Post-Environmental World

Just came across an interesting column from Francis Fukuyama published in the latest issue of Foreign Affairs. The column is a wide ranging commentary on current state of world. It is about impact of financial crises of 2008 on western world, nature of protests around the world, drawbacks of existing form of capitalism and democracy, few alternatives to the existing model and finally, rough outline for next social model to come. The points he discussed may sound disparate but the narrative he weaved succinctly captures the common thread. Highlight of the column was his commentary on drawbacks of existing model of democracy and capitalism. Ye he asserts that for a new model take hold democracy and some sort of capitalism has to be in the mix. He also stress on importance of middle class as they play decisive role establishing and maintaining a social system. I couldn’t agree more with these points but what got my attention him completely discounting the impact of rapidly changing environment and general deterioration of natural resources. For me environment will prove the decisive factor in shaping our world in this century.

From the dawn of human history we have been adversely impacting environment in one way or another. But still last hundred years has been unique, and not necessarily in a good way. The scale of environmental destruction, pollution and annihilation has been shocking. With advancement in technology we pollute on gigantic scale and destroy forests at super-sonic speed. Air pollution has gone up so much that the earth’s temperature has risen substantially in mere hundred years. Ice on North Pole is fast disappearing and weather cycles have changed in various parts of world. Clean air and potable water is increasingly becoming scarce and yet human population is growing at rapid rate.

You can hold me culprit for using excessive hyperbole (oxymoron here!)  in presenting my argument. But the situation isn't just bad it’s actually worse. Environmental decline will have direct and immediate effect on communities at micro level and nations at macro level. Scarce resources, polluted land and water and rapidly declining fertile land will force societies to take extreme measures. Social structure may collapse and nations will go to war over water and arable land. China is already on land buying rampage in Africa and South America. 

The tale of Somali piracy s quite illustrative. The Somalian pirates gained worldwide attention when they abducted an American ship.But the problem started well before that. Somalia as we all know is a failed state. Taking advantage of this situation fishing ships from far-away countries like Spain and Japan started fishing in Somalian water. We are not talking about few ships throwing their fishing nets in the water. These Spanish and Japanese ships were advanced shipping trawlers that captures thousands of tons of fish in the matter of days. This means scarce fishing for local Somali fisherman. The initial revolt was against these fishing theft. It later spawned into a piracy enterprise when they realized that piracy pays much better than catching fishes is a different story. Why did Japanese and Spanish trawlers fishing in Somali water? Because there’s not enough fish left in their waters!

Can similar situation happen when strong country will invade a weak one because in want to natural resources? To be honest one of the important underlying reason for most of the wars is natural resources. But situation will be exacerbated since nations will be forced to go to war. All the talk about sustaining civilization, implementing capitalistic democratic model, free trade, importance of middle class, oligarchy, monopoly, revolutions, counter-revolutions, modernism, post-modernism, revivalism, fanaticism, secularism, atheism, enlightenment, post-enlightenment, industrial revolution, post-industrial revolution, communism, socialism, dictatorship, religion influenced social models, secular social models and everything in between will be quite irrelevant because in post-environmental we will be forced to wear masks to breath and go to war over water. 

We have enough nuclear bombs to destroy earth numerous times but we are not sure if we will have enough water to sustain for next fifty years.

You do the math

Why Indian cricket suck?

I was all riled up when India meekly capitulated to Australia in the third test at Perth. But then I had epiphany. It made perfect sense. Playing for India is irrelevant. It used to be an honor, a privilege. The respect you earn for representing your country, the allure of joining a club so select that only few hundred people in last 50 years have managed to join. Not only you have to be a good player but you also need to be fortunate enough to successfully maneuver the corrupt, inept and greedy institution of BCCI. You play for India after all that, you are the man!

But now all you have to play for is IPL. As long as you are “sold” to one of the teams you are gold. Who wants to work hard, stay in shape and perform to play for India when you can make more money in less than half the work playing in IPL?

The reason for my rant is not that India lost to Australia. We are used to that. It’s the way the team lost. It’s the manner of the defeats. The way India lost was not only humiliating but rather debasing. To lose is okay, to surrender after tough fight is also okay but to pack-up and run when faced with odds is not okay. It’s not okay at any level, lest you are playing for your country. There are more than one billion souls living in India. And when representing 1/6^th of world population you can’t gather your cajones to fight then shame on you. Move aside and let the novice take the charge; at least, they will go down fighting.

You see before ensuing tour of Australia I, along with few hundred million people, sincerely believed that India will win this test series. We have the whole squad health and running. Australia on the other hand was still a maturing side. With ax hanging over Ponting’s head and Hussey (my man!) in getting phased out, I thought we can either win 2-0 or 2-1. After three tests and 3-0 scoreline, in favor of Aussie, I am proved to be a dumbass along with few hundred million people. Was India destined to lose? In hindsight, yes. Was India supposed to lose this bad? Probably not!

Look at these disparate set of stats:

· India scored 400 only once and that too thanks to R. Ashwin, a newbie.

· In three test matches Aussie collectively have scored at least four hundreds including two 150+ scores and one 300+ scores. India on the other hand has yet to notch a single individual hundred.

· In third test match David Warner, a newbie himself, single handedly scored 180 at rapid pace. India’s 1^st inning total was 161 and 2^nd inning total was 171.

To truly appreciate the manner of debacle, lack of will, and general disinterest in winning look at following stats:

· Sachin alone has played more than 180 test matches. If you take out Ponting then test match experience of rest of the Aussie team barely touch that number.

· Collective age of all Aussie fast bowlers doesn’t even come close to number of centuries scored by Sachin alone.

· Total number of centuries scored by Sachin, Laxman, Dravid, Gambhir and Sehwag totals more 125 and I am talking only about test centuries.

And finally the true cause of disinterest is the amount of money these players make irrespective of the results. Indian players are contracted players of BCCI. They get paid the contracted sum no matter how much cricket they play. Thus the quantity is the criteria rather than the quality. Class A contract usually reserved for people like Sachin, Dravid and Dhoni usually stands for Rs. 1 Crore per annum. And Class D stands (please correct me if I am wrong) for Rs. 20 lakh per year. On top of that they get paid extra for each One Day, Test and Twenty-20 they play. And to top the icing they make more money through endorsements. But kids let me tell you a secret. The money that we calculated so far (the average annual income in India is around Rs. 40,000!) is peanuts for these cricketers. That’s right the real big-daddy money comes from IPL. And I am talking really big rich sugar daddy!

It’s not just the astronomical sums that these players get paid but the fact that they get paid in American dollars is truly astounding. Let me start with an example from recent past. An obscure player like KD Karthik who can’t hold his place in India team commands $2 million salary in IPL. So it’s simply unfathomable how much money Sachin, Dhoni and Sehwag must be making! In 2009 Dhoni made $9 million i.e. more than Rs 46 crore! The reality is quite stark here. BCCI Class A contract Rs 1 crore. IPL contract more than Rs 9 crores. You do the math! If they can make millions of dollars playing for stupid ass tournament like IPL then why bother playing for India? Even if they are not contracted by BCCI they can still make that much money in a month then why will they care about winning in Australia?

I have blogged on this topic before and in my last blog the target of my ire was Gambhir. I published that blog after disastrous England tour. Since that tour India fought hard to win against weak West Indies. And I wasn’t surprised to see Gambhir has not scored a decent knock since England tour. Sehwag, apart from his 219 scored in a tiniest possible stadium has been a redundancy. Laxman’s pretty much checked-out. Sachin is waiting for someone to present him his 100^th century. Zaheer came back all right. Dhoni has rapidly faded into a non-factor. I mean how on earth a world-champion team fades into lame-ass mediocrity and listlessness within a year? Where’s the pride? Where’s the ego?

For better or for worse (mostly for worse!) cricket is a national game of India. So much energy is wasted on the game that it’s aggravating to know that in last fifty years or so India has not produced a world-beating side. Mind you cricket is not even played at world level. There are officially only eight test playing nations. Of those, New Zealand is chronically resource-strapped. Bangladesh is chronically (and comically!) incompetent. West Indies is chronically mismanaged and Pakistan, well, you know! That leaves, apart from India, only Australia, South Africa and England as formidable sides. And India has not beaten Australia and South Africa in their respective countries and won only two series in last thirty in England. Yes, we have won against these nations in India but the mere fact that we can’t even dominate a game played, with some seriousness, only in four countries is mind-boggling.

India does not play well in any other game. These cricketers make so much money and still manage to lose. I know money doesn’t buy talent. But if these players don’t have talent then at least, don’t pay them! On top all this they whine about public pressure and tight schedules. Get over yourself! Because you get so much attention you command so much money. If no one showed up at the airport when your flight arrives then no one is going to pay you ever. Ask Dhanraj Pilley – an ace hockey player and former India captain. I don’t think he made enough money in his professional career as a star hockey player as what Virat Kohli makes in a year.

The tour’s going to end soon. I will be surprised if India doesn’t lose the fourth test by huge margin. Soon the IPL juggernaut will start rolling. Players like Gambhir and Kohli will score some half-ass runs in IPL making sure their American dollars continue to flow. India does not embark on international cricket tour for next couple of years. By then Gambhir and Kohli would have made at least $5 million dollars and nobody would care!

Average annual per capita income in India is little over $800.

The IPL Apple!

Once you bite the apple there is no going back! 

The recent performance of Indian team in England needs no introduction. No cricketing team ranked Number One has played as poorly as Indian team did. As if losing a series wasn’t bad enough India didn’t even win a single international game. Not even a single one-day international.
I blame this shameful performance to IPL. 

Gautam Gambhir a good batsman. But along with other ‘giants’ of the game he sucked big time against England. I think he should be dropped from the team not for his poor performance but for his lack of commitment to the cause. He played the World Cup and he must have been tired by the end of it. He also got injured during the world cup but instead of resting and preparing for one of the most important tour of England - place where ball swings viciously– he foolishly opted to play for his IPL team. He played the whole session and got injured some more. But then instead of excusing himself from the Indian team he had audacity to open the innings in the First test. At the back of such a strenuous work load his awful performance in next two tests makes lot of sense. What doesn’t make sense is his decision making ability. And yes, his insatiable grid!
He added another layer of injury during the third test against England and played no role in second and third innings.  (But he still managed to drop two crucial catches when he was on the field) But the agony doesn’t end here. I am talking about my agony! He says he banged his head hard enough to be disoriented for rest of the tour and yet he was playing for his IPL team again in the worthless Champions Trophy 20/20 right after end of England tour. 

IPL is here to stay is quite all right.  I am not against ‘cricketaintment’. I am not against cricketers making millions of dollars for 15 days’ worth of work. They can do whatever they want in their spare time. But they shouldn’t or rather they can’t mess their priorities when it comes to playing for India. IPL is a sport or entertainment, whatever you want to call it. But cricket in India is a different specie and has a storied past. Yes it’s a colonial game but India embraced cricket so readily because Indians got the taste of representing their country, to root for their country long before independence. Representing your country in any sport is a privilege but to do so in Cricket in India is unique. Also the fact that cricket is the only sport on the world level in which India suck less. We have been fielding competitive team since 1950’s. And these teams have given us quite a few moments to cherish. The victories were savored because there was little else to cherish. In 1980’s when India was slowly sinking in the potholes of economic disaster the victory of 1983 world cup was a gift from heavens. For such moments Indian fans elevated cricketers to God like status. Cricket is the only sport worth rooting for. Nobody in India follow Ranaji cricket yet throngs of people show up even if India is playing against Bangladesh or Zimbabwe. 

They are not their only for the love of the sport. Crowd cheer for their country more than they cheer for the game. They want India to win every game against Pakistan. They want the gratification of winning against mighty Australians. Fans identify so much with cricket that they take any real or imagined insult at their cricketers personally. You rarely see Indians uniting against price hike or shitty corrupt politicians but they were on the street s protesting when Sehwag and Tendulkar were banned for a test in South Africa. Tendulkar is Tendulkar because he scores runs for India. He has been behemoth for Mumbai but his claim to fame is being highest run scorer for India. That’s his identity. And no matter how much successful IPL becomes or how much more IPL bastardizes the game, the first and foremost identity of a cricketer will always be his nationality. 

Under such situation it’s insulting to see Gambhir, Khan and Sehwag giving more importance to IPL owners than to India. It’s insulting to see Tendulkar skipping West Indies tour because he was tired from playing in IPL. I am not sure who he is kidding. There are only 8 serious test playing nations in the whole world. And if he is ready to skip playing against one of them so that he can concentrate on IPL then it’s not fair to Indian as well as to the West Indian fans. 

Talking to my brother on this issue he made a valuable counter-argument. BCCI is a heavily political organization unaccountable to the fans, to the government or even to the players. They pick or drop players for no obvious reasons. For example look at Amo Muzumdar’s career. A contemporary of Tendulkar and Kambali and a loyal soldier for Mumbai cricket, Muzumdar is the highest run-scorer of Ranaji trophy. And yet he was never even short-listed for Indian cricket team in any of the format. I mean we have in numerable dud players representing India since 1990’s and yet this behemoth of runs with perfect technique was neglected for no reason whatsoever. 

Under such conditions if Muzumdar had opportunity (he is retired from cricket couple of years ago) to play for IPL and not only make truckloads of money but splash on the national stage then would it be surprising if he shows loyalty to his IPL overlords than Indian cricket team? Probably not but it sure would be sad. Injustice happens to lot of people in India. In fact India is a land of injustice and unfairness. Do Indian soldiers manning Kashmir border get a fair deal? They are putting their life on the line only for politicians sitting in Delhi fuck up the hard won battles. These soldiers are poorly paid (as compared to any IT sector employee) and they get poor equipment to do their job. Would they rather man a rich person’s home just because they will make twice the money doing so? Some of the soldiers would but most of the soldiers do their job because they love their country. 

Indian players should play for the love of the country. I am not saying they shouldn’t worry about the money. They should be able to make as much as money as they can. The reality is, unlike the players of 60’s or 70’s; the current crops of players do make shitload of money playing for India. They are crorepati’s playing only for India. 

IPL is bonus money, a lot of money but still bonus. And as they say, one shouldn't work for the bonus! 

Please also see Suresh Menon’s blog below. His suggestion is spot on!
http://cricketnext.in.com/blogs/sureshmenon/2968/62659/need-a-body-for-the-players-by-the-players.html

In Digvijay We Suck!

Digvijay ‘Doggy’ Singh, the current professional ‘ sewer dweller’ of Indian politics is at it again! When bombs went off killing dozens of innocents on the busy streets of Mumbai most of us were, at first, shocked to see mayhem then sad to see the human loss and finally enraged to witness, yet again, the sheer incompetence, impotency and criminal negligence of ruling party. But Digvijay, our erudite non-leader was busy weaving web of lies, unfounded accusations and outright anti-national behavior.

He care least about the lives lost. He moves around in Z+ security. He cares list about the incompetency ,impotency and criminal negligence because, well, that’s him personified. His job was to bark at the wrong tree and pee all over. He had his prose ready for mocking the unfortunate souls. He was huffing and puffing already. After all he is battle hardened in the sport of gutter wrestling. In fact, he is quite professional at it. He is so pumped up that I have seen him baring his teeth even at his shadow. “This shadow is the work of RSS” I have heard him saying. To that, Sonia said “Yes my dear, that’s RSS’s work. Now you keep on barking”

I know you never heard of this sport because it’s quite exclusive and open only to the gutter dwellers. What you do is, every time you see someone passing by you start throwing gutter waste on them. You do that to old and young, woman and children. It’s not an easy game. To play that game you need to have no credibility, no ethics, no morality, you should be a louche, power hungry and you should be expert in ass-kissing and boot-licking. And of course, the incompetency and the impotency part I mentioned above. You should be reeking venality all over. Even by the lowest possible standards Digvijay set for himself his recent outburst against RSS after another Islamic terrorist attack was so low that actual gutter creaters were like “you are the man!”

Accountability isn’t exactly a strong point of current ruling party of India but even by their standards Digvijay is a nadir no one would dare to compete. I would love to think of him as a jobless politician who can’t make money off of his position (i.e. siphon of public money to his Swiss bank account) anymore if it wasn’t for scores of innocent people killed. That’s not to say that the Sonia’s party, sometimes known as Gandhi Party or the Congress Party, isn’t paying him to bark and pee at every corner. He is a dog all right. The current government is full of such personalities who resemble more to our canine ‘best’ friends than actual human beings. The grand old party of Congress has become a canine compound since independence. You have to lick boots of Gandhi family to get any position in any government. Loyalty to Gandhi’s is supreme and takes precedence over loyalty to your country. Loyalty to ethics or truth, now what’s that all about?

He was the Chief Minister of 2nd largest state (at that time at least) in India for more than 8 years. Every Chief Minister of India dreams of becoming Prime Minster of India one day. I am sure Doggy had those dreams too but reality slapped him pretty hard. He not only lost the state elections but he couldn’t even transition himself to a cabinet ministery in central government. He is basically ‘ghar ka na ghat ka’.

All though the world wouldn’t miss a beat if he becomes ‘ghat ka’!

No one expects Digvijay Singh to speak truth. Even his mama wouldn’t dare dreaming that. But the malicious stuff his potty mouth vomits is not merely another act of Gandhi-ass-kissing. It’s part of nefarious design. He speaks of things that only CBI, NIA or perhaps, the Prime Minister or the Home Minister would know. Of course, our Prime Minister is not known to know anything. But just for the argument sake, in a perfect world, in a hypothetical situation, in a dream state, if our Prime minister was competent enough and senile enough then only he would know that RSS is running bomb factories. Because that’s a pretty serious accusation, especially if you are to make such accusation after Islamic terrorist bombed Mumbai again!

The people standing at the corner in Zaveri market didn’t start their day thinking they are going to die today. They simply started the day as they did for last so many days. Except that what they didn’t knew or didn’t realize that their current government, the police organization and intelligence agencies are not meant to protect them.. How pathetic is that? And to top that a senior ‘leader’ of ruling party actually has cajones to blame a cultural organization for the bomb blasts! Is he trying to gloss over the mistakes of ruling party? Or is he in cahoots with Islamic terrorists, ISI and underworld to defend the terroristbombing? Even before the dead were counted Digvijay was making unsubstantiated accusation diverting precious public resources and media attention away from the tragedy? If he knows something about the bombings then shouldn't he be talking to the cops instead of holding media conferences? How come the ruling party allowing one of its members to level such accusations? How come our Prime Minister allowing such insidious behavior?

In spite of carnage of 2008 the chief minister of Maharashtra couldn’t get in touch with chief of Mumbai police after these recent blasts. Even after four days there’s back-and-forth on whether there was suicide bomber involved. Our prime minister finally uttered “perpetrators will be punished”. If that to hold true sir, you should be the first one to go to jail. Rahul Gandhi said that 99% of the terror attacks have been repealed. Really? I would request you to go and stand in Zaveri Bazaar without your Z+ security (which by the way is paid by us)

The process of protecting civilians is riddled with bureaucratic impasses and the will to protect the innocent civilians is compromised with sordid dance of treachery under the guise of political brinkmanship. The current ruling party is a vortex of corruption and criminal negligence. Innocent civilians are treated like expendable objects and their deaths are pawned off for political gains. If you think things aren’t bad enough then just wait, it will get worse.

But I think we deserve these hazardous buffoons. After all, in spite of carnage of 2008 we elected them in 2009.

The Great Indian Escape

It was the last hour of the third test. India, the recently crowned one-day cricket world champions, had five wickets in hand and only 86 runs to score. Any sane person would bet for India. It's just makes sense. A good 15 overs were in hand, sun was shining brightly. There was nothing stopping India from cruising to victory and win the already won cricket series. Yet Indian captain offered to call off the game to which West Indian captain happily obliged. And why wouldn't he? India had Laxman and Raina batting. Dhoni, Kohli and Harbhajan Singh were still waiting in the pavillion. To top it of, Ravi Rampaul who more than troubled Indian batsman through out the series was nursing wounds in the hospital.

Yet India decided to let go the game. Yes, they didn't loose. Yes, they won the series but if they did that in a shamefully defeated manner. It wasn't that they chose the draw over a win, it's that they didn't show intent to win that got me and scores of other riled up.

How can India call themselves the best test side in the world if they don't have enough balls to score 86 runs off 90 balls? Come on, you are telling me the pitch is slow? You just won the world cup for heavens sake! If you don't play to win then you should just go home and spare us the humiliation.

West Indies is ranked 7th out of 8 test playing nation. India is ranked 1st and yet India decided to opt for the draw. West Indian players are paid peanuts for playing while Class C contracted player in India makes more than Rs. 25 lakh. And that's just for being contracted. Players get paid for each test, one-day and 20-20. Add endorsement on top of that and each Indian player is a millionaire. And yet you play for a DRAW! You kidding me!

I am not saying Indian team plays bad. Of course not. They have been consistently winning for last ten years. They won easy games, they won hard games, they won some improbable games. They beat minnows, they beat good teams and few times they were just kick-ass. They deserve to be ranked number one.

But at the same time their rank is not secured. England and South Africa are within sniffing distance. If you want to hold on to your numero uno status then you need to win continuously. You need to play to win continuously. The aim should not just to be number one in the world but there shouldn't be any number one like you ever. That's what West Indian team of 1980's achieved. And that's the realm where Aussie of Shane Warne resided.

Indian team doesn't play for themselves. They play for India. And when you play for your country your only aim should be to win and nothing else. There's no draw, no cop-out clause. Dhoni, admittedly one of the greatest already, should be ashamed of his decision to shake hands when he should be busy whacking ball around.

Champions are champions are at the heart first and if you are thinking about draw then you ain't the one!

Sedation, Stupidty and the Provocateure

Arundhati Roy’s recent yapping was beyond rationality. If rationality was food then she would be dying of hunger. Of course, then she would be blaming the so-called right-wing Hindu nationalist, Indian government, Indian army, the capitalism and the freckled lady that looks at her every time she looks in the mirror! What she won't do to survive (in our fantasy world of rationality) is to actually meditate on her thoughts for at least five seconds before speaking. Rationality, you see, doesn’t come attached with her royalty checks nor was it presented to her with Booker.

She is a certified nut-job who constantly needs media attention and since, she ran out of words or ideas to put a decent book together, she shops around for so called ‘causes’. She is an equal opportunity employee when it comes to finding things to protest. Religious, regional, economical and social, she is ready to sell herself for all. She is a professional provocateur. She believes that she is voicing the voiceless and standing up for the powerless. But in a rapidly globalizing world where protest is a thing of past and lobbying and organizing is the new mantra, she ends up hurting the cause rather than helping. But I understand, woman’s gotta eat, woman’s gotta protest. And in this case insult and provoke the very nation that feeds her and gives her the freedom to speak.

Criticizing your mother nation isn’t wrong. Dissent, if valid, is a cornerstone of democracy. India is one of the very few nations on mother earth that grants the right to express. I also understand the important role artist play in democracy. It’s their job to dispute the status quo and voice the concerns of the society. They are the medium for society to express and aspire. But freedom of expression should be accompanied by responsibility. Yes, you are free to say anything but that doesn’t mean you should. You can’t curse people because, all though it’s perfectly legal, it’s not civil. Similarly, you can’t accuse for the sake of it because that’s unethical.

But Ms. Roy neither fathom depths of ethics nor can she carry weight of responsibility.

I wonder where she gets cajones to spread outright lies. Is it her Booker prize that gives her guts to brand whole of Indian army as rapists? Or is it the sad realization that her royalty from her one and only book is fast running out and without provoking another controversy she will go broke? President of United States was to visit India soon and she seized the opportunity with both hands. Time to make some green.

Honestly I never thought she will run out of royalty. May be, people finally realized beyond grandiose vocabulary there’s nothing in the book.

“Kashmir was never part of India”

“Indian Army is raping all Kashmiris”

“India is ruled by upper caste Hindus”.

I have to admit that this lady go for big. All these sparkling rubies that she spit out aren’t innocent hyperbole. 

They are outright lies.

The absurdity is not hard to discern. Any kid with basic knowledge of Indian subcontinent can point his middle finger to such ludicrosity. If Kashmir is not part of India then nothing is part of India or is everything’s part of India? Ms. Roy obviously needs to take basic history lessons. Instead of spreading her imagination at Harvard it will serve her better if she takes history of Indian Subcontinent 101 at Harvard. And she should continue her ‘education’ in Common Sense 101, How Not To Sale Yourself 101 and Minding Your Own Damn Business 101!

India in its current avatar is a quite recent happening. Before that Pakistan and Bangladesh were India too. Forget about Kashmir, even Pakistan and Bangladesh was India.

Before 1989 Indian Army wasn’t as active as it is right now. Ethnic cleansing of Hindus by Muslims was happening since 1985 and then Muslim terrorists started wrecking havoc further and in response Indian army started patrolling Kashmir Valley. And before making her “rape” statement she should have checked rapes across India.

And India is ruled by upper castes? Current President of India is a woman of not upper caste. Current Prime Minister is a Sikh and supremo of ruling party is a evangelical foreign born Catholic. Last President of India was a Muslim and one before that was a lower caste Hindu. India is probably the only country so active in affirmative action’s that government actively works towards disfranchising upper castes!

She is clever in not making such statements where people might ask her questions. She will speak in Kashmir forum and will share podium with a known India-hater but she don’t have guts to attend a Kashmiri Pandit conference.

It seems that her Booker prize wrecked havoc in her upper deck wiring. Her brain, perhaps shrinking because lack of real activity, is suffering with rare disorder that makes her unable to digest facts and comprehend reality. May be she needs to update her operating system that works in this century.

She can’t fathom the fact that world has moved on and she is the one left behind. She is a redundancy as far as any constructive dialog is concerned. She is good only for her preposterous, shrill, absurd fantasies. In her delusional world everyone in the world is an oppressor and she needs to stand up for them.

Alas, who is going to stand for us whom she is relentlessly oppressing?

The Quagmire

The news that US is trying to have peace dialogue with Taliban shouldn’t be surprising. But is it really a good sign? Given the conditions at home and on the war front, there is no way in hell that US could stay put in Afghanistan any longer. Moreover, what is there to achieve anyways? Even if they spend next hundred years in Afghanistan they will You see, US troops have home to go but Taliban are already home. Like hyenas they just need to harass US troops enough and the prey will soon be all theirs. Whether US could pull out troops from Afghanistan by 2011 or not is something we will have to wait till 2011 but one thing’s sure that in no time Afghanistan will become heavens for Islamic terrorist activities.

The war in Afghanistan is nothing but a disaster - a colossal waste of time, energy and most importantly, human life. You can’t sow seeds in the graveyard because the fruits will always be poisonous. The circumstances in and around Afghanistan are so bad that no matter how much efforts are taken, the end result will always be the same - a tragedy. Till now the consequences were confounded to Indian sub-continent only. But with rise of Pakistan the tremors of happenings in Afghanistan have enough power to destabilize the whole world.

The war in Afghanistan is the longest military campaign in US military history. And all though it hasn’t been as costly and as bloody as Afghan adventure of Russia in the 80’s, US has left Afghanistan in more precarious and fragile situation than ever. The current government in Afghanistan is a comedy show. A dark comedy, that is. It’s arrogantly corrupt and shamelessly incompetent. The President has already rigged an election and is actively sending piles of cash, literally bundles of cash, out of country using Afghan Airlines. He doesn’t care about Afghanistan. He just to needs to survive before he makes his exit strategy full proof (bullet proof!) and then life will be good. His greatest legacy will be institutionalizing corruption. The general populace is already dirt poor but they still need to afford bribes to get even basic things done, something, not done under Taliban rule. The Talibanis were honest in their dealings and swift in justice. They knew how to keep their constituents happy as well as in check.

By no means I am condoning any of Talibani governance or supporting Taliban. They were muck of the civilization. Satanic people hell bent on not only destroying their own country but also spreading terror in rest of the civilized world; They are Huns of modern times. But at least Afghanistan had rulers. You knew who you were dealing with. You knew the devil’s face. You knew what they respond to and you had leverage against them. But now everything’s gone. We have competing powers in Afghanistan, internally as well as externally. Pakistan is at its shadowy best, influencing Taliban, Afghani politicians, as well as free-lance terrorists. Iran is seeing an opportunity to exhaust US resources so that US won’t be thinking about Iran in foreseeable future. Russia, of course, is playing a hand, back hand that is! Indians are trying their luck again by denying Pakistan a safe haven in Afghan land. Does quagmire sound familiar?

Is peace talk with Taliban a solution? Absolutely not! It’s like putting a band-aid on a bullet wound. It’s like giving aspirin to a patient who has a tumor hanging out of his head. It’s like reading bible before shoving him into an oven. OK, enough metaphors! You get it.

United States must introspect about their priorities. Do they want to make Afghanistan a vibrant democracy? Because then they may start building colonies in Kandahar because for democracy to take roots will take at least few decades if not centuries. Do they just want to kill all Taliban and leave Afghanistan to their corrupt but non-violent politicians? Because then talking to Taliban isn’t’ exactly a bright move. Do they just want to contain Afghanistan and make sure that no terrorist come from that land ever? Well, no terrorist ever came from land anyways. At least, not to the western land! The wannabe’s are mostly Saudi and Pakistani. I guess the real problem with US policies is muddled thinking, haphazard policy implementation and unclear goals.

The Taliban will have peace talk with US troops and they will agree to everything US says. Because after last of US humvee rolls out of Khyber Pass only Taliban with guns will be left along with incompetent and corrupt Karzai government. The elite or ruling class will leave Afghanistan in haste. Karzai, if he survives that long, will be gone with his billions in cash. Pakistan will again have a strong grip on Afghanistan. And Laden, well, he never left the Afghan land!

The real solution to Afghan problem, and I must have said it in every one of my blog related to this issue, is not Afghanistan but Pakistan. That’s the hub of terrorism. Stop the money flowing from Arab countries and stop the terrorists coming out of Pakistan and the problem will be contained. Reduction in Oil prices will curtail the funding right away. Sanctions against Pakistan, for one, will be quite a good weapon because Pakistani army virtually survives on US aid.

The recent criticism emanating from various governing bodies of the United States is a positive first step but time’s a luxury here; We all know what happens if a gangrene is left to fester for long!

The Zero Mosque

I thought that there is no need to write about building mosque near Ground Zero site. The twin towers were destroyed by Islamic militants and to build a mosque next to the site would be too inflammatory to a lot of people. Apparently, the permission was given last year and the controversy started only this year. What ever may be the case the fact is that the decision to build Islamic community center and mosque next to the site where 3000 innocent people met most ghastly death was shocking and frankly, uncalled for. It is often pointed out that there is already a mosque few blocks away from Ground Zero. But what is not mentioned that the mosque was build before 9/11 happened. And no one is asking to remove or demolish that mosque. The mosque was there and it still will be there. Muslims have been praying in that mosque and will continue to pray in that mosque. The question here is why somebody wants to build the mosque right next to the Ground Zero? Let’s look at the issue point of point. Is building mosque legal?

The answer is unequivocally yes. Not only legal but the right to worship is part of American constitution. The Liberal media (including my beloved New York Times and New Yorker) often points this out. According to them there shouldn’t be any discrimination against building any religious structure as long as it’s on legal land. I couldn’t agree with them more. All though sometimes I wonder how Times gets away with jumping fence over from news reporting to opinion dessimating. If someone wants to build a mosque in uptown, you are most welcome! If someone wants to build mosque in midtown, you are most welcome! But if someone wants to build mosque near ground zero, where few years ago 19 well educated, middle class and well to do young men created havoc in the name of Islam, one has to think of other motives. I am not talking about Terrorist motive and that this community center will provide base for nefarious activities. There is no reason to believe as such. But the mosque builder surely wants to attract controversy and create upheaval by building so close to Ground Zero. They know there’s going to be qualified and peaceful dissent against their act. This is helpful in advertising in Muslim world that how America is anti-Islam. In fact American media does this job for them. Just look at see recent Time cover (talk about making non-sense issue instead of honest discussion!) If the mosque and community center is getting built to bridge the gap between Islam and West then creating such controversy isn’t exactly a good first step.

Bridging gap between Islam and West?
The mosque builders state that building community center and mosque has noble motive. They wanted to bridge the gap between West and Islamic world. What stupefies me is that it’s the Islamic world of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Arabia and Iran that’s opposed to west and if that’s the case then they should be opening such centers in those countries and not in freaking, downtown New York City. I don’t think you are going to find any city more liberal and multi-faceted than the New York City. I mean, that city is a living breathing global village. There is no misunderstanding in this side of Atlantic Ocean; it lies on the other side of African continent.

Freedom of Expression?
The freedom of expression comes with responsibility and to build a mosque next Ground Zero is, all though perfectly legal, is highly irresponsible. The opposition is specifically against building a mosque. I don’t think there would have been any opposition to build a Hindu temple or Buddhist pagoda. And this is simply because Hindus or Buddhist didn’t attack the twin towers, Islamic militants in the name of Islam did. The counter-argument is that by saying this we run into risk of labeling all Muslims as terrorist. But the thing is that more than the people who want to label all Muslims as terrorist, a lot of Muslims themselves want to label themselves as such and play as the role of victim. They love to do that. Iran does, so does Pakistan, Palestinians have been crying for I don’t know how long. Afghanis don’t cry they just kill! Of course this doesn’t mean all Iranians are whiners or all Afghanis are terrorists. They are not but that’s how their nations behave in international community. And Muslim community is behaving in a same manner in US too. A peaceful protest does not infringe any of their rights. Fox news network doesn’t represent whole of US and the Muslim community doesn’t understand this then they need to dedicate community center to bridge the gap of rationality in their own mindset.

In the end, the opposition is here is local, only to this mosque. (There are some instances of opposition to building mosque in Michigan and I think, in Tennessee but this opposition is certainly infringement of freedom of expression) And given the delicate nature of location, why somebody would want to build the mosque if it is rubbing so many people in a wrong way? It is so easy to paint all those who oppose as anti-Muslim…wait a minute, isn’t that something you Mosque builders and Mosque supporters oppose to do? Painting the whole community with wide brush!

There is another stupid point by pro-mosquers that there is a strip club next to Ground Zero. A person can be opposed to Strip Clubs in general because it demeans women but other than that why somebody will get riled up to see strip club next to Ground zero, I don’t know. But most importantly strippers did not attack twin towers. They didn’t kill 3000 people. So don’t give me this bull crap that if there is opposition to build a mosque then there shouldn’t be any strip club either. Because if that’s the case then you are basically comparing two things that you don’t want to even think of comparing!

Strengthening Democracy

One of my good friends is doing her residency in US medical school. The US medical school system work little different than India. Here a student has to do regular graduation before going into medical school for their MBBS and then they go for residency where they finish the specialization in one field. Medical residency is a practical experience that all the medical doctors have to take in a teaching hospital after their graduation from medical school. In all it takes at least twelve to thirteen years of education and practical experience before they can set up their own clinic. In India, students go to medical school right after 12th grade and the count of years before he or she can set up clinic is still at least five years. Of course no one sets up clinic with on MBBS. All of the students do MD or MS. So, adding these three years of further education means at least eight years for a medical student in India before starting private practice. All these years are necessary and to be honest if my doctor tells me that he finished his graduation through an online course in eighteen months then I would be having seizure right there.

A Phd in engineer similarly ends up studying at least eight to nine years. Even in a Phd in Economics studies for at least seven years. And after finishing the highest possible education no one appoints them as CEO of an economic research firm or of an engineering firm. The graduating doctors’ still has to slog for hours at an hospital for valuable experience before embarking on private practice. In short expertise in any field not only needs countless hours of education but also needs substantial experience. Well this ain’t no secret. Talent, hard work and perseverance are some of the basic qualities absolutely required to succeed in any field. So if this is a general rule then why on earth we let stupidest mofos run our country? The Indian political class is probably one of the most corrupt ruling classes in the world. They are like leeches. They want power so they can make more money and that money in turn allows them to stay in the power. These politicians usually don’t have expertise in anything. I have never seen any Indian politician (except for Manmohan Singh) with solid resume. For example, the guy had meritorious grades in schools and made money by opening a local business. Or that the guy went to IIT for higher education and then became a political party member and then served as a mayor before embarking the life in state politics graduating into national politics. The only example, apart from Manmohan Singh, among modern politicians to have stellar resume is Mr. Parrikar, a graduate from IIT Mumbai, chief minister of Goa for few years.

Of course, education of any sort doesn’t mean the person is of highest integrity. We have highly intelligent IAS class officers who are equally corrupt as our politicians, if not more. But as our democracy is consistently failing in providing elected representatives who reflect our ambition and our goals. We can not have the legislative branch of democracy unchecked and with absolutely no bar to enter. There has to be a criteria, there has to be some sort of exam and some sort of relevant experience before assuming seat of power. It’s not just holding our politicians accountable for their actions and policies but making sure only accountable people gets elected at first place. It’s high time we tinker our democratic system and align it with national objective. If we aspire to be a developed nation with basic living standard for all citizens, better opportunities for young generation, equality and a nation of good character then our current system that elects corrupt and myopic ruling class. If our vision is grand then we want our leaders to make that vision grander. We don’t want aira-gaira, natthu khaira, as our member of parliament, cabinet minister or our Prime Minister. We want an honest, hard-working, intelligent and patriotic individual with ample administrative experience as our representatives. It’s not too much to ask. Seriously!

Most of the national level politicians have experience in state politics but that because of the ability to pull crowd rather than good administrative record. I understand that pulling crowd is not simple thing. But then these people aren’t leading these crowds towards development. Most of these local politicians are elected because of caste or religious equation. In short the only experience they garner on their journey to national politics is dividing society for garnering votes. Obviously their electoral rhetoric is not about development but rather about some sort of perceived injustice. There are no known criteria to enter politics and worse, there is no bar to get elected. I understand this is democracy but just because one can get votes doesn’t mean he or she is capable of administration. I also know that we have a extremely talented (as well as corrupt) Administrative class selected through rigorous process of IAS examinations. But their presence is no excuse for not having any bar to be a politician.

How about having some sort of criteria for elected politicians? We will have incremental criteria. Basic education like graduation will be required for all elected officials irrespective of the office they are running for. For a person running for state level office like cabinet ministry in state government has to have at least two years of administrative experience at lower level offices like running a city council. Or, the individual should have administrative experience as a junior cabinet minister. Eligibility for chief ministerial position will be little more stringent. A person should be a full cabinet minister running a department for at least three years. In short a Chief Minister will automatically have at least five years of administrative experience – two years of city council or as a junior cabinet minister and then full cabinet level experience of three years. An individual running for Lok-Sabha should pass some sort examination. This examination will cover basic tenets of Indian constitution, workings of legislative assembly i.e. Lok-Sabha and Rajya-Sabha, working mechanism of national government. The course material will also cover current national issues. The exam doesn’t need to be hard. In fact, make the exam open book. The purpose is not to fail a student i.e. an aspiring Member of Parliament but prepare the individual for better functioning of legislative branch of the government.

A cabinet minister in the national government has to be a Lok-Sabha member i.e. an elected individual. He or she has to have three years of junior cabinet level experience or he or she needs to be fulfill eligibility criteria for a Chief Minister Position. Thus a cabinet level minister will have at least three years national level administration experience or he or she has five years of higher level state administration experience. Now, eligibility for Prime Ministership should be most stringent. He or she should be a full cabinet minister in a national government for at least three years. He or she should be a member of Lok-Sabha. And, he or she should be declared, either by the individual or by the party that individual affiliated to, as a candidate for Prime Ministerial position before election. In short no horse trading after voting is completed. We can’t afford another Devegowada or worse, another V.P.Singh! And most importantly that individual should have exposure to armed forces. If that individual is an retired army person then that’s okay but otherwise, there should be a six month course that will cover workings of armed forces, internal security forces and the security issues faced by the country. The course should be available for any member of parliament. The current security situation is grim and constant back stabbing by vile Pakistanis is too much to bear. Our Prime Ministers, right from Nehru to Manmohan Singh, has consistently let nation down when dealing with Pakis. This has cost India humongous amount of resources and countless innocent lives.

I understand enforcing all these criteria will be impossible. And 99.99 people will say that it can only in ideal state. But I have high hopes from my country. In spite of all the troubles we have not only managed to survive but progressed quite a bit. It’s not easy for a country of 1.2 billion people to move but it is possible.

In fact it is necessary if we are ever to achieve our dream.

The Leak

The Leaks created drama for a week. And then nothing! The US media was buzzing with analysis and counter-analysis and all of it conspicuously stopped. One can argue that these leaks are creating havoc thousands of miles away from US mainland and perhaps that explains the apathy of US populace towards back-stabbing drama. But, what about Indians or Indian government? Shouldn't’t they be more alarmed by the picture that’s emerging through these Leaks? Shouldn't’t Indian newspaper carry sustained analysis of the Leaks and create a dialogue for general populace? Shouldn't’t general public demand action from government, especially, considering they are the one in the line of bomb blasts and gun totting mad-men doing shooting practice with AK-47’s on the streets of Mumbai? Unfortunately that would be too much to ask. I know news agencies in India are either too partisan or outright imbecile and unprofessional. I know that government of India is more worried about, well, nothing and cares shit about safety and security of the innocent citizens. And we all know how myopic Indian citizenry is. So there is no surprise in any of it at all.

We demand lowest possible standards from everyone. We don’t expect news agencies to give us real news. We don’t expect politicians to act in the best interest of the country and worst, we don’t expect ourselves to perform our civil duties correctly. Sab ke sab beimaan. Fir bhi mera Bharat Mahaan. Common sense tells us that after US leaves Afghan land, the Taliban will run over the country quickly. And if we apply common sense more then Pakistani army will start ruling Afghanistan again through Taliban proxy and if history is any precursor then after settling the scores in Afghanistan these useless and extremely harmful viruses will continue the journey of mayhem into Kashmir. Except the history in this case isn’t exactly history yet. It happened only twenty years ago.

When US was done having fun in Afghanistan they left these creatures enormous cache of guns and ammunition and pretty much nothing else to do. The infrastructure, if something of that sort ever existed in Afghanistan, was totally flattened by Russian army. The working class probably vanished. And what’s left in Afghanistan was gun-wielding, illiterate young men drunk on religious zealotry. As if that wasn’t enough then these Afghanis were supported by scores of Pakis and Arabs in the war. All these people were suddenly jobless and were told to turn their attention to Kashmir. Everybody knows what happened next. Right? Well not exactly. I don’t think many Indians know what happened in Kashmir. Even I don’t know enough to fill a blog on this issue.

When Kashmir erupted in flames in 1989, the region was religiously cleansed of Hindus. Scores of Kashmiri Hindus were killed and those who survived were forced to flee the valley. Then once Kashmir became an Islamic state, a war cry was given to free the region from the “clutches” of Hindu India. Enough Kashmiri Muslims were roused to take weapons against their own country and they were well supported by scores of Afghanis and Pakis who were making their way into Kashmir valley. Caught off guard (which, generally, is the case) the Indian government deployed thousands of army soldiers in the valley. Without understanding the real issue and lacking skills to deal with hostile native population as well as fighting a counter-insurgency operation, Indian army lost scores of young, talented and patriotic young men. This continued for few years culminating, sadly enough, into Lahore bus ride (Vajpayee ji, really?) and then back stabbing in Kargil. But talking about Kargil is getting ahead of us because in 90’s the busy-bees of Pakistani army were simultaneously playing a different ball game with their other neighbor - Afghanistan.

No body knows where Taliban came from but Pakistani army propelled them to the seat of Kabul so rapidly that no one was sure how to take the news. Except for Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Dubai no one recognized their legitimacy. Nonetheless, Taliban immediately started nourishing terrorist network, most notably among all, of Osama Bin Laden. Things quite down a bit in Afghan land. It was all hell inside Afghanistan but they weren’t making any waves for outside world. Pakistani army during that time, perhaps cocky from their success in Afghanistan, decided to intrude into Kashmir ensuing what’s now known as Kargil war.
Their plan was simple. During winter both, Indian and Pakistani, armies back down from super freezing heights of Himalaya. Taking advantage of this situation Pakistani army positioned their regular army, disguised as Kashmiri freedom fighters, atop heights of Kargil heights. The operation was darn hard their objective was to cut off Kashmir from rest of the India by capturing the vital highway by controlling the kargil heights that overlooks the highway. When Indian army found out the intrusion, it was quite late and the army operation to wrest Kargil heights back from Pakistani army cost cost India at least one thousand young lads. The war was bitter and Indian soldiers were brave. But little did they understand that they should be worried about corrupt and useless politicians of Delhi rather than Pakistani army. After all, Indian army has kicked Pakistani ass numerous times before. And I am sure they can do that as many times needed in the future.
There was some quite time after Kargil war on Kashmir front and if it wasn’t for afghani-arab terror network destabilizing New York City, I am sure that Pakistani army was using this ‘time-off’ to plan another devious insurgent operation in India. But as US troops started piling up across the Durand line (official border between Pakistan and Afghanistan is called as Durand line after British general who separated these two nations) Pakistan was left with not much better option than bombing various Indian cities and sending gunmen on to Mumbai streets.

This Dummies guide for Pakistani terrorist network is not a secret. Everyone knows about it. Except for inept and corrupt politicians sitting in Delhi rest of the India knows about it. And unfortunately the whole cycle is poised to repeat again. The US is surely going to leave Afghanistan sooner than later and Pakistan will build its stronghold again in Kabul. The current government of Afghanistan is not only incompetent but extremely corrupt too and they will readily let Pakistan take over. After capturing Kabul Pakistan will have ample time to do start worrying about killing innocent Indian citizens. And looking at the indication then we can confidently say that Indian government will do absolutely nothing to safeguard the civilians. They would rather have a peace dialogue with Pakistan than to prosecute and hang convicted terrorists.

I have a great idea. The best way to keep all citizens safe is take away Z-Plus security from all the politicians. Let them live like common citizens fearing bomb blast or gun wielding assassins spraying bullets anytime and let’s see how they act then!

What the.....LeBron?

I will be honest, I never thought Lebron will go to Miami. I was putting my money on him going to Chicago. I knew he isn’t going to stay in Cleveland. That team had bloated contracts and they weren’t in a position to acquire any other players. Knicks – a long shot to begin with. If he were to go there then one, he would have to believe in Knicks management for getting other good players and second, he would have to wait at least for couple of years before team attains a settled state. And waiting is something LbJ can’t afford.

There is no point in talking about New Jersey or L.A. Clippers. That leaves only Miami and Chicago in contention. Of these two Chicago has more settled look. They have a budding super-star in Derek Rose and possible star in Jokim Noah (I have been following Noah since his Gators days and he has been disappointing in NBA). Plus, Chicago has salary space to offer LbJ maximum contract. His combination with Lou Deng, Derek Rose and Noah would have been formidable. They may not have won any championship next year because Celtics and Lakers are still strong. But given Chicago Bulls average of hovering around 25, the team had very bright future. And the chance to cement legacy in MJ’s backyard – priceless!

Miami on the other had already had a superstar, a superstar who bought championship to Miami few years ago. He is very popular in the city and with given salary space Mimai had chance to get a formidable wingman to Wade. Well, they got two now. And each of two is a superstar to begin with. And championship ring is all but certain.

Or is it?

Most of the superstars, at least according to Basketball lore’s, are arrogant and suffer from “look-at-me-I-am-pretty” syndrome. Michael Jordan was a prime example. His talent and skills are comparable to none and his ego was surpassed by nothing. He was unpleasant to play with and all though, he stressed on team, he was anything but a team man in the locker room. Yes, he was devoted to win and had ability to bring best out of his team mates but he was also devoted to his own image and devoted to make as much money as possible. Again nothing wrong in that. In spite of all these shortcomings he won multiple championships with same set of teammates.

LeBron is a step ahead of MJ. He doesn’t play as good as MJ and probably, won’t ever come close to him either. (I hate to admit but only Kobe has some resemblance to MJ). But he shares MJ’s egotistical nature. He is ready to plaster his face everywhere and ever more ready to make spectacle out of anything. Win an MVP, create a show. Win another MVP, create a grander show. Dude, there’s an MVP every year. Really, every freaking year!

Win a championship, create greatest of show. Oh wait, that hasn’t happened yet!

He shows himself as a family man, a loyal fan of his team and a loyal brother to his teammates. He calls himself King and considers himself chosen one. He created this image of himself where he deserves everything without winning anything. His former team management rallied around him. They rotated players as if it’s a merry-go-round. As I mentioned in my prior blog, they had pretty much every move in every game around him. He is so used to pampering that I wonder how is going to play when he is playing with two other superstars. I mean, all it takes is ten seconds to say where he is going. But no, that would be lame. So he decided to air an hour special on ESPN to announce his decision. The shows’ title was ‘The Decision’. Talk about megalomania!

All this ain’t going to buy him no ring! Basketball is a team game. Ask Kobe! Ask MJ. Ask current Celtics tea. When they realized that team will sustain them if they sustain the team spirit, they came within five minutes of their second championship ring in spite of truck load of injuries.

Just because you are playing along with D-Wade or Chris Bosh doesn’t mean you will win. Team spirit can’t be bought. And friendship is not a team spirit. The expectations are going to be ten fold. And if Heat did not win the championship and I have my own doubts about it, then there won’t be any sympathy this time.

Oh and dude, that one hour “special”, extremely egotistical, crass and totally uncool!