The Indian in Me

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The Indian in me... The Indian in me wants to see India shine, But then I realize that the country is probably not mine; India belongs to the Kalmadis, the politicians, the rich and the strong, Who despite their proven corruption live happily and are on a song; India belongs to the dynasties, the Gandhis, and the youth icon, Who despite any significant contribution to India is already anointed as our future PM; India belongs to the "seculars" who prefer one religion over another, Who create fissures in the society by spitting venom against each other; India belongs to the ruling party, the bureaucrats, and the CBI, Who can misuse power at will without any hue and cry!!! The Indian in me wants to see India united, But then I realize that our motherland is actually divided; Where love for caste, region, or religion is more than the....

Of IPL, SRK's loose talk, and Hindu-Muslim unity

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Imagine a scenario--PPL--Pakistani Premiere League auctions players for its franchises and none of world renowned Indian cricketers are bought by these franchises? Would Pakistani media and their sports personalities react the same way few of our media folks and other important personalities are responding? Probably not going by their past histrionics. However, it seems that several Indians feel that Pakistani cricketers were given a rough deal due to Indian Government's orders. True or complete lies--several articles and blogs have been dedicated to this issue. Perhaps the best article that I have read on this issue is one written by Harsha Bhogle in which he lucidly explained that it is the times we live in that need to blamed for the fiasco. Several sporting personalities and top journalists feel that sports and politics should be separated. Idealistic thought! I wonder if they can propose a way out to keep....

Mr Khan detained...so what?

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As news of "SRK detained" captured the top headlines all across the Indian print and electronic media, it seemed a bit too amateurish a behavior by the Indian media in particular and the public at large. Do you really feel that an American immigration officer will know who SRK is? That the officer must have watched one of his candyfloss K-Jo movies because they are usually shot in US? This is asking too much from an American immigration officer. The biggest surprise or rather shock for me was the comparison made by Rajiv Shukla between SRK's detention and ex-President Dr. Kalam's frisking. A bigger shock was that the media concurred and made similar comparisons. Let us first clear the facts. Ex-President Dr. Kalam's frisking was against the protocol set up for top Indian government officials and hence it was rightly taken up with the US authorities. On....

Why the middle-class must vote

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When Captain Amrinder Singh, the ex-Chief Minister of Punjab, attributed his defeat in the Punjab Assembly elections to the sudden rise in the urban (educated middle-class) voters, it gave me a ray of hope that the fastest-growing population class in the world, the educated Indian middle-class, is finally awakening. However, it was the Mumbai terrorist attacks late last year that finally woke the elites and the Indian middle-class from their deep slumber. The candlelight vigil became the norm rather than the exception with millions of Indians, mostly belonging to the educated middle-class, coming out with candles to show their support. They felt helpless and cheated by the men in power. The question is - can these candles in the hands of the educated Indians actually be the votes in the coming elections? Can we - the educated Middle Class Indians - who take pride in forming the backbone....

Bias theory in media and govt cosmos: Hindu-Muslim equation

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Sample this - A leading news anchor while discussing the Supreme Court's Mumbai Blasts judgments asked a common Muslim man - Do you think the law is sentencing only Muslims? If it had been the judgment for the Mumbai "riots", this question would have been a fair one. But for the Mumbai blasts, was anyone else supposed to be sentenced? Think of the plight of that innocent Muslim guy - no matter what he answers, he was bound to ignite hatred and divide. Another Sample - A leading newspaper often comes up with a one-liner - Why are minorities always targeted after every bomb blast? Because as Aamir Khan said in Sarfarosh - kuch chand musalmano ki wajah se poori kaum ko badnam hona padta hain. It is like we in US start shouting - why are we always selected for the special screenings at the airport? Simply because....

What goes around… comes around!

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I was not born when, as literature says, the high caste rulers oppressed, rebuked, and castigated the low caste unfortunates. That it is still prevalent in some places in India, atleast proves that the literature was not completely incorrect. However, I am definitely born in an India where a wave of radical change is taking place. Change for the better? Maybe or maybe not. It depends on which side of the coin we are looking at. Today, the Yadavs, the Mayawatis are riding high. And with the latest Supreme Court judgment, the OBCs along with the SCs/STs will ride even higher. That it will cast doomsday on meritorious students, that it will affect the quality of students produced by the IITs and the IIMs, that it will be detrimental to the productivity of the software giants... is all a matter of speculation and subject to never ending debate,....

Let's not stop at Bucknor...

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So Mr. Bucknor is a goner, what about Mr. Benson? I would say he played an equally important role and in fact committed a glaring shameless act of asking Ponting about his opinion for the catch. Thus, he should be packed to England without much ado. Bucknor has been the nemesis for India for quite a long time but the impact Benson has made in India's defeat is huge. I would thus ask the impotent men of BCCI to not just be happy on Bucknor's ouster as it is just a face saving act from ICC. They have to push for more and if they want to win back every Indian's trust they better show that they are "real" men. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that they are more concerned about the compensation they will have to give Cricket Australia for abandoning the tour. More so, Mr. Politician Pawar is....

Letter From a Brother

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I have often wondered why westerners do not celebrate Sister's Day or Brother's day as they so fondly celebrate Mother's Day and Father's Day. Probably, they are so afraid that this might lead to so many brothers and sisters from outside their familiesJ. Trust me, we also fear the same as no one will want a pretty stranger girl saying "Bhaiyya" but that does not deter us from celebrating Raksha Bandhan, a festival signifying the bond that we as brothers and sisters share with each other. This is one unique festival we Indians celebrate and we should dedicate more pages on it than we have been so far. On this auspicious day of Rakhi, I thought of penning down my heartfelt gratitude and affection for my three dear elder sisters who have been a world to me. Often we attribute our entire success to our parents, rightly though, but we....

Revisiting our roots in Swatantra Bharat

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Sixty glorious years of Indian Independence, India Shining, India the next Superpower, and many more such punch lines will be flashed across as we celebrate our 60th Independence. It is definitely a proud day for every Indian and as already seen we celebrate 15th August well in advance. We have gone through lots of highs and lows in the past 60 years and have emerged stronger with every passing day. However, we are still not there yet and hence, to associate India with aforementioned slogans and punch lines is nothing but being ignorant. Corruption in every walk of life and indifferent attitude of our leaders towards our nation's development has been blatantly highlighted by the media in the run up to the Independence Day. To rake up these issues again will duplicate the painstaking efforts made by the media. For me the most important issue is to strengthen our....

The Curse of Being a Hindu in Modern India

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Every individual has the right to self respect and dignity, especially from its fellow countrymen. Irrespective of the religion, caste, creed and all other secular lingo, we all should be treated fairly. However, somewhere down the line I feel in the present modern setup of India, self respect of the Hindus has been taken for a ride by media and politicians alike. We have been considered harmless and so nobody cares if there is any sort of infliction on us. For them, it is more important to concentrate on issues which aim at pleasing the minorities. And make no mistake, minorities not only include Muslims, but also Christians and other non-Hindu religions. I have nothing against my fellow "minority" countrymen, for in all fairness I have never even thought of them as "minorities". For me they are as Indian as I am. They definitely need a change in their socio-economic....