BJP: On the crossroads!

The Indian elections threw a surprise for once - a pleasant one too! The mandate circumvented the usual anti-incumbency factor. It seemed like regional aspirations and religious fanaticism were abolished. Congress got a definite majority from the Indian people.
So where does that leave the other big party in the country - Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)? BJP has been the only other practically workable choice for India since the country was procreated out of the British Empire. The seeds of the BJP bore out of the agitation against the immense power abuse by the Congress establishment and the Gandhi-Nehru family bastions. The Emergency was sort of the first step towards a multi party democracy. But after several half-baked results, there was the need for a big bang launch. The Hindu sentiment against the pseudo secularist Congress provided BJP the much-needed launch pad. L K Advani was in the forefront of this event. The politics of Ram and Ayodhya were revived out of extinction as Advani led the RSS supported BJP towards establishing itself as a Hindu right wing party. The first chance India got to get a 2 party working democracy was thus severely affected by the Congress policy of using minorities as a vote bank on the one hand and an equally ugly manifestation of the other end of the spectrum against the minorities on the other.

The next decade saw the Congress lose its sheen over a barrage of Hindutva and the third front - consisting of miscreants like the communists and regional parties. The debate that separated the Congress and BJP came down to the garb of secularism and the nationalistic Hindu fervor. India went through some of the worst third party establishments throwing incongruous and embarrassing prime ministers like HD Deve Gowda onto the national stage. The country was ready for a stable government. It came in the form of a newly discovered beast called a coalition. The BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) swept the polls under the able leadership of Atal Behari Vajpayee and gave the nation a moderate leader from an extremist party the keys to India's future. This coincided with the growth of India as an economic bigwig. BJP at the same time had enviable bench strength of second-string leaders - Pramod Mahajan, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and Uma Bharti. This was a time; India could imagine a future with a party that had a democratic and corporate way of giving able people an opportunity to make a difference. On the other hand Sonia Gandhi was a minion within the Congress establishment with nothing going for her but the family name.

The Gujarat riots disturbed the equilibrium within the BJP. The eggs of extremist Hinduism hatched as they had in the Mumbai riots of 1992. Vajpayee could not save the BJP from losing the 2004 elections. The state sponsored pogrom could not be balanced by the realization and promises of a shining India. Though BJP lost the elections, Congress did not get a full mandate. It was just about enough for them to be offered a shot at the government. Sonia Gandhi grew exponentially in stature by refusing the top slot. She gave way to one of the most non-controversial and intelligent individuals in the country -Dr. Manmohan Singh.

The BJP failure was not an orphan for long. Oliver Twist was taken in by Fagin instead of a Good Samaritan. The moderate ideology was killed off in a hurry. The one lesson to be learned from the defeat was bunked by the whole class. They veered towards extremist ideologies again. The result oriented clean government he leads in Gujarat accentuated the rise of Narendra Modi within the BJP. Vajpayee retired and LK Advani picked the gauntlet of the party. Over time, LK Advani tried to paint over his extremist image PR exercises such as the praising Jinnah in Pakistan, which in his nick of the woods was blasphemy to the T.

The next 5 yrs of the government were a tight ropewalk for the Singh govt. It was laden with great economic developments and terror attacks all over the country. The BJP painted the prime minister as weak and impotent due to the lapse in security measures. Narendra Modi became the boy wonder for the party. Advani was projected as the strong leader who could rule the nation with an iron fist. Fortunately the campaign failed instead of marginally succeeding. India was saved from getting a fractured government. The bonus was the defeat of feudal corrupt leaders like Laloo Yadav and Paswan, as well as that of the Communist parties in West Bengal and Kerala.

Almost two decades after the Rath yatra, BJP is again at a crossroad. What is the guiding principle of the BJP? Would they be driven by religious sentiments? Would they act as grown-ups and think about what the country really needs? All these questions depend on one question that they choose as the future leader. Pramod Mahajan's demise has taken away an acceptable option. Uma Bharti's whimsical feud with the BJP rid them of a ticking time bomb of uncertain unruliness. Narendra Modi has the same problem as Advani. He may be able to convert Gujarat into Shanghai. But he would never be able to wash his hands off the anarchy and the pusillanimous massacre of minorities in Gujarat. Arun Jaitley though the brightest spot on the spectrum is far from being a mass leader. The choice thus lays between the enigmatic Sushma Swaraj, the geriatric Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi and the seasoned Jaswant Singh. The answer to the question is really going to define BJP's future and that of the country to seriously be able to create a 2 party democracy based on policies and not on religious aspirations. I look forward to how they are able to either make that switch or be at the crossroads again after Modi has lost the elections for them in the near future.

When life throws you a Lemon!

"When life throws you a lemon.....Make Lemonade"

Sounds like a mantra out of the 'Who moved my Cheese' book. You read it. Feel good about it. Seems like something you wanna follow. And then the concept just loses its sheen in due course of time. The reason I think is life is not as simplistic as that one line. Or is it?

You are sad. You got a rap from my boss about my work. You got dumped by your girlfriend. Your car broke down in the middle of the road at 1 am. Damn why did it start snowing the very next minute. Your Mom is calling on your cell phone. You bet shes gonna ask you what You are doing out so late in the night. Reject Call! You called a friend who took a freaking hour to pick you up.

You are happy. Your boss cares enough about your work to give you a chance to improve on your shortcomings. You wish she was the one but good that you found out early and you learned so much from your relationship. Your car broke down in the middle of the road at 1 am. The snow looks so beautiful and makes you feel like you are in a serene place. Feels good to hear your Mom's lecture when you are in such a bad place in life. Gosh do you miss the old days when you could lose all your worries with a hug from Mom. You called a friend who picked you up in an hour. Thank god you have a friend who is willing to lose his sleep and help you at this ungodly hour.

Well beyond everything else. I think life is all about how you look at it. Everyone goes through a bad phase. The best thing to do is to dig yourself out of the ditch one step at a time. The tiniest achievement can be cherished and celebrated with a smile. Be it completing a tetris game beyond level 2 or knocking 4 pins in a bowling game. Happiness is a state of mind that each person defines for himself/herself. So depending on the situation just lower expectations from life. Appreciate what you have as against what you don't and you will have bounced back before you know it!

Social Networking 2008

"Hey do you know Ria's goin out with Rob?" "His status says so!"
"Glad you could make it to the party. I saw you were a maybe!"
"Do not tag me in that pic. pleaaase"

Before 2008 the above would not make sense. But the past year was filled with conversations revolving around social networking. If someone said the World is Flat some years ago. Well guess what? Sites like Facebook were the tipping point taking it to a whole new level.

Back in the days, everyone started a web presence opening yahoo and aim accounts called shoppergirl and NY152. The intention was to have an online presence different from the offline one. So if you were an 22 yr old bespectacled timid introvert. Wallah! stud101 is a 22 yr old hunk who can do 25 sit-ups per minute. Second life took it beyond a facade and gave people the license to create an online version. All this while the undercurrent was to meet new people and possibly make a romantic connection. With it came the evil side of 50 yr old pot bellied guys trying to pass off as teenagers. Online relationships though far and between were mostly viewed with suspicion. One could not for sure say if the other person was being himself or herself.

One fine day myspace emerged and it gave people an avenue to create their homepages. It was as if we just bought a room and we decorated it as per our whims and fancies. The background was dark pink. The prince of darkness played his songs every time someone came. It became a way of expressing our creative side. On the side, it also brought us closer to our online selves. We started putting out what we believed in sans some weird Bot profiles. In addition, there was a new way of connecting with friends and making new ones. Orkut changed things in a way no one had earlier. Everyday after creating a profile, was an anticipated exhilaration of meeting an old friend. Every search was aimed at finding an old crush and suddenly the six degrees of separation became so practical. Facebook started as a way to connect college students but took off where orkut stopped. It started connecting people all over. It changed the game enormously. Having a facebook account was a judgment on your coolness quotient. Gradually, it became an extension of peoples lives.

Now what? Well after being just a frivolous way of connecting people, social networking started approaching real world problems. In 2008, facebook was used like never before imagined. Barrack Obama was running for President. And it was a genius move on his part to use facebook as a means to reach out. And reach out he did. This grassroots effort culminated into Obama winning the presidency. The Events functionality gave users a way of extending invitations to friends for parties and organized events. The old way of RSVP by phone, email or letter was replaced by a click. Photos being uploaded always had a flaw that you could not find yours when you needed em. Well Photo Tag meant that you were at the other end of the spectrum where you did not want friends to tag embarrassing pics. The earlier minuscule feature of having a status is now being used to publicize what is happening in your life right now. This is kind of a blessing for facebook addicts as they can now have everyone know when they hit a home run for the first time....oops did I give myself away?

Whatever future holds for social networking, one thing is certain. Any progress made solves a problem someone faces in the world. First it was people coming out of their introvert ways. Then it was being friends with people all over the world. It moved on to other human problems. Possibly the future holds a solution for more serious problems as finding a solution to world hunger, preventing genocides and averting wars. Here's to wishing the social networking phenomenon reaches this level of sophistication as soon as possible.

Reporting From Mumbai on 26/11/2008

As I peer outside my window in Chembur, Mumbai, I can see children play cricket in their school uniforms. The school-break due to the terror attacks has only made their day happier. In a different part of the world children of the same age are being taught that anyone other than their faith are infidels. They are told, "They hate you! And you should hate them back! It is God's will that you join this Jihad. Killing some more innocent people will avenge the atrocities committed on brothers and sisters of your faith".

In the western part of the world, this skirmish is seen as us v/s them. Plans are made to make sure every suspected terrorist is chased. As the whereabouts of such a person is known, there will be air strikes, which will kill one terrorist and possibly create 10 more in the form of kids losing their innocent parents and close ones. In the Indian political establishment, the attack will be followed by condemnation. The Indian opposition will be rightly appalled by the lack of security provided by the present govt. But it will react with demands for resignations from the establishment. They will hardly notice the fact that their actions in the past decade may have been used as fodder for young orphans, who were brainwashed into taking up the road to terror.

While the attacks were taking place, the govt. on the other hand had been busy trying to pin down the opposition leaders in a different violent blast. This would be an attempt to be seen more secular in the coming elections. It will issue a list of all things being done for the security of the common man, when in fact the police are struggling to fight this attack with insufficient training and inadequate equipment. The Railway police were left with ‘lathis’ (sticks) to fight terrorists equipped with Ak-47s. The bulletproof jackets are not bullet proof and the helmets permit an incoming bullet to pass through. In such a scenario, the ruling class is as much to blame for not providing enough to the cops.

A couple of days will go by. Everyone will return to his or her job. The spirit of Mumbai will receive kudos for the back to normalcy in record time. People will say, "They cannot break our spirits". And a large part of us will hope that the next one does not strike our loved ones or us. The Insiders v/s Outsiders battle raging in Mumbai would re-emerge as the most telling issue of our times. The soldiers from both sides of this argument, who have saved each other`s lives after being shot, will go back to throwing stones at each other.

Have we read this script before? Well 10 yrs ago, 5 yrs ago, 2 yrs ago and maybe an yr or 2 from now as well? Something somewhere is amiss. 9/11 was followed by some correct and some incorrect decisions and actions from the US. But the fact that they did not let another attack happen speaks volumes about the kind of measures taken. The actions of Giuliani and Bush post the attacks did project a sense of resolve and calm. The Maharashtra CM, the Maharashtra Home Minister and later the Prime Minister hardly gave anyone a sense of security. Rather than divulging details about how the operation is being carried out, there needed to be more discretion and reassurance. I haven’t seen a single person from the govt. who exudes an inner strength and resolve to be seen as the one leading an effort.

What we need to do after this attack is to learn the right lessons. Who attacked and why are questions best left to the investigating teams. What needs to be done is re-evaluate our readiness to deal with a crisis. Be it a terror attack or Heavy Rains or Earthquakes. Every city needs to have a Crisis management team, which I am sure Mumbai has. But how effective is it? A single person needs to be appointed to deal with a crisis. He/She needs to be the one calling the shots. The govt. spokesperson needs to be given the role of fielding questions from the media and providing censored details about the operation underway. Scared-shit politicians are better left in their toilets. Every news agency needs to have a govt. conduit so that an experienced negotiator rather than a mainstream TV journalist handles an occurrence like a call from the terrorists. The budget allocated to the police force needs to be re-evaluated. A 50,000 strong police force cannot serve a big city like Mumbai. We need more police recruits and possibly a better volunteer force, which comes into action in each neighborhood. The police vans need to be fitted with GPS devices to track down rogue vehicles. Also each vehicle needs to have a bulletproof windscreen. The arms and ammunition used by the police needs to be upgraded big time and there needs to be a review on its condition from time to time.

Hopefully all or some of this gets implemented. As of now all we can do is pray for the safety of hostages, mourn the loss of victims and salute the bravery of our fallen heroes.

Utopian Investments

All over the world, the stock markets go up and down every day. Every day millions of investors make decisions based on the last quarter numbers of companies. The company stock is rewarded for posting great numbers for a quarter and punished for a single misstep during the quarter. In such a scenario, the company executives more often than not are always in reactionary mode. The "You are as Good as the last Quarter" attitude has permeated down the management chain right from the CEO to the middle management. Somewhere down the line, the companies have moved away from their core value. What has gotten lost on people is the fact that a good company remains that regardless of a bad quarter. It is like treating a crumbled dollar note as waste, due to a belief that it has lost its worth.

The problem is not just limited to the higher echelon of the company. The culture of making a quick buck trickles down to every facet of an organization. Every department is conditioned to spitting out the numbers every single quarter. Decisions are made to salvage the company numbers during a single quarter. Every quarter the employees in sales are under pressure to perform or perish. Every year Department Heads face a decision to grow profits or cut costs, which in real world terms means laying off people. This is probably a necessity in a recessionary economy for the survival of the company or when someone is given a pink slip because of incompetence. But in the long run, it is a foolhardy move to let go of a competent employee.

As a practice, every one in the workforce needs to look beyond short-term goals and look to build a business which is not taken hostage every time it fails in moderation. Traders on the other hand need to grow up and understand that the most money is made in long term holds and not short term Bearish moves. It is during a crisis that good companies need their investors to back them. People or their brokers need to invest in companies which have a good prospect over a period of time rather than run up the price of a company beyond its worth and sell it all at the same time when bad times fall on it. While this may seem Utopian, it still is the only way to prevent such Carthage on Wall Street.

Politics!!! Phew!!!

Currently looking at the presidential battle in the US makes me compare it to the situation back home. How different is India from the US politically? Is the politics played out better or worse? Is anything different at all?

Politicians, no matter which place they are from, have an innate ability to convince people that trivial inconsequential matters drive their day to day business. In any place with moderates and extremists in equal number, promises made about controversial issues during the elections are more often than not put on the back-burner post-elections. BJP cannot go against the law and build a Ram Mandir in Ayodhya without consensus. Neither can the GOP overturn Roe vs Wade without getting buy-in from people across the table. And even if they do so, well we are not gonna see the basic problems plaguing the respective countries go away.

The one thing I think will help India, is to have a Presidential system. The current parliamentary system acts as a good deterrent to unpopular or partisan policies. But the multi-party system is stifling democracy and giving horse-traders the opportunity to be king-makers. Every election the number of parties in the fray seems to have doubled. As a result, there is no clear path that a ruling party can take to mitigate a coup of sorts midway through its term. Every now and then, there are people like Deve Gowda propped up to the hot seat due to coalition politics rather than their capability. This not only cripples the country's image but also is a big impediment to a stable leadership.

Having said that, its a wonder that a country can exist with so many diverse languages, cultures, mentalities and classes of people. Even so, every political party in India is set-up to celebrate or counter a single thread of these diversities. None of them have embraced a multi-ethnicity mission to celebrate India's diversity. You have Telugu Desam for Andhra Pradesh, Bahujan Samaj Party for Dalits, Shiv Sena for Maharashtrians, J&K National Conference for Jammu Kashmir and the Commmunist Parties for the insane. This has made it very difficult for any new leader to make it to the national scene before he\she is a septuagenarian. Decades go by before the person is popular in the district, state and country. The only way that has changed over time is when there is a generational passing of the Baton from the popular old leader to his/her kin. Initially, I thought its pretty plain and simple in the US: Republicans and Democrats. Well guess not, there is pro-life, pro-choice, liberal, right, center, left, right centrist, libertarian and what not. The only divergence is that the lack of linguistic differences helps politicians transcend geographical boundaries. But, it is still rare for someone non-mainstream to get elected. The one thing that gives India an edge over the US in some way is the lack or weakness of the glass ceiling for women in the political space. India has had women governing various levels of the government, including the highest office.

What I have realized is human beings tend to connect with someone from their clan instantly. Every citizen wants someone with a common thread connecting him or her with the leader he or she elects. For Indians, the leader being Indian is last on the list of commonalities. Ideology has little to do with this decision. People just want someone who looks and acts like they do. Laloo Yadav has made a living out of acting like a village bumpkin all his political life so as to be accepted by his base. In the US as well, people want someone just like them. Its a sin being elite. Why would one want someone with a higher intellectual capability in the most important office in the country? Wouldn't it be better to support someone who knows how to tend to cows or ride horses? Well, people everywhere work the same way I guess.

A Thousand Splendid Suns

This was probably the book which was on my To-Read list for the longest period of time. Finally I ended up reading it and it was worth every bit of praise showered upon it. So instead of giving away the plot (not that it's a whodunnit), I would like to thank Khalid Hosseini (hope i got the spelling right) for being able to write from a woman's perspective though being from the weaker sex himself. You heard me right! For all that we know, physical strength is highly overrated!

Words flow like human emotions in this amazing book. The thing that impressed me the most was that the book manages to emulate the human mind so well. Most of the times, the characters are in a conversation and their mind is playing some different track on them. And you as a reader are drawn to the thoughts more than the conversation. As with Kite Runner, you can almost guess what is on the horizon in terms of the story line. Still you read and anxiously wait for it to unfold. Unlike the Kite Runner, there is a silver lining to the cloud. So those who get depressed by the way it goes, stay tuned coz this one does have a 'happily ever after'.

The Power and Futility of Retrospection

For the past few days, I have had the privilege of bouncing off ideas with fellow inquisitive souls. One of the things that was a real take-home for me was how powerful and at the same time futile retrospection can be. Decisions made in relationships, business and almost every aspect of life have a lot of baggage. Some duffel bags and some large suitcases filled with past mistakes. Many a times people are scarred for life due to these mistakes. They carry their suitcase everywhere from that moment on. And end up not having the courage to risk making another decision in similar scenarios. They give in to the fear of increasing their check-in luggage.

So what are mistakes that you me or anyone else makes? Would we make them if we knew they were wrong? Well in some cases we would! Those are matters of the heart which we can take up some other time. More often than not though, given the choices, the circumstances and the lack of ability to view a crystal ball, we would make the same decision. Sometimes we are dealt pocket Kings and we play the hand. Only to realize someone else has Pocket rockets. Sometimes we have so few chips left that we have no option but to go all in with a deuce and maybe still win the hand. So which one is a right decision anyways? No one knows what the river card is or whether someone else has a better hand. We all use our better judgment, evaluate our options and make a move one way or another. So should we really be regretful about our judgments. Well yes and no! We got to understand that every step you take when you have a choice is the best option that you had. Sometimes maybe you just don't know any better.

So who's to say the war in Iraq was a bad decision? Well maybe it was for people who played up the possibilities of WMD. Coz that was unscrupulous on their part. But for the majority it was a decisive response to what they thought they knew! Who's to say it was a bad decision for banks to enter sub-prime loans? They were just trying to jack up their bottom-lines to surpass their quarterly numbers. It turned out to be a disaster for people buying homes beyond their incomes. But again it was their decision to enter a deal and a market which they did not understand well enough.

Do you think we are not gonna make any more mistakes in future? Well best of luck if you think that. Whats important is to make sure you learn the right lessons after you are knocked off the horse. You need to learn to recognize that mistakes happen. But the biggest mistake is the failure to learn from past mistakes. An even bigger mistake is to repeat the same one again. So my fellow humans and mammals and others with a cognitive sense to process this, Be as informed as you can be...Make Decisions.....Make mistakes....Retrospect....Laugh at yourself for doing what you did.....and move on....!!!

Ugghh.....

Coming from the land of Gandhi, I am all for non-violence. But when I am stuck behind a racer who would finish last in a one car race, it makes me desire the lineage of 'Don Corleone'. And this slug just creeps up in front of me at the most opportune time. I am trying to catch a flight in 45 mins, there’s bumper to bumper in all the lanes around me and I think getting into the left-most lane would give me some leeway. I follow my instinct and as soon as I hit 50 mph…Bam! There is a snail right in front of me. I despairingly look at the right lane for a place I can slide my car into. Cars which I had left behind a moment ago mock my instinct by zooming past me. I try to spot the eyes of the perpetrator in his rear view mirror. Every car that passes me by makes me want to transform my car into a monster truck and do an Ace Ventura on the lil guy. I spot a weak driver in the right lane. The horn blares as I swoop in throwing caution to the wind. I don’t mind it though as long as I am rescued from turning into a serial killer on the road. Even as I pass the herbie that tormented my existence for those millions of milliseconds, I want to ram it into the curb. As my ‘hulk’ de-mutates with each passing moment, I manage to grin at the zany ferocity that dogged my psyche. I am glad I can step on the gas now. All of a sudden I apply the brakes as I spot the car in my lane going slower than the one I passed. I am further distraught when I see a wry smile pass me from the left. I just look into the sky and cry out loud “Why me God? Why me?”

Definitely, Maybe

Definitely, Maybe. Now thats an awesome title for a Rom-Com. So whats the purpose of a Rom-Com? Going beyond all the BS and corny mushy lines, it all boils down to 2 fundamentals.

First, a couple watching the movie thinks of each other if they are watching the movie on their own. If they are watching it together, well thats a lot of gazing into each others eyes.....lots of the soft mushy BS making sense at the time....maybe some reuse of the corny lines after a fight.

Second, a Single viewer comes out of the theater wishing he/she falls in love the next time he (you know what lets stick to he....considering yours truly is in that category) boards a train or picks a coffee at the airport Starbucks. (Oops did I give away my thoughts?) He starts thinking of a lot of 'what ifs'. Should I have talked to her? God help a hopeless romantic coz it just causes the person to have a heartbreak. Did I become a friend and miss out on being her soul mate? Wonder if she is still single?

So does the movie fulfill these? Well kinda sorta in a way......Ryan Reynolds holds the movie together appreciably well. Isla Fisher is just sooo cute. (Did I say cute? Well I am not from California and I don't wear pink if it sounded that way) Rachel Weisz looks a million dollars each time she appears on screen. Kevin Kline plays the most refreshing role of the movie. Now hold on let me restate that. Kevin Kline plays the only refreshing role in the movie. Abigail Breslin tries to play this kind of a character. But I wish this was made with Dakota Fanning a few years ago. There needed to be an endearing heart melting character making us go 'awww'. She is too good an actor maybe to be just a kid on screen and make us feel for her. The film also lacked that one scene which remains with the user all his life. Having said that this is worth a watch on dvd. Pick it when it makes it to the Blockbuster store near you.....(Blockbuster better pay me serious moolah or I am backing Netflix in my next review)