Happy Birthday Bapu! [276/365]

More than a year ago, when we celebrated Anna's vision of an India without corruption, we cheered him along and our rulers trembled. The strength of our cheering only grew. The ground shook under our feet and we all thought we were witnessing history in the making. We hung onto every word that he spoke. We paid his rejuvenation bills and hospital stays. It was a small gesture for a short man in khadi who'd captured our imagination, again.

Circa October 2nd, 2012, the magic has long gone. In a sad turn of events that lacks any inspiration or direction, the Team is now fighting amongst each other. The man has become a mere shadow of his former self. I won't say why the team broke up but I can say how they could have stayed together.

Decades ago, when Gandhi fought for our independence he faced a lot of setbacks too. The Empire didn't take him seriously and when they did, they either punished him severely to make him an example, or didn't punish him at all so that he does not become a martyr. They paraded him as the small man who dared to take on the might of the Empire. And when the Empire wasn't trying to break our morals, we fought amongst ourselves and behaved in a manner completely unfitting and kept straying from our path of nonviolence and noncooperation. We showed how violent we were. Gandhi came dangerously close to abandoning his movement several times during the struggle and eventually we killed him. 

Predictably I watched the movie 'Gandhi' again today. One of the most endearing quotes that he makes is 'An eye for an eye only makes the whole world blind'. As I let that quote sink in, I thought of the many leaders and beauty pageant winners who quote Gandhi as their role model. While I won't deny how Gandhi is a wonderful person and probably one of the finest human beings to have walked this earth, I question how despotic politicians and tyrants can claim to follow a man who propagated nonviolence and won.
Case in point- Obama. He is a eloquent orator and a charming leader. However, as a man who proudly presided over the execution of another man he does not deserve to quote Gandhi.
Anna does not deserve to claim Gandhi to be his role model either for the way he has given up his movement only because he didn't get the footfall he expected. Gandhi fasted unto death to mourn the fact that he fought for the independence of a country where her people were killing each-other in vengeance. Anna fasted to arm-twist the government to agree to his terms. Gandhi could have fasted to arm-twist Jinnah and the Empire into not dividing India, but he didn't. He could have fasted to get justice for the killers of innocent civilians in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. He could have fasted for vengeance but didn't.

Gandhi could have been the small man but he wasn't the simple fool that the British thought him to be.
Our mistake was that we put Anna into Gandhi's sandals and expected him to run a marathon. Anna is a simpleton. Surely, his intentions are good but he is no Gandhi.

Advice to Anna: Watch the movie 'Gandhi' pronto.
And oh yeah. Happy Birthday, Bapu

SOPA adjust maadi [30/365]

January was exciting. What with hundreds of people dying in Syria, people quitting, people getting thrown out of office, people being banned from coming to their home country, and then the magnum opus - SOPA. Whew!

For those who came in late, SOPA (acronym for Stop Online Piracy Act) is a piece of legislation that was introduced by the Republicans in the US Senate, that would give the American Justice system and the law enforcement wide ranging capabilities to fight any online piracy of copy-written/counterfeit goods (read Music, Movies, Books et al). Passing this bill would have meant that American courts could bar companies from advertising or sponsoring or in any way conducting any business with websites that break this law. This besides from also requiring search engines from indexing the webpages and ISPs block any access to the infringing sites. Simply put, the Internet would be censored and be as boring as watching Indian movies on TV.

Now, while the supporters of this bill say this could mean the end to copy-write violations, they also state this could protect intellectual property of smaller artists besides revenue besides strengthening the existing copy-write laws.
Opponents of this bill however point out at that this could mean the end to free speech and creativity online.
As a way to protest against SOPA, the English version of Wikipedia and about a thousand other websites that regularly feature such material or are dependent on revenue from advertisements staged a worldwide blackout.
That was Sathyagraha 1.0. Now, we are truly in the 21st century.

Without delving into details of how the rest of the fight went, I can say that SOPA will not be the last attempt at muffling our voices. I bet it existed even amongst Cave men. Or did it? Maybe it only started when we gained intelligence and became self conscious. Leaders that we elected became wary of what we thought, spoke and wrote. (aka Kapil Sibal)

You'd think that colorful instances of how freedom always won over oppression would've taught these men (and women) in power a lesson or two. But nay. Like they say, like a dog to it's vomit, history will spank the leaders who try to repeat the sins of absolute power.

Cheers!

Locked in [16/365]

The right to live.
The right to speak your mind.
The right to express yourself freely.

Ever since the dawn of civilization, nations and their citizens have fought and defended these fundamental rights.
While many of us are fortunate to practice these rights at freewill, I read about a Briton who wants the right to die. (Read article)

Suffering from the debilitating 'Locked-in syndrome' after a paralytic stroke seven years ago, he now wants to die. (Read more about Locked-in syndrome here)
While I won't advocate euthanasia (assisted suicide) as an escape from life or illness, I can understand how an illness as debilitating as this would take a toll on both the sufferer and their care-givers.

Death is an escape. And given the times that we live in, quite a welcome break too.
But I like to think that you cannot use death as a bail out package in times of illness, state of poverty, choice of lifestyle or your actions.
When I read the article on Tony Nicklinson, while I could begin to identify how trapped he might be feeling, when he described his life as 'dull, miserable, demeaning, undignified and intolerable.', I beg to differ. Hundreds of miles away in Afghanistan, Syria and closer home in India, we have millions whose life can fit into that description.
Death is not an option to them. Life is that endless toil and persecution until the 'break'.

I'm reminded of the many people around us who experiences different kinds of the 'Locked-in syndrome'.
For some of us, circumstances may have isolated us from others. Lying in a hospital bed, serving time in prison (for a just cause), or being shut in emotionally, can make us feel that we are experiencing our own 'Locked-in syndrome'. When people begin to use circumstances as a crutch, we must remember how we are the authors of our destiny.

Stephen Hawking, needs no introduction. Afflicted by Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), he once famously described himself as 'lucky'. While he was just being modest, he went on to receive 15 awards across a career spanning three decades.

Besides the path-breaking discoveries in Astrophysics, I think the most important and often the most difficult decision is when a person who is down and out, decides to make the best of it. I'm reminded of how Jesus, fully God yet stuck in a man's body, struggled against the mighty Roman empire... (Read 2 Timothy 2:1-10).

When adversity has often brought out the most remarkable survivalist streaks in humans, I can't see how we should throw in the towel when we hit a minor setback.

While I stop short of making a verdict on the right to die, the right to live and the freedom to pray certainly wins.

Magnum Opus

'He was a man who made humility and simple truth more powerful than empires'

Today as India celebrates how the parliament passed the Jan Lokpal bill as demanded by Anna Hazare and his team.
The month long campaign has proved that complete freedom against corruption is a long way away but the freedom of speech by the people and the media sure found its expression among billions of Indians. Many supporting the cause, many supporting the man and thousands against the man.

One of my favorite biographical movie is 'Gandhi' by Sir Richard Attenborough. This timeless movie still answers the many questions that plagues our society.

Watching it for the millionth time, I'll attempt to dissect the essence of what we need to learn..

Disgraced after being thrown out of a train only because he was traveling on a first class ticket, this sparked the first flames of freedom against discrimination.
Even as a staunch follower of Hinduism, Gandhi respected and followed the essence of Christianity. He often called himself and everyone 'Children of God'.
Even when faced with an seemingly impossible task of bringing equality to Indians in South Africa, he never once was disrespectful. Just polite and stern.
From being called 'Citizens of the Empire' to overthrowing the Empire, Gandhi showed us how we need to 'Fight against their anger. Not provoke it.'

Where there is injustice, I always believe fight. But the question is 'Do you fight to change things or to fight to punish?'
The problem with our supposed fight against corruption is that a majority of us are very comfortable with our every day lives (and I've already discussed why here)

When we spoke about Anna's stubborn refusal to budge, I remembered how Gandhi, referred to himself as a 'stubborn man'.
On my maiden visit to the Golden Temple many many years ago, I visited the Jallianwala Bagh. Now converted to a national monument it is one of those monuments that have been restored and preserved well. I could still see bullet holes and dried blood splatter. And the well, now sealed off is a grim reminder of the many dozens who lost their lives. A monument to mindless cruelty and unapologetic ruthlessness.
The way the empire and her majesty (note the lower case) refused to leave India despite the atrocity it committed, reminds me of how corrupt politicians refuse to step down.

When I read about how college students in Bangalore turned violent, I remembered how misguided protesters killed policemen during Gandhi's freedom struggle. But then violence has always been a much easier option for cowards.

Modern times call for contemporary measures. While most of Gandhi's principles is still proven to work in a world filled with turmoil. Prohibition is a farce in Gujarat where you'll always get the booze for the right price. It's not about looking or talking the part. It's about the being the part.

'Nearly all revolution starts as an idea in the mind of one man'. We won our freedom from the British with one such idea which became the most inspirational civil resistance in all history. In 2011, Anna has helped us win another.
Like Gandhi, he led from the front. Boldly, fearlessly and non violently.

Freedom. While we continue to fight among ourselves over who is more right, our politicians have always followed the colonial rule of 'Divide and Rule'. They have done it then and they continue to do it now.

'In our own sweet time.. In our own sweet way, we'll get there'

Britain, an tyrant Empire that once ruled most of the world and once was called Great Britain now reduced to a shell of its former self wrecked by terrorists from both outside and within. An island nation where an overwhelming majority of its citizens live on welfare and government doles. A nation that is still grappling with itself. What an awful turn of fortune. 

The only devils in the world are those running around in our own hearts. And that is where all our battles ought to be fought - Gandhiji

Now, lets drink to that!

This is an ode to Gandhi: The 'half naked Indian fakir' who became the icon who Albert Einstein remarked is a man who 'generations will come which will scarce believe that such of one of this ever of flesh and blood walked upon this earth'

When I despair I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time, they can seem invincible but in the end, they always fall.

Hey Ram!

Read more:
The government against satyagrahas, then and now

By the way...

Just so you know...
Indian democracy is not the most unique or supreme.
If it were unique, we would have had politicians who had the country's good at heart.
If it were supreme, our elected representatives would have delivered what they were supposed to deliver- Justice, Equality and Freedom.

Strangely, the Anna movement has managed to evoke the most controversial statements/behavior with no real knowledge of what the entire circus is about.
We have common people who are largely unaware of the history of delaying tactics and obfuscation by successive governments in passing the Lokpal bill and then we have the government who admits there is rampant corruption (which is a wonderful departure from denying its existence) but desperately want to sidetrack it with irrelevant comments/suggestions.

Recently talking to a close relative, who was largely skeptical of the movement. I listened to her arguments silently before I set out to convince her.
Why now? When the Congress is ruling? Definitely the BJP is behind this.
Of course now. If not now, when? The Congress has been ruling for quite a while now. Except for a narrow break in the later part of last century, the Congress has always been at the helm of affairs. As for accusations of support from the opposition, it is anybody's guess why they would support. While they have been baying for the ruling party's blood ever since they lost their second chance, they have conveniently piggybacked on Anna. Cauterized by a bitter experience down south, they want to appear as the only party will not take corruption lightly.
After decades of corruption that has eroded the very corpus of our democracy, there is a large part of the middle class that has had enough.

Why not run for election so that Anna can make a change that way?
Appearing as it seems the gargantuan sums of money that goes into bribing million people and considering Anna's financial limitations and his character, it is anybody's guess that Anna will loose an election hands tied down. Suggesting he runs for an election is a simplistic view of people who choose to be ignorant.
The obvious result of such a failure would be an ideal excuse to not pass stricter anti corruption laws.

Do you see Red here?

Why not strengthen existing anti corruption agencies?
Not many people would know that the Lokpal Bill did create all of these agencies. Ineffective as they are with little or no right to investigate, prosecute or punish the guilty, they are but a toothless tiger and a huge drain on the exchequer. That and the fact that many of these agencies are headed by cabinet rank Ministers who will not want to prosecute their peers.
Scratch my back and I'll scratch yours.

Armchair activists like the 'one book wonder' Arundhati Roy would do better than to write an elaborate essay on why Anna is wrong. I wonder how much she got paid to write such ludicrous piece of trash. Why the (Indian) media still refers to her as 'Indian Booker prize winner..' still defies my understanding. She wrote just one book and got really lucky there. (By that measure, I must be referred to as 'English rank holder at high school') She has since decided to not test her luck anymore by staying with pro Maoist activism and random tree hugging.

Why a deadline?
A deadline works best when all you've got is a government that procrastinates, delays and manipulates thoughts, ideas and action to correct an endemic disease like Corruption. Given that the congress and like scum had roughly 45 years to pass the Lokpal bill in its true essence, I believe a deadline is what we need.
This time it's our way or the highway, Mr PM.

Why is Anna being adamant about his demands?
Well, there are only 3, for crying out loud.
The government has sat on the Lokpal bill like a hen on a hard boiled egg for far too long. They've never had the intention to pass it. Not then, not now.
It's time for some tough love.

Why the hell is he so bothered?
Most weren't. Were they?
Almost child like, he's accepted your support but never asked you for your donation. So when an illiterate former soldier and farmer fights for the freedom of a billion plus, the least you can do is support the cause that he is fighting for. After all, as Indians we belong here - In India.

But that's the problem with Indians. After having been ruled over by our colonial masters, we've been conditioned to be subservient.
We'll never give a compliment when its deserved. We'll never give a honest feedback when we have to. We're used to poor service and the tag of 'third world country'.

But just so you know, you should never give up.
Spread the word, folks. Our children will never forgive us if we don't clean up our mess.

More Read:
Arund'hate' Roy
Rather be Anna than Roy!
Messianism versus democracy

When Giants fall

The Power of One

A sudden spate of revolutions that have rocked seemingly stable countries around the world are but a subtle reminder that Giants can still fall.
The thud is hardly pleasant but the ripples that it makes can be felt across the world.
The Middle Eastern crisis, the Libyan conflict, the British riots and now, Anna Hazare.

What newspapers and sheer word of mouth did 70 years ago, FB and twitter did yesterday.
While the newspapers will eventually move on to fresher headlines of how the over rated Indian cricket team under performed, we must not loose our focus.

In a throwback to the colonial freedom struggle, Anna was jailed. They could only break his body. Not his will or his spirit.
Anna may fall victim to his cause. But what is important that his cause must not fail.
With the government trying to suppress freedom that has been constitutionally guaranteed, what remains to be seen is how Team Manmohan (aka Sonia) can explain its actions to 'We the People'
With senior Ministers questioning how just about any random citizen can decide on the constitution, may we remind him the first few lines of how the Constitution of India starts.
For a government that thrives on fattening the lining on its wallets, we need to reiterate how the constitution reminds us that the government is 'For the People'.
For a generation with a short attention span, our freedom struggle must not flounder nor suffer. We must remember that this country belongs to every one of us - 'By the People'

Imprisoning Anna could have been a knee jerk measure, but surely Team Manmohan should have remembered their history lessons.
The consequence- A billion have awakened.
People across demography, age and profession have woken up to what can be a monumental phenomenon. Millions on the streets and this time, the people have united. In single minded determination. A revolution of such gargantuan proportions that you know you are witnessing something historic.
Yes, just maybe corruption will be thing of the past, a story of how India was that our children will tell their children.

But true awakening and real change will come when ordinary people like you and me sharpen our civic senses.

How many times have you bribed your way out of a traffic violation?
How many times have you jumped the red light at nights or when there wasn't anyone looking?
How many times have you stopped to help a victim of an accident?
How many times have we resisted the urge to spit or chuck that garbage bag into an empty plot near your home?
How many times have we have been prejudiced against a fellow Indian based on his caste, creed or demography?

The need of the hour is freedom. A freedom against corruption. Yes definitely.
But also a freedom where we act with responsibility and honesty. Also integrity.
We need a land where we need to participate and work for the common good.

We need to resist the urge to switch our minds off.
We have to act. And the this is just the beginning.

If any of this has spurred you to act, I encourage you to click here to join the cause. Not just in the virtual world but in the real world too.
We better save India while there's still something left to save.

In the meanwhile, our media is doing something right for the first time:

The Hindu
IBN Live
Deccan Herald
Indian Express 
Express India.com
IBN Live, again
The Hindu, again
DNA

India: When History repeats itself

Unless you've been buried alive, you wouldn't have missed the loud groaning of a billion people against corruption.

For all those who thought Anna Hazare couldn't and wouldn't be able to replicate his fight against corruption nationwide, the events that have unfolded since yesterday has kicked their butt all the way back to 1947.

But the irony does not end there. What the British were 65 years ago, the Congress with their ragtag bunch of political crooks are now.

Surprisingly, the British are having their own litany of trouble with gang violence and such. Looks like the Great Britain is no longer 'Great'.

Coming back to India, where we are suffering from the birth pangs of yet another Freedom struggle, this time not against foreigners but against Indians who have looted us for way too long.
Those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it.
The irony is that we are fighting against a government that is led by the first family of politics - The Gandhi's.
How the family that once symbolized every virtue, pure and free became a concocted mix of greed, corruption, nepotism and oppression is something that we as Indians need to introspect.

Aug 16th, 2011 will forever be the day in Indian history when the second Freedom Struggle started.
A fight against a government that refuses to relinquish absolute power and shed all reason to oppress needs to win. We owe it to our children.
We may not live to see all the changes that this struggle will bring about. But we ought to have started it.
After having threatened, reasoned and cajoled Anna Hazare to abandon his plans of fasting until death, the government erred greatly by arresting him.
The first family of Indian politics should have known better than to stifle a nonviolent protest.

The Satyagraha as a peaceful, non violent form of public protest became a powerful
The idea was first mooted by the American philosopher Henry David Thoreau and it was Gandhi who effectively demonstrated the enormous impact of various forms of non-violent civil disobedience.

A peaceful gathering by disobeying prohibitory orders and courting arrest was one form. Marching to the seashore to symbolically make your own salt was another.
The most effective form of satyagraha was used occasionally, somewhat rarely, as a last resort — the indefinite hunger strike. One man’s fast would rivet the subcontinent and often deliver quick results, be it quelling communal riots or scoring a compromise with formidable opponents like the British.


Gandhi’s extraordinary capacity to rouse masses did not just bring freedom to India but also brought justice to blacks in the US through Martin Luther King Jr, an avowed follower of the Gandhian doctrine of civil disobedience. In South Africa, it was Nelson Mandela.


When non-violent public protests turn into mass movements, growing bigger by the day, it’s not easy to stop them. The nationwide protests against the Emergency that brought down Indira Gandhi is an instance, with an almost parallel example that originated in Egypt’s Tahrir Square and finally dethroned president Hosni Mubarak.


In India, the issue of the day is corruption. Rather ironically, it is the “clean and incorruptible” prime minister Manmohan Singh’s team that has lost face in the way it has handled the Lokpal Bill issue.


Barely four months ago, Team Manmohan agreed to include civil society members in the drafting of the Lokpal Bill in a frustrated attempt to bring Anna Hazare’s first round of satyagraha to a quick close.


From then on, every attempt was made to discredit the civil society members of the panel — from questioning the inclusion of the father-son legal team of Shanti and Prashant Bhushan and challenging their integrity right down to calling Anna a corrupt man.


Finally, Team Manmohan submitted a diluted version of the bill to parliament and in the intervening period, Baba Ramdev and his supporters were caned out of Delhi. Team Anna was warned that they would suffer a same fate.


This arrogance of the Congress-led UPA government was on display at every turn and as a final roll-out of the plot, the government decided to thwart Anna’s plans for a second satyagraha in Delhi from August 16. Twenty-two pre-conditions were imposed and finally Anna was arrested from his Delhi residence even before he could step out to proceed towards JP Park.


Today’s generation could as well imagine Team Manmohan as part of the British Raj at its wit’s end in trying to deal with Mahatma Gandhi.


If the British police had their Rottweilers, Team Manmohan has its equivalents in Congress spokesman Manish Tewari and senior leader Digvijay Singh who lost no opportunity to try and tear Anna to pieces. Calling Hazare a corrupt man, dismissing his locus standi as he was not elected by the people (unlike our great netas) and telling him how to — and how not to — conduct his protest, were all part of the strategy to scuttle the public crusade against corruption.


It almost seemed that Team Manmohan had won this second round and demonstrated how to effectively puncture a satyagraha. But they erred greatly.
With barely a year to go before the largest democracy in the planet goes into an electoral huddle, history will prove once again that freedom will prevail.

Gandhiji is surely squirming in his grave.

Freedom and Equality. Touche'

Part 3

Third of a 4 part series about events that are changing our world

After seeing the sudden spread of discontent in the Arab world, I've come to realise that Men in Power and cockroaches are made of the same stuff. You think they'd evolve into something better or be good for the society but history and evolution has a strange way of disappointing you.


The Arab world is up in arms. Burning. What started off in Tunisia, changed Eygpt, shook up Libya and is shaping up revolutions of epic proportions in Bahrain, Yeman, Algeria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

Most Arabs are normally perceived as wealthier than citizens of other countries. But the recent spate of uprisings are an overwhelming cry for help against corrupt and repressive dictators and politicians. A yawning gap between the have's and the have-not's, the disparaging spread of oil wealth and rising unemployment among the educated youth have ultimately become the death knell of those in power.  


Why does power entice a person and once achieved, why does it corrupt so absolutely?
What does our rulers want?
Democracy or otherwise, all men (and a few women) in power have always plundered and amassed wealth. On this tiny planet that we call home- Earth. Its not like we are going to plunder another planet or going to be able to upgrade to a large planet. We aren't even going to be able to take even one ounce of it back to Hell.

Just Do It, huh?

Looking back, I'd say the first decade of the 21st century will be the single most turning point in man's history. Starting with 9/11, we've seen unabashed greed, and the pursuit of ill gotten wealth. We've seen countries and people go at each other with a vengeance. 

Well down, Wikileaks! You've unleashed the truth. It hurts but it feels good to know that we've always been lied to. Where are the good ol days where politicians were noble and didn't philander? Well, actually there were any. All politicians (with the exceptions of a few) have always looted and destroyed us. And in most cases, we had voted for them! WOW! Talk about bad judgment and a nasty hangover, huh! 

As Indians, we enjoy a lot of freedom. Something that Arabs have almost never had in their own countries. A press that is freer (albeit kitschy at times) and people who are more aware of their rights now (all thanks to Cable TV and the Internet) than in the past 60 years. 


While we covet the wealth (and the lighter skin tones) of the Arabs and the West, I hope we'd understand that the grass is always greener on the other side. Would we be willing to live a wealthier life without any of the freedom?

Many can debate that freedom and equality can never co-exist but you'll never miss it until you lose it.


Jump to the other parts here:
Apocalypse, Oil, Evil