Bobby George Abraham is a friend in the technical writing fraternity based in Trivandrum, Kerala. He is a god-loving (not god-fearing) Christian. As always, as it happens with Bottomline, the Bakrid issue went out without greetings (without the feature itself, in fact). This morning, however, I received Bakrid greetings from Bobby George Abraham. It did not matter that he was a Malayalee Christian and I was a Telugu Hindu. The festival stands for sacrifice, sharing, and charity.
Eid al-Adha (in Arabic) or Bakr Id (in India) is the "Festival of Sacrifice" which is an important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide to commemorate the willingness of Abraham (Ibrahim) to sacrifice his son Ishmael (Isma'il) as an act of obedience to God, before God intervened to provide him with a ram to sacrifice instead. The meat is divided into three parts to be distributed to others. The family retains one third of the share, another third is given to relatives, friends and neighbors, and the other third is given to the poor and needy.
Happy Id, Bobby George Abraham.
The Age of entertainment: Creators and consumers
In the age of entertainment, there will be two breeds of people: the creators, who design and produce objects of pleasure and leisure; and the consumers of the products designed by the creators. If you have to rank them, the consumers are the elite: they decide what is good and what is not. The designs created by the proletariat will get automatically produced and distributed by machines. There is no payment associated with the entire process. Everybody has their housing, food, transport and other needs covered. Status symbols such as a big car or a private pool will be eliminated. The rich and the poor dine at the same table.
Some creators have direct access to the entire consumer base; they are the super class among the creators. The other creators have to pass their designs through a corresponding super class of consumers. The consumer elite then forwards selected designs for mass productions. In any system, the guy who seeks approval is a supplicant: in the age of entertainment, the creators submit their work for approval. Of course, some of these creators – after many years of consistent work – get direct access to the entire consumer base, without ‘censors’. These creators are at the top of the heap in the age of entertainment.
By getting into the elite consumer class, you get the satisfaction of being in a position to decide what goes for mass production. The hoi polloi can ask for a particular design – and get a copy; but there will be no mass production without the approval of the elite consumer.
So also, the creators get the satisfaction of getting their work across to as many people as they can. The elite ‘proles’, those creators whose work goes for mass-production without censoring are the top of the pecking order; then come the elite consumers, although as the guys who decide what is good and what is bad, they have already approved some designers’ work as universally acceptable. So they have stepped to the number two slot. The next are regular creators, followed by mass consumers.
Has the time come for a change of guard in AP?
Speculation is rife that someone from Delhi will take over as the Chief Minister at the end of this week. In the Indian National Congress (INC), it is unusual for a minister or a Member of Parliament to be sent to the home state as CM. But we just had a deviation from that good tradition in Maharashtra. So also, people say that Mr S Jaipal Reddy. I beg to differ: Mr Jaipal Reddy is not a true-blue Congressman: he dallied with the Janata party and then the Janata Dal for quite some time. Mrs D Purandhareswari is required in Delhi.
It is going to be a local, very likely a Telangana woman. If Dr J Geetha Reddy is nominated, remember that you have read it in Bottomline – Trust News.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Children’s Day Comes 9 Months After…
There is a joke back in the 1990s about children’s day in India: it comes exactly 9 months after Valentine’s day. You do the math.
Another joke doing the rounds on SMS and email these days is about the similarity between Michael Jackson, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Aurthur Clarke (the author): they all loved children!
Jokes apart, let us get down to the business of the day: no cabinet changes for now – not until January. Big deal, let us wait (and speculate as ever) for another two months. And meantime, remember one of India’s great sons.
The Dharma Bhoomi…
India has been home to saints and scholars, people who made great sacrifice for the uplift of the poor and down-trodden. It is also mother of leaders and statesmen who got recognized the world over as visionaries. Mahatma Gandhi was one: we celebrate his birthday with a dry day! And then there is Jawaharlal Nehru.
The son of a wealthy Indian barrister and politician, Motilal Nehru, Nehru became a leader of the left wing of the Congress Party when still fairly young. Rising to become Congress President, under the mentorship of Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru was a charismatic and radical leader, advocating complete independence from the British Empire. In the long struggle for Indian independence, in which he was a key player, Nehru was eventually recognized as Gandhi's political heir. Throughout his life, Nehru was also an advocate for Fabian socialism and the public sector as the means by which long-standing challenges of economic development could be addressed by poorer nations.
He was heir to Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy of peace and non-violence. As one of the founders of the Non-aligned Movement, he was also an important figure in the international politics of the post-war era. He was instrumental in putting India firmly on the democratic path. Many industrialists of the pre-independence era were influenced by Nehru and his brand of paternalistic socialism, like GD Birla and JRD Tata.
Happy Birthday Chicha Nehru. [That ‘chicha’ was deliberate: that is how Chacha is called in Hyderabadi.]
Bill Gates and His Evil Foundation
The foundation of Microsoft is foul. It meant producing software and stuff at a low production cost, and extracting maximum profit from it. Thereon, you donate a part of the earnings, score browny points, get tax exemption, and some merit points in St Peter’s register at the Pearly Gates. Whereas Dhirubhai told his sons – Mukesh and Anil Ambani – to make phone calls cheaper than post cards. They have done one better: they made communication (between reliance and reliance phones) FREE. Can you beat it?
India’s unemployed and underemployed
The unemployed and under-employed in India have a great time. In the western countries, if you don’t have a job, it is a social stigma. You are cut off from a lot of things: but here, we have large famblies, various celebrations and rituals, and one can keep oneself busy through out the year.
One of my brothers is a real estate dealer. There is no business for the past three years or so (ever since he entered the field)! But he cares not. He goes to the shivalaya on Mondays, Hanuman temple on Tuesdays, Ayyappa temple on Wednesdays, Sai temple on Thursdays, and so on. He is a busy man, earning not a ‘dammidi’ (the old copper coin).
In the west, people work with extra vigor until they retire, and then don’t know what to do with their free time. In India, ‘retirees’ have a lot of fun. As do the unemployed. So which part of the world is best suited for the age of entertainment? Like when all jobs are done by machines and all that humans have to do is to find means of keeping themselves busy? The answer is India: this is where the most number of movies are produced, and viewed (on the basis of ticket sales).
Another joke doing the rounds on SMS and email these days is about the similarity between Michael Jackson, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Aurthur Clarke (the author): they all loved children!
Jokes apart, let us get down to the business of the day: no cabinet changes for now – not until January. Big deal, let us wait (and speculate as ever) for another two months. And meantime, remember one of India’s great sons.
The Dharma Bhoomi…
India has been home to saints and scholars, people who made great sacrifice for the uplift of the poor and down-trodden. It is also mother of leaders and statesmen who got recognized the world over as visionaries. Mahatma Gandhi was one: we celebrate his birthday with a dry day! And then there is Jawaharlal Nehru.
The son of a wealthy Indian barrister and politician, Motilal Nehru, Nehru became a leader of the left wing of the Congress Party when still fairly young. Rising to become Congress President, under the mentorship of Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru was a charismatic and radical leader, advocating complete independence from the British Empire. In the long struggle for Indian independence, in which he was a key player, Nehru was eventually recognized as Gandhi's political heir. Throughout his life, Nehru was also an advocate for Fabian socialism and the public sector as the means by which long-standing challenges of economic development could be addressed by poorer nations.
He was heir to Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy of peace and non-violence. As one of the founders of the Non-aligned Movement, he was also an important figure in the international politics of the post-war era. He was instrumental in putting India firmly on the democratic path. Many industrialists of the pre-independence era were influenced by Nehru and his brand of paternalistic socialism, like GD Birla and JRD Tata.
Happy Birthday Chicha Nehru. [That ‘chicha’ was deliberate: that is how Chacha is called in Hyderabadi.]
Bill Gates and His Evil Foundation
The foundation of Microsoft is foul. It meant producing software and stuff at a low production cost, and extracting maximum profit from it. Thereon, you donate a part of the earnings, score browny points, get tax exemption, and some merit points in St Peter’s register at the Pearly Gates. Whereas Dhirubhai told his sons – Mukesh and Anil Ambani – to make phone calls cheaper than post cards. They have done one better: they made communication (between reliance and reliance phones) FREE. Can you beat it?
India’s unemployed and underemployed
The unemployed and under-employed in India have a great time. In the western countries, if you don’t have a job, it is a social stigma. You are cut off from a lot of things: but here, we have large famblies, various celebrations and rituals, and one can keep oneself busy through out the year.
One of my brothers is a real estate dealer. There is no business for the past three years or so (ever since he entered the field)! But he cares not. He goes to the shivalaya on Mondays, Hanuman temple on Tuesdays, Ayyappa temple on Wednesdays, Sai temple on Thursdays, and so on. He is a busy man, earning not a ‘dammidi’ (the old copper coin).
In the west, people work with extra vigor until they retire, and then don’t know what to do with their free time. In India, ‘retirees’ have a lot of fun. As do the unemployed. So which part of the world is best suited for the age of entertainment? Like when all jobs are done by machines and all that humans have to do is to find means of keeping themselves busy? The answer is India: this is where the most number of movies are produced, and viewed (on the basis of ticket sales).
Friday, November 12, 2010
Happiness Now… the Great Indian Joint Family
There is this story of a guy resting under a tree along a motorway. A businessman, going by that way, stops his car – just to take a short break and look at the countryside – and approaches the lazy guy. He asks: “why don’t you do something productive and profitable?”
The lazy guy says: “What will happen if I indulge in industry, tirelessly, like you? The rich man tells him that he can earn a lot of money. “What happens then? says the lazy guy. The rich man says: “You can save a lot of money, and build a house, etc.” The lazy guy quips: “Then what?” The rich man is upset, but chooses to proceed with the conversation, because it is intriguing to him that someone doesn’t understand the meaning of earning and saving, which is all he thought of so far. He says: “Well, you can rest for the rest of your life and enjoy the leisure…”
“That is what I was doing over there before you came and started this whole pointless conversation…” said the lazy man. Humans are known for delayed pleasure, and working their heads off to get there. No longer. We want happiness now. And happiness happens in the head.
Man, machine and the dog
Some sociologist (or futurologist), one of my students at the world school would know – that there will be only two employees in future industries: a man and a dog. The man is there to feed the dog, and the dog is there to see to it that the man does not go anywhere near the equipment. That was in essence what the author of “The Age of Entertainment” wrote about. We are not anywhere near that scene right now, but it looks like robots and other technologies will lead to such an eventuality.
Then what would we do, as humans, with all our leisure? My mother has the answer: she gets up at 9, has coffee, looks at the paper. [So in the age of entertainment, we should have newspapers and new channels] Then she goes for a wash, does a bit of puja, and has breakfast. Then begins her tryst with day-television. [Forget about night, or even evening, day-television is going to be big in the age of entertainment.] She goes on watching, actually listening to, the sounds of her favourite language – in fact the only language she knows (Telugu).
She is not very sure what is the difference between the box out there now (a television set) and the box in the olden times (a radio receiver). This goes on until 9 in the night, with lunch, evening coffee, and a dinner happening with the idiot box on all of the time. She briefly exercises her limbs around 6 p.m. for a few minutes and she really lives the life of a person belonging to the ‘leisure’ class.
I would like a life style like hers, with a minor variation: she writes the name of Srirama in a book, maybe fills a half page per day; I would write an occasional article about what the young people wear today. [Like the ‘piece’ Bertie Wooster wrote for his aunt’s magazine, Milady’s Boudoir.] My style is grunge, but I see guys spending an arm and a leg literally to get the grunge tag! I wish to ‘disambiguate’ that scenario.
We have bigger houses and smaller families
Germaine Greer visited India twenty years ago, and wrote about the great Indian joint family – which is like an MNC operating in multiple locations. I belong to a big family: one of my brothers is in my home town, I am in Hyderabad, another brother of mine too is in the same street. Two brothers are peripatetic. When my sister visits Hyderabad, she parks herself at my place but spends a lot of time at my brothers. We are almost a joint family – without living under one roof. I consult my brother in Mumbai about a television set I need to buy for mom. My bank statement goes to my brother’s flat down the street. I am not married, and all my siblings take decisions on my behalf.
I don’t know what intrigued Germaine Greer about the great Indian family. It intrigues me, too, what Julia Roberts found intriguing about Hinduism. Is it that the bigger-houses, smaller-families thingie triggers this passion for India?
The lazy guy says: “What will happen if I indulge in industry, tirelessly, like you? The rich man tells him that he can earn a lot of money. “What happens then? says the lazy guy. The rich man says: “You can save a lot of money, and build a house, etc.” The lazy guy quips: “Then what?” The rich man is upset, but chooses to proceed with the conversation, because it is intriguing to him that someone doesn’t understand the meaning of earning and saving, which is all he thought of so far. He says: “Well, you can rest for the rest of your life and enjoy the leisure…”
“That is what I was doing over there before you came and started this whole pointless conversation…” said the lazy man. Humans are known for delayed pleasure, and working their heads off to get there. No longer. We want happiness now. And happiness happens in the head.
Man, machine and the dog
Some sociologist (or futurologist), one of my students at the world school would know – that there will be only two employees in future industries: a man and a dog. The man is there to feed the dog, and the dog is there to see to it that the man does not go anywhere near the equipment. That was in essence what the author of “The Age of Entertainment” wrote about. We are not anywhere near that scene right now, but it looks like robots and other technologies will lead to such an eventuality.
Then what would we do, as humans, with all our leisure? My mother has the answer: she gets up at 9, has coffee, looks at the paper. [So in the age of entertainment, we should have newspapers and new channels] Then she goes for a wash, does a bit of puja, and has breakfast. Then begins her tryst with day-television. [Forget about night, or even evening, day-television is going to be big in the age of entertainment.] She goes on watching, actually listening to, the sounds of her favourite language – in fact the only language she knows (Telugu).
She is not very sure what is the difference between the box out there now (a television set) and the box in the olden times (a radio receiver). This goes on until 9 in the night, with lunch, evening coffee, and a dinner happening with the idiot box on all of the time. She briefly exercises her limbs around 6 p.m. for a few minutes and she really lives the life of a person belonging to the ‘leisure’ class.
I would like a life style like hers, with a minor variation: she writes the name of Srirama in a book, maybe fills a half page per day; I would write an occasional article about what the young people wear today. [Like the ‘piece’ Bertie Wooster wrote for his aunt’s magazine, Milady’s Boudoir.] My style is grunge, but I see guys spending an arm and a leg literally to get the grunge tag! I wish to ‘disambiguate’ that scenario.
We have bigger houses and smaller families
Germaine Greer visited India twenty years ago, and wrote about the great Indian joint family – which is like an MNC operating in multiple locations. I belong to a big family: one of my brothers is in my home town, I am in Hyderabad, another brother of mine too is in the same street. Two brothers are peripatetic. When my sister visits Hyderabad, she parks herself at my place but spends a lot of time at my brothers. We are almost a joint family – without living under one roof. I consult my brother in Mumbai about a television set I need to buy for mom. My bank statement goes to my brother’s flat down the street. I am not married, and all my siblings take decisions on my behalf.
I don’t know what intrigued Germaine Greer about the great Indian family. It intrigues me, too, what Julia Roberts found intriguing about Hinduism. Is it that the bigger-houses, smaller-families thingie triggers this passion for India?
Because you don’t know to be drunk on moonlight…
Because you can’t say, Shri Shri, between darkness and light
Between Big Brother and and the Heavens above
Because You did not care, not I, Nor care now
Or ever, if you get the drift of it now…
Because, you did not know to be wise and honest,
Did neither cherish the thrills of leisure nor care,
Because you did not know that happiness happens in the head,
Not in the Netherlands…
Because you did not care to dream
Beyond the realm of doubt – into certainty
Because you did no think beyond
The obvious and the trivial
Because you did not see beyond
The obvious and the trivial…
Because you did not build upon your dream
Into the realm of the possible
Because you did not care less what the nasty dynasties
Of yore and now, and the English Devis,
Of yore and now, and the trinity of language, caste, religion
What nasty dynasties play upon, from English to Devis
Because you did know what moonlight meant,
Mac or Bill, or whatever you are; Not I…
Because you did not know what it took to be
Resolute, erudite, sophisticated, and above all, Avonte Garde
Because I was the first to get there
Not you…
Between Big Brother and and the Heavens above
Because You did not care, not I, Nor care now
Or ever, if you get the drift of it now…
Because, you did not know to be wise and honest,
Did neither cherish the thrills of leisure nor care,
Because you did not know that happiness happens in the head,
Not in the Netherlands…
Because you did not care to dream
Beyond the realm of doubt – into certainty
Because you did no think beyond
The obvious and the trivial
Because you did not see beyond
The obvious and the trivial…
Because you did not build upon your dream
Into the realm of the possible
Because you did not care less what the nasty dynasties
Of yore and now, and the English Devis,
Of yore and now, and the trinity of language, caste, religion
What nasty dynasties play upon, from English to Devis
Because you did know what moonlight meant,
Mac or Bill, or whatever you are; Not I…
Because you did not know what it took to be
Resolute, erudite, sophisticated, and above all, Avonte Garde
Because I was the first to get there
Not you…
Ratan Tata and Dhirubhai Ambani, and the ‘aam admi’
When Mukesh and Anil Ambani mooted the idea of a wireless network company (which eventually took shape as Reliance Mobile), the old man who was in bed then asked them how much a post card cost. Perhaps he did not use a post card in some decades by then; anyway, the brother told him that it was 15 paise. It has been 15 paise since I was a child (my father was a prolific post card writer, who at best wrote an occasional in-land letter card.) The story goes that the legendary Dhirubhai told his sons that they should go ahead with the project (of the wireless network) if they could make it cheaper for the ‘aam janta’ to communicate over their network than to send a post card.
Forget about instant communication, the old man wanted them to make it cheaper than a post card which could take more than a week to get to the remote villages. And did the brothers do it! Not only Reliance, but other networks now offer SMS for 1 paisa per message. If you need to convey some information – critical in some cases – without taking recourse to text messaging (making sure that the other guy is ‘online’), you could do it in 10 seconds and pay 10 paise – over the network I subscribe to. There are cheaper options too, but I am happy with what I got. I am not too good at math now (not as sharp as I was in my school days).
Does Bill Gates make software ‘accessible’ to the ‘aam admi’? No, he makes us pay through our noses. And then donates a wee bit of his ‘fortune’ for charity. He gets on world trips exhorting other people to donate. Can there be a bigger joke than that?
Gandhi, Nehru, and the Tatas
J R D was a staunch nationalist. He built companies to build India. He actually flew the first ever plane by an Indian. When time came, he happily conceded ‘his’ company to the government. In case some of you don’t know, Indian air lines and Air India are Tata businesses that were nationalized. Not that J R D had an option, but what is important is that he ceded his business willingly.
Ratan Tata, now, started the biggest revolution in transportation – the Nano car. Read all about it in Small Wonder…
My date with the dentist
This was two months ago. I had excruciating tooth ache. I went to the dentist and he suggested some antibiotics, and told me to come back if the pain doesn’t go away. Well, the pain was gone for a few days but returned with rejuvenated vigor in three days. Back I went up the steps of the dentists surgery, well before he commenced his practice in the evening, and waited. He took a look, and said we need to do a root canal. Having heard terrible tales of woe of people who underwent a root canal and had it haunting them for years to come, I meekly asked him: Can’t you just pull it out?
Dr Kiran Kumar, the dentist, laughed and said: Pulling the tooth out is going to cause you the same pain as doing a root canal. (A root-canal treatment is more expensive, but I recommend that we open it up, and see if we can save it through root-canal treatment.) Initially, I told him to start the good work. But then, in a while I said, let me start the procedure later in the week. I was not mentally prepared. (Dentist dentist let me go; I’ll come again another day…)
He prescribed another course of antibiotics for the three days to come and set me free. Three days later the pain was back, and this time I mustered enough courage to mount the dentist’s chair. He is an excellent dentist: the procedure got over in two weeks (four sittings) and I am able to use that tooth as well as I use the others. It has been two months, as I said, and I am extremely happy with the results.
Bottomline recommends: Dr K Kiran Kumar (MDS) of Kirans Multispeciality Dental Hospital in Vidya Nagar, on the road from RTC X Roads to Hindi Maha Vidyalaya.
Forget about instant communication, the old man wanted them to make it cheaper than a post card which could take more than a week to get to the remote villages. And did the brothers do it! Not only Reliance, but other networks now offer SMS for 1 paisa per message. If you need to convey some information – critical in some cases – without taking recourse to text messaging (making sure that the other guy is ‘online’), you could do it in 10 seconds and pay 10 paise – over the network I subscribe to. There are cheaper options too, but I am happy with what I got. I am not too good at math now (not as sharp as I was in my school days).
Does Bill Gates make software ‘accessible’ to the ‘aam admi’? No, he makes us pay through our noses. And then donates a wee bit of his ‘fortune’ for charity. He gets on world trips exhorting other people to donate. Can there be a bigger joke than that?
Gandhi, Nehru, and the Tatas
J R D was a staunch nationalist. He built companies to build India. He actually flew the first ever plane by an Indian. When time came, he happily conceded ‘his’ company to the government. In case some of you don’t know, Indian air lines and Air India are Tata businesses that were nationalized. Not that J R D had an option, but what is important is that he ceded his business willingly.
Ratan Tata, now, started the biggest revolution in transportation – the Nano car. Read all about it in Small Wonder…
My date with the dentist
This was two months ago. I had excruciating tooth ache. I went to the dentist and he suggested some antibiotics, and told me to come back if the pain doesn’t go away. Well, the pain was gone for a few days but returned with rejuvenated vigor in three days. Back I went up the steps of the dentists surgery, well before he commenced his practice in the evening, and waited. He took a look, and said we need to do a root canal. Having heard terrible tales of woe of people who underwent a root canal and had it haunting them for years to come, I meekly asked him: Can’t you just pull it out?
Dr Kiran Kumar, the dentist, laughed and said: Pulling the tooth out is going to cause you the same pain as doing a root canal. (A root-canal treatment is more expensive, but I recommend that we open it up, and see if we can save it through root-canal treatment.) Initially, I told him to start the good work. But then, in a while I said, let me start the procedure later in the week. I was not mentally prepared. (Dentist dentist let me go; I’ll come again another day…)
He prescribed another course of antibiotics for the three days to come and set me free. Three days later the pain was back, and this time I mustered enough courage to mount the dentist’s chair. He is an excellent dentist: the procedure got over in two weeks (four sittings) and I am able to use that tooth as well as I use the others. It has been two months, as I said, and I am extremely happy with the results.
Bottomline recommends: Dr K Kiran Kumar (MDS) of Kirans Multispeciality Dental Hospital in Vidya Nagar, on the road from RTC X Roads to Hindi Maha Vidyalaya.
How Could We Forget Balagopal?
Bottomline doesn’t claim to get there first (or anywhere near it before the whole world knows about it). Our fame to claim is to bring another perspective, a bit ‘hatke’ from the usual stories. What I usually do is to go through the top stories of the day, breaking in from online sources and choose two or three interesting ones and put a different spin on them.
It has been more than ten days since the death anniversary of the late professor L Balagopal, who was the leading light in the Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Council early in his career and broke away from them to form the Andhra Pradesh Human Rights Commission – decrying the violence let loose by the naxalites, sometimes targeted at the common people.
I did see the story but kind of sat on it: thousand apologies. Not that the big blunder I committed can be attenuated by a million apologies even. It would have been a fit occasion to remind people of the blog I wrote earlier, on Professor L Balagopal, and to compare Balagopal’s polemics with those of Arundhati Roy.
I also missed an opportunity to join the few people who organized a meeting on the occasion. When I learn to use the cell-phone organizer to remind me, more than birthdays and things, I am going to set up a reminder of L Balagopal’s death anniversary.
Talking of reminders of death anniversaries, there is a ‘dharma satram’ in Varanasi, where you pay a certain amount; the trust which overseas the ‘satram’ puts that in a fund, and year after year, they give free food to people who come by. Those who sponsor the meal get a post card every year that on such and such day (the death anniversary of the person in whose name you made the donation), meals were provided (or will be provided). And because it comes from the cultural and religious capital of India – as my friend Sanjeev Pandey refers to his home town – the date on it authentic: sometimes there is confusion about the ‘thithi’ (date) and this post card often comes in to clarify on the dispute.
The real assets of IT companies
I had always suspected it, that the IT companies’ shares soar so high because of their land holdings, not so much for the profits they make. Of course N R Narayana Murthy wants us to believe that shareholders’ value is in the people they have (a school drop out like Bill Gates could founded the biggest software empire) and their customer base.
But here is the Infosys annual report said: “Creating land banks was a key challenge. We persuaded state governments to allot us land.” At throw-away prices, he did not say. Following these statements, Sugata Srinivasaraju did a story in the Outlook (7 November, 2005). The devil must be given its due (and so must be Vinod Mehta and his crew).
Kudos, Outlook.
Sidharth Shankar Ray’s demise
Bottomline caught up with this rather quick, considering the usual response time. An interesting thing about this gentleman is that he won an election as an independent support by the left! Johar
Engish Devi: Temples of the new age
Nehru said that big dams and industrial installations are the temples of the new age: Arundhati Roy damns them unconditionally but that is beside the point. Now the dalit bahujans in U.P. are building a temple for the English language. Lord Mecaulay would have loved to unveil the reification and deification of his scheme for India and the Indian middle class.
Hyderabadi tongue
I promised once that I will introduce peculiar Hyderabadi expression which would pose a challenge to a Hindi speaker from the north. Consider: kapda marna; kapda means cloth and marna means beat. Put together, what sense could an outsider make? It means, “Clean the table by beating the cloth on it”.
Now how about this one? ‘anjan marna…’ Stranger hit? It means ‘to behave like a stranger, show no recognition of the other person’. This is said in a light-hearted banter, when the other person hasn’t seen you or heard you in the first place.
It has been more than ten days since the death anniversary of the late professor L Balagopal, who was the leading light in the Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Council early in his career and broke away from them to form the Andhra Pradesh Human Rights Commission – decrying the violence let loose by the naxalites, sometimes targeted at the common people.
I did see the story but kind of sat on it: thousand apologies. Not that the big blunder I committed can be attenuated by a million apologies even. It would have been a fit occasion to remind people of the blog I wrote earlier, on Professor L Balagopal, and to compare Balagopal’s polemics with those of Arundhati Roy.
I also missed an opportunity to join the few people who organized a meeting on the occasion. When I learn to use the cell-phone organizer to remind me, more than birthdays and things, I am going to set up a reminder of L Balagopal’s death anniversary.
Talking of reminders of death anniversaries, there is a ‘dharma satram’ in Varanasi, where you pay a certain amount; the trust which overseas the ‘satram’ puts that in a fund, and year after year, they give free food to people who come by. Those who sponsor the meal get a post card every year that on such and such day (the death anniversary of the person in whose name you made the donation), meals were provided (or will be provided). And because it comes from the cultural and religious capital of India – as my friend Sanjeev Pandey refers to his home town – the date on it authentic: sometimes there is confusion about the ‘thithi’ (date) and this post card often comes in to clarify on the dispute.
The real assets of IT companies
I had always suspected it, that the IT companies’ shares soar so high because of their land holdings, not so much for the profits they make. Of course N R Narayana Murthy wants us to believe that shareholders’ value is in the people they have (a school drop out like Bill Gates could founded the biggest software empire) and their customer base.
But here is the Infosys annual report said: “Creating land banks was a key challenge. We persuaded state governments to allot us land.” At throw-away prices, he did not say. Following these statements, Sugata Srinivasaraju did a story in the Outlook (7 November, 2005). The devil must be given its due (and so must be Vinod Mehta and his crew).
Kudos, Outlook.
Sidharth Shankar Ray’s demise
Bottomline caught up with this rather quick, considering the usual response time. An interesting thing about this gentleman is that he won an election as an independent support by the left! Johar
Engish Devi: Temples of the new age
Nehru said that big dams and industrial installations are the temples of the new age: Arundhati Roy damns them unconditionally but that is beside the point. Now the dalit bahujans in U.P. are building a temple for the English language. Lord Mecaulay would have loved to unveil the reification and deification of his scheme for India and the Indian middle class.
Hyderabadi tongue
I promised once that I will introduce peculiar Hyderabadi expression which would pose a challenge to a Hindi speaker from the north. Consider: kapda marna; kapda means cloth and marna means beat. Put together, what sense could an outsider make? It means, “Clean the table by beating the cloth on it”.
Now how about this one? ‘anjan marna…’ Stranger hit? It means ‘to behave like a stranger, show no recognition of the other person’. This is said in a light-hearted banter, when the other person hasn’t seen you or heard you in the first place.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Which Side Are You On: Good Or Evil?
Kancha Ilaiah, of whom I spoke earlier in this column, had a meeting yesterday to celebrate Narakasura Vardhanti. His logic was that upper caste Hindus – led by Brahmins – have oppressed the dalit bahujans (maybe Dravidians) of this country, to the extent that even the dalit gods have been represented as evil. Naraka is just one of them: so let us now celebrate his ascent to the ‘other world’.
OK, I do agree that history, and myth created out of history, has a slant favoring the victor; in this case, it is the upper caste Hindus. Why then wage a war against Hindu gods and goddesses? Like B R Ambedkar, why not convert to Buddhism (or, Christianity). Why remain a ‘Hindu’ on paper, and then cry aloud that one is not a Hindu. On another occasion, I had said that there is no ritual associated with converting oneself to Hinduism (so, I advised Julia Roberts to take it easy). So also, there is no need to ‘prove’ that one is not a Hindu: you just say so, and you are relieved of the burden of centuries of oppression.
Then again, all Hindus, upper-caste or dalit bahujan (and even some Christians) celebrate Onam, Which is the largest festival in Kerala. It marks the homecoming of the legendary King Mahabali. The festival lasts for ten days and is linked to many elements of Kerala's culture and tradition. Intricate flower carpets, elaborate banquet lunch, snake boat races, and kaikottikkali dance all play a part in the festival.
The Asura Dynasty of Prgjyothisha
Narakasura and his kingdom, Pragjyotisha, find mention in both the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, in the sections which were written not before the first century. His son, Bhagadatta, is said to have fought for the Kauravas in the Mahabharata battle. (Interestingly, the Andhra tribe which migrated to current Andhra Pradesh also fought with Karna: many people have names like Karan in the Telangana region.) The Naraka myth gets the most extensive elaboration in the Upapurana called Kalika Purana (10th century), which was composed in Assam itself. Here the legend of Janaka of Videha, the father of Sita, is embellished and added to the legend of Naraka. There are conflicting and entangled tales associated with Naraka. The word ‘naraka’ itself means the nether world in Sanskrit.
The legend of Narakasura is important in the history of Assam since Narakasura is cited as the progenitor of many dynasties that ruled Kamarupa in historical times. A hill, to the south of Guwahati is named after him. He is also associated with the myth of the shakta goddess and place of worship Kamakhya. My colleague Mr Talukdar (who hails from Assam) says that the mongoloid kings were the so-called asuras Thus, according to him Narakasura is not mentioned in relation to Diwali; it is celebrated as the day Ram returned to Ayodhya after killing Ravana; this is the myth prevalent in northern India.
The festival of lights
I overheard someone from the front office asking a colleague how he celebrated Diwali. He said that he was a Christian. So what, the lady quipped, it is just a festival of lights! (Why do so many of us celebrate Christmas – mainly at pubs and night clubs :) Indeed, in neighboring China, there is the lantern festival (which, curiously, is celebrated more in Singapore than in Mainland China) around the onset of winter.
Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely…
The epics Ramayana and Mahabharata were written and rewritten over centuries and various digressions got added to it, so the coherence of these stories is in peril. Other texts also have undergone changes over a period of time. Essentially, in most cases, we see that the epics and other texts talk about the victory of good over evil. Very often, we see that the ‘evil’ is nothing but a great person who gets powers from the Gods (like Ravana, Naraka, Hiranya Kashipa), and starts abusing his power: that is, the power gets into their head.
Often, it is written by the victor, and the victor paints the loser as evil. The point is, let us do reexamine these myths and legends: but let us not promote hatred for one another. It is the strength of India that a Malayali from Kerala, who believes that their King Mahabali visits them once every year and an Asomi who believes that Naraka was their deity, and a north Indian who believes that Vishnu killed both Bali and Naraka and that he was a part of the trinity – can share a table, at a restaurant, or the dais on the eve of diwali.
Three cheers to Narakasura!
OK, I do agree that history, and myth created out of history, has a slant favoring the victor; in this case, it is the upper caste Hindus. Why then wage a war against Hindu gods and goddesses? Like B R Ambedkar, why not convert to Buddhism (or, Christianity). Why remain a ‘Hindu’ on paper, and then cry aloud that one is not a Hindu. On another occasion, I had said that there is no ritual associated with converting oneself to Hinduism (so, I advised Julia Roberts to take it easy). So also, there is no need to ‘prove’ that one is not a Hindu: you just say so, and you are relieved of the burden of centuries of oppression.
Then again, all Hindus, upper-caste or dalit bahujan (and even some Christians) celebrate Onam, Which is the largest festival in Kerala. It marks the homecoming of the legendary King Mahabali. The festival lasts for ten days and is linked to many elements of Kerala's culture and tradition. Intricate flower carpets, elaborate banquet lunch, snake boat races, and kaikottikkali dance all play a part in the festival.
The Asura Dynasty of Prgjyothisha
Narakasura and his kingdom, Pragjyotisha, find mention in both the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, in the sections which were written not before the first century. His son, Bhagadatta, is said to have fought for the Kauravas in the Mahabharata battle. (Interestingly, the Andhra tribe which migrated to current Andhra Pradesh also fought with Karna: many people have names like Karan in the Telangana region.) The Naraka myth gets the most extensive elaboration in the Upapurana called Kalika Purana (10th century), which was composed in Assam itself. Here the legend of Janaka of Videha, the father of Sita, is embellished and added to the legend of Naraka. There are conflicting and entangled tales associated with Naraka. The word ‘naraka’ itself means the nether world in Sanskrit.
The legend of Narakasura is important in the history of Assam since Narakasura is cited as the progenitor of many dynasties that ruled Kamarupa in historical times. A hill, to the south of Guwahati is named after him. He is also associated with the myth of the shakta goddess and place of worship Kamakhya. My colleague Mr Talukdar (who hails from Assam) says that the mongoloid kings were the so-called asuras Thus, according to him Narakasura is not mentioned in relation to Diwali; it is celebrated as the day Ram returned to Ayodhya after killing Ravana; this is the myth prevalent in northern India.
The festival of lights
I overheard someone from the front office asking a colleague how he celebrated Diwali. He said that he was a Christian. So what, the lady quipped, it is just a festival of lights! (Why do so many of us celebrate Christmas – mainly at pubs and night clubs :) Indeed, in neighboring China, there is the lantern festival (which, curiously, is celebrated more in Singapore than in Mainland China) around the onset of winter.
Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely…
The epics Ramayana and Mahabharata were written and rewritten over centuries and various digressions got added to it, so the coherence of these stories is in peril. Other texts also have undergone changes over a period of time. Essentially, in most cases, we see that the epics and other texts talk about the victory of good over evil. Very often, we see that the ‘evil’ is nothing but a great person who gets powers from the Gods (like Ravana, Naraka, Hiranya Kashipa), and starts abusing his power: that is, the power gets into their head.
Often, it is written by the victor, and the victor paints the loser as evil. The point is, let us do reexamine these myths and legends: but let us not promote hatred for one another. It is the strength of India that a Malayali from Kerala, who believes that their King Mahabali visits them once every year and an Asomi who believes that Naraka was their deity, and a north Indian who believes that Vishnu killed both Bali and Naraka and that he was a part of the trinity – can share a table, at a restaurant, or the dais on the eve of diwali.
Three cheers to Narakasura!
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Arundhati Roy Supports Separatist Youth in Kashmir
I am just trying to grab your attention with a catchy headline, but indeed she does that – supporting youth who hurl stones at police and armed forces. The reason it is not an appropriate headline is that she does a hell of a lot of other things, to wit:
• Sardar Sarovar Project
• United States foreign policy, the War in Afghanistan
• India's nuclear weaponisation
• Criticism of Israel
• 2001 Indian Parliament attack
• The Muthanga incident
• Comments on 2008 Mumbai attacks
• Criticism of Sri Lanka
• Views on the Naxals
Poor Medha Patkar has been stuck with the Narmada Bachao Andolan (against the Sardar Sarovar Project) for decades now, but Ms Roy has moved on quite a deal in all these years.
Ms Roy’s modus operandi is different: the Muthanga incident, for example went this way… After 48 days, a police force was sent into the area to evict the occupants—one participant of the movement and a policeman were killed, and the leaders of the movement were arrested. Arundhati Roy travelled to the area, visited the movement's leaders in jail, and wrote an open letter to the then Chief Minister of Kerala, A.K. Antony now India's Defence Minister, saying "You have blood on your hands." And moved on to pressing demands of the oppressed elsewhere.
More recently, earlier this month, at a seminar in Delhi named "Azadi – The only way", where Roy took part with Hurriyat Conference leader S.A.S.Geelani and Varavara Rao, Roy said that "Kashmir should get azadi from bhookhe-nange Hindustan". What does that mean? If Hindustan is rich, and not bhookha-nanga, Kashmiris will want to be a part of it? So now – with funds from Pakistan they will make Jannat out of Kashmir? What kind of sh** is this silly girl talking of?
Although it was widely speculated that she could potentially face sedition charges from the center for her remarks in Delhi, as of October 26, 2010, CNN-IBN reported that the Indian government is not likely to take action against her: which is the right approach. She would attract international attention and become the poster girl of free speech and stuff. She is already getting more attention than she deserves, mainly because of her bewitching looks (Beware beware her flashing eyes her floating hair, for she on royalties hath fed and drunk the milk of Booker prize…)
She should be left to be dealt with by the Bajrang Dal: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) affiliate Bajrang Dal has said it will do to writer Arundhati Roy what it has already done to painter Maqbool Fida Husain — teach a lesson. The warning was given by Delhi Bajrang Dal chief Vinod Bansal at a meeting in South Delhi on Wednesday to celebrate the accession of Kashmir to India. Mr. Bansal advised Ms. Roy “not to adopt the path of M. F. Husain misinterpreting the right to freedom of expression…our country has already taught a lesson to Mr. Husain…” I think the Indian state should let Ms Roy and the Bajrang Dal slug it out, and leave the matter there.
Your freedom ends where my nose begins (Anonymous): if separatist Kashmiri youth protest the ‘occupation’ of the valley through peaceful means, there is no issue. They are hurling stones at the armed forces; they are in open revolt with the Indian state; they need to be dealt with as such – enemies within. Does Arundhati Roy have the guts to tell the separatists not to throw stones and carry out their protests peacefully? They will clip her nose, nose ring and all…
The Indian state seems to be the only soft target. Her justification for saying what she said about Kashmir and azadi is ridiculous: she says that is what many Kashmiris are saying. Of course they would say that, but as G B Shaw said, if 50 000 people say something foolish, it is still foolish. In her own words: “I spoke about justice for the people of Kashmir who live under one of the most brutal military occupations in the world; for Kashmiri Pandits who live out the tragedy of having been driven out of their homeland..” Aha, she does care for the Kashmiri pundits; does Mr Geelani care too?
She wrote: “I met young stone pelters who had been shot through their eyes. I travelled with a young man who told me how three of his friends, teenagers in Anantnag district, had been taken into custody and had their finger-nails pulled out as punishment for throwing stones.” So what does she want the police/armed forces to do, when being stone-pelted? Show the other cheek? And finally: “Pity the nation that has to silence its writers for speaking their minds.” What kind of a writer and what mind is she talking about?
Let her tell her Hurriyat friends to invite Salman Rushdie to share a platform with them, and talk about free speech.
I am just trying to grab your attention with a catchy headline, but indeed she does that – supporting youth who hurl stones at police and armed forces. The reason it is not an appropriate headline is that she does a hell of a lot of other things, to wit:
• Sardar Sarovar Project
• United States foreign policy, the War in Afghanistan
• India's nuclear weaponisation
• Criticism of Israel
• 2001 Indian Parliament attack
• The Muthanga incident
• Comments on 2008 Mumbai attacks
• Criticism of Sri Lanka
• Views on the Naxals
Poor Medha Patkar has been stuck with the Narmada Bachao Andolan (against the Sardar Sarovar Project) for decades now, but Ms Roy has moved on quite a deal in all these years.
Ms Roy’s modus operandi is different: the Muthanga incident, for example went this way… After 48 days, a police force was sent into the area to evict the occupants—one participant of the movement and a policeman were killed, and the leaders of the movement were arrested. Arundhati Roy travelled to the area, visited the movement's leaders in jail, and wrote an open letter to the then Chief Minister of Kerala, A.K. Antony now India's Defence Minister, saying "You have blood on your hands." And moved on to pressing demands of the oppressed elsewhere.
More recently, earlier this month, at a seminar in Delhi named "Azadi – The only way", where Roy took part with Hurriyat Conference leader S.A.S.Geelani and Varavara Rao, Roy said that "Kashmir should get azadi from bhookhe-nange Hindustan". What does that mean? If Hindustan is rich, and not bhookha-nanga, Kashmiris will want to be a part of it? So now – with funds from Pakistan they will make Jannat out of Kashmir? What kind of sh** is this silly girl talking of?
Although it was widely speculated that she could potentially face sedition charges from the center for her remarks in Delhi, as of October 26, 2010, CNN-IBN reported that the Indian government is not likely to take action against her: which is the right approach. She would attract international attention and become the poster girl of free speech and stuff. She is already getting more attention than she deserves, mainly because of her bewitching looks (Beware beware her flashing eyes her floating hair, for she on royalties hath fed and drunk the milk of Booker prize…)
She should be left to be dealt with by the Bajrang Dal: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) affiliate Bajrang Dal has said it will do to writer Arundhati Roy what it has already done to painter Maqbool Fida Husain — teach a lesson. The warning was given by Delhi Bajrang Dal chief Vinod Bansal at a meeting in South Delhi on Wednesday to celebrate the accession of Kashmir to India. Mr. Bansal advised Ms. Roy “not to adopt the path of M. F. Husain misinterpreting the right to freedom of expression…our country has already taught a lesson to Mr. Husain…” I think the Indian state should let Ms Roy and the Bajrang Dal slug it out, and leave the matter there.
Your freedom ends where my nose begins (Anonymous): if separatist Kashmiri youth protest the ‘occupation’ of the valley through peaceful means, there is no issue. They are hurling stones at the armed forces; they are in open revolt with the Indian state; they need to be dealt with as such – enemies within. Does Arundhati Roy have the guts to tell the separatists not to throw stones and carry out their protests peacefully? They will clip her nose, nose ring and all…
The Indian state seems to be the only soft target. Her justification for saying what she said about Kashmir and azadi is ridiculous: she says that is what many Kashmiris are saying. Of course they would say that, but as G B Shaw said, if 50 000 people say something foolish, it is still foolish. In her own words: “I spoke about justice for the people of Kashmir who live under one of the most brutal military occupations in the world; for Kashmiri Pandits who live out the tragedy of having been driven out of their homeland..” Aha, she does care for the Kashmiri pundits; does Mr Geelani care too?
She wrote: “I met young stone pelters who had been shot through their eyes. I travelled with a young man who told me how three of his friends, teenagers in Anantnag district, had been taken into custody and had their finger-nails pulled out as punishment for throwing stones.” So what does she want the police/armed forces to do, when being stone-pelted? Show the other cheek? And finally: “Pity the nation that has to silence its writers for speaking their minds.” What kind of a writer and what mind is she talking about?
Let her tell her Hurriyat friends to invite Salman Rushdie to share a platform with them, and talk about free speech.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Political Andhrapology of the Telangana Issue
Language is the basis of nation formation in Europe, and state formation in India. Telugu is spoken in both Andhra and Telangana regions, and in fact in the Rayalaseema region. Why then are the leaders and people of the Telangana region clamoring for a separate state? One has to look at the history of Hyderabad/Andhra Pradesh after independence, and the political ‘andhrapology’ of the state of Andhra Pradesh.
History of Hyderabad/Andhra Pradesh
In December 1953, the States Reorganization Commission (SRC) was appointed to prepare for the creation of states on linguistic lines. The SRC was not in favor of an immediate merger of Telangana region with Andhra state, despite the common language between the two. Here is a case of the bonding of language being overcome by historical difference.
Leaders of Telangana felt that merger with Andhra should be based on a voluntary and willing association of the people and that it is primarily for the people of Telangana to take a decision about their future. (However, the people of Telangana were never given a choice: indeed, in the most recent by-election to 12 assembly segments, they sent out a strong message for the formation of a separate Telangana state.) The people of Telangana had several concerns about the composite state of Andhra Pradesh. The region had a less developed economy than Andhra, but with a larger revenue base (mostly because it taxed rather than prohibited alcoholic beverages), which people of Telangana feared might be diverted for use in Andhra. They also feared that planned irrigation projects on the Krishna and Godavari rivers would not benefit Telangana proportionately even though people of Telangana controlled the headwaters of the rivers. It was also feared that the people of Andhra, who had access to higher standards of education under the British Rule, would have an unfair advantage in seeking Government and Educational jobs. These concerns still cause worry to the people of Telangana.
Andhrapology of the Telangana issue
The people in the Telangana region are generally mild-mannered, accommodative, courteous, generous and genteel. On contrary, people of Andhra, although stylized in their speech and overly polite, are a bunch of pushy, greedy people. In saying this, I include myself in the pushy and greedy lot, being from the Andhra region myself. Over the decades, though (three decades, to be precise) I have learnt to cope with the Telangana dialect, which sounds rude, as I have learnt to appreciate the inherent nobility of the Hyderabadis.
A small example will illustrate the greed of the Andhra people and leaders the majority of water supply is from the Telangana region, yet canal irrigation disproportionately benefits the Coastal Andhra region with relative underdevelopment of Telangana.
Moreover, Telugu film makers, who are predominantly from the Andhra region, took to making fun of the Telangana dialect. One can understand the ire of the Telangana people when they hear comedians and villains in movies talking the Telangana dialect, and the heroes and heroines using the Andhra dialect.
History of Hyderabad/Andhra Pradesh
In December 1953, the States Reorganization Commission (SRC) was appointed to prepare for the creation of states on linguistic lines. The SRC was not in favor of an immediate merger of Telangana region with Andhra state, despite the common language between the two. Here is a case of the bonding of language being overcome by historical difference.
Leaders of Telangana felt that merger with Andhra should be based on a voluntary and willing association of the people and that it is primarily for the people of Telangana to take a decision about their future. (However, the people of Telangana were never given a choice: indeed, in the most recent by-election to 12 assembly segments, they sent out a strong message for the formation of a separate Telangana state.) The people of Telangana had several concerns about the composite state of Andhra Pradesh. The region had a less developed economy than Andhra, but with a larger revenue base (mostly because it taxed rather than prohibited alcoholic beverages), which people of Telangana feared might be diverted for use in Andhra. They also feared that planned irrigation projects on the Krishna and Godavari rivers would not benefit Telangana proportionately even though people of Telangana controlled the headwaters of the rivers. It was also feared that the people of Andhra, who had access to higher standards of education under the British Rule, would have an unfair advantage in seeking Government and Educational jobs. These concerns still cause worry to the people of Telangana.
Andhrapology of the Telangana issue
The people in the Telangana region are generally mild-mannered, accommodative, courteous, generous and genteel. On contrary, people of Andhra, although stylized in their speech and overly polite, are a bunch of pushy, greedy people. In saying this, I include myself in the pushy and greedy lot, being from the Andhra region myself. Over the decades, though (three decades, to be precise) I have learnt to cope with the Telangana dialect, which sounds rude, as I have learnt to appreciate the inherent nobility of the Hyderabadis.
A small example will illustrate the greed of the Andhra people and leaders the majority of water supply is from the Telangana region, yet canal irrigation disproportionately benefits the Coastal Andhra region with relative underdevelopment of Telangana.
Moreover, Telugu film makers, who are predominantly from the Andhra region, took to making fun of the Telangana dialect. One can understand the ire of the Telangana people when they hear comedians and villains in movies talking the Telangana dialect, and the heroes and heroines using the Andhra dialect.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Doctors, Lawyers, and English Teachers
There is the joke about a doctor who meets a lawyer at a party. He tells the lawyer that people ask him for medical advice for various problems at social gatherings and asks the lawyer if he (the doctor) could send them a bill for consultation. The lawyer answers in the affirmative, saying that a consultation is a consultation, whether they come to his (the doctor’s) surgery or outside it. The next day, the doctor receives a bill from the lawyer. The doctor is confused and calls up the lawyer: “what is this bill you sent me for?” he asks. “That is for the advice I gave you yesterday at the party,” says the lawyer.
This is a hazard attached to many professionals I am sure, other than doctors and lawyers. Maybe Amitabh Bachchan is buttonholed and asked for acting tips. I wonder what advice he can provide to them within the span of a few minutes. Maybe Sachin Tendulkar is asked for batting tips at social dos. I wonder if he resents it or welcomes it. Is there any other way to improve one’s batting than “practice, practice, and practice!’ Will people who look for a short cut to glory (and a position in the Indian Eleven) take that advice seriously?
For my part, as an English teacher, I get annoyed when people tell me: “Sir, my grammar (or vocabulary) is very week, please help me improve.” I teach English for a living, I don’t want to have anything to do with teaching English in my free time. Even if I do, as I tell my wannabe students, I need a class of at least 10, to get the inspiration to teach. And I want them to work on their English in their free time! Moreover, English cannot be taught over a cup of coffee or at the water cooler. I have mastered the language over two decades, studiously reading good literature and inculcating in my writing the good practices.
On the other hand, there are one breed of professionals who I think will be very happy to provide and exchange tips and tricks: software developers. They love to talk shop, and get into discussion of multiple threads and memory stacks at the drop of a hat. I am sure investment bankers too would love to share their business savvy with people – of course with a view to pushing stocks in which they have a vested interest, and by way of attracting customers to their bank or financial institution.
Jackie Coogan, the Kid
Today in history, in 1914, Jackie Coogan was born. He was the first child artist to act in a full-length movie, “The Kid”, along with Charlie Chaplin. The Kid is one of the most poignant movies, with Chaplin’s characteristic, sardonic humor. The Kid is notable as being the first feature length comedy film to combine comedy and drama, as one of the opening titles says: "A picture with a smile, and perhaps a tear..."
This is a hazard attached to many professionals I am sure, other than doctors and lawyers. Maybe Amitabh Bachchan is buttonholed and asked for acting tips. I wonder what advice he can provide to them within the span of a few minutes. Maybe Sachin Tendulkar is asked for batting tips at social dos. I wonder if he resents it or welcomes it. Is there any other way to improve one’s batting than “practice, practice, and practice!’ Will people who look for a short cut to glory (and a position in the Indian Eleven) take that advice seriously?
For my part, as an English teacher, I get annoyed when people tell me: “Sir, my grammar (or vocabulary) is very week, please help me improve.” I teach English for a living, I don’t want to have anything to do with teaching English in my free time. Even if I do, as I tell my wannabe students, I need a class of at least 10, to get the inspiration to teach. And I want them to work on their English in their free time! Moreover, English cannot be taught over a cup of coffee or at the water cooler. I have mastered the language over two decades, studiously reading good literature and inculcating in my writing the good practices.
On the other hand, there are one breed of professionals who I think will be very happy to provide and exchange tips and tricks: software developers. They love to talk shop, and get into discussion of multiple threads and memory stacks at the drop of a hat. I am sure investment bankers too would love to share their business savvy with people – of course with a view to pushing stocks in which they have a vested interest, and by way of attracting customers to their bank or financial institution.
Jackie Coogan, the Kid
Today in history, in 1914, Jackie Coogan was born. He was the first child artist to act in a full-length movie, “The Kid”, along with Charlie Chaplin. The Kid is one of the most poignant movies, with Chaplin’s characteristic, sardonic humor. The Kid is notable as being the first feature length comedy film to combine comedy and drama, as one of the opening titles says: "A picture with a smile, and perhaps a tear..."
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Act Two Of Kar’natakam’ On 14th October… Gimme An Empty!
Governors are increasingly getting ‘active’ – the latest in the league being the Karnataka governor Mr H R Bharadwaj, who told Mr B S Yeddyurappa to prove his strength once again on the floor of the assembly. The high court, meantime, has to deal with the petition of the suspended MLAs. The die is cast: it maybe curtains down for B S Y in the Kar’natakam’. Unless, of course, the Gali brothers can work some magic with their moneybags. The Congress party reacted that the vote of confidence after the disqualification of the opposing MLAs is a mockery of democracy. It demanded that the B S Y government should be dismissed.
However, the governor has given another chance to B S Y to prove his strength: like I said earlier, I don’t speculate about affairs other than Andhra politics; let’s wait and see. For its part the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is asking for the recall of the governor. Legal opinion is divided on whether the governor has the right to ask for a ‘re-vote’ of confidence.
As the drama unfolds in the neighboring state, the cabinet reshuffle in Andhra is getting delayed. Although ex Minister J C Diwakar Reddy said that the two are not related, it is clear that the high command wants to deal with one issue at a time. If B S Y is dethroned in Karnataka, the Congress will have an upper hand over the the Gali – Y S Jaganmohan Reddy axis. That gives the party in Andhra Pradesh an edge in dealing with dissidents.
Big B turns 68
At the age of 68, when most Indians sit at home and read the papers and watch day TV, Big B is making waves once again on the small screen – on Kaun Banega Karorpati (KBC), the celebrated game show which was at the heart of the Oscar-winning Slum dog millionaire. May he live long and enchant his viewers for many more years. As always, Bottomline is late in wishing him a happy birthday. I think I will watch KBC this season. And belated happy birthday, Big B (who should be called Busy Bee).
‘Unemployment’ economists get the Nobel
Three economists who theorized on unemployment have got the Nobel Prize for economics this year: one of them (Dale Mortenson) interestingly theorized about the unemployment related to people who are ‘between jobs’ (a euphemism for people who just lost his or her job and is looking for a new job.) I have been between jobs for two years now, although I do have a day job – it pays me a pittance; what I want is a ‘big job’. Well, anyway, it is quite a coincidence that I am in the thick of applying for jobs, when ‘unemployment’ gets the economics Nobel!
However, the governor has given another chance to B S Y to prove his strength: like I said earlier, I don’t speculate about affairs other than Andhra politics; let’s wait and see. For its part the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is asking for the recall of the governor. Legal opinion is divided on whether the governor has the right to ask for a ‘re-vote’ of confidence.
As the drama unfolds in the neighboring state, the cabinet reshuffle in Andhra is getting delayed. Although ex Minister J C Diwakar Reddy said that the two are not related, it is clear that the high command wants to deal with one issue at a time. If B S Y is dethroned in Karnataka, the Congress will have an upper hand over the the Gali – Y S Jaganmohan Reddy axis. That gives the party in Andhra Pradesh an edge in dealing with dissidents.
Big B turns 68
At the age of 68, when most Indians sit at home and read the papers and watch day TV, Big B is making waves once again on the small screen – on Kaun Banega Karorpati (KBC), the celebrated game show which was at the heart of the Oscar-winning Slum dog millionaire. May he live long and enchant his viewers for many more years. As always, Bottomline is late in wishing him a happy birthday. I think I will watch KBC this season. And belated happy birthday, Big B (who should be called Busy Bee).
‘Unemployment’ economists get the Nobel
Three economists who theorized on unemployment have got the Nobel Prize for economics this year: one of them (Dale Mortenson) interestingly theorized about the unemployment related to people who are ‘between jobs’ (a euphemism for people who just lost his or her job and is looking for a new job.) I have been between jobs for two years now, although I do have a day job – it pays me a pittance; what I want is a ‘big job’. Well, anyway, it is quite a coincidence that I am in the thick of applying for jobs, when ‘unemployment’ gets the economics Nobel!
Marketing and Manufacuring; The Age of Entertainment
The model followed by the developed nations should not be followed by developing nations, said the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. The advanced countries essentially looted the third world countries and became rich. They have taken natural resources from the developing countries, and sold ‘processed and packaged’ products back to these countries, and thereby got rich. This model cannot be replicated on a large scale. Japan is the only exception to this; China tried it but we don’t know how successful it would be.
‘China-made’ has the same ring to it as had the Made in Japan label, before it became a symbol of prestige. Like the guy in Inscrutable Americans (Satish), the strange thing about America is that is has so many Japanese goods. But for other third world countries Japan is a hard act to emulate.
One thing that goes with the assimilation of Indian economy into the world economy is that there is excess baggage in the form of the consumerist culture. If you look at any ‘modern’ product, there more money is spent on packaging and marketing than on production. The product not only meets a demand, but also aims to entertain. Consider the glue sticks – they are modeled on lip stick dispensers: the amount of plastic can produce 4 bottles of glue: it takes a bit of time to use the glue bottles with a brush in them (and you can reuse them).
What is happening in the west is that nobody wants to study hardcore science and technology: more and more people go for marketing, management, economy, and law. More and more third world countries and people from third world countries are doing fundamental research. The agenda for fundamental research, however, is set forth by moneybags in the advanced countries. As Peter Drucker remarked, the relation between basic and applied science has turned upside down; instead of applied science (technology) leveraging the findings of fundamental research, now the direction of fundamental research programs is decided by technology.
That means, more money goes into wireless communication projects than into newer, safer varieties of seeds (in the field of agriculture).
The Age of Entertainment
There was this book called Age of Entertainment: I am unable to find it on the web now and I don’t remember the author. The main spoint made by the book is that, with the machines taking over the work of humans, basic questions like food security and health and so on no longer require human attention. That leaves humans with a lot of time on their hands and we need means to keep ourselves engaged. Unfortunately, according to www.thehungersite.com, we have a long way to go to food security and basic health.
Today is the D-day for Yeddy
The Karnataka high court postponed the verdict on the disqualified MLAs to Thursday. More tension for Mr B S Yeddyurappa. We don’t know anything about the other hearing – in the Andhra Pradesh high court pertaining to in-house entertainment.
Bottomline: Marketing is just liquor and guessing – Dilbert.
‘China-made’ has the same ring to it as had the Made in Japan label, before it became a symbol of prestige. Like the guy in Inscrutable Americans (Satish), the strange thing about America is that is has so many Japanese goods. But for other third world countries Japan is a hard act to emulate.
One thing that goes with the assimilation of Indian economy into the world economy is that there is excess baggage in the form of the consumerist culture. If you look at any ‘modern’ product, there more money is spent on packaging and marketing than on production. The product not only meets a demand, but also aims to entertain. Consider the glue sticks – they are modeled on lip stick dispensers: the amount of plastic can produce 4 bottles of glue: it takes a bit of time to use the glue bottles with a brush in them (and you can reuse them).
What is happening in the west is that nobody wants to study hardcore science and technology: more and more people go for marketing, management, economy, and law. More and more third world countries and people from third world countries are doing fundamental research. The agenda for fundamental research, however, is set forth by moneybags in the advanced countries. As Peter Drucker remarked, the relation between basic and applied science has turned upside down; instead of applied science (technology) leveraging the findings of fundamental research, now the direction of fundamental research programs is decided by technology.
That means, more money goes into wireless communication projects than into newer, safer varieties of seeds (in the field of agriculture).
The Age of Entertainment
There was this book called Age of Entertainment: I am unable to find it on the web now and I don’t remember the author. The main spoint made by the book is that, with the machines taking over the work of humans, basic questions like food security and health and so on no longer require human attention. That leaves humans with a lot of time on their hands and we need means to keep ourselves engaged. Unfortunately, according to www.thehungersite.com, we have a long way to go to food security and basic health.
Today is the D-day for Yeddy
The Karnataka high court postponed the verdict on the disqualified MLAs to Thursday. More tension for Mr B S Yeddyurappa. We don’t know anything about the other hearing – in the Andhra Pradesh high court pertaining to in-house entertainment.
Bottomline: Marketing is just liquor and guessing – Dilbert.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Machilipatnam Express – Secunderabad (Sunday) Special
Machilipatnam is slowly getting on to the South Central Railway map. It has a long history and a glorious future. The first ever train in the country (the first ever track laid) was between Machilipatnam and Margaon (Goa). But in the recent past, there was a time when some 4 compartments were lugged with the Narsapur express and were detached at Gudivada; from there on, these were attached to a passenger train to Machilipatnam. Now we have our own Machilipatnam Express. (And two return trains to Secunderabad on Sundays!
On the way to Machilipatnam, it was terrible: my ticket didn’t get confirmed, so got a half of the side birth; most uncomfortable. But it was something one had to do – damn the discomfort but get there and do the deed, somehow. With all the brothers and sisters, it was not a gloomy affair but a rather sumptuous – if hectic, for the women folk, ‘do’. Most of the folks left by evening; thank goodness, there weren’t enough cots and mattresses for more than the few of us left for the night. This is the annual jamboree – my father’s death ceremony, rich in ritualistic agnihotram and the fumes. Looking at the fire was thrilling; you keep it going with small sticks and ghee.
There was once a question on a mailing list of Indians in Finland: why is that we use ghee instead of petrol for our rituals. I said that we haven’t updated our rituals in thousands of years – when people used ghee because there was no petrol (I am not sure when petrol was discovered, but these rituals obviously belong to an era before that.) I am reminded of a story of Satya Sai Baba. Here it goes…
The new Swamiji and his new Cat
There was once a swamiji, with sishyas (disciples) under his tutelage. He was living in an ashram, and one day a cat came there and took shelter in the ashram. Everyday, when the swamiji was performing his puja, the cat would jump around and spill something or topple something else. So, the swamiji started to find the cat, put it in a basket and put a lid on top, before starting the puja. After the puja, he would let the cat out of the basket. Time went on, and the swamiji passed away: the senior most desciple took over the ashram. They continued to find the cat, put it in a basket and put a lid, before puja; and releasing it – after the puja. In due season, the cat also died.
Now, the new ‘swamiji’ sent his disciples to find a new cat. Before the daily puja, he would bring the new cat and put it in a basket and put a lid on top of it. And release it after the puja!
The moral of the story is: try to understand the meaning of rituals. If ghee costs more than petrol (indeed it does), it is time to move on the petrol. I don’t believe in the whole ragmatazz associated with the death anniversary (‘shraadha karma’) but I sit there and go through the motions. I am not unlike the new swamiji – in that I follow what the pundit says, without questioning; the only difference is that I at least entertain the questions in my mind as to why ghee should be used when petrol is available, and so on.
Return by Secunderabad (Sunday) Special
The Secunderabad (Sunday) Special train is commissioned to take back the crowds that land up in Machilipatnam on Saturday and Sunday. Obviously, that is in addition to the regular train. As luck would have it, I had a decent night’s sleep on the train (with a confirmed ticket and an upper berth). The train got delayed by 2 hours, which meant I had an extra two hours of sleep on the train. Well, it is back to the salt mines now, at the college.
Karnataka imbroglio
Act one of the drama in Karnataka has ended with the score 1-0 in favour of Mr Yeddyurappa. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is celebrating but it is early days now: the opposition is unhappy and says the vote of confidence was illegal. The BJP says that the 11 BJP MLAs have been bought. This kind of trading of charges is common and the one with more money wins the vote: it appears that round one is in favour of Mr Yeddyurappa and the Gali brothers. When there was a vote on the bill regarding civilian nuclear establishments, the Congress won it with money power. Now, let us see what Mr H D Kumara Swamy Gowda has up his sleeve.
Does it mean the Congress high command is going to go slow with regard to Mr Y S Jaganmohan Reddy for the time being? Watch this space…
On the way to Machilipatnam, it was terrible: my ticket didn’t get confirmed, so got a half of the side birth; most uncomfortable. But it was something one had to do – damn the discomfort but get there and do the deed, somehow. With all the brothers and sisters, it was not a gloomy affair but a rather sumptuous – if hectic, for the women folk, ‘do’. Most of the folks left by evening; thank goodness, there weren’t enough cots and mattresses for more than the few of us left for the night. This is the annual jamboree – my father’s death ceremony, rich in ritualistic agnihotram and the fumes. Looking at the fire was thrilling; you keep it going with small sticks and ghee.
There was once a question on a mailing list of Indians in Finland: why is that we use ghee instead of petrol for our rituals. I said that we haven’t updated our rituals in thousands of years – when people used ghee because there was no petrol (I am not sure when petrol was discovered, but these rituals obviously belong to an era before that.) I am reminded of a story of Satya Sai Baba. Here it goes…
The new Swamiji and his new Cat
There was once a swamiji, with sishyas (disciples) under his tutelage. He was living in an ashram, and one day a cat came there and took shelter in the ashram. Everyday, when the swamiji was performing his puja, the cat would jump around and spill something or topple something else. So, the swamiji started to find the cat, put it in a basket and put a lid on top, before starting the puja. After the puja, he would let the cat out of the basket. Time went on, and the swamiji passed away: the senior most desciple took over the ashram. They continued to find the cat, put it in a basket and put a lid, before puja; and releasing it – after the puja. In due season, the cat also died.
Now, the new ‘swamiji’ sent his disciples to find a new cat. Before the daily puja, he would bring the new cat and put it in a basket and put a lid on top of it. And release it after the puja!
The moral of the story is: try to understand the meaning of rituals. If ghee costs more than petrol (indeed it does), it is time to move on the petrol. I don’t believe in the whole ragmatazz associated with the death anniversary (‘shraadha karma’) but I sit there and go through the motions. I am not unlike the new swamiji – in that I follow what the pundit says, without questioning; the only difference is that I at least entertain the questions in my mind as to why ghee should be used when petrol is available, and so on.
Return by Secunderabad (Sunday) Special
The Secunderabad (Sunday) Special train is commissioned to take back the crowds that land up in Machilipatnam on Saturday and Sunday. Obviously, that is in addition to the regular train. As luck would have it, I had a decent night’s sleep on the train (with a confirmed ticket and an upper berth). The train got delayed by 2 hours, which meant I had an extra two hours of sleep on the train. Well, it is back to the salt mines now, at the college.
Karnataka imbroglio
Act one of the drama in Karnataka has ended with the score 1-0 in favour of Mr Yeddyurappa. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is celebrating but it is early days now: the opposition is unhappy and says the vote of confidence was illegal. The BJP says that the 11 BJP MLAs have been bought. This kind of trading of charges is common and the one with more money wins the vote: it appears that round one is in favour of Mr Yeddyurappa and the Gali brothers. When there was a vote on the bill regarding civilian nuclear establishments, the Congress won it with money power. Now, let us see what Mr H D Kumara Swamy Gowda has up his sleeve.
Does it mean the Congress high command is going to go slow with regard to Mr Y S Jaganmohan Reddy for the time being? Watch this space…
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Two State Separated By One Language
George Bernard Shaw said that England and America are two nations separated by one language (namely, English). So also, Andhra and Telangana will be, when the separate state is formed, two states separated by one language (Telugu). In the past, the sons of the soil, that is, Telangana people, used to speak in a rather unnatural (to them) language, out of deference to the people from Andhra. Andhra Telugu is full of polite expressions: for instance, if you don’t know a person well, and he is about your age, it is customary in Andhra to use the expression ‘meeru’ (plural of ‘you’), whereas, the people of Hyderabad and Telangana in general say ‘nuvvu’ (singular ‘you’). For long, in interactions with the people of Andhra, the Telangana people would use ‘meeru’ and such polite words.
Of late, however, the Telangana people have started asserting their language – or their dialect, irrespective of who they are talking to. I had a shock when I went to the grocer where we used to by our monthly supplies. I was away from Hyderabad for several years and the store owner had seen me after a long time. He asked me, without thinking twice, “Eppudochinav?” (When did (singular) you come?) I was awfully hurt and told him off. I said I use the plural you always, and what do you mean by using the singular. He obviously did not realize that he had taken to speaking in his ‘native dialect’ to an Andhra person. I could not reconcile with the insulting tone, although I do realize it was only a part of a new wave of awareness and assertiveness in the communication of the Telangana people: I took my custom to another grocer. I want to make amends one of these days and go back to my old grocer, one day, but right now the insult rankles.
Then there was the steward in a bar I used to frequent: one day he came round to take my order and casually said, “Order ichinava” (again, the use of a singular). It should have been: “Order ichinara?” I let it pass, but never visited that bar again. (In time to come, I stopped drinking altogether, not because I was insulted in a bar by the steward but for medical reasons.) The funniest part is, I know that these people are speaking what comes to them naturally. For long they have ‘risen’ above their singular use to the more polite plural use; now they have decided that enough is enough. And yet, I cannot deal with this kind of impolite use of Telugu. That too, when I am using the plural all the time.
What riled me most was a friend of mine, of twenty years, who is a linguist – aware of the nuances of language and culture – addressed me as ‘nuvvu’. I tried my best to get him back to used the plural ‘meeru’ by using it several times in my speech. He was at least responsive and during the course of a 15 minute talk, came back to the good old days when we used to address each other as “meeru”. I don’t have the enthusiasm to meet him again or continue our friendship. Of all the people he should have been aware of the subtleties of language – being an Assistant Professor at the English and Foreing Languages University. (This was earlier called the Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, where Prof. Jayashankar, the TRS ideologue was a registrar.)
What are the Andhra people to do in this situation? Do as the Telangana people, use ‘impolite’ expressions (like the singular you - nuvvu) – like, pay back in the same coin and thereby give up the niceties of their dialect. Or keep using the polite, plurals in the face of ‘insulting’ speech, and somehow try to win over the local people?
Needless to say, this is only a symptom of an accommodating Telangana culture becoming partisan. There are hard core issues to be sorted out, but the heart of the matter is that Telangana people have become more aggressive and unduly impolite.
Of late, however, the Telangana people have started asserting their language – or their dialect, irrespective of who they are talking to. I had a shock when I went to the grocer where we used to by our monthly supplies. I was away from Hyderabad for several years and the store owner had seen me after a long time. He asked me, without thinking twice, “Eppudochinav?” (When did (singular) you come?) I was awfully hurt and told him off. I said I use the plural you always, and what do you mean by using the singular. He obviously did not realize that he had taken to speaking in his ‘native dialect’ to an Andhra person. I could not reconcile with the insulting tone, although I do realize it was only a part of a new wave of awareness and assertiveness in the communication of the Telangana people: I took my custom to another grocer. I want to make amends one of these days and go back to my old grocer, one day, but right now the insult rankles.
Then there was the steward in a bar I used to frequent: one day he came round to take my order and casually said, “Order ichinava” (again, the use of a singular). It should have been: “Order ichinara?” I let it pass, but never visited that bar again. (In time to come, I stopped drinking altogether, not because I was insulted in a bar by the steward but for medical reasons.) The funniest part is, I know that these people are speaking what comes to them naturally. For long they have ‘risen’ above their singular use to the more polite plural use; now they have decided that enough is enough. And yet, I cannot deal with this kind of impolite use of Telugu. That too, when I am using the plural all the time.
What riled me most was a friend of mine, of twenty years, who is a linguist – aware of the nuances of language and culture – addressed me as ‘nuvvu’. I tried my best to get him back to used the plural ‘meeru’ by using it several times in my speech. He was at least responsive and during the course of a 15 minute talk, came back to the good old days when we used to address each other as “meeru”. I don’t have the enthusiasm to meet him again or continue our friendship. Of all the people he should have been aware of the subtleties of language – being an Assistant Professor at the English and Foreing Languages University. (This was earlier called the Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, where Prof. Jayashankar, the TRS ideologue was a registrar.)
What are the Andhra people to do in this situation? Do as the Telangana people, use ‘impolite’ expressions (like the singular you - nuvvu) – like, pay back in the same coin and thereby give up the niceties of their dialect. Or keep using the polite, plurals in the face of ‘insulting’ speech, and somehow try to win over the local people?
Needless to say, this is only a symptom of an accommodating Telangana culture becoming partisan. There are hard core issues to be sorted out, but the heart of the matter is that Telangana people have become more aggressive and unduly impolite.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Happy Birthday Shabz! Who’s Kitty?
One of my nephews looked at my social networking page, www.ryze.com/go/shankR and asked me who is Kitty. I was addressing my ‘blogs’ to Kitty, following Anne Frank. Well, Kitty is the cat that Anne Frank kept as a pet and a friend; she addressed her ‘blogs’ to Kitty. The Diary of a Young Girl is a book of the writings from the Dutch language diary kept by Anne Frank while she was in hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. The family was apprehended in 1944 and Anne Frank ultimately died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. After the war, the diary was retrieved by Anne's father, Otto Frank, the only survivor of the family. The diary has now been published in more than 60 different languages.
Anne Frank's diary is among the most enduring documents of the 20th century. She documented her life in hiding from 12 June 1942 to 1 August 1944. Initially, she wrote it strictly for herself. Then, one day in 1944, Gerrit Bolkestein, a member of the Dutch government in exile, announced in a radio broadcast from London that after the war he hoped to collect eyewitness accounts of the suffering of the Dutch people under the German occupation, which could be made available to the public. As an example, he specifically mentioned letters and diaries. Anne Frank decided that when the war was over she would publish a book based on her diary. Because she did not survive the war, it fell instead to her father to see her diary published.
Happy Birthday Shabz
Shabz was born 27 Sept. I should not mention the year. Shabz is a Tamil girl, follower of Islam, engineer by training, expert in English and a writer by profession, lives in Bangalore, though not in the flat she owns in Kanakapura, rides a scooter (she says I am driving my bike, though – that is the only Indianism I have found her using). She is my rakhi sister (see an earlier blog called rakhi sisters and cousin brothers – or some such), although she never tied the rakhi on my hand. She practices yoga and prays 5 times and fasts during the ramzan. [A piece of gratuitous information: In Muslim communities, people are reminded of the daily prayer times through the calling of the azhan. For those in Muslim-minority communities, computerized azhan programs are available. Thank God our Muslim brothers and sisters don’t take recourse to computerized azhan programs.] In her I find the uniqueness of India – a religious faith that does not interfere with one’s geopolitical and cultural context. May her tribe grow.
Interestingly, Shirdi Sai Baba was also born on 27th Septemer (See for a Greater Common God, in these blogs). We don’t know the year.
I was surprised to learn that in Pakistan the classical music tradition is Hindustani. Wah Ustad!
I am now on facebook
I have resisted the facebook mania for a long time and today Manish sent me an invite to view his pictures on it. I said what the heck, and went on to put some pictures of myself out there; I have no clue as to how to go to other people’s pages and view their photos – if you have any ideas, mail me. If you are already on facebook, you can see a few of my pictures. The pictures are brought to you courtesy Ukko Hanninen, a good friend in Helsinki. About him, another day, another blog.
I once saw a cartoon in which a dog is in front of the computer and is saying: On the internet, nobody knows that you are a pet. Alas, that situation no longer obtains.
Ten Days On the Wagon And Counting…
It is early days yet, but I am happy to report that I have been on the wagon for 10 days now. The expression ‘on the wagon’ has an interesting origin: Water wagons were a commonplace sight in US cities at the time. They didn't carry drinking water but were used to damp down dusty streets during dry weather. Those who had vowed to give up drink and were tempted to lapse said that they would drink from the water-cart rather than take strong drink. Getting off the wagon means to lapse into drinking after an attempt to stop drinking. I hope I would never get off the wagon.
Wish me good luck and do what you can to keep me in good spirits, lest I lapse.
Anne Frank's diary is among the most enduring documents of the 20th century. She documented her life in hiding from 12 June 1942 to 1 August 1944. Initially, she wrote it strictly for herself. Then, one day in 1944, Gerrit Bolkestein, a member of the Dutch government in exile, announced in a radio broadcast from London that after the war he hoped to collect eyewitness accounts of the suffering of the Dutch people under the German occupation, which could be made available to the public. As an example, he specifically mentioned letters and diaries. Anne Frank decided that when the war was over she would publish a book based on her diary. Because she did not survive the war, it fell instead to her father to see her diary published.
Happy Birthday Shabz
Shabz was born 27 Sept. I should not mention the year. Shabz is a Tamil girl, follower of Islam, engineer by training, expert in English and a writer by profession, lives in Bangalore, though not in the flat she owns in Kanakapura, rides a scooter (she says I am driving my bike, though – that is the only Indianism I have found her using). She is my rakhi sister (see an earlier blog called rakhi sisters and cousin brothers – or some such), although she never tied the rakhi on my hand. She practices yoga and prays 5 times and fasts during the ramzan. [A piece of gratuitous information: In Muslim communities, people are reminded of the daily prayer times through the calling of the azhan. For those in Muslim-minority communities, computerized azhan programs are available. Thank God our Muslim brothers and sisters don’t take recourse to computerized azhan programs.] In her I find the uniqueness of India – a religious faith that does not interfere with one’s geopolitical and cultural context. May her tribe grow.
Interestingly, Shirdi Sai Baba was also born on 27th Septemer (See for a Greater Common God, in these blogs). We don’t know the year.
I was surprised to learn that in Pakistan the classical music tradition is Hindustani. Wah Ustad!
I am now on facebook
I have resisted the facebook mania for a long time and today Manish sent me an invite to view his pictures on it. I said what the heck, and went on to put some pictures of myself out there; I have no clue as to how to go to other people’s pages and view their photos – if you have any ideas, mail me. If you are already on facebook, you can see a few of my pictures. The pictures are brought to you courtesy Ukko Hanninen, a good friend in Helsinki. About him, another day, another blog.
I once saw a cartoon in which a dog is in front of the computer and is saying: On the internet, nobody knows that you are a pet. Alas, that situation no longer obtains.
Ten Days On the Wagon And Counting…
It is early days yet, but I am happy to report that I have been on the wagon for 10 days now. The expression ‘on the wagon’ has an interesting origin: Water wagons were a commonplace sight in US cities at the time. They didn't carry drinking water but were used to damp down dusty streets during dry weather. Those who had vowed to give up drink and were tempted to lapse said that they would drink from the water-cart rather than take strong drink. Getting off the wagon means to lapse into drinking after an attempt to stop drinking. I hope I would never get off the wagon.
Wish me good luck and do what you can to keep me in good spirits, lest I lapse.
Worst Fears; Table Cases; Ayodhya Verdict…
Reality is a strange thing. While things often don’t turn out to our liking, disappointments are the order of the day, and our optimistic outlook doesn’t pan out, it is also true at the same time that our worst fears don’t come true either. Take the Gaulles in Asterix comics, for instance: their worst fear is that the sky will fall on their heads. That doesn’t happen to them or to any of us.
The past one week I was in the grip of some worst fears, and I was dreading a meeting with my boss: as it turned out, the meeting went without any fireworks and it was actually an agreeable sort of a meeting. Without getting into the inconsequential details, let me just say that what I feared most, what anybody in any corporate fears most, did not happen.
Table Cases
Vijayawada is in the news for all the wrong reasons once again. If it not floods then it is bloodshed and arson that gets Vijayawada in the news. With the exception of course – of the annual commotion at the Kanakadurga temple. But that is not news: it is an annual occurrence, with devotees thronging the place in more and more numbers year on year, which is only to be expected with increase in population. Now Vijayawada is in the news for a brutal killing.
Yesterday’s murder of Chalasani Venkateswara Rao (Pandu) took place in Hyderabad but the backdrop of it is Vijayawada’s faction feuds. The victim, Pandu, himself is accused in many murder cases – those who live by the sword die by the sword. A soft skills trainer once told us of his friend who was in politics; this friend of his had an interesting description for the breed – Table Cases (people who end up on the post mortem table).
Ayodhya Verdict
The stay on the high court verdict on the Ayodhya dispute is lifted and it is expected to be released on 30th Sept, 2010. The sooner the judgment comes out, the better. The important thing for the leaders of both communities now is to respect the verdict of the court, and appeal in the Supreme Court if they wish. The law should be allowed to take its course. There are indications that the verdict will be in favor of the Hindu community; so be it. It is actually a good thing because Muslim leaders like Mr Asaduddin Owaisi have already committed not to raise cain in the streets, and approach the Supreme Court.
Even if it goes in favor of the Muslims, one would hope the Hindu community leaders would have the sanity to settle the matter within the legal framework, and not take to the streets. Everyone in India wants that the BJP and VHP don’t make a big fuss over this issue; there is already a sense of fatigue over the way they have tried to garner votes on this issue. Indeed, other than the Ayodhya issue, there is no difference between the Congress and the BJP in economic and policy issues. That is why the party with a difference tries to keep the noise levels high.
Counting my blessings
Two pairs of shoes (though one needs repair); father in heaven and mother under the roof watching over me; loving sisters – 3 numbers and brothers – 4 numbers; a job without stress, though not well paying; presence on the face book; space on blogspot (9 followers and counting); laptop with an external keyboard, and a pen drive; ten days on the wagon and all set for a life-long ride.
Life in C minor
Like a colourless flower, the woodrose
Like flat beer that doesn’t rise up in froth
Like an empty stadium when two B-teams are playing
Life, like a song in C minor
Like a friendship that hasn’t grown sour but distant
Like a meager bowl of lukewarm soup
Like a sky that thunders but does not rain
Life, like a tune in C minor
Reality is a strange thing. While things often don’t turn out to our liking, disappointments are the order of the day, and our optimistic outlook doesn’t pan out, it is also true at the same time that our worst fears don’t come true either. Take the Gaulles in Asterix comics, for instance: their worst fear is that the sky will fall on their heads. That doesn’t happen to them or to any of us.
The past one week I was in the grip of some worst fears, and I was dreading a meeting with my boss: as it turned out, the meeting went without any fireworks and it was actually an agreeable sort of a meeting. Without getting into the inconsequential details, let me just say that what I feared most, what anybody in any corporate fears most, did not happen.
Table Cases
Vijayawada is in the news for all the wrong reasons once again. If it not floods then it is bloodshed and arson that gets Vijayawada in the news. With the exception of course – of the annual commotion at the Kanakadurga temple. But that is not news: it is an annual occurrence, with devotees thronging the place in more and more numbers year on year, which is only to be expected with increase in population. Now Vijayawada is in the news for a brutal killing.
Yesterday’s murder of Chalasani Venkateswara Rao (Pandu) took place in Hyderabad but the backdrop of it is Vijayawada’s faction feuds. The victim, Pandu, himself is accused in many murder cases – those who live by the sword die by the sword. A soft skills trainer once told us of his friend who was in politics; this friend of his had an interesting description for the breed – Table Cases (people who end up on the post mortem table).
Ayodhya Verdict
The stay on the high court verdict on the Ayodhya dispute is lifted and it is expected to be released on 30th Sept, 2010. The sooner the judgment comes out, the better. The important thing for the leaders of both communities now is to respect the verdict of the court, and appeal in the Supreme Court if they wish. The law should be allowed to take its course. There are indications that the verdict will be in favor of the Hindu community; so be it. It is actually a good thing because Muslim leaders like Mr Asaduddin Owaisi have already committed not to raise cain in the streets, and approach the Supreme Court.
Even if it goes in favor of the Muslims, one would hope the Hindu community leaders would have the sanity to settle the matter within the legal framework, and not take to the streets. Everyone in India wants that the BJP and VHP don’t make a big fuss over this issue; there is already a sense of fatigue over the way they have tried to garner votes on this issue. Indeed, other than the Ayodhya issue, there is no difference between the Congress and the BJP in economic and policy issues. That is why the party with a difference tries to keep the noise levels high.
Counting my blessings
Two pairs of shoes (though one needs repair); father in heaven and mother under the roof watching over me; loving sisters – 3 numbers and brothers – 4 numbers; a job without stress, though not well paying; presence on the face book; space on blogspot (9 followers and counting); laptop with an external keyboard, and a pen drive; ten days on the wagon and all set for a life-long ride.
Life in C minor
Like a colourless flower, the woodrose
Like flat beer that doesn’t rise up in froth
Like an empty stadium when two B-teams are playing
Life, like a song in C minor
Like a friendship that hasn’t grown sour but distant
Like a meager bowl of lukewarm soup
Like a sky that thunders but does not rain
Life, like a tune in C minor
Sunday, September 26, 2010
I Will Show You Fear In A Handful Of Dust
Remembering T S Eliot
This day, the 26th of September, in 1888, T S Eliot was born. Let us celebrate it with a few excerpts and comments: first, The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock. This was the poem that launched him into the modernist poety movement. An excerpt:
No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;
Am an attendant lord, one that will do
To swell a progress, start a scene or two,
Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,
Deferential, glad to be of use,
Politic, cautious, and meticulous;
Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;
At times, indeed, almost ridiculous —
Almost, at times, the Fool.
The crux of the poem – called Prufrock for short – lies in the reference to Prince Hamlet, the tragic hero of Shakespeare’s drama, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Shakespeare’s Hamlet has been interpreted by modern critics as a character who foreshadows modern man’s moral dilemmas (“To be or not to be…”) Here, Prufrock says he is not such an important character, but merely an attendant, or may be a Fool (the court jester).
The famous line: “I have measured out my life with coffee spoon” is also in this famous poem.
His most famous work, The Waste Land, details the journey of the human soul searching for redemption. The Waste Land is known not only for its probing subject matter but also its radical departure from traditional poetic style and structure incorporating historical and literary allusions as well as unconventional use of language. Some excerpts:
There is shadow under this red rock,
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust
[The burial of the dead]
Evelyn Waugh took the expression Handful of Dust as the title of his novel, and quotes these lines in the epigram. Another excerpt from this classic poem:
When Lil's husband got demobbed, I said—
I didn't mince my words, I said to her myself,
HURRY UP PLEASE IT'S TIME
Now Albert's coming back, make yourself a bit smart.
He'll want to know what you done with that money he gave you
To get yourself some teeth.
He did, I was there.
You have them all out, Lil, and get a nice set,
He said, I swear, I can't bear to look at you.
And no more can't I, I said, and think of poor Albert,
He's been in the army four years, he wants a good time,
And if you don't give it him, there's others will, I said.
[A Game of Chess]
And here is one of the few rhyming lines in Wasteland:
O the moon shone bright on Mrs. Porter
And on her daughter
They wash their feet in soda water
Et, O ces voix d'enfants, chantant dans la coupole!
[The Fire Sermon]
And a reference to ancient Indian texts:
Then spoke the thunder
D A
Datta*: what have we given?
My friend, blood shaking my heart
The awful daring of a moment's surrender
Which an age of prudence can never retract
By this, and this only, we have existed
Which is not to be found in our obituaries
Or in memories draped by the beneficent spider
Or under seals broken by the lean solicitor
In our empty rooms
[What the Thunder Said]
T S Eliot’s mentor, Ezra Pound, was influenced by Chinese/Confucian philosophy. Pound called Eliot Old Possum, for reasons best know to the two of them.
*Datta: What have we given?
We, Indians, have given a lot to the world, not among the least of which is Naren Datta, aka Swami Vivekananda - see the other blog of the day.
This day, the 26th of September, in 1888, T S Eliot was born. Let us celebrate it with a few excerpts and comments: first, The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock. This was the poem that launched him into the modernist poety movement. An excerpt:
No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;
Am an attendant lord, one that will do
To swell a progress, start a scene or two,
Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,
Deferential, glad to be of use,
Politic, cautious, and meticulous;
Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;
At times, indeed, almost ridiculous —
Almost, at times, the Fool.
The crux of the poem – called Prufrock for short – lies in the reference to Prince Hamlet, the tragic hero of Shakespeare’s drama, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Shakespeare’s Hamlet has been interpreted by modern critics as a character who foreshadows modern man’s moral dilemmas (“To be or not to be…”) Here, Prufrock says he is not such an important character, but merely an attendant, or may be a Fool (the court jester).
The famous line: “I have measured out my life with coffee spoon” is also in this famous poem.
His most famous work, The Waste Land, details the journey of the human soul searching for redemption. The Waste Land is known not only for its probing subject matter but also its radical departure from traditional poetic style and structure incorporating historical and literary allusions as well as unconventional use of language. Some excerpts:
There is shadow under this red rock,
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust
[The burial of the dead]
Evelyn Waugh took the expression Handful of Dust as the title of his novel, and quotes these lines in the epigram. Another excerpt from this classic poem:
When Lil's husband got demobbed, I said—
I didn't mince my words, I said to her myself,
HURRY UP PLEASE IT'S TIME
Now Albert's coming back, make yourself a bit smart.
He'll want to know what you done with that money he gave you
To get yourself some teeth.
He did, I was there.
You have them all out, Lil, and get a nice set,
He said, I swear, I can't bear to look at you.
And no more can't I, I said, and think of poor Albert,
He's been in the army four years, he wants a good time,
And if you don't give it him, there's others will, I said.
[A Game of Chess]
And here is one of the few rhyming lines in Wasteland:
O the moon shone bright on Mrs. Porter
And on her daughter
They wash their feet in soda water
Et, O ces voix d'enfants, chantant dans la coupole!
[The Fire Sermon]
And a reference to ancient Indian texts:
Then spoke the thunder
D A
Datta*: what have we given?
My friend, blood shaking my heart
The awful daring of a moment's surrender
Which an age of prudence can never retract
By this, and this only, we have existed
Which is not to be found in our obituaries
Or in memories draped by the beneficent spider
Or under seals broken by the lean solicitor
In our empty rooms
[What the Thunder Said]
T S Eliot’s mentor, Ezra Pound, was influenced by Chinese/Confucian philosophy. Pound called Eliot Old Possum, for reasons best know to the two of them.
*Datta: What have we given?
We, Indians, have given a lot to the world, not among the least of which is Naren Datta, aka Swami Vivekananda - see the other blog of the day.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
The First 9/11 Explosion In The USA, 1893
The first 9/11 explosion occurred in Chicago in 1893 when Swami Vivekananda addressed the World Congress of Religions and opened his address with "Sisters and brothers of America”. He got a standing ovation from a crowd of seven thousand, which lasted for two minutes. The explosion has had reverberations over a century and more; the most recent celebrity convert to Hinduism is Julia Roberts. However, one doesn’t convert to Hinduism, one goes on following one’s path and realizes that it is one of the many paths. You are unique, just like everyone else: that is the essence of Hinduism. Be that as it may, the New York Herald wrote, after Swamiji’s address, "Vivekananda is undoubtedly the greatest figure in the Parliament of Religions. After hearing him we feel how foolish it is to send missionaries to this learned nation."
During his brief address, he declared to be proud to belong to a religion which taught the world tolerance and universal acceptance. He stated that “We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true.” So Julia Roberts can go on being a Christian if she was one and she would still qualify to be a Hindu. There is nothing new you do, except go on loving other humans and being charitable to all of God’s creation – to be a Hindu. One doesn’t need to wear saffron or the vermillion mark on the forehead.
Swami Vivekananda addressed the World Congress of Religions a dozen times in the two weeks it was in session, the last time on 27th September.
Unfortunately in India, intellectuals of all shapes and shades urge us to shun religion (read: Hinduism). There are indeed many evil practices, like Sati, dowry, caste system; but these are not the essence of Hinduism. Hinduism is about serving the nara-narayana, the God residing in other humans. This principle is missed by the God’s own party which proclaims that they are true adherents of the Swami’s philosophy. They ended up in a mess of religious bigotry, while claiming that they are the torch bearers of Hindutva. Just as one doesn’t judge Islam by the 9/11 suicide bombers, one should not judge hindutva by the perpetrators of the post Godhra hate campaign.
Bala Gangadhar Tilak said: "Vivekananda saved Hinduism, saved India." Subhash Chandra Bose said: “I cannot write about Vivekananda without going into raptures. Few indeed could comprehend or fathom him even among those who had the privilege of becoming intimate with him. His personality was rich, profound and complex... Reckless in his sacrifice, unceasing in his activity, boundless in his love, profound and versatile in his wisdom, exuberant in his emotions, merciless in his attacks but yet simple as a child, he was a rare personality in this world of ours.”
Rabindranath Tagore, the poet told Romain Rolland: "if you want to know India, read Vivekananda, in him everything is positive and nothing is negative." The great electrical engineer, Nikola Tesla, after listening to Vivekananda's speech on Sankhya Philosophy, was much interested in its cosmogony and its rational theories of the Kalpas (cycles), Prana and Akasha. His notion based on the Vedanta led him to think that matter is a manifestation of energy. After attending a lecture on Vedanta by Vivekananda, Tesla also concluded that modern science can look for the solution of cosmological problems in Sankhya philosophy, and he could prove that mass can be reduced to potential energy mathematically.
On Science, the Swami said: “Science is nothing but the finding of unity. As soon as science would reach perfect unity, it would stop from further progress, because it would reach the goal. Thus Chemistry could not progress farther when it would discover one element out of which all other could be made. Physics would stop when it would be able to fulfill its services in discovering one energy of which all others are but manifestations ...
“All science is bound to come to this conclusion in the long run. Manifestation, and not creation, is the word of science today, and the Hindu is only glad that what he has been cherishing in his bosom for ages is going to be taught in more forcible language, and with further light from the latest conclusions of science.”
Most of this is sourced from the internet; but what I can say from my own heart is this: I cannot read a few lines of Swami Vivekananda’s teaching without my hair standing on end and my eyes getting moist. He is the ubermench. One wonders what would have happened if he came face to face with Friedrich Nietzsche, who said: “A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything”.
Nietzsche held religious people in great contempt: “After coming into contact with a religious man I always feel I must wash my hands.” Alas, we never would know what Nietzsche would have done after coming into contact with Swami Vivekananda, if he ever did.
Interestingly, Swami Vivekananda died on American independence day – July 4th, 1902.
During his brief address, he declared to be proud to belong to a religion which taught the world tolerance and universal acceptance. He stated that “We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true.” So Julia Roberts can go on being a Christian if she was one and she would still qualify to be a Hindu. There is nothing new you do, except go on loving other humans and being charitable to all of God’s creation – to be a Hindu. One doesn’t need to wear saffron or the vermillion mark on the forehead.
Swami Vivekananda addressed the World Congress of Religions a dozen times in the two weeks it was in session, the last time on 27th September.
Unfortunately in India, intellectuals of all shapes and shades urge us to shun religion (read: Hinduism). There are indeed many evil practices, like Sati, dowry, caste system; but these are not the essence of Hinduism. Hinduism is about serving the nara-narayana, the God residing in other humans. This principle is missed by the God’s own party which proclaims that they are true adherents of the Swami’s philosophy. They ended up in a mess of religious bigotry, while claiming that they are the torch bearers of Hindutva. Just as one doesn’t judge Islam by the 9/11 suicide bombers, one should not judge hindutva by the perpetrators of the post Godhra hate campaign.
Bala Gangadhar Tilak said: "Vivekananda saved Hinduism, saved India." Subhash Chandra Bose said: “I cannot write about Vivekananda without going into raptures. Few indeed could comprehend or fathom him even among those who had the privilege of becoming intimate with him. His personality was rich, profound and complex... Reckless in his sacrifice, unceasing in his activity, boundless in his love, profound and versatile in his wisdom, exuberant in his emotions, merciless in his attacks but yet simple as a child, he was a rare personality in this world of ours.”
Rabindranath Tagore, the poet told Romain Rolland: "if you want to know India, read Vivekananda, in him everything is positive and nothing is negative." The great electrical engineer, Nikola Tesla, after listening to Vivekananda's speech on Sankhya Philosophy, was much interested in its cosmogony and its rational theories of the Kalpas (cycles), Prana and Akasha. His notion based on the Vedanta led him to think that matter is a manifestation of energy. After attending a lecture on Vedanta by Vivekananda, Tesla also concluded that modern science can look for the solution of cosmological problems in Sankhya philosophy, and he could prove that mass can be reduced to potential energy mathematically.
On Science, the Swami said: “Science is nothing but the finding of unity. As soon as science would reach perfect unity, it would stop from further progress, because it would reach the goal. Thus Chemistry could not progress farther when it would discover one element out of which all other could be made. Physics would stop when it would be able to fulfill its services in discovering one energy of which all others are but manifestations ...
“All science is bound to come to this conclusion in the long run. Manifestation, and not creation, is the word of science today, and the Hindu is only glad that what he has been cherishing in his bosom for ages is going to be taught in more forcible language, and with further light from the latest conclusions of science.”
Most of this is sourced from the internet; but what I can say from my own heart is this: I cannot read a few lines of Swami Vivekananda’s teaching without my hair standing on end and my eyes getting moist. He is the ubermench. One wonders what would have happened if he came face to face with Friedrich Nietzsche, who said: “A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything”.
Nietzsche held religious people in great contempt: “After coming into contact with a religious man I always feel I must wash my hands.” Alas, we never would know what Nietzsche would have done after coming into contact with Swami Vivekananda, if he ever did.
Interestingly, Swami Vivekananda died on American independence day – July 4th, 1902.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
The Power of Positive Text Messages: Ali in Diwali – Ram in Ramzan
Usually, a lot of jokes are traded on SMS. The right word for it is of course ‘text’ or ‘text message’. Sometimes, malicious messages are perpetrated – to flare up communal passions: these messages talk of some hundred people of one community being killed by another community. There is little truth in them; but some people are easily affected by the written word, even if it is as ephemeral as a text message. On the other hand, there are positive messages that try to build unity and a sense of brotherhood (well, sisterhood) among people. Nivedita sent me one such: “Who is a Hindu? Who is a Muslim? There is Ali in Diwali and Ram in Ramzan. We are all one. Send this message to all your friends on the eve of 24 September 2010.”
Well, the judgment is now postponed by a week. More power to the positive vibes that will surely be generated by the text message, which I hope reaches the vast millions of mobile users. For my bit, I wanted to put it up on this blog and urge all of you to share this lovely message with everyone on your social networks. Obviously, it is a rather childish play on words, but then it delivers a powerful message and creates positive vibes. The courts have banned bulk sending of text messages, but this message should be put up on a ticker on all major cable channels.
As I was waiting for my ‘motor bike driver’ who brings me to this office out of which I work, I saw a ‘muslim’ boy (I put that in quotes for reasons that will become clear presently) with bowl of coals and incense in his bag. He would go to the cash till of the shops and put some incense in the bowl, and blow the smoke in the direction of the till. The shopkeepers give him a small sum. I don’t know about other parts of India but this is a common occurrence in Andhra Pradesh. The shopkeepers are all kinds, by religion, but Indian in essence. The boy is an Indian, a Hyderabadi, and a muslim – in that order. In one rare case, in the auto I was riding, I saw the auto driver wave this incense-boy away. That never used to happen in the past: fault lines are beginning to occur in our age old traditions.
Vivekananda said that throwing religion out of the window is not the solution for the problems we are facing. We are not following what is set down in the religious code (al qaida) in spirit and letter. All religions teach us to be humane; to give shelter to the homeless, to give food to the hungry, to give solace to the desperate. Do we, as Hindus, as Muslims, as Christians, follow any of this in spirit? Do we care for the people sleeping on empty stomach by the roadside. Do we care for those who set up leper colonies in the midst of the city, by the side of a hospital or railway station? We don’t. But we talk glibly about religion being the stumbling block to progress. We need to focus on material progress but it has to be tempered with spirituality; otherwise we cannot call ourselves human.
America has a hard core Bible belt (similar to the cow belt in India). Did it stop the progress of the U.S. A. to the position of the only super power? The banks in Pakistan don’t pay an interest on the savings accounts; many middle class people believe (and rightly so) that it is against Islam to collect interest. I don’t know what the investment bankers do, but ordinary people don’t want interest. Did this stop the progress of Pakistan to become a nuclear power? Come on, keep aside the jingoism and anti-paki feelings we all have: Pakistan is a powerful nation, a force to reckon with in Asia. Imagine a world where India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh join forces and not fight one another. The world better watch out!
But back to text messages: there is one that Vasant sent me. “Whiskey mein base Vishnu; rum mein base ram; gin me hain Janki aur beer mein hain veer hanuman – ab kya pioon main?” This is not really a positive text message, it is more of a joke. Still, it is not malicious; no one is making fun of the Hindu Gods. A really God-loving person will stop drinking all these and stick to champagne.
However, a malicious message would be like this: “Holi has a Hole in it; Ramzan has rum; and X-mas is X-rated. All religions should be thrown out the window.” (no one sent me this one; I cooked it up. Please don’t spread this). This kind of a message would only create negative vibes and has to be suppressed.
Well, the judgment is now postponed by a week. More power to the positive vibes that will surely be generated by the text message, which I hope reaches the vast millions of mobile users. For my bit, I wanted to put it up on this blog and urge all of you to share this lovely message with everyone on your social networks. Obviously, it is a rather childish play on words, but then it delivers a powerful message and creates positive vibes. The courts have banned bulk sending of text messages, but this message should be put up on a ticker on all major cable channels.
As I was waiting for my ‘motor bike driver’ who brings me to this office out of which I work, I saw a ‘muslim’ boy (I put that in quotes for reasons that will become clear presently) with bowl of coals and incense in his bag. He would go to the cash till of the shops and put some incense in the bowl, and blow the smoke in the direction of the till. The shopkeepers give him a small sum. I don’t know about other parts of India but this is a common occurrence in Andhra Pradesh. The shopkeepers are all kinds, by religion, but Indian in essence. The boy is an Indian, a Hyderabadi, and a muslim – in that order. In one rare case, in the auto I was riding, I saw the auto driver wave this incense-boy away. That never used to happen in the past: fault lines are beginning to occur in our age old traditions.
Vivekananda said that throwing religion out of the window is not the solution for the problems we are facing. We are not following what is set down in the religious code (al qaida) in spirit and letter. All religions teach us to be humane; to give shelter to the homeless, to give food to the hungry, to give solace to the desperate. Do we, as Hindus, as Muslims, as Christians, follow any of this in spirit? Do we care for the people sleeping on empty stomach by the roadside. Do we care for those who set up leper colonies in the midst of the city, by the side of a hospital or railway station? We don’t. But we talk glibly about religion being the stumbling block to progress. We need to focus on material progress but it has to be tempered with spirituality; otherwise we cannot call ourselves human.
America has a hard core Bible belt (similar to the cow belt in India). Did it stop the progress of the U.S. A. to the position of the only super power? The banks in Pakistan don’t pay an interest on the savings accounts; many middle class people believe (and rightly so) that it is against Islam to collect interest. I don’t know what the investment bankers do, but ordinary people don’t want interest. Did this stop the progress of Pakistan to become a nuclear power? Come on, keep aside the jingoism and anti-paki feelings we all have: Pakistan is a powerful nation, a force to reckon with in Asia. Imagine a world where India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh join forces and not fight one another. The world better watch out!
But back to text messages: there is one that Vasant sent me. “Whiskey mein base Vishnu; rum mein base ram; gin me hain Janki aur beer mein hain veer hanuman – ab kya pioon main?” This is not really a positive text message, it is more of a joke. Still, it is not malicious; no one is making fun of the Hindu Gods. A really God-loving person will stop drinking all these and stick to champagne.
However, a malicious message would be like this: “Holi has a Hole in it; Ramzan has rum; and X-mas is X-rated. All religions should be thrown out the window.” (no one sent me this one; I cooked it up. Please don’t spread this). This kind of a message would only create negative vibes and has to be suppressed.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
the arcane world of manual labour...
How to Withdraw Cash from an ATM
It is so simple, right? You insert the card and do what the machine tells you to do. But there are intricacies if you are writing instructions for someone how to withdraw cash from an ATM. Firstly, where do you insert the card? There is slot on which it is written “Insert your card here”. By the way, what card do you insert? It could be your ATM/debit card or a credit card. Then you choose the language for the transaction (we say, oh, obviously English: but there could be a money-bag who has piles of cash but does not know English.) And so the story goes on… You could fill 4 pages before you come to “Collect your cash.’
I am talking of an arcane discipline called technical writing here: a technical writer has to look at a procedure from all angles – error conditions, the systems prompts from time to time, and so on. Many people think that any idiot can write these instructions; but it requires a special kind of idiot. One who thinks how things could go wrong at various points in a workflow. Take the case of an ATM. Sometimes, there is a notice saying that it is not working. But you can still insert your card, and at some point in the transaction, the machine tells you it cannot dispense cash – that is, after you have entered the pin, amount, chosen the account type and all that hype.
This essay is occasioned by a written test I had to take for a job as a technical writer: they said don’t make it more that 4 pages. Being a seasoned technical writer, even I thought initially, why it should take so long, but in the end I did end up using the upper limit to the document. There are a lot of job opportunities in the technical writing field: I recommend that for anyone with a flair for the language and an aptitude for technology. It is quite lucrative: it sometimes pays on par with software development.
Old hands in technical writing joke that it is a kind of 'manual labour' because it involves writing manuals!
Run up to Ganesh Nimajjan (Immersion)
Some Ganesha festival committees complete their puja a few days before the big Nimajjan day – which this time happens to be the 22nd of September. It has to do with Police permissions and that kind of bureaucratic hoopla. The Ganesh down the street was moved last night with huge fanfare. They started the drums and procession at 10.30 pm and at 12.30 am, it was still at the other end of the street. Late at night, some revelers came back with less of music but sufficiently ecstatic.
This season has been peaceful. In the good old days, there used to be riots and all associated with the Ganesh pandals. The police are alert, they are better equipped, and they rounded up people whom they suspect might create trouble. The specialty this time around was some old and middle-aged women dancing away to glory in front of the truck on which the idol was being carried. I haven’t seen this before, although for several years now, I have been outside Hyderabad during the Nimajjan season. Sighted among them was on big fat young lady.
When asked why don’t you carry on quickly, the ‘organizers’ of the procession said: sir, it’s only once a year.
It is so simple, right? You insert the card and do what the machine tells you to do. But there are intricacies if you are writing instructions for someone how to withdraw cash from an ATM. Firstly, where do you insert the card? There is slot on which it is written “Insert your card here”. By the way, what card do you insert? It could be your ATM/debit card or a credit card. Then you choose the language for the transaction (we say, oh, obviously English: but there could be a money-bag who has piles of cash but does not know English.) And so the story goes on… You could fill 4 pages before you come to “Collect your cash.’
I am talking of an arcane discipline called technical writing here: a technical writer has to look at a procedure from all angles – error conditions, the systems prompts from time to time, and so on. Many people think that any idiot can write these instructions; but it requires a special kind of idiot. One who thinks how things could go wrong at various points in a workflow. Take the case of an ATM. Sometimes, there is a notice saying that it is not working. But you can still insert your card, and at some point in the transaction, the machine tells you it cannot dispense cash – that is, after you have entered the pin, amount, chosen the account type and all that hype.
This essay is occasioned by a written test I had to take for a job as a technical writer: they said don’t make it more that 4 pages. Being a seasoned technical writer, even I thought initially, why it should take so long, but in the end I did end up using the upper limit to the document. There are a lot of job opportunities in the technical writing field: I recommend that for anyone with a flair for the language and an aptitude for technology. It is quite lucrative: it sometimes pays on par with software development.
Old hands in technical writing joke that it is a kind of 'manual labour' because it involves writing manuals!
Run up to Ganesh Nimajjan (Immersion)
Some Ganesha festival committees complete their puja a few days before the big Nimajjan day – which this time happens to be the 22nd of September. It has to do with Police permissions and that kind of bureaucratic hoopla. The Ganesh down the street was moved last night with huge fanfare. They started the drums and procession at 10.30 pm and at 12.30 am, it was still at the other end of the street. Late at night, some revelers came back with less of music but sufficiently ecstatic.
This season has been peaceful. In the good old days, there used to be riots and all associated with the Ganesh pandals. The police are alert, they are better equipped, and they rounded up people whom they suspect might create trouble. The specialty this time around was some old and middle-aged women dancing away to glory in front of the truck on which the idol was being carried. I haven’t seen this before, although for several years now, I have been outside Hyderabad during the Nimajjan season. Sighted among them was on big fat young lady.
When asked why don’t you carry on quickly, the ‘organizers’ of the procession said: sir, it’s only once a year.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Oedipus Complex, Electra Complex, and Sundry Cerebral Aberrations
It is unfortunate that the Oedipus is associated with a certain kind of obsession with one’s mother: poor Oedipus did not know that it was his biological mother whom he married. However, it would not have happened if he considered the age of the woman he was marrying: in India, given that the woman is older, such a situation would not have arisen. Then there is the misnomer: Electra complex.
It is more likely that Agamemnon had a thing for his daughter Electra; that is the way of the world. Does a young girl have ‘feelings’ for an old man? I doubt it. Even if she has, she would learn to sublimate those feelings over time and free herself of the force of attraction for a father or a fatherly figure. It is more likely to call a ‘thing’ between the father and his little girl of a complex the Agamemnon complex.
Harold Robbins: Are you afraid of the dark?
“Are you afraid of the dark” is a simple story of a girl who gets molested by her father as a child, and becomes a serial killer. She has a multiple personality disorder – schizophrenia in conventional lingo. However, she is extremely skillful. Once she commits a murder, she covers her tracks and moves on to the other coast for another escapade. She is kind to her victims in that she lets them have ‘fun’ one last time before finishing them off. Ironically, at the end the novel, she goes on to another adventure, with a song on her lips.
There are many fathers in India too, who ‘misbehave’ with their daughters, but go scot free. The daughters don’t turn out to be serial killers, though. Indeed there are no serial killers in India. There seems to be a hell of lot of difference between U.S. and us. And thank God for that!
Akashamanta: Trisha and Prakash Raj…
There is a Telugu movie, “Akashamanta” (as big as the sky) in which Prakash Raj (Prakash Rai for those in Karnataka) has a beautiful daughter (Trisha). She goes to Delhi for studies and returns with a Sikh boy whom she loves. Now, Raj has some reservations about giving his daughter away to someone outside the community; to someone so far away from the town where he lives. And mainly, although it is not made explicit in the movie – it is about giving away his daughter in marriage at all. Does it mean he has a thing for her? No, not according to the script and screenplay.
But the kind of discomfiture he displays when she is hugging and kissing young Jogi (the boy she brings from Delhi) makes one wonder what exactly his feelings are towards his daughter. It is a superb performance from Prakash Raj-Rai: hats off to him. He brings something to the table which was not scripted. He leaves a lot to our imagination (and goes beyond the ‘script’). He cannot digest the idea of his ‘little girl’ in another man’s embrace. Fathers who cannot digest such thoughts should shun all such thoughts. It is not impossible; meditation can help, if not medication.
I should have been a pair of ragged claws
One of my uncles (the husband of an aunt) used to work in the medals section of the Electrical and Mechanical Engineering division of Indian Army. Some times I wish I had become a typist in some government organization, like the army, or in a bank. I once in fact appeared for an interview for the position of a clerk-cum-typist but failed in the typing test. Be that as it may, my point is that intellectual work doesn’t interest me any more; if it did, I would have been ungainfully employed in some university teaching uninspiring literary works to disinterested students.
This obsession with ‘manual’ work took shape (root) in me over the years as a technical writer. There is nothing exciting about the job of a software manual writer – it is as tedious as manual labor. In fact, my friends in software development and quality assurance used to complain about the lack of creativity in their jobs: they used to feel that they have prostituted their skills (that they acquired during their days in the engineering colleges). Then consider how I should feel, having studied literature, writing instructions like: “press this, or that, or both”.
In call centers too, there are people doing tedious jobs, assuming ‘Christian’ names and personas – answering angry, rude callers from around the world. But somehow there is a kind of aura associated with those jobs. They seem to throng the pubs, and are driven around in fast ‘jeeps’ (Toyota Qualis or Tata Sumo). Some of them ride fancy bikes. The boys and girls mix freely, the girls smoke and drink, and it is assumed that they rock and roll a good deal.
It is more likely that Agamemnon had a thing for his daughter Electra; that is the way of the world. Does a young girl have ‘feelings’ for an old man? I doubt it. Even if she has, she would learn to sublimate those feelings over time and free herself of the force of attraction for a father or a fatherly figure. It is more likely to call a ‘thing’ between the father and his little girl of a complex the Agamemnon complex.
Harold Robbins: Are you afraid of the dark?
“Are you afraid of the dark” is a simple story of a girl who gets molested by her father as a child, and becomes a serial killer. She has a multiple personality disorder – schizophrenia in conventional lingo. However, she is extremely skillful. Once she commits a murder, she covers her tracks and moves on to the other coast for another escapade. She is kind to her victims in that she lets them have ‘fun’ one last time before finishing them off. Ironically, at the end the novel, she goes on to another adventure, with a song on her lips.
There are many fathers in India too, who ‘misbehave’ with their daughters, but go scot free. The daughters don’t turn out to be serial killers, though. Indeed there are no serial killers in India. There seems to be a hell of lot of difference between U.S. and us. And thank God for that!
Akashamanta: Trisha and Prakash Raj…
There is a Telugu movie, “Akashamanta” (as big as the sky) in which Prakash Raj (Prakash Rai for those in Karnataka) has a beautiful daughter (Trisha). She goes to Delhi for studies and returns with a Sikh boy whom she loves. Now, Raj has some reservations about giving his daughter away to someone outside the community; to someone so far away from the town where he lives. And mainly, although it is not made explicit in the movie – it is about giving away his daughter in marriage at all. Does it mean he has a thing for her? No, not according to the script and screenplay.
But the kind of discomfiture he displays when she is hugging and kissing young Jogi (the boy she brings from Delhi) makes one wonder what exactly his feelings are towards his daughter. It is a superb performance from Prakash Raj-Rai: hats off to him. He brings something to the table which was not scripted. He leaves a lot to our imagination (and goes beyond the ‘script’). He cannot digest the idea of his ‘little girl’ in another man’s embrace. Fathers who cannot digest such thoughts should shun all such thoughts. It is not impossible; meditation can help, if not medication.
I should have been a pair of ragged claws
One of my uncles (the husband of an aunt) used to work in the medals section of the Electrical and Mechanical Engineering division of Indian Army. Some times I wish I had become a typist in some government organization, like the army, or in a bank. I once in fact appeared for an interview for the position of a clerk-cum-typist but failed in the typing test. Be that as it may, my point is that intellectual work doesn’t interest me any more; if it did, I would have been ungainfully employed in some university teaching uninspiring literary works to disinterested students.
This obsession with ‘manual’ work took shape (root) in me over the years as a technical writer. There is nothing exciting about the job of a software manual writer – it is as tedious as manual labor. In fact, my friends in software development and quality assurance used to complain about the lack of creativity in their jobs: they used to feel that they have prostituted their skills (that they acquired during their days in the engineering colleges). Then consider how I should feel, having studied literature, writing instructions like: “press this, or that, or both”.
In call centers too, there are people doing tedious jobs, assuming ‘Christian’ names and personas – answering angry, rude callers from around the world. But somehow there is a kind of aura associated with those jobs. They seem to throng the pubs, and are driven around in fast ‘jeeps’ (Toyota Qualis or Tata Sumo). Some of them ride fancy bikes. The boys and girls mix freely, the girls smoke and drink, and it is assumed that they rock and roll a good deal.
Congress Loyalists Have A License To Mint Money
Mrs Sonia Gandhi said in so many words that Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy was minting money – by foul means than fair – during his term in office; but he remained loyal to the party, and so she allowed him to go on. Indeed, he made him CM for a second term, in contravention of the precedence of making the Pradesh Congress Committee chief the CM. That the Congress is a corrupt party is a well-known fact: Mr Rajiv Gandhi himself bemoaned the state of affairs at the centenary celebration of the party in 89 or so – saying that it has become the shelter for power-brokers and wheelers and dealers.
Mrs Sonia Gandhi seems to have resigned herself to the fate of overseeing a corrupt-to-the-core Congress party, and getting a semblance of order into the affairs. She is also in the unenviable position of not having the mass appeal such as her late mother-in-law, or even the charisma of her late husband. She is handicapped by limited knowledge of Hindi, which is all important in Indian politics. She has the tag of a ‘foreigner’ attached, and to the middle class India, it conjures up an image of colonial rule. Except for her illustrious surname (and some family cash resources), she has nothing much going in her favor.
Mr Jaganmohan Reddy knows this fully well. He thought he could ‘blackmail’ her in terms of raking up a sympathy wave (as did Mr Rajiv Gandhi) and forcing her ‘hand’ to make him the CM. The mistake he did was to agree to Mr K Rosaiah’s name in the wake of his father’s death: he thought it was only a temporary arrangement, and that he would be anointed sooner than later. He got desperate when it appeared that Mr Rosaiah was well entrenched in the CM’s gaddi. That was when he made his first wrong move, and the costliest wrong move – in a series of suicidal moves: defying the party high command and proceeding with the second leg of his Odarpu Yatra (consolation tour).
Now, as long as you remain loyal to the party (=high command) you can go scot free with any number of misdeeds: all will be forgiven, except defiance. For one thing, Jagan is a young man in a hurry. And then again, he is not sure of what will be the outcome of the 2014 elections – there is the T-issue, there is Chiru looming large, and many imponderables. He had to act, and act now. It was a catch 22 situation for him: damned if he acts, damned if he don’t.
The high command responded with an invite to Chiranjivi to 10 Janpath: Chiru took the cue and played along. He knows full well that in the long term, a Congress party sans Jagan puts the political calculations in his favor, whether or not he enters into an alliance with the Congress. That is the story thus far.
What is going to unfold in the near to mid term?
Jagan is going to run out of steam; he is not going to be expelled from the party. He cannot topple the government (if he could, he would have done that long ago). Launching his own party at this juncture is pointless, because there will be no elections until 2014.
Speculation that he will join the BJP is all nonsense: what has he to gain from such a move? Precious nothing. The BJP’s 4 percent vote share in the state will not equal the muslim votes Jagan is going to lose if he joins hands with them. Then again, he will not be crowned king in that party.
The speculation arises from the thinking that the Gali brothers are a kind of bridge between Jagan and BJP. True, but the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) bosses are not happy about the influence the Gali brothers have on the party in Karnataka – and with Ms Sushma Swaraj at the center.
In the near term, nothing is going to happen; in the medium term – a new CM (from Telangana) will be named: it could be Dr J Geetha Reddy.
Mrs Sonia Gandhi seems to have resigned herself to the fate of overseeing a corrupt-to-the-core Congress party, and getting a semblance of order into the affairs. She is also in the unenviable position of not having the mass appeal such as her late mother-in-law, or even the charisma of her late husband. She is handicapped by limited knowledge of Hindi, which is all important in Indian politics. She has the tag of a ‘foreigner’ attached, and to the middle class India, it conjures up an image of colonial rule. Except for her illustrious surname (and some family cash resources), she has nothing much going in her favor.
Mr Jaganmohan Reddy knows this fully well. He thought he could ‘blackmail’ her in terms of raking up a sympathy wave (as did Mr Rajiv Gandhi) and forcing her ‘hand’ to make him the CM. The mistake he did was to agree to Mr K Rosaiah’s name in the wake of his father’s death: he thought it was only a temporary arrangement, and that he would be anointed sooner than later. He got desperate when it appeared that Mr Rosaiah was well entrenched in the CM’s gaddi. That was when he made his first wrong move, and the costliest wrong move – in a series of suicidal moves: defying the party high command and proceeding with the second leg of his Odarpu Yatra (consolation tour).
Now, as long as you remain loyal to the party (=high command) you can go scot free with any number of misdeeds: all will be forgiven, except defiance. For one thing, Jagan is a young man in a hurry. And then again, he is not sure of what will be the outcome of the 2014 elections – there is the T-issue, there is Chiru looming large, and many imponderables. He had to act, and act now. It was a catch 22 situation for him: damned if he acts, damned if he don’t.
The high command responded with an invite to Chiranjivi to 10 Janpath: Chiru took the cue and played along. He knows full well that in the long term, a Congress party sans Jagan puts the political calculations in his favor, whether or not he enters into an alliance with the Congress. That is the story thus far.
What is going to unfold in the near to mid term?
Jagan is going to run out of steam; he is not going to be expelled from the party. He cannot topple the government (if he could, he would have done that long ago). Launching his own party at this juncture is pointless, because there will be no elections until 2014.
Speculation that he will join the BJP is all nonsense: what has he to gain from such a move? Precious nothing. The BJP’s 4 percent vote share in the state will not equal the muslim votes Jagan is going to lose if he joins hands with them. Then again, he will not be crowned king in that party.
The speculation arises from the thinking that the Gali brothers are a kind of bridge between Jagan and BJP. True, but the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) bosses are not happy about the influence the Gali brothers have on the party in Karnataka – and with Ms Sushma Swaraj at the center.
In the near term, nothing is going to happen; in the medium term – a new CM (from Telangana) will be named: it could be Dr J Geetha Reddy.
Ganesh And Grain Drain; Id Ul Fitr…
As children, we used to throw ‘undrallu’ (boiled rice floor balls) on to huts and thatched roofs, because there will be mice (there were rats or mice on our tiled roof as well). As you know, Lord Ganesha’s mount is the mouse. We used to believe that Lord Ganesha would be propitiated if his ‘mount’ is fed with undrallu. It boils one’s blood that food grains are rotting in this country, where, according to www.thehungersite.com, three people die of nutrition deficiency every minute. The Supreme Court asked the government to do something about the situation – like distributing food grains free. Food grains which are otherwise rotting for lack of adequate storage arrangements.
The god-awful government gives two hundred rupees subsidy on cooking gas, to all and sundry; in the process screwing up the bottomline of public sector oil companies. However, it feels that economic principles will be affected adversely if free food is distributed to the poor. Dr Manmohan Singh also told the Supreme Court for good measure not to interfere in policy matters. The policy of this country is dictated by a woman of foreign origins, and we cannot dictate terms to the high priestess.
As I write this, there is a Big Fight on television; someone just pointed out that in the one hour that the battle is on (on television), 171 children would have died of hunger; two farmers would have committed suicide, God knows for what reason. There are seven more (according to the calculation that three per minute deaths occur due to hunger and malnutrition), who go unnoticed by caste-based census! There is food rotting in – actually outside – the storage facilities, and people dying on the streets. And the good doctor Manmohan Singh says: “Let them eat cake!” The rats and bandicoots are not complaining. Lord Ganesha will be happy with this situation too, perhaps. And the middle class, of which I am a proud member, will go back to sleep – having agreed with the vociferous appeals of those on television to stop hunger deaths, for at least as long as there is surplus grain.
I go to www.thehungersite.com once in a while and ‘donate’ a cup of rice: all it takes is to click the button that says donate a cup of rice. And my job done as a columnist, I go back to sleep – having feasted on Undrallu…
Id Ul Fitr and Ganesh Utsav on the same day
It is a double dhamaka for Hyderabad (and other parts of the country): Ramzan and Ganesh utsav on the same day. The good news is, there is no news of communal rioting as of this writing. I did not do the puja properly this year but I think Lord Ganesh would understand. It is actually about Id Ul Fitr that I wanted to write about today…
It was the year 1999. I was in Singapore and a friend from Hyderabad used to hang out with me when I had my daily quota of beer. Then we both would eat dinner together, and vend our way home. Then came the month of fasting. I said to Shahad (his pet name, real name – Rafat): “Look brother, you have given me company when I was drinking although you were not drinking; I will give you company in your fasting, though I am not a Muslim”.
However, I made some modifications to my ‘roza’, namely, not eating in the morning before the first prayer (too lazy to get up at that hour); having coffee and cigarettes during the day (and of course water); and swallowing the salivation. But, I was steadfast in not drinking during the whole month, and eating only in the evenings. The millennium thingie happened that year during the month of ramzan. And Rafat and I were probably the two young people who did not get drunk the night of December 31, 2000. Indeed, after the month of ramzan I continued with my abstinence for another six months. That is the longest dry patch in the past one decade and more.
Suffice it to say that faith moves mountains. Commitment, integrity, and such things are not taught: they come out of oneself – one either has them, in which case they will be manifest at one point or another. Or, one doesn’t have them. Unfortunately, my abstinence lasted only for 6 months. I made the mistake of getting onto an Indian Airlines flight to Hyderabad after that, and the air-hostess ‘auntie’ threw three cans of beer at me; that is where I lost my balance.
Yes, another important thing is balance: it is easy to shoot past the mark; but it is difficult to stand firm in the middle.
The god-awful government gives two hundred rupees subsidy on cooking gas, to all and sundry; in the process screwing up the bottomline of public sector oil companies. However, it feels that economic principles will be affected adversely if free food is distributed to the poor. Dr Manmohan Singh also told the Supreme Court for good measure not to interfere in policy matters. The policy of this country is dictated by a woman of foreign origins, and we cannot dictate terms to the high priestess.
As I write this, there is a Big Fight on television; someone just pointed out that in the one hour that the battle is on (on television), 171 children would have died of hunger; two farmers would have committed suicide, God knows for what reason. There are seven more (according to the calculation that three per minute deaths occur due to hunger and malnutrition), who go unnoticed by caste-based census! There is food rotting in – actually outside – the storage facilities, and people dying on the streets. And the good doctor Manmohan Singh says: “Let them eat cake!” The rats and bandicoots are not complaining. Lord Ganesha will be happy with this situation too, perhaps. And the middle class, of which I am a proud member, will go back to sleep – having agreed with the vociferous appeals of those on television to stop hunger deaths, for at least as long as there is surplus grain.
I go to www.thehungersite.com once in a while and ‘donate’ a cup of rice: all it takes is to click the button that says donate a cup of rice. And my job done as a columnist, I go back to sleep – having feasted on Undrallu…
Id Ul Fitr and Ganesh Utsav on the same day
It is a double dhamaka for Hyderabad (and other parts of the country): Ramzan and Ganesh utsav on the same day. The good news is, there is no news of communal rioting as of this writing. I did not do the puja properly this year but I think Lord Ganesh would understand. It is actually about Id Ul Fitr that I wanted to write about today…
It was the year 1999. I was in Singapore and a friend from Hyderabad used to hang out with me when I had my daily quota of beer. Then we both would eat dinner together, and vend our way home. Then came the month of fasting. I said to Shahad (his pet name, real name – Rafat): “Look brother, you have given me company when I was drinking although you were not drinking; I will give you company in your fasting, though I am not a Muslim”.
However, I made some modifications to my ‘roza’, namely, not eating in the morning before the first prayer (too lazy to get up at that hour); having coffee and cigarettes during the day (and of course water); and swallowing the salivation. But, I was steadfast in not drinking during the whole month, and eating only in the evenings. The millennium thingie happened that year during the month of ramzan. And Rafat and I were probably the two young people who did not get drunk the night of December 31, 2000. Indeed, after the month of ramzan I continued with my abstinence for another six months. That is the longest dry patch in the past one decade and more.
Suffice it to say that faith moves mountains. Commitment, integrity, and such things are not taught: they come out of oneself – one either has them, in which case they will be manifest at one point or another. Or, one doesn’t have them. Unfortunately, my abstinence lasted only for 6 months. I made the mistake of getting onto an Indian Airlines flight to Hyderabad after that, and the air-hostess ‘auntie’ threw three cans of beer at me; that is where I lost my balance.
Yes, another important thing is balance: it is easy to shoot past the mark; but it is difficult to stand firm in the middle.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Sherlock Holmes and the Silent Dog
Like many of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, there is one involving a murder investigation. Holmes and Watson go to visit the site of murder. When they get back to their Baker Street residence, Holmes asks Watson: "Did you notice the dog at the house of murder, Watson?" Watson answers in the affirmative. "Did you notice anything strange in its behavior?" asks Holmes further. Watson replies: "Nothing strange. It was lying in a corner silently." Holmes thumps the table at it: "That is exactly what I mean. There is a murder in the house, and the dog is not making a lot of ruckus, which it should be doing under normal circumstances." And he goes on to suggest that the landlord of the house is the suspect (and that is why the dog takes it to be business as usual); it turns out in the end that the landlord is indeed the culprit.
Sorry to have taken such a long time to come to the point - There is nothing about Mr Y S Jaganmohan Reddy in the Principal Opposition Paper (POP) or on the popular television channels today. What is wrong with that, you might wonder. According to these papers and channels, and according to their sources, action would be taken against Jagan in the first week of September - we are well nigh the end of the first week, and no such thing is coming forth. Except for causing the death of a couple of more 'fans', the Odarpu hasn't achieved anything so far.
I speculated earlier that criminal proceeding would be taken against those involved in mining and other irregularities. The APIIC boss today said in so many words that those responsible for the 'Emmar kumbhakonam' will not be spared and even criminal action will be initiated as per the report of the investigation committee. Mr Ambati can start looking for a good trial lawyer, and be mentally prepared to eat chippa koodu.
You heard it before - I mean, read it before - in this column that no action will be taken against Jagan, in terms of expelling him from the party. If his fingerprints are found on any of these scams, the action will be criminal cases and not some shim-sham show-cause notice. Even now his camp followers are in the illusion that the Congress high command does not dare take action against them or their leader. The fact is that the high command does not care to take action. They say that digging into the irregularities of the past regime is 'harassment': well they are behaving like the thief who groped his shoulder when someone asked "who is the pumpkin thief". Already a petition in the high court filed by someone not related to the scam was dismissed, and he was roundly asked - why are you interested in this case?
There was some talk of the Gali brothers coming to bail Jagan out: it was rumored that they would even buy out MPs at the center and topple the Congress government. The Nehru-Gandhi dynasty is the biggest shindig when it comes to horse-trading, as we have seen in the case of the nuke deal with America and how the UPA sarkar got the bill through. Nobody can buy out Congress MPs: there is plenty of money with the Congress and there is the 'abhaya hastam' of the high command. And then there is the brand equity of the very name Gandhi. (Unfortunately, Maneka Gandhi and Feroze Varun could not get any dividends out of their illustrious surnames.)
What is going to happen in the near term?
A Telangana leader will be named CM - possibly Dr J Geetha Reddy. The Srikrishna commission report will be referred to a joint parliamentary committee. Negotiations will be opened with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) on the modalities of state formation. It will be made known that Telangana is going to be created. Even a time-frame for the creation of T-state may be announced. This could pave the way for a TRS-Congress tie-up in the future elections (failing which the TRS would jump into bed with the BJP). However, that is in the long term.
So what do we have in store in the long term?
I have been keeping my political comments to Andhra Pradesh, because I really don't have a grasp of politics at the national level. But I will venture a few big picture speculations today. The Congress could romp home to victory in the parliamentary elections in 2014, in alliance with TRS in Telangana; and with the Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) in the rest of Andhra. It should do well in Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Orissa, and overall maintain an edge over the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). They just need to rein in the likes of Mr P Chidambaram, who are helping the saffron cause, as did Mr P V Narasimharao in the 1990s.
The BJP is good as an opposition party: it is right of center in economics, which is good for the country. It will retain its stature as the main opposition party and leave the left parties behind. Leftist economics are really outdated. It will be a much more diminished left presence in the next Loksabha.
Jagan will go back to Bangalore and get into some call center job (or real estate dhanda). I mean, he will go to the boondocks.
Sorry to have taken such a long time to come to the point - There is nothing about Mr Y S Jaganmohan Reddy in the Principal Opposition Paper (POP) or on the popular television channels today. What is wrong with that, you might wonder. According to these papers and channels, and according to their sources, action would be taken against Jagan in the first week of September - we are well nigh the end of the first week, and no such thing is coming forth. Except for causing the death of a couple of more 'fans', the Odarpu hasn't achieved anything so far.
I speculated earlier that criminal proceeding would be taken against those involved in mining and other irregularities. The APIIC boss today said in so many words that those responsible for the 'Emmar kumbhakonam' will not be spared and even criminal action will be initiated as per the report of the investigation committee. Mr Ambati can start looking for a good trial lawyer, and be mentally prepared to eat chippa koodu.
You heard it before - I mean, read it before - in this column that no action will be taken against Jagan, in terms of expelling him from the party. If his fingerprints are found on any of these scams, the action will be criminal cases and not some shim-sham show-cause notice. Even now his camp followers are in the illusion that the Congress high command does not dare take action against them or their leader. The fact is that the high command does not care to take action. They say that digging into the irregularities of the past regime is 'harassment': well they are behaving like the thief who groped his shoulder when someone asked "who is the pumpkin thief". Already a petition in the high court filed by someone not related to the scam was dismissed, and he was roundly asked - why are you interested in this case?
There was some talk of the Gali brothers coming to bail Jagan out: it was rumored that they would even buy out MPs at the center and topple the Congress government. The Nehru-Gandhi dynasty is the biggest shindig when it comes to horse-trading, as we have seen in the case of the nuke deal with America and how the UPA sarkar got the bill through. Nobody can buy out Congress MPs: there is plenty of money with the Congress and there is the 'abhaya hastam' of the high command. And then there is the brand equity of the very name Gandhi. (Unfortunately, Maneka Gandhi and Feroze Varun could not get any dividends out of their illustrious surnames.)
What is going to happen in the near term?
A Telangana leader will be named CM - possibly Dr J Geetha Reddy. The Srikrishna commission report will be referred to a joint parliamentary committee. Negotiations will be opened with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) on the modalities of state formation. It will be made known that Telangana is going to be created. Even a time-frame for the creation of T-state may be announced. This could pave the way for a TRS-Congress tie-up in the future elections (failing which the TRS would jump into bed with the BJP). However, that is in the long term.
So what do we have in store in the long term?
I have been keeping my political comments to Andhra Pradesh, because I really don't have a grasp of politics at the national level. But I will venture a few big picture speculations today. The Congress could romp home to victory in the parliamentary elections in 2014, in alliance with TRS in Telangana; and with the Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) in the rest of Andhra. It should do well in Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Orissa, and overall maintain an edge over the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). They just need to rein in the likes of Mr P Chidambaram, who are helping the saffron cause, as did Mr P V Narasimharao in the 1990s.
The BJP is good as an opposition party: it is right of center in economics, which is good for the country. It will retain its stature as the main opposition party and leave the left parties behind. Leftist economics are really outdated. It will be a much more diminished left presence in the next Loksabha.
Jagan will go back to Bangalore and get into some call center job (or real estate dhanda). I mean, he will go to the boondocks.
Friday, September 3, 2010
The Color Of Terror Is Red…
Hunger, anger, angst and insecurity and many other feelings may cause people to resort to violence and terrorist acts. There is disinheritance, depravity, loss of land and life and limb, and the list goes on. However, the color of terror is red, as also of all these feelings. Red also indicates danger: Giving it the color of saffron is nothing short of fool-hardiness, which is exactly what the Union Home Minister Mr P Chidambaram has done. In spite of opposition from his own party, he stood by his guns and said that he was trying to get across a point and that he effectively did that. What was the point he was trying to get across?
That terrorists who happen to be Hindus by birth can be called saffron terrorists but terrorists of other persuasions cannot be identified with their religion. That we have to soft-pedal that kind of terrorism with names like ‘jihadi’ (which is a very fine word indeed – meaning ‘dharam yudh’) or cross-border terrorism? Jihad means fight against evil: in the context of India, it is directed against the sovereign state of India, which presumably is the evil. Our neighbor is sponsoring them. No matter the people of that country are not up in arms against India: but we cannot strike out peace with candle-lit dinners, while the powers that be in that country are sending terrorists by the hundreds across the border. And these jihadis are ably abetted by people of a particular group – whether you like it or not. The conspiracy of silence involved in stating that support for what it is – is overlooked by the Indian Outlook. On the other hand, you have the Vinod Mehtas of the world who have candle-vigils for the unholy neighbors. We are at war with Pakistan civilian peace-keepers can’t alleviate the situation. On the other hand, these secularists are driving moderates into the militant Hindu fold.
What is cross border about the D Company operatives: they are well within the borders, alive and kicking. The fact that Dawood Ibrahim himself lives in style in Karachi or Dubai doesn’t make the terror acts he promotes cross-border terrorism. Calling the terrorist acts of people from a particular community ‘jihadi’ terror is actually giving it a legitimacy it does not deserve. It is not my case that these terrorists belong to any religion; their religion doesn’t sanction violence against innocents. So, in giving a particular brand of terrorism ‘saffron’, Mr P Chidambaram is in fact pointing at other acts of terror and is leaving people to think of what color that is! Is that the point he was trying to get across?
What did this government do to have Dawood extradited? What did the NDA regime (led by the Bharatiya Janata Party) do to get him extradited? Precious little. Out of the government the BPP cries hoarse about minority appeasement, about Warren Anderson’s escape; when it was in government – it did nothing about it. And who is watching the fun from the side wings when the saffron brigade and the cross border armies are sledging it out in the middle? That’s white mischief for you.
The way to economic development…
the noble economix doctor bhagwati,
and swami and friends tell us
that the 20 points are old, all dotty
the trick is to model ourself more on U.S.
Let us teach them (over time)
Let us reach them (by road)
What if some fall by the way side, waiting
That means fewer masses to uplift
Let us teach them to fish, by hook or crook or baiting
Let everyone of us get rich – some first, get rich quick
But all in good time.
That terrorists who happen to be Hindus by birth can be called saffron terrorists but terrorists of other persuasions cannot be identified with their religion. That we have to soft-pedal that kind of terrorism with names like ‘jihadi’ (which is a very fine word indeed – meaning ‘dharam yudh’) or cross-border terrorism? Jihad means fight against evil: in the context of India, it is directed against the sovereign state of India, which presumably is the evil. Our neighbor is sponsoring them. No matter the people of that country are not up in arms against India: but we cannot strike out peace with candle-lit dinners, while the powers that be in that country are sending terrorists by the hundreds across the border. And these jihadis are ably abetted by people of a particular group – whether you like it or not. The conspiracy of silence involved in stating that support for what it is – is overlooked by the Indian Outlook. On the other hand, you have the Vinod Mehtas of the world who have candle-vigils for the unholy neighbors. We are at war with Pakistan civilian peace-keepers can’t alleviate the situation. On the other hand, these secularists are driving moderates into the militant Hindu fold.
What is cross border about the D Company operatives: they are well within the borders, alive and kicking. The fact that Dawood Ibrahim himself lives in style in Karachi or Dubai doesn’t make the terror acts he promotes cross-border terrorism. Calling the terrorist acts of people from a particular community ‘jihadi’ terror is actually giving it a legitimacy it does not deserve. It is not my case that these terrorists belong to any religion; their religion doesn’t sanction violence against innocents. So, in giving a particular brand of terrorism ‘saffron’, Mr P Chidambaram is in fact pointing at other acts of terror and is leaving people to think of what color that is! Is that the point he was trying to get across?
What did this government do to have Dawood extradited? What did the NDA regime (led by the Bharatiya Janata Party) do to get him extradited? Precious little. Out of the government the BPP cries hoarse about minority appeasement, about Warren Anderson’s escape; when it was in government – it did nothing about it. And who is watching the fun from the side wings when the saffron brigade and the cross border armies are sledging it out in the middle? That’s white mischief for you.
The way to economic development…
the noble economix doctor bhagwati,
and swami and friends tell us
that the 20 points are old, all dotty
the trick is to model ourself more on U.S.
Let us teach them (over time)
Let us reach them (by road)
What if some fall by the way side, waiting
That means fewer masses to uplift
Let us teach them to fish, by hook or crook or baiting
Let everyone of us get rich – some first, get rich quick
But all in good time.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
My Life Is An Open Book Which Nobody Wants To Read
I have been writing these blogs (column – if you are reading Trust News) for nearly 3 months. I have had a handful of people responding to me; you could count them on your hands. They say they enjoy reading them; some violently disagree with what I say; some correct me where I have gone wrong. I am thankful to those who say nice things about the blogs and even more grateful to those who criticize me: but the kind of response that really hurts me is, “Man, you write so much. It’s really great!” They of course mean it as a compliment, but it hurts. It is saying, in other words, “You got all the time in the world; you don’t have better things to do than blog; and I am not going to waste my time reading the stuff.” But this quote keeps me going….
"Alas for those who never sing,
But die with all their music in them!" … Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
CM Unwell… Manmohan comes a visiting
The Chief Minister is once again unwell and stayed at home, keeping away from regular business. Mr Danam Nagender, who visited them, gave him a clean bill of health and stated that the CM would inaugurate the statue of the late CM Y S Rajasekhara Reddy tomorrow. Let us hope that Mr K Rosaiah gets well sooner than later and makes himself available for tomorrow’s programme. However, how long can he continue in the CM’s gaddi is a big question, particularly now that the government is facing so many challenges – one from Jagan, and another from the separate Telangana forces.
In the meantime, Dr Manmohan Singh laid the foundation stone for the Mannavaram project and said that it was a tribute to YSR a day before his first death anniversary. The Congress party owns up YSR but not his arrogant son.
Dr Geetha Reddy is summoned to Delhi
At this point, one could only speculate as to why Dr J Geetha Reddy is summoned to New Delhi. It is certain that she would meet the supremo and that she would be given a greater responsibility: it could be the CM’s job itself, given that Mr Rosaiah is not in the pink of his health and is not able to handle the Jagan issue. The high command is forced to take steps to checkmate Jagan, which 10 Janpath is loath to do on a daily basis. Madame Gandhi Jr wants Jagan to be taken care of locally, at the state level. There is a possibility of Dr J Geetha Reddy’s name being circulated as the successor, and putting pressure on Mr K Rosaiah to step down ‘voluntarily’ on account of bad health.
If that is not the case, then surely Dr Geetha Reddy will be the top runner for the Pradesh Congress Committee chief’s post. But the timing of Dr Geetha Reddy’s trip to Delhi makes one believe that it would be the CM-ship. There is no urgency to decide on a new PCC chief now – it is a month away. Bringing about a change in the government is of more urgency, in the light of Jagan’s confrontation in the coming few days. The high command is on game point (set point and match point) in Tennis lingo: making Dr J Geetha Reddy the new CM will be an ace that will settle the match in the high command’s favour. Remember, you have read it here first.
Krishnashtami and sundry Hindu festivals
It is interesting that Krishnashtami is celebrated with such great fanfare, and in public, in the north; it is celebrated at home quietly in the south (at least in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka). Ganesh Chaturthi is not much of a festival in the north, but it is such a big event in the Maha Rashtra and Andhra (and other southern states). In Hyderabad, of course the biggest festival is Bonalu (there is Ramzan too). Dasara is widely celebrated but it is a huge event in West Bengal. Diwali is a universal festival that is celebrated across the states, perhaps not so much in J & K. People down south haven’t heard of Karva Chauth; in the north, they don’t know what is Onam, which is of course is a big deal in Kerala. There is pongal in the south; rakhi and holi in the north. All kinds of festivals all around the place!
On the other hand, Muslims have their Id-ul-fitr and Ramzan – wherever they are in the world. So also Christians (Christmas and Easter). And so is the case with other religions. It is only among Hindus that we have so many ‘regional festivals’ a la regional parties. If it weren’t for Diwali – Hindus would not have a common thread running across various regions.
"Alas for those who never sing,
But die with all their music in them!" … Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
CM Unwell… Manmohan comes a visiting
The Chief Minister is once again unwell and stayed at home, keeping away from regular business. Mr Danam Nagender, who visited them, gave him a clean bill of health and stated that the CM would inaugurate the statue of the late CM Y S Rajasekhara Reddy tomorrow. Let us hope that Mr K Rosaiah gets well sooner than later and makes himself available for tomorrow’s programme. However, how long can he continue in the CM’s gaddi is a big question, particularly now that the government is facing so many challenges – one from Jagan, and another from the separate Telangana forces.
In the meantime, Dr Manmohan Singh laid the foundation stone for the Mannavaram project and said that it was a tribute to YSR a day before his first death anniversary. The Congress party owns up YSR but not his arrogant son.
Dr Geetha Reddy is summoned to Delhi
At this point, one could only speculate as to why Dr J Geetha Reddy is summoned to New Delhi. It is certain that she would meet the supremo and that she would be given a greater responsibility: it could be the CM’s job itself, given that Mr Rosaiah is not in the pink of his health and is not able to handle the Jagan issue. The high command is forced to take steps to checkmate Jagan, which 10 Janpath is loath to do on a daily basis. Madame Gandhi Jr wants Jagan to be taken care of locally, at the state level. There is a possibility of Dr J Geetha Reddy’s name being circulated as the successor, and putting pressure on Mr K Rosaiah to step down ‘voluntarily’ on account of bad health.
If that is not the case, then surely Dr Geetha Reddy will be the top runner for the Pradesh Congress Committee chief’s post. But the timing of Dr Geetha Reddy’s trip to Delhi makes one believe that it would be the CM-ship. There is no urgency to decide on a new PCC chief now – it is a month away. Bringing about a change in the government is of more urgency, in the light of Jagan’s confrontation in the coming few days. The high command is on game point (set point and match point) in Tennis lingo: making Dr J Geetha Reddy the new CM will be an ace that will settle the match in the high command’s favour. Remember, you have read it here first.
Krishnashtami and sundry Hindu festivals
It is interesting that Krishnashtami is celebrated with such great fanfare, and in public, in the north; it is celebrated at home quietly in the south (at least in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka). Ganesh Chaturthi is not much of a festival in the north, but it is such a big event in the Maha Rashtra and Andhra (and other southern states). In Hyderabad, of course the biggest festival is Bonalu (there is Ramzan too). Dasara is widely celebrated but it is a huge event in West Bengal. Diwali is a universal festival that is celebrated across the states, perhaps not so much in J & K. People down south haven’t heard of Karva Chauth; in the north, they don’t know what is Onam, which is of course is a big deal in Kerala. There is pongal in the south; rakhi and holi in the north. All kinds of festivals all around the place!
On the other hand, Muslims have their Id-ul-fitr and Ramzan – wherever they are in the world. So also Christians (Christmas and Easter). And so is the case with other religions. It is only among Hindus that we have so many ‘regional festivals’ a la regional parties. If it weren’t for Diwali – Hindus would not have a common thread running across various regions.
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