The Nobels..

There was a sense of elation when an Indian born scientist won the Nobel for Chemistry, eventhough he migrated quite sometime ago and is an American now. It only showed again that Indians are quite capable..but unfortunately they can achieve something only when they are out of India. If Venky, the scientist, had lived in India working in some University he would have been struggling with his life that he would not have much time for science. Even if he had the will to survive in the Indian environment of mess he would have found the going tough. Suppose he had worked in a government laboratory - shining examples of Indian scientific advancement - he would most probably have a superior who is there not beacuse of merit, but on other considerations like seniority, influence, social justice etc. Any request for material or equipment would be caught in beaureaucratic maze that Venky would have left twiddling his thumbs most of the time. It was good that he migrated and achieved something. There was a time, when we were young, when we thought that our future lay in India and we could achieve something for this country. 30 years later one feels that it was not worth it.

If Venky's nobel gave one a great feeling, the nobel for Obama was quite a disaster. It was really a shocker....gave one the feeling that the committee was competely off its rocker. However that is the way power and influence works.

Tokenism...

When one reflects on tokenism we find this lack of sincerity everywhere...everyone wants to appear what he or she is not...there is a singular lack of conviction in what many of us do or say....the netas have really cultivated this to the level of an art....hypocrisy and tokenism are their mainstays and there is no sense of shame. Neta in waiting and other wannabe netas are all queing up at the houses of poor to partake meals and theorize on what is wrong...when the truth is staring in their face...no government has cared for the poor and the marginalized people of our land..they are netas today because they are the very people who subvert the schemes and leach on the government. It is a pathetic situtation which is unfolding....netas offspring become netas on the strength of their money and muscle power carving out kingdoms and areas of influence for themselves...where does it leave the common man...just nowhere..and things can only become worse.

The art of tokenism...

How silly our netas can get....their latest fad is 'austerity'...no they dont plan to go out into the forest and live on berries or fast till they get enlightenment...this is about cutting governmental expenditure...and what do they do...travel economy instead of business class..and what does the neta in waiting do...takes a train and eats with the hoi polloi...how nice for some media coverage...when will they ever learn that such eyewash does not cut any ice with most people.

A better austerity measure will be not to travel at all and to close down parliament indefinitely...nothing anyway happens there...there are umpteen issues which are far more serious and cry for attention than silly gestures like flying economy...but are we silly to expect more from our netas

Non issues

We have become a society in which trivial non-issues are hyped to become issues of import....news channels and media contribute significantly to this since real issues have stopped being relevant...mind boggling corruption, governmental apathy to real probles facing people...like water, transport, law and order....are just not relevant anymore...it is beyond anybody to even think about this leave alone talk about them...hence trivial non-issues are hyped...
A party leader, with no real following or demonstrated capability writes a book on Jinnah...we are told that he praises Jinnah and says he is not responsible for the partition of India. And we are also told that the author says Jinnah was secular (whatever that means). How ihave become s this important 60 years after the event, when Pakistan is a reality and a nusiance. Whether Jinnah was responsbile or someone else was does not make any difference. But the book has created such a ruckus, the author is dismissed from the party and possibly he is laughing all the way to the bank.
Chennai or Madras celebrated 370 years of its founding. Cities are taking great pride in celebrating their founding...does not matter that they have become vast unorganized slums with most people lacking basic amenities. It has been determined that sometime in August 370 years ago an englishman got a concession to start trading operations on a small piece of land on the beach. This is supposed to have been the beginning of Chennai. Does not matter that places like Mylapore, Thiruvottiyur, Thiruvanmiyur all coastal villages and now integrated into Chennai have a long history and existed before the englishman landed. For us history starts only when the english landed...

Collapses-2

Talking of collapses we had this great corporate collapse (or fraud) in the beginning of the year. After all the initial chest beating settled down the fraudsters are still in jail, the company has changed hands, many employees have got pink slips, the investigation is still on and the TV channels have lost interest - it is certain that nothing will come out since something like this could not have happened without the participation of the 'powers'.

But the linked issue is that the associate company was granted huge projects by the government, running into thousands of crores - and the company had no experience at all of handling such projects. And interestingly it was for executing metro rail projects. Nobody bothers about it or questions such governmental actions. If the promoters have money and are close to the seats of power they can swing anything today. A company or individual, irrespective of capability and experience cant swing even a dead cat.

Collapses...

A long hiatus.....collapse of enthu after the inital excitement...too many things to ponder about...
But two collapses worth talking about...to think where we are headed as a nation...
Sections of the Delhi metro collapsed a few weeks ago, killing several people. The head of the organization, a celebrated engineer, resigned taking moral responsibility.....but the political bosses said no. They do not know anyhting about responsibility leave alone moral responsiblity. And they need him..after all the metro has to be ready for the Commonwealth games next year...and they dont stand a chance without him. Now they have found the reasons for the collapse...faulty design and material. There is nothing new about this...happens all the time...only now it is in the capital and in a prestigious project. If it had happened in some town killing a few people we would not have even heard of it. The construction company has a good track record, but they are to be blacklisted and the consulting engineers are to be banned for something like 5 years. As usual this may be an eyewash...things may continue like before.

It rained for 2 hours in Delhi. Traffic jams are common...I was once stuck in one for 4 hours..it took an hour and a half to get out of the airport. But this time the airport was flooded...news channels beamed pictures of water logging inside the airport and water was leaking from the lamps in the false ceiling...it is not some old airport...it is a brand new one - the pride of Delhi. Of course one of the reasons bandied about was the overflow of sewers...but this is not new. Sewers always overflow..we are still to master the art of making sewers and interconnecting them so that they flow..the Harrapans possibly knew how.
In this endless blame game we tend to forget that this points to a deeper malaise..well recognized and acknowledged...we dont have the quality of people to execute and finish projects properly. One cannot expect people with no training and skills employed by sub-c0ntractors to deliver quality. It is a cancer which has eaten into the sytem for so long that there is no remedy. We have promoted and accepted mediocrity for so long that it is impossible to set the system right. The more infrastructure we build the more it is bound to collapse...

Sri Lanka

Last week saw the official end to hostilities in Sri Lanka. A war for more than three decades was officially declared over. It once again highlighted the fact that armed conflict will never resolve disputes and a conflict that runs so long will hardly ever provide a solution. This conflict between the LTTE and the Sr Lankan govenrment could have been resolved through negotitatons several times in the past without casuing such human suffering, but for the rather uncompromising attitudes on both sides. In the end it turned out to be a disaster for the Tiger leader whom some describe as a hero and a martyr of the Tamils and the others a bloodthirsty megalomaniac. As a wag said once if he had made peace he would have been jobless because he knew nothing other than fighting.
On a trip to Colombo this week the sense of relief was visible. Check posts still operated but the soldiers manning looked a little relaxed. Last time I had to produce my passport at a number of places. It did not happen this time. Business people felt that the economy will improve and were positve of the future. However real peace will come only when the Sri Lankan government jettisons the jingostic policies of the past and works towards credibly integrating the Tamils into the nation, without succumbing to political compuslions. If this happens Rajapakse will be remembered in world history as statesman rather than in Sri Lankn history as a president who got the better of LTTE. After all, these Tamils are very much a part of Sri Lanka having been there for generations. My european colleague asked our Sri Lankan host on how to differentiate between a Singalese and a Tamil since they look the same and our host could only smile. One of our hosts really looked so Tamilian that he could not have been out of place in Chennai. Finally that is the truth. There is no difference between the peoples. The time has come to move forward.

Gandhi(s) smile

No I am not talking about the first family of India since they won the elections. It is about the greater Gandhi. His picture on the high denomination rupee notes reflects a smile which is engigmatic - like the Mona Lisa - but also seems to be a rather mischievous one - as if he knew the mischief he would be a party to.
It is no great news that money played a great part in the elections and has played a part in the last decade. However its use has become so widespread and in our southern state its blatant use has become a standard for elections. Rs 500 per vote has become a standard and in spite of several complaints the election commission is so powerless to do anything about it. A political party today needs no idealogy, policies or programmes. All that it needs is a good system of raising capital from the governments they run - and deploying part of it systematically to stay in power - through elections - so as to raise more capital. They can do this officially as well through schemes like free TVs and gas stoves. Nobody complains.
It might not be a bad idea to officially rename our currenacy as a 'Gandhi. It is afterall the land of Gandhi.

First past the post - winner takes all

Over the years, elections in India have rendered fractured verdicts for the parliament leading to small regional players demanding and getting undue importance in the government. Whatever the media maight say, the verdict is fractured this time around as well - only less than normal. Winning is more about electoral arithmetic not programs or policies.
A limited analysis of some sample constituencies where the congress or its allies won, reveals that people have not come out in droves and voted for the MM Singh government. It is a clear case of 'spoilers' in three states.
If we take Maharashatra where the SS/BJP combine lost about 5 seats from last time, an analysis of the votes in Mumbai and Pune reveals that Raj Thackery was a spolier for this combine.In a sampling of 8 constituences consisting of Mumbai (6), Thane and Pune, of the total 5.44 mmillion votes polled, the Congress/NCP combine got only 39.6%, while the Shiv Sena combine - Shiv Sena and MNS polled about 34.5% and BJP polled 15.8%. So there were enough votes against the Congress even with a turnout below 50%. The only seat which Congress won with any comfort was the North Central where the Dutt daughter got the better of Mahesh Jethmalani. If the supposedly 'right parties' had worked together Congress would have had a tough time. The 'right parties' seemed to be more interested in getting a Maratha as the PM rather than working to protect the nation.
If we take TN, an analysis of about 11 constituencies, of which only 1 was won by AIADMK, reveals how Vijayakanth played a spoiler. In all possiblity the anti DMK vote went to Vijayakanth rather than to the AIADMK. In these 11 consitituences the DMK-INC combine garnered 42% of the votes, the AIADMK got 37%, MDMK got 10% and BJP got 6%. The BJP on its own did very well in K Kumari and Ramanathupuram garnering 33% and 16.5% respectively. A credtiable perofrmance considering the Christian influence in K kumari. In all 10 constituencies the results would have been different if the AIADMK had tried to work with MDMK and BJP if the intention was to defeat the DMK. It looks like Vijayakanth was set up specifically by the DMK to see that the anti-incumbency vote did not drift. Of course DMK has also perfected the art of splurging money and no elction commission can do anyhting about it. In spite of this the Congress still lost 2 seats as compared to last time and Chidamabram, the ex Finance Minister just made it by under 3000 votes.
Andhra Pradesh had another spoiler in the form of Chiranjeevi. A sampling of 7 constituencies where the Congress won reveals that the TDP had a vote share of 35%, Chiranjeevi had 18.6% and Congress had about 40%. We cannot take this as a vote for the Congress or Reddy's government. The vote got split and the result favoured congress. Was Chiranjeevi set up for this becasue his party is not even 1 year old?
The Left has been pretty well beaten in West Bengal. In 11 constituencies where the Trinamool Congress won, it has garnered about 50% of the votes compared to the Left combine's 40%. So the allaince with Mamta Banerjee worked for the Congress. It was more a vote for the Trinamool rather than the congress. It is also interesting that the BJP has been able to garner about 6% of the votes in these constituencies.
There are a few positives from this election which we should be happy about.
1.The left which got undue influence last time around hopefully has startted its journey into the sunset. It is time that it is relegated to the dustbin of history alongwith leftist historians.
2. Smaller caste based parties like the PMK,MDMK and LJP etc hopefully will only remain marginal players in the future. Due to alliances they had been given undue importance.
3. Parties like the BSP and SP hopefully will remain in UP and try their best to keep UP in the past and not entertain PM ambitions.
4. Lalu Prasad Yadav has had his time entertaining people with his supposedly earthly wisdom and hopefully he will not continue his antics.
All this is hope. One can never say in the sewer of Indian politics what floats up and what sinks down by virtue of electoral arithmetic. As long as we continue this system of winner takes all, the wallet will rule the roost and we will only be a democracy in name.

Return of the families..

Chapter 2 has turned out to be rather tame. Not much scope for the sordid shenanigans of our elected representatives when they did not mind which bed they got into as long the payoff was good. We have been spared this bedside spectacle. The election results were rather surprising - from being 'well hung' as was predicted to being only 'lightly hung'. However News channels, as is their wont, call this a 'sweeping victory', 'thumping victory' , 'people's verdict' etc for the Congress party and its allies. When the combine is still short of simple majority and has only the firm possibility of forming the government but still needs some help, one wonders how thumping the victory is.

When about 60% of the voters exercise their vote, and of which a party gets about 40% and manages to win more seats than the others and forms a government, it only means about 24% of the people voted for the party. But we are led to believe that the people have made a decisive choice and leaders thump their chests and thank the people for their sagacity.

However THE family and other associate families in our political firmament will now have a free run for the next five years.

Democracy circus

Chapter 1 of the great Indian 'democracy tamasha' got over rather peacefully. A sordid Chapter 2 has started. As the drama unfolds and the news channels unload their endless spiel making and breaking 'wind' tirelessly, each rushing to create its own eddies of muddled thought - India - the world's largest democracy - trapped in a cliche 'blackhole'! More a 'demoncracy'.