The only English language NEWS channel which comes on TV is CNN and over the past few months I have been a fed a daily diet of Obama to the extent that I have started calling him as St. Obama because he is supposed to set right all the ills of the world by twirling a magic wand. Nobody can blame our American friends of not going the whole hog about something but to expect a man and I emphasize again a man to fix the problems we face today is totally fantastical. Anyways, I dont want to write about Obama and what he means to me or to my friends and how I am tired of listening to him air some similar views as to Bush but being categorized as a "change agent" but what I admire is that he has been able to achieve what he has inspite of his humble beginnings. I also admire that he is so young and dynamic that he has ignited the imagination of people world wide.
What I want to write about is whether we could have a similar churn in our elections which are due for the summer months. I read somewhere that the main challengers for the PM post are Mayawati (:-O), Manmohan Singh and LK Advani. Mayawati is the youngest of the three and she does have humble beginnings but she as a PM would be a disaster because of the fact that the only ideology she believes in is "opportunism" while the other two are aged patriachs who have the experience to lead the nation but probably no energy to take the problems we face head on. The last few elections have shown some new, young and educated leaders breaking out but will the Indian polity allow one of them to come fore? I do believe that in the present times we need fresh, innovative ideas to recharge as Indians. I had really admired Rajiv Gandhi when he became PM as the young face of India but I have a feeling that unless it is Rahul or Priyanka nobody else of the young generation would be acceptable to their parties. Is this a reflection of our polity or our society where we don't seem to trust the younger generation to lead unless they have a Gandhi surname?
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
One cant be serious about this!!
Technological wonders of streaming video enable me to follow the domestic news channels regularly. The morning newspaper on the pot routine has been replaced with the laptop on the pot routine but without getting more graphic I think you get the idea that I am well connected with what is happening back home as well as rest of the world -
So the rest of the world is grappling with the worst ever global depression or actually the first real global depression; with the ever worsening situation in the Gulf, Afghanistan and other hot spots; with a new American president ( topic of my other blog ) trying to put the pieces in place to recover from the mess we all find ourselves in; economic leaders getting together in Davos to take stock of where we stand; pilots landing on frozen rivers etc. what I see on domestic new channels is this nonsense of "moral policing" being played again and again.
Yes, lets accept the fact that our country is a country full of contrasts and contradictions like any other country. Yes we have these idiots who want to control where women should go and where women should not go. This is not just one bunch of idiots but we also have more people who want to control what should be portrayed in our cinemas and what not, people who want to control what should be available as content on our media and what not, people who want to control what should be sold in shops and what not and so on....there is no reasoning to this but if one really tries to analyze why we have so many of these lunatics floating around one could come to the conclusion that like any other society which underwent churn India is going through a "coming of age" syndrome. We as a country are progressing and progressing rapidly but chunks of Indians are being left behind or feel left behind in the change which is enveloping India as a whole. It is from these disgruntled and envious sections of the society the executors of this foolish disruptive and repressive agenda emerge.
Don't get me wrong I am in no way making the case of condoning these loonies by pointing out the social churning but I am questioning the wisdom of focusing on the actions of these few, 24/7 on different news channels. Absolutely ridiculous questions like "Who will protect the respect of our women" form the basis of talk shows and discussions where eminent personalities come and either support or disapprove these actions / questions. Does anyone have the time and the patience to listen to this nonsense? Don't by overplaying these aspects we provide with these people cheap publicity ( which was probably their intention in the 1st place )? Don't we run the risk of making these lunatics appear as heroes to some section of our society encouraging more people to resort to hooliganism?
I really would like to see one hour of positive news one day! Yes we are a nation which sends an exploration mission to moon but can't ensure safety of women who go to a pub. The solution doesn't lie in talking and having talk shows about this but by taking concrete actions in the short term by not giving these people publicity, upholding rule of law etc and in the long term trying to make our progress more pervasive.
So the rest of the world is grappling with the worst ever global depression or actually the first real global depression; with the ever worsening situation in the Gulf, Afghanistan and other hot spots; with a new American president ( topic of my other blog ) trying to put the pieces in place to recover from the mess we all find ourselves in; economic leaders getting together in Davos to take stock of where we stand; pilots landing on frozen rivers etc. what I see on domestic new channels is this nonsense of "moral policing" being played again and again.
Yes, lets accept the fact that our country is a country full of contrasts and contradictions like any other country. Yes we have these idiots who want to control where women should go and where women should not go. This is not just one bunch of idiots but we also have more people who want to control what should be portrayed in our cinemas and what not, people who want to control what should be available as content on our media and what not, people who want to control what should be sold in shops and what not and so on....there is no reasoning to this but if one really tries to analyze why we have so many of these lunatics floating around one could come to the conclusion that like any other society which underwent churn India is going through a "coming of age" syndrome. We as a country are progressing and progressing rapidly but chunks of Indians are being left behind or feel left behind in the change which is enveloping India as a whole. It is from these disgruntled and envious sections of the society the executors of this foolish disruptive and repressive agenda emerge.
Don't get me wrong I am in no way making the case of condoning these loonies by pointing out the social churning but I am questioning the wisdom of focusing on the actions of these few, 24/7 on different news channels. Absolutely ridiculous questions like "Who will protect the respect of our women" form the basis of talk shows and discussions where eminent personalities come and either support or disapprove these actions / questions. Does anyone have the time and the patience to listen to this nonsense? Don't by overplaying these aspects we provide with these people cheap publicity ( which was probably their intention in the 1st place )? Don't we run the risk of making these lunatics appear as heroes to some section of our society encouraging more people to resort to hooliganism?
I really would like to see one hour of positive news one day! Yes we are a nation which sends an exploration mission to moon but can't ensure safety of women who go to a pub. The solution doesn't lie in talking and having talk shows about this but by taking concrete actions in the short term by not giving these people publicity, upholding rule of law etc and in the long term trying to make our progress more pervasive.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
My Big Fat Indian Wedding
My Big Fat Indian Wedding - yes that is what I call this circus! Introducing the joker relegated to one corner - me!!!!!
In this chaos, confusion, raging arguments, need to conformance to stupid traditions, rituals, sacrificing of human emotions on the alter of the need to show off, emotions running way overboard, everybody trying to get their 5 seconds of fame and importance I am uselessly trying to search for happiness and togetherness.
I tie the knot the day after and I already dread my life as a sandwitch between all the different "stakeholders"in my life.
Listening to "The Persecuted Will not Forget" by Testament!!
In this chaos, confusion, raging arguments, need to conformance to stupid traditions, rituals, sacrificing of human emotions on the alter of the need to show off, emotions running way overboard, everybody trying to get their 5 seconds of fame and importance I am uselessly trying to search for happiness and togetherness.
I tie the knot the day after and I already dread my life as a sandwitch between all the different "stakeholders"in my life.
Listening to "The Persecuted Will not Forget" by Testament!!
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Are we to be blamed?
Its been a week since the dance of death was played out in Mumbai. Everyday there are outpourings of grief, anger, frustration and concern directed against our neighbours, politicians and others. I share all these emotions as apart from feeling concerns for my relatives in Mumbai I also had to deal with a personal tragedy during the same time.
In addition I also have questions -
- why is it that we are facing these tragedies again and again?
- why is it that we are such a weak state?
- is it only the case that we have an inefficient home minister?
- why is it that if the home minister was inefficient he was asked to go after 4 years in office and numerous previous terrorist incidents?
- why is it that within the initial 5 minutes of the attack the 3 officers who were leading the investigations into the right wing terrorism were killed?
- why is it that out of the 10-11 incidents of terror that day the focus was only on Taj and Oberoi?
- was our media responsible in showing live the positions of our security forces? Did it result in the terrorists getting updated information about from where they were getting the threats?
- what purpose is served by politicians resigning / or being forced to quit now? is this accountability? shouldn't accountability be accompanied by punishment?
And many more such queries for which I know I will not get answers.
However, I do believe that somewhere deep down we as people are also responsible for the problems we are facing. We are perceived as a weak state because our disregard to Law. We take Law for granted. We are corrupt to the core. Yes our politicians, police, the machinery is corrupt but doesn't the politician or the police come from us? How many times have we paid bribes to get small favors or work done? How many times we break the Law in our every day lives? If we cant be Law abiding how do we expect that the people we elect are going to be any better? I have not voted for over 10 years and then I question the quality of governance I get. When I never was part of the exercise of choosing the government how can I question the governance I get. We as people have personified the "chalta hai" attitude. Everything is negotiable including our value systems. And we are weak because we are corrupt. We only have a sense of Indianess when we as a nation are attacked and two days later we forget everything.
For us to have a better situation we need to be make sacrifices - sacrifice the urge to get work done faster by paying bribes, sacrifice the urge to show the fellow Indian down, sacrifice our personal liberties so that the system can be made stronger, sacrifice the urge to find easy solutions e.g. blaming neighbors for our own ills and sacrifice the easy laid back attitude we have. "Chalta hai"has to be replaced with "Nahin chalta hai".
For the situation to become better we as people need to do our bit. We cant depend on others to do this for us. In addition I have a small request - Can we pass a law that anybody who even has a court case / chargesheet pending against him/her is not allowed to contest elections? Should we file a PIL for this because I cant expect the present politicians would pass any such legislation. I also don't think asking ministers to quit after an attack is a solution. They need to be given warnings and given one more chance to fix the problems. If they fail again they should be tried for "dereliction of duty" as any other normal person and punished.
In addition I also have questions -
- why is it that we are facing these tragedies again and again?
- why is it that we are such a weak state?
- is it only the case that we have an inefficient home minister?
- why is it that if the home minister was inefficient he was asked to go after 4 years in office and numerous previous terrorist incidents?
- why is it that within the initial 5 minutes of the attack the 3 officers who were leading the investigations into the right wing terrorism were killed?
- why is it that out of the 10-11 incidents of terror that day the focus was only on Taj and Oberoi?
- was our media responsible in showing live the positions of our security forces? Did it result in the terrorists getting updated information about from where they were getting the threats?
- what purpose is served by politicians resigning / or being forced to quit now? is this accountability? shouldn't accountability be accompanied by punishment?
And many more such queries for which I know I will not get answers.
However, I do believe that somewhere deep down we as people are also responsible for the problems we are facing. We are perceived as a weak state because our disregard to Law. We take Law for granted. We are corrupt to the core. Yes our politicians, police, the machinery is corrupt but doesn't the politician or the police come from us? How many times have we paid bribes to get small favors or work done? How many times we break the Law in our every day lives? If we cant be Law abiding how do we expect that the people we elect are going to be any better? I have not voted for over 10 years and then I question the quality of governance I get. When I never was part of the exercise of choosing the government how can I question the governance I get. We as people have personified the "chalta hai" attitude. Everything is negotiable including our value systems. And we are weak because we are corrupt. We only have a sense of Indianess when we as a nation are attacked and two days later we forget everything.
For us to have a better situation we need to be make sacrifices - sacrifice the urge to get work done faster by paying bribes, sacrifice the urge to show the fellow Indian down, sacrifice our personal liberties so that the system can be made stronger, sacrifice the urge to find easy solutions e.g. blaming neighbors for our own ills and sacrifice the easy laid back attitude we have. "Chalta hai"has to be replaced with "Nahin chalta hai".
For the situation to become better we as people need to do our bit. We cant depend on others to do this for us. In addition I have a small request - Can we pass a law that anybody who even has a court case / chargesheet pending against him/her is not allowed to contest elections? Should we file a PIL for this because I cant expect the present politicians would pass any such legislation. I also don't think asking ministers to quit after an attack is a solution. They need to be given warnings and given one more chance to fix the problems. If they fail again they should be tried for "dereliction of duty" as any other normal person and punished.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
You bet its convenient!!!
Well to be frank, its not convenient .... its DAMN WELL AWESOME!!! Just awesome. I can do it anywhere, its always available, as soon as I step inside the door its all there connected and waiting for me, its at my beck and call 24/7 and the price is fixed once and for all - no negotiations ....its my WLAN connection which I finally was able to configure and get online today. It is for my 32mbps unlimited download / upload internet connection :D :D :D
I was successful at my 2nd attempt after blowing up one cable modem and being without telephone and internet for sometime. I tell you it was worth it. Previously I have been advised to have a good internet connection and get a WLAN router but I was just fine with my dial up but today I am much better than fine! I am very very fine! Yes I am a late entrant into the wired home concept but u bet I am gonna make up on lost time with a vengeance!
Media center or Airport?
I was successful at my 2nd attempt after blowing up one cable modem and being without telephone and internet for sometime. I tell you it was worth it. Previously I have been advised to have a good internet connection and get a WLAN router but I was just fine with my dial up but today I am much better than fine! I am very very fine! Yes I am a late entrant into the wired home concept but u bet I am gonna make up on lost time with a vengeance!
Media center or Airport?
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Where is peace?
Sitting outside home I look at the news of tragedies and blasts in India with a different perspective. Somehow being faced with these kind of incidents everyday had made me immune to them. Now that I am detached and can only read about these incidents on online newspaper reports, these incidents touch me in a different way.
Since July this year almost every week or 10 days there have been incidents of serial blasts. Initially we used to associate terrorism with Punjab or Kashmir with sporadic incidents in the rest of the country but off late no part of the nation seems to safe or peaceful. We are being attacked with impunity anytime, anywhere.
This time we have a homegrown group to blame for these acts and no foreign powers. What despairs me is the absolute helplessness we are faced with with respect to these acts. The government seems absolute powerless in ensuring security and peace.
On the International Non Violence Day we are forced to accept that we are inherently a violent race.
Since July this year almost every week or 10 days there have been incidents of serial blasts. Initially we used to associate terrorism with Punjab or Kashmir with sporadic incidents in the rest of the country but off late no part of the nation seems to safe or peaceful. We are being attacked with impunity anytime, anywhere.
This time we have a homegrown group to blame for these acts and no foreign powers. What despairs me is the absolute helplessness we are faced with with respect to these acts. The government seems absolute powerless in ensuring security and peace.
On the International Non Violence Day we are forced to accept that we are inherently a violent race.
Bunker crashing a golf course
Yep, you read it right. I bunker crashed a golf course today - crashed through a bush and right onto the biggest golf course in this part of the world - how and why is another story but what was surprising was that the course was empty, carts were empty, the club house was empty; everything was so dead and forelorn. Then it stuck me - the world economy is on the precipice.
It took its time coming but the storm has finally hit us big time. I mean I just do not understand how could bad debts be doled out to the tune which we are talking about - actually nobody seems to know the extent of the problem. The US Congress is squabbling over 700 billion dollars Wall Street bailout deal but what the "learned" congressmen do not understand is that it is not a Wall Street bailout package but a world economy support package. Not surprising when probably a chunk of them do not even know where Iraq is. However coming back to the problem at hand I am dumb founded to believe that the highly paid investment bankers of the world gave loans to people without any collateral or knowing that the person taking the loan would not be able to repay them. Ok, I can understand one or two such loans but the magnitude that it not just bankrupts an individual but threatens the whole world economy is beyond comprehension.
World is flat and this crisis proves that. Probably it also proves that lot more insights are required than pure capitalism to run a good business.
It took its time coming but the storm has finally hit us big time. I mean I just do not understand how could bad debts be doled out to the tune which we are talking about - actually nobody seems to know the extent of the problem. The US Congress is squabbling over 700 billion dollars Wall Street bailout deal but what the "learned" congressmen do not understand is that it is not a Wall Street bailout package but a world economy support package. Not surprising when probably a chunk of them do not even know where Iraq is. However coming back to the problem at hand I am dumb founded to believe that the highly paid investment bankers of the world gave loans to people without any collateral or knowing that the person taking the loan would not be able to repay them. Ok, I can understand one or two such loans but the magnitude that it not just bankrupts an individual but threatens the whole world economy is beyond comprehension.
World is flat and this crisis proves that. Probably it also proves that lot more insights are required than pure capitalism to run a good business.
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