Steel frame of standards

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Given the kind of factionalism that India is witnessing today, and the general air of intolerance that sweeps our land, there are very few things we can truly be proud of. One of them happens to be the fact that Tata Steel celebrated its 100th Founder's Day on March 3 in Jamshedpur: a town where it all began. But this is not about fêting that birth or even remembering the founder, Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata, who was born on this day, March 3, in 1839, but instead about celebrating a way of life that is not just inspirational but one which has withstood the cynical realities of our times. Realities where material wealth and balance sheets are more about income and expenditure rather than about investment in either nation-building or, for that matter, about engaging with societies with which corporations coexist. I believe it could only have been a Navsari....

And quiet the Padma flows

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Every year, around Republic Day, I wait with bated breath for the National Awards to be announced and no, I am not talking about the sterling cinema awards which this year went to two of the finest actresses of modern India: Priyanka Chopra and Kangana Raut. It is the Padma that captivates me. The fact that someone in the Government of India is so blinkered, continues to amaze me year after year and this year, I am most thrilled with Saif Ali Khan being awarded the Padma Shri. And why not? He comes from a sterling pedigree: his father remains one of the most charismatic cricketers India has ever seen and a hunter of great acclaim; his mother is the Chief of India's censor board and Saif is a versatile actor who even beat Shahid Kapoor of Jab we Met to 'Jab they Met' as soon as Kareena....

Candles lost in the wind

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On November 26, 2008, a billion people felt the helplessness and vulnerability of the kind we have never experienced ever. When 10 misguided young men held an entire nation to ransom and there was nothing the nation could do except live in disbelief and post that, in denial. There was an outpouring of anger and much dismay at the 'system': most of us raved and ranted and when our turn came, we left for salubrious climes instead of voting for the right person. The elections which were going to be manna from heaven threw up the same rogues, many of whom are back in the very offices they were shamed to give up in the aftermath of 26/11. Almost twelve months later, we are still quite befuddled. By the David Headleys of the world and their impunity and at the lack of any co-ordinated intelligence gathering system that....

Austerity lessons for posterity

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Mayors of cities are often amongst the most boring people you can ever meet. Growing up in Calcutta, the Mayor was almost always so pro-establishment, that you didn't even care if he had an opinion because you were certain it would be someone else's voice as it were. Which is why London last week was so refreshing. Rushing to meet a group of us, attending Subodh Gupta's exhibition opening was Boris Johnson, who had to go through the travails of London's evening rush-hour traffic only because he had a flashing red light. The problem was this flashing red light was on the back of his helmet and not atop some Government car so no one really cared who this cyclist was. Yes, Boris Johnson, the present Mayor of London goes to work on a bicycle and wears the statutory helmet, which has a red light flashing on its....

For God's sake, this is Gandhi-country!

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Every year we religiously celebrate the birth of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, thank him for the Parliament we have and the freedom that these MPs now have to use as they will and such is our luck, that many of these johnnies in Parliament now want us to be shacked again. Not in physical chains tut intellectual ones. Another contemporary of Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore had exhorted for us to be led into a heaven of freedom where the head is held high and today we have a strange situation where some members of Parliament elected by some of us are telling us what to watch and what not to. These, by the way, belong to the same set of people, many of whose colleagues are murderers, rapists and child-molesters not to mention bribe-takers as was evidenced in the cash for questions issue. These are the same people who belong....

Manmohan Singh's 100-day war

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There is no question, in many ways, the Indian politician is coming ever closer to the archetype American one. The fact that Manmohan Singh had to write to his entire council of ministers telling them how to behave and what to do is a sign of the times to come. The fact is that this time round, most of them will have to listen since the mandate Singh has received is overwhelming. But then what should this Government's priorities be and how should it go about them? I have always maintained that we as a nation are woefully inadequate as far as addressing the three Ps are concerned. We do not take primary health, primary education and population seriously and this will be our enduring fault-line. India's track record on all of the above three Ps is abysmal and the good news is for the first time, in many....

Same old, same old…

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The Republic of India finally has a Government in place but not one of surprises. One would have expected a cleansing of sorts but that has not happened. Nor has competence been rewarded adequately. Which should have, given the mandate that the Congress Party received during the elections. But this is perhaps where Indian frailty rests. I, for one, cannot understand how some real bright people have been given some silly portfolios. Chidambaram as Home Minister is a first-rate choice. He is sharp and has proved himself in every job he has handled. But then so is Kamal Nath. Kamal was India's feisty Commerce Minister in the previous regime and has been credited with improving India's bit in every area: be it exports or the stand-off at WTO. To now move Kamal to Infrastructure is a bit if a come down but then knowing Kamal he will make a fine....

Singh is Re-King

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Singh is Kingg was a blockbuster Bollywood film of 2008. Very few ever dreamt it would haunt us, in a very welcoming way, in 2009 and that too post a General Election. Never has an Indian election been so bitter, so debased and deprived of real issues. Never was an election fought sans issues. Never was a General Election in India witness to deplorable personal attacks but the lesson has now been swiftly learnt. Where the parties got it horribly wrong was while their leaders were ageing, the voter was getting younger and it is no surprise that hatred lost to hope. And progress and principles triumphed. The return of the Congress-led UPA is going to be a welcome signal but not without enhanced expectations and this is what should worry Manmohan Singh, who after India's revered statesman, Jawaharlal Nehru will be the only ever person to become the....

When the shoe is on the other foot…

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Much has been said and written about the shoe that was thrown by a Sikh journalist at P Chidambaram, India's Home Minister when he refused to address the concerns raised about the Congress Party nominating Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Delhi: where in 1984, these two gents were alleged to have masterminded a state-supported pogrom which saw the death of over 10,000 Sikhs only because the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi had been assassinated by a Sikh bodyguard. In this melee, history has been conveniently forgotten because in addition to what these two gents have supposedly been accused of, was also a statement by the slain Prime Minister's son, Rajiv Gandhi, that when a large tree falls, the ground shakes. One cannot accuse Rajiv Gandhi of being communal but then given the servility of India's political classes I would not....

Why election manifestos mean little

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The Indian election scenario has always been predictable. And despite the any changes that one sees with regard to the rise and rise of regional parties, some of the fundamentals never seem to change. There has been enormous brouhaha over the manner in which some candidates have been handing out cash in blatant violation of the election conduct but that too is explained away on the altar of tradition, What however intrigues me, election after election, is the manner in which almost every political party makes such a song and dance of its manifesto. There was however, a time when there were some discriminators in these manifestos but in these parity-driven ties, that too seems to have vanished and this is the biggest irony of the Indian political scenes. These are no longer manifestos with plans and shared vision but instead documents which highlight freebies that parties promise but never....