A Seeker's Diary

Main bhi Anna Hazare !

2011-04-08T14:12:00.000+05:30

Anna Sahib enters the fourth day of his fast and declares a “Jail Bharo” movement across the nation on 12^th of April even as the Government hardens its stand on the “jan lokpal bill panel”. The government calls it coercion politics. I am not sure what they meant and if they expected a 72 year old social activist along with millions of other ‘jagrook’ Indians to BEG for a genuine and just demand of the Indian people, which has been swept aside by successive governments and prime ministers, decade after decade, to save their glorified bottoms fed and bred on the taxpayers money. Kapil Sibbal declared today that no politician would be allowed to be a panel member, if a civilian chairs the panel. What audacity and ego of an elected representative, who finds it inappropriate and below dignity for a member of the parliament to perform under the chairmanship of a civilian, who incidentally allowed the politician with an opportunity to represent the civil society in the parliament!! Kapil has rejected the names (Justice G.S. Verma & Lokayukta Santosh Hegde) suggested by the Civil Society. Sibbal wants a leading politician (read one of the thieves) to head the panel, to be entrusted to set-up an anti-corruption body, which would end corruption in India and bring all corrupt organizations, politicians, public service officials and Babus (read the pack of thieves, looters and dacoits) to justice. Can you imagine the fallacy?

Let the Government ignore the signs to it own peril. Let them underestimate the growing solidarity amongst the citizens, cutting across all sections of the society and all parts of the geographical territory at their own risk. Let them wait for the time when a Jantar Mantar is transformed into a Tahrir Square.

As per the Indian constitution these lawmakers selected to various legislative bodies are mere servants of the Indian democracy and Indian people. They are not the masters of the people, certainly not monarchs of the land. They are simply the elected and paid bearers of the wishes of over a billion Indians. And this is no emotional statement of frustrated Indian tax payer … this is a fact as per the Indian constitution, celebrated as the most sacred testament of Indian democracy!

Very few of us are aware of the constitutional name of this great country, as mentioned in the Preamble. But we should be since it’s not just a name, it’s the summary of what our founding fathers wanted us to become post independence. It underscores the rights and values the India society, its people and the nation as a whole is expected to enjoy, receive and deliver – “Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic of India”.

Sovereignty:

How it should be – India is supposed be the supreme, independent authority of its territory, has complete and sole rights in deciding, determining and executing all policy matters of national relevance - civil, political, military, economic, territorial integrity, India’s foreign policy, et all. No other country, groups or any foreign and external entity can direct, determine or influence our policies.

How it actually has been – Ask Montek Singh Ahluwalia (America’s primary conduit for influencing Indian policy matters, directly or indirectly related to American and its allies’ interests, globally), and a host of other Indian lawmakers and public service Babus.

Socialism:

How it should be – The principle of socialism says that the State should strike to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number of its people which is essential for the purpose of establishing an egalitarian society. The Indian Constitution makers opted for a path involving slow, regulated and planned growth to ensure inclusive socio-economic development of the nation, and with the idea of establishing a welfare state where all policies, regulations and government activities are expected to be designed and directed towards the development and welfare of the masses. Indian constitution emphasizes the need for ownership, control and distribution of national productive wealth for the benefit and use of the community and its components and condemns any system or machinery of misuse of its resources for selfish ends.

How it actually has been – India houses a third of the world’s poor. The Arjun Sengupta Report (from National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector) states that 77% of Indians live on less than 20 rupees a day (about $0.50 per day) while the N.C. Saxena Committee report states that 50% of Indians live below the poverty line. As per World Bank estimates, by 2015 (almost 70 years post independence), an estimated 53 million people will still live in extreme poverty and 23.6% of the population will still live under US$1.25 per day!

We indeed have a very very slow growth pattern but certainly not an inclusive one (consider the Indian socio-economic scenario which is ridden with gross inequalities). A super-power with nearly half of its population reeling under extreme poverty. An egalitarian nation, ranking very high on global corruption index, with black money stashed in foreign banks amounting to multiples of India’s massive GDP. A socialist country with its annual military expenditures amounting to more than thrice that of the money required to allow two square meals a day for a year to nearly 600 million people of this country. Mera Bharat Mahan!!

Secularism:

How it should be – The constitution urges the lawmakers, governments, legislative and administrative bodies to by and large remain indifferent towards religious influences, whilst policy making. The constitution seeks to promote religious pluralism in India where practising his or her religion of choice is a fundamental right of every Indian citizen. Each Indian is also required to abide by his or her fundamental duty of respecting all other religions practiced in India along with the rights of their followers.

How it actually has been – We still get political parties winning elections promising more Mandirs uprooting Masjids. We still have people exercising democratic rights in the name of Jihad!! We still have politicians, public servants, and extremists behind the veil of NGOs and socio-religious groups fanning religious riots and mass murders as a matter of state’s strategy, while successive governments, administration and judiciary turning a blind eye to all such gross violations of basic human rights in India.

Democratic:

How it should be – Of the people, by the people, for the people.

How it actually has been – Do I need to say anything on the wonderful D-word, used, re-used, misused and royally abused, day in and day out in the parliament, legislative assemblies, public forums, political rallies, media, and every other platform made available to our fiery Netas and Netris . The only time I see the politicians and Indian lawmakers talk about, promote and practice democracy are when they are caught in crisis or when they can visualize an impending electoral gain that can be derived from it.

The Indian lawmakers, the executioners, the reformists, the regulators and the champions of democracy are all selected (not elected … remember, we just vote for/make a choice amongst the lot presented to us by political and administrative outfits … that’s hardly a choice), and are accountable to the centralised power centres and political aspirants. Hence the deeply entrenched corruption at all sections and levels.

Our democracy is anything but of the people, by the people, for the people.

Republic:

How it should be – It implies that India is not a monarchy, that it’s an independent territory and not a dominion of any other nation. That its people have the right to self determination, right to select its own representatives to run the country, right to enjoy all the national resources, duty to protect territorial integrity and the dignity and rights of its fellow citizens. That it is the people of this country who are the collective owners of its prosperity and well-being.

How it actually has been – I leave it for my readers to judge on how we have fared as a Republic.

Our national motto has been Satyameva Jayate. Time has finally come for truth to reign supreme. Time has come for us to seek justice, seek the truth, seek the correct interpretation and execution of the Indian constitution. Time has come for us to rise and say “Main bhi Anna Hazare”

Mahendra Singh Dhoni - an astute leader, a modern day Midus or simply destiny's favourite child?

2011-04-07T00:18:00.000+05:30

What separates champions from good or average sport persons? It is their uncanny ability to choose big occasions to deliver stellar performances. A true champion rarely lets the occasion get to him and hamper his performance. A bigger stage invariably brings out the best in champions. Dhoni is a winner and certainly a champ.

A great leader always sets his sight on the larger goal and is never caught up in mundane issues and events. It was evident during the toss fiasco at Wankhede. No expression of anger, discontent or frustration for not getting the opportunity to bat first in such a crucial game, due to the stupidity of someone else. A close-up of his face would however have shown Dhoni’s already steely resolve hardening up a few notches after the incident. Dhoni certainly didn’t want to start his day at office fretting and fuming over the incident, which was at best a minute blip in his overall plan, and he got himself and his team to quickly shift into the Plan B mode with ease. Yet, someone had to pay and Dhoni’s team ensured poetic justice at the end. I am not sure how someone else in Dhoni’s Shoes would have reacted on the given day and what repercussion it would have on the morale and performance of the team. Great leaders handle various set backs on their path to destiny with élan and a certain amount of calm and sees it an opportunity to push ones self and his pack of men to deeds of greatness.

Gautam Gambhir’s innings in the WC final was that of a fighter’s – an innings of struggle and resilience amidst adversity. But it was actually Dhoni who took the battle firmly to the opposition camp and decisively stamped India’s authority, shutting out Sri Lanka from the contest. I have seen out-of-form captains in the past, pushing themselves down the order and shying away from impending challenges. Lesser leaders, often after a string of failures, seem to start doubting their convictions while believing in their own doubts. But Dhoni is no muck as a leader. Dhoni’s decision to promote himself was a master stroke. Yuvi, by far, was the man for India in the tournament. But when Yuvi took guard against the Pakistanis in the semis, it was evident that the Pakistanis had a plan in place for the graceful south paw. Sri Lanka, without an iota of doubt, would have had plans for Yuvi. Malinga’s super fast, slingy toe crushers would have been quite a handful or even deadly at worse for Yuvi with his high back lift. Another quick wicket at that stage would have put immense pressure on the lower middle order. Also, Yuvi’s record against genuine off spinners like Murli had been less than enviable in the past. Sri Lanka had couple of good offies operating in tandem at that point in time, threatening to further tighten the screws and create a stranglehold over the Indian middle order. Dhoni’s decision to promote himself was an out-of-the-box decision, very few people apprehended or liked. The decision was more to do with upsetting opposition’s plans and winning small turf wars amidst the larger battle. The first killer blow landed even before Dhoni took his guard. The Sri Lankan think thank could never have imagined to see Dhoni, with his terrible averages with the bat in the recent past, walking into the middle at that stage of a World Cup final, promoting himself up the order, ahead of an in-form Yuvi! Another quality of great leaders is their ability to shock their adversaries by doing things least expected by the opposition.

Dhoni with his with his modified bat lift for the occasion, low and crouchy stance and trademark strong bottom hand continued with his mission as opposition shoulders and confidence drooped. As always, Dhoni refused to play up to his opposition’s plans. He took a ‘two-leg guard’ to Murli to counter the vicious top spin and ‘doosra’ and took a stance deep into his crease to upset the length and trajectory of Malinga’s lethal yorkers. The deadly duo clearly did not have an answer to Dhoni’s proactive and brilliant strategy. Dhoni continued winning his small wars, while the opposition kept falling apart. The six off Kulasekara, to get the winning runs was a clear demonstration of what Dhoni could have done earlier, possibly playing into the hands of the opposition. But as always, personal glory and short-lived heroics was never his goal … his sight was set firmly on the real goal and his measured approach was in direct response to the prevailing match situation, worthy of a WC final showdown between two tournament favourites.

The man of the match award could easily have gone to Gauty. But it was Dhoni’s shrewd reading of the match situation and his courage to face and pay back wily Murli and slinger Malinga (cleverly held back by Sangakara, to be unleashed at the very sight of Yuvi and Raina), without exposing the susceptible left hander duo, is what won him the award from the Pundits.

I have never seen a chest thumping Dhoni, his expressions of satisfaction and fulfillment rarely go overboard, as a leader he is always holding up the team with his calm demenour in the most challenging match situations. He is pretty graceful, more often than not, in accepting defeat, but never ready to dwell in records, failures or errors from the past, those couldn’t be corrected, but always focused on the road ahead for himself as a leader and his team. His uncanny resemblance to a skilled surgeon clinically completing the task at hand under critical conditions is striking. Dhoni, with his clutter-free yet shrewd mind has never been over anxious or overtly reactive and has always had excellent measure of his opposition, delivering clinical responses to match situations. I vividly remember a renewed Indian team under Saurav’s great captaincy registering wonderful performances in the 2003 WC and then faltering at the final hurdle. The entire team crumbled after Zaheer was taken to task early during his initial spell, by the formidable Australians. Indians seemed to lack ‘Plan B’ and no one took the bull by the horn. India didn’t manage to mount or even launch a counter attack on the opposition, neither did anyone try to patiently claw back into the game for a counter offensive at a later stage. For me emotions got better of practicable logic and realistic assessment of the match situations on that day for India. I witnessed similar scenes and a terrifying Indian approach during the semi-final match between India and Sri Lanka at our own backyard, the Eden Gardens, during the 1996 World Cup. As a captain, Saurav brought back Indian cricket from the ignonimity of match fixing scandals, decently managed a group of current and future Indian cricketing legends, groomed and oriented budding match winners, resurrected the Indian teams credence in the cricketing world, nurtured an ‘eye-for-eye’ approach for the toughest opponents and most importantly got the team to believe in themselves and in their ability win in alien soils. Dhoni took over the mantle like a fish that takes to water, and along with his perfect foil in Gary Kirsten and his support stuff, managed to instill one quality which has rarely been the hallmark of any Indian team in the past – consistency. He got the team to seek collective, relentless and consistent pursuit of cricketing excellence.

An Indian captain is no less than a senior Indian Diplomat and I have hardly seen him shoot his mouth, pass value judgements or make juvenile comments. I have rarely seen him loose his composure. He always lets his leadership skills talk. Whether it’s the opposition, board president, the opportunistic Indian media or the ‘I-know-all’ TV commentators, Dhoni never seems to be flustered with criticism nor unduly bloated with praise. He just gets his ‘job’ done and he is mighty good at doing so.

While playing, I always carried my emotions on my sleeves. Hence, it was always easy for me to identify with Ganguly’s style of captaincy. Sometimes, when we are deeply influenced by a particular method or a pattern and even start identifying with the style, it becomes mighty difficult to appreciate, recognize or even see any other form, style or personality. I must admit here that at the start of Dhoni’s tenure as a captain, I wasn’t a great fan of his methods or his approach. I was so caught up with Ganguly’s presentation and approach that I almost scornfully wrote off Dhoni’s near stoic demeanor as a ‘less-than-interested’ attitude. I mistook his patience and calm as lack of charisma. My ignorance and scant regard for alternatives beyond Ganguly’s style made me judgmental and myopic.

But the Zen-like champion in Dhoni, waited for the right moment, when his biggest detractors would become his greatest admirers. He hardly used words to stamp his authority within the team or outside. He never demanded loyalty or following, he simply got them. He never tried to hog the limelight after every milestone his team achieved and quietly slipped into the next task at hand. He neither tried to banter an opposition player out of a game nor kicked the hell out of his colleagues who failed to deliver on a given day. Paradoxically, everything that he didn’t want to get forcefully, landed on his lap in due course … success, pride, respect, appreciation, loyalty, following, friends, all of them and more. It is Dhoni who taught me the fact that one can be fiercely competitive without being histrionic. If I look inward and honestly evaluate how we would normally react in euphoric and adverse situations, we are certain to realize what a great ability and almost a super-normal gift this individual has. Restraint is an understatement, when it comes to attributing the most striking aspect of Dhoni’s personality. Each time he scales a new height of as a captain, he seems to get calmer as a leader, allowing us with occasional grins and carefully crafted yet spontaneous and often hard-hitting press statements. No histrionics, no tears, hardly any dressing room tantrum. He is ever ready to soak up all the pressure, stress and failures, own up to most of the mistakes he and his team make on or off field. His emotions and frustrations are certainly not for public consumption. The only thing that he would allow us mere mortals is the spoils of his consistent efforts and the pride of being an Indian cricket follower. With success and fame comes not-so-kind detractors, waiting for opportune moments to pull him down from his hard earned pedestal. Yet, his worst critics become fully aware of the value of Dhoni as a leader of men, when they decide to suspend their skewed judgmental vision and pay heed to their conscience and sense of pure cricketing logic.

Carrying the legacy of a successful predecessor is always a tough job and doing it as an Indian cricket team’s captain is simply mind boggling. Dhoni had to carry forward the legacy of our great Dada. It wasn’t easy by any stretch of imagination (ask the successors of Clive Lyyod, Imran Khan, Steve Waugh to name a few). Some other day we’ll talk about the challenges faced by Mahi and what took him, his coach and the support stuff to blend a set of legends, promising yet underperforming youngsters and a few out-of-control yet immensely talented cricketers into a bunch of consistent and relentless winners. Today let’s celebrate and raise a toast to the team that has taken us to the new heights of cricketing excellence, from where Saurav had earlier left us.

Lot of people label Dhoni as a gambler who has more lady luck than others in every throw of his proverbial dice? Although initially I bought into the arguments (assuming there were any at all), I finally managed to think straight and get sane with my assessment of Dhoni. A fluke can happen once or twice but definitely not again and again. 20-20 World Cup, IPL, Champions Trophy, Asia Cup, World Cup, World’s No.1 Test playing team, World’s second best limited over team … all of them couldn’t surely have happened due to consistent strokes of luck. If one carefully analyses his on and off field decisions, one is sure to find a clear method to the entire madness. For example, his decision to play Nehra in the quarter finals, defying the popular choice in Ashwin. Nehra’s inclusion was based on the pitch and so was Sreeshant’s. Experienced Nehra lived upto this purely cricketing logic and the maverick Sreeshant wasted the beautiful opportunity presented to him. Incidentally, even Ganguly predicted and later supported Sreeshant’s inclusion, while doing the pitch report that afternoon. Neither Nehra’s success nor Sreeshant’s failure made Dhoni a better or a worse captain. He always insists that a leader needs to have a clear and dispassionate view of a situation, should be able to take decisions based on the given situation and choices presented to him and should be ready to stand by the consequences of the choices he makes and back his and his team’s abilities to the hilt, irrespective of the final result. The process has always been Dhoni’s focus, while the results are just the fruits he and his team enjoy today.

Given an opportunity to lead a team, more often than not I would perhaps follow Ganguly’s style, rather than that of Dhoni’s. The reason is simple, not because I prefer Dada’s style over Mahi’s … but because I cannot be a Dhoni even if I try to be. It isn’t easy to be a Mahendra Singh Dhoni, to be able to go bald and yet look absolutely at ease during ones own marriage ceremony or even during a Presidential tea party the day after a World Cup final!

Pics courtesy: Various Sources

Life of misery or death of dignity ... the Aruna Shanbaug Case

2011-03-08T18:45:00.016+05:30

“… right to life guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution does not include the right to die,” the two-judge bench of the Supreme Court said while delivering the verdict on a petition plea to allow an end to the life of Aruna Shanbaug, an ex-nurse with Mumbai’s KEM Hospital. Aruna has been languishing at the same hospital for almost four long decades in a persistently vegetative state. However, the court made way for passive euthanasia, on a case-to-case basis and after the necessary medical and legal due diligence.

Doctors across the nation hailed the verdict, saying the Apex Court legalised a procedure already practised in India for years, on critically ill patients. Many doctors have argued in the past that withdrawing treatment or life support allows dignified conclusion to the life of a terminally ill and terribly suffering individual, while freeing families and friends of unbearable emotional and financial burden.

Active euthanasia, mercy killing, assisted suicide, whatever may be the term used, to me are one and the same – relieving an individual of the never ending misery of a critical illness at its terminal stages and allowing a safe and dignified passage into the inevitable. Religious leaders across India, didn’t seem to be too happy with the verdict, still clinging on to the 16^th century idea of only God has right to take our lives and no one else. My simple submission is then why are more and more religiously instigated people as well as state owned military forces being inspired to end millions of innocent lives across the world?

Interestingly, Santhara, a ritual of fasting unto voluntary death is an option with the Jains, similar to Prayopavesa amongst the Hindus. Apparently, the vow of Santhara is taken only when one consciously realises that one’s life has already served its purpose. Glaring precedence of Santhara being practised is glaring, when two elderly Jain women from Jaipur availed the option, less than a decade ago. If a conscious individual can take decisive call on life’s termination on apparent lack of purpose, why couldn’t one enjoy the right to dignified death over miserable and forced existence? Has time come for us to revisit some of our conformist moralities?

Aruna, a young nurse and fiancée to a medical practitioner at KEM, got brutally raped, tortured and strangulated by a ward boy, passed into a semi comatose state. Even 37 years after the incident, she never recovered from her vegetative state. Aruna’s fiancé moved on to get married and settled in the USA. The ward boy served a term of seven years for attempted murder (he wasn’t convicted of rape, apparently to save Aruna of social ostracism she might have faced, once she recovered and rejoined the mainstream! ... outrageous to say the least!). Incidentally, the ward boy after having served his term, returned to harm Aruna, to avenge his sentence. Batches after batches of trainees at KEM nursed Aruna, under the supervision of senior matrons (who also consider Aruna an iconic representation of their fight against abuse and violence against women staff in hospitals and medical centres) gaining an excellent hands-on training on treating terminally-ill patients. Activists captured head turning headlines filing petitions and giving bytes. The media drove a commercially rewarding frenzy and the controversy loving Indians got another issue to raise storm over their proverbial coffee cups. The only person who seems to have faced the entire ordeal is Aruna herself. Everyone else seems inclined to prove that Aruna still has reasons to breathe. Everyone else seemed to have a reason or the other for Aruna to live on, save Aruna Shanbaug herself. Is this irony of fate or a fallacy of life?

I am still beleaguered to accept the fact that this verdict of no one has the right to actively terminate anyone else’s life has been pronounced by the state’s legal system which still upholds capital punishment as a mode of punishment and social retribution. Poetic justice, indeed!!

Pics courtesy: The Times of India

Jyoti Basu’s legacy - decades of appeasing and populist political posturing in Bengal

2010-02-10T20:38:00.006+05:30

Jyoti Basu often mentioned in private, to reporters, that a lot of things needed to be said, whether they were based on sound logic and practicable or not, due to compelling political reasons. How true he was! Decades after decades, elections after elections, governments after governments, the left brigade have thrived on populist socio-religious political posturing, resulting in retarded growth of Bengal and a growing divide and discontentment amongst various religious sections within the State, minority or otherwise. Successive Left Front governments have taken pseudo-secular stance, brainlessly appeasing sections, without giving a damn for the real problems plaguing and hurting the minorities, since independence.

In keeping with the trend, the Buddhadeb government has declared the latest ‘bonanza’ for the minorities. Electoral statistics have been showing consistent erosion in the minority vote bank for the Left Front, especially for the CPM. Two main pillars of the Left Front’s electoral success – its rural and minority support base has been showing clear signs of displaced loyalty. Desperate to woo and win back the minority vote, Buddhadeb declared a 10% reservation for backward Muslims earlier this week, following observations made in the Sachar Committee Report. With the Assembly polls just around the corner, the Left Front government can ill-afford to back-track on its years of the strategic appeasement policy of the minorities, with the current Muslim population amounting to 26% of the State’s electorate. Buddhadeb’s declaration came on the same day on which the Andhra High court gave the verdict that reservation for the minorities is an unsustainable process and hence should be abandoned by the State government. Andhra currently has a stipulated 4% reservation for the minorities. Quite ironical, isn’t it?

Public posturing for the sake of advancement of personal political ambitions has been one of the primary cornerstones of Jyoti Basu’s success. During his many political campaigns, prior to 1977, when Jyoti Basu was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Bengal, the CPI(M) launched a relentless and ruthless tirade against the Congress government in power. The CPI(M) leaders promised in various public forums and election meetings that if they came to power, amongst many other luxuries enjoyed by the ‘bourgeois’ Siddhartha Shankar Ray Government, they would destroy the lavish washroom attached to the Chief Ministerial chamber and the helicopter utilized by the ministers and administrators in the government. These according to the CPI(M) and Mr. Basu were symbols of imperialism and capitalism and were against the ideals of revolutionary socialism that the leftists intended to introduce in Bengal.

Reporters reminded Mr. Basu of the promises once he was sworn in and also brought to his notice that the Left Front’s transport minister Amin Saheb has suggested that the government is considering selling off the copter. In his very inimitable style Jyoti Babu stated that he wasn’t aware of any such suggestion from the transport ministry. Amin Saheb was soon to be replaced by Shyamal Chakraborty and the copter continued to grace the left front’s transport ministry, till it got replaced with a more modern version (a French chopper – Dauphin 2, costing about 5 crore), as per suggestion of the transport ministry under Shyamal babu. There are instances of numerous such double standards. It’s a shame that the Chief Minister of an impoverished, economically wanting state, used the helicopter to visit a Student Federation of India meeting at Midnapore, burning gallons of taxpayers’ money. Not to be left behind Shyamal babu had no qualms to make a trip to Malda using the government chopper. It is a pretty known fact that Subhash Chakraborty, who succeeded his brother as the transport minister, virtually converted the government helicopter into a private taxi!

An internal audit report published in the year 1988 revealed that the State copter was used by Mr. Basu for over 5 months that year, purely for CPI(M) party’s need and activities, causing a dent worth 60 Lacs to the State Exchequer!

Ah, I forgot to mention the fate of the washroom, during Mr. Basu’s Chief Ministership. Erstwhile Chief Minister Mr. Ray had spent 80,000 rupees to renovate the washroom, which Jyoti babu found, on his first visit, unusable in its current state. He got it upgraded, fitted with various communication gadgets and other luxurious modifications at a cost of one lac seventy-two thousand rupees!

Jyoti Babu’s tryst with comfort continued well beyond his days in Europe, starting from days of his initiation into Indian leftist politics with his political christening with railway labour and trade unionism in 1944, till the very last moments of his Chief Ministership and beyond.

Whether he managing to bag a first class railway pass during his initial years as a Trade Union leader, to the brand new Audi car he flaunted during those times, that he mentioned he received as a gift from a renowned industrialist, to the Government property (Indira Bhawan) that he occupied for decades at the cost of public money and convenience, to his extensive use of state logistics and machinery to further his party’s interest, provides ample evidence of his liking for the good life and political aspirations.

Jyoti Basu’s greatest quality lay in managing to keep his image almost unscathed during his entire political career, or in managing to keep all potential corners of trouble tight and happy over the decades, inspite of delicately managing one of the largest ever coalition government at the State level, and various political opponents he had to content with in the Central Legislature.

Wonder how he would have fared during current times with this dubious identity of a conspicuously flambuoyant lifestyle on one hand and a communist, socialist, anti-establishment, pro-people political posture on the other, with the press far more free than say three or four decades back and the media a few hundred times more fearless, intrusive and powerful than during his times. Would he have still come out of his 60 years of political career with a kurta and dhoti as clean and spotless as they appeared till his last days?

Pics courtesy: The Telegraph, Kolkata

My Grandpa and the great Telengana predicament ...

2009-12-14T16:58:00.007+05:30

My Grandpa, a fierce freedom fighter and an erstwhile member of the dreaded revolutionary group - the Anushilani Samiti of undivided Bengal, gave up his radical ways after getting influenced by the Gandhian philosophy of earning sovereignty through peaceful means and 'satyagraha'. In fact my Grandpa told me that the process of introspection had started much before. He was an ardent follower of Sri Aurobindo Ghosh and was in fact deeply moved by his renunciation of politics during early years of the 20th century.

The most endearing memories of my Grandpa revolves around his ever readiness to tell stories, those from his life as also from Hindu mythology and contemporary literary classics. I heard stories of the relentless and hazardous fights of the revolutionaries, the exploits, trials and tribulations of the young members of the Samiti. My Grandpa, an avid reader that he was, kept narrating stories from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata as well. My personal favourite ofcourse were those moments when I could see his eyes lit up with passion while his voice registered a distinct spring, whenever he read out to me and my cousins, excerpts from Bankim's 'Ananda Math' and 'Devi Chaudhurani'.

Even as a kid I used to get thoroughly besotted by the fervour that most of those tales exuded, and silently promised myself to uphold the hard earned sovereignty of this country and to fight unto death against any power or entity that tried to take away our freedom or dared to maul our national unity. Strategies were drawn out and plans were discussed with my cousins, mulling over revolutionary tactics against any impending foreign threat, while enjoying home-made freshly puffed rice (muri) and green chillies. Our young indulgent home tutor usually joined us during those fiery rendezvous. He never seemed too eager to sweat it out during an extended power-cut with the ever confusing Algebra and a bunch of thoroughly mischievous and truant set of kids. The yellow light of a meagre lantern added to the suspense and thrill. Hardly did we realise that three decades later the greatest threat to our unity would come not from external forces but from our very own people.

A complete mayhem has been unleashed after Sonia Gandhi assured the TRS Chief of a resolution on a separate Telengana state. Many a push have come to a shove since then and various insurgent groups have renewed their pledge and demand for separate states to be carved out from the existing ones, within the Indian federation, supposedly to uphold and cater to the interests of the ethnic population represented by these ethnic leaders.

Gorkhaland, Harit Pradesh, Purvanchal, Vidarbha, Sourastra, Maru Pradesh, Coorg, Bodoland are only few of the many new states being demanded by the separatists in various parts of the country. And the methods of support to their causes are varied from peaceful hunger strikes to deadly clandestine suicide attacks and damage to peoples' lives and property. So what do you do? Accept the demands and create more states and invariably add to the challenges experienced by the Central Government in handling so many states already, along with the constant inter-state rivalry that hardly promotes the national cause or that of a people (consider the case of Cauvery river water distribution issue)? Or do you thwart every possible separatist attempt on the part of these ethnic groups with sheer administrative and judicial forces, with the risk of keeping the fire of discontentment amongst the ethnic groups shimmering forever? Or do you create more effective and inclusive platforms for dialogues and formulate policies and find solutions, those aim to serve the purposes of the nation, the states and the tiniest but by no means insignificant ethnic groups?

Prior to the Partition, there were myriad numbers of Princely states those were not annexed to the Indian union under the British - those who had complete internal administrative autonomy. But once the British gave up their suzerainty, these states had the choice of merging themselves with either of India or Pakistan, or maintain their independence. The last of such incorporations happened in the year 1975, in the form of Sikkim, following an overwhelming public referendum there. India thus transformed into a complete democratic republic with no role for the Rajas, Nawabs or Nizams of these princely states in public administration.

India, since then have seen disintegration of existing states resulting in formation of new states as well as conversion of Union Territories into full-fledged states, and have been constantly living with the fear and scary possibility of the whole Union falling apart into innumerable smaller states representing the identities and interests of the smallest ethnic groups - cultural, linguistic, religious, economic, etc.!

I know my Grandpa would have questioned the very feasibility of this narrow divisive regional and ethnic politics and the credibility of the leaders propagating them, if he would have been alive and kicking. He always said, this country's greatest strength lied in the fact that in spite of the fabric of this country being a complex composite of a huge number of very different ethnic communities, people always managed to come together, to share dreams and goals, to form and put forward a united front against a common enemy. No doubt, the freedom struggle against our colonial rulers helped him form his opinion and come to this conclusion about our inherent strength as a nation. But he never told us how we could stay united and share common goals, in absence of a common enemy. Or is there in fact an invisible common enemy that we are failing to see or sense upfront?

Obama-Singh Joint Press Conference and an impoverished democracy: National integration and the radical groups - Part II

2009-12-05T16:12:00.003+05:30

The nation waited with bated breath in anticipation of a historic press conference to be addressed by the first officially visiting Constitutional Head of a country during the tenure of President Obama. To the disappointment of many, there wasn’t any apparent expression or demonstration on the part of either of the Statesmen to prove that was any major breakthrough or spectacular understanding, except for the fact that Dr. Singh put it in so many words, during the joint statement session, that he was ‘satisfied’ with the outcome of his discussions with the President of USA, and that Obama termed India a natural ally in the war against terrorism.

Whether Dr. Singh was able to remove the bottlenecks created by the Obama administration to the nuclear deal and hasten up the process was unclear. Neither was it apparent whether President Obama could pressurise India enough to bend to the demands of the developed nations related to the signing of the nuclear NPT or agreeing to the emission standards to prevent climate change. It seemed as if the entire media hype surrounding the summit came a cropper.

But, one statement made by President Obama got me thinking. He mentioned during his address that America has quite a few things to learn from India and took the example of India's story of being a food sufficient nation. Pride is the natural feeling that I should have experienced immediately. On the contrary I was engulfed by a strange feeling of helplessness and sorrow. Can you beat the gaping paradox, staring right at our face, that in a statistically food sufficient country like ours, nearly 400 million is languishing in severe poverty, barely surviving on a meal a day, earning much less than a dollar a day worth income?

We are spending billions on research and developing technologies to try and search for the ever-evasive, yet-to-be-detected ‘life’ on extra-terrestrial locations when we have not being able to protect or improve lives of our own very real people in our own very real, very independent country, right here, right now. I have nothing against lunar missions or nuclear energy. But I am certainly not ok with the pretentious stances taken by our statesmen and myopic politicians, while proclaiming the huge successes of the 5-Year Plans and path-breaking economic measures taken by successive governments, for complete eradication of poverty.

Even after more than 50 years of Independence India still has the world's largest number of poor people in a single country. It’s like the proverbial albatross, the noose around the neck that the world’s largest democracy is doomed to live with, forever. An extremely powerful ex-Prime Minister of this country had once famously admitted that post independence, we have faltered as a nation, in three primary areas – food, healthcare, education. Three decades later, the situation hasn’t changed much. Or has it? This is a no-brainer.

Our equity markets are buzzing with bullish sentiments and activities, more than ever before. FIIs never get tired listening to the India story and keep coming in hoards, even during phases when the rest of the world’s economies were facing crippling credit crisis scenarios.

The world’s pretty much convinced ... India is the next big thing! But are we, in reality? If yes, then at what cost? I would like to understand the true meaning of economic prowess? Is it the ability of few of the large industrial conglomerates to make mind-boggling multi-billion dollar global acquisitions or is it the nation’s ability to provide food, shelter, adequate healthcare, qualitative education, employment, social security and empowerment to all its subjects?

Ensuring national energy sufficiency is important, no doubt. But equally important, if not more so, is eradication of impoverishment plaguing hundreds of millions. Do we want to build our growth story on extremely weak socio-economic foundations?

Going by the projections recently provided by the United Nations, over a billion people are hungry, worldwide. And it’s incredible a fact that India accounts to nearly 40% of that figure. Doesn’t it sound like a farce, when our politicians proclaim India as the next economic superpower or Nobel-winning American President wishes to learn the tricks of being food grain sufficient and independent from the Indian economists and policy makers, while 400 million of our countrymen cannot generate enough income to meet their basic needs of food, shelter, healthcare and education?

Poverty rarely receives any lip service from the self proclaimed socio-political crusaders (aka political leaders and activists), nor do they get any footage in media platforms – ‘poverty’ is hardly a glamorous subject or spectacle for the ‘revolutionary’ Indian media in comparison to say a failed lunar mission, or the news related to the inability of the Indian bureaucrats to drive the nuclear deal through the Obama administration. As a nation we are obsessed with “Breaking News” ... and ‘poverty’ doesn’t qualify!

The rise and rise of the Maoists: National integration and the radical groups - Part I

2009-11-28T13:48:00.005+05:30

The PMO has branded the Maoists as a social menace and the single biggest threat to national security. The radical left ideologists are opposed by virtually all political parties representing the Indian electorate, concerned with the rapidly growing influence of the groups and its sympathisers across the nation, their activities slowly extending beyond the ‘red corridor’ of initial influence.

As a nation we are spending a lot of our time, energy and resources trying to suppress the outbursts, the anger and many manifestations of the pain and frustration from decades of socio-economic disparity and deprivation.

I am definitely not a supporter of these radical groups or sympathiser of their means of protest, purely due to the fact that I am a firm supporter of democracy and do not subscribe to any form of ruthlessness, violence or indiscretion, that in any which way hurts the very foundation and fabric of this nation .

I just have a feeling, as a law abiding, tax-paying citizen of this country, that our establishments have missed a trick or just not inspired or competent enough to decipher the macro picture. We have got entangled in the myriad outbursts and the violent demonstrations and in the processes of enforcing cosmetic damage control mechanisms, rather than analysing the circumstances and drafting solutions to the bigger problem – the ‘causes’ themselves, those trigger such extremism. As long as the real causes of the collective anger of a large section of people remain unaddressed or unconsidered, it will to continue to sprout insurgents and radical groups, those who would chose extremism and violence over peaceful and democratic means, clamouring for rightful attention from the authorities and the of people of this country. The once feeble voices will start gathering greater support and momentum, possibly engulfing larger and more influential sections of the civil society. Involvement and moral support of more and more educated intellectuals from the social mainstream, to the mass struggles and the downtrodden fore-fronting these struggles, happening in many pockets of rural Bengal should be seriously considered as an omen of bigger things to come.

We blame the rebel leaders for instigating violence, for garnering groups to take up arms against the state and its administrators. But if one considers a contrarian viewpoint, if this great country and its citizens are already being administered as per the vision and promise of the founding fathers, if the pillars of its policies and programs are firmly entrenched into, meant for and are being executed for the overall welfare of the Indian people, why and how would a handful of radical leaders be able to turn an entire population against the state and its machineries? Should we believe that the ideologies, philosophies and policies of a few separatist and extremist leaders are far better and stronger than those propagated by innumerable freedom fighters who fought for a free Indian society shining bright with equality and tolerance or for that matter from those championed by hoards of notable social scientists and political ideologists and leaders, produced in the last five decades and even earlier, in this great democracy?

Time is ripe for collective national introspection and debate. The last and the most mindless thing we could afford to do at this point in time is to equate the primarily imported Jihadi separatists with radical leftists sprouting from within this country.

Terrorists, terror itself or something else... which is the real problem ?

2009-11-23T13:36:00.007+05:30

Does terror have a face? Many would say it does. Some would say not one, but many.

It seems our definition of terror or its many faces have very slowly, unconciously yet decisively narrowed down to a very small range of dreadful acts and demonstrations. As if, we almost have build a 'brand' called terror and not all horryfing acts of human indiscretion qualify to be branded 'terror'. As if a certain amount of collective 'colateral damage' is neccessary for an act to be termed as a truly terrorising one. As if terror is proliferated exclusively by organised networks and so called socio-ethinic institutions and cannot be perpetrated at a personal level. Our societies, unfortunately, have been desensitised to the endless acts of terror those affect our daily lives relentlessly.

The Indian central anti-terror investigating agencies are suddenly on a functional overdrive, since 26/11, trying to nail evidences against the perpetrators of institutionalised and often state-sponsored acts of terror. The indian beaurocrats are burning midnight oil - and also gallons of HSD and other jet fuels, crisscrossing continents - to convince the so-called 'allies in the war against terror' to effect extraditions and sanctions and so on and so forth. But, no state agency, institution or action group in this country is found to initiate any strategised and structured action against the growing numbers of cases of domestic violance, of various forms, happenning all over this great democracy, accross all sections of the civic societies. It is apparent that quantity and scale of tangible loss has become the measure for qualification of events as acts of terror. In fact in the last couple of decades or so terror has been glamourised to fault and industries have been build around it - ones those are either for or against it, benefitting a section of the society who are aware of its tremendous commercial potential. Who have the mind, the means, the say, resources and tools, either way - for or against, to use the raw material called 'fright' and process it to churn out the proverbial millions. And that includes nuclear powers, rogue states, jihadi groups, religious intolerants, political parties, unscrupulous industrial houses to local goons, land sharks, political cadres and perpetrators of domestic and social violance.

Cadres of a certain political party vandalising the office of a leading media house in Mumbai, is nothing but a well-strategised act on the part of an organisation, which, along with its politcial ideology, has been steadily slipping into terrains of social and political irrelevance in the last few years, in a compellingly consmolitan and economically progressing state. Ditto with Talibans, who have started turning their weapons against the very establishments those created the dreaded Frankesteins out of them and have suddenly started disowning them. I fail to understand how such acts of terror are different from the continuing waves of tortures, trials and tribulations against millions of women in this part of the world or for that matter the rural population painfully and perenially languishing below the poverty line.

Terror has always been a method, a tool, to establish authority, a regime, an industry within the purview of a social framework - local, regional, national or beyond. What we classify today as 'terror' are mere manifestations and outcome of years of cumulative social degeneration, which we have not put enough efforts to understand and reign in. Acts of consistent domestic and social violations have equally consequential, far-reaching and irreversible ramifications on the very social fabric and demographics, those keep on producing global terrorists, in Afghanistan, Iraq, South Asia, Africa and other places, spreading to the farthest reaches of this globe.

What probably needed for us to realise is that terror and its shoots has penetrated the most private and personal quarters of human lives challenging the very basics of existence. Our appreciation and understanding of the very nature, dimensions and scale of the problem has to chage. Our notions and the presumptuous approaches and methods of finding a solution to the menace of terror needs to be revisited with care and concern.

An act of terror cannot nullify the effects of another, neither can it mend the degenerating roots of our society. Terror in the name of 'war against terror' can only add to the sum total of horror, panic, loss, sufferings, miserability and near mayhem affecting lives of millions and virtually pushing us to the brink of a complete human holocaust.

In fact there isn't "A solution". The process has to start - a process that is sensitive, humane, inclusive, non-hypocritical, unselfish, broad-based and aimed at arresting the poignant social degeneration and not as reactive, stop-gap and short-sighted as 'fighting' terror with an equal amount of guile and terror. It's like fighting the effects and manifestations of a disease, conveniently turning a blind eye to the the disease itself. I have not known a fire that has doused another fire ever. The solution has to be trasforming and not reactive or restricting.

The core of the problem

2009-11-17T16:29:00.012+05:30

A vessel criss-crossing vast expanses of water across continents, carrying people and cargo is known as a 'ship'. A vehicle traversing the terrains of space, reaching out to the farthest corners of the milky way and beyond is called a 'spaceship'. How would you term a capsule that's designed to carry passengers, machinery, tools and nuclear load to the 'core of the earth'? An 'earthship' ... a 'geoship' or something else?

In fact, irrespective of it's nomenclature, it's pretty intriguing a concept, isn't it?

Well, I got to watch a movie on the TV the other day and was immediately pushed to the edge of my imagination, after a long time. It's about a group of American volunteers, from various walks of life, virtually sacrificing their lives, to protech mankind ... as it always happens in those great American sci-fi fantasies, where a bunch of Yankees take it upon themselves to save the world from the clutch of imminent extinction, due to some terrible natural disaster. The movie under consideration is about a set of people, including one representing the NASA, a geo physicist, a post graduate university professor, a nuclear physicist, a space craft engineer, a navigation specialist ... can't remember the exact mix ... seven of them in all ... joining together on a mission, to get inside a capsule, specially designed, almost resembling a screw, with laser projection systems at the fore, to drill through the earth, piercing the crust after reaching the bottom of the ocean, to go through various layers of the earth, facing deadly challenges in each stage with great American gusto, finally reaching the 'core', to bombard it with a pre-calculated loads of nuclear ammo.

All this and more apparently to 'stablise' the core that has been destabilised for some geo-physical reason which has created waves of mammoth and irreversible natural disasters and destructions, around the globe, sounding the bells of "dooms day".

Well, I must admit, the film is worth watching simply for the reasons of ingenuity of the plot, the quality of the performances of the protagonists and of course for the surreal special effects perfectly suited for a high intensity sci-fi. But, my contention is not the quality of production but the subject itself.

Why do film makers, more so in the Western World, make movies those depict onset of natural phenomenon of incredible proportions or disaster upon this earth, for reasons created by man or otherwise, and how human beings fight tooth and nail, assisted by huge advances in technology, with the impending disaster to prevent complete wipe out of humantiy from the face of the earth.

What's the purpose? Is it just stretching the limits of imagination and fear in the minds of the cine going audience to rake in the moolahs? Or is it to put to use the ever evolving movie making techniques and SFX to create the scale and hoopla around emerging trends of entertainment? Or is it simply man's desire to convince himself that he has the willingness, abilities, means and resources to take nature head-on, at any given circumstance, and emerge victorious in protecting its existence against any natural onslaught, caused by his own insensitivities.

Hope we will live another day to find the answers ...

The quest begins ...

2009-11-14T11:24:00.004+05:30

... who cares for just another blog ? I don't. Do you ?
... but then why am I here ? doing what ? looking for who or what ? do I need anything ? or do I have something to offer ... something to share? who do I share with? who needs my thoughts and paraphernalia anyways ?
... Heavens !
... why, who, when, what, where, how ...
God ! ... this is way too confusing ...
... and I thought it was a cakewalk ...

But then, on second thought ... I see a purpose behind all this confusion ... the reason behind this madness ...

... a faint picture appears ... very faint ... worne out by decades of oblivion ... a kid standing spellbound, watching with his large, vulnerable eyes wide open with wonder ... Gouri, one of his few favourite animals reared in the backyard of his house, delivering its first off-spring in one of the chilliest winter mornings of the late 70s. The kid, along with four other cousins, who were all part of a large Brahmin joint family, got mesmerised by what they saw ... the apparent signs of pangs of birth-pain in Gouri, a large, beautiful white cow, the concern on the face of the middle-aged veterinarian and "Jethu", the eldest son of "Borodadu" (the elder amongst the two grandfathers in the family), who were overseeing the delivery and who had allowed the kids, after a lot of pestering, to watch the spectacle ... the plausible relief and joy in the air once the calf was delivered, the pet doctor's post-delivery care, Gouri's anxiousness to shower her care on the newborn, the wet calf's constant effort to stand and stabilise and its inability to do so, its palpable joy and comfort on being licked all over, by its mother ...

... days passed ... watching the antics of the new born became a favourite pastime of the kid .. how the calf got used to drinking away its mother's milk ... how it got used to the presence of kids around it ... how it got used to getting tied down to a post, when its mother got milked for the family's consumption, how it got used to the jute sack that got wrapped around its body during the night to protect it from the chill, how it made itself cosy with the warmth of its mother's body during the nights ...

... the best part for the kid was ofcourse something else ... his first exposure to uncontrolled, no-holds-barred freedom and apparent madness ...

The backyard, the courtyard and the empty space around the house was substantially large ... and the calf made the best use of it ... it spend hours running around, not strong or stable, yet free and energetic ... reaching all possible corners ... randomly altering its path - without any rhyme or reason, deliberately pushing the frontiers of the space available, completely unmindful of any danger whatsoever, often slipping and hitting things unmindfully, everytime getting up on its wobbling legs and re-initiating its run ... as if destinations didn't matter, goals were yet unheard of ... reasoning made way for the sheer pleasure of exploring ... the blinding passion and intoxicating insanity of "seeking" ...

... the kid loved what he saw ... it got etched, permanently, on the canvas of his young mind ... got covered by the dust and dirt of changing time, responsibilities, priorities and sensibilities ... but the form stayed ... the beautiful images stayed ... the urge to be able to become as free and carefree as a newly born calf, on a chilly winter morning stayed ...

... the kid grew up, started making money, became socially responsible, got "focussed" ... "goal-driven". ... but the wish remained ... and probably gathered momentum ...

... the kid's search for freedom continues ...