Hindi Diwas X Hindi Imposition

Yesterday happened to be 'Hindi Diwas' and as expected there was some cacophony about Hindi imposition especially in some pockets of southern states. Being a Hyderabadi is being in a state of perpetual dichotomy as all through my life, I've been exposed to Hindi literature, movies, music et.al on one hand and equally acquainted with anti-Hindi sentiment and #StopHindiImposition movement which I believed was more of a brouhaha, much to the chagrin of my fellow south Indians.

We all love our own language and hate if others impose an alien language on us by force and it's quite natural but is Hindi really a native tongue of majority of North Indians who want to impose it on us Southies?

When PM Modi (or many of his predecessors) addresses the nation on Aug 15th or at international fora in Hindi, do we ever wonder that his first language was Gujarati but he put forth Hindi as a unifying language to represent the indigeneity. Mumbai being a Bollywood hub and a commercial focal point promoted Hindi more than any other city still retaining their Marathi ethos. Just that they did not cry foul about Hindi imposition. 

If you need more data, Biharis speak Bhojpuri, Himachals speak Pahari. Punjabi, Kashmiri, are languages of North Indian states. Awadhi, Marwari, Haryanvi are distinct dialects of Hindi spoken in regions of North India, North Eastern states have their own languages and hence...

Hindi, as we know, is not a universally spoken first language of all North Indians. But they all have risen over their egos and accepted Hindi as the common bridge for communication because 57% of Indians speak and understand the language. The basis of civilization is when two people do not speak the same language, one of them adapt the language with wider comprehensibility or both accept a more commonly spoken language. 

Now let us talk about the elephant in the room. Why Hindi and why not make Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam or Kannada a unifying language for the whole country ? As mentioned earlier Hindi is officially understood by 57% of the country's population and the number could be more as many might have denied their intelligibility despite their familiarity. Guess what % of Indians speak Telugu ? barely 8%, Tamil - 6.5% or Kannada or Malayalam less than 5%.

There could be a possible counter argument that number of speakers should not be a parameter to decide that. Touché. If number of speakers should not be a parameter, can Karnataka drop Kannada as the sole official language as there are pockets that exclusively speak Tulu or Konkani ? If Hindi is being imposed on South India, isn't Kannada being imposed on whole of Karnataka ?

Kannada is still an official language as per the constitution along with other languages but Telugu is still not an official language in Tamil Nadu despite spoken by 6% of state population (similar to percentage of Tamil speakers in whole of India) ? Lambadi spoken by 6% of Telangana, Urdu by 6% in Andhra Pradesh but still not official languages. So who is crying wolf here ? 

All states have declared their dominant majoritarian language as the first language in their respective states but with 57% of speakers, Hindi is still not the national language but only one of the official languages like all our beloved regional languages and we still crib about somebody imposing Hindi on us. 

South Indians instead preferred English as the bridge language which is hardly spoken by 10% of the country and is a first language of under 0.02 % of Indians. We chose to adapt and adopt a foreign language introduced by the guys who killed 100 million Indians (including south Indians) just to camouflage our linguistic chauvinism coupled by jealousy over a much widely spoken indigenous language.

I have nothing against English. I think in English and it is my lifeline. I love and am proud of being a Telugu and am a perennial student of the linguistics of both Telugu and English but I do not feel insecure or threatened by Hindi. 

If we were asked to respect a national emblem or a tricolor, that doesn't mean we are being subjected to some imposition because we are equally free to celebrate our regional quintessence too. If we were asked to recite 'Jana Gana Mana', a Bengali anthem, that doesn't make 'Maa Telugu Talliki' any inferior. 

Addition of Hindi to already existing vernacular language in signposts or literature isn't tantamount to imposition, it's only facilitation. Embrace if you can, ignore if you can't because nobody is replacing your language with Hindi. 

 

Travel Diaries 8 - IRAQ Edition

When 'Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara' released in 2011, I experienced a moment of epiphany that no other piece of art could invoke in me. A mere thought of rediscovering ourselves through traveling escapades triggered some inexplicable euphoria. My wife and I realized traveling could be our true calling. By then we were married for 5 years and I was in early 30's but I don't remember us doing anything exciting as we were more into the grind of family, careers and eventually kids. Bunty arrived in May 2012. 

It was a night I remember where we both sat together to decide that we need to stop existing and begin living in it's full sense and since we shared common passions (traveling being one of them), we decided to turn the next chapter of our life when my boy was few months old. We started traveling and the rest is history.

We have been to quite a few countries, immersed ourselves into the nature, beaches, historic old towns, monuments, world wonders, interacted and immersed ourselves in many cultures across continents and we thought we had seen the world...until we were on to the recent expedition to Middle East. This is when something magical happened.

We traditionally try to visit some new place on my wife's birthday which coincides with new year's day and this time we wanted to go to some place which we did not even dream we could go sometime. The place that had been in the news for all the wrong reasons since my younger days - IRAQ. 

IRAQ

War-torn, under-developed, sectarian violence, fundamentalism, terrorism are few of the choicest epithets we hear about Iraq. Canadian government had issues a strict travel advisory against visiting Iraq. So did I commit any irresponsible misadventure taking my wife and young kids there ?

Iraq was on my radar for the last few years and I had been in touch with various travel agents, locals , news outlets and was waiting for the right time and opportunity. The biggest step I have taken was to think beyond what western propaganda news outlets and government agencies wanted me to believe. For those of you who follow geopolitics, these exact governments invaded Iraq on the pretext of saving the humanity from their weapons of mass destruction but when they did not find any, ended up looting their oil and resources, remember ?

But Iraq was on my mind for various other reasons. For those who do not know, Iraq (earlier called Mesopotamia) was the cradle of civilization where the concept of writing, mathematics, astrology etc took birth. That was exactly where humans started living in societies that gave way to cultures, religions, languages to explode. Such was the rich history, heritage of the place which was ransacked for religious and political megalomania. And no media outlet with vested interest could convince me otherwise.

Hence we traveled to I.R.A.Q.

Baghdad:

The moment we entered Iraqi airspace (from Jordan - another article, another time about Jordan), I pinched myself to check if it was real but I was also prepared for some culture shocks or jolts as Iraq is not known to be an overly traveler friendly country. And the first jolt was ready to occur in Baghdad airport where we had to search for an elusive 'on-arrival visa' counter which happened to be an unattended broken desk outside washrooms. We could see border control counter, baggage belts, exit, vehicles on the street and stores beyond the street all from the place we stood waiting for the visa-on-arrival officer. A gentleman finally arrived, took our passports and money and vanished somewhere. And he did not appear for a while. Nobody else to enquire too except a janitor cleaning the floor manually who only spoke Arabic.

That was a moment of doubt if I was being over-ambitious in visiting an hostile country known for xenophobia. What if somebody stole our passports ? Whoa. But thankfully the man returned with Iraqi visa stamps that we now cherish dearly as badges of honor. Once we passed the border control, my man whom I interacted with earlier arranged a driver who drove us to the hotel. Understandably he did not speak much of English and we indulged in a short dumb charades game. We wanted to see if there was some 'Welcome to Baghdad' kind of insignia or a board to take a picture but alas..I reminded myself that we were in a hostile and not so traveler friendly place. But I started observing something amusing.

The driver who dropped us, the concierge at the hotel, reception were all pleasantly surprised and low-key shocked to see a family of brown people (with small kids) as it was evident they haven't seen such sight as long as they could remember. Yes, we ruffled a few feathers here and there.

The hotel staff was very accommodating but the room was inhospitable in terms of odor and amenities. When we asked for a change, they obliged our request but again we realized that if we yearned comfort or luxury, we should have gone to a luxury all inclusive resort in the Caribbean. We clearly went to another world and kept the unprepared staff on their toes. May be we behaved a but like those conceited tourists from the western world who live in their bubble. But again, we reminded ourselves we wanted to be travelers and not tourists (big difference).

Next morning, my guy in Iraq arranged a 'guide' who met us with a warm smile and the first question he asked was 'what do you want to see ?'. I was taken a little aback as wasn't he supposed to tell us what he's gonna show ? But again he sheepishly said there was no such concept of tourist guides there and his priority was to keep us safe and secure than taking places. A touché moment, indeed.  I had an inkling about Baghdad and vicinity, thanks to my earlier research; so I listed him the places we wanted to see. He retorted there was nothing more in Baghdad than that list. I felt vindicated.

We try to augment our travel experiences by talking to locals about their land. They always feel proud and offer genuine information that we are otherwise privy to. The 'guide' revealed he actually was an interpreter to US army when they invaded Iraq and hence gave us a picture from both sides. First of our discussions was how much locals hate Americans (or Canadians) or anybody white. He said we should be glad being Indians with brown skin otherwise Canadian passports were always looked upon with suspicion.

While we drove through, I noticed that entire city was filled by billboards and posters (not of movie-stars or rockstars. Any form of entertainment is banned in Iraq). The posters belonged to martyrs of Shia militia, the extra judicial armies, the government too can't talk against. Detractors call them terrorists, but for Shia majority they were heroes. Do you know who are the parties that fight against those Shia militia ? Al-Qaeda and ISIS (drumroll). We drove and later walked through many places and streets that were destroyed by the conflict between ISIS, Shia militia and US army. The guide did not want to talk too much about Shia militia because the driver was a Shia (so was the guide himself..or over 60% of the Iraqi population too)

The first place he took us to was a memorial of the Iran-Iraq war of 1980's built by a certain Saddam Hussein (heard his name in news?). I had an iota of knowledge about that war but the discourse with the guide was rich. He was kind enough to discuss the prevalent Sunni Shia conflicts that escalated to political upmanship and eventually war between the countries. Then we had been to an abandoned Abbasid Palace which would have been celebrated by UNESCO and tourists had it been in any other country. When we went the whole palace was for ourselves. 

After the monuments and memorials, we wanted to feel true Iraqi streets. He took us across the river Tigris to Mutanabbi street, a famous pedestrian shopping. And something amazing happened there. Random people began stopping us to enquire if we liked Iraq and if we felt safe ? There were almost 15-20 such instances within a 2 kilometer radius. Seniors took selfies with us, asked us what we liked about Iraq and requested us to spread positive words about Iraq. That was heart-warming and gut wrenching at the same time.

We had been to many countries where we were treated as money making machines. Nobody volunteered to strike a conversation with us. It was always we trying to talk or understand their worlds. But Iraq was the first place where locals tried to interact, wanted to listen from us, some even invited to their place. Sweetness overloaded. At some other place, somebody asked our guide if my wife was a bollywood actor and when he said yes in jest, that was spread like a wildfire and throngs of people surrounded us but yet we felt absolutely safe and secure. The love just shows, huh. We clarified to them we were no celebs but they still could not get enough of us and I must admit, we loved the unexpected attention and love that came our way. 

Then we visited some shrines, mosques, streets and our day in Baghdad was memorable for a lifetime. But it was only a beginning of Iraq. My target destination i.e., the cradle of civilization was not Baghdad, it was Babylon.

Babylon:

Heard about 'Hanging Gardens of Babylon' ? For beginners, it's one of the ancient (original) seven wonders of the world. No other ancient wonder except the great pyramids exists anymore. But archeologists identified the exact location where the said gardens once existed. That was, of course, in Babylon, a 1.5 hour drive from Baghdad. So it's time for us to foray into the hinterland of Iraq beyond the urban sprawls of Baghdad.

The drive was quite an experience for us. Once past Baghdad suburbs, there was perceptible change in the people's clothing and behavior. There were check posts and army tanks every few meters and it was indistinguishable if the gunmen were army, private militia or common men. Our guide advised not to be conspicuous and hence we tried to blend it as much as we could but our glaringly western wear and physiognomy gave us away. Nothing dangerous though.

Finally we reached Babylon and I was jubilant to step on the erstwhile place of Sumerian and Babylon civilizations but our guide had a surprise addition to our itinerary: Saddam Hussein's palace overlooking Euphrates river on one side and Babylon ruins of the BC period on the other. The palace now is abandoned with graffiti all over but there is certain eerie discomfort and sad truth about that place.

Saddam Hussein wanted his name to be remembered in the annals of the history and hence did the unthinkable. He 'reconstructed' and renovated archeological ruins of Babylon by getting modern structures built on the original ruins including his ostentatious palace. How insane ! He had the delusion of grandiosity and wanted to be taken his name in the same breath of Hammurabi. Nevertheless, we walked the path that's now garnished with maze of walls. All we got to do was to place our hand on a wall where the hanging gardens once existed. 

But another surprise for us that was the exact place where Alexander the Great died after his renown expeditions. Yes, we stood on the exact spot where he died. That was a goosebumps moment.

Beyond Saddam's artificial structures, there were some actual ruins we got to see up-close but the sad part was that those treasured ruins which should have been cordoned off from vandals and trespassers was left open (except a restricted old thoroughfare). 

However for me, it was a surreal feeling to stand on a land where Hammurabi, Alexander and yeah Saddam Hussein stood once and at the place where civilizations started and thrived. I felt the history spoke up-close and personal with me. And I'm gonna cherish that feeling.

Karbala:

The third and final segment of Iraq had to be a place of significance to millions of people across the world, more specifically Shia Muslims. Look up 'Battle of Karbala' and you would be transported to a world of Islamic renaissance. To keep things simple, that was the place where Imam Husayn, grandson of Mohammed, was massacred by Yazid, the then ruler of mainstream Sunni Muslims. While Sunni-Shia rift began soon after Prophet Mohammed's death, the battle of Karbala amplified the schism which is felt even today. Muhurram is being observed even today to commemorate Imam Husayn's death. And there is no way we could miss visiting His shrine while in Iraq.

Karbala is more interior and orthodox in Islamic values and has an indistinguishable Iranian influence. Billboards were seen in both Arabic and Persian. Clothing wise too, there is a stronger Iranian version making it mandatory for women to wear abaya (full burqa). After my wife wore one, the senior ladies around took her under their wings and made sure not a strand of her hair was visible and some other lady wiped her make-up off. We had been to many mosques in different places (including Arab world) but the credos at Karbala appeared stringent. But when Rome, do as the Romans do and when in Karbala, do as the Shia Muslims do and say. Respecting their culture while at their place was non-negotiable for us.

The moment we entered the shrine complex, there were scores of dead bodies (Janazah) brought to the holy shrine for the funeral prayers. I underwent a kind of stupor seeing so many devout shia muslims in the state of absolute trance. There were tens of thousands in the complex and almost everyone were wailing out of grief or emotional outburst. I had been to many significant places of worship including Vatican, Jerusalem, Tirupati but what I saw in Karbala doesn't leave my eyes.

I checked with my guide if I being a non-Muslim was allowed to enter the shrine interiors and he responded that as long as I respected the culture and people around, I was allowed. And of-course why wouldn't I ? Since women enter through another gate, apparently wifey was enquired by a group of curious women if she was 'Hind' (meaning Indian) when they saw her toe-ring. But eventually they welcomed her in. Through the men's entrance, I finally stepped into the fourth most important shrine for Shias after Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem and the place where grandson of Prophet was buried. Never in my life did I imagine that could ever happen.

The interiors of Imam Husayn's shrine were dazzling with crystals with places to offer Namaaz for many thousands. There were times when millions gathered at the shrine. The ornate Islamic architecture and grandeur were at their full glory for me to daze in when I saw a place similar to Sanctum Santorum, the holiest of the holies - the room where the actual grave of Imam Husayn lied, thronged by people all around so they could touch the wall of the grave. I had my son with me and I asked if he wanted to touch it too with so many people around. The last thing I wanted was him to get injured in some stampede. But he was as enthusiastic as I was; we waited our turn patiently and could finally touch that holy ornate wall of the grave that millions of Muslims across the world only crave to do.

And that marked the end of our trip to Karbala, and Iraq. After years of online research, interacting with tens of travelers in various forums, talking to locals, putting the foot forward deciding to visit Iraq to eventually visiting the country, experiencing the culture, religion, history, ruins, people, their love, their food (including mandi) - everything still feels like a dream. 

Iraq is not just any country in my repertoire of travel stories, but a place that deeply affected me, taught me, pampered me and enriched me in more ways than I could imagine. I am glad that I took my kids to that country and more glad that I chose this to celebrate my wife's birthday-week.. Actually she has more stories about Iraq which she would open up at her leisure.

The middle east trip was the best trip we had been to in our lives and Iraq is an important cog in the wheel. But there was another country in our itinerary that I wanted to visit since my childhood for a stronger reason. We visited and left that country with more stories, experiences than I dreamt of. That was Israel (and Palestine), an active warzone. A follow-up article about Israel-Palestine coming shortly as part-2 of the middle east trilogy. Stay tuned.

How Award Wapsi Drama & Abuses Will Benefit Modi

When Babri Masjid was demolished, the incumbent BJP government in then Uttar Pradesh collapsed and BJP could not come to power even today 24 years after the unfortunate incident. When hundreds of Muslims were murdered in Gujarat riots following Godhra carnage, BJP lost all local elections in Gujarat. LK Advani who master-minded Ayodhya Rath Yatra could never become prime minister and had to endorse more acceptable AB Vajpayee. The common theme in all these developments was that Hindus who form over 80% of Indian population never ever endorsed anybody even remotely associated with communal riots or vandalism. Hindus always refused to be a monolithic homogeneous vote-bank. Then how could Modi win 3 consecutive assembly elections in Gujarat before coming Indian PM with majority landslide victory ?

2002 Gujarat riots which are one of the most deplorable chapters of Independent India catapulted Modi into worldwide notoriety. Right wing Hindus refer to Godhra train arson as the trigger point, Muslims refer to Babri demolition as a precursor. The jugalbandi goes on with references to Rath Yatra by BJP used to counter Mandal politics instigated by VP Singh to counter Rajiv Gandhi who started it all by unlocking Ram Janmabhoomi gates to balance his own Shah Bano case disaster. The story spirals to many many layers of hatred precipitated by all political leaders to appease either ends of spectrum. So holding either community accountable for the existing hatred is ignorance and idiocy.

Unfolding the events across Gujarat riots, Godhra train compartment was set on fire on Feb 27th, the backlash against Muslims occurred on Feb 28th. By the end of Feb 28th, police was deployed all over violent areas and by the next day March 1st, army, rapid action force, shoot at sight orders were in place and the violence was contained to a major extent within 2 days of the trigger point. Modi requested governments of Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh (all neighboring states governed by Congress at that point) who refused to send forces to riot affected areas. Despite non cooperation from congress CMs and flaring emotions fueled by death of karsevaks, provocation from people like Pravin Togadia, Bal Thackeray, a 2 month old CM did a decent job the fact which most left liberals either sabotage or conceal in their attempt to defame Modi.

Then started a juggernaut of malignant campaign against Modi who terms riots as program, genocide, holocaust and what not. While Muslims did not deserve to die and riots should have been prevented, one may point out Modi's inability to subdue violence in a day, but accusing him of state run cleansing of Muslims is way over-board. The actual slander started by a handful of journalists like Rajdeep Sardesai, Barkha Dutt and few agenda driven NGOs who referred each other's articles and opinions are proofs to stigmatize Narendra Modi. Groups of people (Indian citizens) stooped down to the level of complaining  and lobbying against an elected CM on international fora; sent signed petitions to deny him travel to other countries and stirred what can be called as a most successful propaganda of Independent India.

Fast forward to 2014 elections. Modi was by then stigmatized, smeared, decried as a villain of minorities despite he not uttering a word against Muslims nor endorsing violence against the community. But the man proved to be an astute politician and was successfully able to convert the willful vilification to his credit by riding on the sympathy wave of the educated masses. He also shifted the goalpost from communal politics to development, stability and welfare. Whether his claims of development and numbers is factually correct or not, he was successful in convincing the masses that he is pro-development and all negative spin given by media about him was a deliberate campaign against him. Supreme court exonerating him added to his credibility. He also engaged his Machiavellian lieutenant Amit Shah who could polarize caste infested politics of UP and Bihar and abracadabra - Narendra Modi became the first Majority PM of India after Indira Gandhi.

The current political and social situation is in a way rehash to what happened to him earlier. The murder of an innocent senior in Dadri accused of consuming beef is most deplorable and so are other events like smearing a pro-pakistani politician with ink, raiding Kerala house etc. All these were avoidable incidents but accusing the prime minister to 1.3 billion people of these isolated incidents and running a vested campaign by those who received patronage from other political ideologies is ludicrous.

Number of sahitya akademi awardees and now padma bhushan, national award winners who incidentally were known Modi baiters and those who either campaigned for either left-liberals or received their patronage raised curtain to this award returning drama they started claiming they can't handle the on-going intolerance :)

These religious fundamentalism backed incidents, riots, murders, rapes, carnage, arson were sporadically occurring since 1857 much before independence and the the trend is fortunately decreasing. But those pseudo intellectuals who see the intolerance only today in wake of current incidents is not only preposterous and absurd but also anti-national.

By returning awards, they are insulting the institution, jury who decided to award them, insulting the nation. And the bigger hypocrisy was they never returned the prize money or the money they raised in the same nation when more intolerant incidents occurred. National award returning directors should have taken permission of the entire film crew and unit because of whom their talent got the acclaim. And how can they erase memory of common man who knew they were awarded the decoration earlier; and how can they erase the undeserved fame (or notoriety) and media air-time they are receiving now. They are well-aware that by claiming to return awards, they don't lose anything.

I have a word for these award returnees: You didn't deserve the recognition from the Union Government of India. You might have proved to be good in your respective fields but that in no way means your common-sense, duty towards nation, gratitude to the society are worth noticing or endorsing.

One positive factor in the on-going drama is the recurrence of common man's awareness and discernment. They see everything transparently and the sympathy wave is bound is back Modi all over again. Who's the fool here ?

BTW, how many media outlets published this news on their first page that India identified as 7th most valuable nation brand in the world surpassing Canada, Switzerland, Australia, Italy, Sweden etc. Not important, eh ?

Change in Canadian Government - What it means to me !

The second largest country in the world elected its new government and the prime minister-elect is a 43 year old Justin Trudeau who overcame all criticism against his inexperience, dynastic lineage and policies.

Since this was my first chance to exercise my voting right in any federal elections, I was closely following debates and policies of all three major parties including incumbent Conservatives. opposition NDP and third place Liberals. There were some major policy similarities including tax cuts on small businesses and emphasis on economy growth (albeit different approaches).

As an immigrant myself, I should have been a part of  traditional liberal constituent, but I refused to be party to communal, culture based vote-banks. Though the losing conservatives (whom I voted for) were on a right pitch for most of their campaign which was fueled by their able financial management, iron-fist against rising terror threats and steering the country right away from recession, the biggest faux-pas was when the crazy idea of vote polarization popped up.

If there are two reasons why conservatives lost this elections, they are (1) Much criticized and unnecessary bogey of hijab wearing women during citizenship ceremonies and (2) Introduction of C24 bill which strips citizenship of those who got convicted of terrorism.

The first reason (hijab) was truly an unnecessary and xenophobic one, and certainly an irrelevant election issue. Conservatives tried to play polarization politics to bag votes of traditional conservative republican types but the ploy backfired big-time pushing all liberals, minorities, traditional anti-conservatives onto a single platform propelling liberals and Justin onto the pedestal. The second reason created a furor of two classes of citizenship and raised paranoia which totally pushed the incumbent conservatives into a minority.

Justin Trudeau must be admired and truly credited for bringing a low morale liberals into prominence. His campaign was positive and around policies. Personally, I was not very much impressed by his promises about investment in infrastructure at the cost of deficit, loose immigration policies and refugee management ideas. But he won on the platform of inclusion, tolerance, hope and liberty - his party's namesake.

Coming to what is in store for Canada and people like me: Justin promised tax hikes on wealthiest 1% and reduce taxes on middle class. This sounds wonderful because most of us fall under the latter and hoping that the hike on the wealthiest doesn't spiral down to others in the social structure.

The four major areas where I totally hope the new government manages well are

(1) Deficit Budget: Justin promised that he will invest in infrastructure, transit heavily that could result in many jobs and amenities to many citizens and when asked about deficit budget he famously declared that budget will balance itself later. Hope he has some viable plan for that and not just a poll promise magic wand gimmick. Otherwise the deficit may cause huge irreparable damages and recession later on. Canada is different from USA prominently because of better managed finances and balanced budgets. That should be maintained

(2) Immigration & Refugee Acceptance: As a human first and an immigrant later, I would not and never be against immigration. I am all for economic immigrants who could bring in expertise, skills and contribute to the development. It is also completely understandable accepting refugees from Syria and war torn areas as a mark of humanity. But what is the limit, checks and balances. Hope Justin has a fool proof plan for this too. World already saw an example of Sweden which is now bearing the brunt of its own benevolence where generous immigration is causing social issues affecting the very fabric. As of one the richest, developed and free countries of the world, Canada attracts people from all over the world. It all boils down to who are ready to assimilate themselves in the success story of the country and who acts against her.

(3) C24, C51 bills: Though liberals supported conservative bill of anti-terrorism to strip off citizenship of convicted terrorists, they also promised to make amendments to balance security of the country and rights of all citizens. Will have to watch how better or worse these bills can get.

(4) Marijuana legalization: Could be a vote winner but if the government legalizes weed, how far is it going to affect teens and related crimes.

Regardless, Justin Trudeau is young, comes from a lineage of Pierre Trudeau, took the entire country into confidence and won a landslide election. He has a golden opportunity and so does Canada. Can't wait to be part of the changing history.

PS: This is my first article on Canadian politics. Here wishing to publish more.

Chandrababu, YSR and KCR - A Tale of 3 Telugu CMs

At the outset, this article is not a direct comparison between KCR, YSR and CB Naidu or their performance as chief ministers of two Telugu states because one of them is no more and for the other two 6 months is not a lot of time to judge their performance especially when they are working in different political terrains now. This is rather my random rambling about their way up the political ladder and their political styles.

Almost a decade ago, I had a unique opportunity to work with AP political leaders across the spectrum including Loksatta's Jayaprakash Narayan, then assembly speaker Suresh Reddy, CPI's ex-MP Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy but what stands out head above shoulders was the working relationship with Chandrababu Naidu and his cotorie of TDP. Without running into any intricacies of the nature of business, let me just affirm that I spent quite some considerable time with most old war horses of TDP's politburo apart from the chief's son Lokesh and current AP cabinet minister Narayana (of Narayana colleges). That was the era after TDP lost power to YSR's juggernaut.

In many of my casual conversations with office bearers and low rung executives (most of them Andhra settlers), I discovered that recurring undercurrent among them was certain reverence to K.Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) who already was making high decibel movement in favor of separate Telangana through his TRS party. They felt KCR was one of the most disciplined, hard-working and efficient workers of TDP earlier and his contribution to boss' speech-writing, media management etc was immensely missed after he left TDP to launch TRS.

Honestly I was (am) not a big fan of KCR's confrontational politics but it doesn't take away from him that he has been the most significant Telugu political leader in the last 15 years. With a law degree and a masters in literature, he happens to be one of the most academically qualified CMs in India and arguably one of the best orators the country currently boasts of. His charm in Telangana is not lesser than NAMO wave or Modimania which gripped the countrymen and NRIs alike.

It also remains that KCR is the most hated Telugu figure unequivocally and almost unanimously hated by all Seemandhraites, settlers for his vitriolic and hate-mongering politics. But it takes an extraordinary leader to thrive despite the hate by polarizing almost entire Telangana behind his belt, confronting everybody ruthlessly (including his competition), resorting to high pressure drama spanning years and coming out unscathed and with flying colors.

He is hated for getting things done his way through means propelled by his selfish agenda, settling personal scores, power brokering, blackmails but history takes note of him as a fighter and winner for his cause (for good or bad). Like him or hate him, nobody can ignore him. He made possible which was almost impossible at one point, by blending political machinations, ruthlessness and surfing on the popular sentiment

Chandrababu Naidu is diagonally opposite of everything which KCR is. A non-communicator, non-orator, non charismatic. In 1994 when he staged a dramatic coup against NTR, I was 14 but politically aware. At that point my family was pro-congress thanks to our distant relationship with PV Narasimha Rao and my late grandfather's political equation with him. So I was neither perturbed nor excited about what was happening in Hotel Viceroy. Actually that incident brought in me some interest about current affairs and political happenings which was otherwise made insipid and bland by previous CMs like N Janaradhan Reddy or Kotla Vijayabhaskara Reddy.

What caught my mind later was frequent surprise inspections of government offices by new CM CBN himself which was never tried earlier. For general public, all politicians were blood sucking, disinterested rogues but when this guy started akasmika thaniki, followed by other public engaging programs like janmabhoomi, sramadhanam - he was a breath of fresh air. So technically he involved general public in social activities much before Modi did with Swachch Bharat abhiyan.

Chandrababu later started appearing on prime-time TV call-in shows where he interacted with general public. Regardless of how efficient the programs were and who benefited out of those, he showed that he was trying to reach out to the public - atleast average middle class urban households like mine. Nobody else could have thought of those initiatives at that point.

When he captured imagination of youth and tech-savvy intellectuals by bringing in Bill Gates, Bill Clinton to Hyderabad, built cyber-towers, catalyzed IT boom and laid out blueprint foe the lives of thousands of IT and ITES employees, he was making all right moves. Politically too, a leader who could revolt against an idol like NTR but still survive, faced minority ire by making pact with Vajpayee but still survive - could go no wrong. He was almost a superhuman. But what happened in 2004 was unimaginable.

YSR completely swept the carpet under his feet by taking all grassroot level, non tech savvy, agro based voters who were intimidated by CEO like CBN under his fold. I'm not sure if YSR himself expected the kind of success he reaped after padayatra but for CBN, it was a deathblow.

In my view YSR was the most politically aware and calculating politician among all Telugu leaders till date. Termed as perennial dissenter among congress circles for decades, he finally catapulted his party to power against all odds including a supposedly rockstar CM, a respected PM Vajpayee's aura, KCR's undercurrent Telangana sentiment.

YSR optimally channelized anti-CBN and anti-suave wave in favor of him and very intelligently transformed CBN's swarnandhra pradesh slogan into harithandhra pradesh directly targeting 70% population of the state depending on agriculture who mostly disdain technology or educated urban class. Incidentally, YSR himself was a doctor. His political prowess made sure he was the only leader who could reign in KCR and his maverick politics.With rajiv arogyasri and other schemes which his fans can't hold their blush, he was on the cusp of being the longest serving CM before an unfortunate accident bluntly cut short one of the brightest political careers of the state. His death gave a lease of new political life to both CBN and KCR who sit as chief ministers today

Back to 2014:

After struggle, hate, innocent deaths, irresistible sentiment and Sonia Gandhi's poor calculations - Telangana finally became a state in 2014 and KCR crowned a CM. KCR came to this position through confrontational politics, which in turn increased his mass fanbase and credibility among pro Telangana activists, but it seems the CM continues to be in that mode even today.

Though I admit that TV9 is too propagandist a channel with a foul mouth and should have been regulated, banning them was no solution. KCR wanted to make a statement that those who oppose him have to bite dust. This actually doesn't work in democracy. With absolute majority in the assembly and among masses of Telangana and with almost no resistance or alternative to him in the state, he is busy consolidating his power and grip on the state and it's resources.

But when the CM gets into verbal duels and confrontation with media, prime minister, central government, governor of the state, chief minister of the neighboring state or literally everybody who don't follow his diktat, he is actually hurting the state, himself and those crores of people who stood behind him. And when his son tweets anti Diwali or anti-Hindu statements and his daughter declares anti-India sentiments to attract few votes, things are definitely going down hill from there.

Chandrababu seems to making right noises by aligning tightly with central government and industries. When neighboring states like Karnataka and Tamil Nadu get worried about him to the point of asking PM to control him, it indicates something is going right in Andhra state. Devising grandiose plans for the state, attempting to pull investors from everywhere and most importantly not spreading hatred among regions, declaring that he would felicitate Telangana stalwarts in Andhra unlike his Telangana counterpart, things are staring towards new dawn.

Being a Telanganite myself, I would love my CM to be a face of reforms, accelerating growth and superior infrastructure in Telangana and would also like CBN to succeed in all those sky high ambitions. Hatred and development are mutually exclusive and diagonal in the public life which can't go along.

Arvind Kejriwal - A Case Study on Leadership & Management

Arvind Kejriwal is dubbed as a giant killer who turned from zero to hero in just 2 years, which is undeniable considering his spectacular entry on to the electoral politics arena. He captured senses of intelligentsia and masses alike because he executed what hordes of armchair philosophers could just preach. Beyond his political maneuvering lies his excellent embodiment of two often confused behavioral traits - Leadership & Management.

Since independence, India has been looted by political parties infested with corruption, vote-bank politics, communalism, nepotism, regionalism. People were aware of this but came to terms that they had no alternative. But there was always a simmering anger under the carpet which was tapped and fanned by the Team Anna movement a couple of years back. Anna Hazare was not a rookie in anti-establishment agitation. He had a long history of crusades but was reduced to Ralegan Siddhi and some pockets here and there. He didn't have a national image. A man called Arvind Kejriwal identified the vacuum and catapulted a nation wide movement through Anna's name and fame.

Kejriwal was not the first person to act against corruption. Loksatta's JP Narayan shared similar principles, but he proved to be elitist and philosopher who could only talk. He didn't involve people or instill combative spirit like Kejriwal did. JP was a dreamer, strategist and a bureaucrat, but there is a catch. He's not a LEADER. Leader is somebody who leads from front, who motivates, directs, guides people who trust him. Leader sets an example, shows path, is accessible, is a sharp communicator, a problem solver, a trouble shooter, a negotiator, a decision maker, a time manager, a team player and is flexible. Leader is Arvind Kejriwal.

Some leaders have charisma; they can trigger mass hysteria with their voice, mannerisms, votebank identity, gestures, dramatics or mere presence. Indira Gandhi, NTR, MGR, Salahuddin Owaisi, Modi and to some extent Laloo and Mulayam fall under that category. Kejriwal lacks that charisma or political glamor. Neither does anybody care about his caste or community. But he balanced that lack of charisma with another trait - managerial skills

While his leadership skills were at display during his struggle for RTI act, anti-corruption crusade, his managerial skills were evident in the way he carried Team Anna campaign and his AAP electoral campaigns.
It's debatable if Anna needed Kejriwal or vice-versa because the Team Anna movement became a household name only through Kejriwal`s brainchilds like viral campaigns, social media awareness, streetside acts which`d put the best of marketing minds to shame.

Kejriwal did right thing at right time under right conditions. He got things done by many external and internal factors. That was management.

When he started Aam Aadmi Party, he clearly knew there was an anti-congress wave and made sure another rival BJP doesn't grab the cake. Hence he deliberately started attacking BJP over corruption and communalism despite the latter not being in power either at center nor at Delhi where he was going to contest. But his ploy was to paint Congress and BJP in the same color so that he could take advantage of the anti-congress wave. And that ploy worked in his favor.

Kejriwal is an astute orator and a shrewd thinker. He has answer for every question or criticism he faces. His speeches and interviews brim of moral supremacy but he knew how to play political cards well. He carefully dubbed BJP as a hardliner communal party but chose not to say a word against MIM, Akali Dal, SP, BSP or many other religion or caste based parties. He even took the support of rabblerouser Muslim cleric who announced bounty on somebody`s head. He clearly knew who his target was. That was management.

He played fairly well with media too. Media chose to highlight AAP`s splendid performance over the majority grabber BJP. Arvind is being eulogized left, right and centre though he failed to recreate the magic of NTR or Prafulla Mahanta who rose to power in few months of setting up a party. But antipathy of certain sections of media against right wing politics or BJP and public anti incumbency wave against congress was aptly utilized by AAP and Arvind Kejriwal.

Leadership is a quality which influences and motivates others to follow ones path whereas management is an act which gets things done by others. Arvind Kejriwal balanced both with clinical precision and the rest is history.

Things fell in place for AAP till now because the party is exempt from any expectations or results. They had nothing to lose or prove till now. The real game begins now. Lok Sabha elections is a different ballgame. Team Anna was at pinnacle in 2011 when Anna was hailed as the most powerful Indian then but the movement lost its relevance the following year. Ramleela Maidan and Jantar Mantar of Delhi swayed to the movement, but Mumbai protest was a grave disappointment. History may repeat with AAP. It is to be seen if Arvind Kejriwal is a consistent and a long run leader and manager or not. Time answers.

Telangana and Samaikyandhra - Two sides of the same hypocrisy

At the outset, congratulations to all those who dreamt and fought for Telangana and sorry to those who struggled to keep Samaikyandhra intact. With due respect to all emotions, struggles and hullabaloo, I could neither understand nor subscribe to either movements. Not that my opinion counts but I'm still skeptical if Telangana sentiment was more foolish or Samaikyandhra more hypocritical.

Those clamoring for united Andhra Pradesh are the very people who iconize Potti Sriramulu for breaking Andhra from erstwhile Madras state. If the concept of separate Andhra from Madras made sense, why can't the same logic be applicable for separation of Telangana ? And if all the struggle is about Hyderabad, why fake it as "samaikyandhra" ? isn't it just a hypocritical misnomer ?

Love and attachment towards Hyderabad is one but anybody claiming that one section of people developed Hyderabad must understand that Hyderabad was made capital of AP because it "was already" developed before merger of Andhra and erstwhile Hyderabad state. They claim that exodus or investments in Hyderabad was because it was made a capital city of AP which is refuted by the fact that New York City is never a capital city of US and neither is Mumbai a capital of India despite being investment magnets. Resources and potential in a place attract investors from all regions so that they prosper from those resources and not the other way round. More about this subject in my earlier blogpost Who Developed Hyderabad ?.

And what's the rationale behind demonstrations and protests now ? I see some ridiculously illogical comments on social media that Andhra people should now take visa to enter Hyd (!!!) or Telangana would be taught in schools. God bless their intelligence. Wonder if they always took visas to enter Chennai or Bangalore. Who stopped them from investing or or developing businesses or leading a happy life in other cities / states ? Won't the same logic applicable even now with Hyd / Telangana ?

Just when I'm amused by these samikhya drama, endless celebrations by Telangana supporters beat my brain to death. Silly people, did you ever hear about similar separation saga called India - Pakistan ?? Didn't Pakistan have all the reasons under the sun not to co-exist with India ? The popular sentiment attached with religion was much stronger, demonstrations were much more intense and they got what they wanted and celebrated much more than what you are doing now. But is current day Pakistan the way it was envisioned by it's founding fathers? Bangladesh had many reasons to split from Pakistan. Doesn't history scream at you ???

Forget about other countries, ask Kashmiris or Khalistani separatists; their struggles for separation have been bloodier, more intense and spanned multiple generations. They feel they were betrayed. Take any agitation or prolonged protests, every movement is rooted in strong sentiments, emotions and drama. That doesn't mean agitation is always right. The only difference between those separatist movements and Telangana movement is former are fighting for separation from India while latter from AP.

My heart goes to all those innocent kids who laid their lives for others' aspirations. I also feel bad for all those students and youth who wasted their valuable time, effort, energy in their struggle for Telangana in real and virtual worlds. They seemed to know all statistics and hundreds of reasons to justify their agitation. But I wonder how many of them will see a dramatic change in their lifestyles just because a portion of their house address is changed.

If their struggle was to eliminate disparity in resource allocation or step- brotherly treatment as they clamor along, amendment of some laws was sufficient. They have to revisit before and after situations of Indian independence. Freedom fighters had bigger reasons to fight against British and they suffered for a bigger cause. They had A REAL REASON to fight against. The so called  British looters at least developed infrastructure, railways and unified India under a single rule. But what happened after independence ? 66 years of self rule has only ruined the country. Though the analogy may not be perfectly applicable, the context will definitely fit in.

Also since the issue is about other regions utilizing your resources more than you, how about fighting for independence from India because whole of South India shares your Singareni Collieries or Ramagundam power ? A separate Telangana country with even more autonomy and sovereignty ? Sounds good ? No, because we are culturally bound with India and so we are with AP.

It's high time that all those who ran along streets with Jai Telangana protests should realize that they catered to aspirations of some politicians who wanted more avenues to loot. If you have balls, fight against those looters, not against those with whom, your fathers and grandfathers co-existed for decades. All the horseshit justification about disparities, unfair shares and bunkum will be here to stay. This time between different districts, cities within Telangana. There are caste divisions, economic disparities, communal conflicts, corruption and scams which are bigger culprits to victimize you. If you forgot all those and invested all your time and energy only to fight for regionalism, you are just a bloody naive pawn in a game played by powerful to satisfy their ego and political aspirations. You didn't serve your family or society. period !

Before concluding, I must pat politicians for their shrewd execution of plan by inculcating regionalism, senseless emotion into thousands of silly protesters.

1. Marri Chenna Reddy fuelled large scale Telangana agitation and took it easy when he was given Chief Ministership. Wah !
2. KCR re-ignited the same movement after two decades when his boss CBN didn't confer him a ministry. Wah !
3. YSR promised Telangana before 2004 elections but kicked it's butt after getting elected. Wah !
4. CBN promised Telangana as a part of Maha-kootami before 2009 elections but made a flagrant U-turn. Wah !
5. BJP supported Telangana clearly knowing they have nothing to lose in Seemandhra. Wah !
6. But the master-stroke is from Sonia Gandhi under current context. She:

• Realized that congress will be rooted from AP
• Declared Telangana with caveat for KCR that he should merge TRS with them while enjoying CMship. Thus Telangana belongs to Congress and all Cong / TRS MP's support UPA in 2014 polls
• Will negotiate with Jagan (post poll alliance) to either merge or unconditionally support UPA in 2014 polls in return for CMship and clean chit from CBI. Andhra state too in pocket
• Checkmated BJP who promised to declare Telangana if they come to power
• Checkmated TDP in Andhra for not acting against split-up and in Telangana for not doing anything for separation.
• Wareh, wah !

And if Telangana people are as foolish, they will still vote for TRS-Congress alliance or merger and live their lives exactly as they lived in united AP. If Seemandhra people are equally foolish, they will still vote for Jagan thus indirectly helping UPA government against whom they are currently agitating. And I'll wait to write another blog-post then.

Naxalism - A Dirty Menace

At an early age of 6 or 7 years, I had a vague idea of what Naxalism was because of my grandfather's political affiliation to CPI(M). Summer vacations were spent predominantly in the village which had some strange affinity towards communism which unanimously elected my grandpa as sarpanch consecutively. Naxalism was treated with respect and evening entertainment was all about song and dance performances by revolutionary balladeers. I was put under a strong impression that naxalites were true patriots and everything related to western world was treated with contempt.

It was late 80's when the naxalite movement was in it's zenith and quite often we could see some news of naxalites blasting railway stations or cops or radio stations etc. I was a bit puzzled because the kind of blasts and violence in news didn't quite add up to match the patriotic image of Naxals I was inculcated earlier.

After few years of confusion came Gaddar's revolutionary song cassettes and R.Narayanamurthy's string of red movies which I thought spearheaded more hatred and anarchy than the good they did. I thought the art was more anti-state and anti-rich than pro-oppressed. Continual violence and destruction of public property only exasperated my disdain towards neo-revolutionaries. The final nail in the coffin was outrageous series of extortion and abductions carried out on their behest which enjoyed unconditional support of so called revolutionary balladeers, poets and writers. The entire RED revolution seemed so farce. That was the beginning of my hatred towards the movement which propelled me to know more about the background, motive and objective of Naxalites.

Basically naxalism is all about staging a coup against India from India on the lines of Mao Zedong of China who successfully did that in his country and then was responsible for millions of deaths in China most notably the Tiananmen Square massacre. China's resurrection towards being the power centre started after his successor Deng Xiaoping initiated the rollback and triggered massive economic reforms. And here in India, insurgents not only want to follow the failed ideology but also changed their outfit's name to CPI (Maoist) and have proved themselves to be anti-globalization, anti-liberalization, anti-reforms, anti-development and anti-people. Period !

Revolution and insurgency can be understood if it is for the benefit of the country, but the knowledge in public domain is that Maoists were and are in direct collaboration with Lashkar-e-Toiba, LTTE, Nepali Maoists and many other terror outfits and anti-nationals like Arundhati Roy who did everything to destabilize India..and all this in the mask of being people's revolutionaries.

It's not a secret anymore that the ammunition and funds Maoists or erstwhile Naxalites collect is through extortion and opium trade comparable to Dawood Ibrahim and Mumbai underworld. They have been doing this crap since almost 5 decades in the best interest of tribals and oppressed. But the fact remains that the very oppressed still remain oppressed while wealth-creators and landlords lost their fortunes. Again things don't add up here.

While these anti-nationals loot, murder, extort, blackmail government and civilians alike, there are affiliated groups like human rights groups, revolutionary writers' association and other bunkum to perpetrate their propaganda and cry victims every time they die. The hilarious charge is about fake-encounters when maoists die as if there are ethics to be followed to purge the society from the rot, menace and shit called maoism.

Yesterday's ambush attack from 200-300 terrorists to kill 27 was heart-wrenching. Though I'm not a big fan of congress party's ideology, this dastardly attack by anti-people terrorists on democratic leadership is heinous. But I always doubt how difficult would it to be decimate the menace from terror infested red corridor of India ? Why can't government of India utilize it's state-of-the-art defence technology and guerilla warfare to rip off the rot of the society ? If they couldn't do that from last few decades, how efficient are they considered to be in wake of any external exigency ?

Union government must realize that it's soft policies against internal terror is taking lives of scores of commandos, soldiers, police in attacks like Dantewada, Bastar and more; and it's just matter of time before the matter slips completely out of control. In that case, the only alternative would be wait for the central committee members of maoist politburo or whatever it is, to just die their natural death and the cadre to lack direction and ideology. Till then we are good to outrage as and when such attacks occur.

Mera Bharat is NOT Mahaan !

Every Aug 15th and Jan 26th, it has been a ritual to sing "sara jaha se achcha, hindustan hamara" and chant "mera bharat mahaan". Everybody does that and many believe in that religiously.

Internet facts that are shared through emails and FB posts claim how great India is for all its contribution to the mankind. Indian movies depict greatness of our Indian army, culture, heritage, pride. Its the kind of patriotism that's injected into our masses which sometime turns into blind jingoism for people who take those sweet words way too seriously to consider India as the greatest country in the world. It sounds so good and I love it to be that way but is that the reality is a million dollar (or rupee) question. Loving our country is not same as believing it to be the best in the world.

First of all, there was no country or a geographic unit called "India" before 1947. Much earlier to independence from British, the common point among all princely states (together which we today call, India) was a religion or way of life - which was termed as "Hinduism" and the related civilization "Indus Valley Civilization". Eventually Indian religions like Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism were founded and Abrahamic religions like Islam and Christianity made inroads. After this development, the land couldn't even claim to have a common religion, tenets, scriptures, beliefs, language or culture and there was no tightly knit country called India centuries before 1947. The only common agenda in early 1900's was native people's angst and agony against British rule.

Its a common perception that Pakistan was split from India etc where there was no India before a country called Pakistan was created. India was born a day after Pakistan. After that historic date, what has been common in people of India was again a million dollar question !

Today, Tamilians claim that Aryans came out of nowhere to push them into a corner and hence hate North Indians and everything related like Hindi, Sanskrit, Brahminism (as Periyar and anti Brahmin Tamilians claim Brahminism and caste division is a North Indian stigma). Sikhs hate the entire country and Hindus for not giving Khalistan, ULFA terrorists are upset with India for mismanagement of North East, Naxalites were born to end the very fabric of democracy and they don't even hesitate to collaborate with anti-national elements like Maoists of Nepal, China and terrorists of Pakistan, Kashmiris are upset because they were not granted freedom. And we say Mera Bharat is Mahaan whereas every corner of the country is embroiled in some kind of protest and sulking.

Even those who have no problems with India as a whole, have problems with one another. Telangana-Andhra fight, Maharashtrian fight against North Indians, Tamil Nadu - Kerala fight (Mullaperiyar dam), Tamil Nadu - Karnataka crisis (R.Cauvery), Punjab - Haryana fight (Chandigarh, partition). We mask these turmoils with a nice sounding phrase "Unity in Diversity". As if these inter-state issues are not enough, there is factionism in Rayalaseema of AP, criminalization of politics in Bihar, casteist equations in almost entire country, underworld in Mumbai, smuggling in Nepal borders, illegal immigration in Bangladesh border and the list goes on. Forgot to mention, there are also fights between "fans" of movie stars ;)

Now if you thought that's the end, read on. We have our 65 year old Indian government which did everything to stagnate economy, stall development, FDI; walked in the footsteps of a failed state called USSR (which doesn't exist anymore), supported Palestine (which supports Pakistan now), increased distances with USA thus making it closer to Pakistan, provided shelter to Dalai Lama thus annoying China which is a perennial enemy now (but at the same time crib that Pakistan is providing shelter to Dawood Ibrahim - heights of hypocrisy), always belonged to and enjoyed being a third world country by successfully nourishing corruption, nepotism, black-money, witch hunting of whistle-blowers. Even now, anybody dare to say "Mera Bharat Mahaan" ?? If yes, they could be plain stupid or blind in thoughts and brains.

We still clamor about Aryabhatta (who belongs to a time when there was no such place called India), we claim Mohenjodaro, Harappa (which are in Pakistan), we claim Buddhism (which was founded in present day Nepal), we claim to be birth place of Sikhism and Jainism (which our constitution still regards as parts of Hinduism and hence antagonizing followers of those religions). Now what right do we have to claim greatness about ?

Indians are usually proud of their mental abilities and knowledge. But was there any notable invention or discovery after independence ? We claim the success of so-called-Indians who either brought success to US companies or those who don't ever claim to be Indians (people of Indian origin). Our media run programs and editorials when people like VS Naipaul, Venky, S.Chandrasekhar, Hargobind Khurana and even worse people of foreign origin like Mother Teresa or Ronald Ross get Nobel prizes. Can we still feel we are an intelligent lot ??? Is our country's administration capable enough to derive the best out of our talented lot ? If no, nobody can cringe about brain-drain.

Indian defense ? It's very good in movies like Border and LoC, but in the reality is not as fantastic. The very first upset being losing 1/3rd of Kashmir soon after Independence. We don't mention about humiliations our army faced during petty skirmishes like Dwarka attack (yes, most Indians don't know that). 1965 war and Kargil wars were not as victorious as they were projected. They were just compromises and cease fire brought about by various external pressures. We don't even talk about China war which we lost badly. Our NSG commandos who are depicted as super humans took days to flush out few petty terrorists from a couple of buildings. Do we still feel great and secure ?

What else are we good at ? Sports ?? We celebrate one Olympic gold medal for years together and we also lobby to grant Bharat Ratna to that one chap. That's our desperation. Commonwealth games (no, I'm not talking about the scam), Asian games, any pride ??? How many know atleast half of team members in Indian hockey team (yeah, national game) or football or any 2-3 players of other sport in India except cricket. Now talking about cricket, think about BCCI - which is led by Sharad Pawar and a host of politicians who might not know the difference between on side and off side.

Justice in India must be a joke of the millennium. To decide who killed Rajiv Gandhi, our judiciary took almost 20 years, Afzal Guru who almost caught red handed was not brought to justice even after 10 years, now don't even think about Kasab. Every politician who gets caught ( that's very rare though) has atleast 50 years to go before the judiciary and commissions take some decision and later that decision can be reversed by a higher court or atleast bail is guaranteed.  Once an issue is identified, immediately a commission comes into picture just to spend more crores and time. Justice delayed is justice denied and its always denied in India (except for rich and influential). Media, bureaucracy, corruption, population, illiteracy, poverty, casteism in India - each deserves a separate article.

This is all about various issues, points which only Indians are much aware of. Now just imagine whats outsiders perspective of what India is (without being hypocritical that we don't care and all that drama). India is not even considered to be a major force (except by those heads of states who visit India to make statements). Nobody cares what India says, feels or decides. India rushed to support US after 9/11 but was cornered after rude snub by Americans, UNO never feels the need of pulling India into permanent security council membership, those countries which support India (like Russia, Israel) do only because India purchases defense arms and ammunition from them. Even when Libya was in crisis, they sought the support of Russia and China but never minded if India was for or against the rebellion.

Even international entertainment world sees India as a very big slum full of elephants, snake charmers and naked sages. Show me any movie which shows richness of India, and that can be a world wonder. Indian culture (which is showed in our movies as if foreigners crave about) is often ridiculed and shown in poor light. Though we don't need anybody's certificate or appreciation, we should refrain from believing that the world looks upto India for guidance or salvation.

Now, some super-optimists may say we are far better than other poorer countries. But alas, we are in a dire situation to compare ourselves with malnourished, war-torn countries to feel good. Now how the hell is "Mera Bharat Mahaan ?"

Those who just see cynicism and negativity in my post must read the following posts to understand the difference between loving, respecting, feeling good about our country without blindly believing we are the best. Bitter it may sound, but, no - we are not. Its reality.

Also Read: Confused Desis
Also Read: Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani

Why is India still a developing country ?

India got its independence in 1947 and since then the country has been a "developing" country. If anybody was asked what could be the reason for this, pat comes answer that its because of "vested interests of politicians and corruption among law makers and bureaucrats" and this answer is 100% correct. But it would be interesting to analyze what triggered the corruption and how these so called law makers got an opportunity to sabotage country's economy for their vested interests. I have covered this marginally in one of my previous articles (Read: India: History of Corruption).

It would be shocking (especially for those who are relatively beginners to economics) to know that India's growth in per capita income (income per person in the country) was only 1% since Independence to late 1980's. Yes, that means the country was literally stagnant with nil development for almost 4 decades and entire credit goes to the great JL Nehru for his foolish economic policies.

Now during those 4 decades entire industrial setup, banks, everything were under Govt control who gave away licenses only to powerful businessmen who could "lobby" and "convince" the government. These lobbyists controlled governments, bureaucrats, officers and there started an ugly liaison between businessmen (who could spend money), politicians (who could rule in favor of businessmen), officers, media, judiciary (who were paid by businessmen, controlled by politicians). This era also called as "license raj" restricted the entire country so much that everybody who had some money tried to influence policy makers and thus gave birth to the monster called corruption in India, which we are trying to fight today.

Till 1990, GDP (total worth of goods and services produced) and GNI (total income of the country) of India were among the last 20 out of 180 countries, thanks to 44 years of misrule, mayhem and destruction of economic fabric. So it would not be an exaggeration to say that we actually got real freedom in 1991. Now let us see what happened in 1991 which triggered this 360 degree effect on India and Indian economy.

Globalization & Liberalization:

Those who were born in early 80's could remember that till early 90's, the only cars we could see on the roads were Maruti, Ambassador and sometimes Padmini; BSNL was the only telecom provider, Air India and Indian Airlines were the only airways, Doordarshan was the only TV network; Soft drinks were completely Indianised (Gold Spot, ThumsUp, Limca, Maaza). It means nobody from other countries could invest their money or introduce their products and services in India. So Indian public were deprived of international goods, services, standards in all walks of life.

PV Narasimha Rao directed Manmohan Singh (then finance minister) to open Indian markets to foreign investors to benefit from Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) so that Indian treasury could be bolstered by foreign currency and Indian public could be given access to superior products of international market. Immediately we saw American, Japanese, Korean, European companies flooding India with their products in automobile, telecom, FMCG sectors etc. This was long awaited; the quality of life standards, GDP, GNI, per capita income - all started to increase dramatically and soon India fell in the top 10 economies of the world and is now the second or third fastest (not exactly sure about the ranking) growing economy in the world.

It is predicted that if this growth rate continues, India will overtake France, Germany, Canada, Australia, Japan, UK in another 15-20 years. Beating US and China would be difficult though (at-least immediately). So India can fall under "developed countries" in another couple of decades.

Opposition to FDI & Globalization:

If we pay attention to news headlines these days, Parliament is being stalled, people are taking to streets protesting against FDI in retail. They don't want foreign retailers like Walmart, Costco to setup their shops in India. Their argument is that these big retailers can cause unemployment to petty kirana and general stores in India. Hmm, may be that's correct, but the pros of FDI are more attractive than cons for the benefit of Indian economy.

Earlier when Hyundai, Daewoo, Mitsubishi were allowed into India, indigenous companies like Maruti cried foul but the government didn't heed because the economy would be developed and common man would be benefited. Now Walmart will inject huge influx of money into Indian treasury. At the same time farmers and manufacturers can directly deal with these foreign retailers thus providing cheaper and better quality goods and services to common man. So what if middlemen and brokers get affected ?

Opposition is just playing to galleries to attract a few votes from these middlemen, but if the government succumbs to such pressure and rolls back their idea of retail FDI, the dream of becoming a "developed country" will have to continue as the reality evades, thanks to selfish interests and votebank politics.

Turning Point in Telangana Movement

This drama of separate Telangana or United AP has been a topic of intense and vitriolic debate for past many years in general and last 2 years in particular. But there is a stark difference in agitation before and after 2009.

Before 2009, there were some vocal Telangana separatists who went hammers and tongs, but at the same time there were equal number of people in Telangana (if not more) who were pro-united who didn't endorse separate statehood despite acknowledging and realizing problems Telangana has been facing. The very reason was they thought separate statehood would only benefit politicians and scamsters but will not serve common man in any way. And its 100% right.

But the day Chidambaram made the statement that Telangana statehood process will be initiated, the entire dynamics changed and the change was due to the flagrant expression of resentment by Seemandhra masses towards Telangana movement. Seemandhra agitation which started after that announcement openly questioned the rationale behind Telangana movement and started a campaign claiming Hyderabad was developed by them and hence can't yield the city to Telangana (the movement was actually for control over Hyderabad but ironically called Samaikhyandhra - though nobody from seemandhra wants to be united with Telangana districts (except Hyd)).

Though Telangana and Seemandhra protestors criticized each other after that announcement, there was a fundamental difference. Telangana protestors were abused only because they were fighting for separation of a state, nothing else. But Telangana protestors had more reasons

1. Seemandhra protestors were against their main objective of achieving Telangana statehood.
2. They have been facing issues with seemandhra people in terms of culture, economy, development, imbalances. 
3. Govt of India almost granted them their state but was wrested by a counter-movement by Seemandhra protestors thus arm-twisting the government
4. They had to bear new claims from Seemandhra protestors that they have developed Hyderabad and without their contribution, Telangana would be an under-developed, dark-age place.
5. They were dubbed as mindless thugs who were playing in the hands of politicians and nobody knows why they needed Telangana

These reasons obviously didn't go well with Telangana separatists, but also posed a grave identity and cultural threat to even those moderate Telanganites who resisted separate statehood movement. No Telanganite (regardless of his/her support to the separatist movement) could take a comment that their existence is solely because of somebody else. This was a major turning point for the entire Telangana movement which catapulted huge number of masses behind the movement and this difference can be easily measured with the kind of protests, strikes, bandhs going on today.

Till 2009 the issue was only development and exploitation, but since then it has become a true sentimental, emotional, egoistic and identity crisis related situation.

Contrary to the popular notion that Telangana protesters don't know the rationale behind their protests, a lot of them do know and yes, there are a hell lot of reasons. I have mentioned the most notable reasons in my previous blogpost in early 2010 (Read:My Take on Telangana Issue) in which I tried to present views of both Telangana protestors and Telangana pro-united people.

But there are still protesters and agitators who don't really know these developmental reasons for what they are protesting. They simply can't get along with Andhra people. That's because everyone of them has faced some kind of discrimination from Andhra people in their own Telangana land. This is something which a lot of people who live in Andhra and Rayalaseema don't know or can't relate with. Though Telangana people don't like Andhra slang, they never went to Andhra area and ridiculed them. While we can't generalize, that happened a lot in Telangana.

Whenever any Telangana slang or terms were used, their Andhra counterparts either laughed or "corrected" implying theirs is a correct way of speech. That happened with me too. My telugu teacher referred to Telanganites as "Telangana Vedavalu" with a pinch of agony that those "vedavalu" were adulterating the language. That might be correct but that's what these "vedavalu" were brought up around and they have been using in their own area. Their way of speech has been ridiculed in movies, literature and that's the baggage they have been carrying throughout their lives. Every person who is on streets today protesting for Telangana has faced this sometime. So they don't just need any economic, social, political reasons. Their identity has been subject to ridicule and discrimination in their own land and that's enough. Period !

The most important reason for the huge influx of Telangana protesters post 2009 is due to the claims that Hyderabad or even worse Telangana flourished only because of favors done by their Seemandhra cousins. A city with 400 years of history which was made a combined capital of AP only because of its rich infrastructure, wealth and resources and Telangana which is blessed with resources providing electricity, coal reserves for entire south India, which is blessed with affluent resources like almost 70% of Godavari, Krishna waters, an area which was the richest area in India before merging with Andhra - needed no "contribution" from any one region. (Read: Who Developed Hyderabad ?)

Telangana and Andhra were never together in the history, but were unified with a rider that they can part ways if they can't get along (Gentlemen's agreement) - which is now unfortunately not discussed. Ironically fore-fathers of same "united AP" protesters once protested for a separate state from Madras state because of the very identity crisis but cry foul if others implement the same logic.

Yes, politicians were reasons for this mess going on to an extent. But politicians can't drag students, housewives, trade unions, government employees to come to streets, commit suicides (600 since 2009 as claimed), lose their salaries, disrupt their own life, risk the brand of their city if they don't have that angst and distress in their belly.

I know that separate Telangana will not cure all issues faced by the region, but even independence from British didn't cure all issues India is facing now !

I support Baba Ramdev !

The first time, I've seriously taken Baba Ramdev was when he convened a series of rallies against corruption an year or so back where Anna Hazare, Kiran Bedi, Arvind Kejriwal etc came to show their solidarity. So I've known Ramdev as the pioneer in the current anti-corruption movement much before Anna Hazare took to streets.

With regard to Ramdev's on-going fast against black-money, I know black money can't be brought to India in a day. But is protesting against black money something wrong especially when Govt already has a list of people who hid black money in Swiss bank but says it's not going to release those names ? I supported Anna Hazare though I know Lokpal bill has loopholes just because it has more good points than bad. Same is the case here. I will support Baba Ramdev's stint against black money and corruption because its not against national interest.

The whole country and diaspora erupted to support Anna Hazare and Govt had its foot in mouth almost immdiately, but the sentiment is not seen now in Ramdev's case. Any reason ??

The main reason is that Ramdev wears Saffron, which is associated with Hinduism. BJP and RSS seen as Hindu organizations support him. Yes, these are the very reasons which the congress government, national media and "secularists" say. So that means, anybody associating or demonstrating Hinduism is a social outcast. Can any congress leader or anybody who claims to be secular have balls to slam any Muslim or Christian leader who takes up similar movement ? Nobody thinks twice because Ramdev is a Hindu and that too he wears saffron and that too he is openly supported by RSS. So bashing him will only appease the whole country including Hindus who are against "hindu nationalism"

An idiot by name Digvijay Singh of congress says that Hemant Karkare was not killed by Kasab, but by Hindu terrorists. He slams USA for not respecting Osama Bin Laden "ji" (as he addressed) in his last rites. He takes on Ramdev or anybody who is even remotely associated with Hindus because doing that will supposedly fetch Muslim votes. This is tacitly supported by Madam. The pack of fools thus insulting Muslims' intelligence and integrity on a wholesale basis treating them as a bunch of vote bank who can sway by their stupid tantrums without realizing that they are expanding the rift between communities.

The great Shahrukh Khan doesn't support Ramdev becuase the latter has political ambitions. So what ? Is having political ambition a bigger crime than publicly supporting a friend involved in scam of crores of rupees. SRK says Ramdev should do what he is supposed to do. Then why the f*** is he getting involved in IPL and cricket ? What does Salman Khan who is embroiled in his own set of crimes know about the on-going movement to make unwarranted remarks ?

Does the country take it kindly If lets say any muslim leader is criticized like this ? Reporters were being shot at, cartoonists are being harassed to death if a religious figure is criticized in other parts of the world. But anybody can take on representatives because Hindus are spineless morons who have been taking every crap and shit since centuries.

By the way those who slam RSS and VHP never give any reason for their bitterness. If the reason is Babri Masjid demolition, aren't congress leaders guilty for their holocaust against Sikhs. Aren't Sikhs minorities ? Aren't discrimination and crimes against Sikhs religious and fundamental crimes? So if RSS is anti-minority, isn't congress anti-minority ? Aren't Sonia, Rahul and co products of the same dynasty who made millions of Sikhs flee the country, guilty of oppression ? Isn't this bloody hypocrisy ?

Media and Govt cries when Sadhvi Rithambara of RSS shares the stage with Baba Ramdev. Are they selectively blind not to see Moulvi Rizvi and other eminent representatives of Christians, Jains on the stage ? How come nobody says that the stage is hijacked by Muslim league or Jain groups ??

Yellow journalists like Barkha Dutt, Sagarika Ghose, Rajdeep Sardesai who play a proxy game in favour of congress have already started their trials to sabotage the movement.

If I'm a bit intelligent and have some logic left behind my mind, I would continue supporting every anti-corruption wave without falling prey to the collective propaganda of the government which has been a safe haven for scamsters, terrorists, corrupted, criminals and media which supports the pack of criminals in power just in their own interest.

Disclaimer: Before anybody jumps to conclusions, I'm not a fan of Ramdev; I have never tried yoga in my life, I'm not a member or sympathizer of any right wing groups. I know a lot of readers will see me as a Hindu hardliner because am defending my identity. When somebody makes a movie called "My Name is Khan" defending his community from typecasting, I can do that in my own medium and capacity and this is my medium. Those who don't feel proud of their identity, religion, way of life is like a dead wood and I'm not one for sure. Your stance is your choice !

Fans & Fanaticism - Movies & Politics

Some people take pride in claiming themselves to be "fans" of a certain politician or a movie star. The term fan is not seen as a negative connotation but as most people don't realize, it is derived from the word "Fanatic". For all practical purposes words like fanatic and fanaticism are taken in a negative sense which mean excessive, out-of-limits and prejudiced liking of somebody regardless of logic, merit and sense.

Politicians, movie stars and celebs generally suffer from an incorrigible disease called nepotism which they display by transferring their public image to their children or relatives. Politicians make their son / daughter / spouse as their successors as if political power given by voters is their private property. Useless and worthless heir apparents take on the mantle and plunge into the field of politics directly becoming an MLA or an MP. Sometimes even worse, they dream of becoming prime minister / chief minister just because they were born in a particular family.

We can't blame only the parent or the child who does this. Everybody wants to see their children or loved ones in a powerful and successful position. Rather its their so called "FANS" who should be blamed for this unfortunate situation. Without their knowledge, these bigots are rotting the society by accepting and helping worthless, ineligible, selfish successors to adorn the throne just because of their partisan favoritism.

Indira Gandhi became PM just because her father was an ex-PM. Rajiv Gandhi, who didn't know basic demographics about India, became PM out of the blue because of his lineage. Then the power automatically passed on to Sonia Gandhi and now to Rahul Gandhi. Its not limited to one political party. TDP, DMK, Shivsena, BJD, TRS, JD, SP, NC, now YSR Congress and every other party runs family show, thanks to naive fans and cadre. All these so called dynasties were established by able leaders. And his fans (and their generations) have automatically ended up becoming devotees of not only their idol but also his next few generations. So illogical !!!

If there is another angle for this senseless fanaticism, that's "CASTE". We are in a society where exit polls and opinion polls forecast the winner based on number of voters belonging to the candidate's community. Shame. Political parties field candidates based on caste dynamics and voters flock like herd of sheep to blindly vote for their "representative" without realizing what kind of benefit they reap just by seeing a person of their community winning. Weird and sad.

Today we have political parties unofficially affiliated to castes and religions. A Hindu party, a Muslim party, a Dalit party, a Yadav party, a Kamma party, a Kapu / Reddy party, a Brahmin party, a Velama party, a Gowda party, an OBC party, an Atheist party and so on. But the interesting part is that no such caste affiliated party has done remarkable service to the caste they represent. Its senseless fans and their bigotry which propels these polarization of the society, which is dangerous to the very secular fabric of the country.

Thus fans who get blind-folded by their prejudiced and uncritical devotion to their caste and favorite dynasty rot the society by disallowing worthy and sensible leaders.

Movie and entertainment industry is another area where fans give undue and inappropriate worth to people who belong to a certain lineage or a certain caste.

Bollywood, Tollywood, Sandalwood or take any wood, 90% of current lead actors are sons of yesteryear actors. Same is the case with directors, music directors, villains and even vamps. Again, we can't blame those successful stars for passing on the mantle to their children, but how can a movie goer so easily like or blindly worship somebody appearing on screen just because he is a brother or son of some icon. I can never understand this kind of devotion.

I don't really know if caste forms an important factor of liking a movie star in other parts of the country, but Andhra Pradesh suffers from this unfortunate tendency. And the worst part is that fans of those caste based icons spread venom against actors of other castes and this phenomenon has created a polarization which is directly transported to politics too as every caste based matinee idol is associated with some political party (due to fans pressure, they say), again unfortunately.

Younger generation stars of these idols become a massive election rally crowd pullers or are given a honorary title even before their first movie is released. And yeah, fans, fans associations, youth associations clamor at the very sight of their favorite hero irrespective of whether the piece of art is worth a clap or not.

Politics and Movies - These two fields are rotten big-time by self proclaimed fans who are nothing but a confused lot who get carried away by unwarranted bias for caste, lineage and such irrelevant affiliations. May they all get well soon !

Historic Opportunity to India !!!

In the last few posts, I've been writing about cricket, movies, relationships, past memories and took a long hiatus from writing about any social issues or current affairs. But I felt its time I have to get back to one such important topic especially because this is the right time to do so, taking into consideration the revolution started by Anna Hazare.

Previously I have written about how corruption started in India and why is it impossible to stop corruption in the country (India - History of Corruption). I tried to analyze how goons, police, politicians, bureaucrats, media, judiciary, corporate world are helping each other in building an empire of corruption in India. But I guess, its time to take back few words with a tinge of optimism. Yes, I think "Its not impossible to fight corruption in India".

Lokpal Bill is a bill, if passed, will give special rights to a committee to investigate and prosecute any minister, people's representative (including chief minister or prime minister) or any politician or public servant. This bill has been suppressed by the Government for the past 42 years due to obvious reasons.

In the article about corruption in India, I explained that corruption starts at political / legislative level and people at that level influence executive, judiciary, media and corporate. The only problem till now is that politicians don't have a check and even if they are on the dock, they get away with weak judiciary which works as hand in glove most of the times.

India scores very high in human resources, natural resources, abundant talent, global powerhouses in industrial growth, academics and many other fields. India has people-power to work and tasks to be accomplished to develop the country. These people and tasks should be linked in a proper way to convert the country from developing to developed country; which is obstructed in a big way by the lawmakers and lawbreakers together.

The term politics is divine. Politicians are supposed to be those noble beings who strive for the development of the society with given funds without any selfish motives. But the post independent India has been witnessing a kind of politicians who pulled the very word politics in a wrong shadow. Raja, Kalmadi etc are only tip of the iceberg.

All we need is a body or a committee which is independent and which can take the legislation and executive by horns and can act as a judiciary with an iron fist. Current vigilance department, CBI, CID, anti corruption bureau are not efficient enough as they are often interrupted by politicians in various ways. Lokayukta and other Ombudsmen act in their capacities, their power is limited. We need a system to scavenge the society from these insects who are directly and indirectly responsible for India still being the developing country for the last 7 decades. Lokpal is the SOLUTION to check corrupt pests from the society.

The world is witnessing a strange phenomenon of drastic awareness. Jasmine revolution started in Tunisia. Then it took the whole of middle east by storm and first casualty was Hosni Mubarak, the dictator of Egypt. Today Libya, tomorrow Yemen, Brunei etc...May be India is on the list. India needs a campaign or a revolution to liberate itself from the clutches of democratic autocrats. The campaign has started as is snowballing into a war against corruption. Anna Hazare started it, a revolution in its inception, to establish Lokpal bill in its entirety and begin a crusade against corruption.

I first heard about Anna Hazare and likeminded people like Baba Amte back in early 1990's, thanks to sunday eenadu booklet. I was so impressed with Anna who could do so much to develop a village and make it a model village. These are the kind of people we need as our leaders. Not those who want to make money or a living out of politics.

Anna Hazare has been in social work since long time. He was involved in development of a model village and showed the world that politics is not all about exploitation. He showed the difference to the world and then started a revolution to change the whole country. Though he was in active politics, he was never into votebank or electoral politics. He is not affiliated to any political party or any associated groups. 

He is clear about his agenda. He is not afraid of getting mudslinged and branded as anti-establishment. He has taken the mighty Government of India without any kind of ill motives of prosperity. He doesn't boast about his past accomplishment. He knows he personally is not getting benefited even if his demands are accepted. He doesn't indulge in rhetoric, he is not charismatic, but has now become a face of common Indian.

This is a war against corruption, which India needs to win badly. This is the greatest opportunity, Indian masses can ask for to get rid of the corruption bogey. I know my individual support doesn't really make a lot of difference to this great campaign / revolution / war, but as they say, drops combine to become an ocean and am proud to be a drop in the ocean called Anti Corruption Wave. Are you ?