Switching Technology Loyalties

Reliance Infocomm’s suspected switch of royalty from CDMA to GSM may or may not worry Qualcomm, the US based patent holder for CDMA technology, but it has definitely worried me.
I am worried because I switched from GSM to CDMA after the latter was explained to me as a 3G technology and I was assured that data and voice over CDMA is far superior and better than GSM technology. I was told that GSM is a closed end technology and CDMA is an open ended technology where the consumers would benefit. After having brought a Reliance connection, I tried to test this and found that whatever they said was true. I am satisfied with both the voice as well as the data connectivity of Reliance CDMA. Accordingly I invested huge amount of money on gadgets that works with CDMA technology. Now Reliance’s switch of royalty means my investments will go down in drain. Today, I can be mobile anywhere in the country with my CDMA phone as well as my Simputer. But if I switch to GSM, it is not possible. The Cellular Operators Association of India – the association of GSM operators – may disagree. But you just cant beat a user.
“CDMA is a third generation technology. It provides data capability in proven economic conditions, even at the bottom of the pyramid. Therefore, it seems strange to move from a 3G technology to a second generation technology,” Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs said in New Delhi and fully agree to his view. GSM, though is widely used across the world, has been a poor cousin to CDMA as far as data links are concerned. Even GPRS has not been able to help me send my data with the speed that I have been able to connect through a CDMA phone. Not only is the bandwidth poor, the costs are exorbitantly high. That is the reason very few consumers uses GPRS or any other data technology in GSM.
For an average mobile user who uses voice and sms services, it may not matter which technology he uses. But for those who are mobile, it does matter. But then how does a consumer complain and object to this technology shift?
But what is exciting for me is another news item which says Qualcomm announced plans to sell its new third generation mobile phones in India through planned tie-ups with Indian companies and is currently in negotiations with Reliance Infocomm.

B A

Switch That #%#$@ Box OFF !

Last week as I was browsing through the sea of news channels available to me, I came across an interesting report in one of them. It was on how the international fares have nose dived. The reporter, obviously a lady, along with the desk help put in a series of graphics to show that the rates are at the bottom. It further added that this is the best time for the Indians to take up a foreign holiday.

That made me think how out of the world are these channels are. They are so desperate for stories directed at the urban elite that they cant see a huge deluge of stories about socio-developmental aspects just outside yours and my home.

First the stories are nothing but truth. People who watch these ‘sponsored’ stories and makes up their mind to visit Kualalumpur or Singapore will be disappointed to learn from the airline officials that the tickets under ‘these category’ are full. Instead, they offer full rate tickets which are almost double what the graphics displayed. I had a bad experience of visiting a British Airways office in Ahmedabad for booking discounted tickets to the US. I was impressed by the BA fare that they advertised in all the national newspapers which promised return airfare of Rs 34,000 to Chicago or any other places in the US. Of course, the taxes and other levies will have this charges climb to nearly 50K. But that is still half of what the full rates are. I called up their helpline number in a northern Indian city and held the phone for 37 minutes before a lady executive attended. She told me that the fare are actual and I can visit BA office in Ahmedabad for the booking.

At the Ahmedabad office, it was a rude shock since the only girl who was sitting at the booking counter paused her telephone conversation and asked me why I was there for. I said I need to book the ticket. She asked me the dates without hanging on the phone. I told her she can complete the conversation and I can wait till that time. No, ‘just tell me the date for which you want the ticket for’.

For a moment, I felt she was managing the modern East India Company and I was a famine struck Indian who went to the company in search of a mouthful of morsel.

While she kept the phone receiver on her lap, which made me believe that it must be her boyfriend or husband at the other side, she keyed in a number of strokes from the keyboard and smiled. Unfortunately, the smiles appeared because she can get rid of me fast and continue with her conversation.

“There isn’t a single ticket available sir,” she raised her head and picked up the receiver asking the fellow at the other end to hold the line for some more time.

“What about the next day, or the next. Can you give me a date on which I can get a confirm ticket?”

‘None’ pat came the reply. “Why” I was not far behind.

‘Because there isn’t any ticket available. It is as simple as that. You can book on our regular fare but we don’t take cheque or credit cards. You have to bring cash,” she again took up the receiver and asked the person at the other end to wait and then looked at me.

Can you please get out. To hell with your tickets – this was what I thought she would tell me by the gestures she started portraying.

“But you continue to give ads in the newspapers. Why is that? Your call centre executive told me yesterday tickets are available. Why…..”

“I don’t know all that. Anything else sir?” she interrupted me. It was more than obvious that staying any longer would be dangerous.

This is just the tip of an iceberg that corporate world plays with the media. This is also the result of the changing scenarios of media business. I expect a reporter to go to an airline office and book a ticket and tell the viewer how the airlines makes fool of the passengers by announcing tickets at discounted rates. Not the other way round.

But now every reporter’s dream is to have a mic and appear in mini screen, the fastest short cut to fame. Why not, they have studied journalism from colleges that charged as much as any doctor would have paid for his MBBS studies including the capitation fee.

Fraternities of good journalism and imaginative journalists have disappeared. Story telling is not more the motto, it is story selling rather. Today we have cub reporters who have no idea of what they are reporting on but since they are paid salary, they have to invent some ways to give a live byte.

I was not interested in Rahul Mahajan because he was an ordinary citizen whose case would have made headlines only in a crime magazine. But I was fed not for one day but for days together about his cocaine habits not by one channel but by all the sundry ones. But these are the stories that the urban elite relishes on. Any news- however, important may be- cannot dominate twenty four hours of a news channel. I am paying from my hard earned money to watch national and international news and you are feeding me with what you think is saleable. How fair is this?

Binu Alex

Gujarat has stopped producing leaders

Gujarat has stopped producing leaders – Don’t you feel so?

The last leader that I can remember from Gujarat is the same that no one from Gujarat want to associate with. His name is Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Ever heard of him? Well, see the postage stamps. The last democratic protest Gujarat had was Navnirman and it was four decades ago. As the state stopped producing leaders, the state stopped looking towards solutions. Instead of leaders, we have smart politicians today. The politicians are always biased. They have a basket called development. This basket is full of skeletons. Full of ghosts of those who died silently waiting for their rehabilitation or as urban slum dwellers. The politicians opened this basket far too often and automatically it started producing wealth and created millionaires. As more Nirmas and Reliance mushroomed in the state, more people became refugees. On the road to prosperity, you have no solutions. You crush whoever comes your way and the state will help you in doing that. Whenever a helpless poor shed tears, the politicians opened the same basket again and again. Whenever an influential shed tears, the courts came to their rescue. The oppressed stood dumb looking for a leader but he never turned up because there was none.
And this is exactly the reason the BJP rebellion in Gujarat died before it could germinate. Mistake – Keshubhai thought he was a leader. It is the same reason Congress is orphaned. Mistake – Too many crooks disguised as leaders. It is the same reason the Left parties are part of history in Gujarat. Mistake – They became number one enemy for the basket holders.
Leave the political field for a little while and enter the NGO sector. They too have a basket where they create nothing but wealth. In order to do that, they have to be at loggerheads with the government. If you are against the government you earn. If you are with the government, you still earn. Not a single NGO can gather a thousand people to a rally without arranging for logistics. The people have lost faith in all the system. They come only when they are transported. So here too leaders are hard to come by.
Now pause a little while we go through theatre scene. Ooops, are there anyone in this field? Anyone who have enacted a political play on the stage that evoked good applause?
Now let’s come back to the political scene. There is not a single person to counter the series of misinformation campaign unleashed as far as Narmada is concerned. I wonder how Aamir Khan has hurt the feelings of the people of Gujarat by speaking for Gujaratis? How is that the people from the valley who are going to type Cntl+Z in their life not a Gujarati? I remember the elections campaigns in these tribal areas where the same party – BJP – asked these tribals to oust missionaries from the region because ‘you all are our brothers and sisters’. That was the reason the BJP did well in Central Gujarat in the last assembly elections. That is the reason they could easily put the tribal to fight against the Muslims in these areas. No body dared to ask how suddenly they have become orphans. If they are not Gujaratis, they are not from any other neighboring state as well. Where do they belong to? I pity the tribal leaders who have not questioned this logic. They have been staying in the valley for centuries. Civilized people created provinces and divided them into different states without taking their consent. They didn’t protest. The civilized people created a new government department called Forest Department and cleaned up the forest wood which they had preserved and worshipped for centuries. They didn’t protest. The civilized people created cities and to have water right upto the asshole, they created dams and asked them to vacate without giving any notice. They didn’t protest. Now somebody like Aamir Khan said a word in support of these helpless refugees, there are protests everywhere.
Because there was blood shed during partition and we have a Kashmir problem burning, there is a cruel logic when people like Pravin Togadia thundering that Muslims should got to Pakistan. Because the majority of the nations in the world are Christian dominated, I can understand the logic of the same guy asking the Christians to go to either the US or the UK. (It is a different story altogether that he withdrew the statement immediately and as to who are desperate to go to these places). But how can you uproot a tribal on whose land you and me are staying by preparing some paper documents? How are they not as loyal to the state as you and me? Is it because they are demanding the basic livelihood needs in lieu of their ouster?
You made them refugees by vacating them from their land. You made them orphans now by disowning them. Is there any leader who can help them? Is there any one please who can give them a state because they don’t belong to any state? Is there any one who can at least report in the media how they are living away from the land they owned and preserved? Any one please.

Binu Alex

Tap Tourism in Alang

Devang and Anita got into matrimony after an year long romance. But an year of gossips could not give them a final destination for their honeymoon trip. Alps, Goa, Kerala, Kashmir, Hong Kong, Singapore and the list went on without any consensus. Ultimately they decide on Alang. They will get into a cruise liner that has come for breaking. They will stay there for a couple of days with food and beverage served by Gujarat tourism department. Thousands of such couples have skipped greatest honey moon destination to select Alang in Gujarat.

PUZZLED????

Well I was narrating this to my toddler and all of a sudden I woke from my slumber. Alang, to my knowledge, is the most unlikely guarded place for any journalists to visit. Even the IAEA would not have faced such a problem visiting uranium enrichment venues in Iran. But Alang is a place where the Gujarat government makes the visiting journalists feel that they have more to hide than reveal.
I believe Alang could have been a historically important place to visit where aging cruise liners, fishing trawlers and warships came to die. But Gujarat has never realized its tourism potential. And so like many other beautiful places in Gujarat, Alang is also untapped, unexplored because the government fears it might backfire if they allow Tom Dick and Harry to visit the place. The ship breakers have followed the suit putting boards to display “Visitors not allowed”. Perhaps the government may be toying the idea of putting this at the gates of TCGL. Wonder what TCGL is? It is Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Limited.

When I called up the Gujarat Maritime Board in Gandhinagar, the MD politely advised me to give a written application for the visit since there were two foreigners with me - two of my colleagues who happens to be Americans. I asked him whether an email would do and he sounded positive though he had no idea what the email address was. ( visit www.gmbports.org for their email address that nobody is aware of) As expected, there was no response to the email and then I got it printed and faxed it and also couriered it to the GMB address and also telephonically confirmed its receipt.
But even on the day of the visit – two weeks after the email and letter was dispatched, GMB showed its true government attitude and acted as if they haven’t received any such application. But on account of some personal connection and after pleading with the MD, it was granted on the eve of the visit.
This was where the notion of mistrust started and when I returned after the visit two days later, I had a set of ten toilet cleaner rolls, from some ship procured by some scrap dealer and purchased by me at a very low price. Not that I use a toilet paper but I bought it as my remembrand of the place, which I had visited a decade ago when there were no restrictions. Who knows the government will not make it tighter and tighter. And I didn’t want to preserve a lasting memory either. A toilet paper sufficed my need.
Situation in Alang is not a rosy picture and it was on the expected lines. The colonies where the workers stayed resembled any urban slum with no basic amenities. Some rights activists blame the ship breakers of not providing good amenities for these laborers. But they would have lived in a worse condition anyway had they been out of the ship yard as well. So if you don’t have any sympathy towards millions of slum dwellers in any parts of the country, what sympathy are you showering on these workers who live in almost the same conditions.
Secondly I found no Gujarati labourers working in the yard. The yards are dominated by Hindi speaking population mainly from BIMARU states. One of them even pointed out the reason for this. "To cut steel, you need the nerve of steel".
Without any doubt, they were doing the most dangerous jobs that a man can engage in. A Ship a day, an accident a day - is the norm that is widely used to justify the number of deaths that happens in Alang. But which job doesn’t have the risk? Is there a designated job or place where you are destined to die? Well, the answer to many is No. But to these labourers, it is a big Yes. If they go back fearing the dangerous working conditions, they will die of starvation back home. If they take up some other job, the amount of wages will not even suffice to look after oneself, leave alone their extended families back in their villages. So what are the options for them?
We went to Alang to look at the economic picture of the ship breaking business and not mainly to weigh the human sufferings. But no body was willing to take our word except perhaps the port officer who was candid enough to admit that there are dangers involved in ship breaking. Ultimately who doesn’t know that?
The biggest pain was an officer who was deputed not to assist us but to control us. Though the workers were trying to explain to us how they would work in Alang despite all the objections of an adverse working conditions, the GMB guy thought, they would spill out some beans. This meant, the GMB is primarily responsible for the bad press and they squarely blame on others. We were told that the workers and the ship breakers would 'cut us into pieces' if we go around unescorted. But what happened was the opposite. They wanted to tell us how the business is dwindling and how working conditions has improved - though we were not novices to take their word.
Large vessels waiting in the wings to cut into pieces is a treat to watch. It is especially great for those who have never entered a cruise liner. Well, if a state like Kerala can promote rains as one of the tourist attraction, it is yet another opportunity lost for Gujarat. Devang and Anita will go anywhere but Alang.

Binu Alex

Drive Innova, Drink Coke, Ban Aamir

Binu Alex

Whenever I listen to Pankaj Udhas, I appreciate him for his permutations and combinations of words that he uses to admire alcohol. Whatever tunes that he uses, whatever occasion he may be in, he has nothing but alcohol. He uses liquor statements even to express love. For me he is the biggest ambassador of liquor companies in Devnagari language.
But I don’t know him personally and so I am not sure whether he pours this admiration into a glass, adore it with some soda and then consumes it at the same frequency that he sings songs for it.
This is the same formula that works for Gujarat. This is a state full of contradictions. As soon as you complete your words about the post earthquake resilience of the people here, you have a Godhra and post Godhra. No sooner you finish speaking how people have bounced back from this violence; you have Narmada oustees left in the lurch because they are the most vulnerable and most unwanted tribal people of the state. As you finish speaking about how the state has still emerged as number one destination in industrial investment, you have Vadodara violence. And as you admire the way the city has normalized, there are some fanatics who have banned Aamir Khan.
I am the biggest causality of these contradictions because each time I start praising the place, it falls right on my face.
The best part of all these drama is that common people are just not concerned. “There must have been some reason if riots have taken place in Vadodara,” my neighbour, a Patel running a chemist shop told me the other day. He repeated this to Aamir Khan ban as well. But what surprised him was a resolution passed by Chemists Association to boycott all products endorsed by Aamir Khan.
To my memory, he hasn’t endorsed any product that has a remote relation to chemists and druggists. Two of the advertisements that I see Aamir Khan in a television commercial are for Coke and Innova. Innova is not sold through a chemists shop and these same chemists haven’t stopped selling Coke.
So what are these bans all about? Anyone can interpret this as a political sycophancy. It was the same sycophancy to impress the Chief Minister that many associations sang the same song during the Narmada issue. How does this benefit these associations? Immense, according to one of the political analysts. People hang on as association presidents and secretaries mainly for political ambition. Political ambition also means monetary benefits. People may believe they are devoted Hindus. As Ganesh Devy pointed out in one of his commentaries in Tehelka Magazine, the “Gujarati devotion is all about acquiring. They have an exchange relationship with God - I give you devotion, you give me riches.”
It is the Pankaj Udhas story again. You give me a tune, I give you the same devotion again and again.
I had a few Muslim friends when I was in School. I tried to contact them after the riots. Though they did pick up the phone, they did not care to give back a call though I had given my full address to them in case of any need. I called them again this year. Two of them have gone to Middle East and a few who are left here were apprehensive. Though they asked me about my well being, I could overhear the murmur “leave us alone”.
So that is the reason you a long list of NGOs fighting for Muslims who have nothing to do with Islam. Because what happened was a human rights violation, human rights activists are there in the scenario. Because a huge rehabilitation is necessary, you have a long list of NGOs even in that line. And not to forget a number of agents for funding agencies who dole out funds to nondescript NGOs for what they term as developmental work. But I don’t see any Muslims in the scenario. This also indicates how politically isolated the Muslims are in Gujarat.
I really pity the people who issues diktats to ban those people who speak against the state. In a democracy, it is the right of a citizen to express what he feels right or wrong, even if it against the policies of a state. But because you are pro-Narmada, you are against anyone who speaks for the project affected people. Are we a banana republic? Yes, to a certain extent we are. You need not be an expert to know that all these are political actions and have only political answers. You cannot expect a solution from civil society to these problems. My only question is how long will this primitiveness continue? Till that time let the sharab ka nasha continue.

ba

Narmade Sarvade

This cartoon that appeared in the Gujarati vernacular daily on 18 April, 2006 is a reminder of the emotions that an average Gujarati associates himself with Narmada.

As I was walking out of an assignment with a high profile businessman, he stopped me to ask what my opinion on the anti-Narmada protests were. He later told me that the question was primarily because the English media has generally acted against interests of Gujarat and was keen to know what I felt. In Gujarat it is normal to face such barrages of questions and so I was not surprised. But what surprised him was a condition that I posed to him before responding to his query. He agreed and I sent him a volley of uncomfortable questions.Have you ever been to Narmada valley? Have you ever seen the Narmada water reaching the destination it was intended to? Have you ever seen a tribal? Do you know what displacement is? Do you know that the water that is transported after displacing millions of people are used in Sabarmati river and lakes- both part of beautification projects of Ahmedabad? Do you know that there are hundreds of dams on Narmada and its tributaries? Do you really think the water will ever reach the water-starved areas of Kutchch?
I paused for a while for another set of questions. But the gentleman, originally from Surendranagar, one of the most drought stricken areas of Gujarat, admitted that he knows nothing about Narmada. His middle name is Radheshyam and if I mention the first or second name, it will be easier for anyone to make out. Let him remain our silent source.But like him, none of those who are protesting for Narmada have no idea for what they are doing that. Very few of these protestors at least know that they are fighting to bring Narmada water to Gujarat, which according to Jaynarayan Vyas, former Narmada minister, gets wasted in the sea.The cartoon here says "let them leave those displaced and start thinking of those who are starved for water"Yes, the state is emotionally attached to Narmada for reasons best known to those who made it a political issue. According to Vyas, the Narmada water gets wasted in sea. But right under his nose, in the city of Ahmedabad millions of gallons of water goes nowhere during the monsoons. Because the city has no underground water recharging facilities nor any proper drainage system, the water is flooded into homes making it a nightmare during monsoons. Now leaving this water which could be used for more than half of the year if it gets recharged, state has spent millions on bringing Narmada water. The lady whom I see every morning I wake up wastes a whole lot of water every day. There is no shortage of women in my apartment whose only job is to see that the water in the overhead tank is used to maximum. Because there is no control of usage of water, it is considered as a free supply under the impression that it can be used in any quantity.
(Rough note) to continue

(Audio) Scavenging Generations: A Look at India's Caste System

In India, people are divided and known according to the castes they belong to. Caste is ancient system of social stratification followed by Hindus for centuries and still intact in its premitive form. From admission to schools and colleges to employment or electionioneering everything depends on castes. The lowest strata in the caste system are outcastes – means they don’t belong to any caste- and primarily lives to do jobs that nobody else would touch. One of the jobs they are assigned for centuries is scavenging. However educated you are, as seen here in the state of Gujarat, you are destined to clean up roads and public toilets generations after generations. Identified under different names, the members of this particular community is more than one million in India. They are part of the untouchables. They cannot enter temples, homes, restaurants and so much so that utensils for them are destroyed after they use it once for the fear of not contracting the lower caste phobia. In this documentary, FSRN’s Binu Alex traveled across western Indian state of Gujarat to see their condition and reports why they cannot come out this stigma.

Click here to directly listen to the documentary at Free Speech Radio News Monday, Jan 2, 2006 - Scavenging Generations: A Look at India's Caste System

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Free Speech Radio News Monday, Jan 2, 2006 - Scavenging Generations: A Look at India's Caste System

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Distress Calls Can Be Scary

There is little doubt that very few must have missed an item that sounds similar to the one below in his or her inbox. I receive at least twenty daily. I am surprised that many people take it seriously(as in the case of many winning notifications of lotteries) and reply to the mail. Then a chain of mails continue to arrive till you realize that your email is with almost all the possible hands in this universe. Read one of the samples below.

FROM;MRS GRACE BOLAIGE

Greetings,I am making this contact to you on the fact that we may be of assistance to each other in developing a long lasting cordial business relationship, if you put your trust in God that this will work out forthe benefit of my own family and yours. I was moved by my personal inspiration to entrust on your sincerity to handle a business relationship that involves huge money on trust. I was constrained by the sudden death of my husband, the former Minister of Power andsteel and currently before his death, the Minister for Justiceof my country, whom was assassinated by an unknown men.I am Mrs. grace Bola Ige, the second wife of the late Mr. Bola Ige who died on December 23rd 2001. With heart full of grief, I regret to inform you of the inhumane and harsh conditions which my husband's first wife and the brother's have subjected my two daughters and me. Since my husband's death,the relatives have been wicked to us because of the following reasons:1. I am not from the same tribe with them.2. My refusal to learn and speak their tribal language and dress like other women fromtheir tribe. 3. My refusal to accept their religion4. Because I have no male child.5. Because I was specially loved and favored I am absolutely tired of all these threats from my husband relatives since the death of my husband.I am no longer in their Family house. am now in my husband's guesthouse, with my daughters, I seriously need your kind assistance and co-operations. Few weeks before my husband's death, he entrusted some security documents that cover a deposit he made to asecurity company to the tune of 25 million U.S dollars to my care for safe keeping in my apartment in Abuja.After his death I acted fast and required to gather information about the consignment. I was made to know that it was deposited as family treasure of a foreigner/associate to be delivered on request. This fund was deposited for safe keeping with a Private Security Company. Now I am seeking for a reliable foreigner who can come down to clear the funds in his/her name as the sole beneficiary of the Consignment. This is so because of my statushere as a widow of a political juggernaut. Now I solicit your assistance to accept this sum for self-keeping. This I cannot lodge into a bank account here in my name to avoid suspicion from the Government, my husband's brother's and wife since they have Confiscated all that is left by my husband and still places eyes on me if they could lay hands on more including cash as they have left me and my children without any cash.If you can accept this, I urge you to contact us immediately for us to brief you on arrangement on how we can possibly handle this.This is why I honestly contacted you because investing this money abroad should be the best for my dauthers and me. I will be honored if I can be given the privilege of dealing with the investment proceeding with you. I expect you to be trustworthy and kindenough to respond to this distress call to save US from a hopeless future. And if you agree, I hereby agree to compensate your sincere and candid effort in this regard with 30% of the principal sum. While the remaining 70% will be invested meaningfully for our future if possible in your area of business and different sectors of the Economy in your country which are dividends yielding. Whatever your decision is please reach me immediately through my email.And keep this letter tight secret for the interest of my Family. I regret to inform you of the inhumane and harsh conditions which my husband's first wife Justice Mrs. Atinuke Ige and the brother's have subjected me and my two daughters. Since my husband death, the relatives have been wicked to us in my husband family.I hope to hear from you soon.

MRS GRACE BOLA IGE

Now imagine the BJP faces a precarious situation for such a distress call and imagine Mrs Grace Bola Ige is given the task of drafting an SOS. Here is the sample she has drafted

FROM; TOP LEADERS OF BJP

Greetings,We are making this last ditch effort to dig ourselves out of the pit that we are in right now. We were constrained by the sudden death of our aspirations after the last elections when the people of India cruelly finished our party. We had ran the India Shining campaign and had several religious processions before the elections but that could not prove to be of any help to our survival.
We regret to inform you about the inhumane and harsh conditions our party president had to face from the party itself. The party's defeat the people of India have been wicked to us because of the following reasons :
1. We are not from the secular outlook that they seek to be.
2. Our party president's refusal to deny support that he had offered to Mohmmad Ali Jinnah
3. Our refusal to find a solution to Ayodhya dispute. If we had found one, that would have been the sudden death for us. By prolonging we could reach this far but we never realized that people would forget the sacrifices our party has given for the temple.
4. Because our family believes parivar is the supreme.
5. Because our party was specially loved and favored we are absolutely tired of all these threats from petty politicians and intolerance within the party since the end our regime in New Delhi.
We are no longer the ruling regime. We are in opposition now. We seriously need your assistance and co-operations. Few weeks before our defeat, we had entrusted various projects like sale of hotels, building super highways etc to the tune of millions of rupees. After our defeat, we were made to know that even the name of the project has been changed and enquiries ordered to other deals. The new regime has also brought employment guarantee act and right to information act which proved to be detrimental to our revival.Now we are seeking for a reliable partner to be our sole beneficiary for the mid term elections that is coming up soon. We solicit any party in India to accept this challenge and save us from further embarrassment. We cannot put this offer directly to avoid suspicion from the government. The ruling party's chairperson as well as the prime minister has confiscated all the remaining sympathy that we had with the electorates here in India.If you can accept this, I urge you to contact us immediately for us to brief you on arrangement on how we can possibly handle this.
This is why we honestly contacted you because partnering this coalition may not be in the best interest of the country. We will be honored if we can be given the privilege of dealing with the seat sharing proceeding with you. We expect you to be trustworthy and kind enough to respond to this distress call to save us from a hopeless future. And if you agree, we hereby agree to compensate your sincere and candid effort in this regard with 30% of the total seats while the remaining 70% will be shared meaningfully among all our other partners. Whatever your decision is please reach us immediately through any television channel. Once you see a 'breaking news' flash on any of the channels, expect a call from us. Till we decide on our seat sharing formula, all the channels will flash 'breaking news' logo even if our talks continue for months altogether.And keep this letter tight secret for the interest of our parivar.

(No offence meant. Satirical pieces should be taken in its right spirit)

India Inc in Independent Kashmir

As I went through an Indian Express Story titled India Inc rushed to Gujarat, where are they now: Mirwaiz by BASHAARAT MASOOD & MUZAMIL JALEEL which appeared on Wednesday, October 12, 2005, less than a week after the quake hit Kashmir region, I put myself a lot many question about the validity of this statement.
Just hours after the earthquake struck Gujarat in 2001, I rushed out not because my building also trembled and almost fell but because I had a lot many people to report to and with phone lines phut and mobiles in disarray, I could not have waited for orders to come in to move to places to report the incidents.
No second thought came to my mind as I joined a journalist friend of mine working in a big conglomerate for a trip that lasted more than a year. We visited almost all the places in Kutch and its surrounding areas reaching up to the Pakistan border in freezing temperatures. We had nothing to eat or drink but the villagers, already recovering from the shock of losing their dear ones, offered us help in the form of their already packed tents and more than willing to share whatever food they had.
Thanks to the missionaries in the region, we could never feel the real problem of hunger and thirst though we did go through without a single morsel for two days at a stretch. But that was not because nothing was available but we were so overworked that there was no time to synchronize the meal timings of respective organizations with that of our free time.
See What Mirwaiz said. ''It is sad that people have not responded to this great tragedy. This was not expected. When Latur and Bhuj were ravaged, big industrialists stepped forward to help. But no one seems to be coming to our aid.''
He is absolutely right but what he is not analyzing is the fact that Bhuj and Latur are not Kashmir. In both Bhuj and Latur there are no Hurriyats and in both the places any one at any given point of time in any form of transport with any item(anything literally) can easily reach.
Can Mirwaiz claim the same for the region he represents from?
In Bhuj, I could see individuals reaching in their individual capacity. They just picked up their vehicles and drove straight to places where their need was felt. It included doctors, engineers and para medics and even medical students. Those who were left behind joined one or the other organization.
Whereas in Bhuj, the relief materials in the form of tents and blankets were seen floating in streams and on highways, the Kashmiris are facing short supply and survive the freezing temperatures.
Even journalists could reach the PoK only 48 hours after the incident happened. These places are not only remote but are closely guarded for various reasons. It could be strategic, military, or just for the sake of guarding it.
No body reached Kashmir as they responded to Bhuj or Latur is what Mirwaiz is claiming and there is no doubt that it is true to the core.
But how? Who will be interested to trek a place where danger are in store for them both from military as well as extremists at each step. How will those volunteers who stepped out the moment they heard about an earthquake in Bhuj repeat the same in Kashmir? Who, after all, is responsible?
What I don't understand is how then the demand for an independent Kashmir is valid when Mirwaiz wants all those industries out of Kashmir to help them at the time of crisis. How is Kashmir going to survive independently?
That raises another question. What is so important in Kashmir that India and Pakistan are fighting a proxy war and real wars for the last five decades? What lies beneath this heaven on earth that can sustain itself even if it becomes independent from both India and Pakistan?

Indian Babus, waste personified

Right to food, right to live, right to work and right to information. These are jargons in any government babu's dictionary. All these terminologies start with the word 'right'. Not the ' right' that is derived from the expression 'right sir' that the bureaucracy utters each time his mouth opens in front of a minister or superior. The right that we are talking of is something that is a birthright. Yet millions in India are deprived of this right since independence. Reason is very simple and silly - Superiority complex.
Being a journalist and having worked in a government department for over a decade, I have observed these government 'servant' classes at close quarters. I feel cheated each time I meet a government babu. I feel cheated to my nation and myself. Are these the people who are going to give life to administration?
The value of an administrative post enhances with the remoteness of geography. The more remote you are in, the more you are likely to be considered a king. Yes, King. This is the right word that can be used to describe the Collectors or Police chief or a District Forest Officer. I vividly recollege the experience that I had in as recent as this month when I visited Dholavira, sites of Harappan civilization (2500-1900 BC) situated at Khadir Bet in Kutchch desert. Life for the villagers is hard but they live. As I entered a forsaken Gujarat Tourism guesthouse, I noticed some ten Gujarat Forest officials directing the newly appointed cook on the finer points of cooking. Soon some three joined them more. Their numbers outnumbered the number of saplings in the entire district - remember, the largest district in India. Soon came the DFO on a visit to the area to supervise how the saplings have been planted. The DFO directly came for the lunch and then went to a newly set room to take rest. The others took turn to have their lunch. Now imagine, some twenty people wasting precious man-hours for a work that is shamefully carried out with utmost precision - to feed their boss. A lunch of DFO cost the state an entire day's official machinery, not to speak of other costs.
The Central Bureau of Investigation is on a 'raid' spree. The agency is successfully collecting revenues for government, which the revenue departments have not. Billions are recovered either in cash or in kind from each officer raided. The maximum causality always comes from the Income tax and Central Excise & Customs department. Almost all the officers that I have come across during my tenure as a lower level employee in Income tax department were corrupt to the core. They were not only corrupt in their dealings but also in their attitude and thinking. Most of them had only one ambition and that is to earn quick bucks and for that they need good postings. Most of them had wives who were in one business or the other. And most of these businesses were nondescript and where there were no buyers. Let us come from the past to the present tense. They are actually cover for their husband's wealth amassing quality and quantity. In less than two years of interaction with these officers while on the job and more than ten years of interaction with officers for reporting work, it has become a routine work for me to first think whether the officer is straight forward or not. There are indicators easily available. Go to an officer's chamber and if you see a portrait of a god man or a god woman, it becomes the first indicator of corruption and nepotism. But that is necessarily not the best indicators because some people who are 'overzealously' religious also puts up these pictures. But talk with the officer for ten minutes and you will find how deep he is into his job or how deep he is into his pocket. And the best judges are the people who give the officer marks on the basis of the work in the area.

Not yet finished. More indicators to follow

Binu Alex