Archive for April 2016
Short skirts, safety and security
The age we in is of discontent, anger and negativity. Some studies say that social media is to blame where negative bias has taken over. Negative news is more likely to be re-posted than a positive one. Over time this grows in magnitude. Anything we read, our first reaction is to find fault. Not everything the Govt. does is against women, against religions, against castes. But people like to play victim and make everything sound bad. Never do they try and understand why.
If we take a step back and analyze a particular thing from a logical and impartial point of view, most of the times we would see merit in it. Sometimes people are too afraid of the popular backlash that we feel safe in following the herd. Without knowing the context and ground realities we say what others are saying. And we fit right in. At times it is not politically correct to speak the truth hence we keep shut.
Once such issue is clothes worn by women in public in India. Whenever some authority figure urges women to not wear short and revealing clothes in public, he/she is castigated and character assassinated. Bigot, orthodox, obnoxious and what not. Never once people try and analyze the realities around that statement.
Let me relate the realities. India has a pathetic ratio of police to people. It is getting better day by day, but in its current form, we are not able to provide good policing. Law and order situation is real bad. I for one am supportive of women rights but am skeptical when it comes to safety. When I know the roads are not safe, would I wish women in my family to get harmed?
I agree, the pathetic mindset of men is to blame and not the women for wearing what they like. Yes, we as a society have failed. But it is a reality. Rather than living in a Utopian fantasy world, it’s better to know the ground.
Once the policing is better and there is ample safety, no one will suggest women what to wear and what not to. But someone has to point out the obvious albeit at the risk of being castigated. I would urge all women to see the locality you are living/going to. Stupid people will encourage you to wear short clothes and hail it as a victory of feminism. The victory of feminism will not change the reality on the ground.
I even tell people not to flaunt money if going to places where you feel less safe. Am I anti wealth? No, just using common sense. I might be called names for writing this, but what the hell. So much for being cautious!
Ola Uber surge pricing: Paid Media decry the ban
App based Taxi services have been charging higher during peak hours under the fancy name of ‘Surge Pricing’. There has been a lot of hue and cry by public across the country, but given the pathetic state of public transport, people could do nothing but pay often x2, x3 the fare.
Similar thing was noticed during Odd/Even days in Delhi when understandably the demand was high. People ended up paying up to x4 the fare. Then came the warning from Delhi Govt., post which the surge pricing was suspended by both Ola and Uber. What I noticed next was really funny.
Uber sent a notification to its users explaining that if they see ‘no cabs’ around, it is due to the surge pricing ban by Govt. And then there were paid lobbyists who started campaigning under the garb of ‘blogs’ on news websites. They say what Delhi Govt has done is death to free market and sends a wrong signal to innovation. They use the same fancy term, ‘Surge Pricing’ which is an ‘algorithm’ developed by these companies based on demand and supply. Let me point out why they are hypocrites.
These were the same people who used to tear up their clothes and run naked, when asked return fare by auto drivers. “These auto wallas, I tell you. Such bad people. The guy charged me half return (x1.5). The loot I say”. Those were their lines. Now they are justifying Surge Pricing. Just coz auto wallas didn’t pay them to lobby on their behalf and Ola/Uber did. Or maybe because they consider poor auto drivers perfect vehicle to vent their anger and rich taxi aggregators too premium to lambast. Or maybe they have some other convoluted justification.
If they ask for free market then why the smirk when auto unions ask for hike in auto fare? Why smirk when during peak hours auto drivers ask for x1.5 or x2. Don’t they deserve surge pricing? Or is surge pricing only applicable for those having AC cabs.
What more is, I have seen such anger at auto drivers among the so called educated people. As if auto drivers are kings and live in palaces. They are poor people and live in shoddy conditions. But no, they don’t deserve surge pricing. Only AC cabs too.
No doubt cab aggregators have made life simpler for commuters. They provide safety and security. But they should not be allowed cannibalism. First eliminate competition (autos) by making losses/providng free rides and then go for the kill (surge pricing).
I am not against surge pricing as it comes heavy on my pocket. I am against it as it is cannibalism. India has a lot of poor people who live by driving auto rickshaws. We need to protect their livelihood for the sake of humanity.
And remember all the coupons and 6/- per km rides will go away very soon. And when the prices become stable, what will remain are carcasses of auto’s and the surge pricing.
What ails social media?
Social media sprung upon us, all too suddenly. Before we could catch a breath, we were sucked into the world of facebook, twitter and whatsapp. The orthodox news media lost credibility over the years with monopolized biased reporting influenced by economic factors. If you pay for ads, we will say/print what you want. It was as if the consumers’ views didn’t matter at all. If you read/saw news that you knew to a blatant lie, you could do nothing to vent the anger. You just had to live with it.
Here is where social media came in. It gave people that medium to vent. The consumers became the news producers. Everyone was a reporter. It became platform for truth to be said. It was hailed as the voice of silent majority. People with big money didn’t have the hold on news anymore. It was liberation. One could express freely without fear.
But the bubble has started to burst. Paid accounts/pages on social media have paved way for big money to sneak in. Most of the news you see originates from Pages/Accounts, which are paid for. They are so many of them and the flooding continues. People see, people share. And thus the biased stories spread.
Reliability of news on social media is another issue. It is very easy to fake a story without major repercussions. And people do take advantage of this fact. Character assassination is common. Orthodox media lost credibility owing to propaganda stories it started running. Same is happening with social media. Paid accounts have taken the steam off liberation. We are nearing the stage of mean reversal.
Orthodox media lost touch with grass root reality. It became a rant from AC studios, mouthing propaganda. Social media is also going the same way. Paid for news, blasted to millions of people. On macro level, social media has lost touch with reality too. It has broadened the spectrum a bit. Instead of AC studios, it is run from AC rooms.
Social media was hailed as a medium to speak freely. This has also faded. People are so afraid to be lambasted on their views that they go by majoritarian view. They post what they feel people will like. They do not post what they fear will get hate comments. And hence went away the freedom.
A novel experiment has gone astray. My optimism says another one will spring up soon.
हाँ तू ही है
सपने में रात जो आती है,
हर दिन मेरी नींद चुराती है,
सताए मुझे, जाने कौन है वो,
तू ही तो है, हाँ तू ही है।
इठलाती है, शर्माती है,
औ मंद मंद मुस्काती है,
मचलाए मुझे, जाने कौन है वो,
तू ही तो है, हाँ तू ही है।
लाल गाल औ मस्त चाल,
बन्दर मन होता, डाल डाल,
बहकाए मुझे, जाने कौन है वो,
तू ही तो है, हाँ तू ही है।
लड़ती है और लड़ाती है,
पूरे घर को सर पे उठाती है,
गुस्साए मुझे, जाने कौन है वो,
तू ही तो है, हाँ तू ही है।
मेरे ख़ुशी में झूमती मस्त,
दुःख में बंधाती ठांठस है,
समझाए मुझे, जाने कौन है वो,
तू ही तो है, हाँ तू ही है।
बचपने में साथ मेरा जो दे,
सारा शहर रंगे वो संग मिल के,
साथ है जो, जाने कौन है वो,
तू ही तो है, हाँ तू ही है।
रोज के सूखे जीवन में,
धूमिल न वो हो जाये कहीं,
महसूस मुझे, जाने कौन है वो,
तू ही तो है, हाँ तू ही है।
Shani Shingnapur to Sabarimala: Is it really discrimination?
The fight for entry to women in Shani Temple and Sabarimala has reached Supreme Court. SC has asked the Govt. to ensure that women have access to entire premises of Shani Shingnapur temple. It’s not an easy topic to take sides. Political correctness urges us to blindly bad mouth temples, pujaris and the blatant discrimination. But is it really discrimination? And is the movement akin to suffrage?
Even at the time of suffrage movement, there were men who reasoned why women shouldn’t be allowed voting rights. We all know it was their chauvinism coupled with skewed beliefs imbibed since childhood, speaking. They couldn’t have been more wrong.
Is this temple movement the same? Let’s try and look at it with an open mind. On the face it looks like blatant discrimination and hence I decided to do some R&D. I have been to hundreds of temples through my life along with my parents. Never was my mother not allowed in the temple. Not never, I did visit Shani Shingnapur and my mother and sister were on the outer line, away from the raised platform. As per my understanding there are 4-5 temples in all (I might be slightly wrong), out of millions, that do not allow complete access to women.
Why are they termed discriminatory? For this we have to dig into the past. For a long time, scheduled castes were not allowed entry to temples. In fact they were not even allowed to access same wells. Total social ostracization. But it was the temple discrimination that made a lot of Dalit Hindus move to other faiths. After all what good is the God that can’t stop discrimination in his own home? It took a long time to eradicate such practices. With this background, any discrimination in temples is frowned upon.
Before going any further, I would again ask to keep an open mind, as things can get muddled very easily. Is there really someone behind all those temples; all those stones? Is the concept of thousands of Gods real? For the ones who believe in the concept of humanized Gods (majority of us), what more is left not to believe? We who believe in the logically stupid concept of worshipping stones are anyway gullible enough to believe in anything.
Women are not allowed entry to certain temples due to some reasons. They might sound insane. But given the context of worshipping stones, believe me they are very much sane. We worship Shiva Lingams (penis to be exact). We can be called stupid but are we discriminatory?
Coming to Shani Temple, Shani Dev is considered ominous. Most of us fear Shani ka Prakop. A lot of pujaris earn a lot of money doing Shani Pooja to ease off Shani. It’s a throbbing industry. Women are kept away from Shani to save them. The origin is not discrimination but protection. Those who don’t know the origin cry discrimination. Shani is in contrast to Sun. Sun stands for brightness, provides fertility to women. Shani is a bad dude. Even one glance from Shani Dev can do harm to fertility of women. That is the belief. Effect on male fertility is not clear. Males do Shani Pooja to keep Shani Dev off their family. They shield the women from ills of Shani. This is the origin. Again, you can call us stupid, but we are not discriminatory. We have Kamakhya Temple, where we basically worship women sexual part. Enough said. Period.
Now over to Sabarimala, it is Lord Ayappan’s shrine. He was a lifelong Brahmachari; a celibate. There is long story as to why we worship a celibate God. For our current context, knowing that he is Brahmachari should suffice. I have read a lot of articles where they mention that menstruating women being unclean are not allowed. This is wrong as it alludes to physical impurity. Menstruation is related to reproduction. Reproduction requires sexual activity. And here is where Celibacy of Lord Ayappan comes in. Hence women are not allowed. There are other stories too about how Ayappan did not marry a woman whose love remains unrequited etc etc. But all comes back to sex and celibacy. Now you can again call us stupid for the entire belief, but please not discriminatory. After all we worship a stone, that too a celibate one.
Similarly there is handful of temples where male entry is restricted. It goes back to what we believe is the origin of that particular God. It has nothing to do with discrimination. It has to do with stupidity. Some stupid people (agitating for allowing women) are fighting other stupid people (who feel its war against tradition). Both are not smart as far as I am concerned. As soon as they started believing in all those back-stories and all those Gods, they both lost the moral right to question each other.
If we believe in God, how can we question all the associated stupidities. Logically, concept of God is the biggest façade that can ever be. Either you believe in it or you don’t. Temple is a place where we worship stones, it’s not a picnic place.
To summarize: Stupid, Not Discriminatory.
Pros of re-naming Gurgaon to Gurugram
In the past it has happened and in the future it will happen. It is the prerogative of democratically elected Govt. to rename the city just as it is our prerogative to question it. Given the Gurgaon is hub to the current breed of elites who work in MNC’s and earn good money and are social-media savvy, the renaming has been questioned from the comforts of home, via posts on twitter/whatsapp/facebook a lot.
Those opposing say that Gurgaon has been created as global brand and renaming it will hamper that. Also they say that more important is to improve the debilitating public infrastructure. As such I haven’t come across any viewpoints in support of it, maybe those supporting are not that social media active.
There are a few issues here. In the past Madras, Calcutta like European names were replaced with Indian names. But Gurgaon is in itself an Indian name, which has been replaced by another Indian name. So there is no nationalistic fervor behind. There have been few reasons put forward about it being given in guru-dakshina by Pandavas to Dronacharya, hence Gurugram (village of Guru). But meant Gur-gaon. Maybe Guru is more explicit than Gur, but meaning is quite the same.
So what are the pros of renaming?
For one all the issues faced by people of Gurgaon will vanish. In a single move, the entire public infrastructure issues of Gurgaon have been solved. Govt. can claim that no one is unhappy in Gurgaon anymore.
Also Gurgaon had earned a bad name globally for snatching jobs, just like Bangalore. Hence that bad name is gone too. Bangalore did it earlier when it was re-named Bengaluru. Gurgaon has repeated the feat.
It gives Govt. something to do. Or else what will they do? Next election they can say that last time round, they changed the name, next time they will change the city. It is a step by step process.
On a sober note, I don’t see much merit in changing the name, than to quench the ego. Given Gurgaon was also an India name, this change does not even appeal to jingoism, so the chances of gaining political mileage out of it are also slim.
It has been changed and we have to live with it. But it hardly makes a difference to common people, whether it’s Gurgaon or Gurugram. If the Govt. does something to better the roads, public transport, it would be a better thing.
Bhogle is no saint: Stop shedding Tears for him
“O My God, How can they remove Harsha Bhogle? How dare they? He is such a good commentator” and yada yada. We have been hearing and reading similar tones since last few days. It is as if Sachin has been axed. Okay, not so much. There is no blood bath.
I am not for shedding tears for Bhogle. I am not deriding Bhogle here. My intention is point out few things, which are being ignored during this argument.
First and foremost Bhogle is no saint. He was on retainer by BCCI to say what they wanted him to say. That he had Gavaskar for company didn’t make it any good. One can argue that he did that to earn his living. But soon as you make this argument, whole Bhogle charisma falls apart. He is nothing but a guy who was ready to sell the sanctity of game for money. He is no impartial commentator working for the good for the game. He is just a guy who speaks in his good verbal skills, what he is paid to say. That takes away the halo.
Now to the part that he is the best. That is very subjective. He might be to some; he might not be to others. No doubt he had good skills but so do a lot of others. Also this is a contractual job and not a permanent one. There was no surety of the job, and hence the premium he used to charge.
Harsha Bhogle is not naïve. He is a smart MBA from IIM, who branded and marketed himself, with the top brain he has got. Again, most of us would have done the same, given the skills. And that’s my point. He is just a normal guy. He was ever too ready to bide by BCCI diktat and in turn did no good to the game that made him rich. Most of the people who were on BCCI retainer did the same.
And this fells another argument. Bhogle was a part of the cozy club for thus long, where the policy is to scratch each other back. He survived this long by keeping to the rules of the club. Speak no truth if it harms others in the club. Have you heard anything from him on all the wrongs by the BCCI? He was the best man during Srinivasan era; he was best man before and after that. He made friends with everyone to get contracts after contracts, with no truth to the game.
Harsha Bhogle tweeted some years back,
the salary is the wrong reason to go to iim-a because you go there, or to any fine institution, to make a career not earn a salary.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) 15 October 2011
How ironic. He started to make a career of commentary and compromised for the salary himself. What has been done to Harsha is the same thing that BCCI did to others over the years. All those years when Harsha Bhogle stood silently fattening his bank balance. All those years when Harsha Bhogle was in bed with the cozy club. Now he has been booted out. Cycle of nature.
And he is very smart. He is not saying any ill against BCCI even now. Not spilling the dirty secrets of the club. He is playing a victim, appealing to people emotionally, whilst keeping the door open for return to BCCI. He is a shrewd MBA who knows how to sell himself and fatten his bank balance.
No need to shed tears for him. He has already made millions of BCCI by doing their bidding and by not being true to the game of cricket. BCCI is a bunch of thugs and he was one of them.
Modi’s Pakistan Policy
Only Modi could have allowed Pakistan JIT to visit India. No other leader/party has political wherewithal to survive such a suicidal decision. BJP would have taken Congress’s anti-nationalism to town by now, had UPA would have done the same post 26/11. But that’s every party would have done owing to demands of ‘electoral democracy’.
I would count this as ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking by Modi, something which is required to deal with a contentious issue. Just imagine how a weak step of 1947 on Kashmir has plagued the nation this long. If Pakistan were non-nuclear, force was the best option, but Nuclear weapons make things tricky. We have tried every other approach with Pakistan over last 70 years to no avail. Now is a time for a new approach and that is what Modi is doing.
There are 99% chances that this will fail, but all other approaches have failed 100%. Pakistan has an ally in China at the UNSC who is ready to go the extra mile. India lacks such an ally. US change its policy with successive elections, just like India. Thus is never a serious ally. To put into perspective, what China is to Pakistan is what US has been to Israel. Blind support!
So we lack an ally at the big table. We have a nuclear armed enemy who is not ashamed of sending terrorists; an enemy whose army can replace Govt. any fine day; an army apparatus which is loathed in anger at India for being thrashed in successive wars over the years. What can Indian Govt. do?
We have a Pak PM Sharif, who is ready to risk as much as PM Modi in going that extra mile. Last time India came close to solving the issue was during Musharraf-Vajpayee era as both were strong leaders. Congress consortium could not have done anything anyways. Now again we have Modi-Sharif who are trying to workout Mano-2-Mano. And that is the only way forward I see; via personalities. Diplomacy at any other level does not hold much credence.
This is one problem where I fall short of suggesting a solution. I can find solace in the fact that even the experts fail too. Since I know Modi has good intentions in what he is doing, I will lend my support to him completely. When all else has failed, maybe he will succeed. Even if he failed, he would have failed trying his best.
Sanjat Dutt: Celebrating the PoW?
Today I won’t take any names as everyone was on it. Ever since Mr. Dutt finished his sentence and out of jail, news channels and media has been celebrating his return. One such disgusting interview I happened to see was where anchor asked him what he liked the most, missed the most, disliked the most about his jail time. And more such brainless questions.
Similar was the case with other media houses, everyone wanted an exclusive with the man who returned. An uninitiated might have mistaken him for a Prisoner of War, who had just returned after years of misery in enemy captivity.
Enough! He was jailed for a crime. He has paid his debt to the society for the crime. That doesn’t make him a star. An effort on media’s part to make it sexy and like an X-factor made me throw up. And it couldn’t have been a bug; I was on fast that day.
He was a criminal who was jailed after 20 odd years of committing the crime. Some say he got away lightly, some say otherwise. I respect Court’s verdict. Even when he went to jail, cozy club of Nira Radia-Media, was all tears. Aww! And since he is out of jail, there is more of the celebration.
It makes me wonder, have we failed as a society? Where a convicted felon is celebrated as a Hero? He will get more movies. People will fling to the theatres. But he is not my Hero. And stop making him one.
NIT (Non-Indian Institute of Technology?)
What the hell is going on in Srinagar? I can empathize with the students. They are a selected lot of people who qualified to study at NIT. But I cannot say the same about the inefficient and biased administration.
I studied at IIT Guwahati. The region was considered insurgent and there were apprehensions enrolling. But what we experienced was fabulous. The locals were very supportive, helpful. They prided in having an Institute of National importance in the region. And never did we ever felt any problem.
But Srinagar problem seems to be out of bound. And the core issue is anti-India feelings in Kashmir. I won’t like to hold back here under the garb of political niceties. What is happening is shameful. And what is more appalling is silence of people like Nayantara Sehgal and her ilk. Where are the awards to be returned? They are hiding today. You know why? Coz supporting nationalistic cause does not get them recognition and moolah across the world. The world celebrates learned people from other countries who are ready to badmouth and malign their motherland. And such intellectuals revel in it; raking in the blood money.
And the insinuation that students are doing this to get transfers to other NITs is pathetic. They are selected top brains who have passed one of the toughest exams and just want to study.
I was against police action at JNU and I am against it in NIT. But what makes me angrier today is, at JNU police action was demonized against people who said, ‘Death to India’. Same opportunists are silent when and at Srinagar it is done to students who said, ‘Long live India’.
My take: What was done to outstation students at Srinagar was akin to racial profiling. They were beaten by local police to teach them a lesson. How dare they raise Indian Tri color? What this will do is damage the NIT Srinagar brand. Check the admission rankings next year. Not the brightest will opt to enroll.
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