Changing times - A CM behind bars and a 21st century man who wants an "obedient" wife.

           On the one end the Chief Minister of a state languishing behind bars. At the other end was a woman of the 21st century, fastidious in her belief that women ought to be happy in the servitude of men. Talk about contrasting landscapes in the tide of life.

          When J.Jayalalitha's case came up for the hearing I was sure she would be acquitted. I was proved wrong. I then was confident that she would then get bail at the first hearing of the high court. I was surprised, pleasantly to an extent. I then wrote off the case saying the bench hearing of the high court at Bangalore would grant her bail so that she came back with a fury that would scorch Tamil Nadu. I was disproved again, and that was when I was stupefied, decided to cast away my cynicism and don the garb of a believer - a believer of the judiciary,the judiciary that stands vindicated of cynicism. Given the right precedents and perfect inspirations (the Supreme courts hard come down on tainted politicians was ostensibly cited by the ruling judge when pronouncing the rejection of the bail plea), our judges stood up to the challenge. I was surprised, a little proud even of the achievement of our nation. 

         And then nearer home, an acquaintance faced a harsh first year of marriage and came back from a foreign land. She brought with her lots of learning - Expat life is not all honey and roses. It's sometimes "do your own laundry, do your own work, no time to gossip, cut down your expenses or you'll never achieve the savings you came for in the first place" etc. And of course the next thing - There still are men of the 21st century Indian metros, well educated, well traveled, well to do; who still believe that women are just some pawns in the game of life. To be used as per their fancies, to do and think as per their biding. They are to devote their lives for the man of the house, their only joy is the joy of their men. They men are akin to Gods. They shall not be called by name. Their feet are to be worshipped every morning and evening. And whats more, their mothers are to be revered as well, for she has had the generosity to bring forth our hero in to this world to give the woman an opportunity to serve him. My acquaintance was a strong independent woman. 

          She was brought up with a bit of self respect which was difficult to just relinquish at the whims of a fanatical man. Yes, a fanatical man whose much adored idea of marriage is just a base desire to own a woman as an object, to be used as and when needed. She decided it was time to say good bye. She did it quite hesitantly, not because she felt she was missing out on some opportunity of better times, but because of what the world would speak of her to her parents. Her parents stood by her. The acquaintance's aunt, as I overheard a conversation, was expressing her views on these events. She was of the firm belief that a woman's place in this world was under the protective wings of her man. So what if he is a little eccentric or had Puritan views. So what if he made her decisions for her, all the more better in fact, she retorted. So what if he was unwilling to go for a potency test, in spite of always maligning her in the name of not being able to conceive, he was a man, and for men are reserved royal treatment.

          It got me thinking. It's not just the men who have made our society a horridly patriarchal one, it's our women folk too. Women of the generation before ours and a few ones before that, depended on men. They were not allowed and education. They were not allowed an opportunity to be economically independent. They were of the mentality that they were weak and the only worse fate than that of not having a male consort in life was lost honour. They were painfully tolerant and were grateful if they had a meal, a roof over their head and a God of a husband to take care of them. I am not belittling anybody here, but this was how the world wanted women to be. And so they were. Today's women have outgrown this mindset, but some mothers and grand mothers find it hard to let go of age old ideas.

          And it was a contrast of significance - the judiciary suddenly showing strong positive changes while some 21st century men and even women who still expect their wives to be "obedient". 

What the Amma conviction means to me; to us.

          I am of the opinion that Ms Jayalalitha is any day a better bet for TN in terms of development, peace and infrastructure. I think after her long tenure in TN politics she finally chose a path that benefited both parties, herself and the state. After she took reins I saw a sense of calm prevail in the state. The electricity problem was being looked at - and was improved. The Amma food houses and packaged water - even if a populist initiative - was a relief to a lot of people. I thought that the money used in this initiative was a welcome way of utilizing funds that would otherwise go into the coffers of the 'hardworking" politicians.

          So now that I have stated that I am an amma fan, I have another thing to say. I am extremely happy; elated if you will; about the conviction. My faith in the judiciary has been reinforced. The simple fact that the current CM of a state who has won by landslide count of votes, with a neutral stand with the central ruling party was actually convicted in a case - that too one relating to wealth accumulation and not of a criminal nature is quite inspiring ; and faith inducing. This goes on to say to me; the me who is a common man who pays taxes, albeit cursing; the me who votes into power people who I believe will do me a little good; the me who wishes for a better, traffic free roads, faster Metro completion, gundagiri free rule etc etc; still has some safety and say in this country.

          I understand that Ms Jayalalitha may go in for an appeal and for all you know the verdict could be altered, quashed or whatever legal remedies are applicable, but the point still holds good that the judiciary gave a verdict against a powerful political party head and CM. I now have renewed faith that the judiciary will function the way it was designed to function - as a separate and independent entity from the executive body;ie the political party in power.

          Now about the AIADMK functionaries stomping around Tamil Nadu asking people to shut shop and create terror - you are as good as terrorists. The good will and good deeds begotten by the party head will be squandered by these sycophantic idiots who are shouting slogans outside the DMK party presidents house; does it not enter you heads that the DMK does not run the judicial system? How will shouting slogans against the DMK make right your party leaders wrongdoings? And as a dear friend of mine pointed out, the party head took pride in the law and order discipline in the state; it plunged into chaos the minute her conviction was announced.

          My only wish now is that all our "leaders" take a lesson from this and act with caution while amassing wealth that comes out of the blood and sweat of the common man. And I pray that the DMK too faces action of the same sort in the 2G scam. If this happens then I think I may even consider taking up law as a profession - it actually makes a difference to a lot of peoples lives. :p

   

Identity crisis

          Men are social animals. We need to belong to a group. It was probably a trait developed during evolution - that trip from monkey to man - where our brain sizes increased exponentially and it was seen that being in a group ensure more safety, more food, more sexual partners, more of the all good stuff basically. And that'e probably where the entire concept of "having an identity" came up. For example lets say a few thousand years ago, in a far away cave somewhere a gang of cave men were huddling around a fire. There comes a new entity at the cave entrance, he was wearing no clothes unlike the already present cave men who were wearing deer skin tunics. He was not allowed inside. There folks we have the first reported case of an identity crisis. Where do I belong?

          Lets come back to today. Every one of us goes through this in our lives. Some of us are aware that its called an identity crisis, some just know it as its symptom - loneliness, being left out, not fitting in etc. All this generally happens in the growing up phases. You know, like how they depict in the movies, there are the cool gangs, the giggly girl gangs, the nerds, the cheer leaders, the bad boy gangs, and so on. This phase is generally where one does not choose a group because of strong feelings or opinions, its just in order to have a group to belong to, to fall back on, to spend time with and to not feel vulnerable. This is also where some events can shape ones perceptions and mindsets for their identities later on in life. Lets not also forget the impact of families on these kids in shaping up their identity, especially in countries like India where one does not just live for oneself, but for society as a whole.

          Lets now cut the scene to adulthood. Ask a man how he likes to describe himself and he will say his name, his work, the place he hails from and most probably something about him that shows his prowess over something that people around him are not as good at.

         His name denotes his religion - one of the biggest identities in a persons life. It is hammered into the heads of kids day in and day out, through rituals, through media, through families and what not. His work denotes his position as a value creator in this world, also implies that he is skilled at providing for himself and for his family. His place denotes his belonging to a tribe, he belongs to a geographic location that serves as an identity that is recognizable, its important to be part of a locale that is known. His special skills, this is what differentiates him from all the others on the face of the Earth.

         The sad part of having an identity crisis is that one tends to start looking for a crutch which will help fill the void created. It is not necessary that this crutch always be of a good nature. Some find this crutch in the form of their profession (best salesman, famous actor), some in their relationships (as a good father, husband etc) which are generally alright.

          Some find this solace in the form of fanaticism. Some find meaning in belonging to a faction of men who kill and loot and plunder. The man in search of identity truly finds it here, at the cost of what does not matter to him. This violent way of life, if it can make him feel as part of an important group, is worth it, is probably what drives him to this way of life.

         We are not that different from those tunic wearing cavemen are we?

         

         








       
          

Gandhiji

Image courtesy - Wikipedia

He represents a lot of things to a lot of people. To some he is the epitome of all the good values. To some he is a weakling who didnt have the balls to fight the British as Netaji had tried to. To some he is a hero and to some he is a hypocrite.

To me Gandhiji is a man of immense analytical skills and smarts. He probably knew we didn't have the might or the means to fight the British head on. Now a man in his place would have either given up, wrote about it or started Guerilla warfare to appease his anger and frustration.

But he invented a new mode of fighting that still stands strong and is even misused today - non violent protest.

On his birthday today, I thank him for giving us a method to express our pains without having to shed blood. I thank him for taking on the task of leading a nation when he could have chosen to create wealth for himself and his generations.

Hydra - The state of Indian politics

An image of Heracles of Greek mythology killing the Hydra - Image  courtesy, Wikipedia

The above picture is that of the Greek hero Heracles killing the hydra -   A mythological creature with multiple heads and on cutting one head, it grew two more.This creature represents the state of our political system. Remove one corrupt party - two more spring up. And Heracles is like the Lokpal bill - fighting hard till he succeeded.

It started off with a noble motive - to create a bill that will finally make politicians accountable for the "service" they render to our country by shipping away the wealth to Swiss accounts so that we can toil and shed our sweat and blood and tears and make more for them.

It was introduced in 1968 where it was passed from the Lok Sabha and before it could also be passed in the Rajya Sabha, the Lok Sabha was dissolved - talk about bad luck.

Thereafter it was introduced another seven times and not passed at all.

And the total money spent in trying to get it passed 8 times since 1968 - 1737 crores of which 1700 crores was in 2011 alone.

This goes on to prove that we as a country are really pissed about the scams and corruption and it erupted in the recent past by way of support to Anna Hazare and his campaign. But all the energy drained when nothing happened.

And today after all the effort to put in place a strong anti corruption bill failed, they are doing the next best thing - starting their own party. The question I had when the interest in the Lokpal issue flared up was this - the committee that would run the operations of this bill, aren't they too prone to be corrupted by the power they wield?

In that context I think a new political party is a better way. Not only are we getting a party that actually does not have a history of tainted members, we also have the power to change them if they turn out to be worse than the existing thugs.

I see members of the Congress and the BJP talk about corruption in the ruling party - whichever one it is at the moment and all I can do is laugh - they both have so many members wallowing in cases that they would need special organizers to keep track of their court case dates and lawyer appointments
and they talk about corruption as an issue in India.

My friend and I were recently talking and he was telling me about a software company that was designing street lamps that automatically went off during daytime - imagine the savings in electricity. The company that manufactured them apprently had to bribe their way to getting their approval once for deployment in a South Indian state. The CM then passed away in an accident and a new CM came in, they had to bribe the new regime. This CM too moved into another post and the new regime had to be paid yet again if they wanted to launch their products. They decided it was not worth the "investment" and moved their project to a less corrupt state.

This is a story and I have no proof. But i believe it without an iota of doubt - that's the trust and faith I have in our leaders.

And so with anticipation I wait for the new party to be floated by Arvind Kejriwal and team. With hopes for a better India and access to a part of the nations wealth too - why must only the politicians be able to open Swiss accounts. I'm sure a lot of people will agree to that.

Let us hope another Hydra is not being created as it would break the little faith we have, not only in our system, but in the people too.

To those interested in learning more about what the Lokpal bill is without the gassy English - this Wikipedia article is worth a read -  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lokpal_Bill

Patriotism -

My girl friend shared a song with me. It's a song from a new album by Suchi and the lyrics are by Barathiar.

The song was titled "Vanthe matharam" and it was beautiful. The sweet carnatic notes and the inspiring  words stirred up thoughts in me about patriotism.

Are we patriotic? What is patriotism? Is it feeling all inspired like how I feel on hearing this song? Is it thinking about our freedom fighters on August 15th every year and watch all the "thinkers" on TV and newspapers remind us that we are all patriotic only on that one day and then go back to our old ways?

In India symbolic respect dominates true thoughts and feelings. False morality prevails, fed by corrupt politicians and bureaucrats. Our strength becomes our weakness in this case - we have one of the highest number of youth in the world, all eager and ready to follow someone who gives them a sense of identity - it could be religious parties, regional parties, movie star fan clubs and what not. Basically if they can say they belong to some group that is recognized they are happy.

The Indian flag flying upside down gets more attention than hunger, violence, and the hundred other things that are ripping the country apart.

A cartoonist who depicted the nations atrocities in the form of cartoons which showed the parliament that looked like a toilet and politicians and bureaucrats holding mother India, as a demon called corruption advances to rape her, had opposition from a lot of people saying that mother India was shown inappropriately; they actually didn't notice the scams and the corruption and the rampant stealing and looting and unfairness.

Symbolic respect for the nation overpowers and blinds the eyes of people from seeing the real problems. This thinking comes from the way patriotism is portrayed to us as we grow up. It is shown as Jawans fighting off enemy soldiers and our nations forefathers wresting India away from the clutch of the British.

But today's kids need to be taught that patriotism is not about all that anymore. It is about helping the nation reach its potential. Personally, I would say that anybody who puts in effort for his betterment in the country in rightful methods is a patriot. Because a nations success is nothing but its individuals success.

The growth of a paan wallah's shop from one to two means an extra job for someone and more economic gains for a farmer growing betel leaves. A Bharatanatyam show by someone at a world forum means an introduction of our culture to the world. A farmer increasing his output by 10% would mean he can feed more people.

And so any Indian working hard to make his life better in a rightful manner is a true patriot. Not the flag carrying, slogan calling, man who does this simply because he believes that he is doing the nation a favor by calling out Vande mataram while his kids work in brick kilns for their next meal.

Patriotism needs a face lift in our country, and quickly too...