When we fear...

They say age is just a number.

As I get to the big four O, I both agree and disagree.

I don't feel forty but I'm not as fearless as I was. 

It's all in the mind they say. But is the mind weary or are you willing to celebrate the glass half full?

The decade that just passed has been tumultuous. As someone who follows politics, regional and otherwise, I've been getting sicker.

Modi with his unique brand of statesmanship has done a fair enough sleight of hand tricks to retain the voting majority. 

We have morphed into a nation where freedom of speech has become a precious nonrenewable resource.
Like slow-cooked frogs, we neither have the muscle to rise up nor the money to keep our fight focused. 

As politicians openly campaign for violence against those who don't share their political enthusiasm, I lament.

I've stayed quiet for the better part of the past decade fearing frivolous lawsuits and death threats from people who don't believe in the basic tenets that made up our great country. 

Politicians will beat their chests with fervent patriotism and claim India has never invaded another country in history, but why invade when we can implode from within. 

To be fair, I like Modi's style of brute force statesmanship. 

I like how he is the hugging saint of politicians. 

I like how he has got people talking about India. 

I like how he can rally his troops just by using words. 

I like how he has the political will to get what he wants.

I like how he has the political majority to do what he wills.

I like how he is fiercely loyal to Gujarat.

I like how he is conscious of his image, political and otherwise.

I admire the Chanakya in him. 

But that's about it.

I don't like how he has dismantled our society, which was delicately held together by common complaints and joys of daily living. 

I don't like how he destroys his political opponents.

But that's not all...

I intensely hate how he can allow people to die. Yes, I have a strange sense of deja vu knowing how Modi feasted with Trump when barely a few km away, the city was burning. 

I am aghast at how he could allow people to kill each other and be silent about it. 

I am appalled at how he could allow politicians within his party to openly call for genocide and not flinch. 

I am surprised we haven't removed politicians who feed us with hate, while we arrest citizens who call them out.

As the country burns in pockets and patches of violence, our Premier is busy getting ready to win the next election, preparing for the next luncheon meeting with a foreign leader, or trying to schmooze another billionaire.

As Modi grooms his successor and India looks like it is doomed unless we rise in a way we haven't in 70 years, I am overcome with a sense of dread. 

The silver lining in the cloud is - Modi isn't the worst. We've got Shah coming in next. 

We've got golden girl Pragya Thakur.

We've got stud muffin Yogi Adityanath.

Can India survive the onslaught?

The irony in closing:

I am amused Modi had to build a wall to cover up slums from the sacrosanct gaze of the Don. After all, we were always told tall tales of his Gujarat model of progress. 

Well, atleast Don got his wall.

And I step into 40 with a sense of pending doom. With the way things are going, I may soon become the religious minority that our PM is trying to prosecute shield. 

“Where the mind is without fear
and the head is held high,
where knowledge is free.
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls.
Where words come out from the depth of truth,
where tireless striving stretches its arms toward perfection.
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost it's way
into the dreary desert sand of dead habit.
Where the mind is led forward by thee
into ever-widening thought and action.
In to that heaven of freedom, my father,
LET MY COUNTRY AWAKE!”

Biting the Bait [340/365]

Source: cartoonistsatish.blogspot.com

Watching the ruling party in action is getting hilarious.
In the 8 years that it was in power, it pretended to sleep, just long enough to sneak out and loot and plunder but seeing how its days are numbered, its trying to make amends. And how!

While I agree it took two American newspapers to do what Aaj Tak and India TV couldn't, it looks like the government machinery has been fed and oiled sufficiently to give a punch or two before it falls.
Among the slew of welfare schemes that were announced, the UPA decided to gift us what we have asking for all these years - FDI in retail.
But with the Congress and its uneasy bed-fellows readying to pass a litmus test in Rajya Sabha, this could be an exercise in futility. We'd probably not live long enough to see the economic benefits of foreign moolah.
Take China for instance, when the authoritarian communist government there decided to open its market to foreign investment, retailers of the world hurrayed in unison. They couldn't wait for a piece of the fat Chinese pie. A decade down the line, major retailers are shutting down stores and consolidating their businesses. One of the common arguments is that they over-estimated their potential and over-stayed their welcome.
Chinese consumers were simply not the same as the Americans back home.

We aren't that different either. From the Chinese.
We love a bargain. But can a videshi Big Bazaar keep us coming back? Maybe we have more discerning consumers here than in China, but I can confidently say that we have not been studied yet.
I support FDI and I think India needs to open her economy up. But we need regulators that must be impartial and prudent.
We cannot be the one stop for developed economies to dump their Grade B products. We should not be allowed to be a capitalist's guinea pig.

But then who's listening to a lone voice?
There's billions at stake here and while Walmart digs into its deep pockets to lobby, I have that distinct feeling that we are being offered as bait.

Quirks of the day [110/365]

Headlining in the papers today;
And a day later, we are still basking under the glory of Agni 5. No shit.
South Korea tests missiles. In your face, Kim Jr
Mumbai gets its arteries back in action. (Interesting post!)
The Right to Education (RTE) becomes the best news that came out of India in a while.
Gansta chick Simran Sood (pictured) is convicted for her involvement in the murder of a upcoming Bollywood director. Atta girl.
The CBI continues it's raids on officials involved in the Tatra kickback. Sigh!
The cops have no clue who killed young Bangalorean, Monika Srivastava. Deja vu.
Datsun set to enter the Indian car market. Yay!
Across the Atlantic, the big O and Romney are set to give us a recap of 09.
Norwegian nutjob, Breivik testifies that he wanted to behead the exPM.
Chinese sportsmen/women stop eating meat, fearing they will accidentally ingest banned substances. Gee, that gives more meaning to the term 'Chinese food'.
IPL. 'nuff said.
The world prepares to race in restless Bahrain.  

Peace out!

GuestSpeak: General V(rec)K Singh

The last couple of weeks must have been really exciting for the folks at the defense ministry; with all the action going on there they sure do not need to spend a penny on films anymore. The way our military establishment has managed to defame itself is so admirable. One day all was fine and in a span of a couple of months it’s just like any other government establishment all scam and no sense.

The drumroll started very slowly in 2011 when our beloved protagonist General Vijay Kumar Singh finally made up his mind to get his date of birth corrected. Nobody then had any idea that it was going to be so much messy then and so many people supported him. After all, all he was doing was what most people would do if there is any ambiguity about one’s date of birth and he did manage to give a rather convincing reason too. He said he had to do it because he was the leader of an army of 1 lakh men and as a leader he should have a clean and clear record and all the fallacies of it must be set straight, enviable right? But, no so now. Then there was the IMA, the courts and lot of buzz, I am pretty sure that not even the queen’s birthday celebrations got this much buzz in India. Thankfully the Supreme Court laid the matter to rest and judging by what happened afterwards Mr. Singh a bit spiteful.

But then there it did not stop, and then came the Bribe offer! Another seamless and beautiful drama unfolded in the capital with poor old A K Antony at the receiving end, a chap who has only one chink in his otherwise perfect armor. He was honest and for that he was kicked out of Kerala some years back.
He was rather emotional in his address to the house of parliament and he acknowledged the mention of such an incident. He added that the General refused to give a written complaint in that matter.
Why would he not do that? I have no idea. But this was not the end of it then came the letter, a really shocking letter from Mr. Singh to the Prime minister stating that Indian army was a very peaceful force that do not put bullets in their guns anymore, not because they don’t want to but because they don’t have any to put in the first place.

I was left wondering what kind of an army chief gives out the inadequacies of his own army. He was in the first place not supposed to send a letter directly to the Prime minister, which was a breach of protocol. But leaving all this it scares me that a person of such imbalance heads our army. Being the fourth largest army may be one thing but being led by a person such as Mr. Singh, I have my doubts. Mr. Singh is a great soldier and has proved his merit in many battles, but then a leader is not the person with the most number of medals is it?

The other great concern that this whole incident causes is the polarization of the Army and the bureaucracy. I should say I envy the creators of the constitution and the hierarchies and protocols that govern the working of the department. They and they insights have prevented what could possible develop into a military take over. The army, the air force and the navy are in the hands of three men and hence no single men has the command of the entire force at no time, neat and very wise. But I am not concerned about a mutiny in India, that’s a long shot simply because of the mindset of our society that is inherently peaceful.

It is unfortunate that this should happen and what should have been dealt in a rather mature matter is now in pieces. Only one thing is left to do clean the mess up and wrap it up. We cannot have a situation where the nation’s security lies in jeopardy. It would have been more civil had Mr. Singh retired himself just because it’s all a mess now and he is responsible for almost all of it. But he is not doing that, so we can certainly more action packed release from the entertainment house ‘The Ministry of Defense’ staring V K Singh and many more celebrities.

Written for 'Hold the Thought, Get the Point' by our guest blogger Rupertt Wind.

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