Lord Macaulay, in his infamous minute on Indian education (2nd February, 1835), said to the British parliament that:
“We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern; a class of persons, Indian in blood and color, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect. To that class we may leave it to refine the vernacular dialects of the country, to enrich those dialects with terms of science borrowed from the Western nomenclature, and to render them by degrees fit vehicles for conveying knowledge to the great mass of the population.”
Granted that, as he says, the ‘vernacular’ languages are not fit for science and technology; granted that English is superior; but why should the people be converted to English tastes, opinions, morals, and intellect? Or even and ‘foreign’ religion? It is not known. Isn’t it enough that people learn the trade in English and maintain their own culture? To pursue a degree in the U.S.A., as many Indians aspire to these days (in fact, for the past several decades), is it necessary to rock to the tunes of pop and all that jazz? Frankly, I don’t think it is necessary. We don’t have to westernize ourselves to be up-to-date with the developments of science and technology. Is it necessary to wear minis and midis, and tank tops to do scientific research or software development? It beats me...
That the young generation rocks and rolls to the tunes of Michael Jackson, who was passé a decade ago seems strange to me. But that is what one of my students said: guys, Michael Jackson is God. And we rock. Some such thing. The seeds of this are sown again by Lord Macaulay:
“Learning English is closely associated with the study of English literary pieces in the Indian subcontinent. Even as many adult students in short term English courses may not care for the literary benefits of learning English, many more do not feel satisfied with just learning the language and using it only for practical ends. They do, indeed, seek to understand, enjoy and appreciate what English literature offers them. School curriculum always blends learning English language with learning and enjoying English (and American) literature.”
Luckily, there aren’t a huge number of these Macaulay’s orphans in our midst.
However, English has been taken up for instrumental (practical – utilitarian) purposes by millions of Indians and that helped us to stand beside the most advanced nations in the world today. Nattarin, an ethnic Chinese girl from Thailand, whom I met in Singapore circa 2000 said once, with a wistful air: “you guys are so lucky, to be colonized by the British; (Alas,) we have never been colonized and my English is so bad.
The Singapore Story
Singapore is a small island state, of about 265 square miles (at when the waters recede, as Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew put it humorously in The Singapore Story), is one the most westernized of the Asian countries. Japan is probably more westernized of all; China too is pretty much westernized. All the schools and colleges in Singapore teach in English medium; but the people have a heavy accent. Even someone who graduates from a good college in India, after schooling in the mother tongue medium (for instance, yours truly), speaks better English than the average Singaporean who goes through 15 years of English medium instruction.
Figure that out yourself.
Finnish Pride…
The Finnish people are supposed to be very individualistic. When it comes to family bonds, they care less for their kin than the Americans. They take great pride in their language and their celebrated poets. There are statues of poets at every intersection: when I asked why they have so many poets’ statues, they said it is because they have nothing else to celebrate but their poets and their language.
And their commitment to Finnish gets in the way of their learning English; for them English is just another language (and it is vastly different from their own). They tend to pick up Swedish, because there is a sizeable Swedish population.
Interestingly, the Swedish speak better English because of similarity with English. The Finns have a bilingual dictionary on every computer and write with the help of the translations they obtain from the dictionary. Sometimes, even their spoken language is influenced by their translational-ese: like one guy was telling me that he was wasted the previous night. After looking it up in the dictionary, I realized that being wasted means being drunk.
The bottomline: I learnt a new word!
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
K C R Has Reason To Smile; Jagan’s Swan Song…
From the voter turnout in the bypolls held on 27th, it seems the results will go in favor of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti headed by Mr K Chandrasekhara Rao. The TRS is likely to romp home to victory in all the seats, and the Bharatiya Janata Party may come up trumps in Nizamabad Urban. The TRS chief has reason to smile. However, it has to be seen whether the Sri Krishna Commission will give weight to this electoral victory. In fact, the Congress and TDP may say that the TRS and the BJP got back what they put into the fray. That being true, losing a seat or two may push the TRS into the defensive. That seems to be unlikely now. Just how ‘offensive’ he will get now is to be seen.
Let us consider the scenario that may unfold. The BJP and the TRS can get closer, and work together in the forthcoming elections. The coalition will be a strong contender for Telangana’s first government, when the time comes. The BJP has always been in favor of smaller states, and in fact formed Chattisgarh (out of Madhya Pradesh), Uttaranchal (out of Uttar Pradesh) and Jharkhand (out of Bihar). The original larger states with their voter structures favor a party like Congress, while smaller states benefit the BJP, which don’t have a state-wide appeal in Andhra Pradesh and say, Bihar. If the BJP had not contested together with the TDP in 2004, the TRS would have been their natural ally, and instead of going with the Congress, KCR would have gladly teamed up with them. Of course, things look different in hindsight.
Even now it is not too late for the two (TRS and BJP) to come together and have a poll alliance in 2014 (or even before, if the Congress so decides). A ‘majority’ of the people in Telangana have suffered in the past at the hands of the erstwhile rulers of the Hyderabad state. Many, even in the new generation will have a clear predilection for the BJP; together with the pro-Telangana voter share, the combine could pull off a poll victory. This is again in the realm of speculation.
Meantime, D Srinivas, the Pradesh Congress Chief, seems to be in trouble. He campaigned in Nizamabad Urban with the slogan that he will get a ‘big’ job if he is elected. Here again, the voter turn out indicates that his BJP rival may laugh all the way to the assembly. DS’s ploy may not work and his future is in doldrums. This is not the end of the road for DS, who is a great survivor – but it is definitely a set back for him.
Jagan’s Swan Song
Mr Y Jaganmohan Reddy is all set to sing his political swan song today. We hear that some 20-odd MLAs are with him at the time of going to press. That is much less than the 30 he would need to make the Congress party worry. They wouldn’t even require the support of the Praja Rajyam Party. In fact, under the circumstances the TDP may not even force Mr K Rosaiah for a show of strength on the floor of the assembly. The main opposition party’s mouthpiece is after the irregularities of Jagan and his late lamented father: the current CM seems inclined to dig up those things. It seems that Mr K Roasaiah enjoys quite a cozy equation with his political rival, Mr N Chandrababu Naidu.
One thing is clear, between the two of them, over the past couple of weeks, they have succeeded in getting Jagan out of the limelight. It is like drawing a longer line to make the existing line shorter: in these days of ‘fifteen minutes of fame’, Jagan has had his due. Now it is over to Mr Naidu and Mr K Rosaiah, and their histrionics over Babli.
Bottomline: Tomorrow is going to unfold the future of many an individual and parties.
Let us consider the scenario that may unfold. The BJP and the TRS can get closer, and work together in the forthcoming elections. The coalition will be a strong contender for Telangana’s first government, when the time comes. The BJP has always been in favor of smaller states, and in fact formed Chattisgarh (out of Madhya Pradesh), Uttaranchal (out of Uttar Pradesh) and Jharkhand (out of Bihar). The original larger states with their voter structures favor a party like Congress, while smaller states benefit the BJP, which don’t have a state-wide appeal in Andhra Pradesh and say, Bihar. If the BJP had not contested together with the TDP in 2004, the TRS would have been their natural ally, and instead of going with the Congress, KCR would have gladly teamed up with them. Of course, things look different in hindsight.
Even now it is not too late for the two (TRS and BJP) to come together and have a poll alliance in 2014 (or even before, if the Congress so decides). A ‘majority’ of the people in Telangana have suffered in the past at the hands of the erstwhile rulers of the Hyderabad state. Many, even in the new generation will have a clear predilection for the BJP; together with the pro-Telangana voter share, the combine could pull off a poll victory. This is again in the realm of speculation.
Meantime, D Srinivas, the Pradesh Congress Chief, seems to be in trouble. He campaigned in Nizamabad Urban with the slogan that he will get a ‘big’ job if he is elected. Here again, the voter turn out indicates that his BJP rival may laugh all the way to the assembly. DS’s ploy may not work and his future is in doldrums. This is not the end of the road for DS, who is a great survivor – but it is definitely a set back for him.
Jagan’s Swan Song
Mr Y Jaganmohan Reddy is all set to sing his political swan song today. We hear that some 20-odd MLAs are with him at the time of going to press. That is much less than the 30 he would need to make the Congress party worry. They wouldn’t even require the support of the Praja Rajyam Party. In fact, under the circumstances the TDP may not even force Mr K Rosaiah for a show of strength on the floor of the assembly. The main opposition party’s mouthpiece is after the irregularities of Jagan and his late lamented father: the current CM seems inclined to dig up those things. It seems that Mr K Roasaiah enjoys quite a cozy equation with his political rival, Mr N Chandrababu Naidu.
One thing is clear, between the two of them, over the past couple of weeks, they have succeeded in getting Jagan out of the limelight. It is like drawing a longer line to make the existing line shorter: in these days of ‘fifteen minutes of fame’, Jagan has had his due. Now it is over to Mr Naidu and Mr K Rosaiah, and their histrionics over Babli.
Bottomline: Tomorrow is going to unfold the future of many an individual and parties.
Monday, July 26, 2010
War Over Water; Jagan Speech-less; BJP rudderless…
“The most bitter conflicts of the next 50 years won’t be over oil. The prize commodity of the future is the stuff of life – water. How we manage it now will determine if we’ll survive tomorrow… Rivers and lakes are what experts call "blue water", but most at issue is "green water" - the stuff that sits in the soil. Modern farming's withdrawal of green water is like an open-ended blood donation - the planet's surface, in developed areas, is becoming cadaverous as its life drains away. This threatens the modern agricultural revolution in which crop yields in some countries quadrupled since the 1960s and fed the huge population boom.“
http://www.newstatesman.com/environment/2010/03/water-cyprus-pakistan-yemen
The next war between India and Pakistan could be fought over water, Lashkar-e-Tayiba founder Hafiz Muhammad Saeed has claimed….
http://news.rediff.com/interview/2010/apr/12/next-indo-pak-war-over-water-lashkar-chief-hafeez-saeed.htm
In India, we are witnessing a war within the country, between neighbouring states: Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh over the Babli project. Don’t ask me the details, but these states are almost at war. In the past, there was a similar feud between Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. . Within some states, there are regions which have plenty of water and areas where water is scarce. Increasingly, water deficient parts of states want to opt out of large states (such as Telangana from Samaikyandhra) on the grounds that their interests are not served efficiently in the larger state. Hyderabad Karnataka also may see similar agitations. The formation of smaller states is recommended by none other than B R Ambedkar: he suggested the formation of 48 states (2 or 3 states out of Andhra Pradesh).
All in all, water is going to be the commodity which is going to cause conflicts within countries and between countries. On the other hand, we have floods which cause devastation, and big dams which cause conflicts between states, and chaos all around. We now have to get together and figure out how to distribute water resource, how to conserve water (well, consuming beer is of course not the alternative :), and how to cooperate and not conflict – in the first place.
Jagan Is Speech-less
The Congress high command seems to have left Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy speechless. He is going through the motions of the Odarpu Yatra, but he himself is inconsolable after the state A.P. government wrote to the center to put the Bayyaram mining lease in abeyance. He seems to have run out of steam already. He speaks very little in the meetings, on the grounds that there is no time. He is indeed running out of time. Fewer of his followers are coming out now in open support; everybody wants to be in the good books of the high command. It (the yatra) seemed to be an unstoppable Juggernaut initially, but his followers have now indicated that it will stop on the 28th, the day after the Telangana election. He will go to the parliament, three days after it has been convened. It is doubtful if he would get an audience with the high command during his stay in Delhi.
By the end of next week, we will know what Jagan will decide: he may wait until September 2nd but the effect will be the same. The very statues of YSR he installed in the north-eastern states will repel people once the facts are known. Imagine more than one lakh crore given away as dowry to Brother (in-law) Anil Kumar! Think of what per-capita income for all the people of Andhra Pradesh that would get: Rs 12 000/- And compare it to Rs. 25 000/- or so given away to a few hundred families by Jagan. Gali Muddu Krishnama Naidu puts the figure at 400 Lakh Crores: that would make each citizen of A P richer by one lakh each. The most corrupt politician in the history of A P managed to be a darling of the masses is a mystery. However, Jagan cannot get the same kind of reception he is now getting if the Congress party disowns YSR, and washes its ‘hand’ off the late lamented C M.
The BJP Is Rudderless…
Nitin Gadkari is clueless about what is going on in the Bharatiya Janata Party. L K Advani seems to rule the roost. Mr A B Vajpayee is not heard of in a long time. Mohan Bhagwat is dictating the terms to the BJP. The deputy home minister of Gujarat is absconding and the CBI is after him. What is happening with the once ‘disciplined’ party? The righter they go, the wronger they get: they should move more and more toward center and get rid of the Pravin Togadias and Modis. It is an acceptable option to many thinkers – including Kushwant Singh – as long as it remains right of center, not farthest right from center. It is time for the BJP to distance itself from the militant Hindutva of Mr Narendra Modi, and get more moderate.
Bottomline: This column is an unabashed imitation of “with malice towards one and all” (not only toward Jagan or Arundhati Roy). All opinions are my own and don’t have anything to do with Trust News, which kindly publishes my blogs.
www.sankarar.blogspot.com
http://www.newstatesman.com/environment/2010/03/water-cyprus-pakistan-yemen
The next war between India and Pakistan could be fought over water, Lashkar-e-Tayiba founder Hafiz Muhammad Saeed has claimed….
http://news.rediff.com/interview/2010/apr/12/next-indo-pak-war-over-water-lashkar-chief-hafeez-saeed.htm
In India, we are witnessing a war within the country, between neighbouring states: Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh over the Babli project. Don’t ask me the details, but these states are almost at war. In the past, there was a similar feud between Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. . Within some states, there are regions which have plenty of water and areas where water is scarce. Increasingly, water deficient parts of states want to opt out of large states (such as Telangana from Samaikyandhra) on the grounds that their interests are not served efficiently in the larger state. Hyderabad Karnataka also may see similar agitations. The formation of smaller states is recommended by none other than B R Ambedkar: he suggested the formation of 48 states (2 or 3 states out of Andhra Pradesh).
All in all, water is going to be the commodity which is going to cause conflicts within countries and between countries. On the other hand, we have floods which cause devastation, and big dams which cause conflicts between states, and chaos all around. We now have to get together and figure out how to distribute water resource, how to conserve water (well, consuming beer is of course not the alternative :), and how to cooperate and not conflict – in the first place.
Jagan Is Speech-less
The Congress high command seems to have left Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy speechless. He is going through the motions of the Odarpu Yatra, but he himself is inconsolable after the state A.P. government wrote to the center to put the Bayyaram mining lease in abeyance. He seems to have run out of steam already. He speaks very little in the meetings, on the grounds that there is no time. He is indeed running out of time. Fewer of his followers are coming out now in open support; everybody wants to be in the good books of the high command. It (the yatra) seemed to be an unstoppable Juggernaut initially, but his followers have now indicated that it will stop on the 28th, the day after the Telangana election. He will go to the parliament, three days after it has been convened. It is doubtful if he would get an audience with the high command during his stay in Delhi.
By the end of next week, we will know what Jagan will decide: he may wait until September 2nd but the effect will be the same. The very statues of YSR he installed in the north-eastern states will repel people once the facts are known. Imagine more than one lakh crore given away as dowry to Brother (in-law) Anil Kumar! Think of what per-capita income for all the people of Andhra Pradesh that would get: Rs 12 000/- And compare it to Rs. 25 000/- or so given away to a few hundred families by Jagan. Gali Muddu Krishnama Naidu puts the figure at 400 Lakh Crores: that would make each citizen of A P richer by one lakh each. The most corrupt politician in the history of A P managed to be a darling of the masses is a mystery. However, Jagan cannot get the same kind of reception he is now getting if the Congress party disowns YSR, and washes its ‘hand’ off the late lamented C M.
The BJP Is Rudderless…
Nitin Gadkari is clueless about what is going on in the Bharatiya Janata Party. L K Advani seems to rule the roost. Mr A B Vajpayee is not heard of in a long time. Mohan Bhagwat is dictating the terms to the BJP. The deputy home minister of Gujarat is absconding and the CBI is after him. What is happening with the once ‘disciplined’ party? The righter they go, the wronger they get: they should move more and more toward center and get rid of the Pravin Togadias and Modis. It is an acceptable option to many thinkers – including Kushwant Singh – as long as it remains right of center, not farthest right from center. It is time for the BJP to distance itself from the militant Hindutva of Mr Narendra Modi, and get more moderate.
Bottomline: This column is an unabashed imitation of “with malice towards one and all” (not only toward Jagan or Arundhati Roy). All opinions are my own and don’t have anything to do with Trust News, which kindly publishes my blogs.
www.sankarar.blogspot.com
Saturday, July 24, 2010
High Command Hits Jagan’s Bottomline
We stand corrected. The Congress high command decided not to attack Y Jaganmohan Reddy piecemeal – as we thought. Instead of going in a methodical, step by step manner, issuing show-cause notices to Jagan followers or suspending them, the high command decided to go for Jagan’s jugular. Madam seems to have sanctioned an all out attack on his prime source of strength: his financial muscle. It is obvious that he is what he is now because of the thousands of crores he amassed or inherited from the late lamented Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy. In a move aimed at pulling the carpet from under his feet, the state government asked the center to put in abeyance the mining lease in Bayyaram given to APMDC.
Let us not get into the nuts and bolts of the deal, and how it came undone; it is all over the newspapers. We are here talking about what is going to unfold in the days to come. Firstly, Jagan cannot comment on the infamous deal, after his followers said that Brother Anil Kumar has nothing to do with Rakshana steels. Jagan’s camp is stuck in a catch 22 situation: they can neither oppose the action Bayyaram, nor can they sit and watch thousands of crores of ‘revenue’ slip out of their hands. But that is precisely what they have to digest now. Jagan has to indeed eat the humble pie.
Jagan is already disheartened by this camp followers ditching him over the past one week, and started commenting that they are afraid of supporting him. This news will come to him like a ‘palm fruit on a groaning (lame) fox’, as we say in Telugu. Jagan derives his strength from his bank deposits and ‘irregular’ leases on iron ores and all sorts of other real estate deals. Already some indications were given when sanctions were imposed on the Obulapuram mines, owned by the Gali brothers. (Interestingly, the Gali brothers are close to the YSR family, and are part of the BJP sarkar in Karnataka.) Now with Bayyaram, the high command has hit two birds in one shot: weaken Jagan financially. And threaten to portray YSR as a corrupt leader.
Jagan’s other main weapon, YSR’s popularity, is bound to nosedive if allegations of wrong doings over the five years of his reign are unearthed. The Congress can conveniently wash its ‘hands’ off YSR, and come clean – saying that they will unearth, and undo the irregularities the YSR indulged in. In time to come, the very statues of YSR that Jagan is putting up in village after village over the past 16 days will remind people of his corruption and the way he amassed obscene wealth at the cost of the public exchequer. What will a financially (relatively, but substantially) weak Jagan, disarmed of the very political weapon the aimed at the Congress party, do to salvage the situation?
Although Mr K Roasaiah initially said that he does not know anything about keeping the lease on Bayyaram in abeyance, he now changed tack and declared that the allegations of the opposition parties have to be looked into; and hence he asked the center to keep the lease in abeyance. If he thinks he can use YSR’s name as a weapon, he has another think coming: YSR himself will fall from glory to disgrace, as the most corrupt CM in Andhra Pradesh (which he probably was, but it is not nice to speak ill of people who are no more). The high command, however, has clearly indicated that if Jagan is using YSR’s name for his advantage, they can very well make it a millstone around his neck.
We have to see what the ministers who were opposed to action in l’affaire Bayyaram have to say in this regard. Meantime, Comrade Naraina of CPI ridiculously says that this is a partial victory for his party. It is not. This is unfortunately a matter internal to Congress affairs: if Jagan hasn’t come out in open defiance of the party, the matter would have been buried in the mines they dig up. It is obvious from the timing of the announcement of abeyance. The newspapers have been reporting on this for months now and so why is action taken now, at this crucial juncture for the Congress party?
The bottomline is that the high command can hurt Jagan’s earnings (bottom line) and hit real hard.
Let us not get into the nuts and bolts of the deal, and how it came undone; it is all over the newspapers. We are here talking about what is going to unfold in the days to come. Firstly, Jagan cannot comment on the infamous deal, after his followers said that Brother Anil Kumar has nothing to do with Rakshana steels. Jagan’s camp is stuck in a catch 22 situation: they can neither oppose the action Bayyaram, nor can they sit and watch thousands of crores of ‘revenue’ slip out of their hands. But that is precisely what they have to digest now. Jagan has to indeed eat the humble pie.
Jagan is already disheartened by this camp followers ditching him over the past one week, and started commenting that they are afraid of supporting him. This news will come to him like a ‘palm fruit on a groaning (lame) fox’, as we say in Telugu. Jagan derives his strength from his bank deposits and ‘irregular’ leases on iron ores and all sorts of other real estate deals. Already some indications were given when sanctions were imposed on the Obulapuram mines, owned by the Gali brothers. (Interestingly, the Gali brothers are close to the YSR family, and are part of the BJP sarkar in Karnataka.) Now with Bayyaram, the high command has hit two birds in one shot: weaken Jagan financially. And threaten to portray YSR as a corrupt leader.
Jagan’s other main weapon, YSR’s popularity, is bound to nosedive if allegations of wrong doings over the five years of his reign are unearthed. The Congress can conveniently wash its ‘hands’ off YSR, and come clean – saying that they will unearth, and undo the irregularities the YSR indulged in. In time to come, the very statues of YSR that Jagan is putting up in village after village over the past 16 days will remind people of his corruption and the way he amassed obscene wealth at the cost of the public exchequer. What will a financially (relatively, but substantially) weak Jagan, disarmed of the very political weapon the aimed at the Congress party, do to salvage the situation?
Although Mr K Roasaiah initially said that he does not know anything about keeping the lease on Bayyaram in abeyance, he now changed tack and declared that the allegations of the opposition parties have to be looked into; and hence he asked the center to keep the lease in abeyance. If he thinks he can use YSR’s name as a weapon, he has another think coming: YSR himself will fall from glory to disgrace, as the most corrupt CM in Andhra Pradesh (which he probably was, but it is not nice to speak ill of people who are no more). The high command, however, has clearly indicated that if Jagan is using YSR’s name for his advantage, they can very well make it a millstone around his neck.
We have to see what the ministers who were opposed to action in l’affaire Bayyaram have to say in this regard. Meantime, Comrade Naraina of CPI ridiculously says that this is a partial victory for his party. It is not. This is unfortunately a matter internal to Congress affairs: if Jagan hasn’t come out in open defiance of the party, the matter would have been buried in the mines they dig up. It is obvious from the timing of the announcement of abeyance. The newspapers have been reporting on this for months now and so why is action taken now, at this crucial juncture for the Congress party?
The bottomline is that the high command can hurt Jagan’s earnings (bottom line) and hit real hard.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
A Day In The Life Of A Columnist
As we noted earlier, there is nothing to report/blog on on a particular day. If a historian leaves a blank on that day, it means everything is alright: god is in his heaven and all is well with this world. That is a luxury not available for columnists of daily newspapers. So here I am, with nothing to write about, trying to put together a piece. I decided to list my prejudices and predilections in this column, so that people know the premises (where I come from):
- I am against the telangana state, because I have ‘real’ interests in Hyderabad. I own a few plots of land and I am afraid that the formation of a separate T-state may be a problem for me personally.
- I don’t like Arundhati Roy (who should call herself Mary Arundhati, if she has the guts to go by her matriarchal name) because she hops from one cause to another.
- I am not in favor of Y S Jaganmohan Reddy’s Odarpu Yatra because he made it into a Jatara – with hardly any time for the next of kin of those who lost their lives in the wake of Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s death; because he is trying to milk the legacy of Dr YSR.
- I am all in favor of Dr J. Geetha Reddy as the next CM of Andhra Pradesh. She is educated, is a good communicator, she performs her role well in the cabinet; she is from Telangana and is a woman from the right community. Why not?
- I have no time for the likes of D Srinivas, the PCC chief, who claims that he got Congress to power: whereas he lost the election himself!
- I am against the rat race for IIT admissions and students working overtime – without other distractions. I believe that teenagers have to have other avocations than studies.
- I am not a great fan of N Chandrababu Naidu, who cannot deliver a speech without errors in Telugu; I have no sympathy for him even if he got ‘caned’ by the Maharashtra police.
- I am impressed by the way the Congress High Command is operating and I think it is being managed by a management consulting group – professionally, unlike in the days of Mrs Gandhi Sr, when it was the whims and fancies of the lady at the top that ruled the roost.
- I don’t like KCR and his gimmicks. I am sorry for the bunch of supporters he has – they are, I think misguided; mainly Prof. Jayashankar, whom I knew as a soft-spoken gentleman at CIEFL (now EFLU).
- I have no sympathy for the Maoists, who kill innocents and CRPF jawans, and cannot touch the likes of the Gali brothers of Karnataka who amassed thousands of crores – because they are out of reach of these jokers.
- I worship K Balagopal who spoke up against the Maoists and their misdeeds, and I am very sorry that he is no more.
- I believe that the United States of America is going to cease to be the superpower it is now; in its place, India or China (not India and China) will become the superpower in the days to come.
- I salute Lenin. I admire Trotsky. I respect Mao Tsetung.
- I believe that birds are more evolved than humans – and that is why they took the aerial route of commuting: one in a million airborne humans is sure to die; but no bird dies in flight.
- I am an English teacher by profession but a creative writer by avocation. Check out my blogs at www.sankarar.blogspot.com
- I am against the telangana state, because I have ‘real’ interests in Hyderabad. I own a few plots of land and I am afraid that the formation of a separate T-state may be a problem for me personally.
- I don’t like Arundhati Roy (who should call herself Mary Arundhati, if she has the guts to go by her matriarchal name) because she hops from one cause to another.
- I am not in favor of Y S Jaganmohan Reddy’s Odarpu Yatra because he made it into a Jatara – with hardly any time for the next of kin of those who lost their lives in the wake of Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s death; because he is trying to milk the legacy of Dr YSR.
- I am all in favor of Dr J. Geetha Reddy as the next CM of Andhra Pradesh. She is educated, is a good communicator, she performs her role well in the cabinet; she is from Telangana and is a woman from the right community. Why not?
- I have no time for the likes of D Srinivas, the PCC chief, who claims that he got Congress to power: whereas he lost the election himself!
- I am against the rat race for IIT admissions and students working overtime – without other distractions. I believe that teenagers have to have other avocations than studies.
- I am not a great fan of N Chandrababu Naidu, who cannot deliver a speech without errors in Telugu; I have no sympathy for him even if he got ‘caned’ by the Maharashtra police.
- I am impressed by the way the Congress High Command is operating and I think it is being managed by a management consulting group – professionally, unlike in the days of Mrs Gandhi Sr, when it was the whims and fancies of the lady at the top that ruled the roost.
- I don’t like KCR and his gimmicks. I am sorry for the bunch of supporters he has – they are, I think misguided; mainly Prof. Jayashankar, whom I knew as a soft-spoken gentleman at CIEFL (now EFLU).
- I have no sympathy for the Maoists, who kill innocents and CRPF jawans, and cannot touch the likes of the Gali brothers of Karnataka who amassed thousands of crores – because they are out of reach of these jokers.
- I worship K Balagopal who spoke up against the Maoists and their misdeeds, and I am very sorry that he is no more.
- I believe that the United States of America is going to cease to be the superpower it is now; in its place, India or China (not India and China) will become the superpower in the days to come.
- I salute Lenin. I admire Trotsky. I respect Mao Tsetung.
- I believe that birds are more evolved than humans – and that is why they took the aerial route of commuting: one in a million airborne humans is sure to die; but no bird dies in flight.
- I am an English teacher by profession but a creative writer by avocation. Check out my blogs at www.sankarar.blogspot.com
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Will Rahul Gandhi Take Charge of Andha Pradesh Affairs?
We speculated that Mr Veerappa Moily will be discharged of Andhra Pradesh affairs sooner than later. Now we hear that Mr Rahul Gandhi is taking interest in the affairs of the Congress party in AP. He is meeting the young MLAs individually and in groups. Apparently he jokes with them, asking them if they would remain with the party or go with Mr Y S Jaganmohan Reddy. He is also making enquiries into the assets accumulated by some of the leading lights of the Jagan camp. All this goes to make us believe that he may take over from Mr Moily as in-charge of party affairs in AP.
AP is an important state for the Congress party. It will be long before the party can regain its past glory in Uttar Pradesh. It is now in the fourth position in the biggest state. It is in the third position in Bihar and Maharashtra. It is a junior partner in the coalition in West Bengal. Overall, the party is strong and growing from strength to strength in AP alone. It was largely due to Mr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s good work. The Congress can ill afford to antagonize the YSR loyalists in the party, and so they need to be won over by hook or by crook: that is precisely what the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty is up to now. Building bridges with the young netas who are supporting Jagan.
For the past many years, Rahul has been taking keen interest in the affairs of the Congress party in UP, and managed to get some traction for the party. He is still at it: the Congress doesn’t want to tie up with Mulayam Singh’s Samajwadi Party (SP). The Congress doesn’t want to play the second fiddle to anyone in their traditional bastion; they are willing to wait any number of years but want to regain power on their own. In the meantime, AP is an existing stronghold on which the Congress party doesn’t want to lose its control. It is in this context that Rahul’s involvement in the affairs of the party makes for interesting copy. Whether or not he is officially made in charge of AP affairs, he will be operating as such de facto.
The bottomline is that Mr Veerappa Moily is going to lose his job.
Postscript: A blogger need not write everyday. Like I had breakfast today (which is indeed something unusual). Now these are the kind of things that need not go into a blog. And if there isn’t anything more eventful, skip the blog for the day instead of writing that you skipped lunch (said Geoff Hart, a good friend). And talking of Confucius, Ezra Pound said:
“And even I can remember
A day when the historians left blanks in their writings”
Historians and bloggers have it easy; they can leave blanks. But I am primarily a columnist. I cannot afford to skip a column except on Sundays when the paper office is closed.
So here is a summation of things that might interest people: N Chandrababu Naidu and others have been lathi-charged (caned) by Maharshtra police. However, this is a blessing in disguise for the TDP supremo, who would love to stay out of the bypoll campaign in the Telangana assembly constituencies. Jagan is going on with his yatra and his paper reports that he is attracting huge crowds – good for him. Ashoke Chavan, the CM of Maharashtra has canceled his trip to Puttaparthi in Anantapur because the TDP workers threatened that they would block him from entering AP. Dr J Geetha Reddy hit the campaign trail in Siddipet, and said that TRS doesn’t have the strength to contest on its own, and that is why it always aligned with one or the other party (Congress, TDP, and now the BJP).
AP is an important state for the Congress party. It will be long before the party can regain its past glory in Uttar Pradesh. It is now in the fourth position in the biggest state. It is in the third position in Bihar and Maharashtra. It is a junior partner in the coalition in West Bengal. Overall, the party is strong and growing from strength to strength in AP alone. It was largely due to Mr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s good work. The Congress can ill afford to antagonize the YSR loyalists in the party, and so they need to be won over by hook or by crook: that is precisely what the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty is up to now. Building bridges with the young netas who are supporting Jagan.
For the past many years, Rahul has been taking keen interest in the affairs of the Congress party in UP, and managed to get some traction for the party. He is still at it: the Congress doesn’t want to tie up with Mulayam Singh’s Samajwadi Party (SP). The Congress doesn’t want to play the second fiddle to anyone in their traditional bastion; they are willing to wait any number of years but want to regain power on their own. In the meantime, AP is an existing stronghold on which the Congress party doesn’t want to lose its control. It is in this context that Rahul’s involvement in the affairs of the party makes for interesting copy. Whether or not he is officially made in charge of AP affairs, he will be operating as such de facto.
The bottomline is that Mr Veerappa Moily is going to lose his job.
Postscript: A blogger need not write everyday. Like I had breakfast today (which is indeed something unusual). Now these are the kind of things that need not go into a blog. And if there isn’t anything more eventful, skip the blog for the day instead of writing that you skipped lunch (said Geoff Hart, a good friend). And talking of Confucius, Ezra Pound said:
“And even I can remember
A day when the historians left blanks in their writings”
Historians and bloggers have it easy; they can leave blanks. But I am primarily a columnist. I cannot afford to skip a column except on Sundays when the paper office is closed.
So here is a summation of things that might interest people: N Chandrababu Naidu and others have been lathi-charged (caned) by Maharshtra police. However, this is a blessing in disguise for the TDP supremo, who would love to stay out of the bypoll campaign in the Telangana assembly constituencies. Jagan is going on with his yatra and his paper reports that he is attracting huge crowds – good for him. Ashoke Chavan, the CM of Maharashtra has canceled his trip to Puttaparthi in Anantapur because the TDP workers threatened that they would block him from entering AP. Dr J Geetha Reddy hit the campaign trail in Siddipet, and said that TRS doesn’t have the strength to contest on its own, and that is why it always aligned with one or the other party (Congress, TDP, and now the BJP).
Monday, July 19, 2010
Is the Congress High Command Under Pressure?
It may appear that the Congress high command has come under pressure to take action against Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy’s camp followers in the light of many legislators and past and present ministers coming openly in support of Jagan. It was thought initially that no action would be taken, and that they would wait until Jagan runs out of steam. In the recent days, however, with the kind of obscene, intemparate language used by Amabati Rambabu, who seemed to have been emboldened by the high command’s inaction, some disciplinary action was probably warranted. That the high command stooped to suspend an insignificant pawn may be seen as a weakness rather than a strength.
It may seem that the high command’s hand is forced to serve an ace, which was thought to be unnecessary in the beginning. But there is a larger game underway here. The snub is not directed at Jagan and his followers so much as it is aimed at Mr Veerappa Moily. Mr Moily jumped the gun on an earlier occasion and gave his blessings to the Odarpu Yatra of the Kadapa MP. The high command soon made him eat his words. Day before yesterday, he came out with a statement to the press that no action will be taken against the dissidents. That was uncalled for. It was a decision internal to the party high command: there was no need to cry from the rooftop. And making Mr Moily suspend Ambati was a snub to Mr Moily himself, rather than to Ambati or Jagan. It is speculated that some action against Mr Moily himself may be initiated in the days to come, like perhaps discharging him of the responsibility of AP affairs. What he meant when he said that he didn’t know that Ambati is a Jagan follower is subject to interpretation. Would he not have acted if he knew? He is asking for trouble. When push comes to shove, he may be ousted along with Jagan (sahendra takshakaya swaha).
On the other hand, Jagan seems to have learnt to control his passion and emotions: that is a good thing. If he continues to attract crowds, by hook or crook, and builds up on his father’s legacy, there is surely room at the top, come 2014 elections. A mass leader is always welcome in the Congress party, if he or she is loyal to the high command in the first place. It is nobody’s case that Jagan should be totally ignored in the reckoning for the top job when it falls vacant. What the high command wants from him is precisely the kind of temperance and patience he is now showing. In the last two weeks, Jagan has displayed his political acumen by blowing hot and blowing cold, and showing that he is a master of his emotions.
One must comment on Jagan’s followers who say that the high command is putting them in a fix, in not taking action against Jagan. They imply that they would ditch him if explicit orders are given. The high command rightly puts the ball in their court: You decide which side you are on. If you want to go with Jagan, it is your personal decision. The high command is not going to tell all and sundry that they should not take part in the yatra. In Hindi, there is a saying: akalmand ko ishara kafi (A gesture/signal is enough for the intelligent guy.) That has been the credo of the Congress high command from the days of Mrs Gandhi Sr. One finds it strange that after a clear signal, in fact instruction, has been given at the highest level, they still claim that there are mixed signals and that they are torn asunder between sympathy for Jagan and loyalty to the party.
In the final analysis, by suspending Ambati, naming his comments on Mr K Rosaiah as the reason for it, the high command did maintain a distinction between Jagan and others. The high command is showing deference to the late Y S R’s memory in pardoning Jagan. Anyway now, the number of Jagan followers should dwindle. For those who are still recalcitrant, there is always the weapon of ‘disproportionate assets’, which could be used against Jagan himself if necessary. We said earlier that Jagan should watch his every step and every word. It is still the case. He may get over the business of Ambati’s suspension for now, but the high command has at least a dozen aces up its sleeve – in the form of legislators and ministers who are openly siding with Jagan.
Bottomline: Each of the coming weeks can unfold a suspension or show-cause notice. And Jagan has to eat humble pie each time.
It may seem that the high command’s hand is forced to serve an ace, which was thought to be unnecessary in the beginning. But there is a larger game underway here. The snub is not directed at Jagan and his followers so much as it is aimed at Mr Veerappa Moily. Mr Moily jumped the gun on an earlier occasion and gave his blessings to the Odarpu Yatra of the Kadapa MP. The high command soon made him eat his words. Day before yesterday, he came out with a statement to the press that no action will be taken against the dissidents. That was uncalled for. It was a decision internal to the party high command: there was no need to cry from the rooftop. And making Mr Moily suspend Ambati was a snub to Mr Moily himself, rather than to Ambati or Jagan. It is speculated that some action against Mr Moily himself may be initiated in the days to come, like perhaps discharging him of the responsibility of AP affairs. What he meant when he said that he didn’t know that Ambati is a Jagan follower is subject to interpretation. Would he not have acted if he knew? He is asking for trouble. When push comes to shove, he may be ousted along with Jagan (sahendra takshakaya swaha).
On the other hand, Jagan seems to have learnt to control his passion and emotions: that is a good thing. If he continues to attract crowds, by hook or crook, and builds up on his father’s legacy, there is surely room at the top, come 2014 elections. A mass leader is always welcome in the Congress party, if he or she is loyal to the high command in the first place. It is nobody’s case that Jagan should be totally ignored in the reckoning for the top job when it falls vacant. What the high command wants from him is precisely the kind of temperance and patience he is now showing. In the last two weeks, Jagan has displayed his political acumen by blowing hot and blowing cold, and showing that he is a master of his emotions.
One must comment on Jagan’s followers who say that the high command is putting them in a fix, in not taking action against Jagan. They imply that they would ditch him if explicit orders are given. The high command rightly puts the ball in their court: You decide which side you are on. If you want to go with Jagan, it is your personal decision. The high command is not going to tell all and sundry that they should not take part in the yatra. In Hindi, there is a saying: akalmand ko ishara kafi (A gesture/signal is enough for the intelligent guy.) That has been the credo of the Congress high command from the days of Mrs Gandhi Sr. One finds it strange that after a clear signal, in fact instruction, has been given at the highest level, they still claim that there are mixed signals and that they are torn asunder between sympathy for Jagan and loyalty to the party.
In the final analysis, by suspending Ambati, naming his comments on Mr K Rosaiah as the reason for it, the high command did maintain a distinction between Jagan and others. The high command is showing deference to the late Y S R’s memory in pardoning Jagan. Anyway now, the number of Jagan followers should dwindle. For those who are still recalcitrant, there is always the weapon of ‘disproportionate assets’, which could be used against Jagan himself if necessary. We said earlier that Jagan should watch his every step and every word. It is still the case. He may get over the business of Ambati’s suspension for now, but the high command has at least a dozen aces up its sleeve – in the form of legislators and ministers who are openly siding with Jagan.
Bottomline: Each of the coming weeks can unfold a suspension or show-cause notice. And Jagan has to eat humble pie each time.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
The Average Child Is Nobody’s Child Today
My student Subramanian has given me the idea for this article: he wrote a fairly good essay on the Average Joe, whom nobody seems to own up. An extraordinary performer is what every teacher and every parent seems to want. The focus is on success, on brilliance, and outstanding academic performance. While it is true that success is the ultimate holy grail, ignoring the talents of the average kid seems unfair. Someone not so good with mathematical formulas may have other talents worth nurturing, Subramanian argued in his essay. Perhaps he is inspired by Tare Zameen Par…
When I showed the essay to my Head of the Department (namely, of English), he refused to put it up on the notice board. He said that it goes against the principles of the institute to encourage underachievers. He said that the institute expects 100% dedication towards success at the entrance exam for IITs, and that the essay might send the wrong signals to people that we are not committed to our goal of elevating children a level higher than where they started (when the entered the institute). I did not want to argue with him: he is the person responsible for material that goes on display and he has to cover his bases. But I am free to write what I like here. So here is what Subramanian had to say…
Firstly, take social gatherings; the first thing anyone would ask you is: what is your boy doing? The right answer to it is – He is in IIT or He is preparing for IIT. Preparing for BITS (or He is at BITS) is the second best. The response in such cases is, “oh, wow! Lucky you”. The wrong answers include: My son/daughter wants to pursue studies in the liberal arts; he/she wants study philosophy (or literature). In response, you get: “oh, poor thing. Why what is wrong with the child?” Even if the child happens to be extraordinarily talented in his own chosen field. As it happens, Subramanian is not your average Joe; he writes well. He is full of ideas. Except that those ideas don’t fit in to the scheme of things.
Everyone is in a rat race. If you chose to be outside the race (and thereby not remain a rat) the winners won’t let you off so easily. Having won the race with much diligence and application, they would call you a loser. They would call you a misfit (although, it is by choice that some don’t want to fit in). I am sure Subramanian will do well at the entrance exam, that he would go to a good institute, that he would fit in. The pressure from parents, peers, and teachers would ensure that he succeeds. Indeed, if he sets his mind to it, he can be an overachiever. But right now, he seems to dislike the whole racket or under- or over-achievers. He simply believes that not everyone needs to be a rocket scientist or a brain surgeon. There should be space for a normal child with inclination for other activities.
What other activities? These parents and socialites will be happy to meet an MF Hussain. They gloat over the achievement of Saina. However, they don’t want their child to miss the bus. Kavya Viswanathan makes a profound point in her controversial book (How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life): success does not require any explanation. But pursuing an out-of-the-way career does require you to convince people of your goals. The first question from your parents is: How can I be sure that you will get the Booker prize like Arundhati Roy did? They may even suggest to you to do your writing in the summer, like Kavya Viswanathan did, and focus on your studies right now. Unfortunately, the book was called off the shelves in America, but it is available in India on pavements in big cities. (Or, it was available, until two years ago.)
Let us get back to Subramanian. With his analytical powers and creativity, he would excel in any area of studies. Should I recommend that he go ahead to an IIT, and become a five–point someone (which is likely because his heart is not in it)? Well Chetan Bhagat is a good role model (so is Kavya, in spite of allegations of plagiarism: I know for sure the main point of the book, that success does not need any explanation – is not plagiarized). If he gives up writing, we will be losing a good writer.
Bottomline: One could do worse than be a swinger of birches - Robert Frost
When I showed the essay to my Head of the Department (namely, of English), he refused to put it up on the notice board. He said that it goes against the principles of the institute to encourage underachievers. He said that the institute expects 100% dedication towards success at the entrance exam for IITs, and that the essay might send the wrong signals to people that we are not committed to our goal of elevating children a level higher than where they started (when the entered the institute). I did not want to argue with him: he is the person responsible for material that goes on display and he has to cover his bases. But I am free to write what I like here. So here is what Subramanian had to say…
Firstly, take social gatherings; the first thing anyone would ask you is: what is your boy doing? The right answer to it is – He is in IIT or He is preparing for IIT. Preparing for BITS (or He is at BITS) is the second best. The response in such cases is, “oh, wow! Lucky you”. The wrong answers include: My son/daughter wants to pursue studies in the liberal arts; he/she wants study philosophy (or literature). In response, you get: “oh, poor thing. Why what is wrong with the child?” Even if the child happens to be extraordinarily talented in his own chosen field. As it happens, Subramanian is not your average Joe; he writes well. He is full of ideas. Except that those ideas don’t fit in to the scheme of things.
Everyone is in a rat race. If you chose to be outside the race (and thereby not remain a rat) the winners won’t let you off so easily. Having won the race with much diligence and application, they would call you a loser. They would call you a misfit (although, it is by choice that some don’t want to fit in). I am sure Subramanian will do well at the entrance exam, that he would go to a good institute, that he would fit in. The pressure from parents, peers, and teachers would ensure that he succeeds. Indeed, if he sets his mind to it, he can be an overachiever. But right now, he seems to dislike the whole racket or under- or over-achievers. He simply believes that not everyone needs to be a rocket scientist or a brain surgeon. There should be space for a normal child with inclination for other activities.
What other activities? These parents and socialites will be happy to meet an MF Hussain. They gloat over the achievement of Saina. However, they don’t want their child to miss the bus. Kavya Viswanathan makes a profound point in her controversial book (How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life): success does not require any explanation. But pursuing an out-of-the-way career does require you to convince people of your goals. The first question from your parents is: How can I be sure that you will get the Booker prize like Arundhati Roy did? They may even suggest to you to do your writing in the summer, like Kavya Viswanathan did, and focus on your studies right now. Unfortunately, the book was called off the shelves in America, but it is available in India on pavements in big cities. (Or, it was available, until two years ago.)
Let us get back to Subramanian. With his analytical powers and creativity, he would excel in any area of studies. Should I recommend that he go ahead to an IIT, and become a five–point someone (which is likely because his heart is not in it)? Well Chetan Bhagat is a good role model (so is Kavya, in spite of allegations of plagiarism: I know for sure the main point of the book, that success does not need any explanation – is not plagiarized). If he gives up writing, we will be losing a good writer.
Bottomline: One could do worse than be a swinger of birches - Robert Frost
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Narmada Bachao… Arundhati ko Bhagao!
Arundhati Roy (born 24 November 1961) is an Indian writer who writes in English and an activist who focuses on issues related to social justice and economic inequality. She won the Booker Prize in 1997 for her novel, The God of Small Things, and has also written two screenplays and several collections of essays.
Arundhati Roy was born in Shillong, Meghalaya, India, to a Keralite Syrian Christian mother, the women's rights activist Mary Roy, and a Bengali father, a tea planter by profession. She worked various jobs, including running aerobics classes at five-star hotels in New Delhi before she got a pile of cash for her God of Small Things.
Early in her career, Roy worked for television and movies. She wrote the screenplays for In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones (1989), a movie based on her experiences as a student of architecture, directed by her current husband, and Electric Moon (1992); in both she also appeared as a performer.
Arundhati Roy, who you may think of as India’s Noam Chomsky, although he never claims to be or is billed as an activist, wrote An Ordinary Person's Guide To Empire, 2004. She wrote a series of books and articles on various issues – ranging from the portrayal of the rape of Phulan Devi in Shekhar Kapoor’s Bandit Queen to her latest Ghandi but with Guns - essay about the naxalites. While she has received support from various quarters for her views, Roy's description of the Maoists as "Gandhians" raised a controversy. Writers with the South Asia Analysis Group have alleged that Roy does not hold sympathy for the victims of Maoist "terrorism"
Strangely, in today’s Andhra Jyothy, (www.andhrajyothy.com), a Telugu daily broadsheet in Hyderabad, she talks about non-violence, against green hunt and all that middle of the path leftist stunt. Then how about the violence unleashed on the CRPF and innocents by the maoists? She is a maoist without guts to say that she is one. Or she is shallow, just perching on the green twig for the time being and waiting for another cause celebre to hop on to. She wants to be a mediator if the government wants her to be; and warns journalists (in the wake of Hemchand Pande’s unfortunate death) to be cautious. Arundhati begins to talk the language of the middle of the way lefties. She is now willing to be a mediator between the government and the naxals. Another cause, another essay…
Medha Patkar has been with the Narmada Bachao Andolan for the past two or three decades – while she does speak up against injustice elsewhere, she is devoted to the cause of those dislocated by the the Narmada dam project. She gave her life to it. What did dear Arundhati give?
A 2000-word essay in the Outlook with cover-page billing. Arundhati Roy donated her Booker prize money as well as royalties from her books on the project to the Narmada Bachao Andolan. We don’t know if she got any royalty on the book: it is available on pavements all over India for Rs 50/- Well, she makes for good copy, and works wonderfully as a poster girl (or pin-up girl) for sundry ‘democratic’ activities, but she doesn’t stick to one thing for life. We don’t know if she is still married to Pradeep Kishen.
She has a ‘broad sweep’, that is why she hops from one perch to another, you might say. But how serious are you about a cause when you land up to a celebrity reception, talk to a few people and then get banner headlines the next day, and move on to another cause. I for one am glad that she put the Narmada Bachao Andolan on ‘her back burner’ so that serious people can go ahead and take the lead. At one time it appered that Medha Patkar was a functionary of the movement which was being sphereheaded by Arundhati Roy. This is the name she should have been known as, as per her Keralite ancestry.
Be that as it may, he tries very hard to pass off as a Hindu, although she criticises the Bharatiya Janata Party generously. She in fact wrote another celebrated essay (what a true essayist she is: one essay, and off with the cause, and effects!) giving 13 or so reasons for not hanging Afzan Guru, an accused in the parliament attack of 2001. If she was a lawyer, which she unfortunately isn’t, we are sure she would have bailed out Afzan Guru. I am not a supporter of the BJP (not any more anyway), and I was moved by her argument, so should any Justice or Jury… Alas, she is not a lawyer.
In the “end of imagination”, she talks about India’s nuclear program; she argued against the building of nuclear weapons in India: that did not stop the Pakis from building the nuke! Nor did the U S stop stockpiling nuclear ‘options’. If our neighbours lack imagination, it will be foolhardy on our part to be imaginative, build bridges, commission bus and train routes, and get a godawful war on our heads.
A lot of the stuff here is ‘sourced’ from the Wikipedia, which devotes dozens of pages to Mary Arundhati. And this is what it has to say of Medha Patkar: (born December 1, 1954) is an Indian social activist. She is known for her role in Narmada Bachao Andolan. Arundhati was with the cause for 3-4 months. She has other fish to fry, being a half Malayali and half Bengali…
Bottomline: When asked if The God of Small Things was inspired by the movie Children of a Lesser God, Arundhati was petrified. People took pictures of her pose.
Postscript: A friend wrote in to say that using the mother's name as a surname is not a practice across all social groups in Kerala. I stand corrected: sorry Abilash, and thanks for correcting me.
Arundhati Roy was born in Shillong, Meghalaya, India, to a Keralite Syrian Christian mother, the women's rights activist Mary Roy, and a Bengali father, a tea planter by profession. She worked various jobs, including running aerobics classes at five-star hotels in New Delhi before she got a pile of cash for her God of Small Things.
Early in her career, Roy worked for television and movies. She wrote the screenplays for In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones (1989), a movie based on her experiences as a student of architecture, directed by her current husband, and Electric Moon (1992); in both she also appeared as a performer.
Arundhati Roy, who you may think of as India’s Noam Chomsky, although he never claims to be or is billed as an activist, wrote An Ordinary Person's Guide To Empire, 2004. She wrote a series of books and articles on various issues – ranging from the portrayal of the rape of Phulan Devi in Shekhar Kapoor’s Bandit Queen to her latest Ghandi but with Guns - essay about the naxalites. While she has received support from various quarters for her views, Roy's description of the Maoists as "Gandhians" raised a controversy. Writers with the South Asia Analysis Group have alleged that Roy does not hold sympathy for the victims of Maoist "terrorism"
Strangely, in today’s Andhra Jyothy, (www.andhrajyothy.com), a Telugu daily broadsheet in Hyderabad, she talks about non-violence, against green hunt and all that middle of the path leftist stunt. Then how about the violence unleashed on the CRPF and innocents by the maoists? She is a maoist without guts to say that she is one. Or she is shallow, just perching on the green twig for the time being and waiting for another cause celebre to hop on to. She wants to be a mediator if the government wants her to be; and warns journalists (in the wake of Hemchand Pande’s unfortunate death) to be cautious. Arundhati begins to talk the language of the middle of the way lefties. She is now willing to be a mediator between the government and the naxals. Another cause, another essay…
Medha Patkar has been with the Narmada Bachao Andolan for the past two or three decades – while she does speak up against injustice elsewhere, she is devoted to the cause of those dislocated by the the Narmada dam project. She gave her life to it. What did dear Arundhati give?
A 2000-word essay in the Outlook with cover-page billing. Arundhati Roy donated her Booker prize money as well as royalties from her books on the project to the Narmada Bachao Andolan. We don’t know if she got any royalty on the book: it is available on pavements all over India for Rs 50/- Well, she makes for good copy, and works wonderfully as a poster girl (or pin-up girl) for sundry ‘democratic’ activities, but she doesn’t stick to one thing for life. We don’t know if she is still married to Pradeep Kishen.
She has a ‘broad sweep’, that is why she hops from one perch to another, you might say. But how serious are you about a cause when you land up to a celebrity reception, talk to a few people and then get banner headlines the next day, and move on to another cause. I for one am glad that she put the Narmada Bachao Andolan on ‘her back burner’ so that serious people can go ahead and take the lead. At one time it appered that Medha Patkar was a functionary of the movement which was being sphereheaded by Arundhati Roy. This is the name she should have been known as, as per her Keralite ancestry.
Be that as it may, he tries very hard to pass off as a Hindu, although she criticises the Bharatiya Janata Party generously. She in fact wrote another celebrated essay (what a true essayist she is: one essay, and off with the cause, and effects!) giving 13 or so reasons for not hanging Afzan Guru, an accused in the parliament attack of 2001. If she was a lawyer, which she unfortunately isn’t, we are sure she would have bailed out Afzan Guru. I am not a supporter of the BJP (not any more anyway), and I was moved by her argument, so should any Justice or Jury… Alas, she is not a lawyer.
In the “end of imagination”, she talks about India’s nuclear program; she argued against the building of nuclear weapons in India: that did not stop the Pakis from building the nuke! Nor did the U S stop stockpiling nuclear ‘options’. If our neighbours lack imagination, it will be foolhardy on our part to be imaginative, build bridges, commission bus and train routes, and get a godawful war on our heads.
A lot of the stuff here is ‘sourced’ from the Wikipedia, which devotes dozens of pages to Mary Arundhati. And this is what it has to say of Medha Patkar: (born December 1, 1954) is an Indian social activist. She is known for her role in Narmada Bachao Andolan. Arundhati was with the cause for 3-4 months. She has other fish to fry, being a half Malayali and half Bengali…
Bottomline: When asked if The God of Small Things was inspired by the movie Children of a Lesser God, Arundhati was petrified. People took pictures of her pose.
Postscript: A friend wrote in to say that using the mother's name as a surname is not a practice across all social groups in Kerala. I stand corrected: sorry Abilash, and thanks for correcting me.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
will naidu bail out the congress?
Will Chandrababu Naidu Bail Out Congress Party?
An interesting theory doing the rounds in Hyderabad is that if Mr Y S Jaganmohan Reddy pulls the carpet from under Mr K Rosaiah’s feet, the Telugu Desam Party of Mr N Chandrababu Naidu may support the Congress party and bail them out of a difficult situation. This is what the Congress has done time and again in many states and at the center (for example, the Charan Singh ministry in 1979). Mr N Bhaskara Rao has been propped up by the Congress in 1984, although Mr N T Ramarao valiantly fought a political battle to regain the reigns of power. In a lighter vein, Chandrababu seemed to have smiled at the suggestion that if Jagan pulls the plug, maybe TDP should chip in with their support to K Rosaiah.
But there is a big IF. If Jagan manages to get the support of about 40 MLAs; let us take that for granted. Let us also imagine that the MLAs sympathetic to Jagan sign petition stating that they don’t have confidence in the government: this may prompt the governor to call upon the CM to prove his strength on the floor of the assembly. This is a possibility; let us take that for granted and proceed further. The Congress cannot tide over the situation with the help of the Praja Rajyam Party and its 18 MLAs. Naidu can play king maker in that context. Why would he want to do that?
Firstly, many of his legislators are averse to a mid-term poll; they haven’t paid off the huge debts they incurred in getting elected in 2009, and they will be hard-pressed for cash flows for another election so soon. So there may be pressure on him from his party colleagues. But he can brush them aside. He is known to be a man courage of conviction and he can rule with an iron hand. (Ironically, he will be allowing the ‘hand’ to rule the state for another 4 years, if he supports the Congress party.) In a 4-cornered contest among the Congress, the TDP, PRP, and Jagan’s Congress, with Congress harvesting their minimum 30% votes, it will be an uphill task for the TDP folk, and for Naidu. Congress will laugh its way to the next term in AP and Telangana (yes, it is going to be two states after the next election).
Be that as it may, he claimed that he has Congress blood in him; in fact, except for the left parties and the BJP, most politicians have been Congressmen at one stage or the other. Naidu is politically shrewd, although not much of a crowd-puller. He was the one ‘behind the wheel’ during NTR’s regime. The fact that he was once a Congressman surely facilitates the way for a kind of home-coming, with a sort of power-sharing with the Congress (a senior cabinet rank for him and Congress CMs for Andhra and Telengana). Now that is another consideration: the T-issue.
TDP is opposed to a separate Telangana broadly, although some leaders of the party from the Telangana region are agitating for a separate state. Naidu himself is none too keen on that. In case the state goes to polls, Congress will take a final decision on T-issue, and make definitive moves to settle that (to separate the state.) In that case, TDP can forget about winning a seat in Telangana. Indeed, it would pay them dividends in the coastal Andhra and rayala seema regions if they face the elections with a Samaikyandhra slogan. That would drive the Telangana leaders out of the party fold – but that is another story, another day. In fact, if Naidu props up the Rosaiah government, the issue will be postponed for another 4 years, because the Congress is in no hurry to settle it until the next election – whether regular or mid-term. That would give Naidu some time to work out his stance vis-à-vis the T-issue.
The main reason Naidu would want to go with the Congress is that he is being threatened from within the party by the late NTR’s heirs. Balakrishna can dent Naidu’s credibility as NTR’s political heir; the family can any day turn the tables on Naidu and accuse him of causing NTR’s death by his act of perfidy. Balakrishna himself doesn’t have much of a following but he can cut into what little Naidu has. Naidu is also facing headache from Harikrishna.
As we said in an earlier article, it may be curtains for the Telugu Desam Party in the coming years. Neither Harikrishna nor Balakrishna can do anything on their own. Now let us face it, Naidu, without the organization mechanism backing him, is a political non-entity. He is not a good public speaker, nor is he known for his probity in public life. TDP, which was synonymous with NTR, and later piggy-backed on the BJP for a time, is now almost finished.
Bottomline: All things considered, Naidu better do some serious thinking about joining hands with the ‘hand’ that fed him earlier. It is not a matter to be laughed off or smiled at.
An interesting theory doing the rounds in Hyderabad is that if Mr Y S Jaganmohan Reddy pulls the carpet from under Mr K Rosaiah’s feet, the Telugu Desam Party of Mr N Chandrababu Naidu may support the Congress party and bail them out of a difficult situation. This is what the Congress has done time and again in many states and at the center (for example, the Charan Singh ministry in 1979). Mr N Bhaskara Rao has been propped up by the Congress in 1984, although Mr N T Ramarao valiantly fought a political battle to regain the reigns of power. In a lighter vein, Chandrababu seemed to have smiled at the suggestion that if Jagan pulls the plug, maybe TDP should chip in with their support to K Rosaiah.
But there is a big IF. If Jagan manages to get the support of about 40 MLAs; let us take that for granted. Let us also imagine that the MLAs sympathetic to Jagan sign petition stating that they don’t have confidence in the government: this may prompt the governor to call upon the CM to prove his strength on the floor of the assembly. This is a possibility; let us take that for granted and proceed further. The Congress cannot tide over the situation with the help of the Praja Rajyam Party and its 18 MLAs. Naidu can play king maker in that context. Why would he want to do that?
Firstly, many of his legislators are averse to a mid-term poll; they haven’t paid off the huge debts they incurred in getting elected in 2009, and they will be hard-pressed for cash flows for another election so soon. So there may be pressure on him from his party colleagues. But he can brush them aside. He is known to be a man courage of conviction and he can rule with an iron hand. (Ironically, he will be allowing the ‘hand’ to rule the state for another 4 years, if he supports the Congress party.) In a 4-cornered contest among the Congress, the TDP, PRP, and Jagan’s Congress, with Congress harvesting their minimum 30% votes, it will be an uphill task for the TDP folk, and for Naidu. Congress will laugh its way to the next term in AP and Telangana (yes, it is going to be two states after the next election).
Be that as it may, he claimed that he has Congress blood in him; in fact, except for the left parties and the BJP, most politicians have been Congressmen at one stage or the other. Naidu is politically shrewd, although not much of a crowd-puller. He was the one ‘behind the wheel’ during NTR’s regime. The fact that he was once a Congressman surely facilitates the way for a kind of home-coming, with a sort of power-sharing with the Congress (a senior cabinet rank for him and Congress CMs for Andhra and Telengana). Now that is another consideration: the T-issue.
TDP is opposed to a separate Telangana broadly, although some leaders of the party from the Telangana region are agitating for a separate state. Naidu himself is none too keen on that. In case the state goes to polls, Congress will take a final decision on T-issue, and make definitive moves to settle that (to separate the state.) In that case, TDP can forget about winning a seat in Telangana. Indeed, it would pay them dividends in the coastal Andhra and rayala seema regions if they face the elections with a Samaikyandhra slogan. That would drive the Telangana leaders out of the party fold – but that is another story, another day. In fact, if Naidu props up the Rosaiah government, the issue will be postponed for another 4 years, because the Congress is in no hurry to settle it until the next election – whether regular or mid-term. That would give Naidu some time to work out his stance vis-à-vis the T-issue.
The main reason Naidu would want to go with the Congress is that he is being threatened from within the party by the late NTR’s heirs. Balakrishna can dent Naidu’s credibility as NTR’s political heir; the family can any day turn the tables on Naidu and accuse him of causing NTR’s death by his act of perfidy. Balakrishna himself doesn’t have much of a following but he can cut into what little Naidu has. Naidu is also facing headache from Harikrishna.
As we said in an earlier article, it may be curtains for the Telugu Desam Party in the coming years. Neither Harikrishna nor Balakrishna can do anything on their own. Now let us face it, Naidu, without the organization mechanism backing him, is a political non-entity. He is not a good public speaker, nor is he known for his probity in public life. TDP, which was synonymous with NTR, and later piggy-backed on the BJP for a time, is now almost finished.
Bottomline: All things considered, Naidu better do some serious thinking about joining hands with the ‘hand’ that fed him earlier. It is not a matter to be laughed off or smiled at.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Death of the Author: Birth of the Blogger
The Death of the Author is an essay by Roland Barthes that argues against incorporating the intentions and biographical context of an author in an interpretation of text, and says that writing and creator are unrelated. Barthes' articulation of the death of the author is a radical and drastic recognition of this severing of authority and authorship. Instead of discovering a "single 'theological' meaning, readers of text discover that writing, in reality, constitutes "a multi-dimensional space," which cannot be "deciphered," only "disentangled." "Refusing to assign a 'secret,' ultimate meaning" to text "liberates what may be called an anti-theological activity, an activity that is truly revolutionary since to refuse meaning is, in the end, to refuse God and his hypostases—reason, science, law."
We go a step forward, and maintain that the very notion of authority and authenticity attached to authors is now in question. In the age of Wikis and weblogs, there is no time for one to verify – in fact, nothing much gets read. It is a democratic way: everyone has a say. But does anyone have an ear? who's reading the stuff anyway? There are more writers (bloggers) than readers. Have fingers, will (type and) blog, is the attitude of many bloggers now. “Are you saying anything new?” is not a concern. And this is how it works: I blog here; I email a friend with a link to this page. The friend may read (just may) this, and email me back with a URL where he or she responds - in another blog - to my thoughts.
A simple one-to-one communication is replaced by a complex one-to-many (blog), one-two-one (email), one-to-many (response to blog), and one-two-one (response to email via email) communication scenario. I was emailing my stuff to a bunch of people; one of them said why don’t you blog? So that I can respond to it on the blog. I fail to see the use of these newer, complicated media, when we don't have time to communicate using the older media. The pleasure of reading a good book is becoming rarer and rarer.
It is a different story that not all paper-based writings are impartial; there are very opinionated authors and there are biased readers. But then, the process of publishing involves some kind of ‘validation’ of what is written. In the age of wikis and weblogs, there is no mediation between the writer and reader, there is no royalty paid, there is no price tag on the publication. It is a good thing that no trees lose their lives in the process.
If you follow Jacques Lyotard, the notion of a narrative (a particular interpretation or theory about things) is in question. In his seminal essay, The Postmodern Condition, Lyotard proposes what he calls an extreme simplification of the "postmodern" as an incredulity towards 'grand narratives' – which are grand, large-scale theories and philosophies of the world, such as the progress of history, the knowability of everything by science, and the possibility of absolute freedom. Lyotard argues that we have ceased to believe that narratives of this kind are adequate to represent and contain us all. To relate the incredulity towards grand narratives to the death of the author, we now have no faith in authors who give us cogent theories or interpretation of one or another thing. We have become alert to difference, diversity, the incompatibility of our aspirations, beliefs and desires, and for that reason postmodernity is characterised by an abundance of micronarratives. Micronarratives can be thought of as blogs. As we said, everybody has a say, nobody gets a serious hearing.
Bottomline: The Postmodern Condition seems to offer its own grand narrative in the story of the decline of the grand narrative!
We go a step forward, and maintain that the very notion of authority and authenticity attached to authors is now in question. In the age of Wikis and weblogs, there is no time for one to verify – in fact, nothing much gets read. It is a democratic way: everyone has a say. But does anyone have an ear? who's reading the stuff anyway? There are more writers (bloggers) than readers. Have fingers, will (type and) blog, is the attitude of many bloggers now. “Are you saying anything new?” is not a concern. And this is how it works: I blog here; I email a friend with a link to this page. The friend may read (just may) this, and email me back with a URL where he or she responds - in another blog - to my thoughts.
A simple one-to-one communication is replaced by a complex one-to-many (blog), one-two-one (email), one-to-many (response to blog), and one-two-one (response to email via email) communication scenario. I was emailing my stuff to a bunch of people; one of them said why don’t you blog? So that I can respond to it on the blog. I fail to see the use of these newer, complicated media, when we don't have time to communicate using the older media. The pleasure of reading a good book is becoming rarer and rarer.
It is a different story that not all paper-based writings are impartial; there are very opinionated authors and there are biased readers. But then, the process of publishing involves some kind of ‘validation’ of what is written. In the age of wikis and weblogs, there is no mediation between the writer and reader, there is no royalty paid, there is no price tag on the publication. It is a good thing that no trees lose their lives in the process.
If you follow Jacques Lyotard, the notion of a narrative (a particular interpretation or theory about things) is in question. In his seminal essay, The Postmodern Condition, Lyotard proposes what he calls an extreme simplification of the "postmodern" as an incredulity towards 'grand narratives' – which are grand, large-scale theories and philosophies of the world, such as the progress of history, the knowability of everything by science, and the possibility of absolute freedom. Lyotard argues that we have ceased to believe that narratives of this kind are adequate to represent and contain us all. To relate the incredulity towards grand narratives to the death of the author, we now have no faith in authors who give us cogent theories or interpretation of one or another thing. We have become alert to difference, diversity, the incompatibility of our aspirations, beliefs and desires, and for that reason postmodernity is characterised by an abundance of micronarratives. Micronarratives can be thought of as blogs. As we said, everybody has a say, nobody gets a serious hearing.
Bottomline: The Postmodern Condition seems to offer its own grand narrative in the story of the decline of the grand narrative!
Friday, July 9, 2010
Indian National Congress, Inc.
We noted earlier that the Congress party is professionally managed, that the strategy and tactics, and even day-to-day affairs have been outsourced to a consulting group, perhaps. We said that it has a good risk and rewards program. The Congress party under Signora Sonia Gandhi is being run on the lines of any corporate business; that is not to say that the human factor is not taken into account. In fact, modern management gurus talk of emotional intelligence. David Goleman, in his path-breaking book, Emotional Intelligence, talks about the importance of emotional intelligence. Studies he reported say that in the ‘70s, people were depending on co-workers for getting their work done in about 16% of the time. In the ‘90s, the percentage grew to 77%. Management gurus are abreast of the work on emotional intelligence and they no longer function as inhuman entities: they are well aware of the human factors.
In this context, from what little I know of management (as one who failed to climb the management ladder over a decade and a half), there are three major aspects to growth in any organization: loyalty, competence, and performance – not necessarily in that order, and with equal weight to all three. How long you have been in the organization is an important aspect. (I failed miserably on that front, having switched jobs every year or year and a half, sometimes even within six months. That is why I never became a manager in 14 years!) The Congress party has always rewarded loyalty to the dynasty, often leading to sycophancy. Now it is loyalty to the party, or longevity. Not necessarily craven submission to the High Command.
Equally important is competence for the job – in the party or in the government.
Competence is the ability to do things; it is a combination of intelligence and communication skills. It is quite different from performance: how well one is doing the job one is currently entrusted with (the diligence with which one is approaching the job) is performance. As we said, all three are required, and in equal measure. Perhaps 33% each: 1% is left to chance, or luck. Or, being in the right place at the right time.
In the corporate world, one need to be popular with the co-workers (working with other people within the organization is critical to one’s ability to do one’s job), but not with people at large. So also with the Congress party. One’s popularity in the masses or the ability to ‘mobilize’ people in large numbers (like Y S Jagan’s camp followers are doing now) is of no great importance. People in Jagan’s camp who say that the High Command is not paying attention to the wishes of the people will do well to realize that Madame knows ‘everything’ through confidential reports prepared by professional psephologists, and Gallup polls conducted quite openly by career beaurocrats. She is not one to fall for banner headlines in Sakshi or some other rag, or live coverage of the 100-car cavalcades on individually owned TV channels. This is exactly the kind of fuss that Mrs Gandhi Jr told him to avoid.
Whatever popularity is to be had should vest in the dynasty, in the magical surname Gandhi.
Take the case of the incumbent CM of Andhra Pradesh, Mr K Rosaiah: he has been around in the Congress perhaps even before Jagan was born; he is competent and he has performed very well over the years. Unfortunately, he is unable to handle Jagan: owing to his gentlemanly manner or feeble-mindedness. With pressure building up from the Jagan camp, the High Command may be looking for alternatives, of course after the bypolls. Among the names doing the rounds are those of Speaker Kiran Kumar Reddy and minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy. The former is from Rayala Seema and the latter, from Andhra, and as such, they are not hot favourites.
Of the other two, Mrs Sabita Reddy, unfortunately, is not fluent in Hindi or English. We said that in corporate India (or the Indian National Congress, INC), or any corporate organization in the world, competence is a combination of intelligence and communication skills. That is where the other contender, Dr J Geetha Reddy scores over Mrs Sabita Reddy. She is the spokesperson of the AP Cabinet, and is fluent in Hindi and English. Moreover, lately, Mrs Sabita Reddy also made noises about Jagan being the leader of the future, even after he defied the High Command’s diktat. She doesn’t seem to be familiar with the history of the Indira Congress (now called Indian National Congress): anyone who defies the High Command’s diktat is “out”.
Bottomline: Do we need to say more? It is going to be Dr J Geetha Reddy; just remember that you have read it here first.
In this context, from what little I know of management (as one who failed to climb the management ladder over a decade and a half), there are three major aspects to growth in any organization: loyalty, competence, and performance – not necessarily in that order, and with equal weight to all three. How long you have been in the organization is an important aspect. (I failed miserably on that front, having switched jobs every year or year and a half, sometimes even within six months. That is why I never became a manager in 14 years!) The Congress party has always rewarded loyalty to the dynasty, often leading to sycophancy. Now it is loyalty to the party, or longevity. Not necessarily craven submission to the High Command.
Equally important is competence for the job – in the party or in the government.
Competence is the ability to do things; it is a combination of intelligence and communication skills. It is quite different from performance: how well one is doing the job one is currently entrusted with (the diligence with which one is approaching the job) is performance. As we said, all three are required, and in equal measure. Perhaps 33% each: 1% is left to chance, or luck. Or, being in the right place at the right time.
In the corporate world, one need to be popular with the co-workers (working with other people within the organization is critical to one’s ability to do one’s job), but not with people at large. So also with the Congress party. One’s popularity in the masses or the ability to ‘mobilize’ people in large numbers (like Y S Jagan’s camp followers are doing now) is of no great importance. People in Jagan’s camp who say that the High Command is not paying attention to the wishes of the people will do well to realize that Madame knows ‘everything’ through confidential reports prepared by professional psephologists, and Gallup polls conducted quite openly by career beaurocrats. She is not one to fall for banner headlines in Sakshi or some other rag, or live coverage of the 100-car cavalcades on individually owned TV channels. This is exactly the kind of fuss that Mrs Gandhi Jr told him to avoid.
Whatever popularity is to be had should vest in the dynasty, in the magical surname Gandhi.
Take the case of the incumbent CM of Andhra Pradesh, Mr K Rosaiah: he has been around in the Congress perhaps even before Jagan was born; he is competent and he has performed very well over the years. Unfortunately, he is unable to handle Jagan: owing to his gentlemanly manner or feeble-mindedness. With pressure building up from the Jagan camp, the High Command may be looking for alternatives, of course after the bypolls. Among the names doing the rounds are those of Speaker Kiran Kumar Reddy and minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy. The former is from Rayala Seema and the latter, from Andhra, and as such, they are not hot favourites.
Of the other two, Mrs Sabita Reddy, unfortunately, is not fluent in Hindi or English. We said that in corporate India (or the Indian National Congress, INC), or any corporate organization in the world, competence is a combination of intelligence and communication skills. That is where the other contender, Dr J Geetha Reddy scores over Mrs Sabita Reddy. She is the spokesperson of the AP Cabinet, and is fluent in Hindi and English. Moreover, lately, Mrs Sabita Reddy also made noises about Jagan being the leader of the future, even after he defied the High Command’s diktat. She doesn’t seem to be familiar with the history of the Indira Congress (now called Indian National Congress): anyone who defies the High Command’s diktat is “out”.
Bottomline: Do we need to say more? It is going to be Dr J Geetha Reddy; just remember that you have read it here first.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
India: An Area Of Darkness - Sir Vidiadhar S Naipaul
Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul (born 17 August 1932, in Chaguanas, Trinidad and Tobago), commonly known as V. S. Naipaul, is a Trinidadian novelist and essayist of Indo-Trinidadian descent. He has been called "a master of modern English prose." He has been awarded numerous literary prizes including the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize (1958), the Somerset Maugham Award (1960), the Hawthornden Prize (1964), the W. H. Smith Literary Award (1968), the Booker Prize (1971), and the David Cohen Prize for a lifetime's achievement in British Literature (1993). V. S. Naipaul was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001, the centenary year of the award.
From an “Area of Darkness” to a “Million Mutinies Now”, India has come a long way in Sir Vidiadhar’s reckoning. In other words, Sir V S Naipaul has come a long way from considering India as an area of darkness to recognizing the million mutinies happening in India in 2000. We are talking about the days when Naipaul (not Naipal) visited India for the first time, in 1964 and wrote that terrible travelogue – India: An Area of Darkness. There is a reason to say that he is Naipaul and not Naipal (to point out that he is using the British/English spelling). He followed it up with India: A Wounded Civilization around the same time. Much later, circa 2000, he wrote India: A Million Mutinies Now! The very title India: An Area of Darkness fired me up when I was a youth. It still rankles.
An Area of Darkness is a travelogue detailing Naipaul's trip through India in the early sixties. It was the first of Naipaul's acclaimed Indian trilogy which includes India: A Wounded Civilization and India: A Million Mutinies Now. A deeply pessimistic work, An Area of Darkness conveys the acute sense of disillusionment which the author experiences on his first visit to his native land. True to his style, the narration is anecdotal and descriptive. Naipaul imagines India to be a wonderland, where the rigveda rules the roost. Alas, the India he found on arrival (The Enigma of Arrival) was quite different from the India he thought up to be – a Vedic India. Is it India’s fault?
Literates in India ooze with enthusiasm when they think that VS Naipaul is an Indian in origin. They almost consider him an Indian (and are proud of having somebody of his stature to condescend to reveal his Indian origins). But what did he have to say about India? That it is “An Area of Darkness”. It is a pessimistic diatribe against India which does not match up to his imagination. India celebrated his getting the Nobel prize for literature. But he was indifferent. In fact, when Prime Minister Vajpayee said that he is proud of Naipaul, an Indian, who got a Nobel prize, Naipaul retorted: I am not an Indian (cf. Prof. Amartya Sen).
R K Narayan said, to him, that India will go on. “How will India go on?” raves Sir Vidiadhar. On bullock carts with rubber tyres? On tricycles designed to upturn the rider with brakes in the front wheel (oh, he had been to the National Institute of Design alright). He is a British passport-holder and all doors were open to him. In fact, a whole stream of literature study called Commonwealth Literature was institutionalized so that Naipaul can be coopted into it, because he cannot be categorized as an Indian writer. I met a descendant of the Sri Krishna Deva Raya family in Anegondi who invited him with open arms, and what Naipaul wrote about the dynasty was nothing short of nasty.
Now what is my problem? Let him get the limelight, let him thrive where he is (that is, London: he proudly proclaimed that he is happy to be a ‘Brit’ or at least half a ‘Brit’).
I have a problem when he applies for a Person of India Origin card, and refuses to show proof. Farruck Dhondy, a camp follower, said to the Deccan Chronicle recently, that if the government of India gives him the PIO card, he will gracefully accept it but will not travel to his ancestral village to obtain proof of his grandfather being an India citizen. Let the officials stay on course and ask for proof, let Vajpayee’s enthusiasm go to hell.
Now, how many people apply for the card, I don’t know. Nor do I know what benefits they gain from the card – perhaps right to buy land and build a villa. Or right to be cremated on Indian soil: does Naipaul (‘new paul’) want to have his ashes mixed in the Ganges? Maybe he wants to start a business, at a time long after he reached what stupid Indians call vanaprastha…
This is an open letter to the officials involved not to relent until he produces evidence. Everybody tries to jump on the bandwagon when the going is good. People who are pessimistic when the going is bad should not be given the PIO card. F. Dhondy’s condescension, obvious in his remarks that Sir Vidiadhar will not produce proof shows the arrogance of prodigal sons. It is high time India stopped giving kid-glove treatment to all and sundry ‘foreigners’ claiming Indian origin.
Bottomline: India will go on – Naipal or no Naipaul.
From an “Area of Darkness” to a “Million Mutinies Now”, India has come a long way in Sir Vidiadhar’s reckoning. In other words, Sir V S Naipaul has come a long way from considering India as an area of darkness to recognizing the million mutinies happening in India in 2000. We are talking about the days when Naipaul (not Naipal) visited India for the first time, in 1964 and wrote that terrible travelogue – India: An Area of Darkness. There is a reason to say that he is Naipaul and not Naipal (to point out that he is using the British/English spelling). He followed it up with India: A Wounded Civilization around the same time. Much later, circa 2000, he wrote India: A Million Mutinies Now! The very title India: An Area of Darkness fired me up when I was a youth. It still rankles.
An Area of Darkness is a travelogue detailing Naipaul's trip through India in the early sixties. It was the first of Naipaul's acclaimed Indian trilogy which includes India: A Wounded Civilization and India: A Million Mutinies Now. A deeply pessimistic work, An Area of Darkness conveys the acute sense of disillusionment which the author experiences on his first visit to his native land. True to his style, the narration is anecdotal and descriptive. Naipaul imagines India to be a wonderland, where the rigveda rules the roost. Alas, the India he found on arrival (The Enigma of Arrival) was quite different from the India he thought up to be – a Vedic India. Is it India’s fault?
Literates in India ooze with enthusiasm when they think that VS Naipaul is an Indian in origin. They almost consider him an Indian (and are proud of having somebody of his stature to condescend to reveal his Indian origins). But what did he have to say about India? That it is “An Area of Darkness”. It is a pessimistic diatribe against India which does not match up to his imagination. India celebrated his getting the Nobel prize for literature. But he was indifferent. In fact, when Prime Minister Vajpayee said that he is proud of Naipaul, an Indian, who got a Nobel prize, Naipaul retorted: I am not an Indian (cf. Prof. Amartya Sen).
R K Narayan said, to him, that India will go on. “How will India go on?” raves Sir Vidiadhar. On bullock carts with rubber tyres? On tricycles designed to upturn the rider with brakes in the front wheel (oh, he had been to the National Institute of Design alright). He is a British passport-holder and all doors were open to him. In fact, a whole stream of literature study called Commonwealth Literature was institutionalized so that Naipaul can be coopted into it, because he cannot be categorized as an Indian writer. I met a descendant of the Sri Krishna Deva Raya family in Anegondi who invited him with open arms, and what Naipaul wrote about the dynasty was nothing short of nasty.
Now what is my problem? Let him get the limelight, let him thrive where he is (that is, London: he proudly proclaimed that he is happy to be a ‘Brit’ or at least half a ‘Brit’).
I have a problem when he applies for a Person of India Origin card, and refuses to show proof. Farruck Dhondy, a camp follower, said to the Deccan Chronicle recently, that if the government of India gives him the PIO card, he will gracefully accept it but will not travel to his ancestral village to obtain proof of his grandfather being an India citizen. Let the officials stay on course and ask for proof, let Vajpayee’s enthusiasm go to hell.
Now, how many people apply for the card, I don’t know. Nor do I know what benefits they gain from the card – perhaps right to buy land and build a villa. Or right to be cremated on Indian soil: does Naipaul (‘new paul’) want to have his ashes mixed in the Ganges? Maybe he wants to start a business, at a time long after he reached what stupid Indians call vanaprastha…
This is an open letter to the officials involved not to relent until he produces evidence. Everybody tries to jump on the bandwagon when the going is good. People who are pessimistic when the going is bad should not be given the PIO card. F. Dhondy’s condescension, obvious in his remarks that Sir Vidiadhar will not produce proof shows the arrogance of prodigal sons. It is high time India stopped giving kid-glove treatment to all and sundry ‘foreigners’ claiming Indian origin.
Bottomline: India will go on – Naipal or no Naipaul.
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