RIP : The thinking man

“The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out... without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable."

I remembered these words of American journalist and essayist H. L. Mencken as I see India as a country. In Indian environment, silence is golden. Mayawati can plunder the state revenue to fulfill her ambitions and Shiela Dixit can flout all rules for a CWG. Narendra Modi can do no wrong even if each step of his is a disaster. But the urban class are satisfied with GDP and upset with inflation.

But any one who criticizes these actions are taboos themselves. They are considered as fools who are used to making such noises. Even the journalists are awestruck at some of the political figures which they think are ‘towering’ personalities.

It takes the judicial system to question the questionable actions of these leaders. I have heard people saying that all other leaders have the liberty to do anything but if it comes to Modi, he becomes the target of so called pseudo secular activists. People have become deaf and dumb. So much so that the so called lion of Gujarat needs certificate from a Maulana to stamp his secular credentials for future endeavors.

These are our urban class. They live in glass chambers. Unless they get everything under one umbrella, they are happy. The moment they stop getting the facilities, they start their usual self – cribbing. These are the same people whose one feet unauthorized extensions in front of their palatial bungalows cannot be reclaimed by the government. They go to any extent and get a stay from the court to stop the demolition. At the same time they argue why the tribal, who have owned the land for centuries, cant give their land for betterment of the state.

Aapka bacha ladla, hamara bacha jansankya. This is a common saying in Hindi which is very apt for such people. I have seen people cursing the street vendors for encroaching on roads. But these are the same people who park multiple number of cars outside their bungalow despite the fact they have been given enough space to park their vehicles inside.

Mencken goes on to say "the one permanent emotion of the inferior man is fear – fear of the unknown, the complex, the inexplicable. What he wants above everything else is safety."

We all come under this category.

Who is this man? Guesswork allowed.

He is one person who can do wonders. He can make things work. He has the midas touch and his words and actions are copied everywhere. He is at the helm of a state where Black, White and Brown skinned entrepreneurs arrive and sign MoUs in an event that has rhymes  of vibrations.

He is one person who has fought single handedly all the NGOs, human rights organisations and international bodies to come out as a hero. He wears stylish clothes and is a fantastic orator. He is alleged to have presided over a mayhem that killed thousands in his state. This has elevated him to a superman status since none of his predecessors could do this wonder.

The Supreme Court has observed that any murder can be justified if the intention was to teach a lesson to the other. So this person’s intention was to teach the community of Osama a lesson. He will be exonerated from all sins by judiciary and the process is on.

But he has already proven innocent by the people of his state. He presents himself as a technology savvy leader who has more black cat commandos around him than his pet five crore people have to protect them. He jams mobile network wherever he travels. He can make no mistakes. He has a non-corrupt image. But in actual terms he is arrogant, doesn’t listen to any one, have little knowledge of world outside, lives within his own egoistic borders.

He is the projected Prime Minister of a country where sleeping beauties and silent monsters have ruled. He is often praised in all social networking sites, especially the one after which a movie of similar. He is the only person in the state with a beard where all other bearded men were hacked to death.

His fan following has only increased. For a flock that has severe leadership vacuum, his acumen and oratory skills have given new lease of life to them. He rules a state, which is de facto the 51st state of the world’s biggest economy. He is a person who left behind his married partner and takes care of all the other partners across the globe. He is a person who has turned agriculture tracts into industrial zones. He is a person who has a vision, but lacks acceptance. He is a person who wants to implement but surrounded by corrupt people. He is from a party that forgot its agenda was to build a temple and not give good governance.

He is a person who is not welcome in any other states. He is a person who is strictured by every judicial system. Yet he is the darling of many sections who wants a person who can protect them from the catastrophe of human avalanche – religiously and technically.

Who is this man? Guesswork allowed.

The undercurrents against Modi. Is it for real?

The other day I was at the Knowledge Series conducted by Divya Bhaskar where two journalists, Kundan Vyas of Janmabhoomi and Rajdeep Sardesai of IBN presented their views on Media Ethics especially in the light of Radia Gate.

For many years, I have been listening to such lectures and so it came as no surprise to me though many in the audience, consisting of Media related students and elders who have no work at home and a number of activists, enjoyed the talk.

What surprised me was the mood in the audience. As the interaction session started, one guy stood up to say how Narendra Modi is on a mission to sell the state to corporate illustrating how he demolished poor people to build Mahatma Mandir and other corporate structures. He was stopped in between by the organisers and asked to focus on the subject.

My sudden reaction was that the audience would support this move. I also thought the audience will behave the way they behave in all the podiums – drag out the question maker out of the hall and thrash him for having dared to question the lion of the state.

But to my surprise I found people in unison asking the organisers to let the man speak. Some of them even ridiculed the Gujarat CM on his so-called achievements and image makeover as a national leader and natural man to lead Gujarat. The voice got bigger and then people joined him to ask uncomfortable questions to the discomfort of my good friend Ajay Umat – the head of Divya Bhaskar editorial in Gujarat.

Is this an undercurrent happening all over the state? If yes, why is that this undercurrent is not shown during the polls results? BJP won all the elections held so far. I understand that almost all the audience that NM attends has manufactured audience. But this came as a surprise to me because the majority of the people sitting in the jam packed room at Rajpath Club were in their twenties – the so called brain washed people of the state.

Unfortunately for Gujarat and fortunately for BJP, Modi doesn’t have an alternative both within the party and outside the party.

At lat nap cabins at airport

For long I wondered why Indian airports never had cabins to take a nap. At last Delhi T3 now have this. Enjoy

Sonia, Maya, Pinky, Renuka, Muskan: The Kinnar party

As I went collecting contributions for an Apartment get together, I realized how difficult it is for the ‘Kinnars’ to reach out to prospective money givers and then keeping track of them on a regular basis.

We were certainly in a group and the members were more than happy to contribute. One of the group members suggested we should leave a mark on the doors the way Eunuchs write their names to declare that a group has visited the house and has made a major hole to the monthly earning of that particular family.

I have parted a major part of my salary to this tribe both at home and office. I tried to reason with them to produce a bill so that I can pay by cheque. She/he glanced at me as if they will take revenge by getting me admitted to their group. Last year, we tried to make them wait after having agreed to a small sum to discuss internally if we can reduce the amount further.

 One of them forcibly entered our meeting room in the office and said any one could count a million by this time. We settled for the agreed amount. The new office and the new home were bigger than the previous addresses. So the amount has to be bigger. So Sonia, Maya, Pinky, Renuka, Muskan and Party entered with demand of nothing less than an IMF loan.

Their leader Pinki massi was soft on me kindling me like her/his son. Sympathetic towards my helplessness in disbursing an amount on voucher without a proper bill was nothing short of a maternal care. I asked her a basic accountancy question of how to show this in the account. “It is none of my business,” she replied loudly but with compassion.

Their departure left a permanent mark. Not in my heart or body but on the walls outside the door. They also promised to return by Holi, Diwali, New Year and other festivals. Wonder where they are going to inscribe their Fateh Nama if this series go beyond a decade. And I also wonder how much of my income has to be earmarked for this SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle)

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Jews, Gujaratis and Marwaris

Recently I happened to read a piece by Calev Ben-David in Bloomberg News about Jews. There was nothing revealing though but I gave a thought of Jews being compared to Gujaratis or Marwaris.

All Indians are made equal; all Indians have got the same opportunity, market and access. How is that these two communities have got runaway success in business whereas a majority of the other tribes are not able to make it even beyond first step.

Every region has its own specialization. For example you find the highest number of journalists and authors from South India or West Bengal. They become great journos but die in penury. Gujaratis and Marwaris who become journalists turn themselves into ‘journalistic entrepreneurs’ in their own style.

Malayalis, for instance, have this special knack of being in secretarial job. Whether it is a Private Secretary of any Civil Service officer or some private entrepreneurs or even the Prime Minister of President of India, they excel in this field. They are sincere, hardworking, punctual; good command over language, articulate and above all never learns the trick from their masters to overtake them.

Just like the Jews, Gujaratis and Marwaris (Let’s call them Gujmar) work hard, gambles on money they never own, are found everywhere, are greatest capitalists, great US lovers, have a far flung diaspora and have this great knack for identifying and running successful business.

While a major part of the globe trounced capitalism as the root cause of problems, Jews and Gujmars refused to accept it. And they continued to prosper while the Socialism advocates made painful exits.

Both Jews and Gujmars have close relation to Bull and Bears. Both are pretty close to all the financial markets – or in other words, they control the Fin Markets. They are the people who built the market and they are the same people who continue to bash it – taking advantage of all the loopholes in it.

Jews continue to dominate the Hollywood scenario, Gujmar dominate Bollywood – except perhaps for chocolate-faced Khans. Jews have become victims and then perpetrators of large-scale violence; Gujmars have had the same experience.

Let’s call this comparison a great coincidence. That’s all.

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Touchdown Fear of all air passengers

After the Mangalore crash, where nearly 160 passengers where charred to death, every passenger anywhere in India is a little worried each time an aircraft descends for landing. I am one of those awe and fear struck passengers undergoing the trauma of being at the mercy of pilots whom we don’t know. What I know is that despite tens of lands and hundreds of flying hours, the pilots can make error and one single error is enough to be the last error for not only the pilot but also the error free passengers.

Even when I am on the Vashi bridge traveling either from Pune to Mumbai or Nerul to Mumbai, I ensure that my head is turned towards right to see a line of aircrafts descending one after the other. I am not looking at those aircrafts per say but thinking of those passengers mind set.

But most of the time I have traveled and touched down at most airports, including Mangalore and Calicut, I have not experienced the thud landing. But I always ensured to peep through the cockpit and see who the commanders are whenever I board an aircraft. If I see grey hair with smiling faces, I always got a big relief but if I see young teen looking, boyish-girlish-childish commanders, my blood pressure goes up. Will I reach my destination or I will be left to destiny?

I don’t have a problem while taking off  with any commanders and as usual I starts my prayers whenever the commander says, “Cabin crew to seats please”. But as soon as the commander repeats this on the descend, the heart beats double and my prayers go into a different zone. Though I look outside the window for a better view of the ground, my mind is always spiritual for that little time.

Gradually I found that all these are myths. As I went deep into aircraft behaviour, I realized that when it gets locked into ILS, the pilots are just dummies. But believe me these childish looking pilots have always had some of the smoothest landings I have ever experienced. At times, I don’t even feel the plane has landed until it starts applying brakes. I feel like going into the cockpit and kissing the commanders for their great landing but if I do so, I may land in police custody for harassment charges.

In earlier days, before the advent of private airlines, Indian Airlines and Air India ruled the skies. Just like the Doordarshan days when the audience never had an opportunity to compare television programmes, air travelers never saw chilled cabin and young and beautiful cabin crew.

So if you fly the national carriers, you get two servings – one is warm welcome and the other is maternal care. Warm because the air-conditioners never worked in the national carriers and maternal care because the cabin crew has always been aged at par with your mother or grandmother. They always served you food as if they have another flight to catch mid air. The captain never spoke to the passengers except for the mandatory stuff.

Indian skies have changed manifold today. Despite too many flights criss crossing the country, we have had fewer accidents. But all these said and done, I still carry what I call ‘touchdown fear.’ The fear as the aircraft starts its landing process and the seat belts are tight, the cabin crew is seated and lo behold, the plane has landed. Smoothly again.

Imagine IPL as a government organisation

Indian Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh had two full hours at his disposal to discuss ‘IPL Mess’ with Shashi Tharoor.

Sonia Gandhi has been seriously thinking of Tharoor, Sunanda and IPL. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister, A K Antony along with Home minister P Chidambaram is taking stock of the situation and is meeting each other every day.

L K Advani, Narendra Modi, Vasundhara Raje, Arun Jaitely are all involved in serious meeting about the IPL, Tharoor and Kochi consortium.

The biggest joke is the demand from Laloo Prasad Yadav to nationalise IPL. What a waste of energy to have even asked for it.

What is going on? For god’s sake is this what one billion Indians have voted this government for? Is IPL the biggest priority of this country?

Shame on Indian media to have created a big mountain out of a mole. A second or third grade party celebrity is the talking point of one billion Indians. Tonnes and tonnes of paper are wasted on this issue already.

The entire issues of heat, price rise, women’s bill, Finance Bill and Right to Education have gone to dogs. Instead a useless, worthless and good for nothing betting exercise called IPL – where foreign and Indian souls die to get in – is in the limelight.

The Indian PM should not have spent two minutes in this. The Indian media should have got this on their page five stories. The only department that is useful here is the Income Tax, Enforcement.

Imagine if the government concedes to the Left to nationalize IPL. The senior most IAS officer will be the Chief Commissioner of IPL. There will be a large-scale officers ranging from Additional Commissioners to Joint Commissioners sitting across the country with files that will never see the light of the day.

These files will be put up by an Upper Division Clerk and then orders neatly typed in by a Lower Division Clerk. There will be a huge Class IV employee pool whose hands will have to be greased to get their bosses.

Cricketers will have to file a form called Saral to get enrolled into IPL. The last date of filing the IPL returns will be March 31st. There will also be a trade union affiliated to CITU.

Instead of the pen down strike, the employees (read cricketers) will have a bat and ball down strike. The salaries of cricketers will read like Basic 10 lakhs, Dearness Allowance 2 lakhs, House Rent Allowance : 25 lakhs, Travelling Allowance : 4 lakhs. TDS will be deducted at the rate of 10 per cent. Deductions will include PF and CGHS. There will be a separate pay commission for IPL players to be headed by none other than Lalit Modi. Their ACRs will be written by BCCI and they will retire at the age of 58 unless government decides to increase it to 65. All cricketers who will retire from IPL will be eligible for a pension.

Te orders to increase bid prices of players will be in this format. In suppression of this Department's O.M. of even number dated 12th April , 2010, the undersigned is directed to say that it has been further clarified by Establishement (D) section of this Department that DR Assistant /DR Grade 'C' Cricketers who have got Non- Functional grade (NFG) in the grade pay of Rs. 40000000/ - would only be entitled for 3rd financial upgradation in the immediate higher grade pay of Rs. 50000000/- on completion of 10 years of continuous service(to be in the playing eleven) or on completion of 5 years stagnation(to be on the bench helping in providing drink or towels) in a single grade pay, whichever is earlier. No further financial upgradation would be admissible to such cricketers.

Crazy but this is India, the oldest and the most pragmatic civilization in this world

A lazy bunch called Journalists

Journalists are like sitting ducks. Not because they are prone to attacks and have no defense but this is connoted in a different way. They sit like ducks in their offices and look for gossips of film personalities or Page Three crowds. I have seldom seen journalists getting back to their basics – reporting. In an era where news comes in capsules and bytes, journalists say they give news that people want. But that is wrong. People get what journalists offers. If they don’t have anything to offer, readers are not going to complain. They have no mechanism to file a complaint against a newspaper for not reporting the news they want.
We are in a period where RTI to right to recall is getting implemented. But media is a sector that has been aloof from all these regulations. How can a viewer or a reader file a complaint against a newspaper or a TV channel for reporting stories that they are least interested in? For example, what will a Hindi migrant of Chennai has to do with live telecast of a minor rainfall in Gurgaon – which could be breaking news in Aaj Tak? How on earth can he communicate to the channel authorities that he wants to see national news and not regional news.
Newspaper barons have stopped asking journalists to travel for hard news. Television channels have put local video camera owners (mostly covering marriages and other social functions) to act as their local henchmen in moffusil places. This has turned to be a boon for journalists who need not take their bumps from their revolving chair to anywhere except perhaps their dwelling place. This saves a lot of money for newspaper owners. But in bargain what they get is amateur news and unprofessional journalism.
The focus today is to see what film stars are indulging while totally ignoring whether a family starves in a far flung place because of government apathy or negligence on part of local officials. They reach only those places where Rahul Gandhi dines with a poor family and them make those families a national heritage. There are millions of other starving families with whom Gandhis have not dined with and is suffering just because there are no checks and balances in the system, a role media is duty bound to investigate and report.
It doesn’t matter to millions of Indians if N D Tiwari, at the fag end of his life, is sexually active or if Amar Singh fires his salvo from Dubai to his mentor at Etawah. The poor in India have no regrets if they are offered Bt. Brinjals. What they need is a morsel whether it is genetically modified or not is irrelevant.
For one Ruchika, hundreds gathered with candles just because media highlighted how the perpetrator, DGP Rathore got away with a mild sentence. There are hundreds and thousands of Ruchikas all over the country where their Rathores are roaming free and preying on the future Ruchikas.
In my 16 years of journalism, I have spent 13 years traveling all across the country for news. I had to record my bytes for radio, have photographs of the subjects and then write stories describing minute details of the subject. So I had no option but to travel since I was reporting to print, radio and photo journalism mediums. Since the last three years, my travel is limited to some towns where I reach the nearest place by air, take a taxi or have a friend with me and travel comfortably by car. But the charm of reporting on rickety buses, staying in badly maintained hotels, using Sulabh toilets, sleeping on railway platform benches and trekking for stories is not there in the fast reporting that I do now. But I save money and so I have become lazy. One among the lazy bunch of journalist tribes that we have in India.

Instead, if, but and irony of Gujarat

Ishrat, Pranesh, Sohrabuddin, Javed, Vanzara, Amin, Kaushik, Pandey, Pratap Save, Kausar Bi, Tulsiram Prajapati, Latif are some of the few names that the state of Gujarat is dazzling now a days.

Instead, it should have actually dealt with groundnut, cotton, soybean, power, castor seed, Kesar, Chilli, Cumin Seeds, Isabgol and a host of globally traded commodities.

It is an irony that the entire state machinery is in a fire fighting exercise, the largest ever by a state, to save its face from an imminent backlash in the electoral fray by the people.

Instead it should have concentrated on farmers who are struggling to find ways to tackle drought and floods and help them sow the seeds of progress. Farmers, being good entrepreneurs, are smart enough to understand their future without the help of government, a big relief for the government.

It is very unfortunate that a major part of the expenses spent today are on Public Prosecutors and court fee. Most of the time that the ministers spend out of their official places is to make sure that the government does not get another slap in its face, to ensure that the assembly elections do not prove to be a dampener for the ruling party.

Instead they should have been in their respective constituencies. Since the last parliamentary elections, no political leaders have cared to visit their constituency. With by-elections due, they are bound to visit.

It is sad that the investment Bull Run in the state has also come down. Once upon a time an industrialist named Ratan Tata said “You are stupid if you are not (investing) here (in Gujarat)”. But that was for procuring one of the most agriculturally fertile land for his Nano project. The state needs no vibrant meetings to get people investing here. This is a natural place to invest with or without Ratan Tata saying this.

Instead, the government should not have given up so much for a car project. There are much larger projects in the state and ignoring them was a big mistake.

It is sad that the state economy is still in its production hibernation. It has not been able to convert itself or progress towards service economy. That is the reason why Sam Pitroda said “When it comes to Gujarat, one only thinks it to be an ideal place for business to flourish and it is this perception that needs to be changed. The state lacks in a talent pool that is required to bring about a change in the way people look at the state."

Instead, the state should have encouraged more companies to invest not by holding Vibrant Gujarat extravaganzas but building infrastructure for the service economy to grow.

It is unfortunate that the police officers sold their conscience to get out of turn promotions and some of them landed in jail. They forgot the entire vulnerable population of the state and went all out to protect one person.

Instead, they should have shown courage to tackle law and order problems and getting the state out of the current mess. They should have saved the people of Gujarat from being branded as fundamentalists whereas they are the most peace loving community in the country. They should have shown that policing is not about numbers but psychology.

It is also sad that at the fag end of the political career of the state’s CM, one cottage industry that is going to die down is that of NGOs. With no one to protest, no human rights violations, no fake encounters, what are they going to do?

Instead, they should have concentrated on building a modern, humane, progressive, highly skilled Gujarat, not to make it ‘some other place’ as Veerappa Moily pointed out. Now since this has not happened so far, we cannot expect any miracle now.