Season of scams

Hi folks,

Yes, it’s official now. We are in the middle of the season of scams. The sums involved this time make your eyeballs gouge out, literally, and put even the biggest of past scams to shame. Right from the land we live in to the air that we breathe, there seems to graft everywhere. In this post, I don’t wish to zoom into specific cases, for the fear of sounding like a mundane news bulletin, but rather focus on how we have responded to scams that have been unearthed in recent times.

Our polity has a new found addiction, the ‘moral high ground’. Find anyone of your party members in a compromised position? No problem. The accused individual will step down upon the request from the party high command and that absolves the individual and the party of all guilt! The loss to the exchequer and the taxpayer is conveniently overlooked and negative sentiments generated by the scam and their consequent effects are not even debated. This kind of circus goes on only in India and goes to show the moral bankruptcy of our political class.

The reaction from the great Indian Middle Class [IMC] has been along expected lines. The latest scams notwithstanding, the IMC has always looked upon the political class with despair and contempt. We couldn’t care less as long as we got our daily dose of Saas Bahu serials and cricket matches. We didn’t see any mass scale upheaval that naturally would have occurred in any other country. But this doesn’t surprise me as IMC knows very well that there is much more to come and will certainly be bigger in magnitude than the scams that have been unearthed.

The only consolation in this whole tamasha has been the fourth estate, the media. This section of our society has toiled hard to ensure that corruption is exposed and that the culprits are brought to justice. The electronic media, in particular, has gone into a tizzy covering the various scams. Official government reports on various scams appear first on television channels before they are even tabled in parliament. The media’s role has been so crucial that it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the government would not even bother acting on these scams if it were not for the relentless coverage and as such credit must be given to the media for precipitating change. [Of late, we have been hearing that some journos from the mainstream media were actually in touch with a dubious lobbyist. But we should be careful here not to paint the entire media with a single brush.]

Graft is a cancer that will certainly destroy us from within if we do not address it immediately with as much willpower as we can muster. As of now, I can safely say that we have not even initiated this difficult task.

P.S. While we are at it, why don’t we also turn the heat on petty corruption?

Season of scams

Hi folks,

Yes, it’s official now. We are in the middle of the season of scams. The sums involved this time make your eyeballs gouge out, literally, and put even the biggest of past scams to shame. Right from the land we live in to the air that we breathe, there seems to graft everywhere. In this post, I don’t wish to zoom into specific cases, for the fear of sounding like a mundane news bulletin, but rather focus on how we have responded to scams that have been unearthed in recent times.

Our polity has a new found addiction, the ‘moral high ground’. Find anyone of your party members in a compromised position? No problem. The accused individual will step down upon the request from the party high command and that absolves the individual and the party of all guilt! The loss to the exchequer and the taxpayer is conveniently overlooked and negative sentiments generated by the scam and their consequent effects are not even debated. This kind of circus goes on only in India and goes to show the moral bankruptcy of our political class.

The reaction from the great Indian Middle Class [IMC] has been along expected lines. The latest scams notwithstanding, the IMC has always looked upon the political class with despair and contempt. We couldn’t care less as long as we got our daily dose of Saas Bahu serials and cricket matches. We didn’t see any mass scale upheaval that naturally would have occurred in any other country. But this doesn’t surprise me as IMC knows very well that there is much more to come and will certainly be bigger in magnitude than the scams that have been unearthed.

The only consolation in this whole tamasha has been the fourth estate, the media. This section of our society has toiled hard to ensure that corruption is exposed and that the culprits are brought to justice. The electronic media, in particular, has gone into a tizzy covering the various scams. Official government reports on various scams appear first on television channels before they are even tabled in parliament. The media’s role has been so crucial that it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the government would not even bother acting on these scams if it were not for the relentless coverage and as such credit must be given to the media for precipitating change. [Of late, we have been hearing that some journos from the mainstream media were actually in touch with a dubious lobbyist. But we should be careful here not to paint the entire media with a single brush.]

Graft is a cancer that will certainly destroy us from within if we do not address it immediately with as much willpower as we can muster. As of now, I can safely say that we have not even initiated this difficult task.

P.S. While we are at it, why don’t we also turn the heat on petty corruption?

Rajni...is he really that good?

Hi All,

I have been off this space for quite some time now. It’s the usual suspect which is to blame...work. During my absence from blogosphere, Mr Rajni seems to have scorched the box office with this latest release Endhiran(Robot in Hindi & Telugu). Mr Rajni and Endhiran seem to be ubiquitous... the internet, TV, newspaper and everywhere else. We have fans going out of the way to welcome the favourite star’s movie to the big screens, we have the media that has gone on an overdrive to promote the movie and when there is so much hype how could the internet be any far behind.


I don’t really want to go into the merits or demerits of such fanatic fan following and media coverage for an ageing ‘super star’ and his movies which can be best described as contorted sci-fi action films sprinkled with female subordination and a good dose of Indian masala. In this post, I am more concerned about the demi - god status that has been accorded to Rajni and why he might not deserve that. Now let me just present the facts as they are and explain why I (and probably many others) feel this way about Mr Rajni.


Let’s accept it; Mr Rajni is not the best of actors. Rajni is high on style but not equally loaded on substance. His dialogue delivery is still poor and his diction is downright bad, this after spending more than 3 decades in the Tamil film industry! His comedy tracks are rather monotonous, revolving around slithering snakes and wandering ghosts. His versatility too is in question. For the past decade or so, Mr Rajni could only been seen acting in one genre, commercial mass movies. Minus his style and Mr Rajni is nobody. Rajni will soon find himself getting a good run for his money with loads of teenagers, who are just as good in delivering style, entering the movie scene these days.


Now let’s get down to Mr Rajni as an individual. Be it regional loyalties or his secular identity, Rajni always seems to be in a state of confusion and inaction. Rajni keeps harping about how he will forever be grateful to Tamil Nadu and her people for his current status and fame but has nothing much on record to prove his gratefulness other than the odd charities run by him and his fans. With his influence and clout, Rajni could easily been a harbinger of change to the society he is living in but choose to take the beaten path by appealing to the crass and mediocre. His films usually have ‘arrogant female characters’ whom he ‘tames’ and eventually manages to make them fall at his feet. Mr Rajni has only recently moved away from pandering to male chauvinists after sensing the poor reception to such silly & childish tendencies.


They say charity begins at home but that’s not the case with Rajni. Mr Rajni’s most controversial brush with women’s rights came when infamously proclaimed that ‘more the girls stay in the house, the better while it is the reverse for the boys’. The last time I checked, Mr Rajni had two extremely successful and enterprising daughters who obviously could not have ‘stayed at home’ as their father seems to prescribe for the rest of the population. Now, let me be clear here. Rajni is free to bring up his daughters the way he likes it but at the same time he has to preach what he practices.


It is a no brainer that Rajni has thousands, if not lakhs, of fans belonging to the minority community. But he mercilessly broke their hearts when he visited and received the ‘blessings’ [read political patronage] from the leader of a political outfit which has often openly professed its hatred to select communities and rejected the idea of India as a secular society. Again, Mr Rajni is free to visit whoever he wants but he cannot act as an angel and at the same time have dinner with the devil.


Let me provide clarification here before I sign off. I am NOT a Rajni basher. I have relished watching many of his movies. I liked and even loved his style and I do accept he that he is among top rung of actors in South Indian cinema. But Rajni certainly doesn’t deserve this much attention and fanfare and certainly cannot be regarded as the best actor of our times. Yes he may be one of the best but nowhere close to being the best, either professionally or personally.

P.S. Now all the above might and probably will apply to many actors in India. But I have intentionally narrowed down the scope to Rajnikanth, the ‘super star’...:)

My 4 days in Chennai

I had wanted to go to my sister’s place in Chennai for quite some time now. The Janmashtami holiday on Thursday, 2nd of Sep seemed to fit bill just nicely. Apply for leave on the 3rd and voila what do I get? Four days of freedom. With my project undergoing a lean phase, there was every chance of my manager approving the leave and little probability of getting recalled due to production issues or the likes. Absolute bliss! What more could a techie ask for? So off I went to Singara Chennai. [Beautiful Chennai, I know...what a joke... :)]

Day 1:

Arrived dead tired at my sister’s, after having travelled in local trains and
standing in the wrong bus stop for almost 30 minutes before realizing that the bus stop has been shifted! The usual Indian-family-reunion-emotional drama ensued. With my mother having come over from my place there was no dearth of affection. Add two cute little kids to this potent mix and I was in an exalted state for the most part of the morning. The late morning and the whole afternoon went mostly as it does for me when I am on vacation...deep slumber... :) It was in the evening that all the action started. An array of games was on display and we were not sure which one to play. My nephew was hankering for Business (Monopoly), my mother was for Chinese checkers and my 2 yr old niece wanted us to do colouring along with her! Finally, we settled for a couple of games of Chinese checkers.

Day 2:

I managed to find my way to Wipro Sholliganallur Office. What took me back was the ticket fare. No, it wasn’t because the fare was exorbitant. In fact it was the other way around. I stared at the conductor in total disbelief when he issued a 4 rupee ticket. Did he hear me wrong? In Bangalore the same journey would have easily cost anywhere between Rs.11 to Rs.13 [Depending on the conductor’s mood and at ease with which you speak Kannada.]

Met loads of my friends in CDC and played catch up. Returned home with a box of cookies for the kids...they couldn’t have asked for a better mama, could they?

Day 3:

My friend Balaji and I had decided that we would allocate a day for hanging out in some mall. Since I hadn’t been to Spencers Mall (a crime by Chennaites standards), we decided that we would spend the day there. After having a sumptuous meal at a nearby restaurant I entered the vast unknown territory called Spencers. We probably spent an hour there. The mall was a great let down after all the hype I received/heard from my friends and family. We moved on to next place on our itinerary which was the newly built swanky Express Avenue mall.

The mall was quite big or at least much bigger than Bangalore’s Forum Mall. We were sauntering in and out of shops and our throats were parched in no time. We went in search of a watering hole and found a Cafe Coffee Day outlet. I reluctantly browsed the menu card for some cheap drink only to find one in the low 100s! There was a greater shock waiting for me when the deceiving cashier spit out the bill amount. It came to close 340 for just two drinks. He had added the some silly toppings to the drinks. Given my scorched state, I was in no mood to protest. Moral of the story, always have water bottles filled up to the brim before stepping out of your home.

Another notable incident was when I spotted an old friend of mine in Odyssey. I really wanted to go and connect with her but my silly inhibitions prevented me. Good going dude, with this attitude and at this rate your glorious list of girl-friends [which currently stands at 0] is going to skyrocket!

After having purchased some books and window shopped to our heart’s content, we came to the entrance of the mall and stuck into small talk. It was during this time that I realized that my friend Balaji was really perturbed by something. He was quite concerned about the dressing sense of some of the women there. I was having a gala time though, feasting my eyes on the fairer sex... :) Why do we always see women as the sole custodians of morality and culture?

Day 4:

Woke up only in the afternoon. More games, food and then it was off to Bangalore again.

Freedom…what it means to me

Freedom

Freedom can mean a multitude of things to different people. To a bubbling toddler freedom from the physical clutches of his ever protective wards, to a raging teenager it could mean relaxation on the much hated ‘time restrictions‘. Freedom is clearly a subjective word but there is a clear convergence in all the instances. Freedom is liberating and makes one feel unrestrained, a feeling parallel to none other.

To me, as an individual, freedom is the ability to chart my own destiny. It is an endowment to practice, without fear or compulsion, a religious ideology of my choice. It is the liberty to lodge democratic protests against the state on policies which I sense are inappropriate and the free will to work in institutions that I want to work for. Overall, freedom on an individual perspective means the ability to decide and implement what is best for oneself.

As a citizen, freedom has been a significant factor in nation building and a feeling of oneness. It refers to the ability of my nation, India, to hold her head high and assert herself in the comity of nations. Additionally, freedom has been a causative factor in the empowerment of the downtrodden and under privileged. Subservience, a by-product of lack of freedom, has proliferated access and opportunities denial in our nation for many centuries. Its absence, thankfully, is slowly but steadily creating inclusive growth.

Bertrand Russell quotes “Freedom in general may be defined as the absence of obstacles to the realization of desires”. This probably captures the essence of freedom in its totality. Freedom is to humans what oxygen is to the lungs, a vital component for survival. To sum it up, freedom has been and will be a cornerstone of human development till humans exist on this planet.

Jai Hind!

P.S. I had submitted this write up for the ‘What Freedom means to me’ creative writing competition held for Wipro employees. The word limit was 300. So you can see that i was really constrained for words. The competition is over now and i didnt win…:( So thought that i might at least share it here…

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas…A Movie Review

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is a movie about the Holocaust and is based on a book by the same name. The movie is set in the backdrop of the World War II, when Nazi Germany was on rampage in Europe and killing innocent Jews in the disguise of nationalism. This movie stands apart from the rest of the Holocaust films as it portrays a perspective of a son of a Nazi commander rather than narrating the gruesome discrimination and humiliation meted out to Jews, as other movies’ do.

The movie starts off with the Bruno, a happy go lucky 8 year old, being forced to shift from the Berlin to the country side as his father, a Nazi commander, has been posted take charge of a Jew extermination camp. Obviously Bruno’s father utters nothing related to the camp and successfully convinces him that the country side home will be as good the current one.

Bruno’s adventure seeking instincts get the better of him in his country side home. He discovers ways to kill time by playing in his favourite swing, the house servants and even exploring the backyard that leads him to the ‘farm’. It is in this ‘farm’ that he chances upon Shmuel, an 8 year old Jew inmate. The friendship between the two boys blooms over time but at no point does Bruno realize that the ‘farm’ is actually an invidious Nazi pogrom and that his own father is at the helm of things there.

As the film moves on, Bruno encounters several incidents during which reality is laid out thread bare. But Bruno, being an adventure seeking innocent 8 year old, refuses or probably is just too young to understand the gravity of the situation around him. His naive attitude tugs your heart. You get emotionally overwhelmed when he laments about ‘How adults cannot make up their mind’, an obvious reference to a Jewish servant whom he thinks gave up his medical profession to become a potato peeler! His enquiry about the same servant’s return after a lethal thrashing, doled out by his father’s Nazi underlings, buttresses his innocence and cements the idea that this boy has no idea whatsoever of what is going on around him.

I am going to leave out the climax, intentionally. Try to grab a DVD copy of this movie.

Disclaimer: Emotional disturbance guaranteed!

P.S. What are the other Holocaust movies which you liked?

Are we turning into an INTOLERANT society?

Hi All,

Gone are the days when intolerance was considered repulsive and divisive. Intolerant people being labeled extremists and frowned upon are things of the past now. Welcome to a 'new', 'united' India where intolerance is a way of life and anything counter doctrinal is treated as blasphemy and equated to slaughtering the sacred cow. Be prepared to get labeled as 'anti-national' if you dare to criticise the blatant wastage of the CW games. The same fate awaits citizens who question the anti-Naxal strategy of the government. Except this time the tag attached is that of a ‘Naxal Sympathiser’.

It doesn’t take rocket scientist to figure out where all this is leading to. Tolerance is slowly but steadily getting shunted out of our polity. Intolerance is glorified as the new ‘Unity’. ‘You are either with me or either with them’ syndrome is ominously looming over us and is threatening to make us an intolerant society which refuses to take any constructive criticism and goes even to the extent of condemning varied viewpoints as anti-patriotic.

Offhand I can think of a few reasons why this new attitude has crept in. This intolerance is largely due to the fear arising out of failures and wrong doings. So if someone speaks out against you, label him a terrorist, an anti-national or better still a traitor. Rally popular opinion against him and bury his credibility. Additionally, this serves as a potent warning to anyone who might dream to take this path. There is also a fear among us that diverse, non-homogenous views perpetuate divisiveness and hence we need herbicides like intolerance to weed out divergent views. I feel the final one is the most dangerous of all and needs immediate attention.

I guess this trend is a cause of concern for all of us. Why are going down this path and where is all this leading us to? How do we put an end to this self destructive journey? I am hoping some of you out there might throw in some answers.