Nation of queues - Mindset is the culprit

India is no longer the land of snake charmers. Rarely do we find one on our streets these days. But we are a nation of queues. Wherever we go, we have to stand in a queue and wait for our turn. Almost every service provided by the government, like issuing a passport or a driving license, can be availed only by standing and waiting in a queue. It looks as if queues are mandated by the constitution of India. Queues get even longer at our temples, it is not uncommon to see people standing in queues for hours just to catch a glimpse of their Lord. Buying any kind of a ticket, be it a train ticket or a cinema ticket, is even worse; we stand in queues without any guarantee of getting one. We wait to get our things billed at a retail store; the days of shopkeepers waiting on customers are gone. When we go to withdraw money from an ATM, a queue welcomes us. Go to deposit your money at a bank branch, another queue awaits you. The only way to consult a doctor is through a queue; the more famous the doctor is, the longer the queue gets.

We got so used to queues that we don't find them odd any more. A generation ( probably more than one) grew up in queues, pardon the pun. It all started at the school in the name of assembly. We can even be proud as no other nation on earth can match us in queues.

People, in general, do not like to wait for their turn. That is why societies find ways to get rid of queues. I wonder why we as a nation did not make much progress in that direction. One can dismiss this as a consequence of having more than a billion in population. That is probably one reason, we do not have 'enough' of anything to serve such a huge population. I think there is a bigger reason. I am afraid it stems from our mindset, which is characterized by the urge to get ahead of one's neighbour, no matter how silly that race might be. We rush, pushing others aside, to get into a bus even when there are only 10 people boarding an empty bus of 45 seats. It is this mindset that causes so many mini-stampedes in our country. It is this mindset that necessitates queues. We can get rid of many a queue if we can change this mindset.

There is also another reason. Only when there are queues, there is demand for 'short cuts'. More demand for short cuts means more bribes, more power to those queue creators. So the bribe seekers, read public policy makers and implementers, would want to create more and more queues. It is for the people to realize and  resist any such attempts. Any politician framing those policies,   welfare or economic or citizen service related, which create more queues is in reality doing more harm than good to the society.

Telangana - What will happen after December 31?

The committee headed by Justice Srikrishna is expected to submit its report on the Telangana issue to the Union Home Minister on or before the 31st of December this year. There is a lot of speculation in the local media on what will happen after that day? December 31st is projected as the D-day on which a decision on statehood for Telangana will be taken. Some pro-Telangana politicians dramatically declared that they would create 'earthquakes' and 'tsunamis' if that decision doesn't go in their favor. All this hype has created some sort of 'countdown' to December 31st.

I predict that nothing will happen on that day. Going by the history of committees and commissions in India, the committee may not even submit its report on that day. Even if the committee submits its report in time, it is just a report, not a decision. The union government is in no way bound to act on the recommendations of the report. Forget acting on its recommendations, the government might never even make the recommendations public. The reports of many committees appointed in the past by the Government never saw the light of day.

We don't know what the committee is going to recommend. It might recommend against bifurcating the state of Andhra Pradesh. It might even recommend trifurcating the state. Somehow I feel the committee is not going to recommend exactly what the pro-Telangana groups are demanding. If the report contains some 'hard to digest' facts or if its recommendations go against the interests of the ruling party, this report also might find its way to the dustbin in the office of the union home minister.

Even if we assume that the recommendations are in the interest of the nation, of the ruling party especially, a decision can not be taken overnight. The government has to table the report in the parliament and we all know it will be a long drawn out process. The earliest session of the parliament after December will be in February to discuss the railway budget and the union budget. The chances of the Telangana issue being discussed in that session are very remote.

So nothing significant will happen after the 31st of December. At the most, there could be one or two 'bandhs'. All this hype around that date is just a media gimmick to keep the people glued to their TV sets.

Criticize at your own peril

Yesterday one vernacular news channel telecast a show that allegedly criticized Sonia Gandhi. And hell broke loose in AP today. Congress activists across the state are protesting against this and are demanding unconditional apology from the channel. It is not just the activists who took to the streets but also ministers in the state cabinet. One woman leader was even crying before the cameras; she should have been in movies. Two weeks ago when ex-chief of RSS launched a diatribe against Sonia Gandhi, there was even more hullabaloo, with the chief minister of AP himself taking part in a 'dharna' on the street. We hardly see any criticism of Sonia Gandhi. When some rare voice criticizes her, it is coerced into silence by these cheap pressure tactics. I always felt there was only one person in the history of India who cannot be criticized. Now I am afraid she has become only the second such person.

I am intentionally leaving out the name of the first such person. I am afraid of mentioning his name here as it might be seen by some people as criticism. One hint: He was not Mahatma Gandhi, nor was he a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family.

Only if a deodorant can do that ...

My dear young men, Axe deodorant won't get you a girlfriend. Not just Axe, neither will Wild Stone deo, nor will Denver deo, nor will Very Very Sexy deo, nor will any other deo for that matter. What they show on the ads is too good, too easy to be true. If a deodorant could get you a girl or a woman, there would be no poetry, no war. Only if a deodorant could get you a girl, this world would be a different place altogether. So don't fall for the ads.

All the western marketers complain that deodorant usage is very low in India because Indians don't care much about personal hygiene. Whatever may be the reason, there is a huge untapped market for deodorants in India. Unfortunately the ads don't seem to promote deodorant as a product for personal hygiene, but as a product for something completely different. Surprisingly no social activist ever said a word against these ads.

Nevertheless these ads must have been a big success in promoting the sales of deodorants. Otherwise why would the ads of all deodorants follow the same theme, that is to make one irresistible to girls? I think the trick, though very cheap, struck a chord with many a young man in our country.

Enemy No 1 to Telangana

It is KCR. I know it sounds like a fancy guess. But I am afraid that is the truth, inconvenient to supporters of a separate Telangana state. Let me tell you how.

KCR stays relevant only as long as the movement for a separate Telangana state continues. It is from this relevance that he derives his clout and his money. Once Telangana state becomes a reality, KCR would lose his relevance and would become just one among many politicians. The chances of his becoming the chief minister of the new state are very few. A separate Telangana state is, in reality, against the interests of KCR and his family. It is the demand for a separate state that is good for him and his family. And he will do everything to keep this demand simmering as long as possible.

Carving out a separate state is not as simple as KCR makes it sound. In the recent past, three new states were carved out of larger states. All three of them were formed only after respective state assemblies gave their consent. Though the consent of the state assembly is not mandated by the constitution of India, it is a tradition which union government would normally not break away from. The state of AP was formed by merging the erstwhile Andhra and Hyderabad states only with the approval of both the state assemblies. The region of Andhra sends more legislators to the assembly of AP than the region of Telangana. The assembly of AP can give its consent for a separate state only if more than half of the legislators vote for it. It means at least some (28 to be precise) legislators from Andhra region should vote for a separate Telangana state, assuming all legislators from Telangana region vote for it. So the leaders demanding a separate Telangana state should ideally have convinced the people of Andhra region about the need for a separate Telangana state. They should also have tried to make the separation a win-win situation for both the regions. But KCR and his associates are doing the exact opposite of this. Instead of convincing the people of Andhra region, they have antagonized them by spreading hatred against them through their speeches. They have also made it a win-lose situation for the people of Andhra region by being adamant on making the city of Hyderabad an exclusive part of Telangana state. People of Andhra see Hyderabad as their own city and don't want to lose it to a new state. It is KCR and his associates who have, deliberately I guess, made this a deadlock situation. There is only one solution to deadlock situations in politics, that is delay. And delay is what we are seeing in this matter. As I told you, delay works best for KCR.

There is another possibility of the union government carving out a separate state without seeking the consent of the state assembly. This is what KCR and his associates are publicly demanding. Imagine why any party leading the union government would do this, be it Congress or the BJP. Whatever electoral gains that party makes in Telangana region will be more than offset by the losses it makes in Andhra region. Both Congress and the BJP would not risk it. Instead they would wait for things to cool down. That is why governments form commissions to look into such matters. Any solution to the Telangana deadlock will be possible only when it ceases to be an emotionally charged issue. Of course, KCR and his associates will do everything to keep the emotions of innocent people flared up.

More Noise - Less Logic

There are some catchy tag lines heard on Radio Mirchi Hyderabad. "Idi chala hot Guru" which means 'It is very hot Guru'. There is another one 'More music, less talk Guru". If I have to use a tag line to describe the ongoing movement for a separate Telangana state, it will be "More Noise - Less Logic". It is more of rhetoric than rationale that is powering the movement. Of course, it is very hot Guru.

The issue has become, is made into rather, an emotional one. Emotion blinds rationale and makes people biased in their judgement. Biased people can not see the other side of the story.

The two common demands heard all over Telangana are "Give us our jobs. Give us our water." Majority of the people of Telangana seem to believe that people from Andhra are taking away their jobs and their water. The comparisons are blown out of proportions. It is as if there is no unemployment in the rest of India, in Andhra particularly. They are made to believe that everyone will get a job, a government job in particular, in a separate Telangana state. Rationale says it is just not possible. They are also made to believe that every acre of land will be irrigated in a separate Telangana state. Rationale says it is also not possible. Unfortunately rationale has evaporated into thin air.

The movement for a separate state is ostensibly built on the relative underdevelopment of the Telangana region. But numbers don't say Telangana is so badly underdeveloped relative to Andhra. Also it is not strong enough a reason on which a movement can be sustained. So, the leaders have made it into a sentimental one. Underdevelopment is no longer the reason behind the demand for a separate state, but self-governance. Who can argue against self-governance?

Though it is not publicly admitted, the Telangana movement is fuelled by hatred towards the people of Andhra. People of Andhra are seen as exploiters. There is a law of power which says 'show an enemy to keep your flock together'. That is exactly what the leaders of the movement are doing, showing the people of Andhra as enemies. This enmity shows up at times, like boycotting examination evaluators from Andhra region, setting fire to the properties of Andhra people. Sentiments are whipped up so that people don't see the hollowness of their promise. Unfortunately the movement is led by a gifted orator, KCR, who is very effective at it.

I hope some realization dawns on our people.

Why is he mum?

The crown prince of India, prime minister in waiting (speculation is rife that he might replace Manmohan Singh in 2012), Rahul Gandhi seems to be tight-lipped on all the major issues facing the nation now. But he hogs disproportionately huge amount of publicity, just by travelling to various parts of the country.

Kashmir is literally burning. The chief minister, said to be favored by the crown prince, has lost control of the situation. Rahul Gandhi does not speak anything about it. The naxalite menace is spreading fast and the maoists run parallel government in a significant number of districts. He does not speak about it. But he attends public rallies alongside those very maoists. Andhra Pradesh is witnessing a fervent, divisive and sometimes violent, agitation demanding a separate state. He does not speak about it. He does not even visit AP on his tours, probably to avoid the local media. But he goes to colleges and universities across the nation urging students to join politics. He should make his presence felt, shouldn't he?

The nation expects its future prime minister to have a view on every major issue. Surprisingly the media also does not seem to ask for his opinion on any of the issues. How should the nation understand his silence? Is he trying to be politically correct by keeping quiet? Or is he simply clueless on issues?

Aashayein - Welcome change from Bollywood

Finally Bollywood is breaking free from the so called  'formulae', peppy songs, dances, skinshow... Aashayein is one such different movie, unlike the regular bollywood flick. Kudos to Nagesh Kukunoor for making such a sensitive movie. The movie is a heart touching portrayal of human emotions. It is all about a young man (John Abraham) who comes to know that he has got only three months left to live and how he lives those three months. Everybody may not like the movie as it is short on entertainment. But if you can feel it, the tale no doubt moves you.

John Abraham is a revelation as an actor in the movie. The movie proves once again that good story telling is what makes a good movie, not shooting it in foreign locations.

Telugammayi

There is a new Telugu movie called 'Maryada Ramanna' (మర్యాద రామన్న), which has a song that starts with 'Telugammayi' (తెలుగమ్మాయి) . The song goes on to describe a Telugu girl so beautifully. Not just this movie, there have been many movies in recent past which had songs extolling the good qualities of a Telugu girl. Ironically none of the heroines enacting the role of that beautiful Telugu girl was a Telugu girl. May be the movie makers don't find Telugu girls beautiful enough. May be it is the Telugu audiences who don't find Telugu girls good enough to be heroines. We like only those fair skinned girls who come from Mumbai, Goa, Delhi..any place other than Andhra Pradesh. It is probably true that men like exotic women. If Telugu girls are not really beautiful, those songs must be hypocritical. What I don't understand is why these songs go on to become big hits. May be the people of AP have not really noticed the irony.

But Telugu girls make good sisters in our movies. And these girls from other states don't make such good sisters. Can you see why? I think it has got to do with the psyche of a typical man. Hope you can guess what I mean.

How are teams built?

I always wondered if we need to spend so much money on the so called team building exercises. A highly paid speaker comes and speaks about the qualities of winning teams. Some games, which supposedly illustrate team spirit, are played. I always found them either boring or amusing, but not useful. We grow up in a society that values individual achievements more than collective achievements. So, it is difficult for us imbibe true team spirit. And we don't become good team players just by listening to speeches or playing mock games.

In my view, the ultimate team building exercise is to make a team fight a war against another team. It is only in a war that true camaraderie is built. But we can't make teams in organizations fight wars. If there is any exercise that comes close to a war in building teams, it is to make a team play a sport against another team. Of course, the teams should seriously play to win. All individuals will work towards a common goal, that is to win. And a common enemy, the other team, strengthens the bond between the members of a team. There might be some aberrations, but it has been largely successful in building cohesive teams.

Unfortunately not many managers in IT companies understand this. May be they never played sports.

Bandh is dead.. An alternative

'Bandh', which literally means 'shut down' in English, has been the most employed form of mass protest in India for decades. The idea behind 'bandh' was that people show their protest by voluntarily shutting down almost everything, offices, shops, transport... Until two decades ago, a day of bandh was not so much of inconvenience to the people. It was in fact an extra holiday. Kids did not have to go to school. Most of the workers were employed by the Government and nobody cared if the offices stay closed for another day. Life was slow then and a day of bandh did not really disturb anything. It was also an easy form of protest as all that one had to do was to stay home all day. So most of the bandhs were 'successful' then.

But things have really changed in the last 15 or so years. We live in a more globalized society now and life has become relatively faster. A day of bandh upsets lot of things, lot of schedules. In today's competitive world, parents and schools are not happy about an extra holiday. Most of the employment is in the private sector and workers have no choice but to go to offices anyway. Shopkeepers don't want to lose a day's business; so shops are only 'half-closed'. A bandh is normally 'unsuccessful' these days unless it is 'enforced' by the party which calls for it. People generally don't like things being forced on them; they show their defiance in subtle ways like keeping the shops open. So a bandh is no longer serving its purpose as a form of protest. And governments too have stopped taking notice of bandhs. As a democratic nation we need an effective form of protest and it is high time we choose another form of protest.

I suggest an alternative. Instead of calling for a bandh, political parties ( or people's organizations or Maoists) shall appeal to people to show their displeasure by wearing a black ( it can be any dark color) arm band or a black badge on their clothes. Nothing is shut down and life goes on as usual. It is also a much easier form of protest. If the cause really resonates with public sentiment, we can see a truly voluntary mass protest. The mood of the nation also can be gauged just by looking at the number of people wearing a black badge on the streets. Governments too can't afford to ignore public dissatisfaction about an important issue like 'price rise'.

Threat to Indian democracy - Part 1

Some facts to consider...

1. Shiela Dixit of Congress has won three successive terms (1998,2003 and 2008) and been ruling the state of Delhi since 1998.
2. Congress, along with NCP, has won three successive terms (1999, 2004 and  2009) and been ruling the state of Maharastra since 1999.
3. Naveen Patnaik of BJD has won three successive terms (2000, 2004 and 2009) and been ruling the state of Orissa since 2000.
4. BJP has been ruling the state of Gujarat since 1995 except for 18 months in between. Narendra Modi has been the chief minister since 2001 and has won two successive terms (2002 and 2007).
5. BJP has won two successive terms (2003 and 2008) and been ruling the state of Madhya Pradesh since 2003.
6. BJP has won two successive terms (2003 and 2008) and been ruling the state of Chattisgarh since 2003.
7. Congress has won two successive terms (2004 and 2009) and been ruling the state of Andhra Pradesh since 2004.
8. Congress, along with allies, has been ruling the nation since 2004 and retained power in the 2009 election with the party itself winning 206 Parliament seats.

Two more facts which are more like exceptions in India.

1. The Left front has won seven successive terms and been ruling the state of West Bengal since 1977.
2. The SDF headed by Pawan Kumar Chamling has won four successive terms and been ruling the state of Sikkim since 1994. In the 2009 election, it has won all the 32 Assembly seats. Imagine an assembly without any presence of the opposition.

Some very well researched predictions...

1. The JD(U) and BJP alliance headed by Nitish Kumar has been ruling the state of Bihar since 2005. It is all set to retain power in the upcoming Assembly elections. Of course, this is not my prediction. Results of the 2009 parliament election in Bihar also indicate so.
2. The DMK under Karunanidi has been ruling the state of  Tamilnadu since 2006. It is all set to retain power in the upcoming Assembly elections. This too is not my prediction. The principal opposition party, AIADMK, has already given up.

Almost every media house in the country is peppering us with the prediction that Congress, along with its allies, would win the 2014 general election and the crown prince, Rahul Gandhi, is all set to become the Prime Minister of India. 2014 is still a long time to go, but the analysts are not afraid to place all their bets on Congress. Have you ever seen this kind of (too early) unanimity in analysts' opinion in the last 20 years?

I would also not be surprised if Narendra Modi retains power in Gujarat in 2012.

History of the last 30 years says the elctorate of our nation generally voted against the incumbents. Now they seem to be voting for the incumbents. Anti-incumbency is out and pro-incumbency is in. I am just wondering what could be the reason behind this. Have all these re-elected incumbents ruled so well to deserve re-election? Have Indian politics changed for better? I don't think so. Something is seriously wrong about this new trend.

To be continued...

Who wins?

• Hector or Achilles (watch the movie 'Troy')?
• A small gift with lot of love or an expensive gift without any love?
• A good product with no sales pitch or a bad product with a hyperbolic sales pitch?
• A guy who speaks lot of sense in not so fluent English or a guy who speaks nonsense in fluent English?
• A guy who has a simple bike with tankful of petrol in it or a guy who has a high-end bike but very little petrol in it?
• A not so good-looking woman with a heart of gold or a gorgeous woman with no heart at all?

I want the former to win, but it is always the latter who/what wins.

Evil news paper

Have you ever wondered what purpose a newspaper serves? So many things might come to your mind. But there is one which you have not seen before. Come and see it for yourself in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Here is a daily called ‘Sakshi’, which means 'witness' in English. In reality, it does not stand witness to anything but the ulterior motives of its promoter(s).

One might ask “what is wrong for a daily to be partisan? Which daily is not partisan?”. Yes. Media, all over the world, was never truly impartial. Almost every media house displays sympathy for either an ideology or a cause or a political party. But this one is not like anything else. Its sole purpose is malice. Its goal is not to build credibility for itself, but to destroy the credibility of all other dailies. Where else does a daily run a series of editorials on how bad the other dailies are? It has been largely successful in doing so. People of Andhra Pradesh do not trust any daily now; every daily is seen as equally bad.

Half of the news stories on this daily are not news at all, but its opinions and fabricated lies. It has mastered the art of presenting biased opinions as news. Whenever it has to report some good deed of its (political) opponents, the story begins with something like this, “At last, they do …”. To report a bad deed of them, the story begins with “As always, they do ..”. Do you notice the connotations implied by the phrases ( their equivalent phrases in Telugu) ‘as usual’, ‘as always’, ‘at last’ and ‘finally’? Whenever a story is attributed to ‘a politician who does not want to be named’ or is learnt ‘from our sources’, it is nothing but a lie.

The rot doesn’t just end with the quality of news, but it runs deeper. There is something more disturbing about the ways of this daily. It operates by the tried and tested principle of ‘divide and rule’. It tries to divide readers on the lines of political party, region, religion and the worst of all, caste. Everyday you can find indirect but very clear hints that drive home this very divide. Somebody does something because he/she belongs to a specific political party. Somebody criticizes them because they belong to a different caste. It wants to destroy the middle ground. In its view, every person belongs either to one extreme (a party or a caste) or the other extreme (another party or another caste), that nobody is neutral. And the result on the society is disastrous. A significant percentage of newspapers readers in Andhra Pradesh choose their daily based on their caste or religion or political affiliation; certainly not a good sign of things to come.

Puzzling.. yet super hit song

Goes below the starting lyrics (pallavi) of a song from the movie Khaidi, one of the all time hits of Telugu cinema. The movie is said to have propelled Chiranjeevi to super-stardom.

ఇదేమిటబ్బా
ఇది అదేను అబ్బా


అదేమిటబ్బా
అది ఇదేను అబ్బా

.............
.............
.................

 I don't know if people really noticed the funny part of the lyrics. The song starts with a question "what is this?" from the hero to the heroine. The heroine replies  "this is that only". Then the hero asks again "what is that then?" and the heroine replies "that is this only". And the 4 minute long song finishes without revealing what it is. Sounds absurd but I like it for the absurdity. May be it was intended to be a puzzle to the audiences. May be that is the reason why it was such a big hit. Kudos to the one and only late 'Veturi'.

Why not cheer Serena Williams?

I wonder why majority of men (Indians, don’t know about foreigners) don’t like the Williams sisters (Venus and Serena), especially Serena. In every match she plays, irrespective of the opponent, I see people supporting and cheering her opponent. Even when she wins, people don’t appreciate her. They rather sympathize with her opponent. I think it is because we all have a soft corner for white skin (fair skin in the Indian context). We find every white woman attractive, don’t we? If Serena is such a bad looking woman, she wouldn’t be a fashion icon in the US. Another reason I think why we don’t like her is because she is bulky, strong and muscular. I guess men develop some complex and feel little insecure when they see a really strong woman. With all these biases in mind, we simply ignore the fact she won 12 singles, 11 doubles and 2 mixed doubles Grand Slam championships. We should at least respect, if not idolize, the great champion that she is.