The 2009 verdict: a hope, a challenge

In adverse circumstances, when you do not have power to misuse, staying holy isn't too difficult. It may not be the only option, but is the most reasonable one. The mark of character, however, is what you choose to do with power when you have it. In a lot of ways, the verdict of Elections 2009 throws up exactly this challenge to Congress and its trio-at-the-top to establish its character. Every newspaper and news channel, indeed every drawing room discussion across the country, has drawn up theories for why India voted the way it did. For once, the Indian voter has thrown up a surprise to be proud of, a definitive result when everybody anticipated uncertainty and gloom worse than 2004. I believe more than anything it was this fear and anticipation of gloom, horse-trading and a rift-ridden myopic government unable to lead the country in the current global environment that drove people to vote for stability, and the most likely candidate to provide that. For that, at least, we need to thank our political pundits and news commentators who have incessantly , even if irritatingly, driven down our throats the last three months or so the likelihood of post-election scenarios ,and the rise of Third , Fourth, Fifth front which made both Mayawati being PM/re-elections in two years seem dangerously real. In the current scenario, Manmohan Singh was the best choice we had, given not just the inability for NDA to raise the numbers without too much importance to pain-in-the-ass outfits that Left and SP proved to be in the last term but also the fact that the country really needs to avoid communal divisive agendas from dominating the mainstream at the moment, but even Manmohan really has work on his hand now to put the country on fast track of reform, growth and social welfare. In a lot of ways, it is the coming five years rather than the last five that would define for history who Manmohan Singh was, and what his legacy would be.

And now that Congress (almost) has the mandate to independently and assertively work for national good, now that Left has happily been decimated and BSP's rise stinted, now that it's obvious to national and regional players alike that good governance and development will get you votes no matter where and social engineering has limited relevance, I, just like the rest of the nation, fervently hope that our politicians collectively rise to the challenge. Clearly the victory of Nitish Kumar and Naveen Patnaik, and the poor showing of Left, Maya and BJP in Rajasthan show the importance of good governance and its translation into electoral gains, and hence it is a historical intertwining of people's (development) and politicians' interest(power) that is finally evident (one that should have been logical and always present, but that's another matter) and I hope the political class of the country regroups and puts that at their top agenda. For once, I hope it's not too much to expect. Imagine if all our politicians spent all their energy competing to provide development and social welfare, where would our country be!

Maybe, it's just wishful thinking on my part. But if nothing else, the 2009 verdict has provided a hope to citizens like me, and a challenge to the politicos. The times they are a changin'...

Job-hunting-II

General Observational Expertise Pvt Ltd has temporarily outsourced its primary services to Random Funde Inc, thanks to cost-cutting necessitated by recession.
Latest report attempts to give random recruitment season gyaan and details the businesses that seem to have done considerably well in 2008. Let's have a look at the top 5:

• Law Firms: Bankruptcies, mergers, takeovers, mass pink-slips, law suites, increased stress/hate/passion crimes, cost-cutting, contract breaches and what not. Everything is in a turmoil, and the legal department is busy!
  
• Mental Health Industry: At number 4 , the people selling advice, solace and anti-depressant drugs have had a good year. Everything from rising prices to disappearing jobs to sinking stocks to rising crime and terror is driving the blood pressure up, happiness low and stress to the sky. As relationships rock, as MBAs kidnap for money, as people ask for divorce because of stock market losses, as someone loses a lifetime of saving...somebody is still making money! Sad :(
  
• News Channels and agencies: More masala than ever. A new crash, a new headline. Another bomb blast, another breaking news. More the recession, more the number of people needed to cover it. The less said the better here, for everyone knows how bad news makes better "copy" anyway!
• Politics: The runners-up, and an eternal bull of the market. The US elections and its coverage seem to have dragged on and on forever till more people across the world heard of Barack Obama than the heads of state of their own country. The world voted for a Black American president, almost. And now, India has its own political season red hot with elections in states on, and general not too far away. The pitch has been rising all year, with each party crying themselves hoarse. Madam Maya wants a bigger pie, Congress is afraid of doing too much lest something backfires to combine with anti-incumbency, and Mr Advani knows it is his last shot at the top job. It's business out there, folks, and rising prices and falling jobs, is actually good for business!
• Terror: A winner by a fair margin! Bombs have put up a consistent show all over India this year. They invented a new brand of Hindu terror to compete with the mature Islamic terror so that the brand war killed peace and logic and helped the market grow further. Special Saturdays were introduced and unprecedented production levels achieved so even 26 defused bombs in one city in a day did not mar the show. People dying was a regular efficient event capturing new markets including North-east. And now they have pulled off the mother of them all, attaching the heart and soul of India, openly firing at innocent people and forever tarnishing a city, a people and a hope. Way to go!
  

:( :( :(

Being PM

I was just reminded of the times when we were young and had to write those essays on "If I were the Prime Minister of India", or something to that effect. I don't know if they still have those kind of homework exercises, but if they did, this would be one of the apt answers:

If I were the Prime Minister of India right now, I'd be really confused and flipping a coin to decide what I should concentrate on.
Whether the alarming terror situation in the country with recent flurry of blasts in the cities, or the alarming external security situation, with Pakistan and Nepal growing more volatile by the day.
Or, the global economic meltdown and focus on minimizing its loss to India, its stock market, its industry and its banks.
Or, controlling the surging inflation in the country.
Or, about the grave floods in Bihar affecting over a 2.5 million people.
Or in Gujarat and Orissa.
Or, the farmers in Vidarbha.
Or, the drought-like situation in many states where water-sharing is an issue.
Or, work for restoring peace and harmony in Jammu and Kashmir. Heal a wounded part of the country.
Or, control insurgency and bring back peace in the North-east.
Or, focus on the rising crime rate in metropolitan cities.
Or, act against the heinous communal acts and forced conversions and reconversions in Orissa. Bring back peace between the Hindu and Christian communities.
Or, work to preserve the GDP growth rate which looks like slipping below 7%
Or, work to establish a fundamentally strong economy.
Or, work to promote education at the grass-roots of the society by ensuring free primary education, a bill that hasnt been cleared in four yrs because the States dont want to foot the cost.
Or, build more higher education institutes and medical colleges(IITs??)
Or, bring nuclear power to India and setup the reqd infrastructure so India can meet its energy needs.
Or....
.....
.....
.....
....

Dream job, anyone????

This isn't a critique on anyone's performance, just a sentiment that comes through grabbing the headlines every morning.
India, such a marvellous country!

Jaago Re!

Here's an issue really close to my heart, something I've repeatedly talked about in previous posts on this blog. We need to vote. All of us. Every single person eligible, must vote. It's much more our national duty than a national right. If we do not vote, we have no right to celebrate or curse our democracy, no right to complain about the "system" and no right to wish things would change for the better. Every single vote counts, and in this respect, the Jaago Re! One Billion votes initiative is something I think each and every one of us must support.
And act on.

India needs ten minutes of your time. Spend five minutes today, register, and help spread the word. And five on the day of the election. Make a responsible choice. Trust me, every drop makes a difference. Do you have ten minutes for your country?

Let's stop making excuses. It is not cumbersome (check the website to bust some common myths about registration and voting) and it is not futile. Please.

The Great Indian Drama: What's the big DEAL about?

Let's face it: there're plenty of disadvantages of omniscient omnipotent media, not the least being the persistence with which it serves you Dirty filthy politics Live 24X7 day in and day out. It's making me sick in the stomach, the open mud-slinging and disgust on display ever since the drama began on the Nuclear Deal. And even though the Govt continues to stay in power for now, the only victor today has been Mayawati, with an enhanced stature and a real chance at becoming India's PM (yuck yuck, I swear)
Recap, early July: The Left withdrew support as the UPA refused to back out of the 1-2-3 agreement with the US and thus began the numbers game. Frankly, the Indian public has come to expect much of what transpired, and so nobody was surprised. If anything, Left leaving was slightly relieving as it brought hopes that maybe, if the Govt survived, some reforms would go ahead without the political compulsions that Left's persistent threats gave rise to. Afterall, the last four years India has hardly seen an Opposition, with the NDA mostly asleep, and the Govt had to keep fighting tooth n nail within itself thanks to the communist parties. So, in the first part of the July, when political scene heated up with BJP finally seeming to wake up a little, SP abandoning its Congress hatred and coming to the Govt's rescue (for a price much greater than renaming Lucknow Airport, I'm sure) and a third front seeming to re-emerge, nobody was shocked.
If at all, I was amused, watching the constant debates on newstertainment channels. Nobody has a clear stand. Nobody really opposed the nuclear deal as well. NDA would have supported it had it been in Govt, for sure, but as Opposition they must prevent UPA staking credit and hence wanted a "re-negotiation" with US. SP swore by Kalam's word on the greatness of the 1-2-3 and made that their excuse of seeking shelter with Congress, though the political realities of UP and the SP's dire need of survival is hidden from none. And BSP launched daily attacks on SP, UPA and everybody under the roof, with Behenji going to the extent of saying that the Nuclear deal is anti-Islamic and that US will attack Iran the day the deal is through. Wtf, I say. The Left stuck to their anti-deal position, and stuck to the pro-China lobby with heavy anti US criticism, meanwhile throwing the "secular-forces-unity" out of the window. And Congress came out as the hapless appeasement messiah running helter-skelter to garner support. All this while media channels had a field day running contests on the guessing game of numbers and analysing every single analysis.
And even all that at the end of the day failed to shock the common Indian man, mere spectator in the deals behind the Deal. But the last two days, just watching Lok Sabha proceedings on TV fills me with a deep sense of shame. So much, that I really hope we stop calling our inter and intra college debates as Parliamentary debates, because the Parliamentary behavior on display was deeply disgusting. More than once my heart went out to the Speaker, surrounded in no less media controversy of late owing to his CPM origins, for the amount of patience he had to exercise and watch the house make a mess of itself over and over and over again. Are these people fit for representing us internationally?
90% of the time the debate on the house, when someone was allowed to speak and so there was one, concerned everything but the deal. Blames flew in all directions and there was so much mud-slinging that eventually everyone was neck-deep in mud. You could hear everything from Kandahar to 1976 to Pokhran-I to inflation to Rajiv Gandhi's assassination on the floor. When Lalu sounded like he was herding cattle, it ironically felt apt. When Mr. V.K. Malhotra, aspiring Delhi CM (?), went on from the offensive to the abusive, you wanted to cry. There were a few gems, notably Omar Abdullah's and Rahul Gandhi's speech, as well as the seizing of opportunity of North-east and small party MPs to voice regional issues when they had the mike for a change. But fact remains that the PM wasn't even allowed a reply speech at the end in all the mindless yelling and indiscipline.
But the darkest moment of the day came when BJP came up with 1 crore cash inside Parliament alleging bribery. Did the Congress/SP bribe? Did the BJP plant the money as they were losing anyway? I'm sure the media is going to debate this for a long long time, and this is not the last we've heard of all that transpired, but for now, for tonight, I've one question for every single Indian citizen: Do you really care about the answer to that question? Whether this money was given or planted, you know already money's traded all sides by all parties, don't you? You know nobody's clean, not even the holier-than-thou Dr. Manmohan Singh could claim unimpeachable honesty and alienation from what his party does. You know about the trades, whether or not this one is true and whether or not anything is proved. All parties are dirty.Do you really care about one versus another over the money? Whoever gets it, it's our money that should be used to build our houses and fill our stomachs, not of those on-sale commodities they call ministers.
I guess nobody really cares about whose hands on the money, but anyone would be disgusted by the lack of respect for Indian Constitution and Indian Parliament shown today by our leaders. Such a shame for democracy. Such a shame for a "rising superpower" that they want us to believe India is.
I have an appeal too: Waving your head in disgust alone is not going to solve anything. Let us all, every single one of us, people educated and mature enough to understand what's best for the country, let us all vote next elections. Most students I know don't, a majority of India's middle class does not, and I'm not saying this alone will solve all problems, but it could be a start. It could, at least, turn a few collections awry in a few constituencies if all the students turned up to vote. How tough is it to do? After all, it's our future at stake, and I'm sorry to say, it doesn't look good.

IPL :: Bad move??

IPL is great entertainment, an addictive timepass despite its long duration and vociferous publicity and support by BCCI, Bollywood, India Inc et al have translated in a success dazzling enough that nobody probably remembers the older poorer cousin, ICL, now. Yet, with its gripping power over the masses, it looks like its doing some serious damage with its regional philosophies.

I'm sure some marketing strategist would've advocated it, and maybe it pumps up the moolah by some skewed complicated equation too, but IMHO it's a bad move in the greater scheme of things to have regionally identified teams...we might as well have had SuperKings playing Royal Challengers, but instead it's a Chennai vs Bangalore clash, and unfortunately not just on the field but also in the stadium and on the streets. And hence a crucial Delhi DareDevils vs Mumbai Indians clash brings Dilliwallahs at odds with Mumbaikars, and the regional pride and self-esteem of parts of our country dips and rises with the IPL point tally. It couldn't have been incidental either, since the first promos of IPL itself focussed on bitter rivalry between supporters of different teams, identifiably natives of those regions.

There is definitely a section of people, me included, who care for the team, the players and cricket only to decide their loyalties (damn Mumbai the chokers, they're a better team than people to throw away 3 on 3 matches in the last over) but then, I love test matches as much as T20, perhaps more, and the glamour and glitz was never targetted at me in the first place(for the record the Lahore XI in ICL is an awesome team). It does make a difference, however, for the masses who burn effigies at world cup losses, celebrate Diwali at Dada centuries and pray for Sachin's back to heal faster. They count, I don't, and it is them who're being manipulated in a dirty way. What surprise then that the Mumbai crowd chooses to boo the Mohali players defeating "their" team, even if it means cursing their favorite Yuvraj Singh.

Encashing on feverish patriotism was a bad enough exercise when India played an ODI with Pakistan and gunshells boomed on the LOC depending on who won, but taking the rifts deeper inside home seems like a very bad move at a broader level for a country already struggling to hold up despite differences (and mindless Gujjar agitations).

Between freedom and independence

Do good fences make good neighbours? If yes, what of the invisible borders that exist within members of the same family? Random question it may seem, but blame it on the book I spent reading most of India's 60th bday and a little after: Husband of a Fanatic by Amitava Kumar. I've been keeping really busy of late, so apologies for absence on blogosphere, but despite the meetings, work, classes, people schedules that I've been juggling I did manage to write a long post on the book and the ensuing thoughts, but only managed to accidentally delete it :(
Anyhow, what's lost is lost, and I should hope to do the catching up soon, but as far as the book, which I haven't yet finished is concerned, it's a non-fiction about India, Hindu-muslim divide, riots, emotions and Gujarat. As long as one sifts out the truth from the slightly biased tone of the narrative, it manages to be fairly disturbing.
India@60.co.in has still got a long way to go. We perhaps, are independent citizens of a not-so-free country.

On to lighter topics, last week in a debate I was conducting, a junior I've probably never seen me before addressed me as Phoenix. Mildly surprised and mildly amused, when I later asked him his name in the course of the event, he simply replied as "Anonymous" :) It's a blur really, this line between reality and virtual existence. If there is a line, that is.

More updates soon, hopefully :)
Good night.

We the People

I start with a line I read on some blog a few days: "The spirit of Indians as a people is over-whelmingly warm; yet, the warmth and instant connection one may say between Indian and Indian is sadly found wanting when it comes to Indian and India." Also fresh in my memory is a question raised in a book review I was reading last weekend that asked: "What does patriotism mean to the common man?"

Rhetorical, yet worth thinking the question is. People are peculiar, especially the moment you start attributing general characteristics and tendencies to them in groups, and of all peoples, Indians have their own well-earned reputation for peculiarities and eccentricities, which is both laudable and remarkable in its own right. Now, keep aside the initial images of frenzied media hype, of rhetorical loud Sunny Deol dialogues, of "Ae watan, ae watan..." Chorus-singing competitions in school, of war movies, Pakistan, of saffron, green and white that spring to the mind when one thinks of "patriotism", and then think what does it really mean to you. I'm afraid this is a question quite tough for most of us to answer, especially honestly and unambiguously. What is it that you really feel for your country? And what is it that you really need to?

I have to admit that my brief stay abroad actually went a long way in helping me reflect and develop a deep perspective and appreciation for India. Once I was away from it, I could see the identity of the nation and its people and its characteristics, I could also appreciate its strengths, weaknesses and complacence from a third-persons' view, and most of all, I could determine whether I actually felt the 'love' for the country separately from the immediate environment where I resided the way I had been accustomed to proclaiming since childhood in "I love my India.." songs.

I believe that a temporary period of distance from anything that's been an integral part of our lives so much that we've hitherto always taken it as granted, always produces either of two extreme reactions in the mind: either you realise its deficiencies, lack of necessity/functionality etc and discard regard for it to a great extent in favour of new-found replacements, or you realise its importance/your regard for it, miss it and actually value it more if and when you get it back. People's relationship with their nations are also like that. People who move abroad either being hyper-actively and enthusiastically 'Indian' or begin scorning at it as the developing, full-of-social-and-economic-evils place.

My own opinion here is not so important, although I always rejoice as I increasingly see people in my generation preferring India as the place to work and to reside in even to the disadvantage of lesser evil and coming back from visits abroad as students charmed by the 'holiday' but yet feeling like coming home. So much for brain drain. The point which finally got me to write this post was the other end of this mass patriotism, or whatever it is that we feel, that leads us to aggressively establish our identity and connection with an Indian. It's the same aggression and natural bonding that you'd see among any two Indians who accidentally meet up in any part of the globe on a metro station. It's the same aggression a cricket match unites people from all strata of life otherwise ready to kill over religion, caste, quota in supporting eleven men wearing blue. It's the same aggression because of which Kalpana Chawla's achievements are proudly labelled Indians and celebrated in mass hysteria, tears and joy. It's the same aggression which makes one track Sunita Williams, who's never been to India, as she lands safely on Planet Earth.

So far, so good. But there are questions unanswered.

Is this aggression good or bad? Is THIS what patriotism is and should be? If yes, or acceptably yes, then why isn't that aggression visible between Indian and India like between Indian and Indian? Meaning thereby, why don't we protect the cleanliness of our roads, the harmony of our society, the poor of this India, fight the corruption and let our pride work for removing its deficiencies than hiding them? Why the "chalta hai" attitude there? And then again, the other question, we aggressively proclaim Sunita Williams as Indian, but why not Salman Rushdie who's actually far more connected to the country and its culture and brought equal if not more laurels but has been banned and banished here. Why disown Indian doctors in Australia found guilty of terror attacks while continue to aggressively acknowledge and claim pride in Silicon Valley's Indianness?

Too many questions right. I can't answer for the people of the whole of this country, but even as far as I'm individually concerned, my mind is still too busy figuring out the right middle path between zealous exuberance, pride, shame, responsibility, prudence and lastly, patriotism.

Hum logon ko samajh sako to samjho dilbar jaani

ulti seedhi jaisi bhi hai apni yehi kahani

Phir bhi dil hai hindustani....