Lest we forget…

There is a reason your country is still called a Democracy…and it’s a damn good one

In recent times, good ‘ol democracy has come under attack. Democracy in India, democracy in Pakistan.

Apparently, “We” are not ready for democracy. Democracy, they tell us, requires some sort of nonsense called an enlightened populace, i.e. Switzerland. Others will tell you that ‘pure’ democracies are nonsense anyway, when all you really need are Republics.

Some pompous armchair idiots even go so far as to claim that democracy doesn’t matter to the average Joe (or Ramu) when all he wants is to feed himself and his kids. (Then of course, they conveniently contradict that statement when it goes against their overall bias of hating India, but that of course, is another story).

Then there are the more conventional types of morons – the ones who first say that India was better off under the British, and also who cares about Democracy when you can host Olympic Games, and build flyovers. Besides, aren’t Indians just a bunch of indisciplined louts which need an Iron Hand?

Some people point to the latest atrocity in West Bengal to point out that Democracy is not working in this country at all. The irony is that everything that has happened in Nandigram just goes to show what A GOOD THING it is that India is a democracy, and not anything like China.

Shame. On all of you.

2 minus 1 Nation Theory

I think we can all safely call the 2-nation theory an abject failure.

So we approach Diwali 2007. Another Diwali, another festive season. Went to the Great India Place mall yesterday, with A and her ’sisters/cousins’ or they will be once she gets married. Her Fiance ditched me, leaving me at the mercy of so much oestrogen (or however that’s spelt). The mall is huge, the Metro line is almost built, and the DND toll bridge just keeps expanding westwards and eastwards. Ah progress

Speaking of Progress…

Dear Musharraf – thank you for declaring an Emergency in Pakistan. Will somebody please suggest the disbanding of Pakistan as a country? Please? Those people are better off under Indian rule. Pakistan and Bangladesh are both ridiculous jokes as countries go. It’s time they stopped pretending to be separate countries and re-joined the Indian Union. We all know this is the ideal solution for everyone, though nobody wants to say it. Why is it ideal (WARNING: MBA Bullet Points ahead)?

• Those nukes will no longer be pointed at India, but a part of it. Safer.
• With more Muslims as a part of India, communal violence will decrease, not increase
• We’ll wipe out the stupid Taliban threat and send Bin Laden packing
• The people of Pakistan/B’Desh will actually get a taste of economic growth, political stability, and RELATIVELY more AUTHENTIC democracy.
• KASHMIR KASHMIR KASHMIR

And I’m sure you can come up with more advantages.

As a start, I suggest the Indian Government make this announcement on live television now.

And then, as step 2, we’ll rename both Countries Purav & Paschim Islam Pradesh or some such thing temporarily before reverting to the actual state names (Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan, East Bengal, e.t.c) while the transition takes place.

Then we need to appoint some temporary leaders. Ambassadors, this is your chance. Make ‘em the viceroys or Chief Ministers of the new states. Say you that you will give moral and diplomatic support to all citizens of the former Pakistan/Bangladesh in their fight to rejoin the Indian Union. Let them rally round the Indian Embassies as a focal point, and get rid of their existing idiot leaders. I’m willing to wager many of these people will happily join up.

Of course, there is the issue of whether we want this rabble to join our country. I say yes, we do. They will be much better off under Indian rule than not. But I’m no George Bush. I don’t suggest we walk in with an army and impose Indian rule on them. I think judging by recent events, it should be obvious which country these people want to be a part of. If we all get together and nudge them in that direction, maybe we can bring this transition about peacefully. I’m serious.

Yea, you can call it a crazy idea all you want. I know I’m right, and you know it’s the truth.

A coincidence and a yawn…

So let me hereby state that I am no relation to the CM of Delhi, nor do I have (ewww) carnal knowledge of er…

Interesting. I write a post about Delhi, and why it’s the best-maintained city in all India.

And then today, this article appears in Mint, where the Chief Minister backs me up (well sort of)…

 And the best that Bombay can muster is this, linked to by Dilip D’Souza also a few days after my post, no less. To begin with, we have some unfair criticism and mis-statement of facts….

This isn’t Delhi, where public outcry ensued after Richard Gere recently planted a public kiss on the actress Shilpa Shetty at a fund-raiser.

Now, if someone had actually read newspapers, this is what they would have found:

The pair had appeared at a press conference in New Delhi as part of a campaign to preach safe sex to truck drivers in India, the country with the world’s largest proportion of HIV sufferers.

‘No condom, no sex,’ Gere shouted in Hindi to thousands of truckers who roared his words back in unison at a dusty fairground.

They whooped and whistled as Gere swooped on Miss Shetty to kiss her on her hand and cheek. Nationally, however, the reaction was of violent disapproval

(Emphasis Mine). Now for those of you who passed your English exam, the above paragraph says that in Delhi, the truck drivers were whooping and whistling (I’m pretty sure you could take that as approval) however it is NATIONALLY, that the disapproval was voiced – why is Delhi being blamed for this? Further, where else do you think people will protest about something – in front of fucking Karan Johar’s house or Rashtrapati Bhawan. Public outcry in Delhi MY ASS!

After her fashion show, Dé explained to me Mumbai’s social architecture. “If you are in Delhi, it’s which minister you know,” she said. “If you are in Chennai, it’s all about which caste you are. In Calcutta, it’s what your grandfather did. But in Mumbai, it’s not about that kind of rigid social structure any longer. It’s about what you have done.

Yea. Right. “Mumbai” where people from the North are discriminated against – “You’re from Delhi?” / “You’re Punjabi“ with an upturned nose. A place where non-vegetarian people may be banned from living in certain neighbourhoods. Right. No caste prejudices here. No no no, it’s not who you know at all in Bombay. So what if you are related to Bal Thackeray> Oh yes, that’s right, he’s not a minister. How VERY different from Delhi. Ah yes, Dawood Ibrahim is not a minister either. Yep, it’s definitely not about who you know in Bombay, not at all. Oh you don’t know Yash Chopra, or have a Khan or Kapoor in your last name? Well then, let’s sign you on to my next blockbuster, because, of course, it’s what you’ve done. Somebody get a shovel and a gas mask please… 

Now the rest of article is just typical NYT trash. Example:

The culture seeks the kind of innocent enchantment Bollywood movies promote, yet the city’s red-light district, Falkland Road, is populated by prostitutes who pose in cages, and the country now ranks third in the world in people living with H.I.V. (roughly 2.5 million), according to a 2007 report from the United Nations.

Now what the writer of this article CONVENIENTLY forgotten to mention (because it would have ruined his oh-so-flowery contrast) is that this statistic is DOWN from ranking NUMBER ONE in the world with the most number of people with AIDS. Why? Because the UN counted wrong the first time, and a more comprehensive count revealed what some people already knew – THAT HIV IS NOT AS PREVALENT IN INDIA AS THE SCAREMONGERS WOULD HAVE YOU BELIEVE. But let truth not stand in the way of good journalism, as the Times Of India would say. This is further backed up by the Daily Mail quote from above (the description of Richard Gere and Shilpa Shetty) which states “in India, the country with the world’s largest proportion of HIV sufferers“. Between the Daily Mail article and the NYT article, the numbers were revised downwards….

And then it just gets funnier and funnier:

Despite the fact that she was raised in a palace with 30 servants, India’s culture then, she said, was not one of constant acquisition

Oh man, what a riot. Asking a real-live princess to comment on the daily-lives of Indians back in the day. Gee, when I was a feudal lord living in my palace, I didn’t see many of my subjects indulging in ‘acquisition’. WHAT AN INSIGHT! Not a culture of acquisition. This is just great…

Yes.. a Mumbai Moment alright.

Sens(eless)ex

Where I do a little pre-emption

The birds are singing, the sun is shining, the Rupee & GDP are rising, and so are Indian stock markets, namely the Bombay Sensex and the NSE-50 (or Nifty, for short).

Along with the unprecedented increase in the stock market, the communist/socialist/”I must stamp out any good news”-ists e.t.c. will now start using the stock market as another club to hit you with some guilt.

All new articles by these characters will start off with mentioning how the Sensex is at an all-time high, make a brief mention of a mass-consumerist culture, and how the reforms have benefitted ”the Few at the expense of the Many” somewhere, and terminate with guilt-inducing stories about people in Bombay slum-dwellers/Suicidal farmers or Hindutva crimes.

When they use the stock market to contrast with these other issues, they reveal the entirety of their ignorance.

Stock Markets 101 (Simplistic view)

What is the ‘Sensex’? Well it’s the short form of Bombay Sensitive Index. What is an index? It’s basically a way of measuring a percentage change in a group of somethings.

In this case, it is measuring the change in the prices of publicly-listed companies’ shares. SPECIFICALLY, THE SENSEX MEASURES PRICE CHANGES IN SHARES OF 30 COMPANIES. Nothing more, nothing less. If the Sensex is ‘up’, it means that on average, the share prices of these 30 companies is up. If it is down, then naturally the opposite holds true. That. Is. All. It measures JUST those 30 shares. These 30 shares are considered to be representative of the entire share market, based on a whole bunch of financial indicators (i..e what is the size of the company, does the public hold a large amount of shares in the company, and other factors). So therefore, it should be no surprise that Reliance industries is one of the 30 shares whose price is measured. In fact, a big jump in just Reliance’s share price will cause the Sensex to go up quite a bit. So the ASSUMPTION is that if there are price rises in these 30 shares, then in general, there must be price rises in all shares in the Stock Market. This assumption holds true for most of the time, and if it doesn’t, the company shares used to represent the market are changed.

Why is a rise in the price of shares considered a good thing? Well what are shares, and what is the Stock Exchange?

A Stock Exchange is place where people can buy & sell SECOND-HAND shares, i.e. shares already owned by other people.  

A ’share’ is a chunk of ownership of a company. If I buy 100 shares of Reliance, I OWN a piece of Reliance. That means that if Reliance makes a profit, it can choose to give me some of it. If it decides not to, and I get pissed off, I can sell my chunk of Reliance to someone else.  If Reliance loses money, I can again sell my chunk of Reliance to someone else. Of course, if everybody thinks Reliance is stinky, I won’t be able to sell my shares for a good price. So the price of a share represents (amongst a WHOLE BUNCH of OTHER THINGS) how “good” a company is (THIS IS A VERY SIMPLISTIC VIEW). So naturally, I get happy if the price of the shares I own rises. Just like owning a house (AGAIN, SIMPLISTIC)

Now the media, being as sensationalist and as misinformed as it can be, attributes a rising share market to the general mood in the Country. It is not hard to see why this is so. If the shares prices of all the companies in the stock market are rising, it means a lot of people are viewing these companies as ‘good’ or ‘performing well’. If these companies are performing well, that means the economy is performing well. And that means all is right with the world. ALSO, if lots of people are buying shares on the market, it means people have money to buy things, which means incomes must be high, which means the economy is performing well, which means all’s right with the world.

Thusly, a rising sensex makes it to the front page headlines. Now it shouldn’t take much to realize why the above extrapolations aren’t always correct – Pakistan’s stock market is the second best performing in Asia. But there you have it.

SO – when one of our guilt-inducing brethren decides to contrast rising stock markets with suicidal farmers, what they want to say is this:

A small, select band of greedy, high-caste capitalists pigs with a sense of entitlement are making money in a way I know nothing about, and celebrating it as though it is good for the country, while farmers are dying in Vidharba.

But what they end up saying is this: 

The share prices of 30 publicly listed companies is on average higher these days than it was a few years ago, but there are farmers comitting suicide in Vidharba.

Yes. It is as stupid as that.

Riots & Terrorism

They aren’t the same thing

The Head Typist equates people killed in bomb blasts with those killed in riots .

Demanding justice for all victims, is fair enough, but because of the very nature of the two, it is easy to see why one bunch got justice, and the other didn’t. That in itself should be a clue as to why you cannot equate the two. Equating these two very different forms of violence is dangerous thing to do, for the simple reason that you end up diluting the impact of both riots and terrorism (in terms of the damage they do).

Terrorism arises from a backlash against the status quo. Terrorists fight against the establishment, they attempt to change the existing order, and for this, they use death as their weapon. Crazed Communist says – I want to make a statement. So s/he straps a bomb to his/her chest and stands in the middle of the Virar Fast. Kaboom. Statement made, damage done. It is for the most part, and individual act, or that of a few individuals. They may have the blessing (i.e. “moral & diplomatic support”) of a large group of people, but the acts themselves are individual. One man’s terrorist is another’s martyr. HOWEVER, if a watchful commuter, or an efficient and effective police force do their duty, there may be a way to prevent a terrorist incident from occurring. (If the security guard standing by the metal detector actually felt for bombs instead of messing with my ‘pistol’ he may actually be able to save a few lives). While you cannot prevent terrorists from arising, you can prevent the damage they do, and the number of lives lost in terrorist incidents.

Firemen and policemen saved the lives of many people by climbing up the WTC to help people go in the opposite direction. The 6 policemen who foiled the attack on India’s Parliament prevented a much worse incident.

Riots are not so simple.

Yes, the end result is that people end up dead but for very different reasons, and this matters if you are going to address the problem and to solve it. A riot is the collective breakdown of the system. Riots can be controlled with water cannons, and with teargas. But they aren’t because the people who should be doing the controlling are usually part of the riot itself. Again, it is a collective failure. Who do you blame for the murdered Muslim? The man who incited the riot? The man who pulled the trigger? Or the 5 men who held the Muslim in place while he was castrated? What about the 10 men who ran for cover instead of coming to their fellow human being’s aid? And the 15 people who watched from their windows, and did nothing? All of them you say? That’s probably correct. Now go and round up all 5 million people involved in the riot, and prosecute them to your heart’s content. Not very easy is it? Of course, you would be happy with a few murderers, thugs, and their leader as a ’symbolic gesture’ to satisfy the ’sentiments’ of the victimised community. But you haven’t done a thing to prevent a riot, because you haven’t even addressed the causes. Why was the state machinery in cahoots? Why wasn’t it neutral? Why do Hindus and Muslims still hate each other so much? Arresting a firebrand leader isn’t going to change a thing the next time 12 people are burnt alive on a train. Not one thing, because a riot is systemic breakdown.

Terrorists need weapons, like guns, bombs, fuel-laden airplanes to do their thing. They need large flashy targets for their symbolism. An army base, a 110-storey building. Riots need nothing but a lot of simmering anger. Sentencing 5 terrorists to death (or life imprisonment, depending on you political leanings) prevents at least those 5 terrorists from causing anymore harm. Sentencing the person who incites a mob, does nothing whatsoever to prevent a riot. Prosecuting the policeman in charge at the time does nothing either, if the chief minister encouraged rioting. Prosecuting the Chief Minister doesn’t prevent the frustrated majority from killing the minority, because in the case of riots, none of the root causes are addressed.

Equating these two issues, looking at them purely in terms of black and white (“people are dead”) does not help in getting justice for the victims, but maybe helps to ease one’s own conscience.

Independence Day, 2047

How old is our country? A toddler, at best.

This long rambling post is where I weigh in on “India at 60″, a day late so that I can spring a surprise on my unsuspecting readers (assuming there is more than 1).

So anybody who knows me knows that I tend to take the optimistic view on this country. Lots of people have listed the achievements, then added a “BUT”, and then concluded with a “things are still precariously balanced, and hopefully the future will be positive”.

I put no BUTs in my post. This is simply because none of the BUTs are new ones. We had poverty in our country 20 years ago. We had poverty in our country 10 years ago. We have poverty in our country today. We will have poverty in our country 10 years from now. We will have it 20 years from now.

Replace the word poverty with discrimination or corruption, build up a lather, rinse and then repeat.

Here comes my BUT:

Ye Olde India-China Debate…

*Pats self on back*
There is a publication, that this Voice has always admired, and turned to as a source for most of its information, called the Economist. Started, in late 19th century London by a Walter Bagehot, to promote Democracy and Capitalism, it has quite a few followers (recent circulation figures have just crossed 1 million, with 500,000 of those in USA). I respect it simply because it makes out a very objective case for the two systems, and is very objective in its news reporting (although it did support the Iraq War II ). Anyway, The Economist makes a case that this Voice has been screaming about forever.
It is this – that although it seems that India is way behind China currently in the race to become richer, India is going to win out in the long-haul. Some excerpts from the India-China (”Tiger in Front”) survey, from the 5th March Edition:

HOME to nearly two-fifths of humanity, two neighbouring countries, India and China, are two of the world’s fastest-growing economies. The world is taking notice. In December, a report by America’s National Intelligence Council likened their emergence in the early 21st century to the rise of Germany in the 19th and America in the 20th, with �impacts potentially as dramatic�.

That India is an open society and China is not is one of the most glaring differences between the two. Some people in both countries are tempted to use it to explain another: that China’s economy has grown much faster. This survey will argue that this view is simplistic and misleading.

Some of the main reasons for China’s better performance have nothing to do with the political system. When China started its reforms, in 1978, it was poorer than India. Part of the gap now is due simply to that earlier start.

India is often portrayed as an elephant: big, lumbering and slow off the mark. Now investment-bank reports are beginning to talk of it as a new Asian �tiger�.

According to the World Bank, 87% of adult Chinese women are literate. The equivalent figure in India is 45%. Many things follow from educating girls: better health and education and longer lives for the whole family; more productive workers; and a boost to industrialisation and urbanisation. �An educated child�, says Asian Demographics’ Mr Laurent, �does not want to plant rice.�

The other consequence of smaller families has been a sex ratio strongly skewed in favour of boys. In China there are 118 boys for every 100 girls born, compared with a natural ratio of 105 to 100. India’s figures are also skewed, but to a lesser extent. The most recent census, in 2001, showed 108 boys under the age of seven for every 100 girls.

The foreign-investment boom in China was started by overseas Chinese. From 1985 to 1996, two-thirds of foreign investment in China came from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. There China has, close at hand, some 30m ethnic Chinese, many of them with close ties to the mainland. Moreover, these places specialised in labour-intensive manufacturing industries for export. Wage costs were rising fast, so, in effect, they exported their trade surpluses with America to coastal China. They were made very welcome, for political as well as economic reasons, and paved the way for the big multinationals.

Overseas Indians, in contrast, are scattered around the world and across professions. There are a number of global tycoons, tens of thousands of software engineers who powered Silicon Valley’s dotcom boom, and millions of others. It is not surprising they have played a different role to that of the Chinese diaspora.

Except for the brief interlude of �emergency� imposed in 1975 by Indira Gandhi, the then prime minister, Indian democracy has stuck. It may have seemed an improbable experiment in such a poor, ethnically divided and hierarchical society, but it has proved resilient and deep-rooted. Turnout at elections is higher than in many developed countries�and it is the poor who vote in large numbers. The system may not deliver economic growth rates of 9-10%, but nor has it imposed Mao Zedong’s murderous millenarian lunacies.

After Jawaharlal Nehru became independent India’s first prime minister in 1947, his Congress party enjoyed three decades of uninterrupted rule, most of them with a large parliamentary majority. It took the chance on offer to make radical choices and changes. It is not democracy’s fault that many of them were the wrong ones.

Well there you have it… of course, I have given you just a small taste of it. Obviously I can’t give more, else I’ll probably be sued. Do check out the latest copy of the Economist and see for yourself. I, in the meantime, shall wander around cyberspace, smug in the knowledge that the Economist agrees with me, rather than Deeshaa.org… it is simply a matter of time, before I will have to change the title of my blog… the sooner, the better.

No More Laloo??

One more victory for Indian Democracy
It’s official folks, The Rastriya Janata Dal (or National People’s Party) has lost the Bihar state elections. Ummm, ya, that means that Laloo’s wife is no longer running that state…. how can this be? Isn’t India corrupt? Aren’t Indian politicians corrupt goondas? Shouldn’t the hopeless situation in Bihar have perpetuated Laloo’s rule for eternity? Shouldn’t his goons have kept the general populace subdued forever?

What’s that you say? The other side was more corrupt? Their co-ercing tactics were better? Their threats were more scary?

Of course, I mean Bihar is the richest state in the land. I can just see all the politicians fighting to have a piece of the action. They must have all teamed up and threatened to shoot the masses if they voted for Laloo, as they were so desperate to loot the state’s treasures, by hook or by crook …We all know Bihar to be the land of Milk & Honey.

on the other hand, I heard this “bullshit” story that the people of Bihar FINALLY got fed up of being robbed, raped, looted and having their kids kidnapped, and decided to do something about it.

Yes, yes, all the greybeards, and wannabe greybeards will tell me that only a naive fool would believe that something like “People power” is at work. After all, these cynics are experienced politicians, out in the field everyday of their lives, working hard, hand-in-glove with the general populace, and thus have the pulse of the nation at their fingertips, right?

In other news, my sworn Arch Enemy, Deeshaa.org writes about the NASA exam publicity stunt, and of course uses it as some sort of example which proves that all of us Indians are gullible idiots, morons, with inferiority complexes. I mean no other country has gullible people in it…. Heck, you could tell the Indian Public there were WMDs in Iraq, and they’d believe that too right? Oh no, no other country is guilty of being gullible….Oh, by the way, did I mention the author of Deeshaa.org is prejudiced against Muslims? I recall some quote about how the Islamic religion spreads violence and hate….interesting, I always thought it was a certain breed of human that incites violence and hate, and not any Holy Book written milennia ago and open to lots of interpretation. But then, that’s just me, a lowly Voice From A 2.5-World Country, attempting to challenge the might of an “IndiBlog” award-winner who “Tells It Like It Is”, LOL.

Delusion of Grandeur

Unity in Diversity, why not?
Ok, well it’s another slow news week, so slow in fact, that people’s comments in blogs are already being labeled “Worst Comments of Year”, which is pretty funny considering how early into the New Year we are.

Anyway, after reading one of Akshay’s older Posts (see the link to Trivial Matters in my External Links Section) on an India-Pakistan re-unification, I decided to document the idea on my blog, for future reference. The idea of an India-Pakistan re-unification is an old one, nothing new there. But I’m suggesting a South Asian Union, or a United States of South Asia (USSA anyone? :-p).

Ok even that idea is pretty old (and new – people look to the EU for inspiration..). But nobody seems to pursue it. Since cynicism seems to be a trait inherent in South Asian genes, most people probably envision the idea, decide that it will never work and then carry on with their lives.

However, since my life is currently in limbo (when isn’t it?), I decide to not “move on” and preserve the daydream in a blog entry.

So here are contents of my daydream:

Kashmir & Eelam and the 7 Sisters
A United States of South Asia, consisting of the following countries:
India (of Course), Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan and Kashmir.

Yes, I’m counting Kashmir as a country in this daydream, and so, solve the Kashmir problem in one fell swoop (I am soooooo amazing…). See, instead of belonging to India or Pakistan (which is a zero-sum scenario presently), if Kashmir was a separate State of South Asia, it would a) be part of both and neither of the countries at the same time, and b) give the Kashmiris the autonomy that they’ve always wanted. The same applies to the Tamil Eelam – instead of being a small chunk of Sri Lanka, the new Tamil homeland would be the (former) Indian state of Tamil Nadu, clubbed with Jaffna (Sri Lankans, I apologise, I don’t know if that offends your sensibilities. Bear with me, it’s just a daydream at this point…)
Finally, “The 7 Sisters”, the 7 states of India which lie beyond “The Chicken’s Neck” which are also continuously fighting for a separate Bodoland and Nagaland – they can get that too. If we look at present day, Nagaland for example would be a NEW country carved out of an existing one -however, if all of the surrounding countries are part of larger union, nagaland/bodoland/Eelam all just become autonomous provinces part of the greater whole…again the extremely naive optimist in me believes this is the ideal solution for all the Sub-Continent’s territorial disputes…Saying Kashmir is a part of India will always piss a Pakistani off. Saying that we’re all citizens of the USSA? Does that rankle in the same way? Well..not to me…

Leadership, Governance & Laws
I envision the Union to be a loose federation, having a rotating presidency like the EU. So this is kind of how I see it: There is a Governing Council, which consists of the leaders of all the 6/7 countries/states, and one of them is the President. his presidency rotates every 3 years? 2 years? 4 Years? by country, which is the only fair way to distribute it, in my opinion.
Every member union must have a democracy in place, either presidential or parliamentary. Monarchies, dictatorships have no place in this union. This is because this voice has lots of faith in Democracy as the best form of government. The other reason all of the countries need to be democracies is so that they can follow a somewhat common set of laws. Each country would be able to implement the lowest common denominators for example on Human Rights, protection of Minorities e.t.c. Hell, this union would consist of so much diversity, that legislation for preventing discrimination would have to be pretty broad.

Travel & Trade
Of course, travelling within the Union should be free (i.e. without the need for a passport). This free movement is necessary for the union to be a success economically, and politically.
Trade of course will also be completely free (i.e. a Customs Union, like the EU) . Again, this will require that all the union members follow the same basic legislation …

“A Grand Army of the Republic”
Heh, to rip off a line from Star Wars Episode II, just think of the sheer size of the armed forces of the USSA. Of Course…in Star Wars, the 1000-year-old Republic’s Grand Army was just a precursor to formation of The Empire…hey I can live with that But it would be nice if India and Pakistan didn’t have their missiles and nukes pointed at each other. Further, think of the pooling of resources and cost-savings. We’d be the only Defence force in the world which had both F-16s and MiGs!! (As far as I know, anyway!)

“The #1 Cricket Team in Universe”
Contributed by RTD2 (see comments)
Tendulkar, Dravid, Sehwag, Jayasurya and Inzy’s batting, Shoaib and Murli’s bowling, and the rest (please no flames on who I have left out or ignored. Cricketing debates require a separate blog altogether!) Of course, this would also take away one of Cricket’s fiercest rivalries, but what to do, we United South Asians would be Like That Only! Note to World: Please ignore result of Asia XI vs Rest of World XI played recently….

Ok, these are just some of the visions that I’ve been having recently. Some people will ask, at this point, WHY? Well, some reasons are already mentioned above

- Solves the Kashmir problem (in my view, of course)
- Will go a long way towards enriching the inhabitants, especially the smaller members – as an Arrogant, Pompous Indian, I think Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka would benefit from having free access to a large Indian and Pakistani market
- Resolves a few border disputes, and integrates the sub-continent in a way that Indians (like myself) are always fantasising about
- and other reasons which, when they occur to me, will be added to this post

Of course, there is milennia of mutual distrust, and a fear of loss of identity and culture that may come with such a union, not mention all sorts of other disputes (Do we allow Indians to freely settle in Pakistan/Nepal/Bangladesh and vice versa? Can they own land? Won’t they steal each other’s jobs? Will the Caste System spread or be destroyed? Will 300+ Muslims vs 800 Million Hindus, make the infighting even more bloody, or will it reduce polarisation, like in the pre-British era?)

I just wanted to get the ball rolling, and hopefully get lots of input from anybody who passes by this blog….

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More on Defending India…. Part 1

Indian democracy is something to be proud of
OK, there’s not much new happening in my world. Haven’t been blogging with much frequency lately, but then this voice is giving that blasted GMAT exam so as to get into ISB and push my own standard of living up…but that is neither here nor there. Since there’s not much new stuff happening, I’ll harp on some old stuff.

Ok first off, you know your country has moved up in the world when it stops appearing in the political section of the Economist, and moves into its Economics section. Being an avid subscriber to the Economist, I’ve been noticing this gradual change occur over the past 4/5 years. But with greater publicity comes greater criticism. Especially when one makes the statement China is way ahead of India, in terms of development.

MYTH – Democracy is what is holding India back. As Arun Shourie, the ex-disinvestment minister put it (as a reason for why nothing gets done) – “In India, everybody has a Veto”. I would just like to state for the record that this is bullshit. There is a strong voice within and without India, that respects the “order” and “discipline” with which China functions. I’d like to tell all of those people that if it wasn’t for Indian democracy, they wouldn’t even be able to freely make that criticism. China has a nice way of dealing with dissent – it’s called Jail (and some extreme cases, Death). Yes our population is out of control. But as Indians, we believe in reproductive rights – this means that a woman will NOT have a her ovaries removed by hospital staff after her first child-birth in India. Even though Human-rights violations MAY occur on an almost daily basis in India, they are not mandated as a part of the foundation of our Country. They are unconstitutinal, illegal, and the perpetrators CAN BE brought to justice – the framework for all of this exists, and works more often than the media and Cynical Indians would have you believe.

Here’s a another critical point – Women. Yes, there are still a gazillion atrocities committed against women. Yes, it’s still unsafe for women to walk the streets alone at night (Although I would like to state it wasn’t much safer for the women who were attacked in the Wharton School bathrooms by a rapist – TWO YEARS IN A ROW). Anyway back to my point – the biggest proof that democracy works in India is the number of women in power. Are these women repectable, the epitome of Morality, or even woman that I like? Nope. Still, here’s the list:

Vasundhara Raje – Chief Minister of Rajasthan

Uma Bharti – Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh

Jayalalitha – Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu

Sheila Dikshit – Chief Minister of Delhi

Mayawati – Ex-Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Low-Caste (and also stupid enough to try and secretly construct a Shopping Mall next to the Taj Mahal – reason she was kicked out of power).

Mamta Bannerjee – Head of Opposition in West Bengal

Sushma Swaraj – ex-Health Minister

Honorary Mention – Indira Gandhi – ex-Prime Minister (deceased)

Sonia Gandhi – Congress Party President
Behind every great man there is a woman….She’s not the leader of India – but she damn well could have been. First time I’ve EVER heard of anybody renounce Prime Ministership! Yes she got where she did only because she married a former leader…but before you point your finger repeat after me: SON OF A FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE USA.

All of these women were in positions of power. Influential positions. As much people would like to believe that these women probably got here through their connections or whatever, the fact is that they got voted into power. I voted for Sheila Dikshit myself and am a fan of hers…And after they got voted, they were (and are) accepted by most of the public. For a country as “backwards” as India, this is a big step. I could draw a parallel with a 200-and-something year old democracy which is YET to ELECT a woman into a position of significant power (Currently 8 of the 50 states have a woman governor)…but I won’t…

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Some Lessons Learned?

The Aftermath of the Bush Elections
It is clear to me that people must be really bored with their lives. They are in need of some excitement, some thrill. Sure this has always been the case, but this boredom seems to have spilled over into who they wish to elect as their leaders. It seems that campaigning on regular bread-and-butter stuff, the kind of stuff that makes sense, that seems logical and sensible will get you nowhere in today’s political arena. Some may argue this has always been true, but I beg to differ. Let’s start with the BJP – they lost. They presided over a mostly-good period for India. I think India witnessed some of the best growth, while they were in charge. In terms of economic AND political strength. So, naturally, their campaign was based around that – “India Shining”. Of course anybody who has walked down an Indian street will cyncially disagree, but this voice, which has seen India in the 1980s, the 1990s and today, disagrees. Since I’ve been around, India IS relatively shining. However, that doesn’t seem to work. “Look, we’ve built more roads, cut lots more duties, privatised inefficient government enterprises, raised the growth rate, e.t.c” does not seem like a good campaign platform. Instead, you have to pander to the scum, the people that hold India hostage. That means the farmers, the communists, the union leaders, their mothers, and their goats. “Congress ka haath, Aam aadmi ke saath” – i.e. Congress Stands for the Common Man. The Common Man is nice and shitty illusion. When you pander to these people, you get votes. And the same seems to be true for America. Pander to the ugly stereotype. The hay-chewing, gun-toting, bible-brandishing, white boy, with a red pickup truck and a “healthy” hatred for anything that doesn’t speak or look “Americain”. You find an example of this person in the comments section of a few of my recent posts. This is of course what hollywood and bollywood have excelled in doing forever, and you forgive them, because they are in the Entertainment business. It’s their job. But we used to have a slightly higher standard for our politicans. Vajpayee was a respected man, throughout India, and the World. As was Clinton, in USA and the World. They were looked up to and respected, despite their flaws (which were many).
Ah well, those days are long gone, and instead, we’re stuck with a Congress government that’s “pro-poor”

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Find your Political Direction

Left,Right,Middle?
I stumbled upon this website: The Political Compass
Basically the site asks you a bunch of semi-obvious questions to determine your political leanings (i.e. Communist/Capitalist, Individualist/Collectivist, e.t.c). Of course, the site is a little Ameri-centric, so not everybody may have an opinion on the issues mentioned. Anyway, I always considered myself to be somebody who was right-of-centre as far as my politics went. I am all for capitalism and the free market, but a dose of Clinton-stylye liberalism is good too. Anyway, this site gave me a -0.25 leaning to the left, which means I am actually split down the middle! And it showed me to be heavily for the individual (-4.97) as opposed to being in favour of a collective will – that part didn’t surprise me, I never really liked everything that The Borg* stood for. But I find it funny that I’m actually right in the middle as far as left-wing/right-wing goes, I always thought I was more on the right-wing side! On the other hand, this test could be completely meaningless. Check it out for yourself!

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It’s an Upside-Down World….

So He Won….
With a majority this time and no cheating…..sigh. Ah well, I guess the ‘peaceniks’ and the ‘commies’ will have a few more wars to protest against. As far as I’m concerned , today is a sad day for the world.

The really odd part is that the Indian Media and stock market are both really happy that Bush is in power, go fucking figure!!

The Stock Market is happy because they assume Bush won’t put an end to outsourcing, and Kerry would have. Frankly I think Kerry was just doing a little pandering and would not have gone through with his threat.

The Media is happy because of some bullshit statement that Bush made about visiting India in the first year of his 2nd term if, he got a 2nd term. Basically the foreign ministry and the media think Bush is better for India than Kerry. I keep wondering how this can be, when Bush considers Pakistan a major non-NATO ally, and India is never mentioned, (nor thanked for helping set up the Afghani infrastructure, or for helping out the American troops in Iraq with the non-military support).

I would rather an American president did not have India on his radar at all….the American people (including American businesses, heh) sure, but not the president…

So Congress wins in India, and Bush in USA. Talk about unexpected, and upsetting.

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Another Dance of Democracy

This blog’s first entry was that of this Voice’s first experience of Voting in an Indian Election. And now we roll around to another election, though one which I can only comment on, not participate in. If there are any American people visiting this blog, I know their reactions already, so save it -
“We don’t need to your opinion”.
“You can shove it”.
“We saved the world from Hitler”.
“We invented everything good”
“The World can’t do without us”
“Stop meddling in our country’s affairs” (Because only America is allowed to meddle in countries’ affairs, because of course, America is moral and upright, whereas the rest of us savages are corrupt and barbaric).
“You’re a nutsack!”
yada yada yada.
Well tough shit.

VOTE KERRY AND SAVE THE WORLD FOR YOURSELVES AND YOUR CHILDREN!!!

I’ve been trying (since the formation of this blog 1 year ago), so sit down and list intelligently all the reasons why Bush should kicked out. But each time I’ve failed because each time I’d get emotional and would turn it into a rant, which is not the way to engage in intelligent debate and sway people.

In 2000, I was studying in Philadelphia, into my last year of undergrad, and got to experience American elections first-hand. I remember feeling annoyed at the time that I wasn’t able to participate in the Indian elections which had just occured a few months before that (in which the BJP got a thumping victory).
It was an interesting experience. They’d set up a large-screen projector in our Student Commons hall so that we could see the results as they rolled in. Everytime a result would be declared, one side of the hall would erupt in hoorays. Some grad student also interviewed me with his handycam for about 10 minutes, because he wanted to know what an International Student’s take on the whole story was.

I remember telling him that if I were American, I would be a democrat, however, back home in India, I would actually be the opposite, i.e. a BJP supporter. It’s simply a case of who the parties pander to. Actually I support the BJP mostly for the economic policies – the religious shit needs to be toned down, if not stopped altogether. And naturally, the Democrats are seen as more minority-friendly in America, so they would have got my vote (in 2000) not to mention the fact that even then Bush seemed like a complete IDIOT. The 2000 election result seemed to be more something that would happen in India, not America! But surprisingly enough, it seems that in this case, Indian democracy is better equipped to handle close results. Nobody got a clear majority in the most recent Indian election, but within a week or so, we had a new government smoothly in place. Go figure.

Anyway, USA goes to the polls soon, and I’m hoping against hope that Mr. Kerry wins the day. Ahh if only I could buy a few shares on the Nasdaq right now….

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More Monsoon Babblings

 Slow Week
So now that Delhi is finally getting its share of rain, the UPA government is relaxing a little. But of course, all of Delhi is suffering. Granted, the monsoon brings us our yearly supply of water, but also gives rise to the Annual Supreme Traffic Jam. But this jam only takes place on one particular day every year, because there is usually only one day in the year when Delhi gets 24-hours-worth of rain.A Powerful Woman
According to Forbes Magazine Sonia Gandhi is considered to be the 3rd most powerful woman in the world…. not bad for a broke Italian student learning to speak English in Cambridge….

1 in a Billion, Again
So Major Rajyavendra Rathore gets a Silver Medal in the Olympics. And everybody else is now either disqualified due to doping/stupidity or just didn’t make the cut.

Social Security?
The outgoing NDA government had decided to issue National Social Security Cards anybody who has a job, and contributes to the Provident Fund (Sort of like the 401(k) in America). So now Indians will have Social Security numbers too…

Bollydelphia
Bollywood is finally getting the balls to tackle AIDS, with a new movie called Phir Milenge (We’ll Meet Again). Apparently the story is about a woman professional who contracts HIV from her hubby, and her struggle with the prejudices at work and in society in general. You can count on Bollywood to play up stereotypes and handle sensitive issues with sledghammers, so I doubt this movie will amount to much…but the UN is actually endorsing it!!!?!?!

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Musings

Indian Democracy’s Knowledge Addition
Dear Cynical Indian Public, here’s one reason to vote. It teaches you an interesting bit of trivia. I learned that your nail takes two months to grow, from cuticle to tip. How did I pick up this interesting piece of news? When you go to cast your vote, the voting officials mark your right/left forefinger with indelible ink (which is apparently easy to wipe off with turpentine or lemon juice – haven’t tried it meself). Anyway, this mark is placed half on your skin, and half on your nail (at the joint). So basically what happens is that the mark on your nail stays on, (the part on your skin disappears naturally). So over a period of two months (starting 13th May 2004), that black spot progressed from the joint (where the skin meets the nail) to the tip in just under two months – it reached the tip of my nail on the 12th of July 2004.

America Says Sorry
So it’s out in most Indian dailies. America officially apologises to India for strip-searching our (now ex-)Defence Minister George Fernandez. Richard Armitage, currently in Delhi (only for today) to touch base with the new government in power, is apparently “horrified” that something like that could happen. The initial source of this was not the ex-Defence Minister, but an autobiography by Strobe Talbott, in which he claims that George (Fernandez) complained about being strip searched. Georgy-boy himself claims it was far from a strip search! Great, for once America actually apologises for a mistake, and as it turns out, maybe they didn’t make one! It is a bizarre world…

Why our country will remain stuck at 2.5-World for the next 4 years
Reason 1
Mr. Harvard-Educated P. Chidambaram’s budget. He managed to make an ass out of everybody, and basically did nothing except to raise Taxes. He made it seem like he was doing a lot more, i.e. throwing more government money into the black hole known as “Rural Development Schemes”…Yay. Throw money at poor people great. “If you give a man a fish….”

Reason 2
The monsoon, according to this voice, has officially failed to materialise. And even if it does, it won’t be even a tenth as potent as last year’s. I can just see the VHP, RSS saying that this is Will of God for not voting the BJP into power, and also for neglecting to take care of the Babri Masjid Issue.

Reason 3
This one requires a whole new post, which may be forthcoming if I can gather thoughts together to make a comprehensible blog entry. But to keep short it is the fact that most people in this country believe that in order for one class of people to benefit another class has to be suppressed. I.e. steal from the rich and give to the poor. It’s not just our country, but a world-wide left-wing phenomena. This voice, having right-of-centre leanings, finds such a philosophy idiotic, stupid, and just plain false. How about this for a philosophy. Let’s just try and make Everybodyricher. I.e. if the filthy rich are getting even filthier rich, LET THEM. But let’s also get the filthy poor to be a little less filthy. Why do the two have to be mutually exclusive? It’s never made any sense to me. It basically stems from the idea that “The Rich make their money off the backs of the Poor”. I see. So all rich people got rich because of slave labour. Ok, enough for now, this will probably be my next post for sure…

The Underdog of Iraq

The BBC reports that Saddam will get a Fair Trial

If he actually does get a fair trial, America is screwed. Of course it won’t be a fair trial. The world media is only getting to see snippets of the trail plus the sound is also cut in parts, allegedly to prevent Saddam from using the trial as his “Stage” and also for “National Security” reasons. Naturally – Saddam is probably still wondering how Iraq became an enemy considering it was America’s ally in the 1980s….I bet he’s still absolutely stumped. He’s probably wondering why his gassing Kurds is wrong, while stoning unfaithful women to Death in Iran is condoned. Or the various cruelties perpetrated by the Sheikhs of Saudi Arabia… or Human Rights abuses in China. Is none of this blatantly obvious to anybody else?

If it actually were a fair trial the question that would( (or rather should be asked in this Voice’s not-humble opinion) is:

Why choose this particular middle-eastern tyrant to execute?

Why pick on Iraq? Just because they MAY have WMDs? North Korea has them. And they’re part of this idiotic Axis. So WHY NOT NORTH KOREA?

Is all the idiocy going on Iran okay, just because they don’t openly hate America? Sure Iran is also part of the bullshit-axis-of-evil, but apparently it doesn’t seem to merit an invasion. Now why is that? And North Korea? North Korea just makes me laugh. The more threatening North Korea’s posture is towards America, the more food America sends to it. It’s a fucking joke.

Of course, maybe there is a whole lot of stuff going on “Under The Table” but all this voice can see is a stupid vendetta being carried out by an adolescent mind, who happens to be President of the United States of America.

And Saddam actually turns out to be pretty sharp. “I’m not signing any papers without my lawyers present”. Then he said you are accusing one man of invading a country, when that requires an entire state’s apparatus….
He’s right. You blame Saddam for gassing Kurds whether he did it or not, but you don’t blame bush for the Torture of Iraqi civilians in Iraq. Of course the reasoning being that Iraq is ruled by a megalomaniacal dictator, and America by a Democratically Elected President. So therefore, anything that happens in Iraq is directly because of the dictator, whereas in America, nothing ever happens by presidential order, decree, or veto, especially with Bush in power…

End of rant….(for today at least….)

Nice Leader, Awful leaders….

Manmohan Singh vs Laloo Prasad Yadav
So we have a ‘cool’ Prime Minister to complement an already existing ‘cool’ President. One’s a rocket-scientist, the other’s an economist. Lovely. Great?

What about the rest of the government? AWFUL. We have the same old goats who’d been clinging to power for the forty years back in the posts they always held. Not a youthful face in the entire lot! We can say bye bye to any radical changes expected in our country. There are loads of people who were happy with Congress being back in power, and yours truly wasn’t one of them specifically because of this! For example, you re-appoint an Aviation minister, who’d been aviation minister 8 years ago. Do you think this person will come back brimming with more ideas? Considering the state of our aiprorts and airlines, this guy didn’t have anything to offer 8 years ago. I doubt he’s learnt new tricks. Or will he fall back into the regular routine of having the taxpayers pay for his bills, while his proctologist’s roommate gets a free ride on Air India?

This voice hopes desperately that somehow, our new leader(s) will display some reall leadership, and actually do something good for this country. As an upper-middle class salaried person, life is going to get very tough for me, and for all people like me. Higher taxes are certain. Petrol price rises are certain. Free power is certain (which means more power cuts). Re-nationalisation of private power companies? (tremble) Possible….

This voice expects this country to deteriorate in the next 5 years. It is unlikely that anything will get better. The only thing that may improve is ‘communal harmony’. Though frankly, I doubt it. If that were true, Sikhs would not have been slaughtered under a Congress government, even if they did murder Indira Gandhi. Secularism, my left foot. But the public has a short memory, and it seems so far, it only stretches as far back as Gujarat 2003…..

Plus cutting subsidies and forcing government workers to work harder, by privatising them will never be popular moves, which means that the much-reviled BJP will probably return to its shrill, fundamentalist roots.

Time to migrate to another country, while the current government rules…or find a way to register loud protests when the idiocies begin….

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Political Schizophrenia (and a new Leader)

So Sonia Gandhi stepped down, and pushed Manmohan Singh forward.

Though not entirely a surprise by this point, the whole drama associated with this
event, has managed to restore some faith in Humanity for this Voice, and I think for many Indians. By her symbolic renounciation, Sonia Gandhi displayed some traits that she should have shown much, much earlier.

She displayed leadership, responsibility, (intelligence), aggression and a strong will. Had she been exuding these emotions for the past few years, there may have been a lot more respect for her, and she may possibly have given Vajpayee a run for his money. But till this past week, nobody knew what she stood for, who she was, can she hold together unruly Indians, is she Indian, e.t.c. In the space of one week, she’s managed to change my opinion of her, and gained a lot of respect.

One small part of me (still partial to the Congress) thinks that she might have made a good leader, a strong and agressive leader for New India, who, as the Economist put it, is Indian by choice, not by birth. Granted, it’s not like she was dying to be Indian, but more that she was married to one…but still. However, the more dominant Right-wing part of me says that she is not an Indian, and many Indians, and most of the West will always perceive her as Italian.

So this brings us to the Prime Minister-elect Manmohan Singh. He’s been called a puppet, soft-spoken, Sonia’s pet e.t.c. e.t.c. but he may turn out to be different. After all, power corrupts, and ruling 1 billion people (with the help of some 545 elected representatives of course) is close to absolute power…
He is India’s most educated Prime Minister, with a Ph.D and thus a Dr. Oxbridge educated, and as he is so rightly called, The Man Who Started It All – The Father of Indian economic reforms (ok they were IMF-motivated).

This Voice hopes that his stint at the top job will be a boring and uneventful one, and that this Voice can finally leave Indian politics alone, and start writing about other things. There has been more than enough entertainment to last out a full 5-year term.

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History in the making?

I never wanted to be the prime minister and that was never my intention”“I have decided to listen to my inner voice and humbly decline the post (of Prime Minister)… “

So for the first time in the History of Independent India, a Prime-Ministerial candidate renounces her post. Not just any candidate, but the Bahu (Wife) of the nation.

And she chose to do it symbolically – I renounce this title, as I am not a power-hungry parasite…. not the regular Indian way, for sure. When it comes to symbolism, Indians tend be pretty sparse, doing things a tad more blatantly than non-Indians.

And the irony of it all – to see the Congress MPs beating their breasts, begging their Italian leader to rule 1 billion Indians, and using the most eloquent English (well sort of) to do it in!

Mani Shankar Aiyar, straight out of a Shakepeare tragedy…
Renuka Choudhary, crying her heart out..
Naveen Jindal saying the Youth of India want this..
Shaqeel Ahmed saying “What do I tell all the Muslims whom I asked to vote for me in YOUR name?”

The political party that booted out all foreign influences and helped create modern India, begging a naturalised Italian-Indian to lead them… !!!

One more mystery to add the long list of questions attached to the result of Elections 2004.

Why did she do it? The rumour doing the rounds is that of a security threat. This generation (and the one before it) of the Gandhi dynasty does not have long life-span as one of its traits. Sanjay Gandhi dies in a plane crash. Indira Gandhi is shot at point blank range by her bodyguards. Sonia’s husband – Rajiv is blasted to bits by what was probably the world’s first suicide bomber, belonging to the LTTE (what an interesting trend to launch)…

But would she really have been assassinated?
This voice doesn’t think so. If she was to be killed, why even let her get this far? Why not just murder her while she campaigns? Why wait till she’s surrounded by taxpayer-financed Black-Cat commando security?

Could it be her kids? Doubtful…

Foreign-origins? Possibly…. there would be at least one slur a day in parliament for sure, each time she gets up to speak….

But frankly I think the real reason for all this runs as follows:
Swiping power now means that by the time Rahul Gandhi comes of age, people really may be fed up with dynastic rule. This could simply be preparing the way for him to take the reigns when he is ready, by sacrificing herself.Better to rule by proxy now, putting Squeaky-clean Manmohan Singh up as the face, and she rules from behind….

More reasons for her decision should be posted in the comments section…
(and u could also see the BBC)

In the meantime, I think it would be cool to have Manmohan Singh as PM. The Business community would be in ecstasy if he does become PM – time to buy some shares in anticipation…

He would be India’s first non-High-caste Hindu PM. While the President’s position has been occupied by A Sikh, a Dalit, and now a Muslim, the PMs have all been Hindu brahmins. A Sikh as PM would be a refreshing change.

Plus let’s not forget, he launched India on its current trajectory, way back in 1991, as the Finance Minister of that Congress government.

Here’s to another peaceful transfer of Power in the world’s largest democracy.

Jai Hind.

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Grudging Acceptance

So it is almost abso-posi-lutely-tively certain that Ms. Sonia Gandhi will be the Prime Minister of the Largest Democracy of the World. It is a tribute to democracy. Italian by birth, this woman married a former (and now deceased) Prime Minister of India. After the death of Rajiv Gandhi, she became a recluse, staying out of active life. And she may well be the face of India for the next 5 years. At least it’s a good-looking face.

There are two specific reasons why all of us Non-Sonia-Gandhi people and BJP supporters will simply have to live with this.

1) The BJP had a pretty tidy majority for the past 5 years. Why didn’t it actively pursue the foreign-origin issue?Instead of bleating about it continuously, why didn’t they go out and pass the law allowing only Citizens of India who are born in India . If the rule is good enough for America, it sure as hell is good enough for us! I guess you could say that we are a “truer” democracy than America because we allow more representation…

2) You have to wonder, why did our founding fathers exclude this issue in our constitution? The whole reason that this woman can become Prime Minister, is because the Constitution of India does not explicitly prevent naturalized citizens from becoming Prime Minister. (If you would actually like to delve in to the Constitution…) The fact this point was not on their minds means that the rest of us ‘Xenophobes’ will simply have to accept this as the ideology and essence of our country.

Now we can either try and change this, or grudging accept the humiliating result that after 57 years of self-rule, we are again, being ruled, by a foreigner.

Finally, I leave you with a quote from the Economist, defending her position:

It should surely be a matter of national pride, however, that India has the maturity to choose as prime minister a leader who is Indian not by birth but by choice.

from the Global Agenda

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Sonia Gandhi? Yes or no?

Ok a few things non-Indians should note:
1) The last name is GANDHI. Any other spelling is incorrect
2) There is no relation between Mahatma Gandhi and Sonia/Rajiv/Indira Gandhi. They share the same surname, but not the same family. Ok, that out of the way..

Here’s an e-mail thread between me and a friend of mine, debating whether this woman should lead 1 billion Indians or not:

My friend writes:

This is some information on prospective PM of India – Sonia Gandhi that every Indian and at least every India lover must know.

1.. Sonia Gandhi is ONLY a high school graduate. It is not even sure if she is Matric pass or fail. Cambridge University has confirmed that they have no Sonia Maino on their alumni list.

2.. Her sister, Nadia Mario, who had never visited India before rushed to New Delhi, after Vajpayee govt.fell, to be by her side amidst reports that she might soon become India’s Prime Minister.

3. Should Sonia Gandhi become Prime Minister, her relatives in Italy would be fully entitled to round-the-clock protection by the Black Cat commandos at the Indian taxpayer’s expense.

4. She worked as an house maid in UK while taking classes to learn English in some no name school. She was from a poor family in Italy but now has almost as much money as Bill Gates (guess whose money is it).

5. During the 1971 war, while all Indians stood ready to fight for the Indian cause Sonia Maino and her husband Rajiv Gandhi went on vacation in Italy.

6. In 1977, when Indira Gandhi and Congress lost elections, Sonia Gandhi with her children and husband in tow took refuge of Italian embassy in New Delhi. Only after Indira Gandhi, Sanjay and his Indian wife Maneka convinced her that they came back.

7. Sonia married Rajiv in 1968 and was eligible to become Indian citizen 5 years later yet she did NOT become Indian citizen till 1984 I.e. 16 years after her marriage) This late bloom of Sonia’s love for India also was out of political consideration. In 1984, Rajiv, was heir apparent and most likely next Prime Minister. It would be awkward for a PM to have a foreigner wife. Voila, Sonia became an Indian Overnight.

8. She has not given a single interview or offered any ideas on a single issue facing India now. Her only qualification is that she married a Gandhi. No newspaper has taken up the issue; no political party is opposing this, people are falling in line as if this is nothing unusual.

9. Sonia became an Indian citizen in 1984 but did not surrender her Italian citizenship. She continues to be simultaneously a citizen of India and Italy as Italian law does not require her to surrender her Italian citizenship or passport. Simply put, Sonia is a dual citizen of India and Italy now dreaming of becoming the next Prime Minister of India (she can also legally become the prime minister of Italy!).

My Response:

This is all fine and dandy however:

1) for 57 yrs we’ve been ruled by Indians. Whether they’ve done a good job or bad is for you to decide.

2) Everybody KNOWS that she is leader of Congress. This means that if Congress wins, she will be leader of the country. In spite of knowing all of this, Congress got a greater number of votes than the BJP. Provided that there was little/no rigging (and there does not seem to be any proof of rigging as yet) this means that this is what a significant section of India wants, so it’s not bending over backwards, but gladly accepting.

3)Sometimes we need an outsider to remind us of how great we are and can be. Did anybody know or care about John Wright before he became coach of India. Does anybody know what his average was? What his experience as coach was? What brilliant coaching skills he had successfully applied elsewhere before becoming Coach of the Indian Team? Info about John Wright

4) This IS after all a democracy. We will get our chance to get rid of her, at least once, in the next 5 yrs, maybe sooner than later.

5) Finally she’s not Prime Minister YET, and if she has sense, she will decide not to be.

There is one slight problem, and that is TINA – There Is No Alternative. Second to Atal Behari Vajpayee, not a single person in India politics seems like a Leader

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The More Things Change….

The more they stay the same…
It’s a good thing that yours truly has decided to start blogging at another interesting point in Indian history.
For some bizarre reason, Congress has been voted back into power?!@?@#!
This voice from a 2.5 world country hopes for 2 things-first, it hopes that Congress doesn’t do addition, causing 2.5 World ( + 0.5) to become 3rd World…..Second, this voice hopes that it does not get shocked into silence, caused by the addition mentioned above.

Congress has been around for about 100 odd years. It’s had that long to make something of our country. In my view, it failed at that miserably. It plunged India into a horrendous socialist mindset and physical mess, from which we are yet to emerge. The BJP tried to do better, in a lot less time, and came up with an average performance. But average is better than bad!! The analysis behind this massive defeat will be discussed and debated constantly over the next few weeks, months, years, but not here. This voice is no expert. It can simply add it’s own two paise to the debate.
And all this voice can say is:
Beats me! I guess it comes down to the basics. The BJP forgot to provide them
But what stumps me is how the country forgets that the Congress hasn’t been providing basics for a lot longer than the BJP…could it be secularism? I don’t know. What I do know is that Congress is actually going to have to perform this time, because the people have had a taste of non-Congress governance, and they don’t completely hate it….
That being said, as a Delhi-ite, Congress in the Centre can only help my day-to-day life with Congress also being in power locally.

Watch this space for events occuring when a 5000 year old civilisation/57 year old Democracy is ruled by a an Italian-born widow (or hopefully her Sikh Deputy).

Who’s Gonna Trade Your Wild Horses?

And so we’re staring at a hung parliament(well as of 10.55 am IST anyway..).

BAH!

Anyway, today’s voice would simply like to argue in favour of a multi-party democracy, despite its nasty side-effect of causing muddled results and ugly party-shifting MPs. There have been many calls, here in India, for a shift to the two-party system as followed in the USA/UK. Frankly this suggestion is just awful, and should not be used here in India (it barely works in USA and UK anyway!).
People argue this is a must for stability, and therefore good governance.
Question posed to those people: The greatest abuses of power occurred in India under
a) 45 yrs of Congress Party rule?
or
b) 12 yrs of non-Congress rule?

If stability guaranteed good governance, nobody would bother to vote anymore! Keep in the incumbent in power, who needs change! Furthermore, the 2-party system works in USA/UK because their populations are a lot more homogeneous than our country. 12 Big languages, countless dialects, 4 major religions, and loads of sects, and don’t get me started about Caste….

There is NO WAY that two opposing streams of thought can cover all that. You need many more representatives to fill the gaps and complete the patchwork quilt that is India, and despite that, the multitude of parties and ideologies have converged into 2 streams anyway (I don’t include the ‘3rd front’ nonsense. The 3rd front should simply be renamed the losers who refuse to quit – but even they are important).
Further, coalition governments help keep the ruling party’s baser instincts in check. Had the BJP not been part of a coalition, I’m sure the abuses in Gujarat would have been worse(if possible) and hell, they might have spread outside Gujarat! Coalitions force parties to compromise, as opposed to dictate terms, and is that not the true essence of democracy?

Finally, let’s not knock the independent candidates. They are necessary to remind the larger players that there is somebody else who could steal their votes. Somebody else who might begin to matter if a divided nation returns a 50-50 verdict(or 45-45-10 verdict). In America, the 50-50 vote led to the Supreme Court having to decide who would be President!!! But in our country a 50-50 vote simply means that the Clean-Cut man from Pune will be given more importance, and courted by the big players, or the dogged Communists of Bengal will become part of the government. This is after all, a democracy. Every Vote counts.

So let the trading begin, as ugly as it is after all:

Democracy is an awful political system, but the best one out of all the others proposed and practised so far

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Disgust, but no surprise

There are quite a few people out there who were shocked by American behaviour in Iraq….

Not this lowly Voice.

American behaviour in Iraq is very consistent with Post September-11th American though and ‘culture’ (if you can call it that). The disgust has already been expressed everywhere, so I’m not adding anything new, however, my blood just boils at the thought of it all, that I just have to vent.

To every single being on this planet with even a mild hint of rationality and/or intelligence, it was clear that:
1) Iraq has NOTHING to do with Al-Qaeda
2) That it had NO nukes
3) That Saddam was a threat to NOBODY other than Iraqis.

How Americans can be so absolutely fucking clueless is just amazing. Their stupidity has been witnessed first-hand, within their country. It is what made me go running back to my own country as fast as I possibly could. Observing Americans talk and behave as they do just made me wonder:

If idiots like these can rule the World, is it any wonder that the World is in as bad a shape as it is?

That was thought #1. #2 went as follows:

Why not go back home, and help realize my country’s potential, instead of staying in this shithole, where all that’s left to do is find another way to sell new & improved bubble-gum flavoured whitening toothpaste?

I digress. If it isn’t clear to anybody with half a brain yet, Americans are the world’s biggest hypocrites, and when their hypocrisy is revealed, it is relabelled “Realpolitik”

“We’re invading Iraq because they are a threat to the world”
World giggled and guffawed

so then..

“We’re invading Iraq because it’s a threat to America”
World still giggled and guffawed

So then someone in CIA/MI5/K-mart cooked up a nice little essay…

“We’re invading Iraq because they have WMDs”

The UN disagrees, the world stays quiet, with a “Let’s see” attitude…
No WMDs found…

“We’re invading Iraq to free the poor Iraqis from the clutches of a vile dictator, and in the name of Human Rights…”

ok… still cutting the bastards some slack…and then we have the lovely pictures showing just how the Champion of Human Rights treats people..

So what’s next America? What excuse do u have left now? This whole escapade is the childish fantasy of a mediocre moron, which unfortunately has actaully been played on the world stage. It’s horrific.

The best part is to hear American justifications for their actions:

“Those Sand Niggers had it coming. I don’t see anybody crying about 9/11″ – Prove that Iraqis had anything even remotely to do with those crimes

“I don’t see anybody apologising for the deaths of those contractors in Fallujah” – This one is just so fucking stupid, that it pains to come down to the level to answer it.

1) America INVADED Iraq. Iraqis have a right to beat the crap out of the invaders. Why the fuck should they apologise?
2) More importantly, the abuses committed by America took place before January. The Fallujah incident happened in April – in which case it may have been to avenge….
3) Finally, American atrocities occured against Prisoners-of-War. There are some well documented conventions on how prisoners are supposed to treated…. and now nobody will follow them. After all, if the Beacon of Freedom and Democracy doesn’t why should the rest of us savages?

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The 50th First Attempt – (The Dance of Democracy)

Alrighty, so here I am messing around with Blogger again. This time I happen to be doing it because Google is offering free Gmail accounts to all “active” blogger users…I haven’t been ‘active’ for over a yr….

Ok so anyhoo, a friend/colleague of mine suggested that a blog is just a great way to transfer some of your soul into a transit point, for later reference, like the Pensieve in The Goblet of Fire..

So I guess today’s Voice-From-A-2.5-World-Country talks about what went thru the mind of this voter, in the run up to the ‘World’s Largest Democratic Exercise’.

Way before this election had begun, yours truly had already made up his mind and decided to give his vote to the current govt., i.e. our Lotus-loving saffron friends. Simply because they’ve visibly done more in 5 years than Congress has in the past 50. I don’t entirely subscribe to their ideology. They are right that the majority has been apologetic for too long….but genocides/pogroms aren’t the way to stop apologising…Plus having spent my formative yrs in Hong Kong, and being educated in America, I’m hardcore believer in the Capitalist way…

Ok so what’s the point…? Well …Round 1 passed us by, then round 2 ended….that’s where the trouble started. All of a sudden, the BJP wasn’t looking like it was feeling as good…..You could see this in the change in campaign advertising. First, we were India Shining/Rising… then it became Vote NDA for progress, a slight toning down of the original message…and then after round 2 the desperation shows – “Vote Vajpayee for Stability…” – No more India is great stuff – instead just an appeal to prevent the BJP from having to horse-trade…
And then I found myself wondering…hmm what if there is a not-so-well hung parliament?
What should I do with my vote?
Should I give it to the Congress candidate (whose identity still remained a mystery to me, mind).
Or how about that Independent dude, the sophisticated looking author…?
Would there be any point wasting a vote on any of these bimbos? Luckily since the Capital would only be asked to exercise its franchise in the last round I had time. Round 3 returned a more positive showing for the NDA…but I was still confused.

Finally, the weekend before our turn rolled around, and both candidates dropped their leaflets in our mailbox…The BJP dude was a professor, and looked decent, but his pamphlet was only in Hindi… I have to be honest here, I don’t have a Hindi dictionary, so beyond ‘LokTantra’, ‘Rajniti’ and ‘Vikas’, most of his statements went over my head, but he seemed to be making the right noises about Progress. The Congress dude was much worse. He just loooked very shady – straight out of Bollywood. Yech. Plus his pamphlet told us a lot about him, and nothing about what he was going to do with the power we were going to gift him with. Oh and that independent author dude didn’t send anything. So with one day to go, my decision had been made simple. Vote for the more respectable looking candidate, who belonged to party I supported anyway…

“Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp”

The defining sound for an Indian election, and that’s what was emitted after I pressed the blue button next to the Lotus, and walked out and joined the crowd of saris, jeans, lungis, khaki uniforms and dust grains.

It’s a shame we Indians don’t appreciate this festival more. There are billions of people who would kill for this privelege (and that’s not just an expression). This thought process is special, and as Indians, we’re lucky that it can be ours.
And on that note, this Voice-From-A-2.5-World-Country exercises another one its rights. It chooses. Chooses to transfer some soul at a later date.

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