Let's talk about Anna Hazare

Anna Hazare is a retired army javaan. He does a lot of charitable work for villages in Maharashtra. He has worked hard to alleviate poverty from certain regions of Maharashtra.

However, his depth of knowledge is extremely inadequate, same is the case with some of his lackeys. He is seemingly honest. He has little guile, so ends up saying and meaning exactly the same thing. 

He has helped spear a very quick anti-corruption movement against the government, bureaucracy and the judiciary. However, it has provided exactly the reprieve the government sought. The focus has been shifted from unearthing the current scam techniques and punishing the guilty to preventing future corrupt practices.

The 2G scam, the bank scam, the CWG scam, the illegal money stashed in Swiss bank accounts, Adarsh housing scam, all have been either brushed under the carpet or will soon be.

Jab jaago tabhi sawera. We must not begrudge him. He has done well. At least the indian bureaucratic system might function a little more smoothly. Small mercies. 

It is for the media and the public to look at the world with a wider lens instead of the myopic frenzy we often find ourselves in.

Cattle class

It interesting to see how so much media coverage is being give to the whole austerity drive. But nobody seems to really care that by fussing about austerity just how much of the tax payers time and money is being wasted by the increase in the number of travel hours resulting in lesser working hours. Not that our beloved politicians need a reason to not work.

Well instead of politician bashing this time i am going to do some media bashing. here goes:

1. The stories never give facts.
2. The stories never give comparatives.
3. The stories are hardly ever researched.
4. The stories are hardly ever a complete account.

Tehelka. Thank you. Although biased quite a while you are at least a wel researched publication.

So we think we can dance?

Yes we can. Whether we will is a whole new question. India and Indians just lack the will to do. We constantly complain about the problems with government but rarely ever do anything about it. Yes we have all read about the educated Indian bashing in the media. We know that the middle class and above have aspired to circumvent the system to success rather than to reform it.

What is the magic formula? We all want it. We all are sceptical about the existence of one. Well it is simple, well at least the beginning is. Root out corruption. Will yourselves to not be corrupt. Fight and highlight. Don’t abet corruption. Sounds simple to start with?

Well here comes the difficult part, legal reforms. Well India has to change to grow. Even if we do stop being corrupt what is to stop the government from making laws that have to be broken to survive. What makes me think that the government is capable of something of this sort? Well lets just say i have got my eyes open.

So now what? Say no to bribes. Both giving and receiving.

Lost Another Phone

I just lost another phone. I am screwed. My dad is going to freak. 6 th phone. I keep disappointing myself as well.

Vision, how important is it?

India is a new country. No matter how old our history is, no matter the culture, the civilization, the people, the languages. We are at the brink of something huge. Great things. Tremendous failures. Awaits in the near future.

Sounds patronizing. Yawn. Heard it before. I guess thats true. But i guess political indecisiveness cultural and economic divides knowledge gaps are all impediments. I guess this returns me to the title. We need vision a long term vision. We and our policy makers are both short sighted. We often blame our political leaders of failing to see the big picture. But are we not hypocrites? Are we not failures in envisioning our own futures?

Orient. Envision. Empower the self.

IPL Media tussle

Second week into the holidays.
It is indeed a shame that the IPL is trying to restrict media coverage of the IPL matches by media. What however is more shameful is that the Indian Newspaper Society (INS) has succumbed. The Cricket body has finally started using its bullying tactics at home. I guess the time was ripe. We all turned a blind eye to the BCCI behaving like bullies when it came to representing Indian Cricketers abroad. It is funny how our own creation is now threatning our comfort. It is indeed ironic. So what does this convert into? Well the tech savvy or at least the internet friendly/ dependent guy like me will have to hook up to a TV to get good content instead of just logging into any Sports Site. I thought Internet was supposed to be a cash cow by using innovative techniques. However what we have recently witnessed goes to show how old school thought and imperfect understanding of the changing dynamics of revenue generation over the internet is percceived as a threat by the powers that be.

Funny, sad, poor.

Semester 4 over at least for now!

I have finished my first attempt at my semester 4 exams. I hope i manage to scrape through in at least 4 out of the 6 papers attempted. I guess a lot was riding on these exams. I probably have come up woefully short. I guess it is a disappointing experience to realize you are not as good as you thought. Anyways enough brooding. So what do i have to look forward to? Another week of exams (sigh). But i guess the prospects are good after that. Lets see how that works out.

Bye till the next post.