.


Other than the historical significance, somehow the deity has not caught the religious fervor of our folks and no wonder there was hardly any crowd to be seen inside the temple. The day I went, the priest came running towards us, for not to lose the rare visitors and the change that he gets after performing the aarti.Though the main vimanam, looks similar to the Big Temple in Tanjore, it does lack the majesty of the Big Temple and so does the sandstone nandhi. Could not believe my eyes, that all these figurines have survived the travails of over 1000 years!

More difficult would be to survive from the hands of our fellow Indians. Typical of any of our historical sites, many of these sculptures carry the insipid scribbling of the visitors and their names.

If you were to believe that, this place once was the magnificent capital city of the great Chola emperors, right from Rajendra Chola and followed by the Kulothunga Chola, it is extremely painful to believe, looking at the sad state of this town.

Other than the petty shop that sells candies and thirst quenchers, there is hardly any humanity. For the curious buff, I did find a tiny book in the petty shop, narrating the history of this once illustrious kingdom.

Where did we lose sight of our history and heritage? I kept wondering, what would it take for us to attract the crowd towards us and relive our grand past, similar to how the visitors throng the sites of once Roman and Greek might?

Do visit Gangaikonda Cholapuram if you happen to be near its vicinity. You sure will walk down the memory lanes and relive some of the history lessons of your school days.

So far away ...

Couple of days back we marked the event of six months, since the horrific terror attacks in Mumbai and not surprisingly, the TV media paraded its darlings, Suhel Seth, Shobe De et al, to rant out their frustration against the fact that nothing really has changed on the ground since then. Yes, definitely so.

Caught between the claim to uphold our constitutional rights and our inept judicial system, we have a case that is still being waged against Kasab, when the evidence clearly shows beyond doubt, how he walked around the city spewing bullets. There was also the news on how one samajwadi party MP reportedly has put the brakes on the government from purchasing modern weapons for the Mumbai police. NSG hub in Mumbai and other metros is still far away from reality.

So, all the elite could do, similar to post 26/11, is to vent out their anger on prime-time television, which they are extremely good at. Leave alone the fact that, majority of the Mumbaikars preferred to give the elections a miss and the turnout was pathetic compared to the rest of the country.

That is how much the urban folks care about the polity of this nation and no wonder the Congress was able to sweep the Mumbai constituencies, even as the city is being dealt with one of the most insipid administration, either during the terror strike or the deluge that happens every monsoon.

Do the politicians really care about urban voices? Or, is it the other way around? Do we really care about ourselves, beyond the yells and shout.

Call it the very sorry state of our democracy, we are no way close to reforming the political main stream, which has gotten rot over years of mis-rule by netas of various parties and the dust and slime covering the pillars of our parliament would require a great deal of work to rescue it from the ruins of sheer negligence and corrupt policies of various governments over the years.

Majority of the electorate still do not watch these prime-time talk shows and for them, the few rupees thrown out by a Mulayam or an Azhagiri, or a promise from a Karunananidhi or a YSR, appeals more than even the fundamental bijili, sadak, paani. They are the preferred choice of electorate and the ones who still get to decide whom to send to the parliament, not the urban middle-class from the metros.

Not that the voters of the metros are cared less, but what is cared even more is to sustain and strengthen that ignorance of the huge section of our society, that is yet to reap the benefits of the economic boom, by dividing them on regional and caste lines.

Last election saw few interesting faces in the form of Mallika Sarabhai from Gandinagar, Capt. Gopinath from Bangalore, Meera Sanyal from Mumabi, throwing their strength in the political ring, which so far has been chastised as a show of the unruly, corrupt and irresponsible politicians of this country.

Not surprisingly, all of them failed miserably, except for the few shrewd alignments like Sashi Tharoor, who joined the fray as a Congress representative.

What could have really made a difference in the past six months is for the Mumbaikars to come out in one voice to vote. Given the nightmare they continue to endure in the city, in spite of being the largest taxpayers, they should have given a record turnout that stunned the politicians. That never happened.

It is one thing to sit outside and cry out loud. You cannot clean up a system, unless you are part of it. The more we distance ourselves from the mess, the more it gets rot. It is like the typical urban attitude, when we litter our roads with trash, thinking it is someone else’s responsibility to clean it up. No wonder our roads stink and so does our political system.

As debated on the prime-time television, we are still far, far away in leading a revolution to bring about a commonsensical change that we all dream about.

So far away from me. So far, I just can’t see!

End defunct tokenism.

It was the first match of the 1987 Reliance world cup between Australia and India and most of my fellow schoolmates were restless, having to miss that game. Some of the backbench bullies in my 11th standard class were already conniving and soon we had the guys walking out of the class and so did I - often at the end of the line. When the head master came out, the boys just would not budge in and finally he had to relent and the school closed for few days. Reason – what else, Sri Lankan Tamils. It is a different story that India lost that game in the last over, in spite of sixer siddhu’s heroics.

Late eighties, in government aided schools and colleges like mine, all we needed was a reason to get few days off and the Tamils issue used to be the noble savior to pull the shutters down. The schools and colleges would close down for few days, as the students would take to the streets protesting in support of the ethnic Tamils and against the atrocities of the Sinhalese.

For the timid few like me, at times, we would not even know the reason behind the strike till we come back home. Anyway, reason mattered less, if that gives you few additional days to play cricket or to get burnt in the sweltering heat, roaming around the streets of Madurai.

Years later, it is a sad state of affairs and for whatever reasons, the Sri Lankan issue has disappeared from the people's minds and Tamil Nadu is strangely quiet these days, over this issue. May be, people lost the heart to stand up for the LTTE after the gruesome assassination of Rajiv. But, the attention is very much required, given the human calamity that is staring at Sri Lanka right now.

The once savior of the Tamils, now with his mobility curtailed to a wheel chair, is busy shopping ministerial births for his kin. Just few months back, Kanimozhi resigned her Rajyasabha seat for the cause of the Tamils. If at all there were a reason to be a renegade, it would be more appropriate right now.

Amma and the usual suspects of the other fringe political parties, who thrived under the guise of the LTTE, have gone hiding and there is seldom any hue and cry over the death of the LTTE leader and his family. All the noises they made during the election time, appear to be a perfunctory effort or rather symbolic.

But, what worries me is this very absence of a concerted effort from the administration of either Tamil Nadu or the Centre over the ominous humanitarian catastrophe in Sri Lanka. The issue is not ideology anymore, it is more of humanitarian. According to UNHRC estimates, nearly 300,000 civilians are living in hellish conditions and the country is thoroughly ill equipped to handle a crisis of this magnitude.

Agreed, in some way the determined Sri Lankan Government helped us fight a common enemy and we diplomatically looked the other way when the Sri Lankan Government went on rampage against the LTTE and the Tamil civilians who were caught in the cross-fire.

But, the time to act is NOW. With the LTTE wiped out, why does the Government of India dither with its action plan to save the helpless people? This is the time for tokenism to be replaced with meaningful assistance, to assert our prowess as a regional leader and to show the way for the troubled neighbors.

If this new Government requires a main agenda item, it has to seriously work on the almost non-existent foreign policy priorities towards our neighbors. If you look around, from Pak to Nepal to Bangladesh to Burma to Sri Lanka, we are engulfed in deep trouble across the borders all along. This is going to leave a serious dent on our state of affairs and sooner we realize, the better.

Shame on Us!

Height of mediocrity and Shame on us!

What could be the first order of mandate for the prime minister and the congress’s high-profile leaders to burn their mid-night oil and sort out? Not the looming humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka where millions are living in squalid conditions, not the worsening economy and rising food prices, not the uncertain state of the millions of youth who would be passing out this year with no jobs given the sad state of the economy, but to settle a feud between members of a family with their insatiable thirst to gobble up power and the money that comes with that.

If there was in me, any part of my self that felt jubilated over the success of our democratic setup and the near overwhelming victory bestowed by the citizens of this nation to a single party, the incidents of the past few days between the Congress and the DMK, over the portfolio allocation has totally shattered that and I can’t but feel depressed over the sequence of events.

There goes a leader of a party in a wheel chair to New Delhi, who till recently was ailing in a hospital and who, one fine morning, given the political compulsions and to appease the Tamil sentiments, sprung a surprise and decided to go on a fast for the Tamils’ cause. This time, the reasoning is not the people of his state or the endangered Tamils’, but to shop around for a coterie of his family members and a bunch of corrupt and inept politicians, dictating terms on what he would like to be offered in the cabinet.

Lets look at the dubious players.

A surface transport minister, Balu, in whose term the golden quadrilateral took a backseat, who mysteriously disappeared during the truckers’ strike, his controversial sethu samudram project in shambles and who became popular when he openly acclaimed the way in which he influenced the petroleum ministry to get subsidized gas for a firm managed by his son.

The IT and Telecom Minister, A Raja, who shot into fame when he got this plum ministry over another family feud and who got popularity over supposedly making the country's exchequer lose millions of rupees by under-pricing the spectrum allocation.

A poet by name Kanimozhi, who was on the political sidelines till her mother got worried about her wealth and the growing stature of her brothers and whose administrative experience would be nothing more than organizing a cultural event by name, Chennayil Sangamam, along with an LTTE sympathizer.

And the most important of all, Kalaingar’s eldest of sons, whose true powers even the father himself had not discovered till recently and who ensured the party gets the seats in the southern Tamil Nadu, and for whom, anything less than a cabinet post would not go well among his fellow gang men. Forget the fact that, he just got acquitted over a criminal case and he has little education or administrative experience to run a ministry like Health, when the country’s health infrastructure is in shambles.

Sure, Mr. Kalaingar and his son have the onerous task at hand to ensure they get the return on investment for all the money that were wielded in open during the elections! He has a larger family, to feed their aspirations and ambitions so that they all leave in peace as he and his political career sets in the horizon.

But, if the mandate were for development and the unquestionable integrity of the person, Dr. Manmohan Singh, what would be a shame on the billions who gave this decisive verdict, would be the rapprochement that is being worked out, compromising dignity and basic administrative standards.

This vote is for the prime minister to break out of the shackles that were put on him during the last term, by people like a Kalaingar, a Shibu Soren or a Karat. It would only be prudent if the Prime Minister and the Congress realize the strength and come to reality of the decisive mandate given to them.

Else, the people of this country have clearly shown how they could go shopping for another alternative in a voice that is as decisive as this time.

Liquor Money to the rescue of Mahatma's legacy!

Mahatma’s legacy saved – thanks to the liquor money!

What could have been a better anti-climax than the above?

The past few days, another event being tracked as a time-ticking explosive device, is the auctioning of some of Bapu's personal belongings. It all started when one of the news channel aired the news about Bapu’s grandson Thushar Gandhi starting a collection with an intent to buy some of Bapu's personal belongings being put up for auction in the US. Since then, every media channel has been tracking the entire episode so closely.

Soon, we came to know about one Mr. Otis, who supposedly collects these Gandhian memorabilia and all of a sudden decided to auction them for reasons, only he can comprehend. Whatever be the merits of his intentions, to him, this entire episode came as the best possible publicity stunt ever, to be on prime-time television. He, claiming himself to be an astute Gandhian, tried to hold the Indian Government hostage, threw a policy challenge to increase the GDP allocation for the poor to 5%, overnight! I ask, why not more? Or, sponsor his road-shows in some 78 countries (god knows, why 78 and not 79) for the next 10 years, towards promoting non-violence.

If he were a true Gandhian, taking a walk, as Bapu used to do, would have been a better option to spread the message of non-violence.

Enough of spicy masalas on the plate, we soon had a prime-time concoction of debates and exchange of views between the Indian Government, Mr. Otis, historians and few other millionaires offering to buy those items - all in the interest of saving the nation!

What struck me is this?

Have we become so infatuated with a sense of tokenism? Agreed, the iconic spectacles and personal watch, which rather symbolized Bapu himself, are so important, and part of the rich heritage for us to cherish as a nation. Did anyone even care to know the existence of these items put for sale till a month ago? What are we going to do next? Go search for the personal stuff of all our national leaders all over the globe?

We as a nation, have all but lost sight of the very values upon which he based his life on, while we cry amuck about some of his material belongings. If his personal belongings going under the hammer is considered defamatory to Bapu’s stature, so would be the various heinous acts conducted by our politicians and our society, under the very name of the freedom for which he fought his entire life.

Contrary to the simplicity with which the Bapu lead his life, even he would be bemused and amused by the fact that few of his personal belongings could fetch millions of dollars towards whatever nobler cause and by the tale of a liquor baron coming to save his legacy!

Slumdog Part II

The scheme of operation for a prime-time TV channel appears quite straightforward these days. Put your muscle to fan up any issue or event, create a mass hysteria with non-stop nonsensical coverage of an event and then debate about the rationality of the public reaction to it.

Last night, one of the major TV Channel, debated the entire hoopla about how the creators of Slumdog Millionaire exploited the dark side of the Indian reality and had supposedly served it as 'poverty porn' for the western society.

Their claim is that the movie concurred with the majority of the western nations' perception of India as a land of snake charmers. Agreed, that is the sad reality of predominant western xenophobes, who, still a few years back, used to ask me if I had TVs and A/Cs in India. If we consider that opinion as disgraceful ignorance, so should any of the acclaim they shower upon us, like the Oscars or the BAFTAs.

We should be one of the shameful hypocrites in the world!

If Slumdog favored their opinion about the sad state of affairs of a Mumbai slum, that perception to most extent is also the reality. So, while we take pride and celebrate the accomplishments of a Resul Pookutty or ARR, we denigrate the medium that provided them that opportunity.
But, why do we fail to accept that sad reality? Because, we think, it is no one's business to showcase our miseries, while we hide behind the ugly reality of a supposedly shining India?

Contrary to our claims about India as an emerging power, we are (still) living with a vast majority of our society yet to benefit the fruits of the acclaimed economic growth. With lack of basic sanitation, more than 40% of our population still defecates in the open! We are toping the world hunger index and consistently bad in the corruption index. Whatever political reasons we attribute that to, how can we disassociate ourselves from our responsibility to fix that, for we are the ones electing our in-efficient administrators - if they are to be blamed for the grim reality.

Invariably, any success story in India would be a fight against odds, for life here is a winding road in every aspect, which would bring out specks of these ugly realities, be it our slums, corrupt politicians or irresponsible citizens - us.

Instead of pushing the skeletons under a shining carpet, let’s have the tenacity to face the reality – whoever portrays that- and only that can lead us to fix the maladies one day!

An Oscar, at last !

From a subtle Dillip to Alla Rakha Rahman, from Jingles to Roja to an awe-inspiring ensemble at the Kodak Theatre, sure has AR Rahman come a long way to hold the much-coveted, if not one, two oscars on his hand. Given our passion towards anything Western, there had been various futile attempts at the Oscars for an Indian, be it from the Satyajit Ray times, Water, Lagaan, and for whatever reasons - to lack of familiarity of the local language or a good marketing theme - no one individual on their own merit could hold that statuette till now. No wonder the media, both video and print, spent a good amount of space to cover the achievement.

Call it a poverty-porn and you could argue that we still needed a portrayal of the typical Indian dichotomy of slums and new age uprising to win the stamp of approval from the West. I still believe the West is not yet ready to acclaim an Asian encore on its true merits, primarily their prejudices to blame.

So, who lead us to the final destination? Did we really need a Danny Boyle and his well-orchestrated marketing machinery, to take us to the ultimate destination or a typical ARR would have made it on his own merit?

Definitely, there are much better singles that have come out of ARR's repertoire than Jai Ho! It is just that, being at the right time at the right place with the right people made a big difference for this unassuming individual. I would definitely rate Ilaiyaraja's tunes in Hey Ram or Anbe Sivam above a Jai Ho. And so would I rate a Chinna Chinna Asai or a Konjam Nillavu or a Nenjinilae of ARR, above a O Saya.

As was widely claimed, it was India's day at the Oscars and never would Hollywood have seen so many Indian faces or its contributions put to enthral what would typically be a show for a western audience. What more was also at display was, the humility and simplicity of this man, while walking the red carpet with his wife or while giving his acceptance speech, that was more obviously less plastic compared to the unrestrained clamor of the others.

If this event marked the arrival of India in a bigger scene, to me, that humility and less extravagance would what keep us right there. It does not matter how high you get or how West you venture out, still there is some fundamental Indianess that would help us firmly footed on the ground!

Kudos to ARR and hope he takes the Indian Music to far-reaching heights.

Welcome Mr. President!

From the Plantation fields to Pennsylvania Avenue, it sure was an arduous journey for a community and its leader, Barack Hussein Obama, who took oath as the 44th president of the most powerful nation in the world (may be!).No surprise that the entire world is waiting in awe of, how this frail looking individual can stroke his magic wand to ring in miracles and to stroke the confidence, which gets eroded everyday. Credit sure goes to the Americans for they had to make a wild choice of a woman or a coloured individual for the top post and sure they did put to display their free spirit and egalitarianism in choosing Obama over a biblical, rather, less hawkish white. Not sure if any of the European country is ready for a moment like this.

While the world celebrates the ascendancy of a black from the backdrop of apartheid, it is no news to India. While the world talks in length about the transformation from the days of Rosa Parks, our nation does have an exemplary track record in affirmative action and in providing an equitable society. A backward class, a women, a Muslim, a Sikh in Presidency, a Dalit as the Chief Justice, a powerful Dalit Chief Minister and we can go on and on. Not so surprisingly then has been the successful adaptation of our Gandhian metaphor in civil rights movements across the globe - be it in South Africa or the United States.

During the course of the election process, there were some statistics on how the entire world preferred Obama over McCain, if they had a choice of voting. By theory, in a bi-polar setup, human preference could be a factor of true merit of one individual or by a sheer rejection of the other.

Take for example the political situation in Tamil Nadu - it is always one of the better evils among the two dravidian parties - not that one definitely overpowers the other in ideology, performance or governance.
Over the past two terms of ruling, George W has been successful in garnering so much animosity across every nook of the globe, that no wonder such positivity in abundance came in favor of Obama. People had no other choice, but, to welcome Change from a menial, who has landed the country and the globe in a ditch.

Overblowing of this 'Change' trumpet could possibly out-smart Obama himself, for he is treading into territories and acceding challenges which can become humanly impossible for anyone to manage. The legacy he inherits and the environment both within and outside the United States is simmering with issues that are extremely volatile and the expectation is so huge on an apparently frail shoulder.

Two major wars being waged on as of today, a middle-east scenario that is more precarious than before, the unruly brat in the house - Israel - is only making the task much worse over a fragile piece of land, the dire need to conjure an exit strategy out of Iraq - all leaves him with not too many allies across the globe. Sure enough the bullies in the form of Putin and Medvedev would give him some migraine on the missile-shield front, so would Iran. The once 'super power' situation being challenged by a stronger China, and the possible shift of power focus across the globe from a weaker europe, are all realities that he has to confront with. Already there are signs of few grey hair showing up on his head and that could keep him think for a moment - 'What a mess did I get into?'

Internally, the nation as such is confronted by ironies of contrasting proportions. An economy that is sagging down the drain by the day, while a cosmopolitan president spends more than a hundred million dollars for inauguration. Ever growing line of the jobless versus the madness of equal magnitude to buy an iPhone 3G or to watch a star trek thriller. Too much ofa fiscal deficit to surmount versus the Madoffs who still manage to make mockery of the regulatory framework and make wall street look like vegas strip!

As David Letterman recently put it in his Top 10, Obama's new rhetoric could be "Yes we can...or may be not, it's hard to say"

But, history makes us believe that the United States as a nation has put to display their resiliency and enterprise spirit more often and the world(still) needs a stronger United States for its locomotion and expects a change at any cost.

Extraordinary situations mandate extraordinary men. Unlike his predecessor,Obama, who single-handedly ran a campaign with the best of spirit and faith, appears to be the right person for the resurrection.
Hope he can proclaim for his next term - 'Yes, we did!'

Welcome to the Reality - Mr. President!

Resilience may not be a Virtue!

So, what is different this time other than the magnitude of the tragedy and the targets? White collared elite and Westerners got caught in the ire of the heinous act of terror that ravaged high-end hotels rather than the usual crowded market places. So, instead of the hue and cry from hapless shop-keepers, middle-class citizens and office goers, thanks to the media that has almost converted this national tragedy into 24x7 soap opera, we got to hear the accented voices of convent educated, Versace shades clad citizens, corporate and tinsel horde, who suddenly appear to have every possible solution to root-out the menace of terror.

Our Attitude – the primary culprit!
Bomb the neighbor, shun away from politics, blame the intelligence agencies, don’t pay taxes, kick the bureaucrats – just a few of the solutions offered!
We as a nation, are increasingly shifting our locus of control to factors external to us, rather than looking inwards. It is always him or them and not me or us! External factors do not even mean the forces across the border, be it tasteful or stateless, and seldom do we ever realize that, it is our own Self that is responsible for anything that has happened to us or that is knocking at our doors.

Not a surprise, even a modest and highly sensible person like our prime minister, for obvious political compulsions, could not fall into the trap of pointing fingers across the borders, within hours the incident happened. Not to renounce the fact that, there is every possible reason to believe that it is the forces across the borders that caused this massacre. But, we have been doing this blame game for nearly 60 years with zilch a result.

Even if the neighbor honors our demarche, how assertive is our legal system and our political will to reign-in justice on the culprits?

Now some hard facts.
Think of us measly souls who would do anything to outsmart each other – to jump a traffic light, to venture into the wrong side of the road. Bribe to get anything done - to jump a line anywhere, be it cinema halls, government offices, ticket reservations or even in a temple, to see Mr. God - all in the mad rush to be the First. Be the First to shoot ourselves on the foot and thereby, we have a built a system that now breeds itself on corruption in every walk of life.

When was the last time we willingly offered to wait in a gate to be frisked or to display our id cards for verification? We all want security, but seldom do we realize it is all-pervasive and seldom are we ready to compromise even an inch of the comfort we enjoy.

Whatever security cover we have is merely symbolic. Remember the scenes during the parliament attack, when our poor security guards were fighting the terrorists with guns from World War 1 period. When was the last time we patiently let the security guards examine our baggage at the airport? The metal detectors put up in many railway stations, temples and malls; either does not function or keeps beeping all the time. God knows what they are detecting. Most of us would prefer to give it a skip, with no one forcing us to get thru the detectors.

When have we seriously paid respect to any policeman or security guard on the road or how much pride do they carry on their job? We still carry forward the colonial tradition, where the policeman was used for tasks other than policing – to help the master with his domestic chores. More often, the puny cop thinks he gets paid to get dressed-up and watch the world pass by, from where he stands on the streets.

More happily do we run away from the customs authorities, when we cross the airport or ready with our own payments to make a safe exit? Why are we then surprised, when the terrorists managed to smuggle so much of ammunition into the country? If you can pay, so can anyone! How reasonably possible it is to watch every inch of a coast, especially in a country like ours with so much of porous borders we share with enemies across the borders, which are increasingly becoming unstable by the day.

Look at the way the media reported the entire episode and thereby competing to be the First to disclose the operational procedures of an army, all in the disguise of bringing it live to the people? It was an appalling scene to see even responsible news anchors, emotionally charged up and running around the crime scene, even amidst the shoo-shooing of the security guards at the Taj. That’s how much we respect our Security Guards. Given the economic compulsions of running a successful news channel these days and with TRP Ratings in mind, given an opportunity, the media did not fail to stoop down to these pitiful levels of exploiting the Freedom of Press.

Just paying taxes does not absolve us from all our duties as a model citizen. It is easier to blame others and the system, when we least realize WE are the system and WE shy away from our basic civic responsibilities. Mere posturing alone would not lead us anywhere and we go in circles, waiting for another tragedy that might have already lined-up on our nook.

Post 9/11, it was a lifestyle change for the Americans, to add additional hours to your travel plans, to be ready to open and repack your baggage at multiple places and on the way, one got ready to be strip-searched at the airports. People got used to the painful frustration, all done in the need of a better protection against the enemy, who continues to out-smart us at a faster pace, both in technology and motivation. Agreed, dubiety and austerity in a hospitality industry is a misnomer. But, unprecedented events like these mandate unprecedented changes and we better get used to this.

As being widely acclaimed, Resilience is not a virtue anymore; rather it symbolizes resistance to change. Change from our age old beliefs, lifestyle, comforts and idiosyncrasies. What 11/26 could usher-in from all of us is to look more inwards, to bring in more civic sense and we become more responsible for our own actions, all for one important reason – that is our own existence!

Terror in Mumbai - Shame on the News Media!

While the media talks in length about the inept handling of the Mumbai Blasts by the Government, Security Agencies and the Politicians, it is high time they put themselves in front of the mirror and reassess the media freedom that is offered in this country, again could be due to the negligence of the politicians running this country.

What we need is a total black-out of the media from the crime scene, atleast till the action is over. Let the men in uniform do their job and let us do our part to NOT interfere in their way by disclosing their strategies. Media camera zooming in to report how the aircrafts are dropping our men in uniform, which building they are using to launch their attacks, which way they are coming. Yeah, what a way to report! "Yes, Mr. Terrorist, I just gave you an idea of where our people are and how you would be attacked. Please take cover"

We hear the terrorists carrying sat phones and communicating with the external world. What would stop them from hearing from someone watching our media, putting in display all the attack plans? The height of disgrace is each media claming it to be the 'First to Report' or 'First to Bring these scenes Live'. Yeah, be the 'First to disclose national secrets' and do your part to fall into the enemy hands. Be the 'First to add to the fuel'.

While the Home Minister shamelessly goes public with his mockery of stats, on exactly how many NSG commandos are sent and when they are sent, it is the time of the media houses to not add to that shame.

My humble request to the Arnab Goswamis, Barkha Dutt, Rajdeep Sardesais is to, please put on hold your analysis for some time, till our security folks take control of the situation. You have the days ahead to pull up the people and to rant about it in length. Stop claiming to be the 'First' to deliver any news. If you were the 'First', please be the First to prevent such incidents or the First to bring about any revolution against the petty politicians running our nation. That would be of excellent credence and will take your channel to heights that no one can dispute about.

I Went to the Moon, too !

Agreed, we have joined an elite club of countries that have the capability to launch an extra-terrestrial object in the lunar orbit and we are only one of the FOUR nations to have its national flag set foot on the moon. We have a strong neighbor who just had sent its own men to the space and we need to show strength. Never would I underestimate the hard work that has gone into make such a precision guided mission, a grand success. I do share the passion and delight of the scientists who have worked tirelessly towards this maiden venture, amidst the isolation imposed on us and the restrictions in transfer of technology across nations.

While skeptics question the justification of the millions that is spent in our space adventure, all I would like to question is the relevance of such mission and the application of its results to our citizens.

Thanks to the astute leadership, at least, I am glad that we are seeing some return on investment in a public sector organization, compared to that of the various other institutions that provide a zilch for the government allocations that they get to enjoy every year.

My concern is only on the returns - more than the information on water-bodies that might exist in the moon and mapping the lunar terrain, why not focus on what is more relevant to our country and its people. Decades together, the only weather map I get to see is the INSAT image, that appears in my daily newspaper and some useless statistics that I hear in the state-owned All India Radio, on, which parts of the country received how many millimeters of rainfall and a very generic weather forecast that even my grandma could predict looking up at the sky! Value-add is the key and what is the value addition in the knowledge of temperature numbers from major cities and a very vague prediction of the weather patterns that day.

The monotonous rants of our meteorological weather men who show up their face only on the days it rains hard and that too post facto. We have had numerous instances of the cities getting deluged and office goers and school kids getting stuck in the middle of a storm completely unaware.
Needless to mention the loss of thousands of crores to our economy in the form lost cultivated produce, with unseasonal rains. Better weather forecast and reach of this information to the masses is the key. These are the days of doppler radars, animated weather maps and ever pervasive information.

I have seen in the US, where the local weather man is treated with an iconic status and the time they spend in the schools educating the kids of the nuances of weather patterns.
What we need is change in the priorities of how we spend our money, according to the changing times and needs.

To quote the father of our space program, Dr. Sarabhai himself:
"There are some who question the relevance of space activities in a developing nation. To us, there is no ambiguity of purpose. We do not have the fantasy of competing with the economically advanced nations in the exploration of the moon or the planets or manned space-flight. But we are convinced that if we are to play a meaningful role nationally, and in the community of nations, we must be second to none in the application of advanced technologies to the real problems of man and society. "

Importers of 'Bad News'!

Importers of 'Bad News'!

In this difficult time of market turmoil, if you are an investor with a decent exposure in the stock markets, I suggest you stay away from the business channels, whichever one be it. It is the time for 'Say No to watching Business News Channel' similar to the 'Say No to Drugs’ campaign; for both of them are intended to inoculate the individual from peer pressure and social influences . Yes, it would be a blessing in disguise, if you realize how much of damage these channels and the rants from their so called financial experts can cause.

For the Indian Markets, where I think, anyone having a good skill at the dart boards can anoint himself to be an analyst or where investing in stocks is very much equated to a stroll down the strip in Vegas, no wonder there is so much of bad vibes circulated – thanks to our business channels – thereby contributing so much to the deluge over the past few weeks.

It has reached the stage of a mass hysteria to lead the poor investing public of this nation into almost a bottom-less pit. For the past month or so, it has been raining bad news after another in every form of media and they have successfully spread the fear psychosis among the masses.

Call it the curse of knowledge, to pick up a Behavioral Finance terminology; more than the liquidity crunch or the over-leveraged financial institutions, it is also the information overload that has played a significant role in the market collapse over the past few weeks. If you happen to frequent Market Watch, they pick up the largest of the fonts on their home page to convey the bad news- so large that it can wreck havoc on any decision you might make that day.

These market commentators appear to have forgotten the thin line between being a news anchor and thereby facilitating the flow of news, to becoming an analyst themselves, thereby making over-arching claims that could cause irreprehensible damage. Irrespective of all the disclaimers and disclosures these channels publish, there could be a potential cartel using these prime-time media to their advantage.

While it is beyond doubt that we are going through a difficult time, it is the way in which we have bought into other people's bad news is causing us more damage. We have become the biggest importer of Americanism, which is seen failing even in their own land, right from their missiles to colas to garbage and now - their bad news!

I doubt if it is a question of liquidity crunch anymore and the markets seem to either ignore whatever actions the RBI can deliver or whatever words of comfort the finance minister can offer; the blood bath readily bursts open any band-aid provided in the form of government intervention.

How would you explain the drubbing of some of the blue chip stocks over the past few years? Agreed the beleaguered FIIs are pulling back every buck they can garner from any part of the globe and agreed we are living in a crazily flat world, where, if the greenback sneezes, the world catches pneumonia! But, in these tough times across the globe where the R-word or the D-word are talked about every day with almost a negative connotation, in every developed country, when did the markets start neglecting a 7.5% growth rate and you call that a slow-down? Less than 5% of Indians have direct exposure in our stock market, which many people still perceive it to betting on horse racing and land their hard-earned money in FDs in public sector banks.

It can only be prudent for the investing public to listen to the words of the PM and show some patience, than to get submerged in the illusion of knowledge put to display in the business channels, by the self-acclaimed experts. It is not Armageddon yet and most of us have better things to do in life. Tough times are the best teachers and we will survive this as we did with any other crisis.

For the moment, just Say NO to the business media!

Jet, Set, Down!

Jet, Set Down!

Last week saw a classic drama of unnerving proportions, which could eclipse any Broadway show, with actors from the corporate, political and social setup playing their role to perfection. Though the end appeared to be a toast, the show did showcase the ability of a wild concoction of a politics and corporate arrogance which influenced the shameful reality of an irrational exuberance, which is buried under rugs of economic growth.

Look at the players, a group of bright tunic clad younger generation of our country, a business-man who till recently has been proclaimed as the czar of one of the growing airlines industry, a politician who is more and more becoming a self-proclaimed alcapon of Mumbai, a shrewd minister who cannot but sit on the sidelines given the electoral implications of this show-piece, a labor minister who by all means is as clueless as a common man in a remote village in this country. All these showmen provided a royal feast to the craving media who, are all set to spice up the any episode in prime-time television boxes.

It all started with a bunch of airline employees given pink slips by their employer and they started making a big hue and cry. Some of the smart ones decided to take their case up with a local political party and what a perfect photo op for its leader, standing beside a bunch of bright lads and lasses. Public and disruptive politics playing in tango is a deadly combination for this country, if at all it is concerned about its economic growth. If Singur was a shame, then what is becoming more common in Mumbai with the goonly behavior of this party is adding insult to that. What empowers them to wield law onto their own hands?

While being on the receiving side for a pink slip is always painful, yet, the whole episode some harsh realities for the young that is being enticed into a fairy-tale ride on the shining India. It is rather unfortunate that there is no safety-net for the working class, be it in the organized or un-organized sectors, in the form of any social security. While the Left considers it politically fashionable to rant against any of the capitalistic moves of the government, it is a shame that they have not spent any hours to bring about any reforms in the social security sector during their association with the ruling UPA for the past four years. Taking up the personal fight on the nuclear issue with the PM was much more enticing than fixing the maladies of the labor laws.

The icing in the cake was the hurried-up news conference by Mr. Goyal himself, who in all likelihood beat the politicians in putting up a dramatic show. Where in the world would a corporate executive be unaware of its managements' decisions? He thereby, set a very bad precedence in corporate governance and social responsibility and thereby causing an irreprehensible damage to the airline's image. Wonder the confidence level of the employees within Jet.

In the end, it was a strong dose of reality check for all of us to decide which path we are heading into – capitalistic or socialistic – or a middle ground. It is high time, the corporate, politico and the working class decide on that or be prepared for a rude jolt like these.

Save the Food!

Save the Food!
The entire politico went up in unison to decry George Bush when he made those aphorisms on the growing Indian middle-class and their growing appetite - literally - leaving a dent on the global food supply-chain! To many, what Bush said was the quite the obvious, and he did have the concurrence of many economists worldwide who attribute the crisis to the burgeoning demand for food from the developing nations, rather oddly combined with a global supply shrinkage. If not for the tersely phrased Bushism, spare a moment to reason the food crisis and try to relate it to the world around us, especially at a time when the global food prices are at the highest in more than a century. May be Bush should have rephrased his statement to mean, that, it is not the increasing consumption alone, but along with that, the increase in wastage of consumable food that contributes to this global food crisis.

On your next visit to a marriage hall or any party, look around to see how much of food is really left untouched on every plate or the banana leaf - if you happen to be from the South. Or, when you go out dining with your family and order a sumptuous thali, spare a moment to the number of cups of supplements that are thrown away. Or, when you visit a south-indian restaurant, look around to see how many people really consume all the multiple variants of the chutneys and sambhar that get served with the delicious dosas and idlis. If every drop could make a mighty ocean, it is no trivia to infer that every grain of devoured food could turn out to be a pile. This in turn can feed millions, especially in a country like ours which is attracting the global attention for its surging count of billionaires on one hand and still has a big portion of its mass not able to afford one decent meal a day. Every grain of rice and every piece of vegetable that goes into making these delectable, add up. We may lag way behind the western nations on the average per-capita consumption of food. But, I bet, we Indians, could be leading the pack on average per-capita wastage of food.

In this context, it is quite interesting to pay attention to few common practices in the West, where people at the end of a meal, do not hesitate to ask for their ordered left-over to be packed for future consumption and the availability of smart customization of a meal based on preference and measure. Why would the wealthy nations do this? Simple economics - extend the value of the commodity got in exchange for the money you paid plus being a smart consumer - why pay for things which you are not going to consume?

Ours' is a society of certain very amusing parodies. Why would us, brought up in a predominantly conservative mind set, with our elders who with their thrifty lifestyle had always planned to save for the future, not adopt this practice when it comes to our food? There were days when we used to eat our rotis or rice from previous day for their own nutritional values. But, along with the newgen lifestyle cometh our disregard for our beliefs, our own conscious rejection of our age-old value system and a contrarian outlook that takes everything for granted. With newly acquired wealth and money, we feel we can get anything for money, even with a sole idea of wasting it. Somehow, we attach a sense of pride towards having everything fresh. No canned food, except for the pickles, and food Processing as an industry is still at its nascent stages in this country with a significant chunk of what we cultivate going as wastage sans proper storage and lack of transportation logistics.

The sky-rocketing food prices could be a blessing in disguise for us to realize the economics of food over the pleasure of buying food irrespective of consuming it. What we are going through as part of the global food crisis could just be the tip of the iceberg of an impending reality. With agriculture losing its economic value-proposition in many parts of the country, shrinkage of arable lands across the globe, and the decline in the ever miserable lifestyle of the farming community, it is only a matter of time when we start paying little more attention to the food we pay for. If not just for the MTV culture and an hip-hop lifestyle, there is much more to be learnt from the West. If double whopper with extra cheese, pickles and a latte of your size, is the norm in the West, perhaps we soon should start sizing up our meal based on what we can consume. May be we would soon be paying for two idlis with extra chutney and an order of sambar, rather than assuming a plate of idli coming with an array of four to five supplements which we let go the drain. Sambar and chutneys in a sachet more like the sauces could be the order of the day.

Time for some serious thought; we have Save Oil, Save the Tiger, Save the Trees campaigns, why not Save the Food campaign for a change? The days ahead could see the food grain becoming the much conserved commodity, almost on the verge of extinction - at least to a select group of people across the globe.

Judgment vs Experience !

Another interesting topic of discussion from Jim Heskett. Should grab that book sometime soon and some of the comments were really thought provoking. Here is the link with my comments too. Does Judgment trump Experience?