The Media & some other thoughts...

I've criticised the media rather harshly in the past, even referring to the word as profane.

I've called some of them biased, some of them over the top & some sometimes slightly opinionated, I've questioned Pune Mirror, and decided that some of them (I mean the TOI here) had indeed sold their souls. And all of rightly so I believe.

Recently I was thinking about the awakening that we've witnessed in the masses recently. My uncle in far off Calcutta is doing his bit, awakened by the 26/11 attack on Bombay. Friends from Pune to Paris are doing something. Practically everyone is trying to say or do something to change the situation or the attitude to the sitation.

There's a campaign afoot to dress pramod muthalik up in lacy pink lingerie. They better wax his black ass before they do that, if they want it look anything like Beyonce's! The campaign has touched an instant chord with the masses & netizens alike. People are sending pink chaddis, suggesting wearing them on the steering wheels of their Mercedeses, others are blogging about it in a newer, fresher, more welcome vein! Scroll right down to the last widget on the right side this blog for more details.

People in India are doing something about the things that bother them. It's not enough yet, but it is a start. And we only need more people to keep joining in to bring about that change!

I believe that it is our Media whom we malign (often with just cause) that we have to thank for this awakening.
So we can criticize the excessive coverage of 26/11, the horror stories, the strong opinions being voiced.
We can accuse the media of being sensationalist (& we won't be wrong); but one thing we will have to give them, however much we don't like it, & that is the fact that their sensational, excessive, opinionated coverage has been able to awaken us out of our lethargy!

My dear friend TB seems to be missing this positive aspect of the Pink Chaddi Campaign & the media in general. (Edit: Oops! As usual, that comment has mysteriously disappeared! Trailblazer, any clue of what happened to the comment?)

Are you forgetting my dear friend that there was a karni sena who had indulged in nonsense sometime last year over the release of Jodha-Akbar. What happened to them? Is that karni a hero? He appeared on NDTV & everything. Does anyone remember him?? And what do you expect people (media are people too) to do when faced with these idiots? Keep quiet? Haven't we done that for far too long? It's much better than retaliatory violence, or long drawn PIL's or having to watch his goons pillage pub after pub. The people are standing up to a goon, without taking the law in their hands. It's a saluteworthy move! It's not enough, but it's a start!

And in case you missed it, this initiative too comes from someone who is associated with your favourite magazine Tehelka! :-) (do visit it & read through their "Vendors of Anarchy" piece to change your opinion.) Nisha Susan, more power to you!
You may also want to see what VS Naipaul has to say about Tarun Tejpal's latest novel.

So time to say it, however grudgingly... Indian Media, take a bow!
_________________________________________________

Trailblazer,

Continuing from our earlier discussions on war & capital punishment, I'd like to leave you with a few thoughts that appeared in an article in Verve:

Acharya Suryoday Surishwarji & Acharya Rajratna Surishwarji Maharaj of the Amichand Pannalal Adeshwar Jain Temple, Walkeshwar, Bombay, say that:
"Religion ordains that we should make our enemies our friends. A hundred guilty people can go free, but one innocent person must not die.
Politics or Governance demands that we finish off all our enemies. A hundred innocent people can die, but one guilty person shouldn't go free."

Hopefully you get the difference between governing human beings & living as human beings.
_____________________________

And lastly... WHY DOES NO ONE ACKNOWLEDGE SHEKHAR SUMAN AS THE MOST TALENTED THING TO HAPPEN TO THE TELLY??? THE MOST VERSATILE, THE AMITABH BACHCHAN OF THE SMALL SCREEN???

Remembering Mahatma Gandhi on Martyr's Day

I'm not going to go down the usual route of enumerating what this Great Soul (Mahatma) did for our Country. Those are commonly known & easily obtainable facts. He isn't called The Father of the Nation for nothing.

Instead, I am going to focus on the impact that Mahatma Gandhi has had on the World at large.
The commonly known facts are of course that Rosa Parks to Martin Luther King Jr., to South African pro-equality giant Nelson Mandela, to current US Prez Obama, to Albert Einstien (& so many others that a whole post can be dedicated to his famous fans) were all impressed by this great man & his thoughts.

And it's not just the famous & the old that celebrate his life & what he stood for. It's the young, today's youth, youth across the World that celebrates this man & tries to live by what he taught.
Take a look at the 2 links here:

1. A Hundred Years of Non Violent Resistance
2. The Poster

And it's not just individuals, but also some of the World's supreme organizations who acknowledge his Contribution in Eminently Befitting ways. You can also go through a short list of other International tributes here.

And until the Nobel Committee makes up it's mind, we should just celebrate the recognitions above & the ones below:
The Mahatma Gandhi Peace Prize
The Gandhi Peace Award

I have a hunch...
In India good men, saints, kings etc., with the passage of enough time, tend to be designated as avtaars or revered as great saints. Gandhiji is almost already among the latter category. With his frequent readings of & understanding of the Bhagwad Gita, and his Vaishnava Jana, he may in a few centuries be worshipped as yet another avtaar of Vishnu.
I do not subscribe to this kind of a tribute as it goes against the Truth that Gandhiji stood for, but from most Indians who do subscribe to these theories, a more fitting tribute cannot be imagined.

Statuette time!!! ;-)

OK! Time for the 2nd edition of the annual 1conoclast's World Peace Award!

Last year, when the award was instituted, there was only one award & therefore only one winner. This year, we have expanded the list of categories in order to recognize netizens in other areas as well.

It's tough to pick a winner for the topline Award from among fellow Crusaders for Peace, but that being such an oxymoron, I'll have to look for people whose style & tone, in addition to their message, resonates with the call for Peace! It is with humility & great joy that I submit this tribute to my fellow netizens.

Here goes...

The 1conoclast's World Peace Award 2008 is a tie (It's not a joint award & therefore no comparisions are to be drawn with last year's shared Nobel Peace Prize!) and it goes to:

Indian Home Maker & Milind Kher!!!

IHM's reader's will be familiar with her gentle tone & consistent pro-Peace, pro-equality stance. For her collected posts, each calling for understanding & tolerance, for saying yes to non-violence, the Award is hers this year!

Milind Kher's comments all around this blog are an indication of the inclusiveness, tolerance & wisdom he is being recognized for! Here is a sample of his comments.

The other close contenders were Mohib, Sridhar (Search for "Sridhar on November 12th, 2008 8:11 pm" here), Sudie (sample here again), Knownturf, QuirkyIndian and Yaamyn. All spoke for Peace and I doff my hat to all of them!

The Citizens for Peace Blog 1 & 2 remains an Inspiration to bloggers like me.

APPLAUSE!!!

__________________________________

The new categories this year (& the winners therein) are:

1conoclast's Funniest Humour Collection Award 2008 goes to:

Cat & Chaos

1conoclast's Best Original Humour Award 2008 goes to:

Phoenixritu

A few other categories, to be taken in the Razzie spirit are:

1conoclast's Award for Excessive Comment Moderation 2008 goes to:

Indian Home Maker again!

1conoclast's Award for Selective Viewpoint 2008 goes to:

India Retold

(Also wins under the categories of Carefully Selected Comment Deletion & Consistently Inconsistent)

1conoclast's Award for "Let's Hope they remains Centred (Please see definition 2 here)" 2008:

goes to two young minds with great potential...

Trailblazer. He is intelligent, young, passionate, informed, tolerant, inclusive among other good things. Their slight tendency to favour war, capital punishment, and give general consideration to right-wing propaganda are worrying traits; traits I hope will disappear with imminent maturity, but more on account of their desire to look for truth & sense in things.

& Kislay for pretty much the same reasons.

Thank you all for your lovely posts, comments & thoughts. They make the blogosphere a nicer place to inhabit.

PS:

1. If someone is a good artist, can they please design a better statuette for next year's Awards?
2. Is this selection by a Jury of peers (me!) a good way to do this or would people prefer to vote? Can someone suggest a reliable voting widget?

Will I, Won't I?

Watching Obama Inaugration yesterday, almost brought tears to my eyes.
Here was the burden of America's slave-trade history, it's civil war, it's assassinations of men like Lincoln & King Jr., being lifted. A moment not only for black people to celebrate, but also for white, yellow, brown & red people.
And to watch black & white people hold up Obama banners, Change banners & jumping for joy at the ceremony, simultaneously moistened my eyes, but lifted a weight off my chest.

How am I, so totally unconnected with the race issues of America, affected in such a manner by yesterday's historic event?
I know extreme-patriot, regionalist cynics will scoff and throw pseudo-nationalist jingoism my way, like, first become Indian, then anything else. I've never limited myself within any boundaries, or conformed, and I'm not about to do it now. I'm a human being first; and I identify with human issues everywhere!

Obama too spoke of a new World order. Of inclusiveness, of handshakes, of prosperity across the World! Indicating a sea-change in spoken approach to the USA's foreign policy.

I'm wondering if I can become India's Obama... Like him, I'm of mixed ethnicity, I'm exposed to multiple cultures. Like him, I'm well-educated. And well-brought-up. And passionate (about social, national, and world causes). And Inclusive! And I look up to Lincoln & Gandhiji. And I'm good-looking as well. I'm not yet 35. And I'm a fairly good orator as well.

The only problem is that I've let myself go a bit over the past few years. I haven't paid much attention to personal grooming, physical fitness, bowel movements, and have practically abandoned all manners.
I don't think I will be able to last an entire ceremonial day without farting out loud.
If I can overcome that one fact, I think I stand a fairly good chance!
And so does everyone else like me. So there is hope for our future. The only thing is we must believe in ourselves. And be the CHANGE we want to see! Even if it is as small as not farting out loud in public!

And HOPE!!!

Hope from India & around the Globe:

• Sri Lanka kicks total ltte butt!!! And so-called brave prabhakaran on the run!
• And a compliment from the Sri Lankan Army Chief for India!
• One set of terror suspects moving closer to trial.
• Another set beginning to crumble under mounting international pressure and celebrity clamour. India's squeezing strategy seems to be working despite the usual unqualified naysayers.
• Indian Prime Minister and India's Cleanest Politician, Dr. Manmohan Singh, in continuation of his transparency in public life ethic, personally renews his driving license without much protocol.
• And moist eyes & a doffed hat to men like Karambir Singh Kang. In today's times of corporate spinelessness, men like him give us HOPE.

The TRUTH about gujarat's "development"

There's more to it than meets the eye. Heard of this one before?
Or of, scratch the surface, digging deeper for the truth etc.?

Apparently, we're all content to believe what suits us. I'm not. And therefore here's my little expose of truth about gujarat's so called good governance & development.

What comprises good governance? I've heard terms like corruption free state etc. being thrown about. I quote here from a random search on the web:

“Good governance” is a relatively new term that is often used to describe the desired objective of a nation-state’s political development. The principles of good governance, however, are not new. Good governance is, in short, anti-corruption whereas authority and its institutions are accountable, effective and efficient, participatory, transparent, responsive, consensus-oriented, and equitable. These are the major characteristics of good governance as outlined by the United Nations.
The World Leaders at the 2005 World Summit concluded that good governance is integral to economic growth, the eradication of poverty and hunger, and sustainable development. The views of all oppressed groups, including women, youth and the poor, must be heard and considered by governing bodies because they will be the ones most negatively affected if good governance is not achieved.

Or you could refer to Wiki. Says almost the same thing.

NOW tell me whether the state of gujarat qualifies for the good governance that it is touted to provide?

• Bootlegging (the illegal liquour trade) is rampant despite Prohibition being in force. There's one example of Corruption!
• Transparency too seems to have become a victim, pointing towards a dishonest, corrupt Gujarat administration.
• And there goes Equitable!
• 6 years after the 2002 riots in the state, we're still wondering whether the perpetrators will be brought to book. There go all claims of an effective & efficient, accountable, transparent, Executive & Judiciary in the state!

Is THIS what Good Governance stands for???

Development:
I will present whatever facts & figures I have here:

• I grew up in Rajasthan & we regularly drove into Gujarat to visit Ambaji or Palanpur or en route to Bombay. On my first trip as a 9 year old, being excited about driving into a "new State", I remember asking one of the local uncles in the minibus, "Uncle, Gujarat kab aayega?". And Uncle replied, "Jab iss bus ki khidkiyaan khad-khad bajne band ho jayengi toh samajh lena Gujarat aa gaya!", in an obvious reference to the condition of roads in Gujarat. That was 1984. modi or the bjp weren't in power then. How then is this modi responsible for the excellent roads in Gujarat?
• Reliance set up Petro in Gujarat. Half the Pharma companies are in Gujarat. And this too has been happening for as long as any of us can remember. Gujarat has always been a prosperous state. It's been among the top contributors to India's GDP for longer than this man has been in power. HOW then does he get credit for developing Gujarat???
• And I'm not the only one pointing this out! If you don't want to take my word for it, I'm fairly certain that you will take Dr. Manmohan Singh's word for it. Even if you're not a fan of his (which makes you very, very strange!), you can't deny that the man isn't given to lying in public! Read the 4th para from top here! And onwards of course. :-)
• Do you know of the 489 farmers who committed suicide in Gujarat over a 4 year period? Is this the development that we are celebrating in Gujarat??? vilasrao deshmukh deservedly drew flak for farmer suicides in Maharashtra. Why not narendra modi???
• Take a look at the per capita income gross state domestic product figures in this table that I obtained from the planning commission website. A smaller state like Goa has TWICE the per capita GDSP income of Gujarat!!! Goa registered an improvement of 21% in 2004-2005! Jharkhand was at 35%! When then is only the Gujarat CM in the news & not Goa's CM??? Or Haryana's which is also close in the averages? There has to be a reason! Essentially PR. Presumably to cloud the 2002 sentiment? Good job on the PR though! Have to hand them that! Mooh mein Raam/development, bagal mein churi!

That's all I have for tonight! Will be back with more later if the readers want to know.

Here are a few more links that you may want to browse through in order to decide on what really gets the bjp it's vote in gujarat. These are from around the time of the last assembly elections in gujarat.
http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/dec/14sheela.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7132034.stm (last section, last few paras)

So was their unfortunate 2007 victory:
a) Due to the immense polarization of the electorate (of which 89% are Hindus)?

OR

b) Was the election closer than we think?

Oh! And if it's possible to tag someone on a post of this nature, I'd like to tag Sagarone, Trailblazer, Kislay and Vinod Sharma.

Questions for ratan, sunil & anil

Good Afternoon ratan, sunil & anil.

Nice to see that you put shareholder interest above everything else. You're in it to make money. That's what your chosen field is, that's your area of expertise is. Ethics, Equality, Social Issues are an SEP (Somebody Else's Problem). If they were your primary motivators, you'd have been in Baba Amte/Medha Patkar/Teesta Setalvad's place, right? And yes... Corporate Social Responsibility can be taken care of by financing a few education/technical training institutes & a few research grants. Everybody wins right?

WRONG! I disagree. You have displayed a gutlessness, a spinelessness that will spawn businessmen jokes the way America has lawyer jokes! (Can someone contribute a few good ones?) And ensured that you will not be remembered as a few good men.
You have further cemented the belief that businessmen are hard-nosed, cut-throat and not to be relied on. It's a telling comment on our money-minded society that only Ramalingam Raju is drawing flak for having poor moral fibre.

I'm not the only one who disagrees of course. Rahul Bajaj & Jamshed Godrej disagree with you.
Anjan & Zig disagree. IHM disagrees.

So I'm going to put my money where my mouth is. In fact I've already started.

1. When I want an Internet connection, I'm not going for the broadband services your companies provide. I will look for an alternative. BSNL, MTNL, Hathway etc!
2. I will switch cellphone providers from airtel to Vodafone, BSNL etc., but tata, airtel or reliance are not getting any of my business!
3. My cousin was looking to buy a second-hand indigo. He asked me for advice. I dutifully pointed out to him that tata cars are after the first 2 years, high on maintenance, and their service centres have probably no idea of what customer satisfaction means. I also pointed out of course that ratan tata was the same man who was seen hugging narendrabhai. Ever seen him hug a customer?
4. I will buy sunglasses from Life (a less expensive, but equally stylish brand carried by Shoppers Stop) instead of fastrack.
5. And I would rather throw away good money on a Tissot than on your watches!!!
6. I've anyway switched to Saffola Salt (pending Mr. Mariwala's views of course), and if necessary will make my own!!!
7. Needless to say, no more shopping at westside.
8. And if I'm looking to move to a set top box, it'll be DISH TV for me.

One parting question for you guys: Despite all the hugging, would you offer a non-English speaking, non-internationally acceptable, possibly partisan candidate with a dubious secular record, a job in any of your companies?

Such hypocrisy.... tsk tsk...

Sincerely,

Iconoclast

More against War: Guruspeak

OK. Enough ranting by us mere mortals on how to avoid war.

Let's hear what the Pundits have to say.

Thanks to CAT for the link to this wonderful piece.

And of course I derive a sense of satisfaction on discovering that my humble views on a solution-oriented approach have such illustrious proponents. Dr. Aumann, here's a fan!

Sagarone: Why NOT War

Sagarone,

Your very eloquent & almost persuasive argument for war is dangerous. It has the potential to sway someone who feels strongly about the tension between the two countries.

I'd like to present some more views against, not just war with pakistan, but the very idea of war!
(You may or may not have read the plethora of reasons provided here earlier.)

I am not saying & will not say that war hasn't been an option advocated & practised by men with far greater intellect, stature, beliefs & of course compulsions. But isn't it time we evolved as a race? Discarded notions of the past & adopted newer, peaceful approaches to end conflict?

The basic premise of my argument is & will remain this: Resorting to violence as a solution is a baser instinct, it's the easy way out. It doesn't take much thinking, much restraint, much intellect to resort to violence. War therefore is not the best solution. It's only the obvious solution. If you can call it a solution, considering that it kills so many people, and creates more bitter enemity than existed earlier.
Did our war against pakistan in 1971 achieve anything? It killed our soldiers & theirs. And I bet more than a few civilians. And it gave pakistan more reason to hate us, plot against us, develop nuclear arsenal to use against us.
Did the war in Afghanistan or Iraq help? Or in the middle east? Have they solved anything yet? Or have they simply created a situation that constantly threatens to go from bad to worse?

I quote from bhupinder's comment on one of Annie's (as usual) eloquent posts:
Tank aage badhein ke peeche hatain
kokh dharti ki baanjh hoti haifateh ka jashn ho ki haar ka sog
zindagi mayyaton pe roti hai
jung toh khud masla hai ek
jung kya maslon ka hal degi

A few questions Sagarone:
Why are we so eager to go to war with pakistan? To avenge the lives of our countrymen? To avenge the attack on our territory? To defend our honour? To ensure that this is not repeated ever? Because there seems to be no other quick & easy way to bring the perpetrators to justice? I'm assuming that your answer is yes to all of those questions.
If that is so, consider the following scenarios:
In order to bring justice to our fellow Indians who perished, to ensure that it doesn't happen ever again, to bypass the long-drawn out politico-legal dancing that is supposed to deliver justice but doesn't, should we:

1. Wage War against the Govt. of Gujarat?
2. Wage War against the Govt. of Orissa?

If War is such a quick & easy solution to bring criminals to justice, why does it sound right in one situation & not in the other?

Like I said in my comment on your post earlier (points # 3, 4 & 5), we must look for a better solution, not go for the easier one. I hope I have sufficently demonstrated the fact that the easier one hasn't worked. If you're looking for a few centuries of power, maybe it'll work. But if you hope for mankind to live in peace on Earth, then as a solution, it has as much IQ as a Rambo or Terminator type of movie.