on a conveyor

And in Jaipur - - - - - -

2012-01-23T06:41:00.000-08:00

And in Jaipur, where the fest is lit

Talk was about an Indian who is a Brit

He wrote a book, much unseen and unread

Resulted in a price on his head.

And in India where this book is banned

It raised the hackles of the 'Deoband'

They posed a question which was a shocker

If the book is banned why aint the author?

So this guy in Jaipur did not appear

Instead, few brave hearts read excerpts without a fear

When the inviting rooms of Indian prisons were promised as their due

They claimed ignorance of laws and fled without an adieu.

The chap who made mediocrity a household ambition

Spouted his views with élan and gumption

Those who hurt sentiments, shouldn’t be heroes made

As this is the manner they will get repaid.

‘Who is a liberal?’ is the question being written and spread

For certain, it is the green and saffron who tell us what should be seen and read

Unsure of the past and insecure of the future we seem to be

A different view be damned, all hail to conformity.

And mediocrity.

Turn the other cheek?

2011-11-28T07:27:00.000-08:00

When there is no money to buy another pair of shoes

Is it any wonder that the hand was used?

But what caused the hand to meet the cheek?

Is the current scenario indeed so bleak?

We have Mukesh Ambani not entering Antilla

But says that faster reforms should be high on the agenda.

We have a government unable to help agriculture

But thinks FDI in retail will help this sector.

There is a parliament that frequently convenes

Where members raise salaries, voices and let out steam.

And while those who can feast fast for a cause

There are hapless millions going hungry without pause

Though some say a slap and violence we must eschew

Could it be communicating the common-man’s point of view?

Rewriting legal redressal and history

2011-11-22T05:16:00.000-08:00

Jayanti Natrajan , from the Congress fold
Is now hot property but then was cold.
What she did as our new environment minister
Would have been smart, if it had come from a school teacher.

The story goes like this the papers say
HCC built an eco-city and so hills were done away
It was easy to see that environmental norms were flouted
What about the tribal? others shouted.

Lavasa's construction came to a grinding halt
Twas no doubt that the HCC was at fault.
So, then began the company's cry of wasted investment
All forgot about the area’s natural and beautiful raiment

Then Jayanti Natrajan; like a knight in shining armour
Gave a way out to these nature harmers.
'All they had to do' after much thought said she
'Was repair the destruction and give a no more flouting written guarantee'.

This is what they made me do in school
Write a hundred times I wont play the fool.
Would it be the turn of Raja, Kanomozhi and who ever
To be freed after they've promised to fill the national coffer?

But now to another matter we shall digress
After environment and law it is history we will address
Who can forget the attempt to rewrite India’s destiny
That began with Ghazni and ended with Advani.

After the demolition, and destruction of live’s
Advani today is older and wise
His rath yatra that made communalism regular
He tells the world that it was nothing but secular.

The Track to Social Equity Does not lie in Buddh International Circuit

2011-11-09T21:45:00.000-08:00

India is getting over the heady hangover of the Formula 1 spectacle. The spectacle was not only about what was happening inside the Buddh International Circuit (BIC) but also what was happening outside it. The amount of hype created for this event was quite beyond anything seen before. The newspapers went overboard; almost every other day there was some positive news about Formula 1. Much was made about the challenges that were being faced by the promoters of this event - the refusal of the Indian government to exempt a tax of Rs 600 crore levied on F1 race equipment.

Promoting an elite sport
What is interesting to note is that unlike other sport’s promotions, the promotion of the F1 event revolved around the who’s-who of the corporate world. Top managers of companies were asked why they liked Formula1 and whether they planned to watch this sport. While giving their reasons they also said that they would be at BIC on the day of the event.

This was unlike any other sports promotion, say the IPL for instance, the IPL had the aam aadmi singing the anthem of their team, or it had the captains issuing challenges to each other. 20-20 though elitist in the manner it splurged money on the players and advertisements was targeting the common man.

Formula 1 known for its high engineering, high investment cost and high vanity ensured that it maintained this standard in India. There were a number of articles pointing to the cost of the tickets that ranged from Rs 2,500 for the natural stands to Rs 35,000 for the grand stand, there were separate corporate stands for which tickets were a few lakhs. The price of a ticket for after race parties ranged from € 15,000 per table to € 650 per person per night.

So what this race did in effect was it created three classes of people, the first being those who could afford the ticket, the second were those forced to watch the spectacle of cars going round in circles on TV and the remaining population who were not interested in the event at all.

Formula 1 and the Human Development Index
The latter category consisted of those who were genuinely uninterested in the sport and those that the 2011 Human Development Index report talk about- the poor. The report titled Sustainability and Equity: A Better Future for All – indicates that there are 612 million who have been designated as multi-dimensionally poor. What this indicates is these people do not have access to health services, clean water, cooking fuels, basic household goods etc. Last year India’s position was 119 in the HDI but this year it slid to 134 out of 187 countries; a rank that is below war ridden Iraq and above a country like Ghana.

So the question is why does the 4th largest economy of the world rank 134 in the HDI? Why haven’t these costly expenditures resulted in a more socially-equitable India? The GDP ranged from 10% in 2006 to 7.7% in 2011. But why aren’t these economic strides being reflected in improved access to basic amenities for more than half of the Indian population?

Accepting inequity and poverty as a way to sustain economic growth
One answer could be in the thinking behind BIC and other such similar projects. Vijay Mallya co-owner of Force 1 told reporters "In every country, there are the privileged and the under-privileged. We have under-privileged people in our country, but that does not mean the country must be bogged down or weighed down". This is an interesting insight because on the one hand there is recognition of the problem but on the other there is a form of acceptance of this glaring disparity and the need to move on. Mallya goes on to add "India is a progressive country, we have a strongly growing economy, a large economy. The government is doing all it can to address the need of the poor or the under-privileged people, but India must move on.” Should it be understood from these that poverty alleviation is the sole responsibility of the government and that the very idea and ideal of an inclusive India is but a dream because a small but powerful and rich minority are in a hurry to grow more rich and powerful?

Jayprakash Gaur, founder chairman of JayPrakas h Group, has been quoted saying that the world’s perception of India will undergo a change after the Grand Prix and that people will forget the happenings of the Commonwealth Games. What exactly is the world’s perception of India? Is it that of a nation riddled with corruption, a nation with a skewed child sex ratio, a nation where it’s leaders believe that Rs 28/- is enough for a person to survive? Will a $ 450 million race track wipe all that ails India? More importantly should such expenditure be allowed to whitewash the dark spots of socio-economic inequity?

Both these corporate honchos seem to want to wish away the causes that have ranked India 134th in the Human Development Index. According to the 2011 HDI “deprivations in sanitation among multidimensionally poor people range from 3.5 percent in Kerala to more than 70 percent in Bihar.” The report goes on to state that indoor smoke caused by the burning of solid fuels causes 25% of deaths in India.

Inclusive growth not needed for global recognition of India’s economic power
What we are witnessing as a nation is a polarization of people. A polarization caused by an impatient acceptance that an inclusive India is not a prerequisite for a certain section of India to become rich, powerful and enjoy itself. The fact that India’s HDI rankings fell though the number of dollar millionaires in India grew to 2,10,000 and will increase to 4,03,000 by 2015 is indicative of this thinking.

Even as the engines of the Indian economy shift from rural India to urban India; the number of people living in slums in urban India has increased. The Planning Commission states that the urban sector contributes about 62%–63% of the GDP which is expected to increase to 75% by 2021. Thus there will be more people heading to urban areas. A 2010 report of the McKinsey Global Institute states that 75% of urban citizens earn an average of Rs.80/- a day; with so much money they would get the best houses in slums. A 2010 report by the Expert Committee of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation states that India's slum population is projected to rise to 93.06 million by 2011. Residents of these areas lack access to education, water and sanitation facilities; so is there any surprise that even with such disparities India is the 4th largest economy?

There is a growing realization that India can afford to have a large population of poor because the few rich will propel the country to greater heights as defined by them. This has been made abundantly clear with the first Formula 1 race in India which was then preceded by the Human Development Index. That the success of Formula 1 had much to do with the UP government giving land to the Gaurs for a purpose different from what was told to the farmers when it was initially purchased from them is glossed over. This seems to indicate that there is need for sacrifices from those who can least afford it. Could these sacrifices result in lower HDI ranking but creation of global spectacles like BIC?

In India sports has always been a route to channelize national pride and to provide a source of employment. Many public sector units and even the private sector have sports foundations that train deprived youngsters in competitive sports. Such sport academies have proved to be godsent for youth who not only hone their skills and bring national pride but also find employment which takes them and their families out of the poverty trap.

Thus the promotion of sports can be a way to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. India should concentrate on sports that require low investment but create large groups of talented players. However, elitist expensive sports like Formula 1 are not going to help achieve the country’s MDG or raise India’s ranking in the HDI.

An Interview With Mukesh.

2010-10-16T22:20:00.000-07:00

Being new in the field of journalism I have to compete with established stalwarts and so I attempt the difficult. There have been a lot of reports on Mukesh Ambani’s new house, realising that the building was not an answer to Tolstoys ‘How much land does a man need?’ I sought to get clarifications from Mukesh as to why he spent a billion dollars on 6 people, to build a 27 storey edifice that will house more cars than humans and whose interiors are the dreams of a new breed of Maharajas who have money but no taste.

Getting this interview was no easy task and I will not elaborate how I got in. Initially Mukesh wanted to scream for help but after explaining to him that I was not interested in his blanky or teddy bear we got down to a chat.

Me – Congratulations on your new house. I hear the house warming is on the 28th of October?

Mukesh – Thank you! Yes the housewarming is on the 28th I just cant wait to see everyone’s face when they see what money can buy. It hasn’t been easy building the house you know. Searching for the most expensive stuff is not easy; everyone claims to have the most exclusive goodies but I have seen it in everyone’s house. I have seen Sachin’s and Shahrukh Khan’s house and their interiors and the houses in Bollywood movies; I knew I had to up the ante in kitschiness.

Me – Its heartening to note that you have been inspired by two other 'industry' stalwarts. What is the reason for 160 cars?

Mukesh – I am glad you have asked this. As you know I have three helipads and so will not be using these cars. However, initially the idea was to use each car twice a year and some other cars a little more often. This was my way of showing empathy with the rest of the Mumbaikars who suffer traffic jams etc, however as time is money the idea was canned. However, I plan to start a Taxi service for the rich. We already know about Salman Khan, Nanda and now John Abraham and their accidents, my cars will be as exclusive and expensive as theirs but my drivers wont run-over anyone enroute home. This is also my way of keeping those sleeping on the streets safe from bad drivers.

You may not know but my building is showcasing an answer to the parking problems. The ‘way up’ is the only answer to solve the problems down below. I must let you into a little secret – if ever I face financial crisis I will turn my house into a large parking-lot with added services like amphitheatre, gym etc.

Me – You do think far into the future and that is what has made you so ---

Mukesh – (Interrupting) You are correct when you say I think far into the future. Thinking is not enough; looking into the future is where the money is. We rich have the power to look into the future that is why I built the three helipads even though the Indian Navy is opposed to it. What do you think is the secret of success of the Jindals and the Adani’s (21 July 2010 Mubai Edn Economic Times) of the world? We are able to look into the future and see everything going our way.

Me – What is the story behind naming your house Antilia is it-----

Mukesh (once again interrupting) – It’s my way of showing concern for the future and respect for the past.

Antilia is a mythical island. You are aware that Climate Change is going to submerge many such pieces of land. I would like to ensure that they are not forgotten once they disappear under the sea and therefore have named it after an island - even if mythical.

I don’t know why I am sharing this with you but if you remove the ‘n’ and the ‘I’ from ‘Antilia’ it becomes ‘Atila’. Atilla has deeply affected me – positively at that. Was it greed and lust for power that fueled his conquests? I dont know! But what ever fueled his conquests is awe-inspiring not many can emulate him. I think I have an Attila in me.

Me – Tell me something about your building.

Mukesh (Gleefully) – I bet you are not interested in knowing who the designers are and all that BS?

This building is an ode to India’s and therefore our practices which engine our economic progress.

If you look closely at the building (he hands me a drawing of the building) you will see a series of inbuilt question marks. There have been articles that questioned how I purchased the land for the building and how my industries have grown; others have questioned the social and environmental cost of India’s growth. All these have inspired this building (see below).

I am also deeply concerned with unemployment in India and I have started an initiative through my house that will employ 600, yes 600 people. I would like other rich to follow me in employing people in this manner.

Me – Mukesh is there any advice you would like to give?

Mukesh (with great emotion) – My life is my message; I can’t leave behind anything for future generations because I plan to leave everything for my children.

Its already 4 am and Mukesh wants to get back to sleep, I thank him for his magnanimity in speaking to lil-ol-me, his kindness for not screaming, his generosity in spending a few hours in an interview.

My meeting Mukesh is wishful thinking.

Breaking News: Carbon Sequestering to Add Fizz to Aerated Drinks

2010-08-08T04:08:00.000-07:00

In the hullabaloo on the War on Terror Wikileaks the media missed out on a startling piece of news: two international soft drink giants are competing against each other to corner the Carbon Sequestering market.

Carbon Sequestering, an idea that carbon can be stored under ground at high pressure, is similar to sweeping dirt under the carpet. Till now humans had no use for such ‘dirt’, it was also seen as a health and environmental problem. As there is so much unwanted CO2 floating around the idea of sequestering came up.

The higher echelons of these aerated drink companies have realised they may have hit the jackpot if they combine carbon sequestering and manufacturing aerated soft drinks. CO2 floating around or confined in small spaces would still be a waste therefore seeing it as a resource has them gassing about it.

Using modern deep sea drilling techniques, made famous recently in the Gulf of Mexico, on dry land the soft drink manufacturers are planning to sequester carbon under aquifers and then release the carbon into the aquifer at the required quantities. This would convert the water in the aquifer into soda. There would be a ‘soda-fountain’ like dispenser on the ground directly connected to the aquifer. The carbonated water from the aquifer would mix with colouring and taste agents inside the ‘soda fountain’ which would then dispense the liquid to the consumer.

This reporter was able to get a passing glimpse of the plan during an interview with one of the CEO's.

The companies are racing to not only patent this technology but also make it into a CDM project. Representatives contacted from both companies are of the opinion that such a technology will reduce the amount of sequestered carbon and therefore make room for the increasing carbon spewed out into the atmosphere. According to them, it would also reduce their operating costs as the carbonating process will be hived off the aerated drinks production process and will therefore further decrease the carbon footprint of these companies.

Both companies agreed that there would be need to increase the consumption of aerated drinks to make such a project 'viable'. Therefore they are planning to change their advertising strategy. To know more about their advertising strategy this reporter contacted their advertising companies independently; strangely their ideas revolve around similar concepts. The creative’s hinted that there would be a paradigm shift from the current advertising which teach new ways to hold cans or link happiness and thrill to coloured liquids. They would now be milking consumer consciousness and peoples concern for the environment and link increase in consumption to better environmental protection. The advertisers are thinking of catchy lines like ‘whats in you.’ Hoping that there would be a growing consumer base that will proudly say ‘sequestered carbon’.

In a developing story a major vehicle manufacturer known for its polluting vehicles plans to enter the aerated drinks business. But instead of retailing their drinks they intend to capture the niche Door/Home-Delivery and Do-It Yourself (DIY) market. They have filed a patent for an aerated drink manufacturing technique which will also be an end of pipe solution for vehicular pollution. The exhaust pipe will be fitted with a pressurised chamber containing sweetened water. The exhaust would mix with this water in the high pressure chamber to make a drink similar to the famous drink that the world loves with Rum.

Family Ties! Similarities between the IPL and India's Nuclear Establishment

2010-06-14T08:19:00.000-07:00

Though patricide, fratricide and familial coups were a common occurrence amongst the various dynasties the world over, it has done nothing to deter business and politicians from using family to maintain power. Dynasties be it business or political have played important roles across continents, the Rothschild’s financed the Napoleonic wars, the Kennedy’s ruled America, the Tata’s, one of India’s first business houses, have ventures across the world and the Gandhi’s are touted to be the first-family of Indian politics.

There is good reason why kin are sought as business and political partners – it keeps the money and power in the clan. There is another reason for getting family into business and politics it allows newer members to milk the goodwill of the brand while also perpetuating it.

It is for this reason that the Indian National Congress christens most development projects after their past leaders – Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. This is a leitmotif reminding people of the antecedents of the party. This constant reminder of lineage gives budding leaders like Rahul Gandhi a platform from which to speak from.

Besides encashing on the brand, building on it and ensuring stability, family in politics helps in pushing agendas without much party disapproval. Family in politics also provides stability within the party as it reduces the possibility of infighting for top-jobs. In other words it maintains status –quo, keeping other hands out of the honey pot.

Even outside the party the family plays an important part in a politician’s life. Politicians use their wife, children and other family members as fronts to horde money. So it comes as no surprise to see a non earning wife with a bank balance as large as that of the husband when the politician makes his accounts public before elections.

Much like politics, business too makes use of family, for three major reasons one is to ensure that money remains within the family, the other is to keep power in the family and the third is to reward family. However unlike politics, business uses another set of people – close friends. Doing business with friends allows leeway that may not be there with others, it reduces the cost of risk, and it is a form of investment - collecting brownie points that can be exchanged at a later date. Friends are a special breed of venture capitalists who instead of only looking at future monetary gain look at such investments as future leverage or a form of ‘repayment’ for past favours or even as a cross that needs to be borne for being friends.

Thus, it is no surprise that Lalit Modi filled the Indian Premier League (IPL) and its ancillaries with friends and family. For one, being a new venture, people willing to take a financial risk and put money into his idea were needed, family and friends met the requirements. Also by getting family into the IPL, money did not change ownership nor was making deals difficult. Finally, filling the IPL with family and friends gave Lalit a free hand over the functioning of the IPL.

It was not only Lalit who used family and friends, it is alleged that a member of the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI), under whose wings the IPL grew, used his authority to change the rules of the BCCI to allow him to purchase an IPL team.

This kind of leverage that the use of family bestows in business and politics is mirrored in government bodies - the Indian nuclear establishment for example.

The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) was setup on August 3 1954 under the direct charge of the Prime Minister. In 1958 the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was established in the DAE. The resolution creating the AEC acknowledges giant strides made in the peaceful use of the atom since the creation of the DAE in 1954 and thus finds need for the creation of an organisation ‘with full authority to plan and implement the various measures on sound technical and economic principles and free from all non-essential restrictions or needlessly in-elastic rules. - - -’ The Secretary to the Government of India in the DAE is ex-officio Chairman of the Commission. Other Members of the AEC are appointed for each calendar year on the recommendation of the Chairman of the AEC and after approval by the Prime Minster. The functions of the AEC include formulating the policy of the DAE, preparing the budget of the DAE, implementing policies of government on Atomic energy

There are a number of organisations under the AEC; the Nuclear Power Corporation, Heavy Water Board for example; R & D institutions like Babha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) also come under AEC. The Atomic and Energy Regulatory Authority (AERB) is another institution under the AEC. It was constituted on November 15, 1983 by the President of India through the powers conferred by the Atomic Energy Act to carry out regulatory and safety functions under the Act.

As per the AERB Constitution Order DECEMBER 31,1983/PAUSA 10,1905[PART II-SEC.3(II) AERB ‘[AERB]shall have powers to lay down safety standard and frame rules and regulations in regard to the regulatory and safety requirements envisaged under the Atomic Energy Act,1962’ The Order lists out the functions of the Board which include developing safety codes, guidelines for site selection, design, construction, commissioning, operation and decommissioning of the different types of plants; ensuring compliance of regulations by DAE and Non-DAE bodies, reviewing from safety angle requests for authorising/commissioning/operation of DAE projects. These standards ensure the health and safety of the workers and the public.

So what we have here is a body that is supposed to ensure that all organisations working on different aspects of nuclear science and energy meet certain standards. To do so there is need for the AERB to be independent and immune to pressures. Instead the AERB, like the organisations that it is supposed to regulate, falls under the AEC, the patriarch. Thus we have a case where the AERB tattles on its siblings to the father which is the AEC.

This is made clear in Subsection (xvi) of Section 2 of the Order. It states that the AERB will ‘Send reports periodically to Chairman, AEC on safety status including observance of safety regulations and standards and implementation of the recommendations in all DAE and non-DAE units. It will also submit an Annual Report of its activities to Chairman, AEC.’

It is not enough that the regulator and regulated fall under the AEC; the last paragraph of Section 2 of the Order makes the relationship even stronger. The DAE Science Research Council (DAE SRC) along with the Directorate of Radiation Protection at BARC will assist the AERB to enforce the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 for radiation safety in the country and under the Factories Act, 1948 for industrial safety in the units under the control of DAE. They will review health and safety aspects of modifications in design/ operation involving changes in the technical specification adopted in any of the DAE units, review from the safety angle requests for authorising/ commissioning/ operation of DAE Projects/plants and ensure compliance by DAE and non-DAE installations of safety codes and standards during construction commissioning stages.

DAE working with the AERB to check on safety and other aspects of its own units is incongruous. How different is this from the lie of self-regulation? Or is this a more refined version of setting a thief to catch a thief? Or has the nuclear establishment created a self serving mechanism that allows it to perpetuate unhindered. This is quite similar to the ‘Governing Body’ setup by the BCCI whose members were from BCCI and were also part of the IPL working either as commentators or brand ambassadors. The fact that the wheelings and dealings of the IPL was carried out under the nose of the BCCI created Governing Council indicates the kind and level of latitude given within the family.

The ‘self serving mechanism’ of the nuclear industry in India is built on a close knit family. Like in business and politics, the consanguineous of the nuclear establishment ensures that operations continue unrestricted no matter what. The AEC through the family it has created is fulfilling its mandate to free the nuclear establishment from ‘all non-essential restrictions or needlessly in-elastic rules - - -‘ an objective of any other business and political party using similar means.

The charges against BCCI, IPL and Lalit Modi are no different from the charges made against the nuclear establishment. The lack of oversight, transparency and accountability, financial opaqueness are hallmarks of any establishment that uses family.

The human tendency to overlook misdeeds because of family considerations has been morphed into a business, political and a regulatory tool. But the BCCI IPL saga shows that the weight of family is insufficient to keep the lid on a can of worms, a lesson that the AEC should take to heart.

Avatar, the Bo, colonialism and technology

2010-03-29T09:02:00.000-07:00

It was the 6th February when I watched Avatar and also read about the extinction of the Bo tribe in the Andaman Islands. The last remaining member of the Bo tribe was a woman (Senior Boa), in dying she took along with her a language, a culture, history and whatever else transforms individuals into a family, community and a tribe. The piece hovered between an obituary (to a person and a tribe) and a crime report.

As shown in Avatar the process of colonisation is filled with good intentions. Avatar has an anthropologist studying the Na’avi indigenous of the planet Pandora because their existence is being threatened by a mining company. She uses technology to gain their trust and to understand their culture, learn their language and become one with The People. She hopes to communicate the danger that surrounds them. She wants to tell them of their predicament - to survive they need to give up what they hold sacred. Her intentions are commendable - to keep the collateral damage to a minimum, while recording the culture of a race soon to be decimated. Much like other movies being churned out by Hollywood the hero begins his day with ulterior motives. However, by evening he transforms into a rebel with a cause saving The People he initially cheated and getting the girl.

The movie is not about the ‘we are the world, we are its children’ rhetoric, it also goes beyond the regular feminist cliché here the heroine kills the villain. It is also not promoting a Luddite principle because Pandora is a non-threatening, non-polluting industrial complex which not only sustains life but also produces a material similar to carbon fibre used by the Na’avi in their weapons.

The movie speaks about the process of colonisation and the manner in which this occurs.

Colonisation has many layers to it; it does not happen over night. History is replete with examples be it in the America’s, Australia or India. What begins as a challenge for an adventurer or a vocation for the religious or a small business venture grows into an enterprise based on usurpation. Riding tandem with the appropriation of wealth is the subjugation of people, culture and language, the introduction of disease and new ways of life. This is a common baggage that all colonisers carry, something depicted in Avatar and that finds reality in the extinction of the Bo. Survival International puts it succinctly in its report of Senior Boa’s death and the extinction of the tribe ‘Most were killed or died of diseases brought by the colonizers. The report adds “Having failed to ‘pacify’ the tribes through violence, the British tried to ‘civilize’ them by capturing many and keeping them in an ‘Andaman Home’. Of the 150 children born in the home, none lived beyond the age of two.”

As seen in Avatar, colonisation brings out the best and the worst in people. The battle between good and evil fought in such new territories has little to do with questioning the presence of colonisers but with the method of arrogation. The means differ, but the ends are the same. The dilemma is whether the process of dislocation/assimilation/seizure should begin with education or would education be a natural corollary of forced eviction? Colonisation is sold as emancipation, as a form of civilising the ‘savages’. Colonialists refuse to accept that the colonised have a culture, a language and a history.

The question that rises from a sci-fi film like Avatar and the extinction of the Bo is whether there should be limits to our search for knowledge. The idea of ‘knowledge for knowledge’s sake’ has never found resonance because ‘progress’ is an outcome of knowledge. Astronomy helped adventurers plot navigational charts, making it easy to reach the New World and colonise it. The very concept of ‘knowledge is power’ stems from what can be done with it. For all the good it has done technology has been used as a weapon both literally and figuratively.

It can be argued that there is a good side and a bad side to science. We know this because today there is a repository of events that show science can jeopardise our existence. It has been said that the road to development is littered with good intentions, the same goes for science. The good intentions with which scientists look into their microscopes in their sterile world gets morphed in the real world. Pesticides kill and maim people besides the bugs they target; nuclear energy finds itself in hot water because of nuclear waste and radiation leaks that go along with it. Besides this, good intentions transform into political machination and business interests in the real world.

Today the saga of colonisation continues with the need to save the world by venturing into new frontiers of science. One may ask how? Colonisation through science occurs when technologies like Genetic Engineering are packaged in terms like ‘fighting hunger’, ‘green revolution’; ‘drought resistance’ which exclude reasons that caused hunger, drought and the need for a ‘green revolution’ in the first place. These are terms of the modern colonists who see the need to ‘civilise’ and ‘modernise’ agriculture using modern technology. Like the Lost Generation of Australia who were forcibly relocated and taught or the American Indians who were put in reservations or like the Bo who are extinct, technologies like Genetic Engineering have the potential of subjugating many, destroying diversity and cultivating homogeneity all in the garb of good intentions.

There is need to pause and question how much more science do we need and if we do need science then what kind of science? The villains in Spiderman movies evolve from the failures of technologies they conceive and develop to save the world. The reason for science is because it is assumed that it can be transferred from a laboratory Petri dish to a real world cauldron.

There is another set of movies that deal with the thirst to understand our past. Most Indiana Jones movies see ancient relics being sacrificed at the temple of knowledge or to save the world. There is an ongoing debate whether anthropology actually begins the end of a tribe under study because in effect the baggage brought by the anthropologist is no different from that of the coloniser. There was a raging debate in 2000 about anthropologists studying the Yanomami tribe in the Amazon because of the kind of research done and the manner of interactions between the tribe and the anthropologists.

Colonisation in any form is an unnatural process of evolution. It does not give the evolutionary process time and opportunity to create checks and balances necessary for a species to adapt and survive. Put colloquially it’s similar to putting a gun in the hands of a child or contaminating a sterile laboratory.

We need to see what technology has done to us and what we are doing in the name of technology advancement. Once this is done then there is need to put in measures to ensure that there is no recidivism. However even as we wait for this to happen technology is being used to stem this new-age colonial onslaught.

The Surui tribe living in the forests of Brazil are using Google Earth and GPS to fight illegal logging. More recently the Dongria Kondh, an ancient tribe in Orissa fighting a steel conglomerate, invited James Cameron to make a movie on them and their struggle.

Foresight may not come naturally to us, but we have a lot to learn from the past - learn of what we did right and wrong when we used technology. This gives us scope to choose the kind of science and technology required. It gives us enough material to chart a course into the future where technology does not become a tool for colonisation but one of the choices at hand for improving our life’s if we so desire.

Colour - Dark Green.

2010-02-04T00:26:00.000-08:00

Colour blind! All colours merge into black or white. How black is dark green on a scale that turns dark to light? Is this colour a bit more of this and less of that?

Green a colour. Dark green a mood? A brooding green? A blue green? A green with the blues? Daaaaarrrrkkk Greeeen!

A natural process of decaying light green- fresh, dark green on deaths door.

Mr. Jairam Ramesh’s bold proposal had possibilities

2009-10-23T09:26:00.000-07:00

India wants the world to recognize it as a nuclear and emerging economic power but does not want to take the responsibility that comes along with it. This is seen in the ongoing climate negotiations where the Indian position is no different from that of developing countries and China. This position is based on historic emissions of the developed countries. India, the developing and less developed world, countries that form the non-Annexe 1, do not have binding carbon emission targets as laid down in the Kyoto Protocol. This has lead the United States of America and others to not ratify the Kyoto Protocol.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh nicely summed up India’s position when he stated that India’s per capita emissions will always be less than that of developed nations.

This stance which India held for almost 2 decades was in muddy waters a few days earlier. A letter from Mr. Jairam Ramesh the Indian Minster for Environment and Forests to the Prime Minister states that India should no longer toe this line and should break from the G 77 developing country ranks and take on emission reduction targets. The letter went on to suggest that this be done without any counter guarantees of finance and technology.

Politicians (both from the ruling party and BJP), and civil society groups saw the suggestion as detrimental to India and to other developing countries. Even though not much has been made public from this letter one does discern a ‘out of the box thinking’, which takes a relook at India’s international stature in and outside these talks.

The recently concluded UN climate talks in Bangkok saw the G77 countries staging a walk-out. Negotiators were trying to find ways to get countries including the US to accept binding targets this lead to fears that developed countries were trying to dilute their emission responsibilities in the new climate pact due in December. The need for a global climate compact is a no-brainer however it needs a leader to step up to the plate. Though the US sees itself as a world leader it has effectively destroyed the Kyoto Protocol and may just do the same in Copenhagen.

Jairam Ramesh saw this debilitating vacuum in the ongoing climate negotiations and proposed India take up pole position. This suggestion would have done many things -first it would have recognised India’s technical prowess, second it would have coerced the US and others to play game and alienated the Chinese and mostly importantly there were political and economic reasons for such a proposition clearly elucidated by Ramesh earlier ‘We are not doing the world a favour; rather we are doing ourselves a favour by undertaking these actions'.

Estimates from ASSOCHAM suggest that from July, 2008 to February, 2009, average annual CER from CDM projects grew by 20.92% from 218,345,930 to 264,022,976 respectively. However at the same time Indian companies are earning CERs through technical innovation, for example the Tata Steel plant in Jamshedpur has installed a Top Pressure Recovery Turbine to generate electricity replacing power from a coal powered thermal plant. Their Clean Development Mechanism Project Design Document Form states that approximately 66.68 GWh of electrical energy per annum will be generated which would lead to a reduction of 60,811 tonnes of CO2 per annum, which is the expected amount of annual CERs. According to the annual report of ITC, the ITC Sonar hotel in Kolkatta is the only project in the building sector that is earning CERs. There are other innovations that are reaching the lay person. TataBP and New Delhi Power Limited (NPDL) are planning to install solar panels on residential rooftops in Delhi which will be connected to the grid, this will not only generate power but provide additional income to households if they choose to sell the additional power to the grid.

Mr Ramesh saw the climate negotiations as a real opportunity for India to make a global mark. The new position suggested by the minister embarrasses developed countries to better their emission targets because the suggestion is being made by a poorer country. India would have become the ‘gold standard’ and provided relieve to developing nations who till date have not been very successful in forcing the developed world to reduce their emissions. A few weeks earlier the minister acknowledged that the Indian position is not favoured by small island states and others thereby recognizing the uncertain future the small island states face and the traditional role India played being non-conducive to the talks. His new suggestion indicated that India was in a position to do something more and provided a direction on how it intended to go about it

The new stance was a diplomatic barb against the Chinese who have been very active against India in the past months. The minister’s proposal would have isolated the Chinese internationally as they do not want to take emission commitments - a major reason for the failure of the Kyoto Protocol. This shows a high level of maturity in dealing with the Chinese who have found ways to constantly unsettle India. In dealing with China in such a manner India shifts focus to its positives while directing international pressure on the Chinese for its bull headedness. The proposal which would have plugged the flaring nostrils of the dragon has been nixed and the elephant has got into a warm embrace with the dragon.

A recent Maplecroft study states that between 1980 and 2008 the mean annual natural disaster economic loss was 1600 million dollars for India. An Oxfam study predicts that there will be a 9 to 13 per cent of loss of GDP by 2010 due to climate related disasters. The recent few months have seen India swing between droughts and floods. A lack of water in reservoirs and rivers not only threatened agriculture but power generation faced a dip. Then in October floods destroyed paddy in Andhra Pradesh, submerged the hydel power station in Srisalem, while also rendering over 1.80 lakh people homeless in northern Karnataka.

The suggestion made by the minister is path breaking and commendable because it sees the threat of climate change and the opportunities that come from mitigating it; these include improving the Indian economy, making it climate resilient and enhancing India’s position internationally.

Mr Jairam Ramesh had made the first step and it should have been taken further. However shortsightedness on the part of those who claim to speak for equity and for the rest of political India ensured that India remains like the veritable Indian crab.

Kaminey – Or the Art in Stammering.

2009-08-25T08:32:00.000-07:00

So, I haven’t seen the current bollywood blockbuster ‘Kaminey’ but its all over the news that the hero of the hour Shahid Kapoor has done a great job in playing the part. He has a double role and the best part is that diction is not a prerequisite. One of his roles requires him to stammer and the other to lisp.

The problem with stammering is that it takes too long to say something and the problem with lisping is that one does not quite understand what the lisper is saying. So when one goes to watch Kaminey should one be prepared to sit for a very long movie (considering the time taken by the stammer to speak) or sit close to the speakers or to the screen to carefully hear the lisper speak or to read his lips? It seems that the time for this bollywood flick is the same as any other flick coming out from this side of the wood and no one seems to be complaining about the inarticulateness of the actor.

So one question is whether Shahid has really done justice to his roles of a lisper and a stammer? The other question is whether Indian audiences really appreciate good acting? Well, the fact that there are a quite a few acting awards instituted by different companies/magazines giving the same award to different actors shows that the Indian populace really have no idea of what good acting is (being an Indian I don’t know either). So answering the former question now, if the movie has a stammer and is of the same length then he hasn’t done justice to the art of stammering.

But, the good thing is that stammering has got into the mainstream. In flicks the character who stammered had the time he did because he needed that time to say the lines. The case of the stammering lawyer in ‘my cousin vinny’ is a case in point. The stammerers usually provided comic relief in bollywood flicks, just as a cross in the cleavage indicated the vamp turned sacrificial lamb.

So, even though Shahid was faking it, twice at that, he finds himself in the news, getting pats in the back and lugging trunks full of money to the bank. Which means that those who really stammer have a chance to get into the really big screen, directors are always looking for ‘naturals’ stammerers can raise their hands and stammer their way to the bank. Stammering and lisping may become the next big thing in the fashion and media bazaar and could even help relationships as one could spend more time ‘whispering sweet nothings’ and understanding them.

Ticking to Tock.

2009-08-11T21:39:00.000-07:00

The way time has come to be measured has evolved over the ages. Actually the way we ‘look’ at time is not only a measure of technological advancement but also a measure of the distance between us and nature. From looking up at the sun, to having giant constructions whose shadow would indicate the hour, to having sand pass through fine apertures, all showed the silent progress of time. Until things turned mechanical then time began to tick and tock. But technology came full circle with the advent of the digital clock which is as silent as the passage of time.

But the question is what makes these instruments tick? Do they understand their relevance; do they know how much they have impacted our language? Do they want us to show our gratitude; if yes, how? If only they could tock! They would answer questions like whether they appreciate being used in terms like ‘sands of time’, whether they like to be linked to unknown people, tide for example - ‘time and tide wait for no man’. Or whether they like to be used as a threat ‘ - - - the clock is ticking’.

Strangely, time which denotes a passage is used for a beginning or an end – ‘its time to - -’, ‘its high time’. But what is worse is this instrument, its working and measure which has never asked anything of anyone, is extremely unassuming and whispers past us is being used to suggest future calamities and potential threats. A ‘population time bomb’, ‘AIDS time bomb’ or ‘xyz is a ticking time bomb’ all signify a potential future peril which has got nothing to do with time per say except for the fact that things could have been better if ‘we went back in time’ or ‘stopped the progress of time’. However, man in his ingenuity has been able to transform a potential threat into an instrument of death and destruction. A ‘time bomb’ uses an explosive that detonates ‘when the clock strikes - - -’ thus life which is a linear natural progression of time from birth to old age suddenly becomes a pawn in the unwilling hands of time. The phrase ‘when your time comes - -’ which is supposed to alleviate the suddenness of an incident or to give courage before an act gets a whole new meaning.

There is one clock that is quite undecided where it wants to go; the ‘doomsday clock’ has gone back and forth between 11.43 pm and 11.57 pm since its inception in 1947, the only instance where a clock can tick forward or backward depending on mans activities.

Indian Nuclear Plants Secret Fuel

2009-07-11T00:07:00.000-07:00

Now the secrets can be unveiled
Buried underground, for years sealed.
Indian nuclear power plants use a different matter
Not ending in an ‘ium’ but still a heat generator.

It looks no different and thus comes as a shock
Containment dome et al, but what is, is not.
Renewable energy it is touted to be
Tis true it is mined and harnessed differently.

The containment dome protects the energy source -
Windbags that generate hot air in variable force
Dr Homi Bhaba was the first when he did decree
8000 MW of Nuclear energy by Nineteen Eighty.

43500 MW by 2000 predicted the AEC
That was in 1969 without a nuclear plant generating energy.
The nuclear power plants now produce electricity
On windbags that promise 20,000MW by 2020.

Understanding nuclear parlance

2009-06-11T05:04:00.000-07:00

One could say that the advance of technology has lead to the progress of language. Language has had to evolve, learn new forms of contortions to accommodate what science is discovering and technology is developing. Language has happily explained the origins of the universe with just two words ‘Big Bang’, while technologies like email, SMS are now used as verbs.

Every industry generates words, terms and phrases that identifies it. The Nuclear Industry is no different, terms like ‘going critical’, ‘heavy water’, ‘light water’, ‘fission’ paint a picture of a monster straining to break free.

Besides these terms there are some phrases that are used on specific occasions – like a nuclear accident. These expressions are used by nuclear experts and people in power when there are demands for information and a call for clarification, not that the phrases provide information or clarify the situation. They obfuscate, are patently constructed to ensure that no information can be sourced though it all with the hope that by not enlightening the public things will settle down to blissful ignorance.

Usually when a nuclear accident occurs there is deathly silence from the nuclear power plant operators and the government. This is because they not only are grappling with the situation but also are trying to put together words that will ‘make everything seem all right’. However even though no two nuclear accidents are the same the phrases and quotes that are given during this period have remained constant over time and place.

The first peep that comes out from an official is that ‘everything is under control’. This could be an obvious attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of everyone; it could also be an expression of shock and incredulity of those unwilling to accept the situation. The nuclear operator would have also informed the local authorities and the Emergency Control Room operated by the Department of Atomic Energy (in India). The operator and government get into the act now. When they begin to realize the gravity of the situation the next statement is bandied out which is ‘radiation is minimal’ which in fact acknowledges the gravity of the situation but attempts to play it down. The second day of the incident would have got the press a little more interested and there would be reporters snooping around the area. The PR department of the nuclear facility or agency hired would now be working overtime in damage control - the next statement would be something to indicate that there is actually no risk and that everyone knows the drill, so the press statement would have the term ‘exposure was within safety limits’ . The value of this statement lies in that there are no radiation figures, the information actually gives out nothing except an acknowledgement that there has been a leak and some people have been exposed. There would be reports by now about risks to workers, environment and people unfortunate enough to be living in the vicinity of the nuclear power plant which would result in statements like ‘risk is slight’ and ‘no immediate cause for concern’. This is as near a confession as one is going to get from the government and nuclear operator. The next step after this would be evacuation.

Fission is not an easy thing to control, research has found that more complex the technology more is the chances of accidents. There have been innumerable articles and books that correlate complexity of technology to accidents. Charles Perrow in his book Normal Accidents: Living with High Risk Technologies has argued that normal engineering approach to safety fails because the complexity of a system makes failures inevitable.

In almost every country the nuclear industry is the spoilt brat that has grown into an indolent uncaring adult living off others. If society asks the parents about the adult everything is done to protect the brat lest their method of parenting is questioned. With such incidents the government stands exposed of endangering the lives of its people and wasting tax payers money; therefore does everything it can to hush things up.

However, there are times when such incidents reach the Parliament and a question is asked about the safety standards in nuclear power plants. Agence France Presse in November 21, 2002 quoted Vasundhra Raje, the Junior Foreign Minister’s as saying in the Parliament ‘There is absolutely near total compliance by all these plants... There is no question of compromising (the) safety of workers at nuclear plants." There couldn’t have been a greater attempt at obfuscation than this, that too in the hallowed halls of the Indian parliament. What does ‘near total compliance mean? And why is there ‘near total compliance’ and not full compliance?

Today there is a search for new symbols words and phrases that would warn people 5000 years hence not to approach entombed nuclear waste and facilities. This is because language would have changed to a great degree. This search is an obvious recognition of the longevity of the problems that nuclear energy creates. With the current numbers of nuclear reactors and the promise for more it is certain that one will get the opportunity to hear these phrases at regular intervals. The symbols that will be placed for future generations will not tell the story of generation that used a dirty technology as vividly as the piles of highly dangerous radioactive waste it leaves behind.

(I sent this for publication and got silence - thats why i have a blog)

L K Advani and footwear

2009-04-16T04:40:00.000-07:00

Sitting on pedestal, enroute to his cherished seat
Advani looked down and saw no shoes on his feet
‘How unclean,I put my foot in the mouth frequently’ said he
‘From Babri to Jinnah to kandahar that’s what I leave to posterity’.

There was no glass slipper for he was no Cinderella
But in the crowd there was one kind fella
Who though luckless and ignored by the BJP
Threw L K Advani a slipper for free.

Financing climate change

2009-04-11T05:15:00.000-07:00

Twill get cold in summer
And rain clouds will fill desert skies
Fingers then point at things like the Hummer
As people mouth plaintive why’s.

Money does Pandora’s Box open
tis cause of climate change too
Sippin’ a coke with bags full of shoppin’
Energised by coal, but out of view

The high incomes and easy loans,
through energy created by subsidised coal
Fuel larger cars and bigger homes
And on the climate they take their toll.

Air travel

2009-03-29T23:37:00.000-07:00

Promise hangs heavy in the air
In a space where people mill, sit or stare
Conversations between departures and arrivals now on hold
Raising latent desires to break from the fold.

Announcements collide and fill the room
Resulting in emotions of relief, hope, joy and gloom
Time trickles by, everyone seems aware
A 2 hour trip is becoming an unending nightmare

A confident voice guides people to gate number three
I leave the sorry faces who ask ‘why not me?’
I promise my return is going to be by train
Waiting is what makes speed all in vain.

Indestructible

2009-02-05T19:22:00.000-08:00

The prognosis was not very good
I staggered out, dying for a cigarette
I am indestructible

I have lived a full life
Killing different parts of me
I am indestructible

I never saw a glass half empty or half full
I always had a bottle at hand
I am indestructible

The future was never of interest
I never heard of a tomorrow
I am indestructible

My circle of friends is large
It is true that ‘all the world is a stage’
I am indestructible

Is 26/11 = 9/11 ?

2008-12-07T01:47:00.001-08:00

Mathematics and numbers have been used to explain the inexplicable, to make sense of what isn’t, to provide coordinates for those lost. The recent Mumbai attacks have also spawned a mathematical model – that of equating the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai to the events of 9/11.

This unnecessary ‘me – too’ Indian mentality keeps raising its ugly head at increasingly frequent intervals. The need to show the world (be it with the Chandrayan Lunar Mission) or to transform a city into something else, or to constantly proclaim that Indians have joined the Forbes list indicates that we really have nothing to flaunt in our show-cases. The need to get validation from others or to validate ourselves amongst our own people means that we are still snotty nosed kids.

To even try to equate 9/11 to the 26/11 attacks of Mumbai is to do injustice to India. Unless off course we Indians think that our country has done more than its fair share to destabilise the world, prop up puppet dictators, over throw democratically elected regimes and invade countries. Maybe we haven’t done things on an international scale but as a country we have not fared too badly either.

9/11 was a result of those disaffected by Americas global footprint. There are enough reasons nationally for 26/11 to have occurred - L.K Advani and Babri Masjid, Modi and the Gujarat Pogrom, the ongoing humanitarian disasters of Kashmir and the North East, warped development and economic growth strategies provide enough grist for the mill. (There is now another reason – the Pak army doesn’t want to deal with outlaw Pakistanis helping Bin Laden so they schemed to get the Indian army on alert which would mean that they would have to shift their focus from the Afghanistan border to the Indian one)

As has been seen in the past the media plays the role of whipping up sentiments, they are almost as good as Goebble. In some ways they are better, they not only provide information that gives rise to these sentiments but are also kind enough to provide a vent for them. After the 26/11 attacks print and electronic media have gone out of their way to make hay – besides interviewing all and sundry media have begun initiatives like ‘Citizens Against Terror’, ‘Declare war on Terror’, online polls and debates ranging from new anti-terror laws to ‘How can India maintain unity in its fight against terror?'. While others use 26/11 to suggest draconian laws and put forth their ideas of the need for higher levels of nationalism.

What the media has been doing is that it is feeding off public outcry, the greater the outcry the more the media gives in. Thus instead of creating informed debates and generating information that provides solutions to a frustrated public who could then make informed demands, the media provides crumbs and manufactures events, debates and crisis.

But it is not only the media, intelligent people like Ratan Tata, Bajaj and heads of various chambers of commerce have also shown scant regard for the situation. They have all used different words for an anti-terror law and ‘stronger leadership’. This does not come as a surprise when Tata has been quoted as saying that those not investing in Gujarat are fools. He then put his money where his mouth was – albeit because of the situation in Singur.

Post 26/11 there is a sense of shame tinged with helplessness, a feeling echoed by Bajaj who said “This is a shame on our government that they cannot provide citizens with the basic security. We are tired of hearing Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Malegaon, Delhi and the commercial capital. This is not acceptable.” And to overcome this feeling people are demanding that India attack Pakistan, others promise not to vote or pay taxes, while others are willing to give up privacy for the notion of safety.

It would not be incorrect to club the current swell of sentiment to that felt after the Babri Masjid, Gujarat pogroms, or when industries are set up without due process.

Suggestions on how to make India a safe place are coming thick and fast, demands for better equipment, more respect and pay for the armed forces, an overhaul of the intelligence system are being bandied around. Maybe an apology from L K Advani for the Babri Masjid demolition and from Narendra Modi for the Gujarat pogroms would reduce some of the reasons given by those bent on causing pain, suffering and upheaval.

The Electric Mosquito Swatter (EMS)

2008-11-23T05:46:00.000-08:00

To the pacifist this is a weapon of war; to others it is just another way to ensure what is theirs’ remains with them. Having donated blood a few times I have come to appreciate that blood donation is a voluntary act, it is not a two way process, further there are no detrimental impacts to the donor. I would not call a mosquito nonchalantly landing on my skin to feast on my blood as voluntary blood donation, okay even if I were to allow it to; it would feel obligated to exchange diseases like Dengue, Malaria, Chickengunia things I do not care for.

What is worse with the mosquito is that it announces its presence much before it actually sits down to eat. The whine of a mosquito making a pass at a ‘meal’ is enough to get the ‘meal’ clapping with the hope that the mosquito magically gets sandwiched between the hands. But invariably what happens is that the meal just hurts himself as the mosquito deftly dodges the hands. What adds insult to injury is when the hand misses the mosquito absorbed in its bloody business on another part of the body.

The EMS, pictured here, is an instrument that solves a problem before it becomes one. It changes the rules of engagement by making the user more proactive.
It would make George Bush and Advani extremely happy as with the EMS the user can ‘hot-pursuit’ the target all over. The user could also use stealth and guile - acting as bait to draw the mosquito and then using the EMS when the mosquito is in reach, this in-effect means that the EMS can be used to create a no-fly-zone and enforce it.

The EMS gives grace to an unpleasant activity. To some this tool provides the much
needed athleticism to an otherwise sedentary lifestyle because the technique for use is badminton like so well captured in the image on the left. Its design also allows the user to adopt more fluid movements that are less stressful than the method pictured above. The movements of Taichi can be moulded into the use of the EMS. As the EMS is not about force but about reach and touch it suits well to the Dao of this system.

Besides the benefits mentioned above the EMS has been found to enhance relationships as it is a gift of concern and one based on empathy. Gifting an EMS is about empowering the other as it provides a painless solution to the user who till then only had a pair of hands and reflexes to deal with the mosquito.

The EMS is a tool of ingenuity as it combines the idea of the regular fly swatter with the broad sweep of a badminton racket. I don’t know what is more ingenious these adaptations or the fact that it was electrified or is it the whole package. I have written this with the EMS by my side not only did it provide me the requisite inspiration but it helped me enforce a no-fly-zone.

Proving a point

2008-11-15T09:07:00.000-08:00

Today’s paper (Times of India 15 Nov. 08) stated that the Army officer who was instrumental in detonating a bomb that killed 6 and injured 101 in Malegaon did it to prove a point. The point being that the Hindus now could also act like the Islamist jihadi’s and blow up a few people. Being the democracy we are, with the ethos of absorbing and learning from others this right wing Hindu colonel went and asked the jihadis for help in assembling and placing the bombs around town/mosques (mosques were not acceptable to the jihadists though). What greater example of democracy, collaboration, respect, attempting to provide equal opportunities can there be today than this - two opposing right wing militant groups come together to share experiences and learning’s to destroy the country.

Both sides have a common cause or a common grouse. They both feel that history has been unkind to them and they are now beholden to right these wrongs by creating a land where the other is absent or not apparently present. The Right Wing Hindus suck on the lemon of being constantly attacked by Muslims centuries ago, worse still the current governments are handing out freebies to Muslims even after they ruled for so long. The modern Right Wing Muslim has a more recent grouse - the Babri Masjid demolition and the Gujarat Pogrom.

So both have grouses and they both are trying to prove a point. What the Right Wing Hindus usually try to prove is that Muslims and others should acknowledge the munificence of the Hindus and therefore show humility and respect. The other point they are trying to prove is that the only way to get back to the golden period of India is to regress as a country. However now with the ‘Hindu Bomb’ what the Right Wing Hindu is trying to prove is that they have had enough of the jihadist bombings and government appeasement of Muslims, they can take matters (bombs) into their own hands and can kill and maim just as well as the jihadists.

The point that the jihadist is trying to make is that the government (hindus) have to pay for their crimes because the law is not dealing with the perpetrators of acts against Muslims.

Proving a point is a necessity for those who imagine they are disenfranchised, its something similar to a tantrum thrown by a child. There is this sudden righteous need to say something or do something that brings recognition, draw attention and thus provide meaning to their Right Wing-ness.

This need to prove things is nothing new to fundamentalists and right wingers, Hitler did it in his attempt to establish a thousand year Reich. So it was no surprise that when the BJP came to power the first time, the first thing they did was to detonate a nuclear device. This was done to prove to the world that India was nuclear capable. This was also BJP’s method of blowing the conch to announce their arrival. This of course led Pakistan to prove a point too. Now both countries have proved a point.

‘Proving a point’ is like Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD), it breeds on distrust as it feeds on an unimportant past which results in an unknown and insecure future.

Explaining Ministerial Posts.

2008-10-19T04:57:00.001-07:00

What makes a good candidate? From the electoral process it would seem that one of the most important criteria is money. Almost every candidate and his family had assets over a crore. Is money (both in terms of payments and receipts) an important criteria in these politicians getting berths in ministries?

A study of the recently held Karnataka State Elections and the reports of the manner in which people were allocated ministries paint’s an interesting picture.

To the common man it would surely seem that this is so considering how news papers report the allocation of ministries. Certain ministries like revenue, forest and transport are termed ‘lucrative’, such ministries are clubbed with others that go under the nom-de-plume of ‘plum’, ‘prominent’ and ‘much sought after’. A recent news paper report on the portfolio allocation in the Karnataka government contained “First timer to the ministry, Shobha Karandlaje, has been showered a bounty with she being placed in charge of the vast Rural Development, Panchayat Raj and Rural Water Supply”.

To anyone it would seem that the Chief Minister had given this post to her not because of her skills in Rural Development but so that she could ‘make hay while the sun shines’. This may not be far from the truth considering news reports that use terms such as “awarding some key departments” when discussing portfolio allocations.

This is not to say that the head of the government does not choose people according to their qualifications a case in point being Chidambaram. However sometimes politicians also evince interest in certain ministries because they have large businesses connected to them. Thus according to one news paper the Reddy brothers who are also mining magnets were keen to get the mining or forest portfolio. Such interests are explained by news papers as ‘eying the pie’

Though these people would like to put their hands into the coffers, the head of the government sees this as their Achilles Heel. Seat allocation is done on the basis of ‘keeping the coterie happy’, ‘checking growth’ of other politicians and finally ‘horses-for-courses’ where a suitable candidate is found for a particular ministry.

It is unfortunate that we as a public take this type of form-a-government without a whimper. It is not because we have lost faith in the political process, it is because we expect no better from these people. Robert Wright, in his book Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny, states “this is why leaders serve public interest; not because they are public spirited, but because neglecting the public welfare can diminish their own welfare’. He goes on to explain that this is seen more in chiefdom's where the chief lacks a monopoly on the legitimate use of force. Handing over portfolios to these politicians in a way legitimises the way they function. So like in the days of yore politicians are actually petty chiefs who gain power to hoard and then distribute largess to keep everybody happy.

Ministers in the last Karnataka government had a field day while they were in power. A news report states that assets of those in the last Karnataka government jumped manifold. The assets of one minister and his wife grew 13 times in the four years he was in power – from Rs 3.76 crores to Rs 49.72 crores. The report states tongue in cheek that in terms of CAGR, assets grew anywhere from 68.42 percent for some to 111.47 percent for others.

So what we actually have is a ménage a trios comprising greedy politicians, unconcerned media and listless public. The media humours itself as it plays with words to describe the corruption, ineptitude and blatant disregard for peoples welfare that the politicians have. The reports in the media only serve to instill a sense of decay amongst the people as they accept this form of politician to be the only one available. The politician off-course has a field day because he is beyond approach and reproach not only because he is thick skinned but also because of the power he and his party wields over everything and everybody.

This form of a ‘welfare-state’ does not work for the common person. The only welfare that occurs is that of those already rich and powerful. There should be norms and a process of vetting that needs to be laid down when ministries are allocated and the norms are not about 'keeping people happy' or 'in their place' or allocating ministries for profit. Suitability for the job should not be narrowed down to the amount that can be usurped, but should depend on the person’s educational qualifications and experience.

Forming governments is not a birthday party where birthday gifts and return gifts are exchanged. Nor is it cattle market where the highest bidder gets prime beef. It is a position of great responsibility and the only focus should be that of the welfare of the public.

The truth behind conversions and climate change.

2008-10-10T04:27:00.000-07:00

I have come across some documents about the whole conversion crisis. I would have liked to put this mind blowing stuff on my site but that may kinda jeopardise my future on this fragile earth. So I wont be naming names, places but will surmise this fabulous idea. I hope this will ensure I maintain my current status quo.

The whole conversion issue is actually linked to climate change. The RSS in its foresight not only saw the problems that may arise from climate change but also found its FINAL SOLUTION which they sold to others.

As anybody living on this planet of ours knows - climate change is supposed to be the gravest threat facing us. Weather patterns will change resulting in changes to the agricultural systems. Large amounts of coastal land will be submerged leading to large levels of displacement – which means that there is going to be a lot of human misery and a lot of money to be spent to deal with the situation once it befalls us.

Now there are two ways to solve a problem tackle it before it becomes one or deal it after it becomes unmanageable. To tackle the issue of climate change before it becomes a bigger problem requires changes in lifestyle and the current model of economic development which means we should not be buying those huge SUVS, building those coal fired thermal powered plants and also not promising nuclear energy to be the panacea. But that takes cojones (balls in our language) which political parties don’t have.

So all forms of secularists (pseudo and otherwise) including BJP, Congress I and everyone else came together at a secret conclave (would have liked to tell you where) with a highpriest from the RSS (name withheld for the same reason). He came up with a suggestion that everyone loved – stop people from converting to Christianity and Islam (in the case of Islam it would be ensuring a Uniform Civil Code).

Christians and Muslims are meat eaters, now it is known that the ecological footprint of meat eaters is more than non meat eaters. This is because cattle (all forms) need grass to eat - so forests are cut, also cattle fart a lot of methane a greenhouse gas.

So by reducing the number of meat eaters (christian and muslims) India would be infact killing two birds with one stone. India would still meet its growth requirements with the current coal based system, while the BJP would have reduced the populations of the Christians and Muslims.

So that is why this sudden bogey of conversion and the resulting need to burn churches, rape a few nuns and displace people and the finding of 50 bombs in trees and behind hoardings in Surat. This is all for the greater good of the country. These are being planned in such a way to ensure that India has something to show-case at the next climate meeting in Copenhagen which is the do-or-die event for all countries.

Please don’t quote me on this but the main opposition party after next years election will be the Communists.

NSG and Reservations

2008-09-07T20:41:00.000-07:00

Today ( 7th Sept 2008) I have had my fill of India shining. Manmohan Singh stands tall after leading the charge into the cloistered confines of the NSG. While the Congress I is trumpeting their prime ministers victory, the other parties are looking for holes to bury themselves in. But this is what the Congress would have done too, if they were in opposition.

The Indian Industry sees the NSG waiver as something that is unprecedented and that will help them and the economy as a whole. There is good reason to this, which I shall come to later.

But the fact of the matter is India’s demand of the NSG highlights her Reservation mentality. I make no bones about the fact that I am a product of reservation; the only reason why the college accepted me after my disastrous high school results was because I bore a cross they recognised. Reservation is intended to give those without opportunities a fair shot at life, it is not for those (like me) who have the wherewithal and suddenly find themselves in a self made conundrum.

Over time India has become adept at demanding reservations/quotas from international bodies. This country has got an exemption from signing the Non Proliferation Treaty which is a must for any country to trade with NSG countries. By doing so it has once again destroyed the value of the NPT, not to mention its impact on The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and the Fissile Material Treaty (FMT) international conventions that are trying to remove weapons of mass destruction.

This kind of demand for waiver in international fora though embarrassing is not unusual for India, this country lives off Reservations. It can be seen in the horse trading that occurs amongst our politicians, it is apparent everyday when people disobey traffic rules, it is apparent when building norms are thrown into the wind, in the way we celebrate festivals and marriages that spill out into the street and inconvenience the rest. Every Indian wants to be in a special category, every category wants to be recognised not for what they bring to the table but for the benefits they can accrue.

The Indian psyche is actually a selfish one, maybe it could be called a survivalist mentality to couch it in better terms, but the fact of the matter is we don’t care about what our actions have on others.

The NPT, CTBT and FMT are international treaties made by nuclear haves to ensure that no other country got their hands on such weapons though made in good faith is also a clear case of different rules for different people. Rajiv Gandhi at the UN said “"We cannot accept the logic that a few nations have the right to pursue their security by threatening the survival of mankind...nor is it acceptable that those who possess nuclear weapons are freed of all controls while those without nuclear weapons are policed against their production. History is full of such prejudices paraded as iron laws: That men are superior to women; that white races are superior to the coloured; that colonialism is a civilizing mission; (and) that those who possess nuclear weapons are responsible powers and those who do not are not."

India did propose a comprehensive action plan for a nuclear-free world within a specific time-frame at the third United Nations Special Session on Disarmament, in 1988. Nothing much has happened after that besides India testing another set of nuclear weapons in 1998 (which was another knife into these international treaties) and finally the NSG waiver that according to the Swiss government mean that “it will be necessary to conclude that the non-proliferation regime that we know has reached its end.”

So in the last decade India has been able to single handedly destroy an international treaty that has 189 signatories – we sure have become a global superpower.

It wouldn’t be wrong to say that the crown jewel of Indian science and technology – the nuclear establishment is being built on a policy of reservation. Indian Taxpayers money is being poured down an abyss, everything surrounding the nuclear establishment be it financial accountability, health of the workers and people staying in that area is all cloaked in secrecy. If that is not a form of reservation then what is? The fact that norms other public utilities have to follow do not govern the Indian Nuclear establishment shows there is a publicly accepted, government sanctioned Reservation for this entity. This huge pie is what the private industry wants to get their hands on. The fact that there is no accounting, that there is no one answerable to the public, that the government disburses money without a blink is what the private industry wants, they want a pie of the reservation.

What the waiver has done internationally is nothing compared to what the Indian public are going to face. A spew of reactors all over the country will increase the threat of accidents, will provide more avenues for terrorist attacks, will also increase the amount of nuclear waste that has to be dealt with. What is more ironic is that the very industry who were against reservation for the Indian public are going to be lining up to demand their 'fair' share in the nuclear reservation.

The Big Asks.

2008-09-06T00:32:00.000-07:00

It has been said that there is no such thing as a stupid question, only stupid answers. Questions are conundrums that created philosophies, lead to scientific discoveries, to revolutions, to wars and conquests. Questions have also led to more mundane human things like love, loss, desire, hope, despair, greed, jealousy, unhappiness - things that are dealt with individually or with a close set of friends and family.

For the regular human questions are usually based on worth. Worth that is a perception of the self and of the other person and that is the fount of most questions. Everything from pay to relationships is based on this – and happy is the person who sees through it all. But until then the question remains.

Though questions are a means towards fulfillment it is not easy to question or ask. Therefore the BIG ASK.

Questions by their very function can be construed as points of vulnerability. A pay-hike request could have its birth in anything from a comparison with a colleague’s salary to the feeling that the money is not commiserate to the work all could be very justifiable though indicating a reassessment of worth. Before such a question is raised a lot of internal dialogue goes on everything from how will the question be perceived to what kind of answer will it beget to the response that would be necessary for the answer. It requires a steeling up that provides the impetus for the question to be asked.

One can handle such impersonal questions, but when it comes to matters that are little more personal boy-oh-boy do things get heated? Asking a woman for her hand in marriage is scary not only because the man is in effect forfeiting all his freedom and friends, but also because she may just say no. So on the one hand his present is looking pretty unsure (before he pops the question), his future is certainly bleak.

But BIG ASKS are not only about life and bank balance altering scenarios, they are also about the smaller stuff, like wanting to get to know a person. In such cases there are many BIG ASKS, from does one really want to get to know the person, to does the individual in question want to get known and what happens if after the BIG ASK the person indicates in the negative. There is always this argument which is very British, take it on the chin and don’t behave like a child. But that is just not possible, because BIG ASKS such as these are based on hope and desire two very basic, very human and very personal emotions that though nurtured in a vacuum of singleness can only blossom in the chaos of two.

One of the results of a BIG ASK is another BIG ASK which is ‘why’ followed by the remonstrations and the hind sight. But the good thing is that in BIG ASKS one never learns from hind sight because there is no such thing as a stupid question.

Pronunciation

2008-07-28T01:01:00.000-07:00

Married people eat at

2008-07-28T00:56:00.000-07:00

2008-07-06T20:58:00.000-07:00

Found this en route home. These paper hoardings for C grade English movies are usually in black and white. The colored hues of this one is a surprise.

But the question is - what were the worries that transformed her and her ilk into 'deadly worriers' ?

Of the road

2008-06-19T03:08:00.000-07:00

Rejections

2008-06-05T00:21:00.000-07:00

Rejection, a stiletto so sharp –that it both amputates and cauterises in one single movement. However in the hands of an amateur the blood bath that follows would put to shame any abattoir.

There are many forms of rejections and many things are done to and with rejects. The one most spoken about is the rejection in relationships, but those have been done to death so lets move on (the antidote too) to other forms. Rejection of clothes - it may not be good enough for the outside market, but people kill for a branded rejection. Besides clothes, the other things that attract rejection are ideas, answers, proposals (not the ones on bended knee), manuscripts and articles to name but a few.

Almost all forms of rejection provide for the economy. Take for example the rejections of the heart – there are cards for those occasions, restaurants where the final blow is delivered or a shoulder provided, there are long rides that need to be taken, there is alcohol that needs to be drunk and beyond all this is retail therapy. Export rejects, the politically correct name for clothes that fall to quality’s keen eye, have a fan following as brands blind everyone.

The rejections that come from desk of an editor are the hardest to swallow. Invariably they are none, which means that a lot has to be read into the silence, if one is made of steel then one venture’s to ask, but that begets another wall of silence. However there are times when someone from the editors desk deigns to reply. Such moments can be of verbosity or of succinctness, a paragraph not only explaining the reasons for rejection but also wishing success in other attempts does soothe the frayed ego, a telegraphic ‘no’ provides enough kryptonite for another attempt.

If only these editorial pink slips could loose significance over time! But their effect does not dim. Therefore in this age of technology the blog is a perfect outlet for creativity. The fact that readership depends on happenstance does not diminish the delight in seeing ones name in ‘print’.

Even though the blog is an escape, rejections are just another source of creativity for an intrepid ‘rejectionist’.

I am onto 5 books as I write
1. How to get the best rejections ever
2. Getting over rejection
3. I was rejected and I survived
4. The secret life of a rejectionist

5. The rejectionists guide to success

Democracy and its working.

2008-05-23T02:19:00.000-07:00

The Election Commission in its attempts to bring transparency and accountability into the election process has ensured that all candidates declare their assets as part of the filing of nomination process.

The recent elections in Karnataka were a case in point; one could say that prospective candidates washed their linen in public or they had skeletons walking out of their closets. It was a veritable ‘get-into-your-candidates-coffers’ offer. Newspapers detailed the amount of gold, cars, houses, fixed deposits, companies, loans, bank accounts that each candidate had. I bet it would have made any Income Tax officer salivate, helplessly – helplessly because the poor officer won’t be able to do much right now as any action would be termed as politically motivated and later would be nigh impossible.

It is such brazen honesty that permits one to stand for election, such brazen honesty gets votes, and it is such brazen honesty that guarantees adulation and even emulation. It is because of this brazen honesty that the last will and testament usually translates into a party ticket for the next generation.

But this form of honesty is not the only indications of an election process of a vibrant democracy. Things get shut down for elections, things like schools, things like government offices and even liquor shops.

Things are shut for a purpose – schools are shut down because that’s where the polling booths are set up and government teachers also become polling officers, government offices are shut down so that employees can fulfil their constitutional duties. Liquor shops are shut down quite a few days before the polling day – no not to ensure that everyone is sober enough to vote but to ensure that the common person does not vote according to the number of pegs he gets.

Because India is also a vibrant economy many things can be bought and sold, there is also a very lively barter system. Candidates not only sell esoteric things like promises - common to all candidates, they also buy voters, and sometimes they barter commodities for votes. One could look at it like this - political candidates have not only taken it on themselves to improve on the current fundamental rights but they also try to ensure that these rights reach people – even if for a few days. So we have politicians providing food and drink to people (right to good food and alcohol), some go further and even distribute silk saris (right to fine clothes).

And so we once again creep closer to another General Election – the great bizarre bazaar of democracy where not only will aspirants pick winning and loosing parties but the electorate will get all the attention it needs to choose winning and loosing candidates. The bazaar where the ‘consumer’ is like the emperor with no clothes, where there is no guarantee on the products chosen, where the products on display do not come with statutory warnings, where there is no chance of returning defective goods.

But this bazaar has been undergoing transformations over the years. People now know what one needs to be done for free and fair elections. Bangalore newspapers were full of photos of saris meant to clothe the electorate and food meant to feed the hungry being snatched away from the hands of well meaning candidates. There were photos of police being deputed to various polling stations. There were even public messages asking people to vote. It may take many more elections before one gets to revel in a democracy and a democratic process that stands on achievements but we are getting there.

Do our politicians suffer from Attention Deficit Disorder?

2008-05-14T02:27:00.000-07:00

Attention Deficit Disorder has been a byword in US schools - any child not paying attention in school or is hyper active is immediately branded as having ADD. As if staying put in a small class was not enough ADD now empowers adults to pop pills into kids without the usual diatribe that follows a chemical experience. But ADD has cast its net wide and now grown ups in the US are also being diagnosed with ADD.

However keeping the Indian politician in mind I have tried to compare the characteristics of our politicians with those required for a child to be diagnosed with ADD.

In 1987 the American Psychiatric Association provided a list of characteristics that a child must display for 6 months or more, at least eight of the following characteristics prior to the age of 7 for the child to be diagnosed with ADD:

1. Fidgets, squirms or seem restless,

2. Has difficulty remaining seated,

3. Is easily distracted, has difficulty awaiting turn,

4. Blurts out answers, has difficulty following instructions,

5. Has difficulty sustaining attention,

6. Shifts from one uncompleted task to another,

7. Has difficulty playing quietly, talks excessively,

8. Interrupts or intrudes on others.

9. Does not seem to listen.

10. Often loses things necessary for tasks.

11. Frequently engages in dangerous actions.

And from these characteristics I can very safely argue that our politicians suffer from ADD

Fidgets, squirms or seems restless

This is noticeable especially before an election or when there is a reshuffling of cabinet seats. Politicians become restless and search for better opportunities else where.

Has difficulty remaining seated

Closely observed during parliamentary sessions when politicians keep getting up for incomprehensible reasons

Is easily distracted, has difficulty awaiting turn

A politician is easily distracted from his credo of ‘service to the electorate’ by the sudden appearance of money and personal profit. Also the politician’s use of revolving lights, security guards, and sirens indicates difficulty awaiting turn.

d. Blurts out answers, has difficulty following instructions

Seen most recently in the case of Arjun Singh, Jaswant Singh and George Fernandes.

Has difficulty sustaining attention

The researcher hasn’t yet found this characteristic in politicians. The researcher proposes a completely opposite characteristic – that of being able to sustain attention. For example the BJP still holds the attention of people with its Ram Card, the Congress speaks about Aam Admi, both play the religious and caste card. Infact all politicians plays these cards very well.

Shifts from one uncompleted task to another

Also explained as having a finger in more than one pie. Seen with the number of criminal cases these people have. Before they can be proved innocent/guilty in one case (and thus can pay for their crimes) they move on to another crime.

Has difficulty playing quietly, talks excessively

Blame game – the favourite sport of politicians happens in public and is never quite, it involves media spectacles and a lot of verbosity.

Interrupts or intrudes on others.

This characteristic is seen once again in Parliament where free speech implies shouting and other dignified political manners.

Does not seem to listen.

This should be elaborated to ‘does not seem to listen to constituency’. The condition of roads, services etc make a strong argument for this characteristic.

Often looses things necessary for tasks.

Memory – such an important thing for a politician is quite often lost. Seen most recently in the L K Advani cover up of his role in Kandahar.

Frequently engages in dangerous actions.

Speeches that generate hatred and social disharmony made by politicians, attempts to hand over agricultural land to business are but a few indications of another of the stated characteristics that point out that politicians are indeed afflicted with ADD.

The good thing is that ADD in politicians is not an incurable affliction nor does it need chemicals to deal with it. All we have to do is vote in better politicians in 2009.

Sometime soon and other such gems.

2008-04-16T04:08:00.000-07:00

It was an offer to host a friendly get together of regular office faces that ended in an oft heard statement. The words traipsed down elegantly to meet the question ‘when?’. This innocuous question got an answer that bamboozled me.

‘Sometime soon’, the answer, is flummoxing, because even though there is a notion of immediacy it is vague enough in time to actually construe nothing.

‘Sometime’ when used as a measure of time is used on a scale between zero and infinity. While ‘soon’ has the promise of being more immediate. Combining both of gives birth to something meant to confuse the linear order that is time.

Communication! ahhh if only it would help break boundaries, if only reading between the lines did not imply staring at empty spaces. What’s worse is that the language does nothing to alleviate the problem.

Another word that fits in this time scale is ‘later’. Though this word does not give a clear indication of when, it is often construed as an implied promise to be fulfilled now than in the opaque of a distant future.

‘Later’, in such a context is usually used when someone is in a hurry and wants to cut the other person off to answer another call. It usually sounds like ‘will call you later’ followed by the autistic beeping of the phone. In this instance too ‘later’ can extend to a time slab that could extend from here to eternity.

In the same league of such ‘what-have-yous’ is the ‘yes but’. These two little words when spoken in the same breath give a certain dubiousness to the entire statement around it. There is an agreement and at the same time a certain level of indecision/disagreement which has not been defined and which can infact negate whatever the ‘yes’ promises.

One wonders about the brain that conceived such terms and the reason thereof. It could have been a lawyer or a diplomat, maybe a politician or just a way-word Joe who coined these weighty terms of no consequence. Whoever created such gems may not have helped further human communication but ensured that their use results in suspended-animation.

Escape

2008-04-07T11:36:00.000-07:00

What's in a day?

2008-03-19T22:41:00.001-07:00

It was International Women’s Day on the 8^th of March, like this there is an occasion for almost everyday. There is environment day, world water day, even a day for lovers etc etc, its almost like the Christian calendar where each day is dedicated to either the beatification, birth or death of a saint or the Good Lord. The Hindu calendar/almanac is however devoted to more planetary matters – the waxing and waning of the moon, the position of the planets etc etc.

The Hindu calendar is more about finding the most appropriate/auspicious day for the devout, while the Christian calendar is about dedications and remembrances so that the faithful can find occasion to sup in the reinvigorating spring of dead sainthood, and also invoke the blessed trio in the words of that dead saint.

Now the Hindu calendar and the Christian – ok Gregorian- calendar are quite different and the world unfortunately follows the Gregorian calendar. It would seem that the dedicating each day to a saint has inspired the world to dedicate days to various issues that are worldly pertinent, therefore occasions such as World Women’s Day on the 8^th of March.

Now with a more vocal section of a section of a particular community against western influences and Christian evangelism it is strange that the likes of VHP, Shiv Sena and other sentinels of Indian culture have not seen such occasions as another example of the sullying of ancient traditions.

It is indeed surprising that these undertakers have not seen this day as another example of the west’s nasty tentacles surreptitiously engulfing India in a perpetual embrace. For Christ’s sake what is the difference between a Valentines Day and Women’s day – there can’t be one without the other (no offence to the gay community). These are both occasions created by the west, worse still one had semi-religious connotations while the other celebrates womanhood which should appear strange to this vocal section used to eating first at home. Furthermore, Valentine’s Day would not be possible without women so therefore logically these custodians of Indian mores should be up in arms against anything that celebrates women.

Is it that they want to conserve their energies for a yearly concerted blitzkrieg? It does take a Goebble like deviousness and an Eichmann like efficiency to trash a few book stores selling cards, ransack hotels celebrating and slap a few lovers. Or is it that these clay modelers adept at making a mountain of a molehill have not yet got enough putty.

Such days are all about communicating; it’s about messages being transmitted through various mediums. The idea is about finding better methods of packing everything into 24 hours. This is what the ideologues of this ‘bandar sena’ have taken home and have come up with their own versions of such ‘days’ – for example the ‘ghar vapsi divas’ celebrates the return of the animistic tribal, ‘bought’ into Christianity, to the Hindu fold. This is also supposed to be a not-to-subtle kick in the teeth to the tribe of fisher-of-men.

Such nominated days, like these, are also used by governments and ministries to spend pots of money on advertisements on what they have done and are doing. So full page advertisements are printed in every daily with mug shots of the PM, the Chairman of the UPA and the head of the ministry, while rarefied conference rooms are booked for intellectuals debate.

The occasions have also become opportunities to get people to spend, so the Leela Galleria in Bangalore markets this day as one to get in touch with ones self through some yoga maestro and his beautiful socialite wife, while lounges plan to have welcome drinks and some jewellery shops promising discounts on gold.

One gets the feeling that these are used to make up for the lost 365 (depending on a leap year or not). Why should the world wake up, on the 8^th of March, to the importance of women (yes women are included in ‘world’). This is not an open invitation for the ‘you know who’ to go around slapping people and destroying property all the year round, Ram knows that they have found enough excuses in their version of Indian history to do so. These occasions are milestones, points to take stock and move forward – continuing, no bettering what was done in the last years.

* I have just been told that articles have been written about this - but I would like to add my two bits.

Loneliness is - - - - -

2008-03-17T06:33:00.000-07:00

A full moon in an empty sky

Fat and the climate

2008-03-03T00:09:00.000-08:00

The UK has recently decreed that the fat will have to pay more tax. This may seem pretty draconian what with everyone being politically correct and weight issues being linked to a variety of factors. The law conjures up the image of a tax man coming with a weighing scale. However, such a tax could not be more opportune.

But first on a more personal note – Like the Europeans of yore I am now in an expansionist mode. As I move from ‘ship-shape’ to ‘ship shaped’, my clothes live in constant fear that they will be down graded to hand-me-downs ‘cos there is a limit to how much I can tuck in my girth.

Clothes getting ‘bangalored’ has lead to a new form of humanitarian service, while making economic sense to others. Such clothes from the US are reaching the distant shores of Africa where they are destroying local textile industries. The question is how come there are so many clothes to give away – one reason could be that that Americans are hording copious amounts of fat. So they send these non-fitting clothes down south where it becomes an aspirational commodity no not to buy them but to fit into them. The subconscious message that percolates is that the ‘south’ can become the ‘north’ when and only when they fit into XL sizes.

This leads me to link current economic growth to girth and finally to grime/guano. Well looking at things around me I see a very visible relation. Take the SUV for example – it is huge, guzzles huge amounts of fuel like a perpetually thirsty camel and belches out copious amounts of smoke. Now to clothe such a machine requires large quantities of many materials – rexene/leather for the upholstery and so on and so forth. Going further the most polluting country in the world the US of A also has one of the highest numbers of fat people. The other countries ahead of it are from the south pacific -Samoa and others - who are going to sink not because of the number of fat people on it but because the US is doing more than enough to damage the climate (which would lead to sea level rise for one) along with other wannbe’s like India and China.

Now why did the UK propose such a tax? It’s not because more cloth is required to clothe the fat, nor is it that more food has to be put on a plate, or because they occupy more space. It is because in the long run they are going to cost the community a lot in medical expenses. So now we have a situation where the government is making it clear in no-uncertain terms that the fat should become fit or pay per Kg.

This logic is also quite applicable to industries and countries. Industries and countries that generate more carbon (and therefore use more carbon producing stuff) should be asked to change their ways or start coughing up more big bucks (not the best thing to do). The US and other climate killers should get their act together because their current size and growth patterns are already costing their citizens and the world community a lot and this cost is going to increase in the coming years.

The author understands that there are a variety of causes of obesity and one major cause is lack of access to good nutrition and easy access to cheap unhealthy packaged and fast foods, dietary choices and lack of exercise. Not forgetting the right to be fat .

The much appreciated chasm between ‘if’ and ‘when’

2008-02-19T23:51:00.000-08:00

What’s in a word they say. Worse still others with nonchalance state ‘sticks and stones may break ----- but words will never---.’ But I have come to appreciate the subtle nuances of words.

As it happens when friends/relatives get married they try to increase the casualty list and area of damage by trying to hook up those unattached or by giving insights into this 'institution'.

So it came to pass that a recently married friend was giving me advice on the do’s and don’ts of marriage and married life – he said ‘when you get married----‘ and he continued. Much later I was mulling over his words and advice (which as you may have noticed is not free) when it hit me – the guy still carried a candle for me that’s what ‘when’ is all about. ‘When’ is about anticipation, about time – hey I could marry at 80 – but married I would be. ‘When’ is also about a continuation, of possibilities, about a light at the end of a dark tunnel. However, ‘if’ has a tone of finality in it, there is also a hint of a preconceived notion. With ‘if’ comes a variety of scenarios – Plan B’s etc, it’s the beginning of the formation of that heavy thunder cloud.

Samples using ‘if’ and ‘when’

We will play again when hell freezes over (or something to that effect said by the Eagles)
We will release the hostages if you free our jailed whoever. (said some terrorist, a hostage negotiator should perk up his ears when hearing the word IF)
I will give you an ice cream if you clean you room ( Mama dear does not know that she is providing the nutrients for the kid to either become a negotiator or a terrorist)
We will marry when you come back. (said the fair maiden to the knight)
We will marry if you come back. ( said the fair maiden this time meaning if and when you do, you will see me with kids and they wont be yours)

Many a boat has been sunk with ‘if’. But ‘when’ can do as much damage, if not more.

India – we will reduce carbon emissions when developed countries reduce
US – We will reduce carbon emissions when India and others reduce
Father to prospective groom – come back when you earn a million dollars (yes that is hope for some and catalyst for many a book)

I could end this with

“if you need to use ‘if’, when you are in conversation with someone please use it with care”

“when you need to use ‘if’, if you are in conversation with someone please use it with care”

But nothing takes the cake like the repartee between Churchill and Shaw when Shaw invited him for his play.

Churchill to Shaw – Sorry cant make it, will come for the show tomorrow if there is one

Shaw – Sure, Come with your friend if you have one.

Is equity sustainable?

2008-01-30T19:49:00.000-08:00

The next time I hear the word ‘equity’ I am going to take it with a pinch of salt especially after what Ratan Tata has done for ‘equity’ for the Indian.

The story goes that he was ensconced in his nice AC car well protected from the vagaries of the weather when he happened to pass a family on a scooter – soaked – bearing the brunt of the rains. His heart immediately reached out to them with a thought ‘a would car protect them from the rain’ and there and then he resolved to build a car that would be affordable by ahem those who are, as some would have it. ‘less affluent’.

Now this Johnny be good could have thought some of the following thoughts

Hmmm! I have a vehicle manufacturing unit, I wonder how much do my vehicles contribute to carbon emissions?
Hmm! My companies proudly trumpet their CSR, why don’t I donate buses to cities to improve public transportation.
Hmm! I wonder why there are so many vehicles on the road and what can I do about it?

But no the ‘great one’ made a promise to himself that he would create a peoples car (a term coined for the Maruti 800). And when he unveiled the car he loudly proclaimed ‘a promise is a promise’. He is being equated to Henry Ford because he, in a way, like Ford did to

America

is putting

India

on wheels. Unfortunately the comparison rings hollow - Ford was a true pioneer because he initially used hemp for his car, Ford was a pioneer because he bettered the assembly line which was being used in the meat packing industry to enhance car production, Ford was a pioneer because he built a car that had to deal with almost no roads. But today things are different. The criteria to equate Tata to Ford would be if Tata were to create a cheap solar powered car or if he were to improve the public transport system or if created a car that was a cradle-to-grave product or manufactured out of recycled material.

If at all Ratan Tata goes down in history it is because he has made the idea of ‘equity’ unsustainable.

It is truly surprising that the person every one believes is one of

India

’s astute businessmen (with a conscience at that) is myopic enough to select a ‘cheap car’ as a solution for a lack of protection and mobility.

His attempt to bring equity was through the ‘consumption route’. He has provided a car that is cheap (not actually if one considers the subsidies he has been gifted) and therefore those who were not able to purchase car can now do so, I don’t use the term ‘afford’ because their income remains the same.

So where the problem is actually of transportation he provides a solution of choice. This means that more people will be able to buy things which they actually would not need if they were provided with a suitable alternative. The idea of increasing ones consumption as a process of equity is nothing new it was earlier called ‘keeping up with the Joneses’. But now there is need for morality and the facade of conscience because at the end of the day it is just another business proposition which leaves the world a little more uninhabitable.

All debate about the Nano and its possible deleterious effects are cut short with questions ‘how can you deny people their right to buy a car?’. Tata rides the high horse of giving those who did not have a chance to own a car to now own one, he wears the bullet and barb proof jacket of the Nano enhancing equity because those without a car (a sure sign of inequity) can get one.

This short sighted view of how the problem of inequity should be solved is not very good for sustainability, for one more resources are going to be used and more energy will be required to produce and to run it and its production is going to generate waste not only in the factory but in the mining of resources required for it.

Phew! This is just the beginning, then there is the question of durability - not only of the parts but also of the car itself. And no matter how fuel efficient the car there will still be carbon emissions.

If equity was his concern (as he claims it to be) then he could have

Paid the real cost for the land in Singur
Made transportation accessible to all.

-for a start

There will be those who say that there are other companies who are doing the same thing – producing, polluting and providing cheap things thereby making it accessible to everyone – so what is Tata doing wrong. There is no denying this and such companies make no bones about it being a good business proposition. The fact of the matter is Ratan Tata is at heart a businessman who had a brilliant idea - no not of a cheap car but of wrapping the car in the cloak of ‘equity’.

It frightens me to think of what he will think of as a solution when he sees the plight of the uneducated, the hungry, the sick and the unemployed.

How much is enough?

2008-01-26T06:15:00.000-08:00

The good news from India is not only that those with 10 houses (cars and planes for that matter) now have twenty, but these achievements make the headlines. This could mean many things - they are an indicator of how well the economy is doing, that there is no other news worth reporting, that these players are becoming the ‘who’s who’ in the world map, that they want to do more things with money other than accumulate it (never share it though), that the only criteria for success is the number zeroes to a name, that the media thinks they are the next role models or they a more interesting economic index than the Nifty 50 and other such indices.

They may not all be true, but they are all making the transition to becoming truths and relevant today. A friend of mine tells me about this 24 year old who wants to own a Maybach by the age of thirty. There is a growing belief that the degree of success is directly proportional to the ability to flaunt it. Sure, as children success was guaranteed to get a prize, a mention in the roll call, or a gift from the parents, the size of the prize did not matter, what was of consequence was a new standard was recognized.

Does this point to a lack of imagination of the current work force? For everyone to choose and even recognize the same criteria for success points to either a society getting dumb (okay numb) or society taking the simplest way out (success is valid only if it can be economically measured and therefore recognizable and if others aspire to it). So we have advertisements that hark on success in terms of a big car, a big house or reports such as those mentioned. Take for example the stories that ran when Tendulkar got a Ferrari- papers made it out to be that one world champion was recognizing another, but the fact of the matter was that Schumacher had very little idea of cricket and for that matter Tendulkar. But there wasn’t a peep when Tendulkar refused to pay customs duty on the car, the government had to acquiesce and allow the car to come in without any duty – which means that Indians lost out on money that would have benefited them – in some ways the car belongs to every Indian and therefore it wouldn’t be a crime if each one of us went put a little dent into the car. But the point is because we Indians thought that getting a car as a gift was evidence of this mans success he was allowed to make demands on the government that actually should have put him and everyone else to shame.

But getting back to our lack of imagination in defining success, it has consequences in just about everything we do. Take for example the case of Medha Patekar does society consider her and her achievements as a success. How many parents would want their children to emulate her? How many parents would state proudly that their children work for her organization, or for that matter how many youth would work for her cause? Now take the case of the Ambani brothers and get the same questions answered. It has become so bad that Pogo, a children’s TV channel, asks children to choose actors and their movies for awards – both which have no relation to children, and then the likes of MTV Youth Icon awards have nominees like Orkut, a Rang De Basanti (a movie) and the only human Abhishek Bachan in their list of nominees – Orkut won, the previous awardees included Anil Ambani (a businessman), Shah Rukh Khan (an actor), Rahul Dravid and Dhoni (cricketers).

And recently there were headlines around India about the billion dollars spent by a few mega rich Indians to buy cricket teams in cities around India. The Indian Premier League created by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is truly a defining moment in Indian history – never has so much money been spent by so few Indians on so few Indians. No body has questioned the need for the BCCI to create another league when there are already cricket leagues. Nobody has questioned the appropriateness for these few people to spend so much money on a group of players who are already extremely well off.

Nobody does it because everybody wants to emulate this form of success. There does not seem to be a price that one has to pay when one is so rich.

It is not good enough that these people are feted when they pay taxes – the reason they can pay so much in tax is because there are others who are not earning an income, because there are others who sleep in slums, because there are others who cannot afford to send their children to school.

Fortune and fame go hand in hand and maybe the Indian government should provide other avenues for these fortunate ones to add to their fame. These rich should spend a certain percentage of their money on the public good and they can name the roads, the free schools and hospitals they build after themselves. This for one would ensure that these things would never go into decay because the egos of the rich would ensure that their names were not associated with anything moribund, more importantly because this would truly make India a country which is built on the foundations of equity, justice and equality.

Small towns and a little bit of fish

2008-01-26T05:51:00.000-08:00

When fellow Indians ask me where I am from, I say Nagpur and then to make things interesting I say that it is in the very centre of

India

and that all North-South and East-West trains pass through this city. Impressed, they ask me a little more about it and I speak about the two flyovers we have and the 3 malls and I end with ‘Nagpur is a small town with big city dreams’.

All small towns and their people have that ambition; it can be seen noticed in a variety of ways. I was in Orissa recently and observed some of the ways these places attempt to make their dreams reality.

The use of English in advertisement boards and the type of food sold are two of the most visible ways. A food stall built over a hand cart has boldly writ ‘Indian Chart’ over it. One is not sure whether the entrepreneur’s intention was to point out the engineering innovations and wanted to write ‘Indian Cart’ or was intending to advertise the cuisine served -‘Indian Chaat’ or was just showing his route to success. The presence of a food outlet serving Chinese (or what goes as Chinese) surrounded by others that serve the local cuisine is a pointer to where the town is heading. The place I saw had the necessary accoutrements that indicated the food served – a big wok, large bottles of soy sauce, chilli sauce, tomato sauce and a mound of boiled noodles.

I spent time on a fishing trawler, fishermen are known to be good cooks and I was looking forward to some good fish curry and rice. We passed a variety of fishing boats as we headed into sea. Our progress into bluer water coincided with the progress the cook was making in the kitchen. There were constant updates from the kitchen – the breeze brought us information of the oil being heated, the aroma of freshly frying onions hit us next, the addition of turmeric and red chilli powder was duly announced - we followed every addition to the evolving curry with our noses. These aromas were interspersed with offerings of freshly fried fish that the kitchen would send over.

These offerings resulted in the a paucity of fish for the curry – so the captain took matters into his hands and radioed other trawlers and asked them if they had any fresh fish – soon we had trawlers stopping for us with fish that we bought.

So at around 3 pm we finally got to eat what our noses were telling us about – it was delicious.

Coming Back

2008-01-04T19:38:00.000-08:00

One of my colleagues played Ozzie Osborne’s ‘Mama I am coming home’ when I told them I was going home for the holidays. I am not sure if the lyrics reflect this simple journey but it seemed to be a momentous occasion.

There is an innate sense of anticipation on the journey home, an eagerness that has got to do with a sense of familiarity that encompasses known faces, familiar terrain and other things that act as happy leitmotifs.

However, there is a stage in life when these leitmotifs get to become a little more sober. It does seem that the time gap between two home comings shrink and it was just yesterday that one was making the same journey. But the vast sweep of impact, of that time, on peoples life’s is breathtaking it gets personal – more grey hair, more spines that are bent, more sickness related to age, memories of once lively and healthy people created by their current debilitating bedridden state. A general question about somebody gets the overtone of whether the person is alive or is on the way out.

This is what struck me when I got back home. However there also was this scent of freshness from the youngsters who I saw last as babies, of youngsters who are now parents with children of their own.

The shoes remain the same but there is a production line of people who fill them over time and I am part of that production line.

Its Narendra Modi once again

2007-12-24T04:24:00.000-08:00

So the psephologists got it wrong, the Congress (I) built castles in the air, while Modi and his multi masked multitude romped home to another win.

There were many cooks to spoil Modi’s broth – there were dissidents, there was the incumbency factor and there was the communal divide. Such was the relief at the outcome that Advani (of the BJP and the Prime Minister in waiting) called it a victory that had repercussions at the national levels, while Kapil Sibal (Minster of Science and Technology ) stated that even fascists come to power.

Political analysts have called Gujarat the laboratory for the right wing. They have been myopic in only calling Gujarat a laboratory – its India that has become a laboratory, it’s the politicians, the judiciary, police, and the common man across who are guinea pigs. The Saffron brigade want to see how far they can go before something happens. Well 5 years have passed and nothing has happened and the party and people under whose rule the genocide took place have retained power.

Which brings me to the question of should these people be actually allowed to vote at all. Yes, yes we are a democracy and all that. But the question is how does one deal with an inefficient democracy and with people who know how to usurp democratic principles for their own benefit. These people have to be re-schooled in the tenets of democracy, of fundamental rights, of respect, of equality and justice.

During the Emergency it was said that the trains ran on time. Media analysts state that Modi retained power because he gave the people of Gujarat a government free of corruption. For the media to repeat this and even agree shows the myopicness of the naiveness of the media. Corruption is not only about transaction of money and monetary profiteering it is also about a government’s high handedness, in this case to get its police to kill people, or to ensure that police do not act during riots, or to provide information and addresses of minority communities to rioters.

The next thing that this election has raised is Modi entering national politics. The BJP and Congress (I) hum and hawed with their answers but the very idea is frightening. Instead of someone belling the cat and stating categorically that this infected person should be quarantined and an antidote found for him, everyone spoke about whether Hindutva would become BJP’s election platform and the Congress (I) happily stated that if the BJP used the Modi model the BJP would loose its allies.

Modi has been called Hitler. This state is like pre-second world war Germany with the Gujarati’s, like the Germans, blinded by the promise of a 1000 year rule and the rest of the country like Chamberlain and others allowing a weed to grow and spread.

Looking back

2007-12-20T05:33:00.000-08:00

As the sun slowly sets on 2007, a ritual is followed - time is taken off to complete, end, think back, review, mull and choose memories for the coming year. Much will be written and said (yes this is one of them) about the year and how it could have been improved

One of the things that should be done at the end of each year is to see the choices news papers made in terms of news. There is no doubt that the chicken and egg argument can be made – do newspapers make opinions or reflect the opinions of the masses. The truth is that both feed off each other. Readers can tell off newspapers and newspapers can change mindsets. However, in the end what is printed provides a peep into the nation’s thinking.

For example there were just about three cases of ‘phamous’ Indians who claimed they faced racial abuse in the UK.

Shilpa Shetty with her televised cooking and eating habits on Big Brother was not only able to win the reality series but got an award for her work on AIDS (Richard Gere’s on stage kiss put AIDs back on everyone’s radar), she supped with the Queen and also got a university to award her with a honorary doctorate – and the entire saga was put in print. There were no questions about her actual work on AIDs or what induced the university to present her with a degree. But everyone was happy, proud they believed that India was finally being taken seriously.
Salman Rushdie claimed he was the target of racial slurs in school in the UK. If this made news in Indian papers then the paper employs people who are far removed from reality or worse still they haven’t been to school. But this was reported too – not too many inches.
John Abraham and others who make a living by hamming on the silver screen stated that he and others faced racial slurs while shooting for a movie. The news did not help the movie the box office.

Then there were cases where we proudly made ours what was not ours to have. Sunita Williams is supposed to be an Indian but she was born in Ohio, her colour and name do not make her an Indian, but India proudly adopted her it became worse when she visited Gujarat the BJP and Congress I wooed her as she represented a vibrant Gujarat (click the video) for some and for others an example of an India on the move. The fact that she was not an Indian, but an American, was lost on everyone.

Then a lot of ink was spent on another set of stars that killed or possessed weapons that could kill (yes a car is included). The press trailed them as they went from court house to jail and then home and occasionally traveled in a government car to a shrine in the Himalayas. There were interviews on why the judges should go lenient on them and how these star criminals have transmogrified into better humans. The fact that the courts took years to come to a decision and are still taking time was no where in sight, that time adds a tint of sympathy and forgetfulness was brushed aside.

Later in the year there was the Tehelka Expose about those involved in the riots of Gujarat. The magazine had the murders/rapists and other such people who profess to be the bastions of Hindu morality brag about their conquests. So what were actually confessions was convoluted to a debate on the timing of the expose. Was the expose supposed to hurt BJPs electoral plans in Gujarat or was someone trying to tarnish the image of the Gujarati’s?

The question is everyone and their dog knows what happened in Gujarat so what is the harm if Tehelka used the expose to remove a government (if that was what they were trying to do). Which brings me to the elections in Gujarat and the question whether a people who are blind to a situation in their midst be allowed to vote.

So what we have here is BJP and its Hindutva bandwagon romping all over the place, the Congress I unable to say anything (remember the Sikh riots).

If the Congress I and everyone else really have cojone’s they would hand over those who participated in the Sikh riots to the police, yes it also includes the CPI perpetrators in Nandigram.

Yes there was a lot of talk about the Indo-US nuclear deal.But the actual debate on the false promises and starts of the Indian nuclear industry the need for nuclear energy never made it to papers.

I could just be happy about this deal because it just may ensure that some far away Indian villages in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Meghalaya are saved from the fate that was handed down to the people of Jadugoda. Right, this actually is quite shortsighted because wherever the uranium is going to come from it would have adversely affected some piece of land and people.

I have a surmise - the social value of a story is proportional to the level of response it gets – Shilpa’s and Richard’s effigy got burned, Gujarat was intellectualized and Modi is being touted to become the CM again and what to say about the Indo-US deal? Hmmmm---

These boots were meant for walking---

2007-12-10T01:12:00.000-08:00

One of the things that hit me as I walked through the transit at Charles De Gaule airport were the women --- in their boots.

There were all kinds of women in all kinds of boots, long haired blondes in black stiletto boots to brunettes in velvet boots.

Unfortunately I had to catch a plane to Amsterdam.

And in Amsterdam I got the mother load of boots and what goes in them. I tried to capture those moments but the cheap camera I bought could not take the pressure of the assignment. My friend had a handy camera phone that was put to good use.

It’s cold in Amsterdam and the boots offer protection against the cold. However, what would you call a woman who wore these fabulous pair of boots with a micro mini and no other form of protection – BRAVE.

That’s when the camera failed me and taking no chances I trashed it.

We were passing a beauty school and the lovely ladies were outside smoking I had to induce my friend to whip out his camera phone and click the first set of snaps. We had to almost crawl on our knees to get those boot clusters.

I hadn’t yet given up on a camera so I walked into a shop but hurried out to tell my friend to have his camera ready because another spectacular pair of boots were walking out.

We tried to capture boots on cycles and the closest we came to such a photo was when a pair of boots was unlocking a cycle.

So pretty soon we (my American friends and I) were looking down - as if guilty to check out what the road had to offer. We did not go on the looks of what was in the boots, but focused on the character of the boots. Thus you will notice that there are no faces. we were tempted on occasions but stood fast to our aims. We went to pubs to quench our thirst where the variety beers and boots competed for our attention. And this continued till the lights turned unfriendly.

Mumbai

2007-12-05T07:49:00.000-08:00

I survived – another visit to Mumbai. I haven’t come to grips with the city, and I don’t want to. The city is a veritable book of synonyms for the word ‘ostentation’ - of poverty, need, tunnel vision, selfishness.

As the plane makes its approach to land it flies over islands of sky-rises surrounded by slums. In weathers other than the monsoon the rooftops of these little hutments are weighed down by a dull brown of dust. In the monsoon these are covered with fresh blue tarpaulins, actually TV shows that herald monsoons with updates on Mumbai Municipality’s ability to cope with the coming showers by their efforts to remove the last year’s sewage could change to a study of the change in colors of roofs.

Seeing it now, just like any other jungle, Mumbai changes colours for each season.

On Saturday I walked round Nariman Point on work, it was lunch time and therefore was hungry, there wasn’t a single roadside eatery in that area. Mumbai’s street food (ex. Vada pav) is its only endearing quality. A literal buffet of cuisines has been shut down in attempt to keep the city clean and healthy.

Those who got the decision were the rich and ex officials of the municipality – people who never eat in such places. Instead of providing garbage collection facilities for these eateries and safe drinking water they chose the easy way out – take away a source of income and food.

I had the opportunity to meet a very interesting person in Mumbai. Ashok Datar is an urban transport specialist who is trying to promote car pooling as a method to solve the growing problems of traffic congestion and resultant pollution. His idea of car pooling uses the internet and the mobile phone to bring people going in the same direction together. He made a brilliant observation about the growing number of cars he said that the poor are subsidizing the car owners. His argument is that the car owners do not have to pay for parking almost everywhere in the city and the space occupied by a car is same that of a small dwelling in a slum. That space occupied used by the car should be given to the poor or the car owners should be made to pay for it.

One of my colleagues went to shop in Mumbai and immediately fell in love with the city. Okay it wasn’t only the shopping, the sea had something to do with it too. But that’s the whole question how many can actually enjoy the sea, how many can actually enjoy the shopping. Mumbai is a city that provides people with goggles that darkens the glaring reality of inequality.

In transit

2007-11-25T06:29:00.000-08:00

The whole idea of going abroad requires a metamorphosis of sorts. One has to get certain facts into ones head – long flights in a cattle car to a place where people don’t speak the same language and don’t look similar (not difficult in

India

) but still. Forms of such a metamorphosis can be seen in the departure areas of international flights at Indian airports, these areas are silent with airline personal using their lips to smile and welcome instead of warding of irate passengers as in the neighboring domestic terminal. The metamorphosis is very apparent at the international departure where passengers stand in line patiently and silently.

The plane enforces the capitalistic ideology of ‘if you have it we will help you flaunt it’. The first seats in the aircraft belong to those who can really afford -which means that other passengers are accosted by 6 lounge seats for those with exceptionally deep pockets– that’s why the number 6. The seats already have people in it sipping champagne. The frosty chill of the rarefied environs comes down a few notches as passengers move deeper into the plane, in the next cabin there are more chairs per row and therefore more people, but it is still rarefied enough for them to sip champagne and for others to look on in envy. However, there are clear indications of climate change as the number of rows in this area increase. After crossing this, one comes to a scene reminiscent of the early days when people got off the ships on Ellis Island. The image sears the mind - there are as many people sitting as standing trying to stuff their many bags into already stuffed luggage bins – the purser’s here have a look of consternation as they move bags all over the place.

I have a stop over in Paris, I use my French to great effect – everyone recognizes I am an Indian without me having to show my passport. The Charles De Gaulle Airport is swarming with soldiers in camouflage – the camouflage would have worked in the tropics. They don’t stand out because of their guns or fatigues, it is their beret that’s hard to ignore. These caps are really huge; they are large enough to create a brim like solar topi around the head. But they seem immune to what to me is a ridiculous piece of head gear. I don’t think anyone has tried to take them to a mirror and I don’t think any will - think of it like this - what state of mind is a person wearing a strange hat and carrying a gun? The soldier’s prowl the airport as if on a stroll in a park on Sunday, chatting with their buddies as they keep a keen eye on god knows who and what.

Sitting in the transit lounge I come across someone of my color sweeping the floor. Yes, there was a time when one knew one had arrived in Heathrow by the number of Indians sweeping, but at Charles De Gaulle? So I hand out a tentative smile and get one in return. Next I make the universal Indian greeting (no not How!) but saying ‘namaste’. This results in a question from her asking if I am from India ‘oui’ says I, then she floors me with ‘I no speak Hindi only Tamil’. This is nothing strange because one could be from Sri Lanka or she was from Tamil Nadu a state in southern India that has a history being averse to north Indian languages. So, even in a foreign place there is a possibility that when and if two Indian’s meet they are so culturally divided that they do not have a common language to communicate – unless of course it is French.

Election manifestoes as a development index – An Indian study.

2007-11-15T20:47:00.000-08:00

In our attempts to study economic patterns, society structure and human development we have created many indices ranging from Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to literacy rates. These indices are ways to compare societies, question decisions, find and question benchmarks, separate the wheat from the chaff and most importantly to learn and find the next step in decision making processes which ultimately affect a large number of people.

As society moves through time, different issues become important or are highlighted. People recognize different things in themselves or in their surrounding environment. Social scientists spoke about Intelligence Quotient as determining a person’s mental capacity, then there was a sudden interest in a new aspect of human psychology that was termed Emotional Quotient – something that determines a person’s capability to withstand emotional/psychological pressure. There was a time when a student’s ambition ended with attempts to become an engineer or doctor; now there are children who dream of becoming ‘successful singers’, ‘dieticians’. A decade ago one hardly saw any women driving scooters/cars and the number of women in the workforce was marginal.

These are examples of how society has broadened its views on stereotypes; education has allowed women to move out from within the four walls of their homes; it has also created an acceptance to such a move. Further, it has also created scope for people to venture into new activities, which means that society (and therefore the economy) has been able to create opportunities.

So what would indicate the health of a society or its state of development? It cannot only be GDP, or literacy rate or the kilometers of roads. Aristotle said in ancient Greece, “Wealth is evidently not the good we are seeking, for it is merely useful for the sake of something else.” Could the Human Development Report suggest the health of a society? The HDR brought out by the UN is a yearly report that covers issues ranging from democracy to structures in communities.

The Human Development Report goes “beyond income to assess the level of people’s long-term well-being. Bringing about development of the people, by the people, and for the people, and emphasizing that the goals of development are choices and freedoms”. This report is an outsider’s perspective of a country. Further the HDR is a kind of feed back form on policies and initiatives undertaken by the state. Thus what it assesses are politico-bureaucratic measures that have been taken. However, there is a distinct gap between what is being done, what was said/promised and what people actually want.

The National Human Development Report – 2001, brought out by the Planning Commission of India states in its introduction that ‘The process of development, in any society, should ideally be viewed and assessed in terms of what it does for an average individual. It has to be seen in terms of the benefits and opportunities that it generates for people and how these are eventually distributed — between men and women, the well off and deprived and across regions. ---often, there is no direct correspondence between economic attainments of a society and the quality of life.’ The NHDR sees the need to go beyond the regular indices to frame such an index that ‘ should reflect the values and development priorities of the society where it is applied. It is therefore necessary for countries like India to develop a contextually relevant approach to human development, identify and devise appropriate indicators to help formulate and monitor public policy.’

In the context of the article, ‘development’ goes beyond socio-economic factors to include broadened awareness, establishment of institutions that cater to the arts, monetary resources spent on things other than basic needs. Development in this context points one towards improving the quality of lifestyle and providing opportunities for overall human growth in non-economic terms.

Could election manifestoes be an index that not only represents a broader picture of the overall economy and society but also a national sentiment of what needs to be done in terms of importance? Further could the argument be made that issues in election manifestoes actually paint a picture of the level of development a country has actually reached.

The manifesto is in-fact a recipe book that takes basic ingredients and suggests methods to come up with an array of interesting dishes. In time the chefs become confident enough to add ‘exotic’ spices to come up with more wholesome meals that have distinct tastes, flavours and aromas. This confidence comes not only with the growing expertise of the chef but also with the clientele’s taste that becomes more discerning and demanding.

Sifting through manifestoes

To discuss the issue, election manifestoes of two of the major political parties the Congress (I) and the BJP are chosen. The reason being that the Congress (I) is one of the oldest parties and the BJP has seen a spurt in political prominence in the past two decades.

The article does not look at basic issues revolving around the economy in these election manifestos; as these issues are based mainly on number crunching and finding new bottles for the old wine. I have looked for the indications of ‘coming of age’ in these manifestos. Over time election manifestos have gone beyond political ideology, economic, infrastructure, defense and regular social upliftment schemes.

Women’s issues

Between 1991 and 2004 Congress (I) raised women’s issues that ranged from clean chullahs, equal remuneration, and laws to safeguard women from sexual harassment in the work place. The 2004 BJP manifesto promised a ‘National Policy on Women's Economic Empowerment’ which would ‘propose strategies to enable women in balancing work and family by introducing a national childcare plan, workplace flexibility’.

Urban issues

It was only in 2004 that any party looked at urban issues besides infrastructure and slum development. The Congress manifesto states that there should be ‘--legal space in the cities and towns for hawkers, vendors, food-sellers and all such informal sector service activities that enrich urban life’. The BJP in the same year states that the bazaar, which has ‘always been at the center of India's social life and played a crucial role in driving the economy’ needs proper systems to remove inefficiencies.

Environment

Both political parties see that environment must not be neglected. The BJP speaks about promoting organic agriculture ‘to reduce soil degradation’ and the need for a ground water regeneration plan.

Governance and NGO’s

The Congress I manifesto promises ‘Swarg on earth but also for Swar—for voice, for full representation in the institutions of governance, for social acceptance and for political power---‘ The party also looks positively at Public Interest Litigation.

The BJP in their manifesto promise a ‘National Council of Voluntary Organizations’

Communalism

The 1999 Congress manifesto theme was ‘Social Harmony’. Both parties speak about communalism according to their political philosophy.

Youth, disabled and senior citizens

The Congress in their 2004 manifesto promised a ‘National Senior Citizen’s Fund’ and schemes to look after street children. The party suggests a scheme that would require youth to spend a year in development projects. The manifesto speaks about the importance of NGO’s in society. It goes further and promises systems to help street children.

The BJP is the only party that promises a policy for the disabled and a scheme to reduce infant and maternal mortality. The BJP manifesto is the only manifesto that states ‘a National Policy for India's Entertainment Industry will be prepared, within six months, to realize its growth potential’.

Comparing issues in national manifestos
Looking at both political parties one sees that not only have issues changed but they have become more broad-based. Both parties see a growing trend of women joining the work force and therefore the need to create an atmosphere that would be conducive to them. Also the parties are looking at empowering rural women so that not only do they become economically independent but they can also increase their household income.

Both parties see the need to look at the environment while driving economic growth. The Congress goes further and speaks about the importance of PILs, while the BJP sees the need for a forum of NGO’s. This is a radical step forward especially when many NGO’s are at loggerheads with the government. Both parties see NGO’s as something positive whose work should be furthered. The idea of proper governance and people’s participation has also become big in the agenda. Could it be a result of people asserting themselves, because they know their rights and know that people in power are accountable?

What is not surprising though is that the issues of communal harmony have not broken rigid party lines. This could be because of vote banks and or internal dynamics. The policy on NGO’s could also be an attempt to co-opt the independent voice of these groups. However the fact that political parties have recognized the importance of such groups and want to do something about it shows a shift in political thinking.

One could argue that the manifesto will finally be a book of empty promises. The point that one is trying to make is that parties see change and therefore incorporate it in their manifestos.

However, India has miles to go especially when one compares these manifestos to the American Democrats manifesto. Even though John Kerry lost the election his manifesto had a certain inter-connectedness which shows not only a better understanding of problems but also an understanding of the direction society is pointing towards. For example Senator John Kerry discusses the role of renewable energy in the economy. On the issues of senior citizens the Kerry manifesto goes beyond a fund to speak about affordable prescription drugs and options for long term needs. On the subject of children the manifesto promises proper labeling of children’s food, prevention of child abuse, quality pre-school care.

One could argue that a lot of these promises are made after a certain level of economic stability. However, economic stability also brings in opportunities for the party in power to further their nation’s outlook, and the willingness to move beyond matters that have come to determine in the narrowest of definitions ‘national interest’.

Questions of whether a study of political manifestos could indicate the direction we as a society are heading towards or whether political manifestos reflect today’s society has an answer – the answer is yes. Women’s rights are now a major issue in Indian society. No one bats an eyelid to see a working girl, while at the same time a woman still has to face harassment. Going further Indians have not come to terms with alternative sexuality, while there are gay right’s groups, they have received no help from the government on legislation and recognition of same sex marriage, and thus this is not an issue in any political arena. Even though there is an Indian tradition to respect elders it was not ever apparent in the political arena. The need to provide care for senior citizens goes beyond any philosophy to actually recognize that families are becoming nuclear and both sexes work and that senior citizens no longer have the support system that was present earlier.

Even though communal harmony has been on the agenda for a long time parties have not been able to go beyond their party lines. We as a society have not yet been able to move beyond caste, creed, region and religion. This reflects in political manifestos. However, there is no doubt that what the Indian political parties write in their manifesto has undergone a sea change. Parties are now looking outside the framework of the economy and their narrow ideologies to other issues of human welfare, equality and mutual respect. This also includes an ability to acknowledge other ideologies and ways of thinking and promote them. These are all attempts to improve the quality of life in non-monetary and intangible terms. Manifestos do reflect changes in society, their aspirations and their broadening horizons.

(An article that did not get to the papers)

----and then there was noise.

2007-11-04T20:01:00.001-08:00

Sepultura, Brazil’s heavy metal band has been on my radar– mostly from the t-shirts that heavy metal fans wear. The first time I heard them was in the smoky confines of a pub called Purple Haze, so when I saw billboards advertising their concert in Bangalore I was pretty keen to spend some of my hard earned money on them.

It was less an investment on music appreciation than on another course in social anthropology.

There are a few things that a metal aficionado needs to do when going to a rock concert

Scrounge for money to get that ‘exclusive’ ticket
Get a heavy metal t-shirt, preferably with the bands moniker, if not any other metal band’s brand would do
Roll doobies to take into the show
Find ways to ensure that the doobies don’t fall into the groping hands of the security. This is also a dilemma for those wanting to bring in alcohol.
Find the nearest bar a few hours before the concert to tank up.

For those who easily loose their way, the way of finding the route is to

Follow cars filled with young people drinking to the music of said band
Follow anyone with a bandanna and a heavy metal t-shirt

The concert was held in Palace Grounds owned by one of the many erstwhile kings who now earn their keep by renting out their estates for all kinds of events. Palace Grounds, of course houses a palace, but also includes a horse riding school, marriage lawns and other things needed by society.

The roads inside the grounds were dark and we followed the others in blind faith. A traffic policeman whistled us to a piece of land that had become the day’s parking spot. We walked to the gates of the concert area passing islands of men-in-black preparing themselves for the concert, interspersed between them were hawkers selling all forms of sustenance. The gates had professional gropers whose main job was to ensure that nothing besides the people with tickets got in.

The grounds were empty barring a black mass congregated right in front of the stage. It was a scene reminiscent to the oft seen one in the wild of Africa where animals of all shapes and sizes congregate at the last watering hole in a drought.

We missed the opening act, but we got in just before Sepultura got on stage. When they began their first song the modern version of a traditional Indian welcome was given. Almost everyone took out their phones, held it above their heads to record the band. It looked like mechanical glow worms emitting blue light.

As I watched this band some things struck me about this genre of music – the drummer has the hardest job in the world. He pounds the skins till they bleat for mercy, he works up a sweat that puts anyone doing aerobics to shame. Further, no matter how much the lead singer tries to obfuscate the lyrics there will be die hard fans who sing along with him. The only word I could recognize was ‘biotech’ in a song called ‘godzilla’ (I think), while those around me gargled the lyrics along with Derrick Green.

One didn’t need to carry personal doobies, it was just enough to breathe to get a high. The crowd in front had created a mosh pit where everyone was being pushed around. Fans were charging into others, though they were trying to do it to the beat of the music it proved to be quite difficult. They were dervishes of a new generation, of a new form of music that preached peace and other such things in a manner that suggested just the opposite.

However it seemed that though the music was violent and the actions of the fans were synchronous to the music they were in effect regular guys. This was just another form of letting their hair down.

And so, it all came to an end at 21.30 which surprised some of the foreigners with us. I could only say that the authorities were slowly transforming us into Cinderellas in their vague attempts to protect us from crime and prevent crime.

More than words - - - - -

2007-08-04T00:08:00.000-07:00

With so many Hindi words joining the English dictionary, it would appear that (the) English is once again on a conquest. However, the fact is that Hindi has not been too far in picking English words to suit its purposes.

The first time I noticed this was when someone used the word ‘Colgate’ while speaking in Hindi. He was describing in Hindi how he injured himself while he was doing ‘Colgate’ in the morning. He was using the name of a brand in a generic way to describe morning ablutions.

That’s what got me tuned into this subterranean world of English words.

Bus drivers are called ‘Pilots’ more to give them respect than to describe the speed at which they ply on Indian roads, while bus conductors shout ‘right right’ not because they want him to turn in a certain direction but to egg him on. The word almost sounds like ‘ray’.

Whenever cell phones percolate down to the tiniest village English has not been far behind. The strength of the signal indicated by bars on the screen are described as ‘tower’ well it does look like a mini tower. So if there is no signal one says ‘there is no tower’ (in Hindi off course).

Indians have not only Indianised Chinese but have also improvised on the spellings. ‘Chainese’ is the most seen spelling around, while to cater to the Indian palate a dish called ‘Gobi Manchurian’ (pronounced Manchuri) has been concocted. Gobi, is Cauliflower and has got nothing to do with the abode of the Bactrian Camel. Brightly lit roadside stalls announce brazenly on their small billboards ‘chainese’, while the sidekick offers ‘gobi manjuri, veg fried rice’ (pronounced weg) all in a single breath.

Small eateries in small towns serve a cuisine of their own. The places are small, smoky and dingy, people sit packed into benches sweating reasons being lack of ventilation and the liberal amount of chillies added. Ordering an egg here can be a problem – if you want a fried egg you ask for a ‘half boiled’. Strangely enough in one of the places in the south I heard ‘bulls-eye’ being ordered and it did not end with a bovine becoming blind.

‘Congress’ has less to do with a political party or a gathering of people, in certain areas of the south it indicates free munchies in shady bars. This is usually puffed rice with the odd salted peanut thrown in to add colour, it is served on a piece of paper. Munching these things provide entertainment between sips because one has to protect it from the blast of the fan that blows away the smoke from those smoking. While when you order a ‘cutting’ do not expect someone to snip your hair but to serve you half a glass of tea.

‘Adjust’ is a word that is frequently used, infact it describes an Indian’s mentality. If there is an accident the guilty party pleadingly uses the word ‘adjust’ to beg for a little mercy. While on a train bursting at its seams a passenger will stand next to a sitting person and request him to ‘adjust’ which means that the sitting person sidle up to provide a little place.

One does not have to seek any particular environment to hear/see such things. These things can accost you on the road - if some asks you to ‘hold it’ and gives you nothing, it does not mean s/he is an inmate of an asylum – it’s just a request for you to stop.

If language transcends boundaries, Indians have shown that words transcend meanings.

Was ‘I will survive—‘ inspired by India’s history?

2007-07-21T04:23:00.000-07:00

Who hasn’t heard Gloria Gaynor belt out ‘I will survive’. Who hasn’t relived every failure, rejection when she heartily adds ‘I have so much more to give---’. Who hasn’t silently winced at the thought of the time a toe was stomped on when the best foot was put forward.

‘I will survive’ is an anthem that anyone can identify with.

But, what inspired Freddie Perren and Dino Fekaris to write these words, what were the incidents that made Gloria sing with so much emotion what was it that makes these words ring true even today?

Me thinks that the lyricists and Gloria were inspired by India’s history. But I am not stopping there I also think that they saw into India’s future too.

The words of this 1978 song trace the course of Indian history. Consider the first six lines of the song (http://www.lyricsdomain.com/7/gloria_gaynor/i_will_survive.html). It speaks about lack of faith in oneself and then the self realisation that metamorphises into self actualisation. These words have to be about India’s freedom movement.

But these words were prescient because they also present a clear picture of the state of India’s politics. Consider how political parties (and even politicians) hop into bed with each other and then hop out. Each such episode ends with a oath to ‘go it alone’ but somewhere in their downside to oblivion parties and politicians come out to the press and state that they are now ready for a coalition on ‘certain terms and conditions’. And so it continues.

Gloria sings lustily ‘I should have changed my stupid lock I should have made you leave your key If I had known for just one second you'd be back to bother me’. Well if this isn’t about India then I don’t know what is. India was attacked innumerable times over the centuries. Some of the known faces who were uninvited guests (frequent at times) and even bad guests were Alexander, Mohammed of Ghazni and the British. The British made this country their little love nest and overstayed their welcome. Thus was borne India’s desire to change the keys of her door.

But even now India feels the need to make her home secure what with separatists in the North and North East baying for freedom.

The second stanza is more about India’s current desire to be recognised as a global superpower. Gloria belts out “and I spent oh so many nights just feeling sorry for myself I used to cry Now I hold my head up high and you see me somebody new I'm not that chained up little person”. Who can forget India’s tryst with nuclear weapons in 1998 and it proudly crowing that she is now a ‘nuclear have’ or for that matter the recent start up of a military outpost in some break away of the former USSR. All these are indications of a change from a third world country with hungry millions to a wannabe first world country with still hungry millions – all in a span of 60 years.

So Gloria, I think you should come out and thank India for the inspiration it has provided you and your lyricists. It is not too late to do so.

2007-07-10T06:02:00.000-07:00

I saw this behind an autorickshaw.

Of files, handshakes and office table drawers.

2007-07-05T22:36:00.000-07:00

What seems – never is! Maybe that is why India has earned so many accolades as the corruption capital of the world – okay Transparency Internationals Global Corruption Barometer puts India as the 70^th most corrupt nation. Not very encouraging when India is near the bottom half of this list while dreaming of becoming a global super power. But the good thing about this whole thing is that it not only indicates that Indians are very creative, but also very adaptable (look at the country's history) – Darwin would be proud.

Consider the situation of the office of an Indian File Pusher (IFP) – it has a large desk, a chair behind it which is draped with a towel. The wall behind the chair may have a photo of Mahatma Gandhi, the President and the politician in power. There will be a large calendar to keep the IFP up-to-date. The office may have a small shrine with the deity of the IFP.

The desk is unique, on one side two plastic trays (in and out) carry the hopes of millions, while the other has a pen stand with a myriad variety of pens. There may be paper weights on the desk, but these are going out of fashion as air conditioners become the norm. A lidded glass of water stands as a sentinel close by. The desk has drawers on the side where the IFP sits – usually empty.

The drawer serves another purpose. It’s the unofficial collection box. This is what happens - someone comes with an urgent file, the person stands at the side of the IFP in deference while the IFP peruses the file. Some questions are asked which are answered vaguely. As the file is signed the person puts his hand into his pocket and in one deft movement drops a packet of notes into the drawer. This happened in front of me.

Consider the same IFP in a similar office. A file is brought to him - he opens it and out slips a little packet of notes into his lap. The file is quickly dealt with and then the offending packet is delicately put into the draw for later retrieval.

The handshake was always been a form of communication, communicating a greeting, a promise- okay it was also a way to pass information, you know, a crowded station two men in trench courts pass each other under the benevolent eye of clueless cops and as the two men pass one hand slips the other a vital piece of information that saves the world and kills one of them.

In India this has been modified into an art that ensures both parties not only survive but thrive. The parties in such situation are the cops (traffic species in particular) on one side and erring drivers on the other.

The traffic police usually work in teams they operate either from a motorbike or a jeep. What happens is that the lackey does the scouting while the senior person finds a comfortable spot on the parked bike or jeep and waits. The flunky sifts the wheat from the chaff and the manna begins pouring in.

This is how – the lackey flags down an erring vehicle and the first thing that he does is grab the ignition keys. Then he asks for documents from the erring driver and then goes to his boss who is sitting noncommittally on his vehicle – salivating. The boss looks at the documents shakes his head and takes out a form and begins filling it in all seriousness. This performance gives him a black and white picture of what is coming next court visits, vehicle impounded, sheaves of notes flying from his wallet into the hands of the government. The lackey sees these thoughts in Eastman Colour. He takes the erring waif aside provides a solution which is simple and suits everyone. No court, no impounding, no sheaves of money entering government coffers, just a little private monetary transaction.

The erring driver moves a little away and then pulls out his purse takes and out the suggested amount. He folds it into a very tiny innocuous piece of paper that fits neatly in the palm of his hand. The lackey hands over the documents to the driver and in grateful thanks he shakes hands with the lackey and thus passes the money. The lackey puts his hand into his pocket and saunters back to his boss. This process is followed till its time to go home (or the closest bar).

And so that is how Indians have gone ahead and improved and even improvised on age old traditions, they have found new uses for things to ensure that there is a win-win situation.

Indians have added an addendum to Darwin's theory – a win-win situation ensures that everyone thrives.

Perceiving more the second time.

2007-07-01T01:31:00.000-07:00

I saw Platoon on a movie channel yesterday. This movie about Vietnam, war and how people deal with it had a surprise for me. At various stages of the movie (before and after advertisements) the channel gave little tit-bits about Platoon. So besides the fact that the entire crew lived like soldiers at location in the Philippines, I also learned that this was one of Johnny Depp’s first movies, and that Stone saw Depp becoming a Hollywood star.

What is quite surprising was not Stone’s ability to sniff out star material but that there was something new to be found in the old. I have seen Platoon many times and I have never recognised Depp nor seen Depp’s name in the fine print of the credits.

I remember, many years back, my father asking me whether I could hear new nuances to familiar music, then I heard music as one great orgiastic human creation. The delicacy of the cymbals in the clash of drums, the off-beat or even the sound of an altogether new instrument was lost in the noise of music.

And this ability to discern is a new phenomenon with me, maybe I am ‘discerning affected’, or maybe now the sum is as important as the parts. I think there is this space created when you allow the world to surprise you. It’s not about seeing things in a different light, its going beyond and recognising that light consists of seven colours.

Its as much about seeing things differently as letting things be seen.

Is milk an unrecognised source of climate change?

2007-06-28T03:40:00.000-07:00

I was watching Veer Sanghvi in a programme on “Travel and Living” the programme is about different foods of India, today he was speaking about India’s fetish for milk.

He guided me through a variety of facts – India was the largest producer of milk and yawn and yawn and yawn. I woke up when he began to meander through varieties of milk products – the zillions of sweets, clarified butter, cottage cheese, cheese, yoghurt and so on.

And then it hit me – milk can also be a cause of Climate Change.

No I am not talking about cows farting (http://www.danamania.com/temp/cow-fire.jpg), or about grasslands and all that. It’s all about the processes that milk and its products go through. It begins from pasteurisation, to the boiling of milk to make sweets to finally the process that makes the sugar.

If one were to calculate the number of sweet shops, the variety of sweets, Indians love for sweets and India’s population one would come to a climate change inducing amount of fuel used.

So what can be done to reduce the impacts of Indian sweet making on the climate? The first step for this industry would be to use jargons such as ‘energy efficiency’, ‘alternative fuels’ which every suresh, ganesh, ramesh is using. Maybe another thing to do immediately would be to reduce our consumption of milk. If we don’t do something now then we will have to do something more drastic like cutting on our sweet intake – but that may lead to Indians doing what they like best – burning things (buses, flags, effigies, people etc) which may be the last straw on the camel’s (pronounced climate) back.

Maybe it would be more palatable if everyone switched from incandescent bulbs to CFLs in the interim while the government creates a committee to study the impacts of milk on our climate.

If (with apologies to Rudyard Kipling)

2007-06-24T05:02:00.000-07:00

If thinking of you could bring peace, there would only be 'make love'
If thinking of you could fill every pothole, suspensions would breathe easier
If thinking of you could reduce weight, there would be no guilt after a chocolate
If thinking of you could fill my glass of whiskey, I wouldnt have a waiter hovering around me
If thinking of you could give me a cigarette, passive smoking wouldn't be a health hazard
If thinking of you could fill my bike's petrol tank, Bush wouldnt have an excuse to attack Iraq
If thinking of you could clean a house, who would have heard of Cinderella?

If only thinking of you - - - - - - - - - -

Tête-à-tête

2007-06-20T20:44:00.000-07:00

Terraces serve different purposes across different regions of India. In the north owners of houses build a suite (called a barsaati) on the terrace to rent out to bachelors. Such places are lovely because they come with a large terrace and sometimes with the owners clothesline too.

The concept of a barsaati is not so prevalent in the south. The terrace is used to hang clothes, put the water tank and dump unwanted stuff.

Occasionally terraces provide space for private conversation.

Childhood

2007-06-20T20:30:00.000-07:00

Cycles unlike most times at school were a happy part of every childhood. Cycling to school, slow-cycling races (yes its an oxymoron but we had those too), picnics during summer holidays, or just cruising around the neighbourhood was what we did.

I remember inflating balloons and tying it to the strut of the rear wheel of my cycle so that it rubbed against the spokes. As the wheel rotated the spokes would rub against the balloon and make a god awful sound much like a cruiser without a silencer.

Then we would raise hell through our neighbourhoods until we got shouted out or our balloons burst.

I took this photograph in the evening, there were children around playing but none of them on bikes. Maybe because our apartment complex offered no place for them or maybe their parents refused to permit them to cycle in the by-lanes where vehicles zip by taking advantage of its emptiness.

Owning a cycle for a child has become an empty rite-of-passage.

Heroes to Worship

2007-06-19T22:05:00.000-07:00

Every one wants to be linked to someone famous so that some of the glitter gets rubbed off on them – that’s why Pg 3 is doing so well. Here the nobody makes an effort to join the rarefied stratosphere of the somebody.

However in India there is another trend that is being noticed. Nobody's are including somebody’s in their everyday life for the same reasons. A case in point is the twist given to the predicament of Sunita Williams - the US astronaut stuck in space.

School children from unknown villages hold her mugshots and pray for her ‘safe return’ and the newspapers print this snap the next day. Well from this you could say that the Indian government's efforts to make accessible information technology to everyone has been successful but the truth of the matter is that some unknown school gets a photo in the papers by praying for a person lost in space.

No not just another person – a person who was once upon a time an Indian and through no fault of hers was born in the US – blame it on her parents who hoped to find greener pastures across the seas. This need to include famous people who are no longer residents of India into our everyday life stems from the fact that India does not have heroes of her own, that’s another reason why we also harp about the glories of ancient India. It’s easier to draw a connection to someone famous than to ensure a road to success.

The kind of heroes that are chosen also suggest a bias. No body in India holds a candle to Freddy Mercury, born Farrokh Bulsara, educated in a school outside Mumbai India, maybe because it was not infra dig then to search for Indian links or maybe because he was a gay rock star who died of AIDS.

The way things are going we will pretty soon be garlanding apes (our forefathers) for having cocked-a-snook at the food pyramid and for staying awake for the dawn of a new civilisation.

Chairs

2007-06-19T05:06:00.000-07:00

The bus from Delhi to Chandigarh was a back-breaker. The seats did not recline, though they were at an angle, the angle ensured maximum discomfort. There was not much space between rows so one got the feeling of being in a cockpit and being surrounded by other cockpits.

I found a comfortable position for my back but the neck had a bad time. Not only did the rocking of the bus ensure my neck lolled around but the seats were devious enough not to give any support to my neck. The seat just sat back and watched my neck do bungee jumps whenever I dropped off to sleep which would ultimately end in my being violently plucked out from the land of nod.

The bus stopped for a snack at 1 am on the highway and I saw these chairs lined up on the road. They were made of cane. They all faced the road as if the road provided entertainment during the day.

Is Face-Off a remake of the original Don?

2007-06-18T01:42:00.000-07:00

This thought came to me on a bus to Delhi from Chandigarh while being treated to the screening of the new version of Don.

The movie is about a gangster who is killed by a police officer. The officer chances on a down and out look-a-like and sends this double back to the dead Don’s lair to get information about the gang and its operations.

Now India is an underdeveloped country and Don was made in the late seventies early eighties so instead of using technology to change faces, Bollywood did what it is best at -giving people a chance to live surreal lives- and therefore chose to give some nobody to act like a gangster and bring the evil doers to justice.

A few years later Hollywood used plastic surgery to interchange the faces of Castor Troy and Sean Archer and the result was Face-Off.

I have watched ‘When Harry Met Sally’ umpteen times and loved it every time. Meg Ryans role in this and ‘You’ve got mail’ and for that matter in ‘Sleepless in Seattle’ are sure signs of changes in technology and the mindset of people about technology. In the former two movies Meg uses the computer at work, these are more like electronic typewriters with massive screens, in the latter movie she uses a laptop and uses it more for entertainment (its another matter that she finds Tom Hanks).

Chandigarh Part 2

2007-06-16T05:13:00.000-07:00

We had dinner in this Hotel called Aroma, its restaurant was called somethingelse. The restaurant had a very high ceiling and a small waterfall. There were these columns that must have been taken from the Coloseum and dipped in bleach that were strategically placed in the huge room.

Maybe they were once part of a Domino set - - - -

By Order!

2007-06-16T05:10:00.000-07:00

This is a favourite sign off used by bureaucratic India (unfortunately the photo is not a good example because the ‘By Order here is followed by the name of the authority). Usually the ‘By Order’ is the QED of an order leaving the authority faceless. These signatures are used against the public to ‘cease and desist’ something.

Indians love symbols of authority but they never comply with rules.

‘By Order’ is a perfect example of this mentality – Only higher-ups make orders that become headstones that go unacknowledged by the public. Knowing this the higher-ups would rather not castrate themselves in public by putting their name to an order that everyone chooses to ignore.

Chandigarh

2007-06-16T05:01:00.000-07:00

I have heard people rave about this city, so one could imagine my levels of enthusiasm while planning my trip there. I knew that it was what one calls a planned city. Which means that a famous town planner is given a plot of land and given a free hand to allocate land, build and create building laws that ensures his own immortality, the famous town planner was Le Corbusier.

I arrived in a Volvo bus with a dysfunctional AC. The conductor was even more solicitous then an airhostess, at the beginning of the journey he visited every seat to ensure that the personal air blowers faced the passengers under them. Once the AC broke down and passengers began to complain he offered to call a cab for them. No one took up the offer.

Entering Chandigarh I got a certain feeling of spaciousness, the roads were wide, there were no buildings blocking my view and everything was green. But this sense slowly changed to bewilderment as I got further into the city. Even though I had heard that the ‘planned’ meant that the city was broken down into sectors I was not ready for what I saw. All commercial activity was put into these two storey red buildings that ran for a few hundred meters in length. Thus it was not strange to see three hotels situated side-by-side or restaurants in a long chain offering a kaleidoscope of cuisines. Also these complexes were on one side of the road.

These buildings bring a very Soviet era feeling to the place which is diametric to the wealth and ostentation that seeps from its pores.

RSS

2007-06-16T04:55:00.000-07:00

Sherlock Holmes is led to Prof Moriarty as he sees a link between supposedly unrelated spontaneous crimes. Holmes sees through the opaque mist and finds the machinations of a vast criminal network. Moriarty’s web of criminal influence is not altogether different to the spread of the RSS tentacles into every aspect of Indian life. This Hindu fundamentalist organization which blamed Gandhi for the partition of India has as one of its idealogical gurus Vinayak Damodar Savarkar also the guru of Godse, who murdered Mahatma Gandhi. The RSS has its agents in every sphere of the government, armed forces and educational institutions. All this is under the guise of protecting the Hindu way of life (which includes Hindu Pride) which off course is selective reading of what ancient India was. This organization, through its tentacles, has instigated riots, killed and destroyed property all in the name of maintaining Hindu pride

I was in Chandigarh and visited the Rock garden and saw this piece of art made of waste. This agglomeration of statues of people in brown shorts and white shirts reminded me of RSS members who wear very loose brown shorts that are heavily starched and white shirts. They meet weekly in public parks where they do exercises. Occasionally they also organise parades with a band playing western musical instruments.

Besides being xenophobic and racist this organisation also shows symptoms of multiple-personality-disorder because it uses aspects of western influence while parallely maintaining a diatribe against it and ‘protecting’ Hindu culture from this very influence. Nothing could be more apparent than what Uwe Parpart, Asia Times Online Editor mentions in his article " Destroying the house that Gandhi built" that the co-founder of the RSS B S Moonje met Mussolini in Rome in 1931 and moulded the RSS according to the Fascist Academy of Physical Education.

Companionship

2007-06-11T07:55:00.000-07:00

Got up this morning and saw this pair sitting on a water tank.

Whenever I see crows i think of velociraptors. Maybe Jurassic Park did it to me but I see the way they turn their heads is very similar to these raptors.

Space

2007-06-07T20:47:00.001-07:00

Another picture from the terrace of the apartments I am put up in.

What i wanted to do was to get this construction along with the surroundings it is in. But my camera would not allow

Bangalore

2007-06-07T20:43:00.000-07:00

This photo was taken from the terrace of the apartments where I am put up. As many Bangaloreans will know this does not show the hideous conditions the roads are in.

Guzzler

2007-06-04T01:48:00.000-07:00

I saw this on a garbage truck near my office.

The Aerosmith Show in Bangalore

2007-06-04T01:05:00.000-07:00

My colleague could not wait for the Aerosmith concert, he went about telling everyone excitedly what he planned to do - he was going to get drunk and then, once inside, he was going to get stoned. He was more excited about his state of being in the concert than about the concert itself. Its another matter that he came in sober.

The sign that the Smithies were coming were there for all to see – huge mug-shots of ‘THE LIPS’ and his crew stared down at pedestrians and traffic, closer to the day there were directions with ‘RED SECTION, BLUE SECTION’ and arrows pointing to the hallowed ground where the famous five would strut their stuff.

Hindi movies of the seventies always began with two young kids (sometimes twins) getting lost in a fair and then meeting up years later. It seems that that Steve and Mick got separated at birth in a fair in India, though Steve claims he has never set foot here before. Their antics on stage and their LIPS bear more than just a passing resemblance.

The crowds began coming in at 5.30, by 8 it seemed that there were not going to be many people. The crowds pressed to the barricades closer to the stage, it was empty at the back. The innocuous trickle began to have an effect on the ground, the area began to fill up. Soon one could see plumes of smoke coming from various sections. It almost seemed as if these Indians were sending out smoke signals to each, other communicating the number of reefers present.

Petite women with their gargantuan boyfriends began blocking my line of sight, while the stale smell of alcohol lingered after every ‘excuse me’.

I did not know many songs, nor would I have been able to recognise any off them accept for Steve. So whenever I saw a man with long hair on stage I would yell in anticipation.

Finally the show began and the daddies of rock did their stuff. There was one still photographer on stage busy getting Steve in action. The poor photographer was sweating as much as Steve. Maybe Steve was building up a portfolio, the photographer did not pay much attention to the others.

Joe Perry sang a song but before he did he thanked India for the Kamasutra. Later, he spanked his guitar with his shirt and boy did the guitar wail in pleasure. It was quite a performance by the group.

Steve even learned a few words of Hindi – I think I recognised ‘dil’ (heart) a few times.

An interesting way to spend an evening.

Staircase

2007-06-03T20:50:00.001-07:00

I was walking back from lunch when I looked back and saw this building construction where this staircase was framed.

Loneliness is - - - - - -

2007-06-03T20:48:00.001-07:00

Loneliness is a full moon in an empty sky.

Milk of --------

2007-05-31T21:27:00.000-07:00

Road signals are a good place to see what is around one. One is suddenly surrounded by bored expressions, bad music, beautiful people. There is a hidden tension in this inactivity. But there are oasis's of tranquil unawareness, people not engrossed in the everyday hurly-burly.

This is what I saw - a man with a shiny rag over his head feeding a pup milk from a plastic bowl. The biscuit in front of him suggests that he tried to feed the pup with it but the pup was not interested.

Was his world the plastic bag beside him or the little pup that he is feeding?

The old man

2007-05-31T01:08:00.000-07:00

Today, I was once again in the passenger seat of a car waiting for the light to turn green.

I saw this old man staring far into the beyond, the partially open gate and the old man sitting was for some reason interesting.

It was almost like as if there had been an effort to open the gate and then he just got tired and sat down.

Another thing was that he looked like an Orangutan.

Photos From A Car

2007-05-31T00:59:00.000-07:00

This photo was taken from a car, the effect of the windscreen wiper is seen just below.

This was taken on MG Road in Bangalore. I was in the passenger seat in a traffic jam. So I began to click picutures. Through the water and vehicles I noticed this cyclist manuevering with an umbrella in one hand. I tried capturing him but my screen always filled up with an inquisitive rickshaw drivers face.

I am such a sweet guy !

2007-05-30T21:14:00.000-07:00

Okay what was said was that I am a ‘lovely person’ and that may be true, but the context was that this person had just finished saying that she was not interested in me. So the compliment turned out to be a ‘little hut’ when compared to the ‘castle’ I was building.

Over the years I have become a collector of such vague terms and the manner in which it has been collected has been the same (says a lot about my consistency). If anyone needs to know what to say after ‘NOT INTERESTED’ please do come to me, I have an enviable repository.

I have been told that the aim of life is to attain (seek, if one is less than perfect) perfection, to become known for some skill. From the emerging pattern it seems that I have chosen to provide people (read women) an opportunity to exercise their option. And it seems that I am getting better at it.

And how do I know that? You may ask. Well none of the other women have ever used the above mentioned term with me. They usually stick to something desultory like ‘nice’ and similes thereof.

Therefore it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that over time and through the various ‘nay sayers’ I have been able to draw out the best in them. So what if it is only with their vocabularies. The conclusion one can draw from all this is that I am improving and am well on my way to attain perfection.

But with my steady progress towards perfection am I doing anything about the otherside of the coin – getting known for a particular skill? I would give a confident yes, what with 6 degrees of separation, almost all the women being in the same city and the paucity of watering holes. This leads to another question – whether there is a particular type of woman that is interested in ‘word skills’. I don’t think so, my school of thought ensures that I be very eclectic. So do people (read women) flock to me to improve their vocabulary? The answer is no, maybe it’s because I am not famous enough (but by the way things are going I know it’s not too far away).

I realise that there is every chance that vocabulary levels may not always be on an upward gradient, which could jeopardise the completion of my vocation. This is an unfortunate debility of my chosen path. However I see a way out, next time round I am going to have handy Rogets Thesaurus and a list of words that have been used. After the solemn ‘NOT INTERESTED’ invocation I shall present the list of words that have already been used along with a Rogets Thesaurus, this will undoubtedly ensure that not only the quality of my list improves but also the lady in question updates her arsenal.

Life In A Metro

2007-05-30T04:22:00.000-07:00

I saw this movie twice – the second time was a mistake - A BIG ONE.

There are many things that one learnt. The main ones deal with sex.

But first congratulations to Dharmendra and Nafisa – they are the oldest couple in Indian filmdom who have an on screen smoochero. Which leads me to the next point – it seems that they do not know how to.

So the first thing that comes across is that – OLD PEOPLE DO NOT KNOW HOW TO KISS.

The second is that sex is bad for health - after a night of gentle love making Nafisa konks off next morning. Maybe it was the thought of making tea for Dharmendra.

While on the very same subject it seems that one has to be unscrupulous if one has to have sex. However there is no doubt that the “give and take” in sex is very well depicted.

On the positive side the only way one can get lucky is by being immoral. And if one is moral then you end up “playing your flute” or “mowing your lawn”.

Which comes to Konkona – no I am not stalking her. But considering her choice of men (check out Pg 3 and this movie) she seems to veer to the unattainable. In both movies she opens the bedroom door to find her beau with, no not another woman, but with another man.

Cant wait to see what she opens the next door to.

On a conveyor

2007-05-27T20:54:00.000-07:00

Who would have thought that Henry Fords creating the Production Line would one day become a metaphor of how we live.

Today, living switches between being on a conveyor belt or in watching conveyor belts around us (and I am not talking about the airport).

There is not much difference between us and the empty bottles, the skeleton of a car that trundles along a belt finding something new being attached every few minutes. Maybe we don’t need it but that is not important what is- is the end, the full bottle of saccharin soft drink, the car on the road taking a happy family somewhere.

Play school, school, college, work, it’s a production line.

Being part of a conveyor belt gives a straight-forward purpose to life- it’s easier than being emotional maggots that live off sentiment. There is a steady pace, direction and mechanical continuity that has a mind of its own.

But there is another side to the conveyor belt. The assumed ability of picking and choosing – its like the belt in the airport. There is a sense of confidence and relief as one identifies ones luggage. It is empowering to see something familiar trundle up to you – something like the ‘little bo peep’ phenomenon.

If one place can be described to be ‘for the conveyor and by the conveyor’ then it is the supermarket. The precision of multiple wrappings, the structured way things are stacked in these brightly lit places points to a mechanical birth in a theatre of orderliness and sterile functionality.

Opinion and choice are deftly catered to with colours, blurbs and prices, all found in a few square inches. Choice gently propels the shopper through the aisles and past the ‘pay-here’ counter.

The helplessness felt on the conveyor is lethargically empowering. One does not have to do much; one gets attached to what comes ones way, it takes one on a tour (guided or otherwise), passing souvenir shops that hand out collectibles, never stopping anywhere, always suggesting that there is something better.

Reporting now gives death many faces!

2007-05-25T06:20:00.000-07:00

Dying is nothing new nor is the quantum of people dying. But what has changed over the years has been how the dead are identified. This change in how deaths are reported could be one reason why we as a race are becoming desensitised.

Take for example the recent news about a group of people being killed in the North Eastern State of Assam. It was reported as ‘Hindi Speaking’ people were killed.

The story behind this term is - the language of the state is not Hindi and that people who are not from this state were killed by Assamese. Extending it further one understands that there are some Assamese who are xenophobic and have taken it open themselves to scare away if not kill the people who do not belong to Assam.

Now this term may have been used to conform to norms of brevity. However what it does is provide a reason as to why these people were killed, it paints a picture that there these xenophobes have a reason to kill.

The fact of the matter is that people were killed in cold blood. They belonging to a particular linguist denomination takes away from the ghastliness of the crime.

Reporting that Sunnis and Shias are killing each other in Iraq only explains why they are killing each other. It reduces the gravity of such dastardly acts. It suggests a history, a reason for the madness, forgetting that in the end it is parents, children human beings that are being killed in cold blood.

By giving such a face to those killed and those who do the killing the media is taking away from the tragedy while also at the same time adding fuel to the fire.