The Nucleus of the TN power shortage.

Kudankulam is hardly the root of the problem with the acute power shortage in Tamilnadu - it is corruption and rank inefficiency of the TN government and its politicians.

I was at a gathering in Erode, where grievances were put forward.  An industrialist with a sizable investment and hundreds of employees in his spinning mill made this request - "We know there is shortage of power and power plants are coming up.  Can you ensure you supply us the same 8 hours of power, but do so in one stretch, so we can be productive?  We have some machines that take 20 minutes to get up to speed, so we get only forty minutes per hour, if you cut off electricity every one hour.  How can we pay wages for 8 hours to our workers, when only 3 hours of work get done?"

Then came some revelations - Tamilnadu has been encouraging investments in wind power for sometime, and there were many takers, who put up windmills.  Their windmills supply power to the grid, and TNEB or what is called TANGEDCO is contracted to pay the suppliers.  Of late, nobody has got paid, and if you are one of them, and you asked for your payment, a bribe is demanded.

So, many windmill owners have decided to switch off their windmills, since they at the very least, don't have to incur maintenance costs!  So, even when there is wind, there is no production, because the government is unwilling to make payments without officials being bribed!

If you want to set up a new windmill, the going bribery rate for approval is 18 lakhs!  For your own willing investment of around 1 Cr., which is beneficial to the whole nation, a bribe is being demanded!  One can imagine why no new investments in wind energy are coming forth!

The Tamilnadu government recently announced some incentives for new solar power projects, with subsidies around 30%, which the providers will discount right away when you want to purchase the various components for your home or industry.  None of the suppliers have got any notification, so none are able to offer the subsidy.  It has been about two months, and considering this notification is only a piece of paper, one can bet some money that it can be "obtained" if a bribe is paid.  But there is no guarantee these solar providers will be paid for the units they put on the grid if they choose that scheme.

Maintaining the shortage is actually beneficial to the corrupt officials and politicians, because they can collect bribes.  In other words, denying a full supply of electrical power is a cash cow at various levels.  First, you have to bribe to get a new industrial connection.  Then you have to bribe to keep your supply coming reliably.  Industries are even willing to do this!  Since the government has promised uninterrupted power supply to twenty new industries that are investing in the state, one can imagine they must have paid bribes too.  Even if they did, those are the shining industries with brand value so they cannot be ignored.

The loss of productivity is compounded in several ways and is impacting the nation in so many ways.  Diesel is burnt by many to run their generators, and almost all of them are bigger in capacity than they need to be, simply because there would be no point in having a generator supplying less than required.  So, almost all of them are burning diesel needlessly, and producing power that is not used, because the excess power doesn't go beyond the captive unit.  It is simply wasted.

By forcing small and medium sized industries and institutions to invest in new technology like solar power, with or without subsidies, that money gets sucked out of their core activities, and contributes to more expensive products and services, reducing competitiveness.  Those that invested in wind power are severely regretting their decisions now, because they could have used that money elsewhere.  Money getting sucked out of the economy in ANY way is an illness, and the corruption and inefficiency cycle is exacerbating every single problem.

People are buying UPS systems for their homes in large numbers.  UPS systems do not provide power, they merely store energy in batteries, to release later.  There are latent inefficiencies in such systems, and all that is happening is an increased consumption when there is supply!  A UPS system draws power even when it may not be used on those miraculous days when there is no power cut.  These units are not cheap, considering how many homes are buying them.  More money sucked out of the economy!  But these are much smaller crimes compared to windmills that are not spinning even when there is wind.

Now the Chief Minsiter Jayalalithaa wants all the power from Kudankulam to be given to Tamilnadu.  If this happens, the rest of the nation is to be denied power from KNPP not because TN is suddenly needy from its incredible economic growth, but because it doesn't have its house in order. 

People who supply transformers to TANGEDCO have not been paid in several months.  If they choose to start a litigation, the ruling will undoubtedly be in their favour - to be paid all dues, with interest.  But since they have invested crores of rupees in their manufacturing units, they don't want to be unofficially "blacklisted" from future orders.  So they will not sue.

I spoke to an (AIADMK) Ward councillor at the same gathering, and this is what he had to say, rephrased only for translation - "No matter what we do, you're going to kick us out in the next elections, so why do you want to stop us from making some money?"

- BSK.

May all these VVIP helicopters crash.

It's been a while since something grabbed my attention and made me seethe with anger.  Considering this is India, that in itself is an accomplishment for both parties.

The VVIP helicopter purchase scam has come to the fore now, as if the other scams have been sorted out, reversed, done and dusted.  None of that has happened, and yet, this one is particularly disgusting, not because our VVIPs are involved, or in fact, an Army Officer is involved in a bribery.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/army-officer-sought--5-mn-bribe-italy-probe/1022157/

None of this should surprise us anymore, as Indians, as the weasels of the world, as the scum of the earth, as the uncaring sloth filled silent murderers of anything that is sacred or sacrosanct like human dignity.

What should surprise us these days is if anything is devoid of some kind of corruption, some kind of illegality, of illicitness, or outright fraud.  No, India is not a great nation by any stretch, but we really don't have to compete to be the worst either.

Okay, so we need helicopters for our VVIPs.  Let's take a look at who these VVI pricks and pussies are in the first place - politicians!  About 95% of these helicopter rides are going to be used by the ruling class of India, which is unbelievably rich, wealthy beyond anything possible to imagine by most of us working in any enterprise.  I don't grudge them their wealth, if the wealth of the nation has not been stolen for this purpose.

Mother India has been raped, and is a constant rape victim, each time either an illegal mine is being dug or spectrum is sold at prices well below what is fair.  Our Mother is getting raped, because we, her children, participate in this act, willingly, and happily, to get some kind of out of turn favour.  As a result, we have cultivated an entire breed of rape specialists called politicians and bureaucrats, who think everything should belong to them, and basically NOTHING should belong to Mother India.

These helicopters were ordered from AgustaWestland, which is an Italian company, and at this point, we don't quite know if Sonia Gandhi or one of her cronies is involved.  We cannot point fingers to everything that is Italian and illegal and say she is a party to that.  That's not the point of this salvo.

There were bids from Kamov (Russia), Eurocopter (EU) and ostensibly a few others as well.  For some reason, the number in question is 12.  The figure available for this scam is around 3800 Cr rupees.  So the price for each helicopter is 3800/12 = 316 Cr!

Compare that to the Advanced Light Helicopter, made by our own Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, and it is cheap, since the ALH costs approximately 39.3 crores of rupees per unit.  So, at some level, this must be a convincing argument that we got a really bad deal, right?  Indeed, except that it hasn't registered yet!  We are stupid enough to believe in paying ten times the price of our "exceptional, world class" helicopter for an Italian one!

Buying all these helicopters from the HAL, and ordering any number of variants would have cost a lot less, AND the money is being put into our own economy - merely internal Central Government of India paperwork, ultimately.

We have already spent a lot of money developing the ALH, and many foreign countries have bought it from us!  But it is not good enough for our VVIPs?  Why not?  Because you cannot make money through kickbacks if you buy from Government of India FOR Government of India?  Who would pay a bribe to an undeserving vermin, piece of corrupt shit?  Moreover, these scum probably know the ALH, being made by their own corrupt brethren is likely to not live up to expectations.  In other words, the fucking thing might crash!


We were ready to throw a vast amount of foreign exchange at a foreign company that is ostensibly in competition with our own!  Bloody corrupt VVIP vermin!

Now, there is a finding that India changed the technical requirements in order to bring AgustaWestland into contention!  http://www.indianexpress.com/news/chopper-deal-kickbacks-india-changed-tech-requirements-to-help-italian-firm/1024929/

How far would we go to help out our Italian connection?  How far, when Ferrari's Formula One team has no problem "showing solidarity" with two of their sailors being tried in our legal system for murdering our fishermen in open waters?  It gets bloody hard to believe Sonia marrying Rajiv has nothing to do with this.

The absurdity doesn't end here.

When any Government of India employee goes on the paid vacation under the LTC (Leave Travel Concession) scheme, those that are eligible for flights are mandated to buy tickets from Air India, even though it is usually more expensive!  What is the bloody logic behind flying in a loss making carrier, that is usually shoddy with schedules and maintains its planes badly, where staff members are unprofessional and flight staff are likely to have fights in mid-air?  I wonder if the GOI will take kindly to an employee missing a day's work due to an Air India inefficiency and subsequent late arrival after leave.  After all, it wasn't the employee's fault was it?  Besides the point.

The real reason behind not ordering the helicopters from HAL, besides not being able to claim bribes, has to be that the GOI's VVIP pigs do not have faith in the ALH.  After all, it has had its share of crash landings and teething problems, and those things are better left to the military!  Who cares if some army brass or soldiers die in an ALH crash?  It is just a small news item.  Like this one: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/iafs-dhruv-helicopter-crashes-in-uttar-pradeshs-sitapur/article6249690.ece?homepage=true

But if a politician prick crashes, the whole nation is agog with the sad messages pouring in, the marches on the streets, the processions, and news channels whining for a whole day about how exactly the damn thing went down.

A king would have some remorse at this sort of anomaly, because he was required to have a conscience.  Our leaders do not.  Now, why the fuck are we being programmed to accept democracy as some sort of decent option?

- BSK.

THE BREAKDOWN OF THE DEMOCRACY ILLUSION

The Protester has been named the Time Magazine's Man of The Year for 2011.  He has been a vigorous figure, taking on many avatars - Libyan, Egyptian, male, female, American, student, Syrian, fighter, Indian.  His causes have been varied, and do not indicate, as the mainstream vested interest owned media may have us believe, a shift of consciousness towards democracy.  In fact, far from it!

The two biggest democracies, USA and India have shown remarkable anger against all that democracy has achieved for both of their people by way of accumulation of power and money in too few hands, corruption and a broad feeling of unfair treatment of the common man, but they have done that using means that are very democratic - peaceful protest.  In India through the Anna Hazare led India Against Corruption movement, and in the USA, under the flagship Occupy Wall Street protests.

It is time to take stock.

Obama believes and acts in a way that is neither liberal nor pro-business, when he stands for punitive measures against companies that have sent "American" jobs abroad.  Before this comical and farcical standpoint, the voting citizens of the USA wanted "change" and "hope" when they voted for him.  They got change indeed, but they were too immature to realize much of that change would involve people losing their homes, jobs, and the nation its credit rating.  Now they are beginning to lose hope, as there seems to be no panacea in sight.  And yet, it is not Obama's failure.  It is the failure of American people to understand that constant addiction to debt is not a good thing.

Faced with massive charges of corruption and inefficiency, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his coterie are making noises about "India Inc." using negative language against their government, Kapil Sibal wants to police the internet, and journalists have been shot dead, not to speak of Right To Information activists too, that are constantly under threat.  In the same period that the Lokpal Bill has been a much touted solution to India's vast corruption endemic, there has been no significant increase in the number of Indian citizens using the existing channels to complain against corruption.  In other words, Indian citizens are yet to understand that the Lokpal bill is just another tool, and is not a solution against corruption if we are not willing to use whatever means exist.

In both cases, it is a failure of the people, by the people, and nothing is going to happen for the people, unless we lose our illusions.

American companies will, when threatened by government to function in a certain way inimical to their interests, ship their entire companies abroad in order to be profitable.  That is how professionally capitalistic they are.  Indian people will, under the slightest pressure, prefer to pay a bribe and escape the hazards of legal process to get the simplest things done.  Both are choices, and both are driven by selfishness.  Both are also driven by human nature.  Under pressure, we do not care about the collective.  We are as much driven by the survival of the fittest as any other species.  Democracy is about the collective, while survival is about the individual.  Herein lies the fundamental unviability of democracy as a system for all conditions.

Capitalism always tries to protect its investments.  Capitalism has invested in democracy - not in the egalitarian, flawed but noble idea of a government of the people, for the people and by the people, but in the inevitable and always available side effects of apathy, ignorance, and gullibility.  It is very easy to lie to people who are under such massive doses of illusion.  Both Indians and Americans are prime candidates for ignorance related diseases.  Every instance of corruption and looting of public wealth in both nations has taken place with impunity, purely because the threat to the common individual was always maintained at a level less than critical.

As long as the individual living in a democracy is given the opportunity to earn for himself food, water and shelter, however shallow and unfair that "opportunity" may be, and as long as there are visible examples of other individuals successfully making use of such opportunity, the urge for mutiny can be largely suppressed.  Apart from the activists who will take great offence to corrupt practices that threaten any public asset, the rest are just sheep.  And sheep are very valuable commodities to both democracy and capitalism.  How else can we be sold medicines we do not need, luxuries that are highly damaging to the environment, and ideas that can keep us lazy and rich forever, without any fundamental base of truth?

If a top sportsperson "endorses" a health drink, it is perfectly legal even if that person never tasted it for most of his or her life.  This level of lying is acceptable as an integral part of the instrumentation of capitalism.  It is also perfectly acceptable for the government to tell us partial truths about deals, conceal information about certain deals which might cause us to suspect the integrity of the people in charge, or cause them to become unpopular.  Case in point - Put money in a bank, and you have the right to monitor your money at any point in time.  Pay taxes and after that you cannot monitor how the government spends your money!

Time bound action - if you pay tax this year, why can't you get the services you paid for within a reasonable time frame?  Why can't the relationship between government, the institution and the individual be based on some kind of fairness, if indeed democracy is at the most basic, a way of providing the needy with essential protection of the collective?  All of us pay the same amount of road tax based on some percentage cost of the vehicles we own.  But some of us live in areas with terrible roads and some in areas with excellent roads.  Why this disparity?  In fact, the government provides no extra compensation for those of us suffering more repair costs due to bad roads.

If this can be forgiven, because of the inherent inability of the government to provide equitable treatment to all citizens, why can't a tax payer who is late on his payment be forgiven for a business deal that went less favourably than expected for him?  There has never been equitable respect between individual and the institution.  In other words, democratic governments have regularly breached the trust of the voting citizens and done so with impunity and indeed indemnity.  We cannot sue the government for non-performance!  Something we can take even a business to court for!

It is on this fundamentally one-sided and anti-citizen platform that the dressing up of democracy takes place - to show the complete opposite.  This dressing is called "rights".  We have the right to expression, peaceful protest and due course of law.  Expression that can be suppressed, peaceful protest up until the point when the government decides to remove protesters, and due course of law that usually means many years for justice to be delivered.  Injustice, delayed justice, inefficiency, corruption and inaction are all forms of terrorism against people.  None of us are terrorized by the possibility of a few bombs going off here and there.  We are concerned, but the thought does not occupy our mind.  But we are necessarily terrorized, certainly in India, by having to ask the government to perform efficienty and cleanly.  In fact, we go as far as we can afford, to avoid going through the arduous, treacherous and slow path of getting anything done legally, because we are terrorized by delays, inaction, inefficiency and indifference - all of which any government office can supply in abundance.

None of our fundamental and constitutional rights can do anything against inefficiency.  The government can always sit behind the wall of inefficiency and mock and laugh at all the rights we have.  Therefore, in order to get the government to perform outside that wall of inefficiency, we are forced to resort to methods that are less than peaceful, attract embarrassing levels of attention, and with the support of the media, which in itself is a corrupt and biased entity.  Whenever the pressure gets too high to ignore, the government comes up with release valves in the forms of employment schemes, poverty alleviation measures, and grievance redressal camps.  Once the immediate pressure is released, protesters who are nothing but pawns, simply retreat to their normal lives with a sense of having accomplished something.  This is how democracies without consciousness are bound to perform.

India is a shining example in every sphere, of progress through competence without consciousness.  We are even being told through a very insulting advertisement for Coca Cola that while some are ignoring the environment, there are millions of trees being planted every day, and while some fight over petty things, millions drink Coca Cola, therefore we should all drink the damn thing and be happy, instead of feeling negative!  This is the most insulting kind of association therapy we should be subjected to.

No doubt some advertising genius wanted to tie in our readiness to accept any good news to the undeniable "goodness" of this nectar from heaven, and immediately, POW!  Who do we hit?  The hapless millions who have already been softened by a thousand problems, so that something like this could get under our skin and create this illusion, through images of cute children of course, that Coca Cola is an essentially good thing.  It fucking well isn't.  It's poisonous and has been banned from millions of school campuses in its country of origin.  That's the damn truth.

The government creates exactly this kind of illusion to give us a feeling of power, of purpose, of individual invincibility, giving us the feeling that each one of us counts!  Yes, we do count, but only how much we earn!  The government can simply tax what we earn, and siphon it to its own cockroaches, to various invisible places, and deny us the goods and services we paid for.  But while we can get mad at a shopkeeper for selling us substandard goods or services, we cannot question the government for wasting the wealth we generously donate year after year.

If the government can do this under the umbrella of inefficiency and deception, why can't we do it under the umbrella of cleverness and sheer practicality?  This is the exchange and the unspoken relationship between citizen and a democratic government.  Indians woke up to this a long time ago, but the Americans still live under some idealistic notions of democracy.  As far as India is concerned, it suits both perfectly - we don't mind being corrupt to further our individual causes, and the government can tolerate us as long as we throw in enough to keep its babus paid, and the looters at the top happy.  The illusion works!

What the heck, if anything, is right with this system?  Nothing gets delivered, in quality or quantity, as promised.  There are so many cases in the NREGA where the workers have received only Re.1 to Rs.11 out of the Rs.100 the scheme promises.  To start with, this NREGA scheme is fraught with pretense.  The physical work involved is so menial and so farcical, that farmers and agriculturists have lost a great deal of manpower to this useless exercise in alleviating poverty.  What this scheme has done is provide free money and foster laziness, thereby driving up the prices for manual labour in agriculture through scarcity, endanger the future of India's agricultural production, and create a whole new culture of unproductive money distribution.  In fact, it is rampant lining of the pockets of all the middlemen involved in this scheme.  Anytime cash is there to be distributed, it will not reach our common (m)asses.  Only the most distilled morons will ever believe otherwise.  But it is perfectly democratic to keep coming up with hare brained ideas that go nowhere, just to keep the pressure simmering below boiling point.

The rich-poor divide can only widen, and since India's poor are massive in number, it won't take long for this group to turn violent, for two reasons.  Firstly, the feeling of disenfranchisement which political oppositions will play up on, and dumb masses will immediately subscribe to as being something "they" did, and secondly because of the very famously Indian habit of forming mobs at the slightest provocation.  It is not surprising that there are so many armed militant groups in India, seemingly all of a sudden, and while we choose not to talk about them, or their grievances, it is not hard to see where it all comes from - the non functioning of democratic ideas and principles, and an utter failure to rule ourselves in the collective.

The fundamental truth is that democracy is about the collective, while survival is about the individual.  When survival is in question, damn the collective.  Without fairly high levels of material well being and education, democracy cannot function.  No human being is going to give up individual interests for the collective, except in extreme acts of sacrifice.

This is where the other great illusion that democracy fosters has the chance to step in - equality.  This is the most corrupt word in the vocabulary of politics.  It is the greatest lie, and the most impossible ambition.  "All citizens are equal".  What can be more tragically wrong than this, when everything is geared to test who is the best?

All the driving forces of growth depend on commerce, and with profit being a motive, competition is automatic.  Competition is all about inequality.  We Indians actively encourage competition, and while we do not give a rat's bottom about India being ranked 119 in the Human Development Index, we definitely push our children to get the "top" rank, get the "top" education, and go for the "top" job.  Are we to believe that a child going to a rural government school has any chance of being equal to his counterpart going to a modern, privately run city school?  Is there any realistic chance that the two will get to make any sort of equal contribution to society when they grow up?

What else but a sense of deprivation can creep into those classes of society not having any realistic chance to accrue wealth?  What options are open to them?  Can they give up their way of life and suddenly slip into the so called mainstream?  Absolutely not.  This class of people by the way, is often the voting class, and their votes are precious, but their lives are not.  If they become part of the middle class, then they would not vote either.  So, there is clearly every motivation for our political parties to keep the poor poor, and the rich out of the way of any uncomfortable questions.

All the periods of India's glory have been under a benevolent dictatorship - thousands of years of peace, prosperity and pride - or so our history tells us.  We have always been led by a king in those wonderful times.  Even the BJP, a prominent political party now, talks of Rama Rajya - glory be to Ram, a king, not an elected leader!  So, why're we so dumb as to subscribe to this untenable idea of democracy?

Truth is, we were sold this idea by the eminent morons of the time.  Not people who were equal to us, but people who knew we would fall in line like sheep.  We did and we bleated together, in one voice - "Of the people, for the people, by the people"!  Sure, but which people?

Now, it is time to think.

- BSK.

Can the Lokpal cure us of our apathy?

Anna Hazare has made some great noises and started a great process.  The government has buckled under the pressure to offer us the passage of the Lokpal Bill, which, when it comes into law, will allow us to prosecute the corrupt, rather quickly, and effectively, depending upon the final draft that comes into force.

This doesn't mean we will suddenly see corruption go away.  It means, if we want, we can prosecute without the usual hindrances.  It will still take considerable effort to use the Lokpal to put away corrupt individuals.

The urban middle class of India is the most politically inactive but fashionably righteousness conscious demographic of this country.  It is a mindset, indeed, and we are mad about a lot of things, but unwilling to unleash that anger on anything that will get something done.  We are candle vigilantes and nothing more.

So, how about including a small clause in the Lokpal bill that makes it a crime to notice a crime and not report it?  After all, corruption, as we call it is a bloody crime.  It is thievery, blackmail, denial of rights to people coming through the fair competition route, and anti-national to the core.  So, let's bring in a healthy dose of the words "crime" and "criminal" into this revolution!  In other words, if you pay a bribe, you're a bloody criminal as much as the pig who takes bribe - for whatever reason!

Unless we, the people of India are under threat of being prosecuted for a criminal offence, we will not report crime like we should.  So, how about making this Lokpal Bill include us and our brothers and sisters across the expanse of this nation of India not just responsible but actually culpable to the crime of corruption?  Should it not be our duty to report crime?  How about enforcing this duty as well?

Blackmail is a crime, and bribery more often than not, is blackmail, when demanded for a legal procedure.  If the procedure is illegal - well, that is already a crime!  We seem to treat corruption as some kind of common cold, while murder, rape and other more spectacular deeds are more like heart attacks!  This must change.  If it is illegal, it is a crime against the nation's rightful progress, and a bloody crime against the nation.

Why do we suddenly want more laws?  The Lokpal Bill is just another law coming into effect, isn't it?  We already have plenty of mechanisms that we have eroded, ignored, or abused, like the Vigilance Commission.  Why is the Lokpal going to be any different?  Legislation is not going to solve any problem we face in India.  Enforcement can.  We are not good at this.  The first step to enforcing any law or prevent the escape of those breaking the law is reporting.  We need at the very minimum, a robust reporting mechanism, that should not be reserved for spectacular crimes.

Can we please let the Lokpal drafting committee know that it should be legally incumbent and binding upon the citizenry to report crime?  After all we are, by virtue of half the members of this committee being from civil society, absolutely responsible for making it work, whether the government does its part or not!  Also, when the government would love to prosecute its citizens for not reporting, it would have to acknowledge the crime as having taken place, and will have to prosecute the other side as well!  What a beautifully binding marriage this!

The most spectacular crime, by the sheer scale of practice, that most Indians participate in, is apathy.  If we support the Lokpal Bill's passage, we should have no problem accepting an anti-apathy clause as well.  What do you say, flag wavers?  Ready to do some real work?

- BSK.

Independence Day - a Nightmare.

Happy Independence Day!

On this auspicious, incredible 65th Independence Day celebrations, here is a special gift:

A Special Police Officer and a Territorial Army jawan staged a killing for "benefits".  That's right!  These two produced a dead body for personal gain.  Gain FROM the government.  Moral of the story - Indian Government rewards killing.  Thank you Mahatma Gandhi.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/poonch-encounter-for-rewards-spo-jawan/831726/

>>>"We had engineered this encounter, in which one civilian was killed, for post, rewards and money," arrested Special Police Officer (SPO) of the Special Operations Group (SOG) of J and K Police Noor Hussain told a press conference in Surankote area here.<<<

What is chilling about this is the use of the word "engineered".  This is premeditated murder, a planned execution.  We have put people in uniform that have taken it upon themselves to use unarmed civilians, not as target practice, but as bounty! 

How low do these pigs have to be for this to even begin to run as a thought?  How low do these vermin have to stoop and which other nation could have produced such low thinking?  Thinking so low, that makes genocide look like a noble venture.

A living person was turned into a dead body so that promotions, rewards and money could be obtained.  Which other nation would put a human life below promotions, rewards and money?

The responsibility placed upon this Special Police Officer was to protect civilians from militancy, but he and his Territorial Army cohort have taken it upon themselves to kill civilians themselves!  I'm not scared of terrorists.  I'm petrified of government authorized assassins, thugs and murderers.

>>>The other accused and TA jawan Abdul Majeed said: "There was no involvement of any officer or official of Army and police in the encounter."<<<

Oh, thanks a lot.  I'm happy with the Army officials being busy with cornering shady land deals and denying war widows homes that were meant for them.  As for the police, I'm happy if they stick to petty crimes like demanding bribes from traffic non offenders.  Seriously, we should believe a murdering thug's words on this?  Insult to injury?  I think not.  Just a laugh to top off the apathy we have accrued over the years with mercenary ambition.

We are celebrating independence from what?  I have long since stopped saying things like "proud to be an Indian", but now I wonder how much more I have to suffer for unwittingly and involuntarily being born in this rotten, corrupt, spineless and outright evil nation called India.  I am sick, and turning more toxic with each passing day and the unearthing of every new low India has sunk to.

Every bloody day, there is at the very least, one news item, that doesn't just report a crime, but one that tears out one more thread from the already flimsy fabric of India's national character.

A study that came out a few weeks ago found India to be the most depressed country.
http://www.indianexpress.com/comments/study-says-india-most-depressed-country/822950/  So, we're not just really screwed up, we're depressed too?   Superstitious people, please tell me - was it a good idea to become independent at midnight?  Surely, some forces of darkness took hold of us since that fateful day in 1947.

A friend sent me this news item recently, telling us that India TOPS Academic fraud!  http://www.deccanherald.com/content/183621/india-tops-academic-fraud.html

Is there ANY field of endeavour where India is not compromised and trying to get lower in some way?  We cannot build a bridge without some contractor pocketing some money illegally.  We cannot lay a road without a lot of money being siphoned away from the quality of the road.  We have pilots with fake licences, sportspersons taking illegal drugs, undeserving people getting driving licences and driving like lunatics, our coast guard unable to spot terrorists coming in from the sea, and we have people DYING because of all the above.  DYING!  Nothing less.  Isn't life called the "ultimate price" for some reason?  What more do we have to pay with, before our rotten nation can wake the fuck up?

We make tall claims but never deliver, except for our cricket team, which has been bashed mercilessly now for losing one series!  Even though the rest of the nation ranks 119 on the Human Development Index, we still want to bash the World Champions we have miraculously produced.  We have fraud in the Public Distribution System, widows of jawans have to pay bribe to get their measly pensions, educational institutions charge illegal donations, our public hospitals are nothing but deplorable concentration camps, and we have people shitting in the open, SIXTY FOUR fucking years after we became independent.  But we have no problem "discussing" what to do with pigs who looted the nation to the tune of lakhs of crores of rupees.  What the hell is there to discuss?

I don't see a difference between the thieves involved in the 2G spectrum scam, and these low level thugs in uniform that went on a rampage to kill some poor unconnected soul to manufacture this dead body the government rewards.  With more such murders, some of these bastards would be receiving medals on Independence Day and Republic Day, and our little children will hero worship them!  Scary thought?

I want these two bastards impaled by spears and paraded on a special "war on crime" float at Red Fort when Manmohan Singh delivers his limp and lame, often repeated address to the nation.  Then I want that float to reach Janpath

We can segue to the fasting by Anna Hazare in Jantar Mantar.  Then I want these two burnt carcasses hung from India Gate, where all the tourists can see we are serious about our national character.

Then this will be my Happy Independence Day.  Until then this will be my nightmare.

- BSK.

Why I don't trust Baba Ramdev.

When I was a kid, my friends and I used to ransack other people's gardens for fruit.  We loved the thrill of it, and we ate a lot of fruit.  We were always ready for action, and we were a menace in the neighbourhood, but people put up with us.  It's not "legal" to steal other people's fruits, but a group of mischievous boys who carried no real malice clearly could be allowed to carry out some "illegal" activities.  But, those times passed, and none of us turned out to be thieves as we grew up.

Today, for some reason, a lot of adults in India ARE okay with much more blatant, dangerous, and clearly malicious and malignant levels of illegality.  They have no problem paying bribes, breaking traffic rules, and staying absolutely mute to a lot of wrong that goes on.  They have no problem cheating with their ration cards, no problem evading taxes, and no problem looting crores of rupees from the nation's exchequer.  Where do these people come from?

What I remember from my friends as a kid is that we were always happy.  Sure we got into trouble once in a while, but we didn't have too much to worry about.  I also remember that we had a lot in common - we signed on to the same ideas of "fun", and we had no hidden agendas.  Most importantly, we stood by each other and understood each other's perils and challenges.  On a raid, we could trust one another.  Success or failure, we were there together, to try again!

This is where I have a problem with this bearded troublemaker Baba Ramdev.  I don't trust him.  I like the fact that he is making trouble, and I like the fact that he's got a lot of fools riled up with his demands against corruption.  But he isn't one of us, folks.  In fact, he's very much like the guys we're fighting against - wealthy, well connected, and powerful.  Imagine if a thirty five year old father of two wanted to go on a fruit raid with us ten year olds.  You think we'd take him along for the ride?  Of course not!  He has no business coming along with us.

This Baba Ramdev has planes to fly him wherever he wants, more than a thousand crore rupees in money, an island somewhere in Scotland, and a whole lot of followers who are willing to give him money.  He has highly qualified people to advise him, legally and financially, and he has a bit of an "empire".  Is this the guy who would be under pressure if asked to pay a bribe to get an apartment registered in his name?  Is this the guy who will stand for hours in line to get something done at some government office with me?  I don't think so.  He doesn't need the same things I do, at a fundamental human level.

He wants all black money stashed abroad to be brought back to India.  The task is noble, but the demand is not just naive, it is outright stupid, because it is steeped against a looming fast unto death.  If this money has ever been quantified, or identified as belonging to such and such persons, we would have to initiate criminal proceedings against such persons, then declare them guilty, inform international law enforcement agencies such as Interpol, then ask respective governments of these tax haven countries to initiate transfer of funds.  This is a precise process, and if a nobody like me can know what is involved, someone who is asking for that money to be brought back to India must actually ask for this process to be set under way, not just scream for the money to come back.  Clearly, this guy is not very well informed and he doesn't present himself effectively.  No leader.

I still stand by his right to protest peacefully, gather with any number of people anywhere, and make his demands to the government.  But if he is important enough for cabinet ministers to receive at the airport, and important enough to be on the news making the Prime Minister and the government in power so nervous, we better know who this bum is.  To me, an ill informed, unthinking, flashy, religious, dodgy, attention seeking noise maker is just a bum.

So, who IS Baba Ramdev?  He is no Anna Hazare.  He has no record of public service.  He isn't qualified in any way to lead any enterprise.  But he has an empire.  How?  He isn't a famous philosopher to have changed the way we perceive the world and the universe.  He is not a great teacher either as far as I know.  He sure as hell did not make his empire charging fees for yoga lessons.  So what is his enterprise?  I am all for yoga teachers getting into public service, and that is not my problem.  The problem is, I don't know this guy well enough to let him represent me or any other Indian.  So, I don't want him speaking for me.  It is that simple.

His followers being many Indians cannot automatically make him the leader of many other Indians.  His followers follow him for being the Baba, but Ramdev is who we don't know much about.  Any Baba has followers, but not many of them can lead something they don't know much about.  We're talking about the nation of India here.  Baba Ramdev wants Hindi to replace English.  Anybody who respects the Constitution of India and who is not a fool knows Hindi is not the national language of India.  It irks me that after so many years of being a democracy, our public education level is so low that many, even political leaders, talk as if Hindi is the national language of India.

Now, he's called for an armed rebellion.  He says he has a force of 11,000 people trained in the art of self-defence.  Fair enough.  But defence against what?  Against our police forces?  You don't need anything too sophisticated to take on our cops.  Just post a couple of women journalists with video cameras, and all our cops will behave rather well.  The only reason this police raid on this Baba's camp occurred at midnight was because media was asleep at the time.  This Baba is going crazy, and this "sena" reminds me of the raid on the Babri Masjid - flat out trouble.  It is the same monkeys that are backing this fool now.

The RSS and the BJP are his friends.  The RSS is political, and so is the BJP.  What is a yogi doing with the support of political entities?  If something is political, it is not automatically corrupted, but there is plenty of historical record for us to worry about.  The India I know and respect sometimes is secular, and does not lean towards any religion or political mindset.  So, what does this Baba Ramdev represent?  I'm not sure it is a healthy, vibrant, democratic, secular, forward thinking India.  He talks of "shaastra" (knowledge) and "shastra" (weapons).  What might be next?  "Sati"?  I hope not, but this guy can surprise anyone!

This is a prime example of how democracy can throw up lunatics who are free to do everything, including making asses of themselves - and others who follow him.  What he is clearly doing here is protesting against the very government our own people voted for!  He thinks we should be up in arms against the people we put in office?  This is as anti-nationalistic as it gets!

This call for "swadeshi" when he flies in a foreign made aeroplane (which he himself by the way, exempts from his "swadeshi" list!), using foreign oil, owning an island in Scotland, and with a thousand other violations of the already outdated principle of "swadeshi" just make him an outdated lunatic to me.

He is not shy of theatrics, attracting attention to himself, doing stunts like dressing up like a woman to escape detection - there's an element of drama in him.  But, anyone who mixes his religion and his politics, for whatever gain, is in my opinion an untrustworthy rascal.  This is a secular country, and all religions are indeed welcome, but personal.  So far, he hasn't spoken about his god, and that's a plus, but there is far too much saffron in his support group.

The bigger reason I resent this fool, even while giving him credit where it is due is this - after more than sixty years of being a nation, after reaching a point where we should be taking up an excellent place amongst the league of nations, after all the advancements we have made, is this Baba Ramdev the best face we could come up with to fight against corruption?

None of these misgivings should rob from this man, however, his right to speak his mind, gather with people, or start a movement.  He should not have been evicted or thwarted from doing anything that is not a law and order threat.  I do think however, that this man has some sort of power over people in government.  I don't need to know what that power is, but he does attract an awful lot of attention from many bigwigs.  Maybe he knows some of their dirty secrets?  Maybe he sells a powerful aphrodisiac?  He did try to export some medicines to the USA that were stopped by the Food and Drug Administration there!  This is one hell of an active monkey!  I wouldn't vote for him, or endorse his ways, but I would like to see him around.  He is just too much fun!

-  BSK.

A Nation of Passive Opportunists.

Anna Hazare has re-written history.  In fact, he has ensured the history of India is being written again.  He did the same thing Mahatma Gandhi did to the British - occupy high moral ground and blackmail the powers to succumb to his demand.  This word "blackmail" has a negative ring to it, doesn't it?  That's only because it conjures up images of cheap, witless psychopaths getting something they do not deserve, through devious means.  There's nothing devious about Anna Hazare's means, so clowns like Karan Thapar should stop acting like they are experts of this word "blackmail".  Long live the blackmailer, for the victim is the villain in this case.  Forty two years to pass a bill that gives us the right to prosecute the corrupt?  Enough of this, indeed, Annaji.

The mediocre always has to be pushed, prodded, woken up, beaten, and thrust into action by the extreme to get it to out of its inertial slumber.  India is a nation of massive mediocrity, dying to get worse, but somehow not allowed to by economic pressures.  We are not a non violent nation at all, as some of us would think.  We just choose the safer option because we're afraid of violence when it could turn against us.  What kind of influence do political parties regularly have on the "hapless" masses?  Any local MLA can call upon the services of murderers, thugs and rowdies to beat up any citizen that dares question any move!  This is why we are passive, not non-violent. 

But, we're opportunistic!  Anna Hazare gave us the opportunity, and we pounced on it.  This was our opportunity, not to clean up the nation, but to let our frustrations out.  We might get something out of it, but we might also forget all about it by the time the final draft of the Lokpal Bill comes out around the 30th of June this year.  It is a good thing indeed, but the movement that Hazare talks about is yet to happen.  It takes a fair amount of stamina to fight the system, especially when every moron around us has subscribed to a corrupt system.  Easier to pay the bribe, and get things done smooth and quiet - can this attitude change because of a Bill?  Most definitely not.  It still takes the citizen to approach the Lokpal and complain!  This takes work!  How can we Indians be expected to do work that doesn't pay?

Given the opportunity to get rich through corrupt means, without a major risk of being punished, most Indians would not hesitate for a second to jump into the cesspool.  How is the Lokpal bill going to address this mindset?  It will not, and it is indeed not the aim of the bill.  Given the opportunity to get "ahead" through corrupt means, short circuiting fair competition, most Indians would indeed do exactly this.  How else would we have fake pilots flying our aeroplanes?  We are cowards and we feel sick about it sometimes, but we convince ourselves we are being smart about it.  This is what our intelligence is used for.  Centuries of training in survival have taught us to flourish by staying out of the way, like germs.  Germs don't threaten enough to invite extermination, but are dangerous enough to keep us sick and unproductive - exactly what India is today.

How is the Lokpal Bill going to work, when it becomes the duty of the germs to inform the body of the invading disease?  We love the dis-ease.  We thrive in it, we thrive because of it, and we love the calmness of the sick patient, who has given up all hopes of fighting back.  In other words, this Anna Hazare character is a pest who is making us come out of our slumber and telling us we don't have to be germs anymore, because the patient is willing to let us lead a healthy existence within her body.  God bless Mother India, but how will the sheer masses of incompetence cope with an India that wants to throw out corruption?  Corruption is what keeps our masses lazy, well fed, and uncomplaining.  What can replace this incredible fuel?

We want opportunities.  Opportunities to further our laziness, opportunities to further our economic goals, and our sense of entitlement and power.  These have always existed.  Now, we also want opportunities to "feel good" about ourselves.  This is a new want, a new addiction in new age India.  We didn't want our boys to win the world cup because they played the best cricket and were truly deserving of the honour.  We wanted them to win so that we as "Indians" could wave the flag and yell at the world.  This is very sophomoric and idiotic of course, but it is also very American.  The USA is the country for us to look up to, for some reason.  No wonder a lot of our idiots have started putting their hands on their unfit chests when OUR national anthem is playing.  This again is nothing but an "opportunity" to showcase our patriotism just like Americans, but it has indeed become the opportunity for us to show how stupid we are, since even the Americans are supposed to do it not for their national anthem but for the Pledge of Allegiance!

There is nothing wrong in wanting to be Number One.  So, the pride we feel in our cricket team is natural.  How about doing something about the #119 we have in the Human Development Index?  See, we do not have the shining, sexy, fashionable opportunity for doing this.  It is not going to be quick, it is not going to be jingoistic, and it is not going to be vocal, so this process is going to be dull, unattractive, grinding, and horrendously time consuming.  We may not even be around when we get within #100 of this pesky index!  So, indeed we are not going to even try!

Anna Hazare didn't just provide the platform.  In this age of media glare, he provided the stage for many of our clowns to show up and perform.  The government yielded, not because it was morally forced to, but because it did not want to look like a failure on this stage!  It is all about perception, and performance on the stage!  No wonder Bollywood is completely in support of Anna Hazare although it produces movies with underworld money, has actors who shoot down wildlife, and even those who buy machine guns from terrorist outfits!  Was India outraged when Sanjay Dutt came on TV feeling bad about the terrorist attacks of 26th November?  Of course not!  We forgot that he had immersed himself in criminal anti-national activity but remembered him for his role in Munna Bhai or whatever crap.

We have become a nation of simplistic, easily manipulated fools.  We are no longer capable of critical thinking.  We go with what we like or dislike.  Anna Hazare is rather hard to dislike.  He is also not in the grey area, where critical thinking becomes immensely necessary.  He is out there in the white area, which is easy to sign up for!  That is why we chose to support him, not because we understood the full import of this Lokpal Bill and his blackmail tactic.  It takes the threat of calamity to force India to act in any haste to do ANY good.  We Indians love the foreboding threat of anything larger than life.  That is why we love our movie heroes to beat up fifty villains.  If he was human, it would require fifty of us to help him, and that won't be so interesting would it?

If we had to vote for a Supremo, a dictator or a king, (called "President" in some countries), we would gladly switch to that system.  We have grown up for centuries with kings as our benevolent dictators.  We even fondly recollect those times as the golden past of India.  The BJP even has a king Ram as their idol, so I wonder why nobody has asked them what the heck they are doing in a democracy while talking about a king all the time!  We do not like democracy really, because it puts responsibility on us.  If we could be slaves, we would.  That is why we make kings out of our elected leaders, and they gladly accept!  That is why they loot, and we applaud.  Look at those statues Mayawati has built of herself, and we know exactly what "opportunity" means for an Indian.

So, how to we function in the collective?  We do not!  We did not choose democracy.  It was chosen for us.  And now it may be too late to switch to a benevolent dictatorship, because too many of us would want to be the dictator.  So, we have this farce of a system where we elect people who don't have to listen to us or serve our interests as soon as they are elected.  Now, we're going to have the means to throw them in jail for corruption.  What about our own apathy, our incompetence, and our complete acceptance, even sympathy, for the crooked?  After all, we're the nation of really passive germs, who totally understand the need for survival.  How do we switch to intolerance?  We should suddenly thrash the peon who wants ten rupees for his "coffee"?  Or refuse to pay a donation that will ensure our unfit kid's a seat in that engineering college?  How are we going to change ourselves?

Our media has played a massive role in popularizing Anna Hazare and his campaign.  But this is not a service it embarked upon performing.  This was a big enough story to carry at the top.  Viewership!  Numbers!  Money!  Opportunity indeed!  From the World Cup to the IPL, the news channels were forced to fight for scraps.  Now Anna Hazare has provided them with phenomenal gravity.  It's a good thing this did not happen during the India-Pakistan match!  Very clever of you, Annaji!  Perfect timing!

Now, whatever happened to our sailors captured by Somali pirates, the Adarsh building scam, the 2G scam, the Commonwealth Games scam, and the thousand of other scams?  None of them are worth our attention now?  Eerily, it is time for something to come crashing down.  People must die for us to pay attention.  That is what Indian lives are worth - to bring viewership to our TV channels.  Aha!  Now, there's an opportunity!

- BSK.

Our latest fashion - interference!

Very predictably, India has backed the UN Security Council sanctions on Libya.

So, we're the good guys here, and Gaddafi, is a despot and dictator, holding on to the reins of power since 1969?  We want to see the anarchy end, and peace on the streets of Libyan cities, towns and villages.

The Council on Saturday last week, voted 15 for and 0 against, to adopt Resolution 1970 - imposing a comprehensive arms embargo and a travel ban to the country of Libya, and to freeze the assets of the regime of Muammar Gaddafi, who has ruled Libya since 1969.

This is the first time a country has been unanimously referred to the International Criminal Court by the Security Council.  We backed that resolution!

And yet, according to SM Krishna, we don't want to interfere in the affairs of another sovereign nation!

What is wrong with this picture?

Since when have we become so delusional as to think our actions and our inactions don't have any consequences?  Since when did we officially decide to back the UN, when even years after the genocide in Iraq by Bush and his military, no action has been brought against that idiot?  Bush deserves to be tried in the International Criminal Court for his enormous wrongs that have left no less than 600,000 Iraqis dead.  But somehow, that wrong goes unquestioned?

India has a diplomatic mission in Libya, a fully functional one, does it not?  So, if we were completely at ease with everything that has been going on in that country for so many years, what is suddenly irking us now?  All the Indians who have been there for years have been able to do that precisely - make a living - under Gaddafi.  Now what?  All of a sudden, we realized he is the devil?

What harm has Libya done to India, now that we have decided to back sanctions against a sovereign nation that our External Affairs minister says we don't want to interfere with?  We're not interfering with them you idiot!  We're totally fucking with them.

Truth is, we, the people of India, don't know the truth on the ground in Libya.  There hasn't been terrorism and bloodshed since 1969 to fuel any nonsensical claim that Gaddafi has been clinging to power that long through brutal repression.  Libya has been a fairly free country and has been quietly going about its normal life and business.  All of a sudden, there has been a wave of anti-government protests, which the world media has been quick to pounce on and declare as the winds of change sweeping through the Middle East and Northern Africa.

In the wake of Bush's illegal and nakedly belligerent attack and invasion of Iraq, there were many, many protests in the USA.  Did we back sanctions against Bush then?  Those protests were also quashed by the US government, and Bush has also famously stolen two elections, with rigged voting machines and untold amount of corruption like no-bid contracts to Haliburton, the company in which the vice president that Dick Cheney had stakes in.  Did India openly state even once that the USA's invasion of Iraq was totally illegal?  Or that democracy was being raped in the name of fighting terror?  We ignored Dubya but are obsessed with Libya?  Why?

What is our bloody official stance in world affairs?  We haven't done a rat's ass about using our "blue water" Navy to rescue our citizens from paltry Somali pirates.  We have not done anything about one of our IIT graduates being in jail in the USA for showering his anger on Bush, and we sure as hell did not do anything about our students getting beaten regularly in Australia, except of course Krishna making this stupid statement about how he did not know our students were going there to study fashion and catering!  Like they would not have been beaten up in rough neighbourhoods if the attackers knew they were all studying to be rocket scientists!

We are indeed happy to supply soldiers to the UN, to serve in other countries on peacekeeping missions, and our soldiers do lose their lives on those jobs.  What the heck do we do this for?  Why should Kartar Singh from a village in Madhya Pradesh lose his life in a mortar attack by rebel forces in Rwanda?  How come we are happy to interfere as long as the UN is the one telling us where to interfere?

Whose line are we toeing here?  And to what end?  It is all very nice of us to pull Indian citizens out, sending planes and ships for this, and it is all very nice to see some of them expressing gratitude and pride in being Indian.  But what exactly are we accomplishing by backing sanctions against a country that has not interfered with us in any way?  On what grounds are we accepting the standpoint of the rest of the UN Security Council that Libya under Gaddafi is in some way considerably larger as a threat to world peace than the USA was under Bush?  Don't we have any objective thought processes here?  What the hell are our diplomats there for?

We as a nation do not have a standpoint.  We do not have a collective position on anything any more.  We are without a moral compass, without an objective, without a stated position on who we are and what we stand for as a people.  What can be more dangerous to the second most populous collective in the world?

We have a legitimate interest in Afghanistan's well being and we are big donors to that country.  Nothing wrong with that, whatever our strategic objectives may be, considering Pakistan lies between us and Afghanistan.  We do not send our soldiers into Afghanistan, even though the USA would love that.  The reason is more political than principle.  Our opposition would never allow this weak kneed government at the centre to send our soldiers into battles that have nothing to do with us.

More and more, under Sonia Gandhi, India is leaning towards a blind pro-West stance that is morally well below unquestionable, and clearly driven more by perception than by reality.  There is this "perception" that the UN is actually right on all issues.  This is simply not true.  Just because Barkha Dutt takes her mug and plants it in Libya, cuddling rebel forces who want "change" does not mean we should sympathize with the anti-government rebels who have no idea what that change really might mean.

What exactly do we know about Libyan people?  What do we know about how hard it must be to bring about change in that country, whether it is the form of government or the type of leader?  It is just freaking fashionable to support the West's notion that all change is good change?  Why can't we leave it to the Libyans to decide what they want?  Who are we to cuddle up to the opposition and take this notional stance that Gaddafi must go?

Our Maoists want the same kind of change in our country.  Do we tolerate them?  Imagine if China supported a travel ban and sanctions against India, and sent its reporters to cover our Maoists demanding that our government be sent home and a new India be born with Kishenji as the leader of our nation.  How preposterous it already sounds to us.  So, why can't we extend a serious ear to what Gaddafi is saying?  Why are we so presumptuously in agreement with Libya's condition as stated by the USA and the rest of the UN coterie?

Libyan opposition forces captured British secret agents who came to "help" them!  http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article1514543.ece  This is hilarious, because it clearly sends out the signal - "Don't show up, outsiders!".  In fact, it screams a Libyan will to block all interference from outside.  The opposition is furious, for this kind of intervention will make it look like this revolution is fuelled from the outside!  Brilliant!  So, why are we showing up there?  And why the heck are our news channels so proud about trumpeting who got there first?  The first to be super stupid?  Heck, that's something I'd try to hide!  India, clueless and directionless as always.

Many Indians who lived in Iraq swear to this day that Saddam Hussein's rule was the best in its history.  Iraq was a progressive country, flourishing in education, commerce, and even the arts.  Indians were treated well, and the country was doing fine.  Then came its darkest period - becoming the USA's enemy.  Many of us Indians do not even know what sparked Iraq's attack on Kuwait.

Kuwait was illegally pumping more oil than it was allowed to, thereby unfairly pushing Iraq's oil price down.  Kuwait had been allowed a 5 year period when it could pump above its quota of oil output in order to build its economy after a collapse.  Well beyond this time, Kuwait continued to pump in excess of its quota.  American and British companies were the beneficiaries and despite Saddam Hussein's several warnings, and pleas, the "world" ignored him.  He even said he would attack Kuwait's oil installations if this continued, and it did.  That is how the first Gulf War came about.

The world's largest media outlets are either owned by or controlled by people and organizations that are vested in the Western point of view.  Rupert Murdoch cannot be beaten as the most blatant symbol of media backing vital political interests.  Suffice to say, the biggest noise in the Indian media today, certainly in TV, is being made by interests that lean well towards the USA and its embarrassingly simplistic view of the world.  Barkha Dutt is the shrill parrot that exemplifies this attitude.  Sheer incompetence shamelessly cloaked in self righteousness.  Both should be unacceptable to any country aiming for true progress.

We Indians have become far too convenience trained.  We do not have a culture of critical thinking anymore.  We would rather put our minds on something enjoyable rather than being curious about what is going on in the world around us.  Libya is also standing up in our attention because we have been told to pay attention to it.  There is nothing more "happening" right now, apart from the thousands of crores of our wealth being stashed by crooks supported by the government without any prosecutions so far.  Libya is replacing our attention that should also be on a major slip involving the selection of the Chief Vigilance Commissioner.  Libya is playing the role of a classical decoy, but this role has been assigned by our media.

Nobody in the Indian media is even questioning the absence of the counterpoint on this Libya issue.  Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's president, is a shining example of standing by principle.  He has come out in support of Gaddafi, called him a friend, and condemned the design to invade Libya as "madness".  He has also called for international mediation.  "Mediation" not "sanctions".  Who is being dictatorial here?  The UN or Chavez?  Where is this counterpoint in this so called FREE DEMOCRACY called India?  Are we so blinded by our perceived loyalty to the USA and its allies that we don't even feel the necessity to balance our viewpoint?

Most of all, why are we buying into this crap that democracy is the solution to the future of the world?  Taking our own country as an example, democracy is not working.  Our country is being looted, and social programs to not reach the needy.  Our kings, ALL of them dictators, did a much better job of delivering justice and maintaining peace and fostering prosperity.  A benevolent dictatorship is a much better, more proven and reliable form of government.  Why does democracy deserve such a vulgar level of promotion when its record is dismal?

If the USA were to have its way, we'd have another war soon.  The USA is talking about striking and taking out Libya's air capabilities.  Who the fuck is the USA to talk about a "no fly zone" over Libya?  And why are we not vehemently opposing it?  If we want to play a "global" role of some sort, we should start by defining what we stand for.  We can't be showing up fully decked in our pomp at parties we are not invited to.  We look silly enough already.

India, please wake up!  Let's mind our own business, please.  There is plenty of it.

- BSK.

IPLease ask the right questions!

The Indian Premier League has been in the news like a rabid dog peeing all over the neighbourhood for the last few days.  It hasn't spared one tree, pole, gate, wall, shrub or blade of grass.  It is the same stench everywhere.

First and foremost, this is a test of integrity, and Lalit Modi, who was arrested in the USA for illegal possession of cocaine, isn't a shining beacon of hope on this front.  So, let the shady bugger burn - who cares?  Let's get this straight - he is no hero.  He stole Kapil Dev's business model of the ICL, which was already successful, used the BCCI's lousy officialdom to shut the ICL down, took pride in being "ruthless", and blew up the IPL to where the ICL was rightfully headed.  Now, in Karma's lovely way, he's getting it rammed up his lisping arse, and I couldn't be more gleeful.  But this is all small snack.

The IT department has been busy "surveying" all the offices of the IPL franchises, as if the fools will find anything in two days that they didn't find in the last three years!  We have heard of tax havens and overseas accounts and shady money being laundered through the system and a thousand different people coming under the scanner.  For heavens sake, wouldn't the people smart enough to use tax havens in the first place be smart enough to answer all questions?  For most part, the structures will be totally legal, just wait and watch.  Nothing is going to shake the palace down, for it was already fortified to withstand tremors much bigger than this!

Where are the real questions?  Where is the incisive analysis that can get us to the bottom of this veiled chaos?

We are asking questions on why there is so much "foreign money" coming into the IPL.  Well, DUH!  The auctions were all held in US Dollars, remember, dumbos?  Surely, it won't be Sakthi Sugarcane Juice and Mouli's Fancy Shop investing millions of US Dollars!  Ask the real question - this is the bloody INDIAN Premier League, and is supposed to be for Indian cricketers and Indian cricket lovers primarily, using OUR players, OUR infrastructure and OUR TV audiences to make money out of.  So, why the fuck are the bids in US Dollars and not in Indian Rupees?  Is our country's money not good enough for our own league?  Where is the national pride in evaluating our worth in US Dollars?

Modi is the kind of rascal that will wag his tail as much as he is allowed to.  Cut it, and he will whimper into a corner.  Does his tail deserve to be cut?  IF he has procured stakes in three franchisees on his behalf through his relatives, then there is a clear case of him owning a stake in the outcome of the matches those franchises play and therefore one can ask why he as IPL commissioner is so freaking happy when Rajasthan wins, or why he should cheer with SRK for Kolkata.  Well, now we know.  If the outcome of the games played by a few sides can actually bring benefits to Modi, that is a clear conflict of interest.  In the absence of precise laws, however, this is something that won't send him to jail straightaway.  The part that can make him look worse is how he never mentioned to anyone, even in the BCCI, that he would like to disclose that some friends and relatives of his would own shares in 3 franchises.  Simple enough, and would have put him above suspicion, since he declared this potential prickly point.

It was Modi who negotiated the TV rights of the after game parties of the IPL for US$50million.  That's a whopping amount of money and Kapil would not have done this.  So, is this pure genius?  Yes, but it is the genius of the hustler, not the caring entrepreneur.  The difference is that the caring entrepreneur will wonder where to draw the line, and whether having all night parties is a good thing for the players and the game and the image that so many role models will project to the world.  More than that, he will concern himself with the more fundamental question - if the parties are a wind down routine, then let the boys have a good time, and let's leave them alone. 

The hustler will wonder what can happen at the party that can increase the sale price of the voyeuristic rights to this "behind the scenes" record of events.  It isn't that creative in any case to get some music going, some women on the floor, and get some booze to flow.  Any middle class city kid in India knows to put this sort of party together.  This prick is a hustler, period.  Let's not shy away from fact.  So, here's the second question - how was a hustler chosen to lead the IPL in the first place?  The reason could be that he can get a lot of people to believe in his hustle!  But the real reason is, and give it to the fox here - hustlers are quick, and someone who can move at Modi's speed is needed to supercharge something like the IPL.  That's a plus, especially in India.  But the hustler will continue to hustle.  You can hire him to build a temple, but please let him not perform the pujas.  Lesson to be learnt.

A lot of Indians will be disappointed with the turn of events but not with Modi.  Why not?  Because Modi is secretly what a lot of Indians wish to be like - dynamic, unstoppable, "ruthless" in his own words, and super successful.  India is just starting to see this kind of animal, not because it is new to this land, but now, because of the numbers, we are comparable to the hustlers in other countries, and hence the media attention.  Despite all admissions to the contrary, the media loves Lalit Modi.  Who else can provide them with so much material to fill the voids of their own existences?  Notice how our media always asks questions in reaction to what the guy says, never forcing him to think up something new in response?  That is sheer incompetence, and Modi fits right into the scheme.

The BIG escape for the IPL is, and one that is still very much available - it can move outside India.  It can take all its franchises and its offices and move to the Cayman Islands.  That is just the movement of an office!  For some reason, our government doesn't seem to be able to wrap its head around this idea!  In this time and age, where your office is registered has very little to do with where you do business.  The IPL can exist as a separate entity, merely conducting matches in India, by paying the BCCI, and do ALL its business from Cayman Islands.  And it would be thoroughly legal, and in fact, much more efficient.  No taxes, no questions asked.  Money comes, money goes, everybody is happy.  The players get paid, the franchises all see money, TV happens, ads happen, the event happens, and absolutely nothing on the ground needs to change!

This is all about television.  Set Max has paid upward of a billion US dollars (what else?) to get the rights for 10 years.  What difference does it make to them?  The audiences have been beautifully recruited.  They are going to watch Set Max no matter where the games are played.  Do you think any of them gives a shit where the IPL's office is located?  The only problem is, the IPL is under the BCCI, and the BCCI has a few stuck pigeons in it.  They will not let the IPL become a separate body.  This is what Modi didn't bargain for.  Most hustlers have a breaking point and the 26th of April is Modi's breaking point.  On that day, all the "offiicialdom" that he used to destroy the ICL will be thrown at him, and he doesn't stand a fucking chance.  Poor little rich bitch.

Modi isn't so successful because he is the ultimate hustler.  He knows how much competence it will take to catch up with his shenanigans.  All this taxman raiding or surveying business is going to wear thin fairly quickly.  All it takes is competent Chartered Accountants and the franchises would all have hired great people.  Now, the one thing that can blow in his face is this, literally - the explosions in Bangalore that moved the semi finals to Navi Mumbai.  The explosions themselves aren't great, but the fact that the Karnataka Police have said that the "betting mafia" was behind the blasts!  So, there exists a betting mafia that the Karnataka Police knew about?  Of course that begs the next question - what the fuck were you doing if they were not able to just conduct business, but also able to place bombs in the stadium?  Fundamental, right?

Some people will get caught, not because the cops are that good, but because the bastards can smell money.  Now they have the leverage to extort some big money from the betting mafia.  But they will also have to come up with some facts, just to look good, in case the politicians who are no doubt involved, are made to look bad before this cloud blows over.

If the betting mafia spills a few beans, they will necessarily mention Modi by name.  Why?  Because Modi the hustler trusts only himself at the centre of the dealmaking!  So, IF any deal was struck, he struck it, not a lesser clown.  It is this style that has led to the allegation that he offered the Kochi franchisees US$50 million to walk away from a deal they won!  Imagine offering 50 million to walk away from a deal they pledged to pay 333 millon for!  Keep the change, Lisper boy!  No wonder they refused.  But what is Modi's gall in making that offer?  The veiled threat is that the outcome of the Kochi franchise's future would be in Modi's hand, and he could make life miserable for them.  So, this is like doing business with the devil, and the devil himself wants to give you money so he can do business with someone else instead.  Luckily, the Gaikwads were no pushover, and they stuck to their deal.

Shashi Tharoor remains an enigma in this story.  It's completely believable that the interest he took in Kerala cricket prompted him to make the phone calls asking why there was a delay with the Kochi franchise, and it is completely believable that his friend Sunanda Pushkar was merely introduced by him to help them out.  If Tharoor has anything to do with the unleashing of the taxmen on all IPL affairs, then, good for him!  That won't accomplish anything if everybody has been paying taxes properly, but it shows he won't hesitate to see how you look under a cloud of suspicion.  After all, that's what Modi did to him - put him under a cloud of suspicion and made him resign!  What Modi doesn't have the sense to think about is that a resigned man has a lot of time on his hands - and we know whose workshop an idle mind is.

Our media needs to learn to ask the right questions, the incisive ones, the uncomfortable ones that will bring something new to light and make us think about everything in a new way.  Instead, fools, even the assholes with Padma Shris, ask dumb questions like "Is the image of cricket tarnished?".  Well, fuck, duh!  Who doesn't know the answer to this one?  Like we're a philosophical society given to discussing the impact of religiousness without a proportionate influx of agnostic spiritualism!  We're passive aggressive, gossip loving dumb jerks who love to see people go down.  But let's know why someone went down and how we contributed to the system that put him up in the first place!  Let's learn to take some responsibility.  Let's learn to freaking wake the fuck up and ask the right questions.

BSK.

Who the hell are we, Indians?

Years ago, in 1947, we bought into this idea of a democratic India.  Democracy was still an experiment then, of course, and it still is, and one that has yielded varying results across various countries.  So, it cannot be the "system" that is good or bad, it comes down to us, We, the people of India.

We bought into this experimental idea because not many of us had a say in what we buy into, and a few intelligent people who were in the right place at the right time said it was a good idea to build a nation that was based on democratic values - fairness, equality, equitable distribution of resources, freedom of movement, a right to speak, congregate, express ourselves, protest, show dissent, and find representation in the political process that would run this country.  We didn't agree, but we didn't disagree either.  And somehow, by default, we got shoved into this experiment called democracy.

The great gift we got was the spirit of secularism.  Again, just an idea, but one that has somehow grown upon us.  It would be too confusing to have discrimination amongst us based on religion, caste or any other separator, so we ran with this too.  This part has worked out well, despite all the religious fanatics that still don't get it, and the myriad ways in which dogma still affects our thinking.  No political party is completely agnostic to faith, and we remain in the stone ages when it comes to pure spiritualism.  Even the Indian tourism industry somehow thinks "spiritual" means "religious"!  Stupid, but for most part, not without hope.

The other gifts we got as part of the new idea of India are the wide usage of the English language, a legal framework that roughly resembles that of the UK, a mechanism called "government", a free press, and a military that doesn't interfere with everyday life.  These are gifts, because without any of these, we'd have sunk even further into anarchy.

What we didn't bargain for, however, is the need for us to constantly work to keep the above working.  For that, it takes effort, above and outside of our personal jobs and duties, and it takes involvement and awareness.  In other words, to make India work, we cannot be sitting on our asses and expect the "others" to do their jobs.  It is our job to make the country work.  This part, we don't get.  We are an essentially selfish people, and those amongst us who have some civic sense are likely to appear like activists.

Life in India today is about screwing and not getting screwed.  The country be damned, as long as we can make a few bucks and get the life we want.  Money can buy us anything, but alas, it cannot buy us a quality country.  For that, we need to make some sacrifices and recognize what we need to do.  We never took into account the essential nature of the Indian person, while we decided what system we wanted.  The essential Indian is corrupt, or corruptible, or accepting of corruption as a way of life.  Why would so many millions amongst us pay bribes to get things done that we are legally entitled to?  Because we are sheep, and sheep get fleeced.

For some reason, most Indians are really annoyed when I tell them that "Indianness" is about being corrupt, inefficient, dogmatic, AND having a sense of righteousness that the devil himself would be afraid of.  Our relationship with God is the one we respect, and hence, if a puja routine is prescribed to an Indian family, they will carry it out religiously, perfectly.  If they are told not to dump plastic waste, they might do it to some extent.  If they are told to file a case against that official who demanded a bribe to okay their water connection, they won't.  They will actually pay the bribe to maintain "the good energy" of their lives - smooth and easy.

This fear of questioning, the fear of reprisals, the fear of showing dissent itself rules over us.  And then, for every damn thing, there is God.  Somehow, our God is most fierce in folklore and mythology, but very benign when it comes to inciting us to question and fight  for what is right.  Our righteousness flies directly in the face of our religiousness.  Somehow, there is never a discourse on this - on the essential lie of being an Indian in spirit.

The most corrupt rascals in this country dump much money in temples like Tirupathi.  Somehow, we cunningly shift the onus of accountability for such ill gotten wealth onto the Lord!  Look God, I gave you a crap load of money, now all you need to do is protect me!  The Lord has already protected you by making you Indian - not just unlikely to be caught in your act of thievery, but even more likely to make you feel good about stealing and donating to a temple!

For some reason, we frown upon Godmen who have been found having sex with a multitude of women or in the throes of drug induced ecstasy, but we're perfectly all right with elected officials stealing from our coffers to build their personal wealth.  I'm not sure what can be more askew!  But, this is what is happening - We are angered by being made fools out of - that is the problem here!  We fully expect elected officials to steal, but Godmen had to be holy!  That's why we get mad at them for having a romp!

Heck, we could also be jealous.  Having a sexual romp isn't that available to most of us Indians because we're not that enterprising.  That is why we have moral boundaries defined by the boundaries of what we dare to do.  It is the exact same reason for the BJP to get mad at Shashi Tharoor - he is not only smooth and articulate, but - hold your breath - has an attractive female friend who is not his wife!  That is why the BJP spokesperson, the cunning hypocritical bastard, said "who his girlfriend is, who he is married to, who he divorces, is not our business".  Then why mention all that?  It is the power of allusion, that most Indians fall flat for.  We can raise a scandal on mere speculation and allusion, and without a single fact, splash around so much that muddy water hits everyone!

For some reason, we forget that we are supposed to bow only to the truth.  Sathyameva Jayathe, not God.  Even God has to be truthful to win.  Lord Krishna may be the delightful exception, but then, he is a super being anyway, who is not cluttered in any way.  He must be exasperated, because India is cluttered in every way.  We don't have a clue how to do anything with elegance, no matter how many resources we have.  We need to seriously examine our "Indianness", if we are to get a clue on where we belong, if at all.

If India vanished from the face of the earth today, the rest of the world would not be that adversely impacted.  Isn't that such a stunning revelation for the 2nd largest population in the world?  The rest of the world might actually heave a sigh of relief.  Strangely, the USA, with the much greater wear and tear it imparts to the world, would terrify the world if it pulled a vanishing act!  Where would all the computers come from, where would all the Boeing planes come from, and the spares for so many of them flying all over the world, where would arms and ammunition come from, where would the best porn come from, and where would all the great movies come from!???  Who would we sell billions of dollars worth of stuff to?  There is no substituting the USA, but India can be forgotten in a jiffy or two at the most.  Guess what?  They're a democracy too!

So, before we trumpet becoming a superpower, before we get pompous about our incredible place in the world and the role we are here to play, let's look at ourselves and get our basic shit together.  Let's give as much importance to rational thinking as we do to moral and religious nonsense.  There is no God concept in our Constitution!  We aren't fundamentally subscribed to a religious idea of a country.  God is a very personal thing, even though we do a puja before launching our spacecraft.  For some reason our latest GSLV plunged into the sea.  Could it be the wrong brand of incense sticks?  No serious investigation into the failure of our first cryogenic engine is likely to result in a finding that blames the pujari.

So, let's learn to blame ourselves first, whenever things go wrong.  It is a very good habit to get into.  If I call 139 and get wrong information about my train's arrival time, it is upto me to fill out in triplicate, the complaint form at the railway station, and make my grievance known.  It is upto us to bitch, and moan, and complain, and sue - till the garbage gets cleared on time, till the road gets relaid, till the sewers stop dumping into our rivers, and till we get every single thing we need to feel like humans again.  Indianness cannot be the answer to the questions we are afraid to ask.

BSK.

Why are our MIGs crashing?

It's been a while since we were rocked by the Bofors scandal, involving Rajiv Gandhi. Eventually nothing came out of it, and the Bofors guns more than proved their worth in the Kargil conflict, silencing many critics.

However, it would be naive to believe even for a moment, that the Ministry of Defence is in charge of a very corrupt, very damaging, and incredibly expensive machine called the Indian Military. Ask any industry that supplies anything to the Indian Armed Forces and they will tell you how corrupt their dealings invariably are.

From little individual contractors who build websites, to those who manufacture mission critical components, everybody has a tale or two about paying kickbacks, and who ever questions the outflow of the Indian military?

It was distressing enough for me to see an Army officer siphon petrol from his official green Ambassador and fill up his Maruti van, and it doesn't help knowing it is pretty routine for military officers to be "entertained" by private manufacturing firms chasing their decisions for lucrative contracts. It doesn't help knowing first hand that some very good looking Russian women are patriotic enough to show up to canvass for Russian contracts.

"A total number of 22 MIG Aircraft of the Indian Air Force has crashed from April 01, 2006 till date. There were three casualties in these crashes," Defence Minister Mr. A.K. Antony said today. (http://in.news.yahoo.com/139/20090708/808/tnl-air-force-to-have-230-sukhoi-30-mki.html)

It has been a while since Indian manufacturers have filled in for Russian spares for the MIGs. It won't be long before the Sukhois go this route, all in the name of reducing foreign exchange burden. How many Sukhois have to crash and burn, and how many Indians will have to die before we get to the bottom of the problem?

As a nation, we should be ashamed that the bulletproof vests handed out to Mumbai policemen were found not to be bulletproof when the bullets fired by Pakistani terrorists actually hit them. Apparently, the police have even lost that file, indeed with the same impunity that comes with a mass acceptance of corruption and a morass of moral ineptitude that have come to define who we are as Indians.

We set such low standards that we don't really care that a MIG that should be thundering at forty five thousand feet has hit the ground, in all probability due to a technical snag, caused by nothing short of a corrupt supplier. The investigations will drag to a point where it can never be conclusively proved in a court of law that this is the case. With 22 MIGs crashing in three years, we really should be paying this a lot of attention.

But, we won't. We're probably uncaring enough in our apathy to worry about that one sincere pilot whose dream it was to fly a fighter plane in his country's uniform. We're not going to do anything about that policeman who gave his life in vain, for he took a chance upon his trust in his country to have given him a genuinely bulletproof vest.

That is the part that hurts, our inability to trust anything Indian. We fail all too easily. We are spineless and we are dirty in our collective Karma. That is what is depressing about living in this goddamn country. Everything is corruptible. Everything is suspect. Everything is defective. Most of all, we punish those amongst us who care to be uncompromising, and we beat them into submission.

What could possibly go wrong if we changed?