aditya kumar's weblog

While someone like Lalit Modi would not believe in the concept of “Earth Hour” because it does not bring in the money, I urge you to take a look at the concept.

The idea is that on the Saturday that is two days away, 27th of March 2010, you switch off your lights and keep the power consumption to the minimum for an hour (8:30-9:30 PM). In other words, try to make your carbon footprint to the minimum, for this one hour. And avoid IPL.

This is an event planned at a Global scale (and I think, this is the second year India would be a part of it). So from the space needle in Seattle till the pyramids of Giza, the lights would go out. Of course, at different times but for one hour from 20:30, everywhere.

Earth hour is an easy way to help the world that we live in. In fact, I think something like this should be done on a monthly basis. The energy that we will save would be nothing in proportion to what we spend the rest of the 364 days of the year, but more importantly this would make people aware of the state of the world we live in and instill the thought that we need to conserve of what we have left.

“Indira’s killers are being hailed as ‘martyrs’, in New Zealand’s largest gurdwara”, screams the first line of this report, online at Timesofindia.com. The report originates from Melbourne and that makes me wonder what is with Australia and the Indian media.

Titled “Shaheed Bhai” – or martyr brother – the paintings of Satwant and Beant along with Kehar Singh, who was the co-conspirator, hang on the walls in the Takanini gurdwara alongside others who have been killed for their Sikh beliefs, the ‘Weekend Herald’ reported.

Furthermore:

The pictures have divided the Sikh community in Auckland – and upset others in the Indian community. But few were willing to speak publicly on the matter, the report said.

Something is wrong with the Sikh and the Indian community there. Why should it be condemned? Why are they upset? They have no reason to be.

Because right here, in the holiest shrine of the Sikhs, The Golden Temple – Amritsar, we hail them as martyrs too. To kill the PM of a country and then, in that country itself, be hailed as a martyr.

In 2006, I was disturbed to read this article. And then this was published, in 2009, in the Hindustan Times Editorial. I had then mentioned it on my blog, here.

If you feel disturbed too, please read them.

No excuses for a month long hiatus but lots of things happening with Sports:

India’s Hockey team goes on a ‘strike’ because they are not paid their dues by Hockey India. This is how we treat those who are the best players of our National game.

And then, India’s first individual Olympic Gold Medalist says he wants to quit the game because of, none other than, the National Shooting Federation.

Is this because of our obsession with Cricket? If you ask me, I don’t think so. You can’t blame Cricket for the mismanagement and apathy towards other sports shown by Government Sports bodies.

In tennis, Sania Mirza would be quitting tennis soon. No, she is not unhappy with All India Tennis Association, as you may be guessing by now but she thinks it would be the right thing to do after marriage.

Meanwhile, The Big daddy of Marathi Manoos Inc, has issued a latest threat — Australian cricketers won’t be allowed to play in Maharashtra. How can they be allowed to play here when in Australia, Indians are being stabbed on an almost daily basis? Very considerate about Indians. What happened to this nationalism when his party ‘workers’ thrashed non-marathis on a regular basis?

So much for the sports.

Update: An updated version of the last para above has appeared in today’s edition of DNA in Bangalore. It made its way as a “Letter to the Editor” and talks about Indian Politicians approving of Violence, among a few other related topics.

Yesterday evening, at Reliance Timeout, for launch of Dilip D’souza’s book, “Roadrunner”, there was a very insightful conversation that happened. We had the author along with India’s best historian, Ramachandra Guha and Rahul Dravid talking about India, America, about few of the the many dots that connect the two democracies and how this particular book tries to find answers while attempting to understand America from an Indian’s eyes.

But while at it, I picked up P.Sainath’s, “Everybody Loves A Good Drought”. Sainath is probably the only journalist who has worked extensively in India’s most rural districts and has, time and again, attempted to bring out the causes of the poorest of India’s citizens. I first heard about Sainath when Vidarbha was at boil over farmer suicides (I have written about Vidarbha here). The land is still at a boil and with Telangana’s formation imminent now, they might be justified in asking for a separate state as people at helm of affairs in Maharashtra and people in media have conveniently ignored Vidarbha’s problems. But all this, despite being fodder for thought is another topic altogether.

So Sainath, in the introduction of the book, emphasizes that while India’s hunger “would not make for the dramatic television footage that a Somalia and Ethiopia would do”, that is precisely the challenge before a journalist because, I quote here, “while malnourished kids may look normal, yet lack of food can impair their mental and physical growth in such a way that they suffer its debilitating impact all their lives”.

And then there is the case of the “Number of poor”. Back in 1993, the Government of India set up an expert group to estimate the people living below the poverty line. The group, after arriving at a figure of 39% (people living below the poverty line) also recommended changes in the way the Government used to estimate poverty. In a later survey, discrediting the recommendations and the figure arrived at by the expert group, the Indian Administration came at a figure of 19%. But the story does not end here. In the time that was between these two figures, a few months, the Government of India cried out aloud in the World Summit for Social Development at Copenhagen — they presented a figure of 39.9% of people below poverty line. Why? More poor, more Donors, more money. No rocket science, this.

The year this happened was 1994 but aren’t we dealing with the same problems, 15 years on?

Coming back to the conversation between these three great intellectuals that I witnessed yesterday, there was one question from the audience, regarding India still being a developing nation and not a superpower. As a part of the response to the question, the author questioned back — Why do we need to be a superpower? Ramachandra Guha seemed to agree with it and while reading Sainath’s commentary in the introduction to his book last night, I found the answer in the question — Why can’t we be a better democracy first?

We may be the world’s largest democracy and be proud of it but we are far off from being a good democracy. I think its an obligation to each and every well-wisher who is a citizen of this nation, be it you, me, an ordinary citizen or a politician, to make the world’s largest democracy a better democracy. When that happens, maybe I’ll be much more content drawing parallels between the world’s oldest democracy and the largest one.

On the train to home, Goa, I wake up in the morning to find out that my shoes are stolen.

You ever build stories on what you see while you travel? I mean, I see wide barren land on a dark night and there is one hut with a little light out there and I ask myself, how would it be if I were alone here, on this land, right here, right now. One of the other (and much less horrifying) possibilities that have crossed my mind is of my shoes being stolen. Well, now what.

Well, those were running shoes. Somebody had to run with them.

So I have no choice but to limit my visits to the toilet. I have no luggage but for this backpack which has a Thinkpad and an ipod. I have a Robert Ludlum which warrants some attention.

Sonaulium (actually it’s called Sonaulim) is Goa’s first station as the train enters Goa through Karnataka. The station, or what seems left of it, is in shambles. A deep valley on it’s back and on the outside of the station are lots of, what would have been big rocks and cement blocks, broken down in pieces. Most of the rooms are locked. But as the train passes by, one man manages to come out of nowhere. He’s holding a green flag, as if, signaling to each and everyone one of us — keep going. Rather, leave. And amidst of what looks like silent chaos, I see an empty but perfect flagpole. Maybe I should be back here on independence day. I bet it would be more inviting then.

A few minutes later, as we approach Madgaon, another station passes by. “Curchorem” it is, in English but the Devanagari script tells me it’s something to the effect of “Sanvordem Curchorem”.

Why this discrimination?

A few meters ahead I see a building with “Toilet” written in bold letters over it. On the left side of it is a smaller heading that says “Gents” with an arrow pointing left. On the right side of it, well, its painted white on what I think, in the recent past, would have been “Ladies” (with an arrow pointing right) and the entrance on the right is blocked by an old plank of wood. There is no ladies toilet at Curchorem (or Sanvordem Curchorem — based on your linguistic skills).

Why this discrimination?

Then, as the train nears the end of the station, a freshly pasted (and soaked in the rain) computer printed poster informs us that there is a “Swine Flu Awareness Cell” somewhere around there. This could be the only railway station in the world with no ladies toilet but a Swine Flu Awareness Cell.

And then there is Madgaon station, my destination, with no shoe shops.

Now that the BJP finds itself in a state of turmoil, lets talk about Kandahar.

Why was Jaswant Singh made the fall guy all these years? The BJP always portrayed Advani as a “Strong” leader and by taking the blame for the Kandahar episode, Advani would not have been the perfect candidate. There was a need to be as spotless as the white kurta he generally wears. Kandahar would not have allowed that. So, very conveniently, the PM candidate said on national television that he was not in the know about the decision that was taken in that cabinet meeting. People of this country were asked to believe that the then home minister was oblivious to the fact that Jaswant Singh would escort the terrorists to Kandahar in return for the passengers on IC-814.

My question is this — did they have a choice?

Answer — Yes and No.

In Kandahar, with the Taliban surrounding the aircraft, there was no choice. There should have been no choice. There is no leader in India who would have decided otherwise. Risking the life of 200 passengers was a gamble that could have proved too costly. My opinion is that the NDA government did the obvious.

But what Advani is really afraid of is this — There was a lax from New Delhi when the aircraft was allowed to take off from Amritsar where it had landed for a refuel. Imagine the pilot’s dismay then. Amritsar was IC-814’s last and only hope. Amritsar was the only point in the whole drama where India could have had a win-win situation. And that is where New Delhi goofed up. The leadership in the capital did not approve of an action then. And Advani is scared of owning even a single bit of it.

And this same guy, he wants to become the Prime Minister.

A few hours before Independence day, watching Attenborough’s Gandhi, I am left with a few more observations and questions.

Gandhi united our country, north to south, east to west. He walked, people followed. Today, 62 years after Gandhi, we are falling apart. We have long forgotten that we are Indians first. We have made it very convenient to forget that. We believe it is all okay. We have let chalta hai rule us.

Before 15th August 1947 we were fighting against the British Empire. Today we have to fight not only religionism but regionism as well. The worst part is, most people do not even realise it. Do a check and you will find that somewehere in it all, we have to fight ourselves.

The leaders that we elect are not leaders, they are politicians. It is an irony that India’s last known leader never held an office.

I do not think that Gandhi was the only reason we got our independence. There were other factors too. But I admire Gandhi most because he stood up and unified the nation. Because he sparked a nation’s imagination. Because he believed that Gita or Quran, it is all okay as long as the path leads to God.

Believe it or not, The Mahatama was our last hero, our last leader.

My dream is this. I want to live in an India where her citizens think of themselves as Indians first. Where politicians are held accountable for the offices they hold. Where justice is not looked down upon. Where people are not scared to approach the court of law. Where chalta hai doesn’t work anymore.

I wonder what happened to that dream Nehru had, the one he proclaimed to the world exactly 62 years ago as the clock approached midnight, just as it is now, as I write this. The same dream in which he mentioned India’s tryst with destiny. Don’t you think we have all lost our ways?

May there be Glory for India and her citizens.

Happy Independence Day.