What the heck

Another stupid law in the making it seems. The Maharashtra government is planning to make a law planning to make HIV checkup compulsory before marriage.

Sounds good. But any similar concerns for the farmer suicides also ? Any concerns for the crashing infrastructure of Mumbai ? Water supply having sewage ? Seems the governments are learning the simple principle. Create smoke screen of all the inefficient services they provide. Keep people busy talking things that make no sense. That prevents people from looking at real matters.

Now coming to the point. Let us take a hypothetical marriage between person X and Y. X is HIV positive and does not know about it. They meet or their parents meet and the marriage is fixed. HIV test happens. The marriage breaks. You saved Y. But what about X. We are still a nation where school kids were not allowed to attend schools because their parents were HIV+. What happens to the social life and the circle of Mr. X. Has the government been able to create a society that does not discriminate people of basis of their HIV status. Has it been able to create a government office that does not discriminate people on that basis. Can the MLA heading the committee assure me that he will not hesitate in meeting and dining with an HIV + person.

If two adults are marrying by consensus, its up to them to decide their past, present and future. If the government were to educate people about HIV, that would be good. Great. That’s their job, but a government meddling in affairs without setting its house in order, without taking the pre steps before taking the next step is a disaster waiting to happen.

January 26

Here comes another 26th January.. Their will be parades. News papers will have advertisements and editorials declaring the great feats that the nation has achieved. Their will be the mandatory holiday. And then their will be 27th January.

Sadly the day makes no difference in our lives. Except for the people who like to booze and hate this as being a dry day. Their are no celebrations, no special meals, no new dresses, nothing special at the level of the ordinary man, woman, child, family.

Even families which like to celebrate this day with poori sabji are called as 'Extra patriotic' by people. What the heck ! Never heard of extra hindus or extra muslims. We celebrate diwali because scriptures tell us that lord Rama returned Ayodhya on this day. And Ayodhya wasis celebrated his return. So on 15th August British left India. And I guess Indians celbrated their leaving. Why don't we celebrate that with the same spirit as Diwali. On 26th January India declared itself as indpendent in mind and in spirit. Why don't we celebrate it then ?

Unfurtunately, the question is clear, but the answer isn't. May be it is because we do not feel connected to these days. But then we do cheer when India wins cricket match. When India wnis world cup. Why not celebrate the days that gave us the right to celebrate this victory.

Perhaps it is because the day has been turned into sarkaari tamasha by our government. And we as Indians like to abhor most of the things that are sarkaari. But then what prevents us from celebrating this in our personal lives. Unfortunately, I don't have an answer to this question. But perhaps you might have it.. Please help by helping us understand the cause behind this and try and celebrate the national days in a manner befitting the world's oldest civilisation.

The Rhino principle

There is a certain rule in life that I just thought is worth considering. If particularly applies when you are confronted by a crisis. And I would love to call it the Rhino principle.

Wait wait, before you leave. I know the rhino is not particularly sensible or clever animal! It is perhaps last of quadrupeds to carry a great weight of body amour. And by rules of progressive design and the process of natural selection and progressive design the rhino ought to have been eliminated. But it hasn't been. Why not?

The reason prehaps lies in one aspect of rhino - it is single-minded. When it perceives an object the rhino takes a decision - to charge. And it puts everything its got into the charge. When the charge is over, the object is either flattened or has gone a long way into cover, whereupon the rhino instantly resumes browsing.

Few people think of learning from a rhino. But I think I do. Or will try harder for it. Whenever I think of a task that can not be finished, or a start can not be made I will write in bold " Stop fussing about the job, just charge it. Keep on charging until it is finished. That's what the rhino does. Put this over the desk and remember the Rhino principle". I have tried this more than once. (Even in writing this). The rhino principle may not produce the perfect result, but it produces a result. It
produced an initial of this article. And once the draft was ready, I could improve and polish and bring it to a level of reasonable satisfaction. But ignore the rhino and even the initial is not produced.

Now there are other areas to which the principle can be applied, particularly politics and statesmanship. The monumental story of Chanakya is an exposition of this principle. Even in recent history of India this principle just sublimes. When Gandhi saw an object- the British, he just took the charge. And the nation just rallied behind him. And he kept on bulldozing the British till he succeeded. Even Jinnah, perhaps unfortunately was a living example of a rhino principle. Never perhaps in history did one man created a nation.

Now thinking of our present leadership. Is it cast in the same mold. I am afraid not. Be it congress, be it BJP (others are non existent) the spirit to take charge, the spirit to relentlessly pursue an aim is missing. The aim might be wrong, or it may be right but there has to be a spirit to follow it. Which perhaps is something our leaders’ lack. And may be this is what the nation lacks. More than the goal, we need leaders with spirit. We need leaders with less “niti” (policy) and more “neeyat” (spirit).

And there is another area in which the principle just bamboozles. Our lives. Moving to our personal lives we can go choose to lead our quiet lives and get through them without achieving much. But if we want to do the big thing, if we hope to leave the mark that will be admired and remembered, we will have to learn to distinguish between the peripheral and the essential. Then, having clearly established our central objective, we must charge it again and again until the goal is achieved.

That is the way the rhinoceros does. It may not be a model animal in most ways. But one thing it does very well. And that one thing we can learn. Charge!!!

Salaries for political workers

Inspiration to this came from my father when he said "I am a big notch beurocrat; I have a salary of Rs. 35,000; I can be honest. But how can I expect a peon with salary of Rs 4000 to be honest. Its is impractical. And brutal. And dishonest"

Just thought of some wierd idea for improving Indian political system.. Brickbats welcome..Bouqets most welcome.

Should Indian political parties be paying salaries to its workers ? It was a concept that was tried (and perhaps still is) in Communist parties. But I am talking about bigger salaries. This system I feel can cleanse the Indian political system. (You can not live at Rs 850 salary in Delhi)

I feel the reason behind corruption is that once a person decides to step into politics there is no legitimate way for him\her to earn money. We are still stuck with politics being the oh so noble profession. But it still is a profession. Think of it. We would never had Gandhiji as Mahatma had Gokhale not persuaded him to stop worryin aout money for his family and that people would take care of him. And they did take of him. And he did not paid to most of them back. And he was the mahatma. But what happens to the young guy who at a stage in his life tells his parents "I am going to be a politician".

Think of yourslef as that person. And think what would parents reaction be. You can fight all about chaning the system and the system needing good people. But what happens and the end of it. How will you support your life. Either your turn yourself to the mahatma and reduce your needs to the minimum. But what if you can't ? You then indulge in all illegitimate methods to earn money. And turn into a goon .Is politics a profession only for saints or goons ?

sadly this has been the story of our democracy for the past 50-60 years. For the 10-15 years you had saints( till late 60s). Then you had all goons( represented by Sanjay). Then JP launched his well intentioned but completely misdirected sampoorna Kranti missile. It had all the noble aspiring youngsters like Laloo, paswan jumping into politics to clean it. But without money to feed his family of 9 (or 10 or 11) did laloo had a choice other than to turn to corruption ?So after that you had two breeds of corrupt folks- one new breed of Jannta family and other old family of congress fighting till late 90s. In 90s with growing frustration among people emerged a new alternative. The RSS family. But it had a gene pool almost same as the other two. Once it failed you now have the current no one is fit to rule situation.

And let us admit there have been attempts to cleanse the system. By Rajiv, by Vinoba Bhave, by JP, by many people. But I suspect it is more directed at the superficial. The political parties pick from people who select to be there workers (atleast theoritically). And these workers do not have any means to support them and there family if they enter politics full time (and you can't make it big unless you are full time). So you either kill your desires (which is a great idea but not always possible). Or they be paid honest salaries.

There are some more ideas but let us open this to discussion first.

Public figures parallel to Gandhi today ???

don't think there is anyone who is close to being Gandhi... But in my opinion these people are closest

1. Nanaji Deshmukh- For his exemplary work in villages and his selfless service. Also he has maintained a moral authority over his supporters. So even he might be in opposite camp he appears close.

2. Baba Amte - Perhaps the closest. In views and in action.

3. Bala Saahab Thakre - Perhaps the most convroversial, perhaps most anti Gandhi person. But he is one of the few politicos who speaks his heart. And that in my view was one of the rare abilities that he has in common to Gandhi. No matter what the consequence this man has spoken his heart. Similar to Gandhi. Though his actions and his philosphy are entirely different and I do not subscribe to them.

Internationally

1. Nelson Mandela - for his work against aprtheid in SA. And his ability to bring everyone together after that.

2. Martin Luther King - Again for rasing voice of the unheard and oppressed and not destroying the society in process.

3. Dalai Lama - Perhaps closest to Gandhi. Though his eternal dream continues to elude him.

4. Aung San Suu Kyi

The genius of Gandhi

I interpet non-violence as another weapon used in war.. And therein lies the genius of Gandhi.. He turned the conventional theories of war up side down, and that's what confuses his detractors..Every new battle needs a new weapon for victory... Else you don't win.. The WWII was won by nuclear weapons.. WWI by tanks..first Iraq war by attacking armies media centres..Colonialism was faught by non-violence..A new kind of weapon..Something that british had no answer to.. It was simple. The british thought it to be the white man's burden to civilize the world. Here were brown men behaving in a more civilized manner than them. It shook them. The date and the timings of their departure was immaterial. The empire's roots were disturbed. That was the genius of Gandhi...

I also have another feeling with regards to Gandhi cancelling agitations in middle. Perhaps, he knew that independence was to come sooner or later. What was more important that Indians learnt to govern themselves and got a stream of leaders to do it. Perhaps, this explains, why India has performed better than any former British colony ( And I am talking nations, not cities). Compare India to Pakistan, Burma, Ceylone and you realize the importance of having grass root leaders that he created. May be this is where Zinnah erred. He created a nation but never created the machinery to govern it. I think he did tried his best to attack caste system. But in a sense he again realised that you can't remove caste system totally from India. And this shows true even today. We have new 'high' castes emerging. In UP there are new highs and lows emerging depending on who wins the elections. Had he been allowed to remove the evils of caste systems this would not have emerged today.

Varna system in its purest form is perhaps not all that bad. But in this form you attempt to live all the varnas oneself in one's life. You learn as a kid, fight as an adult, make money in mid age and serve others in the last phases of life. What's wrong here ?

Just reminded of one quote that Gandhi used about western civilsation, 'It's a good idea...' !!! We have our defects, but the attempt should be to purge them. Not to kill the tree for rotten fruits. And that was what other socialist reformers and others attempted and has created the mess that we have in certain parts.

Picture of bharat mata temple in Varanasi..Copied from Columbia Univ server.. Will post pics clicked personally when I visit Varanasi

The British created India ???

I don't agree that Britishers defined the entity called India. May be India but definitley not Bharat.. Bharat existed and prosopered even when Europe was in dark ages. It has existed even when Greece and Rome which were its contemporaries have long vanished.

As per Europian defintion a nation is defined by boundaries, governments, rules. I don't agree. A nation is defined by soul. And the soul of India was distroyed by British. Even today piligrims from Rameshwaram offer water to temple in Varanasi. Infact before British I doubt if they even cared about states. The fact that former is in Tamil Nadu and latter in UP was introduced by British. The concept of North India, South India was introduced by British and has been cemented by our poilticos. If India has survived it is because of this sole. Sole that leads to melas at Kumbha and ursa at Ajmer. And I think the reason behind troubles in Pakistan and Bangladesh is that they are created against the sole. They are created in the flawed european model and are now being held up against the laws of nature. No wonder you need unnatural nation building forces like army to protect them.

Indian nationhood was different. Let their be states. let them fight. Let rulers be changed. But do not stop people to people interaction. That is the ultimate aim of of any nation building excercise. This is what Europe is trying to achieve now. This is what Gandhi said when he said that he will cross over to Pakistan and not recognise the boundaries.

I somehow feel that Indians would have fought a lot had british not come. But we would have been more propserous..Because the money would not have drained away as it happened with british raj.. And eventually we would have evolved as EU. Don't forget that England and France were the bitterest of opponents till some time back... And to some extent they still are...

ID cards compulsory

This is with regards to id cards being compulsory for all in Delhi.

I believe this is the MOST idiotic of guidelines till date. On one hand the governement has failed to ensure that everyone has id cards. Now this is rubbing salt on the wounds. This has more chances of being used than abused.

Isn't this similiar to arms act. Something that Gandhi said draconian. Every criminal has weapons. Good people don't have; and are killed by bad people. Now can a beggar on the street have an id card. This is giving the police an option to extort hafta from him as and when required. A criminal on the other card can have 'n' number of if cards as per requirements. Sounds idiotic.

But perhaps the whole security thing is. I remember an incident at Newark during high security alert. Here was I screened head to toe at the screening. Made to take off my shoes, socks and all. Checked for 10 minutes. Then when I was boarding Air India they started another screening. With ill functioning body scanners that can't detect a thing. Just make tee tee chee chee sound. I understood there efficiency when I was able to touch Bajpeyee's feet and realised later that I had a french army knife in pocket. Look at the security in any temple in India. It is more hoopla that real delivery. More style than substance.

I think we need to take a more pragmatic approach at security. And stop these FUNNY rules in names of security.