Being Cynical�

The first time I heard Jairam Ramesh have turned his guns on IITs; I thought it must be for the chopping of few trees by IIT Mumbai to build a new academic building. But sadly it is not the case. Mr.Ramesh’s dig at IITs & IIMs has got nothing to do with environment or ecosystem imbalance. His concerns were primarily regarding the quality of the faculties which these two premier institutes of India claim to have. According to him, both the institutes are big names only because of the brilliant students that enter its campus; not because of the quality of teaching or the people who teach there. So in nutshell – the institutes might be world class but the chaps who teach there are not. Bravo !! Points taken. But Mr.Ramesh, aren’t you by any chance infringing in Kapil Sibal’s domain? And before you question the quality of IIT professors and if they are world class or not; can you for once look within and let us know – if our politicians are world class too? The equation is simple – if you feel being the second fastest growing economy we ought to have world class faculties in our premier institutes; in the same notion, we ought to have world class politicians being the world’s largest democracy as well. Now I am half convinced, people with flamboyant hairstyles do always find themselves in the ducks for all the wrong reasons. Be it Sivraj Patil, Sashi Tharoor or Jairam Ramesh. There must be some correlation between good hairstyle and irresponsibility.

Having said that, I must admit, Jairam Ramesh is not entirely wrong. Let’s give the credit where it is due. I wonder why few self-styled individuals crying foul on what Jairam Ramesh said or didn’t say? Why bring pride in everything and play ostrich without accepting the facts? I admit the context and style in which he made these announcements might be wrong but it certainly can’t take away the facts that the whole idea and reason for having world class institutes like IITs is far from achieved. The root concept is in jeopardy which the great thinkers like Ardeshir Dalal foresaw a good 7 decades ago and the need of tomorrow for India to have brilliant minds to address the technology needs of the nation and make the nation technologically self-sufficient. Before jumping to any conclusion let’s take a pause and ask ourselves – Have we achieved that?

We still run around begging for that cryogenic engine. The achievement of ours in terms of defense innovation is the sole Arjun Tank. Let’s not boast too much about our missile technology; if not for that one man we would have been begging for them as well. We call ourselves as IT powerhouse where in what we have turned ourselves into a bunch of IT coolies. We don’t have an IBM, Oracle, Google or Microsoft of our own but yet take pride for Infosys and TCS which are in realty nothing but companies having lakhs of mules who are slogging like slaves without brain because they are cheap to get. So let’s get this straight – we are IT powerhouse not because we are extremely talented but because we are the cheapest dumb coolies one can get in international market. Barring Sam Pitroda, we don’t have anything to project in terms of our communication innovations. We haven’t our own fighter jets yet and depend heavily on Lockheed-Martin, MIG, French fighters to come to our rescue. The best thing in terms of locomotive that we can showcase to the world is the Tata-Indica and the Tata-Nano. We still borrow radar technology from Israel as we yet to come-up with our own. The list is endless.

I am sure the great thinkers like Mr.Dalal who thought of having a framework where we will end up being self-sufficient technologically must be turning in his grave. Pundit Nehru’s address at the first convocation of IIT-Kharagpur speaks a lot about the thought process behind the IITs and how miserably we have failed in it – ‘Here in the place of that Hijli Detention Camp stands the fine monument of India, representing India's urges, India's future in the making. This picture seems to me symbolical of the changes that are coming to India’. I am not arguing on whose fault it is. The simple question is – If we have world class institutes at our disposal with world class faculties and students then why there is not a single world class innovation yet? Something must be wrong somewhere or are we still hypocritical about the facts? So least we criticize Mr.Ramesh for speaking the truth would be better for us.

Look at what this year’s IIT-entrance toppers have to say when asked what they want to do in future. Call it our misery or bad luck; not a single soul I heard saying, he/she wants to go for research and innovation in future. All they wish to do is to crack yet another tough exam in future and land up in Indian Administrative service. With all respect to UPSC and our civil servants – are the IITs formulated to produce best civil servants or best technical brains? This is plain hijack of the core thought process. If your dream is to be a civil servant you don’t necessarily have to study in IITs. A simple degree from any college would suffice your requirement. Before anything this mindset has to change or if not just stop people from going erratic post their IIT stint as we can’t allow individuals to massacre the whole idea.

Least talked about the IIMs or for that matter any MBA college is better. For me they are always and would remain an over-hyped and over-paid lot. If we think by producing few gentlemen who would wear Armani suite and will love brown bread and scrambled eggs in future, we are going to change the state of the nation dramatically then we are fool to the bottom. The hefty pay cheque that these IIMs grads are offered every year by multinationals make me run around for credible reasons. My initial impression was – Wow!!, these guys must be doing great jobs. But gradually I realized how hyped the concept of MBA is. Not a single CEO of any big company I see has done any MBA. Be it Warren Buffet or Larry Ellison or for that matter Bill Gates or Peter Walton. This suggests; to be a great business man you certainly don’t need a business administration degree from IIM. Even if I am wrong in my conclusion then also I don’t see a single reason why we should be proud of our IIMs. Every year it always is the foreign companies who hire 90% of the students leaving almost nothing for our homegrown conglomerates to fetch. So what is the pride in there for producing such pseudo talents who ultimately go around and work for others? I don’t see Indian-Oil, SBI, LIC, Indian-Railways, Coal India, ONGC, Maruti Udyog having any of these Armani wearing giants in their payroll? So where is the bloody pride and for what?

Even if we take these MBA chaps at face value and believe they are doing a great job in building the nation for which they deserve lakhs and lakhs of rupees every month then just wondering what is stopping us in having more of them. Why only have 2.5K students from IIMs? Let’s increase it to 25K and change our nation to a gold mine within a year. What is the problem there? Why our HRD ministry not thinking on these lines? Because, I am sure if the seats are increased to 25K all of the lot would be seen distributing pamphlets on city malls giving that Rocket Sing wannabi impression. This is the realty. They are overvalued intentionally where as they still remain nothing at ground level. So why so much pride for a hype? We are a mature enough nation – let’s get out of this hypocrisy.

IITs have a problem in the way we run them but none can dispute the quality of the produce, which are for certain world class and we don’t need Steve Ballmer to acknowledge that or Jairam Ramesh to question that. But the concept of IIMs is nonsense and over-hyped. We might even do well if we divert the money we spend on them to core research institutes like IISc, RRL, Institute of Physics et all.

Mr.Ramesh, my vote is with you. You might be little erratic at times like when you banned BT Brinjal for no apparent reason or didn’t gave your nod for Mumbai airport to protect few snakes and mosquitos or conveniently forgo the security concerns while giving a green signal for UPA-II’s pet project at Jaitapur; but this time you certainly hit the nail in the skull with your comments for IITs & IIMs. You could have done a great help to yourself if you had uttered what you wanted to. Instead of attacking the faculties you should have attacked the miserable failure of the thought process behind these two institutes. In totality we have achieved nothing out of these two institutes except allowing uncountable number of coaching centers from Kota or elsewhere to loot students in the name of an IIT or IIM carrot. The best example of our achievements – Chetan Bhagat (IIT & IIM), writing books. Harsha Bhogle (IIM) giving cricket commentary. Certainly we have achieved our goals. Haven’t we?

Call it vendetta politics or plain stupidity, the crisis in Karnataka politics which finally seems to settle down for the time being has to be ensured of not repeating itself. Neither of the party, namely H.R.Vardwaj or B.S.Yeddyurappa can either be blamed or given a clean chit for the mess that was created; as many would suggest, best should have been avoided. Even if at the face value it may seem like two individuals are at loggerhead, it certainly has got more than just individual egos. A lot of political gain, self-achievements and last but not the least a good amount of arrogance was there or there about in the whole farce.

First look at H.R.Vardwaj’s interest. He is supposed to be the governor of the state and a person appointed by the President of India to ensure smooth running of the state government. Well that is what the job profile of any governor of any state anyway. When someone says smooth running of the state government, it inherently means the stability of the state politics. So in other words the governor is the person who is responsible for a stable government in all possible scenarios (unless something goes seriously wrong) and should be his/her primary lookout. Here I feel Varadwaj failed miserably. He not only went beyond the Do’s & Don’ts but also tried to work the other way. More than once he showed his interest to destabilize the government with the help of the plethora of constitutional tools available at his disposal. This is surprising for many, including me. I am no constitutional expert to agree or disagree on whether Varadwaj was right in availing all the democratic tools at his possession to destabilize an elected government or not. While he might be constitutionally at no fault for such an exercise of power, the experts believe he walked a little too far.

Traditionally the post of Governor in India is a celebrated position and many believe a retirement home for veteran politicians. This idea of employing veterans has its own advantages. The primary advantage is that of neutral behavior and unbiased approach to state matters. The people at such high offices do see this post as a reward for their active political contribution to the party at center and an honor to be addressed as ‘His Excellency’ before they could retire from active politics. As obvious, at the verge of retirement the person might not have further political strides to make and would love to bid adieu to his political career untainted and on a high. This is what many feel Varadwaj breeched by his acts and actions. But can we really blame entirely Mr.Varadwaj for his actions? Can’t there be an unseen hope of returning back to active politics by remaining in the good books of the party high-command?

Look at the curious case of S.M.Krishna. When many thought his political career is at the fag end being the governor of Maharashtra, the general election of 2009 did change the equation. To surprise many including Mr.Krishna himself, he was given the all-important portfolio of External Affairs minister. This could be termed as a mistake. Not because Mr.Krishna is incompetent for the post or anything like that. The sheer manner in which a bad precedence was established should have been avoided. The once coveted and prestigious retirement home called Raj-Bhawan turned into a political forte at once. Rather being neutral the appointment of Mr.Krishna served as a lease of new political life for many. The post suddenly seemed like a bouncing pad to renew one’s political career. So those who thought they are almost down and out in their political journey the appointment served as Oxygen. And what better you can do to bounce back than keeping yourself on the good books of your high-commands. I am not saying Varadwaj might have harnessed the idea I am mentioning but at the same time I won’t be surprised an ounce if he actually would have. This might not go down well with many, but I feel there is more to the chaos than just corruption and graft charges, nepotism, manipulation of democratic framework as accused by Varadwaj in his recommendation letter to the GOI in favor of president rule in the state. We can’t throw one of our states to mid-term poll for no solid reason. Can we?

Not to blame Varadwaj alone, Mr.Yeddyurappa has his share of pie to contribute to the mess. The party which claims itself a party with a difference doesn’t seem to walk the talk. To begin with, Reddy brothers and their tired with corruption did left the Karnataka government and BJP at large high and dry. The mining mafia that congress always accused of Reddy brothers hobnobbing with might have some truth to it. An astute politician like Yeddyurappa can’t even deny the fact that there was some kind of grand scale loot going around Bellary mines eventually incurring heavy losses to the state and its natural resources. But there is a catch to what Mr.Yeddyurappa can or can’t do. When a top leader of his party and of the stature of Mrs.Sushma Swaraj represents the constituency and alleged to have close links with the Reddy brothers, one always can guess what action as a Chief Minister one can take. I am not saying this should be the reason to shy away from corruption and look the other way. But at the same time should not be seen defending violently the individuals in question. The position of Mr.Yeddyurappa is further diluted by his own acts too. The land scams involving his close family members didn’t help the cause a bit.

The unfortunate theatrics post the breakaway faction of BJP MLAs is certainly an embarrassment for our democracy. More surprising is the manner in which the speaker of the assembly disqualified the faction on the no-confidence day. Without any doubt whatsoever, it was wrong. While the argument on whether the behavior of the speaker was right or wrong can go on for ages; little did the actions of Mr.Varadwaj then can ask for any credibility either. A governor has got no business to write letters to the speaker on how he should maintain the decorum and process on the floor. The speaker is supposed to be qualified enough to know what precisely is expected from him and any interference in his work should not be entertained. But sadly ethics and democratic functioning was shown the back door and amidst a lot of chaos and TuTu-MainMain Mr.Yeddyurappa survived as a chief minister by the skin of his teeth, while the whole voting saga many claim as undemocratic to begin with. Let’s not get there as it is the lookout of the speaker of the house to decide.

But little did the mellow down of the situation in Karnataka gives any comfort. It more seems like a sleeping volcano which can erupt at any time with more unpleasant scenes following the suite. The order of Apex court to reinstall the sacked MLAs or the suggestion of the governor to impose the president’s rule can’t stop things going from bad to worse in the future. The political stability of any state is a closely knitted affair between the Raj-Bhawan and the state secretariat. More than democratic frameworks, it is the relationship between the shareholders at both sites which ensures a smooth running. But that closeness is far from happening in Karnataka till there is a change of guards, both physically and mentally. We can safely strikeout the mental compromise happening at either end as it is ego which always enjoys the last laugh. So what next? To have a smooth running of the government in Karnataka one either of Varadwaj or Yeddyurappa has to go. And I feel both have enough reasons to leave their post and allow the smooth functioning of the state machinery.

But can we possibly ask Mr.Yeddyurappa to go? Will it be fair for a people elected government be sacked without any credible reason? Many who see there is a still middle ground would advocate for Yeddyurappa to step down as the Chief-Minister and a fresh face taking the charge. If media reports are to be believed, this is precisely the demand of those breakaway faction always has. Judicious suggestion but has to be figured out, how many takers are there for this option. While there is a possibility, the probability of this happening looks ridiculously thin. This leaves us with the sole option of asking Mr.Varadwaj to pack his bags; more so after he is snubbed by the GOI on his suggestions of President Rule in the state. But what is the probability of that happening? Not much since Mr.Chidambaram has clearly strike out this as an option.

So in nutshell the turmoil in Karnataka which started some six months back doesn’t seem to recede anytime soon. Looking at the ultimatum that BJP has issued to the center to remove Varadwaj within next 5 days or to face a nationwide protest doesn’t give a pleasant feeling. First for, it may bring Karnataka again to the boil and second a political party can’t decide on whom to be there and who not when it comes to president appointed posts. Democracy at large is bigger and important than any party or individual. Be it Yeddyurappa or Varadwaj; BJP or Congress. Someone needs to educate a whole lot of people to refrain themselves from bringing personal problems to state governance and least at least – Allow the democracy to exercise itself. Till then let’s keep our fingers crossed and hope nothing unpleasant or embarrassing happens in Karnataka or elsewhere in future.

We (as a nation) must be at the bottom of the heap when it comes to accountability and shouldering responsibility. Even below Somalia and Congo. For centuries we are behaving complete insane when it comes to stand and own up. The precise reason of easy going and responsibility ducking attitude made various outsiders rule us for thousands of years, yet we did learn nothing. In every step, every spear we not only conveniently forgo our responsibility but also watch out for a scapegoat when things go horribly wrong. The effort we put to keep our own back safe from attack when the soil finally hits the fan; I wish we have put half of the effort in doing justice to our responsibilities. We would have been there in place of China a long time back.

Look at the mess that we have created in the dossier – dossier game with Pakistan and yet make tall claims of us being dead serious on the ‘fight against terrorism’ nonsense. The latest dossier that we had send (even before the first bullet from Navy Seal Remington hit Osama) to Pakistan contains a list of 42 most wanted fugitives of India who alleged to been housed in Pakistan. As obvious, we want all of them be handed over to us so that we can make more secure cells in Arthur Road Jail (guess the two great human beings, Afzal Guru & Qasav alone are not good enough). Though the idea of sharing such a list with Pakistan is a waste of time and the biggest goof-up to start with; this is not what made many of us feel embarrassed.

Even before the courier guy could possibly have delivered the parcel at Pakistan Embassy; from nowhere one gentleman of that notorious list traced to Thane near Mumbai. The poor chap is already been fighting a case slapped against him by the state police in attachment to Mumbai Bomb blast and is currently on bail. The otherwise astute and straight spoken Home-Minister put the blame entirely on the Intelligence Bureau sleuths for this colossal goof-up. But Sir – aren’t the IB reports to you? So when we can expect you being the custodian of all such agencies stand up and own up the mess and with all seriousness resign, especially when you guys don’t waste a second in asking for everybody else’s resignation the moment something goes wrong?

Looking at the seriousness and volatility of the case, I am sure the list must have been prepared with aught most caution. First the Maharashtra police, then the IB guys at Mumbai, then the IB guys at Delhi and finally your own ministry. How come such a glaring mistake can pass through so easily at multiple levels? How come the process can be so porous in matter of grave concern and national security? Is it the same reason why only a 10 member Mujahedeen team could travel in a Dingi from Karachi and created mayhem in Mumbai with all our security agencies having not a single clue on how it happened? What next Mr. Home-Minister? When the whole world takes a huge amount of interest and marks closely on our Dossier business with Pakistan such bizarre eventualities certainly makes all of us a laughing stock (not that we are not yet a laughing stock, looking at the number of dossiers we have shared till date without getting Hafeez Shaeed slapped for once even) across continents. Little told about our maturity, seriousness to fight terrorism this goof-up exposed is better. The image of the nation that might have taken the amount of dent can very well be realized by all, including you.

If that was not good enough a humilation, a second from the list is found to be there; not only in Mumbai but languishing in Arthur Road jail for last one year on charges of terrorism. Now what about this mistake Mr.Chidambaram? Whom to blame now? CBI, RAW, IB, BJP, Advani or Narendra Modi for keeping you busy to frame him in Gujarat riots case through SIT and never got enough time to catch the goof-up? Since the second goof-up CBI is told to have suspended a mere Sub-Inspector and transferred the ACP & Commissioner pending enquiry (thankfully they didn’t suspend the poor DTP operator who did the typing). Well done! Bravo. That is some real quick action to cover up the dirt.

Why it is always the lower rank people who get the stick. Why the buck always stops at the bottom without showing any sign of going up. How come the people at the top are never responsible for the mess? This is getting to some kind of a process: Screw Up -> Embarrassment -> People at the top innocent -> Search for a scapegoat in the form of a junior -> Wash off your hands -> Wait for the next screw up to happen. Why it is always a junior rank official seems to have all the responsibilities of the world where as the people at the top are allowed a stress free life? If that is the case then why unnecessarily the tax payers should burden the cost of so many bald heads at the top? Be it suspending a mere Track alignment guard during the infamous Purushottam Express – Kalandi Express accident or suspending a PI now; it always has to be a junior employee who takes the brunt.

If this attitude of shielding the people at top continues then I doubt we can ever be serious on our accomplishments. The buck should always stop at the top unlike the bottom which seems always the case in India. With all probability the goofed up names in the list might not just end at 2. There could be many more from the list who would be residing in various parts of India without our agencies having any idea on their whereabouts. That is precisely why CBI took out the list from their official website. In the event of more names tumbling out to add to our already oversized embarrassment, what should be done? Will we suspend yet another SI and pretend to be no-nonsense for mistakes or will ask the top brass of the Home-Ministry to stand up and explain; starting with G.K.Pillai till P.Chidambaram? If we really want the things to improve then we don’t have any other option but to force the buck to stop at the top, I guess!!

Mayawati is a bad leader and with all probability could be a bad human being too. As in seldom you will find corrupt people being good human beings. The mis-governance in every spear by the UP government is for all to see and realize how rotten our politics have gone into. Be it accomplishing political vendetta, exhibiting the naked display of power by putting on a 6 crore garland of currency, favoring few selected groups like Jaypee to carry out all government works for personal gain or simply the chaos that is going around Bhatta-Parsaul for some days; Ms.Mayawati is always at the wrong side of governance, ethics and morals. But the issue at Bhatta-Parsaul is far more serious than it looks at its face value and mere Mayawati bashing is not going to solve it. The incompetence of the authorities, nepotism, callousness towards public plight and some hypocrisy; it has got all with every possibility of becoming a game changer during 2012 UP elections.

Having said that; let’s not forget the real reason for chaos erupting from every corner of the country when it comes to land accusation. Be it Niyamgiri, Aligarh, Jaitapur or the latest Bhatta-Parasaul. The wretched and outdated 1894 land-accusation and land-reform British rule that we are still following is the main reason. Even though the rule could be the biggest culprit, the authorities who do the accusation are no saints either. A lot of Aapsi-Bhagidari with private players and corporates and self-satisfying goals more often than not hijack the already maligned rules and end up creating a hell lot of dissatisfied individuals. But along with the standard mismanagement the Bhatta-Parsaul case has a notorious instance of heavy hypocrisy and politicization involved in it. Call it the upcoming election or yet another example of pot calling the kettle black – the involvement of a lot of politicians and bucket full of Tu-Tu-Main-Main for no apparent reason doesn’t give me a good impression. If the belief that by just bashing Mayawati, the so called plight of the farmers be eradicated then that is a naïve idea to harness. At the end of the day none of the politicians do have any moral banked to accuse anyone else; Mayawati or all those who are now bashing her. It is just the matter of convenience and to which side of the fence one is, else all are same.

Take the curious case of Rahul-Baba. Wish the prince in realty is concerned about the poor to the extent he is pretending to be. On his quest to give justice to the poor farmers Rahul Gandhi even birched his Z+ security and preferred to pillion ride in a bike to meet the agitating farmers at the Delhi-Noida border (as there was some 144 around the area). The mavericks of Rahul-Baba before the dawn broke have given some sense of Déjà vu for many, including the omnipresent Digvijay Sing. Baba not only met the farmers but stayed with them as a show of solidarity and even got himself arrested by Mayawati’s forces (read police force). I won’t have questioned the intentions of Gandhi scion provided Rahul-Baba has maintained some consistency. I wouldn’t have any doubt on his efforts if Rahul Gandhi has judged every land accusation agitation on the same yard stick.

Let’s examine the Jaitapur agitation where government is dead serious in putting up a nuclear power plant, which many tout as THE pet project for the UPA-2 government. Honestly when Pakistan is running away with all the money you rarely get better chances to please Uncle Sam. Hence the prospective dangers were conveniently overlooked. Now the people of the region are furious with such act and no wonder are on the streets protesting against the idiotic idea. The agitation at Jaitapur has broadly two dimensions – I) Against the plant itself II) The way and manner in which the lands were acquired. While the first reason asks for a bigger debate the second is pretty much same for which the people of UP are up in arms against their own government. But there is a difference between Jaitapur and Bhatta-Parsaul or for that matter between Bhatta-Parsaul and any such other land agitation. The rather mysterious absence of Rahul-Baba everywhere else except Bhatta-Parsaul makes me run around the places for some credible reason. If Rahul Gandhi is a messiah of the poor then shouldn’t the people of Niyamgiri, Jaitapur be rolled into the Rahul-Baba-Would-Save bandwagon? When Rahul Gandhi can take the pain to leave his Mercedes Benz back home and pillion ride to UP why can’t he come to Jaitapur to meet yet another set of oppressed and exploited individuals? More so, when he has his own party ruling the state of Maharashtra. I am sure he won’t have to pillion ride as given the option the Maharashtra chapter of Congress would arrange a Limozin to ferry him from the airport to the agitation ground. May I ask this question to Rahul Gandhi then – having such opportunities why he is not seen anywhere close to Jaitapur?

Are the demands of the Jaitapur people illegitimate? Are the land acquired by the Maharashtra government are in all fairness? Is it the case that none is oppressed at Jaitapur and the agitation is entirely politically motivated? I (so do many) will give a NO for an answer to all three. If we mere mortals can recognize the nonsense why can’t Rahul-Baba realize this? I for once love to see Rahul Gandhi displaying the cordiality and togetherness beyond the virtues of political interest and party lines. When people of Jaitapur, Niyamgiri and many places in Chhattisgarh are aghast with the manner in which their lands were been snatched from them, Rahul-Baba’s UP centric love doesn’t give a credible relief. If Rahul-Baba feels people elsewhere are just doing the rounds around a drama house because the concerned states are being ruled by either his party or his allies then I am sorry to say he doesn’t know how a true leader should behave and act. In that case if the facts are taken in account then the only person who seems to be doing some high quality drama around Bhatta-Parsaul agitation is Rahul Gandhi himself. One can’t have selective concerns as it suits his and his party’s needs and go on chest beating being the biggest messiah for the poor and oppressed. Poor and oppressed doesn’t have a region, zone or party oriented identity. If Rahul-Baba only hand picks those poor who make some sense, as far as his party’s interest in future is concerned then let me say this without beating around the bush – it is sheer nonsense.

Keeping the politics out of it – May I ask, what is that fuss all about the pictures shared by him and his claim of mass graves or some nonsense to that effect? Pictures do tell a thousand words but Rahul-Baba seems to have taken it too seriously. When people of both villages doesn’t agree to an ounce on what Rahul had to say regarding the oppression, rape, molestation and mass grave then what the intention behind such tall claims is beyond my though process. Either he was trying to mislead the nation and the PM on the whole issue or is a plain idiot. Either of the reasons doesn’t seem like fitting into the congress scheme of things. As usual the big names of the party are defending this goof up by the Yuvraj in exchange of their lives. The excuses from Rahul himself are anything but bizarre. As per him; he only told what he heard from the villagers to the media and the PM and the pictures were shared with him as he himself haven’t taken a single of them. Come-on! Is this kind of a joke? A person who his party believes the next best thing that happened to India after independence and in all requisite the best man to rule the nation till eternity is so naïve and school boyish?

Being the general secretary of the ruling party and holding a responsible position, he should have known what he is doing or talking. Being such an astute (if Congress were to be believed) politician he must have known, pictures doesn’t hold any water in terms of forensic evidence. Even if it were been shared with him by someone, he should have made sure to check the validity and authenticity of them before making them public. Just because he has easy access to the Prime-Minister (or is it the other way?) he can’t accompany few villagers along with him and parrot them to talk his lines in front of the PM. At the fallout of his lies, more than anything he should be heavily reprimanded for wasting the valuable time of the PM without any reason. For once he should be told in harshest of words – state’s machinery is not there to be a party to some individual’s theatrics and certainly can’t waste it’s time in listening and corroborating his lies and nonsense vendettas.

Having said that – Mayawati is a big blot on our democracy and the sooner she is kicked out of power is better for the state. Lies or no lies; the wellbeing of the people of Bhatta-Parsaul has a big question mark. If there is some (even 1%) credibility on what Rahul said about the atrocities then it is a matter of grave concern. But to counter the tantrums of an insane woman, rhetoric and gimmicks are not certainly the answer. If at all the politicians who want to do something for the poor (if not pretending) must get out of this selective amnesia and refrain themselves from hypocrisies in a hurry. Rahul like selective concern is not what the nation needs at this time and the Baba-turn-Prince must get this at the earliest. And by the way – Rahul-Baba, you might be ashamed of being an Indian (Your love for your maternal home can justify this) just because you had to show your false concern, few morphed pictures and lot of lies; but for us your nonsensical utterances for few votes is an insult to our motherland and the rest of the populace. So you better keep our country out of your vote-bank politics and can very well use Italy if you feel like. And Yes – I am sure I can expect to see you during 2014 general and Maharashtra elections acting funny in-and-around Jaitapur and vomiting your standard lines of concerns for the poor.

Many people tend to believe the assassination of Osama Bin Laden (OBL) could be the second biggest achievement of wiping out a scoundrel from the face the planet since Adolf Hitler decided to pull the trigger on his own forehead a good six decades ago. Call it co-incidence or destiny getting the better of the two rascals; it was May 2^nd on both the occasions. Anyway I am not here to discuss the numerology or chances of some other rascal in the form of say Dawood Ibrahim jumping from the top floor of Burj Khalifa on next May 2^nd. That is for certain to happen in one or the other form as, to avoid some further embarrassment you never know when the Pakistani authorities who are shielding the biggest fugitive of India for some time might just gun him down in some bizarre circumstances. So leave the idiot to live his last few days in peace before someone (our authorities or his own allies) eventually do the needful to pay him back his long pending dues with interest (whether it would be another May 2^nd for a date or not is for the destiny to decide). I am not skeptical on that at all. My skepticism is on the current scenario and the scenarios that I can see in coming future and not to mention the real achievement behind the assassination of OBL.

Achievement of the assassination

If you ask me then I feel the achievement would very much add up to zero. Not sure about others but for me by assassinating you do more help than harm to an individual who has some significant image (good or bad) on world platform. A true winner should rather defeat his opponent badly and let him live the rest of his life licking his own wounds and seeing his own downfall. This way the rotten fate of the individual would stand as a deterrent for others who are following or planning to follow his ideologies. Secondly it would remain an example for a longer time for the world to see and realize, what could be the resultant of any bad deed. By assassinating you are doing neither but vindicating the belief and ideology the person assassinated stood for. When many would term this as vengeance it still remains as gifting a free martyrdom to someone. Rather the person’s death becoming a deterrent, it becomes a propellant for many similar thinking individuals to jump in the fray for some free martyrdom.

Look at the support that Osama got across the Muslim community post his death. The public outcry that was seen on the streets of Pakistan and elsewhere pretty much assured that the elimination of one Osama would give birth to a dozen more rascals of his stature very soon. The belief that Osama always wanted to implant on each and every Muslim on how the west is the Satan specifically described in the holy Koran (with USA at the top) seems to be materializing. Even though his miserable existence never achieved this, his death seems to have done the trick. So rather being frenzy on the assassination we should congratulate USA for committing a dual harakiri as far as Osama is concerned – first while creating him (to suppress the Soviet Union) and second while eliminating him (when he started running around to bite them)

In contrast think what would have happened if Osama was allowed to live a street dog’s life. Rather hearing his assassination, if the world got to see the fragile dead body of the same man with carrying all the possible diseases of the world and dyeing out of hunger; how the reaction would have been? I think the USA could have done a better service to themselves and the world at large if they have instead ensured a miserable life for Osama (running from his death all the time) ending with a humiliating pig’s death. But anyway the one achievement that I can see out of this assassination is some sense of closer for all those relatives of the victims or the surviving individuals of the infamous 9/11.

Breaching of Sovereignty

Without beating around the bush – even Pakistan deserves some respect when it comes to their sovereignty. The assassination plot and the adventure that the USA Navy Seals carried out did certainly infringed on the sovereignty of Pakistan. Irrespective of the outcome being good or bad, this is a very dangerous precedence and people need to stand up and be answerable to the international diplomatic community. Let’s get the equation straight – your enemy might not be everyone’s enemy and little, one gives lecturers on morals to others would be better for the world.

It could be Osama alone or all the enemies of USA hold up together inside that wretched bungalow in Abbotabaad; but certainly it is not good enough a reason that you storm their country without taking them into confidence. More than the world the tolerating capabilities of an average Pakistani is admirable. A nation has outraged their sovereignty and after that they have the audacity to claim the repentance of the same if situation demands and yet the people of Pakistan are busy demonstrating only against the so called assassination of a scoundrel. What about the sovereignty infringement by USA? If there is some more serious example of shamelessness overdrive existing, I would love to know. Having said that; rather blaming the USA, Pakistan as a nation should introspect and understand that this is precisely what you get after your prolonged begging. It is about time they come out of the hallucination of them being an equal and respectful ally to USA in fight against terror. As far as USA is concerned – they care not more than rat ass for Pakistan or its people and treat them as slaves with a freehand to outrage their modesty as and when needed. I can understand the embarrassment and humiliation that an average Pakistani would be feeling. I pray they don’t end up having their female members sleeping with random white skinned idiots of the west someday. But this seems happening, if they don’t mend their ways and start building their own identity than running around with a begging bowl, all over the place.

Peace in the region

This is a question which I am sure won’t have many takers to stick their necks out to answer. Few would argue – the region was never safe and peaceful with Osama around so doesn’t really matter if the situation would improve post his assassination. Points taken; but what if the situation worsens? I know none is too sure on what to do if the situation worsens but at the same time there must be someone who should take the responsibilities if things take uglier turns. But irony, I don’t see anyone doing that.

It seems the sub-continent region is volatile since the day’s lord Buddha started preaching about peace and would remain one for some time to come. The primary reason could be two nations – Pakistan & Afghanistan. Not only for South-East-Asia but in entirety these are the two countries which are the primary exporter of terrorists across the globe. The location of each being a neighbor to the other is not helping the cause either. The criminals, terrorists, drug lords and even fugitive politicians at both ends are freely switching their locations from one country to other as the situation necessitates. Thanks to the ever so porous borders of the eastern side, as per the Pakistan defense forces. The world might not be too aware of the facts (or ever would be) about the bitter relationship that Pakistan and Afghanistan maintain. Over the discussion on terrorism, between Musharraf & Karzai during 2001 it was surprising for many when both these state heads almost came to blows accusing each other. This was corroborated by no other than George Bush himself in his autobiography. So little one can understand how effective their so called joint mechanism to curb terrorism would be.

If we believe the assassination of Osama would go without any reciprocation from Al-Quida, then we are living in fool’s paradise. Are we as the nations prepared for that? I am sure USA would have done the adequate arrangements before going for this mission, but what about us? What about Pakistan? Afghanistan? Pratibha Patil? Berlusconi Jr.? Hello – is there anyone who can answer?

Crybabies at both ends

And trust me – there are plenty at both ends. This pretty much displays how immature and childish we are in everything. No sooner fingers start pointing on Pakistan for yet another of their terrorism act a whole lot of entities turned crybabies at once. First was our own home ministry. Chidambaram felt his stand (Pakistan a terrorist nation) been vindicated more prominently than his ironed Dhoti. Without a minute being wasted dossier number 152 was mailed to Pakistan embassy for quick action along with a list of 42 so called fugitives of India who were believed to be housed there in Pakistan. Demand of strong action by the Pakistan authorities against the perpetrators of 26/11 was voiced again with a new found vigor. Let us all laugh a little before proceeding. Can we stop this nonsense once-and-for-all? When they haven’t done anything against the masterminds of Mumbai carnage even after being supplied with enough evidence, little they would do just because Uncle Sam gunned down a certain Osama. Call them street smart or fool masters – Pakistanis also did act much more the routine way that India does. A hell lot of crocodile tear was shed with the trumpet blowing of innocence on account of being the victim of terror themselves. Please somebody educate them – the terrorism which they claim to be a victim themselves is their homegrown only. So there is a fundamental difference between them and India on this; When India is genuinely under the cloud of terrorism they are suffering from a set of fanatics who are on a mission to bite the hands which fed them for decades.

By the way, what is this nonsense about attack and counter attack and covert operation nonsense is all about? First Deepak Kapoor tried to be clever by half and told the world how well equipped we are to give the Navy Seals a run for their money and if that was not enough; an entire Pakistan seems to have an opinion or counter rhetoric to show on Mr. Kapoor’s utterances. General Kapoor; we might or might not have the capabilities but more than capability we need political will to carry out such operations, which I am sure we are having a huge deficit. So forget about us repeating the Navy Seal’s spectacle ever and more of – none really discusses about their covert operations (if at all) openly. So better keep your ideas all to yourself if you really feel it is a covert operation. Learn from the Israelis. A certain gentleman was pumped with enough in a posh hotel in Dubai and the world doesn’t have a clue on what the bloody thing is all about. And for Pakistan- please think on how to generate enough money to pay your employees and provide basic facilities (education, healthcare, communication network etc) to your populace than thinking of a war against India on the drop of a hat. And for God’s sake stop crying on being the biggest sufferer of terrorism yourselves – ‘You can’t decrease the weight of the corpus by shaving off the dead body’.

Hypocrisy at all time high

The drama of fight against terror should stop at once. Equally expected is the exchange of dossier after dossier be drawn a full stop. Let’s be clear on one thing – none is going to care on what we want and what are our priorities. All are happy to protect their own interest and I don’t see any wrong in that at all. If we happen to be the only fool in the world who don’t even bother an ounce before putting nation’s interest and identity at stake for our vote bank, international image and at times even the desire to win the Nobel peace prize; then no one can help us and no one should be blamed but ourselves.

There is hypocrisy from our side as well as from both Pakistan and USA. The double standard of Pakistan is known to the world (along with the terrorists they are housing) and we certainly don’t need any confirmation on that. But for USA, it is high time they stop the jingoisms that they seem to have spread across the globe and stop pretending and fooling the masses about their noble and genuine intention to fight against terrorism. When a country which is directly or indirectly responsible for the 80% of mess that we are currently in has to talk about fight the war against terrorism with all-inclusiveness is laughable. A whore talking about the value of chastity makes better sense. But irony – we as a nation are fool enough to buy those lines and think USA to stand by us on topics that address our national interest. We shouldn’t be that fool; should we? With all fairness; I don’t see a reason why USA even should do it for us? Why? For what sake? Blaming US would be wrong when we have elected a government full with clowns who are turning this an American agent than a sovereign federal government. So we better should slap ourselves, put oil on our nostrils and go to a deep slumber.

Call me sentimental or with any such adjectives that can come to your mind in next 5 minutes, but for me the Maharaja would always remain one Maharaja. Our national carrier that we fondly equate with the magnificent caricature character dressed in Red Sherwani jacket and attempting to break the world record for the longest moustaches one can have is in tatters. In fact it is in tatters for close to a decade and half and none seems to do anything about it.

I always have fond memories and a sense of pride for our national carrier. Brand me as overtly patriotic, lost the sense of judgment (thanks to some inspired idiocy) or simply my love for Indian food (which our Maharaja guarantees whenever you fly with them from anywhere); I always make sure to board our own national carrier if there is an availability. In foreign lands where you feel more alienated from your roots, you look up to something for that sense of pride and self-respect and for me after our national flag it is our Maharaja which gives that pride feeling. Not sure about others but it is realty in my case. Standing at the gigantic O'hare airport and waiting for our Maharaja to land from Mumbai with occasional display of Air-India on display boards at gate number 18, I always cherished each and every moment of it. But that joy seems to fade at an alarming rate. The callousness at which the whole airline is been managed and run for last decade; it has left little for revival and lot to answer. Strikes after strike, people at the top of the management running away with the loot, huge amount of tax payer's money being injected in last three years without any significant change, people losing their faith on the national carrier for lesser known airlines, the list is endless. To put the whole thing mildly – not only we have embarrassed ourselves, but also the Maharaja himself. Call it co-incidence or anything; post-independence there are only two things which were coined with the word Maharaja – Saurav Ganguly and our national carrier, with both of them standing at nowhere at present and showing all promises of fading out soon with displaying some humiliating exit. Sad but true – we ashamed our Maharaja. The airlines which was first to help Indians touch the sky is grounded badly now and the people which it carried for decades together are laughing at its situation than helping it flatter it's wings all over again.

I was been telling this – the brand always outlives the product. There might be or might not be a national carrier tomorrow but the brand that the world knows by Maharaja would live forever. From a privately owned 3 fleet airlines by Tatas to a gigantic 200 fleet (Only American Airlines & Lufthansa have a bigger fleet) national carrier now – our Maharaja has made a long journey. Its history is full with glory and exceptional heritage. From flying Shastriji to Tashkent to getting the compliment from JFK as one of the finest airlines he has ever travelled; Maharaja has it all.

But thanks to some dirty politics and crooks at the helm we have lost the image (which took a good 4 decade of tireless effort) of Maharaja in a jiffy. Even though it started long back the real downfall began from the days when our government badly carried out the Air-India & Indian-Airlines merger. In any such big mergers the major factor which needs to be handled with feather touch is the human resource (HR issues). But for some strange reasons the government and the civil aviation ministry conveniently ignored to take this point with any urgency. This left a huge gap in the understanding among the employees on what happened contrary to what has been promised. Rather the employees at both the airlines being given adequate space and time to mold into the new framework, it was thrust upon them with a forced mandate to adhere to them. This is what precisely brought about the employee dissatisfaction. If that was not enough, the continuous mismanagement at the top only made the employees feel more dejected and angry.

In 2007 a good 2000 crore of tax payers' money was injected to our national carrier. The idea was to have new planes to add to the aging fleet so that we can remain competent. But the very year AI made a staggering loss of 4000 odd crorers. No explanation given against this huge loss. The excuse was simple – because the international flyers suddenly decided not to fly out of nowhere. The next year another huge chunk of public money was invested into it. Again that year AI suffered a loss of 11000 crores. This time the excuse was the unprecedented increase in fuel price. Hoping against the hope yet another big bite was invested, leading AI to lose a never heard 16000 crore that year. You guessed it – this time the recession was the culprit. Starting from the recession to increasing in crude oil price. Increasing terrorism to Icelandic volcanic catastrophe. Everything is blamed but the real culprits – the management of Maharaja.

The bigger problem for AI is its top brass employees only. When nepotism takes the better of everything and makes one to appoint a MBBS doctor as the head of the personnel department then you are inviting, Err.. Pleading trouble to visit you. As unbelievable it may sound, it is a fact which even the aviation ministry can't dispute. Do you think a huge airline like AI is being run by doctors and we expect it to fly high – we ought to be naive to believe so. Who is responsible for this mess where connivance is the order of the day with who's who of the incompetent individuals were brought in to manage our national carrier? Certainly not the pilots who are agitating for last week or so. Pilots have the responsibility to fly the plane shouldering the responsibility of the lives of hundreds flying along; not how the organization should be run. Rather being skeptical about the strike we should be thankful to the pilots that their agitation did made us debate on issues that we are doing now. The rot within, starting from our aviation ministry to the ticket issuing beauty at the counter is well in our domain to judge. A simple look at the flights that Air-India operates to Gulf nations can be a good yardstick. While Ethiad, Emirates, Gulf air fly wide bodied aircrafts in the same sector with most of the times going full our Maharaja flies narrow bodied crafts with going empty most of the times. All those Air-India express are in big mess, starting with the quality of service we provide to the concern and responsibility that we show to our fliers. Is this a responsibility of the pilots to fill the aircraft as well as ensuring quality service in a competitive sector? Certainly not; as far as I am concerned.

I have some firsthand experience of our indifference towards our fliers. While flying back from Frankfurt the chaos over 60000 feet on board was quite evident. The issue might be quite trivial but certainly reflects how professional we are. A bunch of Germans were annoyed to the core for not getting the food of their choice. When all they wanted non-veg food, the airhostesses were all over the place in convincing them to avail the veg food instead. The reason – they have run out of non-veg dishes. The excuse was more laughable than everything else. On account of Ganesh Chaturthi they never expected there would be more guys ordering non-veg food than they packed. Disgusting, I think is an understatement. When the irate German finally refused to have the food but instead asked for the complaint book, little did I knew that the shocker was still waiting to unveil. After much deliberation the airhostess accepted the unavailability of the complaint book on board. Let me not explain what the frustrated German uttered against the airline as well as our nation, in an effort to let all know his dissatisfaction. After touching down I made sure to go to the Air-India counter to lodge a written complain on this. When I wanted to write a whole essay on this I just managed to scribe – 'You guys again embarrassed all Indians (at least those in the flight) by your incompetency and unprofessionalism '. Forget about any reply; it is 3 years since I am waiting for an acknowledgement of my complain from them. I am not sure if this is also the lookout of the pilots.

Now that the airline is anything but grounded for last one week, where we go from here? The partial lockout and the subsequent complete lockout as mulled by our government are not going down well with me. More than the national pride, we need our national carrier to regulate the fare structure. No sooner Air-India went crashed; the private airlines have increased their fare by double the amount. So one can imagine what could be the scenario if we shut down Maharaja. Along with Maharaja the dreams of guys like Capt. Gopinath of seeing the bottom line Indians flying would crash down the bad way. Let it be the crisis in Egypt or Libya and we want our citizens flown back to safety; it always was and would be Maharaja that pressed into service. I know we can force the private airlines to do the job but how effective it would be is anyone's guess. More than just national pride, there are hundred other reasons why we want Maharaja to keep flying.