Aug

31

Maria Montessori, the Indian theosophist

August 31, 2008 posted by indiatime | Leave a Comment

maria_montessori.jpgLong before Sonia Maino, an Italian young woman, decided to spend years of her life in India, another famous Italian woman spent several years of her life in India. From 1940 to 1948, for almost a decade, Dr. Maria Montessori, one of the greatest educators of the 20th century, lived in India with her son Mario. Born this very day (August 31st) almost 140 years ago in a small town in northeast Italy, Montessori became one of the foremost experimenters of children’s education methods and started an educational movement that has taken root worldwide.

Montessori was working in Netherlands in the late 1930s, when she was invited by to India by George Arundale, the then president of theosophical society of India, and his Indian wife Rukmini Devi. Montessori had known and had met with Arundale’s predecessor Annie Besant several times before. But it was the Arundales’ 1937 visit to Holland that renewed interest their interest in Ms Montessori and her interest in India.

By late 1930s, Montessori’s educational methods had already taken roots in India. In fact, the then state of Mysore had sent an Indian teacher to attend Montessori’s first international course back in 1913. Thereafter the methodology grew and popularized in India for the next 2 decades. And now, Arundales had offered her an opportunity to work in India.

At 70 years of her age, Maria Montessori took the bet and came to India with her 40-year old son Mario. Within months of their arrival, the second world war started in Europe. Technically, Maria and Mario, two Italian citizens, were in enemy territory in British India. So the British Indian government put Mario Montessori under internment as an enemy alien, confining him to a prison camp in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra. The London Times chided the British on this atrocity, writing,

“….One hopes the British Raj ill be quickly visited, if not by a sense of appropriation or duty, at least by a sense of humor, and place on Dr. Montessori no restrictions that could impede her nerve-ending and arduous educational work…”.

But then the Viceroy himself a letter of apology to Maria Montessori, releasing her son on August 31st, something of a birthday gift for the 70-year old educator. The mother-son duo spent the entire duration of the second world war in India, traveling all around in India, although they were based mainly in Adyar, the home office of the theosophical society.

In India, Montessori found a willing learning partner who was willing to soak her ideas up and not reject her as the Americans or the Europeans did.

Spending seven years in India, Montessoris returned to Holland in 1946. She returned to India again, visiting India as well as the newly formed Pakistan, where the minister of education himself attended the opening of a Montessori course (Yes, long before Madrassas opened and spread in Pakistan, Montessori did manage to get the word out about early and primary education).

Montessori died a few years later. She had spent the major time of the last decades of her life in India, giving a boost to early education. More than 50 years later, thanks to India’s politicians and bureaucrats, the endeavor of availing early and meaningful elementary education to every child in the country, still remains a dream.

Aug

30

It was the end of the ropes today for Dharamrao Baba Atram, a minister (until recently) of Maharashtra state. He is now under arrest for poaching crimes, an arrest that came about after inordinate delays, endless tactics, and countless legal maneuvers.

On June 13 this year, Atram, a until recently a minister for Tribal affairs in the Maharashtra government, arranged and planned a hunting/poaching tour disguised as an official government visit to some rural areas. On their first leg of the ‘tour’, they were escorted various police agencies in the state. The government vehicle, however, ‘escaped’ their police escort, and detoured in the jungle as per their plans (they were carrying some hunting gear).

Thereafter within a matter of 2 days, Atram and his friends are said to have killed hares, chinkaras (gazelles), and a deer. A couple of locals witnessed the poaching and the word got out about a government vehicle busy poaching animals in the forest.

For nearly 2 months thereafter, the police as well as the forest department tried to pursue the matter, which now comes to a turning point, only because Atram lost all other options and had to finally surrender. The drama had taken yet another turn a week ago, when Atram escaped from a Pune court, in spite of the presence of a 100 forest department police. Now, Atram finally will face the slammer, and will probably spend about 5 years inside, for his poaching crimes.

Atram is not the first big shot to be arrested for the crime of poaching and killing of innocent animals. Salman Khan, a much bigger shot (no pun intended, really), and one of India’s most famous movie stars, was found involved in similar poaching crimes a few years ago. In that case, several other Bollywood actors and actresses were also said to be involved in the hunt that culminated in the poaching incident.

One of the tactics Atram tried to use is a tactic used and manipulated by most well-to-do criminals in India - something called an anticipatory bail. India’s constitution has enabled those who have the money to move the court in anticipation of an impending arrest. Most criminals use this out-of-jail time to manipulate witnesses and documents and tweak the facts of the case.

This whole concept of anticipatory bail sounds a bit fishy. The idea is that you use this to avoid being arrested because you suspect that you are being thrown in based on some accusations. Well, by admitting that our system throws people in for mere accusations, anticipatory bail in theory admits that people are arrested without investigations. And although I agree with the concept as a legal protection provided by our laws under certain circumstances, the widespread misuse of such legal laws really makes a mockery of real justice. So what was originally meant to protect citizens from frivolous accusations and complaints, has now become a tool in the hands of the wealthy and the powerful who use anticipatory bail to delay being arrested, and keep manipulating the system further, as long as they are not arrested.

Aug

29

Naked customs, literally…

August 29, 2008 posted by indiatime | 3 Comments

A few days ago, on a tip-off, cops in the resort town of Khandala in Maharashtra state, executed an early morning raid, on a bungalow at the Taj Cottage. What they found inside, was something they were not accustomed to seeing in everyday duty. Inside, was an ongoing rave party with about 40 people in varying degrees of nudity, drinking and dancing merrily, watching dirty movies, amongst other things. What made the raid special was that most of those 40 people were customs officers from Mumbai’s international airport, on a bonding trip sponsored by a yet unknown party.

Whether the cops found drugs at the scene is still a mystery. What is known however, is that the party was catered to by one Mr. Raju Bibbas Bharundev Choudhary, a known rave party event organizer. The Taj cottage bungalow where the party took place is said to belong to Mohammed Yusuf, a garment exporter from Mumbai.

Now, this can be an incredible coincidence that a couple of dozen customs officers are found naked at a party a few dozen miles from Mumbai, and they all probably just ended up in this bungalow in a resort town, trying to unwind and relax, all of them. The problem with that coincidence is that customs is a highly sensitive branch of government service which monitors smuggling of goods including narcotics across India’s borders.

Every time I read about raids on rave parties and the epidemic spread of narcotics, one of the thoughts that always crosses my mind is how come the police and the customs are never able to reach the masterminds of the drug operations and to root the central distribution channels out of business. Wednesday morning’s raid in Khandala tells us that there is a possibility that some officers of India’s customs department have been taking favors from somebody. What we have all known for decades is that many of the customs officers at Mumbai’s or other international airports in India, have frequently been helping themselves with goods and items brought home by travelers and tourists. It is a truth universally known in India that if one lets the customs officers help themselves with an item or two, one’s chances of getting through the customs fast go up exponentially. So this is a monster that people themselves have been feeding for years.

The big problem is not when there is such an exchange of sultry goods and items, a bottle of wine here and there, a watch or a pen or a cheap electronic item. But the customs and central excise is a service intricately woven with national security and any compromise or flaw in that system reflects upon a flaw or a hole in the national security. So when 22 officers of a government branch that is supposed to man and guard our border are found away from their service and desks, that begs a question about what really went on at the border that was supposed to be manned by these people? Did anything of importance pass through the airport Tuesday night?

We are talking about adults engaged in some behavior and for all we care, they could do whatever on their personal time. What would be interesting to know however is whether such parties are a frequent occurrence. If they are, then is the bill footed by the department of customs? Who knows, this could be a departmental bonding activity sponsored by the state. If not, then who are the common friends that fund such parties and what are they getting in return?

Aug

28

Earlier this year, a court in Chennai had sentenced Dr. L. Prakash, an orthopedician, to life in the slammer, for building a pornography empire on the internet. The so-called ’sex doctor’ was in the news again, yesterday, when the high court in Chennai, ruled on his petition asking for favors inside the prison.

So what kind of favors was this convict (convicted for tricking women into making naked movies and putting those movies on the internet) asking for? He was asking to be granted full use of a laptop and complete access to the internet.

Well, surely the court must have denied his preposterous petition, you think? No, it did not. The high court ruled that Dr. Prakash, a convict who once made millions of dollars in flesh-trade, was entitled to get education, acquire knowledge and enrich himself in the medical field and modern medical facilities. And considering that the sex doctor had been put behind bars for life for posting ‘prurient’ stuff on the internet, the court directed the prison officers to supervise and watch the sex doctor’s browsing activity inside the prison.

Ha! Ha! Ha! What a mockery. A doctor barred for his porno prurience. And a court with a falsely prurient sense of justice. I had always thought that the reason people were put in prison was to separate them from the rest of the innocent society and to protect the society from any further damage. For someone convicted of a serious cybercrime, that protection would mean protecting people outside of the prison from any cyber-communication from this lowlife doctor. If the court was so worried about the doctor missing out on education, why not allow him the use of some medical books, medical journals, newspapers, printed newsletters? And furthermore, why show so much leniency to a man who has misused his knowledge and position to harm, demean, and dehumanize fellow human beings?

Imagine a convicted pedophile being given access to little kids because that pedophile wants to show some love and affection to the youngsters. Imagine a convicted serial killer being given access to books about gun manufacturing because the killer wants to improve upon his knowledge of guns. Imagine a terrorist being given bomb-making manuals to allow him to study the science of bomb-making. That’s how senseless and absurd this whole issue is. Some may claim that charges of pornography aren’t really as serious as some of those other crimes. I agree that it is a valid point of argument. My objection is to the fact that we seem to pamper our prisoners to the point of letting in to the silliest demands on the pretext of humanitarian liberties. So our prisoners have access to computers, laptops, cellphones, free food, free quarters, conjugal visits, education discounts, libraries - things not available to more than half of our free population.

I don’t get it. For those who badly need some justice, our justice system seems to inflexible and tough and uncompromisingly harsh. For others like this sex doctor, and some terrorist outfits, the system seems to bend backwards far enough to accommodate every imaginable whim and fancy. Somebody must think majority of us here are dumb and stupid.

Aug

27

Chiranjeevi throws a mammoth party in Tirupati

August 27, 2008 posted by indiatime | 1 Comment

“…I know about Ganji (rice porridge) as well as Benzi (Benz car) My party belongs to women, backward classes, farmers, workers and the youth….”
- Chiranjeevi, to his fans

Yesterday, in the sacred town of Tirupati, Telugu megastar Chiranjeevi announced ‘Praja Rajyam’ (People’s Kingdom), a new political party. Chiranjeevi promised hundreds of thousands of his supporters and fans that his new party will work for the empowerment of the downtrodden and the poor. Laying out an agenda for his party’s future, Chiranjeevi unfurled the notion behind ‘Praja Rajyam’, explaining how the common people as well as the intellectuals would be included in the decision-making as well as policy issues.

When someone with the mega (really, really huge) following of Chiranjeevi, decides to use that fan capital for a higher and a constructive purpose, is creating a political party the best way to go about it? How about, say, creating a non-governmental organization or a volunteer service of millions of fans who would be constitute a formidable constructive force that can build dams, infrastructure, educational opportunities, anything. However, Chiranjeevi, a National Cadet Corps (NCC) member in his early life, has already done a lot of that. Almost ten years ago, he created a charitable trust in the area of eye and blood donations, contributing almost 70% of his state’s blood supply requirements. His fans will tell you how he successfully parlayed their adulation and admiration into a fairly active volunteer force, which has done its bit of social contributions and awareness over the last several years.

Will Chiranjeevi be able to give back more now he has a political party at his disposal? Will he be able to do a lot more if he gets to be a powerful political force in the state and the nation? Or would he have been more effective staying above and out of politics, inspiring his fan base to keep doing their bit for the society? Overall, do political parties get more done than say, an effective non-governmental organization? Worldwide, organizations such as Red Cross and Amnesty have gotten a lot more done than most governments put together. Even in this country, volunteer organizations and NGOs have made a much bigger impact than state policies or constitutional amendments.

So when someone who has the potential to effect a big and positive change wants to do something about it, what path should they choose? And of course there will be those who would say that not everyone enters politics for the greater good of the society. Most politicians in this country are a living proof of that. And after all, power and politics have been known to corrupt even those who were supposed to be least likely to be corrupted by them.

But then again, as Plato once said, ‘The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men‘. So here’s a wish for the mega star-big boss that his dream of a happier times and a happier nation come true. Chiranjeevi Bhavah!

Aug

26

India treating SIMI with kid gloves

August 26, 2008 posted by indiatime | 2 Comments

Yesterday, India’s supreme court extended the ban on the terrorist organization that has directly been implicated in several instances of bomb blasts, resulting in the murder of not dozens but hundreds of innocents in several cities. That ban will keep SIMI activities illegal for another 6 weeks.

Last month, a Delhi high court tribunal had ordered the ban on the student outfit lifted, sustaining the government’s contention that more than 50 new cases of terror had been filed against SIMI, merely in last 2 years. But Justice Geeta Mittal, citing lack of solid evidence, ordered SIMI to basically go scot-free. A last-minute application by the government stayed that ban, and now it will continue for a few more weeks.

What is irksome about Justice Mittal’s strange order to lift the ban on a known terrosit outfit is that she, too, could have done the same thing that the supreme court did yesterday. Meaning, she could have extended the ban for a temporary period, and could then have ordered or forced the government to submit additional evidence. Her hasty decision to lift the ban and the subsequent applause from some of India’s political parties and their senior leaders, lends some credence to the theory that there has been some pressure from some groups to lift the ban off of this organization.

Those leaders like Laloo Prasad Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav have since not explained why they are so interested in and supportive of a terrorist organization, whose guilt the government (which they themselves helped save last month) and its agencies are absolutely and positively convinced of. In most countries, that would equate to moral support of terrorism. But India’s media, and India’s public, too, have long forgotten the concept of accountability and watchdogship. The politicians, the judges, the public servants, have no fear of any moral outcry or indignation from a bunch of silent and habitual sufferers, who refuse to stand up and ask why. How dare somebody just free those who mean nothing but harm to crores of innocent Indians? How dare they? What the heck is so hard about shutting down a terrorist outfit? Why can’t this country stand up for its own citizens and make sure that another Indian is not blown off to pieces for somebody’s zealous idiocy?

There are hundreds of other Islamic organizations doing extraordinary and wonderful charitable work in education, healthcare and several other fields. I say more power to them. But those few which disguise as student movements and lend logistic support to our enemies cannot and should not be allowed to exist, even for a minute. It is a matter of national defense. Case closed.

Aug

25

Start spreading the stink

August 25, 2008 posted by indiatime | 1 Comment

“….We have found that the advertisement of Axe Dark Temptation deodorant is indecent, vulgar and repulsive….”

- Broadcast ministry, in a letter to Advertising Standards Council

Exactly a year after it banned an underwear ad for being ‘indecent, vulgar & suggestive’, India’s broadcast ministry has announced this year’s winner of the ‘indecent, vulgar & suggestive’ ads. Where 2007 winners were the underwear ads, the 2008 winner is the Axe deodorant ad with its chocolate man.

Here’s one of the several international versions of Axe’s deodorant ad, wherein a man made of chocolate is eaten by women falling all over his chocolate body.

Earlier this year, the Information & Broadcast ministry had asked a few music channels to take off a deodorant ad, finding it offensive and vulgar. The underlying basis of the ministry’s actions is formed by Rule 7(8) of the advertising Code (under Cable Television Network Regulation Act of 1995), but the advertising bans often reflect complaints by a very small group of consumers, sometimes just a couple letters to the ministry or minor protests here and there by some morality group.

Earlier this year, India’s supreme court blasted purists, asking them to lay off nudity in art, ruling that beauty and obscenity lie in the eyes of the beholders. Seems to me that the message by the supreme court, has not percolated yet to the corridors of the broadcast ministry. For now, the message from the broadcast ministry to us the people, is not to use deodorants. OK then. Start spreading the stink.

Aug

24

Runaway groom fakes HIV

August 24, 2008 posted by indiatime | 7 Comments

One of the things that separates India from most of the developed world is the way marriages are made in India. Many, if not all Indians, tie the knot with whoever the family or parents choose for them. Of course, in most of those cases, it is by consent, not by force. But then there are cases like the software company employee from Chennai, who, although he disagreed with the choice his parents made for him, did not have the guts to come clean and tell his parents that he was in love with someone else.

What the 28-year old would-be-groom did to avoid getting married to the girls of his parent’s choice, speaks volumes of the downsides of a system that, many a times, ends up ruining lives, and destroying families. Satish, who was in love with a girl thousands of miles away in another country, prepared fake medical certificate showing that he was HIV-positive. Then, he visited his would-bride’s home, confessing to a fake HIV affliction, hoping that family would refuse an alliance with him. Well, things didn’t work out exactly as he had planned, though. The girl’s family found out about the lie when they verified the HIV certification with the lab. And then the cops came and arrested the clever mastermind whose seemingly bening scam has now landed him in jail.

The story begs the question as to why someone would not tell their parents if they do not agree with a proposed marriage alliance? This isn’t politeness, folks. This is stupidity. Too many good lives get ruined daily, because people refuse to speak up and open their mouths. In this particular case, the whole family seems to be idiotic. The parents who did not ask their son if he was OK with the alliance, the son who would not tell the truth to his parents but would tell a horrible lie to his would-be-wife, and the girlfriend in America who thinks this is the person she wants to marry.

Some people might be tempted to blame our culture and tradition for such stupidities. But that’s absurd. India invented the concept of swayamwar (choose your own), so what went wrong and when?

Aug

23

The New York Times wrote yesterday about Wu Dianyuan and Wang Xiuying, two old Chinese women almost 80 years old, who have been ordered by Communist China, to re-educate themselves through labor. Both can barely walk without their canes, one of them is almost blind. Their crime? They had protested about getting inadequate compensation where their homes were seized by the Chinese government. Their protests did not return any assurances of justice. What they received were harsh punishments unfit for anyone let alone 80-year old senior citizens.

The Times of India, today, writes about Shakuntala Gote, an 80-year old youngster from Nagpur, Maharashtra. Ms. Shakuntala has just registered as a freshman student at a university, and hopes to get her bachelor’s degree soon enough, so she can continue her pursuit to become a lawyer. Asked why she was pushing herself at this age, she quipped that there was no age limit on knowledge.

So the Chinese ladies and the Indian lady will now find themselves studying textbooks. But the difference in geography will mean a lot on either side. Where Ms. Wu and Ms. Wang will be looking forward to finishing the punishment that was meted out to them, Ms. Shakuntala will be looking forward to her graduation and her eventual endeavor to become a lawyer. Quite possibly, in a few years time, Ms. Shakuntala may get to plead the plights of Ms. Wu and Ms. Wang. Deep behind China’s smiling faces of its Olympics greeters, hides a dark secret about inhuman injustice and travesty. And although India, too, has a long way to go towards a fairer society for its fairer sex, the conditions in India are definitely way too better and much, much freer.

A millenium and a half ago, ancient India’s most famous poet-dramatist Kalidasa penned his masterpiece Abhidnyan Shakuntalam - (The Recognition of Shakuntala), taken from the ancient epic Mahabharata, the story of a beautiful young forest maiden who marries a king, but is later abandoned and forgotten by him. Years later, the king, reminded of his romantic affair with the maiden, comes back to the forest and finds Shakuntala with a young boy trying to pry open a lion’s mouth with his small fists. That young boy, of course, is Bharat, for whom this country is named.

When you have young and old maidens studying their hearts out in free, fearless forests, it is little wonder that their little ones, will one day, not only pry open lions’ mouths, but will kick dragon’s tail as well.

Aug

22

Of sleepless nights and cosmic connections

August 22, 2008 posted by indiatime | Leave a Comment

Early Thursday morning proved to be rather ominous for residents of the western city of Pune. Around 2 am, several citizens started receiving phone calls or messages from relatives, well-wishers and friends, asking them not to fall back to sleep. The reason? “..if you sleep, you will die…”, they said. The strange positions of the planets in the universe had initiated a cosmic catastrophe which was killing people of Pimpri-Chinchwad, a Pune suburb, during their sleep.

Many families woke their little kids up, making them sit outside the homes, asking them not to sleep. Little kids fought hard, and some cried hard knowing that even a tiny blink could set the spark of death, the planetary mishap, in motion. Police stations kept getting calls from concerned residents who wanted to know if the schools and colleges were planning on remaining closed the next day.

The call center employees, used to be awake at night, had nothing to worry. The guards on duty at Pimpri’s industrial estates had a rather rough night, as this was the first time they really had to remain awake throughout the night. But then there were those who were brave and courageous enough who didn’t think much of the rumors. Hard to say if they were too sleepy or too courageous. But they did go back to sleep caring little if they saw Friday’s daylight.

I cannot imagine what must be going through those children’s minds, being dragged and slapped out of sleep like that. ‘Boy, life’s tough’, they must be thinking.

As far as I remember, I don’t think my parents ever made me get up in the middle of the night and stay awake until daylight. I do remember, though, that my grandmother always told us kids never to sleep with our feet towards the south. The messengers of death (Yama and Yamadootas) would take us to dark corners of the hell, she told us. Which way is south, we would ask and she would tell us that the deities and their statues always faced the east. But late one evening, my elder brother, in 2nd grade or 3rd by now, asked her if there was a better way to find the east and the south.

What happened next is one of the sweetest memories from childhood, etched forever in my mind. Grandma took us all into the backyard, and pointed her finger to a not-so-bright star in the northern skies. ‘No matter where you are, always know where the north star is’, she said. For the next hour or so, she gave us a fascinating tour of the night skies, telling us about stars, planets, and comets. That was the first time of my realization as a child, of my grandmother’s wisdom. Although she never left her beliefs and superstitions, she knew enough about stars and planets to open the doors of science for us. Years later, continents away, and a couple generations later, those lessons from childhood are still with me. And a look at the night sky never fails to bring back grandma’s sweet memories from childhood.

Aug

21

Ringtones that shout ‘condom condom’

August 21, 2008 posted by indiatime | 5 Comments

BBC World Service Trust, BBC’s international charitable arm, has joined hands with condomcondom.org, an organization working towards preventing HIV transmission in India. The two have introduced a new ringtone in India, an audio alert intended as a social awareness call. The ringtone, playing a mix of harmonious and contrasting classical-pop “condom, condom” chants, intends to remove the word ‘condom’ out of the taboo closet, hoping to make it a more acceptable, more passable, and a more conventional part of the desi slang.

Although a fun and hip way to raise awareness, it remains to be seen how and if such ideas really do help break the barriers of societal norms and taboos. Most users would probably not use such ring tones in family or work or school settings, but the very idea that people are speaking about the campaign, makes it successful, I guess.

Last year, India’s ruling party was accused of promoting sex toys in India when a campaign to sell vibrating condoms was introduced by India’s health minister.

In addition to the ring tones, the other alert allowed by most cell phones is the vibrating alert. I wonder if Hindustan Latex, the company that introduced those vibrating condoms last year, would create their own ‘vibrating condom condom’ chant ringtone, which with vibrating alerts, could be the idea behind their new ad campaign. And then someone else would come up with a cellphone purse shaped like condoms. Someone will eventually invent cellphone vibrators which would allow people to please their partners simply by placing phone calls and will eliminate for any potential HIV-causing physical contacts. A condomonium of sorts, if you will.

Aug

20

History is replete with examples and anecdotes of soldiers braving the ravages of winter, and having had to fight frostbite more so than their real enemies. In the early 1800s, Napolean is said to have gone to war with almost a quarter million men and coming back with only a few hundreds of his soldiers fully functional, thanks to the bitter winters and the frostbites. During the first war war, several thousand allied soldiers were said to be getting out of commission every month, on account of field accidents mostly related to frostbites. In the Korean war in 1950s, thousands of American soldiers were said to have suffered form frostbites resulting from the subzero conditions.

For Indian soldiers who stand guard at the Siachen glacier, days are bitter, and the nights are very very cold. Atop the 21000 feet high inhospitable battlefield, India’s soldiers routinely battle frostbites and chilblains.

Back in 1992-93, in the aftermath of Operation Meghdoot, Sultan Singh, a Naik in the Indian army, was posted at Siachen glacier’s Sonam post. He suffered frostbite, and ended up with his toes amputated as result.

He had to retire from the army in 1994, and so Ex-Naik Sultan Singh now asked the defense ministry that he be granted disability pension on the grounds of being a disabled soldier. The bureaucrats at the defense ministry disagreed and told him that his frostbite injuries did not merit a consideration as a war injury. So the soldier appealed to the high court. Now the high court bench comprising of justices Kaul and Garg, has come back with a verdict, favoring the soldier’s argument, and asking the defense ministry to consider the frostbite as a qualified parameter for grants of war injury disability pensions.

The court went a bit further, and opined that the frostbite injury should be treated as a battle scar. “…it is not necessary that the person must suffer a bullet injury in view of the definition of a battle casualty…”, said the court.

All Sultan Singh had asked the defense ministry for was an ex-gratia payment of Rs. 1 lakh (about $2K) for his injuries. The defense ministry, it seems, chose to face a protracted legal battle, spending several times that amount in court fees and precious court time. Under any other circumstance, a stand of this nature by a government ministry could have been considered as measure to prevent a precedent-setting decision in an uncommon case. But this, was not any other circumstance. This was the defense ministry trying to not pay a soldier who had been risking his life on the highest battlefield on the planet, standing guard for the rest of this nation. But the IAS smarty-alecs at the defense ministry, themselves drawing fat salaries, doing their mundane desk-jobs wearing woolen sweaters and winter coats battling the moderate warm winters of New Delhi, brushed off Sultan Singh’s genuine pleas.

When a nation and its servants start dishonoring those defending its freedom and sovereignty, that nation needs to start worrying about the consequences of a morale mishap among its troops. History is replete with examples of mightier armies falling and failing when the soldiers in the trenches were ignored or forgotten.

Aug

19

Moving violations

August 19, 2008 posted by indiatime | Leave a Comment

Palwinder Singh Johal, an Indian immigrant in the UK, is a test case for a hard working immigrant from India. Ever since he entered the UK illegally in 2006, Johal has been working hard, taking tests of one kind or the other. That test-taking binge has now landed him in big trouble, and he is about to spend the next two years in a British prison. And after those two years, Johal will be deported to India. An Oxford judge has determined that Johal’s test-taking binge was a risk to public safety and so he must do jail time and lose his UK residence privileges.

The problem is that Johal was taking those driving safety tests not for himself, but for others. Over a period of several months, he is said to have taken driving tests impersonating at least 30 different people, if not more. He would charge a 100 pounds for every one of those impersonations. Although his paid public service reaped huge rewards for him (100 pounds for about an hour’s service) and his customers (all of whom passed their driving exams), most of the money Johal was making had been going to the illegal immigration racketeers who had arranged his passage to UK.

That adventure would have continued unstopped, but

- the test instructors noticed that one particular bank account was being used to pay for a lot of driving tests.

- they also noticed that there was a continual improvement in test scores and the time taken for the tests, for customers using this bank account.

- In video after video, he was seen taking the tests under a different name.

But the hard working guy that he was, Johal was reaching for higher goals. When the cops finally nabbed him, he was taking a test. Not a driver’s safety test, but a construction safety test. Now, with his safety net vaporized, he sits in jail, probably trying to help out a few fellow inmates with their distance learning tests.

Aug

18

Bollywood’s zero hit wonders

August 18, 2008 posted by indiatime | 1 Comment

Is it just me or are there any others who, too, are sick of the public relations mania and hyperbole that seem to elevate rookie Bollywood actors to superstar status? The media seems consumed by some of these newcomer actresses and actors, whose claim to fame is one or two unimpressive stints in front of the cameras, and that too, bagged through their industry connections.

There is a term called ‘one hit wonder’ that describes famous people whose fame was a result of a single achievement that they ere never able to repeat. That includes musicians who achieved fame via a single hit song, authors who wrote a single bestseller and never wrote another masterpiece, actors who dazzled in a single film but fell flat in every other one. Still, one hit wonders can be said to have a legitimate claim to fame because they did have a single starlit moment of glory, and they can surely brag about that moment the rest of their lives.

But this newer crop of actors and actresses in Bollywood haven’t had a single shining moment. They have not shown why they deserve any recognition or applause, but they seem to believe that the public is really enamored by their idiotic and fake romances which are more publicity stunts than anything else. Bollywood, as usual, has invented a new genre of artisans whose claim to fame is, nothing. These are Bollywood’s new zero-hit wonders, the new generation of celebrities whose luck may soon run out, ending their 15 minutes of fame.

Aug

17

Shabana Azmi on Indian democracy

August 17, 2008 posted by indiatime | 30 Comments

In a recent interview with CNN-IBN, Shabana Azmi, famed Indian actress-activist famous, complained that India’s democracy is unfair to Muslims. She also accused the politicians of making ‘token gestures’ towards the Muslim community, saying that real issues are hardly ever addressed.

I completely agree with Mrs. Azmi’s contention that India’s politicians have wronged the Muslim community. Here’s the fact, though. India’s politicians have wronged not just the Muslim community, but the Hindus, the Christians, the Sikhs, the Jews, the Buddhists, the Jains, each and every known and unknown sect and religion we have here. To contend that politicians have singled out one religion for wrongdoing is a strange assertion, I think, and one without any merit at that.

One of Shabana Azmi’s evidences to the wrongdoings against Muslims was an anecdotal one where she said that she could not get an apartment in Mumbai because she was a Muslim. I think, it’s the most laughable and ridiculous thing I have ever heard about Mumbai. If you have the money, you can rent, buy, lease not just an apartment, but automobiles, cars, politicians, women, hitmen, police, pretty much anything in Mumbai. So if you are telling me that you can’t get an apartment in Mumbai because of your religion, then the next thing you will tell me will be about the 10-acres of land you just bought on the moon. Shabana also contended that she had heard about Saif Ali Khan, one of the top-grossing Bollywood icons, not being able to get an apartment in Mumbai because he was a Muslim. If Shabana Azmi wants to lodge an honest complaint in the court of public opinion, she is harming her case by making silly and stupid assertions about Muslims not being able to rent a place in Mumbai. More Muslims live happily in, and rent or own places in Mumbai than most other metros on the planet. So this whole apartment thing is just a bogus argument.

Shabana Azmi is also upset with Indian democracy as such, saying it is unfair. I completely agree with Shabana on this one. Democracy, by its very nature is an unfair political setup. Indian democracy has been unfair not just to Muslims but it has been unfair to Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Buddhists, upper castes, lower castes, just about everybody. This would be a good time to ask Shabana Azmi as to what country, on the face of the planet, would be her choice country for Muslims. No, her answer wouldn’t be any of the Islamic countries (which one would automatically assume to be treating Muslims better than anyone else). Shabana Azmi would not be able to say what she is saying on Indian TV if she were living in any of the so-called Islamic countries.

So what is she complaining about? One of her frustrations could be that the cinematic movement she and a host of other talented actors dreamed of and pursued a few decades ago, does not seem to have taken roots, and Bollywood seems to have gone on as usual with its stupid romantic flicks, completely oblivious to an art movement that could have propeled Indian cinema on the world stage. I not only empathize with that, but have consistently written against Bollywood’s wicked ways that stifle the brighter lot of people who can make a difference.

Another frustration could be her disenchantment with India’s politicians who have often used communities and religions as vote banks, exploiting racial and religious divisions. It is a bitter pill to swallow but it is the truth. Just the other day, several top Indian politicians and current parliamentarians came out in support of a terrorist Islamic student organization, a movement that has been shown to be an integral part of India’s terror network. Even a child can tell you that such support from politicians has its roots in the rotten game of election politics played every few years. Nothing surprizing, is it?

To be fair to Mrs. Azmi, she did have several positive things to say about us as a country, especially her mention of India as a rare place of hope for minorities. Shabana and her husband Javed Akhtar are enormously talented people with exceptional backgrounds and unique perspectives. Which is why some of her statements don’t make sense. In fact, they make her look like she’s playing right into the hands of the politics that she and I and we all so fervently detest.

Shabana Azmi pleads a secularist mindset and most Indians are all for that. But taking jabs at the moderate majority in India isn’t going to help her cause. On the day when the nation found out that an outfit disguised as a Muslim student’s union was spreading terror in India, her point about nation’s unfairness to Muslims seems rather ill-timed. She’s been blessed to be born in this country, a place that has enabled her to live free of fears and foolishness unlike some other places where even simplest questions about fairness and unfairness can be deemed as treason and blasphemy.

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