Telangana strike will soon end and how

The indefinite general strike (called 'sakala janula samme' in Telugu) in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh has been going on for four weeks now, paralysing public life in the region. The government appeals to the Joint Action Committee, a committee of sundry political parties and unions which called for the strike demanding a separate Telangana state, to end the strike as it is causing prolonged inconvenience to the people. The JAC is in no mood to relent. It counters the appeals of the government saying all the people of Telangana are volutarily striking and it will continue until a separate state of Telangana is declared. Local dailies are carrying stories and pictures saying the strike is intensifying with each passing day.

It may seem like the strike is going to continue until the union government declares a separate state of Telangana. It is not going to be. I think the strike will end soon, irrespective of what the union government will announce or not announce.

Not everyone in Telangana is striking. Parents want their children to go to school. They are not striking. Farmers want power, fertilizers and seeds. They are not striking. Businessmen want to run their business. They are not striking. Indeed they all want the strike to ease, if not end. Other than the politicians and die hard Telangana activists, it is only the employees of the state government who are striking. Politicians and activists have always been staging some kind of protest or the other. People understand it is their full time job and are not much bothered by their protests. It is only the strike of the employees of the state government that is inconveniencing people. If the employees call off their strike, the general strike will instantly be rendered ineffective and will also be called off soon.

Why would the employees call off their strike? Not because they are concerned by the plight of people. But because the strike is turning out to be against their own interests. The state government has stopped paying salaries to the striking employees. They have already lost a month's pay. They can't afford to lose another month's pay. Many of them are also losing all the other income aka bribes, we know employees of some departments make lot of extra money on the job. Most of the employees would want to go back to work, but they wouldn't want to be seen as losers who gave up. They would negotiate a compromise with the government to treat all or part of the strike period as paid holiday and to issue a statement which will let them save their face. The government will eventually agree to a compromise formula and will also make a hollow statement just to show the employees as victors. And thus the strike shall end.

Lokpal Bill – No magic bullet

There is so much of hype in the media about the Anna Hazare led movement to enact a Lokpal bill aimed at rooting out corruption from our system. The movement found enormous support from the public, which surprised Mr. Hazare too. But I am not really surprised. The fight for any cause touted by the media as a ‘good cause’ finds lot of support in India, only to be forgotten quickly.

Popular perception seems to be that this bill, once passed into a law, will be the magic bullet which will eradicate corruption from our system. I am not that optimistic about the bill. Let me tell you why.

The bill, which is being drafted now, proposes to create autonomous institutions which can impartially and quickly probe allegations of corruption and punish those found guilty. In essence, the bill aims to discourage corruption by inducing ‘fear of punishment’ among the corrupt.  Contrary to popular perception, fear of punishment is not the best deterrent against corruption. Take the case of China where trials are quick and punishments are severe. But corruption is still very high in China. With our judicial system where trials go on for a very long time, I am afraid the Lokpal bill will only help to increase the number of ‘pending cases’ manifold. So we should ideally try to emulate more liberal countries like the Nordic nations which have very low levels of corruption.

Most of us think corruption is limited to the government alone. No, corruption is everywhere in India. A taxi driver who demands twice the normal charge from a desperate passenger is also corrupt. A movie exhibitor who sells tickets at double the price on the release day is also corrupt. A doctor who prescribes unnecessary tests and medicines to his/her patients is also corrupt. There is a very thin line separating corruption and profiteering. Of course, such people also extended their support to Mr. Hazare’s cause.

We can devise better ways to eradicate corruption only when we understand certain traits of human nature which make us susceptible to corruption and the circumstances that are conducive to corruption.

If there is an opportunity to be corrupt i.e. to benefit through unethical means, humans will eventually become corrupt. In other words, probity is largely a result of lack of opportunity to be corrupt. (I am trying to generalize here. There will always be men and women of impeccable integrity. But such people are exceptions.) Also if there is an alternative to get things done without paying a bribe, humans will choose the alternative rather than pay the bribe.

Our system is so flawed that there are innumerable circumstances where corruption can flourish. Each circumstance offers plenty of opportunities for a person to become corrupt. Let me attempt categorizing some of them.

• Too much of discretionary power vested with an individual or an institution - from the chief justice of India to the constable from the neighborhood police station
• Power to decide rules of the game, even change them - like cabinet ministers who decide the terms of a license, a contract ...
• Lack of transparency. Secrecy provides lot of protection to the corrupt - it happens at every government office. People generally don't even know when their application will be processed.
• Monopoly where there is no alternative to the people - like BSNL before the entry of private operators, state electricity boards only which can issue a new power connection to your house or office
• The 'expert factor' that provides protection - like doctors. We cannot even read their prescriptions
• Single or very few points of service that create long queues. Gatekeepers become very powerful here - like the passport office of Hyderabad, local government revenue office, local ration dealer...
• Demand far exceeds supply which is rationed - like the tatkal train tickets, refills of domestic cooking gas cylinders
• Thick rule book. I mean procedures which necessitate too many applications, too many approvals - People find it easier to pay bribes and get things done quickly than to follow all the rules.

The best way to reduce corruption is to reform our system so that it offers very few or no opportunities for corruption. It means curtailing discretionary powers, improving transparency, providing multiple options to people and eliminating queues. This is the true reform we as a nation need now. Lokpal or laws to try and punish the corrupt should ideally follow this reform, not precede it.

Reflections of self...

You are between 28 and 32 years of age. You have been working for more than 5 years now. You are single. You begin to notice that everything around you has changed, except you. You are still the same person. But you feel a big void within you. You just can not precisely answer why you feel so.

An accident or an incident or a bout of ill-health or a serious setback causes so much of grief that you realize life is too small. It changes your entire perspective towards life. When looked through this new perspective, you are no longer happy about those very same things you were happy until then.

You realize you are not going anywhere. And you begin to envy those 'super achievers' among your friends. Of course, you also know they might be envying some others. The career you were once very ambitious about is no longer your passion. It is just a means of earning some money. This change in attitude, most probably, would not have escaped the attention of your boss.

More kids call you 'uncle' or 'aunty' now. And you don't like it. Are you a boy/girl or a man/woman now? You tend to choose the word to suit the surroundings. All those 35+ men/women try to include you in their gang. You can not help but notice you are being included in the 'we' in phrases like "when we were in school".  You say to yourself 'not yet' and try to pull away. All those below 25's try to push you out of 'youngistan'. They don't want you to compete with them. You say to yourself 'not yet' and stick around. You wonder why there is so much of unspoken emphasis on age? 50 is young in politics. 40 is young in business. 35 is young in movies. You are not there yet and people around you don't see that. You cry it is not fair. But you know time is running out.

Your friends, one after the other, are getting married. Relatives, well wishers and friends start conversations with the pleasantry "when are you getting married" instead of the usual "how are you". It is a different thing that they never care for your answer. Almost all the married men/women tell you how good it is to get married. But their deeds don't always say the same thing. You don't believe what they say. You are afraid of the unknown. You postpone your entry into that unknown territory called marriage. But you can't articulate why.

You don't enjoy those very things you found enjoyable until not long ago. You realize you miss a lot of things in life. On top of the list is the company of a woman/man depending on your gender. How about girlfriends/boyfriends? You know they are rare specimens. Less than 10% of south Indian men of your age ever had a girlfriend. The percentage is even smaller for women. Rest of the men would have tried but failed. Rest of the women would have either expected too much or been too frightened by single men, not frightened by married men though. You know it is the truth, though everyone, including you, talks of a boyfriend or girlfriend being so common.

You are too ashamed to share this with your friends. Self-help books appear to be the only refuge in your attempt to live with the envy, the sense of mediocrity, the sense of worthlessness. But you know they are good only for reading and recommending to others. You know they don't help you. You are human after all.

High Food Inflation - cut the excuses

India is experiencing double digit food inflation. The government claims it is doing everything possible and the inflation should come down in a few weeks. Many weeks have passed, but inflation does not seem to be heeding the pleas of the government. Every time the food inflation figure comes down a bit, the government claims it is because of its policies. But every time the figure goes up, the government says it is because of factors beyond their control.

The government, its spokespersons and most of the media commentators cite many reasons for the high food inflation. The PM says he has no magic wand to control inflation. Of course, he is right. The minister for agriculture says they are doing everything possible to bring it down. The deputy chairman of planning commission, an eminent economist, says food prices are high because the incomes of the poor are rising and they are eating more. He is right. But it is not a crime for people to eat more. Is it not the duty of the government to lift the poor out of poverty?

Some policy makers, business heads and columnists regularly come forward and try to explain the reasons for high prices and  suggest remedial measures to be taken. Everything they say is a myth. Let me show you how.

• Myth 1: 'It is a random, one time phenomenon. Things should be normal next year.' - No, it is not. It is the price of onions this year, of pulses last year, of rice in the year before and of wheat in the before that. Food inflation has been consistently high for last 4 to 5 years.
• Myth 2: 'We don't have enough cold storage facilities in India. Building more of them should solve the problem.' May be true. But that does not explain the high prices of rice, wheat, pulses or even onions (onions have a higher shelf life).
• Myth 3: 'Speculative futures trading in agricultural produce is causing the prices to rise.' Futures trading in rice, wheat, pulses was banned long back. There is no futures trading in onions either. It can not be the cause.
• Myth 4: 'Middle men are hoarding the produce and artificially creating a shortage which is causing the prices to rise.' Do you believe some middle men can hoard enough stocks to jack up the prices, that too in a huge country like ours? This is simply not true.

Inflation is after all a number derived using a formula. The formula roughly is
                                           (present price - year ago price)
                           inflation = ----------------------------------------- * 100
                                             year ago price

It is always relative to the prices a year ago. If the prices a year ago were high, inflation will remain low because of base effect. It does not necessarily mean current prices are low. So the inflation figure will eventually come down after a few months because of base effect, as we will see a full year of high prices. I would not be surprised if the government comes out and trumpets it as their achievement.

The real reason behind inflation is that the demand for food is exceeding supply in our country, with the growth in demand outpacing the growth in food production. We have seen 5 years of consistently high food inflation since 2006 though all the 5 years were blessed with a reasonably good monsoon. Imagine what will happen in the year of a bad monsoon? Even worse, can we stand successive years of drought as we had seen from 2001 to 2003? We are in a precarious situation. Imports from other nations also can not help as we are too big a nation to support.

It is time our government recognizes the real cause and initiates serious long term measures to increase food production.

There are again many myths published on increasing agricultural productivity. Let me shatter those myths in another post.

Is cricket in a decline?

The pink newspapers claim that there is not as much demand as anticipated for television ad time during the ongoing cricket world cup matches. Some columnists went one step ahead to declare that cricket is in a decline. Is it really?

I think it is not cricket which is in a decline but the economy built around cricket. Last 20 years have seen this economy growing by leaps and bounds. The game was made literally more colorful. 'All white' dresses of the past gave way to more colorful ones. New formats were invented. 20-20 is the new rage. Cheer leaders upped the glamor quotient of the game. New tournaments were invented. T20 world cup is played every 2 years. 4 years is too long a gap, isn't it? New leagues were given birth to. IPL, isn't it like EPL?, has emerged as the biggest rival to bollywood. Cricket is spreading to more and more nations in the world. Every new team means 11 new players, more matches, more telecast time on TV and more ad revenues. And we have an ever expanding army of commentators. Every retired player is a commentator these days. It looks like becoming a commentator is the new retirement, more lucrative than playing in some cases. BTW, is Ganguly still playing? Some pretty faces also metamorphosed into commentators. Do you remember Mandira Bedi and her noodle straps? And who can ignore the poster boys of this economy? Every cricketer is a super model. Not just Indian cricketers, but foreign players too. They tell you what brand of alcohol to drink, what brand of watch to wear, what brand of drink quenches your thirst, what brand of  food supplement gives you energy, what automobile you should ride, what brand of clothes you should wear.. and there is no end to this list. All of us know who are laughing all their way to the bank.

But the party cannot go on forever. I think the cricket economy had seen its peak. It is in for some moderation now. You may ask what makes me think so. History. All the commercial elements of the cricket economy are designed with only one type of consumer in mind. That is the Indian cricket fan. Every cricket playing nation would want to play a series against India, so as to make some money for its cricket board. The schedules of any cricket tournament across the world are planned to suit the Indian TV viewer. In a way, all cricket related businesses are living off the Indian consumer. Isn't like like the world economy living off the American consumer until not long ago? A re-balancing will eventually follow as it did in the form of a recession for the global economy. The Indian consumer can not forever support every new player, every new commentator, every new marketer.....History also proved that monopolies don't last forever. Cricket as a game has monopoly over the Indian sports space for more than 20 years now.  There has been too much of cricket on TV in recent years, to the extent that some fans are fed up with it. In the fast globalizing Indian society, cricket is not the only 'fashionable thing' for the younger generation. With the advent of more sports channels now, Indians can watch many other sports from across the world live on TV. I would say this is the beginning of the end of cricket's monopoly.

AP Politics - Congress, PRP Merger - Advantage Chiru

Today Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) headed by Chiranjeevi is merged with Congress party. Who will gain from this development? Political analysts suggest it is advantage Congress in the state of Andhra Pradesh. They say Chiranjeevi, being a popular film star hailing from a dominant community, strengthens Congress which was weakened by the exit of Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy (Jagan). Is it so? No. I think it is advantage Chiranjeevi and disadvantage Congress

How is it going to benefit Chiranjeevi? As a political party, Praja Rajyam Party is weakening by the day. It has already lost its appeal among the people as an alternative to Congress. It is no secret that Chiranjeevi has ambition to become the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. Without a merger with Congress, the chances of his party's winning a majority in the state assembly are remote, not impossible though. Even if he forges an alliance with either Congress or Telugu Desam Party (TDP) or the 'coming soon' party of Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, he will be a smaller partner in the alliance. And smaller allies don't get the post of chief minister. So this merger really takes Chiranjeevi many steps closer to realizing his ambition. Moreover, there was pressure on him to show an exit route to his demoralized party men and this merger shows them a good exit route.

How is it disadvantageous to Congress? Congress is not going to gain anything immediately with the merger. If all they want is the PRP's support to their 'minority government' in the state assembly, this merger is not needed as the PRP has always been ready to support Congress. Some analysts say Congress wants a strong leader to lead it in Andhra Pradesh. I think it is not true; Congress generally does not encourage any leader, other than the members of the Gandhi family, to grow strong. Some analysts say Congress has its eyes on the next assembly elections due in 2014 and they expect Chiranjeevi to bring in enough votes to compensate for the votes Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy would take away from Congress. It is too early to predict how many votes would Jagan take away from Congress. In the assembly elections held in 2009, the PRP polled approximately 16% of the total votes polled. If anyone is expecting all those votes to go to Congress with this merger, they will certainly be proved wrong. Elections are not arithmetic. A large part of those 16% votes were anti-government votes of people who saw Chiranjeevi as an alternative to Congress. In fact, this split in anti-government votes between the TDP led alliance and the PRP was the main reason why Congress won the election. Now that the PRP is merged with Congress, all the anti-government votes might go to some opposition alliance and it does not augur well for Congress. Maintaining status quo is in the best interest of Congress, but not merger. The PRP shall support Congress, if required, in the sate assembly now. In the next assembly elections the PRP will contest without any alliance and split the anti-government votes, which will actually work in favor of Congress. After the elections, the PRP shall support Congress to form the government.

Rahman Effect

A.R.Rahman needs no introduction. He is arguably the most internationally recognized Indian music director ever. He is the only Indian music director to have won the Oscar, though many people believe his Oscar winning composition 'Jai Ho' was nowhere near his best. To his millions of fans, he is the best composer in the world.

But I think there is one quality that is seriously missing in his music. No doubt he delivered and continues to deliver so many hit numbers. But how many of those hit numbers listeners can hum along? Not even a handful. Fans may disagree. But there are very few Rahman songs that we can hum along. It is very difficult to even clearly understand the lyrics of his songs. That's probably why his super duper hit numbers just vanish from the memory and from the tongues of people very quickly, within two months after they released. Super hit songs of earlier music directors and very few current music directors are remembered for a long time, but not Rahman's songs.

Having said that, there is no denying that Rahman is the trendsetter, the path breaker, especially in the south Indian cinema. Almost all the new music directors try to ape Rahman. Their songs may not be as good as those of Rahman, but certainly lack the same 'hummbale' quality. This 'short living' quality, which is a result of what I call 'the Rahman effect', has slowly but certainly crept into the music of Tamil and Telugu cinema. Hindi cinema is yet to be influenced; it still produces some hummable numbers.

Why not have a day for losers?

We have a day to honor motherhood, that is International Mothers' day. A day for fathers. A day for women, a day for men. A day for human rights, a day for peace. We also have a no smoking day. There is a day for almost everyone and everything. But there is no day to express solidarity with all the losers.

Losers are everywhere, though no one admits to it in public. For every winner, there is at least one loser. of course, one defeat does not make anyone a loser. Unfortunately for many people, defeat is the only outcome they ever experienced. There could be a million reasons for every failure. But a failure is a failure. The 'be positive' literature might give a million tips for success. Most of it is just an attempt to sell more books.

Losers live with low self-esteem. They lose the courage to try out new things. They can't celebrate anything. When the whole world celebrates (there is a celebration for almost everything), losers stay aloof. As a society, our lives are too busy to be sensitive towards losers. Losers want to run away from the mainstream, in search of solitude and empathy.

One question every loser has for the God is "why me?".  I think the best possible way to answer that question is to show a loser that he or she is not the only one, that there are so many others.

Let us declare one Sunday in any month of the year as International Losers' Day and popularize it. It will be a day to sensitize the society towards losers. It will be a day to recognize that defeat is not incompetence. It will be a day which losers can truly celebrate. I wouldn't be surprised if it finds million of takers before its first anniversary.

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...