Modern Revolution for Dummies

Folks,

The winds of change are blowing across the Arab World. As the rest of the world watches on with jittery nerves, unprecedented events are unraveling on a daily basis. Regimes across the Arab world, thought to be ‘stable’ till now, have either fallen or are facing a real threat of collapsing like dominoes. By the time this post reaches it’s Holy Grail [i.e. my blog site…:)] it would have been more than a week since the autocratic Egyptian government fell and more than a month since the Tunisian regime found its rightful place. Bahrain, Yemen & Libya are witnessing sustained protests and it’s any body’s guess on what will happen there.

Now, I don’t really want to go into intricacies of these revolutions and give a blow by blow account of what transpired there. I am sure most of you would have got daily fix from watching the news. I rather want to concentrate of the characteristics of a modern revolution.

What creates/sparks revolutions?

1. Pent up frustration - Long years of autocratic rule just creates one thing: Pent up frustration. A pressure cooker like situation where people are just waiting to explode. Even in so called democratic countries (like erstwhile Egypt), lack of true political reform and imperceptible benefits led to the turmoil we witnessed.

2. Iconic Images – Remember the ‘Tank Man’ of the Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing, 1989. The image of the man, who refused to give way for a tank to pass, still flashes in our minds and must have been a great rally point for protestors then. It must also be noted that the more recent self immolation of a vegetable seller in Tunisia was what started this unrest in the Arab world.

Indications that a revolution will probably be successful:

1. Relatively peaceful - If there is something the Egyptian revolt has proven, it’s that non violence is still relevant and a potent force to be reckoned with. [yea, Chak De Gandhi]The protests were not without their share of violence but given the magnitude of the protests and the competing interest of various parties involved, violence of much greater scale was expected. But, thankfully, that was not to be. Egyptian protestors were so responsible as to set up ‘check points’ and swipe down the fellow protestors to ensure weapons didn’t find their way into the protest area.

2. Participation of Women - Women power was out on display during the protests. There were mothers, housewives, sisters singing and chanting out on the streets with their children in tow. Women change the dynamics of any protest. Unlike men, who are just looking for an excuse to turn violent women, women have more pressing domestic concerns and for them to disregard that and turn up and mix with the crowd is a phenomenal thing. [It indicates to how much and how far the rot has spread.] All this in a region where women, apparently, are treated more like cattle than human beings!

3. Social Media - It would be safe to say that the revolution in Egypt would have come up to nothing if not for social media like Facebook. In social networking sites, people connect on a personal basis and this ensures that news is actually appreciated rather than just viewed, as we do it on TV. The fact that the internet was shut down just days after the protests broke out in Egypt reiterates the critical role of the internet and more importantly the social media.

A different journey

2 weeks ago, I experienced a different kind of journey, one that I am not much used to. The journey was an eye opening one so much so that I had made up my mind to write about it while travelling itself.

So this is how the story goes….I was scheduled to travel from Trichy to Bangalore in XYZ travels (name concealed intentionally) after commemorating Sankrati with my kith and kin. But the bus I had booked was starting off from Karaikudi and passed through Trichy on its way. So, just to be on the safer side, I called up the travels several times to confirm my seat and the boarding point. Everything seemed fine till the bus actually arrived. To my utter shock, all the seats were already full!

I was enraged to say the least and consequently an argument broke out between the travels operator and me. But it was as if the guy was programmed to do one thing and one thing alone…shout at the top of his voice and turn a deaf ear to anyone arguing with him. After a couple of minutes, I realized that I was up against a sleazy, conniving bloke who was part of a gang that was in the business of making a quick buck with scant regard for professional and ethics. With no other viable alternative, I reluctantly accepted the ‘conductor’s seat’ that was offered to me in return for the overbooked seat.

The first hour or so went off well with me striking a conversation with the bus driver. He whined about pot holed roads and the powerful head lights of incoming Lorries. It was nice to hear, feel and see, literally, things from a driver’s perspective. I felt a sense of adrenaline rush every time he accelerated and these fleeting moments of excitement were the only saving grace of the otherwise arduous and unpleasant journey. I even managed to sleep for about 1.5 hours, sitting up straight in a tiny weenie seat while swaying in circles the whole time due to incessant braking and accelerating. I got to know of some trivia while interacting with the driver during the last leg of the journey from Krishnagiri to Bangalore. The toll charge for a bus for a round trip from K’giri to B’ lore is Rs 300. There is a CCD in the outskirts of K’giri. I arrived in Bangalore early in the morning, feeling groggy, sleep deprived and absolutely relieved to have got off the bus.

But there are some nagging points in my mind even now. What is the grievances recourse that misled passengers have? Who do we have to approach, how do we initiate proceedings etc. Or should we just brush off the incident as a random one. This kind of behavior [overbooking of seats in my case] smacks of the crony capitalism which led the global economy to the worst ever recession in recent times. Why have we let ourselves be blinded by money rather than being guided by principal and ethics…?

Democracy in India: A farce?

Hi All,

I write this post with great disappointment and an even greater wrath at our elected representatives. An entire session of Parliament has been washed out due to the utterly reprehensible and irresponsible attitude of the ‘honorable members of parliament’. The session concluded with not much business done and the bitter acrimony between the government of the day and the opposition is showing no signs of abating.

Slowly but steadily, my confidence in our democracy is diminishing. This is how the scenario looks as of now: We have MPs who don’t even bother to be present during the session. There are some who will only ask questions in the House when they are ‘paid to do so’ [Cash for questions scam]. For a whole chunk of them, the quantum of money paid is the only consideration for voting on a certain bill. Barring a few exemplary members, almost of all of them love converging on the well of the house to chant slogans and disrupt proceedings. I pretty sure I have missed out at some of the negative traits of our MPs [as it’s a never ending list] but the above instances should suffice to show the state of despair of democracy in our country.

We can keep on with the chest beating that we are the world’s largest democracy. Mr. Obama might say we are a beacon for many nations in the world. We can go on with the humongous carnival of over 600million people exercising their franchise every 5 years. But we must ask ourselves, what does it mean to the poor labourer who is unsure of his livelihood? What does it mean to the farmer who sees no end to his misery? Democracy must work for these people for it to be proclaimed as a mechanism of support and redressal of grievances.

Needless to say, democracy has worked the world over. It has forced society to listen to the voices of the poor and downtrodden, share their burden and more importantly ensure their social and economic uplift. Unfortunately the same concept doesn’t seem to be reaping the desired benefits in our country. The question here is why isn’t democracy delivering for us? Is it really a problem with the system? Where have we gone wrong and what do we need to do to put the house (pun intended) in order. As usual, we find ourselves in a situation where we have more questions than answers.

P.S. Apologies for a rather somber post during the holiday season. But just thought that it might be good to discuss this. Happy New Year 2011 to one and all...

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.