Yet another Dry Independence day without any Fun :(

 

I don’t have any memory of celebrating India’s Independence day as a Kid.I gradually got to know that 15^th August is the I-Day and on this day our Prime Minister hoists our national flag at the Lal Quila. The flag hoisting ritual is also performed throughout the length and breadth of our country by bureaucrats and netas. General Public by law is forbidden to hoist flag (recently certain freedom is provided in this matter by Honorable Supreme Court with Guidelines). So in a nutshell, the celebration of Independence day is confined to going out to the next maidan very early in the morning to see some neta/bureaucrats unfurling the tri-color and giving boring speeches. The only reward you get for attending this torturous celebration is "Boondi ka Laddu" provided at the end of the celebration. The other option to celebrate I-Day is by staying indoor. This is the best option due to terror threats and also because Television Channels customize their shows on I-Day to make us feel more patriotic. In the end you do your bit by changing your FB/Twitter profile pic and status to send I-Day message.

Now I work in United States, which is also a democratic country such as India and by co-incidence US also celebrates I-Day, as India does, but on the 4^th of July. Generally an immigrant like me should be immune to I-Day celebration in US, but this has never been the case. This year I booked tickets to visit Chicago to see 4^thof July Fireworks at Navy Pier. In the past when I got the opportunity I booked ticket to visit New York to see 4^th of July Macy’s Firework at Hudson river. So even if you are an immigrant in US you will rush to the next open park/public place to see the fireworks on I-day. It is plain celebration. People will come out in hordes with US flags to enjoy picnic/barbeque while they wait for fireworks. Even they will get drunk as I-Day doesn’t have to be a pious day. I-Day for an American is a day to recognize Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness. There were no boring flag hoisting or boring speeches before the fireworks. Flag Hoisting in US doesn’t need a special day like I-Day. Here people are the custodians of their national flag and they proudly hoist US national flag at home and at work. On I-Day they just do it more :) The only official ceremony that happens on the 4^th of July is the Oath taking ceremony for immigrants who have got their US citizenship. This way 4^th of July becomes personal independence day to countless immigrants who leave their country to pursue their dreams in US.

Hope one day, I-day in my country will become a celebration of Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness rather than the ritual it has become today.

The Steal Frame of India :(

We recently came to know how an IAS officer in UP, who was taking strict action against illegal sand mining, was suspended for the flimsiest of reasons by an elected government. As usual we got enraged at the brazenness of our politicians and praised the honest officer. Ritual done…once again!

Now, lets give our politicians some break and introspect.  We all know why IAS/IPS jobs are the most coveted jobs in India despite the fact that IAS/IPS jobs offer meager salary and worst work conditions to the talent it attracts when compared to the corporate jobs. So let’s be frank and admit that scores of smart/talented people go for IAS/IPS jobs because it provides them immense power to wield and opportunity to make money along with the added  benefit of emancipating her near and dear ones from the daily pains inflicted on Aam Aadmi by the almighty State. Even our society acknowledges these perks and as a result a number of parents goad their children to appear for IAS/IPS exams- all for the power, prestige and the status that this job offers!

I'm sure that some will question and dispute my aforementioned reasons and argue that a few people do join the IAS/IPS to serve and bring real change. I am not denying this assertion but the current state of India and the lethargic functioning of its bureaucracy clearly tells us what the IAS/IPS has accomplished in the past 60 odd years (since India gained independence). But the genesis of  this rot lies in the manner in which the  bureaucracy was established in our country.

We don’t give enough credits to the Goras (Britishers- our erstwhile rulers) even when it is deserved. The Brits knew that they can’t send enough people to govern a large country like India so they devised a plan to recruit and  train smart/talented Indians and gave them entitlement and powers which were reserved only for White Officers and in return asked those very Indians to maintain governance for them over their very own people. The ploy worked because the heady concoction of entitlements and power were too hard to resist, even for a country that harps on the moralistic way of life . So in a nutshell the IAS/IPS services were created to serve the people in power, not the public.

Nothing changed after independence. Now Babus started serving new breed of rulers called politicians, who emerged from the dance of democracy, instead of the Colonial powers. Babus helped politicians learn all the tricks and trades used by Britishers to rule our country and thus started the unholy nexus of Babus and Politicians. Both thrived with each other as the Netas were learning the tricks of ruling and the Babus successfully retained and  protected their entitlement. But now the table has turned as the Netas don’t need these Babus any more to pursue their agendas and share the spoils of their loot. Even Ms. Kiran Bedi acknowledges this when she says “Wolf has come to the door of IAS”.

I am not hopeful that Durga-Shakti incident will force the Babus to seek divorce from the political class and start working independently as these educated, elite Babus have not left the high paying/high flying corporate jobs for nothing.  We will continue to hear few incidents like the Durga Shakti case every now and then but the larger picture remains bleak. Things will only change when bureaucracy goes for a total overhaul by implementing the reforms suggested by various previous government panels and championed by Supreme Court. Things can also improve if successful professional who wish to leave their plush corporate jobs for public service can be made part of IAS/IPS services. Remember we have seen people like Sam Pitroda and Nandan Nilekani joining the government after their successful stint in private sector. Hopefully these changes will turn the 'Steal Frame of India' to 'Steel Frame of India'.

Politicians/Intellectuals are so wrong about Supreme Court Judgment on Convicted/Jailed Netas :(

 

Again we are told by our politicians that how pathetic our existence in this country is if we are not in politics and the irony is that even intellectuals of our country also think the same way.

All this Brouhaha started with below two judgments from Honorable Supreme Court of India:

1.    Politicians will forfeit their Legislative Seat as soon as they are convicted.

2.    Any person in lawful custody (excluding preventive custody) will be debarred from contesting election.

 

As a mango man I have welcomed these judgments whole heartedly but got disgusted when I heard/saw responses of political and intellectual class. They all give us extreme examples and gray areas to strengthen their arguments that judgment by SC will be used in vendetta politics. Most prominent points paraded in front of us:

1.    What if higher courts overrun conviction of a politician who has already lost his/her seat due to conviction?

2.    What if police take away somebody’s right of contesting election by arresting him/her on false charges?

 

Mother of all argument is which we also heard during Lokpal debate:

3.    Only legislative have powers to decide on such matter and it is a judicial overreach by SC.

 

In India it is so common for police to illegally detain people and give them third degree torture to extract confession. It is  also very common place knowledge that police, under the influence of powerful people, implicate innocent poor people in false charges.

 

Clearly nobody cares if we common people suffer from police atrocity but all politicians/intellectuals will go to any length to protect interest of one politician.

 

For Eons SC is asking Center and State to initiate police reforms so that our Police can become more professional and live to up their duties which is to Protect and Serve. Is this not a better time to bring much awaited Police Reforms so that the argument of arrest due to vendetta politics is laid to rest. One Right + another right will go a long away rather than killing one right with another wrong.

 

But again there is two India…one safe and secure India for Politicians/Bureaucrats and another brutal and unsafe India for We, the people.

 

The Modi-fied Mai Baap Congressi Sarkar

 

Strange are the ways of God..oops Congress(I). Congressi kare to to Chamatkar or Modi kare to…let it be because Public sab jaanti hai ;) Since time immemorial, we have seen Congressi messiahs taking aerial route to take stock of Flood/Earthquake/Famine situations and spread their benevolence to the poor janta. We have also seen pictures of Congressi messiahs in front of these unfortunate victims, as per the Congressi tradition- the poorest of poor, to assure them that even if God is not with them, Congress ka haath is always going to be with them. But do you know what is the biggest joke? That such calamities happen at such frequent intervals in our Bharat and nothing is done to avoid them in the longer run, apart from the rituals stated before.

This time a fool(Mr. Modi) gate crashed their Messiah Act in Uttrakhand. He Came, He Helped and He Conquered. The Congressi were dumb founded that how could a nobody appropriate something which has always been their sole prerogative. They derided that fool and called it a Photo-OP.

Now in a true noble fashion Congress(I) messiahs came together in Delhi to flag off the relief material in a grand way to let people know that they should not be fooled by fools who are looking for Photo-OP.

Note: Gujarat suffered a major earthquake in 2001 which left a horrific trail of destruction behind. But things weren't left as they were, were they? A massive effort was taken to rehabilitate the earthquake victims in a timely fashion. Poor Modi didn’t know then, how to keep victims as victims and visit them often for Photo-OP. 

Jinnah was so wrong about Hindu Majority

Mr. Jinnah must be turning in his tomb right now. He bifurcated India because he genuinely felt that in Democratic India Hindu Majority will always overrule Muslim Minority especially when it will come to elect Parliamentarians.

For General Elected to be held in 2014, battle lines are drawn, bugles are blown and allies are formed in India with an eye on 15-17% Muslim Vote. This vote bank matters so much that even a right or Centre-right party like BJP is buying time before promoting Mr. Narendra Modi as their PM candidate.  Even Narendra Modi is not explicitly asking votes only from Hindus but turning to development plank to get some votes from Muslims. JD(U), an ally of BJP, has already made up their mind to distance themselves from BJP because of Modi factor which can cost them Muslim votes. There is a talk of Third/United/Federal Front which seriously believes that they can form government in Centre with the help of anti-incumbency secular votes including Muslim votes. Congress also fancies her chance solely based on secular + Dalit + Muslim votes. In nut shell every equations needs Muslim votes to crack the election win.

Now I can’t say RIP Mr. Jinnah anymore as he was so wrong in his assessment to get Pakistan.

Journalists are a worried lot…cause of Trolls :P

When I was  of impressionable age I use to think that Journalism is one of the toughest career as you have to brave things such as intimidation, prosecution, slandering etc while fearlessly reporting about ills plaguing society/government. Now I know that it is a deftly created Façade by Journos who are reporting biased views in cahoots with power brokers to keep Aam Aadmi mouth shut from asking too many uncomfortable questions.

I am not sure if you have noticed but I found major section of Indian Media to be very biased. We know how certain Journos has hounded one particular CM for riots but they easily forgot or tend to forget riots happened in another states. The same group seems very happy with a political party where dynasty rules but finds issues in another party where there are multiple leaders democratically promoting/airing their self-cause for top post.  The so called messiahs of media demand individual/parties to be secular but never question the undermining of constitutional institutions, which are created to protected secularism of this country, by a perceived secular individual/party. The media messiahs always highlight issues from states ruled by a right wing party and never give due credit even when survey after survey it is found that states ruled by right wing party are doing far better and the same time these media messiahs always turn a blind eye to issues from state ruled by perceived secular parties and also fails to report that some of these states are worst performers.

After years of reading/listening/watching such biased reporting finally Aam Aadmi got social media based on internet where she can air her views on anything under the sun. In recent times Aam Aadmi has used social media effectively to protest against government on the issues ranging from Corruption To Rape and in all this major section of media just acted like a messenger and even sometime helper of corrupt government to quell/kill the protest.  Now Aam Aadmi is not buying everything reported by such biased media but using social media to counter every biased view of Indian Media. I guess this has made the so called Opinion Makers, who till this point of time were used to enforce their view on us, feel very threatened so they are running back to their fiefdoms by giving excuse that they cannot tolerate online intimidation, prosecution, slandering etc. If these Super Juornos can cave in so easily to online intimdation then it is so easy to assume how easily they can be manipulated by our Netas/Industrialists. Ha Ha…foolish me use to think that real journalist are immune to all such things but now I understand this is a perfect example of  Chor ki dhadhi main Tinka :P Slandering is sticking to these Opinion Makers as there is some truth in it…whts say

Hindustan Bana Bannistan :P

 

• Da Vinci Code which was vetted by Vatican and the Holy Pope but was banned in India as Indian Christians felt it offending.

• Recently Shrimati Sushma Swaraj raised concern about denigration of Hindu Gods by Bollywood in Parliament.

• List of things to be banned by Indian Muslim is too long but currently they are after Vishwaroopam.

I totally fail to understand why time and again this Kolaveri Di by religious/caste group and their leaders regarding offensive content in art, motion pictures, music, literature etc which hurt their sentiments. Why don’t they just ignore contents which hurt their fragile pseudo sentiments.

I like to share an anecdote. I was very young when Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayana debuted on Small TV. As a weekly ritual I use to watch this serial with my family and thoroughly enjoyed the escapades of Lord Ram and Lord Hanuman but at the same time was very scared of Mr. Ravana and his monstrous laugh which used to hurt my innocent sentiments to no end. Whenever Mr. Ravana was on TV I use to cry hoarsely, throw tantrum and demand to switch off TV. Now this serial was hugely popular in our family (which was the case with most of the Indian Family) and nobody wanted to switch off TV only because I was crying to no ends and demanding a total shutdown so instead beating shit out of me and forcing me to watch Mr. Ravana, my mommy took a very logical step. Whenever Mr. Ravana was on screen my mother diverted my attention by feeding me or asking me to chase a crow/sparrow or giving me some chores. Everybody was happy with this arrangement. I didn’t see Mr. Ravana so I was happy and my family can see Ramayana without interruption so they were happy. Similarly during my youth when I was catching up Titanic on Cable TV with my family we looked everywhere except TV when the offending nude scene came.

Now coming to recent ban on Vishwaroopam and all similar bans, I like to ask a question, are offended parties sadist that they inflict pain on themselves by watching/reading things which hurts their sensitivities or megalomaniac that they feel offended even when non-offended parties watch/read so called offending content. Come on guys…give me some break here…if you are seriously so much offended just ignore it, breathe easy and learn from one of the Gandhi’s Bandar…Bura Mat Dekho :O