The Incredible India

Like every year, the fervour of patriotism is at its peak during the Independence week. Most of the display of patriotism is by remembering our glorified independence struggle, the wars we fought with Pakistan and out victories in them, and more recently, cleaning up the society of corruption. During one such display of patriotism on a reality TV show, I was reminded of an old song from the film "Purab aur Paschim", particularly the first stanza, which talks about how it was India which gave the world '0' and that without it, we would have had practically no new invention and no further discovery.The song lead me into some retrospection about us..

So yes, starting with the discovery of '0', it was the field of mathematics we indeed excelled at. Practically, a big chunk of the fundamental mathematics we learn today was discovered by Indians. Aryabhatta discovered 0, to signify the absent, and so important was this discovery that we sing songs about it. Going a step ahead on it, it was the Indian Mathematical school of thought which gave the world its modern numeral system, Hindu Numeral system, otherwise, we would still have been using the big, inconvenient Roman numeral system. Going forward from primary grade mathematics to higher grade, Aryabhatta again is famous for approximating the value of constant Pi up to 5 digits and even suggesting that it is irrational, an insight, which did not occur to anyone else outside India until the 17th century. The entire field of trigonometry was discovered by the Indian mathematicians, and very recently, according to a sensational discovery, contrary to popular belief, calculus was first used by Kerala school of mathematics and not Newton. However, mathematics was not the only thing we excelled at. Indian Ayurvedic system had already made breakthroughs into invasive cataract surgeries before the dawn of Christ. Historical travelers have written odes dedicated to India and its rich culture, where people respect each other, where the cities have perpendicular streets and houses have no doors, where there is abundance of food and wealth. Where the intellectual levels are incredibly high and the essence of humanity at its epitome.

In the modern times too, after Independence, after a period of a long socialist era, India opened up and so did our services sector. The IT industry has reached $100 Bn and is still expanding. India is one of the fastest growing country in the world. With every passing census, our literacy rate increases, and so does our Per capita income. Our middle class purchasing capacity has increased many folds, with easy availability of credit and high salaries at young age. Our capital, New Delhi hosted the common wealth games in all its glory, showcasing to the world the infrastructural glory it has reached.

Speaking of New Delhi, it was recently in news for the merciless rape of a girl by a group of guys. So brutal was the assault, that the girl was thrown on the streets naked, to die. The guy with the girl was confident, someone would help, but no body came forward, too busy, they said. Nature unleashed its fury on on hapless pilgrims in Uttarakhand, leaving even the Gods in slush. Many died, some survived, but in all this there are a lot who thrived. The hotels which had some supplies left, started selling their stuff for a profit, as they say. Chapatis cost Rs 400, a bottle of mineral water cost Rs 300, a bowl of Dal for Rs 450. All this from the people who have just lost someone or something very valuable and dear to them, from the people who may have lost their entire life's saving. Some bureaucrats responsible to handle the free food supplies for these people found themselves more hungry in their comfortable home and were caught stealing and selling these supplies. Stand on any street in Mumbai and watch a disabled man trying to get a cab back home. Many of them will refuse fares, one cabbie will surely stop by and act like a good Samaritan, but for double the fare. Aboard any Indian bus, elders have to 'argue' with people to vacate seat meant for them, no woman can go not being groped. A braveheart is killed, because he argued with some local bullies to stop them from harassing his girlfriend, however, the police is still busy implementing the archaic laws, arresting young party goers or girls who make 'insensitive' facebook statuses and her friends who likes it, but is too scared to arrest local dons and mafia lords, who openly commit crime and give hate speeches or even the bullies who killed the braveheart. Hygiene and cleanliness is a term which has become restricted only to ones own home, because every place other than home is a trash can or spitting bowl. Because every public utility which is installed or deployed, is up for some vandalism and destruction or at the very least a place to litter. A country, where girl child is unwelcome, so much so, that it is let to die or killed. If she still survives, she made to lead a life of suffering, first at the hands of parents and then the husband. A country, where honour is more important than the life and love of the child.

The problem with us, is what I faced in the first para of this post, retrospection. We dwell in a time which is past us and cannot return. We feed our ego with the fact that we gave the world most of its stuff. We are unwilling to let go of the past because we have nothing left of present to defend ourselves. We get offended when we are called third world, and cite cities like Mumbai as example of India Shining, but no on cares to acknowledge that it is the same city which has 52% of its population living in slums. We clean up and fix our roads only when a foreign dignitary is to ride over it. And like every other entity in country we blame, we, ourselves react and wake up from our slumber only when the house is on fire. India is not united by a billion people, but divided into a billion people. We are truly, albeit unknowingly on the verge of self obsession.          

It is introspection, and not retrospection that we need, after being independent for 66 years. Time to wake up! 

The Story of Offence

People think about me day in day out, they feel me every day, but are afraid to talk about me, if they do, they are made a pariah, but today I will talk about myself, I deserve a hearing. I am probably the most misunderstood feeling, I am felt by everybody, but everyone is scared to talk about me. People talk at length about love and the emotions which come with it, why? Because its the in thing? I say, even in love, I am the most common emotion. I have the ability to break every other feeling. And when I strike important people, I have the ability to break nations, bring about wars. I am the only one who can trigger myself everywhere, even love cannot do that, then why me, a powerful feeling is looked down upon?

In the past, people who instilled me in others, suffered. Some 2000 years ago, a guy named Jesus of the Nazerath instilled me in the people of Jerusalem, and look what happened to him. He really should have stayed shut than face the wrath of an incited mob. Further down the time, a few people who claimed themselves to be intellectuals, played their hands a bit too much and got duly punished by the Roman church. My presence in some Southerners in the USA in 19th Century, had almost led to breakup of what you call today, the superpower. It was my presence in a young Serbian student in 1914, that led to the first great war, and it was my presence in a slight, but extremely strong willed man in 1939 that led to the second great war. In the recent times, I have caused civil wars in Ireland, Yugoslavia to name a few.

However, the biggest boost in my CV comes from the Indian subcontinent. I really come out easily in people of such varied demography herded into small landmass. Even the religious texts, where even the Gods acted on my trigger, are replete with my presence. Shiva's father-in-law, on feeling me, decided not to call him for an event, and this triggered me in Shiva's wife, who felt me at such an act by her father and jumped into a pyre, and this triggered me in Shiva, who almost destroyed the world. Duryodhana on being insulted by Draupadi, and under my influence started the greatest war ever and required an immortal God to bring it to a logical end. Coming to the real world from the realm of epics, it was under my influence that some of the powerful Muslim rulers invaded and probably plundered India. It was my presence in the people at helm of affairs, that they decided to divide the country of India on religious lines. And since then, my presence and power has only increased, and documented, and sometimes even made a law.

When MF Hussain tried to make some paintings out of his artistic expression, he was reminded, by words and by actions, that I won't allow him to do this, because I was present in the people who mattered, their representation not withstanding. When Shekar Kapur made "The Bandit Queen" and Deepa Mehta made "Fire", it was I who reminded them, that I am above the law of land. If I am present in people, the law cannot protect you. Shahrukh Khan and Aamir Khan also realized this, when they did/said something to instill me in people. My presence became a law, and Aamir Khan's film faced a ban in Gujrat, while Shahrukh Khan lost  money, the law bowed to me. I also led the lesser mortals like Mumbai University VC to withdraw a book from curriculum hurting some party's sentiment. And recently, it was me who reminded two girls from Palghar, that you may not see me coming, but I am always lurking there. I achieved all this roughly through the same set of people of course. Salman Rushdie came to know of my fear, when his book "Satanic Verses" was banned without being read, first in India, and then the rest of the world, only because the leaders feared my presence in people. Already facing my wrath in Bangladesh, writer Taslima Nasrin really should have known, I traverse boundaries, for they don't stop me. She has never rested in Peace while here. Currently, I am trying to ensure that Kamal Hassan is unable to release his movie in India. The people who are doing this for me, I am sure will not be influenced by feelings like reason and freedom, my foes. Ajay Devgn and Akshay Kumar would know by now, that Sikhs do not trim their beard or sport tattoos, not even in Movies.

And it is not only religion which triggers me these days. Some people cannot see their favorite sports person being called anything but God. While others are using me in their campaign against the condom and AIDS awareness advertisements, calling them vulgar. And then there are some, in whom I show up when public transport is not on time!

Although I am basking in glory right now, with all the achievements behind me, I wish I could have been present at many more places. I really wonder why no body feels me when they see a thin man being bullied by a group on streets. No body feels me, when they see a lady being sexually harassed. And very recently, I could have had an awesome head count, had people felt me when a girl and guy lay naked on the busy streets of New Delhi, but strangely, nobody felt me! Alright, I know, I am being very demanding. I have had a successful run in the last few decades, and I should not be complaining.

A big thank you , to the people of this nation for keeping me alive.

The Indian life- Evaluated

An average Indian perceives life as a gift of God. The references from Geeta, Quran and Bible on life, act as supporting documentation. And, considering their rise in numbers, atheists considers life as a product of fornication between a male and female member of any eukaryot and the resultant meiotic cell division, or, result of an asexual mitotic cell division in lower species, which is "the wow thing" for them(I guess, being a believer is easy and short to explain!). Any which way, life , and the existence thereof is a source of amazement and awe for us. Because we know that life is important, we spend half our fortunes on quacks who enlighten us with the knowledge of life, salvation and even afterlife.  And for the same reason, used by the crime syndicate and terror organizations to hold us at ransom, to give us grief and sorrow ,and, at times, make us vengeful. But, has life's importance been put at stake only by criminals(of all kinds of course) ? Think again.

The United Kingdom, prides itself on being home to multi-cultural and multiethinic communities, and on the social securities it provides to its citizens. It also understands its responsibility as a global power and being one of the five permanent members of the UN security council, it has sent its troops to Iraq and Afghanistan. It has also been providing aid to rebels in Syria to fight against the atrocious president Bashar-al-Assad. However, 93 years ago, in a small town of Punjab province, Amritsar, near Lahore, a group of Sikhs and Hindus had gathered to peacefully protest the British rule in India. But some Mr. Dyer viewed this gathering as a gathering of extremists, aged 1 to 90. He ordered his troop to shoot down all the terrorists irrespective of the age. Following the orders of their master, the troops shot down all the 'terrorist'. Even by official statistics, at least 500 people died in that incident. The General showed no remorse for his actions and was duly 'punished' by the British government. He was transferred back to Great Britain to continue his remaining service from there. He really got a severe punishment, didn't he?

In 1944, 320 African-American sailors(While reading, remember that Afro-Americans still did not have equal rights) were killed in port chicago,California in an accident, when the munitions, which were being loaded in the cargo, exploded. Such was a hue and cry raised about the accident, that the Navy insisted on giving each sailor a compensation of $ 5000. But since it was pre-Martin Luther era, the senate settled on an amount of $3000 for every dead sailor. The eighteen non-defense seamen who died in the accident, got a total compensation of $390,000, which comes roughly to around $21,666 per person. Some 42 years later, a bigger tragedy awaited the world. The biggest nuclear accident which the world witnessed occurred in Chernobyl, Ukraine(erstwhile USSR). It was a clear 'hollywoodish' case of science experiments going terribly wrong(only that no mutants were produced as a result). The load testing of the reactor, with lack of preparation, resulted in (even by the lowest counts) 4000 deaths and 100 thousands more being affected by cancer or other severe disabilities. A fully functional city(Pripyat, city housing workers and other people near Chernobyl) had to be completely evacuated and deserted. The economic impact on the already messed up Soviet Union was huge, However, even after the disintegration of the union, a compensation of around $10,500 was paid to every single person who was evacuated, along with consistent medical amenities being provided to them all their lives.

While all this was happening in the world, 2 years before the Chernobyl accident, the biggest industrial accident which the world ever saw occurred in India. On the cold winter night of 2nd December, 1984, while the residents of the lake city were in a cozy slumber,  a human error lead to the leakage of Methyl isocyante gas from the Union carbide fertilizer plant. This accident resulted in immediate death of at least 4000 people and injured around 550,000 more. The first thing which happened after the accident was not the relief effort for the affected, but the doubtful escape of the CEO of the company Warren Anderson, right under the eyes of chief minister Arjun Singh(Former HRD minister, who introduced Quotas in IITs and IIMs) and the MP police. What followed for the survivors and the relatives, was an ordeal for justice. 56% of the people got lucky, after struggling for the appropriate compensation, the relatives of the dead got a 'justified' compensation of $1211, while those who were disabled got a compensation of $ 454 in 1992. The rest 44% were yet to be even examined for an eligible payout. The US federal court went on to comfortably quash Indian appeal for a compensation of $3.3 billion, citing archaic laws. DOW chemicals which purchased UCC in 2001, was a proud sponsor of the London Olympics, which India only threatened to boycott, but did not have the will to.

Its not just the dead(Indians) who are given a short stick. You, who is reading this, and anyone around you who uses a foreign product, had his/her life devalued by this world. Some years ago(and some years before that as well), BIS raised the issue of the quality of water being used in manufacturing of soft drinks in India. It found pesticides in the water, which was way above the permissible limit. Amir Khan, of Satyamev Jayate fame, promptly came to the rescue of the said manufacturer by appearing in a TVC, proclaiming the safety of the product he endorses. Some people claim, that the water used in colas is the same water we drink daily, hence we should not have a problem, point duly conceded. However, ask any Indian who is returning from the west, about the difference in taste of the colas there and here, the prompt reply for the Indian version would be that it is way below the western standards. Ask any west returned Indian about the pizzas and burger retail outlet there and here, the answer would be no different than the one given for colas.

Many of you who have read my post this far may come to think that an Indian life is really taken for granted, but really, is that so? Nobody takes us for granted until we allow them to. An Indian life is taken for granted because we move on, we are considered to be the people with great spirit, because no matter what happens, we move on, however, moving on is not a choice, its a compulsion . Try suing a company for faulty product and you will realize that the cost of transportation incurred for travelling to the consumer's court is more than the compensation which you actually get. We forget and forgive too easily for our own good. If we have to make ourselves counted, then stand up, wait, and do not move on until you get what you deserve to. Because, life, as taught to us, was always 'Amulya' (Priceless).

When the titans will shrug

"IT IS A WIN FOR EQUALITY AGAIN" screamed the headline out of the morning news paper. Puzzled, he picked up the news paper.

"15-08-2035 New Delhi : As expected since a few days, the honorable government of People's state of India passed a resolution in the parliament reserving a percentage of seats in all public mode transport based on the scheduled list of castes and tribes as listed in the constitution of India and/or economic status. Speaking from outside the parliament Mr. Sudhir Paswan , the head of state of People's state of India said,
" This bill ,although very trivial in nature, concerning only the public transport is a part of series of reforms to bring about equality of castes and classes. In our 88 years of independence, I can proudly say that we have truly moved towards equality. It first started by making a reservation in premier institutes like IIM and IIT for scheduled castes and tribes in year 2006. India wasn't a people's state then, but it was a step in right direction. Then in 2016, we introduced a bill, which made it compulsory for all private companies to reserve a certain percentage of job openings, and then eventually the position of CEO of companies was to be held only by a reserved candidate so that the hiring process could be overlooked in a transparent manner......"

He knew the rest of it, IT sector was the biggest casualty in India,  Philippines had now taken the lead in IT. Tired of reading politics, he moved on to read some other news.

"RETAILERS CANNOT IMPORT EDIBLES, CAN PURCHASE ONLY FROM INDIAN FARMERS"
.........
"GOVT CLOSES DOWN THE CABLE CAR AT VAISHNODEVI FOR LIVELIHOOD OF MULE OWNERS"
........
"NEW TAX REGIME IN PLANNING, WILL MAKE A THIRD OF EARNING GO TO UNDERPRIVILEGED SLUM DWELLERS"

He was getting late for work, if he reported late, he may lose his 30 year old job to a young 'reserved' chap. He kept the newspaper on the table, with a sigh, picked up his bag, shrugged and left home hoping that his company would last one more day, one more day of survival in People's state of India.

The above scenario is obviously an extreme kind of hypothesis, but an impression that the scenario may not be realized would be callous. Our nation today wants equality for all, an equality of opportunity for all. If equality was ever given some thought years ago, the world would have been a different place now. The lantern makers would have fought for equality of opportunity on production of electric bulbs. Horse ranch owners would have had the motor cars banned for jeopardizing the livelihood of horse and horse owners. Telegraph manufacturers would have banned telephones and telephone manufacturers would have banned satellites and mobile phones, all new inventions would have been banned for the sake of equality. And if Maharaja of Baroda had considered equality as a factor in his decision making, he wouldn't have sent B.R. Ambedkar on a scholarship to USA, he would have sent someone of lesser intelligence to study so that he can have an opportunity to equate his intelligence with Ambedkar.

Two kids, born to be neighbours, whose parents work in same organization, raised together, went to same school, both gave sole entrance exam for professional course. One gets 99%, but cannot get admission, other gets 90% and gets the admission. That is the justice of equality delivered by constitution of India, unquestionable?  The kid who did not get admission is disappointed, applies for an admission in USA, gets prompt admit, the whole neighborhood starts crying brain drain. That is the judgement of equality delivered by the great ethical Indian society , unquestionable?

 A very old Parsi industrial group signs a deal with West Bengal communist government to set up a car manufacturing plant in Singur. They pay high price to all the farmers whose land was acquired legally along with a job offer in the same plant. After a few years, the plant is ready to roll out cars, but suddenly, the farmers realize they still want to cultivate jute on that very land. They decide to stall the unit with the help of some 'Didi'. They want the land back. The industrial group demands the money they paid back, but the farmers are helpless and poor, they exhausted the money on living expenditure. The industrial group refuses to bow down. 'Didi' calls this subjugation of poor by rich, a social activist known for stalling projects and a female bookers prize winner who could only write one popular book all her life with incestous theme and spends half her time in capitalist USA, join hands with 'Didi' to bring equality and justice to farmers. The farmers damage the unit  and injure the workers inside the unit. The industrial group has enough, they abandon the plant and leave the state. The unit is brought down and land is returned to farmers. The farmers now unable to cultivate anything on that land, plead for help. The government then compensates the farmers. Happy ending?

Two friends arrive in the city of opportunities together. Both have the same qualifications, however one of them has a penchant for hard work. He works hard and gets a job at a reputed company. With his first salary he moves out of the shanty in the biggest slum of Asia built illegally, which he shared with his friend to a nice rented apartment in a distant suburb.The person who is not so hardworking continues to live in the shanty and starts working in an illegal leather factory. The hardworking person continues to grow arithmetically, but is unable to keep up with the growth of realty prices and continues living on rent. He pays all his taxes regularly. His friend meanwhile continues to grow in leather business geometrically. He has enough money to buy an apartment now, but that would mean giving up the leather business. The hardworker reaches old age in the rented home. One fine day he reads a directive by government to move all the Shanty dwellers in the slum settlement to apartments which will be owned by them. His hardly working friend moves into a swanky new apartment built free for him by the government from tax payers money, while the hard working person dies a nondescript death in the rented apartment, having paid all the taxes on time.

The pretext of equality has long been used to choke fair competition. Any sentence that uses word equality becomes an oxymoron. The concept of equality meant, equal opportunity for privileged and underprivileged alike, however it has long since been modified to mean an equality in opportunity for competent and incompetent alike. Any body who has had a reservation ready for him all through out his life irrespective of the opportunity he had economically or socially automatically stands to be underprivileged against someone who may have had same opportunity but was privileged, since he belonged to open category. Anybody who is rich by his/her own virtue is accused of being a poor hater, he is considered to be privileged and is doomed with the burden of supporting the underprivileged, who may be drunkard spending all his days income on buying country liquor. Any body who earns is a privileged one, and is cursed to pay taxes so that the ones who are too lazy to work, the underprivileged, living on land purchased by government from the taxes paid by the earning class, can be fed and given better place to live in. Is that the equality we strive for?

When equality of privileged v/s underprivileged and not that of competent v/s incompetent is achieved, that would be the day of reason and justice of equality.

                                  

One of the central characters in the famous novel by Ayn Rand, "Atlas shrugged",  asks the other central character

what sort of advice he would give to Atlas upon seeing that "the greater [the titan's] effort, the heavier the world bore down on his shoulders". With him unable to answer, he gives his own response: "To shrug"

The President is coming

With a cup of coffee in one hand and other hand ruffling his hair, he stared blankly at the documents kept in front of him. Just when he was about to give up on it, he saw his enlightened 'boss' coming in, seizing the opportunity, he went up to him.

"Sir, What do I do about this clause?" He asked, keeping the documents on his table.

"Which clause?" The boss replied sheepishly, while checking out the show timings for the newly released movie 'Andaz' starring some new comers like Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor and Nargis.

"This clause, sir, In the British constitution, we have the monarchical head, What do we do about it here, in India?" He asked with a sense of hurry.

"We will have a monarchical head as well then" The boss replied in a "Don't-you-know-it-tone".

"Sir, however, our nation has decided to do away with Monarchy, and if anyway we were to select one monarch, who would we select, we have so many kings and emperors." He said, now becoming restless.

"Yes, that is a valid point, we cannot have monarchy" The boss said, now a bit alert.

"Exactly my point, then can we have a president?" He asked curiously.

"Yes, yes, absolutely, let us have a president then" Boss added, impressed by his subordinate


"So then, the people of India will elect the president?" He added, to extract more from his boss.

"No, how can that be? We have made so many drafts incorporating the British constitution, according to which Prime Minister is the head of the country, it will be a lot of rework, if we were to change this." The boss added with authority and already regretting why he ever got impressed by this chap!

"However, the President is supposed to be the commander of armed forces and some other powers like passing the bill etc., What will the PM do, and what if there is a conflict" He added, still trying to keep his point.

"We will give him all the power a president is supposed to have" The boss said, "However, let us have a clause that he can use all these powers only in consultation with the PM" The boss added after seeing the blank look on his subordinate's face.

"This solves it then, thank you sir" He came out, satisfied with the answer and impressed by the solution given by his boss.



The above scenario, to those familiar with the world of IT, may resemble a coder catching up with a team lead with a problem and the team lead providing a work around for it. The above conversation is as fictional in nature as India overtaking China in terms of economy and military might. However, the outcome of the conversation is exactly what happened to India, creation of a ceremonial post.

                                           
On 26th January 1950, India became a Republic. A Republic means , a form of government  in which the people or a significant portion of them have supreme control over the government and where offices of the state are chosen by people. In a nutshell, a state which is not headed by a monarch. But, our constitution makers somehow ended up adding a president as the head of the state, to keep intact, the inspiration.

The president is the Supreme commander of Armed forces, he can dissolve the lok sabha, he can remove the Judges of Supreme courts. He appoints the governor of states, he declares wars on countries and all the diplomatic treaties are signed by him. The President with all these powers may really be the superman of India, however to spoil the party, there is a small rider to it. A president can dissolve the Lok Sabha only on the 'advice' of council of ministers. He can remove the judges of Supreme court, only if a motion has been passed for impeachment in both the houses. He appoints the governor, who can at best be described as a miniature of president at state level. President declares the war against countries, but who decides when to go at war? All the diplomatic treaties are signed by him, but who negotiates the terms of these treaties? No prizes for guessing all of it.

The boundaries of power and advise by counsil for president can easily be said to be thin .Powers, which are diminished by a single sentence in the constitution which says that a president be advised by council of ministers, can still be easily rendered if a President knows how to play 'Politics'(Quoting a former minister Jagjivan Ram here). There have been presidents who haven't taken too kindly too the advise by council of ministers. So we had our very first president Dr. Rajendra Prasad openly opposing the Hindu code bill by Nehru. Giani Zail Singh used pocket of veto in 1986 for Postal bill, whereby, a president can delay his assent to a bill by indefinite time by not actually reviewing it, thus eventually pushing the bill into dustbin. And more recently we had APJ Abdul Kalam sending the modifications to office of profit bill back for reconsideration. And here came one more catch, the president can only send back a bill once. The second time it comes to him, he has to sign it. Smart UPA, ignoring the reconsideration request by Mr. Kalam, sent back the original bill to him.

The above facts and observations raise uneasy and probably blasphemous questions about the creators of our constitution. I have absolutely no doubt over the abilities of the drafting committee, however certain aspects of our constitution , like the ceremonial head of the country, which are lifted directly from the British constitution, make for an shabby copy and paste. Even if we had to have a head of the state, why wasn't a clear demarcation done about the powers he possesses and the powers he can actually wield? Why were the clauses kept  so ambiguous? We have a President, who has a remuneration of Rs 150,000 a month, along with the Rs 220 million spent from annual budget on the activities of the president, who stays in one of the biggest palace in India(Rashtrapati Bhavan), the maintenance of which again is a costly affair. All this, for him to be a dummy in hands of the government,to be used like a rubber stamp, to be the face of the nation, probably the way Shahrukh Khan is the face of the N number of brands he never even uses.

The President will keep coming, irrespective of we needing him or not.