Saptarishi

Sunday Morning Blues!

2007-04-08T06:13:00.000-07:00

Has the Indian Foreign Ministry started to get their act together? I don't know. But here is a piece of news that pleased me quite a lot.

Indians are stubborn, arrogant: Pak officials

After fomenting trouble in Kashmir since 1988 that led to the death of at least 60000 people and eviction of "Kashmiri Pandits" from their homeland, Pakistanis should have expected a bit of strong arm tactics if not downright hostility. Am I not right? What about the Punjab militancy problem, also supported by Pakistan, in the 1980s? Once upon a time, Pakistan used to go into raptures with the dreams of dismembering India with "thousand cuts". India, it seems, being a diverse nation, was too complex to exist as a single nation. Pakistan, the nation of Islam under one God, had more reasons to survive as a single entity. How the tables have turned?

Let us not celebrate India's resurgence prematurely. As an Indian, I know that we have a tendency to shoot ourselves in the foot whenever the going gets smooth. It seems we have a propensity for "death wish". As a nation, we long for difficult times in order to prove that the whole world is an illusion. Congress (I) led UPA is slowly destroying the dynamic economy with their retrograde policies. GoI has no clue about how to contain the inflation and sustain the momentum of growth of the economy simultaneously. Many economists have already started firing the warning shots after looking at the latest numbers of the economic indicators. In the past two years, GoI has not managed to reform one single sector of the government properly. No new policies have been implemented that streamlines the bureaucratic processes. The reform process has come to a standstill. Instead we have measures that look like "Band-Aid" to cover the gaping wounds in the body.

We have antiquated labor laws and land acquisition laws that lead to advent of policies promoting aberrations like Special Economic Zones (SEZs). In India, one has to create areas within a country that have different set of incentives from the others in order to attract the investors. If these incentives are so good to create jobs, why can't they be implemented throughout the nation? What is the need for Special Economic Zones (SEZs)? The biggest hurdle to changing the laws and policies of our country is the left. It seems that the left opposes the changes in order to save the poor from the evil capitalists. After the violence at Nandigram, it is quite clear that all left cares about is how to keep the poor people in their place and deny them their right to pursue happiness.

Introspection for "Social Justice Taliban"

2007-03-30T12:57:00.000-07:00

I did not coin the term "Social Justice Taliban". I think somebody at the group blog - www.nationalinterest.in, coined it. But I loved the term and have decided to adopt it while having "civilized" discussions with the leftists. By "civilized", I mean, I want to kill them and they want to return the favor in kind ;-).

Here is what the Supreme Court of India had to say about reservations for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
Judges keep SC/ST quotas untouched, call for updated definition of OBCs

Earlier, I had advocated for the citizens of India belonging to the "general category" to give up their fight against the "Social Justice Taliban" because the Talibanis seem to have the numbers on their side. In a democracy, numbers matter and you have to pick and choose the battles that you can fight and win. Judging by the numbers, as perceived from the remote US, people belonging to the general category were hopelessly outnumbered.

Fortunately, some people at Youth for Equality ignored the futility of the situation and took on the "Social Justice Taliban". I am surprised and happy to see that these guys have now started contesting elections in order change the power structure that failed to motivate even one single mainstream political party in India to oppose the bill of reservations in the centrally funded educational institutes for the OBCs. All the best to them. They will need it in the future. I still think that they are fighting a losing battle against all odds.

In the meantime, the SJT (Social Justice Taliban) is trying to figure out their next step. The verdict of the court has momentarily thrown the ranks of the "oppressed" in confusion. But, in time, they will regroup and come back with a vengeance. The next step of the SJT might come in the form of an amendment to the constitution that makes it legal to introduce reservations in every sphere of Indian life. Karunanidhi and the other Tamilian politicos are already jumping up and down with rage at the Supreme Court verdict. They have called for a shutdown of Tamil Nadu in protest against the verdict. Soon other self-proclaimed messiahs will follow in other parts of India.

In spite of all this "tamasha", the Government of India refuses to appoint a qualified committee to study the need for reservations in India. Hard demographic data is needed to answer the following questions:

Who are the OBCs?
How do we define whether a particular caste is OBC?
What is the percentage population of OBCs as compared to people of general category in different states of India?
What is the economic and social status of the OBCs in each state?
What are the metrics to decide whether a caste is economically and socially backward?
How does the data regarding OBCs change with respect to different states of India?
Why does OBCs comprise 70 percent of population in Tamil Nadu whereas they comprise only 6 percent of the population in West Bengal?

Hopefully, sanity will prevail and some rational study will be conducted before the government goes ahead with the OBC reservations. But judging by the emotional appeal and the power of numbers of the SJT, I find the situation extremely depressing.

I have always hated the concept of sacrifice for helping others in the Indian ethos. We have stretched the concept of sacrifice to such a limit that it seems to be quite ridiculous nowadays. But, in reality, one has to accept it as one of the natural human traits. Having accepted that I can only say that if people are being exhorted to sacrifice for the purpose of helping the underprivileged, the least the government can do is to let the people making the sacrifice know the names and the identities of the people whom they will be helping.

Why respect for private property is important?

2006-10-18T13:46:00.000-07:00

This post has been written after reading a blog post by Aadisht. In his blog, Aadisht tries to explain the concept of private property and right of ownership to somebody who believes that collectivism is the mantra of success in India. The analogy provided by Aadisht might be distasteful from a woman’s point of view but it does get the point across. I went to his blog while reading Dilip D' Souza's rant. DD criticizes Aadisht for being insensitive to the dignity of women.

Here is my view of the importance of the right to private property in a society:

What prevents any friend of mine to call me in the middle of the night? - respect for my personal space and privacy.

What compels a friend of mine to call me up and ask me whether I am free to talk to him/her? - respect for my time.

What prevents my boss to treat me like a slave and insult me in front of the others? - respect for my dignity.

What prevents me from treating poor people like garbage? - respect for their dignity and a recognition of their status as a fellow living being.

What prevents any stranger to get into my house and demand that I accomodate him/her? - respect for my existence and my property.

If I decide to help a stranger by inviting him/her to my house for temporary stay, that is my prerogative. It should not become society's prerogative to force me to provide shelter to any Tom, Dick, and Harry.

If I decide not to allow non-Hindus to enter my house, the collective society has no business to interfere as long as I do not harm other people physically or emotionally within the bounds of my private property. I might be a communalist/racist etc. but I have the right to not allow indvidiuals that I do not like in my private property. Of course, in return, I have to be ready to pay a social cost for my refusal to treat everybody as equal. The point is that society has to respect my existence. My hateful personality or idiosyncracies are immaterial.

I agree that I have no right to demand this priviledge on the property that is not maintained using my money.

Clubs belonging to a certain group of people with certain objectives in mind, should have the right to say "yes" or "no" to let people enter its domain. If you do not like a certain class/group of people who are part of the club or their intentions, why do you want to join them? Nobody is forcing you to respect their beliefs but you still have to respect their right for existence. I would not like to join a club that provides its membership based on how much money I earn but I definitely support their right to be snobbish. That for me is "live and let live".

Society should be allowed to interfere only when what happens inside the club or an organization affects the outside world in a harmful manner. By this I mean, if a private club disbars somebody based on race, caste, class, creed, religion, it should have the right to do so until and unless the effects of this exclusion policy end up harming individuals belonging to the club or spill over onto the mainstream society in a hurtful manner.

Why I am blogging so infrequently?

2006-10-15T11:00:00.000-07:00

I have taken a long hiatus from blogging because I have become too busy with my dissertation. I apologize for that. Next few months are going to be real busy with the Teaching Assistantship job, dissertation write-up, paper submissions, job search, and thousands of bureaucratic hurdles related to the final graduation and employment. Life is nothing but one big paper trail.

Croc Hunter, RIP!

2006-09-04T09:57:00.000-07:00

Steve Irwin put the map of Australia in the household of every Indian. Australia, after their cricketers, was represented in the hearts of Indians by the fearless "Crocodile Hunter". This man handled his dangerous friends - animals that can kill human beings within 30 sec, with the aplomb of a magician conjuring up new tricks. He would wrestle with a giant crocodile and come out unscathed and exclaim, "Crikey! he almost got me."

Today, Steve Irwin died from a chest wound received while filming a Bull Sting Ray. It seems that in the history of recorded deaths in Australia, only two or three people have died after getting stung by a Sting Ray till now. This is incredibly freakish! The most fearless man on this planet met his match in an innocuous animal that has not been known to attack human beings. Steve was making a documentary on the Sting Ray. From the various news reports filed all around the world, here is a brief narration of the sequence of events that led to his death.

"The footage shows him swimming in the water, the ray stopped and turned and that was it," said boatowner Peter West, who viewed the footage afterwards.
"There was no blood in the water, it was not that obvious ... something happened with this animal that made it rear and he was at the wrong position at the wrong time and if it hit him anywhere else we would not be talking about a fatality."

Irwin was shooting a documentary on dangerous marine life, in shallow water at Batt Reef, about 32 nautical miles offshore, at about 11am.
...
...
Footage of the attack shows Irwin swimming above a 2.5m stingray before it turns on him and sends a poisonous barb through his heart.

Steve Irwin was a fearless, intelligent, obsessesive, and an incredible human being. Above all, he was a gifted showman. The amount of material, in terms of visual footage, documentaries, and the books, he leaves behind in order to protect the the animal and plant kingdom from extinction is unmatched. He understood the role that the animals play to make this planet a more livable place. He was the ambassador of the animal kingdom in the terrified minds of the human beings, forever feeling inferior to the physical prowess of the beasts that share this earth along with us. He tried his best to make us rational and face our fears.

My interactions with animals have been limited to household cats and dogs. I have also had some interactions with the mischievous monkeys of Varanasi. In spite of such limited exposure, I have developed a sense of empathy for the animal world. I believe in the right of the animals to live a dignified life in their habitats. This feeling of love and deep respect for the nature has come from the countless programs shown on television channels like the Animal Planet, Discovery, and the National Geographic. Steve Irwin and his fellow documentary makers showed me the vistas of a life that I always wanted to lead in the back of my mind. Watching the Crocodile Hunter perform his daredevil acts gave me a sense of accomplishment vicariously. I guess, I never grew out of the thirst for adventure that I dreamt of when I was a kid.

The Crocodile Hunter made us love other creatures of God instead of fearing or hating them. He understood the future of this planet - a peaceful coexistence between man and the other species of the animal kingdom. He made us wish for a life filled with adventures where we have constant friction with death. I embellished my life with his exploits vicariously. Here is wishing the Crocodile Hunter a bon voyage to the other world. May he rest in peace!

Ustad Bismillah Khan passes away, RIP!

2006-08-20T20:12:00.000-07:00

I am a musically challenged individual. I have never been able to understand the subtle nuances in the musical compositions. I am not a competent person to comment on the music produced by individuals all around the world. However, even I could not let the death of one of the stars of Indian classical music go unnoticed.

One of the most high profile musicians of India, Shehnai maestro, Ustad Bismillah Khan, Bharat Ratna, passed away today. I have grown up hearing his music being played on the television and in our house. My ma will be heartbroken. I remember how my ma used to proudly proclaim that Ustadji is from Benares - the city of our forefathers. She felt a sense of kinship with him because of Varanasi.

He was the third musician from the classical music traditions of India to be awarded Bharat Ratna. This itself speaks about the achievements of this humble man who refused to move away from Varanasi despite fame. He will be sorely missed in the cultural pantheon of India. It is a sad day for all of us.

Happy Birthday, India!

2006-08-14T09:16:00.000-07:00

August 15th, 2006, is the 60th birthday of the Republic of India. This day always evokes a sense of introspection in me. How do we judge the performance of a nation like India in the last 59 years? Are we a success or a failure as a nation? Where will India be in another 50 years? Will it reach the pinnacle of success or will it split apart because of internal strife.

We have come a long away since those brutal days of 1947 when India announced its arrival to the world after emerging from the bloody ravages of an incident, nowadays known by two simple innocuous words - "The Partition".

We have the world's largest constitution that has somehow managed to withstand the ravages and challenges of time. We have established the rule of law that separates state from any single dominant religion. In our armed forces, we have an institution that has managed to guard the spirit of Indian democracy and its people. The three arms of the government - the judiciary, the legislature, and the executive, have managed to fulfill, albeit inefficiently, the roles laid out by the constitution. Our economy has finally managed to break the shackles and grow at an average rate of 8%. In the last 10 years we have managed to lift 100 million people out of dire poverty. We have managed to implement a law called the "Right to Information" that guarantees the common citizen of India the ability to access any type of information from the government. Although the infrastructure in India seems to be showing no signs of improvement, yet, I do believe, that lot of work has already gone into developing them as fast as possible. It is another matter that the pace of infrastructure development could have been much faster in order to support the growing economy. There is much to celebrate!

During the celebrations, we must keep some unsavory facts about our country in perspective. We have more than 300 million people living in dire poverty. Even in this cycle of unprecedented growth of the Indian economy, we see farmers of Vidarbha (Maharashtra) and Andhra Pradesh commiting suicide after the failure of their crops. The liberalization of the economy, responsible for freeing the people from the shackles of government bureaucracy, has come to a virtual standstill because of the pressure from the leftists who provide support to the coalition government in the center. Executive arm of the GoI still does not have the desired respect for human rights and right to free speech and expression enshrined in our constitution. The list of pending law suits that need resolution in the courts have reached few millions. Our legal system shows no signs of any reforms in order to keep pace with a fast changing society and economy. We have archaic laws inherited from the British that consider practices like homosexuality to be punishable offence. The bureaucracy, scared by the efficacy of the RTI law, now want to modify it in order protect their vested interests.

We have a raging conflict with the Islamic fundamentalists in the state of Kashmir. This conflict threatens the secular fabric of India. In Central India, the Maoists are trying to undermine the state of India in their own way. The security situation for the common man on the streets has deteriorated because of the spineless nature of the GoI and increased victimization complex among the Muslims that is being exploited by the Islamists. In the meantime, everybody in the government as well as in the opposition is too busy playing appeasement and partisan politics.

I can go on and on about our problems and our achievements in the years since the independence. I can also keep fighting over what, I think, are the best ways in which India can provide hope to its starving millions and what should be the next policy change of the government. However, this post is not an exercise in that. On this day, I would like to just roll with the flow, relax, and feel the love that I have for this land and her people. I can not normally characterize this love in words. My birth as an Indian is probably an accident in the cosmic scheme of the things. But I have grown up to love her enormously. Cynics will sneer at me for admitting this love in words. I am OK with that.

It is time that Indians stop pontificating on the historical injustices that we have suffered in the hands of the Mughals and the British. Let us start by assuming that we are responsible for our mistakes and we have to figure out how to rectify them. Let us not repeat the mistakes of our past. Today, India stands at the crossroads of development and it is for us - the current generation, to show her the way.

"Corporate" - Two Thumbs Up!

2006-08-11T10:34:00.000-07:00

I watched a Hindi film after a long time. Unfortunately, College Station, TX, does not have a single theater that shows Hindi movies. We have to drive, at least, an hour and half to enjoy Hindi movies in Houston. The source of movies for the desi junta are the Indian grocerywallahs. I frequently visit a desi grocery joint named "Mini-Mart", managed by Sadiq bhai and his wife. I must say that he has done a commendable job in fulfilling the needs of the desi population of College Station. His clientele is primarily comprised of the students and the faculty of TAMU, and working professionals residing in College Station.

Sadiq bhai has a policy of not letting the poor students use credit cards to buy their purchases if the overall amount of the bill is below $5.00. The reason for this is that after paying the fees for the transaction to the credit card agencies on a purchase less than $5.00, Sadiq bhai does not earn much profit to justify putting in so much effort to bring the joys of Indian spices and culture to the city of College Station/Bryan.

Nowadays, I rarely carry cash in my pocket. Primary reason for this is that my financial situation is so pathetic that even beggars in India will show some sympathy for me after going through the average balance in my bank account. Like many middle class Bengalis, I have started believing that, in life, you gotta make a choice - between Goddess Saraswati (culture, knowledge, education) or Goddess Lakshmi (wealth/prosperity). There are people who believe that you must please Goddess Saraswati first in order to please Goddess Lakshmi. You realize the utter futility of the previous statement once you go through four years of hell as a PhD student. Anyways, to cut a long story short, at this juncture of my life, I have been flooded with the blessings of Goddess Saraswati and for some reason Goddess Lakshmi has decided to disown me. This explains my fascination with credit cards - the greatest thing humanity invented after wheels :-) If a giant entity like the American economy runs on credit (check out their deficit in recent times), who am I, a mere expendable mortal from a developing country, to complain about living on it?

My practice of not carrying cash in USA has led to a strange situation. Most of the times when I want to watch a Hindi movie, I do not have the cash to pay $1.00 to Sadiq bhai. When I go to buy Indian groceries from Sadiq bhai's shop, I do not feel like watching a Hindi movie. The planets have to be aligned in a specific way before I can actually either pay in cash or buy enough groceries to pay by credit card to rent a Hindi movie. Yesterday was one of those days. I had some free time, I felt like watching a movie, and I bought enough groceries (> $5.00) to pay for the movie rental using my plastic money. I was overjoyed - the small pleasures of life are really remarkable as I can not really afford big pleasures nowadays. After lot of deliberations, I decided to watch "Corporate". The reason - Bipasha Basu, the busty Bong lass.

I started watching the movie while cooking my dinner - chole, rice, and pappadums, the staple food of Indian graduate students when you are not in a mood to cook something elaborate. The movie started a bit slowly but I did not mind as I was paying more attention to the cooking. Madhur Bhandarkar, the director, started laying out the web of circumstances that would eventually reach a decent climax by the end of the movie. Bipasha Basu plays the role of Nishigandha Dasgupta, a high flying corporate executive working for a fast food company run by Vinay Sehgal, played very well by Rajat Kapoor. Her company, Sehgal Foods, is at loggerheads with their business rivals Marwah International run by Raj Babbar. The movie chronicles the circumstances leading to the rise and fall of Nishi in the corporate ladder. Kay Kay Menon acts as the beau of Bipasha Basu.

The movie has a nice story line that borrows from the controversy about unacceptable traces of pesticides in Coke and Pepsi in India. The screenplay is good. Most of the dialogues uttered by the actors are realistic and do incorporate relevant management jargon used by the executives in the real world. Although the movie is based on fiction, Madhur Bhandarkar has made a statement in the media that many of the incidents depicted in the movie have happened in reality. He got to know them as humorous anecdotes from his friends in the corporate world. The movie has three songs - very unusual for a Hindi movie.

This is not a typical desi masala movie with cheesy dialogues, forbidden love, and love songs. It manages to show the dark side of the glamour associated with the corporate lifestyle in India without boring the audience like an obscure art movie. If you are interested in economics, you will understand how "crony" capitalism, promoted by the license raj socialistic policies of GoI, has managed to destroy the ethics of business in India. The film throws some light on the relationship between the business houses and the political class of India. My only complaint is that the movie is too pessimistic. The only shred of hope is shown in the character played by Harsh Chayya, the CEO of Sehgal Foods. The real world is dark and slimy but it is not hopeless. The power plays happen but the honest do get to take home the cup. Not everybody is motivated by power, money, and fame.

Rajat Kapoor and Kay Kay Menon turn in really good acting performances. They do not overact and emote competently without getting to the point where acting turns into hamming. Bipasha Basu has come a long way in the department of acting since the days of "Jism" where her only asset on the screen was her body. She still has room for improvement but, nowadays, she can at least cry without making me feel disgusted enough to move my attention and, in the process, start appreciating her body - God's gift to mankind. Raj Babbar acts in a reserved fashion and does very well to represent a conservative Hindu businessman. There are quite a few other characters in the movie. You can peruse through the whole cast of the movie here.

Movies like "Corporate" will not become runaway commercial successes in the Indian market. "Corporate" will probably do well in the urban centers like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad etc. However, the movie has nothing of interest to cater to the rural population in order to draw them to the theaters. It also does not exotify or sensationalize India to interest the NRI population in foreign markets. At best, Madhur Bhandarkar will be able to recover the money that he and his producers sunk into "Corporate".

Upside of reservation

2006-08-08T19:38:00.000-07:00

After all the power play and trickery in the last three months regarding the issues of OBC reservations in India, Arjun Singh finally managed to do something useful for the citizens - start the debate about increasing the budget outlay for supporting primary and higher education in India. Read this report in the Indian portal, rediff.com, and feel satisfied: Cost of new quotas: Rs 165 billion and counting.

It seems that India spends only 3% of its annual budget on education as compared to 10%-13% by USA, and 6.5% by France. When compared to the South-East Asian countries like Thailand, Malaysia, we rank very poorly. In this scenario, if even a part of the proposed increased expenditure for the education sector is implemented, India might benefit in the long run.

Every issue has two sides. The reservation issue generated a storm of protests across India from the General Category (GC) students. This prompted the government to postpone the allocation of quotas for OBCs in the institutes of higher learning. The federal government promised that the loss of seats for the GC students because of the implementation of the quotas will be offset by the increase in the number of seats for the students in various science, technical, and professional institutes funded by the center all around India. This led to the formation of the Oversight Committee - set up to draw up a roadmap for the new quota regime. This committee is headed by the former Karnataka chief minister M Veerappa Moily.

The price of the new infrastructure and the recruitment of new faculty and staff in order to educate more number of students in the higher education sector has been approximated to be Rs. 165 billion or $3.55 billion over a period of five years by the Oversight committee. I do not know where GoI will get this kind of money in the next five years. However, the good news is that the government is thinking of investing heavily in the higher education sector. Even if GoI decides to increase the budgetary outlay for higher education by some fraction of $3.55 billion, it will have an impact on the Indian economy in a positive fashion. It is far better for a nation to spend its money on the education and health sector than on stupid schemes in other sectors. India has squandered billions of dollars of money in trying to support all sort of socialistic policies in the past. These policies have not even made a small dent in fighting poverty.

I must admit that if the government increases the total intake of the students in the higher education sector in order to compensate for the reservations of OBCs successfully, it might turn out to be a win-win situation for everybody. However, if I have to take into account the past record of GoI in implementing policies successfully, I have to weigh in all this optimism with a pinch of salt. Indian bureaucracy is one of the worst in the world when it comes to bungling even the most simple of all the policies. I do not trust them with such a complicated task. It is prudent for the government to start involving the private sector in higher education as an equal partner. There is money to be made in this sector. This will also help people to have a sense of ownership of the educational institutes of the country!

Don't cry for India!

2006-07-29T17:20:00.000-07:00

Its been a some time since I wrote my last blog post. I had been very busy with my research and hardly found any time to comment on the recent happenings. However, these two weeks have been really depressing as far as India is concerned. After a long time, the events in my country have finally managed to make me feel pessimistic about India and her future. Let me explain why this is so.

Let us start with some events that are part and parcel of the progress of any nation - failure of GSLV to launch Insat-4C into the space. The total annual budget of the Indian space program is $722 million. For understanding the value of $722 million per annum in terms of space research, we should compare this amount with the annual budgetary outlay of Nasa and that is $16.5 billion. Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has done a commendable job till now to bring India, an impoverished nation of 1.1 billion people, into the forefront of space technologies with one of the smallest budget among all the space powers. Moreover, Indian space program has always been spurred on by projects that truly benefit the Indian people. In many other nations, space programs are primarily guided by the military. India's space program has always had a civilian face. The success rate of the scientists of ISRO had been quite commendable as compared to many other nations like Japan who can afford to throw more resources at their own space program to take technological lead.

However, all this came to an end when Geo-Synchronous Launch Vehicle (GSLV) failed to put Indian National Satellite - 4C (Insat-4c) into the geo-synchronous orbit. This kind of event is actually expected in space research. As a researcher, I know, how difficult it is to master the intricacies of a complex system with a single shot. The cycle of theoretical foundations, simulation trials, prototype development, experimental testing, modifications based on simulations and experiments, and final product takes many cycles to result into an error free final product. Somehow, ISRO was bucking this trend till now. Finally, the law of averages caught up with them.

The question to be asked is why is this failure a blow to the Indian space program? This is because India is a very poor country. The amount of money spent on the space program might be miniscule by the standards of developed economies like the USA, but it is quite a bit compared to the Indian standards. Every rupee spent on the space program has to withstand the criticism and the scrutiny of people who want that money to be spent in other areas. When many people are competing for limited resources, as is the case with India, these kind of failures provide a blow for future funding. The space program is seen by the majority of the people in India as something esoteric. Having a healthy success rate in projects undertaken by the space agency - ISRO, is crucial for the strings of the Government of India (GoI) purse to remain open in the future.

The next incident that I want to comment upon are the Mumbai blasts on 07/11/2006. Mumbai is the city of dreams for the Indians. It is the city that churns out the Hindi films of India. They say that even a garbage collector and dealer in Mumbai earns Rs. 30000/- per month. The city is the financial capital of India. Mumbai contributes 27% of the total revenues collected by the GoI in the form of various kinds of taxes. Of course, the reason for this might be the location of the offices of various corporates in Mumbai irrespective of the location of their manufacturing facilities. To make a long story short, Indian economy depends on Mumbai like no other city - not even Bangalore or Delhi.

In 1993, Dawood Ibrahim and his underworld gang, in collusion with the ISI, detonated 13 bombs, killing more than 250 people. These blasts were supposed to be in retaliation of the communal riots between Hindus and the Muslims that followed the destruction of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, India. Many of the guilty in those blasts were arrested and tried in the courts of India. However, the mastermind escaped from India and is considered to be safely residing in Pakistan nowadays. Pakistan officially denies his existence. Recent events like Dawood Ibrahim's daughter marrying Pakistani ex-cricket player, Javed Miandad's son, in Dubai add fuel into the fire burning in the heart of Indians.

On 11th July, 2006, the terrorists struck Mumbai again. This time, they exploded seven bombs made out of RDX. The nature of the explosives suggest that elements outside the country are involved in this incident too. The Pakistanis have demanded "non-prejudicial" evidence from the GoI in order for them to think about taking steps against Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), the Islamic terrorism group operating out of Pakistan. Pakistan claims that GoP has banned LeT and they do not operate from their soil. According to some other commentators, the ban on LeT is just an eyewash. Currently, the investigation about the bombings is still going on. Lot of evidence needs to be collected in order to identify and prosecute the perpetrators in the court of law. Mumbai Police have arrested four individuals so far. They all seem to fit the pattern of the "Islamists Gone Wild" in India. In my opinion, the main culprits have already gone outside India and looking at India's track record of hunting down wanted men in foreign lands and bringing them in for justice, I doubt if we will ever catch the real culprits behind this heinous incident.

The media reports and the ongoing investigation seems to also suggest that the Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) might have cooperated with the LeT to carry out the latest round of bombings in Mumbai. SIMI has become the breeding ground for providing local cadre to the Islamist terrorist groups operating across the borders. The motivation for the bombings seem to be either to avenge the Hindu-Muslim communal riots in Gujarat in 2002 or to force the hand of GoI for solving the Kashmir issue. LeT cadres are one of the most fanatical among all the terrorist groups operating out of Pakistan. They have never shied away from announcing their hatred and the desire for destruction of the Jews of Israel and the Hindus of India. I will reserve commenting on this issue till more evidence surfaces in the public domain.

In the meantime, the media in India, especially the English Language Media (ELM), has gone bonkers by invoking the hallowed spirit of the Mumbaikars. It seems that Mumbaikars are really equivalent to the immortals as they do not care about their lives. They seem to have nerves of steel. According to the ELM media, the ordinary Mumbaikars are so devoted to their work that they do not care if they drown in the flood waters while going to their office or get blown up into pieces by the Islamist radicals. All they care about is how the economy of India should keep running on all cylinders. They are willing to sacrifice themselves for that.

In my knowledge of governance, one of the reasons why the citizens of a country pay taxes to their government is so that the government can ensure security for its citizens. GoI has failed in this responsibility completely. It is time that the hard working Mumbaikars stop paying their dues to the GoI till the government decides to figure out what is more important - safety of the citizens or winning the next elections.

At this juncture of writing this post, I have become so angry that I have decided to use words that are not exactly suitable for written English in the public domain. Please bear with me on this. GoI is ruled by the left-center party, Congress(I), headed by the venerable Dr. Manmohan Singh and Mrs. Sonia Gandhi. When Dr. Manmohan Singh was chosen as the prime-minister (PM) of India, I had lot of hopes. He was the architect of the reforms in the early 90s that boosted the Indian economy. But after more than one and half years of governance under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, I feel that Congress(I) has still remained the party of assholes irrespective of the change in leadership. It is filled up with old men with retrograde ideas.

Each of the leaders of Congress(I) have their own power base and they cater to their power shamelessly. Arjun Singh revived the issue of reservations in the higher education in order to challenge the power base of the PM. He created a furor across the nation with his ideas about the reservation for the OBCs (Other Backward Castes) in the institutes of higher education. Meira Kumar wants even the private sector to introduce reservations. I do not want to get into the merits of this issue because of the constraint of space and time. I will end my rant about reservations by saying that any policy that encourages entitlement among sections of the population based on their birth is anathema for me. There are many ways to uplift lower castes and provide them opportunity for mobility across the socio-economic layers of India. I can discuss about them later on. However, reservations in the education and the job sector is not one of them.

Shivraj Patil - our home minister, is another sample in this government. The bastard is clueless when it comes to handling the security issues facing our country. The statements made by him after the Mumbai bomb blasts were pathetic and I am being kind here. National Security Adviser, M K Narayanan, has started whining like a pig nowadays instead of formulating a credible anti-terrorism policy. Does he think that USA is responsible for solving the security issues of India? Let me put the attitude of Indians in perspective to the events happening all around the world. It will give you an idea about how pathetic we are.

Two Israeli soldiers are abducted by Hezbollah and Israel sees this as a declaration of war by Hezbollah. They provide a show of strength in Lebanon. The message is clear - "if you decide to mess with us by providing space to our enemies, we will take you out." The citizens of India are attacked repeatedly in temples (Sankat Mochan, Varanasi, and Akshardham, Gandhinagar), institutes of higher learning (IISc. Bangalore), and railway systems (Ahmedabad, Mumbai etc), and all our government does is utter platitudes about how fucking great we are in maintaining peace. The first statements that came out of the morons running this government after the Mumbai bomb blasts was how the peace process with Pakistan should not be affected by this. Fuck the peace process if we can not take care of the safety of our citizens. The media keeps on invoking the resiliency of the Indian people to hide our callousness and cowardice.

I agree that India can not take a drastic step, as Israel took against Hezbollah, against Pakistan because Pakistan is a nuclear power. Moreover, we have to accept the fact that we are a soft country. Our citizens do not have the mental toughness that the Israelis possess after facing down the Nazis in World War II. The question that I would like to ask is what prevents us from selectively targeting the terrorists in foreign lands using covert operations? Why do we not invest enough money and resources in gathering intelligence and eliminate the terrorists? Why do people seem to get away by attacking Indian citizens again and again? Is this some sort of a fucking game to the Islamists? If it is, let us raise the stakes and take this game to them. Indians, with a strong leadership that does not play appeasement politics, can turn the tables against these vermins who are a blot on humanity. And it seems that the Congress leadership under Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi does not seem to have the required balls of steel to pursue this kind of policy. What a tragedy for us! I also think that we deserve all this because it is our people who have elected these monkeys and put them in power. Indians truely deserve better.

In Zizou, the French trust!

2006-07-02T14:23:00.000-07:00

All my predictions for the quarter-finals came true except for Brazil winning against France. I am a Brazil fan and I wanted them to win. Brazil team is packed with stars like Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaka, Cafu, Roberto Carlos etc. who can change the shape of the game in one instant without any support. France has a team consisting of players whose average age is 30 years. Viera, Henry, Zidane, Barthez, Thuram etc. have seen better days and are past their prime. I expected Brazil to eliminate France quite easily.

However, something odd and unexpected happened. A man named Zinedine Zidane found what it means to be young and free at the ripe age of 34 years (really old by soccer standards). Zizou remembered what it is like when the body is 20 years old, you have hair on your head, and the mind wants to take on the whole world single-handedly. He played as if there was no tomorrow and transformed himself from a man to a God. Yesterday, Zidane managed to teach the collection of Brazilian stars some basic lessons about soccer. He controlled the midfield like a general who knows exactly where his different troops are positioned in the field and made his next move without even blinking twice. He was thinking ahead three or four moves like a chess player and passing the ball through gaps that even commentators and spectators failed to see.

Words are not good enough to describe this majestic performance of Zizou. After Maradona's superlative performances against Belgium and England in 1986, this is one of the best individual performance that I ever saw on the soccer field. Click on the link below and wonder!

Zidane in World Cup 2006

It might be that France will be eliminated by Portugal in the semi-finals or they might lose the finals, but it does not really matter. At the age of 34 years, I do not know how many times can Zizou pull out such an incredible performance out of his hat. Make no mistake, the confidence of the French team rests on the tired shoulders of this old man. Without him, they become a very ordinary team. But, for the sake of sentimentality towards one of the greatest players I have seen, I hope that France goes on to win this tournament one more time. Zizou can then rest his boots in peace and will join the hallowed portals of the legends like Pele, Yashin, Best, Cryuff, Mueller, and Maradona.

Dogfights in the Desi blogosphere!

2006-06-28T19:44:00.000-07:00

For some days I have been observing the pitched battles between two camps in the Desi blog arena. Here are some of the links:

One of the sides in this war of ideas is the supposedly secular, morally upright, left leaning, tear shedding, and heart burning for the poor, folks of the www.theotherindia.org. Most of the time their logic is really shoddy and they make their arguments based on feelings that come from deep within their heart and their visceral hatred of the Hindu right. Except, Abi, who is a professor of Metallurgy in IISc. Bangalore, I have found most of the people on this side to be rather superficial. The other group consists of some well known names in the Desi blogosphere. They are - Arnab, Sandeep, Nitin Pai, Saket Vaidya, Ravikiran etc. I just hope that Atanu Dey does not put his hat in the same ring too. Although these guys have no unified platform like "The Other India" folks, yet they do take similar stands on various issues that bothers the heck out of the other group quite consistently. Their core philosophy can be described lossely by the world "libertarian".

Most of the time, my own stances on various issues that raise the heckles is in cosonance with the group that I wrongly generalized as the libertarians, earlier. Read the posts, the feedbacks, the comments, and see what you think about these battle for ideas to shape India's future. Have fun!

The old order strikes back!

2006-06-28T18:08:00.000-07:00

Here is an observation about the teams that reached the quarter-finals in this World Cup in Germany: six out of eight teams have won the cup at least once.

Brazil - 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002.
Germany - 1954, 1974, 1990.
Italy - 1934, 1938, 1982.
Argentina - 1978, 1986.
England - 1966.
France - 1998.

These six countries have shared all but two of the past World Cups. Only Uruguay (1930 and 1950) is missing from this list. Of course, Uruguay never qualified for the current tournament. All these teams are considered to be the powerhouses of soccer. They also have the best soccer leagues to boast about. Germany 2006 has not showed much surprises as compared to the previous tournaments. No new power like Turkey, South Korea, or Croatia has emerged. The only saving grace is the performance of Ghana and Australia. However, they got eliminated in Round 2. Ghana did not have much choice as they faced Brazil but the elmination of the "Socceroos" by Italy with the last minute penalty kick of Totti was painful. The "Socceroos" brought a nice fearless quality into the game. They were never awestruck by their opponents.

Portugal and , the upstarts, Ukraine, are the only teams that do not seem to have the history of doing well in the grand stage of the most popular sport in the world. Portugal reached the semi-finals of the tournament in 1966, eventually losing out to England, the eventual winners in that year. That team featured the great Eusebio - "the black pearl". Ukraine has had a modest history in the sport. The team is playing in their first world cup after parting ways with the erstwhile Soviet Union and they have done well to reach the last eight.

Here are my predictions about the teams that will play in the quarter-finals and proceed to the semi-finals:

Germany v/s Argentina - Germany: Germany and Argentina are playing exciting soccer. Both teams thrive in attacking their opponents. This is one of the best teams that Argentina has had after many years. The second goal scored by M. Rodriguez against Mexico could be the best goal of this tournament. Tevez, and Messi are incredible talents. Couple this with Javier Saviola, Crespo, and Riquelme, you have probably the most potent attack in this world. On the other hand, Jurgen Klinsmann has completely transformed Germany's style from a hard, physical, and defensive style to free flowing, exciting, and attacking style. Germans have not had any serious opposition till now. They have demolished all the teams. Michael Ballack, Miroslav Klose, Podolski, Frings, and Lahm have enough firepower to test a bit shaky Argentinian defense. I predict a German win because of home ground advantage. Moreover, I think Germany has finally ironed out their problems in the back. This match will belong to the team that has a better defense because the offense of both the sides is not only the best in the world but also comparable.
England v/s Portugal - Portugal: England has displayed awful performance in this world cup. All the hype about this team being the best that England has seen in the last thirty years is, sadly, hype. Beyond the set-piece goal of Beckham and the thunderous half volley of Cole, England, my friends, is down in the dumps. The team has no rhythm, relies too much on the long ball and has only one striker in the front. Wayne Rooney might be talented but he can't do jack without support. Portugal has had a nightmare game against Netherlands in the previous round. One of their most creative forward - Deco, will be sitting on the bench because of the Red card that the referee dished out unfairly in the game against the Dutch. Moreover, the fitness of Christian Ronaldo, who injured himself while playing against the Dutch, is a big concern for them. If Christian Ronaldo is fit and plays with Maniche and Figo, English defense will have their hands full. I am rooting for Portugal because they display more fluidity in their attack. English football needs to do some serious rethinking with the long balls that they are so fond of and it is better that they reflect upon this without boring the rest of the world in the semi-finals and the final.
Brazil v/s France - Brazil: Brazil has a dream team in Ronaldo (seems to have regained some form), Ronaldinho, and Kaka. Their support cast of Robinho, Adriano, Juninho can be as good as the first string team of any other country. Brazilian defense is shaky. I doubt the efficacy of Cafu, Roberto Carlos, and Ze Roberto. However, the French team does not have the firepower to challenge them. Viera, Zidane, and Henry belong to an earlier era. Zinedin Zidane is past his prime. I feel sad after looking at the great man who single-handedly led France to glory in 1998. He reminds me of the great Kapil Dev who remained in the Indian cricket team for more than two years just on the basis of his past performances and nobody had the heart and the courage to throw him out. If there is one thing that the French team lacks, it is their ability to score goals. In the Round 1 games, the French team missed sitting ducks. Trezeguet is no replacement for Cisse who has not played in this tournament after breaking his feet in a "friendly" ;-) warm-up game before the world cup.
Italy v/s Ukraine - Italy: This will be the most boring game among the four quarter-finals. I hate Italian style of defensive soccer. They win by putting their opponents to sleep with their "defend first" attitude. They are lucky to get a relatively weak and inexperienced opponent. Ukraine has reached this far riding on some good luck. But this is the end of the road for them. Shevchenko of Ukraine is exciting but his supporting cast is too weak to help him unravel the famed Italian defense.

Fifa World Cup!

2006-06-14T23:29:00.000-07:00

The most exciting event in the world of sports - Fifa World Cup, has started in Germany. 32 nations from around the world are competing for the grand prize. From the first few matches of round 1, I have been really impressed by the form of Italy, Germany, Argentina, Czech Republic, and Spain. My favourite team - Brazil, has not performed to their potential yet. However, I have hopes that they will regain their true form before meeting any of the teams listed above in the elimination rounds.

This world cup has seen most good teams opting for aggressive attack formations. Juergen Klinsman - the legend and present coach of Germany, has completely changed the style of play of the Germans. This is a welcome change. I remember the early 90s when most of the teams used to play insipid defence and put everybody to sleep. Except Brazil, every team in the world has lapsed into defensive mode at least once in their history. I remember talented players like Diego Armando Maradona being repeatedly hacked by the defenders of the opponent teams to prevent them from scoring. Fifa has taken commendable steps to revive attacking and more entertaining soccer by tweaking with the rules.

Being an Indian, a country obssessed with Cricket, I can not help but to show my support for teams like Brazil. Brazilian players are the best when it comes to individual artistry. It is no wonder that they have won the World Cup five times. Brazil has consistently produced players of world class caliber from the days of Pele, Garrincha, and Vava. This Brazilian team features genuine stars like Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, and Kaka. However, Ronaldo seems to be overweight and is not justifying his place in the talented side.

Another reason for me supporting the brazilian side is their supporters. Come on! look at their women. I mean which side will not win with supporters like these?

Positive spin?

2006-06-09T22:19:00.000-07:00

I came across this blog post by Dilip D' Souza on the web: Things we celebrate .

Before I provide my viewpoint on the issue raised by Dilip, I have to admit that I belong to the camp that lies in the opposite direction of the political spectrum. Dilip often espouses leftist viewpoints in order to draw attention towards problems facing India. In the guise of suggesting solutions, he more or less consistently takes the side of people who prefer heavy governmental involvement in the lives of the normal people of India. We all know how unsuccessful Government of India has been to solve the requirements of the common people. However, people like Dilip and his ilk, steadfastly refuse to understand the inherent inefficiencies associated with the government getting involved in delivering basic services to common man of India. I firmly believe that many, if not all, solutions to India's persistent problems of poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, environmental degradation etc. lie in empowering people and encouraging private enterprise.

Now coming back to the issue raised by Dilip, here are my answers to why Indian media needs to celebrate successes of individuals in every sphere of life:

India has been a nation that has suffered miserably for the last three hundred years. We were reduced to penury by the trade practices of the British empire. Our agriculture and industry were systematically decimated by the British so that the raw materials from India (cash crops and the mineral ores) can support the industrial complex of the Great Britain. Indians, themselves, were too foolish to understand the long-term implications of not having control over their destiny. Even now, I keep on meeting individuals who feel that the British rule of India was benevolent.

For the first time in the history of the modern world, a country of a billion people has seen some light. This is a special feeling. Generations have sacrificed to see this thin ray of hope. We finally feel that India can support her unwashed, toiling, and poor masses. Isn't it time to say thanks to the people who came before us - our founding fathers and my parent's generation?

Articles celebrating successes of other people give hope - hope of a better world, better life, better times. If you take away hope, you pretty much take away everything from the people aspiring to see better days. These stories also provide inspiration - "if they can do it, we can do it too." It helps human beings retain their sanity in a world that sometimes does seem brutal and without hope.

I am surprised that Dilip missed these simple answers. Poverty, darkness, corruption is a reality that all of us face every day to different degrees depending on our status in the society. It is important that they be highlighted but why does Dilip have such anger towards the media trying to highlight the positive developments in our society.

I end this post with an excerpt that I read in some article or editorial few days back. I have forgotten the article as well as the name of its author. But I loved the excerpt for its simplicity. The passage nails down the demerits of the arguments of the socialists of India who perpetually whine about how our society is becoming more unequal and blame liberalization and globalization for this.

"What could prompt this defence of India and China between 1950s and 1980s? It seems to me it is out of Mishra's genuine concern for equality. Rapid economic growth does make some people, and some parts of a country more prosperous than others. But the question to be asked is: are those being left behind denied access to opportunities that can make them prosperous as well? That should be the progressive agenda, not opposing the economic process that is finally lifting millions of Indians out of poverty. The pursuit of equality is a noble goal if what is being distributed is wealth; not if what's being redistributed is poverty. An extremely poor society may be "equal", but that's not necessarily a good thing, if the entire population earns two dollars a day. Rather than focusing on equality of outcomes - a concern common among many who call themselves progressive - they should think of equality of opportunity. And then watch the economies grow."

I could not have said it better.

Origins of AIDS Virus

2006-05-27T07:18:00.000-07:00

This news item - The origin of AIDS virus, really got me thinking about the role of Statistics in helping human beings understand so many intricate patterns in the nature.

The finding represents the culmination of a 10-year hunt for the source of the pandemic and provides a crucial link between HIV, which causes AIDS in humans, and the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), a strikingly similar virus that infects monkeys and chimpanzees.

It seems that scientists, who have been tracing the path of the AIDS virus for the last ten years, have finally determined that the virus jumped from the Chimpanzees to humans in Cameroon sometime in the beginning of the century. Slaughtering of the chimpanzees by human beings for food might have been the cause of the virus jump from the animals to human beings. Getting bitten by a chimpanzee might have been another plausible cause for the jump. Here is a quote from Dr. Paul Sharp from the report filed by the Sydney Morning Herald:

"For us, this is really the last piece of the puzzle," said Paul Sharp, a professor of genetics at the University of Nottingham. "This is where it probably all started. We've got these viruses in south-east Cameroon, which are so close to HIV, and it's difficult to envisage there could be any which could be closer."

I am amazed by the data collection and archiving ability of the team that made this possible. As a researcher, I have immense problems in trying to archive and analyse the data for my research in multimedia communication networks. These guys struggled for 10 years around the world to pinpoint the source of the AIDS virus. They would have collected, archived, and analysed thosands of samples of God knows what before arriving at their results. At the end of this remarkable journey, they did find the source of the origins of the virus. It is a stupendous scientific achievement and would probably help the other researchers develop a vaccine or medicine for the virus in few more decades. Patience, faith, and generous funding has made this kind of research work possible.

Empowered or oppressed?

2006-05-18T21:40:00.000-07:00

I found this photograph on BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4995140.stm

This photograph intrigued me recently. The photograph depicts a demonstration in Kashmir by women protesting against the recent sex scandal involving top state police officials. Some of the protests have turned violent because of the conservative nature of the Muslims in the Kashmir valley who view this scandal as an outrage on their social mores.

Isn't it ironic that a woman, covered from head to toe, is protesting against exploitation of other women? Does she realize that to an untrained eye, unfamiliar with the concepts of women dressing up modestly in Islam, she seems to be the oppressed one? In fact, just by looking at the photograph out of context, I felt that she is protesting against her own plight. But this is not the case here.

Of course, apologists for this kind of dress code for women will argue with me that, hopefully, nobody forced the woman in the snapshot to wear the burqa. She wore it out of her own volition because of her sense of what is appropriate in her society. Who am I to comment on the cultural practices of other societies?

I do not buy this argument. Although the above argument has its merits, yet I believe that there is something really uncomfortable in any culture that seeks to hide its women like this. This is not in consonance with the evolutionary trends of human civilization all over the world. It seems to be a form of oppression that has been given a moral justification by embedding it in the basic ethos of the concerned society.

A beautiful love story!

2006-05-03T20:24:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah, baby! I am interested in love too.

Here is a wonderful real love story from a journalist named Evan Ratliff:

Now for a Quick Lesson in International Relations

The story has been published by NY Times on April 30, 2006. Yes, I still read it after their fanatical and rabid stance against Indo-US nuclear deal. This narrative touched something deep inside me. I felt the forlorn feeling of Charlie Brown's unrequited love for the unseen red-haired girl. Read the story and see how real life can throw up such sadness in this world.

I can not post the story here because of the copyright laws.

Why the dogs stopped flying?

2006-04-21T19:02:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while I come across a poem that really makes me think about humanity. While browsing through the Internet some days ago, I came across this poem by Dr. Kenneth W. Brewer. Dr. Brewer died recently in 2006. I never knew his work before reading this poem.

I am not much of a poet. I do not have the sensitivity that a human being should have in order to express feelings and emotions in few words. Therefore, whenever I see literary works that touch me deeply, I tend to make a note of them. I want to share this wonderful poem with all my friends who read this blog. The poem also provide a teasing glimpse into the mind of a very sensitive man.

Why Dogs Stopped Flying
by Kenneth W. Brewer

Before humans,
dogs flew everywhere.
Their wings of silky fur
wrapped hollow bones.
Their tails wagged
like rudders through wind,
their stomachs bare
to the sullen earth.

Out of sorrow
for the first humans--
stumbling, crawling,
helpless and cold--
dogs folded their
great wings into paws
soft enough to walk
beside us forever.

They still weep for us,
pity our small noses,
our unfortunate eyes,
our dull teeth.
They lick our faces clean,
keep us warm at night.
Sometimes they remember flying
and bite our ugly hands.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Reservation Policy

2006-04-15T00:16:00.000-07:00

In Godfather III, Michael Corleone gasps in frustration after failing to make the Corleone business activities go "legit" and surviving an assasination attempt by the men of Joey Zaza - "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back right in." I thought the reservation issue is no more a factor in the society because of the way Indian economy has performed and created opportunities for all and sundry across the board. Well, I was wrong.

As long as there is a gap in the supply and demand for the high quality higher educational institutions in a country like India coupled with historical injustices meted out to certain sections of the population, the bogie of reservation will resurface after every few years like the killer in the B-grade horror flicks. I am tired of this debate and the subsequent arguments that “Mandalisation” v/s education provoke during each revival cycle. Even if the current round of the reservation bogey fades, I am sure that this thing will resurface in the future. Of course, all this would not have been required if the Government of India had tried to create a level playing field for all the students irrespective of geography, caste, or class by providing quality basic school education to at least a significant percentage of the children in India. It takes persistence and objectivity to do this. Such a long term action plan does not get extra votes from the politically empowered lower castes in India in a short duration. Therefore, the middle class of India keeps facing this issue of reservations in educational institutes and workplace every ten or twelve years. I specifically used the word middle class as it is based on economic indicators and not on caste lines.

Most of the arguments against reservations that I have scanned through in the blogs, essays, and the newspaper editorials are centered on the concept of appreciation of the talented and meritorious individuals in a society. Socialists and communists, a breed that seems as indestructible as poverty in India, really do not care about this type of arguments. By definition, these ideologies categorize every individual as equal and refuse to draw distinction between people based on their abilities. Therefore, all the arguments about who is more eligible than the rest is meretricious in the eyes of the pink and the red brigade. You lose them once you start talking about the power of individualism in transforming a society and how important it is to reward individuals who add significant more value to the society than the others.

On the other hand, the reality is that none of us have seen a true meritocracy in this world. Working towards a meritocracy is as much a utopia as working towards a classless society, so dear to the socialists and the leftists. Probably, United States society in its present avatar, has come somewhat close to the word “meritocracy”. However, there is enough evidence to disprove the previous statement. I admit that there are lots of factors other than merit that is responsible for the success of an individual in a society – family background, religious background, social networking etc. etc. This is a significant topic for the sociologists to ponder about. In order to explain what I meant above, in simple words, I can say that I would not have been motivated for my PhD had my family not stressed the importance of education from my childhood. Moreover, my family never needed me to earn money in order to support them. I had the luxury of spending six years for my graduate education in United States without really worrying about how my family is dealing with financial responsibilities back in India.

We are a democracy. It means that the government tries to achieve what the majority of people want. The upper caste population is a minority in India. Most of us hardly go out to vote during the elections. Nobody hankers after our votes. In brief, we are politically expedient. The only time the middle class community comprising mainly of upper castes or well-off other castes in India becomes important to the government is when it comes to collect taxes and fund poorly regulated extravagant social programs that eventually line up the pockets of the babus who are, ironically, part of the middle-class too. Of course, since the dawn of civilization this exercise has been done in the name of fighting poverty.

I can confidently say that because the middle-class is truly politically expedient on account of its small size; it will lose the battle over reservations eventually. It might not happen during this round of the fight but probably in the next round of the fight. Therefore, it is pertinent that people like us be prepared. If we can accept that we are going to lose this fight, we might give in at the right time and extract as much mileage as we can from the negotiations. Let us get whatever concessions we can before it is too late for even small mercies.

The upper castes belonging to the middle class are resourceful enough to know which side their bread is buttered. They and their children know the value of education. They are also blessed with the power of money as compared to the other downtrodden Indians. Many of them will figure a way out of this mess by the demands of the market. Investment in creating their own educational institutions for training their children in foreign countries with open policies is a distinct possibility. As a result, more children of the middle class will emigrate out of India for other countries. Eventually, the money of the middle-class will also migrate to these places.

This loss will be quite acceptable if the individuals produced by the system of reservations are able to pull up their socks and replace the fleeing wealth without letting the economy go off the rails. They should also be able to not only generate wealth but also provide entrepreneurial leadership. If the policy of reservations manages to achieve that, it will be something quite unique in the history of this world. Imagine the markets for services and goods for such a prosperous society. Both the socialists and the capitalists stand to gain from this.

However, if the policy fails, no big deal! History is quite used to the fact that we, the Indians, have repeatedly shot ourselves in the foot when it came to pulling our people out of marginalized existence. Another chapter added to this record will be conveniently forgotten by the rest of the world. But, I being an incorrigible optimist always try to look at the brighter side - in the failed scenario, all the castes, irrespective of whether they are higher or lower, can eat grass together. This will satisfy the socialists and not the capitalists. This might, to an extent, satisfy the utopia of a classless society too.

My close friends from higher as well as lower castes who made it in this world because of studying hard and having a hunger for success must be dismayed after reading my positive stance for reservation. I can only say this in my defense. I have already reaped the benefits of, the excellent but limited to few, education system in India. I have, fashionably, become a citizen of the world now. You have to declare this nowadays as nationalism is so “not cool” any more. If I handle my career in a right fashion and earn enough money, my children might not depend just on the geographical location of India for their education. They will be free to choose wherever they want to study. Therefore, I do not care about what happens to the other upper caste Indians who are poor and depend on fair educational opportunities to raise their standard of living. It is too bad that they were born in upper caste families that do not have the financial muscle. They should also be happy that they sacrificed themselves on the altar of the collective progress of India – small price to pay for the sins of our forefathers.

Lamentations of a Bald Man

2006-03-27T18:51:00.000-08:00

It came as unexpectedly as the recent tsunami that hit the Indian coast and killed more than 20000 people. My world was shattered when I first realized it. I had gone swimming to a lovely beach named Nargol in Gujarat. The beach is probably one of the few undiscovered spots in the tourist itinerary. It has lush palm trees, unspoiled beach, and greenery all around. I had gone there with my friends and seniors after the hazing (called ragging in India) period of the students from West Bengal in SVNIT, Surat was over. I had emerged triumphant from the tension of the three months of hazing relatively unscathed as compared to many of my compatriots. The seniors from West Bengal in the college threw a bash to finally welcome the newbies. This bash involved a bus ride to Nargol, cooking, having fun (meaning drinking hideously bad whisky and beer) on the beach for an entire day. General debauchery without the girls is an acceptable form of entertainment for young guys in colleges of India.

I am a good swimmer. My baba (father) insisted that his son should learn at least two skills properly before he turns into a man - learning how to ride a bicycle and swimming. Anyways, coming back to the story, swimming is one of the first skills that I picked up when I was young. Baba regularly took me to the other side of the Ganges during one summer vacation in Varanasi (Benares), showed me how to float for few days, taught me basics of freestyle stroke, and proceeded to throw me into the deeper waters of the river without giving me any kind of warning. I splashed around, drank some of the polluted water of Ganges, panicked about dying a horrible death, and subsequently emerged as a swimmer who can swim in any kind of water body around the world except for the freezing cold waters of Arctic. Yes, that is how my baba believed in doing things! Baba truly believed that things like floats and other gear that the beginners use in order to get comfortable with water and develop some confidence, are for the sissies.

The visit to Nargol elevated me to a new level of consciousness. India, a country of billion teeming people, does not seem to have any place without people. Therefore, the site of a clean and green beach bereft of any population is a manna from the heavens. I decided to jump into the water and stayed there for more than two hours continuously. After coming out and drying myself, I decided to comb my hair. At this moment, the disaster struck. I realized that a thick bunch of hair has separated from the top of my head and fallen into my hands with the first brush of the comb. I was 17 years old. My first reaction was that of disbelief. I took another swipe at my hair with the comb. The result did not change and another bunch of thick black hair landed in the grasp of my palm. I realized, to my horror, that I have somehow started losing hair and the mixture of salt and sand in the sea water has finally revealed the process of erosion to me.

The process that started at that time could not be stopped. I started using all sorts of oils and creams in order to stop nature from taking its own course. For a few months in my third year (junior) year of engineering, I applied Keo Karpin hair vitalizer regulalry on my head. The smell of the vitalizer kept even my neighbors in the dorm awake at night. Everywhere I went, people asked,"what is that awful smell coming out of your head?" I realized that the choice is between getting embarrassed now or in the future. The persistence of jokes about the vitalizer made me decide on behalf of the embarrassment of the future. I threw the bottle away. Somebody suggested that urine of camel is a perfect cure to bring the process to its conclusion. I was revolted by the idea. Ravi Ranjan, my Mechanical Engineering batchmate at SVNIT, on the last day of the college, before leaving the hostel had ominously predicted that he will meet a bald man by the name of Aninda Bhattacharya in the future.

Well, almost nine years have passed since I graduated from the portals of SVNIT, Surat. These nine years have left visible marks on my body. Of course, I could have done some damage control had I exercised regularly and controlled my diet. Unfortunately, my motivation for physical exertion in order to have a "lean, mean, sex machine" type torso is matched by my inclination to watch a Kishan Kumar (brother of ex T-Series honcho, late Gulshan Kumar) movie to refresh my mind after a hard day's work. The worst aspect among all these signs of aging on my body is my baldness.

However, there is both good news as well as bad news for the baldies of India. Emergence of cult figures like Michael Jordan and Andre Agassi in the pantheon of sporting heroes during the 90s have made baldness somewhat sexy in United States and the western world. Zinedine Zidane, arguably the best French footballer of all times and also one of the best to ever play in different football arenas all around the world, is bald. Who can forget the headlines of French newspapers featuring a bald Zidane after France won the world cup of soccer in 2000 - "Merci Zizou, you made us dream!". African American men with their shaved heads have conquered new horizons in the "dog eat dog" world of American pop culture and fashion. Being bald is the new "in thing" in United States. Since most of my bald days have been spent in United States, I have hardly felt the arrows of derision and jokes directed against bald men.

Unfortunately, the situation changes as soon as I land up in India. Indian society places quite a premium on hair. It is not surprising considering the fact that Indians are one of the hairiest among all ethnicities that I have ever come across in my thirty years of existence. Yes, even women are hairy and, according to Russell Peters, the famous stand-up comedian, not only on the top of their head but everywhere! The hair gathered from the shaven heads of Indian women in South Indian temples are in great demand for the manufacture of the best quality wigs all around the world. As soon I visit one of my relatives, the first fifteen minutes are spent on the condition of my baldness. The older generation in India is somehow so hung up on the traditional prejudices against bald men that it becomes quite stifling to start a conversation. I start relaxing only from the point I manage to divert their attention to something more inane or something more important. But, truth be told, I dread the first fifteen minutes of conversation with any relative of mine in India who has not seen me for many years.

Whenever conversations about my blad head starts, I protest by stating that there is nothing wrong with my hair. I argue that nobody really measures the worth of a man by the number of hair remaining on his head anyways except for India. Yet, my relatives persist with the topic. They suggest medications, hair transplants, new research in order to help me select the best way to get some hair back on my head. After getting through this ordeal every few days in India, I lose more hair out of tension. Over the years, I have developed some stock answers to the questions that people raise regarding my baldness. Here is a brief sampling for others to help them cope up with the trauma:

Is you father bald? Ans: Nope.
Is their history of baldness in your mother's side? Ans: Nope.
Then how do you explain your baldness? Ans: I am sorry but you have to ask this question to my mother. For the record, I have faith in her.
4) What do you plan to do to get rid of baldness? Ans: I try to stand upside down in the posture of "Shirshasana" for fifteen minutes every morning. This helps blood rush to my head and improve the nuitrition that my hair gets. Later on, I wash my hair with gentle shampoo during the bath. Before going to sleep every night, I massage my head with the best quality coconut oil. I am also saving money from my hard earned stipend to go for hair transplant in the future.

All the above answers are meant to pacify the inquisitiveness about what I am doing to get rid of my baldness. The truth is I do not care. I have never really been afraid or ashamed of my baldness. When you are just 5 ft 7 inches with an average face, you are hardly a man to turn the heads of women based on your physique. It really does not matter whether you have hair on your head or not. Most of my friends do not care. None of my women friends in United States have ever made a comment about my baldness. Maybe, it is because the American society is more formal. Maybe, it is because that Americans are always politically correct in their interaction with people around them. However, I believe, it is because of the preponderance of successful and visible bald men in their society. I owe it to the African Americans, many of whom are considered to be the epitome of coolness, for making baldness in vogue in the western civilization.

I have come to the conclusion that until and unless there is an emergence of a true pop culture icon without hair in India, this attitude towards bald men will not change for the better. Akshaye Khanna had the opportunity to do so but he blew it. Salman Khan (Sallu), I heard, is going bald. Before he could truly add himself to the pantheon of famous bald men, Indian judicial system took care of him. The man has been awarded five years of imprisonment three or four days ago for killing an endangered species of deer - Black Buck. I say, release him!

The great Indian judicial system can acquit, Santosh Kumar Singh, the son of a senior IPS officer for killing Priyadarshini Mattoo and Manu Sharma, son of an influential Haryana politician for killing Jessica Lal, yet it incarcerates the only hope of bald Indian men. Hell, the courts even acquitted Sallu for killing few pavement dwellers while driving drunk in Mumbai. Since when did killing Black Bucks, with all due respects for the "right to live" of the deers, become more important than killing human beings? This is equivalent to sending Al Capone, the infamous mobster from Chicago, to the slammer for messing up with his taxes instead of killing every Tom, Dick, and Harry who opposed him. Just when baldies of India thought that they have a messiah in the form of Salman, God kicks us right back in the groin and helps us face the reality. Damn it!

Cry Freedom!

2006-03-17T08:57:00.000-08:00

India has always had people who wanted independence from the union formed in 1950. It is not surprising considering the fact that Indian constitution recognizes 23 official languages and India is home to two major linguistic families - Indo-Aryan and Dravidian. The most serious threat to the Indian union has been in the form of various North-East, Punjab and Kashmir insurgencies. The Punjab insurgency started during the late 70s, gained momentum in the early 80s, and died out by the late 80s when the people supporting Khalistan movement realized the futility of separating from India. Kashmir insurgency started in the late 80s and is finally showing some signs of running out of steam nowadays. Hopefully, the Indian union can deal with this menace in the next ten years. The North-East insurgencies have affected the states of Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, and Tripura during various periods since India's independence. Many of these movements have died down over a period of time. Many new movements have also cropped up with the passage of time.

The intention of this blog post is not to focus on these movements or to suggest steps in order to convince the separatists to stay within the union of India. The above mentioned movements are already old wine for many of us, the uber-nationalistic Indians. Through this blog I want to rally another section of India's population to start their own freedom movement - the Bengalis. Now, many of you who will be reading this blog will question my intentions by asking why am I provoking a group of people who are quite comfortable with their "macher jhol" (fish curry), "Rabindro Sangeet" (songs written by Nobel laureate, Rabindranath Tagore), and "Rosogolla" (a sweetmeat). Let me justify my intentions first.

Bengal is the state in India that led the Indian renaissance in the 19th and the 20th century. It produced literary stalwarts like Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Sarat Chandra Chatterjee, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Jeebanando Das, and finally the giant in the form of Rabindranath Tagore. Bengal also produced India's best scientific minds in Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose, Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray, Satyendra Nath Bose, Meghnad Saha, P.C. Mahalanobis, and others. Even Sir C.V. Raman (another Nobel laureate) did majority of his work in Kolkata, the current capital of the state of West Bengal. Philosophers like Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Ramakrishna Paramahansa, Swami Vivekananda, Paramahansa Yogananda and Rishi Aurobindo all came out of Bengal to enlighten the world with the philosophy of the Hinduism. By 16th century, Hinduism, as a religion, had reached its nadir. The barbaric rituals like "Sati", the oppressive stranglehold of the caste system, the ill-treatment of the widows and women, the practice of polygamy among certain sections, and other factors reduced Hinduism to a caricature of what it was intended to be - a syncretic religion that eschews stifling social practices. The reformers like Raja Rammohan Roy did yeoman's work in getting rid of many of these social evils.

Bengalis played a massive role in the freedom struggle of India. W.C. Banerjee, Rash Behari Bose, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Khudiram Bose, Surya Sen, Bipin Chandra Pal, Bagha Jatin are some of the names that come to my mind. Most Bengalis refused to follow Gandhiji's dictum of non-violence and satyagraha. Their preferred way of making the British hear their voice was violence. No, I do not call that terrorism because the attacks were made on exclusively British civilian and military officers. I do not know this but I would challenge anybody to show me the civilian casualty figures due to attacks by the Bengali and Punjabi militants on British officers and their facilities. The objective of the militants fighting for the freedom of India was not to kill harmless and innocent Indian or British civilians. Logically, this is not equivalent to the modus operandi of various terrorist groups operating in various parts of India who resort to terrorizing the very masses for whom they claim to be fighting for.

Even now West Bengal produces some of the best human resources for India. However, the state has lost its glory of the 19th and the 20th century. One of the principle reasons for this is the Bengali aversion to the concept of generation of wealth. Somehow, for reasons unknown to me, the Goddess of entrepreneurial spirit decided to give Bengalis a thumbs down. Bengali "bhadraloks" spend countless hours sitting in the local clubs and consuming gallons of coffee or tea while discussing all the problems of the world, yet they never realize that most of the solutions to the problems in the world end up with the culture of generation of wealth. If you visit the IIM campuses across India, you will find innumerable Bongs. Yet, you would hardly find any of them having the courage to start their own enterprise. The culture of running your own business is something that Bengalis have an aversion to. I have noticed a disdain for businessmen in the Bengali middle class ethos from my childhood. The image of the corrupt "lala" or "baniya" extracting their pound of flesh from their clients in the course of regular business transactions has suppressed any other vista that is associated with the business class.

This reflexive aversion to money and people who deal with money has been the root of all the problems in the Bengali society. Bengalis take distinct pride in their literary and cultural stars and the ability to appreciate art. Many of them turn their snobbish nose upwards, sniff the air and declare, "so what if we do not have money like the Gujjus? We have our culture. After all, this is the land of Kabi Guru Rabindronath!" However, the fundamental flaw in this thesis is that culture flourishes only after the general population has the money to support culture. In personal life, a person decides to become moral and spiritual only after his/her basic physical needs are satisfied. Art and culture is also like that. They can not survive in the vacuum of poverty. To elucidate my argument, countries like Ethiopia, Somalia etc. are hardly known for their culture all around the world. They might have had a glorious past, but they do not have a present.

When was the last time in human history all around the world, peace, security, and wealth generation activities were offset by the scientific, cultural and artistic accomplishments of the society? I attribute a strong causality between generation of wealth and rise of accomplishments in other fields. This causality is not bi-directional. Generation of wealth is followed by accomplishments in the field of sciences, culture, and arts. Every phase of a strong and a progressive dynastic rule in the ancient history of the world was accompanied by a rise in scientific, cultural, and artistic achievements. In brief, a society can not support the endeavors in science and arts until and unless you have peace in your land accompanied by the prosperity of the people. The Bengali contribution to the Indian renaissance was also marked by the prosperity of the middle class. The middle class prospered because the British used Bengal as their entry point to India. Kolkata (Calcutta) was the capital of the British empire in India till 1912. Here is what Wikepedia has to say about the commercial status of Calcutta in the 19th and the 20th century during the Raj era:

In the early 19th century Calcutta was often described as a "city of palaces" and many travelogues of this period praise the city for its beauty. It was a vibrant commercial centre which gave rise to Asia's first electric telegraph and railway, as well as India's first newspaper.

Bengalis benefited by taking part in the trading activities created by the British. The enormous wealth that India generated for the British also trickled down to Bengal. It is a myth that Bengalis do not know how to do business and earn money. There were many rich Bengali traders during the Raj era and their business acumen was nowhere less than that of the Marwaris or the Gujaratis. During the independence of India from the British Raj, West Bengal was one of the richest state in India. All this wealth and economic security generated from the trade and business activities led people to start opting for skills that belong to a higher level in the consciousness of human beings. Nobody acknowledges this but, I think, this is the secret behind the emergence of so many scientific, cultural, and artistic stalwarts from Bengal during the 19th and the 20th century.

Of course, nothing lasts forever. Wealth that is passed on from one generation to another never lasts. As it is passed on, the value of the wealth keeps on dissipating in the eyes of the beholder. This is primarily because the wealth is not passed to individuals who have the talent to either maintain it or to make it grow. But it is passed to individuals who neither have any appreciation for it nor have any talent to use it wisely. The concept of bequeathing wealth to the gene pool inheritors is the single biggest cause of the dissipation of wealth in a prosperous society. Of course, in the long run, this proves to be a leveler for the whole world.

This is what has happened to the people of the state of West Bengal. The current generation witnessed the results of the apathy that they themselves as well as their parents showed towards wealth. When people live in relative prosperity for some time, the hunger for success and achievement goes down. Eventually, the dissipation of wealth is accompanied by a stagnation in sciences, culture, and arts. That is what has happened to West Bengal. One of my favorite examples to illustrate this is the decline of Bengali cinema over the years. Once upon a time, the commercial Bengali movie industry was equivalent to Bombay Hindi film industry. Many of the early stalwarts in Bollywood - the three Ganguli brothers (Ashoke, Anup, and Kishore Kumar), Hemanta Mukherjee, Devika Rani, Himanshu Rai etc. were all transplants from the Bengali film industry. Nowadays, after the period of decay and stagnation of the 80s, we hardly produce more than 50 movies per year. The quality of these movies is nothing to be talked about. In the meantime, the Hindi, the Tamil and the Telugu movie industries are reaching new heights.

All this has happened in West Bengal with the added misfortune of a more than 30 year old reign of the communists. And boy! Their disdain for wealth, entrepreneurship, and innovation is seen to be believed. After studying the various communist movements all around the world, I have come to the conclusion that the communists believe that everybody should be dragged kicking and screaming to become poor first. Once everybody is poor, the society can take steps to improve its lot in an equitable fashion. There is no concept of asking people whether they really want to be poor for the sake of other poor. What power does this system provide to the individuals who will say that they will opt out and do not want to help the poor? After all, not everybody has the inclination to invest their wealth for the upliftment of the society as a whole.

In essence, communism and socialism punish the talented people who know how to handle wealth for the sake of rewarding people who have no idea about the meaning of wealth. The sense of false entitlement that gets created among the masses sometimes leads to violence on premises that are simply foolish. After 30 years of communist rule, West Bengal has finally reached this stage. Nothing gets done in the state until and unless you have some connection to the party. Communist party representatives have spread everywhere like weed. They are firmly entrenched in the establishment. From primary school teachers to babus in the government offices, every individual has become a card carrying member of the party because of what party has done for them. It is very difficult to break the strangle hold of the party in this state. On top of this, the left front has devised sophisticated methods of rigging the elections. They have provided ration cards in bulk to illegal immigrants from Bangladesh in the hope that they vote for the communists in the elections. This means that many undeserving people have attained the citizenship of India just because the communists wanted their vote. Read the following articles to understand what I am talking about:

All these would have been acceptable to me if the communist parties would have been confined to West Bengal and Kerala. If people of these two states want to rot, who am I to prevent that from happening. India is a big country. Lots of other states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu etc. are steaming ahead with growth and the right economic policies that encourage freedom to take the right decisions. Ambitious and foresighted Bengalis who do not subscribe to the majority view of collectivism in their state always had the option of coming out of the state and enjoying opportunities that does justice to their talent. Due to the peculiar nature of the electoral politics in India, the current government in the center formed by Congress (I) and its allies needed the support of the left parties to form a government. After this happened, the left parties started interfering with the economic as well as the foreign policies of the central government. In effect, this means that because of the idiocy of the Bengal and Kerala voters the whole nation is suffering.

Amulya Ganguli wrote a nice article in the web portal Rediff titled "If India had a Marxist prime minister". Some bloggers picked up the theme and had their own take on what would happen if India has a communist prime minister. For the benefit of the readers, here is Mayank's take on the same issue. After debating with some of my Bengali friends and gauging the mood in the Bengali society, I can foresee that the left front will be in power for another 10 years in West Bengal.

Indian politics over the years has become extremely fractious. In the last three general elections, local issues have dominated the agenda of the candidates all around the nation. Very few voters think about the national issues when they line up to cast their vote. This has set the trend of not a single party being able to gain majority on its own. In a way, this reflects what India is - a truly diverse country, with diverse needs. All this has resulted into the fact that coalition governments have become de rigueur in the Indian political scene. I can bet that even in the next few general elections, the future governments will be formed by combination of few political parties. The era of absolute majority is almost over.

What this means for the progressive people who want to break away from the shackles of restrictive socialism in the name of social piety is that meddling of the left parties in the national affairs is going to go on for another ten years at least. This is because the Bengal voters are never going to vote for anybody else. Therefore, with a support base of around 42 seats (not sure about the exact number of Lok Sabha seats from Bengal), the communists will have far more power than what they deserve to ensure the survival of their retrograde ideas.

The next ten years are crucial for the Indian economy. If we can not grow fast, liberalize the economy, reform the governance to reduce corruption, and uplift at least another 200 million people out of poverty, we will never be able to achieve our full potential. The biggest obstacle to this is posed by the people of West Bengal who are responsible for thrusting a dinosaur on the other progressive states of India. Their sense of being entitled to a job and to a good life without really working hard for it and making sacrifices for it is antithetical to the creation of a meritocracy that rewards efficiency and competitiveness. Therefore, I propose that West Bengal be given independence from the Indian union. Yes, you heard it right!

We do not need Bengalis in the future of India. Let them rot in their own land without trying to pollute the others. This will also help Bengalis to understand that perpetual whining about the federal government not doing enough for West Bengal - a myth created by the leftists to suppress their own misgovernance, will not lead to a better future. Bengalis were always a bit lazier than any other community in India. They covered it up well with their smartness earlier. However, nowadays they have become not only shallow but also myopic. Bereft of new ideas, fearful of embracing a brave new world, unsure of their skills to compete with the best, and developing a moral sense of entitlement of the riches that the rest of India creates, today's Bengal has become a caricature of its glorious past. It would have been nice if some people would have realized these issues and provided leadership to guide Bengalis out of this wasteland. Unfortunately, none seem to be in the horizon for at least another 10 years and that is the real tragedy for the rest of India!

Note: For people who do not get it, I am being rhetorical in calling for the freedom of West Bengal from the union of India. There is no evil intent in trying to break up the Indian union.

The Lost World

2006-03-09T12:46:00.000-08:00

My mother (ma) and father (baba) both hail from the same city - Varanasi (Benares), India. Both of them have been born and brought up in the holiest city of the Hindus. Although both their families belonged to East Bengal (Bangladesh), yet somehow they ended up migrating to Benares. In Hinduism, there is a belief that if you die in Benares, you attain Nirvana - the break from the endless cycle of birth and death. Both of them attended Benares Hindu University. Benares, the land of culture and education. Benares is also the dirtiest and most polluted of all Indian cities in my opinion. Considering the fact that most Indian cities are dirty and polluted as compared to the cities of the west, it takes some special kind of effort for a city and its residents to be christened the dirtiest city of India.

As a child, I was mortally afraid of examinations in the school. It is not that I was a bad student. I always did well in the examinations. However, the fear of failure to do well in the examinations used to make me transform into a zombie before and during the examinations. I used to follow rituals to please the Gods to help me. Yes, in those days I used to pray regularly and go to the temples. However, examination season also meant that the summer holiday season is not far off. Summer holidays for the first 12 or 13 years of my life were magic. The holidays meant a trip to Benares for a month, a chance to play with the dog of my maternal grandparents named "Light", and, finally, a chance to escape the discipline regimen of my ma. Unfortunately, my paternal grandparents died either before my birth or soon after my birth. Therefore, I understood the love of grandparents only through my maternal grandfather (dadu) and grandmother (dida).

My dadu was a religious man. He was also a social activist. He started out as an executive for Sarabhai Chemicals during his younger days and somehow transformed himself into a doctor by profession by the time he reached old age. The residence of my grandparents was big. It had a huge green door. As soon as the door opened, a courtyard followed. The dispensary of my dadu was in the ground floor (first floor for the Americans). The ground floor also had a large room which was clearly meant for welcoming the guests and having long discussions over issues facing the local community and the nation. This room had big portraits of the founding fathers of our nation on the walls - Gandhiji, Nehru, Subhas Chandra Bose, Acharya Vinoba Bhave, Swami Vivekananda, Rabindranath Tagore, and Jagadish Chandra Bose. The furniture of the room was delightful. They were quite heavy and had intricately carved figurines on them. The room always gave me the sense that only issues of importance can be discussed there. In essence, it was the room for the grown ups. The ground floor also had another room along with a kitchen. My grandfather had rented out that room to a couple who were teachers in a school that he helped establish along with others.

The first floor had a huge open space along with four bed rooms and a kitchen. Dida used to cook delightful Bengali dishes in that kitchen. In those days, dadu and dida did not have cooking gas facility. The food was cooked on a stove fired by coal. Every day, I loved helping dida out in lighting her stove after her "Sandhya Arati" (prayer of the evening). I would collect all the trash paper and bring them to her. She used them to light a fire. This fire ignited the pieces of wood in the bottom layer of the stove. The fire from the wood used to provide the suitable temperature for burning the coal in the top layer of the stove. The smoke emanating from the stove, probably Carbon Monoxide mixed with Carbon Dioxide, used to burn my eyes. But I used to love it. It also had a peculiar smell that I can not really describe. Nowadays, I still see some poor people using that kind of stove in the slums of big cities in India. When the smoke from those stoves reach my eyes and stimulate my nose, I smile. Maybe, the smell and the tears from the smoke are subconsciously linked to the best part of my childhood.

The house of my dadu was located near a college. The college had a huge ground. We could scan the entire area from the roof and look at the lush green playground of the college. The roof served as a soccer field where my uncles and I used to play soccer with a soft ball made of rubber. The roof also served the dual purpose as the bed room for the whole family during the hot summer days. Every evening my uncles used to water the roof after sunset to cool it down. After an hour, one corner of the roof was covered with sheets, mattresses, cushions, and mosquito nets. I can never forget the feeling of carelessness and love that I had while sleeping on the roof guarded by the stars under the vast mysteries of the sky surrounded by my dadu, dida, and the rest of the Chakraborty family.

The most fun part of the trip to Benares was playing with "Light", the dog of my dadu and dida. The person closest to Light was my chor dadu (grandfather's younger brother). He stayed along with dadu, acted as the compounder of his dispensary. He also took care of Light. Light, most probably, had a mixed pedigree. He was named Light because he used to run very fast. Every morning my chor dadu would take Light away for a stroll in the playground of the college. I also used to go along with him. Light was a gentle but a very mischievous dog. He would be complicit in many stupid things that I and my cousins did.

In Benares, my ma could not discipline me. In India, most parents rely on corporal punishment to discipline their kids. My ma was no exception. She used to believe steadfastly in the motto - "spare the rod, spoil the child". However, in Benares, she could never hit me. Every time I did something that would infuriate her, I used to run away to my dida and hide behind her saree. My dadu used to scold her for lifting her hand to beat me. I was impressed by the power of my grandparents to put a restraint on my ma. Protected by my grandparents in this fashion, I used to gain courage to do acts that I normally never did when I am alone with my ma. My ma used to glare at me from a distance. However, this glare was accompanied with a smile on her face and joy in her eyes. I have never figured out how a person can express love and anger with the eyes simultaneously. This skill set is probably confined to women like my ma. I also never did figure out why she would be happy looking at me while being angry at my childish acts.

Every Tuesday, my dadu would get up early in the morning, take his bath. He will wake me up subsequently and tell me to take my bath. Dadu was a meticulous man when it came to dressing up. In fact, I never saw him wearing a trouser or a shirt without a crease. Dadu and I would wait for a rickshaw. Many times if the rickshaw driver knew my dadu, he would not charge any money for the ride. I always used to wonder why do men who obviously need money refuse to take money from my dadu. One day didu explained the mystery to me. She told me that people who do not take money from him had been his patients at least once in their lifetime. Most of the time they are not able to pay his fees or the cost of medicine during their visits. This is their way of repaying him for his services. My dadu never insulted them by trying to shove cash in their hands.

The rickshaw ride would take us to the "Sankat Mochan" temple from Bhelupura. This temple is dedicated to Lord Hanuman - trusted friend of Lord Rama and his wife Goddess Sita. It seems many years ago, Tulsi Das, who translated the Hindu epic Ramayana from Sanskrit to Hindi, saw the appearance of Lord Hanuman under the tree in that temple. As a child, one of my favourite Gods was Lord Hanuman. Lord Hanuman is a monkey and that is obviously an unfair advantage to shore up his ratings among children. He is also known as "Bajarang Bali". Whenever I used to get into fights in school, I used to shout "Jai Bajarang Bali, tor de dushman ki nali" before getting down to business with my opponent. Sankat Mochan temple had a nice garden filled up with trees. Thousands of Langurs and monkeys used to be present in the area surrounding the temple. It is a heavenly feeling to feed the simians and watch their mischievous eyes following you for more hand outs.

Sankat Mochan temple sells lovely prasad (offerings) for the devotees. The sweetmeats that are used for prasad are called "pedas". I used to love eating those pedas. Dadu would buy one packet of peda for the family and another packet only for me every Tuesday.

There are hawkers outside the temple who sell eveything under the sky. Phantom - "the ghost who walks", created by Lee Falk, and distributed by Indrajal Comics in India was my favourite superhero in my childhood. He wears two rings. These two rings leave indelible marks on whoever/whatever is touched or punched. The "Good Mark" (worn on the left hand, "closer to the heart") consists of 4 overlapping P-shapes (or swords?) forming a cross in a circle and designates the bearer as being a friend under the protection of The Phantom. Conversely, the Mark of the Skull, a death's head, is usually left by a blow from the Phantom's strong right arm and indicates a warning or a sign that the victim has battled The Phantom, unsuccessfully of course. I was obsessed with those rings. Every time I visited Sankat Mochan temple I would buy eight to ten brass rings with cheap stones in them. I would wear them in as many fingers on my hands and try to punch everything in sight while emulating my superhero. The rings would be changed after every visit to the temple. My dadu got so disturbed by my obsession with The Phantom and his rings that he eventually ordered a custom silver ring encrusted with a semi-precious stone for me .

The bomb blast that killed 20 people and injured many in the Sankat Mochan temple two days ago brought back all the memories. They seemed to be rushing out after I heard the news and I had to put them down in writing. I am 30 years old now. I became an atheist at the age of 18 years. I decided to convert to an agnostic at the age of 25 years. I no longer enjoy going to the temples and believing in the rituals. Light died in the 80s. My ma lied to me initially about him. She told me that he has fled. I came to know the truth when I grew up. The house in Benares has been sold off. My dadu died in 1990. Dida lives alone with my chor dadu in a small apartment in Benares. I visit her whenever I go to India. All my uncles and aunts have moved away from Benares for the sake of their jobs. The second generation of our family - me, my sister, and my cousins, are spread all over India and the world. We have become part of the Indian diaspora from a single family. Benares has become more crowded and more filthy. My baba claims that somewhere down the line the city has even lost her soul. I had long ago lost my world but never realized it till the bomb blasts shook me up. May be, this perversion was the last nail into the coffin of my relationship with the land of my birth and origin. Memories refuse to die but I know that the world has moved on and I can not live in the past. This is a tribute to the love of my family in the sands of time.

Dadu, I hope you are doing fine up there. Make sure that you keep looking after your favorite grandson. The world has become a terrible place. Your beloved temple has been desecrated by the violence perpetrated by a bunch of twisted psychopaths.

NY Times Position on Indo-US Nuclear Deal

2006-03-04T21:23:00.000-08:00

When I was growing up in India, I had heard much about an institution named New York Times (NYT) in United States from my relatives and father. In many of my sojourns to different public libraries across India, I had read NYT enthusiastically. After arriving in United States, one of my first actions was to create an account in their web site. I have enjoyed their reports and writings over the years. In my heart, I identify with many liberal causes. The paper did satisfy my liberal point of view most of the times. Sometimes I felt that NYT is too harsh on the religious conservatives of United but I decided to give them the benefit of doubt. The reason for this might have been that I never understood the importance of the causes of the religious conservatives. In brief, when you hail from a country where 300 million people live below the poverty line, passions over abortion and other stuff appear to be really superficial. However, this lack of balance sometimes used to disturb me.

Now the wheel has turned full circle. This happened with the visit of President Bush to India. I have listed down some of the articles published in NYT about the visit and the nuclear deal inked between the United States and India. I, as an Indian, overwhelmingly support the deal. I understand the importance of this deal for the future of India. The concept of energy security is very important for future growth of the Indian economy and the reduction in poverty. If you go through the listed articles and the editorials below, you will see a consistent trend of anti-India bias in NYT. In retrospect, NYT team comes off as pretentious pricks! Their position seems to be as long as Indians show the world their rope trick, Rajasthani folk songs, elephants, jungles, and pay the obligatory obeisance to the west, we will be treated as the exotic land that needs a pat on the back every now and then. But as soon as we start becoming really independent economically, start thinking, take lead in setting up policies, and innovating in the brave new world, we will be shown our real place and that place is beneath the feet of our masters. NYT pretends to be one of them as they seem to be carrying " the white man's burden" nowadays.

Nitin Pai who writes the wonderful blog "The Acorn" has written a great rejoinder to the last editorial titled "India, Oil and Nuclear Weapons". After reading that piece of trash (the editorial), I have realized the mental maturity of the idiots that comprise the editorial team of the NYT.

Unfortunately, because of some fallacious assumptions and pernicious arguments, the entire agreement is seen as a death blow to NPT by the experts here in the States. The deal has still not been finalized. Many US laws need to be changed for the agreement to eventually become a reality. The Bush administration will be facing a mountain when they have to convince the senate for modifying the laws. The non-proliferation "ayatollahs" are already baying for blood.

Generations of supposedly highly educated experts have based their entire careers in propagating the myth of the success of NPT to the world. They think that their entire life's work has been destroyed by the cheekiness of one country - India. India had the courage to call the bluff and show the world what NPT really is - a failed policy that not only did not succeed in preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons but was also destined to be doomed from the start. The basic premise of the NPT favoring the five nuclear weapon states is discriminatory. Something like this can never last forever. China, Iran, and North Korea have done everything to undermine the agreement in the last 20 years and yet the prophets of doom single out an open, responsible, and a democratic society for not only the failure of the agreement but also the apparent failure of their careers too.

Eye on the media - 2

2006-03-02T21:16:00.000-08:00

Some news items and issues that caught my eye and made me interested:

George Bush and the Republican Party are the best friends of India.
Why I hate the Democrats? Who does not know that NPT has been an abysmal failure? China has repeatedly violated NPT in spite of being a signatory by supplying nuclear technology to North Korea and Pakistan. Of course, nobody has the balls to say anything to China. I christen the Democrats as the morally superior (in their own opinion) pricks who love nothing but a spot in the media to preach from the pulpit.
The cartoon controversy in Denmark.
M.F.Hussain and the lunatic right of India - our own version of the controversy over the freedom of speech.
The travesty of justice in India - The Jessica Lal case.
Some hope for the riot victims of Gujarat.

I have become very busy with two jobs to make my ends meet and finish my PhD. I am literally working days and nights. My new boss is a remarkable man. Hopefully, once I settle down into this schedule, I will be able to blog more frequently.