The Gangrene in US

An SI guarding a ministerial convoy was hacked down by a bunch of gangsters. He lay writhing on the road, pleading for help, bleeding and dying and no one dared touch him or go near him. They walked past the man looking at him suffer, sympathizing with him, but “helpless” themselves. Helpless… what a word! This word absolves an Indian of all his guilt, responsibility and cowardice. The keeper of our morality, the media, kicks in. Breaking news… Ministers in the convoy watch and do nothing for the dying SI. The death is the ministers' fault. SMS’s start pouring in criticizing, lambasting and ridiculing the politicians, the police men near the dying sub inspector… But are they the real culprits???
What about the pathetic public who stood there watching a man die? What about the countless men who thronged the scene waiting and watching “helplessly”? They could not have possibly done anything, could they?
“How can I talk when so many people around me are standing and saying nothing? How could I spoil my new shirt? That man over there, he does not have a new shirt, why can’t he help the SI? Hell… somebody do something… Can’t they see that the man is dying? Shit, this society is so rotten…”
Is this the gang’s fault? The ministers'? The policemen who were the SI’s colleagues?
Or is it mine? Your’s? OUR’s?
Where do these politicians and the policemen come from? Us… What sense of morality do they share? Ours… Who are the gangsters? Us… Us… Us…
What would the dying SI have done if someone else was hacked and he was one of the spectators? It is politically incorrect to say this, but chances are he would have done NOTHING!!!
In the coming few days, we will see candle light vigils, group discussions on tv news channels. Streams of anguish and anger will pour in from all sides. But how angry are we? As angry as were we when we were fighting the British? Would we have got independence by lighting candles in front of the British.
And then there are marches which are a melas for all the Goondas in town and they have a field day burning and looting the cities and towns. There are issues where candle light vigils are acceptable, but genuine anger is NOT always satiated by some candle light marches. Where are the passionate and angry men and women who roared and fought against the British? Dead… Literally and Figuratively... The Bal Gangadhar Tilaks, Ambedkar’s, Bhagat Singh’s… These men had their flaws. Everyone does. But they stuck to what they believed in. They didn’t let up a few days after their protests went out of fashion. Where are genuine leaders and protests which do not die or back off till the issue is dealt with??
They don’t exist in today’s society.
Tee shirts, websites, candlelight vigils get this participation because there is no chance that the participants will be involved in any kind of “problems”. It is cowardice that draws in the crowds and not genuine sense of anguish. Yes, this makes everyone angry. How angry? As angry as when a boy breaks a vase at home. Momentary... Useless...
As for the goonda marches, I do not even want to write about it
I know I can do something. I could at the least try… I know the reader can too.. But will I? No I wont… Will You? Mostly not... I find it more comfortable to cocoon myself in the alternate reality of Role Playing Games where the good and the bad are clearly defined and I am the champion of the weak and I always do right things and I will partly assuage my nearly non-existent pride… What about you? How do you live with the reality that is India today?

Oh S**t

I went to Mysore the last week to the AFSB to try and become a fighter pilot. Couple of days ago, I did get recommeneded to be one. There are still the medicals though, so I cannot really say I am commisssioned yet...

This post is not about the days there...

I am currently nursing a burnt left hand with more flesh than visible skin and a dislocated left knee. Is this about how I got those injuries?

No it is not...

The narration I am about is of how hard it is to visit the throne room in the mornings with half my body dysfunctional.

I have never been a great fan of going to the bathrooms in the mornings ( Personally I hate this part of the waking up... Well... I dont really like any part of waking up). But life now is definitely fidgety. I am a person who is yet to weternise his lifestyle atleast when it comes to personal hygiene. You see I would rather squat on the commode rather than sit on them the way it is meant to be used. But with my leg plastered straight from my thighs to my ankle, I dont have a choice but to start using that dreadfull chair with a hole for seat. Now the builder of my apartments was not a sucker for hygiene, so he forgot to install that water jet flush to one uses to cleanse oneself after going. So one has to resort to using the traditional Indian hand and water technique to wipe ones backside clean. (I dont think I will ever get used to using paper to wipe my backside.) Its just not that simple though. The gauntlet is to not get my plaster and wounds wet and cleanse myself using only one hand. The pictue one gets in mind is that of throwing water in the air and putting my back under it as is falls and then use the little water it manages to collect to clean myself with the hand I used to throw water with.

I have not used the bathroom yet for the past two days. I think I will have no choice but to try tomorrow morning.. Wish me luck...

No!! We didnt do nothin

Pakistan is a country in denial. No matter how blatant the infraction they are charged with or desperate their internal situation is they believe the answer to all their problems is in issuing a stout denial. In fact denial is so ingrained into their psyche that if we “blame” them vociferously enough being an Islamic Republic, we might get them to issue a denial to that too!!! The mentality is similar to the head digging ostrich. Somehow they are under the impression that if they deny things hard enough, then the rest of the world will shut up. Maybe they are right. How long can anyone argue to a person who only says “NO” to everything thrown at him. If they are not denying it, they are discombobulated about the issue with contradictory answers coming from different quarters.
Q: Did Pakistan lose the 1971 war?
Pakistan: Of course not…
Q: Has Pakistan ever misused aid by America to procure and develop weapons?
Pakistan: Hell NO!!!
Q: Has China ever used Pakistan against India?
Pakistan: You must be crazy to even suggest that…
Q: Does Pakistan have enough evidence to convict Hafiz Saeed?
Pakistan: Nope…
Q: Did Pakistan sponsor terrorists to infiltrate India and wreck havoc?
Pakistan: Yes… Sorry No.. I mean yes but no…

Laloo Prasad Yadav

The rustic Bihari baboo, the former railway minister of India, self proclaimed bucolic hero from the hinterlands of Bihar, Laloo Prasad Yadav is perhaps the most recognized face of the Indian political class outside India. To his credit he is one of the few, if any, politicians to have a doll look alike. Like it or not, with his rustic charisma, Laloo has found a place in our cultural and social life.
An LLB graduate, he was one of the youngest MPs in the parliament at the age of 29. This seemingly affable politician was the prime suspect in one of India’s most shameful scams. Between him and his semi-literate consort Rabri Devi, this man had an iron hold over Bihar for 15 years. It was during his rule, widely criticized as the dark days of Bihar, that the once golden city of Pataliputra became a haven for extortionists, kidnappers, murderers and their ilk. His rule saw the rise of the Yadav community, particularly his seemingly endless family. His brother in laws, sisters, nephews, etc soon took up important positions in the administration. His was the royal family in Bihar and he acted it. He coined this catchy phrase during the 2005 state elections: jab tak rahega samose mein aaloo, tab tak to rahega Bihar mein Lalu. Though he lost Bihar, he managed get the railway portfolio in the 2004 Manmohan Singh government. His administration saw the dramatic turnaround of the Indian Railways which was once on the verge of bankruptcy to become the second largest profit making public sector enterprise in India. He was hailed all over the world by business pundits for his understanding of the Indian junta and his simple yet novel ideas. His words became THE new mantra in management. Courses were planned on his management style and he was invited to deliver lectures at reputed business schools including Harvard. That’s till 2009. Today he is sulking behind the scenes after the crushing defeat in this year’s elections. The new railway minister Mamata Banerjee has declared that a white paper will be made on the Lalu regime. It seems that his fortunes have turned. He is perhaps at his all time low. But knowing Laloo, this is perhaps only a temporary glitch. After all it is his proclaimed ambition to be the Prime Minister of India!

Is 9% India's Limit?

Development for the masses… Yes… that is the term. Oh… since you just came here this let me acclimatize you with the season in my mind right now. I was thinking about the development pattern in India.

Recently I traveled by train from Palakkad to Bangalore via Tamil-Nadu in the daytime and I had a first hand feel of the urban-rural divide as the adage goes. Believe it or not, I actually saw people working in the fields completely naked. Being naked is perhaps the most comfortable way to beat the scorching sun when you are toiling in the field. But the point I am trying to convey is that if the people there had a proper education and exposure to the outer world then it is unlikely that they would have the mindset to go about romping stark naked in the middle of the day. I saw children running barefoot wearing rags. I saw vacant buildings with Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) painted on it with crumbling pillars and rotten rooftops. I saw such small fields that I wondered how they could even sustain themselves with it, let alone sell their produce for a margin.
To me it became apparent that these villagers had no idea about how rapidly the world is changing and how much it has already changed.

When I read about the government schemes, I realized that bulk of the planned growth happens only in the cities. Yes, there are a few schemes like the NREGS, SSA, etc which primarily focus on rural areas, but they are far too few and too ineffectively implemented to cause any tangible change in the rural landscape. All of our 9% growth rate is confined to pockets of urban India with the other India, the rural India, the true India being deprived of the progress. A good case in point would be my own village in Kerala. I cannot think of a single major change that has happened there in the last 15 years. They still don’t have a hospital worth its name. All the landmarks and the shops and the roads are still the same. Not an extra meter of road has been added. All that great social development indices they talk about was already achieved 20 years ago and the place has not progressed since.

Cities don’t require that much government attention to grow. People there already have the mentality to grow and they will consciously try to raise their standard of living. The government needs only to act as a small catalyst. The governments’ efforts I believe must be primarily on the rural sector. Yes, we are progressing at a healthy 9% rate by focussing on cities but that is nothing when we look at the possibilities. There is a HUGE potential waiting to be tapped in our rural heartlands. Just imagine if only 28% population can bring about a 9% growth, then the opportunities if the entire population can be harnessed are limitless. If somehow we can invigorate our countryside, then, my friends, India would be unstoppable.
Au contraire, if we don’t do something about this rural-urban divide I fear that the progress that we see today, will someday, end. Social inequality will be our bane and the cause of out downfall. We have an opportunity today to make India something it has never been since the Vedic ages, a country of uniform prosperity and peace and we must not be found wanting.

Me and My Eloquence

Three years of disuse and neglect has left my English in a pitiable state. I used to think of myself as someone who was eloquent. And today, I find myself lacking. Language is like a sword, it needs to be scrubbed and polished, or else it rusts. And that indeed is the plight I suffer today. In case you are wondering why I have broached this topic at all, let me put your mind to rest. It was during my preparation for the GRE examination I am supposed to be taking in a few months time that the “great, painful truth” became apparent. Though I never expected to do exceptionally well in the sample test without any preparation I was not prepared for the shocker of marks I obtained in the verbal test. On introspection I realized that my only exercise in English has been this blog the past few years. And even when I wrote this blog, I was not really paying serious attention to my language. As I read through my blog today, my obliviousness became apparent. As my brother so rightly pointed out, the way I write is not “beautiful” anymore. That is something I hope to correct in time. Anyway the only way from here is upwards… hopefully…

Opinions are welcome

Hi friends, the post just before this one is in a style that I wanted to try out. I have never written anything like that. It might sound a bit crude to you. All I ask of you is to read it with an open mind.

Cheers.. :)