The politics of building statues in India (August 2009)
Indian politicians are known to stoop to low levels, work out devious ways and permutations to win votes.
One latest instance happens to be Mayawati, the incumbent chief minister of India’s biggest and yet one of the most backward states Uttar Pradesh (UP).
While other regions in India, especially the west and south, focus on building software parks and special tax free economic zones to attract investments, Mayawati has a different agenda.
She has chosen to build statues of herself and her late political mentor Kanshi Ram within expansive concrete parks, costing the exchequer big amounts of tax payer money.
The parks are being constructed by the state machinery with a zeal which perhaps could have been better channeled to build roads, health care, education, development and law and order problems that bedevil UP.
Like the Kings of the past who built massive monuments in an attempt to ensure their legacy for eternity, huge effigies of Mayawati and Kanshi Ram have sprung up across UP.
So have marble/stone carved elephants, the election symbol of Mayawati’s political outfit, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
According to estimates, the state has already spent over Rs 15 billion for the purpose, with an aim to finally construct 10,000 statues across the state.
Hundreds of trees have been cut down in the process, to the chagrin of the many Environment conscious. Reports say nearly 20,000 trees were hacked to erect 30 giant size statues of Mayawati and Kanshi Ram at a park in Noida (in UP) that adjoins capital Delhi.
In the supplementary budget for 2009-10, the UP government has allocated a-further Rs 7 billion for memorials and parks, with Rs 270 million earmarked only for new statues.
On the other hand, there are no state funds earmarked for drought relief measures that have affected hundreds of thousands of farmers who face deprivation and death.
Mayawati’s belief is that big structures of her own self will embolden the spirits of the dalits (considered of the lower castes and among the poorest and down trodden in the country) who are her main support base.
Not too long back Mayawati was touted as a future Prime Minister of India, given the nature of India’s coalition politics and the fact that UP contributes to a big 80 seats to the federal Parliament.
Her band of politics sought to coalesce dalit and Brahmins (higher caste) voters that won her the provincial elections, was seen as a lethal winning combination.
Her ambitions, however, were check mated by a young Rahul Gandhi, the scion of the national Congress party, whose development agenda instead of a caste and communal focus appealed to the UP electorate much more.
Ever since, Mayawati has lost it a bit and is on a statue building spree which makes no rational sense. She has been on such a course earlier as well, but defeat in the elections seems to have steeled her resolve to build her own effigies.
However, Mayawati is not the first politician in India to play the crude vote bank game as a short cut to political glory.
Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s famous slogan Garibi Hatao (remove poverty) of the 70s and 80s sought to build a pan-Indian vote base of the country’s poor, without meaning much at the grassroots level. She also infamously imposed Emergency in the country for fear of losing elections.
In a cruel irony it has also happened in the past that chief ministers of development oriented states, Chandrababu Naidu in Andhra Pradesh and S M Krishna in Karnataka have lost state elections as it created cadres of ``have’’ and ``have nots’’ that divided votes, with the latter far outnumbering the former, given the huge populations.
On the other hand Lalu Prasad Yadav ruled the impoverished state of Bihar for years showing for no performance as it kept the electorate uniformly poor and deprived. Lalu too wielded the wand of caste and symbolic politics to good effect for long.
Elsewhere, during election time, politician, especially in the South resort to gimmicks such as distributing clothes, food, TV sets, scooters and motor cycles to influence voters.
Loan waivers, free electricity and water that benefit mainly large and rich farmers are another regular fare that stretch government finances which could be better used to actually benefit the poor.
The main opposition and the other national outfit Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), meanwhile, has been flirting with communal politics for long, a line that was most virulent in the nineties and is being still played out in states such as Gujarat under chief minister Narender Modi.
The BJP has been on a re-think and re-invention mode following electoral reverses in 2004 and 2009, coining terms such as Bandhutva (promoting friendship) instead of Hindutva, the original ideology that emphasizes majority Hindu rule.
Such introspection is still a good sign for Indian democracy and better than building self aggrandizing idols.
Indeed, as the BJP is realizing, the Indian voter cannot be taken for granted, is resilient, learns from past mistakes and cannot be fooled for long.
If there has been a singular message in the 2009 May election results, it is that the people of India want their political representatives to engender a national policy focus, push development and provide a stable government.
It was a mature verdict even as regional parties with limited and parochial notions about national issues and others with communal leanings have been sidelined.
Today, Lalu has been shown the door. The emergence of regional satraps such as Mayawati, who ride on narrow caste politics, as potential Prime Minister has been blunted.
Leaders and parties in states such as Bihar (Nitish Kumar), Delhi (Shiela Dikshit), Orissa (Naveen Patnaik), Madhya Pradesh (S Chauhan) and Chhatisgarh (Raman Singh) that have provided a-corruption free pro-growth governance have emerged victorious, repeatedly, overcoming anti-incumbency factors.
There is every sign that Indian democracy is maturing, but leaders such as Mayawati have still not got it.
To be Frisked or not to be Frisked (July 2009)
When officials of America’s Continental Airlines recently India’s former President APJ Abdul Kalam, it touched a raw nerve.
Despite protests by Indian security men, Kalam, also referred as India’s missile man for his contribution in the field, was made to take off his footwear and physically checked in New Delhi before he could embark on his journey to America.
Kalam, known for his down to earth demeanor went through the security process without much ado.
An-uproar followed in Parliament with demands that the concerned American carrier be banned, India’s civil aviation minister has called on the Prime Minister to brief him on the issue while a police report has been lodged to investigate the matter.
Some said that as a response to such overbearing attitude by an American carrier, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, on a visit to India, should be put through security checks.
This, however, is not the first time that the issue of an important person, referred in Indian security parlance as Very Very Important Person (VVIP), being bodily frisked has caught attention.
In the past, New Delhi reacted angrily to then federal defense minister George Fernandes being searched (he had to take off his shoes and socks) by security officials in America in a post-September 11, 2001, security check.
Fernandes, known for his anti-US tirades, was apparently "disrobed", according to former deputy secretary of state Strobe Talbott, not once but twice.
Talbott, in a book chronicling the events, says Fernandes was angered by the incidents.
Last year, New Delhi took offense to Russian security officials insisting on searching Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who was on a visit to the country.
Though the search statutes exist on paper, in most instances ministers are not actually frisked, accompanied as they are by an entourage of officials and bodyguards, who usher them through.
In Mukherjee’s case, it was apparent that Moscow wanted to convey its unhappiness with New Delhi's new found bonhomie with the US that translated into more defense deals and the civilian nuclear pact.
A feel-up was one way of conveying the irritation as Moscow does know a bit about Indian politicians' aversion to being body searched.
In the recent past, an offended junior minister Anand Sharma created a furor by arguing with officials at the New Delhi airport and eventually got the rule book changed to exclude him self from being searched for bombs.
Somnath Chatterjee, former Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the Lower House of India’s Parliament, is known to particularly squeamish about being searched by airport security officials.
He cancelled a trip to London, to follow up on a similar instance in 2005 to Sydney, even as frenzied diplomatic efforts by the Indian High Commission for an exemption failed.
The British Foreign office was clear about international security guidelines that “only Heads of States are exempted.”
However, Chatterjee was equally adamant, explaining that he cancelled the trip “because it involves the honor of the constitutional office”.
In 2005 Chatterjee canceled his visit to Australia following a verbal war of words in the media on the issue. He also has had big problems with his wife being required to walk through a scanner while traveling within India.
Most ordinary citizens know about the rigors of security checks, including a physical rub-down, in times when terrorism is at an ugliest.
However, some seek to be above this process, as a measure of their importance and image.
Even as foreign security drills are more difficult to tamper, the list of those eligible to forego domestic airport checks has been drastically amended to suit individual interests, in the game of political patronage, where outward show of power matters a bit.
In the 1980s, there were only five exemptions: president, vice president, prime minister, chief justice of the Supreme Court, speaker of the Lok Sabha (the Lower House of Parliament) and state governors. Today it includes cabinet ministers, ministers of state, bureaucrats and sundry others with access to the powers-that-be.
Yet, there was some sympathy late last year when it came to the fore that India’s military chiefs are by statute required to be frisked at domestic airports.
This was a reflection of the unflattering status of the defense forces in India's civilian democratic setup, unlike in a country such as Pakistan.
On paper, the heads of the three armed forces, navy, air force and army, were supposed to be treated like civilians and required to be searched by security personnel before they could board a passenger flight.
The service chiefs are otherwise responsible for the security of the nation, protect the borders against incursions, command the second-largest army in the world and sophisticated arsenal.
While nobody argues for the overbearing primacy of the military in civil society, what pinched was the list of exemptions that had been granted.
It was an irony that a private businessman Robert Vadra, the son-in-law of Congress party president Sonia Gandhi, and husband of Priyanka Gandhi, was exempt, as were some senior bureaucrats outranked by the service chiefs.
Following a bit of media furor, defense minister A K Antony took up the matter with the federal civil aviation ministry, at the behest of the three service chiefs who had previously written a letter requesting an exemption.
Initially, the aviation ministry refused Antony’s proposal.
The reasoning was that other authorities, mostly civil servants who head ministries and are referred to as secretaries, would voice similar demands.
Thankfully, the list now stands amended and the Generals do not have to line up even if on paper.
The near obsession about freedom from airport frisking, however, is just at the tip of the exemptions and perks that are sought by India’s power holders who still carry a colonial mindset and see themselves as above the rule of law.
One hot tag is threat perception, especially from known terror groups such as al-Qaeda or Lashkar-e-Toiba. The highest Z-plus category accompanies the star label, VVIP.
There is always a rush of supposedly important people wanting to include themselves in a higher risk category that entitles them to personal commandos (referred to as Black Cats due their attire and skill) and escort vehicles.
The commandos mostly function as bouncers fending off private citizens, while the red-beacon, siren-fitted escort vehicles specialize in jumping traffic lights and shooing away nearby vehicles. Anybody driving in Delhi can vouch for this nuisance done in the name of ``security.’’
Another sought after perquisite is allotments at the prime New Delhi bungalow area which are always very reluctantly vacated.
If a minister or political leader dies, families insist (taking even legal recourse) on converting the accommodation into a memorial or museum, while continuing to occupy the same.
Sometimes former Members of Parliament, ministers, retired officials have to be physically evicted along with belongings. Bureaucrats are in a constant wrangle for dual postings to retain official apartments in the national capital.
Indeed, this power list can go on.
Not being touched up, however, remains a high priority. Even if a humble Kalam did not mind, there are others who do.
It is a question of high prestige, after all.
India without computers, English (May 2009)
Indian politicians are known to take short cuts to garner votes. Otherwise building vote backs around communal polarization, caste politics and pseudo-secularism (appeasing minorities) would not be so assiduously followed.
In the recent past, a debate has centered round the use of computers and the English language, the two bedrocks around which the country’s very successful software and outsourcing sectors are built, employing millions of youth and others.
In the build up to elections 2009, regional satrap Mulayam Singh Yadav from Uttar Pradesh (UP), who, given the mercurial nature of India’s coalition politics, could well be Prime Minister, has vehemently opposed both computers and English.
Mulayam has said that the use of English and computers engenders an inferiority complex in rural youth.
Mulayam said: ``I speak in the language of 1.1 billion people and not of 20 million; for the Samajwadi Party (that Mulayam heads), the politics of 1.1 billion is far more important than 20 million. Only uninformed people opposed my views on English and computers.”
He said that computerization leads of more jobless, as had happened in America and Japan. ``60-65 per cent unemployment in the farm sector was due to corporatization of agriculture and mechanization. If the trend increased, more farmers would become jobless, leading to poverty and suicide,’’ he said.
Mulayam is a wily politician who knows about the rough and tumble of Indian politics, social and economic situation, better than anyone else.
He knows that within India and especially in his strong hold UP, millions subsist at basic survival levels, forget about accessing computers and learning the English language, considered by others as a ticket to economic mobility.
Irrespective of the rationality of learning computers and English, by downgrading the same, Mulayam automatically is identified with sections who are larger in numbers and thus matter more in a democracy.
Personally, Mulayam couldn’t be believing in what he says --- the next generation of his family, including nephews, nieces and more, have been educated in English teaching private schools and abroad.
But, he knows a bit about the contemporary political history of the country.
In the past leaders who have built their political brands around technology and growth have suffered --- they include Chandra Babu Naidu of Andhra Pradesh and S M Krishna of Karnataka --- both lost heavily in elections as rural belts, unaffected by the software boom, new airports and Expressways, voted them out.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) under Atal Behari Vajpayee lost elections in 2004 when the party poll managers oversold their India Shining and development campaign.
The BJP had done a good job in the arena, but given the vastness of India, there were still many more who were unaffected by the growth picture and voted against the party for failing to deliver them from their abject existence, while others around seemingly prospered, as portrayed.
Indeed, it is always politically tricky business in India to go overboard on development as it creates an automatic constituency not impacted by the same that creates an anti-vote and backlash.
One politician to recognize the political vicissitudes has been Bihar satrap Lalu Prasad Yadav. He ruled the state, the poorest in India, for long without delivering on any growth or progress that kept the electorate uniformly backward.
He was ultimately voted out by Nitish Kumar (supported by the BJP) who has promised development with corruption free governance. Nitish has been pushing hard on the front in Bihar. It remains to be seen whether growth creates dissonance in his political fortunes.
Yet, this is not to say that the development agenda does not work. It does, but it requires a bit more.
It has worked in Delhi (under Shiela Dixit), Orissa (Biju Patnaik), Madhya Pradesh (Shivraj Chauhan) and Chhatisgarh (Raman Singh), in which the people have voted leaders and political outfits back to power.
Here the state leaders from the national parties Congress and BJP have combined a strong development push with a corruption free image.
It seems the one reality of Indian politics today is that leaders need to provide a good mix of growth and clean governance for voters to back and believe in them.
This is one reason that India’s middle class and the educated are generally appalled at the emergence of the maverick Mayawati in UP as a potential Prime Ministerial candidate.
She mixes the kind of political opportunism displayed by Mulayam, having played caste politics to rise to the top and has a record that looks blemished by corruption.
Mulayam and his party too are known for their strong-arm tactics and working as agents of land sharks.
There is thus doubt about BJP’s Narender Modi, another potential Prime Minister. His development record as chief minister is good, his government in Gujarat is clean, but his aggressive pro-Hindutva and communal approach to winning elections can never go down well.
Incumbent Prime Minister Manmohan Singh scores high as incorruptible, but many feel that he could have backed India’s development agenda much more aggressively, given his background as an economist and experience as finance minister.
Instead, Manmohan is largely seen as a mute spectator to higher power Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
He has the Indo-US nuclear deal to show as his singular achievement, which is good enough had he been minister, not head of government.
All of this, of course, makes Indian elections 2009 a complicated process with nobody sure about the final winner.
India’s Political Shoe-Stoppers (April 2009)
Elections to the world’s largest democracy have always had their share of drama.
This time, like always, Bollywood, India’s big movie industry provides the added spice with actor Sanjay Dutt taking the political plunge and then being debarred.
Another Bollywood A-grade star Salman Khan is campaigning for both Congress and BJP candidates due to personal equations, rather than political ideology.
But, a bit of the thunder has been stolen by shoe-throwing, a world wide trend ever since Iraqi journalist Al-Zaidi hurled his at former US President George Bush at a press conference.
It has rubbed off in India as well and what better occasion that election time when politicians, loved or reviled, are face to face with the electorate, breaking security strictures to make an appeal.
In a land that has seen satyagraha (non-violent protest espoused by the great Mahatma Gandhi), the shoe has turned into a political weapon of dissent.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was the latest target over the weekend, when an unemployed youth hurled a shoe at an election rally in Gujarat. The shoe missed by a distance but the message of rising job losses was delivered.
L K Advani, head of the national Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and incumbent Home Minister P Chidambaram too recently joined the high list of global dignitaries who have been shoe-targets.
Bush apart, they include Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Israel’s ambassador to Sweden.
In January protestors of Israeli attack on Gaza threw their shoes at British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s official residence at Downing Street.
Earlier this month, Advani, the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate and former deputy Prime Minister was in the line of attack of a slipper, which luckily missed him. The chucker was a disgruntled BJP worker.
Before that, a Sikh journalist, Jarnail Singh, unknown to most of the world apart from colleagues covering the defense beat, lobbed a shoe at Chidambaram, at a press conference in New Delhi.
Jarnail had been angered by the Congress party’s inaction to punish the guilty in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Though Jarnail’s shoe also missed, it did cause a bit of collateral damage,
The Congress was concerned about a backlash in the general elections this and next month, especially in Punjab and Delhi, where Sikhs pre-dominate.
Thus, two political strongmen from Delhi, Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar, alleged to have orchestrated the violence in 1984, were asked to withdraw their nominations as candidates.
Following Jarnail, sitting Member of Parliament and industrialist Naveen Jindal also had a shoe flung at him during an election rally. This one too missed the target.
All of this has of course created a piquant situation for security personnel on high alert due to the threat of terror.
``The security is extremely tight for politicians, and we are keeping a close watch on everyone,’’ a Delhi Police spokesman said, while referring to the shoe throwing incidents.
Such knee jerk actions cannot be justified. They are wrong.
Still, it would be presumptive to assume that such acts will not be repeated. In an age of high voltage global television such fads can catch on quickly. But, there is a serious element that cannot be ignored.
They do reflect people’s rising expectations from their leaders and in instances such as Jarnail a deeper sense of hurt of a community that feel betrayed by the political class.
Shoes have been hurled at leaders irrespective of political affiliations.
Yet, one shoe hurled will not lessen the innumerable human rights violations Indian security forces and police are accused of.
Other aberrant behavior includes right-wing Hindu outfits for their strong-arm and Taliban like tactics against trends they consider to be un-Indian culture or aping the West.
Actions have included punishing amorous couples in public, cracking down on Valentine's Day celebrations and assaulting women in what they consider are revealing clothes or even in pubs.
Hindu extremists have attacked cinemas featuring movies perceived to be too sexually explicit and have destroyed works by artists.
Yet, footwear apart, elections India circa 2009 has had its share of drama and a war of words, perhaps stinging more than any shoe hurled.
BJP’s leading campaigner Narendra Modi, known for his acerbic remarks has compared the Congress to an old woman, not incapable of changing the destiny of young India.
Priyanka Gandhi, Congress’ star campaigner has retorted, “If BJP’s prime ministerial candidate LK Advani and Modi consider themselves young, it is good for them. If elderly people feel young it is good for their health.”
In response, Modi in an obvious reference to Priyanka called her and the Congress party a ‘gudiya’ or doll, words used at one time for Priyanka’s grandmother Indira Gandhi when she was a political novice and disproved later.
The usually soft spoken Prime Minister Manmohan Singh too reacted to the BJP calling him a ``weak PM,’’ in an obvious reference to the control that Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi exercises.
Singh hit back surely surprising Advani. “His only achievement has been the demolition of the Babri Mosque”, said the PM.
Sonia hammered the point in by calling Advani “a slave of the RSS (a hard line pro-Hindu outfit).’’
A BJP spokesperson meanwhile said: “Mrs Gandhi has a captive PM (Manmohan) whose future is being questioned by her own daughter (Priyanka).”
Welcome to democracy being played to the hilt.
India steps into economy class (September 08)
It is not often that Indians get to see their political rulers in the midst, except during election time.
Otherwise they are usually visible only on TV; in real life, they are surrounded by heavy handed security personnel and travel in chartered jets, helicopters or first class at least, even as armed convoys of vehicles cover their presence on road.
Lately, however, in keeping with its signature slogan of being one with the aam aadmi (common man), the ruling Congress party and the government are looking to be a bit different in times of drought, recession, lay offs, price rise and lower growth.
The aim is to strike down 10 % government non plan expenses so that the money saved can be used to help the needy and the drought stricken.
The cuts cover mainly hotel, travel expenses, lavish banquets, advertising and publicity, seminars and conferences, office and administrative expenses and buying new vehicles.
Leading the austerity charge is Congress party President Sonia Gandhi, known to set a high moral agenda, who recently traveled economy class on a flight from New Delhi to Mumbai, surprising fellow passengers who lined up for autographs.
The move embarrassed at least one Parliamentarian accompanying Sonia, who promptly exchanged his place in the vaunted double value business class with a lucky economy class traveler, who readily obliged.
The Congress party ``high command,’’ as Sonia is referred has advised her elected Member’s of Parliament (MPs), ministers and party functionaries to slash their non essential expenditures and accept salary cuts. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh too has written to his ministers to show restraint.
Following immediately on his mother’s footsteps, Congress party scion and general secretary, Rahul Gandhi, traveled by train in a chair car from Delhi to Punjab, when he could have easily availed of a first class coach or a helicopter.
A Congress leader has been quoted to say, “In tough times such measures by Congress top leadership will set an example for others and youngsters to lead a simple and austere life, thinking of those who are less fortunate.”
While Sonia and Rahul’s travel bills are footed by the party as they hold no government position, the message has got through to others, though private airlines are not too happy with a sudden dip in their business class revenues even as corporate travel has dwindled due to the economic slowdown.
Bureaucrats, ministers and MPs, whose bills are paid by the government, have been the only segment to be able to keep up with luxury travel.
Meanwhile, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, ever the loyal Congress soldier, flew in a low cost carrier on a recent trip from New Delhi to Kolkata.
Mukherjee has also been instrumental in the exit of at least three ministers housed in expensive five star hotels, who have been awaiting their official accommodation to be readied to move in.
Foreign minister S M Krishna, minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor and the chairman of unique identification authority (a ministerial rank), Nandan Nilekani have vacated their temporary luxury abodes to move to sedate government guest houses, not known to be the best in upkeep and comfort.
Given the proliferation of important people in Delhi, housing is always a scarcity, even as ministers wait for their allotment.
Krishna, meanwhile, has reportedly chosen to fly economy class in a commercial air liner on an official visit to Belarus and Turkmenistan, instead of an exclusive government plane that is usually used by the country’s foreign minister. To save on expenses, his entourage has been reduced considerably.
Federal civil aviation minister Praful Patel has taken to economy class air travel, even as Home Minister P Chidambaram is reported to have cracked down on wasteful expenditures in his ministry.
Everybody, of course is not happy with the latest turn of events. Important federal ministers such as Sharad Pawar (Agriculture), Farooq Abdullah (renewable energy), M S Gill (sports) and Dayanidhi Maran (textiles), Anand Sharma (commerce) have reportedly been critical of the finance ministries austerity measures.
At least one minister is supposed to have complained that his girth is such that he cannot fit into economy class seats; one more has spoken about his height being unsuitable to cramped space; another has reportedly said since foreign countries host Indian dignitaries in fine restaurants and hotels, the gesture should be reciprocated in kind.
One prominent Congress leader has been quoted to say: “To be austere should not be reduced to one’s line of travel.”
A clearly unhappy Tharoor wrote on his social networking website that he would travel ``in cattle class out of solidarity with all our holy cows!’’ much to the chagrin of his party higher ups, who see his statement as hurting the sensitivities of the many who travel economy.
The Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has described these latest events as “ludicrous display to deflect attention from the unprecedented price rise ever witnessed.”
A spokesperson of the BJP said: ``the euphoric sermon of United Progressive Alliance (UPA) leaders is suspect.... Simplicity and austerity is utopian to the Congress party and the facade is not going to stay for long.’’
The left parties, meanwhile, have prided themselves by declaring that their leaders travel economy class in any case.
Indeed, the gestures, welcome as they are, count for nothing and are merely symbolic tokens when one looks at the big expenditure heads of the government.
Estimates are that the austerity measures would save at the maximum Rs 2 billion, which is a pittance compared to the overall situation, including the rising fiscal deficit and profligacy of the government.
In 2009-10, the budget projected government spending of over hundreds of billions of Rupees in subsidies (in food, power, fuel), farm debt waiver schemes, pensions, wages and defense outlays, where the scope of any cuts is very limited.
Then there are immense amounts being spent on new ministries and departments that continue to be created at a fast pace.
The room for increased spends on infrastructure, health, education, poverty alleviation, thus remains curtailed.
There are those who say that pegging down of some perks enjoyed by the high and mighty only bring down their exalted levels of existence to that of the upper middle classes.
On the other hand, there are over 300 million in India, out of a population of 1.2 billion, who continue to eke out a bare existence below poverty levels and lead a life of deprivation --- for them one meal a day and basic shelter are a luxury. No health care exists.
In such circumstances, traveling economy or hosting at a lower star hotel should be seen as the norm rather than a sacrifice. Frugal living was preached and followed by the father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi, given the living conditions of the masses.
Yet, most agree that such asceticism by the power holders will not continue for long as politicians and bureaucrats in this country are a pampered lot, who cannot change in a hurry.
The self imposed deprivation, if one can call it that, is expected to die out soon, even as the rains have picked up and the monsoons have turned near normal.
Given the frayed tempers, there are already signs of a thaw. Mukherjee has been quoted to say: “I have suggested that in domestic services one should try to avoid (traveling executive class) because the distance is not far off. So far as international flights are concerned they can travel executive class instead of first class.”
Crying Over Onions (October 2005)
There are scarcities in India, but this one has to be tackled on a war footing akin to a disaster management. It is to do with onions of which there is an acute shortage in the country due to unsuitable turn of the weather and other factors.
New Delhi might have refused international aid for the recent earthquake and the tsunami earlier, in keeping with building an image of India as a regional power with the ability to handle its own problems and disasters, but when it has come to onions, the tails have turned turtle and India has sought out even Pakistan for help.
Thankfully there are no diplomatic and symbolic wrangles the like witnessed post the recent earthquake along the Line of Control (LoC) that separates Indian and Pakistan Kashmir and the onions from Pakistan have begun to be ferried in, both by the government and private parties who have reportedly ordered over 2,000 tons of them.
The present crisis across the country has happened due to depleting stocks given a mix of weather conditions, high humidity, excessive rainfall in some areas as well as less rains in others, given the geographical spread of onion cultivation in the country.
Due to heavy rains in the main onion producing belts in the state of Maharashtra, farmers have delayed harvest. At other places warehouses have been inundated by floodwaters leading to destruction of crop. High humidity has also destroyed the crop in some areas.
The combined impact of the current crisis has been an explosion of onion prices in the country that has rocketed five fold to over half a dollar (Rs 25) per kilogram. After an initial reluctance, even denial that the shortages had reached crisis proportions, Pakistan has been sought out to meet the shortfall. The government has also decided to subsidize the onions brought in from Pakistan.
‘‘We have instructed some of our organizations to go in for imports. We have decided to import from Pakistan through the Wagah border. The prices are high in Pakistan too but we need to take some precautionary measures,’’ said union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, who initially had ruled out any import.
The governments in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi are in an emergency management mode distributing onions through government managed retail outlets, a difficult task given the leakages at every level.
Reports suggest that the Prime Minister’s Office under Manmohan Singh is personally monitoring the onion situation in the country despite being embroiled in an unseemly match-up with Pakistan on how to deliver aid to people affected by the earthquake on October 8.
Due to government intervention the indications are that the shortage will last for two weeks at the most, with onions from other areas such as Karnataka, Gujarat and Rajasthan making up for the scarcity
Indeed, there is reason for New Delhi as well as the state governments to be so worried about onions. In the past governments in the states as well as at the federal level have lost power or faced electoral defeat due to their inability to handle an onion crisis.
Indians have to grapple with several problems in their daily lives --- civic concerns, infrastructure issues, pollution, crime, pollution, policemen, doctors and lawyers out to make money, schools seeking donations, power and water crisis, bad roads, traffic congestion …the list goes on.
Most are prepared to face the problems the best they can, while hoping for a better future and governance. However, if the government fails to deliver even on onions, the basic and staple food item of Indians that cuts across social barriers, the anger gets indelibly stamped the next time the opportunity arises during elections.
The psychological explanation of such a severe reaction is that unlike water supply, electricity and housing, most of the billion Indians are used to partaking onions in every meal. And if even this gets taken away, it is a problem.
It may be recalled that Mahatma Gandhi galvanized the Indian freedom movement around taxes imposed by the British on salt, an essential commodity that every Indian could identify with.
Choosing salt was considered a political masterstroke given the participative potential of the people to protest over the issue. It finally ended up chasing the British away.
In the current context, an inability to manage the supply of onions, in times of tall claims of India being a global economic power can be equally deleterious for any incumbent government.
The Indian population may forgive and forget an unforeseen event such as an earthquake or a tsunami or floods wherein the government might have blundered, but not onions.
In 1998, the then Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was trounced in the assembly elections of three big states in India, due to the inability of handle a similar onion crisis.
What made the defeats that much more dramatic was the fact that the BJP had delivered the same year on an electoral promise to turn India into a full-fledged nuclear weapons state.
A story, even if apocryphal had gained credence at that time that the shortage of onions was due to millions being packed into underground sites to mitigate the radiation effects of the five nuclear devices that were exploded.
The real reason, however, was the government allowing export of onions to more lucrative markets which had led to hoarding and artificial shortages. Though the Vajpayee government subsequently banned the export of onions, the crisis had its immediate impact on the state elections.
The BJP lost even in Delhi, considered a stronghold, and has not been able to wrest back power, though it has managed to make a come back in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Observers say that there are certain tenets that are ingrained in the Indian way of thinking. These relate to democracy, pluralism, secularism and the ability of the government in power to sustain these.
The Vajpayee government did well on several fronts such as economic reforms and foreign policy, but the specter of the Gujarat riots in which more than 2,000 Muslims were massacred during its tenure could never be obliterated. This resulted in the defeat of the BJP last year to the Sonia Gandhi led Congress party.
An inability to deliver on a basic item as onions is symbolic of the failure of an elected government that the people have reposed their faith.
Currently elections are being held in the state of Bihar and soon other important states such as Kerala, West Bengal and possibly Uttar Pradesh will also see new governments. The last thing the Manmohan government would want is cry over onions, the way the Vajpayee dispensation did in 1998.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Media Hype
An India-Pakistan wedding saga (April 2010)
The saga of Sania Mirza, India’s top tennis player, and Shoaib Malik, Pakistan’s former cricket captain, has finally been put to rest with the couple married.
In the recent past, the duo has dominated media and mind space in India, and expectedly, in Pakistan as well.
The two subcontinent stars will undoubtedly remain in public consciousness due to their good looking celebrity status and eyeball catching ability that translates into TV ratings.
Here’s one post-mortem, dubbed the Shonia episode, though there surely will be more to follow:
Indo-Pak relations: Observers (read doves, not hawks) have found a quick connection between an India-Pakistan courtship and the diplomatic language that accompanies such occurrences --- confidence building measure (CBMs), people to people contacts and a passionate undercurrent that actually unites the two populations.
Big budget Bollywood movies such as Veer-Zaara have delved into such cross-country relationships, emphasizing the victory of the human spirit over artificially and politically motivated divide between the two countries.
Yet, powerful and deep rooted institutions such as the Pakistan Army or the ISI, with vicious and vested strategic agendas will require much more than such matters of the heart to change their profiles.
So, will relations between the two countries given vexed issues such as terror, Kashmir, water sharing and building hydro dams along each others borders.
In the past debonair cricketers such as Imran Khan and Mohsin Khan have been linked to Indian women, yet the two countries have squabbled and fought.
There was much talk about comfort levels between former Prime Ministers Rajiv Gandhi and Benazir Bhutto, belonging to similar backgrounds and legacies.
Connections are today drawn between Congress Party scion Rahul Gandhi and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
Yet, it cannot be forgotten that politically the two countries continue to be on diverse planes, with influence over Afghanistan a new strategic playground, along side America.
The differences cannot be glossed over so quickly.
Important as CBMs are in building a constituency of peace between the two countries, it is unlikely that Shonia gave much thought to such issues when they saw each other.
Traversing the globe due to their sporting commitments, they bumped into each other a few times, got along and kept in touch, courtesy technology, the Internet and cellular phone. Shoaib could very well have been an American star.
The Shonia connection is purely personal, though the consequent talk about building bridges between the two countries would certainly have crossed their minds.
Their matrimony does add a sense of bonhomie and distracts from all the serious Indo-Pak talks that have failed to re-start following the Mumbai terror attacks November 2008.
But, that is about all.
Why did she marry him? Many Indian men have not figured out why she chose him and perhaps never will.
Some consider their egos personally bruised even as the aura of debonair Pakistani men who attract the best women across the border, stands buttressed.
Many here have counted other eligible bachelors with considerable distinctions, even within a sporting sample.
Indian cricketers of course remain the most pampered and highly paid stars in the country, not to speak of Bollywood achievers such as Shahid Kapoor, considered a ``close friend’’ of Sania, whatever than means.
A delectable rich and single cricketer selection for Sania has included Zaheer Khan, Yusuf Pathan, Gautam Gambir, M S Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Irfan Pathan, Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Robin Uthappa…the list of such successful men is endless, given the proliferation of various forms of cricket (one day internationals, T20 and Test matches), all money spinners.
Shoaib remains a moderately successful international cricketer no doubt, but grey areas continue to sprout -- match fixing allegations, a supposed previous marriage, though such qualification nowadays seems to only work favorably given the entourage of Indian Bollywood actresses and other beauties settling for men as their wife number two or three.
Sania, her very moderate career plagued by injuries, must have her reasons to pitch for Shoiab. Such is life and the inscrutable mind of a woman in love.
Tailoring Faith: Sania has had a fair share of attention from Indian clerics and ulemas who have protested her short sporting attire in the past, declaring it un-Islamic.
Politically motivated right wing Hindu radicals, who revel in anti-Muslim, anti-Pakistan speak, have again raised their ugly heads, especially in Maharashtra.
They have already labeled Sania a ``traitor’’ due too her decision to marry a Pakistani. Indian society, however, is fairly liberal in large pockets and many more have protested such foolish and silly dictates.
The Shonia events, however, did throw some light on the complicated Hindu and Muslim personal laws.
It seems that Shoaib married his first wife (Indian and residing in Hyderabad, the same city as Sania) over phone from Pakistan, but had to sign divorce papers in India due to the intervention of clerics and also pay a hefty alimony.
All does not seem very transparent here.
Across the border, Sania bhabi (sister-in-law), as she is being referred there, will surely not find the going easy, given the ultra-conservative environment as British heiress Jemima Khan, ex-wife of cricketer-politician Imran Khan found out quite fast.
Sania has grown up in cosmopolitan Hyderabad, a global software hub, attended an expensive private school, surrounded by frills of India’s new consumerist growth --- malls, discos, pubs, movie multiplexes, flashy cars, gadgets and more.
As the wife of a Pakistani player, Sania will certainly be in focus of those who measure faith by clothing or the lack of it. Pakistani sports women are known to cover themselves from head to toe, even during swimming events.
Sania has said that she would continue to represent India, with the Commonwealth Games this year and Olympics later being the big goals. Shoaib has backed her intentions.
Wisely, Shonia have chosen to live in Dubai for now. As has been spoken, Shoaib could shift to India and try his hand at the lucrative T20 private cricket league.
The couple will be watched and followed closely.
The Indian who stole Tiger Woods thunder (January 2010)
While Tiger Woods has hogged mind and media space in the past few weeks, in India the greatest golfers exploits off the fairway has been upped by an octogenarian Indian politician N D Tiwari, aged 86 years and still going very strong (in bed that is).
Tiwari, a long-standing national Congress party loyalist, was recently caught on camera apparently half naked cavorting with three young girls, in a TV sting operation, which are a common occurrence in India now to trap the usual wrong doers such as corrupt policemen, government officials and politicians, generally accepting cash for favors.
The most famous image of course is of the former President of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Bangaru Laxman caught on camera accepting money. Until, Tiwari came along, that is.
While questions remain about Tiwari using his superior position as incumbent governor (now sacked) of Andhra Pradesh and former chief minister of Uttarakhand to make the girls do what they did, the ethical and legal doubts have been set aside by his supposed ability at 86.
Indian men, given smaller physiques, genetic structures and generally unfit bodies, are known to lose it in their mid-30s and look for remedies and aphrodisiacs to rid the private dysfunctions and reverse the never discussed in the open male biological clock, so to say.
Fittingly, Tiwari has been labeled the Tiger of India, overtaken Woods as the most searched on Indian Internet portals, with plenty of questions being asked about his successful score, looking very happy than embarrassed with his pants down, as one might expect a near 90 year old to be. Everybody knows Playboy’s Hugh Hefner is just a marketing gimmick.
Some say that Tiwari truly deserves to be brand ambassador of Viagra and other similar concoctions and fill his coffers more, unlike Woods who has been surmounted by sponsorship losses, expensive lawsuit by his wife and no golf.
While the pessimists and cynics say that Tiwari could not have ``actually done it,’’ the optimists see hope for a very long innings ahead, even as news reports speak of at least two ``illegitimate’’ children sired by Tiwari, out of wedlock.
For the uninitiated, Tiwari is not a big name when compared to contemporary Indian politicians such as Atal Behari Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh or Sonia Gandhi, but has had an above average and steady political innings.
At one time in the 80s and 90s as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, there was talk that he could be Prime Minister of India, given the nature of India’s coalition politics.
However, his political career subsumed by other events such as advent of caste equations, the Congress leadership finally appointed Tiwari as governor, a graveyard posting for spent but loyal political leaders that offers comfortable living, some power and free medical treatment.
Tiwari, it seems had other ideas even as his latest exploits have raised him to heights of national popularity that his political career never did.
Indian politicians generally tend to live long unlike the rest of the population which many say is due to the heady and life enhancing mix of power, money fame and fawning sycophants, though in Tiwari’s instance, the elixir has included more.
Other politicians as they age step aside, promote sons, daughters and their spouses to carry forward the political lineage and enjoy the fruits of power. Not Tiwari, who remains hands on.
Age has caught up with some of Tiwari’s ilk such as Bal Thackeray stricken by heart disease, the diabetic Arjun Singh and Sharad Pawar who has suffered a stroke. Tiwari, however, has not slowed.
Indeed, it can never be easy for a young at heart old man to turn into a pin up boy in a nation such as India where the majority population is under 35 years of age and look up to film stars such as Shahid Kapur, Salman Khan and Shahrukh Khan, at least half Tiwari’s age, who spend hours at the gym to develop and expose in their movies the coveted six pack abs, to appeal to males and females.
A healthy, avuncular Tiwari has stolen the thunder, at least for the time being, also from colleagues in the same age bracket, but placed much higher in the pecking order.
In the recent past, India’s top political echelons have been occupied by men well into their 70s and some into the 80s, now staid and dull compared to Tiwari.
There is Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, upright and a paragon of virtue in every sphere, including academic achievements and demeanor. If Manmohan has been caught displaying passion in public, it is to defend the Indo-US civil nuclear deal that he has personally backed and staked his reputation.
Then there has been former Prime Minister Vajpayee, similar aged as Tiwari, but bent over due to knee and other health problems.
Vajpayee during his time in power, aged late 70s, had his asides in poetry and good food, but remained passionate about pushing the Indo-Pakistan peace process which is dead now due to the brazen 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
BJP leader L K Advani is known for utmost discipline in personal life that spans food and daily routine that has kept him healthy and fit in the 80s. A bit of Advani’s drive of course comes from his unfulfilled ambition to be Prime Minister of India.
At the best of times, however, Advani has been most aggressive about Hindutva, the politics of majority Hindu rule.
Former President of India APJ Abul Kalam is known for his missionary zeal in backing science and renewable energy.
While the moral issues of exploiting girls under duress and corruption charges are being investigated, Tiwari for now is India’s Hero Number One, biologically.
No questions about that.
If Tiger Woods Crashed In India (December 2009)
In an Indian situation the Tiger Woods saga perhaps would have been a little different:
Firstly, if he crashed his vehicle outside his house, the police and ambulance would be the last to know, given the sorry state of such services in India. Nobody would have bothered to call or inform them as they never arrive when needed.
No one wants to be involved in a ``police case’’ in any case that could drag on for years, with innocents usually harassed the most. Woods would have been carried back home by the otherwise usually helpful and also very nosy neighbors.
``He is having an affair/s so problems with the wife’’ they would all talk only in whispers as such things are never spoken about loudly, in public, to the media and never in front of the wife.
Secondly, riots would soon threaten to break out outside Woods house, presumably in congested Delhi or Mumbai where road side pavements are the home to the millions of homeless. It would soon emerge that Woods in a state of intoxication and in order to escape his wife ended up driving his vehicle over beggars and construction workers sleeping on the pavement at night. A couple of people would have died without knowing what hit them.
Thirdly, after sometime the police would arrive anyway as they would have sensed that the accident involved a rich man, who is not a politician or bureaucrat or an affluent businessman with connections. They would wonder how being a golfer could be a profession. Over cups of tea, they would wait for Woods to regain consciousness and ask him to breathe into a dirty, bacteria and infection laden instrument to test for alcohol levels. Then they would threaten to take away his driving license (which are never easy to procure, given the inefficiencies of the system) and SUV unless he took care of them. Bribe and booze bottles accepted they would step out and fire in the air to disperse the crowd. The log at the police station would read: No alcohol traced. The accident would not be mentioned.
Fourthly, the media, seeped in middle class sensibilities, would have sniffed out the story as it has a very powerful and saleable peg --- the rich driving big cars over the poor. Only the top reporters with experience of covering events such as the Mumbai terror strike last November that provided first hand live visuals, including to militant coordinators sitting in Pakistan, would be selected for the assignment. The top reporters would station themselves outside Woods house 24/7 and others would fan out to hospitals and push and shove their way and mikes on the half dead or dying accident victims for the elusive byte, against all medical advice or intervention, in the name of freedom of press and democratic rights.
Fifthly, the case would go to court. By now much money would have changed hands, involving Woods well placed friends, relatives, lawyers and important police officials. Handed more cash incentives, the police would discover that the SUV that Woods was driving was not registered in the drivers name as it was illegally imported to escape duties and taxes. The court would accordingly be informed that the entire case was fabricated as Woods owns no SUV so he couldn’t be driving one. The accident probably happened due to a rashly driven truck that escaped in the cover of darkness, so no registration could be noted. Witnesses could not be trusted as they were sleeping. The number of killed and injured would in any case be reduced by the cops as some would be illegal migrants from Bangladesh with no record of their existence in India. Media reports about the actual injured and killed would be dismissed as mere hype and hyperbole.
Sixthly, some of India’s top people who love to appear on TV on any occasion and also known for multiple affairs, multiple wives would support Woods publicly. They could include film stars Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Vinod Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, Kabir Bedi, Shekhar Kapur, Boney Kapoor, Mahesh Bhatt or cricketers Mohammed Azharuddin, Saurav Ganguly or Yuvraj Singh.
Seventhly, Mrs Woods would be extremely sorry for what happened to her husband and hold herself responsible for all the problems to her family because under Indian conditions, the husband is God and can do no wrong. She would undertake a grueling fast and visit temples all over the country to cleanse her sins. Woods mistresses would disappear from the scene. For the unmarried ones who presumably had a good time (in bed and otherwise), there would be no question of exposing to the media to protect their family honor. They would have been taught by their mothers to keep intact the virginity tag, the ultimate gift on the ultimate night of their marriage and valued most by the Indian husband Gods. The married mistresses would keep quiet for obvious reasons.
Eighthly, the laborers and construction workers who survived the crash would wake up from their unconscious states to discover that one of their kidneys has disappeared from their body, to be sold to the organ trade mafia. They would be told that they are lucky to survive as both their kidneys could have been easily taken and packed off by the hospital authorities and the police.
Woods would go back to playing the PGA, wife and mistresses, if he happened to be an Indian, that is.
French couple arouse Indian interest (December 2008)
Used to handling the usual wives of Presidents and Prime Minister’s, the protocol for ``first girlfriend’’ is turning to be a ticklish issue for New Delhi to handle.
The case relates to the very public courtship of 52-year-old French President Nicolas Sarkozy and 39-year old glamorous heiress, ex-supermodel and singer Carla Bruni that has attracted a bit of attention.
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Sarkozy is to be in India later this month and will be the chief guest when India celebrates Republic Day on January 26, a cultural event also marked by a parade that displays India’s latest military wares and acquisitions.
The foreign ministry, however, has some tricky issues to sort about Bruni-Sarkozy. The piquant situation has arisen, as New Delhi has never had to host a guest ``companion’’ of a country’s political head on an official visit in the past.
Sarkozy recently divorced his second wife, following which the relationship with Bruni has unveiled for all to see. The lovelorn couple reportedly caused a bit of embarrassment to officials in Egypt and Jordan that they recently visited.
While it is still not confirmed whether Bruni would actually be coming, the Indian protocol machinery at the foreign ministry is taking no chances as
Sarkozy has mixed his recent official foreign sojourns with some time off with Bruni, catching up on pleasure and tourist sites.
The foreign ministry has thus sounded up French counterparts about her ``status’’ as ``girlfriend’’ or ``first lady’’ or ``delegate,’’ if she visits.
``It is up to the French officials to tell us. We have no problems in dealing with the issue the way they want us to,’’ an official said.
Depending on the final definition, a reference to Bruni could be included or excluded in addresses by the President/Prime Minister at official banquets, separate/sharing/connected hotel stay bookings, seating/standing arrangements at ceremonial and other functions.
Ideally of course the government would like to settle for Bruni as the ``first lady’’ as there is a well laid out procedure for such dignitaries while the husband involves with more important matters of the state.
It is easy to arrange trips and photo-ops at government managed handicraft emporiums, public-funded schools and lately technology hubs that empower the underprivileged.
There is process to inquire about personal interests of visiting leaders to make matters more interesting for them. If there is a little more time the ``first lady’’ and if possible alongside the hubby are commonly sent off to Agra to pose in the picture perfect backdrop of the Taj Mahal.
It becomes even better if there are kids as it portrays the right image of ``happy family’’ that the government likes to associate itself with. All very politically correct and in sync with what is considered morally and socially appropriate in the country.
High profile couples that have visited in the past include the Late Princess Diana and Prince Charles who betrayed a bit of their discomfort with each other and the charming Bill and Hillary Clinton who did not shed even a hint of their extra-marital discords, to the disappointment of many.
Experts and analysts have spoken about the French President’s upcoming visit in the recent past (that is until Bruni surfaced).
Discussions have centered round important issues such as India’s cancellation of the recent multi-million dollar Eurocopter helicopter deal due to supposed US pressure and controversy about the Scorpene submarines.
France is also expected to make a commitment about supplying nuclear fuel for electricity should USA and other global forums ratify India’s new status.
Yet, the visit of a French Premiere can never attract the kind of frenzy or attention that accompanies a US Presidential visit or the interest that a Russian or Chinese head can create.
Sarkozy with the comely Bruni, however, tilts the balance, that has already evoked the expected response from tabloids, clutch of new mid-day papers and the increasingly aggressive Indian paparazzi that feed the very competitive TV channels.
Sarkozy’s pictures with his pretty companion during recent travels to Egypt have found prominent display in all media here.
In short, the visit of the couple could hog a bit of the limelight, not expected initially and an otherwise dour Indian visit likely to center round defense deals and nuclear power will certainly be a more interesting one.
Indeed, the little dilemma that the Indian establishment is faced with has to do with some of the deep-seated mores of the country that have sometimes refused to evolve or go away even as sections of society have changed.
Despite very liberal pockets of thought and behavior in India, publicly and especially the government prefers a conservative image, reflecting deep-seated opinions in society about what is considered deviant or right.
Thus, landlords do not encourage live-in couples as tenants, couples need to be married to have kids, homosexuality is illegal and in rural India, where the majority population resides, marrying somebody outside the caste or religion can invite death by public slaying.
However, Bruni and Sarkozy will perhaps need to watch out for the rising numbers of hyperactive, hypersensitive radical elements referred as the ``moral police’’ who love to pick on celebrities, especially film and sports stars, usually on charges of indecent portrayal of women, hurting religious sentiments and one latest trend of disrespecting the national flag.
The attention seeking moral brigade, often with the backing of regional political outfits such as the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, also closely monitors content in films and interpret works of art to assess any ``wrong.’’ Painter M F Husain is one favorite whipping boy.
Among those who have been slapped court cases include actress Shilpa Shetty following a peck on the cheek by Hollywood actor Richard Gere at a public function; another actress Sushmita Sen has been hauled up for saying that virginity is no big deal; tennis player Sania Mirza is a favorite of Muslim clerics who keep a hawk eye on everything she does, says and wears --- the latest charge against her is that her feet were ``wrongly’’ pointing towards the national flag while she rested after a match. Earlier, there has been a big brouhaha about her short skirt.
Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and Narayan Murthy, head of software giant Infosys, have had to deal with accusations of disrespecting the national flag. Tendulkar happened to cut a cake made in the colors of the flag.
Like most French and western people Sarkozy has been quite open about his affections for Bruni.
Such displays of fondness can be considered illegal in India as obscenity and is often misused by the police --- just this week, a married couple were beaten, harassed and hauled off to a police station in Bangalore.
The two happened to be sitting together at a park and were talking on different cell phones, like most good husband and wife.
While nothing of this sort will happen to Bruni-Sarkozy, the moral brigade will be keeping a close eye.
When Richard Gere kissed Shilpa Shetty (April 2007)
On TV it looked innocuous and spontaneous. At a HIV-AIDS awareness function in New Delhi, Hollywood’s crusader-actor Richard Gere chose to jokingly plant kisses on Bolywood actress Shilpa Shetty’s cheek.
Everybody knows about ``Pretty Woman’’ and ``Chicago’’ star Gere. Shilpa, beautiful in every sense, has had a-resurgence in her public profile courtesy a British reality TV show in which she emerged as an emotional favorite due to apparent racist barbs at her by other contestants.
There was an element of showmanship and parody as Gere caught Shilpa, even as an assembled audience of truckers was quite amused.
The next day’s papers carried pictures of a much bigger in size Gere in a clinch with Shilpa, who on closer scrutiny did not look too comfortable, clearly more aware of the conservative Indian elements who keep a hawk eye on such happenings.
By Western and Indian liberal standards of man-woman proximity and behavior this would count for nothing. Technically, it was not even a kiss, but a peck on the cheek.
But, to many in India, the act has been outrageous, anti-social, anti-Indian culture and anti-woman. At least three lawsuits have been filed in local Indian courts against Gere-Shilpa on grounds of indecent portrayal of women.
To top it off a local court in Rajasthan has issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against the two.
Countrywide protests have taken the form of effigy burning and impassioned appeals on TV. Gere has been asked to leave the country or sent to jail for outraging Shilpa’s modesty, while the actress has been asked to apologize to the Indian people for her indiscretion, even as she gamely defended Gere at a quick press conference.
Shilpa is trying to make it in Hollywood, so it helps to have somebody like Gere for support. But, if Shilpa is not complaining why should anyone else?
In the past, observers have blamed the media for blowing such trivial matters out of proportions. It also provides an assorted collection of disgruntled, opportunistic or out-of-work people their 10 seconds of fame on TV.
Given the proliferation of national (English, Hindi) and regional channels as well as a saleable Gere-Shilpa news peg, the chances of being featured are quite high.
However, recent instances of such moral policing, mixed up nationalism and far-fetched self-righteous interpretations, seem to tell that there are deeper dynamics at play.
Around the same time as Gere-Shilpa, radical Hindu protestors, probably belonging to the rightist Shiv Sena, ransacked the office of Star TV for broadcasting the interview of a runaway couple, a minor Hindu girl and a young Muslim man.
About 50 people attacked the channel's office in Mumbai, saying that the TV Company had insulted Hinduism by promoting love between people from different religions.
Recently, there have been cases filed against actress Liz Hurley and Arun Nayyar who married in grand style in the state of Rajasthan. According the allegations, Hurley-Nayyar defied Hindu customs by kissing in front of the holy fire when the marriage ceremony was underway and sat on a sofa instead of the floor as per the norm.
N Narayan Murthy, head of one of India’s biggest software firms Infosys, has also been in the line of fire for having supposedly disrespected the national anthem.
Admittedly it was a bit of a mistake as Murthy has himself said that he was ``embarrassed’’ but the charge of deliberately hurting Indian sentiments and ethos is plain ludicrous. Local Karnataka state politicians seeking to gain some political mileage due to complex caste equations have joined the fray in attacking Murthy.
Murthy is an Indian icon having been at the forefront of India’s information technology revolution that has seen the image of the country change forever from the land of snake charmers and maharajas.
India’s iconic cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, known for his impeccable conduct in public, too has been facing the ire of hard line elements, who have sought to charge him for insulting the national flag. During a recent public function, Tendulkar had inadvertently cut a cake with the national flag designed on it. Denigrating the national flag is an offense under Indian law.
The question is: Do these happenings, protests, charges in court, separated by time and spatial zones, yet images edited and crunched together on TV, have an underlying message? They do.
Such negative, seeming waste of time and effort, does hide a broader undercurrent of deliberate thought and also frustration.
In the past, India-Pakistan cricket matches have been sought to-be disrupted when relations between the two countries have been at a-low ebb.
A diplomatic furor was created when author Khushwant Singh planted a friendly kiss on the cheek of the daughter of the then high commissioner of Pakistan to India. Mutual suspicions between the two countries were very high at the time.
In the 80s an over enthusiastic actress Padmini Kholapure planting a kiss on Prince Charles did not go down well, when Indians were still coming to terms with the extent of colonial exploitation under British rule.
At one level, political parties that espouse a communal or caste agenda encourage and protect acts of vandalism and fascist attacks.
Attacks on Murthy or exhibitions of paintings of Hindu Gods by Muslim painter M F Husain are buttressed on this count. In the 90s, the political agenda of the right wing Bharatiya Janta Party centered around the building of a Ram temple, a revered God of the Hindus, in Ayodhya.
Protests about Shilpa-Gere, Nayyar-Hurley are a reflection of the acute social, linguistic and economic barriers in the country.
Clearly, the people that take to streets following such events are seen as society’s losers, by a large section of the Indian population who would not have the time or inclination, given their busy lives, employed probably in one of the high rising service sectors of the Indian economy.
Solutions have to be found in education, employment and enhanced sensitivities. The overburdened judiciary has to take a call on loss of its work time due to such frivolous cases and perhaps impose a fine on those who are driven purely to gain selfish mileage.
Laws have to be changed. Exploiting a caveat in Indian statute that does not differentiate between public displays of affection and indecency, cops in India are notorious for preying on amorous couple in parks, beaches and other open areas, to make a fast buck. It sets a wrong precedent of intolerance.
There has been some change. Reflecting some of the popular mood, the entertainment industry, including the censor board has been bold enough to cast away some of its self-righteous baggage.
Kissing has emerged with a renewed vengeance in Hindi movies with all the top actresses Priety Zinta, Aishwarya Rai and Rani Mukherjee trying to outdo the other. Again, this is not only about kisses, but a broader trend of Hindi movies exploring new themes and bold ideas, which in turn underlines more intelligent sensibilities.
India is in a country in flux. It is always good to move by consensus and build a healthy balance in thoughts and actions. Easier said than done.
The saga of Sania Mirza, India’s top tennis player, and Shoaib Malik, Pakistan’s former cricket captain, has finally been put to rest with the couple married.
In the recent past, the duo has dominated media and mind space in India, and expectedly, in Pakistan as well.
The two subcontinent stars will undoubtedly remain in public consciousness due to their good looking celebrity status and eyeball catching ability that translates into TV ratings.
Here’s one post-mortem, dubbed the Shonia episode, though there surely will be more to follow:
Indo-Pak relations: Observers (read doves, not hawks) have found a quick connection between an India-Pakistan courtship and the diplomatic language that accompanies such occurrences --- confidence building measure (CBMs), people to people contacts and a passionate undercurrent that actually unites the two populations.
Big budget Bollywood movies such as Veer-Zaara have delved into such cross-country relationships, emphasizing the victory of the human spirit over artificially and politically motivated divide between the two countries.
Yet, powerful and deep rooted institutions such as the Pakistan Army or the ISI, with vicious and vested strategic agendas will require much more than such matters of the heart to change their profiles.
So, will relations between the two countries given vexed issues such as terror, Kashmir, water sharing and building hydro dams along each others borders.
In the past debonair cricketers such as Imran Khan and Mohsin Khan have been linked to Indian women, yet the two countries have squabbled and fought.
There was much talk about comfort levels between former Prime Ministers Rajiv Gandhi and Benazir Bhutto, belonging to similar backgrounds and legacies.
Connections are today drawn between Congress Party scion Rahul Gandhi and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
Yet, it cannot be forgotten that politically the two countries continue to be on diverse planes, with influence over Afghanistan a new strategic playground, along side America.
The differences cannot be glossed over so quickly.
Important as CBMs are in building a constituency of peace between the two countries, it is unlikely that Shonia gave much thought to such issues when they saw each other.
Traversing the globe due to their sporting commitments, they bumped into each other a few times, got along and kept in touch, courtesy technology, the Internet and cellular phone. Shoaib could very well have been an American star.
The Shonia connection is purely personal, though the consequent talk about building bridges between the two countries would certainly have crossed their minds.
Their matrimony does add a sense of bonhomie and distracts from all the serious Indo-Pak talks that have failed to re-start following the Mumbai terror attacks November 2008.
But, that is about all.
Why did she marry him? Many Indian men have not figured out why she chose him and perhaps never will.
Some consider their egos personally bruised even as the aura of debonair Pakistani men who attract the best women across the border, stands buttressed.
Many here have counted other eligible bachelors with considerable distinctions, even within a sporting sample.
Indian cricketers of course remain the most pampered and highly paid stars in the country, not to speak of Bollywood achievers such as Shahid Kapoor, considered a ``close friend’’ of Sania, whatever than means.
A delectable rich and single cricketer selection for Sania has included Zaheer Khan, Yusuf Pathan, Gautam Gambir, M S Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Irfan Pathan, Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Robin Uthappa…the list of such successful men is endless, given the proliferation of various forms of cricket (one day internationals, T20 and Test matches), all money spinners.
Shoaib remains a moderately successful international cricketer no doubt, but grey areas continue to sprout -- match fixing allegations, a supposed previous marriage, though such qualification nowadays seems to only work favorably given the entourage of Indian Bollywood actresses and other beauties settling for men as their wife number two or three.
Sania, her very moderate career plagued by injuries, must have her reasons to pitch for Shoiab. Such is life and the inscrutable mind of a woman in love.
Tailoring Faith: Sania has had a fair share of attention from Indian clerics and ulemas who have protested her short sporting attire in the past, declaring it un-Islamic.
Politically motivated right wing Hindu radicals, who revel in anti-Muslim, anti-Pakistan speak, have again raised their ugly heads, especially in Maharashtra.
They have already labeled Sania a ``traitor’’ due too her decision to marry a Pakistani. Indian society, however, is fairly liberal in large pockets and many more have protested such foolish and silly dictates.
The Shonia events, however, did throw some light on the complicated Hindu and Muslim personal laws.
It seems that Shoaib married his first wife (Indian and residing in Hyderabad, the same city as Sania) over phone from Pakistan, but had to sign divorce papers in India due to the intervention of clerics and also pay a hefty alimony.
All does not seem very transparent here.
Across the border, Sania bhabi (sister-in-law), as she is being referred there, will surely not find the going easy, given the ultra-conservative environment as British heiress Jemima Khan, ex-wife of cricketer-politician Imran Khan found out quite fast.
Sania has grown up in cosmopolitan Hyderabad, a global software hub, attended an expensive private school, surrounded by frills of India’s new consumerist growth --- malls, discos, pubs, movie multiplexes, flashy cars, gadgets and more.
As the wife of a Pakistani player, Sania will certainly be in focus of those who measure faith by clothing or the lack of it. Pakistani sports women are known to cover themselves from head to toe, even during swimming events.
Sania has said that she would continue to represent India, with the Commonwealth Games this year and Olympics later being the big goals. Shoaib has backed her intentions.
Wisely, Shonia have chosen to live in Dubai for now. As has been spoken, Shoaib could shift to India and try his hand at the lucrative T20 private cricket league.
The couple will be watched and followed closely.
The Indian who stole Tiger Woods thunder (January 2010)
While Tiger Woods has hogged mind and media space in the past few weeks, in India the greatest golfers exploits off the fairway has been upped by an octogenarian Indian politician N D Tiwari, aged 86 years and still going very strong (in bed that is).
Tiwari, a long-standing national Congress party loyalist, was recently caught on camera apparently half naked cavorting with three young girls, in a TV sting operation, which are a common occurrence in India now to trap the usual wrong doers such as corrupt policemen, government officials and politicians, generally accepting cash for favors.
The most famous image of course is of the former President of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Bangaru Laxman caught on camera accepting money. Until, Tiwari came along, that is.
While questions remain about Tiwari using his superior position as incumbent governor (now sacked) of Andhra Pradesh and former chief minister of Uttarakhand to make the girls do what they did, the ethical and legal doubts have been set aside by his supposed ability at 86.
Indian men, given smaller physiques, genetic structures and generally unfit bodies, are known to lose it in their mid-30s and look for remedies and aphrodisiacs to rid the private dysfunctions and reverse the never discussed in the open male biological clock, so to say.
Fittingly, Tiwari has been labeled the Tiger of India, overtaken Woods as the most searched on Indian Internet portals, with plenty of questions being asked about his successful score, looking very happy than embarrassed with his pants down, as one might expect a near 90 year old to be. Everybody knows Playboy’s Hugh Hefner is just a marketing gimmick.
Some say that Tiwari truly deserves to be brand ambassador of Viagra and other similar concoctions and fill his coffers more, unlike Woods who has been surmounted by sponsorship losses, expensive lawsuit by his wife and no golf.
While the pessimists and cynics say that Tiwari could not have ``actually done it,’’ the optimists see hope for a very long innings ahead, even as news reports speak of at least two ``illegitimate’’ children sired by Tiwari, out of wedlock.
For the uninitiated, Tiwari is not a big name when compared to contemporary Indian politicians such as Atal Behari Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh or Sonia Gandhi, but has had an above average and steady political innings.
At one time in the 80s and 90s as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, there was talk that he could be Prime Minister of India, given the nature of India’s coalition politics.
However, his political career subsumed by other events such as advent of caste equations, the Congress leadership finally appointed Tiwari as governor, a graveyard posting for spent but loyal political leaders that offers comfortable living, some power and free medical treatment.
Tiwari, it seems had other ideas even as his latest exploits have raised him to heights of national popularity that his political career never did.
Indian politicians generally tend to live long unlike the rest of the population which many say is due to the heady and life enhancing mix of power, money fame and fawning sycophants, though in Tiwari’s instance, the elixir has included more.
Other politicians as they age step aside, promote sons, daughters and their spouses to carry forward the political lineage and enjoy the fruits of power. Not Tiwari, who remains hands on.
Age has caught up with some of Tiwari’s ilk such as Bal Thackeray stricken by heart disease, the diabetic Arjun Singh and Sharad Pawar who has suffered a stroke. Tiwari, however, has not slowed.
Indeed, it can never be easy for a young at heart old man to turn into a pin up boy in a nation such as India where the majority population is under 35 years of age and look up to film stars such as Shahid Kapur, Salman Khan and Shahrukh Khan, at least half Tiwari’s age, who spend hours at the gym to develop and expose in their movies the coveted six pack abs, to appeal to males and females.
A healthy, avuncular Tiwari has stolen the thunder, at least for the time being, also from colleagues in the same age bracket, but placed much higher in the pecking order.
In the recent past, India’s top political echelons have been occupied by men well into their 70s and some into the 80s, now staid and dull compared to Tiwari.
There is Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, upright and a paragon of virtue in every sphere, including academic achievements and demeanor. If Manmohan has been caught displaying passion in public, it is to defend the Indo-US civil nuclear deal that he has personally backed and staked his reputation.
Then there has been former Prime Minister Vajpayee, similar aged as Tiwari, but bent over due to knee and other health problems.
Vajpayee during his time in power, aged late 70s, had his asides in poetry and good food, but remained passionate about pushing the Indo-Pakistan peace process which is dead now due to the brazen 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
BJP leader L K Advani is known for utmost discipline in personal life that spans food and daily routine that has kept him healthy and fit in the 80s. A bit of Advani’s drive of course comes from his unfulfilled ambition to be Prime Minister of India.
At the best of times, however, Advani has been most aggressive about Hindutva, the politics of majority Hindu rule.
Former President of India APJ Abul Kalam is known for his missionary zeal in backing science and renewable energy.
While the moral issues of exploiting girls under duress and corruption charges are being investigated, Tiwari for now is India’s Hero Number One, biologically.
No questions about that.
If Tiger Woods Crashed In India (December 2009)
In an Indian situation the Tiger Woods saga perhaps would have been a little different:
Firstly, if he crashed his vehicle outside his house, the police and ambulance would be the last to know, given the sorry state of such services in India. Nobody would have bothered to call or inform them as they never arrive when needed.
No one wants to be involved in a ``police case’’ in any case that could drag on for years, with innocents usually harassed the most. Woods would have been carried back home by the otherwise usually helpful and also very nosy neighbors.
``He is having an affair/s so problems with the wife’’ they would all talk only in whispers as such things are never spoken about loudly, in public, to the media and never in front of the wife.
Secondly, riots would soon threaten to break out outside Woods house, presumably in congested Delhi or Mumbai where road side pavements are the home to the millions of homeless. It would soon emerge that Woods in a state of intoxication and in order to escape his wife ended up driving his vehicle over beggars and construction workers sleeping on the pavement at night. A couple of people would have died without knowing what hit them.
Thirdly, after sometime the police would arrive anyway as they would have sensed that the accident involved a rich man, who is not a politician or bureaucrat or an affluent businessman with connections. They would wonder how being a golfer could be a profession. Over cups of tea, they would wait for Woods to regain consciousness and ask him to breathe into a dirty, bacteria and infection laden instrument to test for alcohol levels. Then they would threaten to take away his driving license (which are never easy to procure, given the inefficiencies of the system) and SUV unless he took care of them. Bribe and booze bottles accepted they would step out and fire in the air to disperse the crowd. The log at the police station would read: No alcohol traced. The accident would not be mentioned.
Fourthly, the media, seeped in middle class sensibilities, would have sniffed out the story as it has a very powerful and saleable peg --- the rich driving big cars over the poor. Only the top reporters with experience of covering events such as the Mumbai terror strike last November that provided first hand live visuals, including to militant coordinators sitting in Pakistan, would be selected for the assignment. The top reporters would station themselves outside Woods house 24/7 and others would fan out to hospitals and push and shove their way and mikes on the half dead or dying accident victims for the elusive byte, against all medical advice or intervention, in the name of freedom of press and democratic rights.
Fifthly, the case would go to court. By now much money would have changed hands, involving Woods well placed friends, relatives, lawyers and important police officials. Handed more cash incentives, the police would discover that the SUV that Woods was driving was not registered in the drivers name as it was illegally imported to escape duties and taxes. The court would accordingly be informed that the entire case was fabricated as Woods owns no SUV so he couldn’t be driving one. The accident probably happened due to a rashly driven truck that escaped in the cover of darkness, so no registration could be noted. Witnesses could not be trusted as they were sleeping. The number of killed and injured would in any case be reduced by the cops as some would be illegal migrants from Bangladesh with no record of their existence in India. Media reports about the actual injured and killed would be dismissed as mere hype and hyperbole.
Sixthly, some of India’s top people who love to appear on TV on any occasion and also known for multiple affairs, multiple wives would support Woods publicly. They could include film stars Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Vinod Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, Kabir Bedi, Shekhar Kapur, Boney Kapoor, Mahesh Bhatt or cricketers Mohammed Azharuddin, Saurav Ganguly or Yuvraj Singh.
Seventhly, Mrs Woods would be extremely sorry for what happened to her husband and hold herself responsible for all the problems to her family because under Indian conditions, the husband is God and can do no wrong. She would undertake a grueling fast and visit temples all over the country to cleanse her sins. Woods mistresses would disappear from the scene. For the unmarried ones who presumably had a good time (in bed and otherwise), there would be no question of exposing to the media to protect their family honor. They would have been taught by their mothers to keep intact the virginity tag, the ultimate gift on the ultimate night of their marriage and valued most by the Indian husband Gods. The married mistresses would keep quiet for obvious reasons.
Eighthly, the laborers and construction workers who survived the crash would wake up from their unconscious states to discover that one of their kidneys has disappeared from their body, to be sold to the organ trade mafia. They would be told that they are lucky to survive as both their kidneys could have been easily taken and packed off by the hospital authorities and the police.
Woods would go back to playing the PGA, wife and mistresses, if he happened to be an Indian, that is.
French couple arouse Indian interest (December 2008)
Used to handling the usual wives of Presidents and Prime Minister’s, the protocol for ``first girlfriend’’ is turning to be a ticklish issue for New Delhi to handle.
The case relates to the very public courtship of 52-year-old French President Nicolas Sarkozy and 39-year old glamorous heiress, ex-supermodel and singer Carla Bruni that has attracted a bit of attention.
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Sarkozy is to be in India later this month and will be the chief guest when India celebrates Republic Day on January 26, a cultural event also marked by a parade that displays India’s latest military wares and acquisitions.
The foreign ministry, however, has some tricky issues to sort about Bruni-Sarkozy. The piquant situation has arisen, as New Delhi has never had to host a guest ``companion’’ of a country’s political head on an official visit in the past.
Sarkozy recently divorced his second wife, following which the relationship with Bruni has unveiled for all to see. The lovelorn couple reportedly caused a bit of embarrassment to officials in Egypt and Jordan that they recently visited.
While it is still not confirmed whether Bruni would actually be coming, the Indian protocol machinery at the foreign ministry is taking no chances as
Sarkozy has mixed his recent official foreign sojourns with some time off with Bruni, catching up on pleasure and tourist sites.
The foreign ministry has thus sounded up French counterparts about her ``status’’ as ``girlfriend’’ or ``first lady’’ or ``delegate,’’ if she visits.
``It is up to the French officials to tell us. We have no problems in dealing with the issue the way they want us to,’’ an official said.
Depending on the final definition, a reference to Bruni could be included or excluded in addresses by the President/Prime Minister at official banquets, separate/sharing/connected hotel stay bookings, seating/standing arrangements at ceremonial and other functions.
Ideally of course the government would like to settle for Bruni as the ``first lady’’ as there is a well laid out procedure for such dignitaries while the husband involves with more important matters of the state.
It is easy to arrange trips and photo-ops at government managed handicraft emporiums, public-funded schools and lately technology hubs that empower the underprivileged.
There is process to inquire about personal interests of visiting leaders to make matters more interesting for them. If there is a little more time the ``first lady’’ and if possible alongside the hubby are commonly sent off to Agra to pose in the picture perfect backdrop of the Taj Mahal.
It becomes even better if there are kids as it portrays the right image of ``happy family’’ that the government likes to associate itself with. All very politically correct and in sync with what is considered morally and socially appropriate in the country.
High profile couples that have visited in the past include the Late Princess Diana and Prince Charles who betrayed a bit of their discomfort with each other and the charming Bill and Hillary Clinton who did not shed even a hint of their extra-marital discords, to the disappointment of many.
Experts and analysts have spoken about the French President’s upcoming visit in the recent past (that is until Bruni surfaced).
Discussions have centered round important issues such as India’s cancellation of the recent multi-million dollar Eurocopter helicopter deal due to supposed US pressure and controversy about the Scorpene submarines.
France is also expected to make a commitment about supplying nuclear fuel for electricity should USA and other global forums ratify India’s new status.
Yet, the visit of a French Premiere can never attract the kind of frenzy or attention that accompanies a US Presidential visit or the interest that a Russian or Chinese head can create.
Sarkozy with the comely Bruni, however, tilts the balance, that has already evoked the expected response from tabloids, clutch of new mid-day papers and the increasingly aggressive Indian paparazzi that feed the very competitive TV channels.
Sarkozy’s pictures with his pretty companion during recent travels to Egypt have found prominent display in all media here.
In short, the visit of the couple could hog a bit of the limelight, not expected initially and an otherwise dour Indian visit likely to center round defense deals and nuclear power will certainly be a more interesting one.
Indeed, the little dilemma that the Indian establishment is faced with has to do with some of the deep-seated mores of the country that have sometimes refused to evolve or go away even as sections of society have changed.
Despite very liberal pockets of thought and behavior in India, publicly and especially the government prefers a conservative image, reflecting deep-seated opinions in society about what is considered deviant or right.
Thus, landlords do not encourage live-in couples as tenants, couples need to be married to have kids, homosexuality is illegal and in rural India, where the majority population resides, marrying somebody outside the caste or religion can invite death by public slaying.
However, Bruni and Sarkozy will perhaps need to watch out for the rising numbers of hyperactive, hypersensitive radical elements referred as the ``moral police’’ who love to pick on celebrities, especially film and sports stars, usually on charges of indecent portrayal of women, hurting religious sentiments and one latest trend of disrespecting the national flag.
The attention seeking moral brigade, often with the backing of regional political outfits such as the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, also closely monitors content in films and interpret works of art to assess any ``wrong.’’ Painter M F Husain is one favorite whipping boy.
Among those who have been slapped court cases include actress Shilpa Shetty following a peck on the cheek by Hollywood actor Richard Gere at a public function; another actress Sushmita Sen has been hauled up for saying that virginity is no big deal; tennis player Sania Mirza is a favorite of Muslim clerics who keep a hawk eye on everything she does, says and wears --- the latest charge against her is that her feet were ``wrongly’’ pointing towards the national flag while she rested after a match. Earlier, there has been a big brouhaha about her short skirt.
Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and Narayan Murthy, head of software giant Infosys, have had to deal with accusations of disrespecting the national flag. Tendulkar happened to cut a cake made in the colors of the flag.
Like most French and western people Sarkozy has been quite open about his affections for Bruni.
Such displays of fondness can be considered illegal in India as obscenity and is often misused by the police --- just this week, a married couple were beaten, harassed and hauled off to a police station in Bangalore.
The two happened to be sitting together at a park and were talking on different cell phones, like most good husband and wife.
While nothing of this sort will happen to Bruni-Sarkozy, the moral brigade will be keeping a close eye.
When Richard Gere kissed Shilpa Shetty (April 2007)
On TV it looked innocuous and spontaneous. At a HIV-AIDS awareness function in New Delhi, Hollywood’s crusader-actor Richard Gere chose to jokingly plant kisses on Bolywood actress Shilpa Shetty’s cheek.
Everybody knows about ``Pretty Woman’’ and ``Chicago’’ star Gere. Shilpa, beautiful in every sense, has had a-resurgence in her public profile courtesy a British reality TV show in which she emerged as an emotional favorite due to apparent racist barbs at her by other contestants.
There was an element of showmanship and parody as Gere caught Shilpa, even as an assembled audience of truckers was quite amused.
The next day’s papers carried pictures of a much bigger in size Gere in a clinch with Shilpa, who on closer scrutiny did not look too comfortable, clearly more aware of the conservative Indian elements who keep a hawk eye on such happenings.
By Western and Indian liberal standards of man-woman proximity and behavior this would count for nothing. Technically, it was not even a kiss, but a peck on the cheek.
But, to many in India, the act has been outrageous, anti-social, anti-Indian culture and anti-woman. At least three lawsuits have been filed in local Indian courts against Gere-Shilpa on grounds of indecent portrayal of women.
To top it off a local court in Rajasthan has issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against the two.
Countrywide protests have taken the form of effigy burning and impassioned appeals on TV. Gere has been asked to leave the country or sent to jail for outraging Shilpa’s modesty, while the actress has been asked to apologize to the Indian people for her indiscretion, even as she gamely defended Gere at a quick press conference.
Shilpa is trying to make it in Hollywood, so it helps to have somebody like Gere for support. But, if Shilpa is not complaining why should anyone else?
In the past, observers have blamed the media for blowing such trivial matters out of proportions. It also provides an assorted collection of disgruntled, opportunistic or out-of-work people their 10 seconds of fame on TV.
Given the proliferation of national (English, Hindi) and regional channels as well as a saleable Gere-Shilpa news peg, the chances of being featured are quite high.
However, recent instances of such moral policing, mixed up nationalism and far-fetched self-righteous interpretations, seem to tell that there are deeper dynamics at play.
Around the same time as Gere-Shilpa, radical Hindu protestors, probably belonging to the rightist Shiv Sena, ransacked the office of Star TV for broadcasting the interview of a runaway couple, a minor Hindu girl and a young Muslim man.
About 50 people attacked the channel's office in Mumbai, saying that the TV Company had insulted Hinduism by promoting love between people from different religions.
Recently, there have been cases filed against actress Liz Hurley and Arun Nayyar who married in grand style in the state of Rajasthan. According the allegations, Hurley-Nayyar defied Hindu customs by kissing in front of the holy fire when the marriage ceremony was underway and sat on a sofa instead of the floor as per the norm.
N Narayan Murthy, head of one of India’s biggest software firms Infosys, has also been in the line of fire for having supposedly disrespected the national anthem.
Admittedly it was a bit of a mistake as Murthy has himself said that he was ``embarrassed’’ but the charge of deliberately hurting Indian sentiments and ethos is plain ludicrous. Local Karnataka state politicians seeking to gain some political mileage due to complex caste equations have joined the fray in attacking Murthy.
Murthy is an Indian icon having been at the forefront of India’s information technology revolution that has seen the image of the country change forever from the land of snake charmers and maharajas.
India’s iconic cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, known for his impeccable conduct in public, too has been facing the ire of hard line elements, who have sought to charge him for insulting the national flag. During a recent public function, Tendulkar had inadvertently cut a cake with the national flag designed on it. Denigrating the national flag is an offense under Indian law.
The question is: Do these happenings, protests, charges in court, separated by time and spatial zones, yet images edited and crunched together on TV, have an underlying message? They do.
Such negative, seeming waste of time and effort, does hide a broader undercurrent of deliberate thought and also frustration.
In the past, India-Pakistan cricket matches have been sought to-be disrupted when relations between the two countries have been at a-low ebb.
A diplomatic furor was created when author Khushwant Singh planted a friendly kiss on the cheek of the daughter of the then high commissioner of Pakistan to India. Mutual suspicions between the two countries were very high at the time.
In the 80s an over enthusiastic actress Padmini Kholapure planting a kiss on Prince Charles did not go down well, when Indians were still coming to terms with the extent of colonial exploitation under British rule.
At one level, political parties that espouse a communal or caste agenda encourage and protect acts of vandalism and fascist attacks.
Attacks on Murthy or exhibitions of paintings of Hindu Gods by Muslim painter M F Husain are buttressed on this count. In the 90s, the political agenda of the right wing Bharatiya Janta Party centered around the building of a Ram temple, a revered God of the Hindus, in Ayodhya.
Protests about Shilpa-Gere, Nayyar-Hurley are a reflection of the acute social, linguistic and economic barriers in the country.
Clearly, the people that take to streets following such events are seen as society’s losers, by a large section of the Indian population who would not have the time or inclination, given their busy lives, employed probably in one of the high rising service sectors of the Indian economy.
Solutions have to be found in education, employment and enhanced sensitivities. The overburdened judiciary has to take a call on loss of its work time due to such frivolous cases and perhaps impose a fine on those who are driven purely to gain selfish mileage.
Laws have to be changed. Exploiting a caveat in Indian statute that does not differentiate between public displays of affection and indecency, cops in India are notorious for preying on amorous couple in parks, beaches and other open areas, to make a fast buck. It sets a wrong precedent of intolerance.
There has been some change. Reflecting some of the popular mood, the entertainment industry, including the censor board has been bold enough to cast away some of its self-righteous baggage.
Kissing has emerged with a renewed vengeance in Hindi movies with all the top actresses Priety Zinta, Aishwarya Rai and Rani Mukherjee trying to outdo the other. Again, this is not only about kisses, but a broader trend of Hindi movies exploring new themes and bold ideas, which in turn underlines more intelligent sensibilities.
India is in a country in flux. It is always good to move by consensus and build a healthy balance in thoughts and actions. Easier said than done.
India Changing
India: A waiting tragedy any season (January 2010)
Everybody knows that matters move slowly in India given infrastructure bottlenecks, red tape, inefficient government etc etc working under a democratic political system that procrastinate decision making processes, unlike much faster growing, but communist China.
In the months of December and January, emerging economy India clamps down for one more reason --- fog, a factor that has played up due to the growing pollution levels that result in a thick envelop of cough inducing smog that reduces visibility to zero.
This year the week leading to the New Year witnessed hundreds of flights cancelled at the Delhi international airport, one of the busiest in the country. There have been similar reports from elsewhere --- Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore due to the inter-connections of planes and flights as well.
The situation continues to be on the brink.
Several status updates on social networking sites via mobile phones by stranded passengers read: ``flight fogged out, stranded in Delhi’’ or ``effed due to the fog.’’
As every year, the media has depicted pictures of depleted and exhausted families in various sleep postures --- against walls, on benches at the airport, even as many others argue with airlines and officials, to no avail as the aircrafts simply cannot take off or land.
This is because the Delhi airport, despite the critical role it plays in impacting overall Indian tourism and business travel, has not deployed intelligent instruments needed to enable aircrafts to land in low visibility conditions.
Yet, delayed air travelers could count themselves lucky as at least three major rail collisions have been reported across the country due to fog over the recent past, killing at least 10 people and injuring more than 50. A cancelled flight is better than losing life or limb.
The trains have been on a spin as hapless rail drivers need to rely on their naked eye to spot overhead train signals when heavy fog (smog) conditions limits visibility within cabin space.
Again, lax implementation of intelligent anti collision devices on trains that allows activation of automatic braking systems to detect barriers (including other trains ahead), is to blame.
There has been talk about such systems for years, but the ground work has been caught in severe red tape, even as number of trains and passenger loads has increased manifold.
Car and pedestrian accidents also rise round the New Year time, though one has to admit that the holiday season brings on its share of drunken driving incidents as well. But, massive traffic jams are reported along highways and other intersections due to dead vehicular movement due to the dreaded fog.
Indeed, despite the tall economy talk, India scores very poorly when it comes to handling elements of nature.
Like every year the ongoing cold wave conditions has killed many homeless who are forced to live in the open. Power supplies are on the brink due to large number of heating devices used by the better off.
At other times, during monsoons, Delhi, a city known for its wide roads, flyovers and underpasses comes to a standstill due to water logging as the drainage system remains archaic, harking back to the colonial times, resulting in massive spillovers.
Vehicles turn into bedrooms due to overnight traffic jams, while underpasses turn into impromptu swimming pools, where little boys and girls along with cows and buffaloes splash about.
Mumbai, the country’s commercial hub, turns into a sea of sewage, rain water and open manholes into which many are sucked in every year. The river Brahmaputra, meanwhile, ravages the north east while the state of Bihar goes underwater due to excess water from northern rivers bordering Nepal.
As has been written about a bit, summer and drought brings about its own set of problems with people dying of heat waves and farmers in states such as Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra committing suicide due to failed crops.
This is because adequate irrigation facilities or insurance covers have not been extended, despite big plans.
Indeed, life could have been much more of a clutter in India had it not been for a singular invention – the seamless Internet and its myriad permutations that allows some solace to a minor section of population (the number is estimated at 50 million) beyond traveling through broken roads, traffic snarls, fog and rain.
There is online banking, virtual payment of bills, entertainment, ordering grocery, food, managing investments and the home office. At a broader level, the Indian economy has been boosted by the outsourcing and software sectors that heavily rely on long distance functions.
Thankfully, India’s digital highway generally holds up to the various weather conditions and this has nothing to do with the government.
Just, some good luck and competition among many Internet service providers.
Otherwise, the only other reason that the country halts to a standstill has nothing to do with infrastructure --- it is the game of cricket, given the maniacal following of the game that cuts classes, social and economic.
Traffic dwindles, pubs fill up and office attendance dips dramatically while those at work, including target driven bosses, crowd around television sets along with the rest.
A clash against traditional rivals Pakistan or world champions Australia usually evokes the maximum interest, with some experts estimating negative impact on Indian economic and GDP growth due to cricket induced slowdown, apart from the other factors mentioned above. Cricket in its latest avatar, T20, has only added zeal, adding more and younger fans.
India’s losing battle with nature’s forces, meanwhile, continues.
India for better and worse (December 2009)
In an indication of a changing India, two lifestyle products that defined Indian middle class existence and aspiration in the 70s and 80s will soon cease to exist.
The decision (by respective firms) to phase out Bajaj Scooters entirely from March next year and entry level cars Maruti 800 from metros to begin with, is purely business related --- sales have sagged.
But, it also reflects a different mindset, another India and a new era that fancies faster motor cycles and bigger and better cars.
In the 70s Bajaj Scooters symbolized middle class stability, although the engine placed on one side, made the machine unstable.
And in the current situation of rashly driven powerful vehicles and 24-hour call center cabs, two-wheelers are very unsafe.
Yet, back then, father on the wheel, mother on the pillion, younger child standing in front with head bobbing out, older sibling squeezed between mother and father, everybody with their arms around each other for balance and protection, epitomized the complete Indian family, ``hum do hamare do.’’ (We two and our two)
It was idyllic. Needless to say, the famous ad tag line ``Hamara Bajaj’’ (Our Bajaj) translated into brisk sales.
The strict father, seeped in the idealistic hangover of Mahatma Gandhi or Jawaharlal Nehru, could have typically worked in a government department, university professor or even a trader; the mother, a housewife, dedicated to the family spent hours in the kitchen, cleaning the house and praying for their welfare.
The unified aim of the husband-wife duo was to ensure their children a good education to turn them into engineers (via cracking the coveted IIT exam) or doctor (via the equally difficult MBBS entrance exam) or make it to the IAS, the top government job (via the even more difficult UPSC exam).
With such focus on study, a big sprinkling of the Bajaj kids did make it and many of them went to America, the land of opportunity, to become software czars, top cardiologists, reproducing kids in turn who today call shots in political stakes as campaign managers, fund givers, Bobby Jindal, driving big BMWs or Mercedez Benz and collecting bikes for passion that probably cost more than their father’s whole life income, many times over.
Some of the kids called their parents over from India selling off the Bajaj scooters as junk, while others forgot about the elders, providing endless sob story themes for Hindi movies described as meaningful art cinema due to all the crying.
Meanwhile, the Maruti 800 was launched in pre-liberalized India in the 80s when the License Raj prevailed to shackle any enterprise, when only access to state authority or grease money counted for everything -- owning a telephone, a passport, a driver’s license or a gas connection and a house.
In keeping with authoritative behavior, most marriages were arranged. Gandhi and Nehru were forgotten entities their pictures framed in every government office, ideals obliterated.
The Babu (read lower government official) was King. Cordless phones a luxury item, compared to over 500 million cell phone users today.
The bulk of youth (everybody could not make it to IIT or IAS or MBBS) aspired to be part of this Kingdom and wield the power to dole out telephone connections or hand out nationalized bank loans and progress in life --- from Bajaj Scooters to Maruti 800s.
In a way the spiffy, quick pick up, not very expensive Maruti 800s that took on the ambling Ambassadors and Fiat cars that dominated Indian roads was the first challenge to the Raj, though there were car quotas still and one needed to bribe a Babu, maybe by offering foreign made liquor bottles.
The Maruti 800, fast, flexible and individualistic, though a tin pot compared to cars of today, indicated the 90s and new millennium.
Today a typical middle class Indian family travels in a snazzier Maruti Swift or a Hyundai I-20, financed out of quick processing private bank, visits choc a bloc malls during the weekend, watch high priced multiplex movies, while the kids feed on pizza and burgers, probably from MacDonald’s, home delivery or take away, resulting in new age problems such as obesity.
The parents lead jet setting corporate lives, grapple deadlines, keep global times; some fight lifestyle related heart problems and hyper tension, while others spend time at the gym or spa to de-stress and detoxify.
Telephone connections are not a problem, bank loans available online, cars can be brought off the shelf like a pair of jeans.
There is freedom to choose. Love marriages are on the rise, so are gays and divorce rates.
Discussions center on Nehru’s affairs with foreign women, rather than his beliefs and vision. Gandhi is remembered in context of Bollywood masala flicks such as Munnabhai MBBS.
The one’s who have made it bigger via the stock market or real estate wind falls, commute in bigger Honda cars or even a BMW and travel abroad for holidays and spend evenings at expensive clubs, discussing art investments.
Mobile phone toting maids connected to roaming parents look after kids who spend time on computer games and TV. The children imbibe good social skills in private schools followed by an expensive MBA (in India or abroad).
There are plenty of domestic service sector jobs that need more smooth talking and less thinking -- hospitality, banking, insurance tourism, outsourcing or at MNCs such as Coca Cola, Pepsi or Nestle, offering perks and foreign postings.
A lot needs to be improved, such as regular electricity supply and roads without potholes. A well behaved Babu is still a rarity.
Though there are masses poor in India still, there are masses of the upwardly mobile too, who like to leisure and dictate the market.
India has changed --- for better and worse. The era of Bajaj Scooters and Maruti 800s is history.
Pack of Indian Cards (August 2009)
The other day I did a check on my cards and identities.
I own a voter ID card, the PAN card issued by the income tax department, passport for foreign travel, an old irrelevant ration card, driving license, credit cards, two hotel loyalty cards, individual shopping cards from grocers, lifestyle stores, club membership card, one free parking card from a local mall…Depending on where I am headed, my wallet can get quite thick.
But, this is not the end of it.
In some time I should be the owner of one more card, touted by the government as the most important one that will finally and clearly define who I am and will also definitively pin down each individual in the country for fake or real.
New Delhi has appointed Nandan Nilekani, till recently head of software giant Infosys, as Minister to oversee the issue of this ultimate card that will form the basis of social security and poverty alleviation doles, free insurance and many more services that the government has failed to deliver so far.
Nilekani, who has since base shifted from Bangalore to Delhi and provided perks of power such as red beacon cars, accommodation in South Delhi and personal security guards, is to oversee the massive single identity card program and accompanying unique number that will cover the 1.2 billion Indian population.
As he is a professional, I expect Nilekani to do a good job, though the task is humongous, budget is in billion of rupees, cost estimated over Rs 100 billion and not at all easy to implement.
Take the example of Voter ID card.
One day, without appointment or warning, a government official (probably a school teacher) arrived at my house.
She said she was in a hurry and would not come again, following which she handed blank forms with many pages for me and my family to be filled out instantly, with photographs and other details.
As she waited, she complained incessantly about the delays being caused to her as she had to cover many more houses and seemed unhappy that I had agreed to fill the form.
Probably, it would have been easier to mark off one more household as not available for details sought.
I somehow managed to fill the forms, by ensuring the servant kept her plied with tea and other eatables, expecting nothing to follow, but the Voted ID cards did arrive in some time.
Others have not been so lucky, if they did not happen to be home when the government official arrived or asked for a later date.
Those who have tried to apply on their own have faced severe red tape, shunted around like secret files from one jurisdiction to another, between offices, desks and clerks.
Even worse off are those who have had their details filled in incorrectly.
I know people who have been recorded as male for female and vice versa with no redress despite several appeals.
Once a Voter ID card is made, that is it, whether for the right or wrong.
On the other hand, my experience with the PAN card has been quite good.
As suggested, I applied online and the card was delivered within a fortnight. Incorrect details can also be rectified via the Internet.
I am impressed by such efficiency by a government department.
However, there can be no such online short cuts for Nilekani. There are barely 50 million active Internet users in India.
A huge portion of the population will have to be accounted for offline, manually as the Voter ID process, in a country where long dead government employees continue to be paid salaries and pensions, while others own multiple passports and some more are listed as the wrong sex.
Speaking of passports, the system continues to be awkward, despite several announcements of reforms. There is an online system of filling forms, but the actual application needs to be offline --- through touts or individually.
Although it took me the full day in a queue at the very crowded passport office, the document did get re-issued.
The officer at the desk was clearly harassed by the work load.
Indians can be difficult customers at times --- one argued why the government needed information about neighbors, with whom his family did not enjoy good relations, when the concerned passport was his?
Another gentleman, who too had spent the day in the queue, turned out to be from Agra.
On being told that he was not eligible to apply in Delhi, he retorted that he had come to the Capital city as the passport office in Agra was more chaotic.
Driving licenses and ration cards are an even bigger mess.
No sane or honest person can procure them unless one works through touts (with links with officials whose palms need to be greased) who swarm the offices.
This means that innumerable drivers on Indian roads, with the highest number of accidents in the world, are quite ineligible to handle any vehicle.
Indeed, Nilekani has a big task to avoid pilferage, misuse and a-corrupt machinery spouting around the new card.
I have worked out credit cards though, the ones that are lifetime free and delivered at home.
I have a pack of them --- each offering different utilities --- holiday, hotel, movie, restaurants (could be different for separate cards), air line, golf course discounts or freebies.
The catch here is not to keep any balance pending as the interest is usurious.
I find the loyalty cards also useful if one patronizes a particular place often. The do get you some good deals sometimes and keep you abreast with the latest sales and offers.
But government cards, they need to get it right.
It could pay to be a beggar in India (March 2007)
In a country of myriad social and economic mixes, this is one more. Some say it pays to be a beggar in India, estimated to be a-Rs 2 billion (approx US $50 million) business, only in the commercial hub of Mumbai. Begging is estimated to be a-Rs1.5 billion industry in the capital New Delhi, employing 50,000 people.
Most beggars originate from the over 200 million Indians who continue to live under impoverished conditions, surviving on less than a dollar a day. Benefits of growth have trickled down with more than 200 million crossing the poverty line in the past two decades, but there is a huge mass yet untouched.
Innumerable visitors to India carry back images of beggars knocking desperately on their car windows or pestering them at tourist locations.
Though there is a very dark side to begging in India, of exploitation of children and forced amputations, the organized aspects of the beggary business has also come to the fore.
Some have been more than lucky. Recently, the media carried the story of a woman beggar Sarvatia Devi from the impoverished state of Bihar, who pays an annual insurance premium of Rs 36,000 (US $800), a princely sum for many in a country where 200 million eke out a living on less than a dollar a day. She has money stashed away in bank accounts and is driven to educate her daughter.
The report said that Sarvatia has traveled across the country and even been on a pilgrimage to many holy places. ``It’s a fun traveling on trains free of cost. I board any train and beg till I reach my destination,’’ she said.
Sarvatia’s case is similar to some the bar girls of Mumbai who have amassed huge wealth due to the largesse extended by their very rich clients. The scale of earnings of some bar girls who inhabited dance bars that have been banned now, is of course much more.
But, the begging business model is sound. Indians are known to be in a very partial mood during holy occasions such as festivals or temple visits, celebrations such as marriages or success in jobs or exams. Families follow traditions of giving away alms to the poor for generations. Beggar, like cows, are tolerated on Indian roads as many consider it their religious duty (dharma) to give away alms.
Some beggars have had it better than others. There have been several instances of beggars fighting cases in courts by hiring lawyers to defend their right to beg on being picked up by the police. A beggar found dead on the roadside in Mumbai had hundreds of thousands of rupees stashed away under the mattress on which he died.
Film director Madhur Bhandrakar known for entertaining yet meaningful cinema spent over a year researching the subject of begging in Mumbai that resulted in the recent movie release Traffic Signal.
Bhandrakar portrays beggars as human beings with emotions and attachments that is okay, but ends up preaching status quo rather than a way out the morass for the people involved.
However, the film does catch quite a bit of the back channel systems that run the show. It is a deep-rooted mafia, with politicians, municipal authorities, police and the underworld, that charges a fee as protection money from each beggar and ensures that the business keeps running.
The film, however only fleetingly looks at the several allegations of criminal gangs resorting to amputation of body parts of adults or crippling children so that they generate more sympathy and can make more money.
And like any other vocation, there are those who make it and others who don’t. Thus the half-naked fakir watches movies in multiplexes with his girlfriend while not working as a beggar; the desperately pregnant woman is filled up with pillows; the dead on the road is actually alive.
The basic principle on which the begging works is a very deep-seated belief among many Indians that their sorrow can end or happiness could continue if they help the poor.
A very noble principle except that ideally the alms should be channeled via more organized forums rather than car windows or a poor soul at the sidewalk. There is a nuisance value, danger of crime and encourages a wasteful industry centered round a parasitic existence and exploiting the poor.
Recently, noting the failure of Delhi government and the police to curb begging in public a court has directed both to house beggars in detention houses and train them in vocational trades.
The police also have to probe if “organized begging” was run by an inter-state mafia. Police officials say that they are quite helpless against permanently rounding up beggars due legal and cultural issues that looks at begging as a social rather than criminal problem.
A recent study conducted by a prominent non-government organization (NGO) and the Institute of Human Behavior and Allied Sciences (IHBAS), one of India’s leading mental hospitals, revealed that 77.6% of the homeless women were in the age group of 16 to 45 years.
While over half of the women (52.2%) of those surveyed were selling small items on footpaths to earn a livelihood, 18.4% were doing odd jobs as construction workers and contract laborers. Another 18.5% were beggars. Significantly, 98 % reported sexual harassment.
Indian social activists could perhaps take a leaf out of Bangladesh’s Nobel Prize Laureate 2006 Mohammed Yunus who has included the category of beggars in his massive micro credit program.
Beggars are provided to loans to procure items that can be sold over the windows, such as toys, eatables, stationary items etc, a process that allows them to ultimately move up the economic and social ladder. Many have managed to set up their own small businesses such as retail shops.
Indeed, begging is only one aspect of dark elements trying to advantage of the acute poverty in this country. Despite a ban on organ trade, there is a-ruthless machinery that is involved in a multi-million dollar exercise that preys on the poor desperate for money.
Many times organs are removed even without the knowledge of the victim who might have been admitted to the hospital on some other ailment. As Indians are very reluctant voluntary donors, the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu has attained notoriety for scandals involving illegal removal of kidneys.
India continues to be a story of vast contrasts. According to government figures, a new category of the rural rich has emerged in India creating a divide within the rural economy, as opposed to just a rural-urban income disparity.
Thus, the rural rich are 1000 times more likely as rural poor to own a motorcycle, 100 times as likely to own a color television and 25 times as likely to own a pressure cooker. It is a market estimated at over US $100 billion.
Investors looking at India as a market composed to 300 million middle class households, many employed in the services sector that contributes more than 50 % of the GDP, could do well to add another 100 million, at the least residing (or with a base) in rural locations.
However, beggars on the streets of India are one more-stark reminder of the distance that has yet to be covered.
There is More to Indian Malls (March 2004)
Lifts in order, escalators moving, friendly security guards, organized parking, clean urinals, plenty of space to fool around, cool air-conditioning, no litter, no betel-juice splattered walls, no graffiti such as Indians love Pakistanis, clean floors --- this cannot be India.
It is.
The last decade or so has seen the unshackling of the Indian economy courtesy liberalization and globalization. One positive fall-out of this has been a realty boom across the country whether in residential or commercial space. Another change has been sprawling and glitzy shopping malls erected at a frenetic pace in major cities such as Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai and Delhi.
The past year has witnessed the mushrooming of these buildings in Delhi that has not only changed the way Indians go about their shopping, which was usually in crowded, humid and jammed markets, but even changed the way Indians behave. As is said, economics is about behavioral studies.
There are three such malls, Sahara, City Center and Metropolitan located in urban Gurgaon, the satellite town of Delhi, described by Indians who have not visited Singapore as the Singapore of India.
This is because the buildings are state-of-the-art, but the rest of infrastructure, including roads, public transport and traffic leading to the malls are in an appalling condition.
There are gaping manholes formed every monsoon, that not only suck in people but sometimes cars and also trucks. Thankfully, the story is different inside as these complexes are of international standard if one can term the ones in south east Asia so.
And, herein lies the paradox.
Multi-storied air-conditioned buildings housing restaurants, multiplexes, clothing and electronic shops, coffee kiosks, fast food, girls in short skirts and tank-tops mesh together to create a very un-Indian scenario, seen only on television and events such as an Indian fashion show, where women have only heavenly figures and prêt wear includes micro-minis.
This could not be happening in India just a while back.
A Bit of History
Not too long ago, in Delhi, the only urinals one could visit were located at five-star hotels. The rest left an odor on the body that lasted till a change of clothes and complete rinsing. Hence, innumerable Delhiites relieve on the roadside while women have a bad time.
Similarly, the only places with free air-conditioning were the American and British Council libraries, where retired civil servants and sundry others without work, snoozed and snored in cool comfort during the afternoons. The rest of the unemployed, especially the youth, overawed by libraries, spent time at cheap movie halls showing equally cheap movies.
The one last bastion of coolness was the underground Palika bazaar at Connaught Place where there is no space to walk and a fire or bomb scare happens the day before or after a visit. This writer wouldn’t be alive otherwise.
That is until the malls happened. No family outing or dating itinerary is now complete without a visit to one of these. The same people who lined up outside temples or India Gate in the evenings, the most popular family entertainment for a long time, now visit the malls. There is equal space for elders to take a cool siesta while the youngsters can just hang-around.
The glitz is for real
I decided to check them out personally, to know for sure that the outward glitz did not conceal a whole lot of muck inside.
Having used the toilets, the cleanliness can be vouched for, the flush was working and even the toilet paper was in order. As a matter of fact an attendant waited outside and entered immediately after to crosscheck and clean. Slightly disconcerting. I sniffed around for dark dank corners that are usually visited by more normal denizens to ease their bladders, but found none.
A friendly security guard, not a regular specimen, came up to me and said, ``that way is a dead end, sir.’’
I scoured every lift to check for graffiti, the, I love you forever types. There were none. A friendly liftman, he was actually there, said, ``have a good day sir,’’ as I stepped out.
This is not India, I told myself. Talking of lifts, the one that was not working had a warning placard announcing the same. Generally, when lifts do not function, the authorities find out last. So, there are usually people stuck inside who bang and scream as if they are running out of Oxygen, although all of them must have been stuck in a lift sometime in their lives.
Even the escalators were working. The last time an escalator was installed in Delhi was at the Railway station, quite a few years back. It has never functioned; at least nobody claims to have seen it move.
Finally, I had to check whether the one bastion of Indianness was transcended --- litter. Littering is a birthright and some parents feel proud when their children eject toffee bites and potato chip bags everywhere. It gives them a sense of power and independence, of being able to do what one wants to, of freedom and democracy.
Sadly, there was no litter at the mall.
This writer tried to ascertain the behind-the-scene psyche that has resulted in the neatness and organisation. The corporate office of one mall was a venue for such answers.
The manager on duty was patient and heard out the woes. ``Where has India disappeared,’’ I asked.
His explanation was simple. Indians per say do not like to be the first to do anything. Only if one does it everybody does it and if no one does it, nobody does it.
``Just as we had one Miss Universe and now we have so many. It is the same syndrome,’’ he explained.
The critical issue over here, he further added, is to ensure that the first of such happenings do not happen.
``If one person spits in a corner, within minutes there will be 50 more spitting at the same spot which will turn into an impromptu permanent spittoon. Similarly if one person writes on the wall of the lift, 100 will follow in 20 seconds and the entire mall will be one American graffiti’’ he explained.
``The key is security, and we are very tight, though polite about it. But, at the same time apprehensive as one slip up (quite literally) means things will go haywire.’’
This writer did not agree with the manager. More and more Indians have been exposed to systems abroad and know of their spotless functioning. Perhaps, it’s a change of heart and mind. But, one could also be jumping the gun.
As they say, we are like this only.
Touting Credit Cards in India (July 2004)
The rapid growth of the private sector over the past decade has taken several forms (banks, automobiles, airlines, retail, real estate, etc), one of which is the proliferation of credit cards. Usually India is a land of scarcities (water, electricity, health care), but there is certainly no shortage of plastic money. In fact, it's a problem of plenty.
As with anywhere else in the world, the choices are unlimited as the players are innumerable: HDFC, Citibank, ABN Amro, American Express, State Bank of India, HSBC, Standard Chartered and ICICI to name a few.
As an example of the boom in credit card use, Visa International on Tuesday said its card sales volume in India grew by 80% to $3.2 billion for the first quarter of 2004m with retail sales volume rising by 61% to $569 million in the January-March.
With direct sales to the customer being used as the card providers' unique selling proposition, each company has an army of boys parked throughout New Delhi. They can be found perched just about everywhere. At market places these agents approach to say that buying their card could fetch huge shopping discounts.
At petrol stations they say the card allows its owner to fill up without surcharges, outside cinema halls movie discounts are offered, outside hospitals free life insurance is thrown in, at restaurants its pizza discounts, outside homes they offer anti-burglary devices, at five-star hotels its room discounts; some even hang around public toilets to catch relieved customers in a good mood.
There are personal innovations in their selling, too. For instance, outside hospitals they begin by quoting the Gita, or some other such religious text, to remind of the uncertainty of life and the need to plug it with the card.
One can catch their polite whispers all the time. "Excuse me sir," they gently butt in. The tone is familiar. In Bangkok any visitor knows very quickly that such messages mean massage girls are on offer; here it is credit cards.
At one time the paan waala (betel sellers) could be found around every corner, now it is the credit card touts. And they stand out: they are always dressed like corporate executives, but a bit sweaty (they don't perform inside air-conditioned conference halls). They have become almost a cultural fact of life in Delhi, and other major centers.
Such is the array of choice that it sometimes becomes difficult to choose one brand over another. After a little research one discovers that the cards all offer similar credit ranges, give and take a few tie-ups.
It also becomes apparent that the discounts are covered by the high rates of interest on the card. Over the past few years, millions of Indians have bought credit cards which have also spawned an institution of burly men who try to track down the huge number of defaulters.
As an example of similarity, most banks charge interest of 2.95% per annum; while international brands are lower: American Express charges 2.75%.
I wanted a credit card to replace the more risky debit cards I own, but I made a mistake. I gave my mobile number to five boys out in the sun, just to find out more details. The credit card companies are smart; for telemarketing they have employed young and sweet-sounding girls, who are difficult to refuse.
The poor boys rough it out in the open passing on the telephone numbers they collect to their female counterparts functioning from better environs.
The girls are similar in their persistence, though. After a couple of calls, they acted more familiar. One beseeched every morning: "Sir, pleeease, pleeease, you have to buy our card."
Another called a few moments later: "Sir, if you don't take my card I will not talk to you anymore." Three others also made it a point to call regularly to make similar difficult-to-refuse requests. Soon, I was on first name basis with the girls - Renu and Anu, to name a couple.
My wife thought I was having a swinging time. It is not often that so many women treat one with so much importance. Some friends tell me that their wives even changed their views about them, thinking they must be sexy with so many girls calling - their spouses even started behaving better, they said.
The problem was I couldn't decide. The girls do matter, but how does one choose from products that do not differ - it is like trying to choose from five pairs of black identical trousers with five similar-sounding girls pleading with you to take theirs.
Ideally, I should have taken all five, but I didn't require more than one card to begin with, and more than one annual fee.
Ideas occurred to me. One was that I should change my mobile number to avoid the girls as well as the plastic. But that would be escaping a situation and not solving my need for a credit card.
The second was akin to a swayamwar (marriage selection) wherein I meet the five girls one by one and eliminate them based on other criteria, as they all sounded similar. This, too, did not gel as I soon realized that that the ones who talk do not necessarily meet.
If there is a request for a meeting, it is again the guys out in the field who take over. I told one of the girls that I would like to meet her to solve my dilemma.
She took my address and sent across one person from the army of boys. As per some unstated rule, the boys do the running around while the girls only talk on the phone. I did feel a little cheated.
The boy came on a bike, smelling like a distillery of sweat given the hours he spends on the road. He spoke by rote and recited the same paragraph again and again for every query. I asked him a different question but he gave me the same answer. Even tourist guides are better.
He drank a lot of refrigerated water, asked me for my bank statement and whether I owned a car and a house. I signed at three spaces and he shook my hand and left, saying that the card would be on its way.
Soon, I was the owner of a new credit card, yet the other four girls continued to call. I had to bring my wife into the picture. Women have a way with each other. She simply asked them to stop calling and they did. "You aren't what I was beginning to think you were," my wife remarked.
Life is back to normal, except for a few behavioral changes in my wife and continuing calls from my current credit card provider that I should pick up an add-on card for her. Now that's risky. This one I have decided to handle on my own, be what may.
Queue Sera Sera (November 2003)
India's great leap forward into technology, accompanied by dollops of government services privatization, is doing away with the late and unlamented queue, in which private citizens used to spend hours.
Change is fast becoming more and more apparent, with the individual the beneficiary. Although no statistical evidence exists on the time spent standing in queues before India's querulous and ill-tempered bureaucrats, it must have amounted to quite a bit of the lifetime of several of our ancestors, grandparents, fathers, mothers and us.
The payment of electricity bills may have been the worst - it was so bad that there was a queue to get in the queue. That is, the actual queue to pay the bill was so long that private agencies and individuals took it upon themselves to pay the bills for other people for a fee. But so many people patronized the agencies that the queues to hire the agencies were bigger than the real queue.
This is no joke. Until recently - in most places less than the last year - some members of the family were forced to take a day off from work to pay the electricity bill. The lucky ones who had aging retired and often ill grandparents delegated.
But it was a sorry sight. Paying the telephone bill was equally arduous. The problem was the monopoly status of the government in dispensing these services.
Further, any reneging or delay in payment led some slothful public sector employees to take on unmatched speed and skill to disconnect the services. Harassment to make money was their motto. Then Internet-savvy private banks came to the fore. Both telephone and electricity bills can now be paid online.
A click on the "bill payment" section from the comfort of one's home or office computer takes care of a host of services - credit cards, electricity, loan premiums, cell phone bills to name a few. The queues have disappeared and the process takes but a few minutes.
Private foreign and Indian banks have further contributed their might to reducing queues - ATMs, online requests for drafts and fixed deposits have made the process of waiting for the cashier or manager at an unfriendly public bank a thing of the past.
Online share trading, with several banks acting as brokers, is catching on. The Internet has also resulted in the elimination of several other queues. Train reservations, another long drawn out affair, now are available online. So is the booking of cinema tickets, which at one time or other contributed to ever-increasing statistics of more and more Indians waiting unendingly their turn in line.
The filing of tax returns too once engendered an army of touts and agents who took turns to stand in line for a commission. Now the forms can be downloaded and submitted online.
Another queue has been nipped at the bud. Not too long ago, a telephone connection was the exclusive domain of bureaucrats and politicians who doled out the favors like feudal lords. The waiting period was years and the list more than a million.
There were even reports of women sleeping with politicians to avail themselves of personal telephone facilities. The advent of private players has meant that the public sector employees have finally been jolted by fears of voluntary retirement schemes and redundancy.
The customer service has never been better; as a matter of fact often better than even the private players who are driven only by money. Privatization has also meant that almost anybody above the poverty level can afford a cellular telephone.
The customer is the real king. One more example in this sector is the phone directory service - earlier one waited and waited for the operator only to be rudely told off. But now, India's directory assistance ladies are sweeter than honey.
Analysis has shown that the government people are reacting positively to the challenge of competition and in several cases are doing quite well.
They have even been known call to inquire whether a complaint has been attended to. Similar has been the case for cars, Liquefied Propane Gas (LPG) and airline tickets, all of which are now available over the counter or the telephone or online.
A few years ago, there were special government quotas to book cars and many a senior government official prided himself on having cars released for relatives.
The only planes one could use belonged to Indian Airlines, who took their own sweet time to fly and sometimes did not. LPG was delivered by whim. Food for the family be damned. However, problems still fester. Drivers' licenses and passports are still a hassle.
As cars become increasingly available through easy loan schemes, traffic has become a nightmare and Indians now find themselves facing the brunt of traffic queues as roads, the key infrastructure area, still leave a lot to be desired.
The airports too remain in a state of decline, with immigration and customs clearance a long-drawn-out process. Power is the monopoly of the government in most of India, making an irregular and often non-existent electricity supply a bane for citizens.
Nobody, however, can deny that technology and the unleashing of private entrepreneurial spirit has made things a lot easier for people living in India, as well as the many others who are part of the reverse brain drain process.
The queues are dwindling.
Everybody knows that matters move slowly in India given infrastructure bottlenecks, red tape, inefficient government etc etc working under a democratic political system that procrastinate decision making processes, unlike much faster growing, but communist China.
In the months of December and January, emerging economy India clamps down for one more reason --- fog, a factor that has played up due to the growing pollution levels that result in a thick envelop of cough inducing smog that reduces visibility to zero.
This year the week leading to the New Year witnessed hundreds of flights cancelled at the Delhi international airport, one of the busiest in the country. There have been similar reports from elsewhere --- Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore due to the inter-connections of planes and flights as well.
The situation continues to be on the brink.
Several status updates on social networking sites via mobile phones by stranded passengers read: ``flight fogged out, stranded in Delhi’’ or ``effed due to the fog.’’
As every year, the media has depicted pictures of depleted and exhausted families in various sleep postures --- against walls, on benches at the airport, even as many others argue with airlines and officials, to no avail as the aircrafts simply cannot take off or land.
This is because the Delhi airport, despite the critical role it plays in impacting overall Indian tourism and business travel, has not deployed intelligent instruments needed to enable aircrafts to land in low visibility conditions.
Yet, delayed air travelers could count themselves lucky as at least three major rail collisions have been reported across the country due to fog over the recent past, killing at least 10 people and injuring more than 50. A cancelled flight is better than losing life or limb.
The trains have been on a spin as hapless rail drivers need to rely on their naked eye to spot overhead train signals when heavy fog (smog) conditions limits visibility within cabin space.
Again, lax implementation of intelligent anti collision devices on trains that allows activation of automatic braking systems to detect barriers (including other trains ahead), is to blame.
There has been talk about such systems for years, but the ground work has been caught in severe red tape, even as number of trains and passenger loads has increased manifold.
Car and pedestrian accidents also rise round the New Year time, though one has to admit that the holiday season brings on its share of drunken driving incidents as well. But, massive traffic jams are reported along highways and other intersections due to dead vehicular movement due to the dreaded fog.
Indeed, despite the tall economy talk, India scores very poorly when it comes to handling elements of nature.
Like every year the ongoing cold wave conditions has killed many homeless who are forced to live in the open. Power supplies are on the brink due to large number of heating devices used by the better off.
At other times, during monsoons, Delhi, a city known for its wide roads, flyovers and underpasses comes to a standstill due to water logging as the drainage system remains archaic, harking back to the colonial times, resulting in massive spillovers.
Vehicles turn into bedrooms due to overnight traffic jams, while underpasses turn into impromptu swimming pools, where little boys and girls along with cows and buffaloes splash about.
Mumbai, the country’s commercial hub, turns into a sea of sewage, rain water and open manholes into which many are sucked in every year. The river Brahmaputra, meanwhile, ravages the north east while the state of Bihar goes underwater due to excess water from northern rivers bordering Nepal.
As has been written about a bit, summer and drought brings about its own set of problems with people dying of heat waves and farmers in states such as Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra committing suicide due to failed crops.
This is because adequate irrigation facilities or insurance covers have not been extended, despite big plans.
Indeed, life could have been much more of a clutter in India had it not been for a singular invention – the seamless Internet and its myriad permutations that allows some solace to a minor section of population (the number is estimated at 50 million) beyond traveling through broken roads, traffic snarls, fog and rain.
There is online banking, virtual payment of bills, entertainment, ordering grocery, food, managing investments and the home office. At a broader level, the Indian economy has been boosted by the outsourcing and software sectors that heavily rely on long distance functions.
Thankfully, India’s digital highway generally holds up to the various weather conditions and this has nothing to do with the government.
Just, some good luck and competition among many Internet service providers.
Otherwise, the only other reason that the country halts to a standstill has nothing to do with infrastructure --- it is the game of cricket, given the maniacal following of the game that cuts classes, social and economic.
Traffic dwindles, pubs fill up and office attendance dips dramatically while those at work, including target driven bosses, crowd around television sets along with the rest.
A clash against traditional rivals Pakistan or world champions Australia usually evokes the maximum interest, with some experts estimating negative impact on Indian economic and GDP growth due to cricket induced slowdown, apart from the other factors mentioned above. Cricket in its latest avatar, T20, has only added zeal, adding more and younger fans.
India’s losing battle with nature’s forces, meanwhile, continues.
India for better and worse (December 2009)
In an indication of a changing India, two lifestyle products that defined Indian middle class existence and aspiration in the 70s and 80s will soon cease to exist.
The decision (by respective firms) to phase out Bajaj Scooters entirely from March next year and entry level cars Maruti 800 from metros to begin with, is purely business related --- sales have sagged.
But, it also reflects a different mindset, another India and a new era that fancies faster motor cycles and bigger and better cars.
In the 70s Bajaj Scooters symbolized middle class stability, although the engine placed on one side, made the machine unstable.
And in the current situation of rashly driven powerful vehicles and 24-hour call center cabs, two-wheelers are very unsafe.
Yet, back then, father on the wheel, mother on the pillion, younger child standing in front with head bobbing out, older sibling squeezed between mother and father, everybody with their arms around each other for balance and protection, epitomized the complete Indian family, ``hum do hamare do.’’ (We two and our two)
It was idyllic. Needless to say, the famous ad tag line ``Hamara Bajaj’’ (Our Bajaj) translated into brisk sales.
The strict father, seeped in the idealistic hangover of Mahatma Gandhi or Jawaharlal Nehru, could have typically worked in a government department, university professor or even a trader; the mother, a housewife, dedicated to the family spent hours in the kitchen, cleaning the house and praying for their welfare.
The unified aim of the husband-wife duo was to ensure their children a good education to turn them into engineers (via cracking the coveted IIT exam) or doctor (via the equally difficult MBBS entrance exam) or make it to the IAS, the top government job (via the even more difficult UPSC exam).
With such focus on study, a big sprinkling of the Bajaj kids did make it and many of them went to America, the land of opportunity, to become software czars, top cardiologists, reproducing kids in turn who today call shots in political stakes as campaign managers, fund givers, Bobby Jindal, driving big BMWs or Mercedez Benz and collecting bikes for passion that probably cost more than their father’s whole life income, many times over.
Some of the kids called their parents over from India selling off the Bajaj scooters as junk, while others forgot about the elders, providing endless sob story themes for Hindi movies described as meaningful art cinema due to all the crying.
Meanwhile, the Maruti 800 was launched in pre-liberalized India in the 80s when the License Raj prevailed to shackle any enterprise, when only access to state authority or grease money counted for everything -- owning a telephone, a passport, a driver’s license or a gas connection and a house.
In keeping with authoritative behavior, most marriages were arranged. Gandhi and Nehru were forgotten entities their pictures framed in every government office, ideals obliterated.
The Babu (read lower government official) was King. Cordless phones a luxury item, compared to over 500 million cell phone users today.
The bulk of youth (everybody could not make it to IIT or IAS or MBBS) aspired to be part of this Kingdom and wield the power to dole out telephone connections or hand out nationalized bank loans and progress in life --- from Bajaj Scooters to Maruti 800s.
In a way the spiffy, quick pick up, not very expensive Maruti 800s that took on the ambling Ambassadors and Fiat cars that dominated Indian roads was the first challenge to the Raj, though there were car quotas still and one needed to bribe a Babu, maybe by offering foreign made liquor bottles.
The Maruti 800, fast, flexible and individualistic, though a tin pot compared to cars of today, indicated the 90s and new millennium.
Today a typical middle class Indian family travels in a snazzier Maruti Swift or a Hyundai I-20, financed out of quick processing private bank, visits choc a bloc malls during the weekend, watch high priced multiplex movies, while the kids feed on pizza and burgers, probably from MacDonald’s, home delivery or take away, resulting in new age problems such as obesity.
The parents lead jet setting corporate lives, grapple deadlines, keep global times; some fight lifestyle related heart problems and hyper tension, while others spend time at the gym or spa to de-stress and detoxify.
Telephone connections are not a problem, bank loans available online, cars can be brought off the shelf like a pair of jeans.
There is freedom to choose. Love marriages are on the rise, so are gays and divorce rates.
Discussions center on Nehru’s affairs with foreign women, rather than his beliefs and vision. Gandhi is remembered in context of Bollywood masala flicks such as Munnabhai MBBS.
The one’s who have made it bigger via the stock market or real estate wind falls, commute in bigger Honda cars or even a BMW and travel abroad for holidays and spend evenings at expensive clubs, discussing art investments.
Mobile phone toting maids connected to roaming parents look after kids who spend time on computer games and TV. The children imbibe good social skills in private schools followed by an expensive MBA (in India or abroad).
There are plenty of domestic service sector jobs that need more smooth talking and less thinking -- hospitality, banking, insurance tourism, outsourcing or at MNCs such as Coca Cola, Pepsi or Nestle, offering perks and foreign postings.
A lot needs to be improved, such as regular electricity supply and roads without potholes. A well behaved Babu is still a rarity.
Though there are masses poor in India still, there are masses of the upwardly mobile too, who like to leisure and dictate the market.
India has changed --- for better and worse. The era of Bajaj Scooters and Maruti 800s is history.
Pack of Indian Cards (August 2009)
The other day I did a check on my cards and identities.
I own a voter ID card, the PAN card issued by the income tax department, passport for foreign travel, an old irrelevant ration card, driving license, credit cards, two hotel loyalty cards, individual shopping cards from grocers, lifestyle stores, club membership card, one free parking card from a local mall…Depending on where I am headed, my wallet can get quite thick.
But, this is not the end of it.
In some time I should be the owner of one more card, touted by the government as the most important one that will finally and clearly define who I am and will also definitively pin down each individual in the country for fake or real.
New Delhi has appointed Nandan Nilekani, till recently head of software giant Infosys, as Minister to oversee the issue of this ultimate card that will form the basis of social security and poverty alleviation doles, free insurance and many more services that the government has failed to deliver so far.
Nilekani, who has since base shifted from Bangalore to Delhi and provided perks of power such as red beacon cars, accommodation in South Delhi and personal security guards, is to oversee the massive single identity card program and accompanying unique number that will cover the 1.2 billion Indian population.
As he is a professional, I expect Nilekani to do a good job, though the task is humongous, budget is in billion of rupees, cost estimated over Rs 100 billion and not at all easy to implement.
Take the example of Voter ID card.
One day, without appointment or warning, a government official (probably a school teacher) arrived at my house.
She said she was in a hurry and would not come again, following which she handed blank forms with many pages for me and my family to be filled out instantly, with photographs and other details.
As she waited, she complained incessantly about the delays being caused to her as she had to cover many more houses and seemed unhappy that I had agreed to fill the form.
Probably, it would have been easier to mark off one more household as not available for details sought.
I somehow managed to fill the forms, by ensuring the servant kept her plied with tea and other eatables, expecting nothing to follow, but the Voted ID cards did arrive in some time.
Others have not been so lucky, if they did not happen to be home when the government official arrived or asked for a later date.
Those who have tried to apply on their own have faced severe red tape, shunted around like secret files from one jurisdiction to another, between offices, desks and clerks.
Even worse off are those who have had their details filled in incorrectly.
I know people who have been recorded as male for female and vice versa with no redress despite several appeals.
Once a Voter ID card is made, that is it, whether for the right or wrong.
On the other hand, my experience with the PAN card has been quite good.
As suggested, I applied online and the card was delivered within a fortnight. Incorrect details can also be rectified via the Internet.
I am impressed by such efficiency by a government department.
However, there can be no such online short cuts for Nilekani. There are barely 50 million active Internet users in India.
A huge portion of the population will have to be accounted for offline, manually as the Voter ID process, in a country where long dead government employees continue to be paid salaries and pensions, while others own multiple passports and some more are listed as the wrong sex.
Speaking of passports, the system continues to be awkward, despite several announcements of reforms. There is an online system of filling forms, but the actual application needs to be offline --- through touts or individually.
Although it took me the full day in a queue at the very crowded passport office, the document did get re-issued.
The officer at the desk was clearly harassed by the work load.
Indians can be difficult customers at times --- one argued why the government needed information about neighbors, with whom his family did not enjoy good relations, when the concerned passport was his?
Another gentleman, who too had spent the day in the queue, turned out to be from Agra.
On being told that he was not eligible to apply in Delhi, he retorted that he had come to the Capital city as the passport office in Agra was more chaotic.
Driving licenses and ration cards are an even bigger mess.
No sane or honest person can procure them unless one works through touts (with links with officials whose palms need to be greased) who swarm the offices.
This means that innumerable drivers on Indian roads, with the highest number of accidents in the world, are quite ineligible to handle any vehicle.
Indeed, Nilekani has a big task to avoid pilferage, misuse and a-corrupt machinery spouting around the new card.
I have worked out credit cards though, the ones that are lifetime free and delivered at home.
I have a pack of them --- each offering different utilities --- holiday, hotel, movie, restaurants (could be different for separate cards), air line, golf course discounts or freebies.
The catch here is not to keep any balance pending as the interest is usurious.
I find the loyalty cards also useful if one patronizes a particular place often. The do get you some good deals sometimes and keep you abreast with the latest sales and offers.
But government cards, they need to get it right.
It could pay to be a beggar in India (March 2007)
In a country of myriad social and economic mixes, this is one more. Some say it pays to be a beggar in India, estimated to be a-Rs 2 billion (approx US $50 million) business, only in the commercial hub of Mumbai. Begging is estimated to be a-Rs1.5 billion industry in the capital New Delhi, employing 50,000 people.
Most beggars originate from the over 200 million Indians who continue to live under impoverished conditions, surviving on less than a dollar a day. Benefits of growth have trickled down with more than 200 million crossing the poverty line in the past two decades, but there is a huge mass yet untouched.
Innumerable visitors to India carry back images of beggars knocking desperately on their car windows or pestering them at tourist locations.
Though there is a very dark side to begging in India, of exploitation of children and forced amputations, the organized aspects of the beggary business has also come to the fore.
Some have been more than lucky. Recently, the media carried the story of a woman beggar Sarvatia Devi from the impoverished state of Bihar, who pays an annual insurance premium of Rs 36,000 (US $800), a princely sum for many in a country where 200 million eke out a living on less than a dollar a day. She has money stashed away in bank accounts and is driven to educate her daughter.
The report said that Sarvatia has traveled across the country and even been on a pilgrimage to many holy places. ``It’s a fun traveling on trains free of cost. I board any train and beg till I reach my destination,’’ she said.
Sarvatia’s case is similar to some the bar girls of Mumbai who have amassed huge wealth due to the largesse extended by their very rich clients. The scale of earnings of some bar girls who inhabited dance bars that have been banned now, is of course much more.
But, the begging business model is sound. Indians are known to be in a very partial mood during holy occasions such as festivals or temple visits, celebrations such as marriages or success in jobs or exams. Families follow traditions of giving away alms to the poor for generations. Beggar, like cows, are tolerated on Indian roads as many consider it their religious duty (dharma) to give away alms.
Some beggars have had it better than others. There have been several instances of beggars fighting cases in courts by hiring lawyers to defend their right to beg on being picked up by the police. A beggar found dead on the roadside in Mumbai had hundreds of thousands of rupees stashed away under the mattress on which he died.
Film director Madhur Bhandrakar known for entertaining yet meaningful cinema spent over a year researching the subject of begging in Mumbai that resulted in the recent movie release Traffic Signal.
Bhandrakar portrays beggars as human beings with emotions and attachments that is okay, but ends up preaching status quo rather than a way out the morass for the people involved.
However, the film does catch quite a bit of the back channel systems that run the show. It is a deep-rooted mafia, with politicians, municipal authorities, police and the underworld, that charges a fee as protection money from each beggar and ensures that the business keeps running.
The film, however only fleetingly looks at the several allegations of criminal gangs resorting to amputation of body parts of adults or crippling children so that they generate more sympathy and can make more money.
And like any other vocation, there are those who make it and others who don’t. Thus the half-naked fakir watches movies in multiplexes with his girlfriend while not working as a beggar; the desperately pregnant woman is filled up with pillows; the dead on the road is actually alive.
The basic principle on which the begging works is a very deep-seated belief among many Indians that their sorrow can end or happiness could continue if they help the poor.
A very noble principle except that ideally the alms should be channeled via more organized forums rather than car windows or a poor soul at the sidewalk. There is a nuisance value, danger of crime and encourages a wasteful industry centered round a parasitic existence and exploiting the poor.
Recently, noting the failure of Delhi government and the police to curb begging in public a court has directed both to house beggars in detention houses and train them in vocational trades.
The police also have to probe if “organized begging” was run by an inter-state mafia. Police officials say that they are quite helpless against permanently rounding up beggars due legal and cultural issues that looks at begging as a social rather than criminal problem.
A recent study conducted by a prominent non-government organization (NGO) and the Institute of Human Behavior and Allied Sciences (IHBAS), one of India’s leading mental hospitals, revealed that 77.6% of the homeless women were in the age group of 16 to 45 years.
While over half of the women (52.2%) of those surveyed were selling small items on footpaths to earn a livelihood, 18.4% were doing odd jobs as construction workers and contract laborers. Another 18.5% were beggars. Significantly, 98 % reported sexual harassment.
Indian social activists could perhaps take a leaf out of Bangladesh’s Nobel Prize Laureate 2006 Mohammed Yunus who has included the category of beggars in his massive micro credit program.
Beggars are provided to loans to procure items that can be sold over the windows, such as toys, eatables, stationary items etc, a process that allows them to ultimately move up the economic and social ladder. Many have managed to set up their own small businesses such as retail shops.
Indeed, begging is only one aspect of dark elements trying to advantage of the acute poverty in this country. Despite a ban on organ trade, there is a-ruthless machinery that is involved in a multi-million dollar exercise that preys on the poor desperate for money.
Many times organs are removed even without the knowledge of the victim who might have been admitted to the hospital on some other ailment. As Indians are very reluctant voluntary donors, the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu has attained notoriety for scandals involving illegal removal of kidneys.
India continues to be a story of vast contrasts. According to government figures, a new category of the rural rich has emerged in India creating a divide within the rural economy, as opposed to just a rural-urban income disparity.
Thus, the rural rich are 1000 times more likely as rural poor to own a motorcycle, 100 times as likely to own a color television and 25 times as likely to own a pressure cooker. It is a market estimated at over US $100 billion.
Investors looking at India as a market composed to 300 million middle class households, many employed in the services sector that contributes more than 50 % of the GDP, could do well to add another 100 million, at the least residing (or with a base) in rural locations.
However, beggars on the streets of India are one more-stark reminder of the distance that has yet to be covered.
There is More to Indian Malls (March 2004)
Lifts in order, escalators moving, friendly security guards, organized parking, clean urinals, plenty of space to fool around, cool air-conditioning, no litter, no betel-juice splattered walls, no graffiti such as Indians love Pakistanis, clean floors --- this cannot be India.
It is.
The last decade or so has seen the unshackling of the Indian economy courtesy liberalization and globalization. One positive fall-out of this has been a realty boom across the country whether in residential or commercial space. Another change has been sprawling and glitzy shopping malls erected at a frenetic pace in major cities such as Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai and Delhi.
The past year has witnessed the mushrooming of these buildings in Delhi that has not only changed the way Indians go about their shopping, which was usually in crowded, humid and jammed markets, but even changed the way Indians behave. As is said, economics is about behavioral studies.
There are three such malls, Sahara, City Center and Metropolitan located in urban Gurgaon, the satellite town of Delhi, described by Indians who have not visited Singapore as the Singapore of India.
This is because the buildings are state-of-the-art, but the rest of infrastructure, including roads, public transport and traffic leading to the malls are in an appalling condition.
There are gaping manholes formed every monsoon, that not only suck in people but sometimes cars and also trucks. Thankfully, the story is different inside as these complexes are of international standard if one can term the ones in south east Asia so.
And, herein lies the paradox.
Multi-storied air-conditioned buildings housing restaurants, multiplexes, clothing and electronic shops, coffee kiosks, fast food, girls in short skirts and tank-tops mesh together to create a very un-Indian scenario, seen only on television and events such as an Indian fashion show, where women have only heavenly figures and prêt wear includes micro-minis.
This could not be happening in India just a while back.
A Bit of History
Not too long ago, in Delhi, the only urinals one could visit were located at five-star hotels. The rest left an odor on the body that lasted till a change of clothes and complete rinsing. Hence, innumerable Delhiites relieve on the roadside while women have a bad time.
Similarly, the only places with free air-conditioning were the American and British Council libraries, where retired civil servants and sundry others without work, snoozed and snored in cool comfort during the afternoons. The rest of the unemployed, especially the youth, overawed by libraries, spent time at cheap movie halls showing equally cheap movies.
The one last bastion of coolness was the underground Palika bazaar at Connaught Place where there is no space to walk and a fire or bomb scare happens the day before or after a visit. This writer wouldn’t be alive otherwise.
That is until the malls happened. No family outing or dating itinerary is now complete without a visit to one of these. The same people who lined up outside temples or India Gate in the evenings, the most popular family entertainment for a long time, now visit the malls. There is equal space for elders to take a cool siesta while the youngsters can just hang-around.
The glitz is for real
I decided to check them out personally, to know for sure that the outward glitz did not conceal a whole lot of muck inside.
Having used the toilets, the cleanliness can be vouched for, the flush was working and even the toilet paper was in order. As a matter of fact an attendant waited outside and entered immediately after to crosscheck and clean. Slightly disconcerting. I sniffed around for dark dank corners that are usually visited by more normal denizens to ease their bladders, but found none.
A friendly security guard, not a regular specimen, came up to me and said, ``that way is a dead end, sir.’’
I scoured every lift to check for graffiti, the, I love you forever types. There were none. A friendly liftman, he was actually there, said, ``have a good day sir,’’ as I stepped out.
This is not India, I told myself. Talking of lifts, the one that was not working had a warning placard announcing the same. Generally, when lifts do not function, the authorities find out last. So, there are usually people stuck inside who bang and scream as if they are running out of Oxygen, although all of them must have been stuck in a lift sometime in their lives.
Even the escalators were working. The last time an escalator was installed in Delhi was at the Railway station, quite a few years back. It has never functioned; at least nobody claims to have seen it move.
Finally, I had to check whether the one bastion of Indianness was transcended --- litter. Littering is a birthright and some parents feel proud when their children eject toffee bites and potato chip bags everywhere. It gives them a sense of power and independence, of being able to do what one wants to, of freedom and democracy.
Sadly, there was no litter at the mall.
This writer tried to ascertain the behind-the-scene psyche that has resulted in the neatness and organisation. The corporate office of one mall was a venue for such answers.
The manager on duty was patient and heard out the woes. ``Where has India disappeared,’’ I asked.
His explanation was simple. Indians per say do not like to be the first to do anything. Only if one does it everybody does it and if no one does it, nobody does it.
``Just as we had one Miss Universe and now we have so many. It is the same syndrome,’’ he explained.
The critical issue over here, he further added, is to ensure that the first of such happenings do not happen.
``If one person spits in a corner, within minutes there will be 50 more spitting at the same spot which will turn into an impromptu permanent spittoon. Similarly if one person writes on the wall of the lift, 100 will follow in 20 seconds and the entire mall will be one American graffiti’’ he explained.
``The key is security, and we are very tight, though polite about it. But, at the same time apprehensive as one slip up (quite literally) means things will go haywire.’’
This writer did not agree with the manager. More and more Indians have been exposed to systems abroad and know of their spotless functioning. Perhaps, it’s a change of heart and mind. But, one could also be jumping the gun.
As they say, we are like this only.
Touting Credit Cards in India (July 2004)
The rapid growth of the private sector over the past decade has taken several forms (banks, automobiles, airlines, retail, real estate, etc), one of which is the proliferation of credit cards. Usually India is a land of scarcities (water, electricity, health care), but there is certainly no shortage of plastic money. In fact, it's a problem of plenty.
As with anywhere else in the world, the choices are unlimited as the players are innumerable: HDFC, Citibank, ABN Amro, American Express, State Bank of India, HSBC, Standard Chartered and ICICI to name a few.
As an example of the boom in credit card use, Visa International on Tuesday said its card sales volume in India grew by 80% to $3.2 billion for the first quarter of 2004m with retail sales volume rising by 61% to $569 million in the January-March.
With direct sales to the customer being used as the card providers' unique selling proposition, each company has an army of boys parked throughout New Delhi. They can be found perched just about everywhere. At market places these agents approach to say that buying their card could fetch huge shopping discounts.
At petrol stations they say the card allows its owner to fill up without surcharges, outside cinema halls movie discounts are offered, outside hospitals free life insurance is thrown in, at restaurants its pizza discounts, outside homes they offer anti-burglary devices, at five-star hotels its room discounts; some even hang around public toilets to catch relieved customers in a good mood.
There are personal innovations in their selling, too. For instance, outside hospitals they begin by quoting the Gita, or some other such religious text, to remind of the uncertainty of life and the need to plug it with the card.
One can catch their polite whispers all the time. "Excuse me sir," they gently butt in. The tone is familiar. In Bangkok any visitor knows very quickly that such messages mean massage girls are on offer; here it is credit cards.
At one time the paan waala (betel sellers) could be found around every corner, now it is the credit card touts. And they stand out: they are always dressed like corporate executives, but a bit sweaty (they don't perform inside air-conditioned conference halls). They have become almost a cultural fact of life in Delhi, and other major centers.
Such is the array of choice that it sometimes becomes difficult to choose one brand over another. After a little research one discovers that the cards all offer similar credit ranges, give and take a few tie-ups.
It also becomes apparent that the discounts are covered by the high rates of interest on the card. Over the past few years, millions of Indians have bought credit cards which have also spawned an institution of burly men who try to track down the huge number of defaulters.
As an example of similarity, most banks charge interest of 2.95% per annum; while international brands are lower: American Express charges 2.75%.
I wanted a credit card to replace the more risky debit cards I own, but I made a mistake. I gave my mobile number to five boys out in the sun, just to find out more details. The credit card companies are smart; for telemarketing they have employed young and sweet-sounding girls, who are difficult to refuse.
The poor boys rough it out in the open passing on the telephone numbers they collect to their female counterparts functioning from better environs.
The girls are similar in their persistence, though. After a couple of calls, they acted more familiar. One beseeched every morning: "Sir, pleeease, pleeease, you have to buy our card."
Another called a few moments later: "Sir, if you don't take my card I will not talk to you anymore." Three others also made it a point to call regularly to make similar difficult-to-refuse requests. Soon, I was on first name basis with the girls - Renu and Anu, to name a couple.
My wife thought I was having a swinging time. It is not often that so many women treat one with so much importance. Some friends tell me that their wives even changed their views about them, thinking they must be sexy with so many girls calling - their spouses even started behaving better, they said.
The problem was I couldn't decide. The girls do matter, but how does one choose from products that do not differ - it is like trying to choose from five pairs of black identical trousers with five similar-sounding girls pleading with you to take theirs.
Ideally, I should have taken all five, but I didn't require more than one card to begin with, and more than one annual fee.
Ideas occurred to me. One was that I should change my mobile number to avoid the girls as well as the plastic. But that would be escaping a situation and not solving my need for a credit card.
The second was akin to a swayamwar (marriage selection) wherein I meet the five girls one by one and eliminate them based on other criteria, as they all sounded similar. This, too, did not gel as I soon realized that that the ones who talk do not necessarily meet.
If there is a request for a meeting, it is again the guys out in the field who take over. I told one of the girls that I would like to meet her to solve my dilemma.
She took my address and sent across one person from the army of boys. As per some unstated rule, the boys do the running around while the girls only talk on the phone. I did feel a little cheated.
The boy came on a bike, smelling like a distillery of sweat given the hours he spends on the road. He spoke by rote and recited the same paragraph again and again for every query. I asked him a different question but he gave me the same answer. Even tourist guides are better.
He drank a lot of refrigerated water, asked me for my bank statement and whether I owned a car and a house. I signed at three spaces and he shook my hand and left, saying that the card would be on its way.
Soon, I was the owner of a new credit card, yet the other four girls continued to call. I had to bring my wife into the picture. Women have a way with each other. She simply asked them to stop calling and they did. "You aren't what I was beginning to think you were," my wife remarked.
Life is back to normal, except for a few behavioral changes in my wife and continuing calls from my current credit card provider that I should pick up an add-on card for her. Now that's risky. This one I have decided to handle on my own, be what may.
Queue Sera Sera (November 2003)
India's great leap forward into technology, accompanied by dollops of government services privatization, is doing away with the late and unlamented queue, in which private citizens used to spend hours.
Change is fast becoming more and more apparent, with the individual the beneficiary. Although no statistical evidence exists on the time spent standing in queues before India's querulous and ill-tempered bureaucrats, it must have amounted to quite a bit of the lifetime of several of our ancestors, grandparents, fathers, mothers and us.
The payment of electricity bills may have been the worst - it was so bad that there was a queue to get in the queue. That is, the actual queue to pay the bill was so long that private agencies and individuals took it upon themselves to pay the bills for other people for a fee. But so many people patronized the agencies that the queues to hire the agencies were bigger than the real queue.
This is no joke. Until recently - in most places less than the last year - some members of the family were forced to take a day off from work to pay the electricity bill. The lucky ones who had aging retired and often ill grandparents delegated.
But it was a sorry sight. Paying the telephone bill was equally arduous. The problem was the monopoly status of the government in dispensing these services.
Further, any reneging or delay in payment led some slothful public sector employees to take on unmatched speed and skill to disconnect the services. Harassment to make money was their motto. Then Internet-savvy private banks came to the fore. Both telephone and electricity bills can now be paid online.
A click on the "bill payment" section from the comfort of one's home or office computer takes care of a host of services - credit cards, electricity, loan premiums, cell phone bills to name a few. The queues have disappeared and the process takes but a few minutes.
Private foreign and Indian banks have further contributed their might to reducing queues - ATMs, online requests for drafts and fixed deposits have made the process of waiting for the cashier or manager at an unfriendly public bank a thing of the past.
Online share trading, with several banks acting as brokers, is catching on. The Internet has also resulted in the elimination of several other queues. Train reservations, another long drawn out affair, now are available online. So is the booking of cinema tickets, which at one time or other contributed to ever-increasing statistics of more and more Indians waiting unendingly their turn in line.
The filing of tax returns too once engendered an army of touts and agents who took turns to stand in line for a commission. Now the forms can be downloaded and submitted online.
Another queue has been nipped at the bud. Not too long ago, a telephone connection was the exclusive domain of bureaucrats and politicians who doled out the favors like feudal lords. The waiting period was years and the list more than a million.
There were even reports of women sleeping with politicians to avail themselves of personal telephone facilities. The advent of private players has meant that the public sector employees have finally been jolted by fears of voluntary retirement schemes and redundancy.
The customer service has never been better; as a matter of fact often better than even the private players who are driven only by money. Privatization has also meant that almost anybody above the poverty level can afford a cellular telephone.
The customer is the real king. One more example in this sector is the phone directory service - earlier one waited and waited for the operator only to be rudely told off. But now, India's directory assistance ladies are sweeter than honey.
Analysis has shown that the government people are reacting positively to the challenge of competition and in several cases are doing quite well.
They have even been known call to inquire whether a complaint has been attended to. Similar has been the case for cars, Liquefied Propane Gas (LPG) and airline tickets, all of which are now available over the counter or the telephone or online.
A few years ago, there were special government quotas to book cars and many a senior government official prided himself on having cars released for relatives.
The only planes one could use belonged to Indian Airlines, who took their own sweet time to fly and sometimes did not. LPG was delivered by whim. Food for the family be damned. However, problems still fester. Drivers' licenses and passports are still a hassle.
As cars become increasingly available through easy loan schemes, traffic has become a nightmare and Indians now find themselves facing the brunt of traffic queues as roads, the key infrastructure area, still leave a lot to be desired.
The airports too remain in a state of decline, with immigration and customs clearance a long-drawn-out process. Power is the monopoly of the government in most of India, making an irregular and often non-existent electricity supply a bane for citizens.
Nobody, however, can deny that technology and the unleashing of private entrepreneurial spirit has made things a lot easier for people living in India, as well as the many others who are part of the reverse brain drain process.
The queues are dwindling.
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About Me
- Siddharth Srivastava
- Independent Journalist and Writer. Author of Learning India. Published in New York Times, Straits Times, Jakarta Post, among others...