One more Star in Honest and Effective GovernMint of India

One more glorious addition to the hall of shame of Honest and Effective CONgress government.

Kamal Nath's rate is alleged to be 15%, 50% more than Mr 10% Zardari, no doubt inflation is high, more so in the high places of power.Some past defences of Kamalnath against Corruption include a $2.5 Billion contract when he refused to allow investigation into Corruption by CBI.

Please remember that CONgress is a government of Aam Admi and don't forget to vote for it in the next election if you do have a vote.

Meet the Government of India:Honest and Effective

Here is a short introduction to Government of India:

1. PM is a school student moving from one test to another (read Scam to Scam) and not a leader.
2. Agriculture and Aviation Minister have been busy minding cricket and IPL and running Air India into ground while food inflation flies.
3. The Finance minister watches as new scams are being unearthed.His ministry has the most vital pieces of information available so he should be the one who is most accountable.
4. Home minister is opposed by his own Party, colleagues and allies in tackling Maoism.
5. One of the bills of the Education minister who is now handling telecom was killed by his own partys' MPs.
6. The Railway minister is too busy tending to West Bengal while Railway projects get further delayed.
7. Textile and Chemical ministry are being run by members of one of the most corrupt political clans in India.
8. Steel minister is being investigated by the government of his state.
9. The Heavy Industry ministry is being manned by a person who organised a guided tour for a film director in aftermath of a terror attack.
10. The Foreign minister is ignorant of Diplomacy.
11. The Sports minister is so brilliant, PM asked him to shut up midway of a presentation.
12. Armed forces modernisation is stuck under Defence Minister St Antony.
13. The policy of Environment Minister are more unpredictable than the weather despite global warming.
14. Petroleum Minister is an old loyalist to Mr MDA.
15. One reform which everybody from a lowly businessman all the way upto PM agrees upon is Labor laws and who is our Labor minister by the way?

Nira Radia tapes: An interesting phenomenon on twitter

An interesting phenomenon was observed recently on twitter. Some enthusiastic tweeple suspended their activities all of a sudden on 18th November 2010 while some others went on an overdrive.But curiously, the great Indian Idiot Box has chosen not to cover the phenomenon. Here is the recent twitter activities of some NDTV 'journalists' including Barkha Dutt, Prabhu Chawla and Suhel Seth. Seems like the junior NDTV journos and Suhel were waiting if anything more is coming out or maybe they went into a huddle but Barkha reacted right away probably knowing those were the only telephonic tapes. Maybe there was no other fishy activity or maybe it was not on Phone. Prabhu Chawla's activity seems normal on 18th but seems like he had a lot of explanation to do on the next day. I also looked at Vir Sanghvi's twitter counter but it was usual low activity, no deviation from the norm. Journalists, particularly of the dishonest variety need to learn few lessons in Social networking, even though they may emulate Ostrich but they are being watched.

Barkha Dutt

Suhel Seth

Sunetra Chaudhari

Pankaj Pachauri

Nidhi Rajdan

Prabhu Chawla

Nira Radia Tapes:Some Interesting trends

A quick look at Alexa suggests that there has been tremendous increase in traffic for Open Magazine and Outlook India. This increase is apparently at the cost of rivals NDTV, Hindustan Times, IBN Live and Times Group. The last image shows a sharp spike on Google search volume about Nira Radia triggered by Open Magazine disclosure. An interesting phenomenon is that news reference sources are declining in volume while reader interest is increasing which is quite unusual in a democratic country. Take a look:

Why Not?

There are some achievers whose success is partly shaped by kind of peers they had and the kind of intellectual ecosystem they grew in,a University being the top contributor.But in the successof people that follow, this factor is peripheral, if at all.If exceptional intelligence is a truly random phenomenon, than why not in India as well?

1. There can not be a Warren Buffet in India since transparency among listed companies and their openness and respect to co-owners is still somewhat less compared to their US counterparts and despite the recent SEBI noises and apparent activism it is no match for the dreaded SEC.Recall the fate of Ra jratnam.
2. There can not be a Jim Rogers in India since every other day the futures trading in one or the other commodity or its import or export is banned in India or myriad other restrictions placed on its free trade.
3. There cannot be a George Soros in India since if there ever were he will truly be treated as a blood sucking dracula and likely to be persecuted on charges of treason resulting in spending rest of his life trying to be a philosopher and barred from accessing capital markets by any means.
4. There cannot be a Thomas Edison despite any amount of intelligence since the numerous patents that Edison spawned and ventures that they resulted in were a result of the well protected IPR regime and a law system which worked and where contracts could be enforced before the invention became obsolete. In India Patent regime is apparently liberal but there is no upper limit on the number of years it can take to resolve a case no matter how high profile the case is,recent Ayodhya ruling a case in point.
5. There cannot be a Richard Branson in India because Indian society does not appreciate failure and a young man without a degree is more likely to be disallowed to fill a loan application let alone meet the bankers no matter what promises his ideas hold.
6. There cannot be a Steve Jobs in India because kids born to unwed mothers except in case of celebrities are seldom treated with dignity.Not sure if adoption laws are more complicated in India or US but I am yet to see a storied individual adopted by humble parents in India. Also, as per one theory, there is only but one God.

Maybe one day, one of these days somebody might just pop up who is our answer to these giants and say well,why not?

चलो दिल्ली

हज़रात -ए -दाग़ जहां बैठे वहाँ बैठ गए

वो कोई और होंगे तेरी महफ़िल से उभरने वाले

Since I am neither Daagh nor Hazrate-e-Kalmadi, its time to leave Pune,having spent here longest time ever so far in my life at a single postal address.More so when Delhi beckons and all sorts of 'Games' are going on there.

It was again a Delihite who said this:

गौरी सोये सेज पर मुख पर डाले केश

चल खुसरो घर आपने सांझ भाई चहुँ देस

Its better to reach home before its too late in the evening. This also reminds me of this recent one: "and I know too much now To really feel at home in any one place”

I have been thinking of multiple 'When I am in Delhi' scenarios off late, some of which are:

1. Watch the plays at Mandi house,Kamani and NSD.
2. 

Eat at all those Bhavans of Indian States, A P Bhavan for example; Canteen of Consulates and restaurants and street food in and around Delhi.

Visit the weekend getaways where I have not been there properly yet.

Do some pilot projects on literacy in Mewat or Rajasthan area or possibly Bihar using some new approaches. Have wondered long if Cuba could eliminate illiteracy in a year 50 years ago,we can certainly do the same with all these toys at our disposal. The proximity to Hindi speaking regions with high illiteracy might enable me to do something concrete in this regard apart from armchair recording of videos via screen-casting.

Attend conferences, seminars and fairs and interesting people since Delhi is a hub of Think tanks and anybody who is somebody most likely visits Delhi.

Of course,continue to deliver high quality code:

I have enjoyed my stay in this Queen of Deccan but streets of Delhi are something else altogether despite its heat and dust and cold and short tempered people:

हमने माना दक्कन में हैं बहुत से कद्र-ए सुखन

मगर कौन जाये जौक़ ये दिल्ली कि गलियां छोड़कर

और वो आते हैं

तेरी ही बातें

तेरी ही यादें

तेरे ही नगमे

तेरे ही सपने

उफ़ ये रातें

और , ये बरसातें

दिल में हलचल

बाहर निकल

किसी से मिल

न कोई हल

हृदय विकल

याद

बहुत वक्त गुजरा तुझे मिटाए हुए

ए याद, तू फिर क्यूँ चली आई

Welcome to India:We are like that onlee

A Response to Sean Paul Kelly's Reflections on India:

A good one.Straight from the gut.A more sanitised version but equally hard hitting is 'Is India a flailing State' by Lan Pritchett of Harvard,(do a simple google search and you will find it.I hope if the mail is allowed to be posted to the group,one can take the liberty of uploading it on the web and tweeting it. I wish this gets publicised well as a common experience and not because some former high and mighty has written it. India really is a tough place to travel for a backpacker and some travel here precisely for this reason.The author should read the history of his forefathers many of whom died simply because of the dirt and filth and heat of the subcontinent.

Kelley also exhibits a very good business opportunity for servicing the back packers better.There already are Internet cafes that take care of ticket booking(train/bus/air you name it).hotel booking,adventure sports, people so enamored of the white skin they will drop you at your destination if you so much as ask directions,no doubt GPS does not work here.There is no such thing as rural hospitals,we are not there yet. He forgot to talk about the awful Internet connectivity we have but did someone tell him that we have one of the world's cheapest call rates. There are public health centers though which leave a lot to be desired but at the same time we have best in the world and highly innovative models of Dr Devy shetty, Shankara netralya,Arvind Eye Care,Jaipur foot. Does Kelly know that a lot of westerners are travelling to India for high end treatment because it would cost them a bomb back home after an endless wait.

Rubbish;yes we recently made a beginning by identifying how dirty we actually are and not surprisingly we are officially dirty if not filthy.not a single city in India made the cut for the Clean in a recent survey.The filth is a problem of too much development in too small a time.Remember that at a comparative stage of development the western cities were full of filth and dirt much worse than ours.

Our Ports used to be a mess,they still are behind the global benchmarks but we have made good progress otherwise our trade wont be booming. Roads again are a function of economic activity and comparison with Thailand is unfair since their per capita income has been more than twice for far too many years.

That is not to deny that there are cultural traits unique to Indians and the delight that we get in throwing our household dirt on the street or in front of neighbours home can only be relished by us only.

By the way,is there any other country which transports 50 million people a day?There should be tourists coming to India to see just that.

Yes, we are like that only.But what the hell,we are progressing and we shall become developed in not too distant a future.Despite all its problems I would always prefer India to the best of All the 50 countries that this person has traveled to including Ethiopia.

PS: Kelly was lucky he did not leave long enough here otherwise we would have savaged the civilized like we have done to Russians in Goa

Sean Paul Kelley is a former Morgan Stanley Asset Management executive,did Marketing for Solar Wind and now a traveller,blogger and a budding writer(My impression from About Me section from his blog)

नींद-चैन

नींद कहाँ है
चैन कहाँ है |
नींद वहां है
चैन जहाँ है||
चैन नहीं है
नींद नहीं है|
नींद नहीं है
चैन नहीं है||

Rejoice, Pune has arrived

Finally, at long last, Pune has arrived. It took a little long coming, but better late then never. What kind of cultural capital it would be otherwise and what culture. Every other city had it and Pune had not. Chennai, Delhi, Kolkatta, Mumbai, Banglore and Hyderabad had it, not once, but repeatedly. Even a God forsaken place like Malegaon had it and not Pune. Very unfair.

Now we, the Punekars, can also have our pride of place alongwith cities Global, sharing sisterhood with New York, London, Madrid and Bali. The irony of it is that Pune has a history of nurturing patriots expert in making and throwing Bombs. And yet it took so long.

Even if Raj Thackrey and his wise brother might not certify it, but a little part of me is Punekar. And that part feels elated and overjoyed at distinction of being the resident of a city that has arrived. Of what use is the real estate price escalation, if the City has not arrived.

I wonder if Sakubai will be feeling the same joy and elation. Even though she has arrived from her village and earns 10x of her MG-NREGA wages in her village. She might have 'arrived' in her own little world, being a cynosure of her village folks. The village folks might be dreading the arrival of a different sort. The arrival due to arrival of modern day Robin hoods. But the arrival of cattle can hardly be called arrival for it is transient. The cattles have to leave next morning.

But as per city dwellers' 'standards' she has not arrived, not yet. She and her little kids still carry water from far away pipe, keeping alive ancient village tradition. The kids still go to Municipal 'School' and there is not even a remote possibility that she might have hared of International School even if they happen to be named after 'mass' leaders like Sharad Pawar. Even though she owns Color TV with Tata Sky and a Fridge, its unlikely she know heads or tails of what is EMI. Forget EMI, she does not even have medical insurance having spent 10% of her monthly income for 1 Day hospitalisation of her daughter.I wonder what the Bomb blast means to her and her drunkard husband.

Meanwhile, things have already started getting normal. Pune will enjoy the welcome attention for some more days till the time some other city 'arrives' and steals the thunder from it.

Death

Death is painful,
more so,
if incomplete
more so,
if slow.

Development (Real)

Behold,
Here comes the Development
All 36 Billion feet of it
Six to each
lie down and enjoy

Marching in Kilo sized packets
Go grab it, or wait
for the next berth
till the next birth

No label

कुत्रैया
भोंक रिया
भों भों
बुढिया
खांस रिया
खों खों
छोकरिया
नाच रिया
पों पों
छोकरया
फूंक रिया
धौं धौं