MORE, MORE ABOUT MODI

Of late, he's there everywhere - The Supreme Court said it was ok for the Gujarat state to investigate him first. Super entrepreneur that he is, he went into a P.R overdrive that read as - The Supreme Court finds no fault in the fact that I ordered the Police to protect all the crazy Hindu fanatics that killed any Muslim that came their way. He sarcastically declared that he would fast, and of course, that “God is great”! Both of us, I’m sure were stunned at the mass debates and headlines it brought on. A clear case of the media creating an un-heroic Hulk! If only a sarcastic comment could block prime time channels and have senior leaders debating on his every pause, he naturally zeroed in on the penultimate goal and tossed his ‘guru’ aside. Nothing personal, only business.

He's a thorough entrepreneur who has had enough of 'dole-outs'. He's the perform or perish type. No schemes for the backward, poor, the handicapped, sick etc, etc. He's had enough of ‘those’ type of people. All these un-necessary schemes, dont make the cash registers ring. Its all about profit. Not surprisingly, he wouldnt mind adding a touch of ‘private’ to ‘public’ sectors. Gujarat is one economic success story. Just dont ask why its got a hungry population even higher than that of U.P.

Just in case all this seems too materialistic (???!!!) he decided that he's a devout Hindu. Now thats a great combo - cash plus spirit. Throw in a pinch of patriotism, a dash of oratory skills, and he’s ready to be P.M.. Why, he even got himself a lot of Muslim votes too. Why bother with boring things like ‘Secularism’?? Such a waste of time. Those who claim to be secular have failed so many times. So he decided to be one up – Why be secular at all? Just cut it out. Mr.Smug believes in the “be like me, or live on the sidelines obediently while we allow you to, or get out policy.” He even thinks its macho. Hence the sparks between him and another macho man – Sanjay Bhatt. Only difference is that Mr.Bhatt took a ‘macho’ decision to do the right thing, while the other is regularly doing the ‘macho’ strut to flatten anyone who dares to disagree with the boss!

There’s just one tiny problem – I DONT BUY ANY OF IT ..................

Playing the violin while Rome burnt all around him is the ONLY thing people remember about Emperor Nero today. Someone’s going to be remembered just so, if at all.
Ordering the Police to protect murderers is worse than being a murderer. Its called being a cowardly murderer.
Thinking that he is superior to someone else because he was born into a certain religion that is numerically preponderous is absurd AND foolish.
Laughing at secularism only means that he’s laughing at tolerance and himself. Who hasn’t had to be tolerated?? So he mocks all those who tolerated him these many years, including his mother, poor educators, and of course, all of us who do so now. Clearly, He Who Must Not Be Named, thinks he epitomises the perfect human being!


................... & the best part is that I’m not alone. I guess, not a lot of people want to live a daily life where they would have to apologise and live hasty hesitant lives just because they are not Hindus, or laugh at people just because they were not smart enough to get ahead in life, or were dumb enough to be born handicapped!
Thank God for that and for sense.

TWO FACES

Kiran Bedi became famous because she was India's first woman IPS officer & because she towed away Indira Gandhi's car, which was parked in a no parking area. She famously spared no traffic offenders & started out (much like most other oficers in India) with a bang. She just happened to be attracting more attention because India had never seen a lady in khaki pants before!

Fame, they say is a difficult, if not tyrannical mistress. While, the impression that she gained as a tough, upright officer stuck, the lady didn't unfortunately, & she slowly but surely changed. The suave, media savvy Kiran Bedi you see today is a far cry from the gushing lady who first came face to face with the still nascent media in India.

Cut to the early 90s. Kiran Bedi was famous. Full stop. Everyone had heard of her & her honesty & the image stuck. Just as you think of Amjad Khan & Gabbar Singh, no matter what! Because Amjad Khan was always Gabbar Singh. She was however none too popular amongst her colleagues & since the Police force is a team & not a one man show or one woman show, she was rightly or wrongly shunted from Delhi to Mizoram.

She was certainly annoyed at the so called 'punishment posting', but put on a brave face & made all the right noises. Her only daughter came along & studied in the local school. However, after she cleared her 12th board exams, Kiran Bedi did the unthinkable. She claimed one of the medical seats meant ONLY for Mizos for her daughter, who I doubt very much, was interested, in the first place.

The Mizos, peaceful people in general, did not this like. As it is since Mizoram has no professional colleges to date, & all the Mizo students together had to compete for only 10 seats distributed all over India, they erupted in anger. They choked the streets & demanded justice. Kiran Bedi, who had taken the peaceful Mizos & her 'sterling' reputation for granted, was astonished & stunned at the riots & the chaos that ensued. So, in true survivor style, she RAN AWAY in the wee hours of one fine morning, without any information to, much less permission from, her superiors!

Kiran Bedi later changed her daughter's name & claimed that her daughter was entitled to the medical seat as she was a resident of Mizoram at that time - As in she was 'residing' in Mizoram at the time. Yay! Full marks to Bedi for her linguistic elasticity. She pushed the letter of the law around, & boxed the spirit of the law into submission!

However, none of the chaos and riots that broke out in Mizoram found a voice outside it, in those Doordarshan days. Hell, you have to fast for 10 years before people know you're alive, even in the days of 24x7 news right??

Kiran Bedi fled Mizoram, after stirring a hornets nest there & simply refused to go back! Delhi posted her in Tihar jail, which she did improve a lot, & which today, is a huge celebrity center! People don't change, however, & after a few natty skirmishes here & there, lo & behold, madam was demanding that she be made the Commissioner of Delhi because she was the senior most (?) officer & because she was a woman!!! Thank God, they didn't. So, she fled again - this time, by taking voluntary retirement.

Next thing I know, she's hugging Anna Hazare and shouting "Ye Dil Mange No More". Err.... madam, shouldn't WE be saying that?

CORRUPTION IS NOT IMPORTANT

Corruption is on everyone's mind. The hottest topic, so to speak. People who are BPL - Below the Poverty Line (According to the Planning Commission, those who dont earn even Rs.31 a day)are straining themselves over the Jan Lokpal Bill. I certainly hope it will put some food into their bellies, which, eternal realist that I am, I doubt it will. This, to me is the real tragedy.

The BIGGEST problem that India faces is POVERTY Yes, even though Corruption comes naturally to us, & is pretty high on the top ten problem list, the point is - when I have nothing, what are you going to steal from me? Corruption, after all is a grand theft or stealing in motion. & we all know that about 60% of India is rural; not that all city dwellers are well to do. For instance, India's slum population is estimated at 93 million by the end of the year - that's about 8% of our population which is already humongous. Also, cities don't make up all of urban India. There are the towns, nagar pallikas & so on.

I am educated, can read & write, am politically aware, am offended & so, shout out & protest about the injustice that is being done to me. What if I am un-educated, politically ignorant & have no idea how to express myself? What if I don't even know the difference between a ten rupee note & a hundred rupee note? (True story about how the government 'bought' honey from the tribals in A.P, told by a first hand witness, a social scientist who was around). I don't even know that I'm being cheated in the first place.

This is precisely why ALL the intellectuals & even sharp & shrewd industrialists all emphasise the importance of education. Amartya Sen cant stop talking about it, industrialists who need to earn points for C.S.R - Corporate Social Responsibility, like Narayan Murthy & Azim Premji, put all their earmarked money for it. Its the only way that I can protect a man from thieves. Only if he knows that he's getting cheated can a man protest. Naturally, education will not solve all problems, nothing will. We can only give people armors against thieves & cheaters. We can only give them locks, we cant prevent thefts, evil or natural calamities. We can only arm them. If they choose, they can move ahead. But first, they must be given the option of choice.

And of course corruption is important, education just happens to be important -er & hey! I needed you to read my blog right?

ADDENDUM

I recently came across two well-travelled guys, one a research scholar & the other a scientist, both young; the same day I chose to wear my brand new 'Benetton' tee shirt & favourite 'Guess' jeans. They struck up a conversation that obviously precluded me. I mean....
What would I know about the 'National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme' or God forbid 'phenotypes'?? Better to talk to me about Charlie Chaplin or Zindagi Na Milega Dobara.

I 'dared' to ask them a question about Bt cotton. They glanced at my 'Week' magazine & smiled,
"You see Bt means ..."
"Bacillus thuringiensis"
"well..you see in our department we modify the phenotype of plants.... phenotype you see means..."
I couldn't believe it, so I replied "appearance, more or less; differing from genotype, where you REALLY change the organism"
At least he kept quiet.
Next guy - "You see the Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is no good."
"I think its a pretty good thing" I added
"Did you know that the BIMARU states are not as bad as they are painted out to be? You see BIMARU means...."
I couldn't believe these two guys... "Bihar, M.P,Rajasthan and UP. Also, since your work revolves around NaREGA, that's what we call it in short", I 'informed' him, "can you please tell me more about the Pakistan team that came to study the NaREGA scheme?"
"What? Pakistan knows about our NaREGA scheme? I had no idea..."
"By the way, WHAT do you do?" he quickly asked
Hmmm... good question. Now, no ones looking thaaat much...
Anyways, we all ended up as buddies with promises to visit each other in Spain, Delhi etc etc...
And they're not all that bad.

ARE YOU GOOD LOOKING?

I dont know...... Supposing I am, would you be surprised that I am a dental surgeon?
a pretty good one at that?
from a college that only admits students through merit as opposed to Private colleges that take in students who pay for it,
that I am a serious civil service aspirant who passed a few exams that people consider quite tough?
that I KNOW whats going on around me?
that I'm politically aware?
Why, I've even come across a few kind people who called me intelligent.

But all of that wouldn't matter if you're only staring at me right??

When will we accept that a well turned out lady who can differentiate between a Versace and a Valentino can also differentiate between a Look East Policy and a North West Frontier Province?
Why cant a doctor know that Britney Spears worries that Katy Perry is taking over her kind of music? or
that Ranbir Kapoor is finally single post Deepika Padukone, post Katrina Kaif post Nargis someone?

There seems to be a subtle attempt to patronise a 'pretty' girl who can read the papers. STOP IT! N O W. I cant believe I was so stupid as to give my poor lip gloss a vacation. The ubiquitous 'they' pass on 'mores' that glorify 'simple' girls - whatever that means. And whoever said 'simple' girls are either good or homely? I know many 'simple' girls who are anything but 'simple' and 'homely' - not that all are.... you get the drift.

I once worked in a hospital with 2 other lady doctors who happened to be Muslims. One was in purdah, while the other wasnt and drove a car. I was as usual discussing this. Our usual audience was a young Muslim dental assistant. The one without the purdah told a stunned me that she admired them for wearing burkhas. The one in purdah (as those wearing burkhas are called) said she encouraged all believers to wear one as it prevented men from looking at them with 'immoral' eyes. I told them that this was hogwash. She tried to convert me to her point of view and educate "innocent" me on the wickedness of men saying that men were so bad, they actually misbehaved sexually in front of a hostel if they knew it was a ladies hostel. I pounced - all men are not alike. Those who are sick in their minds will mis-behave even if they dont see an inch of you. Its all in their mind. So, if you're within legal limits, please feel free to wear what you wish! My colleague? she never argued with me again! And yes, she's still in purdah and so is our dental assistant now...

The point is that as a society we must strive to give space to each other, keep open minds and try not to be too prejudiced. I stress on 'too' because as humans, I know its impossible not to have some form of prejudice lurking in our bosoms! If you see a hot girl in jeans, please don't think she's stupid or try to pull a fast one on her?? Puhleese don't. She might just end up giving you a lesson on the the origin of the word 'stupid' and why 'fast one' didn't make it to the dictionary! And for those attractive women out there - feel free to strut your stuff (er... not too much o.k? I'm a little conservative here!! - out of choice)

And yes, I know the diffreence between a fetuccini, a spaghetti and a penne. So there!

STRETCH....... FOR FLEXIBILTY

Stretching, they say is compulsory. Else your joints get tight and you become rigid; In life too, one is expected to be flexible; one must compromise an elderly person recently advised me, as I am lucky enough to live in India where complete strangers think nothing of asking you about anything under the sun, and where advise is always given free, asked or un-asked. He made me think a bit.....

I know a lot of people - young, old, medium, men, women, girls, boys... you get the drift. It naturally follows that I've also come across a number of personalities. Some flexible, some rigid, some in-between, some ambiguous etc etc.

So what's your poison?? Most people find it easy to class so and so as flexible, rigid etc but find it difficult to accurately class oneself. I'm no different. I found that flexible people, the kind whose thumb you can bend so far back it goes flat, are the easiest to spend time with. But I also found that most of my friends DO NOT fall into this category and that most of my ACQUAINTANCES do fall into this category.

I suppose in the larger scheme of things, it all boils down to depth. One really doesn't need or want too much of reality everyday everywhere. That's why we have movies - the ultimate escape from reality. And we all know what a resounding success the movies have always been from the moment go, from Rudolf Valentino to Robert Pattison.

On the other hand we have our item girls and now-a-days boys. Must the men confer equality to women ONLY in these dubious categories? If a certain status for women is bad, is the solution to bring it up or bring the other sex down to that status? Clearly we seem to be in a rush toward the latter. Anyway, the point is that while an 'item' number is used only as a relief for the content of a movie's story so it is with flexible people.

A yes man is good for people who lack egos and for people who need an unreal prop to face themselves. For everyone else, a yes man is a pleasant man to have around as a decorative piece much like those beautiful wedding props that have no place outside the wedding venue. They in fact look ridiculous in real life. Imagine putting that prop in your clinic or office!!

The balance methinks lies in the middle approach - too much flexibility only highlights the fact that you don't have a mind of your own and cannot think. Too much of rigidity on the other hand shows an insecure mind, afraid of change and a lack of confidence to face an unknown and thus, in oneself.

Lets celebrate the Middle Path. It was good enough for the Buddha, its good enough for me!! Life's good! So laugh a lot........

WHY IS MY LIFE CHEAPER THAN YOURS???

The Armed Forces Special Act, AFSPA initialled in 1953 is a huge burden to the North East of India, and just a vague mnemonic or at best acronym to the rest of India. I write this in the time of Anna Hazare and of late, Baba Ramdev. Both ceased to eat for a few days, in a country where half the population goes on an empty stomach to bed at night and the other half are malnourished. Recent studies have shown that India’s ‘Hunger Index’ is higher than Sub-Saharan Africa, with Bihar, M.P etc being the usual suspects.

Anyway, India got MAD and angry when these two fasted – I mean, they’re nice people, you know, “acchha” log. Whose bothered about the servant’s unmarried sister not having enough food to eat, or the famous widows of Varanasi? much less the Dalits of M.P who regularly fast for no cause at all? These are all regular everyday stuff “yaar”. Now, Anna and Baba, they fasted for a cause that they believe in – something to do with corruption. One wants a paper to work magic and erase corruption from India, the other, a billionaire with a TV network of his own, wants the billions of black money stashed away abroad by other people to be brought back to India. And so they fast….

This fast, made portly politicos move at lightning speed to the ‘fasters’. Either ways, the newspersons are on to this news and cover it at a speed faster than the speed of an Ambassador car, at least. Whether you like it or not, there it is – in your face. Anna ‘topis’, Baba’s concave sternum from a profile view, why you even have Anna as a guest editor for a day!! The next guest editor, by the way, was Yuvraj Singh, a 29 year old who makes a pretty decent living by throwing balls, chasing balls, catching balls and last but not the least, whacking balls as best he can.

I’m not trying to make light of what all these stalwarts are doing. I adored Yuvraj at the World Cup. But to another person, and factually, he is just that – a guy who plays around with a small ball. How light these fasts seem when you have been fasting for TEN years. The newspapers make a hue and cry when even as I write, Baba is on his 6th day of fasting. The government is actually nervous and Anna politely and truthfully says that the Government would’ve collapsed if he had not ended his fast at Jantar Mantar.

And yet, no one gives a damn when Irom Sharmilla has been force fed for TEN long years. The same government jumps up when DMK stalwart Karunanidhi ‘fasted’ between breakfast and lunch for the Tamils in Sri Lanka. When people fast from Delhi to Tamil Nadu, from the North and South of India, it makes a difference. But when a helpless lady from the North east fasts for ten years, no one cares. Why??? I’m not saying that whatever she believes in is right, but just ignoring it is cruel and inhuman beyond description.

Is her life cheaper than theirs? Is the North East blood cheaper than the rest of India’s?
Is blood spilt in the Nort East of no consequence, while even a hint of blood ‘threatened’ to be spilt elsewhere is of urgent consequence??


11/6/11

And so..........

Dear all,
Time flies and how! The cool Delhi mornings make way for the harsh afternoons. Just when you think the heats too much, you have the cool breeze start to steal in, slowly and surely till it steals the space taken by the heat. And there you have a cool cool breeze. Just the kind I like. Stand on your balcony, cuppa tea in hand and stare.... Yes, its time to stand and stare.

I have no time, but I must make time to stand and stare.

ABOUT INDIA AND CHINA

Let us be clear about it. China is FAR ahead of India, many many milestones away. There’s no doubt about it. We don’t need a Freidman or Kaplan to tell us the obvious. BUT if anyone thinks India is losing out to China, they couldn’t be more wrong.

I am proud to be an Indian. India is a thriving democracy. This is a fact just as sure as the above fact is. In a democracy we take everyone along with us when we move forward. This necessarily takes time. We are a complex peoples. No country in the world is as diverse and no other country in the world has a representative of almost all the races known to man. These are not small things. Anyone will tell you that.

Therefore, unlike in a communist country where freedom is regulated and people are ordered to think and feel, we in India are free to think and feel. We need to be convinced that every forward step we take is agreeable to ALL of us. This necessarily takes time. BUT the end result is also necessarily better - the preferences and collective wisdom of such a vast peoples is incomparable. Think of all the pent up emotions of a billion people that have been ordered to move ahead. The explosion is going to be horrific. Much better to express yourself every now and then, even if the rate of progress must be sacrificed along the way.

And unlike non-communist capitalist countries that are free to think, but race ahead with only the fit, leaving everything and everyone else behind, you get to be a world class economy, you get to be number one, but we all know what happened to the man who left his wife, children, family and friends behind, exploited everyone he came across to get ahead – He did get ahead, but collapsed in the end. Greed always leaves egg in the face.

The CWG says a lot about us. Chaos until the curtains unveil – and then India, even with India’s most hated man Kalmadi around, shows everyone that we are second to none. India is the ideal country. It is a country that ought to be. It’s a country like no other. It’s a country that all other countries must emulate and aspire to be. We are not here to win the battle were here to win the war. We’re here for the long run. Let the others run till then…… Our time is coming. India is a ‘lamba race ka ghoda….’

Er….. on hindsight I should have at least written it around August?



November 2010

JAPAN AND THE USUAL SUSPECTS


Sorry to be a party pooper guys, but WILL YOU PLEASE SHUT DOWN YOUR NUCLEAR PLANTS ALREADY??? For Fukushima, a cement burial a la Chernobyl or anything else is fine by me – just cut out the helicopter water spraying OK?? If that works, we can next try to empty the world’s oceans with a spoon? A level 7 nuclear danger is way too high for me and now the Far East isn’t looking too far to me now – in fact it’s getting too damn close for me. And my deepest sympathies to the victims too – a 9 Richter earthquake combined with a tsunami IS really too much.

Japan is of course in the ‘Pacific Ring of fire’, those places that have fault lines that make them susceptible to earthquakes. But this current tragedy was a lethal combination of an earthquake combined with a tsunami, giving Japan its worst disaster after World War II, when it set out to rule the world and was stopped by the US – Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

What I’ve always wondered is why Japan’s map is dotted with nuclear plants when it has a history of earthquakes and is in the ring of fire, for heaven’s sake!! Wrong time to bring it up, but I used to talk about it to no one who was interested!! I can see Madam Merkel giving a superior ‘look’ (Germany forbids nuclear plants in its territory) and Sarkozy furrowing his forehead (France is a huge fan of nuclear energy).

Just imagine, heaven forbid, something like Japan’s tragedy happening in India!! Minus Japan’s STRICT building rules and highly posh disaster management system in place, for every 1 dead now, we’d easily have 10 thousand (at the very least – I’m not even kidding). What is wrong with us Indians?? Post the devastating Tsunami that struck a few years back, after pouring pots of milk into the ocean (the stupidest thing to do – Which marine life guzzles milk? It would only asphyxiate all the living organisms in the waters – luckily there’s enough water in the ocean to dilute the stuff) every now and then, the locals in good old Indian – thrift style, have already started stealing the warning systems placed in the waters for a Tsunami alert. At last count there were 3 left!!!

And we complain about the Government!! But little wonder we complain about the Government - because as I often say, the Government is nothing but many ‘you and I’ s coming together and I guess I know myself best just as you do yourself!!

Happy Holi and happy complaining!!







20th March 2011

EQUALITY IN THE BEDROOM – THE GLOBALISED BEDROOM

How often have we heard that so and so is such a ‘stud’, such a ‘man’ because he scored with so many women. Men especially, and the whole world apparently look upto this man. Then you have the wicked whispers about the cheap woman. The ‘slut’ actually, who sleeps around. She was intimate with so many men. How cheap! No one looks upto her and even the men she beds don’t have a lot of respect for her. Men all around find it justified to eve tease her or pass lewd comments. God knows what other forms of harassment she will have to put up with, especially in a so called conservative society like ours.

Why must we have this sort of discrimination for women? Isn’t it all basically the same? That it’s a matter of individual choice. Why can’t we let people be? If a man chooses to expose himself to dozens of women, so be it; provided of course that it is consensual and legal. Why can’t it be the same for women? If a woman wishes to voluntarily expose herself to dozens of men, why interfere in her personal choice? That would be truly liberal.

What then happens to ‘good’? Sex is the one topic that will never be resolved as long as man exists. He can’t do without it, can’t condemn it, can’t justify it, and can’t have the same set of rules for him or his neighbour.

Funnily enough the same is true of ‘good’. Man can never have enough of it. He breaks it, bends it, skirts it, buries it, bombs it and strangles it; and yet he can’t do without it. So he digs it up, resuscitates it, glorifies it, honours it and bandages it up.

What to do? shall we simply bury it as another paradox of man? And then dig it up later to look at it from all angles? I have a suggestion – Why not accept it as is? I’m talking of ‘sex’ and ‘good’. And no, I’m not saying combine it to say ‘sex is good’! That’s too simplistic.
Why not tweak the old grey cells a bit?

Man needs to be good or at least have ‘good’ around. The worst pedophile or mass murderer still wants everyone else to be ‘good’ to him. Even in jail, inmates still complain about in-justice if everyone but him is served a meal. So you may be a Hitler and mass murder thousands of Jews, but you still want your frauline Eva Braun to be good to you.

Why not settle the issue as best we can? Why don’t women stop trying to copy the womanising asses? I hardly think its emancipating to expose yourself to dozens of men who don’t care about you. There are better areas to catch up with in the emancipation department. Why not strive for equality at status quo? Why not show the men that it’s emancipated to be a woman on these issues? (Actually it is!) Why not show the men that it’s cool to not sleep around?
that it’s great to be a rejecter than a multi acceptor?
why not promote exclusivity and monogamy?

The idea is not to ‘catch up’ with the men in the Blackbook department.
The idea is to show the men the sexiness of a women’s world of No Blackbooks.
The idea is not to make lady studs, but to show the men how stupid it is to be a stud in the first place. Aren’t studs animals by the way?

If you see a mad man running around naked, isn’t it better to give him a shirt and teach him to how wear clothes rather than taking yours off?? So why not strive for an equalized bedroom behavior? Why not teach the men that monogamy rocks and that studs are not cool?? That would be a truly globalised bedroom. Now you know why they say, there’s not an area globalism hasn’t touched?



October 2010

WHAT A CRYING SHAME

I read in the Times of India a few days back, that Mizoram, my home state in the North-east and the second most literate state in India, a 100% Christian and tribal state, was to have it’s very first woman pastor in ‘Pi.Hnuni’ (Unfortunately so unpronounceable). This is of course; provided that she will be given the go ahead by several bodies that count and all of us that don’t!

What perplexed me is the resilient and stubborn resistance she is being offered by most Mizos (as we, the inhabitants of Mizoram are called). In the first place, instead of fainting at the shame of not ever having produced a woman pastor in all these decades, which I used to attribute to the lackadaisical approach that Mizos had about it, there are in fact, many incorrigible, anti – forward looking, logic devoid and destructive male chauvinists (who sadly include many women themselves) who parrot some inane incomprehensible ‘isms’ to attempt to bolster their ‘reed will stand in a tsunami’ theories about why women, period, cannot ‘attain’ the holy status of a man.

From what I hear, the lady in question, in a typical, “so you want to be one of us? – prove it every step, compete and match every one of us” contest, had to prove she was all that most pastors put together are. At a relatively young age she was already the head of a theological college – the first Baptist one, no less, in Mizoram, and I trust the conditions to get there must have been equally strenuous.

What is even more disturbing – yes there’s more - is that these notorious elements as their type are wont to be, are degenerating to the point of quoting from the good Book– the Holy Bible no less, to prove their twisted agenda, which has as aboutas much righteousness as Paris Hilton has!! Lets not talk about sense, since there clearly is none.

The bottom line is that this proves what I oft quote – that Mizoram is a thoroughly male dominated place. Even our sex-less, non gender biased religion, which I’m terribly glad of, must be subject to such vile subjections, twisted to the same contortions that contortionists in other religions condone killings in the name of religion. We brand them terrorists. So we don’t kill …… yet. But are you and I theoretically any better? And this then is the ultimate paradox – that I, support this obnoxious line of thought, just because, as a Mizo, I’m a part of the teeming masses that make up the majority, my majority. What a shame! What a shame!

Is there anyone who STILL thinks that Talwar is innocent? Its a bloody shame that he's a dentist; worse - so is his wife -Nupur. Shamelessly walking around trying to defend himself for KILLING his own daughter. He's really too much. Unsurprisingly, his wife supports him. Pathetic! Speaks volumes about the actual status of women in India.

He's a living advertisement for why we must have capital punishment. I'm fed up of watching this shameless couple walking around town. If Mrs. Nupur thinks she's better off because she didnt actually commit the crime - forget it. Her compliance and support to her husband is sick!! Her attitude and body language say she's less guilty or not at all. But sorry woman, you aint any better.

White Tiger

I read Arvind Adiga's White Tiger quite by chance - I got it off the sidewalk on a cold December winter, in Karol Bagh at an irresistable price - under a 100 bucks. Frankly, I wasnt all that eager to read it. After his repeated rants in the Hindu, and even in India Today about, first, the state of Karnataka's politics (still forgiveable), and then about how his mother dressed him as a girl when he was a kid(!??), I began to think the Prize had gone to his head. Surely there are better ways to express angst at being displaced from Madras; and the 'Madrasis' dont even call it that anymore!

So it was with some trepidation that I opened the book - and lo and behold! what a book! I say, what a book!! I could not put the book down. It was so smooth, no breaks, I really wonder if he sat down and wrote it all in one go. Simply put, if he hadnt been given the awadrd, the jury would have died of shame later on anyways.

Moral of the story - Authors are so much more readable BEFORE they are 'prized'! The long list proves it - Adiga, Arundhati Roy and gang.

And to those of you who havent read it yet - hurry, read it - beg, borrow or steal (as I did!! well, it was such a steal)

HELLO! GLAD TO BE ALIVE………

….and I am! My bretehren and friends! Behold we live in one of the most exciting times known to man. The world is reinventing itself yet again. ‘Change’, that ever present and ever maligned phenomenon is set to take the world by the neck and give it a shake or two. Aaah…. how lucky I am to be a part of this history.

To all those of us who are over 10 years old, we know what the feeling was to be an Indian – both here and abroad (to only the miniscule few who could afford it – one way or the other). We fussed and gaped at anything foreign and fawned and groveled in front of anything ‘white’. The feeling / s were not reciprocated. Most ignored us, and all despised us – apparently, politely or at least secretly! I myself saw the natural derision that was reserved for Indians, primarily because I don’t look like a mainstream Indian, on a journey abroad – Italy to be precise. They were effusive in their politeness to me, because they assumed that I was a Japanese (pure 5 star stuff), or at least a Malaysian, even a Thai?? Note: no one asked if I was a Chinese, because that was then not now. Imagine their shock when I patiently explained to them that I was indeed an Indian.

Cut to the present. Japan is making frantic allies and is even risking the displeasure of its most trusted ally, the U.S of A vis a vis agreements, especially regarding port usages and the like. Their premier visited us twice in so many years and they are much more polite as far as their ‘genuine’ concerns are about our well, concerns.

So welcome all. India is rising, and China our northern and often enigmatic neighbor is roaring. Well, the tiger was never a match for a dragon was it? On hind sight someone should award Ang Lee another Oscar for his forecasting prowess – remember ‘Crouching TIGER, hidden DRAGON’ ?? The 2000 blockbuster that I watched first day first show at Regal, Bombay with Shoba De behind me? (a decent 500 people way from the riff raff like us of course). Only of course, the dragon is in no mood to be hiding. As for the poor tiger, what else do you expect it to do, when a dragon is roaring about? Come to think of it, why didn’t our leaders choose something bigger and more powerful as our national animal? not that one springs to the mind immediately. A tiger looks too tame. Perhaps we could’ve just given the whole size and Grrrr… thing a go by and thrown in our lot fully with the Gandhian ideals and chosen maybe a simple white dove or a white swan or something like that!!

Point is, now that Bush baby has done WHATEVER he wanted to do and left poor Obama to serve the ‘khichidi’ he painstakingly cooked for eight L O N G years, the US appears to be a whimpering puss. In fact it’s status as a world leader has taken such a beating that people need to be reminded every now and then that it is STILL the most powerful country on earth as of now. It is. But, no matter how powerful you claim to be, it’s difficult to make nations stand up and take you seriously when you keep begging them for money and keep blowing crap on your face – the Wikipedia episode being the latest hot stuff. Compare this to a decade back when anything American was considered precious.

This maybe just what ‘I’ am feeling. But maybe it isn’t if you notice the exodus from the USA to good old India that many many NRIs seem to be making. All of a sudden you have ABCDs (American Born Confused Desis as we lovingly call them, because I’m totally against derogatory comments about any peoples), green card holders and what not. On another level one could even find some humour in the situation – struggle to settle in a foreign land which can never be easy, and then struggle to return home just as soon as you’ve set up your tent!

I think of the world a child born today would grow up in tomorrow. To the young un, when it can make sense of what’s going on in the adult world, he would know China and India as simply superpowers. He would be innocent of the awe we had held for decades for the US, Japan made anything (never underestimate them; I seriously doubt they’ll fade away anytime soon. Remember that the US, to whom they have been a faithful ally for about 5 decades thrashed them black and blue post Pearl Harbour, and even rewrote their Constitution just in case they still had any doubts about who the boss was) and even Korean stuff. All these things to him, as a voting Indian would simply be old hat and something that old people keep talking about or even simply as ‘History’, something to be studied in school.

Well, think about it. In this subtle shift that keeps occurring every now and then, to those of us who can remember further, not so long ago, Russia and the USA were the two biggest superpowers in the world. Period. They were so huge, that they fought while we watched and sidled up to one or the other. Every time they bared their teeth, which was very often, the world would shiver, and try to lie as low as possible trying to avoid big brother’s bad mood. Today, no one remembers any of that stuff because, some old man with a funny patch on his bald head and a well decked up wife on his right did something big, following which the US became the lone super power in the world. In other words – game, set, match USA.

This then is history. The air is filled with palpable tension, excitement… will India really make it to the big-time league? Just 60 odd years back, we were begging the English to stop bossing us and to leave us alone. We started out as poor, dirt poor and sat down to write our very own Constitution, which they say is a ‘borrowed bag’! Cut to the present. Our Finance Minister, the brightest star in India today, met the IMF head to give him some relevant pointers. How wonderful life is! Why? There are even talks of our very own Monty (Montek Ahluwalia) being the next World Bank Chief.

As for Italy, air travel is no longer expensive and many Indians regularly traipse abroad; nothing like what it was just a decade ago, when travel abroad was strictly for the rich. So Auckland, Gstaad or Rio is much more happening now and people spoke with respect when I mentioned that I was an Indian some 5 years back, in Singapore - India was beginning to happen then. It remains to be seen whether India will make it to the finish line or end up as a paper tiger like Malaysia unfortunately did when it showed so much potential, which it lost somewhere along the way.

But knowing India, I doubt if that will be allowed to happen with all the official spaces that we have between our trademark prudence and frugality.(with due apologies for the TATAs and Ambanis, masters of Ms. Radia – by the way I wonder if Mr.Ambani will give me ‘chai’ anytime I want at his expensive 20 storeyed Antilla house considering that as a taxpayer whom he must have fleeced at some time or the other either directly or through some representative I elected, I must have earned my cuppas! )

I truly am thrilled at the twists and turns that will unfold before we take our rightful place at the table and do not grudge any or all the uns who will grow into this fresh new world not knowing any other, taking for granted that they come from a country that’s a superpower! Lucky brats!