Varkala

Spent four days in paradise. Sun, sea and sand. Total bliss. Papanasam beach and Janardanswamy temple absolved me of all sins. Believe me, I sinned. Seashore beach resort was a beauty. The staff were like angels. Had a real good time.

Happiness

I woke up with this idea this morning. I think this is worth noting down. I am unhappy most of the time because I want to change the world the way I want. They key to happiness is to accept the world the way it is. Of course this is morally reprehensible idea, because if everybody thinks this way the world will stay a shitty place it is. But nonetheless it is very comforting.

I am somewhat an extreme case. I worry about things that does not affect me directly and about things I have absolutely no control over. And because I am such a lazy person, I never do anything to change anything. That makes things worse.

Again I am a lazy man. So I cannot finish this post now :) I will elaborate over this idea when I get a chance.

Israel is a colony

I wrote this in response to a blog by Sam Harris. The mail bounced. So I posted this to my blog.

Dear Mr. Harris,

I am a huge fan of Bill Maher and you. I believe everything that you say about the rise of militant Islam and the threat it poses to the rest of the world, especially to atheists like me.

Few days back I wrote a paragraph about how Bill Maher, such a prominent and funny atheist, conveniently forgets that he is being religious when he supports Israel. I also wrote, any Jew no matter how rational, secular she might be, has to support Israel, including Einstein. Jews are the most intelligent people in this world. But when it comes to Israel, they simply suspend all their judgment and support every single atrocity that Israel commits. Then I saw you being so irrational as to support Israel against Palestine and I started thing he must be a Jew, otherwise no rational human being can support Israel in this conflict. I was again bang right.

As you are surprised by the innocence of Ben Affleck, we are by yours. It is obvious like daylight that Israel is the biggest mistreatment meted out by one group of people to another since the foundation of America. It is the last colony in this planet and it has the potential of being the cause of the third world war. Israelite are the most cruel, greedy, land hungry, racist people on this planet, even worse than the British, the French, the American colonists. The Germans were far more benign colonists in Africa than Israel in Palestine.

Hamas is not a terrorist organization. They are a reaction to Israeli terror. Unlike the Saudis, the Egyptians, the Chechans, the Pakis, I have never seen any Hamas fighter doing jihad anywhere outside Gazza. In Gaza, they are fighting for their honour with stones and rifles against planes and tanks. They will always have my support, Muslim or atheist does not matter. Because we were once a colony. We know how it feels when someone takes away your land, your home your honour.

You will never understand their pain. For you, they are terrorists who should be eliminated.

Subhendu

Israel

I love Bill Maher. I watch all his shows on YouTube. He is so funny and witty. I just enjoy when he makes fun of religion. One thing I do not like about him is support for Israel. I just watched one of his shows on YouTube. In it he also had a Jewish guest (Some "Stein". All "steins" are Jews, like all "anis" are Sindhis, Ambani, Advani, Sukhwani). Predictably both Bill Maher (he is half Jew) and his guest were supporting Israel. I just so wished that I was there to tell Bill that he is unknowingly being religious here! All Jews support Israel, including Einstein. Why? The reason is not political. It is religious. Had it been political, they would have bought a piece of land somewhere in the world that is more fertile, less contested and less religious than Israel. They had the money to do so back then. They still have the resources today to move to a safer and better place. But they will not do it. Because they believe that land is given to the Jews by God and they have a duty to live on that land. So all Jews, secular even atheists, subscribe to the idea of Israel. I think the only people who can challenge the Jews in their adherence to faith are the Muslims. Now when these two are pitted together in a contest for the very essence of their existence, I think there is a potential for a third world war here.

That begs the question why am I sympathetic to the Palestinians. I supported Palestinians when I was young because I was an idealist. Same reason I was a Communist at one point. I actually cried when Yasser Arafat died. But I grew up and came to reason. Now I consider Arafat a corrupt leader who should have been removed from power long before his death. I obviously don't like Hamas ideology. Every time, in every conflict, the Palestinians always sided with their fellow Muslim brothers against India, be it Kashmir or Pakistan. Whereas Israel is a friendly country. Sells us guns at a cheaper price than America. I tried my best to change my view and support Israel. But I can't. In every conflict between the two, I end up supporting Palestinians, even Hamas. To me Israel is the last colony, that will never go and Palestinians are very symbol of people resisting occupation. The truth could be something different. But that's my perception. In my opinion, if my land is taken away like that, I should fight back, regardless of the cost. The same reason I support the Tamils in Sri Lanka, even LTTE, knowing full well that they are a blood thirsty corrupt organization that terrorize their own people.

One thing is true, I have never seen a Palestinian terrorist fighting anywhere outside Israel, like the Chechens, the Arabs, the Pakis, the Egyptians, the Uyghur's,...

Rahul Gandhi's Interview in the Hindu

I am no fan of Modi and I used to like Rahul Gandhi. But I am getting sick of his lies double speek. Here are my responses to his responses in his interview with the Hindu.
1) Modi calls him "Shehzada" because probably he is angry. Of course he is, so are most aspiring people in India. Here is a man who is being anointed as the Prime Ministerial candidate of the largest party, without showing any achievement whatsoever. Now he is not to be blamed for that. We are the ones prostrating before him for his last name. But at least he should accept this fact and be embarrassed about it.
2) In Modi's India there is no place for the poor. Not sure about that. But I do know that the Congress loves the poor. So much so, it does not let them out of poverty. How many "Garibi Hatao" programs have they launched? We still have the largest number of poor people in the planet. That is true love for poor people. 3) The Congress is all about internal democracy. Imagine someone contesting for the Congress president's post against Sonia. She will be lynched. Last time I think one guy filed his nomination and he was beaten up by supporters. Its current PM is appointed, its PM nominee is anointed. That's true democracy.
4) All Modi does is give away natural resources to a few business houses at throwaway prices. At least he did not take bribe for them Congress gave away 2G, Coal mines, Gas, land to the same business houses and took huge bribes.
I stopped reading after this. He has already become like his father, doublespeak and peddler of false hope.

Stop Modi

In the last five general elections, I wanted BJP to win. While the left side of my head argued that BJP is rightist and communal, the right side of my heart always wanted them to win. Because deep down, I felt the majority Hindus should take pride of their own country (India is after all a Hindu country), while providing full protection and equality to the minority. Up until Modi came to the scene, I never truly believed that BJP is utterly communal. I rather felt that Congress and other parties are pseudo secular. They are just using Muslim vote bank.
But this time it is different. This time it is not a "VAJAPA Sarkar" (I hate that term), but rather a "Modi Sarkar" (A term I hate even more). I cannot accept Modi as my prime minister. He is exactly against all the values I care for and he is s serious threat to the very essence of our polity, which is based on allowing diversity. Without this tolerance of diversity, Indian polity will break apart. At a social and religious level, India is not a tolerant country. Most differences lead to violence here. However at a national political scene, somehow good sense prevail and politicians realize that accepting diversity is the only way to keep the country together. Otherwise this diverse, intolerant and deeply religious country will fall apart. With Modi, that sense might get lost. He is already showing his unilateral attitude towards his own party. I cannot imagine how arrogant he will be if he wins a majority.
Modi lacks the sophistication to lead such a big country as India. He neither have the education or the experience. He is essentially a Gujrati Bania and knows nothing beyond that. He is anti woman, anti Muslim, anti left, anti intellectual, anti Muslim, anti Christian, anti Gay, not because he has developed intellectually opposed to any of these idea, but simply because he is ignorant of any other thoughts because of his lack of education and experience. To put it simply, "He is a thug".
So friends my heartfelt request, please vote for change tomorrow, but please do not vote for Modi. I believe even without your vote he will win the election. But I hope without your vote, we will put enough fetter around him so that he cannot roughshod his regressive ideas on us. Let's stop Modi. Let's save India.
5 May: After listening to Modi for last few days, I have changed my mind. May be he has point. At least he is bold and hard working, two of the qualities very lacking in most Indians. Not sure anymore. May be he will be a good PM.

Why I am disappointed with the Aam Aadmi Party

What Kejriwal showed us is that it takes a lot of hard work to get things done in a democracy. Just wishful thinking cannot change the country. While there is huge scope of improvement in the mainstream political parties, but they are on the right track. Things are happening in India. We need to make sure they keep happening at a faster pace, there is no need to despair.

We should not always keep comparing ourselves with China. Yes China has improved at a much faster pace, but also at a much higher human cost. An experiment like China will bring disaster in a diverse and deeply religious country like ours. And it is unfair to compare us with the developed countries. We started from an abyss in 1947 and slowly crawling out of the pit.

Our democracy withstood the test of time. No matter how much we complain about dynasty, and disenfranchisement of people, our rulers were more or less accountable to the people. Or they were thrown out, be it mighty Indira Gandhi, or iron man Vajpayee. They were made to bite the dust by the “aam admi” using their vote. Mamtas, Mayawatis, Sushmas do happen in our democracy. If our people were so disenfranchised by the “system” as AAP is trying to portray, Kejriwal could not have become Delhi CM in the first try. With all their failing, our politicians never shown the tendency or ever had the guts to usurp power from the people (except once). We never turned into another Pakistan or Syria or Iraq or North Korea (this one could have been better for us!)

Kejriwal kept on harping about corruption and dynasty. But they are not the main issues facing the common women. Pockets of extreme poverty, inequality of opportunity and lack of basic governance are. These are the things that affect the common people the most. Neither Modi nor Kejriwal is talking about them. I saw one very recent interview of Kejriwal in NDTV where one young "common" man in rugged clothes raised a very interesting point. He asked “To me the biggest issue is the equality education. If my daughter goes to a rundown government school with very poor education, where as a rich man's son goes to the best international school, what chances will she have in from of him. She will always remain disadvantaged. What would you do about it?” The young man spoke with such passion it almost made me cry. I could immediately relate to his concern because I am a father and I am equally worried about my daughter's education. Mr. Kejriwal obviously never thought about this. He breezily said, “We can do two things. Close down all private schools. I do not want to do that. Or make the Government schools so good that no one will send their children to private school. Give us five years and we will make that happen.” He actually said that. I am damn sure he never even thought about this ever. Yet he lied to a bright young man, full of high hopes that AAP will do something for his children. By this time Kejriwal knew that he is going to run away in two days. How better is he than the other peddlers of false hope?

Kejriwal does not represent the interest of the "Aam Aadmi". He represents the aspirations and desires of the urban middle class and the Indian Diaspora. We, the IT people have enough money that we do not need the government, we actually pay the government. Our children go to the best schools. They do not need government education or government jobs. Our main problem is our guilty conscience that we are not doing enough for our country; envy that the illiterate stupid politicians are having it better than us, that Rahul Gandhi, that stupid brat is being propped up as the Shahjada, that the roads that we are driving are full of potholes, that the passport office guy does not speak in English. All these are valid concerns. We have right to demand all these. We pay dearly for all these. But we are a tiny minority. We don’t even vote. For most people of this country it hardly matters Rahul Gandhi was appointed the crown prince, or that A Raja has looted 3000 crores, or Ambanis are bribing the robot to get lucrative oil contracts. For them what matters is that their children’s midday meal is free of poison, their daughter does not get raped on her way back from school, they get the full 100 bucks from NREGA, they get an ADHAR card in time.

With all their failings, Congress did pass the RTI, right to education, food security, NREGA, Jan Lokpal, NPS bills. These are not mean achievements, considering they never had the majority, which Mr. Kejriwal is so complaining about. They did try to pass the Woman’s reservation bill. They did kill several thousand Sikhs in 1984, but their ideology is not based on anti-Sikh or anti Minority. They did “appoint” a Sikh Prime Minister. I do not know what Modi is offering to the people of India other than a vague promise of "Vikash". But what are his plans for education, health care, social investment, eradicating malnutrition, which even the robot accepted to be a shame of the nation. I never even heard him speak about the Maoist problem and what are his plans to tackle extreme poverty. Even the robot rightly understood that extreme poverty and hence Maoists are the biggest threat to the country. No one knows. And Kejriwal never asks. At least Congress is seen to be concerned more about the real issues and not some HiFi "Vikash", and even trying to do something about it. I will not be surprised if they do better than people are expecting in this election.

India is changing, with or without Kejriwal. It is changing for the same reason the whole world is changing, spread of the Internet and the Television, spread of democratic values, spread of education, spread of basic human rights. Political parties in a democracy cannot ignore the demands of the people any more with usual brazenness they were used to. If the AAP wants to be a part of this change, they have to learn how to function in a democracy, how to work with the opposition, no matter how corrupt and compromised they seem. Otherwise they will remain a fringe pressure group, less effective than the Maoists or Baba Ramdev.