Nehru's Tryst With Destiny

I recently completed reading "Freedom At Midnight" by Dominique La Pierre and Larry Collins. I must say I discovered a lot of things absolutely not mentioned in the history books right from third standard to the tenth. Our history books seem to have been written by people with selective amnesia which goes to show how much our education system has degraded. The book is not totally without flaws since it is written by a Frenchman and an Australian two decades back. They have been more than a bit patronizing in the way they have written the book, but can be forgiven for that, as Europeans and Australians can write only the way they think - as Europeans and Australians. The book tells a lot about what happened during partition and the inner story which finds just a mention in our history books as a line or two. The saddening part is that after nearly 65 years, India is still fighting the maladies that has plagued it for centuries - communal riots, poverty, illiteracy and a newer malady - corruption. Why do Indians deserve this? After being guided through the earlier years by visionaries such as Gandhi, Nehru, Menon and Sardar Patel does it still have to be known to the world as a nation of illiterates, of religious bigots and where literary authors have to sell their books by depicting India's poverty in all its glory? I do agree that Nehru's and Gandhi's ideas might not hold much water in a modern world and Indians have indeed taken mostly wise decisions throughout the years, post independence, but still the old demons remain. India is the world's largest democracy, but are our elections just a token public relations exercise as one wiki leaks cable pointed out? Do Indians really benefit from this independence and has it done them any real good? Why are politicians still elected based on caste, class and religion and not on their individual merit? Is independence and democracy just buzz words that has no meaning to the ordinary man out on the farms, out in rural India? Gandhi had preached that every Indian politician and bureaucrat should first learn the ropes of his  trade in the villages of rural India. This might not sound very realistic in a modern world but it is true that most of our doctors and engineers live in the cities and the farmers in rural India have improved their lifestyle just a tad bit, migrating to cities where they believe their future lies. Rahul Gandhi and few of our politicians have lived with villagers in villages for a day or two in what might be a lesson out of Gandhi's book, but was this nothing more than a PR exercise? Has it really benefited the villagers or Rahul Gandhi? India did have it's white revolution(milk), green revolution(food self sufficiency) and technology revolution in the recent years and it's growth rate is enviable. But why can't we still end our past maladies after 65 years - those of communal riots, rural poverty and corruption? And why are basic infrastructure such as quality education, basic sanitation, quality medical care, human rights and rural jobs still a precious luxury for the vast majority of Indians? Gandhi talked about these seventy years back but sad to say our politicians are involved in their own private games and hobbies and know as much of Indian history as an Italian does. Our politicians are the modern day maharajahs - who Nehru and Patel hated so much in their heydays.

The Rise and The Decline of the British Broadcasting Corporation

What did I have in common with Rajiv Gandhi, the day his mother Indira Gandhi was assasinated? Yes, both of us tuned to the BBC World Service Radio broadcast to catch the latest news on this ghastly incident, while All India Radio played it cool by playing classical music the entire day.
Those days Indians had limited exposure to the media and the BBC was often a gateway to unbiased truth and often wholesome entertainment.
This was perhaps why even now with the media explosion, when BBC announced the shutdown of its Hindi services there was a mass public outcry and the pullout was delayed for another year.(http://ibnlive.in.com/news/bbc-hindis-last-broadcast/146024-55.html)
I was a staunch fan of BBC World Service Radio broadcasts when I was a kid. I was often made fun of by my friends and their parents as the "radio kid" because of my habit of spending hours with one ear to the radio. While the newspapers highlighted domestic news and the certain events were often overlooked, I was enlightened on the war in Serbia, the fall of the Iron Curtain and the partisan war in Lebanon, the Israeli invasion of the Sinai peninsula, the Bhopal gas tragedy, and countless assasinations and rebellions.
I was for some time given the duty of collecting news that was to be read out at the school assembly by students who took turns to read it.
For this purpose, every day at BBC news bulletin time, I was glued to the radio set scribbling down the news headlines in a shorthand that I evolved and that only I could read.
My news extracts were for the most part of happenings far away from the realm of Indian interests and I doubt whether even a few of the students assembled actually grasped what was read out, not withstanding the fact that their parents hardly read even newspapers so busy they were with their daily jobs.
It was not just for the news that I tuned into the BBC. I was a regular listener of pop music programmes, dramatized versions of short stories and even quizzes, all on the air. Those days, the BBC correspondent in India was Mark Tully and he was a familiar voice on the news reportings. (Mark Tully eventually retired, has written a couple of books and has now settled down in India).
BBC had a special programme on Christmas where a popular writer read out excerpts of his own book for BBC listeners. Once such Christmas I was introduced to Frederick Forsyth's classic short story "The Shepherd".
I experimented with other radio channels too. But the Voice Of America was unashamedly biased to US interests and the anchors had an annoying yankee accent, Radio Moscow reeked of propaganda, AIR always began with "The Prime Minister today...", Radio Ceylon was just a golden oldies Hindi music channel, Germany's Radio Deutsche Welle had powerful radio transmitters that ensured a clear reception but lacked in content.
So it was the BBC for me. I owe a lot of my soft skills to that early on exposure to BBC newsreaders and anchors. While reading books taught me spelling and grammar, the pronounciation, the accent and most importantly the tone in context to the subject was a result of BBC's tutoring.

Drab as the Desert

When I was young, I once came across an article in a children's magazine that posed this hypothetical question: "Suppose you had everything in this world, but no friends, no relatives - no one to talk to or communicate. Would you be happy?" The answer was obvious- that man is a gregarious animal, he cannot live without some color in his life. Even if he had access to the most modern technologies that made his life easier, toys to play with to spend time, machines and technology to do everything and anything at his beck and call, he would not survive without the need to communicate and socialize with his kin.
This I believe has parallels with the current peaceful unrests which started in Tunisia and has spread to other Arab regions like wildfire, to Egypt, to Libya, Bahrain, Yemen and to even comparitively stable Arab lands such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE and Oman.
Were these people short of wealth, or afflicted by poverty and the likes?
No, as we are told, these lands are some of the richest in the world, abound with natural oil. The citizens of these oil rich countries are in fact paid a bonus by their government for doing nothing particular at all, are not taxed, and handsomely assisted by the state to run businesses, or more correctly sponsor them. They just need to exist and the money comes rolling in. So what went wrong?
I have never stayed in an Arab household, and what little I know of an Arab's personal life is through books and articles.
But one glance at the national newspapers of these lands will convince you that something is seriously wrong.
When I was in Kuwait(here) I read the national English daily whenever I got the chance to do so. (In Kuwait, newspapers too are sponsored by the state and you don't pay a penny to access them!)
The articles I read were extremely boring, drab and definitely followed a pattern. One article mourned, "What would we do without our housemaids? How would we adjust to our busy lives without them?". In fact housemaids are the most ill- treated and underpaid labour force in the Arab lands. The article went on to do a feeble job of educating fellow Arabs in treating their house helps a bit better. And I could not help laughing out loud when I tried to imagine their "busy lives!" For I have never seen an Arab busy other than when he is pushing his subordinates to work harder, directly or through appointed cronies. Another article spoke about chicken. How could the Arabs survive without their daily chicken?! Well that was as close to gluttony as you could get to in public. And the editions went on and on in this drab fashion without a break in the monotony.
The only slightly colorful article I came across was one which described an encounter by a journalist with a supposed homosexual, when he hired his taxi. The aricle went on to hurl colorful epithets at this enemy of God.
What came across from these un-inspiring literature was that Arabs really do not have much variety in life. How can a person live I wonder, without enjoying the thrill of experiencing the success or failure of a business venture or a job? What is life without the so-called drudgery of work? If the government pays you to do nothing, what can you strive to achieve in life? I am afraid I am getting philosophical, but how can the brain work without stimulation?
The peaceful protests in all these desert lands are not against Islamic law, not against dynastic rule either, neither for a full fledged democracy. Just a cry to be able to make a choice for themselves; and the choice not to be made for them. A bit more color in their lives, freedom and liberty to have a mind of their own. And what did the unimaginative rulers of these lands do to quell the unrest? They quietly deposited an extra bonus into the bank accounts of every citizen of the land and cut off all tools of freedom and liberty, the internet, facebook and twitter!
Let's remember the prophetic poetry by Tagore, still relevant today for any people:
"Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free..
...
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit...

The Ones that did not make it to Wiki Leaks!

The recent Wiki Leaks was truly hilarious in some ways.
One that took the cake was that the Saudi King suggested released Guantanamo Bay detainees be implanted with electronic chips to keep track of them, like they do horses and falcons - sounds like something out of a Hollywood block buster!
The other cables seem to indicate that US diplomats are a genteel lot considering what potential secrets could have been passed on through those secure cables! Here are a few that could have made it to the list.
Cable from the Italian consulate in Delhi to HQ: Looks like India has better Italian leadership than Italy has.
Cable from the Chinese embassy to HQ: Looks like the Chinese are not going to have an erection.. er. election any time too soon..
Cable from US Secretary of State to US Consulate in Pakistan: We will let the Pakis continue to support the suicide bombers in India; that way they will be more busy bombing Mumbai and Delhi leaving us alone in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Cable from Kenya to HQ: I strongly recommend that the President rename the White House to some other, for instance, Black House, because Kenyans and many Africans refer to the loo as their White House. It's truly disgusting.
Cable to HQ from the US embassy in Delhi: The Consulate has run out of toilet paper. Please expedite the process of sending the necessary item immediately before the Consul General is forced to use an adult diaper!
Urgent communique from the US president to British PM visiting South Asia: In India the agenda should be to blast the Pakis out of their wits and when in Pakistan give the Indians a good blastng. That's true diplomacy. As they say be a Roman in Rome!
Cable from a US diplomat on tour of Iran: Just found out that the Iranian president has a soft spot for Mickey Mouse movies and wears Mickey Mouse adorned underwear. Recommend that we put an embargo on these two items as well, if we already have not.
US Consul official on hotline from Saudi Arabia: URGENT: Our stock of Bloody Marys destroyed when US fighter jet carrying them over in a diplomatic pouch got shot while flying over Kuwait. Recommend express delivery of the same!

Elegy on the death of a Cow

Once upon a time in the sleepy town of Malkapur a cow died by the roadside. Rumors soon spread all over town. There was one group that claimed that the holy Cow had been poisoned by the Muslim community to vent their disapproval of the Hindus. Another group claimed that it had been poisoned by a Hindu posing as a Muslim to create animosity between the two communities. There was a third group that claimed that the cow had been poisoned by a Hindu posing as a Muslim who had originally been a Muslim. None were ready to believe that a healthy cow could have died a natural death.
In the riots that followed five people were killed, two of them burnt alive in their houses.
The Central Reserve Police Force was deployed in town and a dawn to dusk curfew imposed. The authorities ordered an autopsy on the dead cow, bowing down to public pressure.
The kith and kin of the five who were killed were compensated handsomely by the government. The brethren of the dead cow of course got nothing except for the pride of place on the streets and highways where they strolled around chewing newspaper that told the horror stories of the Hindu - Muslim clashes with commentaries by eminent analysts.
The local veterinary hospital claimed that they did not have the facilities to perform as sophisticated a procedure as an autopsy on a dead cow. So the body of the cow was placed in a mortuary for months before it was sent to Delhi for further investigations.
The authorities realised that the autopsy by itself was not important. If the cow had been poisoned the Hindus would riot. And if it had not been poisoned the Muslims would riot for the injustice done to them earlier.
Finally after much deliberation the result of the autopsy was buried under sheets of red tape and the dead cow was soon forgotten by one and all as everyone waited expectantly for the India Pakistan cricket series to start.

India's "soft" ware power - Reality or Hype?

Much has been made of India's so-called soft power, the loudest vocalist being our very own Shashi Tharoor. I can assure you this is not mere hype as far as my experience goes.
The Egyptian software programmer with whom I worked with in Kuwait (On Kuwait) surprised me one day when he asked me questions about Amitabh Bachchan. I don't know how this guy from a conservative Arab culture came to hear about the evergreen Bollywood hero, but his name seems to have reached far flung corners of the world. Another occasion of Bollywood power reared its head was while watching a popular German TV show on the German equivalent of MTV in Germany (On Germany). The hep female anchor (who I noticed wore a different hairdo at every one of her shows) mentioned "Hollywood-Bollywood" before a racy Bollywood number was shown. The rest of what she said was in German but the word "Bollywood" was loud and clear. I don't know whether Germans are aware of the thriving film industry in India, but it seems they do have some inkling of it ('Dil to Pagal Hai' must have received publicity in Germany when parts of it were shot there).
That rests the case of the hype about the Indian film industry, but India, Indians and the Indian culture are known for other things as well.
I remember the occasion when before I travelled to Germany, my German boss requested me to bring some Ayurvedic herbs. This was, he said for a friend of his who suffered from chronic pain, but it turned out it was at the behest of his German girlfriend of two years who was a pharmacist in town. Ayurveda must not be much popular away from its cradle in South India, but it is extremely popular in the land which gave the world the science of Homeopathy.
Another request was for Alphonso mangoes, the popular export quality mango strain from India; however I could not fulfil this request, the fact being that I could not procure these costly mangoes in Kerala at short notice, without the risk of being duped by some shrewd businessman who might pass off some commonplace mangoes as "Alphonso".
Another request was from the subordinate of my German boss who requested for a couple of pair of jeans, giving me his waist size as well. I could not understand the reason for this request when I believed the West was the cradle of the jeans culture. When I asked this guy the reason, he told me matter of fact that all the high quality clothes that came to Germany nowadays were imported from countries such as India and other Asian countries. This was proved for good measure once again when my brother in the US of A returned last month with T-shirts manufactured in India and Sri Lanka.
The cycle has turned full circle!

The joy ride after the wild goose chase

Recently several media publications were bold enough to expose the sham that lies behind police interrogations involving narcoanalysis. Injecting suspects with a so-called truth serum, before they have been proved guilty, exposes one of the extremely crass and crude methods that the law condones (in India).
On the lighter side why don't these so-called preservers of the law take their suspects to the nearest bar and make them have their fill of the strongest liquors. Surely some of these "guilty" offenders might just spill the beans for all we know or maybe even "sing" for them. Or how about Cocaine or hashish, and if thats too costly for these guys in mufti, they could try good old marijuana.
The interrogators too could have a sniff at the substance on offer just to test whether it truly works. Once both the parties are "high", they could swap truth stories with each other and perhaps the "real" truth would spill out in the bonhomie.
These are the Dr Deaths' of today in the garb of forensic experts. The description of it being "scientific" just makes everything seem very sophisticated to the lay man.
The basic intention is the age old classic manoeuvre. When things go very wrong, and the law enforcers are clueless as to what went wrong they are under pressure to produce quick results - from the public, the politicians, the higher-ups and in order not to lose their credibility they have to produce results fast. What way other than a quick fix(pun intended) for this? In fact, the situation for them would work the other way round if they solved the entire mystery in a short spell- pats and kudos from everyone.
It's high time the law enforcers and others who condone it, recognize narcoanalysis for what it truly is.

Stale News

Just before leaving for work, I had a hasty look at the newspaper.
"Four killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq." "PM hopeful of an amicable settlement on the nuclear deal." "Famine in Africa." "Bird culling after Avian flu epidemic." "Blast in Israel kills two Palestinians." "Tamil militants attack army convoy."
These were the main stories of the day.
I usually have only a cursory look at the front page of the newspaper while the sports section and the editorial hold more appeal to me.
That reminds me of some great soul who had said: The first page of the newspaper is full of lies, the editorial is a half truth and the only page with truth in it is the sports page!
But I am digressing.
Having gone through the headlines I ritually moved onto the comics section. The newspaper people had messed up again I thought with disgust. They had printed the same comic strips that had appeared a few days back.
Suddenly struck by doubt I turned over to the first page.
I checked the date on it. The newspaper I was reading was more than a week old.
But why did I mistake it for the day's newspaper?
The news has so little variety today that I think last week's newspaper would be as good as today's!