Oh God please end this TAMASHA !!!

British actress Elizabeth Hurley's Indian wedding to businessman Arun Nayar has become the biggest nuisance in India. Not only this never ending marriage occupied prime space in the media, but the journalists got beaten up too.

I have not seen a single film by Hurley. I don’t have an idea what business Mr Nayar is doing either though he is always addressed as a leading Indian businessman.

What I know is that two failed people in their respective fields are turning their failure into a huge success by playing with their marriage. The Indian media is dancing to their tunes.

There are thousands of other issues to be covered. I cant understand why the journalists should crowd at the airport to their wedding hall – not even leaving the toilet areas – to cover an event that is important to no body in this country. What are these scribes doing by presenting a picture or a story of the couple to their readers? Have they ever asked us if we are interested in their stories about the couple?

Let them marry or go to hell. Please leave sacred news space reserved for more important issues please?

Race, Caste and Prejudice

In India the police and the media were busy with British security guards who were accused of manhandling students and parents, and called them "bloody Indians" or “bloody Muslims” as they tried to enter a school. During the same period England cricketer of Indian origin Monty Panesar was called a "stupid Indian" by some spectators in Australia.
Both the news dominated the precious media space for more than a week and both were termed as racial abuses punishable under the law. Unfortunately the British bodyguards could feel the taste of Indian police while the spectators got away. But what I don’t understand is how these personal attacks on individuals have become a case of racism.
The Wikipedia describes racism as ‘a belief or doctrine where inherent biological differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, with a corollary that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others'
So when somebody calls us an Indian with a prefix or suffix, we feel that our race is inferior and so we have the right to feel offended. But does it apply if an Indian calls an American ‘bloody American’ or an Australian the same way. Will they also complain it as a racial abuse? Why a case of racial abuse not registered against an Indian spectator who discovered that the Pakistani cricketer Inzamam Ul Haq was a potato? Why such a complaint was not registered when Sunil Gavaskar was abused in Calcutta?
So it is legitimate that a lower race can abuse a lower race but not by a ‘superior race’. Who defined the inferiority and superiority of the race? By mere colour of skin? In that logic donkeys should be a superior race than horses.
Why did the Muslims felt offended when they were called by the name of their religion – of course with an objectionable prefix? But will this same feeling be there if those same Muslims abuse the bodyguards by saying ‘you bloody Christians’ or ‘gora’ or ‘angrez’. Will the same charges be applied in this scenario? A South Indian feels offended if you call him Madrasi while he is happy if you call him Tamilian. Both are same but the humans have certified and classified that the term Madrasi is objectionable while Tamilian is not.
So we have classified ourselves into various stages of prejudice, discrimination, segregation or subordination where unwritten rules are framed. To see that these unwritten rules are adhered to we have laws that deal with such discrimination. Take the case of Indian caste system, which is divided into social stratification. Basically it is a Hindu tradition and has nothing to do with religions that came to India at later stages. But today we have not only Hindus but Muslims, Sikhs and Christians too practice it. In order to protect the lower castes from the routine mud slinging by the upper castes and to retain their dignity, the government of India formed strict rules. If you speak any offensive terms against a lower caste, you are punishable under a non-bailable offence. That precisely means on a complaint of such a nature, you have to prove yourself innocent. No proof is required by the complainant to put you behind the bars. In other words, this law is more dangerous than POTA, a law that was designed for terrorists. It is a matter of debate and further musings that such laws are misused in urban centers while in rural areas such laws are hardly implemented.
The immediate name that pops up when we discuss racial discrimination is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. a Christian American political activist and the most famous leader of the American civil rights movement. He fought for civil rights and equal rights and for which he was assassinated in 1968. Same is the case with our own Mahatma Gandhi and he also paid the same price. Both of them did not fight for superiorities. They fought for equalities.
Now consider this :
There are 3.22 Million Indians in America and every Indian in India dreams of reaching that dreamland legally or illegally, with or without racism, 38% of Doctors in America are Indians who service the superior white race leaving their inferior race back home to government health centers, money minting super specialty hospitals or the Almighty, 12% of Scientists in America are Indians who make that nation proud by achieving unachievable targets, 36% of NASA employees are Indians, 34% of MICROSOFT employees are Indians, 28% of IBM employees are Indians, 17% of INTEL employees are Indians and 13% of XEROX employees are Indians.
According to Mark Twain India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grand mother of tradition. So more than half of the world is ours and still we feel inferior by merely being called an Indian.
Everybody wants to go to heaven but no one is willing to die.

Binu Alex

Conviction By Ethical Standards

I always read Arundhati Roy’s pieces at one go. Normally it appears in Outlook Magazine and when my newspaper boy drops it on a Sunday morning, I start straight away. From the morning tea to the toilet seat to the breakfast table to the work place, the article follows me or I follow it. I have a special feeling reading what she writes. Her writings are laced with elements of truth and conviction or rather it is apparently visible. Except for a piece she wrote on Gujarat riots – which I vehemently opposed and disagreed with her views – all her articles have appealed me. The words are so carefully selected and arranged so beautifully that the reading is as smooth as a knife on butter. I may agree or disagree with her view is a different aspect altogether but I tend to agree with the quality of her pen or keypad.

The latest is her essay on Afsal Guru titled ‘Don’t Hang Afsal’ which appeared in Moulvi Vinod Mehta’s ‘Congress’ magazine Outlook. As usual Mr Mehta is fond of anti-establishment letters and so publishes them. I find there are more such letters than those supporting the article. Back in Gujarat I find many of my colleagues circulating emails, which asks for writing to President not to grant mercy to Afsal.

The only source of information for a common citizen is through media and media has played a partisan role in almost all the cases in the country. Trial by media is the mantra and gradually deception turns into honesty, truth becomes causality and honesty turns into desperation. Arundhati Roy is also using the same process-using Outlook but unlike in other media outlets – whose cub reporters and inexperienced glamour girls – present the matter in a more emotional and personal way without evidence, this one is an essay that is full of substantial proof. That is the reason people write letters attacking Ms Roy personally but do not dispute on what she has written. I have recently noticed that young and good looking girls with jeans and Loreal curls are roaming around police stations chasing constables to find out what they can produce for their every day show which starts with Crime but suffixed with any sundry word. It could be Crime Reporter, Crime File, Crime Clerk, Crime Commissioner, Crime Crime Crime. They are the people assigned to cover courts as well. When arguments for high profile cases continue they have to frequently come out and give a live byte and get back to the courtroom. Courts – especially SC – strictly ban mobile phones. At the end of the day each one of them comes to a conclusion, which may or may not be relevant to the case. But this is what general people listen to or read next morning. They take it for granted especially during sensitive issues like parliament attack and a neighboring enemy country is involved. Every one quotes from the newspaper or news channels to substantiate their point of view. “Paper mein aya tha na?” they immediately shoot back. Being a journalist myself I cannot argue further because that will jeopardize my credibility. They have taken it for granted unlike in civilized societies. Take the case of America where Mr Bush bombarded victory signs in Iraq saying how America has stopped terrorism by attacking two sovereign nations. But unlike here people did not take that for granted and the results are here to see.
I have been following many of these cases and sitting miles away from the scene if I still am not convinced about a pre-diwali Ansal Plaza shoot out, a pre-Clinton Sikh massacre, a pre-election Akshardham attack. The investigating agencies or the government of the day never tried to clear my doubts. But Ms Roy gives enough proof to believe otherwise. With so much resources at its disposal, the government can’t do anything to bring out the truth, it takes a writer’s courage and investigation to give me an iota of truth convincingly.
I have gone through many literary ‘greats’ who termed her as a one novel wonder. Many said she has wasted her talent in mixing activism with literature. Many went further saying she has vested interests and is sponsored by anti-national forces. Now let me ask these so-called literary ‘greats’ how they have helped the society by their writings. Their books are exorbitantly priced and heavily jargoned that people like me can neither afford to buy it nor understand it. But most of them are literary success stories. They earn huge money as the books go into reprints one after the other. Who benefited from this sale of books? Only the publisher and the author. So how can Ms Roy be one novel wonder? She used her celebrity status to disseminate information, which hitherto was unknown to you and me and at a price of Rs 15.

ba

Air or Land

Traveling by air under scrutiny from Central Industrial Security Force men have never been easy for me. After a couple of bad experiences, I have given up using an aircraft for my assignments – wherever it may be within India. Instead I use train.
There are very solid and logical reasons for that. I work for Radio and radio equipments include a host of accessories, which looks like weapons if you are in front of an X-ray machine. Take for example a security man asking me to open the mic I was carrying. I said I need a screwdriver to do that. He even asked why I was carrying two when only one was sufficient. He asked me whether I am a singer. ‘No’, I replied. You must be an announcer, sorry anchor. Nope, I am carrying this mic to get other’s voices and not to announce myself. He was not too happy with the answer and took me to a corner and asked me to open the other equipments bag. I did and he had never seen a digital recorder or for that matter long set of cables that I carried. He called his boss and very hesitantly they let me off only to be recalled before I reached a coffee shop. They asked me which profession I was and I said I am in the worst possible profession – Journalism. They suggested I should change my plans to carry my handbag as a cabin luggage. I said I would cancel my tickets than risking the equipments to merciless baggage handlers. They were apparently satisfied at my observation about the baggage handlers and allowed me to sip the hot cappuccino, which turned itself to a tasty cold coffee. This happened in 2004. Now it is worse. Not only are the checks tighter but even the shaving creams, toothpastes and after shave lotions are not allowed. Any traveler has to find out a shop at the destination to buy these things first.
Now I have a camera, a tripod, couple of additional bi-directional mics and more cables to carry. I also need to brush, shave and take a shower. Air travel prohibits me from doing all these basic needs. Moreover, the air congestion at Mumbai and Delhi– two of the primary sources from where my reporting outside my home originates and ends – makes me sick of waiting for aircrafts, which never arrives. Many a times, aircrafts hover around Mumbai and Delhi airports for hours. I enjoy it if I am inside the craft during the day and that too if I have a window seat. I hate during the night with the same seat and vice versa when I have an aisle one. It is a free Google Earth preview, which in any case is far better than when viewed from your monitor.
So I had long made up my mind to use Indian Railways instead. The timings are impeccable and there are no rail congestions. There is no CISF to check my mics and cables and I can also use the lavatory even when the train starts or stops. The coach attendant never cares to show me how I should the oxygen mask or the emergency exit doors. The kitchen– also called as pantry car - staff does not provide me boiled plastic foiled food and instead gives me a variety of menus to choose from. In the meantime a host of other kitchen guys passes through with lot many snack varieties. I also need not switch off my mobile. I hear no announcement from the train driver except a long hoot which intimates me better be in than out. The surprise package is that the time taken to travel to Mumbai from Ahmedabad was the same as the aircraft I flew a few months later. So then why should I settle for something inferior and much harassed?

And the most important factor is the financial aspect. Though the airlines claim they fly you free, the taxes and other levies are almost double to the train travel. I have very little to spare for those taxes.


Binu Alex

Neck Deep, Waist Deep or Knee Deep?

A century of planning, scores of planners, millions already in drains and still we don’t have a functional drain in any Indian city. Even during normal monsoons, all the cities in India become a virtual pool. Accepted that many drainage lines cannot take up the amount of gallons of water that rain showers and it may even be a century old infrasructure. But who stopped the civic authorities to change that? Is there any road in India that any civic authorites have shown mercy to? But still we hear the same justifications, we suffer the same agony. Earlier, there were low lying(read level) areas where people used buckets to propel water out of their homes. Now even in the so called high level areas, large industrial pumps are used. Where do the civic authorities expect these natural waters to go? Are they praying for a drought so that their drains remain dry and clean? There was a big talk of water recharging and its implementation went down the drains in the same pace it came up. Who really cares to recharge our underground water reserves from these waters? Flooding is not new to the world. It happens even in Shanghai, New York or London. But it is a rare phenomenon there where as it is a regular feature in our cities. During the good old days of monsoon people used to ask each other if there was any water around to take a walk and enjoy the rains. Now the question is very simple and straight forward. Neck deep, waist deep or knee deep? How deep are you? ba

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.

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