InsideOut

The @ArvindKejriwal interview at @abpnewstv - My thoughts (written on 26/07/2015)

noreply@blogger.com (Raja Swaminathan) — Wed, 16 May 2018 14:57:00 +0000

(This was originally posted on Storify and has been copied here due to Storify shutting down its content creation and access services).

I've always found interviews of Arvind Kejriwal interesting. I've watched many of them, on various channels, in English and Hindi, at different points in time - and have always been impressed. You may, or may not, agree with his point of view, but he does seem to me to be a compelling interviewee.

It was therefore with great interest and anticipation, that I watched his interview last night on a new show "Press Conference" with ABP News. The format of the show was that he had to face questions from a bunch of journalists, instead of just one anchor. These journalists were with assorted media affiliations, so it was, in a sense, like a typical press conference.

It was a 1 hr 4 min show, anchored by Dibang of ABP News. It started with an introduction of Kejriwal, one that had a few snippets that I wasn't aware of. For example, I didn't know Kejriwal was inspired by Mother Teresa and had spent two months at her Kalighat ashram.

Anyway, as the interview went on, I got the impression - yet again - that Kejriwal was doing what he does best in interviews. Answer each question with a straight bat, not beating around the bush. To his credit, Dibang, as anchor, gave him sufficient time to answer - something we rarely see in one-on-one interviews (and something that really annoys me!).

I tweeted a bit after watching the show. Although my tweets were random, I thought I'd compile them here in a Storify series. Here's the video, followed by my tweets. And then, some thoughts.

http://www.abplive.in/india/2015/07/25/article662428.ece/Press-Conference--Episode-1-Delhi-CM-Arvind-Kejriwal-apologises-for-calling-cops-%E2%80%98thulla%E2%80%99?id=662428

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Raja@Raja_Sw

Just finished watching this. Once again, very impressed by how @ArvindKejriwal answered all qns thrown at him. https://twitter.com/abpnewstv/status/624964546940112896 …
11:28 PM - Jul 25, 2015
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Replying to @Raja_Sw
One thing bothers me. In a ONE hr intw, not one QN abt women? e.g. nobody asked @ArvindKejriwal why his cabinet has no women? @abpnewstv
11:33 PM - Jul 25, 2015
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Replying to @Raja_Sw
Many women see @ArvindKejriwal & #AAP as perpetuating India's age-old patriarchal mindset. Would've liked a question on this. @abpnewstv
11:37 PM - Jul 25, 2015
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Replying to @Raja_Sw
While I give @ArvindKejriwal full credit for how he answered the qns put to him, I think the questions could've been better. @abpnewstv
11:41 PM - Jul 25, 2015
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Replying to @Raja_Sw
What initiatives does @ArvindKejriwal 's govt have for women? Is he acting on the #Womanifesto he agreed on? #UnaskedQuestions @abpnewstv
11:45 PM - Jul 25, 2015
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Replying to @Raja_Sw
What initiatives does @ArvindKejriwal 's govt have for education? On skilling?#UnaskedQuestions @abpnewstv
11:48 PM - Jul 25, 2015
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Replying to @Raja_Sw
Recently @ArvindKejriwal 's govt decided to scrap BRT. Why & what alternative transportation do they plan? #UnaskedQuestions @abpnewstv
11:50 PM - Jul 25, 2015
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Replying to @Raja_Sw
Recently @ArvindKejriwal 's govt set up its first Mohalla Clinic. Plans 1000 in a yr. How? Resources? Systems? #UnaskedQuestions @abpnewstv
11:54 PM - Jul 25, 2015
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Replying to @Raja_Sw
Interestingly @ArvindKejriwal himself requested to be asked abt Delhi's DEVELOPMENT topics. But interviewers chose not to. @abpnewstv
11:56 PM - Jul 25, 2015
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Replying to @Raja_Sw
Also, got to give credit to @ArvindKejriwal for doing this with @abpnewstv at all. Channel ran a biased story on his govt a few days ago.
12:03 AM - Jul 26, 2015
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Good qn to @ArvindKejriwal was on the 526cr publicity budget. IMO, he answered it well though critics will be unconvinced.:-) @abpnewstv
12:07 AM - Jul 26, 2015
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Glad @ArvindKejriwal clarified the "thulla" comment and apologised to any honest police force who might have got offended. @abpnewstv
12:22 AM - Jul 26, 2015
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For me, the most significant part of the interview was at 15:30 in the video.

Dibang : "Arvind, what you are saying is nothing new. This is how the system is. And you have not been voted into power to change the system. If you had, that should have happened during Lok Sabha elections. That is where change happens".

(ASIDE: I found this a rather strange observation - that the "system" can be changed only through Lok Sabha elections. In my opinion, a "system" can ALWAYS be changed if there's commitment to do so. Put differently, you can have the same "system" with different governments in power. Or you can have a different "system" with the same government, if it really believes in change).

Kejriwal's reply was clear: "We have to change the system."

YES. I can't agree more.

I believe this is also a big reason for resistance to Kejriwal. He's fighting a system, one that's been embedded for decades and has been hostage to several powerful vested interests. These are not going to just sit quietly and allow him to do his thing. They will do all in their power to destroy him.

This is probably THE biggest reason I still admire and support Kejriwal. For sure, he has his weaknesses - but then, who doesn't? Most of us sit as armchair critics and expound on all that is wrong - how many of us have got into the muddy waters of politics and taken on the powers-that-be? Tried to change the system?

He might not be successful in his efforts. Only time will tell. The "system" is SO strong that it might consume or, even subsume him. He might become laughing stock for those who already have sharpened knives and don't miss any opportunity to mock him. Some of these were once his supporters but are now disillusioned for various reasons. Who knows, his entire support base might get eroded if he fails in his efforts.

As for me, after seeing decades of traditional, non-accountable, politics, I am happy to back Kejriwal for now, though I do feel pain when he makes mistakes. And he will continue to make them. Everyone does. But I haven't reached a stage of disillusionment yet. I tend to give people a long rope - especially when they take on challenges of this magnitude.

The one thing I feel Kejriwal could really do with, is a set of wise advisors. Currently his team might be enthusiastic and even sincere - but wisdom is a critical (and sadly, rare) attribute. The most enthusiastic and sincere people could take the most disastrous decisions if they lack wisdom to guide them along the way. Just an observation.

Even if Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) do end up letting me down (as many have told me, is bound to happen), I will take it on the chin. It wouldn't be the first time - the Janata Party already did that to me in the late 70s. But just because that MIGHT happen in the future, is no reason to not back him now.

Besides (and I keep asking myself this), if not Kejriwal and AAP, who can I expect a change in the "system" from? The entrenched parties? Congress? BJP? From the evidence so far....sorry!

Voice from Gorakhpur

noreply@blogger.com (Raja Swaminathan) — Wed, 16 Aug 2017 20:03:00 +0000

It's been a few days since the Baba Raghav Das Medical College, Gorakhpur story broke out.

There has been a lot of discussion about it since. Normally I'm never at a loss for words or for an opinion, but, to be honest, right now, I'm in no frame of mind to discuss the subject here.

Anyway, I’m sure it will eventually settle down, like all stories do. And everyone will just move on.

But right now, I'm STILL struggling to get my head around it.

How can we be SO callous as a society, that too towards babies?

Some have tried to brush this off, saying it is routine for Gorakhpur due to encephalitis attacks. I’ve seen claims that there have been about 40,000 such deaths in the last four decades, so what’s the big deal now?

That is a horrendous number – I don’t even know if it is anywhere close to the truth. But whatever it is, this is a truly pathetic attempt to rationalize, or justify, these deaths.

If anything, it only shows how shamefully inadequate our healthcare is, especially outside the major metros. And, in particular, for those depending on government hospitals, not being of the AIIMS (or near-equivalent) label.

One can only hope that at least this shocking incident is a catalyst for serious and immediate action to step up healthcare in India.

None of this helps my current, tormented, state of mind though.

I've just not been able to get these deaths out of my head. Those pictures of babies in their parents' arms are haunting me.

Today, after a very long time, I wrote a few rhyming lines (I wouldn't dignify this by calling it poetry). I still write random stuff, mostly in my head, when I'm troubled within. It usually gives me a bit of relief.

So this is what I wrote today, with the face of that little dead baby in my mind all the time. I felt like he was talking to me, talking to all of us.

Aaya tha jahaan mein tumhaare
main ek nanhaa taara
socha tha aanchal mein tumhaare
milega mujhe sahaara

chhod diya kyon maut ke dar par
tha nahin main bechaara?
jeene ka mujhe haq nahin kya
haq hai ye sirf tumhaara?

yaad main aaoon, aansoon laoon
mujhe nahin ye ganwaara
jab tak na hota yakeen mujhko
ye kabhi na hoga dobaara

I'm SO sorry, I'm SO sorry!

On #NotInMyName - and those who protest a protest

noreply@blogger.com (Raja Swaminathan) — Fri, 30 Jun 2017 13:24:00 +0000

It’s been ages since I last penned my thoughts on this blog.

Not for want of material – there’s been plenty.

But I’ve just not had the motivation to compile my thoughts in a coherent manner and put them up here. It’s so much easier to just tweet them randomly. I do tweet quite a bit. That way I get my thoughts out of my system. But I’m not sure this is always the best way to get thoughts across, even if a topic is well-threaded. I guess, to some extent, it depends on the topic too.

Today I decided I’d take the “hard” way out on a topic that’s bothering me a bit. So instead of taking the easy Twitter route, I’m putting down my thoughts here, on this blog post.

I want to talk about the #NotInMyName protests against mob lynching that took place a a couple of days ago. They happened in various cities across the country and in London.

Thousands participated in these protests, despite rain and traffic. Without these hindrances, and had it been on a weekend, there’s every reason to believe the participation would have been even higher. People of all age groups could be seen – suggesting the youth and elderly both felt strongly enough about the issue to brave the odds and be physically present at the protest venues.

There was physical presence from the Hindi film industry (Bollywood) too in the form of Shabana Azmi. In Bangalore, Girish Karnad could be seen in the protests. Others, like Diya Mirza and Varun Dhawan, expressed solidarity through Twitter. There might have been others – I wasn’t keeping track of this.

But this post isn’t about who was present, or who supported the protests.

It’s about those who didn’t.

I believe there is a significant number of persons who had reservations about the protest and didn’t support it one bit. Forget their not being present at the venues, they were fairly vocal in their objection to the protest itself.

I’ve tried to understand the reasons for this. I even put out a Twitter poll before the event to try to get a sense of the reasons, but, given my very limited reach, there were only a handful of responses. Too small a sample size to be of any use.

To my simplistic mind, these protests were against lynching. So anyone who’s against lynching would naturally identify with the cause. So even if he or she couldn’t be physically present, he or she would support it online, or, at least in spirit.

But things are rarely that simple in the real world, are they? That’s one reason I feel increasingly out of place here – but that’s a discussion for another day.

Yes, things are usually not black-and-white in this world – I’ll be the first to concede that. Binaries are not just simplistic, but even dangerous because they lock you in, without considering you might not be entirely with, or against, one of the arguments. There are many intermediate points between two ends of a spectrum, between a Yes and a No, creating various shades of grey. The world might be becoming digital - but issues aren’t. They’re still nuanced – and that nuance must be respected.

I get all that, I really do. I read a fair bit of political and social commentary, hopefully getting different perspectives on a subject to enrich my understanding of it.

But I wonder whether we sometimes don’t just overdo it. And, as a result, end up with nothing to show.

Sure, it makes for fine copy. You get appreciated for your intellect, and for your analytical abilities. But what have you really achieved, other than throw another spanner in the works?

So I think it might be useful to take a step back and look at an idea for WHAT it’s trying to do, instead of being immediately dismissive of it. Or worse, finding some reason to run it down. Fact is, nothing being perfect, there will usually be a reason that can be found. Certainly if one searches hard enough. That’s how critics often make a living.

Let me put this in the context of the #NotInMyName protests.

Broadly, from what I could gather, the objections to it took the following forms:

1. How dare you use the #NotInMyName hashtag

2. All this is a waste of time anyway, we all know it’s not going to make the slightest difference

3. This is all agenda-driven. These guys are trying to make it look like the situation is much worse than it really is.

This isn’t an exhaustive list – they were just the most common reactions I came across. If there were any other reasons for objecting to it, I’d be happy to know.

Let’s examine each one now.

1. Use of the #NotInMyName hashtag

I totally agree with those objecting to it. If you’re against lynching of all types, this doesn’t say it clearly.

This hashtag, taken at face value, implies, it’s meant for Hindus to use to protest against “Hindutva”, which is responsible for recent incidents of lynching of Muslims by Hindu bigots. That’s what this implies.

Technically, that excludes the lynching of the Kashmir police officer, Ayub Pandith, because he wasn’t lynched by a Hindu mob.

Technically, that makes Hindutva the target of this protest, no one else. This, while savarna Hindus themselves have been responsible for countless lynching of Dalits over centuries. Now they find fault with Hindutva bigots but if they have look into the mirror, they’re as much worthy of being a target of protests, as the target they protest against. The irony of this #NotInMyName tag didn’t escape Dalits.

Personally, I’d have preferred to use an action-oriented hashtag like #StopLynchingNOW. Yes, it doesn’t have the ring of a #NotInMyName – but it’s far more inclusive and far more direct.

A #NotInMyName tag says, “I don’t endorse what’s happening”. A #StopLynchingNow goes further – it says “I don’t endorse what’s happening AND I want you to stop it RIGHT NOW”. It demands action – in that sense, it goes a little bit further than just a “disclaimer” protest.

Maybe this would have caused less resentment amongst those who objected to the protests because the tag itself put them off.

Personally, I believe the protesters didn’t mean to exclude anyone. They were protesting just as much against the violence towards Ayub Pandith as they were for Junaid and others. This was even visible in places where Ayub’s name was specifically mentioned.

But there are enough folks out there who will exploit every slip you make, however unintentional. Times now are such (pun entirely intended).

One thing I will say though in favour of Dalits who rejected the protests. For centuries, they’ve been at the receiving end of the worst types of atrocities from the upper caste. How many upper-caste folks have protested at Jantar Mantar or Town Hall for them, demanding rights for Dalits?

When Dalits do protest in their own way, every effort is made to quell their protest, as if they’re committing a crime. In fact, many upper-caste don’t even want to acknowledge the issues Dalits face.

So maybe at least some Dalits saw this #NotInMyName protest as being for the right cause, but not with the right people. To be honest, I can’t blame them. I’d like them to have participated – but the platform probably wasn’t one they feel comfortable with.

Moving on, to point 2.

2. It’s a waste of time, it’s not going to make a difference anyway.

This attitude too, I can understand. I don’t agree entirely with it – protests HAVE made a difference in the past, though a large number end up being just an expression of discontent, rather than being a catalyst for change.

The thing is, in a democracy, apart from casting his vote every so many years (once in 5 years, in India), a citizen really doesn’t have much power to influence policy just on his own. Even if he approaches his representative, he’ll most likely be told “get me x number of signatures to prove there’s a mass demand for this”. That is, if he is given a hearing at all.

That is why we have petitions made in public interest, which seek to get as much public support as possible. The power, and credibility, lies in numbers.

The same applies to protests on streets. If there’s a sizeable number on the streets for a cause, there’s a chance it’ll be considered by those sought to be influenced.

Of course, there’s every chance it won’t. Much depends on the attitude of the authority. The more receptive and responsive, the more likely it will work. I leave it to you to judge how receptive and responsive this government is, with regard to this particular issue.

(Aside:

PM Modi today made a statement condemning killing in the name of cows. Some see this as a “victory” of the #NotInMyName protests. There might well be some truth in this, especially since international media like BBC and New York Times covered the protests – and we know how sensitive the government is to anything that might tarnis its international “stainless” image.

My own take on this is – I couldn’t care less.

My skepticism, honed over 40+ years of following politics and listening to politician-speak, makes me reject all talk, and focus on action. Action always talks louder than words – so, if you don’t mind, I’ll applaud when I see gau-rakshak violence actually stop.

By the way, I’ve never asked “why didn’t the PM condemn Dadri or A or B?” I don’t believe in it. What will we get? “Kadi ninda”? We see it ALL the time. In my entire life, I’ve never seen “kadi ninda” solve any issue –yet it’s the first thing everyone expects, and leaders often offer, in a situation. Sure, we shouldn’t drape a criminal in the tricolor, but I think we should have slightly higher expectations of governance from our leaders than just words. )

Back to this issue.

Even if this particular protest is seen as futile, the fact that it elicited so much response, ON THE GROUND, is itself noteworthy. We’re used to armchair warriors, typing furiously, but reluctant to get out of their armchairs. That this made some of them actually go on the streets is a victory of sorts in itself.

Was this the right issue to pursue? Weren’t there better issues that should have been protested more? Like farmer suicides. Or demonetisation. Valid questions that were asked.

The thing is, it’s not either/or. One can protest this AND protest farmer suicides. One doesn’t have to run down one protest by doing whataboutery with another. Besides, it is often a series of protests over time that makes an impact, rarely just one isolated protest.

Moving on to point no.3

3. This is agenda-driven. The situation isn’t as bad as it is being made out to be.

Maybe I should add a line “These people are Modi-bashers anyway.”

Maybe another one “Where were these guys when lynching was happening during UPA? Why were they silent then?”

This point really doesn’t merit too much discussion. I’m a bit tired of every critique being turned into an “anti-Modi” accusation. Surely some of us are better than that?

How bad does a situation need to be? How many deaths are “ok” to happen, before a protest can get their nod?

As for those who say “why didn’t you protest during UPA-time lynching”, one approach to counter this would be to show numbers. Indiaspend did come up with numbers to show that cow-based lynchings have gone up in the last couple of years.

Even so, I’d rather just say “Yes, maybe we should have protested then too. But you know what? Just because we didn’t protest then, is no reason not to protest now.” Two wrongs don’t make a right.

For me at least, it’s not about a BJP govt or a Congress govt or any party’s govt. It’s about the issue. And we need to keep raising the bar on ourselves too – if we failed in the past, we need to learn not to repeat those mistakes again.

This is about lynching – my simple mind asks, how can any protest against it be wrong?

And THIS is what has been bothering me. (I did start this post by saying that something was bothering me.)

I keep asking myself – how can you NOT support a protest against lynching?

I totally accept the points made by those against the #NotInMyName hashtag.

I even accept that, as one standalone protest, this one might not make any difference.

But…but…does that mean the protest against lynching is wrong?

People are being killed – shouldn’t we all be united against this killing? So some people want to organize a protest against it – must we weaken their efforts by running them down?

If power truly lies in numbers, we’re doing our best to ensure we aren’t united. Guess who wins when we are not united?

Yes, we have our differences. Show me one cricket or football team, with 11 players who are in perfect harmony with each other. There are differences between players, their background is different, their conditioning is different, they have egos – and yet, when they have a cause that brings them together, they keep all that aside. They need to, because they need to fight for a bigger cause. They need to try and win the game – together as a team.

We know that those who fought for India’s freedom from the British had differences between themselves too. But they didn’t let these come in the way of their collective struggle – the British would probably have liked to see them break up, and thus break their resistance.

We have a lot of differences amongst ourselves – and I don’t mean to trivialize any of these. They might well be valid too – but there are times when we need to park them aside and unite for a purpose.

A citizen protest against lynching (or rape, or any crime) is one such purpose. Unless one supports the crime, this isn’t the time to let one’s differences come in the way.

Heck, even the US teamed up with Russia/USSR to defeat Hitler in the Second World War. And we know how ideologically different the US and Russia/USSR were, otherwise.

Which is why I was disappointed.

While those in the protest said they felt exhilarated by it, the protests against the protests showed me, as if I needed evidence, the fault lines in our society. The hate, the contempt, the mistrust we have for each other.

Once again, this isn’t about BJP or Congress or any government.

It’s about us – and how we’re letting hate into our lives.

There’s a LOT of work we need to do on this front.

And we need to do it NOW.

Otherwise, if we let this hate get the better of us, it will destroy us.

On Punjab elections, and why what should be a victory for AAP feels like a defeat

noreply@blogger.com (Raja Swaminathan) — Sat, 11 Mar 2017 19:03:00 +0000

We live in times of instant gratification.

Just look around us.

T20 is the flavor of cricket today. Test cricket is “too slow” for these busy times.

(Typical conversation:

This goes on for the WHOLE day?

No, not one. Five.
Five? Five full days?

Yes. And even after that, it could be a draw. No winner or loser.

You want to kill me? Kill me NOW.)

News too has imbibed this supreme sense of urgency, an outcome of this instant gratification urge. Every outlet, in its rush to be “the first” to break the story, is happy to just push it out there, not fact-checked, unedited. As long as it is “the first”. People’s attention span probably ensures they’ll just skim through it anyway – assuming they go past the headline first. And news comes at them at such a rapid pace anyway, they’ll forget this piece the moment the next one appears in their inbox, or is delivered on social media.

That’s the world we live in today. And that’s ok – these are fast-paced times.

Patience isn’t a virtue anymore. In fact, it is probably scorned upon. (See cricket discussion above).

But this also means we sometimes miss the essence of something significant because we are too caught up in our instant gratification trip. It’s not happening fast enough for our minds to appreciate any movement at all. So we conclude, nothing is happening . But it’s happening in ITS time, not ours. Something we will appreciate only if we give it ITS time.

Ok, let me stop talking in this Deepak Chopra-esque lingo and come straight to the point.

I am referring to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and its evolution.

When the results of the Punjab Assembly elections were announced today, there was a huge sense of disappointment amongst AAP supporters. Many of them had worked incredibly hard for the party, giving it their everything. They'd even guarded EVMs, fearing they might be manipulated during the 5-week waiting period between voting and counting.

AAP came in with "just" 20 seats out of 117. This, when at one time, a few months ago, they were talking of 80+ seats, even 100 seats!

That’s quite a comedown!

The incumbent, the Akalis, did even worse. Expectations from them were very low anyway, so they probably matched, or even surpassed, these low expectations.

The runaway winner was the old hand, the Congress Party. Thanks to a leader the electorate largely trusted, Capt Amarinder Singh. And of course, the organization at ground level that this grand old party has.

So AAP ended up a very distant second. But, even so, having come in second, it is the main opposition party in the Punjab Assembly.

This made me think.

Was I expecting AAP to sweep Punjab? Not really. I certainly expected them to do much better than they did, but I never once underestimated the other two big parties.

Both Congress and the Akalis are entrenched parties, with cadres loyal to them. They’ve both fought many elections before and are surely aware of the tricks of the trade, especially how to woo the electorate. Both are deep-pocketed and can comfortably call upon resources from outside Punjab whenever required.

Compare this with AAP. It’s a 4-and-a-little-something year old party, with very little experience of contesting elections. Although it did contest general elections in Punjab in 2014, this was the first time it was seeking votes from Punjab voters to govern them in their own state.

AAP’s footprint, at least that which could have been relevant to the Punjab voter, was almost entirely in Delhi. It might claim to have a good report card to show for its two years in Delhi – but it was still a relatively unknown commodity for the Punjab voter. Many of the AAP candidates must have been new names for the voters.

Compare this with the Congress and SAD. In 2012, Congress got about 40% of the voteshare, even more than SAD's 35%, though SAD won the elections. So this time even if there was huge anti-incumbency in Punjab, wouldn't it be natural to expect these anti-incumbency votes to go to a party that is already extremely well-entrenched in the state? That has a very strong local leader in Capt Amarinder?

Why would a voter pick an untested name from an untested party over a familiar, trusted, one?

On what basis then were the predictions of 80-100 seats for AAP based?

Based purely on euphoria from seeing crowds at campaigns held well before election date?

At least if these crowds had assembled just a few days before election date, one could have made a case for AAP having a realistic chance of winning.

There were probably many reasons for AAP’s less-than-expected performance. I don’t want to dwell on them here.

I do want to however dwell on the expectation itself. That's because I strongly believe the disappointment stems from this expectation.

Otherwise, getting 20 seats in a state you're contesting for the first time, against two formidable opponents would normally be considered a victory for a new party.

I think it all started with the Delhi landslide.

67/70 is mind-blowingly phenomenal by any standards.

But it is also ripe for the creation of illusions.

Had AAP won Delhi with a more modest 40/70, nobody would've been throwing numbers like 100/117 in Punjab. That is an obscene domination, but when you’ve seen 67/70, a 100/117 looks, well, doable.

Which, for the party itself, is just fine. You contest to win. And to win every seat you contest.

But when the “new normal” being talked about becomes 80/117 or even more, you’re just setting yourself up for disappointment.

After all, Delhi is history, Punjab is a fresh election. You need to start from scratch to win over every single voter all over again. One vote at a time, building up to one seat at a time, building up to a majority. It is a painstaking process, requiring huge amount of investment of time and money. Unlike other deep-pocketed parties, AAP largely depends on volunteers for both their time and money. It was going to be a real tough ask to harness these resources for 117 constituencies.

Seen this way, AAP should have been an underdog to start with. That it wasn’t, is down entirely to unrealistic expectations, whether created by the party itself or by others.

Also seen from this bottom-up angle, that AAP has managed to get 20 seats, contesting for the first time in Punjab state elections, should be seen as positive by the neutral observer. Until now, Punjab had seen mostly a bi-party contest. This time, a third party entered the fray – and ended up being the main opposition party in the Assembly.

This might serve as a good experience for AAP in Punjab. By the time the next state elections come along, AAP might have settled in better in the state, and broadened its base. This is part of the evolution process of a political party.

Which brings me to the evolution of AAP, as whole.

And brings me back to the point I started this piece with. On these fast-paced times and the concomitant lack of patience to allow things to evolve.

Sometimes it’s hard to believe that AAP is not even 5 years old. Compare this with entrenched parties, who’ve been around for decades, with strong organization structure and cadres around the country. AAP is nowhere close to this at the moment.

Yet, the buzz is all about where AAP is going to contest next, and how it is going to “shake” the biggies in that state. Gujarat next? Then what?

Much as I appreciate the excitement that seems to follow any AAP indication, or even speculation, of contesting elections, I think we need to temper our electoral expectations on AAP. Enough of this hype. It’s not like other parties are sleeping and are just going to let AAP walk all over them.

Yes, by all means, AAP should contest every election it wishes to, if it has the resources to do so. Even if it wins one seat (or, as in the case of Goa, not even that one), it might be a first step to making its presence known in that state. It might have a small vote share which might not translate to seats, but is an encouraging vote of confidence from those few voters.

But, for heaven’s sake, keep the hype down. Put in all the effort to win – but don’t go about making statements like “we’re going to sweep it”. Your volunteers might need pumping up, but there are better ways of motivating them.

Otherwise you set yourself up for situations like today.

What should be seen as a victory of sorts in Punjab – becoming the second largest party, and therefore the main opposition party – now feels like a defeat.

All because of hype and unrealistic expectations.

AAP is still evolving. It’s still very early days for it – we don’t know how its footprint will be 5 years from today, 10 years from today. It might have a significant presence in many states by then. It might be in government in a few, maybe the main opposition party in others. Especially given the state of the Congress party at the moment, AAP might become the biggest national party after the BJP.

Or it might not. Already, based on just today’s results, some have written the obituary of the party. Somewhat reminiscent of what happened after the LS elections of 2014.

All of this is, of course, in the realm of speculation.

What AAP can do is keep doing its job, and building credibility as a party. This might not win it elections in the short run, since it is still very much an outsider, fighting for mind space against entrenched parties with established cadres and networks.

But as it gains credibility, as its work gets talked about more, as it builds more institutional strength and capability, it has every reason to hope for more electoral gains too. This might take time but if it is on the right track, it should eventually see results for all its good work.

In between, there will, of course, be electoral hits and misses. These just need to be taken in its stride, without getting carried away - or agitated - about a hit or a miss. After all, an electoral result is not an absolute reflection of one party, it is relative to how voters perceive others in the fray.

So my advice to AAP would be, just be grounded. And patient. It might be frustrating at times, but play it like a Test match. Build the capabilities that enable you to be that “lambe race ka ghoda”.

Where you’re in government, let your work speak for you. Where you’re in opposition, be a tough opposition, demanding performance from the government. Either way, the winner will be the people of that state or constituency.

This is what is in your hands.

The rest should just follow. And will, in due course.

Demonetisation - the saga in couplets

noreply@blogger.com (Raja Swaminathan) — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 16:12:00 +0000

"Demonetisation Saga", this thread

Some couplets, to show to what it has led

“Couldn’t have executed it better”, they said

Yet in queues, people were falling dead

“No pain no gain”, they said

Staying ever smug, not a tear shed

“Minor inconvenience”, they said

As across the country, havoc spread

“For long-term good”, they said

What good ,and when, safely left unsaid

“Have to make sacrifices”, they said

"We live in comfort, border soldiers lie dead"

“Kept it top-secret”, they said

Many signs though, that some did know ahead

“The corrupt are quaking”, they said

But, it’s the poor who’re breaking instead

“Will collect black money”, they said

Looks like it’s turning white instead

“Just go cashless”, they said

Nonchalant, as a cash-heavy nation bled

“Give us fifty days”, they said

Soon revising it to hundred-and-eighty instead

“Worked on it for ten months”, they said

To show this was no rush of blood to the head

While stories of success to us are daily fed

All we can do is keep banging our head

Indeed fools rush in where angels fear to tread

And thus, in one fell swoop, shatter their very cred!

***

Delhi: Beyond the Kejriwal - Najeeb Jung debate

noreply@blogger.com (Raja Swaminathan) — Thu, 21 May 2015 23:37:00 +0000

In the last week, the headlines in both mainstream and social media have been dominated by news of the turf war between Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor (LG), Najeeb Jung, and the Delhi Government, notably the Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal.

The matter of contention is the appointment by the LG of Shakuntala Gamlin, senior bureaucrat, to the position of acting Chief Secretary of Delhi, standing in for the Chief Secretary, KK Sharma, who is on leave.

Both sides have been vocal and emphatic in stressing their authority. Supporters of both sides have been even more vocal, especially on social media and in TV debates.

Understandably, given the nature of the battle, lawyers have stepped in, both suo moto and on request of both parties, to give their opinion on the subject. Suddenly one hears of the proviso to Article 239AA(4) of the Constitution of India. One hears of the NCT of Delhi Act, 1991. One hears of the “Transaction of Business Rules”.

All of this has been very educational and interesting for a layman like me. I will confess my utter and total ignorance in these matters.

As of the time of writing this piece, the matter is still unresolved. While some respected legal experts like Gopal Subramaniam, Indira Jaising and Rajeev Dhawan seem to be backing the Delhi government’s position, the LG has gone one step further and even annulled bureaucratic postings made by the Delhi Govt, claiming that only he has constitutional power to do transfers and postings.

Clearly the turf war has just got uglier.

No doubt, the decibel levels will only rise further. Not just on social media but also on India’s MSM, where this “story” is being keenly followed and debated in the daily evening primetime debate sessions.

People will discuss the politics around Gamlin’s appointment. They will discuss the alleged locking out of a bureaucrat from his office. They will discuss all sorts of nitty-gritty issues relating to the bureaucracy. They will quote constitutional provisions, the NCT Act and such, to try to make a case to prove their point.

All of this will happen. We are a country that loves to debate, especially when this gives us a chance to display our knowledge of technicalities. Everyone is suddenly an expert, whether acknowledged or self-professed. In the worst case, if the technicalities are too cumbersome to understand - or too inconvenient to face - we can always switch to generalities, and even ad hominem attacks. “As usual, Kejriwal is doing dramebaazi – making a mountain out of a molehill”, or “Najeeb Jung is a Reliance agent, now being used by BJP only to harass AAP”.

Sadly, this isn’t just the street talk on social media. It is the type of talk you see in discussion panels on mainstream media. Everyone has his knives out, as if his life depended on it.

Sigh.

I think we are missing the woods for the trees.

Honestly, I don’t care who is right or wrong in this matter. We can debate every fine point, get all the legal experts to give their views. And then?

Tomorrow there will be another point of contention between the LG and the government. Another disagreement, another showdown. Both sides seem to believe they are in the right – neither seems to want to cede to the other. So the next flashpoint is just around the corner, waiting to happen. It could be a matter of days, or weeks, but it’s inevitable.

Are we going to get into this mess every single time? The media might not mind it – in fact, it might even relish it. But we need to ask ourselves – is this good for Delhi?

The answer has got to be an emphatic NO. How can it be good for Delhi in the long run, if so much energy, effort and time is wasted in turf squabbles?

So what’s the solution?

Let me start by stating what I feel is NOT the solution.

The solution is NOT that one party (LG or Delhi government) accepts the other’s authority just to avoid conflict.

I say this, because I have seen comments saying “We never had this problem during Sheila Dikshit’s time. She and the LG always managed to work out their issues through compromise”.

Sorry, but that’s not a solution. That is sub-optimal performance, by ducking the problem. You avoid conflict, but you also don’t execute the responsibility entrusted to you.

The solution is to address the REAL problem that Delhi faces in this respect. It is not Kejriwal or Aam Aadmi Party or Najeeb Jung.

The REAL problem for Delhi is this “partial statehood” status.

Now, there might have been very good reasons in the early 1990s for changing Delhi’s status from a pure Union Territory (UT) to a “state”. Since these decisions are not taken overnight, I am sure much thought went into this decision.

I am equally sure plenty of thought went into the decision NOT to make Delhi a full-fledged state, along the lines of other states.

As a result, with appropriate changes in the Constitution and by passing other laws to enable this “state” to be created, we now have Delhi as a “state” – but not a “full state”. It has some federal powers, but is limited in some areas.

This is about as nonsensical as it gets. No amount of creative law-making can get around this basic fact.

That every Delhi government till now has accepted this, and gone with it (even if grudgingly), is a shame. And certainly no reason to justify the perpetuation of this monstrosity of an arrangement.

It is an insult to the electorate that their elected representatives have only limited powers to serve them. It is a travesty of the whole purpose of elections, a farce of democracy.

One of the first principles of management is about authority and accountability. He who is accountable, must have authority to execute. And he, who has authority, is entitled to be held accountable for use of such authority.

In the Delhi context, the elected members are accountable to their electorate. But they don’t have full authority to execute. The LG has executive powers, but is not accountable to the people – at least not through an election process.

This just cannot be right. I am no legal or political expert, I am just an aam aadmi – but this defies basic logic.

That we have allowed this to happen for 23 years confounds me. I can only conclude that Delhi has been passive all along – most likely indifferent to this blatant joke of a structure. That each Delhi government till now has accepted this, and played along, only baffles me further. To be fair to each previous Delhi government, I understand it has also occasionally expressed its misgivings. But then, this has never been vocal enough. It has never stirred up serious debate on the topic.

That is why I am hoping this gets uglier.

No, not the Gamlin issue in itself. But the stand the current Delhi government is taking vis-à-vis the LG. The sad reality in India is that unless things get really ugly, they just get brushed under the carpet.

I am hoping this will lead to a bigger debate about roles and responsibilities of the LG vs the Delhi government. Probably wishful thinking, considering Indian media is far more likely to discuss twists and turns of every minor incident, rather than discuss the bigger picture holistically.

That is what we need. A vigorous, holistic discussion about Delhi’s political status.

Should it be given “full state” status?

Should it revert to being a Union Territory?

Should part of it be carved out as a full state, the rest being under the Centre’s control? That way, maybe many of the concerns of giving it full statehood, could be addressed.

It is now 23 years that we’ve had Delhi / NCT in this new avatar. During this period, its population has grown tremendously in all directions.

Surely it is worth taking a step back now and reviewing the situation?

Do we have the political will to do so? If we did, we would probably not even be having this discussion.

I think we, the people, have to raise our voices. Today, thanks to social media, we have an opportunity to make our voices heard like never before.

So let's do it. Let's force a debate on this. Let's get the concerned parties (and I don't mean political parties) to put their heads together and work out a clean, structural, long-term political structure for Delhi.

We owe it to the people of Delhi.

P.S: For the moment, I am deliberately staying away from expressing a view on what the outcome of such a holistic debate should be, for Delhi. I do have a view (doesn't everybody? :-) ) - and I am happy to discuss it too - but that is NOT the purpose of this piece.

Right now, my main objective is to have this whole discussion elevated to a higher level. Stop discussing the incidents, discuss the cause. Fix the hole in the ceiling, instead of mopping the floor below.

All I ask for now is to find a structural solution to get rid of the scope for confusion that exists currently due to a seemingly dual authority structure. Legal eagles might dispute this, quoting provisions of various laws but this shouldn't even be necessary. Keep structures simple and clear. Keep roles and responsibilities clean and transparent. Marry authority with accountability. That's all I ask for.

If politicians, and the mainstream media, for whatever reasons, will not take the first step, we, the people, must.

On Feminism and Feminism-bashing : Random Thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (Raja Swaminathan) — Tue, 02 Dec 2014 21:29:00 +0000

Even as I type this I realize it might not be the smartest thing to do – especially since, as a man, I open myself up to accusations of mansplaining, or, of being patronizing towards women. But , as if to prove true the adage “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread”, I am going ahead and putting my thoughts out there on a topic that’s been bothering me for a while now.

The trigger for this post is a development that I’ve been observing of late – of a number of women suddenly going out of their way to trash feminism. I’m not the least bit surprised that men do this – but it does come as a bit of a surprise to see so many women now get into the act. Not only do they seem to consider being called a feminist a grave insult, they do not miss any opportunity to mock feminists and the entire feminist movement.

In a sense, this post is addressed to them.

I see that there’s an entire movement out there called “Women Against Feminism” . On the site by this name one can see pictures of women holding placards explaining why they do not need feminism in their lives.

Fair enough. Each one of them has a reason not to support the feminist movement. Either they feel it doesn’t help women, or they think men are being unnecessarily targeted, or they feel they want to fight their battles on their own.

It is of course an individual choice but I think that somewhere they are missing something fundamental to not just feminism, but to any movement.

And that is, you don’t fight only for YOURSELF, the individual – you fight for the rights of a much broader section of society. You fight against injustice to this section of society. You fight against discrimination that this section of society faces.

In the case of feminism, it is about the female gender. You don’t have to individually have faced injustice or discrimination to know that millions of women all around the world are subject to injustice and discrimination every single day of their lives, purely due to their gender.

This isn’t made-up, it’s a fact. And if you’re a woman and haven’t faced this, good for you. I’m happy for you. But the world is a little larger than just you – and there are, sadly, many more women out there who aren’t quite as fortunate as you.

So the very least you can do is to acknowledge this fact and not make it all about yourself. If you don’t want to participate in any effort to improve the lot of all those women, fine. Nobody is forcing you to. But by mocking the efforts of those who ARE trying to make a positive change for these women, you are, even if unintentionally, harming the cause of these, less fortunate, women.

Let’s just take stock of the situation for a moment.

For centuries, women have been suppressed and not treated as equals in society. They’ve been relegated to doing tasks than men did not want to do. Under the pretext of being the persons “bringing home the bacon” (often conveniently appropriating for themselves the sole right to do so), men have dominated family structures, and, by extension, society at large.

Of course, there have been exceptions. But this is exactly what they have been – exceptions. To the norm of male domination. Anything women have achieved has almost always been INSPITE of the odds being severely stacked against them. Which is why, when you look at history, you hear of a woman here, or a woman there – when half the world’s population is female.

When this has been happening for centuries, generation after generation, small wonder that in many societies, women have got conditioned to playing second fiddle to men. Right from their birth, they are made to feel that men are the stronger sex. And not just physically so. They are made to feel that their raison d’etre is to serve men. That they are the “natural nurturers”. That their lives are incomplete without men. That they would be lost without men in their lives. A single woman is either frowned upon, or pitied. She needs to be married off as soon as possible.

Whether we choose to use the term “patriarchy” or not, the fact is that there has been, for centuries, a power imbalance between men and women. One of the most striking examples of this is that in one of the supposedly most progressive societies of them all, the United States of America, on a national level, women did not have voting rights till 1920!

Today things are better, no doubt. Especially in western societies, the fight for gender equality has presumably made considerable progress, although even today gender-based discrimination is prevalent. It still manifests itself in multiple ways – whether in the form of less compensation for women compared to men, or women being overlooked when it comes to breaking that glass ceiling. And women continue to face harassment and abuse of all sorts – a result of men feeling a sense of entitlement to treat women this way.

In any case, whatever has been achieved, it has not come easy. Giving up power is never easy. And rarely voluntary. So to make men share power with women has always been a challenge. Women have had to fight for their rights. They have had to fight to force legislative change. They have had to fight to get themselves better education, better jobs, more financial independence.

The picture is much bleaker in societies like India where patriarchy is far deeper ingrained. Social mores and conditioning have made life in India incredibly tough for most women. In fact, even before they are born, even as a foetus, many are discriminated against and unwanted.

And then, right through their lives, it is a struggle for most women.

A struggle to live their life THEIR way instead of having to fit their life to suit other people. (In India, women seem to be perennially living for other people and never for themselves).

A struggle to ward off harassment by men, who seem to have an idea that the sole purpose of existence of a woman is for their (men's) enjoyment.

A struggle to be recognized as equal in society to men (although, as one wise woman said, this is too low a target to aim for).

A struggle to even be treated as just a person with her own identity, instead of only having an identity as somebody’s mother or sister or wife or daughter.

There’s much more that women go through, all through their lives. And I’m talking millions of women out there.

It’s an uphill struggle – but thankfully there are people who care to bring about positive change. They call out gender injustice and gender inequality at every opportunity, they work on improving awareness and reducing conditioning, they fight for legislative change. In general, they do whatever they can, with their limited means, to redress the power imbalance that is still very heavily stacked against women.

If they call themselves feminists it is because it has to do with women’s rights and gender equality. Nothing particularly complicated about the term.

Yes, some of them possibly do this term disservice by making this not about gender equality, but turning it into an anti-men tirade. They may have their motivations and frustrations to do so – I do not wish to speculate on these.

I'm quite clear about one thing. Not being a woman, however much I might emphathise with women, I do NOT go through the experiences they go through in life. That is why, although I might disagree with the views of some "feminists", I do not let it cloud my view on feminism. I distinguish between feminism (the movement) and feminists (the practitioners). And just like with any movement, not all practitioners get everything right. To find fault with a movement based on the acts of a few, is unfair to the movement. If you fundamentally disagree with the movement because you believe it is completely unnecessary, that's a different thing.

Although feminism gets a lot of flak for coming across as being anti-men, I've never seen it so. To me, it's always been about gender equality. And that means women and men sharing space as equals.

Since historically the affected gender has been female, it is hardly surprising that an overwhelmingly large number of feminists are women. However, there are many men out there too who do understand the need for gender equality. And try to practise it in their own lives. These are just as qualified to be considered feminists and, in my opinion, should not be shut out purely because of their gender. Doing so would only play into the hands of those who claim that feminism is anti-men. After all, men are the cause of the problem and they need to be a big part of the solution. That is why I often wish these men would be more vocal about their views - whether they choose to call themselves feminist or not.

Finally it doesn't really matter whether you call yourself a feminist or not. It's a tag (much like "capitalist", "socialist", "communist", "right-wing", "left-wing"). If you don't want to be tagged, fine. What really matters is whether you agree that we need to work towards a more gender-equal society. And that we are still far from it at the moment. At least in some societies.

If you agree, then doesn’t it make sense not to ridicule efforts of those who are working towards this end? And if you agree with the goal but not with the methods, there are constructive ways of getting that message across. Without just coming up with a blanket “I’m against feminism” slogan.

For, when we do this, we just make the whole struggle that much harder. Already vested interests ensure that it’s going to be an uphill struggle. The last thing we want is for their hand to be strengthened.

I know there are those who feel that sometimes the pendulum might have swung too much to the other side. That there are also men who are disadvantaged by the women’s rights movement.

Let’s be clear about one thing. This is NOT a men vs women thing. This is about gender equality. So if men are now having to concede ground to women, ground that gave them an unfair advantage until now, I am all for it. But if women are now having an advantage over men, while in the longer-term it might need redressal, in the shorter-term it might be the only way to ensure longer term equality. So I would be less keen to attempt a correction rightaway.

Let’s also remember that any movement has a life only as long as it has a cause. The fight for gender equality is only as long as there is gender inequality. Just as feminism came into existence because of inequality, it will cease to have a purpose to exist, once we have gender equality (although that might be still be a long way away for now, I’m afraid).

Lastly, while this entire piece has been about women, gender equality and feminism, at a higher level, this is about injustice and discrimination in society.

Discrimination can be for a whole host of reasons – religion, region, race, caste, class, sexual orientation, gender. So gender is just one basis for discrimination.

Much of what I’ve said here applies to other forms of discrimination too. One doesn’t have to be specifically discriminated against, whether as an individual or the target group, to know that discrimination exists.

So if you genuinely believe that we need to end such discrimination, even if you are not able to participate in the process, the least you can do is to not hinder the process.

Thank you.

IPL : In a lighter vein

noreply@blogger.com (Raja Swaminathan) — Sat, 15 Nov 2014 09:27:00 +0000

This post was written on 24th May 2011. The 2011 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament was on then.

For some reason, this post never got posted on my blog. Maybe it was just some lazy writing from me that was never meant for public consumption. I sometimes do that - just dump my thoughts into a Word document (or an e-mail to myself) to get them out of my system and on record somewhere.

Anyway, when I was sorting out old files on my computer, I came across this write-up which I had long since forgotten about.

It is naturally somewhat dated, seeing as it was written in 2011. But I still had a bit of a chuckle, reading it all over again. Am therefore sharing it here on the blog.

---

*DISCLAIMER: This is not a criticism of the IPL. There’s much more to the IPL than just a casual conversation between two persons, so I would request the reader not to read too much into this. *

One of the many things I enjoy, while in India, is watching TV with my mom. It is not about what we watch, but just the fact that we’re watching TV together. My mom watches only a few TV programmes and, though they wouldn’t be my first-choice shows otherwise, I do like to watch them along with her.

So here we are, watching one of her programmes today and it is about 8.20 p.m. The IPL play-off game between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) is underway and is being telecast on SetMax. I want to check out the scores quickly and ideally watch the game, rather than the current programme. My mom, ever-obliging, has no problem with my changing the channel.

So here we are, watching the game. I am feeling somewhat guilty for hijacking my mom’s programme. My mom is not at all into cricket - though she surprised me a few days ago with an absolute googly.

It was Shane Warne’s last IPL game and, just for conversation, I asked her whether she’d heard of Warne.

“Oh yes, he’s a famous Australian cricketer, isn’t he?”

I was stunned.

“Wow, I never expected you to know.”

"Oh, he’s been playing for a long time. His brother also was very good, wasn’t he?”

After a moment of surprise, I realized she’d got confused. I corrected her.

“That was Steve Waugh. And his brother Mark Waugh.”

“Maybe. But I’ve also heard the name Warne”.

I was very impressed.

"Well, this is Warne’s last game today. In the IPL”.

My mom knows the IPL. I mean, she’s heard of it. It's difficult for anybody who watches TV in India NOT to be have heard of the IPL. A few days ago, she stunned me, when, after dinner, she asked me

“So is there another IPL game today? It is 20 overs per team, isn’t it?”

I was taken aback. I knew that she wasn’t interested in the cricket as such. Clearly her interest was more because IPL was clashing with her TV programmes.

Anyway, so here we are today, watching the IPL game instead of my mom’s preferred TV programme.

In the hope of getting my mom slightly interested in the game (the guilt was beginning to get to me!), I embarked on a rather feeble line of channel-change justification . Here is how our conversation went.

Me: It’s Bangalore vs Chennai. (Hmm..maybe my mom gets interested. After all, she has a stake in both cities).

Mom: (just as the camera zooms in on Doug Bollinger bowling): He does not look like he's from Chennai. Or from Bangalore. In fact, he does not even look Indian.

Me: He’s not. He’s an Australian. In the IPL, each team is allowed to have four foreign players.

Mom: (looking puzzled) Oh, ok. So you mean the rest are from Chennai and Bangalore?

Me: (after a pause): Hmm..not really.

Mom's looking even more puzzled now, so I decide to explain.

Me: Though the teams are called Bangalore and Chennai, they’re allowed to have any players from all over the world. They can have four foreigners in the team, the remaining players have to be Indians. But they don’t have to belong to Chennai or Bangalore as such.

Mom: (now at a new level of being confused) : But you said it is Bangalore vs Chennai. Based on what are you saying this?

Me: (having to think now): The thing is, Mom, it has to do with franchise and ownership.

Mom: (amazingly still hanging in there): I don’t get it.

Me: (thinking hard, how to explain this in lay terms): You know India Cements in Chennai, right?

Mom: Yes.

Me: And you know Mallya here in Bangalore, right?

Mom: Yes.

Me: Well, the owner of India Cements has bought a cricket team in the name of Chennai. And Mallya has bought a cricket team in the name of Bangalore. Their teams are playing against each other today.

Mom: Oh, it is not really Bangaloreans and Chennai-ites? Anybody can play?

Me: There are a few from Bangalore and Chennai but that’s not the main point here.

Mom: How can you call it Bangalore vs Chennai if you don’t have Bangaloreans playing against Chennai-ites?

Me: This is not like playing for your country, Mom. You cannot play for India if you are not an Indian. This is not like that. In fact, you have the same type of thing in football also.

Mom: And this is what is called the IPL, is it?

Me: Yes.

Mom: (getting up and leaving the room) Yeddo. Panum pannartakku yeddaane paninDe irukkunum, illiya? (Whatever! They need to do something to keep on making money, right?) (Excuse my Tamil, it's terrible).

I am left wondering. And watching Bollinger and Albie Morkel bowling to Virat Kohli and Luke Pommersbach.

Chennai vs Bangalore indeed.

Namma Bengaluru (Our Bangalore)

noreply@blogger.com (Raja Swaminathan) — Thu, 08 May 2014 22:47:00 +0000

The purpose of this poem is not to criticize, but to reflect.
Not just on WHAT we are doing, but HOW we're doing it.
Ask ourselves: Even if what we're doing makes sense, is this the best way?

---------
I remember a Bangalore green

Its roads lined with trees

Its weather, everyone’s envy

All day, a cool breeze

‘Twas the pride of India

Its Garden City, no less

Who could’ve thought this city of charm

Would end up in such a mess

But the state and people alike

Gave in to their innate greed

The once “pensioners’ paradise”

Was left to go to seed

Aye, a city must grow

To modern times, adapt

If only this were done with care

The changes would’ve been apt

But now just bricks and mortar

Stack up each corner and nook

Broken pavements, traffic and crowds

Anywhere you look

The summer sun now burns

As it does the city taunt

No escape from me, it says

Try as hard as you want

Oh, how the heart now yearns

For that cool breeze of yore

But the sad truth for one and all

Is, it’ll return no more

Open Letter to Arvind Kejriwal

noreply@blogger.com (Raja Swaminathan) — Thu, 26 Dec 2013 10:35:00 +0000

Dear Arvind,

First of all, congratulations on Aam Aadmi Party now forming a government in Delhi. I was waiting for this to happen before writing this piece to you. Now that it has happened (and I hope it will last long enough for you to implement some of your plans), here are some thoughts I’d like you to consider during your governance. I’m sure you must be getting a lot of suggestions from lots of people – here’s another set for you.

As you know, even as you start, you walk a very treacherous path. You have plenty of aam aadmi support, no doubt - but there are plenty of vested interests, waiting to trip you up. So while it’s important to stay focussed on the job, it’s also very important not to give ammunition to these vested interests.

I know you have a detailed manifesto - and you and your team must be working on it with a lot of focus and enthusiasm. I will not get into its details – I am not competent to do so.

At a more general level, however, I’d like to make a few suggestions :

1) Baseline your start.

You are taking over administration of Delhi from a previous government. You need to baseline this – meaning, you should be able to measure your starting point. Make sure you have the social development (and economic) metrics available to you. Get any existing figures re-checked if you like. Statistics can be notoriously off for a whole host of reasons, as you know. When you need to ever measure your government’s achievements (or discuss it with the media or others), you would know its starting point.

2) Use a project management approach.

I do not mean you need to get caught up in all sorts of charts and graphs. But in execution of your plans, whether at mohalla level or a higher level, insist on everything being treated as a project – with tasks, deadlines, budgets, responsibilities and tracking. There’s a lot to be done, and this method will go a long way in bringing about efficiency in delivery on projects, as well as optimal use of resources.

3) Continue to keep things transparent.

One of the biggest pluses of your party’s style of functioning is that it is very transparent. No other political party can claim this. I can assure you this alone has won you a lot, and I mean a lot, of goodwill amongst the people. So please continue with this. I’d suggest the following in this context:

a) If I understand it correctly, in your devolved mohalla sabha approach, each ward is further comprised of mohalla sabhas. Each mohalla sabha is run as an administrative unit, with its management committee, its projects, its budget and so on. Please set up a website where one could navigate easily to the lowest devolution level, see what projects are going on, what funds are being used and so on. Keep it transparent and updated for all to see. This is not just for the public but also for you. You might want to personally visit mohalla sabhas to catch up with them – this update would be useful for you.

b) Have an Information Officer. It would be his/her responsibility to ensure all the information provided on the Delhi Govt’s website is updated and accurate.

c) Believe in suo moto communication, not just in RTI. I know you championed RTI all those years ago – and it has helped a great deal. But it would be better if people did not even need to ask for basic information – it should already be available to them from the government. In an easy-to-digest format. Especially information on projects, their budgets, delivery deadlines, any cost overruns etc.

So please provide this to the public as their right to know. And please do so in an easy-to-use format (maybe spreadsheet-based) , not hundreds of pages of PDF files that sometimes government documents end up being. We then cannot see the woods for the trees.

4) Ensure the economics side works too.

One of the biggest criticisms about you is about your apparent disregard for the economic impact of your policies. You are seen not just as “left of centre but, even “left of left”. In other words, a mindset of extremely populist policies which could be a major financial burden on the exchequer.

I am not saying I agree with this opinion of you (my opinion doesn’t really matter), but it is very important that your policies always have an economic impact assessment too. Finally you will need to balance your books as part of your governance – and while the people do come first, poor economics in the present only means robbing from the future.

5) Use people power.

In your administration, there may be many a time that you feel you are not able to push something through, for a whole host of reasons. I suspect this might very often be because of entrenched systems. Or vested interests. Or, especially in the case of Delhi’s peculiar situation of being both a state, and the country capital, a conflict with the Central Government.

In such situations, use people power to put pressure on whatever obstacle comes in your way. You have tremendous goodwill with the people of Delhi (and I daresay, rest of the country too). In the new style politics that you and your party have engineered, people seem to have much more power than they’ve ever had before. This is also making other political parties (and the central government) have to listen more to the public. So use this fully to your advantage.

6) Be firm in dealing with compromised people.

You are seen as a person who wants to bring about a new style of politics in the country. One that is clean, one that cares about the people, one that seeks or uses a position of power only for the people’s good. The people you carry with you also need to reflect this same mindset.

This is not an easy line to walk – and it is possible that, somewhere down the line, some of your associates might get compromised. While that will be personally difficult for you, given your association with them, it is necessary that you do not allow this to sully your image, or distract you from the larger task on hand. Many a political party has turned a blind eye to compromised members. If your party is different, that needs to be demonstrated in those testing times.

7) Keep government and party affairs and finances separate.

AAP is a new party and still evolving. This is also the first time it is forming a government. There is a chance that, in all the enthusiasm and inexperience, there is often an overlap between the two.

Keep them separate. The people of Delhi (even those who didn’t vote for AAP) deserve governance and transparency from the government of Delhi, not from a political party.

At the same time, AAP needs to continue to evolve and establish itself across the country. I am confident it will do that on its own strengths. Of reaching out to the aam aadmi, of being transparent in its dealings and finances, of sticking to its value-based and principled politics.

So while you and others in government can help the party evolve, it is important to keep the two separate and do justice to both.

8) Continue to be yourself.

You are where you are, because of who you are. People respect your sincerity, your humility, your dedication to your cause. People trust you – and trust is one of the most precious assets a person can have. So please ensure you do nothing to lose this trust.

Stay on the side of truth. This might sound like a silly and absurd suggestion, especially in the world of politics, but there’s something to be said for this old-fashioned value that’s sadly fast going out of fashion.

And continue to rant about injustice and corruption. It might make some people queasy but the public needs to know what is going on. Far too often, we have seen politicians, and people in the know, turn a blind eye towards wrongdoings. By being in the know and not speaking out against injustice, you would be indirectly supporting it.

I could think of a few other points that I’d like to share with you – but I think this is already a lot to digest.

I wish you all the very best, Arvind. It is not going to be an easy road – if only because of entrenched interests that will try to thwart you at every step and try to break you and your team’s resolve.

But as long as you have the people’s support with you, I think you can overcome any obstacle in your way. Systems of governance have, after all, been set up only for the people – and therefore need to be changed if the people want this change. Nothing is sacrosanct if it comes in the way of delivering justice to the people.

So, good luck!

Oh, and one last thing. Please do accept the security offered by the state police to you. I know you are refusing it because you think it is a privilege the aam aadmi does not get – but trust me, most of us feel very uncomfortable if you don’t get some sort of security cover. So, please accept this. We would be happy – and relieved.

An aam aadmi

Morning coffee

noreply@blogger.com (Raja Swaminathan) — Mon, 02 Dec 2013 16:26:00 +0000

The hustle, the bustle

The flexing of the muscle

Cars at the signal

Like ants in a beeline

Furrowed foreheads

Impatient, raring to press on

From a distance I observe

This world around me

Buzzing, frenzied, frenetic

I quietly smile to myself

Lazing in my chair

Sipping my morning coffee

Is the world mad?
Or am I?

The Mumbai gangrape and our outrage - some thoughts!

noreply@blogger.com (Raja Swaminathan) — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 23:04:00 +0000

(At the outset, I'd like to say that while most of this piece refers to rape, it applies just as much to VAW (Violence Against Women). And in fact, it applies not just to women but to men too. It needs to be seen in its broadest sense, even if most of the context seems to be, quite understandably I would think, women-related.).

There’s been another gangrape in India. This time in Mumbai.

The entire country is outraged.

Mumbai? Supposedly India’s safest city? That too in broad daylight?

And the girl was accompanied by a male colleague?

How could this happen?

Within a couple of days, we have more rape stories. Like this , this and this .

Over the next few days, as the outrage continues, I expect the media to keep unearthing more stories of rapes.

The subject will be hot for a few days, so it makes perfect business sense for the media to keep rape in the news.

Till, like any product that has reached its sell-by date, this topic is also discarded by the media and replaced in its space by the latest hot topic.

That’s how things work in the media world.

The fact is the truth has long since stopped being absolute. It has become what we are told it is.

The fact is before the Delhi gangrape last December, rapes used to happen in India every single day.

The fact is that after the Delhi gangrape, rapes have been happening in India every single day.

The fact is that a few months after the Delhi incident, the media moved on to other topics.

And, in a sense, the foot went off the pedal.

During those early days following the Delhi rape, there was intense pressure on the government and the police to be seen to be doing something.

The Delhi police chief held press conferences, explaining what actions he and his staff were taking. The CM of Delhi felt public pressure as there were protests in the city. The government constituted a 3-member commission, headed by Justice JS Verma, to look at stronger anti-rape laws. The commission submitted a 630-page report within 29 days. This led to the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013.

The topic of women, their empowerment, their safety was so hot that even the Finance Minister had special provisions in his budget for women. Including the setting up of women’s banks and a Nirbhaya fund for women.

But then the foot went off the pedal.

As it will, once this Mumbai case also goes off the media radar.

For a while, there will be debates on TV channels with “experts”. There will be a lot of people active on social media – on their blogs, on Facebook, on Twitter – outraging and, like the “experts” on TV, discussing what ails the system and what needs to be done. There will be talk of the “death penalty” and “fast track courts”. There will be protests and candelight vigils.

And then, undoubtedly, something else will happen and capture everybody’s imagination. And that will suddenly become the debate topic, the blog topic.

That is the nature of news. Mediapersons love to tell us that it’s about the people – but actually it’s about the story.

And a story has a shelf-life.

The fact is that the people who CAN make a difference are just not doing it.

Society at large, the government, the police force, the media – we are all part of the problem.

As a society, we create a mindset where women are objectified. Where they are not seen as human beings, but as a set of body parts. We have the advertising industry thrusting female body parts at us to sell products that have nothing to do with women at all. We have men glorified as “macho” men depending on how many women they can “conquer”.

This objectification is sweeping in its ramifications - we have the man whistling at the girl walking past and passing lewd comments, we have the male office colleague staring at his female colleague’s body lustfully , we have men groping and grabbing women in public spaces. Each of these men is not seeing the woman as a human being, he is seeing her as an object.

So we as a society need to first change ourselves. In right earnest. Coming down strongly on anything that suggests objectification. I know some will think I’m making too much of a deal of this point, some may even consider objectification a way of life in today’s society, but I do think its role in how men see women cannot be overstated.

Another thing we really need to do as a society is to try to understand the mind of (potential) rapists better.

Now, although some women may not agree, not every man is a pig. There are thankfully still many men out there who respect women for who they are. We need to see why these men respect women - and others don’t. Is their upbringing different? Are their living conditions different? Is it to do with social circles they move in? Is it that acts of rape happen more under the influence of drugs or alcohol?

If we are to reduce rape, we need to reduce the conditions under which this happens, in every possible way. Nobody is born a rapist – but somewhere along the line, rapists and potential rapists get created.

There's much more we can do as a society.

For example, bringing up our children to respect all others, regardless of gender (or other discriminatory societal grouping).

For example, not tolerating patriarchal behaviour, regardless of where we see it happening.

The fact is, we are just not doing enough.

As a society, our end-objective is to ensure that men and women are both seen and treated as equal human beings, with their sex being only a biological differentiator. It is much easier said than done, no doubt – but I believe it is very much doable. And the onus is very much on us as a society. We keep making demands on our government but there is a lot we can do ourselves.

Talking of the government, it is of course one of the government’s primary functions to provide a certain level of security for its citizens. Clearly, this is not working well enough at the moment. And although there have been some changes in the laws recently, clearly more needs to be done.

And not just on the legislation front. Much more needs to be done at the ground level. Police reforms have been talked about for ages, but somehow it keeps going off the radar. If we need deterrence against crime, we need criminals first and foremost to be brought to book. Only then can the law kick in at all.

While various political parties will keep pointing fingers at each other, I believe the best way to get the government to act is to make personal security an election issue. Governments, even in a democracy, have been known to have scant respect for the common man – until they feel that their existence is at stake. So the common man needs to hurt the government where it hurts – and that is usually at the polling booths.

Then there is the media.

I am sometimes amazed at how much power the media has – and how poorly it has used this power. The media is supposedly the fourth estate – it is supposed to safeguard the interests of the public. And it can do SO much. Governments may not care about the voice of the common man – but there is not a politician out there who would want to run foul of the media. The media has been known to make or break personalities. And politicians need the media to build their image and to carry their message to the public.

With all this power, the media could support the fight for equality of the sexes by supporting and promoting the right messages to the public. By coming down strongly on all things patriarchal and discriminatory. By following up on stories and ensuring that appropriate pressure is put on law enforcement agencies to book criminals. And pressure is put on the judicial process to ensure criminals are not allowed to get away lightly.

Fighting crime (of which VAW / rape is a part), using its power, could be one of the media’s most responsible actions.

One thought. If we can have an NDTV Profit channel to discuss money, maybe we could even have an NDTV Crime channel? Or a Times Crime or Zee Crime channel? Or a Doordarshan Crime channel? Surely there's enough 24 / 7 material for a full time crime reporting channel?

I know much of what I am saying will be dismissed as wishful thinking. We live in cynical times. And yes, going by evidence on the ground, one can hardly blame the cynics.

Yet, I think we have the solution only in our own hands. Things are not going to change overnight – but they are also not going to change with these debates on TV or these candlelight vigils.

As a society, we talk too much. Maybe it’s time all of us backed up that talk with some action.

(I recognize that this blogpost is also another of those blogposts written in the aftermath of the Mumbai gangrape. The very blogposts that I have referred to earlier in this piece. The point is not that we should not express our views – of course we should. The point is that we need to do much more than just “outrage and move on”).

Independence Day (15th August) thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (Raja Swaminathan) — Thu, 15 Aug 2013 10:07:00 +0000

Today is the 15th of August – a date that has a very special meaning and significance for all Indians, wherever they may be in this world.

For it was on the 15^th of August 1947 that India got its independence from British rule.

This date is therefore understandably celebrated by Indians. It is a national holiday in the country too.

Such an occasion is also a good moment to reflect on the state of the nation. What its achievements are, how it has got to where it is, what its aspirations are, and what needs to happen for it to meet its aspirations.

Before I do my bit of reflection along these lines, my mind goes back to Independence Day 1972.

I was then in primary school. As usual, Independence Day was a holiday but there were events lined up by the school to celebrate the day.

There would be the usual flag unfurling by the Chief Guest, there would be a March Past at 7.00 or 7.30 a.m where we would salute the flag as we marched past it. Later that day, there would be some sports events, mainly athletics.

Like most of my friends, I would enjoy the day. Dressed in uniform but wearing white canvas shoes, it was a day of great joy and pride for all of us. When the flag would be unfurled and all those petals would come down, we would all heartily clap and our chests would swell with pride.

This would be the school routine every year. I specifically remember, and mention, 1972 because I remember it was the Silver Jubilee year of independence and we had even more activities and events lined up that day. The mood was very upbeat – the war against Pakistan had been won in December 1971, so this was the first Independence Day after that achievement.

(Of course, a year later, the OPEC financial crisis happened and inflation went through the roof. A couple of years later, Emergency was declared and the 70s in India suddenly began looking different. I was too young then to understand the rationale or significance of these events, though I did notice the price of Coca Cola significantly going up. But even at that young age, since I used to read the newspaper regularly, I could notice changes happening, even if I didn’t understand why.)

The other non-school related elements of Independence Day used to have a comfortable ritualistic feel about them. The Prime Minister would address the nation, there would be patriotic songs played on radio. No radio programme on Independence Day was complete without airing “kar chale hum fidaa jaan-o-tan saathiyon”. We didn’t have a TV in those days but later when we did get one, we would see the Doordarshan film on Independence Day.

Those memories still linger on in my mind, although forty years have passed since. The rituals continue to this day – even today, the PM of India addresses the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort in Delhi. Even today, All India Radio plays patriotic songs on Independence Day. Even today, there is the flag unfurling ceremony and there are March Pasts all across the country.

Even today, in schools, there must be excited children waiting for Independence Day, wearing bright white canvas shoes and waiting excitedly for the Chief Guest to unfurl that flag. The players are different, the rituals are still much the same.

This is part of tradition now. And, whatever our reservations about a whole host of things, I am glad that we still perpetuate these traditions, at least for the sake of the youth and children of this nation. They need to grow up with a sense of pride and belief in their country – and these rituals, though they may only be symbolism, help in building this sense in them.

Later in life, as they discover more about their country, they may not have quite as rosy a picture of it as in their childhood. But I think every child deserves to live with pride in his country and hope for its future. It is hard to find a sadder spectacle in society than a disillusioned and embittered child. If a child has no hope, society has no hope.

This now ties in, even if somewhat uncomfortably, with my reflection on the state of the nation.

(I want to clarify that my views are about the country as a whole, not about any political party.)

It would not be unfair to say this this is one of the most sobering Independence Day celebrations that we’ve had in a long time. I thought last year was sobering enough, but this year seems to be a notch lower in terms of people’s moods and spirits. If last year, cynicism had entered the public mindset and found its place, this year its roots deepened as it firmly entrenched itself across the national psyche.

It’s not hard to see where this cynicism is coming from. Every day when we open the newspapers (or read news on the net), it’s not difficult to see that there’s not exactly a whole lot of good news to read about, is there?

From bad economic news (rising inflation, rising fiscal deficit, falling rupee, falling industrial production) to bad governance news (rising crime, increasing corruption and scams) to the rising risk to internal security (thanks to an increasingly fractured social fabric due to religion-based or deprivation-based divisiveness), there is not very much for Indians to feel good about their country right now.

Many Indians today have no trust in their government or in their institutions, be it the police or the judicial system or the media or any other institution. There is a sense of lack of accountability across the board for those in power and in positions of responsibility. And, at the same time, a sense of helplessness amongst those who have ironically vested in these powerful people this power.

While this is understandable, it is clearly not a healthy situation. Many Indians are celebrating this Independence Day with a hollow feeling within. I have already had people telling me “what’s there to celebrate?”. Some are even questioning whether they are really independent. Their feeling is that they may have got freedom from British rule but are now being ruled by a different set of rulers, albeit Indian.

My mind often goes back to our Founding Fathers and to those who fought for freedom from the British. What struggle they must have gone through! So many of them sacrificed their lives. So many spent years in jail.

Even when they did wrest independence, India was a very fragile newborn. There were communal riots and a lot of tension. There were 500+ kingdoms/states to be united as part of the same nation. There was rampant poverty. There was rampant illiteracy.

Despite all this, those Founding Fathers persevered. They had a dream, they had come this far in getting independence for India, they were not going to slacken their efforts. Although Gandhiji died soon after independence, the rest took upon themselves the task of building the country in right earnest. They came up with the Indian Constitution, which in itself is a tremendous achievement and the basis for running the nation.

If they were alive today and could see the state of the nation, how would those Founding Fathers feel?

Would they be proud of today’s India? Is this the India they dreamt of? Have we done justice to their dreams?

The famous words, as if spoken by our Founding Fathers, “Hum laaye hain toofan se kashti nikaal ke, is desh ko rakhna mere bachon sambhaal ke” ring in my ears. And I cannot help feeling somewhat ashamed that we might just have let them down.

We are not answerable only to our Founding Fathers. We are also answerable to our future generations.

Our children and grandchildren will inherit the India that we leave for them. Just as we inherited the India that our Founding Fathers left us with.

Are we leaving them an India that they can be proud of? That they would be happy living in?

Let me not paint too bleak a picture here. To be fair, we have come a long way. It is not all just doom and gloom.

Overall, we have far better literacy, far better lifespans, far better standards of living than ever before.

India today is counted among the more powerful countries in the world, even if it is still tagged (as it was way back in 1972, when I can recall this tag) as a developing nation and not a developed nation.

And very importantly, inspite of the occasional threat to it, we are still a proudly pluralistic nation.

And we are still a vibrant democracy, where we have (at least on paper) a choice in who we elect to represent us in Parliament.

But all this is not enough. There is still a long, long way to go. And all of us know it. There is no point in fooling ourselves.

Now, we can keep complaining about all that’s wrong with the system and in the country. But the fact is that we ourselves are responsible for the society and nation we build. Each society builds itself, it is not built from outside. We need to stop blaming the British (they left the country 66 years ago) and look at ourselves.

In a sense, we are both the problem and the solution. We haven’t quite taken proper care of the country that our forefathers fought so dearly for. And yet, only we can solve our problems.

I believe it starts with a beliefthat we can – and will – stem the rot. If we give up, saying “nothing can be done”, the battle is already lost. Sure, the problems facing the country are huge, but they are not insurmountable.

We need to realise that as an independent country, India is only 66 years old – and in the lifetime of a country, this is nothing. You could even say much of what has happened is part of the churn from a colonial mindset to an independent, confident mindset. "Power to the masses" is a great slogan but these are masses who are used to having been ruled for centuries.

Following on this belief, there must be a strong desire, a burning passion to change. Passion does strange things – it makes people far more powerful than they think themselves capable of being. If everybody just wants to run away from the problem (“let somebody else fix it”), we deserve whatever mess we get.

Following on this belief and passion, we need a community spirit. There is only so much an individual can do. Even Gandhiji, for all his belief and passion, would never have succeeded if he had not got the support of the millions of Indians who went along with him. And this spirit must cut across all the barriers that we have placed on ourselves – barriers of religion, of caste, of class, of language.

And then of course, action. Finally all this has to culminate into a series of actions that will deliver us the India we dream of. It is not enough to just discuss or to write books – we need to translate all this into action. And though we have our unique issues, I do think it would help perhaps to learn from experiences of other nations. What do they do well that we don’t? It’s important to keep an open mind and learn from others.

I could go on and on – I have a lot more to say on this subject. But I think I’ll take a break for now. It’s already become a long post and perhaps I’m beginning to get a bit preachy. I do tend to get carried away, my apologies.

I’d like to end this particular post with one point though that I’d like all Indians to remember.

Today we are a free country. And despite everything that’s not going right, this freedom is something that we hold – and need to hold - very special to our hearts. It didn't come easy.

This freedom allows us to hold our heads up high. It allows us to express our opinions freely – something that we were not allowed to do during colonial rule.

So let’s all appreciate the value of this freedom.

Let’s all make it count.

We owe it to our generation.

We owe it to our future generations.

We owe it to the Founding Fathers of our nation.

Happy Independence Day! Jai Hind!

When you say nothing at all...

noreply@blogger.com (Raja Swaminathan) — Sat, 06 Jul 2013 18:55:00 +0000

When you say nothing at all

I feel you tell me more

Than when you speak

When you say nothing at all

Your eyes tell me

What words can never express

When you say nothing at all

I know that within

You are hurting, real bad

When you say nothing at all

Inside you are crying

Even if your eyes are dry

When you say nothing at all

You cause me more pain

Than when you speak

So talk to me, tell me

I implore you, tell me

Speak to me

Tell me what pains you

Tell me what’s hurting you

Tell me

Speak to me

That I may share your pain

For what it’s worth

Speak to me

For you kill me

When you say nothing at all

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

The "smallest" things

noreply@blogger.com (Raja Swaminathan) — Tue, 02 Jul 2013 10:09:00 +0000

This post has been written as part of the writetribe initiative.

***“Ajay, I’m leaving you.”

“What?” If a bolt had hit him from the blue, he couldn’t have been more taken aback. “What’s wrong with us?” he managed to say.

“I don’t know. All I know is that I’m just not happy with you anymore.”

“But..but what have I done wrong? You’ve got to tell me!”.

“Where do I start?” I paused for a moment. “Ok, remember my miscarriage?” It was something we didn’t talk much about, especially after our now 3-year old daughter, Aditi, had come into our lives. But I had to bring it up to make a point.

“Yes, what about it?”

“Well, you weren’t there at the hospital with me, were you? And I needed you more than anybody else at that time.”

“We’ve been through this before. I told you I was hosting the annual office Christmas party. Everybody was there, I was the chief host. I just HAD to be there. I did keep constantly in touch with the hospital on the phone, you know.”

“Remember the time my parents had taken a stopover in Mumbai on their Singapore-Paris journey just to see us one evening? I told you weeks in advance to keep that evening free. But you HAD to fly out of town on just THAT day! Now my dad’s gone forever…”

“I know – and I feel really bad about it. You know I liked your dad. But when I flew out that morning to Delhi, I was very sure the contract would be signed in a couple of hours and I could be comfortably back by evening. But those guys suddenly wanted to go through all the fine print and the meeting went on till late evening. I really couldn’t help it, dear”.

“And is there a reason you call Aditi Aditya all the time? You always said it didn’t matter whether it was a girl or a boy, as long as we had a baby. Yet, you’ve never once called her by her name. Is there a problem, Ajay?”

“Oh, that!” he laughed. “No, not at all! She’s my little boy”.

“No, she isn’t. She’s our little girl. And if you have a problem with that, fine. I’ll rephrase that - she’s MY little girl.”

“Come on now, don’t be silly. You’re blowing these small things way out of proportion. Ok, so you’re right about all this stuff – but haven’t I made it up to you every single time? After the miscarriage, I took you to London to make you feel better. And I did get you a diamond bracelet to say sorry for not being able to meet your parents, didn’t I?”

“That’s just it, Ajay. That’s exactly the problem. For you these are “small” things – which you can “make up for” with a gift. Well, you know what? Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart. And after so many of these “small things”, there really isn’t any room left in my heart anymore. Maybe you wanted a trophy wife – you sure picked the wrong person to marry then. I’m leaving you, Ajay – and I’m taking Aditi with me.”

“You can’t! You wouldn’t! Where will you go anyway? You need me. A man. You don’t know how tough it is for a woman out there on her own. That too with an infant child”.

“Thanks for your concern. But I’ll manage just fine, thank you. I don’t need a man in my life. It’s a myth that a woman needs a man to take care of her”.

Ajay was stunned. He’d never seen his wife like this.

As I left, I called back from the driveway. “By the way, I’ve left the diamond bracelet and all your other fancy guilt gifts in the cupboard. Feel free to worship the cupboard now. You can even call it Aditya if you like”.

***

Life's like that!

noreply@blogger.com (Raja Swaminathan) — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 05:59:00 +0000

Even by the standards of his terrible job, the day had been bad.

It had started with his car breaking down on the way to work. It was then he realized that his phone battery was also dead. By the time he finally managed to get in to work, it was as if all hell had broken loose.

A critical server had crashed. Thanks to his company’s belt-tightening efforts, the backup server, never used operationally until now, was nowhere close to being capable of handling the load now expected of it, rendering it practically unusable. His colleague had decided to call in sick that day – leaving him now to deal with the problem. In other words, fix it.

John, his boss, was in no mood for explanations. “Fix it – then we’ll talk!” he barked at Mike.

Mike didn’t say a word. Getting straight down to business, two hours later, after a lot of searching and testing and rebooting, voila – the server was up and running again. They were back in business.

“John's cabin. NOW.” came the terse message from John’s secretary.

“It is ok now, John” Mike said, as he entered John's cabin.

“What’s ok? Four hours! FOUR hours we’ve lost today. Do you have ANY idea what that means? Do you know how many orders we’ve lost? How many customers we may have lost? Do you know how difficult it is to retain ONE customer nowadays?”

“Sorry...I did the best I could. It was quite a complicated problem. The system directory…”

“Spare me the details. You walk in one hour late, we can’t get you on the phone – who do you think you are?”

“Sorry, my car broke down. And my phone died too. I didn’t know Jim wouldn’t be in today. Anyway, it’s working now. We really should be getting a faster backup server, John”.

“Sure, why don’t we just get it out of your salary?”

Mike went silent.

“What are you doing still standing here? Have you finished that network configuration schematic that I asked you to work on? I want to see it by end of day today on my desk.”

Mike returned to his desk. The day was only half over but he was already feeling very tired. Oh, how he hated this job! But he needed it. He needed the money. Not for himself, but for his daughter.

Mira. His ten-year old. She’d been five when her mother had died in a fire accident in front of her eyes. She hadn’t spoken a word since.

He’d shown her to every doctor he could. “It’s a trauma case. We can try – but no guarantees”.

And they’d tried. Without result.

He’d finally taken her to Chicago. A friend had suggested this speciality clinic there. Not very well-known but apparently it had shown some good results for similar cases. It was over a thousand miles away – but he was willing to try ANYTHING.

“No guarantees, Mr. Wilson” the doctor had said “but we’ll try our best. You can leave her in our care.”

It was expensive – and insurance covered only a fraction of the costs – but it didn’t matter. Mira was all he had. Money was no object.

He’d call up the clinic every week. “We’re working on it” is all they’d say.

The phone rang.

He was in no mood to pick it up. It went to voice mail. “Mr. Wilson, this is Dr. Adams from…”.

He grabbed the receiver.

“Yes, Doctor?”

“Mr. Wilson, somebody wants to speak to you”.

“Papa”.

He froze.

“Papa”.

He couldn’t speak. Tears were flowing down his eyes.

He covered his eyes with his hand.

Nothing, NOTHING, could spoil his day now.

(Pic courtesy morguefile).

This post is written as part of the writetribe initiative.

7 x 7 x 7 x 7

noreply@blogger.com (Raja Swaminathan) — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 09:43:00 +0000

Here's the latest blogging assignment.

1. Grab the 7th book from your bookshelf.

2. Open it up to page 7.

3. Pinpoint the 7th sentence on the page.

4. Begin a poem/a piece of prose that begins with that sentence

5. Limit it in length to 7 lines/7 sentences.

So here goes.

Text from A Pelican at Blandings – PG Wodehouse

Looking at Vanessa Polk, one could easily imagine her being kind to people, whether on or off ocean liners, for her warmth and geniality were obvious at a glance. Where Lady Constance had winced at the sight of Lord Emsworth like a Greek goddess finding a caterpillar in her salad, she smiled upon him as if their meeting was something to which she had been looking forward for years. It was a wide, charming, smile and it brought about a marked improvement in his morale. He felt, as so many did when smiled upon by Vanessa Polk, that he had found a friend.

‘How do you do?’ he said with a cordiality of which a short while before he would not have been capable. Then, remembering a good one, he added ‘Welcome to Blandings Castle. Tomorrow’ he said ‘I must show you my pig’. It was not an invitation he often extended to female visitors, for experience had taught him that the Empress was wasted on their shallow minds but here, he saw, was one worthy of the privilege. ‘Are you fond of pigs?’

So here are my 7 lines:

Tomorrow, he said, I must show you my pig

All of Blandings, Ma’am, hath not one so big

Majestic is she, three hundred kilos and more

Outwardly tough, heart soft to the core

No ordinary pig, no, an Empress is she

A sight to behold, a joy for all to see

So Ma’am, er, are you fond of pigs?

Why I write

noreply@blogger.com (Raja Swaminathan) — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 09:17:00 +0000

There is this bloggers’ initiative that I’ve recently started participating in. Every week a topic is given to participating bloggers – they need to write a blogpost on the topic.

This week the topic is “Why I write”.

So here goes.

I must start by saying I’ve never thought about this – and wouldn’t have, even now, if I hadn’t been prompted to do so.

I guess there are a few reasons I write.

1) My need to dump my thoughts onto SOME platform

Those who know me will vouch for the fact that there are some subjects that I am rather passionately interested in. Subjects that I follow on a daily basis. Like politics and current affairs. Social issues. Films. Music. Sports, especially cricket. And economics too (the practical side of it), though I don’t claim to understand much of what I read.

Anyway, I spend a lot of time reading on these topics. And formulating my own thoughts and opinions based on what I read and hear.

If all these thoughts / opinions remained only in my head, I think I’d go crazy. :-) I want to share them with others. Hear their points of view. Or, at the very least, get these thoughts out of my system.

Now, different people have different ways of expressing their thoughts – an artist might do it through a painting, a sculptor might do it through his sculptures, a cartoonist might do it through his cartoons. Since I sadly possess none of these skills, the route I have chosen is through the written word.

So that is one of the main reasons I write.

Note that the platform for dumping my thoughts is pretty random. It depends on what those thoughts are – and the level of detail. If it’s just a few lines, it usually ends up on Facebook or Twitter. Sometimes, I do decide to post it on my blog. Sometimes, I just dump my thoughts on a Word document – and leave them there. And some thoughts don’t get dumped at all – they just die in my head.

My frame of mind often determines the format. Sometimes I think in poetry, sometimes in prose. But most importantly, once I’ve got my thoughts put down (in whatever format or platform), it feels good to have it out of my system.

2) Writing helps organize my thoughts

Another reason I write is that my thoughts tend to get better organized when I put them down in writing. This is something that I realized early on in life - in my school/college days. I’d read something, I’d think I understood it well enough – but then I’d try to put it down in writing, in my own words. And then realize that I hadn’t quite understood it as well as I thought I had. And I hated not understanding things.

So it became a habit for me to try to write down my thoughts. It was often a test of how much I knew and understood. And if I couldn’t write them down, I knew I was fooling myself.

This habit got into my work life too. Often I’d have meetings where we’d discuss a whole lot of things, often in a chaotic manner. At the end of it, I’d feel the only way to make some sense of it all would be to write down what was discussed.

So, for my own satisfaction, often right after the meeting, regardless of whether official minutes were being taken by anybody else or not, I’d make a “meeting recap” for myself. Point by point, with action points of who/what/when. I’d distribute it to the other attendees – who would then validate my understanding. But importantly, I felt comfortable and satisfied only when I made this recap. Often this recap would end up being treated as the official minutes of the meeting.

3) Have it in writing

Another reason I write is that my memory is rather poor (I know some people will disagree with my saying this, but it is true).

I was once in a parking lot, staring at a whole lot of cars not knowing which one was mine. And that, when I'd been having that car for years! :-) I sometimes think I'm lucky that when I go out somewhere I manage to come back to my own home, instead of knocking on somebody else's door!

So I often write things down to remind myself. I know this isn’t “writing” in the sense of writing an article or a blogpost (as was probably intended by this writing prompt) but it still has to do with the written word.

Talking of the written word – and following from the above point about a poor memory - I must say I like written confirmation of verbal assurances. Whether given TO me, or BY me. If something is in writing, it leaves less scope for misunderstandings as people tend to think more about saying something in writing, than just verbally.

4) Longevity of the written word

Another reason I like writing is that there is a sense of longevity about it. The spoken word is nice, but it is here this moment, gone the next. The written word is there seemingly for eternity.

For example, if we look at scriptures or the holy texts or anything that has survived several generations over hundreds, or even thousands, of years, we find that much of all this still survives because, at some point in time, these were put down in writing. That which has been passed by word of mouth, from generation to generation, is more prone to adaptation and interpretation by the concerned persons, with consequent dilution of content.

And I’m not talking only about the Bible or Shakespeare’s works. There’s much to be said in favor of the written word. My father passed away a few years ago – I remember fondly some of the things he used to talk to me about. But what I have, as part of his legacy, are some letters he wrote to me at various points in time. Sometimes about mundane matters – but written with utmost love and affection, in his own, very good, handwriting. He is physically not here anymore – but his letters are. And they are part of my treasured possessions.

So this is an important reason I like to write. Not that I am leaving a legacy of any sort with what I write – but at least my thoughts do not remain only in my head. One day we all have to die – and when I do, hopefully my blog will still be around to let people (especially my family and friends) have some idea of my thoughts at a particular point in time, should they be interested at all.

Of course there is increasingly the other option – the video blog (or the vlog, as it is sometimes called). I have not tried it yet – and I think I might try it sometime – but I doubt it will replace my penchant for writing out my thoughts.

5) Love for writing

I think this might really be at the crux of it all. All the above reasons are valid reasons, no doubt, but at the heart of why I write is probably the heart itself. And that heart clearly has a love for writing.

If I didn’t love writing, it would be a chore. And it most certainly isn’t. Even when I’m writing rubbish (and that’s, more often than not, the case), the process of churning out this rubbish is quite enjoyable. And I’d say, even therapeutic. Which is also the reason why, even if there isn’t one person in this world who reads what I write, it doesn’t really matter.

As with most things one truly loves, the destination isn’t always the most important thing, sometimes the journey itself is.

For me, I guess it’s the same with writing.

Ode to the humble rose

noreply@blogger.com (Raja Swaminathan) — Wed, 29 May 2013 23:34:00 +0000

From the day you first see light

From when you breathe as a bud

You know it’s a matter of time

‘Fore you lie crushed in mud

To bloom is to surely die

Ripe for an eager pluck

Yet bloom you certainly must

It’s a fate you cannot buck

A lady’s hair you adorn

Or to a bouquet you belong

Or, into a garland you go

You know you can never do wrong

Even as petals, you serve

To the Lord, they offer you so

Or, you lie on a person’s grave

On his last journey, with him you go

So short though your life may be

You have no grouse, grief or ire

For a rose lives not for its own sake

It lives for another’s desire.

(Pic courtesy http://sarabbit.openphoto.net/gallery/ )

This post is written as part of the write tribe initiative.

RIP Cricket (1877-2013)

noreply@blogger.com (Raja Swaminathan) — Mon, 27 May 2013 19:06:00 +0000

Once upon a time

Not so long ago

There was a sport called cricket

That I loved to follow.

With bat and ball

And stumps and bails

Runs and wickets

And legends and tales.

The Ashes and Bradman

Sobers, and games tied

I read up on them all

With eyes ever wide.

Marshall to Gavaskar

Chandra to Richards

The magic, sheer magic

Of contests revered.

Was simpler back then

Little money, less support

Players, made but a bit

The game, much a sport.

Then along came the merchants

With dollars in their eyes

One mantra on their lips

Monetize, monetize, monetize.

Fair game indeed, why not

For the times were not the same

And he, who goes not with the flow

Has only himself to blame.

But then, alas, disaster

For it all went just too far

The greed, it killed the sport

A million cuts, many a scar.

So died the game called cricket

A business now in its place

In the quest for money and more

The game died, nary a trace.

R.I.P, cricket (as I knew it).

You Only Live Once (YOLO)

noreply@blogger.com (Raja Swaminathan) — Thu, 23 May 2013 02:24:00 +0000

“You only live once”. YOLO.

This is something you hear a LOT nowadays.

For many people, this immediately triggers their imagination into doing all sorts of things with a sense of urgency. Mostly fun things.

For many, very high on their to-do list (if not right at the top) would be travelling around the world – to a lot of exotic places on this earth. And, increasingly, maybe space travel too.

And that’s understandable. This earth has SO much beauty – and so much mystery about it – that one could spend a lifetime discovering it. Just watching National Geographic (or Discovery Channel) on TV is such a rewarding experience for me – imagine if I could actually BE in all those exotic places! How awesome would THAT be! And I know I’m not alone with this mindset – I speak for millions.

And yet, it isn’t top of my to-do list. It’s at best, a nice-to-have.

True, my life would be incredibly enriched if I could do it. But somehow I wouldn’t consider it incredibly impoverished, if I couldn’t.

On the other hand, I WOULD consider my life considerably impoverished if I couldn’t put it to use for the benefit of others.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not pretending to be a saint – I am no saint. And charity begins at home, so one needs to keep that in mind too.

But different things appeal to different people – and what really makes ME very happy is to see others happy. That does more for me than any material acquisition.

So it is entirely in my selfish interest – of seeing others happy – that I choose others’ happiness as my goal. I am happy if they are happy. And it bothers me if they're not. Especially if it is for no fault of theirs.

This world isn’t fair. It isn’t a level playing field. Millions are deprived opportunities right at birth – purely because of where they are born, or what race or class or caste or gender (or other discriminatory stamp on their forehead) ensures they are deprived, or discriminated against, all their lives.

I’m acutely aware of having had a privileged life compared to these many millions – and no, I’m certainly not feeling guilty about it. But I’m not comfortable looking the other way either. I’m not that desensitized yet. Thankfully.

So for me, “You Only Live Once” means I have only ONE opportunity to make a positive difference to others’ lives. Again, because it makes me happy.

Happier than travelling all around the world to the most exotic places there are to see and experience.

And if that means that for most people in this world, I’m a fool, so be it!

I’m reminded of a couple of lines from an old Hindi film song (Sanyasi – 1975):

Kya maar sakegi maut usey, auron ke liye jo jeeta hai

Milta hai jahaan ka pyar usey, auron ke jo aansoo peeta hai

(What will death take away from him

He who lives to serve others

Rather, he has the love of the entire world with him

He who wipes tears off others’ faces)

So I’m not alone with this thought process. J

Ideally of course, I’d have it all – but we don’t live in an ideal world, and I DON’T have it all. Life’s about choices – and this is my choice. Another person might well have a different choice – and I fully respect that. To each his own, I always say.

So what is YOUR take on “You Only Live Once”?

This post is written as part of the write tribe initiative.

P.S:
To be honest, my thoughts on this subject are much deeper than a 500-word blogpost limit (which I've already exceeded :-)) allows me to express.

As a result, this post may come across to some as patronizing. It is certainly not intended to be so. All I can say is, those who know me personally will, I think, understand my thought process better. :-)

On Spot-fixing, the IPL and the BCCI

noreply@blogger.com (Raja Swaminathan) — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:51:00 +0000

It’s been a while since I’ve written on cricket.

Not because there hasn’t been anything to write about – but because most of my own thoughts have been expressed, far more eloquently than I could have managed, by a host of far more knowledgeable writers. I’ve therefore restricted myself to enjoying reading those articles, instead of sharing my own little wisdom on them. I see no point in just amplifying the noise on a subject for the sake of contributing sound bytes.

Having said that, why then this article? That’s because, on the recent spot-fixing drama, there are some elements that I didn't quite find sufficiently (if at all) discussed in all the material that I came across. Of course, it's possible that I've missed something out there.

I’ve read a fair number of articles on the subject. And heard some other views too. They range from the extremes of “ban the IPL” (Sharad Yadav) to “it’s just three dirty men” (BCCI chairman, N. Srinivasan). In between, there are a whole host of views.

What I do notice – and very unsurprisingly – is a lot of IPL-bashing. And a lot of BCCI-bashing. For many, the IPL and the BCCI almost seem to be interchangeable, such has become the IPL’s influence on Indian cricket.

Before I go on, I think I must first state unambiguously where I stand on the IPL.

I do have some issues with the IPL. I don’t like the excessive commercialism, the loud commentary, the hype, the artificiality around it. And I must be honest – I find it difficult to respect batting when mishits and top edges go for a six. It is the worst form of an unequal contest between bat and ball that you can imagine. That both sides in the match operate within the same framework, isn’t exactly compensatory consolation. In the forty years that I’ve been following the game, the contest between bat and ball has always been holy.

But I’ve made my peace with the IPL over the years. And now, during IPL season, I enjoy it for what it is. I don’t compare it with other forms of cricket. And, if I manage to ignore all its irritants, I do often enjoy its thrills and tension. Test cricket will always be special for me – but the IPL has found its relevance too in my cricket following pursuits.

Now, onto spot-fixing and the IPL.

I think it is a bit unfair to make the IPL THE villain of the piece. It has its weaknesses but it is not THE reason we’re having spot-fixing. The IPL is just a tournament – and now the world’s most popular cricket tournament. So what do we want to do – ban it? We need to realize that cricket is competing with other sports (and other forms of entertainment) for eyeballs. The IPL, for a few weeks every year, attracts millions of followers of other sports/entertainment options to cricket. How is that not good for the game?

The problem lies elsewhere. It lies in not realizing significant underlying fundamental weakness in a system. Let me give an example.

Think of an unhygienic kitchen. If the hottest-selling item is soup – and a large number of customers who’re complaining of food poisoning happen to be soup customers - just removing the soup from the menu isn’t going to help. The complaints will continue – they will just come from customers of other products. The soup was never the problem. The problem was the unhygienic kitchen.

The soup is the IPL. The BCCI is the kitchen. And the food poisoning is the fixing.

Let’s admit that there was spot-fixing before the IPL. And there will be spot-fixing after the IPL, if nothing else changes.

What needs to be done is to build strength in the system to prevent food poisoning.

For its part, sadly, the BCCI’s reactions to the whole drama have been entirely predictable. Starting with “expressing shock”, then soundbytes like “strictest action will be taken against the three involved” (at that time there were three known perpetrators, amongst the players). Of course the BCCI is “fully co-operating with the police”.

The overriding tone of the BCCI has been to defend the IPL, protect its image, to blame everything on “these three dirty men”, to play the age-old game of stating the problem to be way too complex - “we do our best but we cannot possibly monitor 200 players”.

All oh-so-predictable, anybody could have written the script and given it to the media, without their bothering the BCCI bigwigs at all.

What I'd have liked to have seen discussed more is some of the following:

1) The system and the players

It says a lot about what I think about cricket and cricketer ethics in today’s day and age, that the news of the spot-fixing scandal broke out a few days ago, I didn’t have the slightest sense of shock or surprise. Contrast this with April 2000. When the Cronje story began unraveling (and Indian players, including one of my then-favourites, captain Azharuddin, began getting named), I remember being STUNNED. In denial. Sick in the stomach. Depressed for months.

This time, with the Sreesanth episode? Nothing!

At the most, I can only say that I was disappointed that Sree had done this. I rated him as one of the better opening bowlers we’ve had in Test cricket in recent times – and would have been happy to see him back in the Test side. So I was disappointed that he chose to take this short-cut route to riches.

But I wasn’t surprised.

The IPL had got him good money - but when your aspirations exceed your ability to support them through legitimate means, you seek other means.

Sree had got used to the fast lane - money, fame, celebrity status, an expensive lifestyle. And on the cricketing front, life was going in exactly the opposite direction. The more he “needed” that wealth, the less his chances of getting it through normal cricketing efforts. His chances of getting back to the Indian side were fast receding. Not only for performance reasons but also because of his “terribly difficult person” image. And he was 30.

Imagine, then somebody comes along and tells him “Why do you worry? Bowl one bad over, and I’ll give you 50 lakhs”.

Come on! It’s the IPL – matches are played daily at such a frenzied pace. Where games are totally loaded in favour of batsmen, with short boundaries and a lot more. Where even the best of bowlers often go for sixes and fours.

Who’s going to notice an over going for 15 runs? So many overs go for much more than that.

And once the game’s over, it’s time to move on to the next. Nobody even remembers yesterday’s game. Yesterday’s gone.

All you see is the 50 lakhs in front of your eyes. That’s real – everything else is make-believe.

And hey, you don’t have to feel ashamed or awkward. It’s happening all the time – happened last year too. It’s so easy to do, it’s almost a no-brainer.. Think about YOUR future. If you don’t secure it NOW, when you can – when are you going to do it? You think your franchise cares about where you are in 5 years’ time? You think anybody cares?

So THIS is the player dilemma.

What would I do if I were in Sreesanth’s position?

Speaking purely for myself, I know I wouldn’t have gone with the offer (I say this because I HAVE refused very attractive financial deals in the past purely because they would have troubled my conscience). But that’s me – and I don’t have material aspirations like a Sreesanth does. So instead of using myself personally as a yardstick, I’m going to generalize a bit.

I cannot help feeling that many people – especially those with aspirations far outstripping ability - would probably do what Sreesanth did. It is JUST SO EASY to do. And there’s SO MUCH MONEY to make.

No, I’m not defending Sreesanth here. I’m just trying to be a little more realistic than some of those moral policemen out there. Suddenly Sreesanth has become devil incarnate – all I’m trying to say is it could just have been any A, B or C.

It is the SYSTEM that has weaknesses. An individual – while having his own mind – can easily fall prey to this system if he is not strong enough.

We keep talking about Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly, Kumble and Laxman as examples of cricketers who didn’t fall for the bait. We need to realize that these are successful, secure cricketers with long careers. They have received affection from millions of fans, for years – and have internalized this love. That has also made them strong – and relatively less vulnerable to being manipulated by devious third parties.

But that’s just five cricketers. There are many more out there – and many in domestic cricket – who do not enjoy this luxury. Of financial success. Of love. Some have an early sense of rejection. What’s to say they don’t have aspirations? In today’s India, aspirations seem to be everything – just look around you at the advertisements in the media.

THESE are the people most vulnerable to manipulation. Cricket can be cruel. Only eleven can make a team. You feel like a reject if you aren’t in that eleven. Especially if that happens on a consistent basis.

The IPL just happens to have many players in this category. They wouldn’t make it to the national team – but they enjoy recognition and fame for a few weeks every year, thanks to the IPL. And of course they make good money, better than they’d otherwise have made. But that may just fuel their aspirations to a different level altogether.

So I repeat – when legitimate means are insufficient to bridge the aspiration-ability gap, in many cases, illegitimate means will be resorted to, if they come with acceptably low (in this case near-zero) risk. The ends will justify the means.

2) Corrective measures

a) Be realistic about effectiveness of “mentoring”: After this broke out, the first thing I heard from some BCCI campists was “we need to improve mentoring”. I yawned. Had this been the year 2000, I might have bought this. At that time, there might have been a genuine case of fixing - and the shady-bookie menace - catching everybody on the wrong foot. The whole concept might have been new for some.

Today, in 2013, it is known to one and all involved with the game that this is THE biggest menace in the game. If a player is smart enough to win an IPL contract, he is smart enough to understand what is right and wrong. So now we need to “educate" a cricketer that if you don’t bowl like a bowler normally would, it is a wrong thing to do?

Yes, there are some cricketers out there who are suddenly thrown into the world of riches and glamour. Yes, they need to be cautioned about its negative side too. That they may have undesirable people trying to associate with them. And these may try to make them do things that go against the grain of the game that has made them what they are.

So let's have THIS level of mentoring. But we don’t need to make it sound any more effective than it really is. Repeated emphasis on it only tells me that the BCCI is trying to avoid other, more difficult to implement, solutions to address the issue.

Look at it this way. If a Rahul Dravid, considered THE role-model for one and all to uphold the spirit of the sport, can have his own team mates selling their souls behind his back, what chance does some “mentor” have? The intoxication of money, coupled with the near zero-risk, will drown any well-meaning mentor’s words in an instant. Maybe I’m being a bit skeptical here but I don’t think players quite have as much respect for other players and officials as is often made out by the romanticists. Of course, everything is hunky-dory in public. But in private, each person has to fight his own battle.

b) Be realistic about Anti-Corruption Units: I would have found this laughable if the emotion of anger did not overwhelmingly dominate my mixed emotions. The ICC’s solution to prevent corruption in the game is its “Anti-Corruption and Security Unit” (ACSU). Never mind that their track record in uncovering corruption has been laughable, but the ICC still offered the services of this unit to the BCCI for IPL2. At a price of course.

The BCCI politely (or maybe not so politely) refused the offer, saying it was setting up its own ACSU unit. Interestingly, it’s been almost four years now – and this ACSU seems to be competing with the ICC’s ACSU in the ineffectiveness race.

To me – and maybe I’m being harsh here – setting up this ACSU was never really going to solve anything. It sounds good on paper, it’s one of those ISO9000 type things. You do it because it then “looks” like “you’ve got the processes in place” and therefore things “should be under control”.

In reality, what are the ACSU’s powers? Can they tap phone messages or other types of communications between players and others? Or is it that they are just present at matches and keep a look-out for suspicious characters? Like in an old-fashioned detective novel.

Let’s accept that the few culprits that have been caught so far, have been caught, not by an ACSU, but by another entity.

It was the Delhi police who stumbled upon Hansie Cronje’s activities by accident.

It was a sting operation by the media that exposed Salman Butt and two of his team-mates in England in 2010.

It was the Delhi police again who stumbled upon Sreesanth and co’s activities this time, while looking for something completely different.

What has the BCCI’s ACSU been doing? Why did it not pick up any signals? From the communication the Delhi police have, it is clear that there was fixing involved in IPL5 as well. This lends credence to the feeling that the three who got caught are the unlucky ones – there are others out there who’ve got away.

So much for the BCCI setting up an Anti-Corruption Unit!

And now, at its latest meeting, the BCCI has said it will be setting up ACSUs for each franchise! Great! Another great initiative on paper. But please excuse me if I’m not exactly holding my breath on expecting more cases to be caught and booked.

The point is – this is all INTERNAL. The players are contracted to the BCCI, they are the marketable property of the BCCI, the IPL is the BCCI’s most valuable property. So there is naturally going to be a conflict of interest for the BCCI to take strict action against any of these “properties”. At the most, the BCCI may sacrifice a lesser player as a scapegoat, to build credibility about its processes. Other than that, it is unlikely to rock its boat too much.

And that is why what we need is EXTERNAL.

The ACSU is like internal audit. It is important to have – it sets up processes with checks and balances, it does audits – and it reports deviations it comes across to management. And thereafter it’s upto management’s discretion whether to take further action or not. (I think in practice the ACSU isn’t even doing so much, but I’ll give it credit for now).

What we need is an external auditor-like authority. One who doesn’t care about the BCCI. Who isn’t paid by the BCCI. Who is empowered to do what it takes to check compliance. And who will objectively report its findings - not to the BCCI -but to a third party.

And who has the skills to do so.

In effect, we are talking about a policing function. Much like what the Delhi police have done now.

I don’t think the ACSU quite cuts it. Not one ACSU, not ten ACSUs. I’m afraid the nefarious world of illegal betting and bookies is much too smart for the administrative type, watchdog type entity that the ACSU is. And extremely ruthless. I understand that a cop who filed an FIR in this matter was killed a few days ago.

I know the police is short of resources already but if the figure of Rs.40,000 crores being talked about as the value of illegal betting business in India is true, then it seems to be well worth dedicating police resources to this. It is not just about individual cricketers – it is about cleaning up the muck in the entire system.

c) Have more “sting operations”: In India, the media has largely been reactive. Yet, there have been stories broken by the media that have been key to keeping politicians on their toes, and keeping the public aware of happenings. I know “sting operations” tend to have a negative connotation about them, but I believe, if the purpose isn’t unethical, they are great to expose crime and malpractice.

Last year, during the IPL, a sting operation by a TV channel exposed a few cricketers for wrongdoing. It was roundly criticized initially but the evidence was irrefutable and the cricketers were finally given due punishment. We need more of this to happen. If you’ve nothing to hide, you’ve nothing to worry about. The “sting operation” can even be conducted by a private party and then shared with the media.

These are some of the corrective measures I can think about. This is by no means an exhaustive list. And I think we need every measure out there that helps reduce (I’m realistic enough not to say “eliminate”) this scourge of fixing. I see it as THE biggest menace in the game of cricket today.

What’s very frustrating is that the BCCI just does not seem to recognize the magnitude of the issue. It does some tinkering here and there, hoping that things will sort themselves out, in due course of time. We all know that’s not how these things work.

It is OUR game. The game for the fans of cricket. And for me personally, it is a game that I’ve been passionately following for the last 40 years. I’m damned if I’m going to just sit quiet and see it dying in front of my eyes. Even if I can’t stop it, I’m at least going to make a noise about it.

Moving on!

noreply@blogger.com (Raja Swaminathan) — Wed, 15 May 2013 18:11:00 +0000

I hear tales

Of lands, far and near

From people who’ve lived

Across oceans, without fear

Tales, rich with fabric

Of discoveries new

Sounding ever so often

Just too good to be true

My schoolmates from days gone

Now miles and miles away

Scattered around the world

Australia, Europe, USA

But I’ve stayed put here

This same home since birth

Sometimes when I reflect

I wonder what it’s worth

Yes, seeds I once sowed

Are now fully grown trees

I look at them with pride

When they sway in the breeze

But not all’s been good

There’s been sadness too

There’ve been losses along the way

That I have had to rue

My friendly grocer’s no more

I do so miss his smile

He used to give me goodies

And compliment my style

The library’s gone as well

There’s a gaming club instead

What was once a regular haunt

Is now a place I dread

The field where once I played

Now all bricks and mortar

The sky, once bright and clear

Now more and more a blur

I fear if I’m here longer

I’ll be a relic of the past

The body’s not quite itself now

And the mind’s losing it fast

True, where you grow up is special

And fond memories do remain

But it’s time for new pastures now

Else life’s too mundane.

The ultimate reality-check

noreply@blogger.com (Raja Swaminathan) — Wed, 08 May 2013 21:38:00 +0000

Relativity, best explained

Perspective, best obtained

Brittleness, redefined

White cloak, cloak of God

Nurses, high alert

Every second, pregnant

Tension, knife-cuttable

Atheists, momentary theists

Looks in eyes, desperation-hope mingled

The unthinkable, gaining mindspace

Memories, flashing by at jetspeed

Regrets, lots

Jokes, unfunny

Fingers, crossed

Sleep, alien.

The Emergency ward of a hospital.

Where life gets its ultimate reality-check.

(Pic courtesy morguefile ).

This post has been written as part of the write tribe initiative.

In the ultimate analysis

noreply@blogger.com (Raja Swaminathan) — Tue, 07 May 2013 22:26:00 +0000

You come into this world with nothin’

And with absolutely nothin’ you go

Twixt this first instant and last

You live the life you know

At first a life as a baby

Face shining with a peaceful glow

Crying, eating, sleeping

One day, into a child you grow

As a child, your world’s a wonder

Every day you feel a hero

Playing games, indoors and outdoors

Into a teenager you grow

As a teen, your mind’s restless

And so tantrums you throw

Everyone’s now on your back

Till into an adult you grow

As an adult, your world’s very different

Work, and a family in tow

It’s a long and arduous journey at times

Till into old age you go

As an old man, you’re counting the years

Your mind and body now slow

Much of your journey’s a flashback

Till one day, it’s time to go

Lying still, bones and flesh

At best, in a suit and a bow

You’re finally back to where you began

With neither friend nor foe

This is the simple truth, my friend

This is all we have to show

In the ultimate analysis, we’re all the same

So please, can we shed that ego?